University of Virginia Library

ACT I.

SCENE I.

GARDEN OF CAPO-DI-MONTE. Boccaccio and Fiammetta.
Boccaccio.
Adieu the starlit gardens of Aversa,
The groves of Capo-Monte!

Fiammetta.
Why adieu?

Boccaccio.
One night will throw its gloom upon them long.

Fiammetta.
It will indeed, but love can dwell in gloom,
And not repine in it.

Boccaccio.
The generous man,
Who might have much impeded ours, gave way
To bitter impulses. My face is flusht
To think of his hard doom, and find myself
Happy where he was happy, and so lately!

Fiammetta.
I too have sighs, nor for thee only, now.
Giovanna, had an angel told it me
The other day, I should have disbelieved.
We all are now alike. Even queen Sancia,
Whose sadness is scarce sadness, so resign'd
Is she to Heaven, at this balustrade
Lean'd and lookt over, hearing some one sing.
“Impatient is the singer there,” said she,
“To run thro' his delight, to fill the conch
Of song up to the brim, and wise were he
Thought he not, O my child, as think he might,
How every gust of music, every air,
Breathing its freshness over youthful breasts,
Is a faint prelude to the choirs above,
And how Death stands in the dark space between,
To some with invitations free and meek,
To some with flames athwart an angry brow;
To others holds green palm and aureole crown,
Dreadless as is the shadow of a leaf . .”
But, while she said it, prest my hand and wept,
Then prayed of Heaven its peace for poor Andrea.

Boccaccio.
We may think too as wisely as the queen
When we attain her age; of other flames
And other palms and other crowns just now.
Like every growth, thoughts also have their seasons;
We will not pluck unripe ones; they might hurt us.
That lady then was with you?

Fiammetta.
She herself
Led me up hither by the sleeve. Giovanna
Is there below, secure, in Castel-Nuovo.
Look you! what crowds are gathering round about it.

Boccaccio.
I see them, and implore you, my Fiammetta,
To tarry here, protected by queen Sancia.

Fiammetta.
And will you tarry near me?

Boccaccio.
While the queen
Your sister is quite safe.

Fiammetta.
What! thinkest thou
She ever can be otherwise than safe?
I will run down to her.

Boccaccio.
There is no danger
At present; if there should be, my weak aid
Shall not be wanting. He whom she laments
I too lament: this bond unites me with her;
And I will keep her in my sight, and follow
(As lighter birds follow the powerfuller)
Where'er the tempest drives her . . not to save,
But break the fall, or warn her from below.

Fiammetta.
Generously spoken, my own sweet Giovanni!
Do so, and I can spare you; but remember
Others may want a warning too, may want
Some one to break a fall, some one to save . . .
Giovanni! O Giovanni! to save what?
For what is left but love? . . save that, Giovanni!

Boccaccio.
Were any infelicity near you,
Crowns and their realms might perish: but your sister
Is part of you: had she but lookt into
Your cradle, and no more; had one kind word,
And only one, fallen from her upon you;
My life should be the price for it.

Fiammetta.
Your life!
We have but one, we two. But until she
Is safe again, and happier, you shall keep it.
Go, go then; follow her; but soon return.
While you are absent from me, shapeless fears
Must throng upon and keep awake my sorrow.

Boccaccio.
To grieve for what is past, is idle grief,
Idler to grieve for what may never be.
Courage! when both most wish it, we shall meet.

SCENE. II.

CASTEL-NUOVO. Giovanna and Del Balzo.
Giovanna.
Ugo del Balzo! thou art just and firm.
Seek we the murderers out, and bring them forth
Before their God and fellow-men, if God
Or fellow-men have they. Spare none who did
This cruel deed. The partner of my throne,
Companion of my days . . until that day . .
Avenge! In striking low the guilty head
Show mercy to my people. Take from me
And execute with promptness this commission.
O what a chasm in life hath one day made,
Thus giving way with such astounding crash
Under my feet, when all seem'd equable,
All hopeful, not a form of fear in sight.

Del Balzo.
Lady! if all could see the pangs within
Which rend your bosom, every voice would pause
From railing and reproach.

Giovanna.
Reproach who will,
Rail who delight in railing. Could my arm
Protect the innocent?

Del Balzo.
But strange reports
(With this commission in my hand I speak it)
Murmur throughout the city. Kindred, ay,
Close kindred are accused.

