Borgia

September 1494 Saint Michael's Day

Did we like ourselves better before there were mirrors?

When your sense of how you look came from a reflection in a lake...

or your lover's eyes.

Now, we stare at ourselves, hour upon hour, admiring what we see.

Or loathing it.

Your victory here in Milan seems to have given you no pleasure.

Success came too easily. Conquering Imola and Forlì will be a more difficult task.

- And therefore, a more satisfying win. - At your age, winning is everything.

- At my age, knowing is. - No, Agapito, I want to know.

I want to bite into the forbidden fruit and understand why I need to win.

- To prove you are the best. - The best what?

Warrior, statesman, father, son, brother?

Lover?

Where? Where is he?

Alfonso, what are you doing here? My husband has forbidden you...

My wife is dead and the child is still in her womb.

My sin, loving you, has buried them.

- I will pray for their souls. - Yes, pray.

For me as well because...

despite my guilt...

- my heart tumults at the sights of you. - My sweet Alfonso.

I am free to marry.

To marry you.

- I am not free. - Divorce di Calabria.

How? The Church will allow me to leave him only if he's impotent. He's not.

- I carry his child. - My child.

- We cannot prove that. - We can, instead...

publicly confess our infidelities. Then he will have justification to leave you.

Alfonso di Calabria will never give up the daughter of a pope. He is too ambitious.

- The ambitious die. - This is the grief talking.

Fine.

I will depart for Ferrara, never to return.

No, stop.

Stop. Quickly.

Someone, help.

- Get out. - Someday, I will kill you.

Get off me.

You pulled on my arm, making me vulnerable. You also want me dead.

Cesare, I have traveled as quickly as my horse could carry me to Milan, to congratulate you.

- Cesare? It is I, Niccolo. My friend. - Are you the envoy of Florence?

I am here as your friend, first, foremost and forever.

Sit.

I repeat. Are you the envoy of Florence?

I am now Secretary of the Ten and Chancellor of the Republic,

thanks to your recommendation. - So you come as a rival, not as a friend,

to bargain, not to support. - I volunteered to come alone...

because I know you consider me a man of trust.

So speak, Chancellor of the Republic.

The Signory worry about your intentions for Florence.

If your government encourages my conquest of Romagna, then all is well.

If not...

then I will change your government.

For now...

my intention is to march on Florence.

To enjoy its brothels and its taverns in your good company.

Do not fear, Niccolo. You have a role in whatever comes next.

Ah, Cardinal Gaetanis...

We hope the journey from Sermoneta was not too taxing.

Holiness, the thought of being in your presence made the roads fly by.

We wish to convey our sadness over the passing of your father.

We have ordered a thousand Masses said for the repose of Duke Onorato's soul.

- A thousand, Holiness? - He was a wicked man.

We hope that Sermoneta will now pay the tithe owed to God's glorious Church.

Not yet. My two brothers argue about which will rule in my father's place.

Brothers.

Have some wine.

Hear this, until one brother emerges as Duke...

and until he pays the Denarii Sancti Petri, you will be our guest.

A guest?

Drink your wine. Your palazzo and other possessions will serve as escrow.

- Drink. - I just remembered, I am on a fast.

Ah. Excellent. Every soul needs replenishing.

The Captain-General will show you to your quarters.

My apologies, Eminence, this room does not have a view.

Today's cardinals are tomorrow's corpses.

The Prior complains that the artist is lazy.

The artist complains that he cannot truly begin until he finds the face of Judas.

Ow, my ass.

Get your hands off me.

The authorities will hear of this.

- You must be... - I am.

Cesare Borgia is said to have the countenance of Christ and the eyes of Satan.

- You fit the description. - Maestro, it is an honor to meet a true man of genius.

And I, to meet a true man of war. To conquer Milan without firing a single shot...

- That says much about you. - And about the enemy one faces.

Which is why I wanted to talk to you.

I would've gladly come to the Duke of Valentinois in the standing position.

I'm not yet certain of your loyalties, since you served Ludovico Sforza these past ten or so years.

Sforza paid me, but he never inspired me. I am forever loyal to my mind.

Then let me see if I can be your muse and we together make history.

Soon I will mount an attack on the cities of Imola and Forlì.

Have you any new and nefarious inventions that will guarantee my victory?

I give you...

- the future of war. - I've never seen such a thing.

- What kind of machine is this? - One which flies.

A well-made screw can cause this instrument to spiral into the air.

Equipped with exploding devices, it could destroy any army or any castle...

from above, like God.

Where is this flying machine?

Duke Ludovico was too miserly to fund its construction, which, I fear, would take years.

For the time being, the ornithopter only exists on paper.

Show me something else, something you can construct immediately.

Ah, here, the scythed chariot. It is mounted with swirling blades.

A promise of carnage.

But perhaps as much carnage to my troops as to the enemy's.

