Oscar Wilde: The Complete Works. Knowledge house
I like them best in steel, as they are here,
They suit my purpose better. Tell me, sir,
Have you no message from my father to me?
moranzone
Poor boy, you never saw that noble father,
For when by his false friend he had been sold,
Alone of all his gentlemen I escaped
To bear the news to Parma to the Duchess.
guido
Speak to me of my mother.
moranzone
When thy mother
Heard my black news, she fell into a swoon,
And, being with untimely travail seized—
Bare thee into the world before thy time,
And then her soul went heavenward, to wait
Thy father, at the gates of Paradise.
guido
A mother dead, a father sold and bartered!
·17· I seem to stand on some beleaguered wall,
And messenger comes after messenger
With a new tale of terror; give me breath,
Mine ears are tired.
moranzone
When thy mother died,
Fearing our enemies, I gave it out
Thou wert dead also, and then privily
Conveyed thee to an ancient servitor,
Who by Perugia lived; the rest thou knowest.
guido
Saw you my father afterwards?
moranzone
Ay! once;
In mean attire, like a vineyard dresser,
I stole to Rimini.
guido [taking his hand]
O generous heart!
moranzone
One can buy everything in Rimini,
And so I bought the gaolers! when your father
Heard that a man child had been born to him,
·18· His noble face lit up beneath his helm
Like a great fire seen far out at sea,
And taking my two hands, he bade me, Guido,
To rear you worthy of him; so I have reared you
To revenge his death upon the friend who sold him.
guido
Thou hast done well; I for my father thank thee.
And now his name?
moranzone
How you remind me of him,
You have each gesture that your father had.
guido
The traitor’s name?
moranzone
Thou wilt hear that anon;
The Duke and other nobles at the Court
Are coming hither.
guido
What of that? his name?
moranzone
Do they not seem a valiant company
Of honourable, honest gentlemen?
·19· guido
His name, milord?
[Enter the Duke of Padua with Count Bardi, Maffio, Petrucci, and other gentlemen of his Court.]
moranzone [quickly]
The man to whom I kneel
Is he who sold your father! mark me well.
guido [clutches his dagger]
The Duke!
moranzone
Leave off that fingering of thy knife.
Hast thou so soon forgotten? [Kneels to the Duke.]
My noble Lord.
duke
Welcome, Count Moranzone; ’tis some time
Since we have seen you here in Padua.
We hunted near your castle yesterday—
Call you it castle? that bleak house of yours
Wherein you sit a-mumbling o’er your beads,
Telling your vices like a good old man.
[Catches sight of Guido and starts back.]
Who is that?
·20· moranzone
My sister’s son, your Grace,
Who being now of age to carry arms,
Would for a season tarry at your Court
duke [still looking at Guido]
What is his name?
moranzone
Guido Ferranti, sir.
duke
His city?
moranzone
He is Mantuan by birth.
duke [advancing towards Guido]
You have the eyes of one I used to know,
But he died childless. Are you honest, boy?
Then be not spendthrift of your honesty,
But keep it to yourself; in Padua
Men think that honesty is ostentatious, so
It is not of the fashion. Look at these lords.
count bardi [aside]
Here is some bitter arrow for us, sure.
·21· duke
Why, every man among them has his price,
Although, to do them justice, some of them
Are quite expensive.
count bardi [aside]
There it comes indeed.
duke
So be not honest; eccentricity
Is not a thing should ever be encouraged,
Although, in this dull stupid age of ours,
The most eccentric thing a man can do
Is to have brains, then the mob mocks at him;
And for the mob, despise it as I do,
I hold its bubble praise and windy favours
In such account, that popularity
Is the one insult I have never suffered.
maffio [aside]
He has enough of hate, if he needs that.
duke
Have prudence; in your dealings with the world
Be