he pope had the corpse of Virginio sent to Carlo Orsini and
Vitellozzo Vitelli, as he could not send him alive. By a strange
fatality the prisoner had died, eight days before the treaty was signed,
of the same malady--at least, if we may judge by analogy--that had
carried off Bajazet's brother.

As soon as the peace was signed, Prospero Calonna and Gonzalvo de
Cordova, whom the Pope had demanded from Frederic, arrived at Rome with
an army of Spanish and Neapolitan troops. Alexander, as he could not
utilise these against the Orsini, set them the work of recapturing Ostia,
not desiring to incur the reproach of bringing them to Rome far nothing.
Gonzalvo was rewarded for this feat by receiving the Rose of Gold from
the pope's hand--that being the highest honour His Holiness can grant.
He shared this distinction with the Emperor Maximilian, the King of
France, the Doge of Venice, and the Marquis of Mantua.

In the midst of all this occurred the solemn festival of the Assumption;
in which Ganzalvo was invited to take part. He accordingly left his
palace, proceeded in great pomp in the front of the pontifical cavalry,
and took his place on the Duke of Gandia's left hand. The duke attracted
all eyes by his personal beauty, set off as it was by all the luxury he
thought fit to display at this festival. He had a retinue of pages and
servants, clad in sumptuous liveries, incomparable for richness with
anything heretofore seen in Rome, that city of religious pomp. All these
pages and servants rode magnificent horses, caparisoned in velvet trimmed
with silver fringe, and bells of silver hanging down every here and
there. He himself was in a robe of gold brocade, and wore at his neck a
string of Eastern pearls, perhaps the finest and largest that ever
belonged to a Christian prince, while on his cap was a gold chain studded
with diamonds of which the smallest was worth more than 20,000 ducats.
This magnificence was all the more conspicuous by the contrast it
presented to Caesar's dress, whose scarlet robe admitted of no ornaments.
The result was that Caesar, doubly jealous of his brother, felt a new
hatred rise up within him when he heard all along the way the praises of
his fine appearance and noble equipment. From this moment Cardinal
Valentino decided in his own mind the fate of this man, this constant
obstacle in the path of his pride, his love, and his ambition. Very good
reason, says Tommaso, the historian, had the Du