SCENE ONE.
THE WORKSHOP OF A LADIES' TAILOR.
(_The King, in journeyman's clothes, sits cross-legged on a table,
working on a woman's gown of rich material. Master Pandolfo bustles
into the room._)
MASTER PANDOLFO.
Early to work, Gigi! Early to work! Bravo, Gigi!
THE KING.
The cock has crowed, Master!
MASTER PANDOLFO.
Now shake me the other fellows awake. One can work better in company
than alone, Gigi! (_Takes the dress out of his hands._) See here, Gigi!
(_He tears the dress._) Rip! What's the use of early to bed and early
to rise if the stitches don't hold? And the button-holes, Gigi! Did the
rats help you with them? I worked for Her Majesty Queen Amelia when her
husband was still making mortadella and salmi. Am I to lose her custom
now because of your botching? Hey, Gigi?
THE KING.
If my work shames you, turn me out!
MASTER PANDOLFO.
How rude, Gigi! Do you think you are still tending pigs at Baschi?
Forty years on your back and nothing learned! Go packing out of my
house and see where you will find your food, then, you vagabond!
THE KING.
(_Rises and collects the scraps._) I'll take you at your word, Master!
MASTER PANDOLFO.
What the devil, madcap; can't you take a joke? Can I show more love
toward my 'prentice than I do when I give him the work which usually
the master does? Since you have been with me haven't I allowed you to
cut all the garments? The devil take me that I cannot catch the knack
of your cutting! But the ladies of Perugia say, "Master Pandolfo, since
the old apprentice has been working for you, your work has a genteel
cut." But what's the use of a genteel cut if the young ladies tear the
stitches out as they dance? You'll never be a journeyman, Gigi, unless
you learn to sew. My dear, sweet Gigi, don't you see that I only want
what's best for you?
THE KING.
Good, Master Pandolfo, I'll stay with you if from now on, in addition
to my keep, you will pay me thirty soldi more a week.
MASTER PANDOLFO.
I'll promise you that, Gigi! As true as I stand here, I'll promise you
that!----Thirty soldi you want?----Yes, yes! The gown for her Majesty,
the Queen, must be ready sewed by noon. Therefore, be industrious,
Gigi! Always industrious! (_Exit._)
(_The King dimes a long breath after Master Pandolfo leaves the room,
and then sits down to his work again. After a while, Princess Alma puts
her head in through the window._)
ALMA.
Are you alone, Father?
THE KING.
(_Springing up joyfully._) My treasure!
(_Alma vanishes and immediately after comes in through the door. She is
dressed as a boy in a dark, neat suit of clothes._)
THE KING.
The master is upstairs with his morning dram, and the journeymen are
still asleep. The moments I have with you, my child, indemnify my soul
for the days of dull routine. What affectionate conversations I hold
with you, and how lovingly and understandingly you answer me! Do not
forsake me! It is a new crime I commit in asking this of you; but see,
I am a weak man!
ALMA.
Things will soon be better with us now, Father. The old notary, whose
errand-boy I became two months ago, already lets me copy all his
documents. Next week he is going to take me to court with him, in order
that I may take down the case instead of him.----O my father, if only
the death sentence which, now that we are in Perugia again, places you
in greater danger than ever before, could be lifted from your
head!----My feminine ignorance of politics prevents me conjecturing
whether they will raise you to the throne again. But they should honor
you as more than a king. There must be something godlike about you
when, in spite of your degradation, you are able to fill one with
happiness as you do me! What a wealth of happiness you would have to
give if your fetters were removed. Thousands then would contend for
you, and you would no longer envy any king the weight of his crown!
THE KING.
Do not talk further about me. I must wait in obscurity until my hour is
come.----But you, my child, do you not feel deadly unhappy under the
burden of your work?----Isn't your master disagreeable when he needs
someone upon whom to vent his bad temper?
ALMA.
But don't you see what good spirits I am in, Father? The people I serve
know how to value education and culture. You, on the contrary, must
live with a brood of men whose daily habits must torment your soul,
even without their knowledge or desire. I see you grind your teeth at
this or that retort. I see how your throat contracts with disgust at
mealtimes. Oh, forgive my words! They are unmindful of your smarting
wounds.
THE KING.
