Genna´ro

the natural son of Lucrezia di Borgia (daughter of Pope Alexander VI.) before her marriage with Alfonso, duke of Ferra´ra. He was brought up by a Neapolitan fisherman. In early manhood he went to Venice, heard of the scandalous cruelty of Lucrezia, and with the heedle petulance of youth, mutilated the duke’s escutcheon by striking out the B, thus converting Borgia into Orgia ( orgies ). Lucrezia demanded vengeance, and Gennaro was condemned to death by poison. When Lucrezia discovered that the offender was her own son, she gave him an antidote to the poison, and set him free. Not long after this, at a banquet given by Negro´ni Lucrezia revealed herself to Gennaro as his mother, and both expired of poison in the banquet hall.—Donizetti, Lucrezia di Borgia (1834).