He then went on with the most skilful and artful, but apparently the most unpremeditated eloquence, to set before the young knight a totally different view of the questions between Alexander and the King of France. He dwelt long and severely upon the scandal to all Christendom exhibited by the eldest son of the Church--a title of which French monarchs had ever been proud--forcing his way into the holy city, contrary to the repeated injunctions of the Church's head. He asked if it were the part of one who pretended and hoped to drive back the wave of Mahomedan invasion from Europe and plant the Cross itself in Constantinople, to commence his enterprise by setting at nought the power and authority of the Vicar of Christ, driving him from his home to take refuge in a fortress, to despoil him of his means, and to trample on his dignity. "They speak ill of his Holiness, indeed," continued Borgia, "they calumniate him and misrepresent all that he does. Let us even admit, however, all that they say against him, that he has the passions which afflict all men of ardent temperaments--that he has at times indulged the propensities common to all men--that he has done openly, in short, and without hypocrisy, all that his predecessors have done covertly and hypocritically--that he calls his son his son, and not his nephew--never forgetting, however, that all these faults occurred before his elevation to the holy see; but granting all, admitting every charge, I will ask you, Lorenzo, if these faults of the man, which affect not the holy office, are so great a scandal to the Church as to see the first of--I had almost said pretended--the first of Christian monarchs set at nought the authority, oppress the person, and plunder the property of the representative of the apostles? But I have dwelt too long upon this aspect of the question. Perhaps it does not affect you; it may not affect the King of France, and I did not intend to speak of it at length. I meant to deal with the political view of the case--of that which touches the king's material interests, and I now turn to that."