[Footnote 276: I may repeat that I am not reproducing disputed statements, or relying on uncertain chronicles, in these chapters. The evidence may be examined in Thuasne, Pastor, L'Épinois, Creighton, Gregorovius, and von Reumont (_Geschichte der Stadt Rom_, 3 vols., 1867-8).] [Footnote 277: See the evidence in Thuasne (ii., 610), L'Épinois (pp. 389-91), and Pastor (v., 382). A writer in the _American Catholic Quarterly Review_ (1900, p. 262) observes: "That Borgia secured his election through the rankest simony is a fact too well authenticated to admit a doubt."] [Footnote 278: Again I may refer to the convenient summaries of the evidence in Pastor (v., 417), L'Épinois (398), Gregorovius (Appendix, no. 11, etc.), and Creighton (iv., 203).] [Footnote 279: There are copies, reproduced by Gregorovius, in the archives at the Vatican, at Modena, and at Ossuna.] [Footnote 280: _Diarii_ (ed. F. Stefani), i., 369.] [Footnote 281: Alexander said that the letter published was a forgery, and some historians have sought to prove this by internal evidence. It is the general feeling of recent authorities that the letter is, at least in substance, genuine. See Creighton (iv., Appendix 9) and Pastor (v., 429).] [Footnote 282: Djem died shortly afterwards, and it was rumoured that Alexander had earned the 300,000 ducats by administering a slow poison before he left Rome. But the better authorities tell us that the weakened and dissolute youth contracted a chill and died of bronchitis.] [Footnote 283: _Diarium_, iii., 167. The details of this dance, which Burchard describes, and of the orgy which followed, may not be translated. It is absurd to question Burchard's evidence on this matter; he was then Master of Ceremonies at the Papal Court and describes every move of the Pope. The Papal servants took part in the performance, and he could easily learn the details. The Florentine and other ambassadors speak of Cæsar repeatedly introducing these women into the Vatican at night.] [Footnote 284: There is, as Pastor and Creighton admit, grave reason to think that Orsini and Michiel were poisoned, but charges of this kind are difficult to check, and certainly there is a good deal of romance in the Borgia legend. The death-rate of cardinals under Alexander was not more than normal. See Baron Corvo's _Chronicles of the House of Borgia_ (1901), and R. Sabatini's _Life of Cesare Borgia_ (1911).] [Footnote 285: The poison theory is not mentioned by Burchard or the chief ambassadors, and is positively advanced only by Neapolitan or later writers. No historian seems now to entertain it. Alexander's illness, which lasted thirteen days, followed a course more consistent with malaria, and the very rapid decomposition of his body, which seems to have impressed Lord Acton, is not inexplicable at that season.]