Robert Bridges

“ Thou art an honest man; in all Palermo
No name so fair as thine. There’s none would dream
That thou at any press wouldst blink the right
In thine own interest: now for these three years 1590
Thou hast done justice honour, holding up
Her majesty for worship: we ourselves
Have strained or waived opinion oftentimes
In trust of thee. ’Twas not then at first hearing
We took the tale which strong concurrent proofs
Now make me charge thee with. Know that ’tis said
That thou hast given a refuge in thy house
To John Palicio. Deny’t, I pray thee.
Man. ’Tis true, your excellence. ”

“ Room in Manuel’s house. PALICIO as before (sitting) .
PALICIO.
To stand true to a cause because ’tis noble, 960
Tho’ it be thankless; to command a people
Against a tyranny, and teach their arms
To enforce the reasonable rights of life,
Beneath the crushing bond of wealth and power;—
To be an outcast, but to leave a name
Untarnished and beloved, remembered long;—
That was my choice, my hope. Can I now waver? ”

“ A room in Manuel’s house. PALICIO reclining on a long chair half-dressed. Daylight nearly excluded: one candle burns.
PALICIO.
I seem to have lived a life in these few days;
To have died, and waked in no less strange a place,
Than where I think departed spirits will fly
In doom of death and unendurable silence
After their day of doing. Oh! ’tis strange
What just the shedding a few drops of blood
Will bring about—to loosen a handkerchief,
And on her undiscoverable journey
The soul sets forth. ”

“ Fardello ... he’s a murderer—ay, for him
I write his death, maybe: but for the rest
I’ll take such care that Manuel’s voice shall ease
Their accusation. Now I have them all.
Lucia! Ho, Lucia!
Enter Lucia.
See, take this book: 1480
Return straight to Palermo: find some friend,
Whom thou canst trust: commit it to her hands;
Tell her to give it secretly to Livio,
Bidding him read what is writ down in the margins;
And say ’twas given to her by one she knew not,
And with that message. All our happiness
Is staked on this. Begone. Haste for thy life.
LUCIA.
Alas! ”

“ To Margaret, whom before I feared to meet.
She will be working for thee. If she fail,
The archbishop yet hath power to stay thy death
Till I can serve thee. If thy love for her,
And hers for thee abide, you must be married.
Nay, all she urged was good.
2370
Pal.O, ’tis impossible.
Work not for my escape: ’tis best I die.
Man. Nay, nay. Thou that canst fight, fight with thyself.
The brave despair that fear not: that’s the shock
The strongest suffer. Thou wast ill of late;
Wert thou now strong, shame would not crush thy spirit. ”

“ Tel. Nay, now by Zeus, and by my father’s griefs,
In no wise do I stay my mother’s marriage.
Rather I urge her marry whom she will.
But while she wills not, that one word of mine
Be breathed to drive her forth, the gods forbid.
To her speak, not to me. Lo you, she is here.
Wooers. The queen! silence! the queen!
Enter Penelope (with bow) . Maids follow.
PENELOPE.
My noble suitors, hear me. ”

“ Nor see thy shame unmoved, for thou art noble.
Hast thou provoked this, tell me, or are thy people
Moved by some god to hate, or is’t thy brethren
Play thee false?
Tel.Nay, there is neither grudge nor hate
Betwixt me and my folk, nor do my brethren
Stand faithlessly aloof. ’Tis all to say
That Zeus hath made our house of single heirs: 570
Arceisios gat one only son Laertes,
And he one only son, Ulysses; I,
Ulysses’ son, am too his only child:
And he hath left his house the prey of foes.
I cannot aid thee, stranger. ”

“ Whose love hath borne and nurtured him, whose life
He is offshoot of and diligent support.
This love thou knowest, and being to-day returned
But from short voyage, mayst in little gauge
My joy returning after many years. 860
But what thou know’st not—mayst thou come to know!—
I’ll tell thee. There be ties dearer than place
Or parents; there be bonds that break in pieces
The hearts that break them, and whose severance
Is more than banishment. Boy, ’tis thy mother
That makes this Ithaca the world to me ”

“ The occasions whence my love with Manuel sprung.
You led me still, you gave me confidence; 490
Your comfort turned to joy, Manuel was mine.
When suddenly on some mysterious cause
He holds aloof: my joy is bid await.
O, Margaret, if you understood love’s joy,
How closely ’tis inwoven with fear to lose,
You would not wonder that I tremble, seeing
This shadow blot my sunshine, that my fear31
Discolours every circumstance. To me
The common course of things on which men count
Is the only miracle, all chances else
As they are feared are likely. O, do not blame me. ”

