CARMAGNOLA
A Play in Two Acts
Maurice Rowdon
Property of: :
Portslade Productions Ltd.,
5 Tamworth Street,
London, S. W.6.


CHARACTERS
FRANCESCO CARMAGNOLA, a mercenary captain
MARIA, his mother
ANTONIETTA VISCONTI, his wife
THE COURT OF MILAN:
PHILIP, Duke of Milan
SIGNOR RICCI, a courtier
SIGNOR LAMPUGNANO, another courtier
THE COURT OF VENICE:
TOMASO MOCENIGO, the outgoing doge of Venice
FRANCESCO FOSCARI, the incoming doge of Venice
A COUNCILLOR
PAOLO CORNARO, a diplomat
ADJUTANT at CARMAGNOLA's headquarters
A BISHOP
AN ENEMY PRISONER
ATTENDANTS, SOLDIERS etc.
NOTE
The cast can, with some doubling up,
be broken down to 10 Ms and 2 Fs.


THE ACTION TAKES PLACE IN
LOMBARDY AND VENICE, BETWEEN
THE YEARS 1425 AND 1432.


SCENE
The stage is divided into three areas. It will become clear in the
course of the play that a certain type of action pertains to each.
There is no occasion in the play for overall lighting of the whole set:
each area should be lighted separately.
Downstage is divided into two parts: the THRONE AREA on the
actor's right is raised in such a way that it looks straight down
into the adjacent area, called THE PERSONAL AREA, on his left.
Thus the platform on which the THRONE AREA is raised will
provide a side-wall for the PERSONAL AREA.
The THRONE AREA has a central throne with a canopy overhead
and other seats for members of the council, whether it be
Venetian or Milanese. It is entered from the actor's right only.
The stage directions call for a change of lighting, to denote the
switch from Milan to Venice or vice versa.
The PERSONAL AREA is used as dressing room, bedroom and
military headquarters. It has a stout table, a bed that may be
stylised (since it must serve various persons of differing rank)
and a cabinet where military documents and maps may be kept.
There is a full-length mirror, magnificently framed. The area
is entered from the actor's left, and also from the third area.
The third area, upstage and running the whole width of the stage,
is the OPEN AREA for public occasions, streets etc. This is
raked steeply So that at its extreme right it reaches the level
of the raised THRONE AREA (without joining it) and at its left
runs into the downstage PERSONAL AREA. It is bare and
merges with the cyclorama background.


ACT ONE
Only the Personal Area is lighted
as Francesco Bussone, now known
throughout Italy as COUNT
CARMAGNOLA, enters dressed
in a house - coat.
While addressing the audience he
puts on the clothes already set on
the couch and table: these are
suitable for an audience with the
DUKE OF MILAN.
A grey, austere light comes up on
the Throne Area and the DUKE OF
MILAN limps in on a stick with
TWO COURTEERS helping him.
He is above common height but
stoops badly. He has large, fierce
eyes with a wandering expression,
and projecting eyebrows: a snub
nose and a receding chin and high
cheekbones. His black hair is
uncombed. The fat lies in rolls
on his bull neck and he has short
hands with dumpy fingers. At this
time he is thirty-five, two years
younger than CARMAGNOLA.
CARMAGNOLA:
Look at those eyes! Piercing! Restless!
Suspicious!
(PHILIP, DUKE OF MILAN, sits)
He never looks at anything for long. Do you
notice that? The stick, he never goes without it - his
legs are SO spindly they hardly support him - he's been
like that since childhood. He spent all his childhood


CARMAGNOLA:
scheming silently, with that lonely brain of his.
(contd)
People thought he was an idiot. But his time came.
Did you ever hear of his brother, Giovanni - Maria
? (they all react) Ah, then news travelled as
far away as this - how he fed men's flesh to his dogs ?
(dogs bark in the distance and PHILIP starts like a
child) That was this man's uncle. For ten years
that blood-stained madman held the throne of Milan
and kept this one prisoner. Do you see the prisoner
in his eyes ? Always in prison, always scheming to
be let out, but he never will be, he'll never be free
of his brain that ticks like a clock, tick-tock, tick-
tock. But his time came. His brother was
murdered. And he took the throne, with the help of
my commander! I fought in every one of those first
battles. It was this man who picked me out for a
commission, with his roving, restless eye - yes,
I've got to thank his restless eye for that! And then
my commander died. A wonderful man. He died,
and this fat duke married his wife, a pure woman if
ever there was one, imagine it, this limping maniac
in bed with -
PHILIP:
(absently) Beatrice.
CARMAGNOLA:
That was her name. She was twice his age. It was
his scheming brain you see. He needed her, she
was popular. And then he murdered her! when she'd
served her turn!
PHILIP:
(rising) No, no!
COURTIERS:
My Lord? (they calm him back to his seat)
PHILIP:
Don't mention death! You know my orders!
COURTIER RICCI: We were talking about a falcon, sir - a fine bird -
born for the kill -
PHILIP:
Well don't!
CARMAGNOLA:
He brought a false charge of promiscuity against her!
tortured some poor damned youth to make him confess
he'd slept with her!
PHILIP:
No no!
CARMAGNOLA:
And he executed her -


PHILIP:
Beatrice..
(PHILIP takes out a book and begins
reading)
CARMAGNOLA:
Aren't men strange? I tell you, we soldiers are
straight, compared with people like that. He reads
Livy and Dante and Petrarch. He once bought a
marionette theatre for fifteen hundred gold pieces,
for his bedroom. He deals in ghosts. He doesn't
feed mem to the dogs but he feeds their reputations!
He fed mine! His wife's!
(The two COURTIERS, SIGNOR RICCI
and SIGNOR LAMPUGNANO, are drawn
closer to PHILIP with a gesture, and
they all begin whispering)
Look! With his two vipers, Signor Ricci on the left,
Signor Lampugnano on the right. Political down to
the tips of their nasty tapering fingers. And the man
you see enthroned between the two of them is putty in
their hands - yet he's the Duke of Milan by my leave
and doing! In twelve years I built up his state for
him, I won battle after battle! Why, do you think he
could do it himself? Oh he's splendidly dressed -
the brocade, the cloth of gold, the lace, the silk -
but look at his face, his fingernails - he hates the feel
of water like he does the feel of a woman! And here's
another strangeness: while he loves to put the finest
clothes on his own shoulders, he can't bear them on
anybody else's. Which is why his two vipers look
like undertakers. He eats, by the way, like he
thinks - delicately. Quails and turnips if you'd
really like to know - he hates fat, and every scrap
has to be pared away from his meat. There's one
thing he slavers over, like the dog he is, and that's
liver almost alive - it often happens in the middle of
the night that he sends out his cook to kill a calf.
And, oh, he lies across his bed instead of lengthwise.
His bedroom has double walls to keep out the lightning.
Yes, gentlemen, we have a strange creature here,
whom I half-created, whom I turned from a shivering,
neglected whelp into the lord not only of Milan but of
Piacenza, Lodi and all the rich cities of the Lombard
plain. And as a climax of twelve years service I won
him the empire of Genoa. And for this last triumph
he made me governor of Genoa, having already given


CARMAGNOLA:
me a vast fortune, a wife and his family name. Yes
(contd)
we had wonderful times together.
PHILIP:
Have we heard from the (ironically) governor of
Genoa ?
RICCI:
The governor of Genoa's dying to be at war again,
but he hasn't decided yet who he wants to fight.
LAMPUGNANO:
I think this state's had quite enough of throne-stealers
in the last few years!
PHILIP:
Throne-stealers ?
(They whisper together)
CARMAGNOLA:
He listens to their lies. They're telling him I'm
after his throne. Yet he trusts no man. He bribes
all. He sleeps behind a double ring of guards, he
calls attendants to his bed all through the night
because he's afraid of the dark, the silence; he had
owls put in the palace rooftops to screech all night.
Their weird little cries make him feel better. I know
him so well.
PHILIP:
Carmagnola's too much of a soldier to want to steal
thrones.
RICCI:
But certain remarks - :
PHILIP:
(with sudden surprising ferocity) Balls, man!
You've got a first-class political brain but you don't
know soldiers. I picked that man up from the ranks
- he was the son of a peasant! looked after the pigs!
LAMPUGNANO:
Yes, one could always sense, mostly through the
nose, his lack of blood.
PHILIP:
I gave him blood! That's how you keep great
families alive, by opening your ranks to the common
people! What are you the result of? A hundred
years of incest! untilyou hardly had the strength to
crawl out of the womb!
(He returns to his book. But restless-
ness gets the better of him)
Is he on the way you say' ?


LAMPUGNANO:
That's what we've heard.
PHILIP:
My God, that man has the power to make me
nervous!
CARMAGNOLA:
(proudly) There!
PHILIP:
You've never seen him on the battlefield. Why, his
enemies adore him. He can influence men as neither
of you could, not even if you had all the power and
money in the world. And that's why he's got to be
removed!
LAMPUGNANO:
Removed?
PHILIP:
Your decadent little face lights up, but what I mean
is sent further away than Genoa. I must keep him
active but no longer effective, like an eagle that
flaps his wings but has no claws. He must keep his
respect for me. You see, a soldier has to follow
someone. The highest commander has to follow.
The highest commander has the heart of a little boy.
CARMAGNOLA:
How right he is: a devoted little boy.
PHILIP:
He's angry of course?
RICCI:
Wild, seething.
LAMPUGNANO:
Composing speeches, dashing off one letter after
another - then he suddenly jumps on his horse and
should be here in an hour, if my information, a
pigeon, is right.
PHILIP:
Oh you and your pigeons! Half my money goes on
spies and pigeons. So what's he angry about ?
LAMPUGNANO:
Your depriving him of his command of the ducal
squadron.
PHILIP:
There, I told you - they're like kids! He's governor
of Genoa, in command of an army, and he's hurt that
he loses nominal command of three hundred horse-
men!
RICCI:
My informant says he cried.
PHILIP:
What, another pigeon ?


