 | The Sicilian Vespers |  |
SCENE II.
A Hall open to the city.—Gleams of moonlight. Conspirators discovered on the watch.ALL.
Procida! Procida!
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PROCIDA.
Welcome, right welcome, all! Some guard the avenues.
Draw round me. Say! do I meet friends or renegades?
Brief time is left us. I am pledged in blood
For your success. Be martyrs or avengers:
The choice is still your own. Salviati, speak!
SALVIATI.
I cannot. We are a disordered crowd.
Whate'er thy steadfast soul dare yet expect
Disunion and alarm will now, I fear,
Forbid to put in act. It is too late.
PROCIDA.
Too late! It is the moment! Seize it boldly.
Gaston, St. Clair, and with them every danger
Of new surprise is far removed from us.
And are there falterers among ye still?
I have staked all; and by a daring deed
Here we are masters, till resolved once more
We rush abroad, even from the spot we stand on,
To consummate our work, to win our freedom.
Be firm; be rulers of the land ye live in.
Recall your cause, and let it shame your fears.
'Tis not to change one tyrant for another,—
In humbling one, 'tis to instruct them all—
'Tis to be free! respected of ourselves,
And claim for Sicily, be king who may,
Man's equitable rights, secured and chartered.
This is the hope to which you would oppose
The chance, the desperate chance, of abject safety.
D'AQUILA.
Let Villanelli speak.
SALVIATI.
He's not among us.
FONDI.
Not here!
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Nay, never doubt him. He has been
Too openly the Viceroy's advocate
To harbour treachery. He and others think
Montfort will be the friend of Sicily.
PROCIDA.
Corrupt her friends! Rivet her chains past hope!
LORIDAN.
Behold his mortal foe,—stained with his friendship,
Wrong'd by his treachery. By me he falls!
I swear it.
PROCIDA.
Let him thus atone to Sicily.
The dazzling conqueror pants but for renown;
Ardent alone to make his king new victims,
He'll leave yon shallow rebels to his mercy—
His mercy, his who hath abandoned us
To all the licence of his robber bands
To keep them staunch, as huntsmen throw their dogs
The offal of their prey. Think ye to gain
His confidence? There's not a man of you
Shall see the natural term of his career.
His fears shall set a mark upon ye all,
And on the morrow of some sleepless night
He'll sacrifice you one by one, to soothe
The slumbers of his next. Will you die thus,
Or stand by those who have staked all for you?
MARIO.
Is there yet hope?—
PROCIDA.
Hope! never was there more.
—But that I used the moments yet our own
To stir in ye the bravery of hope,
Not desperation, I had spared this parley.
Their late alarms my bondage will have hushed;
It came too late. The springs of our design
Have now their impulse, and the work will on.
It was allotted me to spread our purpose,
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Through the close-linked confederacy. 'Tis done!
They seized me as I hastened to report it;
Destruction stands bare-weaponed for her work,
And but awaits her signal, which all hearts
Are swelling to obey. Will ye shrink now?
D'AQUILA.
'Tis plain we cannot!
PROCIDA.
If you do,
You are the worst of traitors!—Sacrifice
Your lives like idiots,—cheat the people's fury,
Which shall o'erwhelm, like the red waves of Etna,
Tenfold their foes, if you betray them not
To panic and confusion; and disgrace
A cause which Fortune has proclaimed her own!
SALVIATI.
We shall succeed.
D'AQUILA.
I am resolved.
FONDI.
And I.
LORIDAN.
Then we are all resolved!—
ALL.
All, all!
SALVIATI.
We wait the signal—
PROCIDA.
Ay, the vesper bell,
The knoll of tyranny!—a sound shall waken
The gratitude of ages free and happy.
Fate urges—and but waited that resolve
Which now encircles me with steadfast hearts!
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We touch upon the moment! Firmly, then,
And hopefully commend your swords to Heaven!
(The bell sounds.)
It sounds! Draw now, for Sicily and freedom!
ALL.
For Sicily and freedom!
PROCIDA.
Each man knows
His post!
LORIDAN.
My victim's here—I've sworn it!
PROCIDA.
Trust him! (A shout.)
Away! (To Loridan.)
We meet in Mainfroy's palace.
[Exeunt Procida and Conspirators.
LORIDAN.
Ah! shall I rush upon his privacy,
And stab him like a bravo! No! those laws—
Those sacred laws of chivalry he taught me,
Bid me disdain it. I'll await him here,
Equipp'd for combat. Ha! he comes—unarm'd!
Death to my hopes!
Enter Montfort, in disorder.
MONTFORT.
What is this uproar? Whence
The signs of death I have beheld? Where's Gaston?
LORIDAN.
Approach me not!
MONTFORT.
What mean you?
LORIDAN.
Hence!—avoid me!
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What should I fear?
LORIDAN.
I have sworn to kill thee!
MONTFORT
(presenting himself.)
Strike!
LORIDAN.
He palsies me. (inward struggle.)
MONTFORT.
If thou believ'st disloyally I've wrong'd thee,
Convince thee at the bottom of my heart!
LORIDAN.
I am unmann'd. Thy genius is the stronger.
I thought I hated thee; yet are thy foes
Many and desperate! (Shout.)
Hark! the storm is up.
Rebellion rages, and its cause is mine.
MONTFORT.
Rebellion!—Let me fly!
LORIDAN.
Hold! thou art unarm'd!
(Giving his sword.)
This was thy gift, and was to win me honour;
Take it again!—die like a soldier—go!
If in the strife we meet, we meet as foes!
MONTFORT.
Agreed! And for thy gift we part as friends.
(Offers his hand, Loridan takes it, much affected.)
LORIDAN.
Brave heart, away! Our arms are now at issue—
Thine for thy King, and for my country mine!
[Exeunt severally.
| The Sicilian Vespers | |