nd the Pope, sick of a Fever_, in which he
called upon Giulia to save him, whereupon Death replied that his
mistress had borne him three or four children. As the satire was written
in the summer of 1500, when Alexander was suffering from the fever, it
is probable that his relations with Giulia still continued.

Caesar, who had taken Imola, December 1, 1499, was far from pleased when
he saw the great estates of the Gaetani, whose revenues he himself could
use to good advantage, bestowed upon his sister; and, as he himself
wished absolutely to control the will of his father, her growing
influence in the Vatican caused him no little annoyance. He had sinister
plans for whose execution the time was soon to prove propitious.

FOOTNOTES:

[60] Despatch of Joh. Lucidus Cataneus, Rome, August 8, 1498. Gonzaga
archives.

[61] The briefs are in the state archives of Venice.

[62] The instrument is in Beneimbene's protocol-book.

[63] The instrument is in Beneimbene's protocol-book.

[64] Diary of Marino Saruto, ii, 751.

[65] This brief is in the state archives of Spoleto.

[66] The Bull of Investiture, written on parchment, is dated Rome, 1499,
Non. (the month is not given). It is an absolute _donum_. The document
is now in the archives of Modena.

[67] Both briefs are preserved in the archives of the State-house of
Nepi.

[68] The documents concerning this sale, dated February 11 to 15, 1500,
are preserved in the archives of Modena.

CHAPTER XIV

SOCIAL LIFE OF THE BORGIAS

Lucretia certainly must have been pleased by her brother's long absence;
the Vatican was less turbulent. Besides herself only Don Giuffre and
Donna Sancia, who had effected her return, maintained a court there.

We might avail ourselves of this period of quiet to depict Lucretia's
private life, her court, and the people about her; but it is impossible
to do this, none of her contemporaries having left any description of
it. Even Burchard shows us Lucretia but rarely, and when he does it is
always in connection with affairs in the Vatican. Only once does he give
us a fleeting view of her palace--on February 27, 1496--when Giovanni
Borgia, Juan de Castro, and the recently created Cardinal Martinus of
Segovia were calling upon her.

None of the foreign diplomatists of that time, so far as we may learn
from their despatches, made any reports regarding Lucretia's private
life. We have only a few letters written by her during her resi