All that my lord can do
Is done: if still the fortresses maintain
Their loyalty to their effective Duke,
He takes no fault and he demands his freedom.
JULIUS.
[With a burst of laughter, as he reads the watchword.
The forts must yield:
If they resist our sovereign voice they ruin
Themselves and their usurper. [Pointing to Cesare.
He is lost.
AGAPITO.
Then let me further write.
[Turning to the others with the paper Julius has returned.
Be witnesses, you, you....
Now countersign my words! His liberty
Derives but from his castellans—that conquers!
They will ride forth beneath his banneroles,
Crying their Duca, Duca!
JULIUS.
They shall dislodge, cast down
His scutcheon on the ground and hoist the Keys.