By so doing she became the most powerful and the most influential person in the house of Borgia.
Two of the three sons of the cardinal, Giovanni and Caesar, had in the meantime reached manhood.

In 1490 neither of them was in Rome; the former was in Spain, and the latter was studying at the University of Perugia, which he later left for Pisa.

As early as 1488 Caesar must have attended one of these institutions, probably the University of Perugia, for in that year Paolo Pompilio dedicated to him his _Syllabica_, a work on the art of versification.

In it he lauded the budding genius of Caesar, who was the hope and ornament of the house of Borgia, his progress in the sciences, and his maturity of intellect--astonishing in one so young--and he predicted his future fame.[14] His father had intended him for the Church, although Caesar himself felt for it nothing but aversion.

From Innocent VIII he had secured his son's appointment as prothonotary of the Church and even as Bishop of Pamplona.