"What is wrong, Giovanni?" "Am I not attractive enough?" "This has never happened before." "I have information regarding Orsino Orsini Migliorati and Adriana de Mila." "How is my lady?" "I am Alfonso d'Este." "We're appointing you Captain General of the Papal Guard." "Does this please you?" "Yes, of course." "This is my dream." "Cesare, be silent." "Marcantonio Colonna." "My Uncle Fabrizio will, one day soon, be Prefect again." "Have you learned to jerk off with only four fingers?" "Alessandro Farnese." "You are, as always, a selfish bastard." "We are finished." "I have decided to endorse the claim of Prince Alfonso over King Charles." "King Charles has the divine right to rule in Naples." "Your coronation has its consequences." "France will attack Italy, and soon." "Charles will march." "Your only choice is whether his path through Rome is marked with a kiss on your ring or a poker up your rectum." "Those whores in Milan have deserted us." "Ludovico Sforza will soon open the city gates and kiss French ass." "And his brother, our last year's Vice Chancellor, will try to convince King Charles to depose the Pope." "What about the Neapolitan fleet?" "My brother, Federigo, is on course to attack Genoa." "Keep half your troops on the border of the Abruzzo." "Prince Ferrando should take the other half toward Milan, joining with the Florentines to drive out Sforza." "As expected, the Colonna scum have also joined with France." "And soon the Orsini, emboldened by your defeat at Bracciano." "Charles will be halfway to Rome before firing a single volley." "All these abstractions will soon be blood and chaos." "As a precaution, I will keep a unit of 1,000 men here in Rome." "No, I shall defend the civitas Dei." "Of course, but to have additional troops..." "Who will be loyal to you?" "No." "My guards can do the job." "Father..." "I have learned from my mistakes." "Give me the opportunity to demonstrate my prowess." "Please." "Very well." "May God Almighty be with you both on your appointed tasks." "And how may I be of service, Father?" "Get on your knees, pray for Rome." "I can be my brother's equal in battle with still enough energy to say five novenas." "And if you both were killed?" "No." "Holiness, Cardinal Orsini has arrived." "Orsini?" "Under the banner of peace we have asked" "Gianbattista Orsini to return to Rome to discuss an armistice." "Father, is that not a futile effort?" "No." "The French have not yet crossed Mont Blanc." "Until then, there is possibility." "Lucrezia is married to the Count of Pesaro?" "Yes, but the marriage isn't going well." "Your instructions as Lucrezia's lady-in-waiting are simple." "Give the girl everything she desires." "Encourage her to follow her passions, to challenge her brothers, her father." "Report all she does and says to me." "But would the Countess not speak freely with you on her own accord?" "I was led to believe that you and Lucrezia are friends." "In the two months since Adriana de Mila left us, Lucrezia has grown distrait, isolated, wrapping herself in silences." "That is not good for her or this family." "This conversation never took place." "You will look me in the eye, or you will find yourself with a worse disfigurement." "How was your crossing from Spain?" "Calm." "Thank you, Countess." "I have never had a lady-in-waiting." "Good, because I have never been one." "So you will not know when I falter." "I wonder..." "Pantisilea?" "Shall I be able to entrust you with my deepest, darkest secrets?" "Countess, I serve you and you alone." "We Orsini have a military contract with Naples." "We remain strident in our resolve to repel a French attack." "As should all followers of the Christian word." "However, I affirm no loyalty to you, who lost my trust the moment Juan attacked Bracciano." "The murder of our nephew, Orsino, raises more doubts." "My brother Virginio feels the Borgia have nothing to offer the Orsini." "We could command you." "We are still Pope." "For how much longer?" "The Holy Roman Emperor has died!" "In battle?" "In surgery." "He was having a diseased leg amputated." "May God save the soul of Frederic the Peaceful." "Frederic was called "The Peaceful,"" "because he lost every battle and was always forced to make peace." "Perhaps his son, Maximilian, will move swiftly to prove he's a better warrior." "Maximilian will be as self-centered as all the Habsburgs." "A strong military is your only salvation." "Since we fight on a common side" "I urge you to appoint a real soldier to command your troops." "Not a pampered and reckless son." "Cesare, I need you to be