What else?

A mobile military headquarters, allowing you to move from town to town...

with unparalleled speed.

Yes.

Yes. This...

May I make one small improvement?

Speak, great Borgia.

I will draw.

You are right to be concerned about our daughter's future.

And to ease your mind, Alessandro will establish an account in your name.

Your own money to use as you deem fit.

My brother says the Papal Treasury is nearly bankrupt.

Ah, the coins flow like the Tiber; sometimes a flood, sometimes a trickle.

Today we added the fortune of Cardinal Gaetanis to our own.

Eighty thousand ducats, all yours.

And... And what will be my income when you are...

dead?

- Arrangements have been made. - I would like to see the documents.

- To love us is to trust us. - No, my Rodrigo.

Love and trust do not always walk hand-in-hand.

- Highness. - Oh, please, no formalities.

- I come not as a princess, but as a sister. - A sister?

Of sorts.

You are the mother of my brother's son. That fact ties us together. Morally, if not legally.

What do you want?

To make amends for all the hurt, on behalf of Cesare. You are skeptical. Then listen...

Two men drew knives over their love for me.

As a child, such drama would have thrilled my romantic side.

But today, I was frightened for my son, for the child I carry, for your son.

- Our lives are so fragile. - I still do not understand.

- Has Girolamo been baptized? - I fear I am unworthy.

Bring your boy to the Apostolic Palace. The baptism will take place in the Sistine Chapel.

- No. I could not. - He will be surrounded by his family.

Dear Fiametta, I have stumbled through life from flute to harp...

from God to orgasm, from grievous sin to pleasant joy. That joy is family.

Even a family as peculiar as we Borgia.

Say that you will come.

Imola is difficult for Caterina to defend.

She will retreat to Forlì, consolidating her troops.

Your Grace, Pope Alexander grows impatient, awaiting your return.

He's eager to know how you will defeat Caterina Sforza-Riario.

I will leave tonight, rendezvous with His Holiness when I arrive and return back tomorrow evening.

A single day of travel, from Milan to the Vatican and back...

- and meet on matters of war? Impossible. - Giuliano, when will you learn?

I do not speak unless what I say is possible.

I will use the old outposts built by the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem.

I already have horses waiting at each post. I will literally jump from one to the other.

- Bravissimo. - And what of your troops?

I've had Leonardo draw a detailed map of Imola.

I will move my soldiers to the outskirts of the city.

With 15,000 Frenchmen as well as 4,000 Gascon and Swiss mercenaries, all bellowing for blood,

who is fierce enough to command the men in your absence?

May I present General Miguel de Corella.

Micheletto, you are now a gentleman.

- I want to see Papa. - He's retired for the evening.

- You mean, he's fucking. - He's past fucking. He sleeps.

Gacet, you know every secret involving my family, or do you?

Perhaps there are secrets of which even you are unaware.

- And now you're going to tell me one. - Cesare has a two year old son by Fiametta Michaelis.

- The whore from his days in Pisa? - Tomorrow, at the hour of Sext,

Girolamo will be baptized in the Sistine. You will place the event on the Holy Father's schedule.

I will inform the Pope of this secret. But what if he refuses to attend?

Rodrigo Borgia would not miss the ceremony for all the gold in Persia.

Cesare.

Yes, father?

You asked to see me?

'I, Louis, Most Christian King of France, the two Sicilies and Jerusalem, Duke of Milan...

at the request of our Holy Father, and wishing to aid him in the recovery of

his lands, signories and domains, especially the cities of Imola and Forlì...

have made our very dear and much loved cousin, Duke Cesare of Valentinois,

commander of our army.'

And this to Caterina Sforza-Riario.

'I cannot judge the Pope nor forbid him to act as he wishes

within his own boundaries.' - Excellent.

His nihil obstat makes clear to the dukes of Italy that they will receive

no reinforcements from France. As for Caterina, that daughter of iniquity...

- we want her brought to us in chains. - Thy will be done.

But I ask, in return, that you make my wife's brother, Amanieu d'Albret, a cardinal.

That's an odd request in the midst of war.

I wish Charlotte to know that she is a constant in my thoughts.

- Done. - By the way, where is Riario-Sansoni?

He claimed innocence of Caterina's plot to poison the Pope, then went hunting.

He has not been seen since. His absence proves his guilt.

- I leave at once for Imola. - You will not see your sister?

The hour is late, the journey long and I smell of sweating horses.

Surely you can wait 'til morning. She will weep knowing you had come and gone.

To sleep in one's own bed is a blessing.

You are the son for whom I have eternally hoped and prayed.

This papal bank account of yours is a bad bit of business...

I know what you will say: how will others perceive the transaction?

You are the Pope's Treasurer, raising money by increased taxes...

which then goes into your sister's purse.

And my own.

Giulia...