"The peninsula of Italy is threatened by invasion from France and the Muslim Turks." "Italy itself is divided into ten warring kingdoms." "At the center are the Papal States ruled by Pope Innocent VIII." "Rome, its capital, is also divided into warring factions, the Orsini, the Colonna and the Borgia." "This is for calling my uncle a Jew." "This is for calling my uncle a Moor." "This is because I feel like beating the shit out of you." "Cesare, stop." "You'll kill him." "I thought you'd never get here." "Mama." "Mama." "Mama!" "Mama." "Mama, help me." "Mama, I'm dying." "No, Lucrezia." "You are a woman now." "Come, we will wash you." "Come on, Ottaviano." "His Holiness will not be receiving petitions today." "He is meeting with the College of Cardinals." "Verbum incarnatum." "His Holiness, Pope Innocent VIII of that name calls to order a meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals on this third day in the month of March in the year of our Lord, fourteen ninety and two." "The Supreme Pontiff will hear from Vice-Chancellor Rodrigo Cardinal Borgia." "Holy Father, I have received the joyous report from King Ferdinand of Aragon, and his Queen, Isabella of Castile." "Their armies have driven the Muslims from Granada, uniting the country of Spain." "Bravo." "In honor of this momentous victory for the Christian faith," "I beseech Your Holiness to grant to Ferdinand and Isabella the title of Most Catholic Majesty." "The Supreme Pontiff will hear from the Dean of the Sacred College," "Giuliano Cardinal della Rovere." "Holy Father, to bestow upon the Spaniards such an extraordinary title will certainly anger all the other monarchs of Europe." "King Charles of France has been no less ardent in defending the one, true faith." "Vice-Chancellor." "Your Holiness has asked the French King to initiate a new Crusade" "Though the army of France is the greatest military force in the known world, he equivocates." "Why?" "Perhaps his faith is not married to his passion." "What says the consistory?" "Assent?" "16." "Dissent?" "Four." "Vice-Chancellor?" "Now to a request from Lorenzo de Medici regarding his son, Giovanni." "The highest being of consciousness on Earth is man, but our existence must have purpose." "God commands each of us to think, observe and create." "No, Alessandro." "He commands us to perform unselfish service for the good of humanity." "That is the only way to save one's soul." "From His Holiness." "It's for you." "Giovanni de Medici." "I..." "I am named a cardinal." "Well done, old friend." "Congratulations." "Invasion by the French, the Germans, the Muslim Turks hangs above us like a noose, and yet Italy remains fractured." "Ten independent countries squabbling." "20 points." "The threat of war between Naples and Milan grows more pungent each day." "You, Orsini, have made things worse by signing a contract with Naples." "You, Colonna, tried to do the same, only we outbid you." "40 points." "You cheat." "Cheat?" "Me?" "Orsini dog!" "Colonna whore!" "No." "Stop." "In the name of Almighty God, stop." "These petty rivalries endanger Rome." "Rome!" "Will you murder the Eternal City simply to prove your family is the strongest?" "No." "These factions must end." "We must work in unity." "Gianbattista, Giovanni, I want you to offer each other the sign of peace." "Our three families, we are the masters of Rome." "We can leave our children a legacy of plenty or of waste." "Choose." "When the city is safe, you can kill each other." "Lucrezia." "Lucrezia." "Lucrezia." "Lucrezia." "Did you not hear me call?" "Yes, Mother." "Then why did you not respond?" "I shall never have a husband." "Boys, wait for me downstairs." "My father is dead." "My brothers are off either fighting the Muslims in Spain or studying for the priesthood in Pisa." "Or too young." "Who will arrange a marriage for me?" "Cardinal Borgia, your uncle, of course." "When?" "Why does he wait?" "Am I too ugly?" "Too plain?" "Too..." "No." "He wants to find you the right husband." "And besides, I have been married three times." "I advise you, be careful for what you wish." "Oh, Mama." "Tell me about my father." "I have done so a thousand times." "Was he handsome?" "Yes." "Was he brave?" "Oh, yes." "Did you love him so much that you thought you would die without him?" "You read too much romance, Lucrezia." "I'm sad to say, but soon you will learn there is very little real romance in the world." "The weather has been so strange lately." "Brutally hot one moment, frigidly cold the next." "An augur of ill times to come?" "The