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- Previously, on The Borgias
- [Whispering]: I have waited
a lifetime for this moment.
I will not forgive failure
- We will not fail you,
Father.
- Maybe Papa will
become pope, and you can
be who you want to be.
- I shall fight you.
- With any means at my disposal.
- I do tend to win
whatever battles I fight.
- Cardinal Borgia has
the required majority.
- You're not in
mourning, mother.
- But perhaps I am.
- What are we gaining?
- Does Papa have
so many enemies?
- As our father, perhaps not.
But as pope
We have placed the papal
mitre in the hands of an ape.
I beg you now to release me
of my vows.
- I would be a prince of state,
Father.
Juan can bear arms
for the Borgia family
- But I swear, if God
does not protect us, I shall.
- Whatever you're being paid,
I'll double it.
- The pope cannot love?
- Not only must he be chaste;
he must be seen
to be chaste.
- Simony! I charge you now
in public!
- They all want you dead.
- Serve this to Orsini.
- [Orsini]: Poison.
- Poison!
- The poison was meant for us.
- You don't poison the pope!
You poison a rabid dog!
It offends nature, it offends
God Himself!
- So, God will take
his revenge, then.
- With our help.
***
- Excellent service.
- I fear it is not over yet.
- What do you mean?
- Well, there's more
to your Borgia family
than father and son.
- What do you mean?
- I mean we must hurry, My Lord.
Your whole family's
in danger.
- Micheletto!
- Am I too late?
- We were waiting for you.
- Then you're too late!
[Groaning in pain]
- What are you doing?!
Ah!
[Yelling]
- Allow me, My Lord.
[Muffled yelling]
- Guards!
- [Guard]: General!
- With me, quickly!
Come on!
Get out of my way!
Pray somewhere else,
Cardinals.
Arrest this household.
- You planned this massacre
thoroughly.
- If I had planned it, My Lord,
believe me, we would not be
having this conversation.
- You're that meticulous?
- Always.
[Grunting with effort]
- And who planned it?
- Cardinal Orsini.
- And Della Rovere?
- I know nothing of him.
In this affair,
[Panting]
I had but one master.
- And now?
- And now
I am like a stray dog,
masterless.
Unless your kind offer
still stands.
- You could have
let things take their course
Betrayed me.
Most of your kind do.
- My kind?
I do not have
a kind.
And I suspect
neither do you.
- Your name,
sweet assassin.
[Panting]
- Micheletto.
- You must prove yourself
worthy of my trust, then.
- This is not proof enough?
- Perhaps.
Perhaps not.
Can you dispose
of these corpses?
- You would keep them secret?
- More than that.
I would keep you secret.
Dump them in the Tiber.
Meet me by the Vatican gates
in two hours' time.
We shall
discuss your future service.
[Whispering]: Mother.
- Are you trying
to frighten me?
- I'm sorry, Mother.
- Why are you here,
Cesare?
- I imagine things--
murders,
blood-spattered throats,
poisoned chalices.
- Perhaps you're not wrong.
We have many enemies now.
- And Lucrezia?
- She's sleeping.
You miss her that much?
- Always.
If anything happened
to her, I'd
I'd die.
- What could possibly
happen?
- I'm putting a guard
on the house.
- Is it so dangerous
outside?
- We are in a different city
now.
- Is it still
called Rome?
- I'm not sure
it has a name.
Father.
Father!
Father, I've had to place
a guard on the--
- The good cardinal, my son,
has been expressing his shock
and dismay
at this evening's outcome.
- Poison, it seems,
was the cause
of Cardinal Orsini's demise.
- One shudders
at the thought.
- As to who poisoned him,
I have no idea.
Perhaps we should
ask ourselves, who benefits most
from his death?
- And what are you implying,
Your Eminence?
- I am implying nothing.
I am merely offering
His Holiness any help I can
in unmasking the culprit.
Our Holy Mother Church can
afford no such scandals.