Giovanna.
Such accusations
Have burst upon my ear: they wrong my cousin.
A man more loyal than the brave Taranto
Nor court nor field e'er saw: but even he
Shall not escape if treachery be found
Within the shadow of that lofty mien.

Del Balzo.
No, by the sword of the archangel! no . .
Altho' his sister smiles this hour upon
Her first-born of my dear and only brother
The Duke of Andria. Thou must weep, Francesco!
And she and I; for such dishonour taints
The whole house through, obscuring past and future.
Was he not in Aversa?

Giovanna.
He was there.

Del Balzo.
And were no orders given that he keep on
His mask all evening?

Giovanna.
Yes, I gave those orders.

Del Balzo.
The Queen's commission reaches not the Queen.

Giovanna.
Imperfect then is that commission, Ugo!

Del Balzo.
Freedom of speech is limited.

Giovanna.
By what?

Del Balzo.
The throne.

Giovanna.
For once then push the throne more back,
And let thy words and actions have their scope.

Del Balzo.
Why was Aversa chosen for the revels? [The Queen hesitates and sighs deeply.

One answer comes from all. Because the town
Is Norman, the inhabitants are Norman,
Sworn enemies to an Hungarian prince;
The very name sounds hostilely; the walls
Built in aversion to the pride of Capua.

Giovanna.
I could give other answer, which such hearts
Would little understand. My happiest days
Were spent there . . O that there my last had closed!
Was it not in Aversa we first met?
There my Andrea, while our friends stood round
At our betrothment, fain would show me first
A horse they led for him from Hungary.
The hands we join'd were little hands indeed!
And the two rings we interchanged would ill
Let pass the bossy chain of his light hair
Entwisted with my darker, nor without
His teeth were then drawn through it. Those were days
When none saw quarrels on his side or mine,
Yet were there worse than there were latterly,
Or than since childhood ever. We have lived
From those days forth without distrust and strife.
All might have seen but now will not know that.

Del Balzo.
Lady! the court and people do remember
That none more courteous, none more beautiful,
Lives than the Prince Luigi . . they acknowledge
That Prince Andrea's qualities fell short . .

Giovanna.
Del Balzo! cease! he was your prince but now . .
His virtues were domestic . . few saw those.

Del Balzo.
Few, I confess it; not so few the other's.
His assiduities, his love.

Giovanna.
Do these
Remember too, whate'er advantages
The Prince Luigi of Taranto had,
I gave my hand where they who rear'd me will'd,
That no contention in our family
Might reach my people? Ugo! tell me now
To whom show'd I my love? To them or him?

Del Balzo.
Lady! 'twas nobly done. Yet he was seen
To walk among the maskers on that night,
Was ordered to keep on his mask, was known
To watch Andrea in the balcony,
To rush away, to fight below the place
Where the inhuman deed was perpetrated,
And then to fly.

Giovanna.
Oh! if Taranto could
Be guilty! . . but impossible! My sister
Saw him pursue three masks: and his own page
Found him in fight with one, where two were slain.

Del Balzo.
Would any court receive such testimony?

Giovanna.
Examine then more closely. I am lost,
Not in conjectures, for my mind flies off
From all conjecture, but in vague, in wild
Tumultuous thoughts, all broken, crost, and crazed.
Go, lose no moment. There are other things [Del Balzo goes.

I could have said . . what were they? . . there are things . .
Maria . . why not here! . . She knows there are . .
O! were the guilty so perplext as I am,
No guilt were undiscover'd in the world!

SCENE III.

Filippa, Sancia Terlizzi, Del Balzo.
Sancia Terlizzi.
Gentle and gracious and compassionate,
Companion and not queen to those about her,
Giovanna delegates her fullest powers
To stern Del Balzo; and already force
Enters the palace gates.

Filippa.
Let them be closed
Against all force. Send for the seneschal.

Sancio Terlizzi.
Acciajoli has departed for Aversa,
There to make inquest.

Filippa.
Who dares strike the door?

Del Balzo
(entering).
The laws.

Filippa.
Count Ugo! is the queen extinct?

Del Balzo.
The prince is. Therefore lead with due respect
These ladies, and the rest, away.

[To an Officer.
Filippa.
What means
This violence?

Del Balzo
(to the Officer).
Let none, I pray, be used. [To Filippa.

Behold the queen's commission! In that chamber
Where close examinations must ensue,
In clear untroubled order let your words
Leave us no future violence to be fear'd.

Filippa
(returning the paper).
The queen hath acted as she always acts,
Discreetly; bravely; it becomes her race
And station: what becomes a faithful subject
Let us do now.