death of the Pope?" "Or war between Naples and Milan." "That in itself will bring ruin to the entire Italian peninsula." "But, worse, to Rome." "In order for one to attack the other... their armies must march through the Papal States." "I've asked the Pope to intercede, but he procrastinates," "Uncle!" "unsure whether to shit on Naples or piss on Milan." "Juan, why have you returned from Spain?" "I did not summon you..." "Uncle, Pedro Luis is dead." "He was the future of our family." "Ride to Pisa at once, bring your brother Cesare home." "Go." "Go." "Yes." "Is the pain too much?" "That's seven points to you." "Wine will fortify your game." "Juan." "Back from Valencia?" "What is wrong?" "Pedro Luis has been assassinated." "By whom?" "I killed all of the assassins." "Was that wise?" "Wise?" "Well, we'll never know who sent them." "The Moors, of course." "In retaliation for our brother's victory at Ronda." "Come." "We must to Rome." "God is punishing me for my sins." "Last year, he took my daughter, Jeronima, and now Pedro Luis." "Though the two were not my children, I loved them as my own." "No man should bury a brother, a daughter and a son." "Vannozza, I am afraid of losing more." "So I want Lucrezia to live with me." "The death of my firstborn has been like a bell in a church tower awakening me." "I need my family near." "Will you finally acknowledge them as your children?" "No." "The Pope himself has legitimized his bastards." "Why can you not?" "He is the Pope, above reproach." "I am merely mortal, and susceptible to slander, abuse, ridicule." "What about Goffredo?" "He stays here." "You said you wanted all of your children." "Exactly." "And I am hoping you will come to trust me as you do your own mother." "The room is lovely, Cousin Adriana." "Thank His Eminence." "I will send in servants to unpack your belongings." "Um, no." "I would like a moment to pray." "Mama." "Eternal rest, grant unto Your faithful servant, Pedro Luis, and let perpetual light shine upon him." "Whom Thou has called out of this world and caused him to be joined to the fellowship of Thy saints." "Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Thy son, who being God, lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost." "The just man shall be in everlasting remembrance, an evil report, he shall not fear." "The just man." "Trusting in the Lord, his heart is steadfast." "He shall not fear till he looks down upon his foes." "You are men now and I will talk to you as men about issues which are important to us as a family." "Rome is in danger." "Pope Innocent will not live long." "The Colonna family and the Orsini family, each hoping to name the next Pontiff, will seize the bridges, the roads, the fortresses which surround us." "Our fortunes, our very lives will be in danger." "Unless..." "Unless we keep the two families focused on a single enemy." "Am I right, Uncle?" "Yes." "And that enemy is Cardinal della Rovere." "Am I right, Uncle?" "Yes." "In my eyes, you are both of equal measure." "But only one of you can succeed Pedro Luis as Duke of Gandia." "Juan, I want you to visit Virginio Orsini." "Listen to him, sympathize with his every complaint, make him believe we Borgia side with him." "And you, to Fabrizio Colonna, to convince him of the same." "Poison their minds against della Rovere." "You are the sons of the House of Borgia." "I have absolute faith in your talents and discretion." "Be gone with Godspeed." "They're too young for such a mission." "I had hoped to have more time to school them, but events are moving faster than the ideal." "I need to know which of them can lead because I cannot leave Gandia without a duke for long." "The province is too wealthy and will soon be swallowed up by someone else's kin." "Either Juan or Cesare must become Duke and marry the Princess Maria Enriques de Luna." "Yes, I have not given up my hope of a Borgia on the Spanish throne." "Padishah Bajazet cannot be trusted." "You are wrong, Borgia." "A Muslim attack on Rome is impossible while the civil war rages in Turkey." "My point, Fabrizio, is that Pope Innocent will not live out the year." "Is that why you are here?" "Will you offer some kind of bribe, so we Colonna will support your uncle's grab for the Throne of Saint Peter?" "You misjudge him." "The Vice-Chancellor is content to..." "No Spaniard, no Borgia bastard will ever again be Pope." "I will kill him." "Yes." "But not now." "You have failed, Cesare, failed miserably." "Because you lack control, you have upset the fragile balance..." " I am sorry..." " Step