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is Life: A Play in Five Acts

      CHARACTERS

      Nicola, King of Umbria.

      Princess Alma, his daughter.

      Pietro Folchi, Master Butcher. }

      Filipo Folchi, his soil. }

      Andrea Valori } Citizens of Perugia.

      Benedetto Nardi }

      Pandolfo, Master Tailor. }

      A Soldier.

      A Farmer.

      A Vagabond.

      Michele }

      Battista } Journeymen Tailors.

      Noe }

      The Presiding Judge.

      The King's Attorney General.

      The Advocate.

      The Clerk of the Court.

      The Jailer.

      A Circus Rider.

      An Actor.

      A Procuress.

      First Theatre Manager.

      Second Theatre Manager.

      A Page.

      First Servant.

      Second Servant.

      Artisans, judges, townspeople, strollers, theatre audience, theatre servants, soldiers and halberdiers.

      ACT I

      Scene One—The Throne Room

      FIRST SERVANT.

      (Leaning out of the window.) They are coming! It will overtake us like the day of judgment!

      SECOND SERVANT.

      (Rushing in through the opposite door.) Do you know that the King is taken?

      FIRST SERVANT.

      Our King a captive?

      SECOND SERVANT.

      Since early yesterday! The dogs have thrown him into prison!

      FIRST SERVANT.

      Then we had better scamper away, or they will treat us as if we were the beds upon which he has debauched their children!

      (The servants rush out. The room becomes filled with armed workmen of various trades, heated and blood-splashed from combat.)

      PIETRO FOLCHI.

      (Steps from their midst.) Fellow-citizens!—The byways of Perugia are strewn with the corpses of our children and our brothers. Many of you have a pious wish to give your beloved dead a fitting resting place.—Fellow-citizens! First we must fulfill a higher duty. Let us do our part as quickly as possible, so that the dead shall have perished, not solely for their bravery, but for the lasting welfare of their native-land! Let us seize the moment! Let us give our state a constitution which, in future, will protect her children from the assassin's weapons and insure her citizens the just reward of their labors!

      THE CITIZENS.

      Long live Pietro Folchi!

      ANDREA VALORI.

      Fellow-citizens! Unless we decide at once upon our future form of government, we shall only be holding this dearly captured place for our enemies until we lose it again. We are holding the former King in custody in prison; the patricians, who supported themselves in idleness by the sweat of our brows, are in flight toward neighboring states. Now, I ask you, fellow-citizens, shall we proclaim our state the Umbrian Republic, as has been done in Florence, in Parma, and in Siena?

      THE CITIZENS.

      Long live Freedom! Long live Perugia! Long live the Umbrian Republic!

      PIETRO FOLCHI.

      Let us proceed without delay to elect a podesta! Here are tables and styles in plenty. Let each one write the name of the man whom he considers best fitted to guide the destiny of the state and to defend the power we have gained from our enemies.

      THE CITIZENS.

      Long live our podesta, Pietro Folchi! Long live the Republic of Perugia!

      ANDREA VALORI.

      Fellow-citizens! Let there be no precipitate haste at this hour! It is necessary to strengthen so the power we have won that they cannot prevail against us as long as we live. Would we succeed if we made Umbria a republic? Under the shelter of republican liberty, the sons of the banished nobles would use the vanity of our daughters to bind us again in chains while we slept unsuspectingly at night! Look at Florence! Look at Siena! Is not liberty in those states only the cloak of the most dissolute despotism, which is turning their citizens to beggars? Perugia grew in power and prosperity under her kings, until the sceptre passed into the hands of a fool and a wastrel. Let us raise the worthiest of us up to his throne. Then we who stand here exhausted from the conflict, will become the future aristocracy and the lords of the land; only then can we enjoy in lasting peace our hard won prerogatives.

      THE CITIZENS.

      Long live the king! Long live Pietro Folchi!

      A FEW VOICES.

      Long live Freedom!

      THE CITIZENS.

      (Louder.) Long live our king, Pietro Folchi! Long live King Pietro!

      A FEW CITIZENS.

      (Leaving the room angrily.) We did not shed our blood for this. Down with slavery! Long live Freedom!

      THE CITIZENS.

      Hurrah for King Pietro!

      PIETRO FOLCHI.

      (Mounting the throne.) Called to it by your choice, I mount this throne and name myself King of Umbria! The dissatisfied who have separated from our midst with the cry of "freedom" are no less our enemies than the idle nobles who have turned their backs to our walls. I shall keep a watchful eye on them, as they fought on our side only in the hope of plundering in the ruins of our beloved city. Where is my son Filipo?

      FILIPO FOLCHI.

      (Stepping from out the press.) What is your will, my father?

      KING PIETRO.

      From the wounds above your eyes, I see that you did not shun death yesterday or today! I name you commander of our war forces. Post our loyal soldiers at the ten gates of the city, and order the drum to beat in the market place for recruits. Perugia must be armed for an expedition to its frontiers in the shortest possible time. You will be answerable to me for the life of every citizen and responsible for the inviolate safety of all property. Now bring the former king of Umbria forth from his prison. It is proper that none save I announce to him his sentence.

      FILIPO.

      Your commands shall be observed punctually. Long live King Pietro! (Exit.)

      KING PIETRO.

      Where is my son-in-law, Andrea Valori?

      ANDREA VALORI.

      (Stepping forward.) Here, my king, at your command!

      KING PIETRO.

      I name you treasurer of the Kingdom of Umbria. You and my cousin, Giullio Diaceto, together with our celebrated jurist, Bernardo Ruccellai, whose persuasive words abroad have more than once preserved our city from bloodshed; you three shall be my advisors in the discharge of affairs of state. (After the three summoned have come forward.) Seat yourselves beside me. (They do so.) I can only fulfill the high duty of ruling others if the most able men in the state will enlist their lives in my service. And now, let the others go to bury the victims of this two days' conflict. To show that they did not die in vain for the welfare of their brothers and children, let this be a day of mourning and earnest vigilance.

      (All

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