[Footnote 260: The assertion of most historians, that the pretext was Giovanni's impotency, is contradicted by very curious documents in the suit of divorce. A commission having been issued by the Pontiff, empowering two cardinals to examine into the facts, Lucrezia stated to them that in her twelfth year she had been contracted in marriage, by the words "Will you? I will," to Gaspare, son of Giovanni Francesco da Procida, Count of Aversa, but that subsequently she had been induced [_quadam facilitate_] to marry Sforza, and live with him above three years; but she offered to prove by her own oath, and by the report of _obstetrices_, that this marriage had never been consummated. Giovanni averred himself ready to affirm on oath that no _copula_ had ever followed, and he adhibited his consent to the divorce. These steps took place towards the close of the year, and on the 18th of December a bull issued dissolving this ill-fated union. Archiv. Dipl. Urb. at Florence.] [Footnote 261: SANUTO'S MS. Diary, Bib. Marc., vol. II., 466-71, 489, 495, 587-98. Compare with BURCHARD, _Eccard._, II., 2060; TOMMASI, I., 223-43. Burchard has no trace of that partiality for Cesare at this period, usually imputed to the Pontiff, but establishes an excessive fondness for his elder brother up to his death. Roscoe rejects the charge against the Cardinal; his German translator credits it.] [Illustration: _Anderson_ CESARE BORGIA AS THE EMPEROR _Detail from the fresco of the Disputa of S. Catherine in the Appartamento Borgia in the Vatican_] Although the Duke of Gandia's morals will bear no examination, he was a general favourite in Rome. To a people fond of pageantry the taste of his family for splendour was naturally grateful, and he, alone, of the race, mingled neither tyranny nor cruelty with his magnificence. The bargeman of the Ripetta had manifested neither surprise nor curiosity regarding an incident which he stated to be of frequent occurrence at that spot; but when the victim was ascertained, the whole city was moved; the tradespeople closed their shops,[*262] and all retired panic-stricken to their homes. The few stragglers who crossed the bridge near to which the mutilated body had been found, started at the cry of many sorrowing voices which issued from St. Angelo, and one deep-toned note of woe, which rose above the wailing, was imputed to the Pontiff, "lamenting him who was his right eye, the hope and glory of his house." His grief and horror were indeed overwhelming: we are assured that he swallowed nothing from Wednesday till Saturday, and passed three successive nights without an hour of sleep. On the 19th he held a consistory, to receive the condolence of the cardinals and foreign ministers, whom he addressed to the following purpose[263]:--