Of
this, money and movable goods formed the smallest part; it was a much
greater source of profit for the Pope that the incomes of the clerical
dignitaries in question were suspended by their death, and that he
received the revenues of their offices while vacant, and the price of
these offices when they were filled by the successors of the murdered
men. The Venetian ambassador Paolo Capello reported in the year 1500:
'Every night four or five murdered men are discovered--bishops,
prelates and others--so that all Rome is trembling for fear of being
destroyed by the Duke (Cesare).' He himself used to wander about Rome
in the night-time with his guards, and there is every reason to believe
that he did so not only because, like Tiberius, he shrank from showing
his now repulsive features by daylight, but also to gratify his insane
thirst for blood, perhaps even on persons unknown to him.
As early as the year 1499 the despair was so great and so general that
many of the Papal guards were waylaid and put to death- But those whom
the Borgias could not assail with open violence fell victims to their
poison. For the cases in which a certain amount of discretion seemed
requisite, a white powder of an agreeable taste was made use of, which
did not work on the spot, but slowly and gradually, and which could be
mixed without notice in any dish or goblet.
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