University of Virginia Library

SCENE THE SECOND.

Cosmo, Eleonora, Piero.
Pi.
Father, most urgent business brings me to thee;
With thee I would confer at leisure.

Cos.
Oh!
What strange disturbance on thy face I read!
Speak; what hath happen'd? say.

Pi.
I cannot speak it,
Except to thee alone.

Ele.
What can a son
Have of mysterious for a father's ears,
Thus from a mother carefully conceal'd?

Cos.
I am a father; but at the same time
I am a prince; nor hast thou hitherto,
Lady, with me my public burthens shared;
Nor wilt thou share them, if, as I suspect ...

Ele.
Thou dost suspect the truth. Scarcely had I
The native shores of my Sebetus quitted,
Than I, become the sharer of thy fate,
All my attachments, all my objects bounded,
Within these royal walls. In me thou gained'st
A consort, and a handmaid, nothing more.
Clearly I saw my lord thought every proof
Of love was centred in a blind obedience.
Hence always I obey'd; this thou know'st well;
Often in tones of gratitude hast thou
Praised me for this. Would'st thou remain alone?
I leave thee: and already I infer
From him who tells it, what this secret is:
And I know why I only should not hear it.
But I wish not to hear Piero's tongue,
Possessing such alacrity to injure:
If only to the detriment of strangers
It were exerted, I should not at least
Then tremble at it, as I tremble now.
I, of his well-known arts, am doubtlessly
A most unwelcome witness.

Pi.
Thou hast placed
All thy maternal fondness on one son;
Hence are the others guilty; and, meanwhile,
Hence do I suffer heavy punishment;
And, indeed, may it fall alone on me!
My tongue is evermore prepared to injure?
This thy beloved son says so, to whom
I bear no hatred, though I envy him:
Let him confess, if, or in words or deeds,
I ever injured him.—A horrid stain
Thou fixest on me, mother: yet should I,
If any other than my mother fix'd it,
Be more afflicted; or if any one
Heard it, besides my father and my lord,
To me imputed. But I know my duty;
I ought to suffer and to hold my peace;
I suffer, and am silent.

Cos.
Lady, would'st thou,
With manners such as these, in tumult throw
Our palace?

Ele.
Ah, that others would not do it!
And hath not an abominable pest
Already fix'd its residence among us?
I yield my place: and may I never know,
And never thou believe, his odious secrets!