"I am old, very old at heart, and love death more than I ever loved a living being...."
"But you outrage Divine Providence, and yourself. Don't give way to such sad dejection; you may repent it, when perhaps too late. Come, courage; cheer up your spirit, for God's sake!..."
Isabella turned her head, and fixing her eyes for some time on Troilo, added:
"Thanks! Keep your courage to yourself; I have enough of it. Troilo, if it was not a firm deliberation of my mind to remain here, do you think that I could not devise some means to go away? No; escaping, I would show to the world my shame; I would make manifest that which is uncertain, or what very few people know; fear would say more than guilt, and would increase the necessity of revenge. And besides, in what place can I hide myself where the poniard, the snare, or the poison of the assassin could not reach me? And when even I could find a place capable of protecting me, who could protect me against the disdainful manner with which men give help, like crusts of bread thrown to a beggar? Who could protect me against the bitter and incessant reproaches which would be hurled against me, not because guilty, but because I made public this guilt? Who could protect me against that pity which gnaws one's bones, and that compassion which poisons the blood? Who could protect me against the proud contempt, the bitter smiles, the respectful sneers? Oh, the thought alone chills my very soul! No, it is better to die with one blow than be thus cruelly murdered under this martyrdom renewed from day to day, or rather from hour to hour, from minute to minute. Prometheus certainly did not choose life on condition that his bowels should be devoured by the insatiable vulture."
"Your despair, Isabella, comes from not having been able to imagine any other remedy but flight: there are other means of escape...."
"I see none...."
"And surer ones...."
"If such ones that could surely save my honour!..."
"Be assured that there can be none more safe.... Paolo Giordano desires our death; this is most certain. Now, as we cannot remain in this world together—since one of us must choose a different abode, let him go who wishes to expel us; not ourselves, who would have willingly tolerated him in this world...."
"And thus you would add homicide to shame. And to amend one crime commit another, which is more offensive to men and God?"