LUCREZIA.
With all my heart
I take this ring.
[Cardinal Ippolito puts it on her finger.
ALEXANDER.
So now we are made an Este!
Donna Lucrezia Borgia d’Este, come,
The Church enfolds thee dearly.
[He embraces her; then she stands by him at her brother’s side.
Lord Ippolito,
Open the nuptial gift, Duke Ercole’s.
IPPOLITO.
Fair sister, white as moonlight for the stars,
Would in this prison all the constellations,
That dew the paths of heaven when Luna shines,
Were clustered for your taking! Fair,
How you would set with twisted gold Orion,
And all the planets from the rubious Mars
To emerald-dartling Mercury. O Fair,
We are not gods to homage our Elect,
To wrench the sky and rob its flowering lights;
But all that mines and rocks can make eternal
Of those pure rays that span mortality
Are at your feet.