- We have Orsini's household
staff in irons, Your Holiness.
Cardinal.
- The good cardinal, my brother,
has offered to help us
unmask the culprit
behind this plot.
- We apprehended this wretch
skulking outside by the gate.
- A plot, by definition,
needs more than one participant,
does it not?
- Do you recognize him?
- Didn't he pour the wine?
- [Cesare]: Do you know
this man, Cardinal Della Rovere?
- I know he attended
at the cardinal's table,
but there were many of those.
Beyond that,
nothing.
- If this creature is
indeed the poisoner,
some hours on the strappado
should loosen his tongue.
- See if he talks.
[Grunting]
- I have a dilemma:
[Grunting]
whether to flay you
at night
[Grunting]
or at dawn.
[Grunting]
[Groaning]
- I pity you your
dilemma, My Lord.
- Pity yourself.
- Brother.
You have
already exhausted yourself
in our father's defence.
Now I could spend a good hour
questioning this man.
- Is that really a task
for a cleric?
[Grunting in pain]
- Lock the door and go.
Up.
Up!
Would you have talked?
- Only to sing your praises,
My Lord.
- Still want
to earn my trust?
- Eternally, My Lord.
- Lie low for a day, then.
I can have word sent out
that you couldn't be broken.
- And then?
- Then
get close to Cardinal
Della Rovere.
Tell me what he thinks.
What he plans.
- Then you must hurt me,
My Lord.
- Haven't I hurt you
enough already?
- To convince this cardinal,
my back must tell its own story.
And I have heard
that he has an interest
in the male torso.
And even I cannot
convincingly whip myself.
So whip me, My Lord.
[Grunting]
Harder.
[Grunting]
Harder, My Lord.
[Grunting]
- And
[Grunting]
if you betray me
[Grunting]
you will end your days
on that rack.
[Grunting]
- Then it would not be
in my interest to betray you,
My Lord.
- Good.
[Grunting]
- Again!
[Grunting]
Again.
[Grunting]
[Door opening]
- Do you have something
to tell me?
About the night's events?
- Only that
I will protect you.
Protect our family.
With my life
if needs be.
- Well, all of the others bought
and sold.
We merely proved ourselves
better at the game.
But we draw the line
at ***,
do we not?
- Orsini drew no such line.
- I see.
So,
we are one less cardinal
this morning.
I was your age
when I became a cardinal.
Seems like yesterday.
This red
signifies that you are ready
to spill your blood in defence
of the Christian faith.
- No, Father.
- Are you, my son, ready
to spill your blood in defence
of the Christian faith?
I think you are!
- For the defence
of my family, perhaps.
- That too.
- Give me control
of the papal armies and
I will protect us all.
- We will have one son
in the cloth
and one in armour.
You know our wishes.
- But a cardinal's red?
- And Lucrezia must marry.
- So soon?
- She is 14 years old.
- She is just a child.
- We must bind our enemies
to us.
Make friends of them.
And what better way is there
than marriage
You can perform the rite--
as cardinal.
- Am I a cardinal already?
- And they tortured you
for
how long?
- A day and a night,
Your Eminence.
- And you revealed?
- There was nothing to reveal,
Your Eminence.
- Ecce ***.
"Behold the man.
"
They scourged
our saviour thus.
Is it true,
what's being rumoured?
That the good cardinal
inadvertently poisoned himself?
- Who would have profited
from his death?
- Certainly not
Cardinal Orsini.
- Who takes possession
of his properties?
- Borgia.
- Well, then.
- These methods are
not mine.
- You think they are mine,
Your Eminence?
- What are your methods?
- Discretion.
Silence.
- And you have suffered
for your silence.
Why?
- Like you,
I hate this Borgia.
And if I can be
of any use
- I need someone
I can trust.
- You can trust my hatred
of this Borgia pope.
[Gasping in pain]
- I can trust these wounds
of yours.
- They will last
for a lifetime,
Your Eminence.
