University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

A Chamber in Durazzo's Palace.
Julia, and Marcellus.
MARCELLUS.
'Tis true, too true; my astonish'd eyes beheld it.
The duke is come, is in the hall this instant;
And (shame to Genoa!) armed guards are posted,
To save this palace from the people's outrage.

JULIA.
O, if my prayers have any power to move you,
Or, if you would not add to my distress,
(Most sure you cannot mean it,) I implore you,
Wide, as if spotted plagues encompass'd me,
Avoid me, fly me, in fierce Fulvia's presence.

MARCELLUS.
With joy, in all but this, I would obey you.
Shall I retire, and seem to abet a cause,
By tame neutrality, and timorous silence,
Which, but to think of, chills my heart's warm blood,
And drives my sober sense to wild amazement?

JULIA.
Think then what I feel here! yet, O, remember
She has a parent's claim to your respect;
And how I lov'd her, heaven that knows can witness;
In publick to confront her, might enkindle
Her rage to madness. Has she not accus'd me
(O, that I could forget it!) of such crimes,
As calumny's foul lips might shrink to utter?

MARCELLUS.
Her's is the shame, but our's, alas, the anguish.

JULIA.
Stung thus to frenzy, she would hurl on me
Your disobedience; all her house's woe
Impute to me alone, unhappy me;
While trembling, sinking, I could but oppose
The feeble shield of innocence and tears.
No, justice must for once give way to duty.

MARCELLUS.
O, do not freeze me with so cold a word;
Nor wrong the ardours of my glowing bosom.

JULIA.
The great disposer of events on earth,
For some unsearchable, mysterious end,
Has pleas'd to mark me for adversity.
With constancy unshaken, my firm soul
Shall meet the black succession of my fates.
When the full storm has emptied all its fury,
This shatter'd bark may sink at length to peace;
And the last wave that rolls the welcome death,
Bury my much-wrong'd name in cold oblivion.

MARCELLUS.
What eye that with delight has gaz'd on beauty;
What ear that e'er was ravish'd with sweet sounds;
Who that has sense and soul to feel perfection,
And witness'd thy unrivall'd excellence;
Can let thee be forgotten? Hear, O, hear me!
I can no more suppress my burning passion;
It will have way. My fate is in thy breath,
And all my enamour'd soul, enslav'd, adores thee.

JULIA.
Marcellus!

MARCELLUS.
Ha! that cold averted brow,
Presumptuous man! bespeaks my doom too plainly.

JULIA.
Is this an hour for love?

MARCELLUS.
At every hour,
(Enchanting as thou art) thy eyes command it.
Thus on my knee I seize the blest occasion,
To tell thee all thy wond'rous charms inspire,
Though ages might glide by, ere half was utter'd.

JULIA.
There is an aweful witness of this scene,
For ever present here, who hovers round me.
Through the still void I hear a solemn voice;
On his pale lips the unwilling accents hang:
Our vows, he cries, were register'd above;
For thee my breast was pierc'd; see this red wound,
Nor lose the memory in a brother's arms.

MARCELLUS.
What canst thou mean? Why do thy lovely eyes
Thus waste their beams on air? O, turn them here,
To warm my breast, and light up ecstacy!

JULIA.
May ghastly spectres deck my bridal couch,
Hemlock and poisonous weeds be strew'd for flowers,
The nuptial torch scatter despair and death,
And mutter'd curses blast the unhallow'd rite,
If my false hand receive another love,
Or my frail heart forget its early passion!

MARCELLUS.
O, fatal sound! my inauspicious sighs
Awake no gentle sympathy for me;
But fan the flame for a dead rival's ashes.

JULIA.
All the most tender interest can inspire,
Soft friendship, and an anxious sister's kindness,
Unask'd I offer; but of love no more:
The object, and the passion died with him.

MARCELLUS.
Too near, and too remote. It cannot be:
For, O, 'tis lingering torment, hourly death,
To touch the cup might quench our fever's thirst,
And know we must not taste it. Angels guard you!
Farewel! Let chance direct my wandering way;
The world, without thee, has no choice for me.
[Exit Marcellus.