d that Lucretia's accusers and their charges can
refer only to the Roman period of her life, while her admirers appear
only in the second epoch, when she was Duchess of Ferrara. Among the
latter are men who are no less famous than her accusers: Tito and Ercole
Strozzi, Bembo, Aldo Manuzio, Tebaldeo, Ariosto, all the chroniclers of
Ferrara, and the French biographer Bayard. All these bore witness to the
uprightness of her life while in Ferrara, but of her career in Rome they
knew nothing. Lucretia's advocate, therefore, can offer only negative
proofs of her virtue. Even making allowance for the courtier's flattery,
we are warranted in assuming that upright men like Aldo, Bembo, and
Ariosto could never have been so shameless as to pronounce a woman the
ideal character of her day if they had believed her guilty, or even
capable, of the hideous crimes with which she had been charged only a
short time before.

Among Lucretia's accusers only those who were actual witnesses of her
life in Rome are worthy of attention; and Guicciardini, her bitterest
enemy, is not of this number. The verdicts of all later writers,
however, have been based upon his opinion of Lucretia, because of his
fame as a statesman and historian. He himself made up his estimate from
current gossip or from the satires of Pontanus and Sannazzaro--two poets
who lived in Naples and not in Rome. Their epigrams merely show that
they were inspired by a deep-seated hatred of Alexander and Caesar, who
had wrought the overthrow of the Aragonese dynasty, and further with
what crimes men were ready to credit evil-doers.

[Illustration: GUICCIARDINI.

From an engraving by Blanchard.]

The words of Burchard, who was a daily witness of everything that
occurred in the Vatican, must be considered as of much greater weight.
Against him in particular has the spleen of the papists been directed,
for by them his writings are regarded as the poisonous source from which
the enemies of the papacy, especially the Protestants, have derived
material for their slanders regarding Alexander VI. Their anger may
readily be explained, for Burchard's diary is the only work written in
Rome--with the exception of that of Infessura, which breaks off abruptly
at the beginning of 1494--which treats of Alexander's court; moreover,
it possesses an official character. Those, however, who attempt to
palliate the doings of the papacy would feel less hatred for Burchard if
they were acquainted wit