Duke. Break up the council. Captain, guard your prisoners. Jaffier, you're free, the rest must wait for judgment. [DUKE, Senators, Conspirators, and Officers go out.] Pier. Come, where's my dungeon? Lead me to my straw: It will not be the first time I've lodged hard To do your Senate service. Jaff. Hold one moment. [Meeting PIERRE.] Pier. Who's he disputes the judgment of the Senate ? Presumptuous rebel? [Strikes JAFFIER.] On! Jaff. Nay, nay, you stir not! I must be heard! I must have leave to speak. But use me as thou wilt, thou canst not wrong me, Yet look upon me with an eye of mercy, Listen with mildness to my supplications. Pier. What whining fool art thou? What holy cheat, That wouldst encroach upon my credulous ears, And cant'st thus vilely! Hence! Iow thee not! Pier. No, know thee not. What art thou? Jaff. Jaffier, thy friend-thy once loved, valued friend! Was generous, honest, faithful, just, and valiant, Dear to my eyes, and tender to my heart: But thou, a wretched, base, false, worthless coward,- Jaff. I have not wronged thee; by these tears I have not. That once-loved, honest, valued friend of mine, And swear thou hast not wronged me? Whence these chains? Jaff. To take thy life, on such conditions The council have proposed: thou and thy friends May yet live long, and to be better treated. Pier. Life! ask my life! confess! record myself A villain, for the privilege to breathe! And carry up and down this hated city Burdensome to itself, a few years longer! To lose it, may be, at last, in a base quarrel For some new friend, treacherous and false as thou art! And cannot part on better terms than now, Pier. Swear by some other power, For thou hast broke that sacred oath too lately. However thy resentments deal with me. Pier. Not leave me ! Jaff. No; thou shalt not force me from thee. Jaff. What? Pier. A traitor! Pier. A villain! Jaff. Granted. Pier. A coward!-a most scandalous coward? Spiritless, void of honour; one who has sold Thy everlasting fame, for shameless life! Jaff. All, all, and more, much more; my faults are numberless. Pier. And wouldst thou have me live on terms like thine? Base as thou'rt false Jaff. No; 'tis to me that's granted; The safety of thy life was all I aimed at, In recompense for faith and trust so broken. Pier. I scorn it more, because preserved by thee; On thy misfortunes, sought thee in thy miseries, All I received in surety for thy truth, Were unregarded oaths, and this, this dagger,- Swearing, by all those powers which thou hast violated, -Take it-farewell!-for now I owe thee nothing. Jaff. Say thou wilt live, then? Pier. For my life, dispose it Just as thou wilt, because 'tis what I'm tired of. Jaff. O Pierre! Pier. No more! Jaff. My eyes won't lose the sight of thee. But languish after thine, and ache with gazing. Pier. Leave me!-Nay, then, thus, thus I thrust thee from me: And curses, great as thy falsehood, catch thee! [Throws him off.] VIII. —RIENZI AND ANGELO.-Miss Mitford. Rie. Son, Methinks this high solemnity might well Have claimed thy presence. A great ruler's heir Live on their tongues; take root within their hearts; And force man's tardier praise by bold desert! May hail his successor. But thou-where wast thou? Ang. I have not seen her.-Tribune- ! Rie. Wherefore should I? Ang. And wouldst be A king. Rie. There thou mistak'st.-A king!-Fair son, Power dwelleth not in sound, and fame hath garlands Brighter than diadems. I might have been Anointed, sceptred, crowned-have cast a blaze And Rome-my Rome, decree!-Tribune! the Gracchi Ang. Rienzi!--Tribune! Hast thou forgotten, on this very spot How thou didst shake the slumbering soul of Rome Rie. Well? Ang. Alas! When now thou fall'st, as fall thou must, 'twill be The common tale of low ambition :-Tyrants O'erthrown to form a wider tyranny; Princes cast down, that thy obscurer house Rie. IIast thou ended? I fain would have mistaken thee-Hast done? Ang. No; for, despite thy smothered wrath, the voice Of warning truth shall reach thee. Thou to-day Hast, by thy frantic sacrilege, drawn on thee Hate thee, and the people shun thee. See'st thou not, Even in this noon of pride, thy waning power Rie. Ay, there's the sting, That I, an insect of to-day, outsoar The reverend worm, nobility! Wouldst shame me With my poor parentage ?-Sir, I'm the son In the Jews' quarter; my good mother cleansed Rie. Add, that my boasted school-craft Was gained from such base toil;-gained with such pain, That the nice nurture of the mind was oft Stolen at the body's cost. I have gone dinnerless And supperless (the scoff of our poor street, For tattered vestments and lean hungry looks), Το pay the pedagogue.-Add what thou wilt The roots delve deepest. Yes, I've trod thy halls, Ang. In an evil hour Rie. Darest thou Say that? An evil hour for thee, my Claudia! Thou shouldst have been an emperor's bride, my fairest. In evil hour thy woman's heart was caught, By the form moulded as an antique god: The gallant bearing, the feigned tale of love All false, all outward, simulated all. Ang. But that I loved her, but that I do love her, Than thy ambition-hardened heart e'er dreamed of, Rie. Go to, Lord Angelo; Thou lov'st her not.-Men taunt not, nor defy Of sunlight and of beauty breathes around The bosom's idol!-I have loved!-she loves thee; Thy railing mother-in her eyes, are sacred. Keep that brave for thy comrades. I'll not fight thee. Ang. Come back, Rienzi! Thus I throw A brave defiance in thy teeth. Rie. Once more, Beware! Ang. Take up the glove! Rie. This time, for her [Going.] [Throws down his glove.] [Takes up the glove.] For her dear sake-Come to thy bride! home! home! Rie. Fear! Do I fear thee?-Tempt me no more.-This once, Ang. Now, Ursini, I come- Wizard. Lochiel! Lochiel! beware of the day [Exit.] Lochiel. Go preach to the coward, thou death-telling seer! Or, if gory Culloden so dreadful appear, Draw, dotard, around thy old wavering sight, This mantle, to cover the phantoms of fright. Wizard. Ha! laugh'st thou, Lochiel, my vision to scorn? Proud bird of the mountain, thy plume shall be torn! Say, rushed the bold eagle exultingly forth From his home, in the dark-rolling clouds of the north? |