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"Moreover, since the rebellion and usurpation of Urbino have
occurred
during the above-mentioned misunderstandings, all the
confederates
aforesaid and each of them shall bind themselves to unite all
their
forces for the recovery of the estates aforesaid and of such
other
places as have revolted and been usurped.
"His Excellency the
Duke of Romagna shall undertake to continue to the
Orsini and Vitelli their
ancient engagements in the way of military
service and an the same
conditions.
"His Excellency promises further not to insist on the service
in person
of more than one of them, as they may choose: the service that
the
others may render shall be voluntary.
"He also promises that the
second treaty shall be ratified by the
sovereign pontiff, who shall not
compel Cardinal Orsino to reside in
Rome longer than shall seem convenient to
this prelate.
"Furthermore, since there are certain differences between
the Pope and
the lord Gian Bentivoglio, the confederates aforesaid agree that
they
shall be put to the arbitration of Cardinal Orsino, of His
Excellency
the Duke of Romagna, and of the lord Pandolfo Petrucci, without
appeal.
"Thus the confederates engage, each and all, so soon as they may
be
required by the Duke of Romagna, to put into his hands as a hostage
one
of the legitimate sons of each of them, in that place and at that
time
which he may be pleased to indicate.
"The same confederates
promising moreover, all and each, that if any
project directed against any
one of them come to their knowledge, to
give warning thereof, and all to
prevent such project reciprocally.
"It is agreed, over and above, between
the Duke of Romagna and the
confederates aforesaid, to regard as a common
enemy any who shall fail
to keep the present stipulations, and to unite in
the destruction of any
States not conforming thereto.
"(Signed)
CAESAR, PAOLO ORSINO.
"AGAPIT, Secretary."
At the same time, while
Orsino was carrying to the confederates the
treaty drawn up between him and
the duke, Bentivoglio, not willing to
submit to the arbitration indicated,
made an offer to Caesar of settling
their differences by a private treaty,
and sent his son to arrange the
conditions: after some parleying, they were
settled as follows:—
Bentivaglio should separate his fortunes from the
Vitelli and Orsini;
He should furnish the Duke of Valentinois with a
hundred men-at-arms and
a hundred mounted archers for eight years;
He
should pay 12,000 ducats per annum to Caesar, for the support of a
hundred
lances;
In return for this, his son Hannibal was to marry the sister of
the
Archbishop of Enna, who was Caesar’s niece, and the pope was
to
recognise his sovereignty in Bologna;
The King of France, the Duke
of Ferrara, and the republic of Florence
were to be the guarantors of this
treaty.
But the convention brought to the confederates by Orsino was the
cause
of great difficulties on their part. Vitellozza Vitelli in
particular,
who knew Caesar the best, never ceased to tell the other
condottieri
that so prompt and easy a peace must needs be the cover to some
trap;
but since Caesar had meanwhile collected a considerable army at
Imala,
and the four hundred lances lent him by Louis XII had arrived at
last,
Vitellozzo and Oliverotto decided to sign the treaty that
Orsino
brought, and to let the Duke of Urbino and the lord of Camerino know
of
it; they, seeing plainly that it was henceforth impassible to make
a
defence unaided, had retired, the one to Citta di Castello and the
other
into the kingdom of Naples.
But Caesar, saying nothing of his
intentions, started on the 10th of
December, and made his way to Cesena with
a powerful army once more
under his command. Fear began to spread on all
sides, not only in
Romagna but in the whole of Northern Italy; Florence,
seeing him move
away from her, only thought it a blind to conceal his
intentions; while
Venice, seeing him approach her frontiers, despatched all
her troops to
the banks of the Po. Caesar perceived their fear, and lest harm
should
be done to himself by the mistrust it might inspire, he sent away
all
French troops in his service as soon as he reached Cesena, except
a
hundred men with M. de Candale, his brother-in-law; it was then
seen
that he only had 2000 cavalry and 2000 infantry with him. Several
days
were spent in parleying, for at Cesena Caesar found the envoys of
the
Vitelli and Orsini, who themselves were with their army in the duchy
of
Urbino; but after the preliminary discussions as to the right course
to
follow in carrying on the plan of conquest, there arose
such
difficulties between the general-in-chief and these agents, that
they
could not but see the impossibility of getting anything settled
by
intermediaries, and the urgent necessity of a conference between
Caesar
and one of the chiefs. So Oliverotto ran the risk of joining the duke
in
order to make proposals to him, either to march an Tuscany or to
take
Sinigaglia, which was the only place in the duchy of Urbino that had
not
again fallen into Caesar’s power. Caesar’s reply was that he did
not
desire to war upon Tuscany, because the Tuscans were his friends;
but
that he approved of the lieutenants’ plan with regard to Sinigaglia,
and
therefore was marching towards Fano.
But the daughter of Frederic,
the former Duke of Urbino, who held the
town of Sinigaglia, and who was
called the lady-prefect, because she had
married Gian delta Rovere, whom his
uncle, Sixtus IV, had made prefect
of Rome, judging that it would be
impossible to defend herself against
the forces the Duke of Valentinais was
bringing, left the citadel in the
hands of a captain, recommending him to get
the best terms he could for
the town, and took boat for Venice.
