CHARACTERS:
GUIDO BARDI, A Florentine prince SIMONE, a merchant BIANNA, his wife The action takes place at Florence in the early sixteenth century.
[The door opens, they separate guiltily, and the husband enters.]
SIMONE. My good wife, you come slowly; were it not better To run to meet your lord? Here, take my cloak.
Take this pack first. 'Tis heavy. I have sold nothing:
Save a furred robe unto the Cardinal's son, Who hopes to wear it when his father dies, And hopes that will be soon.
But who is this?
Why you have here some friend. Some kinsman doubtless, Newly returned from foreign lands and fallen Upon a house without a host to greet him?
I crave your pardon, kinsman. For a house Lacking a host is but an empty thing And void of honour; a cup without its wine, A scabbard without steel to keep it straight, A flowerless garden widowed of the sun.
Again I crave your pardon, my sweet cousin.
BIANCA. This is no kinsman and no cousin neither.
SIMONE. No kinsman, and no cousin! You amaze me.
Who is it then who with such courtly grace Deigns to accept our hospitalities?
GUIDO. My name is Guido Bardi.
SIMONE. What! The son Of that great Lord of Florence whose dim towers Like shadows silvered by the wandering moon I see from out my casement every night!
Sir Guido Bardi, you are welcome here, Twice welcome. For I trust my honest wife, Most honest if uncomely to the eye, Hath not with foolish chatterings wearied you, As is the wont of women.
GUIDO. Your gracious lady, Whose beauty is a lamp that pales the stars And robs Diana's quiver of her beams Has welcomed me with such sweet courtesies That if it be her pleasure, and your own, I will come often to your simple house.
And when your business bids you walk abroad I will sit here and charm her loneliness Lest she might sorrow for you overmuch.
What say you, good Simone?
SIMONE. My noble Lord, You bring me such high honour that my tongue Like a slave's tongue is tied, and cannot say The word it would. Yet not to give you thanks Were to be too unmannerly. So, I thank you, From my heart's core.
It is such things as these That knit a state together, when a Prince So nobly born and of such fair address, Forgetting unjust Fortune's differences, Comes to an honest burgher's honest home As a most honest friend.
And yet, my Lord, I fear I am too bold. Some other night We trust that you will come here as a friend;
To-night you come to buy my merchandise.
Is it not so? Silks, velvets, what you will, I doubt not but I have some dainty wares Will woo your fancy. True, the hour is late, But we poor merchants toil both night and day To make our scanty gains. The tolls are high, And every city levies its own toll, And prentices are unskilful, and wives even Lack sense and cunning, though Bianca here Has brought me a rich customer to-night.
Is it not so, Bianca? But I waste time.
Where is my pack? Where is my pack, I say?
Open it, my good wife. Unloose the cords.
Kneel down upon the floor. You are better so.
Nay not that one, the other. Despatch, despatch!
Buyers will grow impatient oftentimes.
We dare not keep them waiting. Ay! 'tis that, Give it to me; with care. It is most costly.
Touch it with care. And now, my noble Lord -
Nay, pardon, I have here a Lucca damask, The very web of silver and the roses So cunningly wrought that they lack perfume merely To cheat the wanton sense. Touch it, my Lord.
Is it not soft as water, strong as steel?
And then the roses! Are they not finely woven?
I think the hillsides that best love the rose, At Bellosguardo or at Fiesole, Throw no such blossoms on the lap of spring, Or if they do their blossoms droop and die.
Such is the fate of all the dainty things That dance in wind and water. Nature herself Makes war on her own loveliness and slays Her children like Medea. Nay but, my Lord, Look closer still. Why in this damask here It is summer always, and no winter's tooth Will ever blight these blossoms. For every ell I paid a piece of gold. Red gold, and good, The fruit of careful thrift.
GUIDO. Honest Simone, Enough, I pray you. I am well content;
To-morrow I will send my servant to you, Who will pay twice your price.
SIMONE. My generous Prince!
I kiss your hands. And now I do remember Another treasure hidden in my house Which you must see. It is a robe of state:
Woven by a Venetian: the stuff, cut-velvet:
The pattern, pomegranates: each separate seed Wrought of a pearl: the collar all of pearls, As thick as moths in summer streets at night, And whiter than the moons that madmen see Through prison bars at morning. A male ruby Burns like a lighted coal within the clasp The Holy Father has not such a stone, Nor could the Indies show a brother to it.
The brooch itself is of most curious art, Cellini never made a fairer thing To please the great Lorenzo. You must wear it.
There is none worthier in our city here, And it will suit you well. Upon one side A slim and horned satyr leaps in gold To catch some nymph of silver. Upon the other Stands Silence with a crystal in her hand, No bigger than the smallest ear of corn, That wavers at the passing of a bird, And yet so cunningly wrought that one would say, It breathed, or held its breath.
Worthy Bianca, Would not this noble and most costly robe Suit young Lord Guido well?
Nay, but entreat him;
He will refuse you nothing, though the price Be as a prince's ransom. And your profit Shall not be less than mine.
BIANCA. Am I your prentice?
Why should I chaffer for your velvet robe?
GUIDO. Nay, fair Bianca, I will buy the robe, And all things that the honest merchant has I will buy also. Princes must be ransomed, And fortunate are all high lords who fall Into the white hands of so fair a foe.
SIMONE. I stand rebuked. But you will buy my wares?
Will you not buy them? Fifty thousand crowns Would scarce repay me. But you, my Lord, shall have them For forty thousand. Is that price too high?
Name your own price. I have a curious fancy To see you in this wonder of the loom Amidst the noble ladies of the court, A flower among flowers.
