Читать книгу Complete Works Of Oscar Wilde (Best Navigation) (A to Z Classics) - Оскар Уайльд, F. H. Cornish, A to Z Classics - Страница 39

With Opening Scene by

T. Sturge Moore

[The text follows the

1921 Methuen & Co. edition.]



·129· characters.

guido bardi, a Florentine prince.

simone, a merchant.

bianca, his wife.

maria, a tire-woman.

The action takes place at Florence in the sixteenth century

·131· [The scene represents a tapestried upper room giving on to a balcony or loggia in an old house at Florence. A table laid for a frugal meal, a spinning-wheel, distaff, etc., chests, chairs and stools.]

As the Curtain rises enter Bianca, with her Servant, Maria.

maria

Certain and sure, the sprig is Guido Bardi,

A lovely lord, a lord whose blood is blue!

bianca

But where did he receive you?

maria

Where, but there

In yonder palace, in a painted hall!—

Painted with naked women on the walls,—

Would make a common man or blush or smile

But he seemed not to heed them, being a lord,

·132· bianca

But how know you ’tis not a chamberlayne,

A lackey merely?

maria

Why, how know I there is a God in heaven?

Because the angels have a master surely.

So to this lord they bowed, all others bowed,

And swept the marble flags, doffing their caps,

With the gay plumes. Because he stiffly said,

And seemed to see me as those folk are seen

That will be never seen again by you,

‘Woman, your mistress then returns this purse

Of forty thousand crowns, is it fifty thousand?

Come name the sum will buy me grace of her/

bianca

What, were there forty thousand crowns therein?

marta

I know it was all gold; heavy with gold.

bianca

It must be he, none else could give so much.

·133· maria

’Tis he, ’tis my lord Guido, Guido Bardi.

bianca

What said you?

maria

I, I said my mistress never

Looked at the gold, never opened the purse,

Never counted a coin. But asked again

What she had asked before, ‘How young you looked?

How handsome your lordship looked? What doublet

Your majesty had on? What chains, what hose

Upon your revered legs?’ And curtseyed I, …

bianca

What said he?

maria

Curtseyed I, and he replied,

‘Has she a lover then beside that old

Soured husband or is it him she loves, my God!

Is it him?’

·134· bianca

Well?

maria

Curtseyed I low and said

‘Not him, my lord, nor you, nor no man else.

Thou art rich, my lord, and honoured, my lord, and she

Though not so rich is honoured …’

bianca

Fool, you fool,

I never bid you say a word of that.

maria

Nor did I say a word of that you said;

I said, ‘She loves him not, my lord, nor loves

Any man else. Yet she might like to love,

If she were loved by one who pleased her well;

For she is weary of spinning long alone.

She is not rich and yet she is not poor; but young

She is, my lord, and you are young. [Pauses smiling.]

·135· bianca

Quick, quick!

maria

There, there! ’Twas but to show you how I smiled

Saying the lord was young. It took him too;

For he said, ‘This will do! If I should call

To-night to pay respect unto your lovely—

Our lovely mistress, tell her that I said,

Our lovely mistress, shall I be received?’

And I said, ‘Yes.’ Then say I come and if

All else is well let her throw down some favour

When as I pass below/ He should be there!

Look from the balcony; he should be there!—

And there he is, dost see?

bianca

Some favour. Yes.

This ribbon weighted by this brooch will do.

Maria, be you busy near within, but, till

I call take care you enter not. Go down

And let the young lord in, for hark, he knocks. [Exit Maria.]

·136· Great ladies might he choose from and yet he

Is drawn … ah, there my fear is! Was he drawn

By love to me—by love’s young strength alone?

That’s where it is, if I were sure he loved,

I then might do what greater dames have done

And venge me on a husband blind to beauty.

But if! Ah if! he is a wandering bee,

Mere gallant taster, who befools poor flowers …

[Maria opens the door for Guido Bardi, and then withdraws.]

My lord, I learn that we have something here,

In this poor house, which thou dost wish to buy.

