"Sextus Tarquinius, Sextus Nero—Sextus et iste;
Semper sub Sextis perdita Roma fuit."
and, upon the body of his son Giovanni, murdered by his brother Cæsar Borgia, being fished up on the following day from the Tiber:
"Piscatorem hominum re te non, Sexte, putemus,
Piscaris natum retibus ecce tuum."
In the reign of the warlike Julius II. (1503—13), of whom it is said that he threw the keys of Peter into the Tiber, while marching his army out of Rome, declaring that the sword of Paul was more useful to him:
"Cum Petri nihil efficiant ad prælia claves,
Auxilio Pauli forsitan ensis erit."
and, in allusion to his warlike beard:
"Huc barbam Pauli, gladium Pauli, omnia Pauli:
Claviger ille nihil ad mea vota Petrus."
At a moment of great unpopularity:
"Julius est Romæ, quid abest? Date, numina, Brutum.
Nam quoties Romæ est Julius, ilia perit."
In reference to the sale of indulgences and benefices by Leo X.: