"A pope dies and the city burns." "At least Cesare's men have stopped the rioting." "They've squashed it, like savages." "I will not put one foot inside the Apostolic Palace as long as Il Valentino resides there." "Your fever accelerates." "But ironically the malaria has cured you of the French disease." "My father, did he have any last words for me?" "He did not mention you, or Lucrezia." "Or me." "I am sorry Pope Alexander is dead, but I do not mourn Rodrigo Borgia." "He has not been seen for days." "Cesare might just be following his father." "Then let death come soon." "We lost too many men in the rioting and do not have enough to fight a combined" "King Louis." "Send word." "His army must come up from Naples now." "General de Cordova has landed in Sicily with a battalion of Spaniards, determined to repel the French from Naples." "King Louis will need every mercenary in his service." "We need to convene the next conclave." "To think I may be walking with the next pope." "Della Rovere." "He will try to enter Rome in hopes of grabbing the pontifical throne." "Inform the guards at every gate, keep him out until the doors of the Sistine are sealed shut." "The Orsini and the Colonna have joined forces and are making their way to the Eternal City." "Are we not to wait for the pope's children?" "The cardinals?" "Cesare cannot even stand." "Lucrezia is too pregnant to travel from Ferrara." "And all the red dresses are making plans to succeed Rodrigo." "Nobody even wants to come." "There are only the two of us." "Three." "We must not wait." "The body should not lie too long in such heat." "Was that ever a human being?" "Arbequina." "A Spanish seed, resilient in almost any climate and soil, as was my father." "This olive tree will grow in his memory." "Any word from my brother?" "Do not fret, my love." "Knowing Cesare, he is fully recovered and several steps" "I think my water just broke." "This is the smallest assembly I've ever seen at a papal funeral." "Did the Romans truly hate him?" "Hand over those golden candles!" " No, stop." " Stop!" "Stop!" "He must be entombed at once." "But canon law demands a pope be buried with seven days of Masses." "Seven more days of that?" "Help me!" "God, what is that?" "Oh, that smell." "May Allah forgive him." "Have mercy on him, pardon him, grant him security." "Purify him from his sins as a white garment is cleansed from dirt." "Take him enter Paradise and save him from the trials of the grave and" "punishment of Hell." "Here he is, Madonna." "All clean." "Hello, little boy." "Cousin?" "Where are you taking him?" "Duke Ercole demands to greet his grandson at once." "His name is" "Alexander d'Este." "The duplicate of your countenance, Your Grace." "Look at his one tooth." "It's so cute." "A baby born with a lone tooth is a bad omen." "For the baby or for the rest of us?" "Alexander is destined to rule Ferrara." "This little one's blood flows strong." " Tonight, Ferrara rejoices." " My son." "Francesc Gacet." "Help me to the chair." "My Muslim doctor says that the mule's belly will rejuvenate my force." "Your father has been buried." "And you were there." "Loyal, even after death." "The Colonna and the Orsini muster their men, nearing the city." "Yes, the Ottoman Turks." "I could use the might of the Ottoman Turks." " Intercede for me." " You ask a cockroach to save a bull?" "When I called you cockroach, I was foolish and naive." "You still are." "Or your mind is dimmed by your illness." "But think this through." "You wish to unify Italy while Bajazet lives to shatter it." "He will aid you, only up to the point where he can destroy you." "Stay and advise me as you did with my father." "No, you are not the man Rodrigo Borgia was, and I am not the man I once was." "Today I said goodbye to my oldest friend, and I say goodbye to you now." "Ma'a salaam." "Fabrizio Colonna." "Ask him to come." "If I cannot fight the combined force of the Colonna-Orsini, I will divide them." "You must walk." "You have not recovered fully from the birth." "Lucrezia" "In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti." "Nothing can be done." "Some infants remain infants." "I never got to see him smile." "His laugh, his voice the color of his hair." "I will never know any of these." "He was a stranger who stole my heart." "Gather the nuns, the priests, every courtier, every member of our household, high and low." "This is the second time the Lord has stripped you of a child." "We must, in one voice, pray to find out why God punishes our family." "Comfort your wife." "Fabrizio Colonna." "I hope you will forgive me, greeting you without standing." "I am surprised that you are even able to talk." "Rumors." "Rumors exist because people mistake their own wishes for reality." "Your family and the Orsini plot to march into this city together." "I offer you, instead, not only your old estates, but the Orsini property as well." "I accept." "Unbeknownst