Caesar
learned this news at Rimini, through a messenger from Vitelli and
the Orsini,
who said that the governor of the citadel, though refusing
to yield to them,
was quite ready to make terms with him, and
consequently they would engage to
go to the town and finish the business
there. Caesar’s reply was that in
consequence of this information he was
sending some of his troops to Cesena
and Imola, for they would be
useless to him, as he should now have theirs,
which together with the
escort he retained would be sufficient, since his
only object was the
complete pacification of the duchy of Urbino. He added
that this
pacification would not be possible if his old friends continued
to
distrust him, and to discuss through intermediaries alone plans in
which
their own fortunes were interested as well as his. The
messenger
returned with this answer, and the confederates, though feeling, it
is
true, the justice of Caesar’s remarks, none the less hesitated to
comply
with his demand. Vitellozzo Vitelli in particular showed a want
of
confidence in him which nothing seemed able to subdue; but, pressed
by
Oliverotto, Gravina, and Orsino, he consented at last to await
the
duke’s coming; making concession rather because he could not bear
to
appear more timid than his companions, than because of any confidence
he
felt in the return of friendship that Borgia was displaying.
The
duke learned the news of this decision, so much desired, when he
arrived at
Fano on the 20th of December 1502. At once he summoned eight
of his most
faithful friends, among whom were d’Enna, his nephew,
Michelotto, and Ugo di
Cardona, and ordered them, as soon as they
arrived at Sinigaglia, and had
seen Vitellozzo, Gravina, Oliveratta, and
Orsino come out to meet them, on a
pretext of doing them honour, to
place themselves on the right and left hand
of the four generals, two
beside each, so that at a given signal they might
either stab or arrest
them; next he assigned to each of them his particular
man, bidding them
not quit his side until he had reentered Sinigaglia and
arrived at the
quarters prepared far him; then he sent orders to such of the
soldiers
as were in cantonments in the neighbourhood to assemble to the
number of
8000 on the banks of the Metaurus, a little river of Umbria which
runs
into the Adriatic and has been made famous by the defeat of
Hannibal.
The duke arrived at the rendezvous given to his army on the
31st of
December, and instantly sent out in front two hundred horse,
and
immediately behind them his infantry; following close in the midst
of
his men-at-arms, following the coast of the Adriatic, with the
mountains
on his right and the sea on his left, which in part of the way left
only
space for the army to march ten abreast.
After four hours’ march,
the duke at a turn of the path perceived
Sinigaglia, nearly a mile distant
from the sea, and a bowshot from the
mountains; between the army and the town
ran a little river, whose banks
he had to follow far some distance. At last
he found a bridge opposite a
suburb of the town, and here Caesar ordered his
cavalry to stop: it was
drawn up in two lines, one between the road and the
river, the other on
the side of the country, leaving the whole width of the
road to the
infantry: which latter defiled, crossed the bridge, and entering
the
town, drew themselves up in battle array in the great square.
On
their side, Vitellazzo, Gravina, Orsino, and Oliverotto, to make room
for the
duke’s army, had quartered their soldiers in little towns or
villages in the
neighbourhood of Sinigaglia; Oliverotto alone had kept
nearly 1000 infantry
and 150 horse, who were in barracks in the suburb
through which the duke
entered.
Caesar had made only a few steps towards the town when he
perceived
Vitellozzo at the gate, with the Duke of Gravina and Orsina, who
all
came out to meet him; the last two quite gay and confident, but
the
first so gloomy and dejected that you would have thought he foresaw
the
fate that was in store for him; and doubtless he had not been
without
same presentiments; for when he left his army to came to Sinigaglia,
he
had bidden them farewell as though never to meet again, had
commended
the care of his family to the captains, and embraced his children
with
tears—a weakness which appeared strange to all who knew him as a
brave
condottiere.
The duke marched up to them holding out his hand,
as a sign that all was
over and forgotten, and did it with an air at once so
loyal and so
smiling that Gravina and Orsina could no longer doubt the
genuine return
of his friendship, and it was only Vitellozza still appeared
sad. At the
same moment, exactly as they had been commanded, the duke’s
accomplices
took their pasts on the right and left of those they were to
watch, who
were all there except Oliverotto, whom the duke could not see, and
began
to seek with uneasy looks; but as he crossed the suburb he perceived
him
exercising his troops on the square. Caesar at once
despatched
Michelotto and d’Enna, with a message that it was a rash thing to
have
his troops out, when they might easily start some quarrel with
the
duke’s men and bring about an affray: it would be much better to
settle
them in barracks and then come to join his companions, who were
with
Caesar. Oliverotto, drawn by the same fate as his friends, made
no
abjection, ordered his soldiers indoors, and put his horse to the
gallop
to join the duke, escorted on either side by d’Enna and
Michelotto.
Caesar, on seeing him, called him, took him by the hand, and
continued
his march to the palace that had been prepared for him, his four
victims
following after.
Arrived on the threshold, Caesar dismounted,
and signing to the leader
of the men-at-arms to, await his orders, he went in
first, followed by
Oliverotto, Gravina, Vitellozzo Vitelli, and Orsino, each
accompanied by
his two satellites; but scarcely had they gone upstairs and
into the
first room when the door was shut behind them, and Caesar turned
round,
saying, "The hour has come!" This was the signal agreed upon.