your brother's conscience." "Counsel." "Do not compete." "You are late." "Where are the others?" "Lieutenant Baglioni, Lieutenants Catalano and Cioffi?" "That godforsaken Francisco Pugliese?" "They are gone, Prefect." "Gone." "Gone where?" "To heaven?" "The troops refuse to fight for you." "Fight for me?" "You fools do not fight for me." "You fight for the Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church." "Borgia," "Orsini, Colonna, we care not which horse's ass is Pope." "Fuck." "I want those two dead by sundown." "Agapito, this masked man, my brother's attendant, what did you learn about him?" "Nothing." "His heritage, his training, and even that mask he wears, no one knows a single fact." "The little I have is myth." "I do not like his insertion into my family's affairs." "Any word from Alessandro?" "What is the Countess reading?" "The Greek tragedy of Iphigenia." "What could you possibly learn from the Greeks?" "They are barbaric." "A ruthless king sacrifices his daughter to the gods to maintain his power." "Iphigenea accepts her fate, just like a sacrificial lamb, but her sister, Electra, commits murder." "Where is the cocksure grin you normally wear, Alfonso?" "I have been called home to Ferrara." "Pantisilea, please leave us." "You cannot leave." "I will be bored to death without you irritating me." "My father has decided to support France against your father and Naples." "I am both a loyal son and a faithful citizen." "I must depart." "But this brouhaha is nothing but silly politics." "Far from silly." "Still, these alliances shift constantly." "Who knows?" "By summer I may be fighting for the Borgia." ""I"?" "Will you actually fight, Alfonso?" "Go into battle?" "Of course." "The thought of you in danger's way." "I shall worry so." "Good." "Then I shall not be forgotten." ""All I refuse and you I choose. "" "Your courage gives me courage." "Marcantonio Colonna has seized the harbor at Ostia." "And raised the flag of France in place of the Papal colors, I already heard." "If you had not weakened our forces with your self-exaltation, we might have held the harbor." "How dare you blame the cowardice of those pontifical swine on me?" "Swine?" "Those men come from the finest families in the Papal States." "The finest putanas, ignorant to the art of war." "The army of Naples rushes back to defend Rome." "We pray they arrive before the French do." "Father, I will train a new force." "A much more effective one." "I will utilize real rough and tumble men, whose hands have touched things other than bobbin lace and needle dicks." "Our German citizens." "And I will assist him." "Together, Father, we will assemble a battalion worthy of this great city in the throne of St. Peter." "I will not fight, only counsel." "Together, as brothers should be." "While you organize, we shall order Marcoantonio Colonna to return Ostia to Papal control." "He will refuse." "Then what?" "We shall excommunicate him." "I want a divorce." "Go." "I cannot live another day in a void." "First you demand to sleep with your husband, then you demand to divorce him." "There is a fine line between fervor and insolence, Lucrezia." "Then I want Giovanni Sforza sent back to Pesaro." "Impossible." "We need the House of Sforza." "Even though Milan sides with the French against you?" "Do not dare to lecture me on diplomacy, little girl." "Or seek to confuse me with manipulation." "I am the master of both." "You'll remain married." "Not..." "No, not now." "Be gone." "Holiness, report from the North." "It's worse than we feared." "The French fleet has arrived in Genoa ahead of the Neapolitans," "Charles has crossed the Alps, the Swiss..." "The Swiss are but paid mercenaries." "Yes, and Charles has paid them very well." "You, come." "Giacomo Galasi, from Rapallo." "Dead, dead, dead." "Who is dead?" "The entire village." "We surrendered." "The Swiss monsters, they set fire to our crops, our homes." "Our new cathedral." "They destroyed every living thing." "My family, my little boy." "They cut his tiny throat." "I tried to stop the blood." "This is what the French call war?" "The town surrenders and is slaughtered?" "Where are the rules of chivalry, of decency?" "Is Charles a Christian king or Mohammed?" "Why are you still alive?" "They said I was spared so all the world might know what happened in Rapallo." "And what will happen next, in Rome." "Forwards." "Forwards." "You are among the privileged to be chosen to join the Papal Guard, to protect the Holy Father and the cradle of Christendom." "It is an honor." "Keep your honor." "Pope Alexander