RICCI:
His adjutant, my lord.
PHILIP:
Of course he cried. Iknow him better than you or
a dozen adjutants.
RICCI:
And also you answer none of his letters.
LAMPUGNANO:
Worst of all, you've put your operations against
Florence in the hands of two other men.
PHILIP:
They're mercenary captains like himself. They're
to be purchased, like himself. Does he think he's
the only man for sale ?
RICCI:
He thinks you're buying inferior goods.
PHILIP:
You see how concerned he is for my policy ? He
wishes me to have the best commanders - no, quite
sincerely. But also perhaps he wants to rule me.
LAMPUGNANO:
Perhaps, you say.
PHILIP:
Yet I don't want to anger him to rebellion. When
he arrives -
(CARMAGNOLA is already approaching
the Throne Area, via the Open Area)
CARMAGNOLA:
(from the Open Area) Your Highness!
LAMPUGNANO:
What shall I say - ?
PHILIP:
Tell him I'm busy.
(PHILIP reads again while
LAMPUGNANO leaves the Throne Area
and re-enters by the Open Area where
CARMAGNOLA is waiting)
LAMPUGNANO:
Yes, sir?
CARMAGNOLA:
I didn't come to see you.
LAMPUGNANO:
I can imagine that.
CARMAGNOLA:
I've been on horseback three days and three nights - T -
LAMPUGNANO:
(sniffing distastefully) I realise that, too. He's
busy.


CARMAGNOLA:
Busy ? (appalled and silenced) Is that his message ?
LAMPUGNANO:
That's his message.
CARMAGNOLA withdraws, abashed)
CARMAGNOLA:
(as he returns to the Personal Area) Ricci!
Lampugnano! Their names haunted me for days
afterwards. I rode away shouting 'You trinity of
eunuchs!'
(PHILIP registers this, looking up as
LAMPUGNANO returns to the Throne
Area)
And then I: realised. as I galloped along. that I was
riding not back to Genoa but north towards my own
native state. That long ride burned my anger out.
And then I began to understand something. I suddenly
saw what power I had in my own person, apart from
anything Philip could give me, apart even from my
own soldiers. It was a result of being alone.
PHILIP:
I think I'll hunt.
(He leaves, clapping his hands for
SERVANTS)
LAMPUGNANO:
He's feeling afraid.
RICCI:
Did you see the road Carmagnola took ?
(They leave too. The Throne Area is
empty and its light goes dim)
CARMAGNOLA:
And, would you believe me, as I sat thinking things
over the duke Philip seemed to be getting inside me,
he seemed to be telling me something, how to sit
down and make a plan of campaign, but not with
soldiers, with my own thoughts. First, what was
my objective ? to revenge myself on him ? Not quite.
Defeat him, yes. Then I must find someone who also
wanted to defeat him, someone strong! I thought and
thought! And all at once Isaw a city like no other
city on earth, ancient, free, above all wealthy,
independent of popes and kings, the terror of the
Aegean, the lord of Dalmatia and Cyprus and Crete,
the customs officer of Alexandria and Heliopolis, the
middleman of Europe, with spices, silks and marbles


CARMAGNOLA:
to sell from the East, a great sea-power: with water
(contd)
running through her streets, protected by shelves of
mud and sand against not only the anger of the sea but
the envy of enemies; and at this moment ambition
enough to want to leave her ever-lasting skirt of water
that keeps her locked on a series of small islands, and
extend herself across the luscious farms of Lombardy--
Venice! Ah Venice! When I thought of you,
Serenissima, I knew I was home!
(The light goes up on the Throne Area
but this time a brilliant golden light)
Iknew you had found your commander. And everything
else fitted into this plan of campaign that had suddenly
come to me from Philip Duke of Milan! I saw that
Venice, Queen of the Adriatic, had few soldiers, that
to enter a land enterprise she would need to hire soldiers.
I saw that she was Philip's strongest enemy, that she
needed his farms, that she couldn't leave her western
frontier bare to him! She would have to enter the
mercenary market for the first time! And she would
need a mercenary commander. She would need me!
(A fanfare as brilliantly loud and assertive
as the light.
The DOGE, TOMASO MOCENIGO, now in
his eighty-fourth year, beautifully robed
in cloth of gold, with the horned biretta
of office on his head, mounts to the throne,
preceded by the sword, sceptre and
cushion. There are also COUNCILLORS,
including the PROCURATOR OF STATE
(SECOND HIGHEST OFFICE) FRANCESCO
FOSCARI.
The lion of St. Mark as a banner completes
the background)
Francesco Foscari, leader of the so-called Young
Venetians, fifty-five years of age and oddly like Philip
to look at, except that he isn't spindly in the legs,
remembers the defeat Venice has just had from the
Turks at sea, (FOSCARI walks a little apart from the
others to demonstrate what CARMAGNOLA is saying)
and his thoughts are turning towards the pastures and
cornfields of Lombardy, where Philip Duke of Milan is
the sole owner. He is aching for battle, as impatient
as I am, as thwarted of action. He wriggles in his


CARMAGNOLA:
chair---look! -: -as if his shoulders were already at
(contd)
the job.
DOGE:
Milan has declared war on Florence in all but words.
CARMAGNOLA:
FOSCARI:
As if we didn't know.
DOGE:
Our young Procurator, Mr. Francesco Foscari, Sage of
the Council, says that we must give help to the
Florentines, that their good is our good and their evil
our evil. Young Procurator, God created the angelic
nature, which is the noblest of all created things, and
gave it certain limits by which it should follow the way
of good and not of evil. The angels chose the bad way
that leads to evil. God punished them and banished them
from Paradise to the Inferno, and from being good they
became bad. This same thing we say to the Floren-
tines who come here asking for a war alliance, which
would be the evil way. Gentlemen, take comfort that
you live in peace. If ever the Duke of Milan--
CARMAGNOLA:
(craning forward with interest) Yes?
DOGE: :
--makes war against you, God is with you, who sees
CARMAGNOLA:
And Carmagnola, who wins battles!
DOGE:
He will so arrange it that you shall have the victory.
Let us live in peace, for God is peace; and he who
desires war, let him go to perdition. Young Procurator,
God created Adam wise, good and perfect, and gave him
the earthly paradise, but Adam was disobedient, not
being willing to acknowledge that he was merely a
creature. And God deprived him of Paradise-
CARMAGNOLA:
And you of the dogeship! After all you're eighty-four!
DOGE:
--and drove him outand put him in war, which is this
world, and cursed him and all human generations!
Thus will it happen to the Florentines for their fighting!
And to us if we join them! And then again, if Milan
takes Florence the Florentines will all flock to Venice and
bring their silk and wool trades with them, and we'll
grow rich, without spending a penny.
SEVERAL OF
THE COUNCIL:
Hear, hear!


DOGE:
It happened when Lucca fell into the hands of a tyrant.
Its wealth came to Venice, and Lucca became poor.
Therefore remain in peace.
CARMAGNOLA:
And die of boredom.
DOGE:
To finalise my argument, to state in one word all the
benefits that a long period of peace always brings, I
would say this: our exports and imports amount to:
the staggering annual figure of twenty-eight million,
eight hundred thousand gold ducats. Don't you think
this is a very pretty garden for Venice, young
Procurator?
FOSCARI:
'Ducats' 'ducats"! That's what old women say when
they hit the burning logs and watch the sparks fly up!
Well sparks are going to fly, not ducats!
(FOSCARI strides out)
DOGE: :
If you elect this man as my successor you will have
war. And war will ruin you. It will eat away your
resources. Then those with ten thousand ducats will
have a thousand -
A SENATOR:
(murmuring) 'Ducats', 'ducats' :
DOGE: :
Those with ten houses will have but one---and instead
of remaining masters of your hired soldiers--
CARMAGNOLA:
Ha ?
DOGE: :
You will find yourselves reduced to being their slaves!
You will--
(He falters. COUNCILLORS rush forward
as he half collapses from the throne)
(forcing his words out) Francesco Foscari is deceit-
ful and proud!
(The golden light is suddenly extinguished.
With hurried, hushed steps the
COUNCILLORS carry out the dying DOGE,
while the great bell of the campanile begins
to toll solemnly.
CARMAGNOLA remains gazing up at the
Throne Area while the neighbours back away
to the exit, humbled by the sudden death)


CARMAGNOLA:
(through the tolling) 'Instead of being masters of
your hired soldiers you will be their slaves. 1 Was
that what he was afraid of? He always used to say to
me, a mercenary commander should never rise too
high. With that quick little roll of his eyes.
(He begins to walk off thoughtfully.
Before he reaches the exit a dark
figure mounts the still unlighted
Throne Area and announces solemnly
'The Doge is dead! 1 CARMAGNOLA
stops for a moment, turns. Then
he hurries out. The Personal Area
is empty.
A grey austere light rises on the
Throne Area and PHILIP, DUKE OF
MILAN enters with his.TWO COURTIERS.
The dark figure, PAOLO CORNARO,
bows low to him. The bell of the
campanile continues to toll throughout
the following scene, in the distance
now. The light goes down on the
Personal Area)
CORNARO:
Your highness, I am to say that nothing is dearer to
the Venetian people than freedom, from which nothing
- neither treaties nor laws, nor any other reason,
human or divine-: --will make them depart. And in So
far as regards the present case, the Venetian people
hold themselves as much bound to stir themselves when
you attack Florence as they would if you were on their
own frontiers. And then Florence has a republican
form of government like ours, which creates a relat-
ionship. Iam to say that a man who wants to fight
freedom in Tuscany will fight it elsewhere later on,
like tyrants everywhere.
(He bows and withdraws a little)
PHILIP:
It sounds like an ultimatum.
CORNARO:
But your troops are approaching our borders, sir.
PHILIP:
Are your borders in Tuscany all of a sudden ?
CORNARO:
PHILIP:
You mean we're engaging the Florentines after a


