 | The Conspiracy of the Pazzi |  |
SCENE THE FOURTH.
Lorenzo, Julian.Ju.
Heard'st thou how these address us?
Lo.
Yes, I hear.
They're garrulous, and thence I fear them less.
Ju.
One may hatch plots ...
Lo.
But few will follow him.
Ju.
Raymond may be that one.
Lo.
That he may be
That one, is what I hope. I fully know
His courage, his resources, and his force:
He may attempt, but he will ne'er succeed.
What can I wish for more? I look to him,
Hoping that he our mandate may transgress.
Let him attempt it; we at once shall thwart him.
Each hostile enterprize confirms our power,
And to our just revenge at once prepares
An ample field for action. In calm seas
Progress is difficult; the earliest storm
Will drive our vessel to the wish'd-for port.
Ju.
To wish for all at once, often at once
Causes the loss of all. All danger's doubtful;
Nor he who fills the throne should e'er permit
Even the thought to cross his subjects' minds
That he's assailable by other men.
329
Our breasts invulnerable, is in itself
The very panoply that makes them so.
Woe if we leave the passage to our hearts
Once obvious to the point of traitrous swords!
A day will come when it will penetrate,
And find a passage to the very hilt.
To-day, oh brother, yield thyself to me;
No, our authority put not to proof,
Or their revenge. Ah, yield thyself to me.
Lo.
To reason I am always wont to yield,
And this I hope to prove to thee.—But see,
Bianca comes to us o'erwhelm'd with grief:
How painful is it to my soul to hear
Her lamentations! ... yet I'm forced to hear them.
| The Conspiracy of the Pazzi | |