The Borgias, Season One

Rodrigo Borgia/Alexander VI:
(to his doctor) Go away! (to Cardinal Sforza) Do nightmares ever plague the Vice-Chancellor?

Ascanio Sforza:
The very office is a nightmare, Your Holiness. Plots, petty intrigues and petitions... which I do my utmost to keep from your presence.

Rodrigo Borgia/Alexander VI:
(nods slowly) I need your assurance... of the welfare of my daughter- in the castle of your cousin, Giovanni Sforza.

Ascanio Sforza:
You suspect she's ill-used?

Rodrigo Borgia/Alexander VI:
(sighs worriedly) Our nightmares tell us so.

Ascanio Sforza:
He will be... putty in her soft hands, Your Holiness. Yes, he inherited the Sforza name, the Sforza wealth- but none of its' vigor.

Rodrigo Borgia/Alexander VI:
And the Sforza appetite for intrigue?

Ascanio Sforza:
(shrugs) Yes, well...yes, that he did inherit. But... intrigue is no match for Borgia intelligence, as all Rome has discovered.

Rodrigo Borgia/Alexander VI:
So... I need your further assurance that... he, and another cousin, the Duke of Milan, will be constant in their support... for our Papacy. (Cardinal Sforza looks away) We have merged our fortunes with the Sforza name- the consequence of that trust being betrayed... would be most severe.

Ascanio Sforza:
(pause) Do you speak to me as Vice-Chancellor, Your Holiness?

Rodrigo Borgia/Alexander VI':
(coldly)...No. As a Sforza.