Instantly
the former confederates were seized, thrown down, and forced
to
surrender with a dagger at their throat. Then, while they were
being
carried to a dungeon, Caesar opened the window, went out on the
balcony
and cried out to the leader of his men-at-arms, "Go forward!" The
man
was in the secret, he rushed on with his band towards the barracks
where
Oliverotto’s soldiers had just been consigned, and they,
suddenly
surprised and off their guard, were at once made prisoners; then
the
duke’s troops began to pillage the town, and he summoned
Macchiavelli.
Caesar and the Florentine envoy were nearly two hours shut
up together,
and since Macchiavelli himself recounts the history of this
interview,
we will give his own words.
"He summoned me," says the
Florentine ambassador, "and in the calmest
manner showed me his joy at the
success of this enterprise, which he
assured me he had spoken of to me the
evening before; I remember that he
did, but I did not at that time understand
what he meant; next he
explained, in terms of much feeling and lively
affection for our city,
the different motives which had made him desire your
alliance, a desire
to which he hopes you will respond. He ended with charging
me to lay
three proposals before your lordships: first, that you rejoice with
him
in the destruction at a single blow of the mortal enemies of the
king,
himself, and you, and the consequent disappearance of all seeds
of
trouble and dissension likely to waste Italy: this service of
his,
together with his refusal to allow the prisoners to march against
you,
ought, he thinks, to excite your gratitude towards him; secondly,
he
begs that you will at this juncture give him a striking proof of
your
friendliness, by urging your cavalry’s advance towards Borgo, and
there
assembling some infantry also, in order that they may march with
him,
should need arise, on Castello or on Perugia. Lastly, he
desires—and
this is his third condition—that you arrest the Duke of Urbino,
if he
should flee from Castello into your territories, when he learns
that
Vitellozzo is a prisoner.
"When I objected that to give him up
would not beseem the dignity of the
republic, and that you would never
consent, he approved of my words, and
said that it would be enough for you to
keep the duke, and not give him
his liberty without His Excellency’s
permission. I have promised to give
you all this information, to which he
awaits your reply."
The same night eight masked men descended to the
dungeon where the
prisoners lay: they believed at that moment that the fatal
hour had
arrived for all. But this time the executioners had to do
with
Vitellozzo and Oliverotto alone. When these two captains heard that
they
were condemned, Oliverotto burst forth into reproaches
against
Vitellozzo, saying that it was all his fault that they had taken up
arms
against the duke: not a word Vitellozzo answered except a prayer
that
the pope might grant him plenary indulgence for all his sins. Then
the
masked men took them away, leaving Orsino and Gravina to await a
similar
fate, and led away the two chosen out to die to a secluded spot
outside
the ramparts of the town, where they were strangled and buried at
once
in two trenches that had been dug beforehand.
The two others were
kept alive until it should be known if the pope had
arrested Cardinal Orsino,
archbishop of Florence and lord of Santa
Croce; and when the answer was
received in the affirmative from His
Holiness, Gravina and Orsina, who had
been transferred to a castle, were
likewise strangled.
The duke,
leaving instructions with Michelotto, set off for Sinigaglia
as soon as the
first execution was over, assuring Macchiavelli that he
had never had any
other thought than that of giving tranquillity to the
Romagna and to Tuscany,
and also that he thought he had succeeded by
taking and putting to death the
men who had been the cause of all the
trouble; also that any other revolt
that might take place in the future
would be nothing but sparks that a drop
of water could extinguish.
The pope had barely learned that Caesar had
his enemies in his power,
when, eager to play the same winning game himself,
he announced to
Cardinal Orsino, though it was then midnight, that his son
had taken
Sinigaglia, and gave him an invitation to come the next morning and
talk
over the good news. The cardinal, delighted at this increase of
favour,
did not miss his appointment. So, in the morning, he started
an
horseback for the Vatican; but at a turn of the first street he met
the
governor of Rome with a detachment of cavalry, who congratulated
himself
on the happy chance that they were taking the same road, and
accompanied
him to the threshold of the Vatican. There the cardinal
dismounted, and
began to ascend the stairs; scarcely, however, had he reached
the first
landing before his mules and carriages were seized and shut in
the
palace stables. When he entered the hall of the Perropont, he found
that
he and all his suite were surrounded by armed men, who led him
into
another apartment, called the Vicar’s Hall, where he found the
Abbate
Alviano, the protonotary Orsino, Jacopo Santa Croce, and Rinaldo
Orsino,
who were all prisoners like himself; at the same time the
governor
received orders to seize the castle of Monte Giardino, which
belonged to
the Orsini, and take away all the jewels, all the hangings, all
the
furniture, and all the silver that he might find.
The governor
carried out his orders conscientiously, and brought to the
Vatican everything
he seized, down to the cardinal’s account-book. On
consulting this book, the
pope found out two things: first, that a sum
of 2000 ducats was due to the
cardinal, no debtor’s name being
mentioned; secondly, that the cardinal had
bought three months before,
for 1500 Roman crowns, a magnificent pearl which
could not be found
among the objects belonging to him: on which Alexander
ordered that from
that very moment until the negligence in the cardinal’s
accounts was
repaired, the men who were in the habit of bringing him food
twice a day
on behalf of his mother should not be admitted into the Castle
Sant’
Angelo. The same day, the cardinal’s mother sent the pope the
2000
ducats, and the next day his mistress, in man’s attire, came in
person
to bring the missing pearl. His Holiness, however, was so struck
with
her beauty in this costume, that, we are told, he let her keep the
pearl
for the same price she had paid for it.
