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, Cæsar, 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 the light of the Christian ideal. In this form we behold and recognize them. We view their acts through a medium which is permeated with religious ideas. Without this, and placed on a purely secular stage, the Borgias would have fallen into a position much less conspicuous than that of many other men, and would soon have ceased to be anything more than representatives of a large species. CONTENTS BOOK THE FIRST—LUCRETIA BORGIA IN ROME CHAPTER I Lucretia's Father CHAPTER II Lucretia's Mother CHAPTER III Lucretia's First Home CHAPTER IV Lucretia's Education CHAPTER V Nepotism—Giulia Farnese—Lucretia's Betrothals CHAPTER VI Her Father Becomes Pope—Giovanni Sforza CHAPTER VII Lucretia's First Marriage CHAPTER VIII Family Affairs CHAPTER IX Lucretia Leaves Rome CHAPTER X History and Description Of Pesaro CHAPTER XI The Invasion of Italy—The Profligate World CHAPTER XII The Divorce and Second Marriage CHAPTER XIII A Regent and a Mother CHAPTER XIV Social Life of the Borgias CHAPTER XV Misfortunes of Catarina Sforza CHAPTER XVI Murder of Alfonso of Aragon CHAPTER XVII Lucretia at Nepi CHAPTER XVIII Cæsar at Pesaro CHAPTER XIX Another Marriage Planned for Lucretia CHAPTER XX Negotiations with the House of Este CHAPTER XXI The Eve of the Wedding CHAPTER XXII Arrival and Return of the Bridal Escort BOOK THE SECOND—LUCRETIA IN FERRARA CHAPTER I Lucretia's Journey to Ferrara CHAPTER II Formal Entry into Ferrara HAPTER III Fêtes Given in Lucretia's Honor CHAPTER IV The Este Dynasty—Description of Ferrara CHAPTER V Death of Alexander VI CHAPTER VI Events Following the Pope's Death CHAPTER VII Court Poets—Giulia Bella and Julius II—The Este Dynasty Endangered CHAPTER VIII Escape and Death of Cæsar CHAPTER IX Murder of Ercole Strozzi—Death of Giovanni Sforza and of Lucretia's Eldest Son CHAPTER X Effects of the War—The Roman Infante CHAPTER XI Last Years and Death of Vannozza CHAPTER XII Death of Lucretia Borgia—Conclusion