The Borgias

A >> Alexandre Dumas, Pere >> The Borgias


The bankers denied the deposit.

Caesar was at the mercy of his brother-in-law.

One of the vassals of the King of Navarre, named Prince Alarino, had just
then revolted: Caesar then took command of the army which Jean d'Albret
was sending out against him, followed by Michelotto, who was as faithful
in adversity as ever before. Thanks to Caesar's courage and skilful
tactics, Prince Alarino was beaten in a first encounter; but the day
after his defeat he rallied his army, and offered battle about three
o'clock in the afternoon. Caesar accepted it.

For nearly four hours they fought obstinately on both sides; but at
length, as the day was going down, Caesar proposed to decide the issue by
making a charge himself, at the head of a hundred men-at-arms, upon a
body of cavalry which made his adversary's chief force. To his great
astonishment, this cavalry at the first shock gave way and took flight in
the direction of a little wood, where they seemed to be seeking refuge.
Caesar followed close on their heels up to the edge of the forest; then
suddenly the pursued turned right about face, three or four hundred
archers came out of the wood to help them, and Caesar's men, seeing that
they had fallen into an ambush, took to their heels like cowards, and
abandoned their leader.

Left alone, Caesar would not budge one step; possibly he had had enough
of life, and his heroism was rather the result of satiety than courage:
however that may be, he defended himself like a lion; but, riddled with
arrows and bolts, his horse at last fell, with Caesar's leg under him.
His adversaries rushed upon him, and one of them thrusting a sharp and
slender iron pike through a weak place in his armour, pierced his breast;
Caesar cursed God and died.

But the rest of the enemy's army was defeated, thanks to the courage of
Michelotto, who fought like a valiant condottiere, but learned, on
returning to the camp in the evening, from those who had fled; that they
had abandoned Caesar and that he had never reappeared. Then only too
certain, from his master's well-known courage, that disaster had
occurred, he desired to give one last proof of his devotion by not
leaving his body to the wolves and birds of prey. Torches were lighted,
for it was dark, and with ten or twelve of those who had gone with Caesar
as far as the little wood, he went to seek his master. On reaching the
spot they pointed out, he beheld five men stretched side by side; four of
them were dressed, but the fifth had been stripped of his clothing and
lay completely naked. Michelotto dismounted, lifted the head upon his
knees, and by the light of the torches recognised Caesar.

Thus fell, on the 10th of March, 1507, on an unknown field, near an
obscure village called Viane, in a wretched skirmish with the vassal of a
petty king, the man whom Macchiavelli presents to all princes as the
model of ability, diplomacy, and courage.

As to Lucrezia, the fair Duchess of Ferrara, she died full of years, and
honours, adored as a queen by her subjects, and sung as a goddess by
Ariosto and by Bembo.




EPILOGUE

There was once in Paris, says Boccaccio, a brave and good merchant named
Jean de Civigny, who did a great trade in drapery, and was connected in
business with a neighbour and fellow-merchant, a very rich man called
Abraham, who, though a Jew, enjoyed a good reputation. Jean de Civigny,
appreciating the qualities of the worthy Israelite; feared lest, good man
as he was, his false religion would bring his soul straight to eternal
perdition; so he began to urge him gently as a friend to renounce his
errors and open his eyes to the Christian faith, which he could see for
himself was prospering and spreading day by day, being the only true and
good religion; whereas his own creed, it was very plain, was so quickly
diminishing that it would soon disappear from the face of the earth. The
Jew replied that except in his own religion there was no salvation, that
he was born in it, proposed to live and die in it, and that he knew
nothing in the world that could change his opinion. Still, in his
proselytising fervour Jean would not think himself beaten, and never a
day passed but he demonstrated with those fair words the merchant uses to
seduce a customer, the superiority of the Christian religion above the
Jewish; and although Abraham was a great master of Mosaic law, he began
to enjoy his friend's preaching, either because of the friendship he felt
for him or because the Holy Ghost descended upon the tongue of the new
apostle; still obstinate in his own belief, he would not change. The
more he persisted in his error, the more excited was Jean about
converting him, so that at last, by God's help, being somewhat shaken by
his friend's urgency, Abraham one day said--

"Listen, Jean: since you have it so much at heart that I should be
converted, behold me disposed to satisfy you; but before I go to Rome to
see him whom you call God's vicar on earth, I must study his manner of
life and his morals, as also those of his brethren the cardinals; and if,
as I doubt not, they are in harmony with what you preach, I will admit
that, as you have taken such pains to show me, your faith is better than
mine, and I will do as you desire; but if it should prove otherwise, I
shall remain a Jew, as I was before; for it is not worth while, at my
age, to change my belief for a worse one."