Then the pope allowed
the cardinal to have his food brought as before,
and he died of poison on the
22nd of February—that is, two days after
his accounts had been set
right.
That same night the Prince of Squillace set off to take
possession, in
the pope’s name, of the lands of the
deceased.
CHAPTER XIV
The Duke of Valentinois had
continued, his road towards Citta di
Castello and Perugia, and had seized
these two towns without striking a
blow; for the Vitelli had fled from the
former, and the latter had been
abandoned by Gian Paolo Baglione with no
attempt whatever at resistance.
There still remained Siena, where Pandolfo
Petrucci was shut up, the
only man remaining of all who had joined the league
against Caesar.
But Siena was under the protection of the French.
Besides, Siena was not
one of the States of the Church, and Caesar had no
rights there.
Therefore he was content with insisting upon Pandolfo
Petrucci’s leaving
the town and retiring to Lucca, which he accordingly
did.
Then all on this side being peaceful and the whole of Romagna
in
subjection, Caesar resolved to return to Rome and help the pope
to
destroy all that was left of the Orsini.
This was all the easier
because Louis XII, having suffered reverses in
the kingdom of Naples, had
since then been much concerned with his own
affairs to disturb himself about
his allies. So Caesar, doing for the
neighbourhood of the Holy See the same
thing that he had done far the
Romagna, seized in succession Vicovaro, Cera,
Palombera, Lanzano, and
Cervetti; when these conquests were achieved, having
nothing else to do
now that he had brought the pontifical States into
subjection from the
frontiers of Naples to those of Venice, he returned to
Rome to concert
with his father as to the means of converting his duchy into
a kingdom.
Caesar arrived at the right moment to share with Alexander the
property
of Cardinal Gian Michele, who had just died, having received a
poisoned
cup from the hands of the pope.
The future King of Italy
found his father preoccupied with a grand
project: he had resolved, for the
Feast of St. Peter’s, to create nine
cardinals. What he had to gain from
these nominations is as follows:
First, the cardinals elected would leave
all their offices vacant; these
offices would fall into the hands of the
pope, and he would sell them;
Secondly, each of them would buy his
election, more or less dear
according to his fortune; the price, left to be
settled at the pope’s
fancy, would vary from 10,000 to 40,000
ducats;
Lastly, since as cardinals they would by law lose the right of
making a
will, the pope, in order to inherit from them, had only to poison
them:
this put him in the position of a butcher who, if he needs money,
has
only to cut the throat of the fattest sheep in the flock.
The
nomination came to pass: the new cardinals were Giovanni
Castellaro
Valentine, archbishop of Trani; Francesco Remolini, ambassador
from the
King of Aragon; Francesco Soderini, bishop of Volterra; Melchiore
Copis,
bishop of Brissina; Nicolas Fiesque, bishop of Frejus; Francesco
di
Sprate, bishop of Leome; Adriano Castellense, clerk of the
chamber,
treasurer-general, and secretary of the briefs; Francesco Boris,
bishop
of Elva, patriarch of Constantinople, and secretary to the pope;
and
Giacomo Casanova, protonotary and private chamberlain to His
Holiness.
The price of their simony paid and their vacated offices sold,
the pope
made his choice of those he was to poison: the number was fixed
at
three, one old and two new; the old one was Cardinal Casanova, and
the
new ones Melchiore Copis and Adriano Castellense, who had taken the
name
of Adrian of Carneta from that town where he had been born, and
where,
in the capacity of clerk of the chamber, treasurer-general,
and
secretary of briefs, he had amassed an immense fortune.
So, when
all was settled between Caesar and the pope, they invited their
chosen guests
to supper in a vineyard situated near the Vatican,
belonging to the Cardinal
of Corneto. In the morning of this day, the
2nd of August, they sent their
servants and the steward to make all
preparations, and Caesar himself gave
the pope’s butler two bottles of
wine prepared with the white powder
resembling sugar whose mortal
properties he had so often proved, and gave
orders that he was to serve
this wine only when he was told, and only to
persons specially
indicated; the butler accordingly put the wine an a
sideboard apart,
bidding the waiters on no account to touch it, as it was
reserved for
the pope’s drinking.
[The poison of the Borgias, say
contemporary writers, was of two kinds,
powder and liquid. The poison in the
form of powder was a sort of white
flour, almost impalpable, with the taste
of sugar, and called
Contarella. Its composition is unknown.
The
liquid poison was prepared, we are told in so strange a fashion that
we
cannot pass it by in silence. We repeat here what we read, and vouch
for
nothing ourselves, lest science should give us the lie.
A strong dose of
arsenic was administered to a boar; as soon as the
poison began to take
effect, he was hung up by his heels; convulsions
supervened, and a froth
deadly and abundant ran out from his jaws; it
was this froth, collected into
a silver vessel and transferred into a
bottle hermetically sealed, that made
the liquid poison.]
