y owing to the sudden death of his
father, and the illness with which he was himself attacked. Whoever,
therefore, would secure himself in a new principality against the
attempts of enemies, and finds it necessary to gain friends; to surmount
obstacles by force of cunning; to make himself beloved and feared by the
people, respected and obeyed by the soldiery; to destroy all those who
can or may oppose his designs; to promulgate new laws in substitution of
old ones; to be severe, indulgent, magnanimous, and liberal; to disband
an army on which he cannot rely, and raise another in its stead; to
preserve the friendship of kings and princes, so that they may be ever
prompt to oblige and fearful to offend--such a one, I say, cannot have
a better or more recent model for his imitation than is afforded by the
conduct of Borgia.

One thing blamable in his actions occurred on the election of Julius II
to the pontificate. He could not nominate the prelate whom he wished,
but he had it in his power to exclude anyone whom he disliked. He ought
therefore never to have consented to the election of one of those
cardinals whom he had formerly injured, and who might have reason to fear
him after his election; for mankind injure others from motives either
of hatred or fear. Among others whom he had injured were St. Peter ad
Vincula Colonna, St. George, and Ascanius. All the other candidates for
the pontificate had cause to fear him except the Cardinal of Rouen
and the Spanish cardinals--the latter were united to him by family
connections--and the Cardinal d'Amboise, who was too powerfully supported
by France to have reason to fear him.

The Duke ought by all means to have procured the election of a Spaniard,
or, in case of failure, should have consented to the proposal of the
Archbishop of Rouen, but on no account to the nomination of St. Peter ad
Vincula. It is an error to think that new obligations will extinguish
the memory of former injuries in the minds of great men. The Duke
therefore in this election committed a fault which proved the occasion
of his utter ruin[2].

[Footnote 1: On August 18, 1503, he and his father drank, by mistake, a
poison which they had presumably prepared for one of their guests. The
father died, and Borgia's life was for a time in extreme danger.]

[Footnote:2 Within thirteen months he lost all his sovereignties, and was
imprisoned, but escaped to Spain, where he was killed in the attack on
Viana in 150