which was Friday, two men
were drawn out of the water, of whom one was instantly recognised as the
hapless duke. At the very first glance at the body there could be no
doubt as to the cause of death. It was pierced with nine wounds, the
chief one in the throat, whose artery was cut. The clothing had not been
touched: his doublet and cloak were there, his gloves in his waistband,
gold in his purse; the duke then must have been assassinated not for gain
but for revenge.

The ship which carried the corpse went up the Tiber to the Castello Sant'
Angelo, where it was set down. At once the magnificent dress was fetched
from the duke's palace which he had worn on the day of the procession,
and he was clothed in it once more: beside him were placed the insignia
of the generalship of the Church. Thus he lay in state all day, but his
father in his despair had not the courage to came and look at him. At
last, when night had fallen, his most trusty and honoured servants
carried the body to the church of the Madonna del Papala, with all the
pomp and ceremony that Church and State combined could devise for the
funeral of the son of the pope.

Meantime the bloodstained hands of Caesar Borgia were placing a royal
crown upon the head of Frederic of Aragon.

This blow had pierced Alexander's heart very deeply. As at first he did
not know on whom his suspicions should fall, he gave the strictest orders
for the pursuit of the murderers; but little by little the infamous truth
was forced upon him. He saw that the blow which struck at his house came
from that very house itself and then his despair was changed to madness:
he ran through the rooms of the Vatican like a maniac, and entering the
consistory with torn garments and ashes on his head, he sobbingly avowed
all the errors of his past life, owning that the disaster that struck his
offspring through his offspring was a just chastisement from God; then he
retired to a secret dark chamber of the palace, and there shut himself
up, declaring his resolve to die of starvation. And indeed for more than
sixty hours he took no nourishment by day nor rest by night, making no
answer to those who knocked at his door to bring him food except with the
wailings of a woman or a roar as of a wounded lion; even the beautiful
Giulia Farnese, his new mistress, could not move him at all, and was
obliged to go and seek Lucrezia, that daughter doubly loved to conquer
his deadly resolve. Lucrezia ca