away from me." "Juan." "Because you have succeeded in securing the support of the Orsini," "I'm going to ask King Ferdinand to name you the second Duke of Gandia." "In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti." "I accept the honor of being Duke of Gandia with gratitude and respect." "I pledge to faithfully serve you, Your Holiness," "King Ferdinand of Aragon and our Lord God for as long as I shall live." "Oh, Giuseppe, I cannot believe you do not make an appointment..." "Lucrezia, why are you not in bed?" "I'm too excited." "Cesare, I wish I were inside, listening to all the fascinating conversations." "Hardly fascinating." "The cardinals are discussing alum." "The dye that comes from the papal mines near Civitavecchia." "Innocent's greed has glutted the market and the price of alum has hit a breathtaking low." "The Pope is bankrupt?" "I hear he will pawn the papal tiara to pay his son's gambling debts." "Good Lord." "Do not worry, Lucrezia, the Vice-Chancellor has convinced the Medici bank to give His Holiness a loan." "In exchange for your fat friend Giovanni becoming a cardinal." "Uncle's manipulations have worked out well for you, Brother." "As Duke of Gandia, you have an income of 20,000 ducats a year." "25, Brother." "And Rodrigo has even greater plans for me." "Oh?" "Such as what?" "I am sworn to secrecy." "But our endeavors should be of no concern to a man of the cloth." "You must go back to Pisa and focus on God, and your priestly vows, poverty, obedience, celibacy." "I am not a priest yet." "Well, you smell like one." "Lucrezia." "Where are you?" "Juan, Cesare, have you seen the child?" "No, cousin." "She should be asleep." "The night air is heavy with bile." "Adriana is right, go to bed." "No." "I insist." "Come, I will walk with you." "I want Juan to tuck me in." "Thereby keeping the peace and keeping the demand for alum steady." "No, if Richard of Shrewsbury marches on London, two armies will need alum." "I hear Pope Innocent is going to raise the annual tax on courtesans to 5,000 ducats a year, which means, of course, the courtesans will raise their rates." "I shall, sweet sister, rather go deeper into debt or learn to enjoy the company of goats." "Giulia, why are you looking at that book?" "You do not know how to read." "You would be surprised by the things I know, husband." "Tricks learned from His Eminence?" "Oh, please." "We would not be living here at the Cancelleria if you and your sainted mother had not brought us." "I intend to correct that immediately." "Henceforth, we shall reside at our country estate in Bassanello." "Away from Rome?" "Never." "Borrow money from your Orsini cousins." "I owe too much to them already." "Alessandro, how was I unlucky enough to marry into the one branch of the Orsini family which does not have a ducat to its name?" "And do the Farnese?" "Your tribe was in the hock well before mine." "Yes, we Farnese always set the trends." "Well, Monoculus, what is so urgent?" "Eminence, I seek permission to leave your household for Bassanello." "Leave?" "For how long?" "The entire summer." "When would you depart?" "At once." "I go in order to fulfill my contract with the Holy See." "There are many able young men in Viterbo who I am certain I can recruit to join the Papal Guard." "If Naples declares war on Milan..." "Naples will not declare war." "Cardinal Carafa is on his way north, he and I will find a way to peace." "Still, Monoculus, you should fulfill your obligation to Pope Innocent." "Yes." "Be gone with Godspeed." "Come, wife." "No." "Lady Giulia stays in Rome." "But I..." "Unless, Adriana, you no longer need her assistance." "Mother." "But I do." "Giulia is an enormous help running such a big household." "Why are you so good at this?" "It comes with age." "No, no, no!" "What is all this noise?" "Lucrezia refuses to learn needlepoint." "Boring, useless and menial." "Needlepoint is an essential part of the education of every respectable Roman matron." "I care not about being respectable." "You say you want your uncle to arrange a marriage, yet you make yourself undesirable at every turn." "You will learn needlepoint." "You are not my mother, Giulia, you cannot order me about." "Go away." "Be silent." "And do as you are told." "I hate you." "The embassy of Naples is very late in arriving." "Has Cardinal Carafa sent word?" "If he had sent word, would I not have told you?" "I see that and I want to weep." "40 years ago, Pope Nicholas, despairing at the disrepair of Saint Peter's, had hoped to build a spectacular new basilica." "He