About this time, Ferdinand and Isabella complain ed, by their ambassador, of a dispensation granted by the Pope, for the marriage of a nun, the only heiress to the crown of Portugal, to a natural son of the late king of that country,—a marriage extremely prejildi cial to Ferdinand, who hoped to succeed to the Por tuguese throne. Alexander, wishing to have Caesar married to Charlotta, daughter to the king. of Na ples, who was the near relation and faithful ally of Ferdinand, saw how much his interest was concerned in freeing himself from the blame of that dispensa tion. Florida, archbishop of Cosenza, was therefore accused by Borgia of having forged it ; and upois this charge he was immediately thrown into prison, where death, in a few days, released him from his merited sufferings.
Soon after this, Louis MI., monarch of France, solicited the Pope for a dispensation to divorce his wife Jane, and to marry Anne of Burgundy, widow of the late King Charles. Borgia eagerly seized this opportunity of promoting his ambitious designs; and having prevailed with his father to entrust him with the dispensation, he resigned his dignity as cardinal, and proceeded as ambassador to the French court. He was cordially received by Louis, who immediate ly created him Duke of Valentino's, granted him an ample pension, and appointed him to the command of a body of cavalry. With the view of extorting still more important favours, Borgia retained the dis pensation for some time in his possession, pretending that he had not yet received it from Rome, hut was in daily expectation of its arrival. Louis, becoming impatient, applied to the bishop of Setta, the Pope's nuncio at Paris, who assured him, that, notwithstand ing the pretences of Borgia, he was certain that lie bad brought the dispensation along with him to France. Upon this, Louis convened a number of divines, who authorised him to divorce his wife, and to proceed, without further deliy, to solemnize his marriage with Aline of Burgundy. Borgia, finding that his schemes were baffled, was obliged, with a very bad grace, to deliver the dispensation ; but the discovery proved fatal to the nuncio, whom lie car ried off by a doze of that poison which he had Al ways ready for administering to those who incurred his resentment, or stood in the way of his promo tion.
As Charlotta, acquainted with his infamous cha ' racter, shrunk with horror from his addresses, he sued for and obtained the hand of the daughter of the King of Navarre, and was honoured by Louis with the order of St Michael. Prosperity, like sun shine to a serpent, seemed only to rouse the -invete rate malignity of his nature. Incredible numbers of victims were sacrificed to his revenge or his ambition; and not only•in Rome, but in every part of the eccle siastical dominions, he had assassins in his pay, rea dy, on the slightest hint, to execute his cruel designs. His father instigated or assisted him in his villanies ; and having determined to reduce Romagna into sub jection to the holy see, they dispatched a number of the richest cardinals, and seized their property, to enable them to carry on the iniquitous war which they had undertaken. As duke of Valentinois, Borgia was able to levy a considerable force in France, with which he proceeded to Romagna. He com menced his campaign with the siege of Imola and Forli, which soon surradered. He next reduced Pesaro, Rimini, and Faenza ; and, in the year 1501, was honoured, by his father, with the title of Duke of Romagna. Unheard of atrocities were committed by Borgia in the course of this war ; which he pur sued with such vigour and success, that the Italian powers, alarmed for their common safety, formed a combination to oppose him. He contrived, however, to defeat this confederacy by his usual arts of treachery and cruelty. He invited three of the ing men to Senigaglia, under a pretence of negccia ting peace, and caused them all to be strangled.
Thus Borgia and his father proceeded in their usur pations, alternately courting the friendship of the monarchs of France and Spain, as the influence of ei ther appeared to prevail or decline in Italy. Such was Borgia in his prosperity : a man whom Machia vel proposes as a model of imitation to all succeeding princes, who, like him, might acquire dominions by their valour or address ; a man whose talents enabled him to form the most extensive schemes of aggran dizement, and whom no motives of justice, honour, or humanity, could ever move from his purpose.
Providence, as if to counteract the influence of such a pernicious example, condemned him to outlive the greatness which he had so foully acquired ; to see his fortune dispersed, and his dominions wrested from him ; to see his enemies prosperous and exalted, and himself sunk in the lowest poverty, and the most abject dependance. Poison, which Borgia and his fa ther had prepared for nine wealthy prelates, on whose possessions they wished to seize, was drunk, through mistake, by themselves. The Pope died next day ; but the youth and vigorous constitution of Borgia enabled him to recover, though he long experienced the pernicious effects of the poison. He escaped be ing massacred by the partizans. of Pope Pius III., his father's successor, only through the protection of the king of France, whose party he afterwards ungratefully abandoned. Only four of the places which he had usurped now remained in his posses. sion ; and these, to secure his personal safety, lie of fered to resign to Pope Julius II., the successor of Pius III. Julius, though lie at first refused them, afterwards ordered Borgia -to be seized at Ostia, and confined in close custody till he had again agreed to resign them all. He now sought refuge in Naples ; where he was treated at first with some respect by the Spanish general Gonsalvo de Cordova, but was afterwards sent to Spain, in consequence of an order from the king, and doomed to perpetual imprison ment in the castle'of Medina del Campo. Here he was closely confined for two years, when, escaping out of a window by means of a rope, he fled to Na varre, where he was received in a very friendly man ner by his brother-in-law King John. ' He intended to have gone from Navarre to France, with the view of engaging Louis to assist him in retrieving his foe tune. Louis, however, instead of listening to his proposals, refused to receive him into his territories, confiscated his duchy of Valentinois, and withdrew his pension.
Thus degraded and destitute, he, whose ambition once knew no bounds, was forced to depend for sub sistence upon his brother-in-law, who was then at war with his subjects. Cxsar engaged as a volunteer in his service, and was killed in a skirmish before the walls of Viana in the year 1507. His body was stripped by the victors, but Was recognised by his servants, who carried it off-the field on a horse, and interred it in the cathedral of Pamplona, of which he had formerly been bishop. ,‘ Hated in prosperity," says one of his biographers, " scorned in adversity, stripped of all his honours and possessions, even such as he might fairly have claimed, and leaving behind him a name consigned to universal detestation, it would seem that he gained little by being a villain." He assumed as his motto, Aut ausar, ant nihil; which gave occasion to many epigrams; with two of which we shall conclude this sketch of his life. The first is written by Sannazarius Ant nail, out Caesar volt did Borgia; quidai?. Cum simul et Caesar possit, et esse The other is by an unknown author: Borgia Caesar crest fucks, et famine Caesar. Aut act Caesar, dixit; nit-unique fait.
See General Biography. General Dictionary. don's Lives of Pope Alexander VI. and his son sar. Machiavel's Principe, cap. 7.; and Mod. Univ: HisL vols. xxiv. and xxvi. (lr)'