- Indeed.
I need to assemble a gathering
of every cardinal
who shares your feelings.
In absolute secrecy.
- May I thank you, Holy Father,
for bequeathing to me
your precious time.
- Go on, my child.
- I have sinned mightily,
Your Holiness,
and know there are some sins
that only the pope can forgive.
- They are few,
but the most grave.
Tell me.
- My husband,
Your Holiness,
has long been
distasteful to me.
- I fear
you are not the first woman
to share that fate.
- His person
I find repellent.
His advances sicken me.
His hand upon my body makes me
retch with disgust.
- Have you denied him
your duties as a wife?
- No, Your Holiness.
I performed them
as the Church says I must.
- So I
fail
to discern the sin.
- I found myself
with child.
The thought
of this body of mine,
marred by the presence
of his offspring--
inside--
drove me to an act
of transgression that
- Go on, my daughter.
- I put an end
to my pregnancy.
- That is indeed
most grave.
- A sin
that only
the pope
can forgive.
- Only God may forgive.
But we may intercede
on your behalf.
- Then, please,
Your Holiness,
beg for me His mercy.
- And
your husband?
He knows of this?
- He knows nothing.
He has retired to his castle
in Bassano.
He satisfies his *** on me
no longer.
- And you are
now chaste?
- I have no one,
Your Holiness.
- Then perhaps
that is to be your penitence--
to follow your husband
to Bassano, as is your duty.
- I would prefer a life
of destitution, Your Holiness.
- Then love God.
And find peace
within the walls of a nunnery.
- Can one find peace
in such a love, Your Holiness?
- It is what we must do,
Giulia Farnese.
- I fear
I may lack Your Holiness's will.
I am still young,
Your Holiness,
and my body, I am sure,
could find, and give,
much happiness
if my soul could
find peace.
- Do you beg forgiveness
from God
for the enormity
of your crime?
- I do so daily.
Your Holiness, my soul yearns
for its punishment.
- Then you must fast.
From matins
till evensong.
And flagellate your naked body
twice nightly.
- With knotted cord,
Your Holiness?
- Cord of silk will suffice.
To destroy the beauty
the Lord has granted you
would be
to compound your sin.
E go te absolve
ab omnibus censuris,
et peccatis,
in nomine Patris,
et Filii,
et Spiritus Sancti.
- Amen.
- Amen.
[Sighing]
Giulia Farnese.
- Your Holiness?
- One of your lineage
to be destitute--
we cannot allow it.
We must find you
some
temporary and
temporal refuge.
- [Man]: Keep the fire
away from the straw!
- [Man]: It is!
- [Man]: Good!
- [Man]: Boy, keep the banners
and colours all together.
- [Man]: Right, sir!
- Some of you voted
for him,
for which unfortunate choice
you are now forgiven.
[Quiet chuckling]
But most of you voted
against.
We have assembled the barest
of majorities.
But then,
this Borgia pope was elected
with just such
a majority.
- The cardinal's demise was
sudden.
- So it seems.
- But his palace is ideal
as a
place
of penitence
and
self-reflection.
- [Rovere]: If it can be proven,
what many of us suspect--
corruption, simony,
the blatant sale
of the sacred offices,
and worse, the utter degradation
of the office of the papacy
in the eyes
of the Christian world
- [Borgia]: You must think
of your sojourn here
as a retreat.
- A retreat?
- The cardinal had this tunnel
built.
It leads
inside the Vatican walls.
If you ever find yourself
in need of
spiritual comfort
in your loneliness
- Your Holiness.
- You must not be afraid
to avail of it.
Day or night.
We shall leave you now.
- This passage goes
both ways.
Your Holiness must feel
free to visit
if God's love were ever
to leave him wanting.
- The cardinal summons me
in the dead of night.
Is there a reason?
- These are turbulent times,
Father.
- Dottore
You can leave us now.
I need advice, dottore,
on a delicate matter.
The deposition
of a pope.