died before he had the chance." "If I were Pope..." "No Spaniard will ever again be Pope." "Sometimes, Francesc, I wish you were not always so honest." "Cardinal Carafa, what..." "We were robbed." "Highwaymen." "Ten leagues from the city gates." "Look at me, they took everything." "See that His Eminence and these gentlemen are clothed, their wounds cared for." "The thieves looked Milanese." "Begin an investigation, deploy guards into the countryside." "As soon as we are able, we shall return to Naples." "But our negotiations..." "Are over until this outrage is punished." "Until Milan apologizes." "Good luck getting that apology." "And then King Ferdinand told me that he was sending some Genoan sailor across the western ocean to find new routes to the Indies." "The Indies." "Also, the king, having rid the country of the Muslims, will rejuvenate his Grand Inquisitions, in order to expel all other non-Christians." "By which you mean the Jews." "The refugees will flee to Rome." "There will not be room to breathe in the Judaeorum Borgo." "Look!" "The Colonna have sent clowns." "Our uncle wants peace with the Colonna." "We shall go another route." "And allow them to mock us?" "We shall go another route." "A Borgia man will please you the way a Colonna never could." "Mother is upset." "What about now?" "Me remaining here, while my husband is at Bassanello." "Did you explain to her that Adriana de Mila needs help with..." "Yes." "But she is too old to be fooled." "Well, I shall send her some gold." "That usually quiets her morality." "She is also nagging my brother, Alessandro, about his vices." "He drinks too much, he spends too much on whores." "He's a healthy Roman male." "He will temper his excesses once he is ordained." "As you did?" "I have had many women in my life, but I have truly loved only two." "You are a monster." "La Bella, you are one of the two." "Monster." "No woman wants two names on such a list." "Especially when the other is Vannozza Cattanei." "It is too hot to fight." "Then I'm going to my room." "Wait." "And tomorrow I leave for Bassanello." "Unless?" "Lucrezia shows me the respect I deserve." "Juan," "I'm wet again." "I must leave." "Come here." "You dare to fornicate with my wife in my own house?" "No." "Please." "Oh!" "Come." "You're awake early, Nephew." "I have not slept." "I am troubled." "You have had Juan made Duke of Gandia, and foster grand plans for his future." "Giovanni de Medici is two years my junior, yet he is now a cardinal." "What are your intentions for me?" "You will return to the University of Pisa and continue your studies for the priesthood." "But I do not want to be a priest." "I do not have the soul for it." "We have been over this before, Nephew." "Then, at least, allow me to study at the seminary in Rome." "What is wrong with Pisa?" "Lorenzo de Medici founded the seminary there." "All the best families..." "I beg you, Uncle." "I cannot go back." "Hear me, Cesare." "You will be a priest." "You will lead an exemplary, pious, celibate life." "That is your destiny." "And my will." "You wish Pedro Luis was by your side right now, and not me." "Perhaps I have been too harsh." "I grieve to see Cesare grieve." "The impatience of youth." "You were the same way when we were boys." "What surprises me most, he does not call me a hypocrite, even as I lie with Giulia." "I must find a way to pacify his ambition." "Eminence, I have a report." "Fabrizio Colonna has murdered his wife." "Unfortunate." "She was lovely." "Fine him 800 ducats." "Fabrizio killed Nannia because she fornicated with Juan." "Della Rovere will use this against me." " We must..." " Uncle?" "Uncle?" "I hate her." "Another squabble with the Lady Giulia?" "She is no lady." "She attacked me." "Hmm." "I suspect you will survive." "If she is to remain in your palace, I want to return to my mother's." "That will not happen, Lucrezia." "Then I wish to live in the convent school at San Sisto." "That will not happen either." "Instead, you will behave." "And, for doing so..." "Promise to treat Giulia with respect." "Another." "Did you tell His Eminence the truth about why you do not want to return to Pisa?" "Why you cannot be a priest?" "No." "Where is Uncle Rodrigo?" "He has just left for the Vatican." "Lord God, what happened to you?" "Fabrizio Colonna." "I want our uncle to strip him of his prosperity." "No, that is not the way to retaliate." "You ruin a scorpion by cutting off its tail." "Meaning what?" "Not what, who." "Fabrizio's nephew, Marcantonio Colonna." "Vice-Chancellor." "Now, Holy