Reviews

The Life of Cesare Borgia by Rafael Sabatini

vanilla22's review against another edition

4.0

This is one of he most thorough biographies of Cesare Borgia I have read in respect to the fact that it does not present occurrences as unquestionable facts but weighs the accounts of several chroniclers in order to discern the truth of the matter. By the same token, however, Sabatini is revealed throughout the work to be ardently infatuated with Borgia, and his bias is quite evident. Where other biographers were willing to admit that Cesare, although accused of many atrocities during his short life, was at least responsible of the murder of his brother in law, Alfonso of Aragon, Sabatini instead spends more time trying to blame the murder on the other leading families of Rome, such as the ever-hostile Orsinis. In the end, Sabitini portrays Cesare as a product of his environment, a ruthless and immoral cinquecentist. Because of the innate lawlessness of fifteenth century Itay, Sabitini argues that Cesare cannot be condemned for his crimes by the twenty first (or twentieth, when the book was published) century reader. It seems as if the author's purpose here is to paint Cesare Borgia as a saint when in reality he is anything but.

beereads618's review against another edition

4.0

This is one of he most thorough biographies of Cesare Borgia I have read in respect to the fact that it does not present occurrences as unquestionable facts but weighs the accounts of several chroniclers in order to discern the truth of the matter. By the same token, however, Sabatini is revealed throughout the work to be ardently infatuated with Borgia, and his bias is quite evident. Where other biographers were willing to admit that Cesare, although accused of many atrocities during his short life, was at least responsible of the murder of his brother in law, Alfonso of Aragon, Sabatini instead spends more time trying to blame the murder on the other leading families of Rome, such as the ever-hostile Orsinis. In the end, Sabitini portrays Cesare as a product of his environment, a ruthless and immoral cinquecentist. Because of the innate lawlessness of fifteenth century Itay, Sabitini argues that Cesare cannot be condemned for his crimes by the twenty first (or twentieth, when the book was published) century reader. It seems as if the author's purpose here is to paint Cesare Borgia as a saint when in reality he is anything but.

claben's review against another edition

2.0

Rafael Sabatini's obvious crush on Cesare Borgia has produced an often interesting but also frequently hilarious work of historical rehabilitation. Some of what seems risible to a modern reader is a product of the book's age (especially the adorable attempts to shield innocent eyes by quoting dirty passages in untranslated Latin) but the majority of the mirth comes from a complete, fervid partiality that goes under the guise of being impartial simply because all previous accounts had leaned so far in the opposite direction. Notably, those crimes that Sabatini must admit the Borgias committed, he often dismisses as typical for the times - only to excoriate those same crimes (notably treason, nepotism, and simony) when they are committed by the house's enemies. To take a page from Sabatini's own argument, this probably seemed like a reasonable tack to take in a context where all the existing histories were slanted hard to the contrary, but for a modern reader who has a variety of portrayals of Borgia to choose from, the special pleading can only lead to eye-rolling.

gotterdammerung's review

5.0

Utterly confident in its brave defense of a notorious character, The Life of Cesare Borgia is a must read for any serious scholar of the period or a fan of the Borgias.

Sabatini pulls off a polemic against the historians who disparage the Borgias because he relies on evidence and a superior understanding of the human psyche, also bolstered by a few truths of Machiavelli.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and hope to read more courageous efforts by biographers in the future.

claben's review

2.0

Rafael Sabatini's obvious crush on Cesare Borgia has produced an often interesting but also frequently hilarious work of historical rehabilitation. Some of what seems risible to a modern reader is a product of the book's age (especially the adorable attempts to shield innocent eyes by quoting dirty passages in untranslated Latin) but the majority of the mirth comes from a complete, fervid partiality that goes under the guise of being impartial simply because all previous accounts had leaned so far in the opposite direction. Notably, those crimes that Sabatini must admit the Borgias committed, he often dismisses as typical for the times - only to excoriate those same crimes (notably treason, nepotism, and simony) when they are committed by the house's enemies. To take a page from Sabatini's own argument, this probably seemed like a reasonable tack to take in a context where all the existing histories were slanted hard to the contrary, but for a modern reader who has a variety of portrayals of Borgia to choose from, the special pleading can only lead to eye-rolling.