elo set his great mark upon the Sixtine, so Raphael took
the Stanze and the Loggie for himself--and some of the halls of the
picture-galleries too. Raphael represented the feminine element in
contrast with Michelangelo's rude masculinity. There hangs the great
'Transfiguration,' which, all but finished, was set up by the young
painter's body when he lay in state--a picture too large for the
sentiment it should express, while far too small for the subject it
presents--yet, in its way, a masterpiece of composition. For in a
measure Raphael succeeded in detaching the transfigured Christ from the
crowded foreground, and in creating two distinct centres of interest.
The frescoes in the Stanze represent subjects of less artistic
impossibility, and in painting them Raphael expended in beauty of design
the genius which, in the 'Transfiguration,' he squandered in attempting
to overcome insuperable difficulties. Watch the faces of your
fellow-tourists now, and you will see that the puzzled expression is
gone. They are less interested than they were before the 'Last
Judgment,' but they are infinitely better pleased.

Follow them on, to the library. They will enter with a look of
expectation, and presently you will see disappointment and weariness in
their eyes. Libraries are for the learned, and there are but a handful
of scholars in a million. Besides, the most interesting rooms, the
Borgia apartments, have been closed for many years and have only
recently been opened again after being wisely and well restored under
the direction of Leo the Thirteenth.

Two or three bad men are responsible for almost all the evil that has
been said and written against the characters of the Popes in the Middle
Age. John the Twelfth, of the race of Theodora Senatrix, Farnese of
Naples and Rodrigo Borgia, a Spaniard, who was Alexander the Sixth, are
the chief instances. There were, indeed, many popes who were not
perfect, who were more or less ambitious, avaricious, warlike, timid,
headstrong, weak, according to their several characters; but it can
hardly be said that any of them were, like those I have mentioned,
really bad men through and through, vicious, unscrupulous and daringly
criminal.

According to Guicciardini, Alexander the Sixth knew nothing of Caesar
Borgia's intention of poisoning their rich friend, the Cardinal of
Corneto, with whom they were both to sup in a villa on August 17, 1503.
The Pope arrived at the place first, was thirst