ere the princes of Ferrara and the
Cardinal of Cosenza. Her brother Caesar accompanied her a short distance,
and then returned to the Vatican with Cardinal Ippolito.

Thus Lucretia Borgia departed, leaving Rome and a terrible past behind
her forever.

FOOTNOTES:

[131] Despatch of Giovanni Lucido, in the archives of Mantua.

[132] The report of this agent, who signs himself El Prete, is preserved
in the archives of Mantua.

[133] The Farrarese agent, Bartolomeo Bresciani, who had been sent to
Rome on matters connected with the Church, is no less complimentary. He
says, la Excell. V. remagnera molto ben satisfacto da questa Illma
Madona per essere dotada de tanti costumi et buntade. (To the duke,
October 30, 1501.) He informed him also that Lucretia often conversed
with a saintly person who had been secluded in the Vatican for eight
years.

[134] Despatch of Gianluca Pozzi to Ercole, Rome, December 25, 1501.

[135] Pozzi to Ercole, Rome, December 25, 1501.

[136] Fu necessario che la abreviasse, Gianluca and Gerardo to Ercole,
Rome, December 30, 1501.

[137] E cio nello scopo, che se mancasse essa Duchessa verso lo Illmo
Don Alfonso non fosse piu obbligato di quanto voleva esserlo circa dette
gioje. Ercole to Cardinal Ippolito, December 21, 1501. There is a letter
of the same date regarding the subject, written by Ercole to Gianluca
Pozzi.

[138] Pozzi to Ercole, January 1, 1502. Archives of Modena.

[139] El Prete to Isabella, Rome, January 2, 1502.

[140] Pozzi to Ercole, Rome, December 28, 1501.

[141] Pozzi and Saraceni, Rome, December 28, 1501.

[142] Rome, January 9, 1502.

[143] La Illma Madama Lucrezia porta tutte le bolle piene et in optima
forma. Pozzi and Gerardo to Ercole, Rome, January 6, 1502.

[144] In the archives of the municipality of Nepi, where I copied the
brief from the records. There is a similar letter in the same form and
of the same date, addressed to the commune of Trevi, in the city
archives of that place. The latter is printed in Tullio Dandolo's Arte
christiana--Passeggiate nell' Umbria, 1866, p. 358.

[145] Beltrando Costabili to Ercole, Rome, January 6, 1502.

BOOK THE SECOND

LUCRETIA IN FERRARA

CHAPTER I

LUCRETIA'S JOURNEY TO FERRARA

Although the escort which was taking the Duchess Lucretia to Ferrara
traveled by easy stages, the journey was fatiguing; for the roads,
especially in winter, were bad, and the weather, even in the vicinity of