Knowledge house - Oscar Wilde - The Complete Works

[ Tears out the page .]

Come here, Count Bardi: are you honourable?

Get a horse ready for me at my house,

For I must ride to Venice instantly.

bardi

To Venice, Madam?

duchess

Not a word of this,

Go, go at once. [ Exit Count Bardi .]

A moment, my Lord Justice.

If, as thou sayest it, this is the law—

Nay, nay, I doubt not that thou sayest right,

Though right be wrong in such a case as this—

May I not by the virtue of mine office

Adjourn this court until another day?

·144· lord justice

Madam, you cannot stay a trial for blood.

duchess

I will not tarry then to hear this man

Rail with rude tongue against our sacred person.

Come, gentlemen.

lord justice

My liege,

You cannot leave this court until the prisoner

Be purged or guilty of this dread offence.

duchess

Cannot, Lord Justice? By what right do you

Set barriers in my path where I should go?

Am I not Duchess here in Padua,

And the state’s regent?

lord justice

For that reason, Madam,

Being the fountain-head of life and death

Whence, like a mighty river, justice flows,

Without thy presence justice is dried up

And fails of purpose: thou must tarry here.

duchess

What, wilt thou keep me here against my will?

·145· lord justice

We pray thy will be not against the law.

duchess

What if I force my way out of the court?

lord justice

Thou canst not force the Court to give thee way.

duchess

I will not tarry. [ Rises from her seat .]

lord justice

Is the usher here?

Let him stand forth. [ Usher comes forward .]

Thou knowest thy business, sir.

[ The Usher closes the doors of the court, which are L., and when the Duchess and her retinue approach, kneels down .]

usher

In all humility I beseech your Grace

Turn not my duty to discourtesy,

Nor make my unwelcome office an offence.

duchess

Is there no gentleman amongst you all

To prick this prating fellow from our way?

·146· maffio [ drawing his sword ]

Ay! that will I.

lord justice

Count Maffio, have a care,

And you, sir. [ To Jeppo .]

The first man who draws his sword

Upon the meanest officer of this Court,

Dies before nightfall.

duchess

Sirs, put up your swords:

It is most meet that I should hear this man.

[ Goes back to throne .]

moranzone

Now hast thou got thy enemy in thy hand.

lord justice [ taking the time-glass up ]

Guido Ferranti, while the crumbling sand

Falls through this time-glass, thou hast leave to speak.

This and no more.

guido

It is enough, my lord.

lord justice

Thou standest on the extreme verge of death;

·147· See that thou speakest nothing but the truth,

Naught else will serve thee.

guido

If I speak it not,

Then give my body to the headsman there.

lord justice [ turns the time-glass ]

Let there be silence while the prisoner speaks.

tipstaff

Silence in the Court there.

guido

My Lords Justices,

And reverent judges of this worthy court,

I hardly know where to begin my tale,

So strangely dreadful is this history.

First, let me tell you of what birth I am.

I am the son of that good Duke Lorenzo

Who was with damned treachery done to death

By a most wicked villain, lately Duke

Of this good town of Padua.

lord justice

Have a care,

It will avail thee nought to mock this prince

Who now lies in his coffin.

·148· maffio

By Saint James,

This is the Duke of Parma’s rightful heir.

jeppo

I always thought him noble.

guido

I confess

That with the purport of a just revenge,

A most just vengeance on a man of blood,

I entered the Duke’s household, served his will,

Sat at his board, drank of his wine, and was

His intimate: so much I will confess,

And this too, that I waited till he grew

To give the fondest secrets of his life

Into my keeping, till he fawned on me,

And trusted me in every private matter

Even as my noble father trusted him;

That for this thing I waited.

[ To the Headsman .]

Thou man of blood!

Turn not thine axe on me before the time:

Who knows if it be time for me to die?

Is there no other neck in court but mine?

·149· lord justice

The sand within the time-glass flows apace.

Come quickly to the murder of the Duke.

guido

I will be brief: Last night at twelve o’ the clock,

By a strong rope I scaled the palace wall,

With purport to revenge my father’s murder—

Ay! with that purport I confess, my lord.

This much I will acknowledge, and this also,

That as with stealthy feet I climbed the stair

Which led unto the chamber of the Duke,

And reached my hand out for the scarlet cloth

Which shook and shivered in the gusty door,

Lo! the white moon that sailed in the great heaven

Flooded with silver light the darkened room,

Night lit her candles for me, and I saw

The man I hated, cursing in his sleep;

And thinking of a most dear father murdered,

Sold to the scaffold, bartered to the block,

I smote the treacherous villain to the heart

With this same dagger, which by chance I found

Within the chamber.

·150· duchess [ rising from her seat ]

Oh!

guido [ hurriedly ]

I killed the Duke.

Now, my Lord Justice, if I may crave a boon,

Suffer me not to see another sun

Light up the misery of this loathsome world.

lord justice

Thy boon is granted, thou shalt die to-night.

Lead him away. Come, Madam

[ Guido is led off; as he goes the Duchess stretches out her arms and rushes down the stage .]

duchess

Guido! Guido!

[ Faints .]

Tableau

End of Act IV.

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·153· SCENE—A dungeon in the public prison of Padua; Guido lies asleep on a pallet (L.C.); a table with a goblet on it is set (L.C.); five soldiers are drinking and playing dice in the corner on a stone table; one of them has a lantern hung to his halbert; a torch is set in the wall over Guido’s head. Two grated windows behind, one on each side of the door which is (C.), look out into the passage; the stage is rather dark.

first soldier [ throws dice ]

Sixes again! good Pietro.

second soldier

I’ faith, lieutenant, I will play with thee no more. I will lose everything.

third soldier

Except thy wits; thou art safe there!

second soldier

Ay, ay, he cannot take them from me.

third soldier

No; for thou hast no wits to give him.

·154· the soldiers [ loudly ]

Ha! ha! ha!

first soldier

Silence! You will wake the prisoner; he is asleep.

second soldier

What matter? He will get sleep enough when he is buried. I warrant he’d be glad if we could wake him when he’s in the grave.

third soldier

Nay! for when he wakes there it will be judgment day.

second soldier

Ay, and he has done a grievous thing; for, look you, to murder one of us who are but flesh and blood is a sin, and to kill a Duke goes being near against the law.

first soldier

Well, well, he was a wicked Duke.

second soldier

And so he should not have touched him; if one meddles with wicked people, one is like to be tainted with their wickedness.