Father, for a personal matter." "I have been blessed these past 26 years to serve as Vice-Chancellor under five Pontiffs." "In that time, I have been honored to receive many titles and benefices." "I am Bishop of Majorca, Carthage, Erlau, Valencia, Agria." "I am abbot of Subiaco and Bellefontaine." "Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria Via Lata," "Papal Legate to Perugia and to Bologna." "There is no admittance while Master Marcantonio Colonna is inside." "It is he who I seek." "Do you know who I am?" "I know who your uncle is." "Catalan." "Today I ask Your Holiness to relieve me of one such honor." "My first appointment, Bishop of Valencia." "I beg you to replace me with my sainted nephew, Cesare." "Take him to a doctor." "See that next time he listens when I speak." "Cesare Borgia is too young, too inexperienced to assume the heavy burden of a bishopric." "Vice-Chancellor." "A bishop is less than a cardinal, and yet your cousin was 16 when he received the red hat." "The Supreme Pontiff will hear from Giovanni Cardinal de Medici," "Archbishop of Florence." "Holiness, I too am only 16 and have been Cesare's classmate for the past year." "He has a good soul." "A man's age should not define his character." "There is also the question of Cesare's dubious birth." "Canon law expressly forbids an illegitimate male from rising in the church hierarchy." "Vice-Chancellor." " Cesare is not illegitimate." "I have here a certificate, proving that Cesare is the son of Vannozza Cattanei and my late cousin, Domenico Giannozzi d'Arignano." "Signed by your uncle, Pope Sixtus." "Since Valencia is in Spain, such a transfer must also receive the approval of the king." "Vice-Chancellor." "I believe His Most Catholic Majesty will give consent." "I did not presume to ask, until I knew Your Holiness' will, which is the will of Almighty God." "No, no, no." "What says the consistory?" "Assent?" "12." "Dissent?" "Eight." "Only 12 votes this time, Borgia." "Yes." "I have lived in Rome 37 years and still, to the ancient families, the Colonna, the Orsini," "I am a foreigner." "When my uncle was Pope, they treated us well." "But after he died the Roman elite, like a firestorm, drove our relatives from this city, with clubs and swords." "My brother died alone in exile while I stayed in Rome." "How did I manage to stay?" "Not only stay alive but thrive in my position as Vice-Chancellor under four popes as different as the seasons?" "How?" "By remaining a foreigner." "By never becoming one of them." "Never lowering myself to their level, to their base Roman brutality." "Uncle, I didn't..." "Not a word, Cesare." "You, my nephews, separately and in tandem, have, at a time when we need friends, created enemies." "Sleeping with another man's wife must be based on the husband's lack of character, not the woman's lust." "Before beating a man senseless, learn his family's history." "The Colonna invented vendetta." "Our actions have consequences beyond the moment." "So, to soothe the Colonna temper, I am forced to exalt them by convincing His Holiness to name Fabrizio Prefect of Rome a job for which he is uniquely incompetent and will use against us." "We are all one misstep from exile, from extinction." "Be gone from my sight." "I'm sending you back to Spain, old friend, so that you may convince King Ferdinand to approve Cesare's elevation as Bishop of Valencia." "The certificate verifying Cesare's birth." "This is very authentic." "Bobbo's done a fine job." "Queen Isabella will be resistant." "She's already fearful of your ambition." "Remind Her Most Catholic Majesty that it was I who arranged the papal dispensation which allowed her to marry Ferdinand, her cousin." " Regardless of" " Isabella's objections," "Cesare must become Bishop of Valencia." "Cesare Borgia, you are henceforth Bishop of Valencia, shepherd of souls." "In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti." " Take that." " I'll get you, Goffy." " Chopped off your head." " Please, be happy." "You're Bishop of Valencia, with an income of 16,000 ducats a year." "As Duke of Gandia, Juan gets 25,000." "Petulance is unbecoming, my son." "Despite what you are feeling, I am proud." "I only wish I had been permitted to attend the ceremony." "Proud of me, Mama?" "For what?" "I'm a bishop, even though I am not yet a priest." "I did not earn the honor." "It was handed me by Rodrigo, who insists that I return to Pisa and complete my study." "I am 18 years old, half of my life is over and I've done nothing." "Boys, go play outside." "Yes, Mama." "I