Lucrezia Borgia

“ Donna Lucrezia Borgia d’Aragon, with Donna Vanozza de’ Catanei, comes up the church-steps from the back. They are in mourning. The Spanish Gentlemen of Cesare’s train approach. Instinctively Lucrezia lets her veil fall aside. Groups stand round her, admiringly.
LUCREZIA.
Behold! ”

“ There are a great number of books dealing with her personality, but little real information. Few personal friends reveal more of themselves than Margaret D’Angoulême, Anne of Brittany, or Beatrice D’Este. What is evasive about them is pleasantly evasive, since every woman should retain a little that is inexplicable. But Lucrezia Borgia evades altogether. There is nothing, from beginning to end, comprehensible to seize upon. All the facts of her life are ascertainable, but never a word concerning the temperament that to a certain extent gave life to them. ”

“ You will readily guess that I did not relate my adventures at the Aldobrandi palace; the Marquise was too prudish, and Don Ottavio too much taken up with politics to be a useful adviser in a love affair. But I went to my artist friend, who knew Rome from end to end, and asked him what he thought of it.
"I think you have seen the ghost of Lucrezia Borgia," he said. "What a danger you have run into! She was dangerous enough when she was alive; imagine how much more she must be now she is dead! ”

“ Lucrezia Borgia’s story has been told elsewhere; her rehabilitation has been undertaken by a great historian (1) among others, and all serious-minded students must be satisfied at this time of day that the Lucrezia Borgia of Hugo’s tragedy is a creature of fiction, bearing little or no resemblance to the poor lady who was a pawn in the ambitious game played by her father and her brother Cesare, before she withdrew to Ferrara, where eventually she died in child-birth in her forty-first year. ”

“ These are the dangerous ones, and of this type is Victor Hugo’s famous tragedy Lucrezia Borgia, a work to which perhaps more than to any other (not excepting Les Borgias in Crimes Célèbres of Alexandre Dumas) is due the popular conception that prevails to-day of Cesare Borgia’s sister.
It is questionable whether anything has ever flowed from a distinguished pen in which so many licences have been taken with the history of individuals and of an epoch; in which there is so rich a crop of crude, transpontine absurdities and flagrant, impossible anachronisms. ”

“ We saw also an autograph letter of Lucrezia Borgia, a lady for whom I have always entertained the highest respect, on account of her rare histrionic capabilities, her opulence in solid gold goblets made of gilded wood, her high distinction as an operatic screamer, and the facility with which she could order a sextuple funeral and get the corpses ready for it. ”

“ In the midst of his domestic cares he still found time to cultivate literature, and he composed several lyric pieces; among others, a Latin epithalamium on the marriage of Alfonso d’Este, son of the reigning Duke of Ferrara, with the infamous Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI. Ariosto was then but a young man, and probably little acquainted with the political and domestic history of the Borgias; the praises therefore which he bestows on Lucrezia, not merely for her beauty, but for her moral qualities, ought not to be too severely criticised ”

“ The whole world shares the fate of Lucrezia Borgia, who, though she seems on investigation to have been quite a suitable wife for a modern British Bishop, has been invested by the popular historical imagination with all the extravagances of a Messalina or a Cenci. ”

“ That loves her mortal, and can let him die,
Her fit of doting ended.
LUCREZIA.
Will you quarrel?
[The Pope’s voice is heard calling through the halls.
{71} ALEXANDER.
Where is she?
Lucrezia, Lucrezia! My little nurse!
Lucrezia! [He enters.
LUCREZIA.
[Rising with Alfonso.] We are here, dear father.
ALEXANDER.
Ha!
Feast of S. John, is this austerity?
Skinning cool peaches in a vestibule?
You should have seen the bull-fight, my fair Spaniard.
Cesare....
But he is Hercules! There, in his doublet,
With his short sword he faced five bulls. ”

“ Lucrezia’s reputation was unspeakable.
The charge of incest was among others laid against her. It has been repeated by Machiavelli, Guicciardini, and the poets Sanozzo and Pontanus. Nevertheless, nobody now believes it. Neither Alexander nor Cæsar’s conduct makes it supposable. Secondly, all those who spread it had either personal animosity against the Borgias or repeated it solely from hearsay. The two poets, besides, were friends and subjects of the house of Aragon, and in Naples, after the murder of Alphonso, the word “Borgia” stood for abomination. ”

