CHAPTER X
EFFECTS OF THE WAR—THE ROMAN INFANTE
The war about Ferrara, thanks to Alfonso's skill and the determined resistance of the State, had ended. Julius II had seized Modena and Reggio, which was a great loss to the State of Ferrara, and consequently the history of that country for many years hence is taken up with her efforts to regain these cities. Fortunately for Alfonso, Julius II died in February, 1513, and Leo X ascended the papal throne. Hitherto he had maintained friendly relations with the princes of Urbino and Ferrara, who continued to look for only amicable treatment from him; but both houses were destined to be bitterly deceived by the faithless Medici, who deceived all the world. Alfonso hastened to attend Leo's coronation in Rome, and, believing a complete reconciliation with the Holy See would soon be effected, he returned to Ferrara.
There Lucretia had won universal esteem and affection; she had become the mother of the people. She lent a ready ear to the suffering and helped all who were in need. Famine, high prices, and depletion of the treasury were the consequences of the war; Lucretia had even pawned her jewels. She put aside, as Jovius says, "the pomps and vanities of the world to which she had been accustomed from childhood, and gave herself up to pious works, and founded convents and hospitals. This was due as much to her own nature as it was to her past life and the fate she had suffered. Most women who have lived much and loved much finally become fanatics; bigotry is often only the last form which feminine vanity assumes. The recollection of a world of vice, and of crimes committed by her nearest kinsmen, and also of her own sins, must have constantly disturbed Lucretia's conscience. Other women who, like her, were among the chief characters in the history of the Borgias developed precisely the same frame of mind and experienced a similar need of religious consolation. Cæsar's widow ended her life in a convent; Gandia's did the same; Alexander's mistress became a fanatic; and if we had any record of the adulteress Giulia Farnese we should certainly find that she passed the closing years of her life either as a saint in a convent or engaged in pious works."
LEO X.
From an engraving published in 1580.
The year 1513, following the war in Ferarra, marked a decided change in Lucretia's life, for from that time it took a special religious turn. It did not, however, degenerate into bigotry or fanaticism; this was prevented by the vigorous Alfonso and her children, and by her court duties. The war had deprived Ferrara of much of its brilliancy, although it was still one of the most attractive of the princely courts of Italy. During the following years of peace Alfonso devoted himself to the cultivation of the arts. The most famous masters of Ferrara—Dossi, Garofalo, and Michele Costa—worked for him in the castle, in Belriguardo, and Belfiore. Titian, who was frequently a guest in Ferrara, executed some paintings for him, and the duke likewise gave Raphael some commissions. He even founded a museum of antiquities. In Lucretia's cabinet there was a Cupid by Michael Angelo. The predilection of the duchess for the fine arts, however, was not very strong; in this respect she was not to be compared with her sister-in-law, Isabella of Mantua, who maintained constant relations with all the prominent artists of the age and had her agents in all the large cities of Italy to keep her informed regarding noteworthy productions in the domain of the arts.
From 1513 Ferrara's brilliancy was somewhat dimmed by the greater fame of the court of Leo X. The passion of this member of the Medici family for the arts attracted to Rome the most brilliant men of Italy, among whom were the poets Tebaldeo, Sadoleto, and Bembo—the last became Leo's secretary. Both the Strozzi were dead. Aldo, upon whose career as a printer and scholar during his early years Lucretia had not been without influence, was living in Venice, and from there he kept up a literary correspondence with his patroness. Celio Calcagnini remained true to Ferrara. The university continued to flourish. Lucretia was very friendly with the noble Venetian, Trissino, Ariosto's not altogether successful rival in epic poetry. There are in existence five letters written by Trissino to Lucretia in her last years.[229] Ferrara's pride, however, was Ariosto, and Lucretia knew him when he was at the zenith of his fame. He, however, dedicated his poem neither to her nor to Alfonso, but to the unworthy Cardinal Ippolito, in whose service a combination of circumstances had placed him. No princely house was ever glorified more highly than was the house of Este by Ariosto, for the Orlando Furioso will cause it to be remembered for all time; so long as the Italian language endures it will hold an immortal place in literature. Lucretia too was given a position of honor in the poem; but however beautiful the place which she there holds, Ariosto ought to have bestowed greater praise on her if she was the inspiration which he required for his great work.
Lucretia's relations with her husband, which had never been based upon love, and which were not of a passionate nature, apparently continued to grow more favorable for her. In April, 1514, she had borne him a third son, Alessandro, who died at the age of two years; July 4, 1515, she bore a daughter, Leonora, and November 1, 1516, another son, Francesco. With no little satisfaction Alfonso found himself the father of a number of children—all his legitimate heirs. He was engrossed in his own affairs, but, nevertheless, he was highly pleased with the esteem and admiration now bestowed upon his wife. While the admiration she excited in former years was due to her youthful beauty, it was now owing to her virtues. She who was once the most execrated woman of her age had won a place of the highest honor. Caviceo even ventured, when he wished to praise the famous Isabella Gonzaga, to say that she approached the perfection of Lucretia. Her past, apparently, was so completely forgotten that even her name, Borgia, was always mentioned with respect.