[The Queen enters.
Sancia Terlizzi.
Turn: lo, the queen herself!

Del Balzo.
Lady! there is one chamber in the realm,
And only one, and that but for one day,
You may not enter.

Giovanna.
Which is that, Del Balzo?

Del Balzo.
Where the judge sits against the criminal.

Giovanna.
Criminal! none are here.

Del Balzo.
If all my wishes
Avail'd me, there were none.

Giovanna.
Sure, sure, the palace
Is sacred.

Del Balzo.
Sacred deeds make every place
Sacred, unholy ones make all unholy.

Giovanna.
But these are our best friends.

Filippa.
My royal mistress!
The name of friendship and the name of justice
Should stand apart. Permit me to retire . . [To Del Balzo.

Whither, sir, you must dictate.

Del Balzo.
Lead them on. [The Queen throws her arms round Filippa who gently removes them and goes.

Lady! would you protect the culpable?

Giovanna.
Ugo del Balzo! would you wrong the queen?

Del Balzo.
I recognise the lofty race of Robert,
And my arm strengthens and my heart dilates.

Giovanna.
Perform your duty, sir, and all your duty;
Win praise, win glory . . mine can be but tears.

[Goes.

SCENE IV.

Fra Rupert, Del Balzo.
Fra Rupert.
Confessionals are close; and closer still
The heart that holds one treasure.

Del Balzo.
Father Rupert!
What brought thee hither at this busy hour?

Fra Rupert.
My duty: I must not delay my duty.

Del Balzo.
What is it?

Fra Rupert.
I would fain absolve from sin
(Far as the Church allows) the worst of sinners.

Del Balzo.
In few plain words, who sent for thee?

Fra Rupert.
In fewer,
I scorn thy question.

Del Balzo.
Father! thou must wait.
The prince's death involves some powerful ones,
Whose guilt or innocence shall presently
Be ascertained.

Fra Rupert.
What! and shall man hear first
The guilty soul confess its secret sin?
Shall not the angels carry up the tale
Before the people catch it?

Del Balzo.
They, no doubt,
Already have done this.

Fra Rupert.
Not half, not half.

Del Balzo.
Father! it seems thou knowest more about it
Than I or any else. Why reddenest thou?

Fra Rupert.
Dost think, Del Balzo, any word escapes
The sanctuary of consciences? the throne
Of grace and mercy on our earth below?
The purifier, the confessional?
So then! some powerful ones are apprehended
For what they did! O merciful Del Balzo!
Be sparing of a woman's blood, Del Balzo!
And age hath claims upon our pity too;
And so hath youth, alas! and early ties
Suddenly broken shock far round about.
Beside; who knows . . thou canst not certainly . .
If any can . . they may be innocent,
Each of the three, one more, one less, perhaps:
Innocent should be all whose guilt lacks proof.
O my poor child Andrea, pardon me!
Thou wouldst not have sought blood for blood, Andrea!
Thou didst love all these women! most of all
Her . . but there's justice, even on earth, Andrea!

[Goes.
Del Balzo.
'Tis so! that stern proud bosom bursts with grief.

SCENE V.

Maria.
Ah, why, Del Balzo, have you let come in
The filthy monk, Fra Rupert? He has frightened
Sancia Terlizzi almost into fainting.
And tell me by what right hath he or any
Ordered her up into her room, and taken
Her mother down below, into those chambers
Which we have always been forbid to enter!

Del Balzo.
Perhaps to ask some questions; for the queen
Ought to be satisfied.

Maria.
Then let me go
And ask her: she would tell me in a moment
What they will never get from her.

Del Balzo.
Perhaps,
O princess! you may have mistaken.

Maria.
No:
I never was mistaken in Filippa.
Rudeness can neither move nor discompose her:
A word, a look, of kindness, instantly
Opens her heart and brings her cheek upon you.

Del Balzo.
The countess has more glorious qualities
Than noble birth has given any else.
Whether her heart has all that tenderness . .

Maria.
Is my heart tender.

Del Balzo.
Be it not too tender,
Or it may suffer much, and speedily,
And undeservedly. The queen your sister,
Gentle as you, hath fortitude.

Maria.
Giovanna
Is tenderer than I am; she sheds tears
Oftener than I do, though she hides them better.

Del Balzo.
I saw their traces: but more royally
Never shone courage upon grief opprest.

