University of Virginia Library

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

RIENZI'S OWN APARTMENT IN THE CAPITOL. Rienzi, Friar Anselmo, and poor Neapolitans.
Rienzi.
Who creeps there yonder with his fingers folded?
Hither; what wantest thou? who art thou, man?

Anselmo.
The humblest of the humble, your Anselmo.

Rienzi.
Mine?

Anselmo.
In all duty.

Rienzi.
Whence art thou?

Anselmo.
From Naples.

Rienzi.
What askest thou?

Anselmo.
In the most holy names
Of Saint Euphemia and Saint Cunigund!
And in behalf of these poor creatures ask I
Justice and mercy.

Rienzi.
On what count?

Anselmo.
On life.

Rienzi.
Who threatens it in Rome?

Anselmo.
In Rome none dare
Under the guardianship of your tribunal.
But Naples is abandoned to her fate
By those who ruled her. Those, alas! who ruled her
Heaven has abandoned. Crimes, outrageous crimes,
Have swept them from their people. We alone
In poverty are left for the protection
Of the more starving populace. O hear,
Merciful Tribune! hear their cries for bread!

[All cry out.
Anselmo
(to them).
Ye should not have cried now, ye fools! and choak ye!

Rienzi.
That worthy yonder looks well satisfied:
All of him, but his shoulder, seems at ease.

Anselmo.
Tommaso! art thou satisfied?

Tommaso.
Not I.
A fish upon my bread, at least on Friday,
Had done my body and my soul some good,
And quicken'd one and t'other at thanksgiving.
Anchovies are rare cooks for garlic, master!

[To Rienzi.
Anselmo.
I sigh for such delusion.

Rienzi.
So do I.
How came they hither?

Anselmo.
By a miracle.

Rienzi.
My honest friends! what can we do for you
At Rome?

Anselmo.
Speak. Does the Devil gripe your tongues?

Mob.
We crave our daily bread from holy hands,
And from none other.

Rienzi.
Then your daily bread
Ye will eat hot, and delicately small.
Frate Anselmo, what means this?

Anselmo.
It means,
O tribune, that the lady, late our queen,
Hath set aside broad lands and blooming gardens
For hospitals; which, with unrighteous zeal,
She builds with every church. There Saint Antonio
Beyond the gate of Capua! there Saint Martin
On Mount Saint-Eremo! there Saint Maria
Incoronata! All their hospitals!
No one hath monastery! no one nuns!

Rienzi.
Hard, hard upon you! But what means were yours
To bring so many supplicants so long
A journey with you?

Anselmo.
'Twas a miracle.

Rienzi.
Miracles never are of great duration.
Hurry them back! Hurry ye while it lasts!
I would not spoil it with occult supplies,
I reverence holy men too much for that,
And leave them to the only power above them.
Possibly quails and manna may not cross you
If you procrastinate. But, setting out
To-morrow, by whichever gate seems luckiest,
And questioning your honest mules discreetly,
I boldly answer for it, ye shall find
By their mild winking (should they hold their tongues)
The coin of our lord Clement on the back
Of one or other, in some well-thonged scrip.

Anselmo
(aside).
Atheist!

Tommaso.
Ah no, father! Atheists
Never lift up their eyes as you and he do. [Going together.

I know one in a twinkling. For example,
Cosimo Cappa was one. He denied
A miracle his mother might have seen
Not twelve miles from his very door, when she
Was heavy with him; and the saint who workt it,
To make him one, cost thirteen thousand ducats.
There was an atheist for you! that same Cappa . .
I saw him burnt . . a fine fresh lusty man.
I warrant I remember it: I won
A heap of chestnuts on that day at morra.
A sad poor place this Rome! look where you will,
No drying paste here dangles from the windows
Across the sunny street, to make it cheerful;
And much I doubt if, after all its fame,
The nasty yellow river breeds anchovies.

SCENE II.

RIENZI'S OWN APARTMENT IN THE CAPITOL. Rienzi and his Wife.
Rienzi.
I have been sore perplext, and still am so.

Wife.
Yet falsehood drops from truth, as quicksilver
From gold, and ministers to purify it.

Rienzi.
The favour of the people is uncertain.

Wife.
Gravely thou givest this intelligence.
Thus there are people in a northern isle
Who tell each other that the weather changes,
And, when the sun shines, say the day looks bright,
And, when it shines not, there are clouds above.

Rienzi.
Some little fief, some dukedom, we'll suppose,
Might shelter us against a sudden storm.

Wife.
Not so: we should be crusht between two rocks,
The people and the barons. Both would hate thee,
Both call thee traitor, and both call thee truly.

Rienzi.
When we stand high, the shaft comes slowly up;
We see the feather, not the point; and that
Loses what venom it might have below.

Wife.
I thought the queen of Naples occupied
Thy mind entirely.

Rienzi.
From the queen of Naples
My hopes originate. The pope is willing
To grant me an investiture when I
Have given up to him, by my decree,
Some of her cities.

Wife.
Then it is untrue
Thou hast acquitted her of crime.

