Even as early as this--the first period of the Borgia supremacy--Rome was teeming with Spaniards; when Alonzo was made cardinal numerous members of the related Borgia and Mila families flocked thither--their number and aggressiveness being attested by the general and intense hatred that was felt for the Catalans. It was through the Borgias and their followers that Spain secured the strong grip upon the Papacy which she held for a hundred years--although the way had been prepared by the establishment of the Spanish power in Naples and Sicily. To the Eternal City they flocked, kinsmen and retainers, fortune-hunters, and adventurers of every sort; they secured all the important offices; they became utterly lawless and, justice being perverted, they robbed and murdered with impunity. In July, 1458, Calixtus further advanced Pier Luigi by bestowing upon him the vicariate of Benevento and Terracina. He became the most powerful man in Rome, and seemed destined for a great future when his career was abruptly terminated. The Orsini had risen to expel the Colonna and the Catalans; and Pier Luigi, having sold the Castle of St. Angelo to the cardinals, fled to Civitavecchia, where, attacked by a fever, he died--August, 1458--leaving his vast property to his brother Rodrigo, who, already wealthy, now became one of the richest of the cardinals. August 6, 1458, Calixtus passed away--to the great relief of the Romans, who expressed their joy at being delivered from the Spanish yoke by sacking the Borgia palaces. Calixtus was bitterly criticised for allowing his nephews to rule him and because of the wretched condition of affairs in Rome during his reign, when robbery, violence, and murder were of daily occurrence. Although Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia had found it prudent to betake himself to Ostia on the death of his uncle, his high position in the Church was not shaken, and he was soon able to return to his house in the Ponte Quarter. Little is known of the private life of Rodrigo when he was created cardinal, but there is extant a beautiful letter of admonition written to him by Pius II., the amiable Æneas Sylvius, from the baths of Petriolo, June 11, 1460, when Rodrigo was about twenty-nine years of age, which throws a strong light on the personal conduct of the Cardinal of San Niccolò in Carcere Tulliano.