The Family - Mario Puzo [40]
It only took a few moments for Duarte to present the agreement and pay the physician his fee.
Still in disguise, assured of the success of his mission, Brandao mounted his horse and rode back to Rome.
Ah, that a Pope could have only the heart and soul of a saint instead of the worldly desires of a mortal man. But as embroiled as Alexander was in political intrigue, he was now constantly distracted by his personal affairs. His young mistress, Julia Farnese, who had traveled with Lucrezia to Pesaro, had been forced to stay away weeks longer than expected after Lucrezia fell ill, in order to care for her. Once Lucrezia had recovered enough for Julia to leave with a clear conscience, she decided to visit her husband, Orso, at the Castel of Bassanello, for a reason Alexander could not comprehend. But first, she implored the Pope, she must stop to visit her mother and sick brother at Capodimonte.
When Alexander read Julia’s request, he forbade it; her husband, Orso, was a soldier, he insisted, and had been sent away on papal business. But Julia, young and spirited, rebelled against the Pope’s instructions to return to Rome immediately. She penned a second letter begging Alexander’s forgiveness for her disobedience, but insisted she could not return just yet. And to add to her betrayal, she took her mother-in-law, Adriana, along with her to Capodimonte.
When Alexander received her next message, he was furious. If he could not bear to be without his Julia, how then could she bear to be without him? Faithless girl! Now the Pope flew into a rage at everyone in his service. He lay awake at night, sleepless, not over any political threat, but out of longing for the touch of Julia’s hand, the scent of her hair, the comfort of her warm body. Finally, when he could bear it no longer, he kneeled at his altar and prayed that the demon of his insatiable appetites be shriven from his heart. When Cardinal Farnese tried to reason with him—explaining that his sister had no choice, for Orso had sent for her and he was after all her husband—the Pope dismissed him with a shout. “Ingrazia!”
For days Alexander fumed. He paced his chambers and repeated long lists of the vices of his mistress, her husband, and his favorite cousin. He would excommunicate them. They would surely be sent to hell for this betrayal.
But it was young Orso who finally helped relieve the Pope’s anguish. Hearing of Alexander’s distress, and fearing for his own position, he forbade his wife to come to Bassanello. Instead he instructed her to return home to Rome at once, for there was danger on the roads of Rome from the French invasion. And, because he was her husband, she was obliged to obey.
When King Charles moved his powerful army across the Alps into Italian territory, the bitter, angry Cardinal della Rovere was at his side, goading him, insisting that an attack on the Borgia Pope was more important than any against the Infidel Turks.
As the French troops moved southward toward Naples, no one took action to stop them—not Milan, not Bologna, not Florence.
Pope Alexander, hearing of their approach, prepared to defend Rome and the Vatican. He set his trust in King Ferrante’s captain general, Virginio Orsini, head of the Orsini family. Virginio had convinced the Pope of his good faith by paying the necessary tax on his castles; Alexander knew that Virginio could call upon more than twenty thousand vassals, and with his great fortress, the impregnable Bracciano, they were almost invincible.
But the seeds of treachery and avarice can hide in the hearts of the most courageous of men, and even the Holy Father could not portend their development.
Duarte Brandao now rushed into the chambers of Pope Alexander. “I have received word, Your Worthiness, that our former friend Virginio Orsini has gone over to the French.”
Pope Alexander, hearing the news, said, “He must have lost his wits . . . ”
Duarte, whose composure was legendary, now looked upset.
“What is it, my friend?” the Pope asked. “It is just a change of strategy