GIANETTINO looks after the DUKE, speechless with anger, LOMELLINO
entering, breathless and terrified.
LOMELLINO. What have I seen! What have I heard! Fly, prince! Fly quickly! All is lost.
GIANETTINO (with inward rage). What was there to lose?
LOMELLINO. Genoa, prince: I come from the market-place. The people were crowding round a Moor who was dragged along bound with cords. The Count of Lavagna, with above three hundred nobles, followed to the criminal court. The Moor had been employed to assassinate Fiesco, and in the attempt was seized.
GIANETTINO (stamping violently on the ground). What, are all the devils of hell let loose at once?
LOMELLINO. They questioned him most strictly concerning his employer. The Moor confessed nothing. They tried the first degree of torture. Still he confessed nothing. They put him to the second. Then he spoke— he spoke. My gracious lord, how could you trust your honor to such a villain?
GIANETTINO (fiercely). Ask me no question?
LOMELLINO. Hear the rest! Scarcely was the word Doria uttered—I would sooner have seen my name inscribed in the infernal register than have heard yours thus mentioned—scarcely was it uttered when Fiesco showed himself to the people. You know the man—how winningly he pleads—how he is wont to play the usurer with the hearts of the multitude. The whole assembly hung upon his looks, breathless with indignation. He spoke little, but bared his bleeding arm. The crowd contended for the falling drops as if for sacred relics. The Moor was given up to his disposal— and Fiesco—a mortal blow for us! Fiesco pardoned him. Now the confined anger of the people burst forth in one tumultuous clamor. Each breath annihilated a Doria, and Fiesco was borne home amidst a thousand joyful acclamations.
GIANETTINO (with a ferocious laugh). Let the flood of tumult swell up to my very throat. The emperor! That sound alone shall strike them to the earth, so that not a murmur shall be heard in Genoa.
LOMELLINO. Bohemia is far from hence. If the emperor come speedily he may perhaps be present at your funeral feast.