Towards evening Alexander VI walked from the Vatican
leaning on Caesar’s
arm, and turned his steps towards the vineyard,
accompanied by Cardinal
Caraffa; but as the heat was great and the climb
rather steep, the pope,
when he reached the top, stopped to take breath; then
putting his hand
on his breast, he found that he had left in his bedroom a
chain that he
always wore round his neck, which suspended a gold medallion
that
enclosed the sacred host. He owed this habit to a prophecy that
an
astrologer had made, that so long as he carried about a
consecrated
wafer, neither steel nor poison could take hold upon him. Now,
finding
himself without his talisman, he ordered Monsignors Caraffa to
hurry
back at once to the Vatican, and told him in which part of his room
he
had left it, so that he might get it and bring it him without
delay.
Then, as the walk had made him thirsty, he turned to a valet,
giving
signs with his hand as he did so that his messenger should make
haste,
and asked for something to drink. Caesar, who was also thirsty,
ordered
the man to bring two glasses. By a curious coincidence, the butler
had
just gone back to the Vatican to fetch some magnificent peaches that
had
been sent that very day to the pope, but which had been forgotten
when
he came here; so the valet went to the under butler, saying that
His
Holiness and Monsignors the Duke of Romagna were thirsty and asking
for
a drink. The under butler, seeing two bottles of wine set apart,
and
having heard that this wine was reserved for the pope, took one,
and
telling the valet to bring two glasses on a tray, poured out this
wine,
which both drank, little thinking that it was what they had
themselves
prepared to poison their guests.
Meanwhile Caraffa hurried
to the Vatican, and, as he knew the palace
well, went up to the pope’s
bedroom, a light in his hand and attended by
no servant. As he turned round a
corridor a puff of wind blew out his
lamp; still, as he knew the way, he went
on, thinking there was no need
of seeing to find the object he was in search
of; but as he entered the
room he recoiled a step, with a cry of terror: he
beheld a ghastly
apparition; it seemed that there before his eyes, in the
middle of the
room, between the door and the cabinet which held the
medallion,
Alexander VI, motionless and livid, was lying on a bier at whose
four
corners there burned four torches. The cardinal stood still for
a
moment, his eyes fixed, and his hair standing on end, without
strength
to move either backward or forward; then thinking it was all a trick
of
fancy or an apparition of the devil’s making, he made the sign of
the
cross, invoking God’s holy name; all instantly vanished, torches,
bier,
and corpse, and the seeming mortuary, chamber was once more in
darkness.
Then Cardinal Caraffa, who has himself recorded this strange
event, and
who was afterwards Pope Paul IV, entered baldly, and though an icy
sweat
ran dawn his brow, he went straight to the cabinet, and in the
drawer
indicated found the gold chain and the medallion, took them, and
hastily
went out to give them to the pope. He found supper served, the
guests
arrived, and His Holiness ready to take his place at table; as soon
as
the cardinal was in sight, His Holiness, who was very pale, made
one
step towards him; Caraffa doubled his pace, and handed the medallion
to
him; but as the pope stretched forth his arm to take it, he fell
back
with a cry, instantly followed by violent convulsions: an instant
later,
as he advanced to render his father assistance, Caesar was
similarly
seized; the effect of the poison had been more rapid than usual,
for
Caesar had doubled the dose, and there is little doubt that their
heated
condition increased its activity.
The two stricken men were
carried side by side to the Vatican, where
each was taken to his own rooms:
from that moment they never met again.
As soon as he reached his bed, the
pope was seized with a violent fever,
which did not give way to emetics or to
bleeding; almost immediately it
became necessary to administer the last
sacraments of the Church; but
his admirable bodily constitution, which seemed
to have defied old age,
was strong enough to fight eight days with death; at
last, after a week
of mortal agony, he died, without once uttering the name
of Caesar or
Lucrezia, who were the two poles around which had turned all
his
affections and all his crimes. His age was seventy-two, and he
had
reigned eleven years.
Caesar, perhaps because he had taken less of
the fatal beverage, perhaps
because the strength of his youth overcame the
strength of the poison,
or maybe, as some say, because when he reached his
own rooms he had
swallowed an antidote known only to himself, was not so
prostrated as to
lose sight for a moment of the terrible position he was in:
he summoned
his faithful Michelotto, with those he could best count on among
his
men, and disposed this band in the various rooms that led to his
own,
ordering the chief never to leave the foot of his bed, but to
sleep
lying on a rug, his hand upon the handle of his sward.
The
treatment had been the same for Caesar as for the pope, but in
addition to
bleeding and emetics strange baths were added, which Caesar
had himself asked
for, having heard that in a similar case they had once
cured Ladislaus, King
of Naples. Four posts, strongly welded to the
floor and ceiling, were set up
in his room, like the machines at which
farriers shoe horses; every day a
bull was brought in, turned over on
his back and tied by his four legs to the
four posts; then, when he was
thus fixed, a cut was made in his belly a foot
and a half long, through
which the intestines were drawn out; then Caesar
slipped into this
living bath of blood: when the bull was dead, Caesar was
taken out and
rolled up in burning hot blankets, where, after copious
perspirations,
he almost always felt some sort of relief.