don't want to play outside." "Come on, Ottavio." "Then make something of your new position." "You've been chosen to reform the Church, save Rome." "These past eight years under Innocent, the quality of life..." "Please." "I am no reformer." "I am a fraud, just like all the others." "How can I stand in front of my congregation, blessing them in Latin when the words are hollow to me?" "Well, change." "Change yourself." "Change night into day." "I wish I could." "Oh, Mama." "My dream is to lead Rome." "No, all of Italy, into a golden age." "Return the Eternal City to dominance over the world." "Improve the lives of all our people." "Like my namesakes, Julius and Augustus Caesar." "You will." "I know it in my heart." "A mother's heart, which is decidedly biased." "But what of my father?" "He is dead." "No, he is Rodrigo Borgia, Vice-Chancellor of the Universal Church." "Vicious gossip." "Stop lying, Mother." "I learned the truth years ago." "Juan, Lucrezia, Goffredo, the four of us, we're Cardinal Borgia's runts." "If what you're saying is true, and I confirm nothing, then you should follow the commandment." "Honor thy father and go back to Pisa." "If I do I will be destroyed." "By your enemies?" "By my passions." "There is a girl." "I am in love." "My passion for her is too overwhelming." "My sweet boy, each of us over the course of our lives must learn to control our passions, whether it be love, jealousy or power." "Ironically, that is where we gain our strengths." "When Rodrigo Borgia left my bed, after ten years of bliss," "I felt a cancer burrow through me." "But here I am, a decade later, with a beautiful villa, a large estate, owner of a thriving vineyard, three prospering inns." "Money is not happiness, Mother." "It is a fine substitute, my child." "And if I cannot learn to control my passion?" "You will rule the world." "Question is, will that make you any happier?" "You bribed Lucrezia to pay me the respect she should give freely?" "Bribe is a harsh word, La Bella." "If Lucrezia wants so desperately to go live with her mother, then let her." "No." "The girl must be nurtured." "Like a peach before harvest." "Then marry her off, and soon." "Before your little peach ripens and falls from the tree." "Be a mother to the child." "Love her, as you do me." "Hmm?" "I will, Eminence." "This heat." "Last summer when temperatures rose this high, disease spread through Rome." "God thins out the less strong." "I suggest that I remove Lucrezia to our country estate." "A healthier climate till the fever dissipates." "No." "But when disease spreads..." "Adriana, if the women in this house leave, then Giulia must go as well." "To Bassanello, yes." "I cannot live without La Bella." "A man's final love is at once his most bitter and most sweet." "You wish to see me, Uncle?" "Darling girl." "I am about to fulfill your deepest wish." "A bridegroom." "Uncle, may I ask who?" "Cherubin de Centelles, Lord of Val d'Ayora, son of the Count of Oliva, a great nobleman of Spain." "Spain?" "You mean I must leave Rome?" "Eventually, perhaps." "There is a long aisle between the betrothal and the altar." "May I go tell Mother?" "No." "You must get ready for today's big celebration, your first at my house." "I want you to look especially beautiful, so I can show you off." "Yes." "So, come, Lucrezia dear, I will help you select a dazzling dress." "Savage." "This cretin invaded a community of holy nuns and brought violence to its sacred walls." "He is no priest-to-be." "He is Satan's son." "I shall have my revenge upon you." "Do not poke at me, Colonna." "Juan." "If the Muslims conquer Rome, will they turn Saint Peter's into a mosque and change the city's name?" "No, Alessandro." "Well, 40 years ago, they renamed Constantinople, Istanbul." "And the Basilica of Saint Sophia is now a mosque." "Borgia!" "Marcantonio, in God's name, we should talk about..." "No, no." "Cesare, please." "Please." "No, no, Cesare." "You will poke my chest no longer." "The sound of Marcantonio's cry." "It was like a goose honking." "Damn, I'll never get the blood off these clothes." "My hands still tremble with fright." "The trouble is over." "Is it?" "Or does chaos follow you?" "Cesare, back at school, I never..." "This violence is a side of you which I did not know existed." "Quiet." "Once again you behaved a brute." "The Colonna attacked us." "Your Eminence, Cesare saved my life." "And mine." "Soon, we will face more than a bar brawl." "The Pope, riddled with fever, inches toward death." "Keep your weapons ready, even at Mass."