PHILIP:
series of quite unbearable provocations. You know
(contd)
perfectly well that they're the most slippery people
in Italy. Do you remember how much they promised
Francesco da Carrara' ? whom you later strangled in
his cell. (with a smile) Oh I know Her Most Serene
Republic. Wise, older than any of us. She knows
I'm strong and Florence weak, apart from all the
jargon about freedom. Above all, being honourable,
she will respect her ten-year treaty with me, signed
(with another smile) less than a year ago.
CORNARO:
I am instructed to ask you, sir, do you mean to repeat
the mistakes of your brother, (PHILIP starts) when
you are such a different prince, when you excel in
powers of diplomacy, when you have won back for
Milan everything that your brother lost, and you did
it not simply by force but persuasion and sound
government?
PHILIP:
Very nice. (leans forward and pats CORNARO's
hand affectionately) What was it one of your senators
said when he advised you to murder the young Carrara
in cold blood---a prince like me, also. excelling in
powers of diplomacy, a legitimate sovereign and also,
I believe, granted a safe conduct to your city, a safe
conduct to death as it turned out---what was it the
good senator said, 'A dead man makes no war'?
Now why should Venice have required young Carrara not
to make war?
CORNARO:
Ah but, sir, Carrara-
PHILIP:
Let me tell you: because Carrara, young, a friend
as I am of the Serene Republic, and excelling in
powers of diplomacy, was also prince of Padua. And
Padua is---how many miles from Venice?
CORNARO:
About twenty-five, sir.
PHILIP:
(with sudden rapping finality) And the borders of
Tuscany are twenty -five miles from mine!
CORNARO:
PHILIP:
Remember that these subtle Florentine bankers change
allies like we change socks. Before you strangled
young Carrara with a bow-string in his cell-- --yes,
yes, of course he died of catarrh---for being guilty
of having a lawful throne twenty-five miles from your
city, he asked for Florence's help a hundred times


PHILIP:
and was offered it a hundred times, and a hundred
(contd)
times it was denied him just when he needed it. Tell
me, my dear Cornaro, why did I choose the Serene
Republic as a friend ?
CORNARO:
We are close geographically
PHILIP:
Close and strong. Northern Italy needs two powers to
keep the peace, one watching the Adriatic and the
other the Mediterranean, both of them independent
of Rome and able to present the foreigner, I mean of
course Germany, with a quite impregnable barrier.
CORNARO:
Yes, sir.
PHILIP:
Need I say that I believe one of the wisest doges in
your history has just died? Yes I know you belong to
the other party, and that your party is going to win.
But remember, he forged this wise alliance with me,
he even taught me to see its value. If you break it,
if you really believe that my ambitions extend as far
as your lagoon when I already have an excellent outlet
to the sea at Genoa, if you make war,my dear Cornaro,
the Republic will face another War of Chioggia, but
this time we will follow our victory up and plant our
tents in your Piazza!
CORNAO:
PHILIP:
Ah, that stirs you up! What a wonderful race you are.
I don't mean I shall lay siege. to you. But bankruptcy
will. Believe me, you need a vast exchequer to pay
mercenary soldiers. They're jealous, proud,
demanding men? Carmagnola left me, if you can
believe it, because I denied him the command of three
hundred cavalry. Igave him a wife, my surname, a
fortune and the governorship of Genoa but nothing
appeases a mercenary mind.
(The COURTIERS nod gravely)
Now you are a thrifty Republic, you're merchants and
traders, naval men. You like to show a dividend.
But mercenary knights show nothing for what they win.
They don't even take prisoners. They're more loyal
to each other than they are to you and me. Today
Milan, tomorrow Savoy, the day after-- Venice?
After a battle they drink together! They take care to
have no casualties. In two of the major battles for


PHILIP: .
for Cremona Ibelieve my commander lost one horse,
(contd)
and a trooper was cut in the leg by one of his own
spurs. But then of course I got Cremona. Wouldn't
the Serene Republic like Cremona' ? Isn't she tired of
being locked in the sea? Wouldn't she like to extend
herself across the luscious farms of Lombardy, where
the rents come in regularly and there are none of the
vicissitudes attendant on long sea voyages ? That, my
dear friend, is why you're thinking of listening to
Florence, because you covet my lands.
CORNARO:
I shall convey your answer to the Signory, sir.
PHILIP :
As you probably know, I consult the stars closely every
day. During conjunction, opposition, sextile, square
and trine I lock myself in my room and deny audiences
even to delightful spokesmen like yourself. So I have
a certain experience in the matter. And I warn you not
to embark on this enterprise. The stars are quite clear
on the subject. They foretell a plague in your city
before the end of the year. Is a plague a good augury
for the election of Franceso Foscari-- ?
CORNARO:
My lord!
PHILIP :
Yes, that was in bad taste perhaps. (with a smile)
Shall we hunt a little ?
CORNARO:
(with a bow) I shall be honoured.
(They leave, PHILIP clapping his hands
as before, followed by the TWO COURTIERS,
while the tolling bell in the distance rises to
a full peal to celebrate the election of a new
Doge.
As the light over the Throne Area quickly
changes to golden again the new Doge,
FRANCESCO FOSCARI, enters the Open
Area in cloth of gold followed by the banner
of St. Mark and closely attended. The
procession crosses the Open Area from
actor's left to right, and ends in the Throne
Area. The oldest member of the council
steps forward with the biretta and puts it
on the Doge's head with the words 'accipe
coronam ducatem ducatus venetiarum.
A fanfare of trumpets. The cushion, sword
and sceptre precede the Doge to his throne.
The COUNCILLORS close in and congratulate


him. Music echoes from the square
outside)
A COUNCILLOR: What about the announ cement ?
2ND COUNCILLOR: Well it's all very well telling them 'We've chosen
Francesco Foscari Doge, if such be your pleasure',
but suppose it isn't their pleasure ? After all, we
Young Venetians aren't very popular.
(There are smiles)
DOGE:
You could simply announce it as a fact by cutting the
last sentence. A break with tradition-
1ST COUNCILLOR: A tradition of nearly a thousand years.
2ND COUNCILLOR: That's not true, I doubt if it came in more than four
centuries ago.
DOGE: :
But the announcement was always quite valueless,
surely ? A formality.
2NDCOUNCILLOR: The people acclaim the man chosen. They don't
deliberate on the choice.
1ST COUNCILLOR: There's a lawyer for you!
DOGE:
(amid laughter) Let's cut the damned thing in half
then.
(General approval. FIRST COUNCILLOR
goes out and announces 'Ser Francesco
Foscari has been elected Doge' and we hear
the same sentence being passed on until
there is a great deep roar of approval from
a crowd in the piazza)
DOGE :
(to the SECOND COUNCILLOR) You said something
about an audience.
2ND COUNCILLOR: For Carmagnola.
DOGE: :
Ah yes. (as the FIRST COUNCILLOR returns) No
stones? (more laughter) They'd approve the devil
himself. And we've got to wake them up!


2ND COUNCILLOR:
But put on peaceful faces for the time being.
DOGE:
Naturally. I've got a peace-loving speech for
every day of the week.
1ST COUNCILLOR:
About Carmagnola, then ?
2ND COUNCILLOR:
Well we can hear what he has to say. Mind you,
I'm rather chary of a man who defects from anybody,
even Philip Duke of Milan.
1ST COUNCILLOR:
He did leave a fortune behind.
DOGE:
And a wife.
2ND COUNCILLOR:
Very beautiful I understand.
DOGE: :
That's the odd thing about the Viscontis, they turn
out the most lovely women but the ugliest men under
the sun.
(Leisurely laughter)
1ST COUNCILLOR:
The duke deprived him of his command as you know.
DOGE:
Yes. Carmagnola must be an angry man. We
could do with a little anger in the senate, if you
follow me. Let's have him address the senate.
2ND COUNCILLOR:
My God he could stir them. Have you seen him ?
Massive chap.
IST COUNCILLOR:
He's got eighty attendants with him. I mean,
that's chief of state level, isn't it ? And crowds
all the way from Turin, cheering like mad.
DOGE:
Well we'll have Venice cheering him like mad too.
Better a soldier than an old fogey crying 'ducats,
ducats' all day.
COUNCILLORS:
Hear, hear.
DOGE:
Clear the room for a private audience then.
(The COUNCILLORS leave except
for the FIRST COUNCILLOR who
takes out a slip of paper and reads
it to the DOGE (the audience-
brief)


1ST COUNCILLOR:
Carmagnola, Francesco. Count of Castelnuovo.
In the Duke of Milan's service he amassed a
private fortune of between seventy and eighty
thousand ducats---
DOGE :
Did he by God?
IST COUNCILLOR:
Four years ago he took the precaution of investing
thirty thousand of them here in Venice, at the
Chamber of Loans.
DOGE: :
1ST COUNCILLOR:
He married Antonietta Visconti, whom he actually
appears to love, eight years ago in 1417. He laid
the foundations of a very ambitious country house
at Broletto-Nuovo.
DOGE:
Thanks. That'll do me.
(FIRST COUNCILLOR leaves
(without bowing).
A hush, followed by sounds of
movement near the entrance behind
the DOGE's throne. CARMAGNOLA
enters, ushered in by an
ATTENDANT, who withdraws the
moment he has done his job.
CARMAGNOLA is all but covered
in a great red cloak not unlike the
toga of office worn by the
COUNCILLORS; and he carries the
famous Carmagnola' hat, a red
beret like a night-cap in design.
The DOGE rises and takes him by
the elbows in a kindly way and urges
him to a seat at his side)


DOGE:
Your wife is safe I trust.
CARMAGNOLA:
I think so, yes sir.
DOGE :
And willjoin you here perhaps.
CARMAGNOLA:
I hope so.
DOGE :
Let me put the matter from the Venetian point of
view. Our: interests: aren't confined to this sea
outside. We must keep the waterways of'the
mainland free as well. I mean mainly the Po.
These waterways take our goods to Germany,
England, the Low Countries, France. Our trade
would suffer badly if the River Po and the River
Adige were blocked by too powerful an enemy.
CARMAGNOLA:
He will block it. He'll carry off all that river-
trade for himself---impose levies, freight
charges---
FOSCARI:
Which we can't allow..
CARMAGNOLA:
More than that. A year ago the Duke of Milan
entered Venetian territory.
DOGE:
(with a smile) Under your command.
CARMAGNOLA:
Your Most Serene Highness-- '
DOGE :
(admiring CARMAGNOLA's magnificent shrug)
I'm told that running mercenary armies requires
a special technique, a diplomacy all its own.
Mercenary soldiers are costly and above all
unreliable because they have a habit of freely
changing sides. Now we Venetians as you know
have a natural patriotism which is far beyond
personal interest. That's why we've never needed
hired soldiers until now. We've done our fighting
ourselves.