- Delicate indeed.
And, if I may say so,
dangerous.
- Stop that.
You have done penance
enough.
- Who then will forgive us,
Your Holiness?
- God will.
[Muttering]
- Huggucio of Pisa states:
"Ecce publico fornicator,
publico habet concubinem"
- The pope
who publicly fornicates,
publicly keeps a concubine--
- Can indeed be
deposed,
because to scandalize the Church
is in itself heresy.
But one would need
firm evidence
of notorious
and public lechery.
- Whose bed is this?
- Yours,
of course.
- Whose bed was this?
- It belonged to a cardinal
and a fool.
- What kind of fool?
- The kind of fool
who doesn't understand that
God's work can be done
even by the most unlikely
of his servants.
And that Rome needs now is--
- You.
- Power.
You're so beautiful,
Giulia Farnese.
I would
have you painted.
- She is beautiful.
- She is.
- More beautiful
than your painting.
- I've just begun.
- You must do better, then.
Her hair curls, here.
Who is she?
- Giulia Farnese.
At your service.
- Why is he painting you,
Giulia Farnese?
- Your father, the pope,
commissioned him.
- Will he paint one of me?
- I will commission him, now.
[Goat bleating]
- Why are you holding
a baby goat?
- It will become
a unicorn.
- Then I want a unicorn.
Or even better,
a sea horse.
I want to lie
on a bed of seashells
and have a sea horse in my lap.
- [Giulia]: Like this one?
- Yes.
Just like this one.
- You must have it, then.
- I can?
- It's a gift.
From Giulia
to Lucrezia.
- Can I kiss you, then?
- Only if we are to be friends.
- We are friends already.
I am to have
my portrait painted, Mama.
- You are?
- But I don't want a goat,
or a unicorn.
I told Giulia
I want a sea horse
like this one.
- You told who?
- Giulia Farnese.
- Giulia Farnese is having
her portrait painted?
- By Pinturicchio.
Papa commissioned him.
- Ah.
- She gave me
this pendant.
I think a sea horse is better
than a unicorn, don't you Mama?
- I've heard she is beautiful,
this Giulia Farnese.
- Papa thinks so.
- I am sure he does.
- A different type of beauty
to yours, Mama.
Not Spanish.
Italian.
Her hair is light,
and full of curls.
- And where did you meet her,
Lucrezia?
- In Papa's rooms.
In the Vatican.
- [Man]: Please, My Lady!
- [Man]: Your Holiness!
- My dear.
- You told me
that the pope can love God,
but to be seen
to love anyone else
would be impossible.
- Your Holiness--
- Now, now--
- Shall we remove ourselves?
- That the pope must be
chaste,
and he must be seen
to be chaste.
Don't you want them to hear?
That you have a new ***?!
- Mother!
- Farnese!
- Get out!
- That you've installed her
in the Orsini Palace?
- What?
- We were--
- Be gone!
- I banished my husband
for your sake!
- You are the mother
of my children! You will always
have a special place in my life.
- What about your promise?!
- There is no one
no one,
closer to me than you.
- Why her?!
- She was in need!
I had to help her.
You were destitute once!
- [Cesare]: Be gone!
Out!
- [Man]: We were
in consultation--
- [Man]: Your Grace,
we are leaving.
- Don't lie to me.
To me, you cannot lie.
- Then don't challenge me.
And never, ever
within these sacred walls.
- I've dreamed
about this room
and what it might do to you.
We need
a new understanding, then.
- Perhaps.
- I'll keep my peace.
But I won't be
humiliated.
- I would have peace.
- You commissioned a portrait
of her.
I shall have
a portrait too
by the same new genius
you found.
- Pinturicchio.
He is good,
but he's
expensive.
- All of Rome is yours
for the taking.
Make sure
he does me justice.
I was beautiful
once, no?
- You still are.
- We agreed, did we not,
that you would not lie?
- He has placed his new ***
in Orsini's palace, no?