has done nothing for us Germans." "Has he not brought order to the streets?" "Created tribunals of justice?" "Instituted reforms that benefit all wronged citizens?" "What is in this for us, Borgia?" "If you join the Guard and repel the vile invaders, each of you will become as rich as a Florentine banker." "Now here is a Borgia we can trust." "You have our attention, Eminence." "Know this, the justification to fight is far greater than money." "The French and their Swiss savages care not whether their victims are Romans, Jews, or Germans." "Whether they are rich or poor." "Your homes will be leveled, your shops burned, the same as in Rapallo." "Will you stand and watch your wives and daughters being raped?" "Before their necks bleed?" "You Germans are a proud people, the descendants of Alaric." "Live up to your ancestry, fight for yourselves, for your families and for what is now your homeland," "the great city of Rome." "Hmm." "Borgia." "Borgia." "Borgia." "I must speak to him now!" "My nephew Marcantonio has a response to your threat of excommunication." "You barge in without being summoned, Cardinal Colonna?" "No Borgia can condemn a Colonna soul." "Marcantonio wants to bet us, fine." "We see his wager." "We do not bluff." "Prepare the Sistine Chapel." "Send Cardinal Piccolomini to King Charles." "King Charles will not care." "Perhaps not, but his wife, Queen Anne, is a devout follower of the Church and still recognizes our divine authority." "Her Majesty will not cherish the idea of being in league with an excommunicant." "How dare you?" "Tell Marcantonio to enjoy the winter breeze while it lasts, for the climate is sure to be warmer in hell." "Take your hands off me!" "I can barely sleep at night, worrying about Alfonso, but I dare not write him lest my family accuse me of collaborating with the enemy." "The ace wins, five loses." "I lose." "Oh, I languish on the isle of despair, stuck with half a man as a husband, while the one that I desire remains far away." "I sympathize." "Forgive me, saying this about your brother, but I, too, am caught in an empty marriage." "Juan is..." "He can be..." "You and I, Lucrezia, are both doomed to a life of long, solitary nights..." "And frivolous card games." "For women of our class, love is a luxury." "Unless, of course, fortune finally smiles upon me, and Giovanni suddenly, unexpectedly, dies." "Jorg, your men must not fear grappling with the enemy." "The closer a Swiss soldier is to you, the easier to thrust a dagger in his side." "Thadeus, remind your unit, there is more to a sword than its blade." "When two swords are crossed, use the pommel to strike the enemy in the face." "Brilliant work today, men." "France will shrink with fear when she encounters you in the Leonine walls." "And tonight, we drink." "Any word from Spain, or the new Holy Roman Emperor?" "No, Holiness, but King Charles has sent an emissary." "We hear from our enemy before our friend?" "This is in response to Cardinal Piccolomini's visit?" "Charles refused to see Piccolomini." "An envoy of the Pope is no longer admitted to the French Court?" "This is more della Rovere, goddamn him." "Who is this French emissary?" "Bishop Briconnet." "Briconnet knows that we kept Pope Innocent from advancing him to a cardinalate." "He is sent as an insult." "Fine." "We shall grant him an audience and dispense with this humiliation." "Holy Father." "One again, King Charles requests safe passage through the Papal States on his way to Naples." "Once again, we have proclaimed Alfonso d'Aragona as the rightful heir to the Neapolitan throne, and therefore can not grant such permission." "Then His Majesty shall not be responsible for what befalls those who hinder his progress." "We are Peter, Vicar of the Living Christ." "Will Charles be able to save your soul after we have excommunicated you and your king?" "Be gone!" "You cannot excommunicate everyone." "Reach out again to Spain and the Holy Roman Empire." "Tell Emperor Maximilian that we wish his nephew," "Prince Ferdinand von Habsburg, to be the godfather of our impending child." "And tell King Ferdinand that this French advance puts his dear niece, Maria Enriques in the path of danger." "When Swiss soldiers rape her he will hear the wrenching of her undergarments all the way in Barcelona." "I see panic in the streets." "Rome, on the verge of invasion." "Not if I have any say in the matter." "You will need more than words to save the city." "Yes, we need a strategy." "I wonder if the way to defeat the French is to let them advance deep into the Papal States and