nominated as
captain-general the new Duke of Valentinois, who was commissioned to
recover the territories for his own benefit. The lords in question were
the Malatesti of Rimini, the Sforza of Pesaro, the Manfredi of Faenza,
the Riarii of Imola and Farli, the Variani of Camerina, the Montefeltri
of Urbino, and the Caetani of Sermoneta.

But the Duke of Valentinois, eager to keep as warm as possible his great
friendship with his ally and relative Louis XII, was, as we know, staying
with him at Milan so long as he remained there, where, after a month's
occupation, the king retraced his steps to his own capital, the Duke of
Valentinois ordered his men-at-arms and his Swiss to await him between
Parma and Modena, and departed posthaste for Rome, to explain his plans
to his father viva voce and to receive his final instructions. When he
arrived, he found that the fortune of his sister Lucrezia had been
greatly augmented in his absence, not from the side of her husband
Alfonso, whose future was very uncertain now in consequence of Louis's
successes, which had caused some coolness between Alfonso and the pope,
but from her father's side, upon whom at this time she exercised an
influence mare astonishing than ever. The pope had declared Lucrezia
Borgia of Aragon life-governor of Spoleto and its duchy, with all
emoluments, rights, and revenues accruing thereunto. This had so greatly
increased her power and improved her position, that in these days she
never showed herself in public without a company of two hundred horses
ridden by the most illustrious ladies and noblest knights of Rome.
Moreover, as the twofold affection of her father was a secret to nobody,
the first prelates in the Church, the frequenters of the Vatican, the
friends of His Holiness, were all her most humble servants; cardinals
gave her their hands when she stepped from her litter or her horse,
archbishops disputed the honour of celebrating mass in her private
apartments.

But Lucrezia had been obliged to quit Rome in order to take possession of
her new estates; and as her father could not spend much time away from
his beloved daughter, he resolved to take into his hands the town of
Nepi, which on a former occasion, as the reader will doubtless remember,
he had bestowed on Ascanio Sforza in exchange for his suffrage. Ascanio
had naturally lost this town when he attached himself to the fortunes of
the Duke of Milan, his brother; and when the pope was about