My husband is from home, but my poor fate

Has made me perfect in the price of velvets,

Of silks and gay brocades. I think you offered

Some forty thousand crowns, or fifty thousand,

For something we have here? And it must be

That wonder of the loom, which my Simone

Has lately home; it is a Lucca damask,

The web is silver over-wrought with roses.

Since you did offer fifty thousand crowns

It must be that. Pray wait, for I will fetch it.

·137· guido

Nay, nay, thou gracious wonder of a loom

More cunning far than those of Lucca, I

Had in my thought no damask silver cloth

By hunch-back weavers woven toilsomely.

If such are priced at fifty thousand crowns

It shames me, for I hoped to buy a fabric

For which a hundred thousand then were little.

bianca

A hundred thousand was it that you said?

Nay, poor Simone for so great a sum

Would sell you everything the house contains.

The thought of such a sum doth daze the brains

Of merchant folk who live such lives as ours.

guido

Would he sell everything this house contains?

And every one, would he sell every one?

bianca

Oh, everything and every one, my lord,

Unless it were himself; he values not

·138· A woman as a velvet, or a wife

At half the price of silver-threaded woof.

guido

Then I would strike a bargain with him straight»

bianca

He is from home; may be will sleep from home;

But I, my lord, can show you all we have;

Can measure ells and sum their price, my lord.

guido

It is thyself, Bianca, I would buy.

bianca

O, then, my lord, it must be with Simone

You strike your bargain; for to sell myself

Would be to do what I most truly loathe.

Good-night, my lord; it is with deep regret

I find myself unable to oblige

Your lordship.

guido

Nay, I pray thee let me stay

And pardon me the sorry part I played,

·139· As though I were a chapman and intent

To lower prices, cheapen honest wares.

bianca

My lord, there is no reason you should stay,

guido

Thou art my reason, peerless, perfect, thou,

The reason I am here and my life’s goal,

For I was born to love the fairest things …

bianca

To buy the fairest things that can be bought.

guido

Cruel Bianca! Cover me with scorn,

I answer born to love thy priceless self,

That never to a market could be brought,

No more than winged souls that sail and soar

Among the planets or about the moon.

bianca

It is so much thy habit to buy love,

Or that which is for sale and labelled love,

Hardly couldst thou conceive a priceless love.

·140· But though my love has never been for sale

I have been in a market bought and sold.

guido

This is some riddle which thy sweet wit reads

To baffle mine and mock me yet again.

bianca

My marriage, sir, I speak of marriage now,

That common market where my husband went

And prides himself he made a bargain then,

guido

The wretched chapman, how I hate his soul.

bianca

He was a better bidder than thyself,

And knew with whom to deal … he did not speak

Of gold to me, but in my father’s ear

He made it clink: to me he spoke of love,

Honest and free and open without price.

guido

O white Bianca, lovely as the moon,

The light of thy pure soul and shining wit

·141· Shows me my shame, and makes the thing I was

Slink like a shadow from the thing I am.

bianca

Let that which casts the shadow act, my lord,

And waste no thought on what its shadow does

Or has done. Are youth, and strength, and love

Balked by mere shadows, so that they forget

Themselves so far they cannot be recalled?

guido

Nobility is here, not in the court.

There are the tinsel stars, here is the moon,

Whose tranquil splendour makes a day of night.

I have been starved by ladies, specks of light,

And glory drowns me now I see the moon.

bianca

I have refused round sums of solid gold

And shall not be by tinsel phrases bought.

·142· guido

Dispute no more, witty, divine Bianca;

Dispute no more. See I have brought my lute!

Close lock the door. We will sup with the moon

Like Persian princes, that, in Babylon

Sup in the hanging gardens of the king.

I know an air that can suspend the soul

As high in heaven as those towered-gardens hang.

bianca

My husband may return, we are not safe.

guido

Didst thou not say that he would sleep from home?

bianca

He was not sure, he said it might be so.

He was not sure—and he would send my aunt

To sleep with me, if he did so decide,

And she has not yet come.

·143· guido [starting]

Hark, what’s that?

[They listen, the sound of Maria’s voice in anger with some one is faintly heard. J

bianca

It is Maria scolds some gossip crone.

guido

I thought the other voice had been a man’s.

bianca

All still again, old crones are often gruff.

