n army of Spanish and Neapolitan troops. Alexander, as he could not
utilise these against the Orsini, set them the work of recapturing
Ostia, not desiring to incur the reproach of bringing them to Rome far
nothing. Gonzalvo was rewarded for this feat by receiving the Rose of
Gold from the pope's hand--that being the highest honour His Holiness
can grant. He shared this distinction with the Emperor Maximilian, the
King of France, the Doge of Venice, and the Marquis of Mantua.

In the midst of all this occurred the solemn festival of the Assumption;
in which Ganzalvo was invited to take part. He accordingly left his
palace, proceeded in great pomp in the front of the pontifical cavalry,
and took his place on the Duke of Gandia's left hand. The duke attracted
all eyes by his personal beauty, set off as it was by all the luxury he
thought fit to display at this festival. He had a retinue of pages and
servants, clad in sumptuous liveries, incomparable for richness with
anything heretofore seen in Rome, that city of religious pomp. All
these pages and servants rode magnificent horses, caparisoned in velvet
trimmed with silver fringe, and bells of silver hanging down every here
and there. He himself was in a robe of gold brocade, and wore at his
neck a string of Eastern pearls, perhaps the finest and largest that
ever belonged to a Christian prince, while on his cap was a gold chain
studded with diamonds of which the smallest was worth more than 20,000
ducats. This magnificence was all the more conspicuous by the contrast
it presented to Caesar's dress, whose scarlet robe admitted of no
ornaments. The result was that Caesar, doubly jealous of his brother,
felt a new hatred rise up within him when he heard all along the way
the praises of his fine appearance and noble equipment. From this moment
Cardinal Valentino decided in his own mind the fate of this man, this
constant obstacle in the path of his pride, his love, and his ambition.
Very good reason, says Tommaso, the historian, had the Duke of Gandia to
leave behind him an impression on the public mind of his beauty and his
grandeur at this fete, for this last display was soon to be followed by
the obsequies of the unhappy young man.

Lucrezia also had come to Rome, on the pretext of taking part in the
solemnity, but really, as we shall see later, with the view of serving
as a new instrument for her father's ambition. As the pope was not
satisfied with an empty triumph of va