to the Orsini, we Colonna have renewed our alliance with Spain." "General de Cordova implores me to forget my grievances against the Borgia, in hopes that you will use your military skill to end the French domination of Naples." "You ask me to war against France?" "Against my dear friend King Louis, who gives me his men to fill my army?" "A friend in these hard times" "must be close at hand." "And if you ally yourself with us," "I will offer you my men, who are nearer to Rome than the French troops, or yours." "Au revoir, Louis." "You and I, Fabrizio, together we'll create the future." "An Italian century." "Quickly." "Bed." "Carry me back." "The Orsini have fled." "Go talk to Cesare." "I'm afraid to enter the Apostolic Palace." "Every cardinal is." "The consistory will meet across the Tiber, at the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, to avoid contact with Cesare." "Soon, cardinals from throughout the Christian world will assemble to elect the new pope." " You, fratellino." " No." "Riario-Sansoni." "Sansoni is doomed to always be the second man." " Then, della Rovere." " Della Rovere is in France." "Your feet will fit neatly in the shoes of the fisherman, but not without Cesare's support." "He has 11 Spanish cardinals who will vote the way he commands." " Cesare is dying." " Yet still you fear his presence." "To be a pope, you must first be a man." "From Cesare." "He writes there is no need for concern." "This only dispels half of my grief." "Where did you go?" "I reached out for your hand, but you were gone." "I was lost in my own grief." " I thought you were angry with me." " With you?" "No." "My father, he desires an heir." "I am, as always, not enough." "Dear Alfonso, I too feel as if I am standing in a hollow cave." "Cold and alone." "Yet mothers lose children all the time." "Why should I consider myself unique?" "Is my sadness worse than any other woman's?" "I sent little Rodrigo to Modena with Angela." "Perhaps if you and I could run off to Mesola" "Lucrezia King Louis' army readies for battle with Spain." "Ferrara is beholden to France." "Sigismondo, Ferrante and I must show our loyalty." "Your brothers, on the other hand, have joined the Spaniards." "That puts us d'Este in an awkward position." "Better to be in an awkward position rather than in a precarious one." "In a single month, I have lost my father and our son." "I cannot lose you as well." "You will not." "Louis needs my cannons, not my sword." "I need you." "I beg you, do not leave." "When I return, we will birth a nation." "Cesare, as soon as I heard of your father's passing," "I left Florence to console you." "I am sorry for your loss." "You are the first to say such words to me." "And I am also the first to write about your genius." ""Description of the Manner in Which Duke Valentino" "Put Vitellozzo Vitelli to Death."" ""On the Method of Dealing with the Rebellious Peoples of Val di Chiana."" "I will give you other occasions, Niccolo, to write of my successes." " After I have elected a new pope." " And who have you chosen?" "I will wait then." "I can say that the new pope will not be Giuliano della Rovere." "Cesare, choose someone quickly." "You must return to the north." "Your kingdom is threatened." "Venice has supplied a regiment to Giovanni Maria Malatesta, so that he may assume his father's place in Rimini." "And your signory?" "Against my recommendation, Florence gives aid to Jacopo d'Appiano, so that he may retake Piombino and to Giovanni Sforza to reclaim Pesaro." "I was fully ready for the death of my father and made every preparation, considered every possibility." "Save one." "That at the same time," "I, myself, would be grasping for life." "If you Colonna had stuck to your agreement with the Orsini," "Cesare would now be cast out of Rome." "Since when does your family befriend a Borgia?" "My family does not befriend him." "The Spanish want his expertise." "As dean of our Sacred College, I suggested that we gather today here, free of any outside influence, so that we may discuss when and where to hold the next conclave." "The election of the supreme pontiff must take place in the Sistine Chapel." "The Vatican is a honeycomb swarming with Cesare's men." "The prince's fever is fired by his ambition." "He will impose upon us his own choice for pope." "Should we hold the conclave here, in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva?" " We should not." " And we will not." " Giuliano." " Giuliano, you are back from France." "I am." "Cesare tried to block my path, but his troops failed to check the identity of Piccolomini's servant." "Rodrigo Borgia is dead." "You, God's elite, are the official rulers of Rome until a new pontiff is elected." "Yet you walk one mile across the Tiber, under the blazing sun to meet, in fear?" "Rodrigo Borgia is dead." "Cesare Borgia is not." "So do we then yield the keys to Saint Peter's to the demented bastard