Two
cardinals, who, at the same time, were princes of ruling houses,
Giovanni d'Aragona, son of King Ferrante, and Ascanio Sforza, brother
of Lodovico il Moro, sold their votes with shameless effrontery; so
that, at any rate, the ruling houses of Naples and Milan became
interested, by their participation in the booty, in the continuance of
the papal system. Once again, in the following conclave, when all the
cardinals but five sold themselves, Ascanio received enormous sums in
bribes, not without cherishing the hope that at the next election he
would himself be the favored candidate.
Lorenzo the Magnificent, on his part, was anxious that the House of
Medici should not be sent away with empty hands. He married his
daughter Maddalena to the son of the new Pope-- the first who publicly
acknowledged his children-- Franceschetto Cibo, and expected not only
favours of all kinds for his own son, Cardinal Giovanni, afterwards Leo
X, but also the rapid promotion of his son-in-law. But with respect to
the latter, he demanded impossibilities. Under Innocent VIII there was
no opportunity for the audacious nepotism by which States had been
founded, since Franceschetto himself was a poor creature who, like his
father the Pope, sought power only for the lowest purpose of all--the
acquisition and accumulation of money.
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