Every two
hours Caesar sent to ask news of his father: he hardly waited
to hear that he
was dead before, though still at death’s door himself,
he summoned up all the
force of character and presence of mind that
naturally belonged to him. He
ordered Michelotto to shut the doors of
the Vatican before the report of
Alexander’s decease could spread about
the town, and forbade anyone
whatsoever to enter the pope’s apartments
until the money and papers had been
removed. Michelotto obeyed at once,
went to find Cardinal Casanova, held a
dagger at his throat, and made
him deliver up the keys of the pope’s rooms
and cabinets; then, under
his guidance, took away two chests full of gold,
which perhaps contained
100,000 Roman crowns in specie, several boxes full of
jewels, much
silver and many precious vases; all these were carried to
Caesar’s
chamber; the guards of the room were doubled; then the doors of
the
Vatican were once more thrown open, and the death of the pope
was
proclaimed.
Although the news was expected, it produced none the
less a terrible
effect in Rome; for although Caesar was still alive, his
condition left
everyone in suspense: had the mighty Duke of Romagna, the
powerful
condottiere who had taken thirty towns and fifteen fortresses in
five
years, been seated, sword in hand, upon his charger, nothing would
have
been uncertain of fluctuating even for a moment; far, as
Caesar
afterwards told Macchiavelli, his ambitious soul had provided for
all
things that could occur on the day of the pope’s death, except the
one
that he should be dying himself; but being nailed down to his
bed,
sweating off the effects the poison had wrought; so, though he had
kept
his power of thinking he could no longer act, but must needs wait
and
suffer the course of events, instead of marching on in front
and
controlling them.
Thus he was forced to regulate his actions no
longer by his own plans
but according to circumstances. His most bitter
enemies, who could press
him hardest, were the Orsini and the Colonnas: from
the one family he
had taken their blood, from the other their
goods.
So he addressed himself to those to whom he could return what he
had
taken, and opened negotiations with the Colonnas.
Meanwhile the
obsequies of the pope were going forward: the
vice-chancellor had sent out
orders to the highest among the clergy, the
superiors of convents, and the
secular orders, not to fail to appear,
according to regular custom, on pain
of being despoiled of their office
and dignities, each bringing his own
company to the Vatican, to be
present at the pope’s funeral; each therefore
appeared on the day and at
the hour appointed at the pontifical palace,
whence the body was to be
conveyed to the church of St. Peter’s, and there
buried. The corpse was
found to be abandoned and alone in the mortuary
chamber; for everyone of
the name of Borgia, except Caesar, lay hidden, not
knowing what might
come to pass. This was indeed well justified; for Fabio
Orsino, meeting
one member of the family, stabbed him, and as a sign of the
hatred they
had sworn to one another, bathed his mouth and hands in the
blood.
The agitation in Rome was so great, that when the corpse of
Alexander VI
was about to enter the church there occurred a kind of panic,
such as
will suddenly arise in times of popular agitation, instantly causing
so
great a disturbance in the funeral cortege that the guards drew up
in
battle array, the clergy fled into the sacristy, and the bearers
dropped
the bier.
The people, tearing off the pall which covered it,
disclosed the corpse,
and everyone could see with impunity and close at hand
the man who,
fifteen days before, had made princes, kings and emperors
tremble, from
one end of the world to the other.
But in accordance
with that religious feeling towards death which all
men instinctively feel,
and which alone survives every other, even in
the heart of the atheist, the
bier was taken up again and carried to the
foot of the great altar in St.
Peter’s, where, set on trestles, it was
exposed to public view; but the body
had become so black, so deformed
and swollen, that it was horrible to behold;
from its nose a bloody
matter escaped, the mouth gaped hideously, and the
tongue was so
monstrously enlarged that it filled the whole cavity; to this
frightful
appearance was added a decomposition so great that, although at
the
pope’s funeral it is customary to kiss the hand which bore
the
Fisherman’s ring, not one approached to offer this mark of respect
and
religious reverence to the representative of God on earth.
Towards
seven o’clock in the evening, when the declining day adds so
deep a
melancholy to the silence of a church, four porters and two
working
carpenters carried the corpse into the chapel where it was to be
interred,
and, lifting it off the catafalque, where it lay in state, put
it in the
coffin which was to be its last abode; but it was found that
the coffin was
too short, and the body could not be got in till the legs
were bent and
thrust in with violent blows; then the carpenters put on
the lid, and while
one of them sat on the top to force the knees to
bend, the others hammered in
the nails: amid those Shakespearian
pleasantries that sound as the last
orison in the ear of the mighty;
then, says Tommaso Tommasi, he was placed on
the right of the great
altar of St. Peter’s, beneath a very ugly
tomb.
The next morning this epitaph was found inscribed upon the
tomb:
"VENDIT ALEXANDER CLAVES, ALTARIA, CHRISTUM:
EMERAT
ILLE PRIUS, VENDERE JUKE POTEST";
that is,
"Pope Alexander
sold the Christ, the altars, and the keys:
But anyone who buys a thing
may sell it if he please."
CHAPTER XV
From the
effect produced at Rome by Alexander’s death, one may imagine
what happened
not only in the whole of Italy but also in the rest of the
world: for a
moment Europe swayed, for the column which supported the
vault of the
political edifice had given way, and the star with eyes of
flame and rays of
blood, round which all things had revolved for the
last eleven years, was now
extinguished, and for a moment the world, on
a sudden struck motionless,
remained in silence and darkness.