Jean was very sad when he heard these words; and he said mournfully to
himself, "Now I have lost my time and pains, which I thought I had spent
so well when I was hoping to convert this unhappy Abraham; for if he
unfortunately goes, as he says he will, to the court of Rome, and there
sees the shameful life led by the servants of the Church, instead of
becoming a Christian the Jew will be more of a Jew than ever." Then
turning to Abraham, he said, "Ah, friend, why do you wish to incur such
fatigue and expense by going to Rome, besides the fact that travelling by
sea or by land must be very dangerous for so rich a man as you are? Do
you suppose there is no one here to baptize you? If you have any doubts
concerning the faith I have expounded, where better than here will you
find theologians capable of contending with them and allaying them? So,
you see, this voyage seems to me quite unnecessary: just imagine that the
priests there are such as you see here, and all the better in that they
are nearer to the supreme pastor. If you are guided by my advice, you
will postpone this toil till you have committed some grave sin and need
absolution; then you and I will go together."

But the Jew replied--

"I believe, dear Jean, that everything is as you tell me; but you know
how obstinate I am. I will go to Rome, or I will never be a Christian."

Then Jean, seeing his great wish, resolved that it was no use trying to
thwart him, and wished him good luck; but in his heart he gave up all
hope; for it was certain that his friend would come back from his
pilgrimage more of a Jew than ever, if the court of Rome was still as he
had seen it.

But Abraham mounted his horse, and at his best speed took the road to
Rome, where on his arrival he was wonderfully well received by his
coreligionists; and after staying there a good long time, he began to
study the behaviour of the pope, the cardinals and other prelates, and of
the whole court. But much to his surprise he found out, partly by what
passed under his eyes and partly by what he was told, that all from the
pope downward to the lowest sacristan of St. Peter's were committing the
sins of luxurious living in a most disgraceful and unbridled manner, with
no remorse and no shame, so that pretty women and handsome youths could
obtain any favours they pleased. In addition to this sensuality which
they exhibited in public, he saw that they were gluttons and drunkards,
so much so that they were more the slaves of the belly than are the
greediest of animals. When he looked a little further, he found them so
avaricious and fond of money that they sold for hard cash both human
bodies and divine offices, and with less conscience than a man in Paris
would sell cloth or any other merchandise. Seeing this and much more
that it would not be proper to set down here, it seemed to Abraham,
himself a chaste, sober, and upright man, that he had seen enough. So he
resolved to return to Paris, and carried out the resolution with his
usual promptitude. Jean de Civigny held a great fete in honour of his
return, although he had lost hope of his coming back converted. But he
left time for him to settle down before he spoke of anything, thinking
there would be plenty of time to hear the bad news he expected. But,
after a few days of rest, Abraham himself came to see his friend, and
Jean ventured to ask what he thought of the Holy Father, the cardinals,
and the other persons at the pontifical court. At these words the Jew
exclaimed, "God damn them all! I never once succeeded in finding among
them any holiness, any devotion, any good works; but, on the contrary,
luxurious living, avarice, greed, fraud, envy, pride, and even worse, if
there is worse; all the machine seemed to be set in motion by an impulse
less divine than diabolical. After what I saw, it is my firm conviction
that your pope, and of course the others as well, are using all their
talents, art, endeavours, to banish the Christian religion from the face
of the earth, though they ought to be its foundation and support; and
since, in spite of all the care and trouble they expend to arrive at this
end, I see that your religion is spreading every day and becoming more
brilliant and more pure, it is borne in upon me that the Holy Spirit
Himself protects it as the only true and the most holy religion; this is
why, deaf as you found me to your counsel and rebellious to your wish, I
am now, ever since I returned from this Sodom, firmly resolved on
becoming a Christian. So let us go at once to the church, for I am quite
ready to be baptized."

There is no need to say if Jean de Civigny, who expected a refusal, was
pleased at this consent. Without delay he went with his godson to Notre
Dame de Paris, where he prayed the first priest he met to administer
baptism to his friend, and this was speedily done; and the new convert
changed his Jewish name of Abraham into the Christian name of Jean; and
as the neophyte, thanks to his journey to Rome, had gained a profound
belief, his natural good qualities increased so greatly in the practice
of our holy religion, that after leading an exemplary life he died in the
full odour of sanctity.

This tale of Boccaccio's gives so admirable an answer to the charge of
irreligion which some might make against us if they mistook our
intentions, that as we shall not offer any other reply, we have not
hesitated to present it entire as it stands to the eyes of our readers.

And let us never forget that if the papacy has had an Innocent VIII and
an Alexander VI who are its shame, it has also had a Pius VII and a
Gregory XVI who are its honour and glory.