Borgia

“ In Ferrara, where the Borgias reign. Where the cruel Duke Alfonzo reigns, where also his cruel wife is Duchess, the terrible Lucrezia Borgia.
See, in this grand square, there is the palace of the duke. Mark his arms carved over the gateway, the awful name Borgia swelling from the stone beneath.
The new Venetian ambassador with his suite had arrived.
It is night-time, and plot and murder are awake.
Look! is not this the figure of the tall, proud-looking man who watched the Borgia from a gondola in Venice. And the man with him, ’tis he who told of Gennaro. ”

“ None so dreaded as Neri, the sorcerer, whose rare and subtle poisons were distilled in a secret room of the Borgia palace.
"A pity that the Duke della Varnese—worthy gentleman!—will suffer a heart attack before dawn."
"To commemorate the first visit of an Orsini to a Borgia—a little wine?"
"To your devastating charm!"
"Let your lips perfume the wine."
"We Borgia do not share with another."
"Let no man scorn so wise an example, sweet teacher!"
"The rose is richer by a great experience."
"We Borgia approve of cleverness in our friends—we have no clever enemies!" ”

“ In the study of the history of the Borgias, we repeat, there has been too much acceptance without question, too much taking for granted of matters whose incredibility frequently touches and occasionally oversteps the confines of the impossible.
One man knew Cesare Borgia better, perhaps, than did any other contemporary, of the many who have left more or less valuable records; for the mind of that man was the acutest of its age, one of the acutest Italy and the world have ever known. ”

“ We will do it, Mardocchi--we will do it; for, although there is a very palpable hint in Borgia's missive that no harm is to be done to the cousin of King Louis, yet, perhaps, we can so manage that he shall find means to harm himself. He has an army at his back to help Cæsar Borgia in carving out a principality from the heart of Italy; but the vicars of the Holy See, and I as the humblest of them, must reverently crave his Holiness to spare us the burden of the prefect's troops. We will receive him gladly with a noble train, but methinks we cannot admit an armed French force within our walls. ”

“ To His Holiness’s enemies the mere touch of my ladie’s soft hand meant certain death, and feastes were given at the which those singled out were swept away like flies. None who dared to thwart the Borgia Pope or the lord Duke of Valentinois escaped swift and certain destruction. For them, death lurked at all times no matter how much care they took of their personal safetie. The fiendish ingenuity of Cesare Borgia showed itself in divers and sundry ways all to encompass the death of rivals that the House of Borgia became paramount, and its power overwhelming. ”

“ No name could have been more welcome to the motley bands, for Borgia was by far the richest man in the College of Cardinals. With a rush like that of the whirlwind the crowds sped toward the Borgian palace and seized every movable thing to be found within its chambers. The cardinal, sure of his victory at the conclave, had removed every thing of great value but there was enough left to satisfy the savage plunderers.
In all the history of popedom there had never been an election like this which placed Roderigo Borgia on the so-called throne of St. Peter. ”

“ He went to bed well pleased, reflecting that as a man lives so does he die. Giovanni Borgia, Duke of Gandia, had been ever an amiable profligate, a heedless voluptuary obeying no spur but that of his own pleasure, which should drive him now to his destruction. Giovanni Borgia, he considered further, was, as he had expressed it, the very apple of his father's eye; and since, of his own accord, the Duke had come to thrust his foolish head into the noose, the Lord of Pesaro would make a sweet beginning to the avenging of his wrongs by drawing it taut. ”

“ ALEXANDER BORGIA. 49
" She never injured you ; or, if she did, the wrong was unintentionally given."
" 'T is false ! " cried Borgia, passionately. " Did she not scorn me, despise my love, and drive me from her presence ? But I had a glorious revenge. Ha ! ha ! They who brave the vengeance of Alexander Borgia should have a myriad of lives ! "
" And my mother she, too, was fearfully wronged by this demon," said Lucretia, musingly, as her hand in- voluntarily sought the hilt of a dagger. ”