CARMAGNOLA:
I know exactly what you're getting at. Now I've already
banked my money here---I did it three years ago,
thirty thousand ducats---
DOGE:
Did you now ?
CARMAGNOLA:
And believe me, if I became Venetian, if you gave me
that honour, I'd be as good a Venetian as the next man,
I'd put Venice beyond everything
DOGE:
Beyond the Visconti family?
CARMAGNOLA:
Why? where do they come in?
DOGE:
Your wife's a Visconti. Your children will be Viscontis.
You have a son.?
CARMAGNOLA:
Yes.
DOGE:
A Visconti.
CARMAGNOLA:
But my wife's mine, not Milanese any more.
DOGE:
Are you sure?
CARMAGNOLA:
Bring her here and see. Sit her among your finest
noblewomen, and see how she looks. She'll be Venetian
in a day.
DOGE:
You feel it's easy to be Venetian?
CARMAGNOLA:
Not for any man. But for me---lacking a country of
my own, betrayed by -
DOGE:
But we can't cease being Milanese or Venetian or what-
ever it is just because we're betrayed. That would be
too comfortable! No, being Venetian is a very special
kind of destiny.
CARMAGNOLA:
Let me learn it, from you.
DOGE:
And then you're a great man. The Republic is jealous
of great men. We like equality. My own councillors call
me Mr. Doge, never sir, let alone my lord. We're
like that. They won't even let me nod thank you at the
end of my council meetings, in case I am giving a secret
sign to someone or showing that I have anything to thank
them for. In all things I have to consider myself nothing,
for the simple reason that I am head of the state. They
even go out of their way to be rude to me. My daughters


DOGE:
may only marry with their permission. I can't open
(contd)
despatches without my council being present. Three
senators follow me wherever I go. My private letters
are opened. We're suspicious of each other. Above
all, popularity is a most unpopular condition to find
yourself in here. Men have been hung for it.
CARMAGNOLA:
All I can say is I'm a soldier. I give orders and I
take them. Beyond that...
DOGE:
You may find yourself watched-- -for signs of pride.
CARMAGNOLA:
My job is to fight the Duke of Milan, is that right?
DOGE:
No! Your job is to be a functioning, responsible
member of the aristocracy, to persuade me and the
senate and the Great Council and finally the people
that the Duke of Milan is an enemy, and secondly
that you're the right man to defeat him. (leaning
forward and giving him a consoling touch) You're not
in Milan any more. We don't have one-man governments
here. We vote! We have to be persuaded! Our minds
have to be moved. Notice I didn't say 'hearts'. Where
the state is concerned we don't have any. Now listen to
me carefully. Our senate wants peace. I, being doge,
naturally want peace too because I'm their symbol
and representative. What do you say to that?
CARMAGNOLA:
You've had peace a long time and it brought the Duke
of Milan to your doorstep. He'll have Brescia in a
couple of months if you let the weeds grow any higher!
That's what I've got to say. You love peace and he
loves war! He's watching you like a hawk, and one
day he'll swoop--- (with a vivid movement).
DOGE:
I'm almost inclined to say you should address the
senate. You might almost use that same movement,
what was it----? (imitating the movement
CARMAGNOLA made)
CARMAGNOLA:
Well first of all I'm no good at speeches.
DOGE:
You're marvellous at speeches. You made one just
now. But senates, my lord, are cold bodies. They
listen with closed hearts.
CARMAGNOLA:
No man can make me cold.
DOGE:
Well if you can heat that lot up--


CARMAGNOLA:
I'll tell them the facts, that'll heat an iceberg!
DOGE:
Let's go to my apartment and agree on what the facts
are.
(The DOGE makes a gesture towards
the exit and CARMAGNOLA, after a
bow, precedes him. The DOGE
watches him closely from behind and
then coolly rises and follows him.
MARIA, CARMAGNOLA's MOTHER,
enters the Personal Area. She is
dressed like a lady. A SERVANT
follows her with a tray containing
wine-jugs, etc. Without a word,
MARIA gestures her to put it on the
table and then dismisses her. The
SERVANT makes a little curtsey.
PHILIP, DUKE OF MILAN, with a
falcon on his gloved wrist, passes
across the Open Area from left to
right in the company of RICCI and
LAMPUGNANO who support him.
He pauses for breath.
When he has, with great effort, regained
easy breathing, he looks up at the sky
searchingly)
PHILIP:
Something's in the air today. A defeat perhaps -
it might be something small. Let's hope so.
(He signals to the COURTIERS to
move off again and the party renews
its slow progress out behind the
Throne Area.
As it does So CARMAGNOLA enters
the Personal Area)
MARIA:
I knew you were coming. By the cheers.
CARMAGNOLA:
(throwing himself on to the couch, exhausted)
Sometimes I think they're organised, mother.
These Venetians
MARIA:
What?


CARMAGNOLA:
You can't see what they're at, not like with other people.
They've lived together SO long, well over a thousand
years, and most of the time in trouble. You can't dig
under that kind of unity, it's in the bloody.
MARIA:
(handing him his wine) Here.
CARMAGNOLA:
You've taken to the life like a duck to water, eh? Look
at your clothes. (smelling the wine with pleasure)
Mm! And I bet you treat the servants like dirto
MARIA:
I know their mentalities, that's why! It's either them or
CARMAGNOLA:
That's why I brought you here. I heard you swearing.
And then of course I thought you'd make a good house-
keeper.
MARIA:
(gazing at him) You've always talked like that, since
you were ten.
CARMAGNOLA:
Wasn't I playing soldiers at ten ?
MARIA:
I never saw you play soldiers once. You sat and dreamed.
And talked like that, as if I was a stranger.
CARMAGNOLA:
Aren't youa stranger ? It's better like that. You see,
I knew what I wantedo I wanted to be one ofthe ones on
top.
MARIA:
Well, you got there.
CARMAGNOLA:
Do you think SO ? You're wrong. You see, they've
all got minds, and I - -
(He begins drinking his wine. As he does
so, PHILIP, DUKE OF MILAN, enters
the Throne Area still on RICCI and
LAMPUGNANO. The glove and falcon
are taken from him and his stick is
leaned against the throne. RICCI hands
him a book as he settles into throne
with satisfied sighs. He opens the book
and is at once absorbed, his mouth open.
He dismisses them with an absent
gesture a loose fluttering of heavy
fingers : - and they hurry away)
MARIA:
You need your wife if you ask me. Will they let her
come ?


CARMAGNOLA:
If I trade an army of prisoners for her, yes. (settling
back more comfortably on the couch) You know, I wish
Antoniéttà weren't'so-timid..
MARIA:
Who wouldn't be, of you?
CARMAGNOLA:
She flinches when I look at her. Here am I trying to get
away from the greatness, the trumpets and crowds,
and then I see her face and realise it all clings to me.
It changes a man. Yet I don't know how I did it. I
ordered men about, and battles were won, that's all.
MARIA:
Personality. Your father had it.
CARMAGNOLA:
Antonietta comes along and I hardly recognise myself.
I see there's something missing Yes!
(He dozes off while his mother tidies
the room. She takes the tray from the
table, careful to make no noise.
Two dark figures enter the Personal
Area silently and stand close to the
couch. MARIA turns and sees them.
As one of them makes towards her
with a muffle she screams and drops
the tray. He flings a muffle round her
head but she has woken CARMAGAGNOLA
who throws off the other man (about to
plunge a long knife into his shoulder)
with a roar that has something triumphant
about it.
The TWO MEN get away.
The DUKE, in the Throne Area, neither
moves nor takes his eyes off his book
during this action.)
CARMAGNOLA:
Close the doors! (dashing after them) Close the doors !
(There are sounds of confusion from
below. MARIA remains, half paralysed
with terror, and manages to free herself
of the muffle. She begins picking up
the coffee things, crooning to hersélf
like a peasant woman, 'Holy Mary Mother
Of God! Holy Mary!'