then to cut off the re-supply lines, here, in the forest." "Our new guard could be camouflaged and strike at night." "Like a slew of German grizzly bears." "A plan worthy of Julius Caesar." "But what do I know?" "I lost my war." "Now, all I have to occupy my time is gossip." "I hear His Holiness will excommunicate the Colonna family." "Only Marcantonio." "The Pope wants to have room to negotiate with the rest of the Colonna tribe." "You Christians have no shortage for hocus pocus." "No hocus pocus." "The ritual of the bell, the book, and the candle." "First, the bell tolls, as if for one who has died." "The excommunicant is sent into spiritual oblivion." "Then, His Holiness shuts the Book of Life" "which is now closed to the excommunicant." "Finally, twelve candles, each representing the light of God is snuffed out," "the excommunicant's soul left in the darkness of despair." "A wondrous spectacle, but what good is symbolism if nothing practical is achieved?" "Marcantonio Colonna is no longer a member of the Communion of the Faith." "All must shun him." "Most shunned him anyway." "I still do not see the real significance." "He must forfeit every hectare of Church property he holds." "Which still means nothing, unless you can rip the lands from his hands." "And I intend to do just that and pluck Rome from the bonfire." "Lucrezia wishes her husband dead?" "I am certain the statement was made in a fleeting moment of frailty." "Yet, she is also reading about Electra and her murders." "As Lucrezia's loyal servant, your duty is to encourage her desires." "Even if those desires are sinful?" "Especially." "Rodrigo had two other daughters." "One is dead now, the other still lives, older than Lucrezia." "Vannozza Cattanei, in her time, successfully shoved both off the stage." "But..." "If you are not up to the tasks, then by morning you will find yourself in the cargo hold of a ship bound for Tierra del Fuego." "Lady, I will do as you command." "Good." "Now, um, have you ever heard of arsenic?" "Smells like almonds." "Alms for the poor." "Pantisilea, please explain why you have brought me to an apothecary." "To help you, Countess, with your troubles." "What are you talking about?" "How may I assist you?" "Yes, we need to kill a beast." "What sort of beast?" "Um..." "A horse." "An old nag, which must be put out of misery." "And how big is this horse?" "He is, um, a man's size." "One moment." "Are you insane?" "I thought you would be pleased." "Is this what they teach young maidens in Spain?" "Murder is a sin." "I am so sorry, Countess." "I must have misunderstood." "I thought you wanted to be with Alfonso d'Este." "Give this potion to the animal all at once and he will not suffer." "Thank you, good sir, but we shall not..." "You say he will not suffer?" "Nay, just like falling asleep." "We will take the potion." "The Pope ordered me to Rome." "Was this your doing?" "Yes." "I am sorry, Alessandro," "I want no bad blood between us." "You are my greatest friend." "And you are mine." "We allowed our pride to reign over logic." "Professore Decio would scold us both." "Decio is dead." "Pisa." "Taken by the French." "And they have moved into Ferrara, greeted as heroes." "The army of Naples retreats." "All that stands between Rome and destruction is some German peasants." "And Florence." "Piero de Medici will remain valiant." "He is, after all, the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent." "Surround His Holiness." "Halt." "Halt!" "Giovanni de Medici." "Alone..." "Holy Father, my brother, Piero, has fled to Venice." "My father's tomb defiled." "The monk, Savonarola, has turned the people against us." "We Medici are banned from Florence..." "Forever." "You're safe in Rome." "Come, rest." "Giulia never liked the first minting." "Do you think this is us?" "When one is in need of money, the best solution is to simply mint more?" "This conflict with France will be expensive." "Vice Chancellor, what has happened in Milan to bring you back to Rome?" "Ah, my brother Ludovico has been crowned Duke." "Gian Galeazzo died." "Quite suddenly, it seems." "Della Rovere stirs up doubts in the mind of King Charles regarding my brother's legitimacy to rule, claiming foul play in Gian Galeazzo's death." "Was the young Duke poisoned?" "I know not medicine, only men." "I can bring Cardinal Giovanni Colonna back into the fold." "How?" "We excommunicated his nephew." "As always, something must be given in exchange." "What does Colonna want?" "We must each day say an extra novena, asking King God for protection." "Giovanni, now is no time