n she goes to Ferrara, that she has '_il naso profilato e bello,
li capelli aurei, gli occhi bianchi, la bocea alquanto grande con li
denti candiaissimi._' Literature will portray this sweet-faced little
blond girl as a Messalina, a poisoner, and incestuous with her brothers
and her father. At this time Lucrezia had just married Giovanni Sforza,
although as a matter of fact the two never lived together. Giovanni
Sforza is the little young man who appears there in the back of the
picture riding a spirited horse. Sforza wears his hair like a woman, and
has a broad-brimmed hat and a red mantle. A little later Caesar Borgia
will try several times to assassinate him."

"What for?" asked Caesar.

"No doubt he found him in the way. The man who is in the foreground,
next to the Emperor's throne, is Andrew Paleologos," Kennedy continued.
"He is the one wearing a pale purple cloak and looking so melancholy. It
used to be supposed that he was Giovanni Borgia. Now they say that it is
Paleologos, whom the death of the Emperor Constantine XIII, about this
time, had caused to lose the crown of Byzance.

"Here at the right, riding a Barbary horse, is Prince Djem, second son
of Muhammad II, whom Alexander VI kept as a hostage. Djem, as you see,
has an expressive face, a prominent nose, lively eyes, a long pointed
beard, a shock of hair, and a big turban. He rides Moorish fashion, with
his stirrups very short, and wears a curved cutlass in his belt. He is a
great friend of Caesar Borgia's, which does not prevent Caesar and his
father, according to public rumour, from poisoning him at a farewell
banquet in Capua. And here is Giovanni Sforza again, on foot. Are those
two children the younger sons of Alexander VI? Or are they Lucrezia and
Caesar again? I don't know. Behind Paleologos are the Pope's domestic
retainers, and among them Pinturicchio himself."

_THE LIFE OF CAESAR BORGIA_

After explaining the picture in detail, Kennedy went into the next room,
followed by Caesar. This is called the Hall of the Liberal Arts, and is
adorned with a large marble mantel.

"Is there no portrait here of Caesar Borgia?" asked Caesar.

"No. Here I have a photograph of the one by Giorgione," said Kennedy,
showing a postal card.

"What sort of man was he? What did he do?"

Kennedy seated himself on a bench near the window and Caesar sat beside
him.

"Caesar Borgia," said Kennedy, "came to Rome from the university of
Pisa, approximately at the