Marry, he will lighten the taxes!
SECOND CITIZEN Or a dole of bread, think you, for each man?
DUKE
That, on next Sunday, the Lord Cardinal
Shall, after Holy Mass, preach you a sermon
Upon the Beauty of Obedience.
[Citizens murmur.]
FIRST CITIZEN I’ faith, that will not fill our stomachs!
SECOND CITIZEN
A sermon is but a sorry sauce, when
You have nothing to eat with it.
DUCHESS
Poor people,
You see I have no power with the Duke,
But if you go into the court without,
My almoner shall from my private purse,
Divide a hundred ducats ‘mongst you all.
FIRST CITIZEN God save the Duchess, say I.
SECOND CITIZEN God save her.
DUCHESS
And every Monday morn shall bread be set
For those who lack it.
[Citizens applaud and go out.]
FIRST CITIZEN [going out]
Why, God save the Duchess again!
DUKE [calling him back]
Come hither, fellow! what is your name?
FIRST CITIZEN Dominick, sir.
DUKE A good name! Why were you called Dominick?
FIRST CITIZEN [scratching his head]
Marry, because I was born on St. George’s day.
DUKE
A good reason! here is a ducat for you!
Will you not cry for me God save the Duke?
FIRST CITIZEN [feebly]
God save the Duke.
DUKE Nay! louder, fellow, louder.
FIRST CITIZEN [a little louder]
God save the Duke!
DUKE
More lustily, fellow, put more heart in it!
Here is another ducat for you.
FIRST CITIZEN [enthusiastically]
God save the Duke!
DUKE [mockingly]
Why, gentlemen, this simple fellow’s love
Touches me much. [To the Citizen, harshly.]
Go! [Exit Citizen, bowing.]
This is the way, my lords,
You can buy popularity nowadays.
Oh, we are nothing if not democratic!
[To the DUCHESS.]
Well, Madam,
You spread rebellion ‘midst our citizens.
DUCHESS
My Lord, the poor have rights you cannot touch,
The right to pity, and the right to mercy.
DUKE
So, so, you argue with me? This is she,
The gentle Duchess for whose hand I yielded
Three of the fairest towns in Italy,
Pisa, and Genoa, and Orvieto.
DUCHESS
Promised, my Lord, not yielded: in that matter
Brake you your word as ever.
DUKE
You wrong us, Madam,
There were state reasons.
DUCHESS
What state reasons are there
For breaking holy promises to a state?
DUKE
There are wild boars at Pisa in a forest
Close to the city: when I promised Pisa
Unto your noble and most trusting father,
I had forgotten there was hunting there.
At Genoa they say,
Indeed I doubt them not, that the red mullet
Runs larger in the harbour of that town
Than anywhere in Italy.
[Turning to one of the Court.]
You, my lord,
Whose gluttonous appetite is your only god,
Could satisfy our Duchess on that point.
DUCHESS And Orvieto?
DUKE [yawning]
I cannot now recall
Why I did not surrender Orvieto
According to the word of my contract.
Maybe it was because I did not choose.
[Goes over to the DUCHESS.]
Why look you, Madam, you are here alone;
‘Tis many a dusty league to your grey France,
And even there your father barely keeps
A hundred ragged squires for his Court.
What hope have you, I say? Which of these lords
And noble gentlemen of Padua
Stands by your side.
DUCHESS There is not one.
[GUIDO starts, but restrains himself.]
DUKE
Nor shall be,
While I am Duke in Padua: listen, Madam,
Being mine own, you shall do as I will,
And if it be my will you keep the house,
Why then, this palace shall your prison be;
And if it be my will you walk abroad,
Why, you shall take the air from morn to night.
DUCHESS Sir, by what right -?
DUKE
Madam, my second Duchess
Asked the same question once: her monument
Lies in the chapel of Bartholomew,
Wrought in red marble; very beautiful.
Guido, your arm. Come, gentlemen, let us go
And spur our falcons for the mid-day chase.
Bethink you, Madam, you are here alone.
[Exit the DUKE leaning on GUIDO, with his Court.]
DUCHESS [looking after them]
The Duke said rightly that I was alone;
Deserted, and dishonoured, and defamed,
Stood ever woman so alone indeed?
Men when they woo us call us pretty children,
Tell us we have not wit to make our lives,
And so they mar them for us. Did I say woo?
We are their chattels, and their common slaves,
Less dear than the poor hound that licks their hand,
Less fondled than the hawk upon their wrist.
Woo, did I say? bought rather, sold and bartered,
Our very bodies being merchandise.