for prayers." "We should throw off our Cardinal's robes and take up arms before we are compelled to eat crêpes sucrées." "Your father will never permit you to wear armor." "True." "I feel great agony knowing that." "Despite all I have done to build the new Papal Guard," "Juan will be in a field fighting, and the Pope will have me on my knees." "Rome needs both swords and prayers." "You're a cardinal, not a soldier." "Remember, we fight in the name of Our Lord." "Faith is a powerful..." "Faith?" "What good is faith if we are massacred?" "Faith is a benefice bequeathed to the conqueror." "You speak blasphemy." "Faith is a powerful force." "Giovanni..." "You must have faith that you will see Florence, and soon." "If I thought that I would never walk the Hippodrome in Istanbul again," "I would drink hemlock." "His Holiness, Pope Alexander." "Father, had I known you were visiting..." "Prince Djem, will you take your leave?" "We need to speak with our son." "Giovanni, Alessandro, stay." "You should hear this as well." "See that we are not disturbed." "Prepare yourself to leave Rome." "For where?" "Marino, the Colonna fortress." "I will lead the German forces into battle?" "No." "Then what?" "I do not understand." "The price demanded to broker a peace with the Colonna is your freedom." "You will live under the custody of Marcantonio." "A slave to that Colonna dogbitch?" "No." "No, I will not go." "We order you as the Holy Father." "Though as your true father," "I hope you will disobey." "I will never see Rome again." "Holiness?" "Yes, Cardinal Farnese?" "Rome will be here, my friend, like a beautiful woman, waiting." "I will do whatever is asked of me." "Your..." "Your devotion brings peace to a troubled heart." "We assume you have come about Cesare." "How can you send him off to be tortured by those Colonna beasts?" "To die among strangers?" "Rodrigo, I know the pressures you are under." "This is our son, this is our little boy." "Remember how he would grasp your robes before he learned to walk?" "We love Cesare as much as you." "No, you love Juan, Giulia." "You love the wrong people." "You appoint Juan as Prefect, just as your Uncle Calixtus did to your brother." "You repeat actions which are proven to be mistaken." "The point is moot." "Cesare's already left." "He will survive." "We have been assured of his safety." "By liars and murderers?" "Danger threatens to rise in Rome like Lucifer from the underworld." "We stand firm holding down the tempest but, at times, we turn to you, to Cesare, and Juan to lend your strength." "We have already..." "We have already lost two children to death." "We care for Cesare's well-being more than our own breath." "But he is a Borgia, and he goes willingly, knowing that this is the first parry against disaster." "How you enjoy playing games with our lives." "Your heart may care about Cesare, but your soul is dead." "No." "Our soul is Rome, and we will do anything." "Make any sacrifice, even our daughter, to save this city." "I did not mean to hit her." "I do not care what Father says, I will get Cesare back." "But what can you do?" "I shall see if my feckless Sforza husband can finally be of use." "My brother, Cesare, has been made a prisoner of the Colonna family." "Oh, no." "Your cousin, the Vice Chancellor, engineered this." "Please, intercede with him." "Secure my brother's release." "When he is free, I shall be most grateful." "I will go to Ascanio at once." "I shall not disappoint you, my beloved." "I swear." "Welcome to Marino." "A beautiful place for a holiday, no?" "Off the horse." "Magnificent." "A fine specimen." "You're fond of her?" "She is the champion of il Palio." "Il Palio?" "No." "You godless cunt." "Show our guest to his quarters." "Tell my father I love him." "He loves me." "That's what Cesare said at the very moment he..." "Oh, God, what have I done?" "You have done what is necessary." "And so, too, with you." "Rome is no longer safe." "I am sending you to your brother in Orvieto." "I do not want to be apart from you." "This is not an argument." "Della Rovere is threatening to burn you as a witch." "What right does he have to condemn me?" "That Genoan sodomite." "You will only be gone for a short while." "Rodrigo, please, accompany me." "If I leave Rome, my Papacy ends." "I must stay, and, like an alchemist, turn dross into gold." "You must believe me, I pleaded with Ascanio, but my cousin refused to help free your brother." "You..." "Tried your best." "Ascanio said that, "One life is worthless compared to the whole. "" "Yes." "We control not our fates." "Calm