PHILIP, DUKE OF MILAN, lowers
his book and bangs his stick on the
floor slowly and deliberately)
PHILIP:
(as RICCI and LANPUGNANO come in) You see, I was -
right. Your two hired assassins made a bog-up. (as
they stare at him) I got it from a pigeon. I won't fling
you both downstairs and feed you to the dogs this time
but I want to make it clear---no more schoolboy
suggestions in future. Assassination never works.
Mostly it doesn't get the victim but even when it does it
changes nothing.
RICCI:
Yes, sir.
(MARIA leaves the Personal Area
with the tray, still crooning to herself)
PHILIP:
Venice will use this as a pretext for making war with
me. That's the real reason why I'm not throwing you
down the stairs, because I want the war. I want
Carmagnola as my enemy. I can play with Carmagnola.
I don't need hired assassins. I can get the head off
his shoulders without moving from this seat. (with
sudden wild ferocity) Do you hear that?
RICCI:
Yes, sir!
PHILIP:
Help me up. We'll go to the maproom, where you'll
both keep your noses out of my strategy.
(RICCI helps him to his feet and they
hobble out, LAMPUGNANO remaining
behind for a moment)
LAMPUGNANO:
(As he leaves, the TWO ASSASSINS
(now all but stripped of their
clothing, and bound together) are
pushed and dragged across the Open
Area from right to left by ATTENDANTS.
The DOGE, the FIRST COUNCILLOR
and CARMAGNO LA enter from the
left and stand watching the slow,
tortured progress of the two prisoners)
CARMAGNOLA:
Poor devils'


DOGE:
(halting the other party So that the two criminals are
more or less at his feet) What do they call themselves?
COUNCILLOR:
Gherardo da Rubiera and Giovanni degli Aliprandi.
DOGE:
Good God! Who'd have names like that?
COUNCILLOR:
Only assassins
(They enjoy their little joke while
the TWO MEN writhe from their
burns)
They confessed on the stoves to being in the hire of
Philip, Duke of Milan.
DOGE:
Well, I could guess that. (taking CARMAGNOLA's
arm and moving away) I tell you what, you might
get it into your speech-- 'they tried to murder me
after twelve years loyal service', that sort of thing.
You're a born showman after all.
(The prison party move off)
DOGE:
Anyway, let's see what we can do.
COUNCILLOR:
(to CARMAGNOLA) I should have thought you were
used to assassinations.
CARMAGNOLA:
I am, but only other people's. It shows what a
different level I'm on now. A man of state! (with
something like awe of himself) Not a simple soldier
any more!
DOGE:
(as they pass out of sight) Well, that's honest of you.
(glancing at the FIRST COUNCILLOR)
(The stage is empty for a moment.
There are suddenly the last imploring
cries of the TWO ASSASSINS followed
by two great splashes, followed by
silence,
The DOGE, FIRST COUNCILLOR and
CARMAGNOLA stroll into the Throne
Area smiling and chatting.)
(going to the throne) Now suppose you stand there -
(to CARMAGNOLA) No, a bit nearer, that's right:
just to give the idea that you're supporting me while


DOGE:
I'm talking. Right well, I shoot off with: (he begins
(contd)
prepared speech) Senators, there are two things which
in our Republic are thought very pleasant, but which
have involved us in trouble, and they are peace and
frugality.
COUNCILLOR:
Hear, hear !
DOGE:
Too fond of an easy time, too greedy for the quick
bargain: is that to be said of our Republic? Senators,
judge for yourselves when you hear the facts. Igive
you Carmagnola.
CARMANGOLA:
I've worked for the Duke of Milan for twelve years.
I won him the plains of Lombardy, the finest port on
the Mediterranean coast, I even brought him to your
own frontiers! For these twelve years of service I
am barred the man's presence. No explanation, no
regrets! And he'll do the same with all his friends.
You have a treaty with him. He'll use it while it
suits him, then fling your envoys into prison! He's
planning it already. Gentlemen, none of you know that,
but I know it. He used to talk to me whole nights
together, pacing up and down his bedroom when he
couldn't sleep. He's after Brescia and Bergamo. He
lusts after them like a lover. You don't know that but
I do. He means to have Tuscany -that you know.
But he means to have all of northern Italy. He means
to have you! He means to lay seige to this most
lovely, most splendidly endowed of all cities. And
you're going to wait for him? I decided, for myself,
not to wait. I left my wife and children behind. I shall
fight to get them back! I hope I shall fight for this
great Republic, this empire! Even as an ordinary
soldier I'd fight, if you let me. Because I've found
my country at last, a place where justice and bounty
and every virtue go together, where each man gets
his due, where rascality is unknown in high places!
DOGE:
(interrupting him) I wouldn't say that if I were you.
I mean, they might think you a fool and we don't
want that. Go on to the next bit.
CARMAGNOLA:
And now I want to tell you something that no one else,
including Philip, Duke of Milan knows. It is this.
Philip, Duke of Milan, isn't strong at this moment,
he isn't as strong as he appears or as he thinks. And
all this for a very good reason, that I'm not with him
any more. I was his strength! And that's why,
gentlemen, this wild Milanese aggressor sent two hired


CARMAGNOLA:
assassins to this city only forty-eight hours ago to
(contd)
DOGE:
Do you think you could make your voice break there,
on 'to murder me'?
CARMAGNOLA:
And that's why, that's why, gentlemen, this wild
Milanese aggressor sent two hired assassins to
this city only forty-eight hours ago to murder me---
after twelve years service!
DOGE:
( to the FIRST COUNCILLOR) That ought to tug at
their heartstrings.
COUNCILLOR:
If they've got any.
CARMAGNOLA:
Well, they failed of their purpose, as you see. And
Philip, Duke of Milan, now has to face the possibility
that you may put me at the head of your armies, to
fight him ! He knows what I can do! That's why he
wanted to remove me! He knows that my leaving him
makes him twice as.weak and my coming to you makes
you twice as strong! This then is the moment to mount
an attack. Get your hand in first! Of course,
gentlemen, I can't guarantee that there aren't other
budding Carmagnolas in the Milanese camp---! (as
an aside to the DOGE) I'm hoping this draws a laugh.
DOGE:
Quite right, it will.
CARMAGNOLA:
But one thing I do know: whether you put your armies
under me or another, * there isn't a commander in the
land of better faith towards you, of more inexhaustible
loyalty to Venice, of greater hatred towards our common
enemy, than the man you see standing before you now!
COUNCILLOR:
Jolly good.
DOGE:
That might very well get them. (turning towards
the imaginary audience to complete his part of the
performance, speaking with such violence that the
veins stand out on his neck) Senators, you have heard
the facts. If that insensate tyrant isn't checked he'll
overrun the whole peninsula! When he's finished with
Florence he'll start on you! It's war he wants! And
it's war he'll have!
(A great echoing cheer comes from the
Piazza, with the sound of drums and
trumpets and the pealing of the campanile.


The DOGE and CARMAGNOLA
embrace triumphàntly and leave the
Throne Area with the FIRST
COUNCILLOR behind them.
The sounds rise to a climax as a
procession headed by the DOGE and
CARMAGNOLA begins to wind itself
across the Open Area from right to
left.
PAOLO CORNARO steps into the
Throne Area to shout an announcement
above the noise while the light above
him dims from Venetian gold to
Milanese grey)
CORNARO:
The following terms will be signed between Venice
and Florence! Each party to send into the field eight
thousand horse and three thousand foot. A naval
squadron for the defence of the river Po will be raised
at mutuàl expense. The Republic of Venice shall
control the movement of all armies, and conclude peace
whenever it wants to, even separately. Conquests in
Tuscany and the Romagna shall go to Florence. (pause)
Conquests in Lombardy shall go the Republic of Venice.
Trumpets. PHILIP, DUKE OF MILAN,
with his TWO COURTIERS,enters the
Throne Area and PAOLO CORNARO,
having finished his announcement, turns
to bow to him)
PHILIP:
But you're infringing our 1421 treaty.
CORNARO:
You have attacked Ferrara and Mantua, sir. That
killed our treaty stone dead.
(He bows and leaves)
LAMPUGNANO:
Every analysis of the stars,, from at least six quite
independent sources, shows you are going to win.
PHILIP:
And then there are my gifts as well.
CARMAGNOLA enters the personal
area with a BISHOP. CARMAGNOLA
is dressed for battle)


CARMAGNOLA:
What I mean is I've never been satisfied, bit by bit
I've won everything- -military rank, money, a
pretty, aristocratic wife, a house in the country or at
least the foundations of one, and now the command of
one of the.finest armies in Italy, in the service of the
finest state, and--
BISHOP:
(sitting down) I'm glad you said that. About the finest
state, I mean. Even the priests here are Venetian.
They put Venice next to God and higher then the Church.
Remember that.
CARMAGNOLA:
You're a wonderfully cold lot when it comes to your
state. All he said when that Milanese agent nearly
planted a dagger in my chest was, 'Mention it in your
speech. It might go down well with the senate.'
BISHOP:
Who said?
CARMAGNOLA:
The doge.
BISHOP: :
Oh, his job is being cold. That's what we pay him
for. So you can't free yourself of desire? Well,
well, you're like most of the creatures who live and
die.
CARMAGNOLA:
You see, I can't stop myself wanting something
higher, always.
BISHOP:
When you want the highest thing of all, the rest no
longer counts. Was it ever really rank and power you
wanted? Was it ever anything outside ?
CARMAGNOLA:
Outside?
BISHOP:
Isn't it something inside you want, and never get?
and the more you get outside, the more you see how
much less you're getting inside ?
CARMAGNOLA:
Oh I believe in God all right if that's what you mean.
After all, he demonstrates himself in every battle.
BISHOP:
How? In victories?
CARMAGNOLA:
Not always. In defeats sometimes; if I haven't watched
my behaviour.
BISHOP:
Is that the kind of God you have? He rewards you if you
pray, and punishes if you don't?


