The Count Arezzi A Tragedy, In Five Acts |
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 | The Count Arezzi |  |
6
SCENE II.
The Royal Palace in Naples.Arezzi and Cicilia.
AREZZI.
Prince Andria and the duchess both forbid it?
And now we may not speak, nor see each other,
This they call just!
CICILIA.
Yes, we may see and speak,
But not as lovers.
AREZZI.
How then else—as friends?
You say so too, Cicilia? Well, henceforth, friends!
And thus we fall more easily. It is
The temperate grade upon a sinking scale,
Where honor sticks awhile as love is changing;
Tired Fancy's bating place; a comma mark'd
'Twixt faith and fraud—the shower before a thaw—
Consumption's hectic—or a breath to cool
The blistering scalds of perjury and shame!—
Love's short and dreary twilight ends in storms!
The incense on his altar once put out,
Will burn no more. Those fires, like Vesta's, last
Pure and immutable while faith preserves them
But lost, they leave a portent in their place;
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We, that have lov'd so long, must talk of friendship!
Garnish our goodly thoughts in gracious words,
And end with trash like this!
CICILIA.
But why blame me?
AREZZI.
Can love, through choice recede, and step by step
Descend as he ascended? O! but softly;
You may remind me that my folly runs
Too fast before your wisdom. You are wise,
Those lips have never promised love! their smiles
Were happy things to dream of, and my pride,
Gave mute looks, words.
CICILIA.
Then faith stands clear; you say
I never promised love?
AREZZI.
I do.
CICILIA.
If so—
Shame, which has kept me silent, dies with hope:
I promise now. But this seems hard, Arezzi,
Thus ever when we meet, distrust and blame!
Is only one unhappy?—both are bound
With fetters which we must not hope to break,
And if we might, say, would we?
AREZZI.
I will doubt
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Unjust, ungrateful, undeserving ever,
To be thus happy now!
CICILIA.
Ah! wherefore happy?
Love must be silent here: his wings themselves,
Which flutter lightly o'er the fond and blessed,
Might waken who would part us.
AREZZI.
Let them wake, then;
Shall we, whose servitude has easier names,
With blood as noble as their own, and hearts
As high as theirs, still eat the bread they give
In fear, forsooth, and thankfulness? endure
Rebuke with reverence—curtesy when they smile—
Do, or do not; nay love and hate by rule—
Go as their horses go, now checked or urged,
Approved and patted, threatened and chastised,—
And this because they feed us?
CICILIA.
It were just
To say—because they love us: they have earned
Their right, by doing good, to do their will—
At least be just, Arezzi.
AREZZI.
For myself
I would that they had left me where they found,
To thrive or perish as high Heaven saw best,
So I might thank none else.
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We may miscal
A thankless spirit, a great one. Who besides
Would talk of tyranny here? The laws consign
The orphan to its kindred—me they placed
Safe in a two-fold wardship; first, of blood,
And, next, of sovereignty. The king transferred
His office to his sister, and I live
Where bounty shows its attributes, but hides
Its face and name—a daughter of their house,
A child, and not a subject.
AREZZI.
I alas!
I but a sort of pigmy too, must bear
A burden huge as Etna, and my loins
Raw with the torment of this burning debt,
Be scorched as well as wearied. Well, well, well,
I will repent, confess myself unjust—
Ungrateful! say not so—you shall not think so,
Nor henceforth find it so. From my soul, Cicilia,
I reverence both.
CICILIA.
Prove that by what you do;
It is the mock of service to profess
All other duties but the one thing bidden,
And start from that.
AREZZI.
Ah! that is all, or more
Than all beside—the excepted fruit withheld,
10
CICILIA.
Nay, then, farewell.
[Exeunt.
| The Count Arezzi | |