“ She travels on, comforting life’s affections
With scraps and crumbs fall’n from the dish of joy.
’Tis thus hope lives, patient and pleasureless:
But time will come when hope must die; she feels
The gathering cold and creeping touch of death,
And hath no thought but how to pass in peace. 2090
Even such my hope, agèd and white as thou,
And near her term. Persist not! Rudely to arouse her
But hastens her sure end. Like in spent ashes
Which fuel chokes, what little fire remains
Burns best unmended.
Ul.Thou wouldst wrong the gods,265
Who show such care for thee. ”

“ Nor touch Telemachus: for ’tis a thing
Abhorred of Zeus to meddle with a life
Of royal strain. There be the oracles;
Consult ye them: and if Telemachus
Must die and ’tis decreed, I shall be last
Of men to oppose it: otherwise I stand
Against Antinous, ay, sword to sword: 1080
Whose insolence, I say, the gods already
Have baulked and will not suffer.
Eur.Spoken well,
Amphinomus; yet hast thou shewn no way
To avoid the mischief that must fall on us,
If now Telemachus return alive.
216
Enter from the gallery above, Penelope.
Suitors. The queen, the queen! ”

“ Alas for Manuel.
’Tis almost pity he is escaped from death.
I would tell Constance, but her throbbing brain
Hath no interpreter, and in her ear
All words are meaningless, or mean alike
Something insane, which in her eager dreaming
Steals the world’s place. I have no power to tell. ”

“ And that no fault of mine, so suddenly
Hast thou appeared. Come, come, sir; step within.
Surely ’tis food thou needest. On this table
Are bread and wine, and I can bring thee meat:
Sit and be satisfied.
ULYSSES.
Now may the gods,
Since thou this day giv’st me so good a welcome,
Grant thee thy dearest wish, whate’er it be.
Eum. Thou art my guest, old man: and if there came
A meaner even than thou, I should not stint 350
To offer of my best. Strangers and beggars
Are sent from Zeus: and tho’ a poor man’s gift
Be poor, a hearty welcome makes it rich.
Ul. I pray the gods reward thee. ”

“ This same Palicio, duke, is the chief rebel:
While he was caged, I could despise the rest.13
But he’s a dangerous fellow; bred in the hills,
He is yet of noble blood and high descent:
A proud and lofty temper, that hath taken
A graft of wildness, and shot forth afresh
In base luxuriance. Tho’ yet unbearded,
Bandits and exiles own him; and the people,
Who hold such men in honour, can be drawn 180
But by his name to any enterprise.
’Tis he that with his bread-tax cry hath stirred
The commons to rebel, and be he ’scaped
Clear, as ’tis thought, there will be more ado. ”

“ Or if ’tis withered all with age and want.
Wooers. Ho! ho! The beggar thinks that he 2520
Shall win the fair Penelope.
Ant. Thou wretched fool, thou hast even less wit than hairs:
Art not content in our high company
To sit at ease, and have thy share, and hear
Our talk, and see our pleasure ’gainst our will?
The unwonted wine dilates what brains thou hast,
To make thee think thou canst contend with us.
Pen. Antinous, I forbid this disrespect
Before me of my guest: and by my life
Thou dost him wrong. ”

“ Hast thou the heart, Giovann Palicio,
To call this freedom. Nay, since thy right hand
Was raised ’gainst wrong in vain, and thou thyself
Art charged with wrong, and must admit the wrong,
Were’t not now best to end, and shroud thy fortune 2391
In veils of death? Thou that hast led the people,
Hast thou a knee for favours? Will thy tongue
Confess I wronged thee, Manuel, I come forth
To be thy prisoner: and I wronged thee, Margaret:137
I will come forth to be thy pensioner?
Shame: rather would I die.
Enter Margaret.
MARGARET.
’Tis I, Giovanni: all is well: thou’rt safe,
Manuel has told me all. ”

“ It matters not what happens, day by day
The rupture grows. ’Tis plain Hugo and I
Are foes at heart—and what a pitiful trick
To put the question of my marriage by,
Withholding his consent just for the thought,
That while my happiness hangs on his nod,
I must be closer bound to serve his interest,
Now, when his credit totters. Doth he not know
That honourable minds, thro’ very fear 310
Of their self-interest, are thrust away
Beyond their counter-judgment? Nay, ’tis clear
He falls, he falls; and were’t not now for Constance,
I’d gladly see him fall.
Palicio comes forward.
A woman here! ”