CARMAGNOLA:
He rewards for a pure heart.
BISHOP:
Ah, there you're nearer. But not near enough. He
doesn't reward with victories and rank and all
the other things you beguile yourself with. The pure
heart is its own reward. If you live towards that,
as an end in itself, the only sane end, you'll be all
right, the other things disappear. Instead of looking
on victory or an aristocratic wife as the reward of
a pure heart look on a pure heart as the objective of
every victory, every action. A pure heart is a kind
of home, you see. The only place you can rest. There
are no desires beyond it. And I don't mean being
virtuous. I mean having peace, inside. I mean the
silence right inside you. When you make that the centre
of your life, everything else will radiate from it,
including the mind you say you want. You can't have a
mind without it.
CARMAGNOLA:
How do I find this silence ?
BISHOP:
Let me put it this way. Compared to the god you are
in your own silence, you are nothing with all the
military rank in the world. In that silence alone are
you a god. And you are aching to be a god in the other
way, with rank and circumstance, and it won't work.
CARMAGNOLA:
But supposing he keeps her? (gazing up at PHILIP,
DUKE OF MILAN) Even kills her? :
BISHOP:
(following her gaze) What. are you thinking of?
Reverse your thinking! It's either a wife or a defeat
or a house in the country! Take your thoughts off
life---you'll find it isn't life at all! Think from the
inside outwards, not from the outside in. Don't
you see that this is the only way to get your will?
Live a pure life, find the silence I'm talking about, if
only for a few moments every day, and then the outside
will look after itself. You mean Philip?
CARMAGNOLA:
Of course.
BISHOP:
But how can he influence you if you're strong? And
how can he fail to beat you if you think all the time,
oh suppose he does this, suppose he keeps my wife,
suppose he signs a separate peace with Venice---
CARMAGNOLA:
(in a storm at once) What, is that a possibility?
BISHOP:
Look at you! Look how unsteady your thoughts are!
You expect me, a priest, to know more than you do


BISHOP:
about our affairs of state? An ignorant man like me
(contd)
makes an idle analogy and it throws you off your
balance. You should be a rock of strength, but
you can't found that on victories. It has to come from
inside !
CARMAGNOLA:
You're a born Venetian. You've got politics in your
blood. You might have known something.
BISHOP:
My dear son, if you think of your wife as a hostage in
Philip's hands, this is what she'll become! We treat
people as they treat themselves. If you tell God you
are frightened of Philip, this gives Philip power! We
see people, in the end, as they see themselves!
CARMAGNOLA:
A soldier is So weak.
BISHOP:
If you treated your priests less like batmen you might
be stronger.
CARMAGNOLA:
I doubt it.
BISHOP:
(laughing) So do I, to be quite honest-- --considering
the kind of cloth that gets into the army nowadays.
(BATMEN enter the Personal Area
with CARMAGNOLA's armour and
spurs.
The BISHOP rises to bless
CARMAGNOLA, who kneels)
TOGETHER:
Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen
tuum. Advéniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua,
sicut in caelo, et in terra. Panem nostrum
cotidianum da nobis hodie. Et dimitte nobis debita
nostra, sicut.et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.
Et ne nos inducas in tentationem: sed libera nos a
malo. Amen.
BISHOP:
Pax et benedictio Dei omnipoténtis, Patris, et Filii,
(sign of the cross) et Spiritus Sancti, descendat super
vos, et maneat semper.
CARMAGNOLA:
Amen.
(CARMAGNOLA rises)
BISHOP:
Remember there is one place where you've never
been rejected, never once been hurt or baffled,


BISHOP:
and you can only find it in yourself, in silence
(contd)
and alone.
(The BISHOP leaves.
CARMAGNOLA is dressed for battle.
ANTONIETTA VISCONTI, a woman of
twenty-six, enters the Throne Area
and curtseys to PHILIP. He dismisses
his courtiers abruptly and seats her
by him)
PHILIP:
They've declared war. Your husband is now an enemy
commander.
ANTONIETTA:
Yes.
PHILIP:
You've been crying. I never thought of myself as a
matchmaker but this time I seem to" have done the
trick!
ANTONIETTA:
He needs looking after, he----!
PHILIP:
Are you saying you want to join him in Venice?
(suddenly in a rage) To nurse the commander of
forces designed to crush the Visconti family? What
kind of loyalty is that?
ANTONIETTA:
I only thought----!
PHILIP:
I can't stand the way women think!
(He snatches up his book and begins
reading. She rises to go but he
prevents her with an absent hand,
keeping his eyes on the book)
PHILIP:
You say he needs looking after. That means he's
a child. In what way a child?
ANTONIETTA:
Oh----the way he thinks happiness is always round the
corner, never here and now. Wanting something
different all the time.
PHILIP:
(with something like disgust) A dreamer.
ANTONIETTA:
But he makes his dreams come true and it doesn't change
anything!


PHILIP:
He can hardly read or write-- -you know that of
course?
ANTONIETT. A:
He confesses a dozen times a day.
PHILIP:
(laughing) How delightful! You might as well confess
a horse ! Carmagnola can't do wrong! It's people like
me who need confession. (abruptly serious again)
ANTONIETTA:
(But he is lost in thought)
CARMAGNOLA:
Getting to high places poses the question, where can
I go higher ? And if I can't go higher than this, what
was the point of coming all this way' ? I remember the
Duke of Milan saying--
PHILIP:
-People like me, my dear, are placed by our
positions next to the Person we know less about than
the poorest farmer. I mean God.
ANTONIETTA:
Yes, uncle.
PHILIP:
Still, He keeps us on the move.
CARMAGNOLA:
I've been galloping all my life, galloping, galloping!
(Battle trumpets sound from the
Open Area.
COURTIERS rush in to PHILIP)
RICCI:
Seven or eight thousand enemy are in front of Brescia!
PHILIP:
Who's in charge of their engineering?
RICCI:
Nicolo da Tolentino.
PHILIP:
Damn! (struggling to rise) He's the cleverest snake
in Tuscany. We've lost Brescia. I can promise you
that!
(The COURTIERS support him away)
And get rid of that woman!
(LAMPUGNANO gestures her out roughly.
Drums roll from the Open Area. Other


drums mark time with marching feet.
The last touches are being put to
CARMAGNOLA's outfit.
PAGES, bearing banners, enter the
Open Area, one from each side. The
arms of the Visconti come from the.
right, St. Mark's Lion from the left.
These banners walk to the sound of
the drums. They meet each other in
the centre and then turn and come
downstage where they divide again and
stand one on each side of the Open Area,
facing the audience.
CARMAGNOLA's ADJUTANT enters the
Personal Area bearing a bloody
gauntlet. He shows it to CARMAGNOLA.
An ATTENDANT follows behind him
with two bloody gauntlets and two lances
dipped in blood)
CARMAGNOLA:
From Piccinino ?
ADJUT ANT:
Yes, sir.
CARMAGNOLA:
(chuckling) The old rascal. I knew he'd get the
command of that outfit. But I'll have him by the
short and curlies, don't you worry about that.
ADJUTANT:
(bring forward the ATTENDANT with the lances and
gauntlets) And here are our pledges.
CARMAGNOLA:
(giving them a cursory glance) Right, send them
over.
(The ADJUTANT dismisses the
ATTENDANT)
ADJUTANT:
Five thousand horse and a thousand foot are formed up
in front of the city in excellent order.
CARMAGNOLA:
And you're feeling nervous. I can tell by your voice.
ADJUTANT:
CARMAGNOLA:
Whereas the closer I get to a battle the more I like it.


ADJUT ANT:
I've had two proveditors from Venice worrying me
all morning. They're enough to make anybody nervous.
CARMAGNOLA:
By the way, make a mention of them in our next
despatch, when we're announcing this victory.
Remind me. Something like 'I've noticed you've
detailed two young Venetian noblemen to my head-
quarters whom you call proveditors. I call them spies.
Something pithy.
(The ATTENDANT, with the lances and
gauntlets, goes across the open area
to the time of the drums, from left to
right)
ADJUTANT:
Every time a demijohn of Cyprus goes into one of
the tents they make a note of it. Well, almost, anyway.
CARMAGNOLA:
Commercial minds make maritime empires, my
child.
ADJUT ANT:
Er---they want to see the battle.
CARMAGNOLA:
Tell them to go to hell. No, better still, put a couple of
chairs where they can catch a stray cannon ball or two.
That'll fix 'em. (to the BATMEN) Now come on, you
people, you've had long enough.
(The BATMEN put the last touches
to this most unwieldy of war costumes
and then stand aside)
And now go away, all of you.
(The BATMEN and ADJUT ANT salute
their way out. CARMAGNOLA kneels
to pray.
A bombardment of siege weapons begins
(more mighty thuds and cracks then
crashes) but it in no way disturbs
CARMAGNOLA.
The ADJUTANT enters the Open Area
from the left with the TWO VENETIANS
(PROVEDITORS), followed by ATTENDANTS
with two chairs. These are placed to
face the rake of the Open Area. The
PROVEDITORS sit down and the ADJUTANT
bows his way out again,


Bugles sound while CARMAGNOLA
prays imperturbably)
CARMAGNOLA:
God grant me yet another victory. And may Piccinino
leave a flank open like he usually does. Give me
the mind to understand cold hearts--- -!
(He breaks off as if the thought
baffles him. Then he crosses himself
and rises slowly. The ADJUTANT
enters at once, as if he has been waiting
at the entrance for this sign)
(rubbing his hands) Now!
(The sounds of bombardment and drums
and bugles rise to a climax as
CARMAGNOLA and his ADJUTANT
followed by ATTENDANTS enter the
Open Area from the left and pass the
PROVEDITORS)
1ST PROVEDITOR: Good luck, sir!
(CARMAGNOLA stops and turns)
CARMAGNOLA:
I don't win battles with luck.
(He makes a slight bow and passes on.
When he and his ATTENDANTS are out
of sight there is a burst of cheering.
The sound of clashing swords joins
the other sounds. There is the thudding
gallop of horses. The PROVEDITORS
show no sense of danger)
2ND PROVEDITOR: If he wins battles like he spends money he should
do all right.
(A lance lands more or less at his.
feet and he picks it up and examines
1ST PROVEDITOR: Good God, look! He doesn't seem to think cannons
hurt!
(A trumpet sounds for an advance.
There are bloodcurdling cries)


2ND PROVEDITOR: Look out !
(He jumps up)
1ST PROVEDITOR: He's off! He's dead! My God our commander's
dead!
(A great cheer goes up)
2ND PROVEDITOR: They're through! This is better than a sea-fight--
what do you say?
1ST PROVEDITOR: (falling back in his chair) But that's an expensive
victory by God---our commander gone---the finest
military mind in Italy.
2ND PROVEDITOR: He may only be wounded.
1ST PROVEDITOR: But he didn't move.
(Another climax of noise)
2ND PROVEDITOR: He's walking this way !
1ST PROVEDITOR: The man's a spirit! He can't have got up!
2ND PROVEDITOR: Here---they're letting the prisoners go!
1ST PROVEDITOR: What?
2ND PROVEDITOR: They're walking back to their own lines-- They're
even shaking hands! They're joking! It's like a game.
Then what were all those cannons for?
1ST PROVEDITOR: It's a drinking party!
2ND PROVEDITOR: And the battle's still on!
CARMAGNOLA enters from the right
with all the finery that took SO long
to heap on his shoulders now either
torn or gone. His face is marked with
blood. He shows no sign of being aware
of this. His ADJUTANT follows,
casting aghast glances behind him)
1ST PROVEDITOR: But I saw you fall! You were trampled on ! Trampled
to death !