After the first moment of stupefaction,
all who had an injury to avenge
arose and hurried to the chase. Sforza retook
Pesaro, Bagloine Perugia,
Guido and Ubaldo Urbino, and La Rovere Sinigaglia;
the Vitelli entered
Citta di Castello, the Appiani Piombino, the Orsini Monte
Giordano and
their other territories; Romagna alone remained impassive and
loyal, for
the people, who have no concern with the quarrels of the great,
provided
they do not affect themselves, had never been so happy as under
the
government of Caesar.
The Colonnas were pledged to maintain a
neutrality, and had been
consequently restored to the possession of their
castles and the cities
of Chiuzano, Capo d’Anno, Frascati, Rocca di Papa, and
Nettuno, which
they found in a better condition than when they had left them,
as the
pope had had them embellished and fortified.
Caesar was still
in the Vatican with his troops, who, loyal to him in
his misfortune, kept
watch about the palace, where he was writhing on
his bed of pain and roaring
like a wounded lion. The cardinals, who had
in their first terror fled, each
his own way, instead of attending the
pope’s obsequies, began to assemble
once more, some at the Minerva,
others around Cardinal Caraffa. Frightened by
the troops that Caesar
still had, especially since the command was entrusted
to Michelotto,
they collected all the money they could to levy an army of
2000 soldiers
with. Charles Taneo at their head, with the title of Captain of
the
Sacred College. It was then hoped that peace was re-established, when
it
was heard that Prospero Colonna was coming with 3000 men from the
side
of Naples, and Fabio Orsino from the side of Viterbo with 200 horse
and
more than 1000 infantry. Indeed, they entered Rome at only one
day’s
interval one from another, by so similar an ardour were they
inspired.
Thus there were five armies in Rome: Caesar’s army, holding the
Vatican
and the Borgo; the army of the Bishop of Nicastro, who had received
from
Alexander the guardianship of the Castle Sant’ Angelo and had
shut
himself up there, refusing to yield; the army of the Sacred
College,
which was stationed round about the Minerva; the army of
Prospero
Colonna, which was encamped at the Capitol; and the army of
Fabio
Orsino, in barracks at the Ripetta.
On their side, the Spaniards
had advanced to Terracino, and the French
to Nepi. The cardinals saw that
Rome now stood upon a mine which the
least spark might cause to explode: they
summoned the ambassadors of the
Emperor of Germany, the Kings of France and
Spain, and the republic of
Venice to raise their voice in the name of their
masters. The
ambassadors, impressed with the urgency of the situation, began
by
declaring the Sacred College inviolable: they then ordered the
Orsini,
the Colonnas, and the Duke of Valentinois to leave Rome and go each
his
own, way.
The Orsini were the first to submit: the next morning
their example was
followed by the Colonnas. No one was left but Caesar, who
said he was
willing to go, but desired to make his conditions beforehand:
the
Vatican was undermined, he declared, and if his demands were refused
he
and those who came to take him should be blown up together.
It was
known that his were never empty threats they came to terms
with
him.
[Caesar promised to remain ten miles away from Rome the
whole time the
Conclave lasted, and not to take any action against the town
or any
other of the Ecclesiastical States: Fabio Orsino and. Prospero
Colonna
had made the same promises.]
[It was agreed that Caesar should
quit Rome with his army, artillery,
and baggage; and to ensure his not being
attacked or molested in the
streets, the Sacred College should add to his
numbers 400 infantry, who,
in case of attack or insult, would fight for him.
The Venetian
ambassador answered for the Orsini, the Spanish ambassador for
the
Colonnas, the ambassador of France for Caesar.]
At the day and
hour appointed Caesar sent out his artillery, which
consisted of eighteen
pieces of cannon, and 400 infantry of the Sacred
College, on each of whom he
bestowed a ducat: behind the artillery came
a hundred chariots escorted by
his advance guard.
The duke was carried out of the gate of the Vatican:
he lay on a bed
covered with a scarlet canopy, supported by twelve
halberdiers, leaning
forward on his cushions so that no one might see his
face with its
purple lips and bloodshot eyes: beside him was his naked sword,
to show
that, feeble as he was, he could use it at need: his finest
charger,
caparisoned in black velvet embroidered with his arms, walked beside
the
bed, led by a page, so that Caesar could mount in case of surprise
or
attack: before him and behind, both right and left, marched his
army,
their arms in rest, but without beating of drums or blowing of
trumpets:
this gave a sombre, funereal air to the whole procession, which at
the
gate of the city met Prospero Colonna awaiting it with a
considerable
band of men.
Caesar thought at first that, breaking his
word as he had so often done
himself, Prospero Colonna was going to attack
him. He ordered a halt,
and prepared to mount his horse; but Prospera
Colonna, seeing the state
he was in, advanced to his bedside alone: he came,
against expectation,
to offer him an escort, fearing an ambuscade on the part
of Fabio
Orsino, who had loudly sworn that he would lose his honour or avenge
the
death of Paolo Orsina, his father. Caesar thanked Colanna, and
replied
that from the moment that Orsini stood alone he ceased to fear him.
Then
Colonna saluted the duke, and rejoined his men, directing them
towards
Albano, while Caesar took the road to Citta Castellana, which
had
remained loyal.