of a corrupt Catalan?" "I say, no." " My brothers" " The world awaits a new pope." "We will hold the conclave in the Sistine Chapel." "The Borgia must and will be driven from the city." "Some say that your brain is a scramble, some that you are dead." "As you can see, Giulia, neither is true." "But I am touched that my health causes you concern." "Why would I not worry about you?" "Despite our tensions, we are family." " My daughter Laura is your half-sister." " And?" "And my brother should be pope." "Why did Alessandro not come to ask for himself?" " He is the perfect compromise." " No." "If you assign to him your Spanish votes, he will be favorable" "I said no." "Listen to my voice." "Your body relaxes, your breathing slows." "You had power over my father, but you never did over me." "And if you are so magnificent how were you felled by a tiny miasma?" " Highness, della Rovere is in Rome." " Damn." " Focus." " Yes." "Bring me the Spanish cardinals." "As soon as they are assembled," "I will choose a pope from among my fellow Spaniards." "Bienvenidos, my friends." "I trust your journey from Spain was uneventful." "How fare you, Cesare?" "My legs are weak, but rest assured." "My mind and heart are vibrant." "Strong enough to guide you through the conclave." "With one-third of the votes we will acclaim your choice, or we will bring about a schism, dividing the Church in two." "Indifferent as I am to the Catholic faith, I will not cause its fragmentation." "That would displease my father." "A schism must not happen but can be used to ensure the election of my candidate." "And that is you, Cardinal Vera." "Yes, Agapito?" "A deputation of ambassadors requests an audience." "They come to assess my condition." "I will give them a show." "All is well." "Highness, tradition demands that no soldiers be within the city's boundaries during the conclave." "We have come to beseech you to send your army away from Rome." "An army is like the human body and can do nothing without its head." "I am weak." "Not exhausted, weak." "For the first time in my life I feel less than I did yesterday." "Most of the foreign cardinals have not yet arrived in the Eternal City." "Therefore we grant you three days." "With your renowned resolve, we have no doubt that this will be enough time for you to heal." "I will agree to leave Rome in three days if you agree to three conditions." "Firstly, my family's possessions must be respected during my absence." "Yes, of course." "Secondly both Venice and Florence mu" "must cease their support of my enemies." " I will convince the signory." " The doge will agree." "Lastly, I must immediately be reappointed as prefect of Rome and gonfalonier of Holy Mother Church." "Only the pope can make those appointments." " And we know not who will be elected." " Whoever is elected." "Then we demand that you swear undying allegiance to the new pope, whoever is elected." "I do so swear." " The song was beautiful." " The beauty is in Rainaldo's voice." "The rest is me trying to keep up." "Imagine my delight when he became my chaplain, to learn that he would do more than simply hear my confessions." "A pleasure to meet you, gracious lady." "We must surround ourselves with resplendency, to counter the darkness, my sweet Lucrezia." "Rainaldo's voice would mix well with my cappella in Casalgrande." "Ippolito, you must leave for the conclave." "I'll see you off." "I will accompany you, Your Grace." "My dear, all you have done as of late is devote yourself to my well-being." "Let Giulio occupy your time with merriment." "Come, Rainaldo, I want you to sing at Mass this Sunday in the chapel." " You're not at war fighting for France?" " My father asked me to remain." "Lucrezia, at Alfonso's insistence, I have kept my distance, but please accept my deepest sympathies." "To lose a child" "Alexander is not the first of my children whom I will never see again." "But he's the first whose eyes are closed forever." "I cannot fill such a void." "I merely wish to be here for you as a brother, even if Alfonso does not consider me to be one." "We are ready, but Drusilla is seven months pregnant." "She cannot travel." "I will arrange separate, slower transportation for her." "Anything else?" "Does Cesare know what he is doing?" "Highness, your artillery has been sent ahead, across the Tiber." "Fabrizio, the state of my health does not allow me to move as fast as you, but with luck, I will reach your encampment in Tivoli by dusk." "Good." " I feel like I am attending a funeral." " Cesare rarely makes a wrong move." "We might just not understand how good this one is." " You are a natural." " You let me win." "We go once more." "Gladly." "Alfonso." "Be careful." " Are you in pain?" "What happened?" " There was an explosion at the foundry." " The bone in my arm is shattered." " Come." "I will care for your every need, Alfonso dearest." "Halt!" " We have reached Porta Viridaria." " Now