Maria.
The lovely platane in the garden-walk
Catches the sun upon her buds half-open,
And looks the brightest where unbarkt and unscathed.
O find them out who have afflicted her
With that most cruel blow.

Del Balzo.
'Tis what she bade me,
And what I now am hastening to perform.

[Goes.
Giovanna enters.
Maria.
Courage, Giovanna! courage, my sweet sister!
Del Balzo will find out those wicked men.
O! I forgot to tell him what assistance
Fra Rupert might afford him. Every crime
Is known to him. But certainly Fra Rupert,
Who loved Andrea so, will never cease
Until he find the slayer of his friend.
Ah my poor sister! if you had but heard
The praises of Del Balzo, you would soon
Resume your courage and subdue your tears.

Giovanna.
Before Del Balzo, sister, I disdain
To show them or to speak of them. Be mine
Hid from all eyes! God only knows their source,
Their truth or falsehood. In the light of day
Some lose their bitterness, run smoothly on,
And catch compassion, leisurely, serenely:
Never will mine run thus: my sorrows lie
In my own breast; my fame rests upon others,
Who throw it from them now the blast has nipt it.
'Tis ever so. Applauses win applauses,
Crowds gather about crowds, the solitary
Are shunned as lepers, and in haste past by.

Maria.
But we will not be solitary; we
Are not so easy to pass by in haste;
We are not very leper-looking.

Giovanna.
Cease,
Maria! nothing on this earth so wounds
The stricken bosom as such sportiveness,
Or weighs worn spirits down like levity.
Give me your hand . . Reproof is not reproach.
I might have done the same . . how recently!

Maria.
Hark! what is all that outcry?

Giovanna.
'Tis for him
Whom we have lost.

Maria.
But angry voices mixt
With sorrowful?

Giovanna.
To him both due alike.

Spinello enters.
Spinello.
Hungarian troops throng every street and lane,
Driving before them the infirm, the aged,
The children, of both sexes.

Giovanna.
Shelter them.

Spinello.
Such is the hope of those base enemies,
That, unprovided for defence, the castle
May fall into their hands: and very quickly
(Unless we drive them back) our scanty stores
Leave us exhausted.

Giovanna.
Dost thou fear, Spinello?

Spinello.
I do: but if my sovran bids me bare
This breast of armour and assail her foes,
Soon shall she see what fears there lie within.

Giovanna.
Let me too have my fears, nor worse than thine,
Loyal and brave Spinello! Dare I ask
Of God my daily bread nor give it those
Whose daily prayers have earned it for us all?
I dare not. Throw wide open every gate
And stand between the last of my poor people
And those who drive them in.

Spinello.
We then are lost.

Giovanna.
Not from God's sight, nor theirs who look to God.

Maria.
O sister! may that smile of yours be parent
Of many. It sinks back, and dies upon
The lovely couch it rose from. [Del Balzo enters.]
I will go;
Del Balzo looks, I think, more stern than ever.

Giovanna.
Del Balzo, I perceive thou knowest all,
And pitiest my condition.

[Del Balzo amazed.
Spinello.
Standest thou,
Lookest thou, thus, before thy sovran, sir?

Giovanna.
Be friends, be friends, and spare me one affront.
Wiser it were, and worthier, to devise
How tumults may be quell'd than how increast.
On your discretion lies your country's weal.

[Goes.
Spinello.
Ugo del Balzo! thou art strong in war,
Strong in alliances, in virtue strong,
But darest thou, before the queen, before
The lowest of the loyal, thus impute
With brow of scorn and figure fixt aslant,
Atrocious crimes to purity angelic?

Del Balzo.
Heard'st thou her words and askest thou this question?
Spinello! nor in virtue nor in courage
(Our best alliances) have I pretence
To stand before thee. Chancellor thou art,
And, by the nature of thy office, shouldst
Have undertaken my most awful duty:
Why didst thou not?

Spinello.
Because the queen herself
Will'd otherwise; because her chancellor,
She thought, might vindicate some near unduly.

Del Balzo.
She thought so? what! of thee?

Spinello.
Thus it appears.
But on this subject never word escaped
Her lips to me: her own pure spirit frankly
Suggested it: her delicacy shunn'd
All explanation, lacking no excuse.
Thou askest if I heard her at thy entrance:
I heard her, like thyself. The words before
Thou didst not hear; I did. Her last appeal
Was for the wretched driven within the castle,
And doom'd to pine or force us to surrender.
For them she call'd upon thee, never else,
To pity her condition.

