| Vice. | together. | My friend! | |
| Mar. | My son! (hastening to receive him) |
Venoni. (embracing them with a melancholy smile) I am permitted then to see you once more—you, whom I have ever loved so truly—you, the only ones who are still dear to me in the world! (he sees Hortensia; his countenance becomes disturbed, and he shudders: then recovering himself, he bows humbly, but with a look of gloom, and addresses her in a lowered voice, with much respect) noble lady, can you pardon this intrusion? I fear the sight of one so lost, so wretched—
Hor. (embarrassed) Venoni can never be unwelcome. I have not forgotten—I never shall forget—that there was a time when—that had I not hoped to make my child adopt—
Pri. (interrupting her hastily) Dear lady, compose yourself: your extreme sensibility overpowers you.
Vice. But answer me, Venoni; why is it that I see you in this habit?
Mar. Wherefore renounce the world? wherefore adopt a resolution so desperate, so extreme? your country has a right to your services, and—
Pri. My noble lords, when the voice of religion calls an unfortunate to her bosom—
Venoni. The voice of religion! no, father, no! the voice which has called me, is the voice of despair, my friends. I have lost every thing, every thing! and what then have I to do with the world? they who would serve their country, must possess strength of mind and health of body: mine have both yielded to the pressure of calamity! they who would serve their country, must possess their reason in full force and clearness: my reason—it is gone, quite gone! despairing passion has deranged all my ideas, has ruined all my faculties—I now have left but one sentiment, one feeling, one instinct—and that one is love!
Pri. What say you my son?
Venoni. (passionately) I say, that one is love! and I say the truth! father, I have engaged to renounce the world, to descend alive into the tomb; but I have not engaged to forget that I had, that I still have, a heart; that that heart is broken; that it burns, and will burn till it ceases to beat, with a passion which heaven cannot blame, since it was an angel who inspired it! I have told you, that her image would accompany me even to the altar’s foot; I have told you that I would give up the world, but would never give up her; her who exists no longer except in this sad heart, this heart, where she shall never cease to exist—till I do!