SCENE V

_A Hall of the Vatican with a Loggia at the back overlooking the Via just opened to Sant’ Angelo, that is seen in the distance dressed with flags._

_In the Loggia several_ CARDINALS, _the_ LORDS FRANCESCO BORGIA, BARTOLOMEO OF SEGOVIA, GIOVANNI MICHELE, GIANSTEFANO FERRERI _and_ GIAMBATTISTA ORSINI.

_In the Hall are_ DONNA ADRIANA ORSINI, DONNA LUCREZIA BORGIA D’ARAGON, DONNA SANCIA BORGIA, DONNA GIULIA FARNESE _and_ DON ALFONSO, PRINCE DUKE OF BISCEGLIA.

DONNA ADRIANA.

Already looking out; The balcony already crammed with watchers, That strain beyond the roofs! But this impatience Is almost genius in its quality. Poor children, you were hurried from your beds.

GIULIA.

As if there were a fire; and I am sleepy. The early morning sleep, the beauty sleep Dashed from our eyes! I am not half awake; My eyes close, and I must to sleep again.

SANCIA.

You laggard, fie! You will be out of favour.

GIULIA.

No! I shall please him better if I am asleep. He will not wake me, His Holiness remembers I am young.

ALFONSO.

Young! If the young may take their fill of slumber--

LUCREZIA.

Come, I so softly stirred you--come, the dawn Had not more softly coaxed you to awake.

ALFONSO.

I am sick and gaping.

LUCREZIA.

Hush!

SANCIA.

To wake in Naples, not this deadly Rome-- It is the air that kills!

ALFONSO.

A wish I echo from my heart. We are roused as slaves, As slaves put in subservient offices.

ADRIANA.

To ride with Prince Squillace by your side After Duke Cesare is such distinction You need not sulk from, prince.

SANCIA.

But we are dead afraid.

ADRIANA.

Ah, you have cause!

SANCIA.

What cause? Ippolito is fled.

LUCREZIA.

Ippolito--your beautiful Ippolito! Poor little Sancia.

[_Putting her arms round_ ALFONSO.

But you must not fly-- Never again. Carissimo, I want you For the bloom of every hour.

[_The_ LORD ALEXANDER VI. _enters with_ DON JOFFRÉ BORGIA. _They rise and do him reverence._ LUCREZIA _at once goes up to him_.

ALEXANDER.

My daughter, My child, you feel it....

[_Taking her hand and laying it on his heart._

As my heart is beating, So beats your heart. There is within my substance A change, a miracle. Too great a coming And close descent of glory on my head! So drooped Our blessèd Lady at the infinite Assault of the Almighty. In my bosom How can I crush such agony of joy As to receive a Prince, A Governor, a Counsellor, all names Of prophecy in one....

ADRIANA.

Render to Cesar what is Cesar’s--praise For a most rare agility. The triumph He wills is Pagan. He is young.

ALEXANDER.

Half the Romagna vanquished, Imola, Forli with battered walls, and the Virago, Fierce Catarina Sforza, like a Queen Of Amazon, our Theseus’ prisoner.

SANCIA.

For sixteen days she held his arms at bay.

ALEXANDER.

The seventeenth found her ringed around with fire.

LUCREZIA.

[_Assuagingly._] Dear father, Think of our Cesar--he is coming home; We shall embrace him! No--you are crying? He will wear the collar Of the king’s gift. It makes me laugh for gladness. Laugh too! I must not cry.

ALEXANDER.

[_Crying and laughing as he clasps her._] Alfonso, hopeless The hope that ever you will sunder us! She is eternal to me as my saints; She saves me from all sorrow by her smile, And she is ever smiling.

ALFONSO.

Then indeed her frowns She must give me, and I shall take them if She has not given them away before. A husband should have something of his own.

ALEXANDER.

Ho, child, we eat with varying appetite, With varying zest: we savour as our palates Extract the essences. I savour her. La, la, I speak but as a fool, and gladly You cannot suffer fools, not being wise.

ALFONSO.

[_Kissing her neck._] See, Father!

ALEXANDER.

Bacchus, she is blushing red! My goblet full of pearls has left her marble. Out on her, out! I must console myself!

[_Pushing her to_ ALFONSO _and approaching_ GIULIA.

Here is my idol, my carnality, My rose of the flesh--how warm!

ADRIANA.

Lucrezia wrapped her thus.

[_The_ POPE _nods; then advances to the Loggia_.

ALEXANDER.

Heigh, sentinels, What recognition of this enemy Who takes so easily our sacred streets, For whom our women don their best attire?

[_He shakes with laughter._

This is too scandalous! The balconies, The heads in wreaths--the mothers and the daughters-- Fie! But the mothers do not move me.

[_Turning to_ GIULIA FARNESE _whom_ SANCIA _has awaked_.

Giulia, Look forth, my child. No, do not fix your gaze On me, on what I look at.

GIULIA.

Holiness, I fix my eyes on you that you may fix Your eyes full on La Bella.

ALEXANDER.

Ha, ha! Morning dew Salutes us with more dazzle than at eve. Sleep has been kind.

GIULIA.

But I am drowsy still. It is not well I should so early stir; And I must sleep; I am so young.

ALEXANDER.

A flower-- You please me well--a poppy-lidded flower! Lord Cardinals, With your lynx-eyes what do you track beyond The open street?

CARDINAL MICHELE.

Standards, long lances At Ponte Milvio.

ALEXANDER.

