important Church matter. With childish loquacity he extolled Duke
Ercole, pronouncing him the greatest and wisest of the princes of Italy;
he described Don Alfonso as a handsomer and greater man than his son
Caesar, adding that his former wife was a sister-in-law of the Emperor.
Ferrara was a fortunate State, and the house of Este an ancient one; a
marriage train of great princes was shortly to come to Rome to take the
bride away, and the Duchess of Urbino was to accompany it.[106]

September 14th Caesar Borgia returned from Naples, where Federico, the
last Aragonese king of that country, had been forced to yield to France.
To his great satisfaction he found Lucretia prospective Duchess of
Ferrara. On the fifteenth Ercole's envoys, Saraceni and Bellingeri,
appeared. Their object was to see that the Pope fulfilled his
obligations promptly. The duke was a practical man; he did not trust
him. He was unwilling to send the bridal escort until he had the papal
bull in his own hands. Lucretia supported the ambassador so zealously
that Saraceni wrote his master that she already appeared to him to be a
good Ferrarese.[107] She was present in the Vatican while Alexander
carried on the negotiations. He sometimes used Latin for the purpose of
displaying his linguistic attainments; but on one occasion, out of
regard for Lucretia, he ordered that Italian be used, which proves that
his daughter was not a perfect mistress of the classic tongue.

From this ambassador's despatches it appears that life in the Vatican
was extremely agreeable. They sang, played and danced every evening. One
of Alexander's greatest delights was to watch beautiful women dancing,
and when Lucretia and the ladies of her court were so engaged he was
careful to summon the Ferrarese ambassadors so that they might note his
daughter's grace. One evening he remarked laughingly that "they might
see that the duchess was not lame."[108]

* * * * *

The Pope never tired of passing the nights in this way, although Caesar,
a strong man, was worn out by the ceaseless round of pleasure. When the
latter consented to grant the ambassadors an audience, a favor which was
not often bestowed even on cardinals, he received them dressed, but
lying in bed, which caused Saraceni to remark in his despatch, "I feared
that he was sick, for last evening he danced without intermission, which
he will do again tonight at the Pope's palace, where the illustrio