[To Cesare, as he embraces Lucrezia.] My heart,
Where do you draw the sweetheart? Cesare,
Stay—let her breathe the morning to me. Where
Would Cesare conduct you?
LUCREZIA.
Blessèd Father,
To show me all his jewelled taffetas
And cloth of gold, brocades and silver damasks.
ALEXANDER.
His! He will look a Phœbus
That rose and clomb in gold. But for my daughter—
Her eyes shall rest on veils enmeshed of light,
Darting their gems of parti-coloured flash
On stuffs dark-grained enough to set them free,
Or of a tissue white to blandish them.
You need not view his gauds, Lucrece.
It is immoment
For her to learn your worldly splendour, boy,
She, who is treasure.
Sweet, yet we will chuckle
At all the benefices in his stars
Of gems, his satins. Lead on, Cesare;
For we will go together, laugh together.
SCENE IV
The French Court at Chinon.
King Louis XII. and the Lord Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere (afterwards Pope Julius II.)
LOUIS.
César de France!
This gold-haired bastard, with his dubious eyes
And sullen majesty, each day more splendid
In silks and gold, more sullen every hour
Behind his patient smile.... Mon Dieu, mon Dieu
How I have toiled to wed him, and content
The Pope, who has contented
My happiness, divorcing my sad wife,
And joining to my crown my Breton Queen—
How I have toiled! If César wants a crown,
Then in Carlotta he espoused the claim:
But Naples and his daughter would not listen.