The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 54

Will Giacomo be there? Orsino? Marzio?

All present; all confronted; all demanding Each from the other's countenance the thing Which is in every heart! O, misery! _175

[SHE FAINTS, AND IS BORNE OUT.]

SAVELLA: She faints: an ill appearance this.

BEATRICE: My Lord, She knows not yet the uses of the world.

She fears that power is as a beast which grasps And loosens not: a snake whose look trans.m.u.tes All things to guilt which is its nutriment. _180 She cannot know how well the supine slaves Of blind authority read the truth of things When written on a brow of guilelessness: She sees not yet triumphant Innocence Stand at the judgement-seat of mortal man, _185 A judge and an accuser of the wrong Which drags it there. Prepare yourself, my Lord; Our suite will join yours in the court below.

[EXEUNT.]

END OF ACT 4.

ACT 5.

SCENE 5.1: AN APARTMENT IN ORSINO'S PALACE.

ENTER ORSINO AND GIACOMO.

GIACOMO: Do evil deeds thus quickly come to end?

O, that the vain remorse which must chastise Crimes done, had but as loud a voice to warn As its keen sting is mortal to avenge!

O, that the hour when present had cast off _5 The mantle of its mystery, and shown The ghastly form with which it now returns When its scared game is roused, cheering the hounds Of conscience to their prey! Alas! Alas!

It was a wicked thought, a piteous deed, _10 To kill an old and h.o.a.ry-headed father.

ORSINO: It has turned out unluckily, in truth.

GIACOMO: To violate the sacred doors of sleep; To cheat kind Nature of the placid death Which she prepares for overwearied age; _15 To drag from Heaven an unrepentant soul Which might have quenched in reconciling prayers A life of burning crimes...

ORSINO: You cannot say I urged you to the deed.

GIACOMO: O, had I never Found in thy smooth and ready countenance _20 The mirror of my darkest thoughts; hadst thou Never with hints and questions made me look Upon the monster of my thought, until It grew familiar to desire...

ORSINO: 'Tis thus Men cast the blame of their unprosperous acts _25 Upon the abettors of their own resolve; Or anything but their weak, guilty selves.

And yet, confess the truth, it is the peril In which you stand that gives you this pale sickness Of penitence; confess 'tis fear disguised _30 From its own shame that takes the mantle now Of thin remorse. What if we yet were safe?

GIACOMO: How can that be? Already Beatrice, Lucretia and the murderer are in prison.

I doubt not officers are, whilst we speak, _35 Sent to arrest us.

ORSINO: I have all prepared For instant flight. We can escape even now, So we take fleet occasion by the hair.

GIACOMO: Rather expire in tortures, as I may.

What! will you cast by self-accusing flight _40 a.s.sured conviction upon Beatrice?

She, who alone in this unnatural work, Stands like G.o.d's angel ministered upon By fiends; avenging such a nameless wrong As turns black parricide to piety; _45 Whilst we for basest ends...I fear, Orsino, While I consider all your words and looks, Comparing them with your proposal now, That you must be a villain. For what end Could you engage in such a perilous crime, _50 Training me on with hints, and signs, and smiles, Even to this gulf? Thou art no liar? No, Thou art a lie! Traitor and murderer!

Coward and slave! But no, defend thyself; [DRAWING.]

Let the sword speak what the indignant tongue _55 Disdains to brand thee with.

ORSINO: Put up your weapon.

Is it the desperation of your fear Makes you thus rash and sudden with a friend, Now ruined for your sake? If honest anger Have moved you, know, that what I just proposed _60 Was but to try you. As for me, I think, Thankless affection led me to this point, From which, if my firm temper could repent, I cannot now recede. Even whilst we speak The ministers of justice wait below: _65 They grant me these brief moments. Now if you Have any word of melancholy comfort To speak to your pale wife, 'twere best to pa.s.s Out at the postern, and avoid them so.

NOTE: _58 a friend edition 1821; your friend edition 1839.

GIACOMO: O, generous friend! How canst thou pardon me? _70 Would that my life could purchase thine!

ORSINO: That wish Now comes a day too late. Haste; fare thee well!

Hear'st thou not steps along the corridor?

[EXIT GIACOMO.]

I'm sorry for it; but the guards are waiting At his own gate, and such was my contrivance _75 That I might rid me both of him and them.

I thought to act a solemn comedy Upon the painted scene of this new world, And to attain my own peculiar ends By some such plot of mingled good and ill _80 As others weave; but there arose a Power Which grasped and snapped the threads of my device And turned it to a net of ruin...Ha!

[A SHOUT IS HEARD.]

Is that my name I hear proclaimed abroad?

But I will pa.s.s, wrapped in a vile disguise; _85 Rags on my back, and a false innocence Upon my face, through the misdeeming crowd Which judges by what seems. 'Tis easy then For a new name and for a country new, And a new life, fas.h.i.+oned on old desires, _90 To change the honours of abandoned Rome.

And these must be the masks of that within, Which must remain unaltered...Oh, I fear That what is past will never let me rest!

Why, when none else is conscious, but myself, _95 Of my misdeeds, should my own heart's contempt Trouble me? Have I not the power to fly My own reproaches? Shall I be the slave Of...what? A word? which those of this false world Employ against each other, not themselves; _100 As men wear daggers not for self-offence.

But if I am mistaken, where shall I Find the disguise to hide me from myself, As now I skulk from every other eye?

[EXIT.]

SCENE 5.2: A HALL OF JUSTICE.

CAMILLO, JUDGES, ETC., ARE DISCOVERED SEATED; MARZIO IS LED IN.

FIRST JUDGE: Accused, do you persist in your denial?

I ask you, are you innocent, or guilty?

I demand who were the partic.i.p.ators In your offence? Speak truth, and the whole truth.

MARZIO: My G.o.d! I did not kill him; I know nothing; _5 Olimpio sold the robe to me from which You would infer my guilt.

SECOND JUDGE: Away with him!

FIRST JUDGE: Dare you, with lips yet white from the rack's kiss Speak false? Is it so soft a questioner, That you would bandy lover's talk with it _10 Till it wind out your life and soul? Away!

MARZIO: Spare me! O, spare! I will confess.

FIRST JUDGE: Then speak.

MARZIO: I strangled him in his sleep.

FIRST JUDGE: Who urged you to it?

MARZIO: His own son Giacomo, and the young prelate Orsino sent me to Petrella; there _15 The ladies Beatrice and Lucretia Tempted me with a thousand crowns, and I And my companion forthwith murdered him.

Now let me die.

FIRST JUDGE: This sounds as bad as truth. Guards, there, Lead forth the prisoner!

[ENTER LUCRETIA, BEATRICE AND GIACOMO, GUARDED.]

Look upon this man; _20 When did you see him last?

BEATRICE: We never saw him.

MARZIO: You know me too well, Lady Beatrice.