PAOLO. It is false!
If you received my dagger from his hand,
He stole it.
LANCIOTTO. There, sweet heaven, I knew!
And now
You will deny the rest? You see, my friends,
How easy of belief I have become!—
How easy ’twere to cheat me!
PAOLO. No; enough!
I will not load my groaning spirit more;
A lie would crush it.
LANCIOTTO. Brother, once you gave
Life to this wretched piece of workmanship,
When my own hand resolved its overthrow.
Revoke the gift. [Offers
to stab himself.
PAOLO. [Preventing him.] Hold, homicide!
LANCIOTTO.
But think,
You and Francesca may live happily,
After my death, as only lovers can.
PAOLO. Live happily, after a deed like this!
LANCIOTTO. Now, look ye! there is not one hour
of life
Among us three. Paolo, you are armed—
You have a sword, I but a dagger: see!
I mean to kill you.
FRANCESCA. [Whispers to PAOLO.] Give thy sword to me.
PAOLO. Away! thou’rt frantic. I
will never lift
This wicked hand against thee.
LANCIOTTO. Coward, slave!
Art thou so faint? Does Malatesta’s blood
Run in thy puny veins? Take that!
[Strikes him.
PAOLO. And more:
Thou canst not offer more than I will bear.
LANCIOTTO. Paolo, what a craven has thy guilt
Transformed thee to! Why, I have seen the time
When thou’dst have struck at heaven for such
a thing!
Art thou afraid?
PAOLO. I am.
LANCIOTTO. O! infamy!
Can man sink lower? I will wake thee, though:—
Thou shalt not die a coward. See! look here!
[Stabs FRANCESCA.
FRANCESCA. O!—O!— [Falls.
PAOLO. Remorseless
man, dare you do this,
And hope to live? Die, murderer!
[Draws,
rushes at him, but pauses.
LANCIOTTO. Strike, strike!
Ere thy heart fail.
PAOLO. I cannot. [Throws away his sword.
LANCIOTTO. Dost thou see
Yon bloated spider—hideous as myself—
Climbing aloft, to reach that wavering twig?
When he has touched it, one of us must die.
Here is the dagger.—Look at me, I say!
Keep your eyes from that woman! Look, think,
choose!—
Turn here to me: thou shalt not look at her!
PAOLO. O, heaven!
LANCIOTTO. ’Tis done!
PAOLO. [Struggling with him.] O! Lanciotto,
hold!
Hold, for thy sake! Thou wilt repent this deed.