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?
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.
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 tonight.
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.
ACT V
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.
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.
THIRD SOLDIER Ay, that is true. How old is the prisoner?
SECOND SOLDIER Old enough to do wrong, and not old enough to be wise.
FIRST SOLDIER Why, then, he might be any age.
SECOND SOLDIER They say the Duchess wanted to pardon him.
FIRST SOLDIER Is that so?
SECOND SOLDIER Ay, and did much entreat the Lord Justice, but he would not.
FIRST SOLDIER I had thought, Pietro, that the Duchess was omnipotent.
SECOND SOLDIER True, she is well-favoured; I know none so comely.
THE SOLDIERS Ha! ha! ha!
FIRST SOLDIER I meant I had thought our Duchess could do anything.
SECOND SOLDIER Nay, for he is now given over to the Justices, and they will see that justice be done; they and stout Hugh the headsman; but when his head is off, why then the Duchess can pardon him if she likes; there is no law against that.
FIRST SOLDIER I do not think that stout Hugh, as you call him, will do the business for him after all. This Guido is of gentle birth, and so by the law can drink poison first, if it so be his pleasure.
THIRD SOLDIER And if he does not drink it?
