Cardinal Roderigo was crowned Pope Alexander VI next day on the steps of the Basilica of St. Peter. The streets of Rome were crowded with citizens, shouting, laughing, applauding.
Their common eyes were dazzled by the colorful beauty of the procession to the Lateran, the Pope's cathedral church.
Alexander, smiling and serene, completely confident and happy in the fulfillment of his aim, rode on a huge white stallion surrounded by banners including the arms of the Borgias — the Bull. The new Pope held his hand high, blessing the populace with the Fisherman's Ring which glittered from his forefinger in the sunshine.
The magnificent cortege included seven hundred priests and prelates, two thousand knights on horseback, three thousand archers and Turkish horsemen and the Palatine Guard with their flashing halberds and shields.
Watching the procession in all its blaze of color, listening to the music, smelling the incense and the flowers which heralded a night of festivity, Cesare could hardly believe in his adventure of the previous night. A desire not to recall the details of its ending denied him the liberty to enjoy remembering the beginning. It was an episode he preferred to forget.
One of Pope Alexander's first acts was to deal with the violence which had been rife in the city. To this end he used an iron fist.
His first decree was that the house of a murderer should be razed to the ground and the ruffian hanged for all to see above the ruins.