Rienzi.
I did;
But may condemn her yet: the king of Hungary
Is yet unheard: there are strong doubts: who knows
But stronger may arise! My mind misgives.
Tell me thou thinkest her in fault. One word
Would satisfy me.

Wife.
Not in fault, thou meanest.

Rienzi.
In fault, in fault, I say.

Wife.
No, not in fault,
Much less so foully criminal.

Rienzi.
O! could I
Absolve her!

Wife.
If her guilt be manifest,
Absolve her not; deliver her to death.

Rienzi.
From what the pope and king of Hungary
Adduce . . at present not quite openly . .
I must condemn her.

Wife.
Dost thou deem her guilty?

Rienzi.
O God! I wish she were! I must condemn her.

Wife.
Husband! art thou gone mad?

Rienzi.
None are much else
Who mount so high, none can stand firm, none look
Without a fear of falling: and, to fall! . .
No, no, 'tis not, 'tis not the worst disgrace.

Wife.
What hast thou done? Have thine eyes seen corruption?

Rienzi.
Thinkest thou gold could move Rienzi? gold
(Working incessantly demoniac miracles)
Could chain down Justice, or turn blood to water?

Wife.
Who scorns the ingot may not scorn the mine.
Gold may not move thee, yet what brings gold may.
Ambition is but avarice in mail,
Blinder, and often weaker. Is there strength,
Cola! or speed, in the oblique and wry?
Of blood turn'd into water talkest thou?
Take heed thou turn not water into blood
And show the pure impure. If thou do this,
Eternal is the stain upon thy hand;
Freedom thro' thee will be the proud man's scoff,
The wise man's problem; even the slave himself
Will rather bear the scourge than trust the snare.
Thou hast brought large materials, large and solid,
To build thy glory on: if equity
Be not the base, lay not one stone above.
Thou hast won the influence over potent minds,
Relax it not. Truth is a tower of strength,
No Babel one: it may be rais'd to heaven
And will not anger God.

Rienzi.
Who doubts my justice?

Wife.
Thyself. Who prosecutes the criminal?
Thyself? Who racks the criminal? Thyself.
Unhappy man! how maim'd art thou! what limb
Proportionate! what feature undisfigured!
Go, bathe in porphyry . . thy leprosy
Will never quit thee: thou hast eaten fruit
That brings all sins, and leaves but death behind.

Rienzi.
But hear me.

Wife.
I have heard thee, and such words
As one who loves thee never should have heard.

Rienzi.
I must provide against baronial power
By every aid, external and internal,
For, since my elevation, many friends
Have fallen from me.

Wife.
Throw not off the rest.
What! is it then enough to stand before
The little crags and sweep the lizards down
From their warm basking-place with idle wand,
While under them the drowsy panther lies
Twitching his paw in his dark lair, and waits
Secure of springing when thy back is turned?
Popular power can stand but with the people:
Let them trust none a palm above themselves,
For sympathy in high degrees is frozen.

Rienzi.
Such are my sentiments.

Wife.
Thy sentiments!
They were thy passion. Are they sentiments?
Go! there's the distaff in the other room.

Rienzi.
Thou blamed'st not what seemed ambition in me.

Wife.
Because it gave thee power to bless thy country.
Stood tribunitial ever without right?
Sat ever papal without perfidy?
O tribune! tribune! whom weak woman teaches!
If thou deceivest men, go, next enslave them;
Else is no safety. Would'st thou that?

Rienzi.
To make
Any new road, some plants there must be crusht,
And not the higher only, here and there.
Whoever purposes great good, must do
Some partial evil.

Wife.
Thou hast done great good
Without that evil yet. Power in its prime
Is beautiful, but sickened by excess
Collapses into loathsomeness; and scorn
Shrivels to dust its fierce decrepitude.

Rienzi.
Am I deficient then in manly deeds,
Or in persuasion?

Wife.
Of all manly deeds
Oftentimes the most honest are the bravest,
And no persuasion so persuades as truth.

Rienzi.
Peace! peace! confound me not.

Wife.
The brave, the wise,
The just are never, even by foes, confounded.
Promise me but one thing. If in thy soul
Thou thinkest this young woman free from blame,
Thou wilt absolve her, openly, with honour,
Whatever Hungary, whatever Avignon,
May whisper or may threaten.

Rienzi.
If my power
Will bear it; if the sentence will not shake
This scarlet off my shoulder.

Wife.
Cola! Cola!

SCENE III.

TRIBUNAL IN THE CAPITOL. Rienzi, Citizens, &c.
Citizen.
There is a banner at the gates.

Rienzi.
A banner!
Who dares hoist banner at the gates of Rome?

Citizen.
A royal crown surmounts it.

Rienzi.
Down with it!

Citizen.
A king, 'tis said, bears it himself in hand.

Rienzi.
Trample it in the dust, and drag him hither.
What are those shouts? Look forth.

Usher
(having looked out).
The people cry
Around four knights who bear a sable flag:
One's helm is fashion'd like a kingly crown.

Rienzi.
Strike off his head who let the accursed symbol
Of royalty come within Roman gate:
See this be done: then bind the bold offenders. [Lewis of Hungary enters.

Who art thou?

