When Sforza saw that he himself could not win the great prize, he set about securing--with the help of Riario and Orsini--the election of the Borgia, and at the proper moment cast his vote for him. Although Ascanio Sforza was enormously wealthy he had his price and he was bought. In Rome it was said that before the conclave Rodrigo Borgia had sent him four mules laden with silver, and also that he had promised him, in the event of his own election, his palace and its contents, and also the great office of Vice-Chancellor of the Church. Orsini was satisfied with Monticelli and Soriano, while Colonna and his family were pleased to accept Subiaco and its castles in perpetuity. Cardinal Michiel was promised the Bishopric of Porto; Sclafenati was presented with Nepi, and Cardinal Savelli with Civita Castellana. Others preferred cash. The Patriarch of Venice, then ninety-five years of age, was given 50,000 ducats to provide for him until he should enter into paradise. The few who could not be bought were Piccolomini, Zeno, Della Rovere, and Caraffa. When the Borgia found he was elected he was overcome with joy and exclaimed: “Now I am Pope, Pontiff, Christ’s Vicar!”--but the youthful Cardinal de’ Medici leaned over and whispered in Cibo’s ear: “Let us escape before the wolf gets us into his maw!” Borgia, fearing that by some mischance the office might still slip through his fingers, hastily donned the papal robes and directed the Master of Ceremonies to distribute cards bearing the words, “We have as Pope, Alexander VI.” Early the next morning the window was thrown open, the cross put forth, and in the silence of early dawn the name of the new Pope was announced: Alexander VI.! Alexander’s dissolute life was known of all men; and when we remember that this was an age of libertinism, when men expected no more of the clergy than they did of the laity, the fact that the Borgia’s conduct excited any comment shows to what depths of immorality he had descended. He was freely accused of the unmentionable vices which Tacitus and Suetonius lay to the charge of the earlier Roman emperors. It cannot be denied, however, that Alexander VI. also possessed great virtues. His contemporaries describe him as energetic, cultivated, astute, and prompt to act, and also as ready and vigorous of speech. Rodrigo Borgia had spent seven years at Bologna studying canon law; and when his uncle, Calixtus III., in 1456, made him Bishop of Valencia, he also created him Cardinal-deacon of San Niccolò in Carcere Tulliano, and shortly afterwards made him Vice-Chancellor of the Church. During the reign of Sixtus IV. he had been made Bishop of Porto and sent as legate to Spain. While returning to Italy he was shipwrecked and rescued only with great difficulty. When he was cardinal he occupied the Cesarini palace, but it is said that he was miserly and that, in spite of his vast wealth, he seldom entertained.