“ What truth I tell: ’tis thus I love to prove him,
And catch his ready mind at unawares.
Wake, merchant, wake, awake; whoe’er thou beest,
That sleepest thus so nigh the public road:
Arouse thee, man, and guard thy store: Look to it!
Ay, if some passer-by have not already
Filched from thee a sad loan of bronze or iron.
For though we reverence Zeus, thou giv’st occasion 51
To make a thief even of an honest man.
ULYSSES (awaking) . ”

“ To serve thee on thy journey till the day
We meet again; and more. Thy ship will sail
But to Messina: there thou wilt disbark. 2410
Nay, take the money; thou wilt need it, love,
’Tis Manuel’s gift, not mine.
Pal. (taking) . I have no heart,
Margaret, for what is done on my behalf.
I thank him, but ...
Mar.Alas, alas! Giovanni:
I looked to find thee glad of heart and happy.138
Our troubles all are over. Manuel lives,
Whom we thought drowned: Constance, who lay in death,
Hath risen from her bed: and even our marriage
Is furthered by my brother. ”

“ That thou shouldst find one journey more to make;
This thy atonement: and since justice holds
The crown for good deeds, as the sword for ill,
Grudge not this only absence: thy good servant
Thou wouldst reward; he is a prince; restore him300
Unto his kingdom: ’tis the will of Zeus.
He that hath servèd well hath earned to reign. 2790
Son of Laertes, wilt thou do this thing?
Ul. Yea, goddess, I will do it. Thy will is mine.
Eum. (kneeling) . Most honoured of all masters! ”

“ Who cometh? Lo! a dazzling helm, a spear 2690
Of silver or electron; sharp and swift
The piercings. How they fall. Ha, shields are raised
In vain. I am blinded, or the beggar-man
Hath waxed in strength. He is changed, he is young. O strange!
He is all in golden armour. These are gods,
That slay the wooers. (Runs to Pen.) O lady, forgive me!
’Tis Ares’ self. I saw his crispèd beard:
I saw beneath his helm his curling locks.295
None will escape. O lady, save me, save me. ”

“ Though the mental condition of this unfortunate fellow was such as to make his responsibility questionable, yet his connection with the Mafia society, and with their motives and crimes, points, as unmistakably as his name, to his ancestor in my play, terribly degraded though he was in body as in mind. It is possible that some of our fanatical anarchists may be similarly the prey of a depraved atavism, and be impelled by a fermentation of the sour dregs of an old puritanic heroism. ”

“ Amph. ’Twill never be. The just and equal gods
Have yet respect unto Ulysses’ house.
And were’t their will Telemachus should die,
He that went forth to slay him is the man
Whose heart they turned to do it. For me, I say,
I willed it not, and think ’twill never be.
Ctes. Thou’rt but a craven!
Eur.Get ye to your seats: 910
Pass we the bowl in peace, and while we drink
Let Phemius soothe our rivalries with song.
But one can win the prize, and whose ’twill be
Lies in the lap of Zeus. Fair play and peace!
Amph. And shame not this good house. Lack we a lord,
This courtesy is due unto ourselves. ”

“ Reception-room at the Palace. As first scene of first act. CONSTANCE, ROSSO, and MANUEL disguised.
CONSTANCE.
Nay, I can walk. I am very well. See, Manuel,
There’s no one here: thou mayst be Manuel
Yet awhile. Is not this, love, a recovery 2610
To make the memories of sickness glad?
The days seem years since I stood here. But now
Must I see Philip?
MANUEL.
Be kind to him, Constance. ”

“ Pen. (to Eum.) . Eumæus, hither; who is this old man?
Eum. Why ’tis a strange old man, and full of lies:
Yet ’tis an honest and a wise old man.
Pen. How full of lies and honest?
Eum.Gracious madam,
I have looked on many men, and by their gait
And voice and eyes are honest men well known;
And this old man is such: but when he speaks 1860
Such floods of words run o’er his aged lips,
Ay, and such tales,—and ever when he draws
To make conclusion, ’tis the same old fable,
That he hath seen the master, that the master
Will soon return:—therefore I say he lies.
Pen. Hath he been with us long? ”

“ Tel.What is that light, 2220
That dances so and plays about the beams?
Ul. Now mayst thou see the goddess aiding us.
Tel. It shimmers like the moonlight on the sea.
Ul. ’Tis the same fierce ethereal flame of heaven,
Which makes the lightning; but the wise Athenè
Hath tamed it for her common servicings.
Stay not to look on’t; ’tis to aid our work.
Tel. ’Tis certain we shall prosper. ”