that I wanted to make a lucrative present to the pope, and intended to accompany it with a learned discussion, explaining the emblems. I took the pen and started to write: 'César Borgia was born.' . . . I stopped there, as not for the life of me could I find out in my library or in those of my friends when that fellow was born."
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Fig. 653. Sword
Italian, late XVth century
Collection: Mr. Felix Joubert
"Galiani" (says M. de Beaumont) "left the sword to a friend, a cleric, Monseigneur Honoré Gaëtani, with a clause in the will stipulating that he should pay to his heirs 100 ounces Of gold in compensation. If he refused the legacy or made any difficulty about paying the money, the Empress Catherine of Russia was substituted as legatee." As we have said, the scabbard of this most precious sword is now preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum, having been wisely purchased by the authorities as far back as 1869. It is certainly one of the finest examples of cuir bouilli known, and was at one time said to have come from the hand of Antonio del Pollaiuolo. On the front is a group of figures in relief, gathered together under the arch of a temple to offer sacrifice to Venus, whose statue is raised on a pedestal. The grouping of the figures, and their admirable modelling in so homely a material, fully justify the unknown artist in inscribing on his work the motto MATERIAM SVPERABIT OPVS—"labour will triumph over material." The back shows decoration of tongues of flame and a monogram of the name Caesar, the devices of Caesar Borgia. It is, however, most interesting to note that the scabbard was apparently never finished, its extremity having only the
