Shared with you
- Boy: Guard!
- Cesare Borgia: He is dead.
- Boy: [picking up cutlery] I will prove that I *am* a man.
- Cesare Borgia: I will not fight you.
- Boy: You're afraid.
- Cesare Borgia: Yes. That your blood will stain my already crowded conscience.
- [first lines]
- Cesare Borgia: [naked at the mirrors] Did we like ourselves better before there were mirrors? When your sense of how you looked came from a reflection in a lake. Our your lover's eyes.
- [now looking up close]
- Cesare Borgia: Though we stare at ourselves hour upon hour, admiring what we see. Or loathing it.
- Agapito Geraldini: Your victory here in Milan seems to have given you no pleasure.
- Cesare Borgia: Success came too easily.
- [getting dressed]
- Cesare Borgia: Conquering Caterina Sforza-Riaro will be a more difficult task, and therefore a more satisfying win.
- Agapito Geraldini: At your age, winning is everything. At my age, knowing is.
- Cesare Borgia: 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?
- [returning to the mirror]
- Cesare Borgia: Father? Son? Brother?
- [closely again]
- Cesare Borgia: Lover?
- Leonardo da Vinci: You must be...
- Cesare Borgia: I am.
- Leonardo da Vinci: Cesare Borgia is said to have the countenance of Christ, and the eyes of Satan. You fit the description.
- Cesare Borgia: Maestro, it is an honor to meet a true man of genius. And I to meet a true man of war.
- Leonardo da Vinci: To conquer Milan without firing a single shot. That says much about you.
- Cesare Borgia: And about the enemy one faces.
- Rodrigo Borgia 'El Pequeño' Lanzol: 80,000 ducats, all yours.
- Giulia Farnese: And, um, what will be my income when you are, um,
- [swallows]
- Giulia Farnese: dead?
- Rodrigo Borgia 'El Pequeño' Lanzol: Mm. Arrangements have been made...
- Giulia Farnese: I would like to see the documents.
- Rodrigo Borgia 'El Pequeño' Lanzol: To love us is to trust us.
- Giulia Farnese: Mmmm... no, dear Rodrigo. Love and trust do not always walk hand in hand.
- Lucrezia Borgia: Dear Fiametta, I have stumbled through life from flute to harp, from God to orgasm, from grievous sin thing to pleasant joy. That joy is family - even a family as peculiar as we Borgia.
- Boy: Guard!
- Cesare Borgia: He is dead.
- Boy: [picking up cutlery] I will prove that I *am* a man.
- Cesare Borgia: I will not fight you.
- Boy: You're afraid.
- Cesare Borgia: Yes. That your blood will stain my already crowded conscience.
- Rodrigo Borgia: [speaking to gathered Cardinals] In Hebrew the name poses the question: Who is like God? The answer is: No one. But, in the tempestuous course of our lives, we can attempt to emulate our Creator. And so we, Alexander the VI, will be leaving Rome tomorrow for the monastery of Monte Casino, where we will fast and pray on spiritual retreat. In our place, we appoint as Reagent of Holy Mother Church, with full Papal authority, one who dwells in the heart of God. Our daughter, Lucrezia.
- Agapito Geraldini: [announcing their arrival at the Sforza castle] Cesare Borgia, Duke of Antigua, Count of Diwa, Lord of Isadom, beckons Caterina Sforza-Riaro.
- Caterina Sforza-Riaro: [appearing on the wall] I am here...
- Cesare Borgia: Madonna, will you not come down, so I may see you legendary eyes?
- Caterina Sforza-Riaro: This is as near as I will step towards a Borgia.
- Cesare Borgia: Fine. For now... In the name of Alexander rex et sacerdos, I ask you respectfully to surrender.
- Caterina Sforza-Riaro: That as you have asked in the name of Lucifer Prince of hell. I will not be dragged in shackles up the Vatican steps. To dance like a monkey for that foul smelling Catalan.
- Cesare Borgia: Oh, I think you will surrender.
- [putting his sword to her son's throat]
- Cesare Borgia: You threatened to kill di Naldo's son. Now I threaten to kill yours.
- Caterina Sforza-Riaro: Go ahead, kill him.
- [grabbing her pants]
- Caterina Sforza-Riaro: I have the mond to make more.
- [walks away from the wall]
- Agapito Geraldini: You have made another conquest. Imola is yours. And will be blessed with another child. A legitimate heir. Are you not yet satisfied?
- Cesare Borgia: What is conquest? What is a child? Do either define me? I've striven since coming of age to be unique. To be the better man. I go around shouting, "I am Borgia!" I still do not know what that means.
- Agapito Geraldini: The one element all men share is that we know love.
- Cesare Borgia: Not all men. The only thing we living creature share is suffering. Just as Jesus suffered. And in that way, we *are* like God.
- Agapito Geraldini: You are remarkable.
- Cesare Borgia: I have a sharp mind, yes. But others are equally sharp. I have courage, yet others are courageous. I have deep desires, as most people do. After I drink, I piss. After I eat, I shit. I am susceptible to earth quakes, lightening, the French disease. I'm not special. Or I am *only* special, because I am human. One of thousands to crawl upon this earth. One of millions who were born before me. One of numbers unimaginable who will come after. Strange, it's as if I know them. Those who will breathe this air in the next millennium are sad souls. Like them, I cannot stop what will happen. I can only pity them, as I hope they will pity me.
- [last lines]
- Johann Burchard: Her Highness, Lucrezia Borgia, Regent of the one true church, calls to order the meeting of the College of Cardinals.