self as the most
worthy among all your brethren."

But in the short interval occupied by this reply, the new pope had
already assumed the papal authority, and in a humble voice and with
hands crossed upon his breast, he spoke:

"We hope that God will grant us His powerful aid, in spite of our
weakness, and that He will do for us that which He did for the apostle
when aforetime He put into his hands the keys of heaven and entrusted to
him the government of the Church, a government which without the aid of
God would prove too heavy a burden for mortal man; but God promised that
His Spirit should direct him; God will do the same, I trust, for us; and
for your part we fear not lest any of you fail in that holy obedience
which is due unto the head of the Church, even as the flock of Christ
was bidden to follow the prince of the apostles."

Having spoken these words, Alexander donned the pontifical robes, and
through the windows of the Vatican had strips of paper thrown out on
which his name was written in Latin. These, blown by the wind, seemed to
convey to the whole world the news of the great event which was about
to change the face of Italy. The same day couriers started far all the
courts of Europe.

Caesar Borgia learned the news of his father's election at the
University of Pisa, where he was a student. His ambition had sometimes
dreamed of such good fortune, yet his joy was little short of madness.
He was then a young man, about twenty-two or twenty-four years of age,
skilful in all bodily exercises, and especially in fencing; he could
ride barebacked the most fiery steeds, could cut off the head of a
bull at a single sword-stroke; moreover, he was arrogant, jealous, and
insincere. According to Tammasi, he was great among the godless, as
his brother Francesco was good among the great. As to his face, even
contemporary authors have left utterly different descriptions; for
same have painted him as a monster of ugliness, while others, on the
contrary, extol his beauty. This contradiction is due to the fact that
at certain times of the year, and especially in the spring, his face was
covered with an eruption which, so long as it lasted, made him an object
of horror and disgust, while all the rest of the year he was the sombre,
black-haired cavalier with pale skin and tawny beard whom Raphael shows
us in the fine portrait he made of him. And historians, both chroniclers
and painters, agree as to his fixed and powerful