e may so describe it) she owed to the
intercession of her brother the cardinal. Political considerations
likewise induced the Pope to consent to the alliance, for, in order to
carry out his plan for extending the pontifical States, it was necessary
for him to win over the great families of Rome. He secured the support
of the Farnese and of the Orsini; in May, 1506, he married his own
natural daughter Felice to Giangiordano Orsini of Bracciano, and in July
of the same year he gave his niece, Lucretia Gara Rovere, sister of
Niccolo, to Marcantonio Colonna as wife.

Again Giulia Farnese vanished from sight, and neither under Julius II
nor Leo X does she reappear. March 14, 1524, she made a will which was
to be in favor of her nieces Isabella and Costanza in case her daughter
should die without issue. March 23d the Venetian ambassador in Rome,
Marco Foscari, informed his Signory that Cardinal Farnese's sister,
Madama Giulia, formerly mistress of Pope Alexander VI, was dead. From
this we are led to assume that she died in Rome. No authentic likeness
of Giulia Bella has come down to us, but tradition says that one of the
two reclining marble figures which adorn the monument of Paul
III--Farnese--in St. Peter's, Justice, represents his sister, Giulia
Farnese, while the other, Wisdom, is the likeness of his mother,
Giovanella Gaetani.

Giulia's daughter was mistress of Bassanello and Carbognano. She had one
son, Giulio della Rovere, who subsequently became famous as a
scholar.[208]

In the meantime the attempt against Giulio d'Este had been attended by
such consequences that the princely house of Ferrara found itself
confronted by a grave danger. Giulio complained to Alfonso of injustice,
while the cardinal's numerous friends considered his banishment too
severe a punishment. Ippolito had a great following in Ferrara. He was a
lavish man of the world, while the duke, owing to his utilitarian ways
and practical life, repelled the nobility. A party was formed which
advocated a revolution. The house of Este had survived many of these
attempts. One had occurred when Ercole ascended the throne.

Giulio succeeded in winning over to his cause certain disaffected nobles
and conscienceless men who were in the service of the duke; among them
Count Albertino Boschetti of San Cesario; his son-in-law, the captain of
the palace guard; a chamberlain; one of the duke's minstrels, and a few
others. Even Don Ferrante, Alfonso's own brother,