When there, Caesar found himself not only master
of his own fate but of
others as well: of the twenty-two votes he owned in
the Sacred College
twelve had remained faithful, and as the Conclave was
composed in all of
thirty-seven cardinals, he with his twelve votes could
make the majority
incline to whichever side he chose. Accordingly he was
courted both by
the Spanish and the French party, each desiring the election
of a pope
of their own nation. Caesar listened, promising nothing and
refusing
nothing: he gave his twelve votes to Francesco Piccolomini, Cardinal
of
Siena, one of his father’s creatures who had remained his friend,
and
the latter was elected on the 8th of October and took the name of
Pius
III.
Caesar’s hopes did not deceive him: Pius III was hardly
elected before
he sent him a safe-conduct to Rome: the duke came back with
250
men-at-arms, 250 light horse, and 800 infantry, and lodged in
his
palace, the soldiers camping round about.
Meanwhile the Orsini,
pursuing their projects of vengeance against
Caesar, had been levying many
troops at Perugia and the neighbourhood to
bring against him to Rome, and as
they fancied that France, in whose
service they were engaged, was humouring
the duke for the sake of the
twelve votes which were wanted to secure the
election of Cardinal
Amboise at the next Conclave, they went over to the
service of Spain.
Meanwhile Caesar was signing a new treaty with Louis
XII, by which he
engaged to support him with all his forces, and even with
his person, so
soon as he could ride, in maintaining his conquest of Naples:
Louis, on
his side, guaranteed that he should retain possession of the States
he
still held, and promised his help in recovering those he had
lost.
The day when this treaty was made known, Gonzalvo di Cordovo
proclaimed
to the sound of a trumpet in all the streets of Rome that every
Spanish
subject serving in a foreign army was at once to break his engagement
on
pain of being found guilty of high treason.
This measure robbed
Caesar of ten or twelve of his best officers and of
nearly 300
men.
Then the Orsini, seeing his army thus reduced, entered Rome,
supported
by the Spanish ambassador, and summoned Caesar to appear before the
pope
and the Sacred College and give an account of his
crimes.
Faithful to his engagements, Pius III replied that in his quality
of
sovereign prince the duke in his temporal administration was
quite
independent and was answerable for his actions to God alone.
But
as the pope felt he could not much longer support Caesar against his
enemies
for all his goodwill, he advised him to try to join the French
army, which
was still advancing on Naples, in the midst of which he
would alone find
safety. Caesar resolved to retire to Bracciano, where
Gian Giordano Orsino,
who had once gone with him to France, and who was
the only member of the
family who had not declared against him, offered
him an asylum in the name of
Cardinal dumbest: so one morning he ordered
his troops to march for this
town, and, taking his place in their midst,
he left Rome.
But though
Caesar had kept his intentions quiet, the Orsini had been
forewarned, and,
taking out all the troops they had by the gate of San
Pancracio, they had
made along detour and blocked Caesar’s way; so, when
the latter arrived at
Storta, he found the Orsini’s army drawn up
awaiting him in numbers exceeding
his own by at least one-half.
Caesar saw that to come to blows in his
then feeble state was to rush on
certain destruction; so he ordered his
troops to retire, and, being a
first-rate strategist, echelonned his retreat
so skilfully that his
enemies, though they followed, dared not attack him,
and he re-entered
the pontifical town without the loss of a single
man.
This time Caesar went straight to the Vatican, to put himself
more
directly under the pope’s protection; he distributed his soldiers
about
the palace, so as to guard all its exits. Now the Orsini, resolved
to
make an end of Caesar, had determined to attack him wheresoever he
might
be, with no regard to the sanctity of the place: this they
attempted,
but without success, as Caesar’s men kept a good guard on every
side,
and offered a strong defence.
Then the Orsini, not being able to
force the guard of the Castle Sant’
Angelo, hoped to succeed better with the
duke by leaving Rome and then
returning by the Torione gate; but Caesar
anticipated this move, and
they found the gate guarded and barricaded. None
the less, they pursued
their design, seeking by open violence the vengeance
that they had hoped
to obtain by craft; and, having surprised the approaches
to the gate,
set fire to it: a passage gained, they made their way into the
gardens
of the castle, where they found Caesar awaiting them at the head of
his
cavalry.
Face to face with danger, the duke had found his old
strength: and he
was the first to rush upon his enemies, loudly challenging
Orsino in the
hope of killing him should they meet; but either Orsino did not
hear him
or dared not fight; and after an exciting contest, Caesar, who
was
numerically two-thirds weaker than his enemy, saw his cavalry cut
to
pieces; and after performing miracles of personal strength and
courage,
was obliged to return to the Vatican. There he found the pope in
mortal
agony: the Orsini, tired of contending against the old man’s word
of
honour pledged to the duke, had by the interposition of
Pandolfo
Petrucci, gained the ear of the pope’s surgeon, who placed a
poisoned
plaster upon a wound in his leg.
The pope then was actually
dying when Caesar, covered with dust and
blood, entered his room, pursued by
his enemies, who knew no check till
they reached the palace walls, behind
which the remnant of his army
still held their ground.
Pius III, who
knew he was about to die, sat up in his bed, gave Caesar
the key of the
corridor which led to the Castle of Sant’ Angelo, and an
order addressed to
the governor to admit him and his family, to defend
him to the last
extremity, and to let him go wherever he thought fit; and then fell fainting on
his bed. |
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