you can tell them." "We are not going south to Tivoli to partner with the Colonna and Spain." "We head north to Nepi, where we will join forces with King Louis" " and the might of France." " Vive la France!" "Vive la France!" "Do you really believe that the papacy could return to Avignon?" "Were you planning to select d'Amboise?" "I will vote for the man who can restore the Universal Church." " Oh, you want to be pope yourself." " I want to be vice chancellor." "So you do want to become pope." "Just not yet." "Your election will be far from easy." "Some admire your determination, but you are not well-loved." "I am." "Yes, you are." "Well loved and more than skilled to be vice chancellor." "Alfonso, I cannot yet have intercourse." " I am still sore from the childbirth." " Did Giulio's sword find your target?" "Duke Ercole ordered Giulio to lift my spirits." "Of course my father did." "He adores Giulio." "I asked you to stay away from the bastard." "Giulio and I were never not in public." " Where are you going?" " I need fresh air." "This room is never not suffocating." "Keep going, keep going." "Through our patronage within the school of Ferrara art has blossomed." "In these walls could be the next de' Roberti or Coltellini." "You are a coward and a cur." "Last night you abducted Fra Rainaldo." " Back away, Giulio." " What is he talking about?" "Yes, tell her." "You possess no alibi, except the whore you fuck in place of your wife." "Enough!" "Finally, all can see your true colors, brother." "I will find Fra Rainaldo and then I will be back for you." "Alfonso, you sadden me." " Mon ami." " Most Christian King." "Oh, to have seen de Cordova's face when he learned about your deception." "You are remarkable." "By lying to Fabrizio, you saved yourself from certain defeat at the hands of the Colonna and the Orsini." "These fools do not understand, nothing can sever the love between Louis d'Orléans and his Cesare." "Sit, sit." "What happened to Briconnet?" "The cardinal does not like to acknowledge that he suffered a stroke." "Please, act as if you see no difference, good Valentinois." " Borgia." " Briconnet, how wonderful to see you so fit and fine." "There you are, delicious little mouthfuls." "You must eat to renew your strength." "I need soldiers, not grapes." "My kingdom is threatened on every side." "My enemies have retaken Rimini, Piombino and Pesaro." "While Venice advances on Cesena." "I have just received word that de Cordova, angry at my trickery, has ordered my Spanish-born troops to leave my service." "I am losing, in an instant, my fiercest fighters." "But you have proven to be the most loyal of friends to me." "Still, you cannot spare any of your infantry." "What did you say?" "Speak clearly, old man." "His Eminence is correct." "I need all my mercenaries to fight Spain." "So I am left hung by the balls, swinging in the wind." "No, I will send directives to Venice and Florence reaffirming our bond and announcing that any duke or doge attempting to annex your territories is thus a foe of France." "A threat that will only have weight if you defeat de Cordova." "In gratitude you should fulfill your promise." "You own 11 Spanish cardinals." "They must vote for Georges." "You will have their full support." "Cardinal d'Amboise." "The king insists and I need his alliance." "I will not insult you though, by asking you to endorse a Frenchman as pope only to initially appear supportive of d'Amboise." "He cannot attract a majority." "True." "The conclave will deadlock." "We will remain faithful to you." "Whom should we choose?" " Francesco Piccolomini." " But Piccolomini hated your father." "But he would love the throne." "He has crippling gout and will be dead soon, allowing us time to solidify our real choice in the next conclave." " On no account is della Rovere named." " Della Rovere is treacherous." "Then Rome will be plunged into a darkness not seen since the days of the Ostrogoths." "Agapito?" "Good news." "King Louis' missives have borne fruit." "Venice has withdrawn from the Romagna." "Florence declares its allegiance to you." "Imola, Forli, Fano and Cesena remain steadfast." "Pesaro, Rimini and Piombino whimper." "Your kingdom is once again yours." "Against all chances." "The death of my father, the fever, my adversaries." "I have been spared no obstacle." "Yet, I succeed." "I feel the blood in my body now." "Vigor pumping, tenacity exploding." "Soon we will have another pope, subservient to my will." "Today begins the reign of Emperor Cesare Borgia." "Highness." "Piccolomini." "We go back to Rome." "Verbum incarnatum." "His Holiness, Pope Pius, the third of that name, calls to order a meeting of the consistory on this 25th day of September, in the year of our Lord 1503." "Cesare Borgia." "Duke of Valentinois, comte of Diois, lord of Issoudun." "Borgia is not as dead as we were led to believe." "Holiness." "We seek to maintain order in