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It is not for the eye of the youthful artist to comprehend at once the master's vast design. Retire, Bourgognino, and take time to weigh the motives of Fiesco's conduct! Go! noble youth! if spirits such as thine break out in flames in thy country's cause, let the Dorias see that they stand fast! FIESCO. The MOOR entering with an appearance of timidity, and looking round cautiously.
'Tis to inform Spinola of our intended plan, and bid him reach the capital early in the morning. LOMELLINO. Stop, prince. There is an error in our calculation. Fiesco does not attend the senate. Genoa will easily supply one more assassin. I'll see to that. SCENE XV.-An Ante-chamber in FIESCO'S Palace. FIESCO, with papers before him, and MOOR.
Do not despise the counsels of a friend. A horse stands ready saddled for you; fly, while you have time! ANDREAS. Fiesco has a noble mind. I never injured him, and he will not betray me. FIESCO. Fiesco has a noble mind and yet betrays thee. He gives thee proof of both. ANDREAS. There is a guard, which would defy Fiesco's power, unless he led against them legions of spirits.
MOOR. Think me a rascal, sir, but not a fool. FIESCO. What, is the scoundrel proud? Speak, sirrah! Who hired thee? Shall I alone be called a fool? Who hired me? 'Twas but a hundred miserable sequins. Who hired me, did you ask? Prince Gianettino. A hundred sequins? And is that all the value set upon Fiesco's head? Shame on thee, Prince of Genoa! Tell thy master he is a niggardly assassin.
Thus we wonder how a mere brute like Gianettino can have become such a power in the state right under the eyes of the wise and good Andrea, who is subject to no illusions with regard to him. No objection can be made to Fiesco's mask of gayety and cynicism in the first two acts, for that is historical.
As it is, there is no suggestion of make-believe in Fiesco's courting of Julia. When he exclaims in soliloquy that she loves him and he 'envies no god', one is justified in assuming that chivalrous devotion to his wife is not among his virtues.
JULIA, Countess dowager Imperiali, sister of the younger Doria, aged twenty-five; a proud coquette, in person tall and full, her beauty spoiled by affectation, with a sarcastic maliciousness in her countenance; her dress black. BERTHA, daughter of Verrina, an innocent girl. ROSA, | Maids of Leonora. Several Nobles, Citizens, Germans, Soldiers, Thieves. SCENE I. A Saloon in FIESCO'S House.
What have we here? LEONORA, in male attire, ARABELLA following they walk along timidly. ARABELLA. Come, my lady, pray let us hasten onward. LEONORA. This way the tumult rages hark! was not that a dying groan? Ah, they surround him! At Fiesco's breast they point their fatal muskets at my breast they point them. Hold! hold! It is my husband! ARABELLA. For heaven's sake, my lady!
The bare facts of Fiesco's conspiracy, related with as little ascription of motive as possible, are these: In the year 1528 Andrea Doria, who had won great distinction as an admiral in the French service, but had now quarreled with the King of France and hoisted the colors of Emperor Charles the Fifth, landed an expedition in Genoa and captured the city from the French.
If this particular invention was upon the whole unfortunate the matter will be discussed further on, the same cannot be said of the Moor Hassan, who becomes Fiesco's factotum and ends his career on the gallows. The rascally Moor is the most picturesque figure and the most telling role in the whole piece.
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