You should be gone, my lord.

guido

O, sweet Bianca!

How can I leave thee now! Thy beauty made

Two captives of my eyes, and they were mad

To feast them on thy form, but now thy wit,

The liberated perfume of a bud,

Which while a bud seemed perfect, but now is

That which can make its former self forgot:

How can I leave the flower who loved the leaf?

·144· Till now I was the richest prince in Florence,

I am a lover now would shun its throngs,

And put away all state and seek retreat

At Bellosguardo or Fiesole,

Where roses in their fin’st profusion hide

Some marble villa whose cool walls have rung

A laughing echo to Decameron,

And where thy laughter shall as gaily sound.

Say thou canst love or with a silent kiss

Instil that balmy knowledge on my soul.

bianca

Canst tell me what love is?

guido

It is consent,

The union of two minds, two souls, two hearts.

In all they think and hope and feel.

bianca

Such lovers might as well be dumb, for those

Who think and hope and feel alike can never

Have anything for one another’s ear.

·145· guido

Love is? Love is the meeting of two worlds

In never-ending change and counter-change.

bianca

Thus will my husband praise the mercer’s mart,

Where the two worlds of East and West exchange.

guido

Come. Love is love, a kiss, a close embrace.

It is …

bianca

My husband calls that love

When he hath slammed his weekly ledger to.

guido

I find my wit no better match for thine

Than thou art match for an old crabbed man;

But I am sure my youth and strength and blood

Keep better tune with beauty gay and bright

As thine is, than lean age and miser toil.

bianca

Well said, well said, I think he would not dare

·146· To face thee, more than owls dare face the sun;

He’s the bent shadow such a form as thine

Might cast upon a dung heap by the road,

Though should it fall upon a proper floor

Twould be at once a better man than he.

guido

Your merchant living in the dread of loss

Becomes perforce a coward, eats his heart.

Dull souls they are, who, like caged prisoners watch

And envy others’ joy; they taste no food

But what its cost is present to their thought.

bianca

I am my father’s daughter, in his eyes

A home-bred girl who has been taught to spin.

He never seems to think I have a face

Which makes you gallants turn where’er I pass.

guido

Thy night is darker than I dreamed, bright Star.

·147· bianca

He waits, stands by, and mutters to himself,

And never enters with a frank address

To any company. His eyes meet mine

And with a shudder I am sure he counts

The cost of what I wear.

guido

Forget him quite.

Come, come, escape from out this dismal life,

As a bright butterfly breaks spider’s web,

And nest with me among those rosy bowers,

Where we will love, as though the lives we led

Till yesterday were ghoulish dreams dispersed

By the great dawn of limpid joyous life.

bianca

Will I not come?

guido

O, make no question, come.

They waste their time who ponder o’er bad dreams.

We will away to hills, red roses clothe,

·148· And though the persons who did haunt that dream

Live on, they shall by distance dwindled, seem

No bigger than the smallest ear of corn

That cowers at the passing of a bird,

And silent shall they seem, out of ear-shot,

Those voices that could jar, while we gaze back

From rosy caves upon the hill-brow open,

And ask ourselves if what we see is not

A picture merely,—if dusty, dingy lives

Continue there to choke themselves with malice.

Wilt thou not come, Bianca? Wilt thou not?

[A sound on the stair.]

guido

What’s that?

[The door opens, they separate guiltily, and the husband enters.]

simone

My good wife, you come slowly; were it not better

To run to meet your lord? Here, take my cloak.

·149· Take this pack first. ’Tis heavy. I have sold nothing:

Save a furred robe unto the Cardinal’s son,

Who hopes to wear it when his father dies,

And hopes that will be soon.

But who is this?

Why you have here some friend. Some kinsman doubtless,

Newly returned from foreign lands and fallen

Upon a house without a host to greet him?

I crave your pardon, kinsman. For a house

Lacking a host is but an empty thing

And void of honour; a cup without its wine,

A scabbard without steel to keep it straight,

A flowerless garden widowed of the sun.

Again I crave your pardon, my sweet cousin.

bianca

This is no kinsman and no cousin neither.

simone

No kinsman, and no cousin! You amaze me.

