.[2]

Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia lamented the loss of his beloved and, probably,
only brother, and inherited his property, while his own high position in
the Curia was not affected by the change in the papacy. As
vice-chancellor, he occupied a house in the Ponte quarter, which had
formerly been the Mint, and which he converted into one of the most
showy of the palaces of Rome. The building encloses two courts, where
may still be seen the original open colonnades of the lower story; it
was constructed as a stronghold, like the Palazzo di Venizia, which was
almost contemporaneous with it. The Borgia palace, however, does not
compare in architectural beauty or size with that built by Paul II. In
the course of the years it has undergone many changes, and for a long
time has belonged to the Sforza-Cesarini.

Nothing is known of Rodrigo's private life during the pontificate of the
four popes who followed Calixtus--Pius II, Paul II, Sixtus IV, and
Innocent VIII--for the records of that period are very incomplete.

Insatiable sensuality ruled this Borgia, a man of unusual beauty and
strength, until his last years. Never was he able to cast out this
demon. He angered Pius II by his excesses, and the first ray of light
thrown upon Rodrigo's private life is an admonitory letter written by
that pope, the eleventh of June, 1460, from the baths of Petriolo.
Borgia was then twenty-nine years old. He was in beautiful and
captivating Siena, where Piccolomini had passed his unholy youth. There
he had arranged a bacchanalian orgy of which the Pope's letter gives a
picture.

DEAR SON: We have learned that your Worthiness, forgetful
of the high office with which you are invested, was present from
the seventeenth to the twenty-second hour, four days ago, in the
gardens of John de Bichis, where there were several women of Siena,
women wholly given over to worldly vanities. Your companion was one
of your colleagues whom his years, if not the dignity of his
office, ought to have reminded of his duty. We have heard that the
dance was indulged in in all wantonness; none of the allurements of
love were lacking, and you conducted yourself in a wholly worldly
manner. Shame forbids mention of all that took place, for not only
the things themselves but their very names are unworthy of your
rank. In order that your lust might be all the more unrestrained,
the husbands, fathers, brothers,