94

Macchiavelli 100

Caesar Borgia 148

Guicciardini 176

Ercole d'Este, Duke of Ferrara 206

Castle of S. Angelo, Rome 210

Ariosto 248

Castle Vecchio, Ferrara 270

Benvenuto Garofalo 278

Facsimile of a letter from Alexander VI to Lucretia 281

Cardinal Bembo 290

Julius II 298

Facsimile of a letter from Lucretia to Marquis Gonzaga 301

Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara 304

Aldo Manuzio 328

Leo X 338

Lucretia Borgia, after a painting in the Musee de
Nimes 360

INTRODUCTION

Lucretia Borgia is the most unfortunate woman in modern history. Is this
because she was guilty of the most hideous crimes, or is it simply
because she has been unjustly condemned by the world to bear its curse?
The question has never been answered. Mankind is ever ready to discover
the personification of human virtues and human vices in certain typical
characters found in history and fable.

The Borgias will never cease to fascinate the historian and the
psychologist. An intelligent friend of mine once asked me why it was
that everything about Alexander VI, Caesar, and Lucretia Borgia, every
little fact regarding their lives, every newly discovered letter of any
of them, aroused our interest much more than did anything similar
concerning other and vastly more important historic characters. I know
of no better explanation than the following: the Borgias had for
background the Christian Church; they made their first appearance
issuing from it; they used it for their advancement; and the sharp
contrast of their conduct with the holy state makes them appear
altogether fiendish. The Borgias are a satire on a great form or phase
of religion, debasing and destroying it. They stand on high pedestals,
and from their presence radiates t