(_Whimsically._) Only think, my child, the result of these unusual
circumstances is that I am cherished by Master Pandolfo as his most
industrious worker. At Baschi, where I tended cattle, I made a shed
behind the stables my sleeping place. I used to lie there every morning
on my back, following my dreams until the sun stood over me in the
zenith. That's the reason the farmer discharged me. Here I sleep with
three common fellows, and, therefore, am the first to rise and the last
to go to bed. Personally, I do not sleep as well in the company of men
as I do in the company of beasts. I never dreamed such an industrious
worker was concealed within me! Work serves me as a kind of refuge. And
then the beautiful lines of the heavy velvet, the sheen of the gold
brocade! They refresh my soul and I long for them as for a vivifying
drink. And then Master Pandolfo's insight discovered in me at once a
gift which astonishes me highly, and which, to be can-did, I could not
give up lightly. He found I was better able than any of his workmen,
better able than himself even, to cut the stuff for the ladies' dresses
so as to bring out the figure to the best advantage. For example, that
doublet you wear I should have cut quite differently than did that
miserable botcher whose shears were not worthy to touch such splendid
cloth.
ALMA.
Oh, silence, Father! How can you jest so callously at your unhappy fate!
THE KING.
(_Passionately._) Do not mock me with flattery, my child! Fate jests at
me and not I at it!
ALMA.
(_Soothingly._) Beloved father, you remain a king, no matter what you
must do in this world.
THE KING.
In your loving heart, yes! And, therefore, your father, with loving
despotism, opposes your life's happiness by crowding out of your heart
that longing for a man which must be awakening in you at your age. Your
father's egotistical folly has lost you rank and property, now it
deprives you of the highest rights of life--those which the creatures
of the wilderness share with mankind and which may make existence in a
hut, as well as on a throne, a gift of the gods! What madness made me
test my strength against the flood of the San Margherita brook, instead
of invading Umbria by war, setting the city on fire at its four corners
and snatching the crown with my own hands from the glowing
ruins!----But that was only the continuation of past folly!
ALMA.
(_Weeping._) Heaven have mercy on my foolish soul! How was it possible
for me so to grieve you!
THE KING.
In misfortune people hurt each other without knowledge or desire, just
as truly as in happiness each one brings joy to the other unwittingly.
Do not make him who is judged suffer for it. You must go, my child; I
hear the workmen shouting and tramping about upstairs.
ALMA.
(_Kissing him._) Tomorrow morning early! (_Exit._)
(_The King takes up his work. Then the three journeymen come in, and,
sitting down on separate tables on the other side of the room, prepare
for work._)
MICHELE.
Gigi, if you get up before cockcrow again I'll break your nose the next
night while you sleep. Then go to the women and see if you can succeed
with them!
THE KING.
It would please you well to attack a sleeping man. But take care of
your own bones at it, or perhaps you might not rise at all the next day!
NOE.
Well said, Gigi! Tell us quickly more of your war-like deeds, that we
may be afraid of you.
THE KING.
I haven't time. If your ears itch for tales of heroic deeds, tell how
you stole the parson's geese at Bavagna.
BATTISTA.
Our patron saint defend us! Usually, you are as tame and sneaking as if
your nail had never crushed a louse, and today you would like to spit
all three of us at once on your needle.
THE KING.
Let me be in peace, then! A hollow tooth is hurting me. That's the
reason I left the sleeping room so early.
NOE.
Tell the truth, Gigi! Wasn't the page here just now who brings you the
glowing love letters from the lady for whom you cut the yellow silk
dress?
THE KING.
Do I concern myself with your love letters?
MICHELE.
You concern yourself with entirely different things! You get up right
after midnight to practice being a lickspittle and a trimmer! You get
the master to give you the journeymen's work and divide the
apprentice's work among us! You are a pest in the house!
BATTISTA.
Apprentice, bring us the morning soup!
(_The King leaves the workroom._)
NOE.
He's lacking in the upper story; I am sorry for him. He must have been
some sort of bootcleaner for a gentleman of quality. That moved his
brain out of place in his skull.
BATTISTA.
Did you ever see a soldier who would let himself be kicked about so by
journeymen tailors?
NOE.
My mother was a country girl; I tell that to anybody who asks me; I
don't act as if I had been bed servant to the Holy Father!
MICHELE.
I'll tell you why the lad is so stupid. Each of us has knocked about
the world, often with not enough to eat. But if he opens his mouth out
comes a stream of curses profane enough to turn one's stomach. Earth is
ashamed at having brought forth such a monster; then Heaven is ashamed
to have let its light fall upon him; then Hell is ashamed that it has
not yet swallowed him! You will see!
(_The King returns with four wooden, spoons and a pot of soup, which he
sets before the journeymen._)
MICHELE.
Get out, you beast! You can lick our spoons when we have had enough!
THE KING.
