VANNOZZA
Thou wast ever sleepless as the wind—
A child anhungered for thy time to be
Man. See thy purple about thee. Art thou not
Cardinal?
CÆSAR
Ay; my father’s eminence
Set so the stamp on mine. I will not die
Cardinal.
VANNOZZA
Cæsar, wilt thou cleave my heart?
Have I not loved thee?
CÆSAR
Ay, fair mother—ay.
Thou hast loved my father likewise. Dost thou love
Giulia—the sweet Farnese—called the Fair
In all the Roman streets that call thee Rose?
And that bright babe Giovanni, whom our sire,
Thy holy lord and hers, hath stamped at birth
As duke of Nepi?
VANNOZZA
When thy sire begat
Thee, sinful though he ever was—fierce, fell,
Spaniard—I fear me, Jesus for his sins
Bade Satan pass into him.