ing that the truth of the affair is not known to
anybody. His conclusions, however, particularly those given in cipher,
point to Cesare Borgia as the perpetrator of the deed, and hint at some
such motive of retaliation for an attempt upon his own life as that
which is given by the ambassador of Venice.

There is much mystery in the matter, despite Gregorovius's assertion
to the contrary--mystery which mere assertion will not dissipate. This
conclusion, however, it is fair to draw: if, on Capello's evidence,
we are to accept it that Cesare Borgia is responsible for the death of
Alfonso of Aragon, then, on the same evidence, we must accept the motive
as well as the deed. We must accept as equally exact his thrice-repeated
statement in letters to the Senate that the prince had planned Cesare's
death by posting crossbow-men to shoot him.(1)

1 It is extremely significant that Capello's Relazione contains no
mention of Alfonso's plot against Cesare's life, a matter which, as we
have seen, had figured so repeatedly in that ambassador's dispatches
from Rome at the time of the event. This omission is yet another proof
of the malicious spirit by which the "relation" was inspired. The
suppression of anything that might justify a deed attributed to Cesare
reveals how much defamation and detraction were the aims of this
Venetian.

Either we must accept all, or we must reject all, that Capello tells us.
If we reject all, then we are left utterly without information as to how
Alfonso of Aragon died. If we accept all, then we find that it was as
a measure of retaliation that Cesare compassed the death of
his brother-in-law, which made it not a murder, but a private
execution--justifiable under the circumstances of the provocation
received and as the adjustment of these affairs was understood in the
Cinquecento.

CHAPTER VI. RIMINI AND PESARO

In the autumn of 1500, fretting to take the field again, Cesare was
occupied in raising and equipping an army--an occupation which received
an added stimulus when, towards the end of August, Louis de Villeneuve,
the French ambassador, arrived in Rome with the articles of agreement
setting forth the terms upon which Louis XII was prepared further
to assist Cesare in the resumption of his campaign. In these it was
stipulated that, in return for such assistance, Cesare should engage
himself, on his side, to aid the King of France in the conquest of
Naples when the time for that