yourself." "Sit with me." "If an attack on Marino would rescue Cesare, I would try." "I know." "And if I died in the attempt, I would die happy, knowing I was working to please you." "You would die for me?" "Without hesitation." "My father needs men." "Rome needs men." "Die for Rome, and you die for me." "Rudolfo?" "What is happening?" "Rudolfo?" "Rudolfo." "Rudolfo!" "I am under protection of the Holy Father." "The Florentine Marsilio Ficino has published a pamphlet attacking you in writing. "Charles has shaken the world with a mere nod. "" "Rodrigo... "Rodrigo"?" "Sweet Jesus, what?" "On the way to Orvieto, the Lady Giulia was captured by the French." "What?" "Leave me, both of you." "Wait, wait." "Fine, fine, fine." "This is the game." "Fine, fine." "If they hurt her..." "You, arrest Cardinals Orsini and Colonna." "Now we have hostages." "Once again, you act impulsively." "You allow your lust for this creature to cloud your judgment." "Him, too." "Him, too." "You do not dare." "We do more than dare, we command!" "Lascivious, Catalan fuck." "Lock them all in Castel Sant'Angelo." "Tell Juan to bring me Briconnet." "Alive." "Barely fucking alive." "Giulia." "Giulia." "Giulia, Giulia." "Guards?" "Guards!" "They are dead." "What are you doing here?" "I am..." "A hostage." "Stop this at once." "Briconnet, you will be remanded with the others to Castel Sant'Angelo until Giulia is freed." "If she is harmed, you, Orsini, Colonna and Sforza will be executed, even if the death warrant is our last official act as Pope." "Send that message to your King." "Let us see how much he cares." "Alfonso d'Aragona, King of Naples." "I have failed you, Holiness." "I have failed my people." "I have destroyed my legacy." "My army is defeated." "How many men do you have left?" "I do not know." "They are scattered." "How soon until the French arrive?" "Days, a week at best." "Prepare to evacuate the Apostolic Palace." "We shall remove ourselves to the Castel Sant'Angelo." "The moat is finished, the towers fortified." "Summon your men." "Let the French fight for Rome street-by-street." "And Juan, do not disappoint me." "Rumors are rampant." "Your brother Cesare is a hostage?" "He matters not." "What does matter is our readiness to battle the French." "Without us, Borgia." "The French Bishop Briconnet has assured us that our homes and shops will not be plundered." "Briconnet is under arrest." "Even so, he said if we refuse to fight, we will be rewarded with twice the gold you promised, by the next Pope." "You will curse the day you betrayed Juan Borgia, you traitorous scum." "Miguel, what will I tell my father?" "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name." "Thy Kingdom come," "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." "Correct me if I am mistaken, Priest, but three of the corporal works of mercy are, to visit the imprisoned, clothe the naked, and feed the hungry." "And so it shall be done." "Come." "We are ready to depart, Holiness." "So, Holiness, the danger is now so great that we must hide ourselves like mice?" "We'll be safe at Castel Sant'Angelo." "Even if we have to share the rooms with Sforza, Colonna, Orsini, and Briconnet." "Has anyone seen Juan?" "Has anyone seen Giulia?" "Oh." "How did you..." "I do not know." "I was suddenly placed in a carriage and brought here." "My threat to kill Briconnet must have shaken the King." "Set the cardinals free immediately." "But Holiness, they will run straight to Charles." "So be it." "At least they'll be gone from Rome." "Damn you, Charles is nearly in Rome!" "You have your orders." "Leave us." "My heart has stopped, 'til now." "Were you harmed?" "Worry not, the French General treated me as if I were his Queen." "Tonight we celebrate." "The French army will soon reach the portals of Rome accompanied by della Rovere, by my Colonna cousins and the Orsini." "Your father, the great unifier, he has brought peace between the Colonna and the Orsini." "A miracle." "I submitted to you in order to bring the Colonna to the Pope's aid." "A bond between the Colonna and the Borgia?" "No." "No poison." "See?" "Food is very sensual." "The body responds to all sorts of different stimuli." "Sometimes, I feel as if I still have my finger." "You will burn in hell for this." "You father has excommunicated me so I would burn in hell, anyway." "I'll give you hell on earth." "Remember, in Campo dei Fiori, when you said to me," ""Do not poke at me"?" "Well, now there will be some serious poking, you Catalan dog." "This is more courtesy than you deserve bastard son of a soulless Pope."