University of Virginia Library

Scene II.

—A Room in the Orsini Palace.
Enter Stefano Colonna, Giordano Orsino, Savello, Frangipani, and other Nobles.
Giord. O.
Then you refuse to join us?

Stef. C.
Ay, my lord,
On present thinking.

Sav.
If, my lord, your conscience
Shies from your oath, late spoken, give me leave
To show how you may read it null and void.

Stef. C.
God's bread! my lord, I need no lawyer's craft
In mangling words to think it null and void.
Oaths to plebeian knaves are empty breath,
Their breach not worth a penance. But if oaths
Broken could belch hell-flames, they should not let me
From what my will resolved.

Giord. O.
Well then, my lord,
I trust you'll join us. This seditious knave,
Like an ambitious pawn upon the chess-board,
Pushes himself to crowning. But to-morrow,
And, by his knighthood, he will rank with kings.

Sav.
And make Colonna's oaths less empty breath.

Stef. C.
Can the poor farce of his ennoblement
Make noble his base blood?

Giord O.
He gives it out
That he's an Emperor's bastard—smaller seeds
Have borne great flowers. Now, cut him timely off—

Stef. C.
Tush! let him flaunt his hour, and his own height
Will cut him timely off. Such demagogues
Are hungry wretches' dreams, and melt like dreams,
Abortions of the unquiet age. My lords,
I do not like your plot; nor, to be plain,
Care much to risk—I will not say, my soul
Upon its perjury, but my old neck
Upon its rashness.

Giord. O.
Then, farewell, my lord.
Heaven send your reverend wisdom a good nurse.

Stef. C.
Farewell, my lords! If you must play with fire,
Glove well your fingers.

[Exit.
Giord. O.
Curse his dotard's cunning!
Must we be his catspaw, while on our risk
He smiles aloof?

Sav.
You were too frank with him.
You should have blown his pride to steer his mind
Full sail upon our plans, flattered his tongue
To word our thoughts, lured him to lead the way
Where we would drive him. All must seem his motion,
Or he holds off. Your half-hatched plot offends
The nose of his grey craft and self-esteem.

Giord. O.
I am too much his peer to lackey him thus.
Let him go. We stand firm without him.

Sav.
Surely.

Frang.
We hold young Gianni hand and foot—his head
Must stand or fall with ours.

Sav.
And more, his father's,
Though they draw back, checked in the greybeard's leash.

Giord. O.
Then, for Rienzi—

Sav.
All's prepared.

Giord. O.
Your bravo
Is trusty?

Fran.
He's inflamed with private hate,
And our rich promises.

Giord. O.
Then he dies to-night,
Watching his arms within the Baptistery?

Sav.
If steel can do it.

[Exeunt.