(_Strives with himself, seeking to master his anger, then strikes his
brow._) Oh, a curse upon this king who hinders me from allowing myself
to be thrashed by this rascal! Oh, a curse upon the king who hinders me
crushing this rascal, whom I understand better than he understands me!
Oh, a curse upon the king who hinders me from being a man like other
men! Oh a triple curse upon the king!
(_The journeymen spring up in horror._)
MICHELE.
Did you hear? He cursed the king! He cursed the king!
BATTISTA AND NOE.
(_Together._) He has cursed the king!
MICHELE.
Seize him! Hold him fast!----Master Pandolfo!----Master
Pandolfo!----Knock in his teeth!
MASTER PANDOLFO.
(_Rushing in._) Get to work, lads! Why are you fighting so early in the
morning? Are you mad?
THE JOURNEYMEN.
(_Holding the King by the arms._) He has cursed the king!----"Curse the
king!" he cried! "A triple curse upon the king!"
THE KING.
(_Submitting indifferently to force._) A triple curse upon the king!
Then let the king's head fall under the headsman's axe.
THE JOURNEYMEN.
Listen to him, Master Pandolfo!
THE KING.
(_To himself._) My poor child!
MASTER PANDOLFO.
Bind his hands behind his back! Cursing our dear, good King Pietro!
"Let King Pietro's head fall under the headsman's axe!" Bring ropes!
Take the dog to court! This vagabond will lose me by best customers!
The head of King Pietro, who pays his bills more promptly than any king
before him!
SCENE TWO.
THE COURT ROOM.
(_The presiding judge and two associates sit at the middle table; the
attorney-general for the crown occupies a raised seat to the right; the
counsel for the defense occupies a similar seat to the left. Further
forward, to the right, is the clerk of the court, with Princess Alma as
his amanuensis. She has the court records in front of her. Forward, on
the left, are halberdiers guarding the door to the adjoining room. The
back of the hall is filled with spectators._)
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
I open the session in the name of his exalted Majesty, the
king.----According to his request, I grant the privilege of speaking
first to the counsel for the prosecution, Signor Silvio Andrevitti,
Doctor of Canonical and Civil Law and Attorney-General for the Crown.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.
Under the rule of our sublime and beloved King Pietro, it has become
the custom in our city of Perugia to permit the citizen to be present
in court during a trial, in order to strengthen his confidence in the
unshakable incorruptibility of our judgments. In view of the offence
which is to be tried here today, I venture to suggest to the court that
the spectators here assembled be excluded from our session, in order
that they may be protected from looking too deeply into the degradation
of human nature.
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
The well-considered suggestion of the honorable Attorney-General shall
be followed.
(_The halberdiers, with crossed pikes, force the spectators quietly out
of the hall._)
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
Our sublime King Pietro has made the wise and just provision that any
poor defendant, no matter what his nationality, be supplied with an
advocate at the cost of the state. The worthy Signor Corrado Ezzelino,
master and doctor of both civil and canonical law, has declared himself
ready to serve in this capacity today. Now, I grant the privilege of
speaking, at his special request, to our worthy clerk of the court,
Signor Matteo Nerli.
THE CLERK OF THE COURT.
Honorable and wise judges, a cramp which lames my right hand, the
result of long years of untiring industry in the service of the law,
does not permit me the honor of taking down the minutes of to-day's
session unassisted. By my side you see my apprenticed clerk, a lad who
has awakened my affection, and who, despite his youth, has shown an
unusual love of the law. I ask that he be permitted to keep the
minutes, under the direction and supervision of his master.
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
Your wish is granted, blaster Matteo. The witnesses who were called for
to-day's session have all appeared in person. Conduct the defendant
thither.
(_The halberdiers bring in the King from the neighboring room. Princess
Alma startles at sight of him, but collects herself and arranges her
writing materials._)
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
You call yourself Ludovicus and were employed formerly in tending
cattle at Baschi. You are accused of the _crimen læsæ majestatis_,
which was visited with severe penalties in the imperishable code of our
great predecessors, the ancient Romans; the crime of injuring majesty,
or, in other words, the insult to the holy person of the king. Do you
acknowledge yourself guilty of this offence?
THE KING.
Yes.
THE CLERK OF THE COURT.
(_To Alma._) He said "yes." Write it down, my lad; write it down
accurately!
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
According to the unanimous testimony of four unprejudiced witnesses,
your words were, "A triple curse upon the king! Let the king's head
fall under the headsman's axe!"
THE KING.
Those were my words.
THE CLERK OF THE COURT.
