75The prisoners stand accused of parricide
Upon such evidence as justifies
Torture.
Beatrice. What evidence? This man’s?
Judge. Even so.
Beatrice (to MARZIO).
Come near. And who art thou thus chosen forth
Out of the multitude of living men
80To kill the innocent?
Marzio. I am Marzio,
Thy father’s vassal.
Beatrice. Fix thine eyes on mine;
Answer to what I ask. [Turning to the Judges.
I prithee mark
His countenance: unlike bold calumny
Which sometimes dares not speak the thing it looks,
85He dares not look the thing he speaks, but bends
His gaze on the blind earth.
(To MARZIO) What! wilt thou say
That I did murder my own father?
Marzio. Oh!
Spare me! My brain swims round … I cannot speak …
It was that horrid torture forced the truth.
90Take me away! Let her not look on me!
I am a guilty miserable wretch;
I have said all I know; now, let me die!
Beatrice. My Lords, if by my nature I had been
So stern, as to have planned the crime alledged,
95Which your suspicions dictate to this slave,
And the rack makes him utter, do you think
I should have left this two edged instrument
Of my misdeed; this man, this bloody knife
With my own name engraven on the heft,
100Lying unsheathed amid a world of foes,
For my own death? That with such horrible need
For deepest silence, I should have neglected
So trivial a precaution, as the making
His tomb the keeper of a secret written
105On a thief’s memory? What is his poor life?
What are a thousand lives? A parricide
Had trampled them like dust; and, see, he lives!
(Turning to MARZIO.) And thou …
Marzio. Oh, spare me!
Speak to me no more!
That stern yet piteous look, those solemn tones,
110Wound worse than torture.
(To the Judges.) I have told it all;
For pity’s sake lead me away to death.
Camillo. Guards, lead him nearer the Lady Beatrice,
He shrinks from her regard like autumn’s leaf
From the keen breath of the serenest north.
115 Beatrice. Oh, thou who tremblest on the giddy verge
Of life and death, pause ere thou answerest me;
So mayst thou answer God with less dismay:
What evil have we done thee? I, alas!
Have lived but on this earth a few sad years
120And so my lot was ordered, that a father
First turned the moments of awakening life
To drops, each poisoning youth’s sweet hope; and then
Stabbed with one blow my everlasting soul;
And my untainted fame; and even that peace
125Which sleeps within the core of the heart’s heart;
But the wound was not mortal; so my hate
Became the only worship I could lift
To our great father, who in pity and love,
Armed thee, as thou dost say, to cut him off;
130And thus his wrong becomes my accusation;
And art thou the accuser? If thou hopest
Mercy in heaven, shew justice upon earth:
Worse than a bloody hand is a hard heart.
If thou hast done murders, made thy life’s path
135Over the trampled laws of God and man,
Rush not before thy Judge, and say: ‘My maker,
I have done this and more; for there was one
Who was most pure and innocent on earth;
And because she endured what never any
140Guilty or innocent endured before:
Because her wrongs could not be told, not thought;
Because thy hand at length did rescue her;
I with my words killed her and all her kin.’
Think, I adjure you, what it is to slay
145The reverence living in the minds of men
Towards our ancient house, and stainless fame!
Think what it is to strangle infant pity,
Cradled in the belief of guileless looks,
Till it become a crime to suffer. Think
150What ’tis to blot with infamy and blood
All that which shews like innocence, and is,
Hear me, great God! I swear, most innocent,
So that the world lose all discrimination
Between the sly, fierce, wild regard of guilt,
155And that which now compels thee to reply
To what I ask: Am I, or am I not
A parricide?
Marzio. Thou art not!
Judge. What is this?
Marzio. I here declare those whom I did accuse
Are innocent. ’Tis I alone am guilty.
160 Judge. Drag him away to torments; let them be
Subtle and long drawn out, to tear the folds
Of the heart’s inmost cell. Unbind him not
Till he confess.
Marzio. Torture me as ye will:
A keener pain has wrung a higher truth
165From my last breath. She is most innocent!
Bloodhounds, not men, glut yourselves well with me;
I will not give you that fine piece of nature
To rend and ruin. [Exit MARZIO, guarded.
Camillo. What say ye now, my Lords?
Judge. Let tortures strain the truth till it be white
170As snow thrice sifted by the frozen wind.
Camillo. Yet stained with blood.
Judge (to BEATRICE). Know you this paper, Lady?