Who is it then who with such courtly grace

Deigns to accept our hospitalities?

·150· guido

My name is Guido Bardi.

simone

What! The son

Of that great Lord of Florence whose dim towers

Like shadows silvered by the wandering moon

I see from out my casement every night!

Sir Guido Bardi, you are welcome here,

Twice welcome. For I trust my honest wife,

Most honest if uncomely to the eye,

Hath not with foolish chatterings wearied you,

As is the wont of women.

guido

Your gracious lady,

Whose beauty is a lamp that pales the stars

And robs Diana’s quiver of her beams

Has welcomed me with such sweet courtesies

That if it be her pleasure, and your own,

I will come often to your simple house.

And when your business bids you walk abroad

I will sit here and charm her loneliness

·151· Lest she might sorrow for you overmuch.

What say you, good Simone?

simone

My noble Lord,

You bring me such high honour that my tongue

Like a slave’s tongue is tied, and cannot say

The word it would. Yet not to give you thanks

Were to be too unmannerly. So, I thank you,

From my heart’s core.

It is such things as these

That knit a state together, when a Prince

So nobly born and of such fair address,

Forgetting unjust Fortune’s differences,

Comes to an honest burgher’s honest home

As a most honest friend.

And yet, my Lord,

I fear I am too bold. Some other night

We trust that you will come here as a friend;

To-night you come to buy my merchandise.

Is it not so? Silks, velvets, what you will,

I doubt not but I have some dainty wares

·152· Will woo your fancy. True, the hour is late,

But we poor merchants toil both night and day

To make our scanty gains. The tolls are high,

And every city levies its own toll,

And prentices are unskilful, and wives even

Lack sense and cunning, though Bianca here

Has brought me a rich customer to-night.

Is it not so, Bianca? But I waste time.

Where is my pack? Where is my pack, I say?

Open it, my good wife. Unloose the cords.

Kneel down upon the floor. You are better so.

Nay not that one, the other. Despatch, despatch!

Buyers will grow impatient oftentimes.

We dare not keep them waiting. Ay! ’tis that,

Give it to me; with care. It is most costly.

Touch it with care. And now, my noble Lord—

Nay, pardon, I have here a Lucca damask,

The very web of silver and the roses

So cunningly wrought that they lack perfume merely

To cheat the wanton sense. Touch it, my Lord.

·153· Is it not soft as water, strong as steel?

And then the roses! Are they not finely woven?

I think the hillsides that best love the rose,

At Bellosguardo or at Fiesole,

Throw no such blossoms on the lap of spring,

Or if they do their blossoms droop and die.

Such is the fate of all the dainty things

That dance in wind and water. Nature herself

Makes war on her own loveliness and slays

Her children like Medea. Nay but, my Lord.

Look closer still. Why in this damask here

It is summer always, and no winter’s tooth

Will ever blight these blossoms. For every ell

I paid a piece of gold. Red gold, and good,

The fruit of careful thrift.

guido

Honest Simone,

Enough, I pray you. I am well content;

To-morrow I will send my servant to you,

Who will pay twice your price.

·154· simone

My generous Prince!

I kiss your hands. And now I do remember

Another treasure hidden in my house

Which you must see. It is a robe of state:

Woven by a Venetian: the stuff, cut-velvet:

The pattern, pomegranates: each separate seed

Wrought of a pearl: the collar all of pearls,

As thick as moths in summer streets at night,

And whiter than the moons that madmen see

Through prison bars at morning. A male ruby

Burns like a lighted coal within the clasp

The Holy Father has not such a stone,

Nor could the Indies show a brother to it.

The brooch itself is of most curious art,

Cellini never made a fairer thing

To please the great Lorenzo. You must wear it.

There is none worthier in our city here,

And it will suit you well. Upon one side

A slim and horned satyr leaps in gold

To catch some nymph of silver. Upon the other

·155· Stands Silence with a crystal in her hand,

No bigger than the smallest ear of corn,

That wavers at the passing of a bird,

And yet so cunningly wrought that one would say,

It breathed, or held its breath.