- I believe so,
Your Eminence.
- Question the staff, then,
in secret,
and in any way
you see fit.
We need evidence
of lechery,
fornication--
publico habet concubinem.
- Get these to the Deacon-
Cardinal for signatures.
- Yes, Your Eminence.
- He has met in secret
with those cardinals
that hate your father.
With Johannes Burchard,
he is making a case
for your father's deposition.
- On what grounds?
- Notorious
and public lechery
- Lechery?
My father?
God forbid.
Has he evidence?
- He means to find it.
- Then perhaps
we should find it first,
and silence it
before it speaks.
- Your mother was somewhat
troubled yesterday.
She finds the change
in our life difficult.
- So I noticed.
- Do what you can
to keep her out of here.
- It would help, maybe,
if you were more discreet
in your affections.
- But I--
- You are aware, Holy Father,
of the plots against you?
- Oh, what would Rome be
without a good plot?
- The College of Cardinals is
split down the middle.
- What? Well, perhaps
we need some more cardinals.
- Johannes Burchard has been
asked for an opinion
[Chuckling]
- Dear old Johannes.
He does give excellent opinion.
- On your deposition, Father.
- Indeed.
- There are certain things
I could speak of
for a price.
- Don't worry.
You'll get paid.
- I would need to be.
I have seen things
within these walls
that would shock a brace
of courtesans.
- Well, now, there's no need
to shock a courtesan, is there?
A brace of cardinals,
perhaps.
[Door closing]
[Bell tolling outside]
- You were asked
for a judgement, I believe,
some nights ago?
- Your Holiness, as an expert
on canon law, when asked for
a judgement, I must provide it.
- Please sit.
I would have
your opinion, then,
dear Johannes,
on the expansion
of the College
of Cardinals.
- It is the pope's prerogative
to appoint whom he wishes,
Your Holiness.
- To whatever number he wishes?
- Ah, well,
how many cardinals did
His Holiness have in mind?
- How many would be needed
to make it safe for our papacy?
- Oh, dear.
- Come, come, Johannes.
You must be aware of the plots
against us?
You could even,
if viewed with an unkind eye,
be seen to be party
to them.
- When asked for an opinion,
Your Holiness, you know
that I must
provide it.
- Ah.
So,
your opinion, then.
How many new cardinals
to preserve our papacy?
- Umm
A baker's dozen, I would say.
- Mm!
Thirteen!
And we can appoint them
all at once?
Without the vote
of conclave?
- Such a great number would need
a precedent.
- Oh.
Find one, then.
- Your Holiness.
- I have received advice
from our most supreme expert
in canon law,
that a pope's election may be
overturned
if we can provide evidence
of lechery,
both notorious and public.
That evidence
I present to you now.
Leave us, Micheletto.
[Doors closing]
And now, my dear,
tell us
what you have witnessed.
- There is a passage, connecting
the palace to the Vatican.
His Holiness makes use
of it nightly.
- And then?
- He enters her bedroom
while she chastises herself.
And I blush to even describe
what happens next.
- Spare us nothing.
- I wanted seashells
and a sea horse.
- But you have a sea horse,
my love.
- No, I mean a real one.
Like your goat.
- But real sea horses are tiny,
my love.
- Am I your love?
- I would dearly love you to be.
- My mother hates you.
- You will learn, my dear,
as women, we control
so little of our destiny.
Men do.
- And?
- The outcome is,
we hate each other.
But we should not.
- Who should we hate, then?
Men?
- No, my love.
It's in our nature
to love them.
But we should protect ourselves
against them.
Against our feelings
towards them.
We will all of us,
one day, be replaced.
- Are you giving me
instruction?
- Would you like me to?
- I think I would.
What weapons do I have with
which to protect myself?
- Your beauty.
- Is that a weapon?
- It can be deadly,
when well used.
But beauty doesn't last
forever.
Gone, like the snows
of last year.
- What else?
- When beauty fades?