"Those were my words!" Joseph and Mary, a blot! Lad, has the devil
gotten into you today?
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
What have you to advance in your own behalf?
THE KING.
Nothing.
MICHELE.
He has nothing to advance! Did you hear? He has nothing to advance!
MASTER PANDOLFO.
He spat out his terrible curse in miserable revenge against me! He
wanted to bring my business and my whole family into disrepute.
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
Silence on the witness bench!----Now, what have you to say in your own
defense?
THE KING.
Nothing.----Next to the majesty of God, the majesty of the king stands
highest in this world. The majesty of God suffers as little from human
curses as the majesty of the king. Can the majesty of God be dimmed by
vulgar humanity saying, "We believe in you no longer"? Can the majesty
of the king be dimmed by people saying, "We will obey no longer"? Who
would assert that as possible?----God wandered in lowly form upon this
earth, and the rabble believed it had put him to death. And so the
rabble may believe it has banished the king; he remains where he was.
If they call to him, "Let your head fall under the headsman's axe," it
does him no harm. Therefore, although next to blaspheming against God,
blaspheming against the king is the most execrable crime--a crime of
which my words have made me guilty, as I acknowledge openly----it
appears to me that the matter should be such an indifferent and
trifling affair to the king that he should not need to revenge it. At
the same time, it seems to me too frightful for the rabble to presume
to be able ever to atone for it. The rabble, indeed, possesses no
higher power than that over life and death, and, indeed, cannot know
whether the miserable sinner would not welcome death, no matter how
painful, as a liberation from a thousand sorrows. These, therefore, are
the reasons why I hold that the judges before whom I now stand can
execute no punishment upon me for my crime. (_General murmur of
dissent._) Now, let me, wise and honorable judges, name the grounds
which make it your holy duty to judge me according to the greatest
severity of the law.
NOE.
I told you the fellow was completely crazy!
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
(_To the witness bench._) Silence! (_To the King._) Speak further.
THE KING.
The majesty of the king, as I have proved commensurate to human reason,
can receive no injury from my words. But, unfortunately, next to faith
in the All-Goodness of Providence, faith in the majesty of the king is
the highest and holiest possession of the common people. That which the
sons of earth have known since all time as eternal truths, against
which none, be he master or slave, sins unpunished, that stands under
God's holy protection. Everything which they value, everything that
affects their property and the prosperity of their daily work, that
they enjoy with childish confidence in their king's protection. In
their king the common people recognize the likeness of their own
fortune, and who smirches this likeness robs them of the courage to
work and of peace by night. I am far more guilty of this crime than
human justice fathoms. It is impossible for the punishment hanging over
me to approach the weight of my crime. Even should it cost my life, let
it be what you will, I shall accept it from the hands of you judges as
a grace of God.
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
The grace of your lord, our dear and blessed king, has placed a learned
advocate at your side. The honorable Signor Corrado Ezzelino, Master
and Doctor of Civil and Canonical Law, may address the court.
THE ADVOCATE FOR THE DEFENSE.
(_Rising._) My exalted, righteous, worthy and honorable judges, permit
me first to speak a word concerning our brave and honest
fellow-citizen, the master-tailor Casare Pandolfo. We see him here
today on the witness bench deeply bowed down as the result of the
abominable crime which has taken place under his roof. We all of us
recognize the staunchness of his principles; we all--all of us here
assembled--know the excellence of his work. I believe myself able,
therefore, to assure Master Pandolfo, in the name of all of us, that
not one of us would think of associating him, even in the slightest
degree, with the frightful crime which happened under his roof.----Now,
concerning the defendant, whom it is my sad duty to defend: Apparently,
he is an entirely disreputable scamp, more worthy of our deepest scorn
than of being judged in the normal fashion according to the wise
provision of the Roman code. Permit, O judges, the words of the text,
"Thou shalt not cast thy pearls before swine," to be followed in the
case of this outcast from our dear commonweal. Because of his
unexampled spiritual and moral degeneracy, it would be impossible for
the defendant to know how to appreciate at its true worth the honor
done him by weighing his case in the scales of justice; therefore, I
request you, wise and honorable judges, in order not to belittle the
dignity of our calling, to let the punishment rest at flogging. Should
punishment by flogging appear inadequate, wise and honorable judges,
possibly punishment by flogging might be augmented by three days'
exposure in the pillory in the market place of Perugia.
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
I grant the floor to the Attorney-General, our worthy Signor Silvio
Andreotti, Doctor of Civil and Canonical Law.
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.
