No More Learning

[THE ASSEMBLY APPEARS CONFUSED; SEVERAL OF THE GUESTS RISE. ]

FIRST GUEST:
Oh, horrible! I will depart--

SECOND GUEST:
And I. --

THIRD GUEST:
No, stay! _70
I do believe it is some jest; though faith!
'Tis mocking us somewhat too solemnly.
I think his son has married the Infanta,
Or found a mine of gold in El Dorado.
'Tis but to season some such news; stay, stay! _75
I see 'tis only raillery by his smile.

CENCI [FILLING A BOWL OF WINE, AND LIFTING IT UP]:
Oh, thou bright wine whose purple splendour leaps
And bubbles gaily in this golden bowl
Under the lamplight, as my spirits do,
To hear the death of my accursed sons! _80
Could I believe thou wert their mingled blood,
Then would I taste thee like a sacrament,
And pledge with thee the mighty Devil in Hell,
Who, if a father's curses, as men say,
Climb with swift wings after their children's souls, _85
And drag them from the very throne of Heaven,
Now triumphs in my triumph! --But thou art
Superfluous; I have drunken deep of joy,
And I will taste no other wine to-night.
Here, Andrea! Bear the bowl around.

A GUEST [RISING]:
Thou wretch!
_90
Will none among this noble company
Check the abandoned villain?

CAMILLO:
For God's sake,
Let me dismiss the guests! You are insane,
Some ill will come of this.

SECOND GUEST:
Seize, silence him!

FIRST GUEST:
I will!

THIRD GUEST:
And I!

CENCI [ADDRESSING THOSE WHO RISE WITH A THREATENING GESTURE]:
Who moves? Who speaks?
[TURNING TO THE COMPANY. ]
'tis nothing, _95
Enjoy yourselves. --Beware! For my revenge
Is as the sealed commission of a king
That kills, and none dare name the murderer.

[THE BANQUET IS BROKEN UP; SEVERAL OF THE GUESTS ARE DEPARTING. ]

BEATRICE:
I do entreat you, go not, noble guests;
What, although tyranny and impious hate _100
Stand sheltered by a father's hoary hair?
What if 'tis he who clothed us in these limbs
Who tortures them, and triumphs? What, if we,
The desolate and the dead, were his own flesh,
His children and his wife, whom he is bound _105
To love and shelter?