Italy." "We anoint Cesare Borgia as prefect of Rome" "and gonfalonier of the Universal Church." "Wherever you travel, God will be with you." "Cesare Borgia has beaten me again." "We have recommended you, but offer no further encouragement." "We do not want to be seen as a war-like pope but as one who brings peace to Christianity." " I will work for that goal." " We wish you no harm for the duty of a pope is" "Holy Father?" "But let us finish." "We wish you no harm." "As our duty is to have compassion for all." "But we foresee that through divine punishment you will one day come to an evil end." "Please, tell me the words, what exactly did you say to Piccolomini to renew your titles?" "Niccolo, do you not believe that Pius receives directions from a voice much greater than mine?" "These are the words which matter most:" "Venice will writhe in agony for their aggressions." "As will Florence, if she aids any of the dukes whom I have deposed." "A girl." " Drusilla is well?" " Yes." "I will name her Camilla." "A warrior maiden, queen of the Volscians," " who battles Aeneas in Virgil's Aeneid." " To your newborn daughter." "Pius, the third of that name, supreme pontiff of the one, true Church, the first among men, the height and summit of the human race." "Moribundus mortuus." "One month." "The shortest papacy in history." "The foreign cardinals have not yet had time to leave the city." "The next conclave will commence in eight days." "You cannot secure the tiara without Cesare's votes." "Then I will win him over." "I see you have regained your appetite." "I am hungry to hear what you are willing to offer for my protagonism." "If you endorse my election, the Romagna will remain in your grip and your titles will be renewed." "That I can already get with the election of d'Amboise." "Your daughter Luisa would marry my nephew Francesco Maria della Rovere." "To bind us, in blood?" "You are a fool." "I will not help to promote my father's enemy." "I believe every man has a right to know who his father is." "So I ask you, Cesare" "How can I be your father's enemy when I am your father?" "Is that the best lie that you can create?" "I promised your mother that I would never tell you while Rodrigo lived." "He would have executed you both." "But now is the time you know the truth." "Ask your mother." " Did della Rovere ever fuck you?" " No." "Yes." "Which answer do you want?" "Which do you need me to give?" "Will a yes keep you alive?" "Or destroy you?" "I want the truth!" "Is della Rovere my father?" "Yes he is." "Giulia?" "Giulia!" "Giulia!" "Giulia?" "Giulia!" "Giulia, there you are." "You knew my father." "You know me." " Who does not?" " You know us well." " Oh, you mean, I fucked you both." " One question." "Do I fuck like a Borgia?" "Your father loved me, whereas you only love yourself." "But the eagerness, the sensuality, the bull in you, were the same." "You tell people what they want to hear." "But you are not as convincing a whore as you once were." "Yet I speak the truth." "Why are you here?" "Will you steal that too?" "The tiara?" "Of course not." "A person may die, but the pope remains." "Why are you here?" "Until a new pontiff is elected, you lay no claim to the Apostolic Palace." "Please do not strike me." "As it was then, as it shall always be." "You and Rodrigo were enemies because you were exactly the same." "You opposed him, not because you disagreed with his methods, for you would have committed the same outrages." "You opposed him because you were jealous of the fact that he was succeeding in place of you." "No matter which of you is my father," "I would have still turned out the way I am." "Hate has shaped me as much as love." "I have hated you as much as I loved Rodrigo." "But you have also hated Rodrigo." "Perhaps one day, you will come to love me" "my son." "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum:" "habemus Papam." "Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum, Dominum Giuliano" "Sanctae Romanae Ecclesia Cardinalem della Rovere." "Qui sibi nomen imposuit Julius the Second." "He takes Caesar's name." "I am at a loss." "You defeated your enemies, came back from the dead" " to throw yourself in the pit of hell?" " Perhaps hell is where I belong." "So suddenly, you not only believe the word of della Rovere," " but in divine retribution as well?" " No." "What has my relationship with Rodrigo Borgia been?" "I was desperate for his love and indifferent to it." "But he has always been there, a Roman Doric column holding me up." "Now he is gone and I find that I must fill his absence or collapse under life's weight." " But to choose della Rovere" " No Spaniard could win." "No Frenchman." "Only an Italian." "I could not choose a weak man, even though logic told me to do so." "Della Rovere thinks that he is craftier than I am." "And in that struggle, I will strengthen." "I will triumph and claim my proper place in history."