ho produced this sum for Alexander, and settled down
the very same day in the Vatican.

This last death served the purpose of determining a point of law hitherto
uncertain: as Monsignore Agnelli's natural heirs had made some difficulty
about being disinherited, Alexander issued a brief; whereby he took from
every cardinal and every priest the right of making a will, and declared
that all their property should henceforth devolve upon him.

But Caesar was stopped short in the midst of his victories. Thanks to
the 200,000 ducats that yet remained in his treasury, Ludovico Sforza had
levied 500 men-at-arms from Burgundy and 8000 Swiss infantry, with whom
he had entered Lombardy. So Trivulce, to face this enemy, had been
compelled to call back Yves d'Alegre and the troops that Louis XII had
lent to Caesar; consequently Caesar, leaving behind a body of pontifical
soldiery as garrison at Forli and Imola, betook himself with the rest of
his force to Rome.

It was Alexander's wish that his entry should be a triumph; so when he
learned that the quartermasters of the army were only a few leagues from
the town, he sent out runners to invite the royal ambassadors, the
cardinals, the prelates, the Roman barons, and municipal dignitaries to
make procession with all their suite to meet the Duke of Valentinois; and
as it always happens that the pride of those who command is surpassed by
the baseness of those who obey, the orders were not only fulfilled to the
letter, but beyond it.

The entry of Caesar took place on the 26th of February, 1500. Although
this was the great Jubilee year, the festivals of the carnival began none
the less for that, and were conducted in a manner even more extravagant
and licentious than usual; and the conqueror after the first day prepared
a new display of ostentation, which he concealed under the veil of a
masquerade. As he was pleased to identify himself with the glory,
genius, and fortune of the great man whose name he bore, he resolved on a
representation of the triumph of Julius Caesar, to be given on the Piazzi
di Navona, the ordinary place for holding the carnival fetes. The next
day, therefore, he and his retinue started from that square, and
traversed all the streets of Rome, wearing classical costumes and riding
in antique cars, on one of which Caesar stood, clad in the robe of an
emperor of old, his brow crowned with a golden laurel wreath, surrounded
by lictors, soldiers, and ensign-bearer