Lehal Library

month while he lay half dead in Rome, and in Rome itself no one took advantage of his weakness; when his enemies, the Baglionis, Vitellis and Orsinis, turned up no one went over to their side. And though Borgia wasn’t able to choose who would be the new pope, at least he was in a position to block anyone he didn’t want. So if he had been in good health when his father died, everything would have been easy. He himself told me, in the days when the College was meeting to elect Julius II, that he had thought over what might happen on his father’s death and had made plans for every contingency; it was just that it never occurred to him that when the time came he too might be at death’s door. Having given this summary of everything Cesare Borgia did, I can’t find anything to criticize; on the contrary, and as I said, I mean to propose him as a model for anyone who comes to power through fortunate circumstances or with the help of another ruler’s armed forces. Given his great determi- nation and considerable ambitions, Borgia could hardly have behaved any differently; only the combination of Alexander’s early death and his own illness prevented him from achieving his goals. A new ruler who reckons he must ward off enemies and woo friends, overcome obstacles by force or fraud, have himself loved and feared by his people, followed and respected by his soldiers, who must eliminate enemies likely or certain to attack him, reform old institutions, show himself both severe and gracious, generous and spontaneous, break up a disloyal army and build a new one, keep the friendship of kings and princes so that they support him with deference, or at least think twice before harming him, will find no better recent example to study than the policies of Cesare Borgia. The only criticism one can level at him is his role in the election of Pope Julius. As we’ve said, Borgia wasn’t in a position to impose the pope he wanted but he did have influ- ence enough to keep out the candidates he didn’t want. And he should never have allowed a cardinal whose interests he