Worthy Bianca,

Would not this noble and most costly robe

Suit young Lord Guido well?

Nay, but entreat him;

He will refuse you nothing, though the price

Be as a prince’s ransom. And your profit

Shall not be less than mine.

bianca

Am I your prentice?

Why should I chaffer for your velvet robe?

guido

Nay, fair Bianca, I will buy the robe,

And all things that the honest merchant has

I will buy also. Princes must be ransomed,

And fortunate are all high lords who fall

Into the white hands of so fair a foe.

·156· simone

I stand rebuked. But you will buy my wares?

Will you not buy them? Fifty thousand crowns

Would scarce repay me. But you, my Lord, shall have them

For forty thousand. Is that price too high?

Name your own price. I have a curious fancy

To see you in this wonder of the loom

Amidst the noble ladies of the court,

A flower among flowers.

They say, my lord,

These highborn dames do so affect your Grace

That where you go they throng like flies around you,

Each seeking for your favour.

I have heard also

Of husbands that wear horns, and wear them bravely,

A fashion most fantastical.

guido

Simone,

Your reckless tongue needs curbing; and besides,

·157· You do forget this gracious lady here

Whose delicate ears are surely not attuned

To such coarse music.

simone

True: I had forgotten,

Nor will offend again. Yet, my sweet Lord,

You’ll buy the robe of state. Will you not buy it?

But forty thousand crowns—’tis but a trifle,

To one who is Giovanni Bardi’s heir.

guido

Settle this thing to-morrow with my steward,

Antonio Costa. He will come to you.

And you shall have a hundred thousand crowns

If that will serve your purpose.

simone

A hundred thousand!

Said you a hundred thousand? Oh! be sure

That will for all time and in everything

Make me your debtor. Ay! from this time forth

·158· My house, with everything my house contains

Is yours, and only yours.

A hundred thousand!

My brain is dazed. I shall be richer far

Than all the other merchants. I will buy

Vineyards and lands and gardens. Every loom

From Milan down to Sicily shall be mine,

And mine the pearls that the Arabian seas

Store in their silent caverns.

Generous Prince,

This night shall prove the herald of my love,

Which is so great that whatsoe’er you ask

It will not be denied you.

guido

What if I asked

For white Bianca here?

simone

You jest, my Lord;

She is not worthy of so great a Prince.

She is but made to keep the house and spin.

Is it not so, good wife? It is so. Look!

Your distaff waits for you. Sit down and spin.

·159· Women should not be idle in their homes,

For idle fingers make a thoughtless heart.

Sit down, I say.

bianca

What shall I spin?

simone

Oh! spin

Some robe which, dyed in purple, sorrow might wear

For her own comforting: or some long-fringed cloth

In which a new-born and unwelcome babe

Might wail unheeded; or a dainty sheet

Which, delicately perfumed with sweet herbs,

Might serve to wrap a dead man. Spin what you will;

I care not, I.

bianca

The brittle thread is broken,

The dull wheel wearies of its ceaseless round,

The duller distaff sickens of its load;

I will not spin to-night.

·160· simone

It matters not.

To-morrow you shall spin, and every day

Shall find you at your distaff. So Lucretia

Was found by Tarquin. So, perchance, Lucretia

Waited for Tarquin. Who knows? I have heard

Strange things about men’s wives. And now, my lord,

What news abroad? I heard to-day at Pisa

That certain of the English merchants there

Would sell their woollens at a lower rate

Than the just laws allow, and have entreated

The Signory to hear them.

Is this well?

Should merchant be to merchant as a wolf?

And should the stranger living in our land

Seek by enforced privilege or craft

To rob us of our profits?

guido

What should I do

With merchants or their profits? Shall I go

And wrangle with the Signory on your count?

·161· And wear the gown in which you buy from fools,

Or sell to sillier bidders? Honest Simone,

Wool-selling or wool-gathering is for you.

My wits have other quarries.

bianca

Noble Lord,

I pray you pardon my good husband here,

His soul stands ever in the market-place,

And his heart beats but at the price of wool.

Yet he is honest in his common way.

