University of Virginia Library

SCENE THE FIFTH.

Raymond, Bianca.
Bi.
Wretch! what hast thou done?
Speak. Return'st thou, perfidious spouse! to me
Thy guilty dagger reeking with my blood?
Who would have ever thought thou wert a traitor!
What do I see? Alas! from thy own side
The blood spouts forth in ample streams! ...

Ray.
Bianca ... scarcely ... I ... support myself. Ah spouse ...
Sustain me ... Dost thou see? That blood ... which bathes
My sword, ... it is ... the tyrant's; but ...

Bi.
Alas! ...

Ray.
This is my own blood; ... I ... in my own side ...

Bi.
Oh! frightful wound! ...

Ray.
Frightful indeed! ... Myself,
With my own hand ... blinded by too much rage ...
Inflicted it ... On Julian I fell;
And planted in him so, so many wounds,
That I ... with one ... at last ... transfix'd myself.

Bi.
Oh fatal cruelty! ... Oh mortal blow!
How many of us hast thou slain at once!

Ray.
I told it not to thee: ... Ah pardon me:
Thee should I not have told; nor shouldest thou
Have heard of it, till it was done: ... and yet,
At all events, I was constrain'd to do it.
It grieves me that to consummate the deed
My strength allows not ... If it was a crime,
I come to expiate it with my blood,
Before thine eyes ... But oh! I hear the cry
Of liberty more fervently resound!
And I am dying here! ...

Bi.
Oh heaven! and ... fell ...
Lorenzo ... also? ...

Ray.
A most strict injunction
I gave to his assailant for this purpose.
I shall die unlamenting, if I leave
Safe, and in liberty, my sire, my spouse,
My children, and my fellow-citizens.

Bi.
Thou leavest me to tears ... But will I live?
Give me thy sword ...

Ray.
Bianca ... Oh sweet spouse ...
Part of myself ... remember thou'rt a mother ...
Thou for our children should'st consent to live;
Live for our children, ... if thou lovest me ...

Bi.
Oh children! .. But the dissonance increases ...

Ray.
And it approaches; ... and I seem to hear
Discordant cries ... Run to the little ones,
And leave them not; to their protection fly.—
Alas! ... for me ... no hope ... of life ... remains ...
Thou seest ... that ... I am ... a dying man ...

Bi.
What shall I do? ... Near whom shall I remain? ...
What do I hear? ... The cry of “Slay the traitor!”
The traitor, who? ...

Ray.
The vanquish'd is the traitor.