The Life of Cesare Borgia

ry, claiming as it does to have its source in the Kings of Aragon, we shall take up its history for our purposes with the birth at the city of

orgia, S.J.-great

rn at Gandia, in

or of Jurisprudence at the University of Lerida, and afterwards served Alfonso I of Aragon, King of Naples and the Two Sicilies, in the capacity of secreta

1455-ascended the throne of St. Peter as Calixtus III, an old man, enfe

ot to be dilated upon here; suffice it that in February of 1456 he gave the scarlet hat of Car

e time of his being raised to the purple, and in the following year he was further created Vice-Chancellor of Holy Church with an annual stipend of eig

insensible to any fatigue. Giasone Maino of Milan refers to his "elegant appearance, serene brow, royal glance, a countenance that at once expresses generosity and majesty, and the genial and heroic air with which his whole personality is invested."

his evil passions, by which he was almost blinded." How the constancy of evil passions can replace firmness and energy as factors of worldly success is not readily discernible, particularly if their possessor is blinded by them. The historical worth of the stricture may

ri in his Machia

reigns of the four succeeding Popes-Pius II, Paul II, Sixtus IV, and Innocent VIII-until finally, six-and-twenty years after the death of Calixtus III, he ascended, himself, the Papal Throne, ca

lusts. All these he was. But for very sanity's sake do not let it be said that

the Eternal City streamed in their hundreds the Catalan adventurers-priests, clerks, captains of fortune, and others-wh

with the title of Duke of Spoleto and, later, Prefect of Rome, to the displacement of an Orsini from that office. Calixtus invested this nephew with all temporal power that it was

empt of this family to found a dynasty for itself and a State that should endure beyond the transient tenure

of one of its members in the Prefecture of Rome, kept its resentment warm, and waited. When in August of 1458 Calixtus III lay dy

quarry, and getting a boat slipped down the Tiber to Civita Vecchia, where he died suddenly some

er member of the family who owed his advancement to his uncle Calixtus, thought it al

th grim disfavour upon his uncle's nepotism. Unintimidated, he entered the Conclave for the election of a successor to Calixtus, and there the chance which so often prefers to

inal d'Estouteville-though neither had attained the minimum majority demanded. Of these two, the lead in number of votes lay with the Cardinal of Siena, and his election therefore mi

tiff-as Pius II-and was naturally enough disposed to advance the interests of the man who had been instrumental in helping him to

Episcopal and Piccolomini palaces-is frequently cited by way of establishing the young prelate's dissolute ways. It is a letter at once stern and affectionate, and it certainly leaves no doubt as to what ma

OVED

n the sacerdotal estate and office. It will be said of us that we are enriched and promoted not to the end that we may lead blameless lives, but that we may procure the means to indulge our pleasures. Hence the contempt of us entertained by temporal princes and powers and the daily sarcasms of the laity. Hence also the reproof of our own mode of life when we attempt to reprove others. The very Vicar of Christ is involved in this contempt, since he appears to countenance such things. You, beloved son, have charge of the Bishopric of Valencia, the first of Spain; you are also Vice-Chancellor of the Church; and what renders your conduct still more blameworthy is that you are among the cardinals, with the Pope, one of the counsellors of the Holy See. We submit it to your own judgement whether it becomes your dignity to court young women, to send fruit and wine to her you love, and to have no thought for anything but pleasure. We are censured on your account; the blessed memory of your uncle Calixtus is vituperated, since in the judgement of many he was wrong to have conferred so many honours upon you. If you seek excuses in your youth, you are no longer so young that you cannot understand what duties are imposed upon you by your dig

O, June

nd words; that it was scandalous even then is obvious from the Pontiff's letter; but that it was scandalous in an infinitely lesser degree i

was an age in which the passions and the emotions wore no such masks as they wear to-day, but went naked and knew no shame of their nu

ppreciation of this, it is necessary to take a peep at some of the documents that have survived-such a document, for instance,

rther that when the vicar of the libidinous Innocent VIII published in 1490 an edict against the universal concubinage practised by the clergy, forbidding its continuation under

arium, Thuasne Edit

s

is Roderigo and at the fact that being the man he was-prelate though he might be-handsome, brilliant, courted, in the f

e more restraint-the good example of his pe

rigo's senior and an ordained priest, which-without seeking to make undue capital out of the circumstance-we may mention that Roderigo was not. He was a Cardinal-Deacon, be it remembered.(1) We know that the very Pontiff who admonished these young prelates, though now admittedly a man of saintly ways, had been a very pretty fellow himself in his lusty young days in Siena; we know that Roderigo's uncle-the Calixtus to whom Pius II refers in that letter as of "blessed memory"-had at least one acknowledged son.(2) We know that Piero and Girolamo Riario, though styled by Pope Sixt

ed priest until 147

ixtu

e Borja, born at

lli, Istori

Upon what reasonable grounds can we demand that he should be different from his fellows; and if we find him no

r as his concessions to his lusts are concerned, he was a typical churchman

have seen, to Roderigo's action in the Conclave. That his interest in him apart from that was paternal and affectionate is shown in every line of that letter. And consider further that Roderigo's companion is shown by that letter to be equally guilty in so far as the acts themsel

Pedro Luis de Borja-by a spinster (mulier soluta) unnamed. Th

It was widely believed that this child's mother was Madonna Giovanna de' Catanei, who soon became quite openly the cardinal's mistress, and was maintained by him in such state as might have become a ma

rn succeeded by the formidable Sixtus IV-Cardinal Francesco Maria della Rovere-a Franciscan of the lowest origin, who

ony of coronation and placed the triple crown on the head of Pope Sixtus. It is probable that this was his last official a