[To Simone]

And you, have you no shame? A gracious Prince

Comes to our house, and you must weary him

With most misplaced assurance. Ask his pardon.

simone

I ask it humbly. We will talk to-night

Of other things. I hear the Holy Father

Has sent a letter to the King of France

Bidding him cross that shield of snow, the Alps,

·162· And make a peace in Italy, which will be

Worse than a war of brothers, and more bloody

Than civil rapine or intestine feuds.

guido

Oh! we are weary of that King of France,

Who never comes, but ever talks of coming.

What are these things to me? There are other things

Closer, and of more import, good Simone.

bianca

[to Simone] I think you tire our most gracious guest.

What is the King of France to us? As much

As are your English merchants with their wool.

· · · · ·

simone

Is it so then? Is all this mighty world

Narrowed into the confines of this room

With but three souls for poor inhabitants?

Ay! there are times when the great universe,

Like cloth in some unskilful dyer’s vat,

·163· Shrivels into a handbreadth, and perchance

That time is now! Well! let that time be now.

Let this mean room be as that mighty stage

Whereon kings die, and our ignoble lives

Become the stakes God plays for.

I do not know

Why I speak thus. My ride has wearied me.

And my horse stumbled thrice, which is an omen

That bodes not good to any.

Alas! my lord,

How poor a bargain is this life of man,

And in how mean a market are we sold!

When we are born our mothers weep, but when

We die there is none weeps for us. No, not one.

[Passes to back of stage.]

bianca

How like a common chapman does he speak!

I hate him, soul and body. Cowardice

Has set her pale seal on his brow. His hands

Whiter than poplar leaves in windy springs,

·164· Shake with some palsy; and his stammering mouth

Blurts out a foolish froth of empty words

Like water from a conduit.

guido

Sweet Bianca,

He is not worthy of your thought or mine.

The man is but a very honest knave

Full of fine phrases for life’s merchandise,

Selling most dear what he must hold most cheap,

A windy brawler in a world of words.

I never met so eloquent a fool.

bianca

Oh, would that Death might take him where he stands!

simone

[turning round] Who spake of Death? Let no one speak of Death.

What should Death do in such a merry house,

With but a wife, a husband, and a friend

·165· To give it greeting? Let Death go to houses

Where there are vile, adulterous things, chaste wives

Who growing weary of their noble lords

Draw back the curtains of their marriage beds,

And in polluted and dishonoured sheets

Feed some unlawful lust. Ay! ’tis so

Strange, and yet so. You do not know the world.

You are too single and too honourable.

I know it well. And would it were not so,

But wisdom comes with winters. My hair grows grey,

And youth has left my body. Enough of that.

To-night is ripe for pleasure, and indeed,

I would be merry as beseems a host

Who finds a gracious and unlooked-for guest

Waiting to greet him. [Takes up a lute.]

But what is this, my lord?

Why, you have brought a lute to play to us.

Oh! play, sweet Prince. And, if I am too bold,

Pardon, but play.

·166· guido

I will not play to-night.

Some other night, Simone.

[To Bianca] You and I

Together, with no listeners but the stars,

Or the more jealous moon.

simone

Nay, but my lord!

Nay, but I do beseech you. For I have heard

That by the simple fingering of a string,

Or delicate breath breathed along hollowed reeds,

Or blown into cold mouths of cunning bronze,

Those who are curious in this art can draw

Poor souls from prison-houses. I have heard also

How such strange magic lurks within these shells

That at their bidding casements open wide

And Innocence puts vine-leaves in her hair,

And wantons like a mænad. Let that pass.

Your lute I know is chaste. And therefore play:

·167· Ravish my ears with some sweet melody;

My soul is in a prison-house, and needs

Music to cure its madness. Good Bianca,

Entreat our guest to play.

bianca

Be not afraid,

Our well-loved guest will choose his place and moment:

That moment is not now. You weary him

With your uncouth insistence.

guido

Honest Simone,

Some other night. To-night I am content

With the low music of Bianca’s voice,

Who, when she speaks, charms the too amorous air,

And makes the reeling earth stand still, or fix

His cycle round her beauty.

simone

You flatter her.

She has her virtues as most women have,

·168· But beauty is a gem she may not wear.