CARMAGNOLA:
Death? Good God, we never get killed in battles,
man. We see to that.
1ST PROVEDITOR:
But therprisoners, sir?
CARMAGNOLA:
What prisoners?
1ST PROVEDITOR:
The chaps going back to their own lines---
CARMAGNOLA:
They're Piccinino's. They're not under my
command.
(He leaves)
1ST PROVEDITOR:
Well I'm damned!
(The sounds of battle merge with the
pealing of the campanile in Venice,
and a triumphant cheer at the siege
of Brescia becomes the cheering of a
great crowd in the Piazza of Venice.
The Visconti banner walks across to
the Venetian banner and cedes it. The
VISCONTI PAGE then follows the banner
of St.. Mark out left with lowered head,
as a golden light brightens the Throne
Area.
The DOGE enters the Throne Area in
cloth of gold with his FIRST COUNCILLOR.
He has a despatch in his hand)
DOGE:
See this? 'You call them proveditors. I call them
spies.' I like his cheek! But what a victory, eh?
1ST COUNCILLOR::
Well, the bill hasn't: come in yet.
DOGE:
On the contrary. It's a pity we didn't enter this
mercenary war-market earlier.
1ST COUNCILLOR:
Do you know the story about Siena ? One of their
mercenary commanders was So successful that
they had to have a conference about how much to pay
him, to keep him in their service. And do you know
what they decided?
DOGE:


1ST COUNCILLOR:
To kill him. In that way the victories remained
theirs, and he did too.
DOGE:
Ah, but this gentleman's a Venetian. As from today.
CARMAGNOLA enters the Open Area
from the left with his ADJUTANT and
the TWO PROVEDITORS He is in
ceremonial dres. A canopy is carried
over his head.
The DOGE waits for him to reach the
Throne Area where they embrace each
other with genial familiarity)
(drawing him aside) I just wanted to tell you this.
We decided in council this morning to form a state
on the banks of the river Adda. That state shall
be yours, to govern as an indepdent prince
CARMAGNOLA:
DOGE:
-if you can clear the river of all enemy and take
Pavia.
CARMAGNOLA:
That's something to think about.
DOGE:
We're sending a fleet up the Po.
CARMAGNOLA:
Just when I was looking forward to a holiday!
(They laugh and form the head of
a procession which leaves the Throne
Area,and to a crescendo of bells from
everywhere in the city,winds across
the Open Area. Both the DOGE and
CARMAGNOLA are under the canopy
now. A fanfare of trumpets.
PHILIP, DUKE OF MILAN, appears
in the Personal Area in his night shirt.
He stops and watches the procession
wind away. The sounds of celebration
die and the light begins to fade. He
crosses himself and bows to all four
corners. Night begins to fall as he
drops to his knees and prays.
He prays fervently, twisting himself
suddenly into another position until


he has completed the four corners.
There are the cries of owls from the
palace roofs.
He remains in one place, prostrated,
head on ground, in prayer.
A wind rises. The owls make alarmed
calls. A flash of lightning makes
PHILIP jump with terror. When another
flash comes he screams in a most
unearthly way as if he has seen his
murderer.
A stupendous crash of thunder sends
him darting to the bed where he throws
all the clothes pell mell over himself.
FOUR COURTIERS rush in. They seem
to know what to do)
PHILIP:
No! No!
(They all jump on the bed and so surround
him that he is completely hidden. The
storm rages, lighting up this strange
assembly. The rain beats against the
roofs)
Pray! Pray!
(They recite with unbelievable speed
part or whole of the following prayer
against storms)
COURTIERS:
Deus, qui culpa offenderis, poeniténtia placaris:
preces populi tui supplicantis propitius réspice; et
flagélla tuae iracundiae, quae pro peccatis nostris
memémur, averte.
A domo tua, quaesumus, Domine, spiritales, ne-
quitiae repellantur: et aerearum discédat malignitas
tempestatum.
Omnipotens sempitérne Deus, parce metuéntibus,
propitiare supplicibus: ut post noxios ignes nubium
et vim procellarum in matériam transeat laudis
comminatio rempestatum.
Domine Jesu, qui imperasti ventis et mari, et
facta fuit tranquillitas magna: exaudi preces familiae


COURTIERS:
tuae, et praesta; ut hoc signo sanctae Cru- (sign
(contd)
of cross) - cis omnis discedat saevitia tempestatum.
Omnipotens et misericors Deus, qui nos et. cast-
igando sanas, et ignoscéndo consérvas; praesta
supplicibus tuis; ut et tranquillitatibus huius optatae
consolationis laetémur, et dono tuae pietatis semper
utamur. Per Dominum. Amen.
(During this prayer the storm gradually
subsides)
RICCI:
(in an official tone) The prayer has been answered.
PHILIP:
(in utter exhaustion) Take me upstairs. Send a
sword in front.
(One of the COURTIERS detaches
himself from the group and stands with
his sword drawn. PHILIP emerges
from the tumbled bedclothes trembling.
They all leave the Personal Area headed
by the sword.
Light goes up on the Throne Area as
PHILIP shuffles across the Open Area
towards it like an old man, supported
by his COURTIERS.
The COURTIER with the sword is the
first to appear in the Throne Area.
He holds the sword before the throne.
After a pause PHILIP appears. He
starts when he sees the sword)
PHILIP:
(back to his usual self) Put that damned thing away !
(as he sits) Let me see it. That's not---blood,
is it?
(He touches the point of the sword
gingerly. A great silence pervades
the scene)
COURTIER:
I think the blood of a Florentine, yes.
PHILIP:
Good God. Do you know, if I had an hour at war
I should die. Bring my niece to me. And some
fresh liver.
(A COURTIER goes out)


PHILIP:
The storm came up while I was praying. God knows
what more I can do. They've given him civic
honours, I see.
RICCI:
Who, my lord?
PHILIP:
Carmagnola. He's a member of the Great Council
too---a Venetian nobleman. But do you think he can
ever make a gentleman?
LAMPUGNANO:
He can look the part.
PHILIP:
You see, a gentleman should never be quite---good.
(ANTONIETT. A comes in, also in a
nightgown)
ANTONIETTA:
Uncle?
PHILIP:
Sit close to me, dear. Were you frightened by the
storm' ?
ANTONIETTA:
I was asleep.
PHILIP:
You know the Venetians have sent their fleet up the
Po? They've penetrated the river Adda as far as the
walls of Pavia. This means Milan could fall in a
week if they press their victory. That might be
all right for you but not for me, not for the Visconti
blood, not for Milan.
ANTONIETTA:
I'm still a Visconti, uncle.
PHILIP:
What I wanted to say is, have you something to send
your husband? a little present ? something to
remember you by?
ANTONIETT. A:
A present!
PHILIP:
I'm in contact with him, you see.
ANTONIETTA:
Oh! I could embroider a handkerchief.
PHILIP:
Have it done. Now go. back to bed. (drawing her
back) When he made you a fine son, what promises
did he make for-it? Come closer. You've talked
to each other, in bed. Couples do. They dream
together. What do you both hope for your son? Do
you hope, being yourself a Visconti, that he might--
in the absence of any issue of mine--- --inherit
(tapping the throne) this chair?


ANTONIETTA:
PHILIP:
(with his sudden effective fury) Give me an answer !
ANTONIETTA:
Yes.
PHILIP:
This is all I want to know.
(She is ushered out)
LAMPUGNANO:
The dog wants to piss on the throne as well!
PHILIP:
Oh shut up with your lurid images!
(An ATTENDANT enters with a plate
of liver)
RICCI:
The liver, sir.
PHILIP:
(smelling it) Here, try it.
RICCI:
It came straight from the kitchens, sir.
PHILIP:
With the enemy less than ten kilometres away, one
can't be too careful surely?
(An ATTENDANT is brought forward to
eat the liver. They watch him.
He shows no contrary symptoms and
PHILIP takes the plate back. He is
just about to begin eating when the
ATTENDANT sways and collapses.
Herolls.on the ground. Great alarm)
PHILIP:
(jumping up) You see! You see!
(RICCI and LAMPUGNANO rush out.
The writhing man dies. PHILIP
subsides into his throne again, gazing
down at the dead man with rapt calm.
RICCI returns)
RICCI:
We've arrested the cooks, butcher, the whole damn
lot.
PHILIP:
Sssh! !