“ In order to cement his alliance with Naples, he married Lucrezia to Alphonso of Aragon, duke of Bisceglie, a handsome youth of eighteen, related to the Neapolitan king. But he too realized the fickleness of the Borgias’ favour when Alexander backed up Louis XII. of France in the latter’s schemes for the conquest of Naples. Bisceglie fled from Rome, fearing for his life, and the pope sent Lucrezia to receive the homage of the city of Spoleto as governor. On her return to Rome in 1499, her husband, who really loved her, was induced to join her once more. ”

“ This was 'Lucrezia Borgia' (composed for Milan in 1834 [App. p.617 "1833"] ) ; of which the 'run' was cut short by Victor Hugo, who, as author of the tragedy on which the libretto is founded, forbad the representations. 'Lucrezia Borgia' became, at the Italian Opera of Paris, 'La Rinegata'—the Italians of Alexander the Sixth's Court being changed into Turks. 'Lucrezia' may be ranked with 'Lucia' and 'La Favorita' among the most successful of Donizetti's operas. 'Lucia' contains some of the most beautiful melodies in the sentimental style that its composer has ever produced ”

“ This may be an opportunity for a word on the eyes of Lucrezia Borgia, taken from the distichs of a Ferrarese court-poet, Ercole Strozza (Strozzii Poetae, fol. 85-88) . The power of her glance is described in a manner only explicable in an artistic age, and which would not now be permitted. Sometimes it turns the beholder to fire, sometimes to stone. He who looks long at the sun, becomes blind ”

“ SANCIA.
Ay, Alfonso! He is murdered.
I will be heard! [She beats on the door.
Lucrece, Lucrece! She could divorce one husband:
Oh, she can sever!... Cold as death her eyes
Beat on me. O Lucrezia, do you hear? [She mutters.
They are murdering my brother—he is murdered.
Now all is gone to silence.... [She sinks down in her sobs.
{77} CESARE.
[To Lucrezia.] Star, you fade! ”

“ He was one of the wits and scholars who formed the brilliant court of Lucrezia Borgia after she319 became Duchess of Ferrara. But one June night the poet was found dead, pierced with twenty-two wounds, and as no judicial enquiry was made, rumour accused both the Duke and the Duchess of the deed. Alfonso, out of jealousy of his wife, whose praises Ercole sang in impassioned verses; Lucrezia, because her poet had recently married Barbara, widow of Ercole Bentivoglio. ”

“ He appears to be sleeping, except that now and again he slowly rolls from hand to hand a gold ball of perfumes. His Spanish page Juanito Grasica is asleep. Behind the couch, across a table, the great ceremonial sword lies naked, and near it is a new purchase, the sleeping Cupid with broken foot of Messer Buonarotti.
Donna Lucrezia Borgia enters with Donna Adriana Orsini, whose hand she clasps: she looses it, and, after a moment’s pause, comes to her brother.
LUCREZIA.
Madonna Adriana brought me here ”

“ In the course of conversation, Cæsar stated that the order to assassinate her husband had already been given. It sounds incredible, but then the whole Borgia history has the same quality of impossible melodrama. The moment he had gone Lucrezia rushed to the curtains: the man must go at once and save his master. Twenty-four hours later Giovanni Sforza reached Pesaro. His horse fell dead as he arrived.
Gregorovius states that Lucrezia was not [Pg 167] agreeable to the divorce. It fits in pleasantly with one’s conception of her to believe that this was true. ”

“ The next time I was at the Vatican I dropped into the Sala Borgia, and took a good look at the charming portrait of Lucrezia Borgia, by Pinturicchio, filled with a realizing sense that the Rome of{201} the Borgias was not so far away from my Rome as I had formerly supposed.
It is hard for us to realize the deadly significance to an Italian of the suggestion that one may have the evil eye. I was walking one day with a young American girl to whom I had been unfolding some of the tragedies I have known connected with the superstition. ”

“ How strange!
I feel as I should never grow a woman
Save at Ferrara, miles away from Rome.
Alfonso does not love me—every day
Humiliates my humbler race, is fearful
I shall be found in nature sinister
And fatal.... But I am not so, and therefore
He cannot find that I am anything
But just his young Lucrece, he soon will love,
As creatures sent for gifts, if they are gentle,
Are cherished in reception.... Oh!
A masked figure glides in behind and she suddenly hears a voice.
VOICE.
Amanda!
LUCREZIA.
[To herself.] Castelian!... One, one voice....
CESARE.
Amanda? ”

