- Now we're back in Spain (careful, you might get whiplash).
- As Andrea's best buddy, Horatio takes it upon himself to deliver the bad news to his fallen friend's lover, Bel-Imperia.
- Horatio tells Bel-Imperia that Balthazar is a cowardly jerk who used a cheap shot to kill Andrea.
- Horatio then tells the story of how he gave Andrea funeral rites as soon as he could (yeah, three days later) and then gives Bel-Imperia a scarf that she had given her man to wear as a love token.
- Always the standup guy, Horatio pledges that he will serve Bel-Imperia in honor of his fallen friend.
- Horatio splits the scene, and Bel-Imperia starts talking to herself. She's not crazy, just delivering a soliloquy—these Renaissance peeps love soliloquizing.
- In her speech, Bel-Imperia announces that she's now in love with Horatio (Wow. How's that for quick?). Hold on, hold on—she does decide to wait until she can avenge the death of her previous lover, which is nice, we guess.
- She even frames her choice for a new lover as an act of revenge: "I'll love Horatio, my Andrea's friend, the more to spite the Prince that wrought his end" (1.4.67-68).
- After Bel-Imperia quits talking to herself, Lorenzo and Balthazar show up. And we quickly find out that someone else is in the mood for some post-war loving.
- Balthazar is hot for Bel-Imperia. So he delivers cheesy one-liners. Bel-Imperia is way too smart for his pick-up lines. She basically makes him look like a fool.
- Their witty back-and-forth has dramatic weight because we all know that Bel-Imperia has already planned to take down Balthazar.
- Horatio is clueless about what's going on as he makes the scene again. He's even clueless about how Bel-Imperia flirts with him by dropping her glove for him to pick up.
- Horatio stoops to pick it up, and after he does Bel-Imperia asks him to keep it as a reward. Remember Andrea's love token that Horatio just returned? Oh yeah, this is a very meaningful glove drop.
- Bel-Imperia then exits the scene, leaving Lorenzo and Balthazar scratching their heads about what just happened.
- Balthazar is an arrogant prince, which makes him expect automatic success with the ladies. He's definitely crushed when he sees that things aren't going his way.
- Lorenzo is bummed for his bro, so he pulls Balthazar aside and tells him to be patient. He says some typical bro stuff, like: "you know how women are." Lorenzo is Bel-Imperia's brother so this comes off totally yucky.
- Horatio cruises up to Lorenzo and Balthazar to tell them the king has planned a party to honor the arrival of the Portuguese ambassador.
- Just then, trumpets are sounded as the king of Spain enters with the Portuguese ambassador and a banquet in tow—when you're king, banquets apparently follow you around.
- The king is acting like a pimp, bragging about how well he treats his past enemies (i.e. Balthazar). And you can imagine how surprised the ambassador is to find out that Balthazar is still alive.
- The king announces that Portugal and Spain are now good friends (the tribute money obviously worked). After hearing the good news, everyone starts partying down.
- Hieronimo even stages a masque (a musical play of sorts) for all the courtiers. It seems that in addition to being the guy who brings the law down on criminals he is also something of an amateur playwright—this skill will come in handy later.