Lucrezia Borgia and Alfonso of Aragon in “Unfinished Business”

Lucrezia Borgia

Stop!... Who are you?

(smiles pleasantly) I'm Prince Alfonso D'Aragona, Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno.

Lucrezia Borgia

What are you doing here?

(not realizing who she is) I'm suitor to the Lady Lucrezia, daughter of His Holiness Alexander VI, Pope of Rome.

Lucrezia Borgia

(annoyed) Indeed. Lucrezia Borgia? (Alfonso nods, she decides to toy with him)...Poor boy. Come! I will take you to her. (she leads him away from his entourage into her apartments) So, you are suitor to the Lady Lucrezia?

I am.

Lucrezia Borgia

A great responsibility for one so young. Take off your cloak. (Alfonso looks puzzled then smiles slightly)

If I remove my cloak, what will you remove in return?

Lucrezia Borgia

You'll see. (gestures for him to take off the cloak) The Lady Lucrezia has a great many suitors. Some are wheat... some are chaff. And it falls to me, to separate the one from the other. (Alfonso smiles and removes his cloak)

I am neither wheat, nor chaff. I am Alfonso D'Aragona... and I am flesh and blood.

Lucrezia Borgia

(sizing him up) Turn around.

(shrugs) If it pleases you. (slowly turns in a circle)

Lucrezia Borgia

(smiles slightly)... It pleases me.

Now, you must do the same in return. (walks slowly around her)

Lucrezia Borgia

(turns slowly in a circle) If it pleases you.

...It pleases me. (smiles) So... What now? How far, does your Lady Lucrezia care for this game to go on?

Lucrezia Borgia

(shrugs, approaches him) There is no limit. Just as one would have one's groom break in a new horse...so it is, with my Lady's lovers and me.