appear ever to
have troubled the Cinquecentist.

It was now said that Troche was enraged at having been omitted from the
list of cardinals to be created at the forthcoming Consistory. It is
all mystery, even to the end he made; for, whereas some said that, after
being seized on board a ship that was bound for Corsica, Troche in his
despair threw himself overboard and was drowned, others reported that he
was brought back to Rome and strangled in a prison in Trastevere.

The following questions crave answer:

If it was Troche's design to betray such a treachery of the Borgias
against France, what was he doing on board a vessel bound for Corsica
a fortnight after his flight from Rome? Would not his proper goal have
been the French camp in Naples, which he could have reached in a quarter
of that time, and where not only could he have vented his desire for
vengeance by betraying Alexander and Valentinois, but he could further
have found complete protection from pursuit?

It is idle and unprofitable to dwell further upon the end of Francesco
Troche. The matter is a complete mystery, and whilst theory is very well
as theory, it is dangerous to cause it to fill the place of fact.

Troche was drowned or was strangled as a consequence of his having fled
out of motives that were "against the honour of the King of France." And
straightway the rumour spread of Valentinois's intended treachery, and
the rumour was kept alive and swelled by Venice and Florence in pursuit
of their never-ceasing policy of discrediting Cesare with King Louis, to
the end that they might encompass his expedient ruin.

The lie was given to them to no small extent by the Pope, when, in
the Consistory of July 28, he announced Cesare's departure to join the
French army in Naples with five hundred horse and two thousand foot
assembled for the purpose.

For this Cesare made now his preparations, and on the eve of departure
he went with his father--on the evening of August 5--to sup at the villa
of Cardinal Adriano Corneto, outside Rome.

Once before we have seen him supping at a villa of the Suburra on the
eve of setting out for Naples, and we know the tragedy that followed--a
tragedy which he has been accused of having brought about. Here again,
in a villa of the Suburra, at a supper on the eve of setting out for
Naples, Death was the unseen guest.

They stayed late at the vineyard of Cardinal Corneto, enjoying
the treacherous cool of the evening, bre