Beatrice. Entrap me not with questions. Who stands here
As my accuser? Ha! wilt thou be he,
Who art my judge? Accuser, witness, judge,
175What, all in one? Here is Orsino’s name;
Where is Orsino? Let his eye meet mine.
What means this scrawl? Alas! Ye know not what,
And therefore on the chance that it may be
Some evil, will ye kill us?
[Enter an Officer.
Officer. Marzio’s dead.
180 Judge. What did he say?
Officer. Nothing. As soon as we
Had bound him on the wheel, he smiled on us,
As one who baffles a deep adversary;
And holding his breath, died.
Judge. There remains nothing
But to apply the question to those prisoners,
185Who yet remain stubborn.
Camillo. I overrule
Further proceedings, and in the behalf
Of these most innocent and noble persons
Will use my interest with the Holy Father.
Judge. Let the Pope’s pleasure then be done. Meanwhile
190Conduct these culprits each to separate cells;
And be the engines ready: for this night
If the Pope’s resolution be as grave,
Pious, and just as once, I’ll wring the truth
Out of those nerves and sinews, groan by groan. [Exeunt.
SCENE III.—The cell of a prison. BEATRICE is discovered asleep on a couch. Enter BERNARDO.
Bernardo. How gently slumber rests upon her face,
Like the last thoughts of some day sweetly spent
Closing in night and dreams, and so prolonged.
After such torments as she bore last night,
5How light and soft her breathing comes. Ay, me!
Methinks that I shall never sleep again.
But I mus
t shake the heavenly dew of rest
From this sweet folded flower, thus … wake! awake!
What, sister, canst thou sleep?
Beatrice (awaking). I was just dreaming
10That we were all in Paradise. Thou knowest
This cell seems like a kind of Paradise
After our father’s presence.
Bernardo. Dear, dear sister,
Would that thy dream were not a dream! O, God!
How shall I tell?
Beatrice. What wouldst thou tell, sweet brother?
15 Bernardo. Look not so calm and happy, or even whilst
I stand considering what I have to say
My heart will break.
Beatrice. See now, thou mak’st me weep:
How very friendless thou wouldst be, dear child,
If I were dead. Say what thou hast to say.
20 Bernardo. They have confessed; they could endure no more
The tortures …
Beatrice. Ha! What was there to confess?
They must have told some weak and wicked lie
To flatter their tormentors. Have they said
That they were guilty? O, white innocence,
25That thou shouldst wear the mask of guilt to hide
Thine awful and serenest countenance
From those who know thee not!
[Enter Judge with LUCRETIA and GIACOMO, guarded.
Ignoble hearts!
For some brief spasms of pain, which are at least
As mortal as the limbs thro’ which they pass,
30Are centuries of high splendour laid in dust?
And that eternal honour which should live
Sunlike, above the reek of mortal fame,
Changed to a mockery and a bye-word? What!
Will you give up these bodies to be dragged
35At horses’ heels, so that our hair should sweep
The footsteps of the vain and senseless crowd,
Who, that they may make our calamity
Their worship and their spectacle, will leave
The churches and the theatres as void
40As their own hearts? Shall the light multitude
Fling, at their choice, curses or faded pity,
Sad funeral flowers to deck a living corpse,
Upon us as we pass to pass away,
And leave … what memory of our having been?
45Infamy, blood, terror, despair? O thou,
Who wert a mother to the parentless,
Kill not thy child! Let not her wrongs kill thee!
Brother, lie down with me upon the rack,
And let us each be silent as a corpse;
50It soon will be as soft as any grave.
’Tis but the falsehood it can wring from fear
Makes the rack cruel.
Giacomo. They will tear the truth
Even from thee at last, those cruel pains:
For pity’s sake say thou art guilty now.
55 Lucretia. O, speak the truth! Let us all quickly die;
And after death, God is our judge, not they;
He will have mercy on us.
Bernardo. If indeed
It can be true, say so, dear sister mine;
And then the Pope will surely pardon you,
60And all be well.
Judge. Confess, or I will warp
Your limbs with such keen tortures …
Beatrice. Tortures! Turn
The rack henceforth into a spinning wheel!
Torture your dog, that he may tell when last
He lapped the blood his master shed … not me!
65My pangs are of the mind, and of the heart,
And of the soul; aye, of the inmost soul,
Which weeps within tears as of burning gall
To see, in this ill world where none are true,
My kindred false to their deserted selves.
70And with considering all the wretched life
Which I have lived, and its now wretched end,
And the small justice shewn by Heaven and Earth
To me or mine; and what a tyrant thou art,
And what slaves these; and what a world we make,
75The oppressor and the oppressed … such pangs compel
My answer. What is it thou wouldst with me?
