[The Lord Alexander VI. enters with Don Joffré Borgia. They rise and do him reverence. Lucrezia at once goes up to him.
ALEXANDER.
My daughter,
My child, you feel it....
[Taking her hand and laying it on his heart.
As my heart is beating,
So beats your heart. There is within my substance
A change, a miracle. Too great a coming
And close descent of glory on my head!
So drooped
Our blessèd Lady at the infinite
Assault of the Almighty. In my bosom
How can I crush such agony of joy
As to receive a Prince,
A Governor, a Counsellor, all names
Of prophecy in one....
ADRIANA.
Render to Cesar what is Cesar’s—praise
For a most rare agility. The triumph
He wills is Pagan. He is young.
ALEXANDER.
Half the Romagna vanquished, Imola,
Forli with battered walls, and the Virago,
Fierce Catarina Sforza, like a Queen
Of Amazon, our Theseus’ prisoner.