- [first lines]
- Pierre d'Archambaud: [watching Cesare from a distance] Vitelli, Lorqua, for these past three months we have laid seige upon Forli, surrounding the city and cutting off supplies and all escape. Yet now, instead of engaging in battle with the armored bitch, Caterina Sforza, we do nothing but watch *Cesare* plays with that chest of vipers.
- Vitellozzo Vitelli: My Spaniards whisper that the Duke uses those snakes to determine whether fate favors him. On the day one does not bite him, we *will* attack.
- Ramiro de Lorqua: No, he takes his time to formulate the perfect plan. To conquer Forli. Cesare Borgia's a genius.
- Pierre d'Archambaud: Or inept.
- Ramiro de Lorqua: Or insane.
- Vitellozzo Vitelli: Or perhaps we do not know what Cesare Borgia is.
- Cesare Borgia: We attack.
- Vitellozzo Vitelli: A snake did not bite you?
- Cesare Borgia: It did, but died of the venom inside me.
- Attendant: You need to change your clothes.
- Cesare Borgia: Our clothes are fine. We'll not be wearing them for long...
- Riario Sansoni: The Jude Borgo should be leveled, and the Rome Jews banished along with the Portuguese.
- Lucrezia Borgia: Eminence, I invited you to my home in hopes of easing the tensions between us, but your intolerance is intolerable. Rome has always been a sanctuary for the refuges of the world; diversity has been our strength. Would you turn away Jesus because he was a Jew?
- Johan Burchard: Pope Alexander, Pontifex Maximus, finds you guilty of stealing three carrots from the bin of Angelo Rodi.
- Rodrigo Borgia: Three carrots, three lashes...
- Defendant: Sire, I am like you foreign-born. I have left Portugal with my family.
- [being dragged away]
- Defendant: We came to Rome for a better life. Then came the rack of inquisition to find torture of starvation. My babies are dying!
- Lucrezia Borgia: [observing her father's indifference] STOP! Holiness, a question. What is most fair, to punish or to provide? The answer is both.
- [standing]
- Lucrezia Borgia: After the three lashes, you will be gifted three ducats.
- Lucrezia Borgia: Discontent sits among us. This is only natural. When people come together to discuss how best to fight evil, there is disagreement. To stifle a voice because the voice opposes one's own opinion, brings disaster. I denounce such deeds.
- Rodrigo Borgia: Tell us, Lucrezia, and be brave in your honesty. Should we step done?
- [presents his ring]
- Lucrezia Borgia: I could never have sent a man to such a death. Without an iron will and a cruel confidence, I would not be a better sovereign than you.
- [handing the ring back]
- Rodrigo Borgia: This is true, my daughter. But you are a better person.
- [last lines]
- Rodrigo Borgia: Today we celebrate the Sancta Familia, an opportunity to reflect on our own family. Cesare, you ride in this tournament. But his mother, his sister, and I, will be by his side, just as he is always by ours. And so with Rome, we Borgia *are* Rome. Now and for eternity!