in 1494. The historical interest of Alexander's
method consists of its deliberate adaptation of all the means in his
power to one end--the elevation of his family. His spiritual authority,
the wealth of the Church, the honors of the Holy College, the arts of an
assassin, the diplomacy of a despot, were all devoted systematically and
openly to the purpose in view. Whatever could be done to weaken Italy by
foreign invasions and internal discords, so as to render it a prey for
his poisonous son, he attempted. When Louis XII. made his infamous
alliance with Ferdinand the Catholic for the spoliation of the house of
Aragon in Naples, the Pope gladly gave it his sanction. The two kings
quarreled over their prey: then Alexander fomented their discord in
order that Cesare might have an opportunity of carrying on his
operations in Tuscany unchecked. Patriotism in his breast, whether the
patriotism of a born Spaniard or the patriotism of an Italian potentate,
was as dead as Christianity. To make profit for the house of Borgia by
fraud, sacrilege, and the dismemberment of nations, was the Papal
policy.

[1] See Chapter VI.

[2] Their father, Galeotto Manfredi, had been murdered in 1488
by their mother, Francesca Bentivogli. Of Astorre's death
Guicciardini writes: 'Astorre, che era minore di diciotto anni
e di forma eccellente ... condotto a Roma, saziata prima
(secondo che si disse) la libidine di qualcuno, fu occultamente
insieme con un suo fratello naturale privato della vita.' Nardi
(_Storie Florentine_, lib. iv. 13) credits Cesare with the
violation and murder of the boy. How far, we may ask, were
these dark crimes of violence actuated by astrological
superstition? This question is raised by Burckhardt (p. 363)
apropos of Sigismondo Malatesta's assault upon his son, and
Pier Luigi Farnese's violation of the Bishop of Fano. To a
temperament like Alexander's, however, mere lust enhanced by
cruelty, and seasoned with the joy of insult to an enemy, was a
sufficient motive for the commission of monstrous crime.

It is wearisome to continue to the end the catalogue of his misdoings.
We are relieved when at last the final crash arrives. The two Borgias,
so runs the legend of their downfall, invited themselves to dine with
the Cardinal Adriano of Corneto in a vineyard of the Vatican belonging
to their host. Thither by the hands of Alexander's butler they
previously con