ere were no less than three nepot-courts.
Giovanni resided in the Vatican, Lucretia in the palace of S. Maria in
Portico, Giuffre in the house of the Cardinal of Aleria near the Bridge
of S. Angelo, and Caesar in the same Borgo.

They all were pleasure-loving upstarts who were consumed with a desire
for honors and power; all were young and beautiful; except Lucretia, all
were vicious, graceful, seductive scoundrels, and, as such, among the
most charming and attractive figures in the society of old Rome. For
only the narrowest observer, blind to everything but their infamous
deeds, can paint the Borgias simply as savage and cruel brutes,
tiger-cubs by nature. They were privileged malefactors, like many other
princes and potentates of that age. They mercilessly availed themselves
of poison and poignard, removing every obstacle to their ambition, and
smiled when the object was attained.

If we could see the life which these unrestrained bastards led in the
Vatican, where their father, conscious now of his security and
greatness, was enthroned, we should indeed behold strange things. It was
a singular drama which was being enacted in the domain of S. Peter,
where two young and beautiful women held a dazzling court, which was
always animated by swarms of Spanish and Italian lords and ladies and
the elegant world of Rome. Nobles and monsignori crowded around to pay
homage to these women, one of whom, Lucretia, was just sixteen, and the
other, Sancia, a little more than seventeen years of age.

We may imagine what love intrigues took place in the palace of these
young women, and how jealousy and ambition there carried on their
intricate game, for no one will believe that these princesses, full of
the passion and exuberance of youth, led the life of nuns or saints in
the shadows of S. Peter's. Their palace resounded with music and the
dance, and the noise of revels and of masquerades. The populace saw
these women accompanied by splendid cavalcades riding through the
streets of Rome to the Vatican; they knew that the Pope was in daily
intercourse with them, visiting them in person and taking part in their
festivities, and also receiving them, now privately, and now with
ceremonious pomp, as befitted princesses of his house. Alexander
himself, much as he was addicted to the pleasures of the senses, cared
nothing for elaborate banquets. Concerning the Pope, the Ferrarese
ambassador wrote to his master in 1495 as follows: