It is extremely significant that Capello’s Relazione contains no mention of Alfonso’s plot against
Cesare’s life, a matter which, as we have seen, had figured so repeatedly in that ambassador’s
dispatches from Rome at the time of the event. This omission is yet another proof of the malicious
spirit by which the “relation” was inspired. The suppression of anything that might justify a deed
attributed to Cesare reveals how much defamation and detraction were the aims of this
Venetian.