ALEXANDER VI. TO CESAR BORGIA.
(1497.)
Oh that the world, like a Venetian cup
Of bubble glass, when poison enters it,
Had, at thy birth, hissed suddenly and split
And in a thousand fragments splintered up!
Thou call'st me Sire, thou single-headed pup
Of Cerberus, that hast thy brother bit
Dead in his sleep: take what is next most fit;
Take my own self, and off thy father sup!
Was it to see you on each other prey,
Whelps, that I've planned your greatness all these years,
And sown the yellow powder on my way?
What sin have I committed, that my tears,
O Christ, should fall so heavily to-day
On this my son, who now nor sees nor hears?
