Unfortunately, however, a little later (1497) the pope’s mood changed again. He was now, after some intermediate quarrels, once more friendly with the King of Naples and decided that Sforza was no longer a fit husband for Lucrezia. Then came the annulment of this marriage and the remarriage of Lucrezia to Alphonso of Aragon, Duke of Bisceglie, a relative and favorite of the King of Naples, aged eighteen and handsome. But, alas! no sooner is this fairly begun than new complications arise. The pope thinks he sees an opportunity to destroy the power of Naples as a rival with the aid of the King of France, Louis XII. He lends assistance to the latter, who comes to invade Naples, and young Bisceglie, now fearing for his life at the hands of his treacherous father-in-law, deserts Rome and Lucrezia and flees. Louis XII proceeds against Naples. Spoleto falls and Lucrezia, Bisceglie’s wife, as representative of the pope (aged eighteen) is sent to receive the homage of Spoleto! But the plot merely thickens. There comes a nice point in here on which historians comment variously. Incest is the basis. It was one time assumed that Alexander, the father, during all these various shifts treated his daughter as his mistress. Her brother Cæsar also bore the same relation to her. Father and son were rivals, then, for the affections and favors of the daughter-sister. To offset the affections of the son the father has the daughter lure her husband, Bisceglie, back to Rome. From all accounts he was very much in love with his wife who was beautiful but dangerous because of her charms and the manner in which she was coveted by others. In 1499, when he was twenty and Cæsar twenty-three, he was lured back and the next year, because of Cæsar’s jealousy of his monopoly of his own wife (Cæsar being perhaps denied his usual freedom) Bisceglie was stabbed while going up the steps of the papal palace by Cæsar Borgia, his brother-in-law, and that in the presence of his father-in-law, Alexander VI, the pope of Rome. According to one account, on sight of Cæsar, jumping out from behind a column, Alphonso sought refuge behind Alexander, the pope, who spread out his purple robe to protect him, through which Cæsar drove his knife into the bosom of his brother-in-law. The dear old father and father-in-law was severely shocked. He was quite depressed, in fact. He shook his head dismally. The wound was not fatal, however. Bisceglie was removed to the house of a cardinal near-by, where he was attended by his wife, Lucrezia, and his sister-in-law, Sancha, wife of Giuffré, both of whom he apparently feared a little, for they were compelled first to partake of all food presented in order to prove that it was not poisoned. In this house--in this sick-chamber doorway--suddenly