Lewis.
King of Hungary.

Rienzi.
What brings thee?

Lewis.
Tribune! thou knowest well what brings me hither.
Fraternal love, insulted honour, bring me.
Thinkest thou I complain of empty forms
Violated to chafe me? thinkest thou
'Tis that I waited in the port of Trieste
For invitation to my brother's wedding,
Nor invitation came, nor embassy?
Now creaks the motive. Silly masquerade
Usurpt the place of tilt and tournament;
No knight attended from without, save one,
Our cousin of Taranto: why he came,
Before all earth the dire event discloses.

Rienzi.
Lewis of Hungary! it suits not us
To regulate the laws of chivalry
Or forms of embassies. We know there may be
Less folly in the lightest festival
Than in the sternest and severest war.
Patiently have we heard; as patiently
Hear thou, in turn, the accused as the accuser;
Else neither aid nor counsel hope from me.

Lewis.
I ask no aid of thee, I want no counsel,
I claim but justice; justice I will have,
I will have vengeance for my brother's death.

Rienzi.
My brother too was murdered. Was my grief
Less deep than thine? If greater my endurance,
See what my patience brought me! all these friends
Around, and thee, a prince, a king, before me.
Hear reason, as becomes a Christian knight.

Lewis.
Ye always say to those who suffer wrong,
Hear reason! Is not that another wrong?
He who throws fuel on a fiery furnace
Cries, Wait my signal for it! blaze not yet!
Issue one edict more: proclaim, O tribune,
Heat never shall be fire, nor fire be flame.

Rienzi.
King Lewis! I do issue such an edict
(Absurd as thou mayest deem it) in this place.
Hell hath its thunders, loud and fierce as Heaven's,
Heaven is more great and glorious in its calm:
In this clear region is the abode of Justice.

Lewis.
Was it well, tribune, to have heard the cause,
Nay and to have decided it, before
Both sides were here? The murderess hath departed,
And may have won her city from the grasp
Of my brave people, who avenge their prince,
The mild Andrea. Justice I will have,
I will have vengeance.

Rienzi.
Every man may ask
If what I do is well: and angry tones,
Tho' unbecoming, are not unforgiven
Where virtuous grief bursts forth. But, king of Hungary,
We now will change awhile interrogations.
I ask thee was it well to bring with thee
Into our states a banner that blows up
The people into fury? and a people
Not subject to thy sceptre or thy will?
We knew not of thy coming. When thy friends
In Naples urged us to decide the cause,
'Twas in thy name, as guardian to thy brother,
Bringing against the queen such accusations,
And so supported, that we ordered her
To come before us and defend herself.
She did it, nor delayed. The cardinal
Bishop of Orvieto and the Cardinal
Del Sangro on their part, on hers Del Balzo
And Acciajoli, have examined all
The papers, heard the witnesses, and signed
Their sentence under each. These we suggest
To the approval of thy chancery.

Lewis.
Chanceries were not made for murderesses.

Rienzi.
I am not learned like the race of kings,
Yet doth my memory hold the scanty lore
It caught betimes, and there I find it written,
Not in Hungarian nor in Roman speech,
Vengeance is mine. We execute the laws
Against the disobedient, not against
Those who submit to our award. The queen
Of Naples hath submitted. She is free,
Unless new proof and stronger be adduced
To warrant her recall into my presence.

Lewis.
Recall'd she shall be then, and proof adduced.

Rienzi.
We have detected falsehood in its stead.

Lewis.
I will have justice, come it whence it may.

Rienzi.
Cecco Mancino! read the law against
Those who accuse maliciously or lightly.

Mancino.
(reads).
“Who shall accuse another, nor make good
His accusation, shall incur such fine,
Or such infliction of the scourge, as that
False accusation righteously deserves.”

Rienzi.
Fine cannot satisfy the wrongs that royalty
Receives from royalty.

Lewis.
Wouldst thou inflict
The scourge on kings?

Rienzi.
The lictor would, not I.

Lewis.
What insult may we not expect ere long!
And yet we fare not worst from demagogues.
Those who have risen from the people's fist
Perch first upon their shoulders, then upon
Their heads, and then devour their addled brain.

Rienzi.
We have seen such of old.

Lewis.
Hast thou seen one
True to his feeder where power whistled shriller,
Shaking the tassels and the fur before him?

Rienzi.
History now grows rather dim with me,
And memory less vivacious than it was:
No time for hawks, no tendency to hounds!

Lewis.
Cold sneers are your calm judgments! Here at Rome
To raise false hopes under false promises
Is wisdom! and on such do we rely!

Rienzi.
Wisdom with us is not hereditary,
Nor brought us from the woods in ermine-skins,
Nor pinned upon our tuckers ere we chew,
Nor offered with the whistle on bent knee,
But, King of Hungary! we can and do
In some reward it and in all revere;
We have no right to scoff at it, thou hast.
Cecco Mancino!

Mancino.
Tribune most august!

Rienzi
(turning his back, and pointing to the eagles over his tribunal).
Furl me that flag. Now place it underneath
The eagles there. When the king goes, restore it.

[Walks down from the tribunal.