(_Who during the whole proceedings has been groaning, yawning and
wriggling about in his seat._) Honorable judges! As the worthy Signor
Corrado Ezzelino has rightly and forcibly expressed it in his excellent
defence, the defendant is a disreputable scamp, an outcast from our
dear human community, an individual of unexampled moral degeneracy, in
whom I cannot deny there is a certain mental craftiness, or, to speak
more plainly, a certain peasant's cunning. His own words which he has
spoken here are evidence of this peasant's cunning, as is also the fact
that, with the intention of confusing our power of judgment, by
creating a favorable impression, he has not attempted to deny his deed.
When, however, an individual from the lowest depths of human degeneracy
commits a crime such as this, which cries to Heaven, then that
individual must be looked upon no longer as a human being, but as a
wild beast; and such a one, as the defendant, himself cleverly has
shown, with the intention of tricking our judgment, is the most
pernicious enemy of our commonwealth, for the protection of which I and
you, you judges, have been placed here. Such a wild beast, by reason of
his baseness, as well as on account of the danger he is to the
community, deserves that he be destroyed by death and that his tracks
be obliterated from the earth!
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
Defendant Ludovicus, what more have you to say?
THE KING.
Nothing.
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
The witnesses are excused!----The court stands adjourned until the
passing of sentence.
(_The witnesses, the judges and the Attorney-General leave the
chamber._)
THE CLERK OF THE COURT.
(_Beating his head, to Alma, who sits bathed in tears over the
minutes._) Help me, holy Mary, Mother of God! The booby, with his
foolishness, has blubbered all over the minutes! Not a letter can be
read! The leaves are all stuck together!
ALMA.
(_Sobbing._) O my God, he is innocent! I know that he is innocent!
THE CLERK OF THE COURT.
Why should it worry you whether he is innocent or guilty? Is it your
head or his head they are going to cut off?
THE KING.
(_Who stands alone in the middle of the room, aside, but with
emphasis._) My words were, "And so at last the king's head shall fall
under the headsman's axe in the market place of Perugia!"
THE CLERK OF THE COURT.
There, you see how innocent he is!
ALMA.
(_Who has risen and prays earnestly, with hands folded across her
breast._) Lord God in Heaven, Thou who hast compassion upon all the
poor and miserable, preserve us from this!
THE CLERK OF THE COURT.
See now, you are a brave lad and have your heart in the right place! I
shall certainly not bring you again soon to a sitting of the court. You
must rewrite the whole minutes from memory at home. You will learn more
from that than if you studied through the whole _corpus juris_!
THE ADVOCATE FOR THE DEFENSE.
(_Who, after the judges have left the chamber, has taken a package of
bread and butter, a flask and a glass from his robe. Re places the
flask and glass in front of him, and then comes forward, busy with his
breakfast._) Now, Gigi, wasn't that a Ciceronian defence that I made
for you? But what do you know about Cicero! You will allow me to
breakfast, of course. At first, I had the intention of sprinkling my
defence with a little _curiculum vitæ_, a moving description of your
cattle tending, etc. But, to be frank, Gigi, I don't believe that
either would have helped you much with those (_pointing_) dunderheads
out there!
THE KING.
You have my thanks for your pains, worthy Doctor Ezzelino.
(_The judges return from the council-chamber and resume their places._)
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
(_Reading from his notes._) The defendant, Ludovicus, recently a
tailor's apprentice in Perugia, and formerly employed in the tending of
cattle in the village of Baschi, is accused of the crime of blasphemy
against the holy person of the king, and is found guilty of this crime
upon the evidence of unanimous testimony, as well as by his own
admission. In consideration of his previous good character, as well as
in consideration of his free confession, the defendant is sentenced to
two years' incarceration----
ALMA.
(_Gives a muffled cry._)
THE CLERK OF THE COURT.
Young fellow, will you hold your tongue while the judge is speaking!
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
----and, furthermore, to ten years' deprivation of all the rights and
honors of citizenship, as well as to banishment from the city of
Perugia for the whole term of his life, under pain of death in case of
his return.
THE CLERK OF THE COURT.
(_To Alma._) Write, my lad! Write! This is the most important of all!
THE PRESIDING JUDGE.
(_Continuing his reading._) In view of the important fact that the
defendant has not shown the least trace of regret for his deed, the
sentence provides that he shall spend his two years' incarceration in
the most rigid solitary confinement.----Given in the name of the king,
on the third day of the month of August, in the year of our Lord one
thousand four hundred and ninety-nine. (_Turning to the guards._) Take
away the prisoner! (_Rising. To the court._) I hereby declare to-day's
session closed.