The Wonder-Working Magician | Page 7

thickly?Interwoven, that the sun?Cannot even find admittance,?Shall be the sole witnesses?Of our duel.
FLORUS. Then, this instant?Draw your sword; for here are deeds,?If in words elsewhere we've striven.
LELIUS. Yes, I know that in the field,?While the tongue is mute, the glitter?Of the sword speaks thus.?[They fight.
CYPRIAN. What's this??Hold, good Florus! Lelius, listen!--?Here until your rage is calmed,?Even unarmed I stand betwixt ye.
LELIUS. Thus to interrupt my vengeance,?Whence, O Cyprian, have you risen?Like a spectre?
FLORUS. A wild wood-god,?Have you from these tree-trunks issued?

SCENE V.
Enter MOSCON and CLARIN.
MOSCON. Yonder, where we left our master,?I hear sword-strokes; run, run quickly.
CLARIN. Well, except to run away,?I am anything but nimble;--?Truly a retiring person.
MOSCON and CLARIN. Sir . . . .
CYPRIAN. No more: your gabble irks me.--?How? What's this? Two noble friends,?Who in blood, in birth, in lineage,?Are to-day of Antioch all?Its expectancy, the city's?Eye of fashion, one the son?Of the Governor, of the princely?House Colalto, one the heir,?Thus to peril, as of little?Value, two such precious lives?To their country and their kindred?
LELIUS. Cyprian, although respect?Which on many grounds I give thee,?Holds my sword suspended thus?In due deference for an instant,--?To the scabbard's calm repose?It hath got no power to win it.?Thou of science knowest more,?Than the duel, pretermitting?This, that when two nobles meet?In the field, no power can link them?Friends again, save this, that one?Must his life give as a victim.
FLORUS. This I also say, and ask thee,?With thy people, that thou quittest,?Leaving us to end our quarrel?Without any help or hindrance.
CYPRIAN. Though it seems to you my calling?Makes me know the laws but little?Of the duel -- that strict code?Valour and vain pride have written,?You are wrong, for I was born?With the obligations fitting?Rank like yours, to know in truth?Infamy and honour's limits.?The devotion to my studies?Has my courage not diminished,?For they oftentimes shake hands?Arms and letters as though kinsmen.?If to meet here in the field?Was the quarrel's first condition,?Having met and fought, its lies?Calumny can never whisper.?And the cause you thus can tell me?Of the feud that brings you hither;?For I promise, if, on hearing?What to me is thus committed,?I perceive that satisfaction?Must on either side be given,?Here to leave you both alone,?Unobserved by any witness.
LELIUS. Then on this condition solely,?That you leave us, when the bitter?Truth is told, to end our quarrel,?I to tell the cause am willing.?I a certain lady love,?The same lady as his mistress?Florus also loves; now see,?How incompatible are our wishes!--?Since betwixt two jealous nobles?No mediation is admitted.
FLORUS. I this lady love so much,?That the sunlight I would hinder?From beholding her sweet face.?Since then all interposition?Is in vain, pray stand aside,?And our quarrel let us finish.
CYPRIAN. Stay, for one more thing I'd know.?Tell me this of your fair mistress,?Is she possible to your hopes,?Or impossible to your wishes?--
LELIUS. Oh: she is so good and wise,?That if even the sun enkindled?Jealousy in the heart of Florus,?It was jealousy pure and simple,?Without cause, for even the sun?Dare not look upon her visage.
CYPRIAN. Would you marry with her, then?
FLORUS. This is all my heart's ambition.
CYPRIAN. And would you?
LELIUS. Ah, would to heaven,?I were destined for such blisses!--?For although she's very poor,?Virtue dowers her with its riches.
CYPRIAN. If you both aspire to wed her,?Is it not an act most wicked,?Most unworthy, thus beforehand?Her unspotted fame to injure??What will say the world, if one?Of you two shall marry with her?After having killed the other?For her sake? The supposition?Is not probable in fact,?To imagine it is sufficient.?I by no means say you should?Each your chances try to win her?At one time, for I would blush?Such a craven proposition?Came from me, because the lover?Who could keep his jealousy hidden,?Would condone even shame thereafter,?Were the opportunity given;?But I say that you should learn?Which of you it is your mistress?Gives the preference to, then . . . .
LELIUS. Stay!--?For it were an act too timid,?Too faint-hearted thus to ask?Of a lady such admission?As the choosing him or me.?For if me she chose, more fixed?Is my call for satisfaction;?For his fault has this addition,?He loves one who loves but me.?If to him the choice is given,?This intensifies my anger?All the more, that she, my mistress,?Whom I love, should love another.?Her selection could do little?In the matter, which at last?To our swords should be committed,--?The accepted for his honour,?The refused for his dismissal.
FLORUS. I confess that I adopt?Altogether that opinion,?Still the privilege of selection?May to ladies be permitted;?So to-day I mean to ask her?Of her father. 'Tis sufficient?To have come here to the field,?And my naked sword uplifted,?(Specially as one is by?Who the further fight resisteth,)?For my honour;-- so to sheathe,?Lelius, my sword I'm willing.?[Sheathes his sword.
LELIUS. By your argument and action,?Florus, you have half convinced me;?I forego the remaining half --?True or false, I thus act with you.?[Sheathes his sword.?I to-day will seek her father.
CYPRIAN. On, of course,