§ 55. JULIUS II., THE WARRIOR-POPE. 1503-1513. 469
says, " It seems good to me to propose Csesar Borgia as an example to be imitated by all those who through fortune and the arms of others have attained to supreme command. For, as he hadagreatmind and great ambitions, it wasnotpossibleforhim to govern otherwise." Csesar had said to the theorist, " I rob no man. lam here to act the tyrant's part and to do away with tyrants. " Only if to obtain power by darkness and assassination is worthy of admiration, and if to crush all individual liberty is a just end of government, can the Machiavellian ideal be regarded with other feelings than those of utter reprobation. There is something pathetic in the recollection that, to the end, this inhuman brother retained the affection of his sister, Lucretia. She pled for his release from imprisonment in Spain, and Ctesar's letter to her announcing his escape is still extant. ^ When the rumor came of his death, Lucre tia despatched her servant, Tullio, to Navarre to find out the truth, and gave herself up to protracted prayer on her brother's behalf. This beautiful example of a sister's love would seem to indicate that Caesar possessed by nature some excellent qualities.
Julius was also actively engaged in repairing some of the other evils of Alexander's reign and making amends for its injustices. He restored Sermoneta to the dukes of Gaetani. The document which pronounced severe reprobation upon Alexander ran, " our predecessor, desiring to enrich his own kin, through no zeal for justice, but by fraud and deceit, sought for causes to deprive the Gaetani of their possessions." With decisive firmness, he announced his purpose to assert his lawful authority over the papnl f.^yr^tnr^j^auA^ accompanied by 9 cardinals, he left Rome at the head of 500 men and proceeded to make good the announcement. Perugia was_quicklv brought to terms ; and, aided by the French, the _pDj3[g_e.nteredJBologna, against which he had launched the interdict. Returning to Rome, he was welcomed as a conqueror. The victorious troops
of Spoleto. Jupiter, who is represented as about to destroy the world for its wickedness, perceives that it contains at least one excellent young man, Caesar, and sends Mercury to urge him to take up arms for the world's deliverance. Engl. Hist. Bev., Jan., 1902, pp. 15-20.
1 The letter is given by Gregorovius, Lucr. Borgia, p. 319.
470 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
passed under triumphal arches, including a reproduction of Constantine's arch erected on St. Peter's square ; and, accompanied by 28 members of the sacred college, Julius gave solemn thanks in St. Peter's.^
The next to be brought to terms was Venice. In vain had the pope, through letters and legates, called upon the doge to give up Rimini, Fuenza, Forli and other parts of the Romagna upon which he had laid his hand. In March, 1508, he joined the alliance of Cambrai, the other parties being Louis XII. and the emperor Maximilian, and later, Ferdinand of Spain. This agreement decided in cold blood upon the division of the Venetian possessions, and bound the parties to a war against the Turk. France was confirmed in the tenure of Milan, and given Cremona and Brescia. Maximilian was to have Verona, Padua and Aquileja ; Naples, the Venetian territories in Southern Italy ; Hungary, Dalmatia ; Savoy, Cyprus ; and the Apostolic see, the lands of which it had been dispossessed. It was high-handed robbery, even though a pope was party to it. Julius, who had promised to add the punishments of the priestly office to the force of arms, proceeded with merciless severity, and placed the republic under the interdict, April 27, 1509. In vain did Venice appeal to God and a general council. Past sins enough were written asrainst her to call for severe treatment. She was forced to surrender Rimini, Faenza and Ravenna, and was made to drink the cuj) of humiliation to its dregs. The city renounced her claim to nominate to bishoprics and benefices and tax the clergy without the papal consent. The Adriatic she. was forced to open to general commerce. Her envoys, who appeared in Rome to make public ajjology for the sins of the proud state, were subjected to the insult of listening on their knees to a service performed outside the walls of St. Peter's and lasting an hour ; at every verse of the Miserere the pope and 12 cardinals, each with a golden rod, touched tliem. Then, service over, the doors of the cathedral were thrown open and absolution pro-
^ The expedition is described by de Grassis, the new master of ceremonies at the papal palace, who accompanied the expedition, and also by ^Egidius of Viterbo.