Del Balzo.
Pardon me!
I have much wrong'd her. Yet, among the questioned
Were strange confessions. One alone spake scornfully
Amid her tortures.

Spinello.
Is the torture, then,
The tongue of Truth?

Del Balzo.
For once, I fear, 'tis not.

Spinello.
It was Giovanna's resolute design
To issue her first edict through the land
Abolishing this horrid artifice,
Whereby the harden'd only can escape.
“The cruel best bear cruelty,” said she,
“And those who often have committed it
May once go through it.”

Del Balzo.
And would'st thou, Spinello!
Thus lay aside the just restraints of law,
Abolishing what wise and holy men
Raised for the safeguard of society?

Spinello.
The holy and the wise have done such things
As the unwise and the unholy shrink at.

Del Balzo.
It might be thought a hardship in a country
Where laws want ingenuity; where scales,
Bandage, and sword, alone betoken Justice.
Ill-furbisht ineffective armoury,
With nothing but cross-shooting shafts of words!

Spinello.
Since every deed like torture must afflict
A youthful breast, so mild, so sensitive,
Trust it to me, and we will then devise
How the event may best be laid before her.

Del Balzo.
A clue was given by unwilling hands,
Wherewith we entered the dark narrow chambers
Of this strange mystery. Filippa first,
Interrogated if she knew the murderer,
Denied it: then, if she suspected any;
“I do,” was her reply. Whom? She was silent.
Where should suspicion now (tell me, Spinello!)
Wander or fix? I askt her if the Queen
Was privy to the deed. Then swell'd her scorn.
Again I askt her, and show'd the rack.
“Throw me upon it; I will answer thence,”
Said with calm voice Filippa. She was rackt.
Screams from all round fill'd the whole vault. “See, children!
How those who fear their God and love their Prince
Can bear this childish cruelty,” said she.
Although no other voice escaped, the men
Trembled, the women wail'd aloud. “To-morrow,”
Said I, “Filippa! thou must answer Justice.
Release her.” Still the smile was on her face:
She was releast: Death had come down and saved her.

Spinello.
Faithfullest friend of the unhappy! plead
For us whose duty was to plead for thee!
Thou art among the Blessed! On, Del Balzo!

Del Balzo.
Sancia, her daughter's child . .

Spinello.
The playful Sancia?
Whose fifteenth birthday we both kept together . .
Was it the sixth or seventh of last March? . .
Terlizzi's bride two months ago?

Del Balzo.
The same.

Spinello.
And the same fate?

Del Balzo.
She never had seen Death:
She thought her cries could drive him off again,
Thought her soft lips might have relaxt the rigid,
And her warm tears . .

Spinello.
Del Balzo! wert thou there?
Or tearest thou such dreamery from some book,
If any book contain such?

Del Balzo.
I was there;
And what I saw I ordered to be done.
Justice would have it; Justice smote my heart,
Justice sustained it too.

Spinello.
Her husband would
Rather have died than hear one shriek from Sancia.

Del Balzo.
So all men would: for never form so lovely
Lighted the air around it.

Spinello.
Let us go
And bear her home.

Del Balzo.
To me the way lies open;
But much I fear, Spinello, the Hungarians
Possess all avenue to thy escape.

Spinello.
Escape is not the word for me, my friend.
I had forgotten the Hungarians
(It seems) the Queen, myself, captivity . .
I may not hence: relate then if more horrors
Succeeded.

Del Balzo.
When Terlizzi saw Filippa
Lie stiff before him, and that gentle bride
Chafing her limbs, and shrinking with loud yells
Whenever her soft hand felt some swol'n sinew,
In hopes to finish here and save all else,
He cried aloud, “Filippa was the murderess.”
At this she darted at him such a glance
As the mad only dart, and fell down dead.
“'Tis false! 'tis false!” cried he. “Speak, Sancia, speak!
Or hear me say 'tis false.” They dragg'd away
The wavering youth, and fixt him. There he lies,
With what result of such inconstancy
I know not, but am going to inquire . .
If we detect the murderers, all these pains
Are well inflicted.

Spinello.
But if not?

Del Balzo.
The Laws
Have done their duty and struck fear through all.

Spinello.
Alas! that duty seems their only one.

Del Balzo.
Among the first 'tis surely. I must go
And gather up fresh evidence. Farewell,
Spinello.

Spinello.
May good angels guide your steps!
Farewell! That Heaven should give the merciless
So much of power, the merciful so little!