He is at least somewhat broken in spirit. There is a saying that it is less dangerous to do battle with a lion’s whelp than with an old, dying lion; but in the case of the Borgia the position is quite otherwise. Rodrigo’s son, Cesare, is the man we must match ourselves against now. Armed with the vast fortune the Borgia have amassed by fair means and foul - but mostly foul’ - here Machiavelli allowed himself a wry smile - ‘he heads a large army of highly trained troops, and with it he intends to take over all Italy - the whole peninsula - and he does not intend to stop at the borders of the Kingdom of Naples.’

‘He would never dare - he could never do it!’ Mario roared.

‘He would and he could,’ snapped Machiavelli. ‘He is evil through and through, and as dedicated a Templar as his father the Pope ever was, but he is also a fine though utterly ruthless soldier. He always wanted to be a soldier, even after his father made him Cardinal of Valencia when he was only seventeen years old. As we all know he resigned from that post, making him the first cardinal in the Church’s history to do so. The Borgia treat our country and the Vatican as if they were their own private fiefdom. Cesare’s plan now is to crush the north first, to subdue the Romagna and isolate Venice. He also intends to extirpate and destroy all of us remaining Assassins, since he knows that in the end we are the only people who can stop him. “Aut Cesar, Aut Nihil” - that’s his motto - “either you’re with me or you’re dead”. And do you know I think the madman actually believes it.’

‘My uncle mentioned a sister,’ Ezio began.

Machiavelli turned to him. ‘Yes. Lucrezia. She and Cesare are … how shall I say? Very close. They are a very close-knit family; when they are not killing those other brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, whom they find inconvenient to them, they are … coupling with each other.’

Maria Auditore could not suppress a cry of disgust.