that Lucretia was not especially beautiful, but that she had
what might be called a "dolce ciera,"--a sweet face. The face resembles
that of her father--as shown by the best medals which we have of
him--but slightly; the only likeness is in the strongly outlined nose.
Lucretia's forehead was arched, while Alexander's was flat; her chin was
somewhat retreating while his was in line with the lips.

Another medal shows Lucretia with the hair confined and the head covered
with a net, and has the so-called _lenza_, a sort of fillet set with
precious stones or pearls. The hair covers the ear and descends to the
neck, according to the fashion of the day, which we also see in a
beautiful medal of Elizabetta Gonzaga of Urbino.

The original sources from which the material for this book has been
derived would place the reader in a position to form his own opinion
regarding Lucretia Borgia, and his view would approximate a correct one,
or at least would be nearer correct than the common conception of
this woman. Men of past ages are merely problems which we endeavor to
solve. If we err in our conception of our contemporaries how much more
likely are we to be wrong when we endeavor to analyze men whose very
forms are shadowy. All the circumstances of their personal life, of
their nature, the times, and their environment,--of which they were the
product,--all the secrets of their being exist only as disconnected
fragments from which we are forced to frame our conception of their
characters. History is merely a world-judgment based upon the law of
causality. Many of the characters of history would regard their
portraits in books as wholly distorted and would smile at the opinion
formed of them.

[Illustration: LUCRETIA BORGIA.

From a painting in the Musee de Nimes.]

Lucretia Borgia might correspond with the one derived from the documents
of her time, which show her as an amiable, gentle, thoughtless, and
unfortunate woman. Her misfortunes, in life, were due in part to a fate
for which she was in no way responsible, and, after her death, in the
opinion which was formed regarding her character. The brand which had
been set upon her forehead was removed by herself when she became
Duchess of Ferrara, but on her death it reappeared. How soon this
happened is shown by what the Rovere in Urbino said of her. In the year
1532 it was arranged that Guidobaldo II, son of Francesco Maria and
Eleonora Gonzaga, should marry Giulia Varano, al