University of Virginia Library

SCENE IV.

Ante-chamber of the Duke's private apartment. A leaden-grey curtain is drawn across the back of it. Enter Cosmo, from behind the curtain.
Cosmo.
The solid earth beneath me seems to rock;
Yet will not I!—like Justice, will I stand
Upon mine own foundation—steel'd in right!
And thou—O, vast marmoreal arch above!
Whereon the luminous host in silence range;
Glorified giants and portentous powers,
Coeval, coeternal with the spheres—
Who gaze with solar face on this my deed;
O, spanning arch! yawn thou, and let heaven down,
To crush me ere I do't, if I be wrong!

Enter Garcia.
Gar.
(after a pause).
Sir, I am here.

Cosmo
(advancing close, and fixing his eyes upon him).
Art worthy to be here?
Shouldst thou not rather be within thy tomb?

Gar.
I rather would be there.

Cosmo.
Wherefore wouldst rather?

Gar.
Because, sir, I am sick of this vile life
Which I am made to lead by constant questions
Touching my brother's absence. Whereso'er
I turn, suspicions fang me; words are fangs,
And looks are words—therefore I'm sick of life.

Cosmo.
Thou dost anticipate me, and thy craft
Equals thy fix'd audacity.

Gar.
What craft?

Cosmo.
Come, let's be brief: you know Giovanni's murder'd!

Gar.
Murder'd, my lord!—impossible!

Cosmo.
Thou did'st it!
Thou art the murderer!

Gar.
What hideous liar
Hath blown this monstrous seed in your quick ear?

Cosmo.
Thou hast a demon's tongue, oh, iron-faced boy,
That should be rooted from its upas hold,
And cast to hungry imps! I know thou did'st it!

Gar.
Then may your Highness listen to these facts:
Cornelio and Dalmasso are both murderers—
And all the rest who follow'd to your wars!
My mother is a murderess, in that she
Hath wish'd success to wars her kin have waged!
Then, there's Ippolita—a murderess too;
Self-sacrificed, and in a convent buried!
And those who ne'er have done a deed of death,
Have oft in private thoughts imagined it
From causes trivial that have stirr'd their passions:
Even the child who strikes intends to kill!
Thus, all the world—

Cosmo.
Boy! boy! no more!—thou utterest
Words, the base coin of self-deceptive fiends.
I have a picture here of ancient date,
Which looks eternal—placed beyond time's hand.
[Leading him towards the curtain.
It was thy mother's gift when first we married,
And hath been treasur'd since most sacredly.
A solemn lesson doth the subject teach
To erring mortals: recognize—acknowledge!

[He throws aside the curtain, and discovers the form of Giovanni laid upon a marble slab. Garcia utters no cry; but rushes down to the front, followed by Cosmo, who points to his face.]
Gar.
(after a pause of horror).
I did it!

Cosmo.
Oh unnatural government,
That in a mental den lock'd up such deed!
How doth it force itself thro' the cold pores
Of that metallic mask, and curdle there!
Garcia! thy soul is lost!

Gar.
(abstractedly).
It is the form
Of my unburied brother!—peaceful heaven
Cherish his soul, and let it plead my cause!

Cosmo.
Thy cause, oh murderous boy!

Gar.
I am no murderer!

Cosmo.
Now dost thou snatch the earth from under me,
And leave me grappling space!—hast thou not said
Thou did'st it?

Gar.
Father, it is true he fell
In our fierce struggle—else I had not been here,
My chance to curse!

Cosmo.
What villainous evasion
Wouldst thou insinuate? Speak, ere I slay thee;
For self-command will burst my inner world,
And chaos whelm us both!

Gar.
He first attack'd me!
And in mine own defence, I know not how,
Madly I parried him—I am innocent!

Cosmo.
Monstrous untruth! thou wretch unparallel'd!
Too well I know thy brother's sweetest nature
Could ne'er have been so changed. Approach yon form!
[Cosmo leads him towards the body.
Nearer—more near! “Doth not the sullen blood
Revivify, and leave its kindred earth,
Acknowledging the presence of the Destroyer!”

Gar.
I see the sullen blood there fix'd, congeal'd;
I do not see it flow!—take, take away
My senses from me—do not harrow them,
Until I own what is not!

Cosmo.
Garcia! Garcia!
It is enough.—“Behold thy brother's blood!
It cries aloud for vengeance on thy head,
Waiting heaven's mandate, ministered by me!
Oh, wretched father of a fratricide—
Whom by all laws of justice I am bound
To render up to Death's capacious hand—
How wretched is surviving! But dream not
That as an impious and unequal judge
My people shall impugn me. It is better
That future times should call me barbarous
In this my private act, than as a sovereign
Weak and unjust. Therefore prepare to die!”

Gar.
Under what awful impulse dost thou act?

Cosmo
(pointing upwards).
Under Authority!

Gar.
Life's worthless to me—but to end it thus—
You do deceive yourself—yet hear me, father!
Show me the proof of this high mission?

Cosmo.
There!—
I am the father of that corpse!

Gar.
(clasping his hands).
I know it, sir; and I—I am its brother!

Cosmo.
Dar'st thou so call thyself, who art, his murderer?

Gar.
I'm no such wretch—and yet a wretch who cares not
How soon he die!

Cosmo.
That moment now is come!

[He draws forth Garcia's broken sword.
Gar.
Horrible death! by these cold, pausing steps—
Silent as heaven before the earth was made—
Yet thundering in the brain, as they advance,
Like slow, but final judgment! Do not kill me!

Cosmo.
Not final—save on earth.

Gar.
You will not kill me!
You cannot mean it!—I have done no wrong.

Cosmo.
How! with yon weltering witness?

Gar.
Heaven take me home!
I see it—see nothing else—Well, well, all's o'er—
I care not, sir! I steadily tell you that!
Brother, I pardon thee! 'twas thy good chance
To die and not to suffer as I have done:
We shall be reconciled within the tomb!

Cosmo.
Look up, ye fiends!—behold this broken blade!
Doth not the fragment pierce thine inmost sense
With this last proof?

Gar.
I have nought more to say.

Cosmo.
“Unnatural boy, 'tis fit thy course should cease,
Lest all thy family thou shouldst cut off,
Or blank their prospects and eclipse their fame;”
Choking their sun with blood, and causing tears
To fall where clarion'd glories should arise!
Leagued with fell bandits and with pirate hordes,
Perchance e'en now they hover round our gates
With bosom-heated steel.

Gar.
God is my judge!

Cosmo.
In heaven;—but first on earth it is ordain'd
There should be judges to arraign men's deeds,
And send the guilty hence to the Court Supreme!
Farewell, O, wretched son!—I cannot give
A father's blessing—yet—my son—farewell!
[Garcia kneels, and Cosmo embraces, and hangs fondly over him: then lifts himself up, and raises the sword towards heaven.]
“Thou constant God! sanction, impel, direct
The sword of Justice!—and for a criminal son
That pardon grant which his most wretched father
Thus in the hour of agony implores!”

[The scene closes; the tableau of the figures previously presenting a partial resemblance to statuary, or a monumental design, in the position, the pallid look and the immobility of the group, together with the form and colour of the dresses and draperies. The scene should be addressed to the imagination and the passions, rather than to the eye.]