ly to himself, was not so prostrated as to
lose sight for a moment of the terrible position he was in: he summoned
his faithful Michelotto, with those he could best count on among his men,
and disposed this band in the various rooms that led to his own, ordering
the chief never to leave the foot of his bed, but to sleep lying on a
rug, his hand upon the handle of his sward.

The treatment had been the same for Caesar as for the pope, but in
addition to bleeding and emetics strange baths were added, which Caesar
had himself asked for, having heard that in a similar case they had once
cured Ladislaus, King of Naples. Four posts, strongly welded to the
floor and ceiling, were set up in his room, like the machines at which
farriers shoe horses; every day a bull was brought in, turned over on his
back and tied by his four legs to the four posts; then, when he was thus
fixed, a cut was made in his belly a foot and a half long, through which
the intestines were drawn out; then Caesar slipped into this living bath
of blood: when the bull was dead, Caesar was taken out and rolled up in
burning hot blankets, where, after copious perspirations, he almost
always felt some sort of relief.

Every two hours Caesar sent to ask news of his father: he hardly waited
to hear that he was dead before, though still at death's door himself, he
summoned up all the force of character and presence of mind that
naturally belonged to him. He ordered Michelotto to shut the doors of
the Vatican before the report of Alexander's decease could spread about
the town, and forbade anyone whatsoever to enter the pope's apartments
until the money and papers had been removed. Michelotto obeyed at once,
went to find Cardinal Casanova, held a dagger at his throat, and made him
deliver up the keys of the pope's rooms and cabinets; then, under his
guidance, took away two chests full of gold, which perhaps contained
100,000 Roman crowns in specie, several boxes full of jewels, much silver
and many precious vases; all these were carried to Caesar's chamber; the
guards of the room were doubled; then the doors of the Vatican were once
more thrown open, and the death of the pope was proclaimed.

Although the news was expected, it produced none the less a terrible
effect in Rome; for although Caesar was still alive, his condition left
everyone in suspense: had the mighty Duke of Romagna, the powerful
condottiere who had taken thirty towns and fifteen fortresses in f