“ He climbed to a high window and looked down into the moonlight. "The Nonesi in force. Cesare Borgia and the troops. Hist! He is going to speak to them; they are holding him up." He strained to listen—and it seems that he heard.
"Citizens," said the Borgia, in fact, "I pledge you my sacred word that the Duchess shall be delivered to you whole and in honour. She shall be in the Palace within an hour. The Secretary who has her there, who stabbed his master and (as I learn from Milan) hatched all the plot, must be left to me. Madonna Maria saved my life at the peril of her own. ”

“ You hold his place, while his son, at the Borgia’s footstool, eats in Rome the husks of charity.”
Frà Girolamo answered sternly, while the light of enthusiasm kindled to red fire in his eyes.
“Who are you who speak for the wicked? Piero de’ Medici abused his power; he would have sold our liberty to the French–lustful, vain, hollow; he was banished Florence for his sins [192] and a price put upon his head. Woe to this city if he returns! At the Borgia’s footstool, you say! It is fitting that such a prince should fly to such a Pope!” ”

“ CESARE.
Publish wide the news;
Shout his escape! Send doctors, send the best—
The Bishop of Venosa.
[Exit into the Pope’s chamber.
[Cardinal Pallavicini goes out, as Cardinals and Physicians pass in.
After a while Donna Lucrezia Borgia d’Aragon enters and stands waiting till some one passes out of the bed-chamber.
CARDINAL SEGOVIA.
[Passing out.] Your Excellency, the Pope’s Holiness
Has at the very edge of death been spared.
LUCREZIA.
I am so thankful! ”

“ In that he failed, nor could any artist have succeeded. Being honest with his artistic conscience he produced the finest type of Venus to be found in Rome to this day, the many classic creations all included. Had he done nothing else, this speaking statue of Borgia's last and most beautiful concubine would entitle him to rank high among the sculptors of any age. He has made the "Venus of the Vatican" breathe and live and cast her spell on every beholder, even the pious pilgrims who gaze at the sight in wonder and in absolute, if blessed, ignorance of the facts. ”

“ Cæsar Borgia outshines him easily as a schemer, as a fighter, as a man nothing stopped and nothing staggered; but Cæsar Borgia was known as a being more eager to conquer towns than to govern them, and Il Moro was above all admirable at the head of a state. His politics were over-cunning, but as a ruler of Milan he went consistently for improvement and for more humanity than was customary. In personal charm he must have run the Borgia close. ”

“ ALEXANDER BORGIA. 19
dreaded being ; to the contrary, a look of gratification appeared upon his flushed features, and he exclaimed,
" Thank God ! I have found you ! "
" Indeed ! And what may you want with the mask ? " asked that personage, in a deep voice, while his eyes roved like lightning flashes over the form before him.
" Your aid. Thou art a man whose power, for good or evil, is greater than that possessed by all Rome."
" You forget the Pope ! " suggested the mask, with a slight bow.
" No, I do not forget ; nor will I retract my words in favor of the Pope God's curse be upon him ! ”

“ I fear that while we are enjoying ourselves here, and losing the love of the people, there are storms gathering in the north, which may break pretty hard upon us if we do not mind."
"I know it too well," replied Lorenzo; "I heard the facts first in Rome from Cardinal Borgia, and related the whole to the king."
"Ay, Cæsar Borgia! Cæsar Borgia!" said De Vitry. "I doubt much his good faith, and would sooner have him for an enemy than a friend."
"Why so, seigneur?" asked De Terrail. "I would always have men my friends if I can, my enemies only when I must." ”

“ Borgia, Cæsar, fourth son of Pope Alexander VI.; was made cardinal at the age of 17, an honour he relinquished to become a soldier, in which capacity it is alleged he gave himself up to deeds of inhumanity, which have made his name a synonym for every action that is most crafty, revolting, and cruel; a portrait of him by Raphael, in the Borghese gallery, is a masterpiece. Notwithstanding the execration in which his memory is held, he is reputed to have been just as a ruler in his own domain, and a patron of art and literature ”

“ Do you understand me?"
"Methinks I do," answered Lorenzo, who had seen good reason to believe that Borgia's view of the characters of the French counsellors was not far from the truth. "But what is it, your Eminence, that the King of France should know that he does not know? He has about his person many a clear-sighted military man who is competent to perceive the truth and too honest to conceal it."
"Not exactly, my young friend," replied the cardinal; "the truth is not always so easy a thing to find as you imagine. ”

