Cardinal Virtues — George Herman

Much of Italy has been under the thumb of Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI and his son Cesare Borgia. For more than a decade, villages were crushed under the heel of Duke Cesare, but the family's decline after the death of Pope Alexander VI, aroused in the villages a brief dream of an independence from all political parties and ambitious warlords. Nevertheless, now the armies of the newly-elected pontiff, Julius II, encircle Bologna in their war against the combined forces of the old Venetian Doge and the Serene Republic's allies to the east who also thirst for the key city. The churches hum with the mumbled prayers of cheerless women and frightened children who huddle together to await the outcome of the battle. Some know they cannot win, so they pray only for a quick resolution. They remember the assassinations and atrocities that marked their years and pray to be done with war and warriors.In his elaborate, two-room tent Pope Julius II, stands erect and stunned as his taster shakes violently, vomits, struggles to breathe and after a final exhaustive tremor lies still and ashen. Enemies of this new pope are plotting and a rash of deaths by poisoning is just beginning.After years of exile the Medici are planning to re-establish their family's rightful place as the power in Florence. Cardinal Giovanni de Medici also sets in motion a plan to get rid of Pope Julius II and conspires with other cardinals to ensure that he will be chosen to replace him. Conspiracies result in murder by poisoning, conspirators are eliminated to cover up the conspiracies until the objective is reached. Giovanni de Medici becomes Pope Leo X and the Medici resumes power in Florence.Deaths from poison continue, political alliances change with the seasons and wars for property and power has everyone scrambling to be on the right side. Leonardo is caught in the middle because he is suspected of being an accomplice in the poisoning though no one can figure out what the poison is. Leonardo's search for the source of the poison leads him to the Medici library where he comes across an ancient text that steers him in the right direction but not before it is used again. Finally, Leonardo receives a surprise invitation that takes him out of harms way and places him in an environment of peace free from political intrigue.