Ha! We shall be surprised: This victor travels as he made retreat. Come, Joffré, you have learnt your part: or is it Alfonso plays the squire when he alights? But start each one of you; in rivalry Toil for the privilege.

ALFONSO.

To hold the stirrup! I must decline: I cannot stoop so far.

ALEXANDER.

Prince of Squillace, you will hold the stirrup, And in your company take Don Alfonso.

ALFONSO.

My wife forbids me leave her.

LUCREZIA.

Nay, Lucrezia Has never said _forbid_. I yield my husband For just this hour, knowing that all his hours, And mine--even Cesare’s--are but one glass

[_Kissing the_ POPE’S _hand_.

This hand may run the sands of at its pleasure. Go, and be mannerly.

[_Exeunt_ DON JOFFRÉ _and_ DON ALFONSO.

SANCIA.

It seems This bridegroom travels homeward with no bride. Is he ashamed that, jewelled to the eyes, He could not win my cousin’s hand--Carlotta’s?

[_The_ POPE _takes_ SANCIA’S _fan from a table and tears it_.

ALEXANDER.

His bride is Italy.

SANCIA.

I thought she was of France.

ALEXANDER.

He is of France. The fleur-de-luce is broidered On his banners with our Bull. César de France, Of Italy--the world. You may retire From our presence: later we will give you rooms Convenient in Sant’ Angelo. [_Exit_ SANCIA. Fair ladies, Adriana, I warn you that this Charlotte of Navarre Is of no further interest than a city Captured and left behind. The confidences....

[_Pinching_ LUCREZIA’s _chin_.

What have you heard, Discretion? Not the story.... Enough! We no more lose our Cesar for a wife, Treasure, then we have lost you in a groom.

[_Turning to the_ CARDINALS.

Francesco, there is flutter in your robe, You crane your neck. What of the cavalcade?

CARDINAL BORGIA.

We cannot see it yet.

CARDINAL SEGOVIA.

We can but see the flags Beating the sky about Sant’ Angelo.

CARDINAL MICHELE.

The cavalcade itself we shall not see, Not till the cannon roar at its approach.

[_The_ POPE _sinks down exhausted in his chair and closes his eyes_.

ALEXANDER.

Triumphs--St. Peter!... In a bossy car, Its base the wide spine of an elephant, Rode Alexander into Babylon, Invincible, my namesake and a god. But not for me the riding, not the shouts, Though mine the empire: it is Cesar, Cesar, Who comes to Rome, and this is Cesar’s triumph. The chariots and the laurels and the helmets, The antique cuirasses and helmets--laurels Fresh from my gardens: we will act it all Before the eye to-morrow, and translate This modern triumph into classic glory, As epitaphs go down in sounding Latin To generations after. Cesar’s Triumph! Burcardus shall arrange the pomp, the order, The circuit of the pageant. Alexander ... Cesar ... Cesar....

[_The cannon boom, all rush to the Loggia._

LUCREZIA.

[_Running to her father as if for protection._

O Holiness, but he is coming now! Oh!

ALEXANDER.

Out to the Loggia! Cease your clinging, child! You check my haste, you flutter, And check me.

[_There is tumult of cannon, shouting and trumpet-blasts._

[_In the Loggia._] O my lords, where is he, where? [_Looking down._] My God, what splendour! But ...

LUCREZIA.

See, see, that simple rider In black, the foil to all--you know him, father! You see his collar of Saint Michel gleam; His hair in golden circle--Cesare!

ALEXANDER.

A presence, oh, a presence! Recollect, Daughter, we must receive him as the Pope Receives his Captain-General. He is riding As in a picture.... Help, Lord Cardinals, help me! Is the Triregno set about my head With nicety? This jewel flames aside, That should be central. Shift my cope. There, there! We will go in and take the throne.

LUCREZIA.

[_Throwing a kiss down._] He has alighted, father.

[_The_ POPE, _seated, waits, his Court round him_.

ALEXANDER.

How this remoteness enervates! Come, come, come, come!

[_The door is thrown open_, DUKE CESARE DE VALENTINOIS _stands gravely on the threshold and makes a deep reverence_. _He is presented by_ MONSIGNORE BURCHARD _and followed by_ PRINCE DON JOFFRÉ _and_ PRINCE DON ALFONSO, _the_ GENERALS _of his staff, and the accompanying_ CARDINALS _and_ AMBASSADORS.

CESARE.

[_With another deep reverence_]. Your Holiness, How can I thank you for the benefits That even in absence weighed me with the blessing. Of your great recollection.

ALEXANDER.

No, my son, the Church Would give you thanks upon my lips for service Of princely measure--service....

[_As_ CESARE _bends to kiss the_ POPE’S _foot_, ALEXANDER, _with a passionate gesture, catches him in his arms_.

Cesare! My son! Superb this beauty! Home at last, Son of my bowels!

CESARE.

Holiness, your captain, Your servant, and your creature.

ALEXANDER.

[_Close to his ear._] No, no, no, my son By nature, my dear flesh, my very substance Gone out to victory! Rise! Rise! We must not Beggar all welcomes other than our own. Donna Lucrezia--see!... Children!

[PRINCE ALFONSO _has come to her and holds her by the hand_.

CESARE.

A loving couple! Though one of them fled off awhile ago. [_To_ ALFONSO.] Lured back? Lucrezia, do you welcome me? Then welcome me with hands and lips.

[_She drops_ ALFONSO’S _hand and goes quickly up to_ CESARE.

[_As he kisses her._] Come home!