Swashbuckling novelist Rafael Sabatini brings Cesare Borgia to life!

Cesare Borgia, former cardinal, Duke of Valentinois and Romagna, has been a figure of awe and scorn for generations. For 400 years, the romance of Borgia's tumultuous life has been the topic of romances and tragedies. His rise and fall inspired Machiavelli to write The Prince and Friedrich Nietzsche to write The Antichrist.

Among those inspired by this prince of Italy was famed author Rafael Sabatini (Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk). Seemingly compelled to explore this fascinating historical figure's true nature, Sabatini wrote a biography and a play. But his best work was in his favorite writing style: historical fiction. With characteristic Sabatini flair, he brought Borgia life as no one had before.

Drawn to the passion, suspicion, betrayal, and ambition of Borgia's brief but exciting life, Sabatini penned seven short stories set during the Italian Renaissance: "The Honour of Varano", "The Test", "Ferrante's Jest", "Gisimondi's Wage", "The Snare", "The Lust of Conquest", and "The Pasquinade". These stories are collected in the volume Sabatini entitled The Justice of the Duke.