XIV.

"should remain under arrest at the palace. CHAP. "A few days afterwards he was, however, "ordered into closer custody."

Several

nals confess their guilt.

On the eighth day of June the pope again assembled the cardinals; and after bitterly other cardicomplaining that his life should have been so cruelly and insidiously attempted, by those who, having been raised to such high dignity, and who, being the principal members of the apostolic see, were bound beyond all others to defend him; and after lamenting that the kindness and liberality which he had uniformly shewn to every individual of the sacred college, even to a degree which had been imputed to him as a weakness, had met with so ungrateful a return(a) he proceeded to inform them that two others of their members were concerned

in the conspiracy, and called upon the guilty to make their peace by a prompt confession, threatening that otherwise he would immediately order them into custody. By the advice of three of the cardinals, Remolini, Accolti, and Farnese, (b) each cardinal was called upon to answer, on oath, the interrogatory whether

they

A. D. 1517.
A. Et. 42.

A. Pont. V.

(a) Guicciard. lib. xii. ii. 145.

(b) Fabron. vita Leon. x. p. 116.

XIV.

A. Et. 42.

A. Pont. V.

CHAP. they were guilty. When the question was put to Francesco Soderini cardinal of VolA. D. 1517. terra, he denied the fact; but upon further admonition he fell prostrate, and with many tears acknowledged his offence, yielding his life to the discretion of the pontiff. Leo then observed that there was yet another concealed traitor, when the three cardinals before mentioned, turning to Adrian di Corneto cardinal of S. Crisogono, advised him in like manner to humble himself. With great reluctance he too confessed his guilt. It was then determined, that the penitent cardinals, after paying a heavy fine should be restored to favour. This fine was settled at twenty-five thousand ducats;(a) but when they had raised that sum by joint contributions, Leo insisted that it was intended they should each pay that amount, whereupon they availed themselves of the earliest opportunity to effect their escape from the city. The cardinal of Volterra retired to Fondi, where he remained under the protection of Prospero Colonna until the death of the pontiff;(b) but what became of Adrian is

wholly

T

(a) Far. de Grassis, Diar. inedit. ap. Bibl. Pub. Paris, Guicciard. lib. xiii. ii. 145, 146.

(b) Guicciard. lib. xiii. ii. 146,

wholly unknown, no tidings having been re- CHAP. ceived of him after his flight from Rome.(a)

XIV.

The

(a) It was supposed, however, that Adrian was murdered by one of his servants, for the sake of the gold which he had secreted in his flight. "Constans tamen opinio est, 66 eum insuto in interiorem thoracem auro oneratum, co"mitis famuli perfidiâ oppressum; auroque surrepto, ca"daver in solitarium aliquem locum abjectum occultari." Valerian. de Literat. infelic. lib. i. p. 17. Adrian was an accomplished Latin scholar, as appears by such of his pieces as are preserved in the Carm. illust. Poet. Ital. tom. v. p. 397. et v. ante, vol. ii. p. 59. In the reign of Henry VIII. he was the pope's collector in England, and stood high in the favour of the king, who conferred on him the see of Hereford, and afterwards that of Bath, v. Bacon, "Certé," says Hist. regni Hen. VII, in op. iii. 560, that eminent author, "vir magnus fuit Adrianus, et multa "eruditione, prudentia, et in rebus civilibus dexteritate, "præditus." He afterwards relates the part which Adrian took in the conspiracy of Petrucci, and attributes it to an ambitious and vain desire of obtaining the papacy; which it seems had been promised by an astrologer to a cardinal named Adrian, which he conceived applied only to himself; but which was intended to refer to Adrian of Utrecht, the preceptor of Charles V. and successor of Leo X. A few months after the cardinal had absconded, he was deprived of his dignities and benefices, as appears by a letter from the cardinal Giulio de' Medici to Wolsey, requesting that Henry VIII. would signify his intentions to the pontiff, as to the disposal of the vacant bishoprick. v. App. No.CXLIII.

A. D. 1517.

A. Et. 42.

A. Pont. V.

The painful task of punishing the authors and principal promoters of this conspiracy yet remained, and seems to have affected the pontiff with real concern. Of the guilt of the cardinals Petrucci and de' Sauli no doubt was entertained; yet the conduct of the latter excited general surprise; as he had shared in an eminent degree the favour and liberality of the pontiff, which he had secured by the elegance of his manners and conversation, insomuch as to have been the frequent companion of the pontiff in his hours of leisure and relaxation. It was however conjectured, that the prosperity which he thus enjoyed had only served to excite in him those ambitious expectations which no reasonable kindness could gratify, and that he resented the preference shewn by the pope to the cardinal Giulio, in conferring upon him the episcopal see of Marseilles. (a) Whatever was the cause of his animosity, it was sufficiently apparent, as well from written documents as the evidence of the surgeon Battista, that he had taken an active part in the machinations of Petrucci, and had supplied him with money for carry

:

ing

(a) Jovii, vita Leon. x. lib. iv. p. 76. Leon. x. p. 119.

Fabron. vita

XIV.

ing them into effect. During his examination CHAP. he is said to have hesitated, trembled, contradicted himself, and given evident symptoms of his guilt; whilst Petrucci, almost frantic with rage, poured out his execrations against the pontiff;(a) but little reliance is to be placed on the conduct of persons examined under the immediate terrors of the rack, where hardened intrepidity may be mistaken for innocence, and the natural dread of corporal sufferings for the strugglings of conscious guilt.

A. D. 1517.

A. Ft. 42.

A. Pont. V.

of the car

dinal Pe

trucci and

others.

On the day of Pentecost, Leo having again Execution assembled the cardinals, addressed them in a long and pathetic oration, in which he intimated that although he might legally and properly have proceeded to degrade and punish the guilty, yet he had determined to pardon them. The cardinals present acknowledged his clemency towards their offending brethren, whereupon Leo was melted into tears.(b) He then went to attend the celebration of mass, after which his dispositions and intentions seemed to be astonishingly changed, and it was thought that he had been instigated to convert the punishment

(a) Fabron. in vita Leon. x. p. 119.

(b) Par. de Grass. Diar. inedit. in Bib. Pub. Paris.