Transcribed from the 1908 Chatto and Windus edition by David Priceemail ccx074coventryacukTHE DUKE OF GANDIAPERSONS REPRESENTEDPOPE ALEXANDER VIFRANCESCO BORGIA Duke of Gandia    his sonsCAESAR BORGIA Cardinal of Valencia DON MICHELE COREGLIA called MICHELOTTO agent for Caesar BorgiaGIORGIO SCHIAVONE a Tiber watermanTWO ASSASSINSAN OFFICER of the Papal HouseholdVANNOZZA CATANEI surnamed LA ROSA concubine to the PopeLUCREZIA BORGIA daughter to Alexander and VannozzaSCENE  ROMETIME  JUNE 14JULY 22 1497SCENE IThe VaticanEnter CAESAR and VANNOZZACAESARNow mother though thou love my brother moreAm I not more thy son than heVANNOZZA      Not moreCAESARHave I more Spaniard in meless of theeDid our Most Holiest father thrill thy wombWith more Italian passion than brought forthMeVANNOZZA   Child thine elder never was as thou Spake never thusCAESAR      I doubt it not  But IMother am not mine elder  He desiresAnd he enjoys the life God gives himGodThe Pope our father and thy sacred selfMother beloved and hallowed  I desireMoreVANNOZZA   Thou wast ever sleepless as the wind A child anhungered for thy time to beMan  See thy purple about thee  Art thou notCardinalCAESAR   Ay my fathers eminenceSet so the stamp on mine  I will not dieCardinalVANNOZZA   Caesar wilt thou cleave my heartHave I not loved theeCAESAR      Ay fair motherayThou hast loved my father likewise  Dost thou loveGiuliathe sweet Farnesecalled the FairIn all the Roman streets that call thee RoseAnd that bright babe Giovanni whom our sireThy holy lord and hers hath stamped at birthAs duke of NepiVANNOZZA      When thy sire begatThee sinful though he ever wasfierce fellSpaniardI fear me Jesus for his sinsBade Satan pass into himCAESAR         And fill thee fullSweet sinless mother  Fear it not  Thou hastChildren more loved of him and thee than me Our bright Francesco born to smile and swayAnd her whose face makes pale the sun in heavenWhose eyes outlaugh the splendour of the seaWhose hair has all noons wonders in its weftWhose mouth is Gods and Italys one roseLucreziaVANNOZZA   Dost thou love them then  My childHow should not I then love theeCAESAR         God aloneKnows  Was not Godthe God of love who badeHis son be man because he hated manAnd saw him scourged and hanging and at lastForgave the sin wherewith he had stamped us seeingSo fair a full atonementwas not GodBridesman when Christs crowned vicar took to brideMy motherVANNOZZA      Speak not thou to me of GodI have sinned I have sinnedI would I had died a nunCloisteredCAESAR   There too my sire had found thee  PriestsMake way where warriors dare notsave when warSets wide the floodgates of the weirs of hellAnd what hast thou to do with sin  Hath heWhose sin was thine not given thee there and thenGods actual absolution  Mary livedGods virgin and Gods mother  mine art thouWho am Christlike even as thou art virginalAnd if thou love me or love me not God knowsAnd God who made me and my sire and theeMay take the charge upon him  I am ISomewhat I think to do before my dayPass from me  Did I love thee not at allI would not bid thee know itVANNOZZA         Alas my sonCAESARAlas my mother sounds no sense for men Rings but reverberate folly whence resoundsReturning laughter  Weep or smile on meThy sunshine or thy rainbow softens notThe mortal earth wherein thou hast clad me  NayBut rather would I see thee smile than weepMother  Thou art lovelier smilingVANNOZZA         What is thisThou hast at heart to do  Gods judgment hangsAbove us  I that girdled thee in meAs Mary girdled Jesus yet unborn Thou dost believe it  A creedless hereticThou art notCAESAR      I  Gods vicars childVANNOZZA         Be GodPraised  I then I thy mother bid thee prayPray thee but say what hungers in thy heartAnd whither thou wouldst hurl the strenuous lifeThat works within theeCAESAR      Whither  Am not IHinge of the gate that opens heaventhat bidsGod open when my sire thrusts in the key Cardinal  Canst thou dream I had rather beDukeEnter FRANCESCOFRANCESCO   Wilt thou take mine office Caesar mineI heard thy laugh deride it  Mother whenceComes that sweet gift of grace from dawn to dawnThat daily shows thee sweeterCAESAR         Knowest thou noneLovelierVANNOZZA   My Caesar finds me not so fairThou art over fond FrancescoCAESAR         Nay no whitOur heavenly father on earth adores no lessOur mother than our sister  and I holdHis heart and eye his spirit and his senseInfallibleEnter the POPEALEXANDER      Jest not with God  I heardA holy word a hallowing epithetCardinal Caesar trip across thy tongueLightlyCAESAR   Most holiest father I desirePaternal absolutionwhen thy laughHas waned from lip and eyelidALEXANDER         Take it nowAnd Christ preserve thee Caesar as thou artTo serve him as I serve him  Rose of mineMy rose of roses whence has fallen this dewThat dims the sweetest eyes love ever litWith light that mocks the morningVANNOZZA         Nay my lordI know notnay I knew not if I weptALEXANDEROur sons and Christs and Peters whom we praiseAre theyare thesefallen outFRANCESCO         Not I with himNor he I think with meCAESAR      Forbid it GodThe God that set thee where thou art and thereSustains thee bids the