Judge. Art thou not guilty of thy father’s death?
Beatrice. Or wilt thou rather tax high judging God
That he permitted such an act as that
80Which I have suffered, and which he beheld;
Made it unutterable, and took from it
All refuge, all revenge, all consequence,
But that which thou hast called my father’s death?
Which is or is not what men call a crime,
85Which either I have done, or have not done;
Say what ye will. I shall deny no more.
If ye desire it thus, thus let it be,
And so an end of all. Now do your will;
No other pains shall force another word.
90 Judge. She is convicted, but has not confessed.
Be it enough. Until their final sentence
Let none have converse with them. You, young Lord,
Linger not here!
Beatrice. O, tear him not away!
Judge. Guards, do your duty.
Bernardo (embracing BEATRICE). Oh! would ye divide
95Body from soul?
Officer. That is the headsman’s business.
[Exeunt all but LUCRETIA, BEATRICE, and GIACOMO.
Giacomo. Have I confessed? Is it all over now?
No hope! No refuge! O, weak, wicked tongue
Which hast destroyed me, would that thou hadst been
Cut out and thrown to dogs first! To have killed
100My father first, and then betrayed my sister;
Aye, thee! the one thing innocent and pure
In this black guilty world, to that which I
So well deserve! My wife! my little ones!
Destitute, helpless, and I … Father! God!
105Canst thou forgive even the unforgiving,
When their full hearts break thus, thus! …
[Covers his face and weeps.
Lucretia. O, my child!
To what a dreadful end are we all come!
Why did I yield? Why did I not sustain
Those torments? Oh, that I were all dissolved
110Into these fast and unavailing tears,
Which flow and feel not!
Beatrice. What ’twas weak to do,
’Tis weaker to lament, once being done;
Take cheer! The God who knew my wrong, and made
Our speedy act the angel of his wrath,
115Seems, and but seems to have abandoned us.
Let us not think that we shall die for this.
Brother, sit near me; give me your firm hand,
You had a manly heart. Bear up! Bear up!
O, dearest Lady, put your gentle head
120Upon my lap, and try to sleep awhile:
Your eyes look pale, hollow and overworn,
With heaviness of watching and slow grief.
Come, I will sing you some low, sleepy tune,
Not cheerful, nor yet sad; some dull old thing,
125Some outworn and unused monotony,
Such as our country gossips sing and spin,
Till they almost forget they live: lie down!
So, that will do. Have I forgot the words?
Faith! They are sadder than I thought they were.
SONG
130False friend, wilt thou smile or weep
When my life is laid asleep?
Little cares for a smile or a tear,
The clay-cold corpse upon the bier?
Farewell! Heigho!
135 What is this whispers low?
There is a snake in thy smil
e, my dear;
And bitter poison within thy tear.
Sweet sleep, were death like to thee,
Or if thou couldst mortal be,
140I would close these eyes of pain;
When to wake? Never again.
O, World! Farewell!
Listen to the passing bell!
It says, thou and I must part,
145With a light and a heavy heart. [The scene closes.
SCENE IV.—A Hall of the Prison. Enter CAMILLO and BERNARDO.
Camillo. The Pope is stern; not to be moved or bent.
He looked as calm and keen as is the engine
Which tortures and which kills, exempt itself
From aught that it inflicts; a marble form,
5A rite, a law, a custom: not a man.
He frowned, as if to frown had been the trick
Of his machinery, on the advocates
Presenting the defences, which he tore
And threw behind, muttering with hoarse, harsh voice:
10‘Which among ye defended their old father
Killed in his sleep?’ Then to another: ‘Thou
Dost this in virtue of thy place; ’tis well.’
He turned to me then, looking deprecation,
And said these three words, coldly: ‘They must die.’
15 Bernardo. And yet you left him not?
Camillo. I urged him still;
Pleading, as I could guess, the devilish wrong
Which prompted your unnatural parent’s death.
And he replied: ‘Paolo Santa Croce
Murdered his mother yester evening,
20And he is fled. Parricide grows so rife
That soon, for some just cause no doubt, the young
Will strangle us all, dozing in our chairs.
Authority, and power, and hoary hair
Are grown crimes capital. You are my nephew,
25You come to ask their pardon; stay a moment;
Here is their sentence; never see me more
Till, to the letter, it be all fulfilled.’
Bernardo. O, God, not so! I did believe indeed
Selected Poems and Prose Page 40