“ On glancing at the paper I saw that the opera for the night was "Lucrezia Borgia;" and this name gave me a renewed sensation of horror. The lady of the sepulchre had taken in my imagination the semblance of Ferrara's Duchess, and the memory of the terrible daughter of Pope Alexander seemed never to leave me. She had come from the graveyard, she had supped in the fatal chamber, she had murdered her lover ”

“ Alexander, Cesare, and Lucrezia, among others of the Borgia family, bear their share of the formidable accusations. Of the Pope are related perfidies, simonies, and ravishments; against Lucrezia are urged the matter of her incest, the supper of the fifty courtesans, and the scene of the stallions; against Cesare there are the death of Biselli, the murder of Pedro Caldes, the ruin of the Romagna, whence he has driven out the legitimate lords, and the universal fear in which he is held. ”

“ Nothing could well be more different from the fiendish Lucrezia Borgia of the drama and the opera than the historical Duchess of Ferrara. Cæsar, however, continued his infamous career of simony, extortion, and treachery, and by the end of 1502 had rounded out his possessions by the capture of Camerino and Sinigaglia. In October of that year the Orsini conspired with his generals to destroy him. With coolness and skill Cæsar decoyed the conspirators into his power and put them to death. The Pope followed up the blow by proceeding against the Orsini with greater success than formerly. ”

“ Nor would Ercole send the escort to Rome for the bride until he had in his hands the Bull of investiture in the fiefs of Cento and Pieve, which, with 100,000 ducats, constituted Lucrezia’s dowry. Altogether a most unromantic affair. ”

“ CESARE.
Let her keep
Her dule ’mid dead volcanoes!
[He catches up the child, tosses it, and tumbles it on a couch against a large piombo cat.
ALEXANDER.
[As if watching.] ... Figliuolo,
Luck is your Guardian Angel! Have you thought
Romagna needs protection against Venice,
Romagna that so soon will be your own?
The Estes of Ferrara ... could we mate
Lucrezia with the princely house! Ah, then, to northward
You were impregnable. The heir is named
Alfonso.... To a woman there is matter
Of comfort in a name. ”

“ The mother of the Infant of Rome must have been a woman who had extended her favors to both the Borgia, the pope and his son Cesare. This circumstance alone eliminates Julia Farnese as the possible mother of the boy. It has also been maintained that the pope in providing two putative fathers for the boy merely sought to shield his daughter Lucrezia, who gave birth to an illegitimate male child in the time between the annulment of one marriage and her entry into another. ”

“ The Princess Sancia.
VANOZZA.
I salute the Princess.
{38} DJEM.
[Advancing to Lucrezia.] And I—
[They bow. As Lucrezia turns from her mother the Spaniards engage her in talk. Cesare stands a little aloof, his eyes on his mother.
DJEM.
[Returning to him.] Don Cesar, but you comprehend
This pearl is for the merchant-men and not
For any private owner in the world:
She must not walk with mothers.
CESARE.
[Absently.] Then convert her!
You can convert a woman in a trice
To any worship, if you worship her.
DJEM.
[Returning to Lucrezia.] ”

“ The tyrant of Bologna, who owed his escape from Cæsar wholly to the protection of the French, spared nothing to honor his enemy's sister. Accompanied by several hundred riders, he led her in triumph through the city, where the arms of the Borgias, of Cæsar, the Pope, and Lucretia, and those of France, and of the Este met her eye on every side. The proud matron Ginevra, surrounded by a large number of noble ladies, received Lucretia at the portals of her magnificent palace. How this famous [Pg 236] woman, the aunt of Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro, must in her soul have hated this Borgia! ”

“ Not loosing a moment of time, I obtained the poignard containing the antidote, and with it struck deep into her white forearm, and whych she held for me withoute flinching untill the blood flowed, and by this meanes was her life, attempted by His Holiness the lord Alexander P.P. VI., given back unto her.
“Twyce myself was I envenomed by the Duke Cesare (accursed be his memory for ever) , and twice was I able to counteract the poison with the antydote that my ladie Lucrezia had given me. The Borgia poison lurked in everything. A flower could be so impregnated that its perfume was rendered fatal ”