University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

—A Magnificent Hall in the Capitol.
Enter Colonna, R., Ursini, Frangipani, Cafarello, the Nuncio, an Ambassador, Nobles, &c., R. and L.
Col.
(R.)
Gibbet and cord! a base plebeian death!
And he the head of the great Roman name,
That rivalled the Colonna! Ursini,
Thy brother shall not die. The grief is thine,
The shame is general. How say ye, barons?

Urs.
If ye resist, ye share his doom. Plead! plead!
Dissemble with the tyrant,—stifle hate,
And master scorn, as I have done. Plead for him.

Col.
To Cola! Can I frame my speech to sue
To Cola—most familiar of the drones
That thronged my hall of afternoons, content
To sit below the salt, and bear all jests,—
The retinue and pest of greatness. Sue
To Cola!

Urs.
(C.)
Fear not, but revenge will come,
We being friends, from whose dissension sprang
The usurper's strength. An hour will come.
Enter Angelo, L.
Lord Angelo,
Thou wilt not fail us.

Ang.
Surely, no! 'tis stern,
[Goes up to Ursini.
Revengeful, cruel, pitiless! The people—
To soothe the fickle people—yet he's wiser:
He'll be persuaded.

Fra.
He approaches.

[Music without, R.
Col.
What!
Ushered with music as a king.

Enter Rienzi, R., attended.
Rie.
(R.)
Why, this
Is well, my lords, this full assemblage. Now
The chief of Rome stands fitly girt with names
Strong as their towers around him. Fall not off,
And we shall be impregnable.
[Advancing up the Room.
Lord Nuncio,
I should have asked thy blessing. I have sent
Our missions to the pontiff. Count Savelli,
(L.)
My lord ambassador, I crave your pardon.
What news from Venice, the sea-queen? Savelli,
I have a little maiden who must know
Thy fairest daughter. Angelo, colonna,
A double welcome! Rome lacked half her state
Wanting her princely Columns.

Col.
(R.)
Sir, I come
A suitor to thee.—Martin Ursini—

Rie.
(C.)
When last his name was on thy lips.—Well, sir,
Thy suit, thy suit! If pardon, take at once
My answer.—No.

[Crosses to Angelo, in R. corner.—Colonna goes up.
Ang.
Yet, mercy—

Rie.
Angelo,
Waste not thy pleadings on a desperate cause
And a resolved spirit. She awaits thee.
Haste to that fairer court.
[Exit Angelo, R.
My Lord Colonna,
This is a needful justice.

Col.
(R.)
Noble Tribune,
It is a crime which custom—

Rie.
Ay, the law
Of the strong against the weak—your law, the law
Of the sword and spear. But, gentles, ye live now
Under the good estate.

[Crossing to C.
Sav.
He is noble.

Rie.
Therefore,
A thousand times he dies. Ye are noble, sirs,
And need a warning.

Col.
Sick, almost to death.

Rie.
Ye have less cause to grieve.

Fra.
New-wedded.

Rie.
Ay,
Madonna Laura is a blooming dame,
And will become her weeds.

Caf.
Remember, Tribune,
He hath two uncles, cardinals. Wouldst outrage
The sacred college?

Rie.
The lord cardinals,
Meek, pious, lowly men, and loving virtue,
Will render thanks to him who wipes a blot
So flagrant from their name.

Col.
(R.)
An Ursini!
Head of the Ursini!

Urs.
Mine only brother!

[Crossing to Rienzi.
Rie.
And darest talk thou to me of brothers? Thou,
Whose groom—wouldst have me break my own just laws,
To save thy brother? thine! Hast thou forgotten
When that most beautiful and blameless boy,
The prettiest piece of innocence that ever
Breath'd in this sinful world, lay at thy feet,
Slain by thy pampered minion, and I knelt
Before thee for redress, whilst thou—didst never
Hear talk of retribution? This is justice,
Pure justice, not revenge!—Mark well, my lords,—
Pure equal justice. Martin Ursini
Had open trial, is guilty, is condemned,
And he shall die!

Col.
Yet listen to us—

Rie.
Lords,
If ye could range before me all the peers,
Prelates, and potentates of Christendom,—
The holy pontiff kneeling at my knee,
And emperors crouching at my feet, to sue
For this great robber, still I should be blind
As justice. But this very day a wife,
One infant hanging at her breast, and two,
Scarce bigger, first-born twins of misery,
Clinging to the poor rags that scarcely hid
Her squalid form, grasped at my bridle-rein
To beg her husband's life; condemned to die
For some vile petty theft, some paltry scudi:
And, whilst the fiery war-horse chaf'd and seared,
Shaking his crest, and plunging to get free,
There, midst the dangerous coil, unmov'd, she stood,
Pleading in piercing words, the very cry
Of nature! And, when I at last said no—
For I said no to her—she flung herself
And those poor innocent babes between the stones
And my hot Arab's hoofs. We sav'd them all,—
Thank heaven, we saved them all! but I said no
To that sad woman, midst her shrieks. Ye dare not
Ask me for mercy now.

Sav.
Yet he is noble!
Let him not die a felon's death:

Rie.
Again,
Ye weary me. No more of this. Colonna,
Thy son loves my fair daughter. 'Tis an union,
However my young Claudia might have graced
A monarch's side, that augurs hopefully—
Bliss to the wedded pair, and peace to Rome,
“And it shall be accomplished. Good my lords
I bid ye to the bridal; one and all,
I bid ye to the bridal feast. And now
A fair good morrow!

[Exit Rienzi, R., attended by Nuncio, Ambassador and other Lords, &c.
Sav.
Hath stern destiny
Clothed him in this man's shape, that, in a breath,
He deals out death and marriage? Ursini!
Colonna! be ye stunned?

Col.
I'll follow him!
Tyrant! usurper! base-born churl! to deem
That son of mine—

Urs.
(C.)
Submit, as I have done,
For vengeance. From our grief and shame shall spring
A second retribution; and this banquet,—
This nuptial banquet, this triumphal hour,
Shall be the very scene of our revenge!
I may not loiter here. The fatal moment
Of our disgrace is nigh.—Ere evening close,
I'll seek thee at thy palace. Seem to yield,
And victory is sure.

Col.
I'll take thy counsel.

[Exeunt Colonna, R., the rest, L.