It is better so, perchance.

Well, my dear lord,

If you will not draw melodies from your lute

To charm my moody and o’er-troubled soul

You’ll drink with me at least? [Motioning Guido to his own place.]

Your place is laid.

Fetch me a stool, Bianca. Close the shutters.

Set the great bar across. I would not have

The curious world with its small prying eyes

To peer upon our pleasure.

Now, my lord,

Give us a toast from a full brimming cup. [Starts back.]

What is this stain upon the cloth? It looks

As purple as a wound upon Christ’s side.

Wine merely is it? I have heard it said

When wine is spilt blood is spilt also,

But that’s a foolish tale.

My lord, I trust

My grape is to your liking? The wine of Naples

·169· Is fiery like its mountains. Our Tuscan vineyards

Yield a more wholesome juice.

guido

I like it well,

Honest Simone; and, with your good leave,

Will toast the fair Bianca when her lips

Have like red rose-leaves floated on this cup

And left its vintage sweeter. Taste, Bianca. [Bianca drinks.]

Oh, all the honey of Hyblean bees,

Matched with this draught were bitter!

Good Simone,

You do not share the feast.

simone

It is strange, my lord,

I cannot eat or drink with you, to-night.

Some humour, or some fever in my blood,

At other seasons temperate, or some thought

That like an adder creeps from point to point,

That like a madman crawls from cell to cell,

Poisons my palate and makes appetite

A loathing, not a longing. [Goes aside.]

·170· guido

Sweet Bianca,

This common chapman wearies me with words.

I must go hence. To-morrow I will come.

Tell me the hour.

bianca

Come with the youngest dawn!

Until I see you all my life is vain.

guido

Ah! loose the falling midnight of your hair,

And in those stars, your eyes, let me behold

Mine image, as in mirrors. Dear Bianca,

Though it be but a shadow, keep me there,

Nor gaze at anything that does not show

Some symbol of my semblance. I am jealous

Of what your vision feasts on.

bianca

Oh! be sure

Your image will be with me always. Dear

Love can translate the very meanest thing

Into a sign of sweet remembrances.

·171· But come before the lark with its shrill song

Has waked a world of dreamers. I will stand

Upon the balcony.

guido

And by a ladder

Wrought out of scarlet silk and sewn with pearls

Will come to meet me. White foot after foot,

Like snow upon a rose-tree.

bianca

As you will.

You know that I am yours for love or Death.

guido

Simone, I must go to mine own house.

simone

So soon? Why should you? The great Duomo’s bell

Has not yet tolled its midnight, and the watchmen

Who with their hollow horns mock the pale moon,

·172· Lie drowsy in their towers. Stay awhile.

I fear we may not see you here again,

And that fear saddens my too simple heart.

guido

Be not afraid, Simone. I will stand

Most constant in my friendship. But to-night

I go to mine own home, and that at once.

To-morrow, sweet Bianca.

simone

Well, well, so be it.

I would have wished for fuller converse with you,

My new friend, my honourable guest,

But that it seems may not be.

And besides

I do not doubt your father waits for you,

Wearying for voice or footstep. You, I think,

Are his one child? He has no other child.

You are the gracious pillar of his house,

The flower of a garden full of weeds.

Your father’s nephews do not love him well

·173· So run folks’ tongues in Florence. I meant but that.

Men say they envy your inheritance

And look upon your vineyards with fierce eyes

As Ahab looked on Naboth’s goodly field.

But that is but the chatter of a town

Where women talk too much.

Good-night, my lord.

Fetch a pine torch, Bianca. The old staircase

Is full of pitfalls, and the churlish moon

Grows, like a miser, niggard of her beams,

And hides her face behind a muslin mask

As harlots do when they go forth to snare

Some wretched soul in sin. Now, I will get

Your cloak and sword. Nay, pardon, my good Lord,

It is but meet that I should wait on you

Who have so honoured my poor burgher’s house,

Drunk of my wine, and broken bread, and made

Yourself a sweet familiar. Oftentimes

My wife and I will talk of this fair night

And its great issues.

·174· Why, what a sword is this.