“ Paganism and the devil triumphed with. the triumph of Popery. If Borgia was a criminal every one of the purpled dignitaries that were present when he ascended the papal throne was his fellow criminals.
The cardinals showered their congratulations on him and Sforza, the man whose vote had fetched the highest price, solemnly declared amid the murmured approval of his colleagues in the purple that the election had manifestly been "the work of God, who had chosen the worthiest among the cardinals to represent Him and to guide His Church." For once in his life Borgia played the hypocrite. ”

“ Ah, Paynim, had you been chosen for me instead of Joffré!
CESARE. You have chosen me instead of Joffré.{37}
SANCIA.
My little Joffré is no more to me than the pet foal of the stables. If His Holiness would grant divorce....
CESARE.
What may not His Holiness grant at my suggestion! Commend me by letter to your cousin Carlotta. I shall meet her in France; persuade her to desire me, and your Ippolito shall be safe. I would marry Naples, the rightful line.
SANCIA.
For this you have flaunted me through the stone-staring church! You Borgia! Always the trap in your mighty simpleness. ”

“ Was as his hearth! Rodrigo Borgia’s son
Asks your forgiveness.
VANOZZA.
Excellence!... But loose me!
Are you so strong?
Your breath beats at the nostrils as his beat.
Loose!... Let me meet Messer Agapito....
[The Mute has pointed toward the horizon, touching Agapito’s sleeve; he has watched intently for some time, and now advances.
AGAPITO.
News, news, Signore!
I did not tell you till these travellers
Were at our very gates.
CESARE.
[Shivering.] The dew comes down.
Mother, the cloak with ermine! ”

“ Until the beginning of last century masses were still being said in this church for the repose of her soul and that of her ill-starred son Juan Borgia, buried with her under one tombstone.
I may remark in passing that tradition by word of mouth lives long in the Eternal City, almost as long as in the countries of the East. Much of it may be gossip but there is always a vein of truth. The men who deal in books and pictures, following in the footsteps of remote ancestors, preserve many a curious and interesting fact which is not found in formal chronicles. ”

“ But all this pomp had no effect on the lady for whose sake it had been displayed; for when Dona Carlota was told that Caesar Borgia had come to France in the hope of becoming her husband, she replied simply that she would never take a priest for her husband, and, moreover, the son of a priest; a man who was not only an assassin, but a fratricide; not only a man of infamous birth, but still more infamous in his morals and his actions. ”

“ Father Pope Alexander Borgia ! What do you intend to do ? Would you murder my lover in cold blood ? " and again she looked through the glass socket. "Ha ! the executioner has seized his bloody axe, at the sound of the bell, and approaches Mercado ! O, fiend, devil ! prevent this hellish work from going on, or I will strike you dead at my feet ! "
Borgia laughed.
" Think you that I should not have time to ring the bell twice more before I die ? " he asked, with an undis- guised sneer. " You do not seem to realize the power of the man you are trifling with." ”

“ Every emperor has left some vestige of his power, and so has every pope. The yesterdays of Rome may be taken almost literally.
Numerous are the souvenirs of the Borgias. Of some of them I have spoken in other chapters, but all of them are interesting and valuable to the historian. Next to the Borgia apartments in the Vatican, mentioned elsewhere at some length, the one building richest in Borgia memorials is the famous Castel Sant' Angelo. Alexander, though he had not even a conscience in embryo, never ceased to dread the Roman populace. ”

“ When the night of the banquet arrived, the cunning Borgia managed to poison a flagon of rich wine, which she caused to be served out to the five nobles whose deaths she desired; and then she concealed herself, to await the consummation of her plan. ”

“ Did I ever restrain you, Antonio? As to Borgia, he will most probably remain a month at Forli. I left him as soon as the place capitulated; for I love him not, although my good cousin, King Louis, is so fond of him. Well, policy, like necessity, too often brings the base and the noble together. But, as the capitulation imported that the town would surrender, if not relieved, in three days, and I know that De Vitry is on his march with three thousand men, which will render relief impossible, I thought I might very well leave this good lord duke to watch the city by himself. ”