University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

A Street.
Three Citizens.
FIRST CITIZEN.
Stand near me then, I will be first to speak,
And you must further what I say—it is
Too perilous for a single tongue, though true,
But safe divided.

SECOND CITIZEN.
We must beg our own,
And that with fear.

FIRST CITIZEN.
These friars are not like us;
They are the boldest when alone, together
They may be shamed or scared.

THIRD CITIZEN.
It were a sin
To do as many do, when one man hurts them,
Strike all his fellows for his fault—I know
Much good among these monks.

FIRST CITIZEN.
Come, take your places,
The crowd draws near.

SECOND CITIZEN.
As there is truth in Heaven,
The abbey owes me for its last year's bread—
I have not seen one crown.

THIRD CITIZEN.
My patience lived
As long again as yours.

SECOND CITIZEN.
This treasurer sings—
But not so sweetly—like his abbey's chimes,
Seven different tunes a week: if words were silver,
He would have paid me threefold.

FIRST CITIZEN.
Thou dost get
A word as something then: he will not pay
Even that to me, but flatly braves my threatenings,
Forgets his signature, abjures the debt,
And drives me out.

THIRD CITIZEN.
Some think he will be abbot.

FIRST CITIZEN.
Nay, God forbid!

THIRD CITIZEN.
The one they mourn to-day
Was meek and gracious, he has heard me speak,
But said he could not help me.

SECOND CITIZEN.
He was old;
The treasurer grew too strong for years and meekness,
And ruled a better man.

THIRD CITIZEN.
In what we do,
This single scruple chafes me—it may seem
Irreverent toward the good man's worth, that so
We meet his bones.

SECOND CITIZEN.
Neighbour, no more, I pray thee—
We do what has been done before to-day—
Look! here he comes.

FIRST CITIZEN.
Be ready at my side—
He marches with the first; come on, and face him.

THIRD CITIZEN.
Wait till their chaunt is ended—peace, sirs, hush!
We must not speak till then.

A Funeral Procession—the Dominican Monks enter two and two, bearing torches and singing.
Savelli, Gerardo, Ludovico, and Others.
Hymn.

FIRST CITIZEN.
Heaven grant its mercy to the dead—the living
Ask of its servants justice.

SAVELLI.
What are these?
Stand back there drunkards—let the bier pass on—
Who clears our way?

FIRST CITIZEN.
You know us, what we are—

THIRD CITIZEN.
And that we are not drunk.

SECOND CITIZEN.
You have not left us
Enough for gluttony.

LUDOVICO.
Be patient, brethren;
We do beseech your peace for love of him
Whose soul requires our prayers.

SECOND CITIZEN.
You should remember
How long we have been patient.

LUDOVICO.
What I ask
Is less than charity.

SAVELLI.
Brother ask nothing—
The church shall take her own.

FIRST CITIZEN.
Sirs—we have stood
With daily beggars at the abbey gate,
To crave, not alms, but dues—the treasurer knows it.

SAVELLI.
What sort of dues they were, I know—how patched
And lined with fraud. There are, beside mine own,
Lips which shall witness this.

FIRST CITIZEN.
They must be false ones.

GERARDO.
Take heed! take heed! It is a sin to use
The weight and balance of deceit, and earn
Our bread by perjuries—but worse it is
To lie against a holier brother's truth,
And wrong the just. I testify these frauds,
Who helped to search them.

FIRST CITIZEN.
Thou?

GERARDO.
Ay, I—and who
Is he that questions me?

THIRD CITIZEN.
Beware this man—
He is the prince's brother.—

SAVELLI.
They do it to bring
A scandal on the church and us.

GERARDO.
Good people
If any honor God, and love mens' souls,
Or mourn the just deceased—drive out these scorners,
Smite them, but shed no blood; be patient with them.

SECOND CITIZEN.
Hear me one word.—

SAVELLI.
Stand back, I say—will none
Remove them hence?—now bring the corpse along.

Exeunt with the procession.
CROWD.
Shame! shame! lay hold upon these knaves.

FIRST CITIZEN.
But first
Hear what we have to speak.

CROWD.
It is a sin!
Most impious sacrilege!

THIRD CITIZEN.
Grant me one word.

SOME OF THE CROWD.
Neighbours, stand still awhile—these men are honest,
And known to many here.

CROWD.
Be quiet and hear them!

OTHERS.
We know all three.

FIRST CITIZEN.
We shall desire but this,
That you will choose the gravest from yourselves—
Some six or seven of whom you will, to spend
An hour at home with us, where we will prove
More than we yet have spoken, or else confess
Our malice is of Hell.

CROWD.
It is well said!
Come on, then,—we will find good men—away.

Exeunt.