r of the
noble women of Ferrara, beautifully dressed, including the twelve young
ladies who had been allotted to Lucretia as maids of honor. Then
followed two white mules and two white horses decked with velvet and
silk and costly gold trappings. Eighty-six mules accompanied the train
bearing the bride's trousseau and jewels. When the good people of
Ferrara saw them slowly wending their way through the streets, they must
have thought that Alfonso had chosen a rich bride. It never occurred to
them that these chests, boxes, and bales which were being carried
through the streets with such ostentation were filled with the plunder
of various cities of Christendom.

At the gate near Castle Tedaldo, Lucretia's horse was frightened by the
discharge of a cannon, and the chief actor was thrown. The bride rose
without assistance, and the duke placed her upon another horse,
whereupon the cortege started again. In honor of Lucretia there were
triumphal arches, tribunes, orations, and mythological scenes. Among the
last was a procession of nymphs, with their queen at their head, riding
upon a bull, with satyrs disporting themselves about her. Sannazzaro may
have thought that the epigram in which he had referred to Giulia Farnese
as Europa on the bull suggested this representation of the Borgia arms.

When the cavalcade reached the Piazza before the church, two
rope-walkers descended from the towers and addressed compliments to the
bride; thus was the ludicrous introduced into public festivities at that
time.

It was now night, and the procession had reached the palace of the duke,
and at the moment it did so all prisoners were given their liberty. At
this point all the trumpeters and fifes were massed.

It is impossible to tell exactly where the palace was situated to which
Lucretia was conducted. The Este had built a number of residences in the
city, which they occupied in turn. Among them were Schifanoja, Diamanti,
Paradiso, Belvedere, Belfiore, and Castle Vecchio. A local chronicler in
the year 1494 mentions, in enumerating the palaces of the lords of the
house of Este, the Palazzo del Cortile and Castle Vecchio as belonging
to the duke; Castle Vecchio to Alfonso and the palace of the Certosa to
Cardinal Ippolito.[159] Ercole, therefore, in the year 1502, was
residing in one of the two palaces mentioned above, which were connected
with each other by a row of structures extending from the old castle to
the Piazza before the chu