Ferrara’s temper, pliant as a snake,

And deadlier, I doubt not. With such steel,

One need fear nothing in the moil of life.

I never touched so delicate a blade.

I have a sword too, somewhat rusted now.

We men of peace are taught humility,

And to bear many burdens on our backs,

And not to murmur at an unjust world,

And to endure unjust indignities.

We are taught that, and like the patient Jew

Find profit in our pain.

Yet I remember

How once upon the road to Padua

A robber sought to take my pack-horse from me,

I slit his throat and left him. I can bear

Dishonour, public insult, many shames,

Shrill scorn, and open contumely, but he

Who filches from me something that is mine,

Ay! though it be the meanest trencher-plate

From which I feed mine appetite—oh! he

Perils his soul and body in the theft

·175· And dies for his small sin. From what strange clay

We men are moulded!

guido

Why do you speak like this?

simone

I wonder, my Lord Guido, if my sword

Is better tempered than this steel of yours?

Shall we make trial? Or is my state too low

For you to cross your rapier against mine,

In jest, or earnest?

guido

Naught would please me better

Than to stand fronting you with naked blade

In jest, or earnest. Give me mine own sword.

Fetch yours. To-night will settle the great issue

Whether the Prince’s or the merchant’s steel

Is better tempered. Was not that your word?

Fetch your own sword. Why do you tarry, sir?

·176· simone

My lord, of all the gracious courtesies

That you have showered on my barren house

This is the highest.

Bianca, fetch my sword.

Thrust back that stool and table. We must have

An open circle for our match at arms,

And good Bianca here shall hold the torch

Lest what is but a jest grow serious.

bianca

[to Guido]. Oh! kill him, kill him!

simone

Hold the torch, Bianca. [They begin to fight.]

simone

Have at you! Ah! Ha! would you?

[He is wounded by Guido.]

A scratch, no more. The torch was in mine eyes.

Do not look sad, Bianca. It is nothing.

Your husband bleeds, ’tis nothing. Take a cloth,

·177· Bind it about mine arm. Nay, not so tight.

More softly, my good wife. And be not sad,

I pray you be not sad. No; take it off.

What matter if I bleed? [Tears bandage off.]

Again! again!

[Simone disarms Guido]

My gentle Lord, you see that I was right

My sword is better tempered, finer steel,

But let us match our daggers.

bianca

[to Guido] Kill him! kill him!

simone

Put out the torch, Bianca. [Bianca puts out torch.]

Now, my good Lord,

Now to the death of one, or both of us,

Or all three it may be. [They fight.]

There and there.

Ah, devil! do I hold thee in my grip?

[Simone overpowers Guido and throws him down over table.]

·178· guido

Fool! take your strangling fingers from my throat.

I am my father’s only son; the State

Has but one heir, and that false enemy France

Waits for the ending of my father’s line

To fall upon our city.

simone

Hush! your father

When he is childless will be happier.

As for the State, I think our state of Florence

Needs no adulterous pilot at its helm.

Your life would soil its lilies.

guido

Take off your hands

Take off your damnèd hands. Loose me, I say!

simone

Nay, you are caught in such a cunning vice

That nothing will avail you, and your life

Narrowed into a single point of shame

Ends with that shame and ends most shamefully.

·179· guido

Oh! let me have a priest before I die!

simone

What wouldst thou have a priest for? Tell thy sins

To God, whom thou shalt see this very night

And then no more for ever. Tell thy sins

To Him who is most just, being pitiless,

Most pitiful being just. As for myself …

guido

Oh! help me, sweet Bianca! help me, Bianca,

Thou knowest I am innocent of harm.

simone

What, is there life yet in those lying lips?

Die like a dog with lolling tongue! Die! Die!

And the dumb river shall receive your corse

And wash it all unheeded to the sea.

guido

Lord Christ receive my wretched soul to-night!

·180· simone

Amen to that. Now for the other.

[He dies. Simone rises and looks at Bianca. She comes towards him as one dazed with wonder and with outstretched arms.]

bianca

Why

Did you not tell me you were so strong?

simone

Why

Did you not tell me you were beautiful?

[He kisses her on the mouth.]

Curtain

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