castle of Norba; below were the beautiful remains of
Nymsa; while at its foot, extending to the sea, lay the Pontine marshes.
The greater part of this territory, which was traversed by the Appian
Way, including the Cape of Circello, was the property of the Gaetani, to
whom it still belongs.

At the time of which we are speaking it was ruled by the sons of
Honoratus II, a powerful personality, who had raised his house from
ruin. He died in the year 1490, leaving a widow, Catarina Orsini, and
three sons--Nicola the prothonotary; Giacomo, and Guglielmo. His
daughter Giovanella was the wife of Pierluigi Farnese and mother of
Giulia. Nicola, who had married Eleonora Orsini, died in the year 1494;
consequently, next to the prothonotary Giacomo, Guglielmo Gaetani was
head of the house of Sermoneta.

Alexander lured the prothonotary to Rome and, having confined him in
the castle of S. Angelo, began a process against him. Guglielmo
succeeded in escaping to Mantua, but Nicola's little son Bernardino was
murdered by the Borgia hirelings. Sermoneta was besieged, and its
inhabitants surrendered without resistance.

As early as March 9, 1499, Alexander compelled the apostolic chamber to
sell his daughter the possessions of the Gaetani for eighty thousand
ducats. He stated in a document, which was signed by eighteen cardinals,
that the magnitude of the expenditures which he had recently made in the
interests of the Holy See compelled him to increase the Church property;
and for this purpose there were Sermoneta, Bassiano, Ninfa and Norma,
Tivera, Cisterna, San Felice (the Cape of Circello), and San Donato,
which, owing to the rebellion of the Gaetani, might be confiscated. This
transaction was concluded in February, 1500, and Lucretia, who was
already mistress of Spoleto and Nepi, thus became ruler of
Sermoneta.[68] In vain did the unfortunate Giacomo Gaetani protest from
his prison; July 5, 1500, he was poisoned. His mother and sisters buried
him in S. Bartolomeo, which stands on an island in the Tiber, where the
Gaetani had owned a palace for a great many years.

Giulia Farnese, therefore, was unable to save her own uncle. She was
reminded that Giacomo and Nicola had stood beside her when she was
married to the youthful Orsini in 1489 in the Borgia palace. We do not
know whether Giulia was living in Rome at this time. We occasionally
find her name in the epigrams of the day, and it appears in a satire,
_Dialogue between Death a