Your wit.
Your intelligence.
- And I have those weapons?
- Oh, in abundance.
You should cultivate them.
You will be married some day.
You may need them--
sooner than you think.
- Is she pretty,
this piece of evidence?
- She has her charms,
My Lord.
- Perhaps you could see
that she takes a vow of silence.
Would God forgive us,
Micheletto?
- I know not the ways of God,
My Lord.
- But you know the ways
of silence.
- [Borgia]: And we decree
bullfighting will be permitted
within the walls of Rome
on public festivals
and the last Thursday
of every month.
[Cardinals murmuring]
And, finally,
the main business
to hand.
- Cardinal Della Rovere needs
no staff today, understand?
For a day of meditation,
he has requested peace
and silence.
You can tell the others.
Have you not heard?
His Eminence needs no staff
today.
It is a day of meditation.
- He has much on his mind.
- Too much, some might say.
Such is the burden of great
office.
Until tomorrow,
my friend.
- We wish
to announce our decision
to expand the College
of Cardinals,
in view of the crippling
workload placed upon it
by our restructuring
of the affairs
of our Holy Mother Church.
Thirteen new servants of God
[Cardinals gasping]
will receive
the cardinal's biretta.
- Thirteen?!
[Angry exclamations]
- We have judged it wise
to strengthen the College
of Cardinals, given the enemies
who have wormed their way
within the Church of Rome.
- This is against all
precedence.
His Holiness will fill
the College with his favourites.
I accuse His Holiness--
- Ohhh! Of what are
we now accused?
- Of an offence
against canon law.
Against the Law
of our Holy Mother Church.
- Canon law?
But we have taken advice
from the most eminent
of all of our canon lawyers.
- Apple
or peach?
- Peach, I think.
I like peach.
- Eat it all.
- The Council of Constance is
most clear on this matter.
I refer you to Statute 42,
Paragraph 3--
- In brief, I pray.
- His Holiness, the pope, may
expand the College
to any number
he deems appropriate,
if the burden of work
necessitates--
- I challenge him
to name them now!
- Your Holiness.
- Oh
Dottore, if you would be
so kind.
- [Grunting]: And His Holiness
comes behind the Lady Giulia
thus!
- With the force of a stallion.
[Gasping and grunting]
- The Bishop of Lucca,
His Grace Fiorentini, will be
named Cardinal Fiorentini.
The Bishop of Naples,
His Grace Giovanni Mascoli,
will be named Cardinal Mascoli.
The Bishop of Valencia,
His Grace
Cesare Borgia, will be
named Cardinal Borgia.
[Sarcastic laughing]
The pope would make his son
a cardinal?
I warn you, I have evidence
that will bring this house
crashing down around your ears.
- Evidence?
- Of lechery, transgressions,
both public and notorious!
- Why, then, Cardinal,
you must present it.
- I will!
[Spitting]
- The Bishop of Lyon
[Gasping and grunting]
- Though whether the Holy Father
is as virile as you
- Surely he is.
- Only God can tell.
- A candle,
if you please!
Where is everyone?
Is there nobody about?
[Crickets chirping]
- Dear Lord,
I pray for your strength
and guidance
in the trials to come.
Give us some sign
that Rome will be purified,
the Borgia stain will be
banished forever--
Guards! Guards!
Somebody!
Anybody!
Help!
- Was the good cardinal known
for lechery?
- He was discreet
in his affections, My Lord.
So discreet,
indeed,
he asked me to clear the house
of servants yesterday.
- He must have had
lecherous intentions, then.
But I'm shocked
that they ended in ***.
- And now he's fled,
My Lord.
- I would recommend discretion
in this matter.
The Church of Rome can
ill afford another scandal.
- Perhaps he desired
her silence, My Lord.
- He must have.
Poor girl
Whom can one trust,
in this Rome of ours?
- I believe trust needs
to be earned, My Lord.
- Perhaps.
And perhaps it has been.
***