gia . . . In 1500, at Fossombrone
Bartolomeo Martini. . . In 1500, at Rome
John Morton. . . . In 1500, in England
Battista Zeno. . . . In 1501, at Rome
Juan Lopez . . . . In 1501, at Rome
Gianbattista Ferrari . . In 1502, at Rome
Hurtado de Mendoza. . . In 1502, in Spain
Gianbattista Orsini. . . In 1503, at Rome
Giovanni Michieli. . . In 1503, at Rome
Giovanni Borgia (Seniore). . In 1503, at Rome
Federico Casimir . . . In 1503, in Poland

Now, search as you will, not only such contemporary records as diaries,
chronicles, and dispatches from ambassadors in Rome during that period
of eleven years but also subsequent writings compiled from them, and you
shall find no breath of scandal attaching to the death of seventeen of
those cardinals, no suggestion that they died other than natural deaths.

Four remain: Cardinals Giovanni Borgia (Giuniore), Gianbattista Ferrari
(Cardinal of Modena), Gianbattista Orsini, and Giovanni Michieli, all of
whom the Pope and Cesare have, more or less persistently, been accused
of poisoning.

Giovanni Borgia's death at Fossombrone has been dealt with at length
in its proper place, and it has been shown how utterly malicious and
groundless was the accusation.

Giovanni Michieli's is the case that has just been reviewed, and
touching which you may form your own conclusions.

Gianbattista Orsini's also has been examined. It rests upon rumour; but
even if that rumour be true, it is unfair to consider the deed in any
but the light of a political execution.

There remains the case of the Cardinal of Modena, a man who had amassed
enormous wealth in the most questionable manner, and who was universally
execrated. The epigrams upon his death, in the form of epitaphs, dealt
most terribly with "his ignominious memory"--as Burchard has it. Of
these the Master of Ceremonies collected upwards of a score, which he
gives in his Diarium. Let one suffice here as a fair example of the
rest, the one that has it that the earth has the cardinal's body, the
bull (i.e. the Borgia) his wealth, and hell his soul.

"Hac Janus Baptista jacet Ferrarius urna,
Terra habuit corpus, Bos bona, Styx animam."

The only absolutely contemporary suggestion of his having been poisoned
emanated from the pen of that same Giustiniani. He wrote to the Venetian