University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

CASTEL-NUOVO. Giovanna and Agnes.
Giovanna.
'Tis surely wrong that those who fight for us
So faithfully, so wretchedly should perish;
That thriftless jewels sparkle round your temples
While theirs grow dank with famine.

Agnes.
Now I see,
O my poor queen! the folly of refusal,
When they had brought us safety.

Giovanna.
Not quite that,
To me at least, but sustenance and comfort
To our defenders in the castle here.

Agnes.
Will you now take them?

Giovanna.
If some miracle
Might turn a jewel to a grain of corn,
I would: my own were kneaded into bread
In the first days of our captivity.

Agnes.
And mine were still withholden! Pardon me,
Just Heaven!

Giovanna.
In words like those invoke not Heaven.
If we say just, what can we hope? but what
May we not hope if we say merciful?

Agnes.
And yet my fault is very pardonable.
We, at our time of life, want these adornments.

Giovanna.
We never want them. Youth has all its own;
None can shed lustre upon closing days,
Mockers of eyes and lips and whatsoever
Was prized; nor can they turn one grey hair brown,
But, skilfully transmuted, might prolong
The life and health and happiness of hundreds.

Agnes.
Queens may talk so.

Giovanna.
Not safely, but to friends.

Agnes.
With power and pomp . .

Giovanna.
Behold my pomp, my power!
These naked walls, cold pavement, grated windows.

Agnes.
Let me share these with you. Take all my jewels.

Giovanna.
Forbear, forbear, dear Agnes!

Agnes.
Earth then, take them!

[Throwing them from her.