204
THE PICCOLOMINI, OR THE
BUTLER.
Your insolent scoff shall not go by unpunished.
Draw!
Your insolent scoff shall not go by unpunished.
Draw!
OCTAVIO.
Nay! your sword to 'ts sheath! and tell me calmly
How all that happen'd. I will not refuse you
Your satisfaction afterwards.—Calmly, Butler!
Nay! your sword to 'ts sheath! and tell me calmly
How all that happen'd. I will not refuse you
Your satisfaction afterwards.—Calmly, Butler!
BUTLER.
Be the whole world acquainted with the weakness
For which I never can forgive myself.
Lieutenant General! Yes—I have ambition.
Ne'er was I able to endure contempt.
It stung me to the quick, that birth and title
Should have more weight than merit has in th' army.
I would fain not be meaner than my equal,
So in an evil hour I let myself
Be tempted to that measure—It was folly!
But yet so hard a penance it deserv'd not.
It might have been refus'd; but wherefore barb
And venom the refusal with contempt?
Why dash to earth and crush with heaviest scorn
The grey-hair'd man, the faithful Veteran?
Why to the baseness of his parentage
Refer him with such cruel roughness, only
Because he had a weak hour and forgot himself?
But nature gives a sting e'en to the worm
Which wanton Power treads on in sport and insult.
Be the whole world acquainted with the weakness
For which I never can forgive myself.
Lieutenant General! Yes—I have ambition.
Ne'er was I able to endure contempt.
It stung me to the quick, that birth and title
Should have more weight than merit has in th' army.
I would fain not be meaner than my equal,
So in an evil hour I let myself
Be tempted to that measure—It was folly!
But yet so hard a penance it deserv'd not.
It might have been refus'd; but wherefore barb
And venom the refusal with contempt?
Why dash to earth and crush with heaviest scorn
The grey-hair'd man, the faithful Veteran?
Why to the baseness of his parentage
Refer him with such cruel roughness, only
Because he had a weak hour and forgot himself?
But nature gives a sting e'en to the worm
Which wanton Power treads on in sport and insult.
OCTAVIO.
You must have been calumniated. Guess you
The enemy, who did you this ill service?
You must have been calumniated. Guess you
The enemy, who did you this ill service?
BUTLER.