RICCI:
(seeing the dead man) Oh.
PHILIP:
Death comes like a friend, when you see it.
(They drag out the dead man as best
they can.
CARMAGNOLA's BATMAN enters the
Personal Area and tidies the bed.
LAMPUGNANO enters the Throne Area)
LAMPUGNANO:
We've arrested--
PHILIP:
Yes I know.
LAMPUGNANO:
We applied burning coals to'the cook. They paid him
a thousand ducats--
PHILIP:
The Venetians?
LAMPUGNANO:
Yes.
PHILIP:
How crude and unpolitical these methods are. I'm
surprised at the greatest political minds-in the
world stooping to them.
(CARMAGNOLA enters the Personal
Area as a SOLDIER again and dismisses
the BATMAN.
He yawns and sits on the bed, begins
taking off his boots)
PHILIP:
Don't they realise, after all, that if I go he'll
take my place ?
LAMPUGNANO:
Carmagnola ?
PHILIP:
And he'd make a far more terrible enemy than I am.
LAMPUGNANO:
Could he manage a court, do you think?
PHILIP:
Why, are you thinking of buttering him up, just in
case? Oh, he could, with some training. But then
I wouldn't be here to give it to him, would I? After
all, I gave him all the mind he has. I even taught
him poetry. Apropos of that, bring me something
war-like, something in Latin. Petrach's Africa
perhaps.


(LAMPUGNANO bows and leaves,
PHILIP falls asleep on the throne
and the other ATTENDANTS leave softly.
CARMAGNOLA's ADJUTANT enters
the Personal Area)
ADJUTANT:
There's a prisoner wants to convey something
urgent to you.
CARMAGNOLA:
Of high rank ?
ADJUTANT:
Captain of horse.
CARMAGNOLA:
Noble?
ADJUTANT:
Apparently, yes.
CARMAGNOLA:
Show him in.
(ADJUTANT leaves and CARMAGNOLA
hurriedly rebuttons his boots.
PHILIP begins snoring.
The ENEMY PRISONER comes in).
CARMAGNOLA:
Haven't I seen you before?
ENEMY PRISONER:
I was under your command once, sir. Best time
of my life.
CARMAGNOLA:
You entered Genoa with me?
ENEMY PRISONER:
That's right.
CARMAGNOLA:
I thought so.
(He gets up and prepares two glasses
of wine)
ENEMY PRISONER:
I have a message from the lady Visconti.
CARMAGNOLA:
You have, by God!
ENEMY PRISONER:
She's embroidering a handkerchief with your name
and hers entwined.


CARMAGNOLA:
God bless you! Here. (giving him wine)
(They drink)
ENEMY PRISONER:
May I convey a message back' ?
CARMAGNOLA:
Say I'm waiting for the handkerchief with-
passionate expectation, especially as she will be
handing it to me herself..
ENEMY PRISONER:
Yes, sir.
(PHILIP's snores boom out)
CARMAGNOLA:
Listen to that. It's the same every night. I wish
he'd pitch his tent a milesaway but he happens to be
my second-in-command. I've never snored in my
life, thank God.
ENEMY PRISONER:
What terms were you thinking of, my lord, for
her eventual return?
CARMAGNOLA:
Full exchange of prisoners and reasonable
compensation- -- -I said reasonable. (when the
other man is silent) Why, what's wrong with that?
ENEMY PRISONER:
One would need a treaty.
CARMAGNOLA:
My God, he's that serious, is he?
ENEMY PRISONER:
I imagine, though I'm not quoting, that the better
the treaty the more chance she has of presenting
you the embroidered handkerchief in person.
CARMAGNOLA:
I won't be threatened, though.
ENEMY PRISONER:
Everyone knows that.
CARMAGNOLA:
In other words he wants to fight and treat at the
same time?
ENEMY PRISONER:
A show of fighting, perhaps.
CARMAGNOLA:
(after a thoughtful pause) All right.
ENEMY PRISONER:
(rising) I'd better not stay too long.
CARMAGNOLA:
You're very tactful.
ENEMY PRISONER:
On your behalf.


CARMAGNOLA:
What?
(The ENEMY PRISONER simply
bows)
ENEMY PRISONER:
May I have safe conduct through your lines?
CARMAGNOLA:
Provided I get permission to treat with you. I
shall let you know Venice's answer. If it's yes
you'll get your safe conduct in your tent.
ENEMY PRISONER:
Thank you.
(He salutes and leaves.
CARMAGNOLA unties his boots again.
and throws himself back on the bed.
His deafening snores join those of
PHILIP, DUKE OF MILAN)
END OF ACT ONE


ACT TWO
The DOGE with PAOLO CORNARO and
COUNCILLORS, is in the Throne Area,
while in the Personal Area
ANTONIETTA is being dressed in a
magnificent ceremonial dress of brocade
by MARIA, mother of CARMAGNOLA.
SERVING WOMEN are also in attendance.
A great headdress of jewels and flowers
is tried on her head.
ANTONIETTA:
I wish today was over!
(The headdress is tried again)
DOGE:
They can't really say we've done badly. Considering
all the things my predecessor said about me. After
all, even money-mad merchants like him would have
had to recognise that we've got Philip of Milan just
where we wanted him. And it didn't cost us all that
much.
COUNCILLOR:
The balance of payments is down by four million
ducats
DOGE:
(Laughter)
We've got half of Lombardy. Savoy, Switzerland and
Aragon have all turned against him. All he's got left
by way of a friend is the Pope. And who cares about
him ?
COUNCILLOR:
You're receiving the lady Visconti.
DOGE:
Ah yes. And what does hubby have to say these days,
now that peace is lying heavy on his hands ?
COUNCILLOR:
He wants to go to the baths of Abano.
DOGE:
Not again!
CORNARO:
We've got to be damned clever here.
DOGE:
If we lose him we're finished! On the other hand we


DOGE:
can't give way to him all the time. Did you put my
(contd)
suggestion to him ?
COUNCILLOR:
That he take a laxative instead? Yes I did but he
pointed out that Abano mud is meant for lumbago.
DOGE:
My God, he's a man and a half. Iheard someone say
the other day, 'Venice and Carmagnola make the
strongest state in Italy'. We've got to keep him. He's
flirting with Philip I imagine.
CORNARO:
He receives a messenger nearly every day.
DOGE:
But what the hell do they have to talk about ? We're
at peace! The treaty's been signed!
(ANTONIETTA goes off, followed by her
WOMEN and MARIA in attendance)
All right. Let him go to his bloody baths. But watch
him like a hawk, say I!
(Bells sound out, and daytime fireworks
are reflected in the Open Area as
ANTONIETTA crosses the Open Area)
COUNCILLOR:
The Countess of Castelnuovo is on her way, Mr. Doge.
DOGE:
By the way, did Philip ever give up the keys to the
Bresciano castles ?
CORNARO:
Of course he didn't.
DOGE:
He won't. He means war, when he's had a nice rest.
He's the dirtiest dealer in Italian politics, and that's
saying something.
(ANTONIETTA enters the Throne Area
with her TRAIN.
Her ATTENDANTS pay their respects to
the DOGE and leave with the
COUNCILLORS So that the DOGE and
ANTONIETTA are alone. The bells
continue in the background)
I needn't say how wonderful it is to have your great
name in our Golden Book.


ANTONIETTA:
A much greater honour for me.
DOGE:
We hope you'll settle down happily.
ANTONIETTA:
(as if by rote) The palace on the Grand Canal is one
of the loveliest in Venice.
(A pause, after the first nervous
formality. He motions her to sit down)
DOGE:
Your husband's-health, my dear - he's asking for
another cure.
ANTONIETTA:
Oh, he only needs looking after. I can do that now.
DOGE:
Howdo you think he's settling down? I mean, the sea
air, a city planted in the sea, the silence of the sea at
night - all SO different from the noisy, land-locked
Milan. And you, as a Visconti, can you feel Venetian ?
You see, my dear, becoming Venetian is a hundred
times more difficult than being one, and being one isn't
easy, as I can tell you, being myself spied on and
suspected of megalomania if I say more than a couple
of words in council. We're a hard, heroic, unsparing
race. Yet we love pleasure. We've got the nicest
city in Europe - I think. It's a difficult combination.
The sea - so the foreigners tell me - makes it a world
quite its own. A touch of magic, which can make a
man giddy. Are you sure you can manage this strange
new allegiance?
ANTONIETTA:
We must try hard.
DOGE:
You look tired and nervous.
ANTONIETTA:
It's these lavish - wonderful celebrations.
DOGE:
Yes we do have rather a lot of them. (with a smile)
Bread and circuses. Ionly want you to promise me
one thing, that if at any time you should feel less than
one hundred per cent Venetian you will come to me. at
once, before it becomes a matter of general discussion.
ANTONIETTA:
I don't quite understand.
DOGE:
That doesn't matter. Just remember what I said.
ANTONIETT A:
(curtseying) My lord.


DOGE:
(also rising) And when we know each other a bit
better (giving her his arm) you'll be less nervous of
me perhaps.
ANTONIETTA:
I wish this banquet was over!
DOGE:
Between you and me, so do I.
(They laugh and go out to the sound of
trumpets. Fireworks again as they
lead a procession across the Open Area.
A COUNCILLOR hurries forward and
detaches the DOGE from the group.
ANTONIETTA stands in uncertainty
until CORNARO takes her arm and the
procession moves forward again.
The DOGE and a few COUNCILLORS
hurry into the Personal Area while the
procession disappears)
COUNCILLOR:
Philip has forty-one ships under sail.
DOGE:
The swine!
COUNCILLOR:
Pisani's in trouble and needs relief.
DOGE:
We'll get Carmagnola out of that hole - where is it,
Casalsecco or some damned place - :
COUNCILLOR:
He won't stir!
DOGE:
What ?
COUNCILLOR:
He said he's got no forage or something.
DOGE:
Tell him the grass'll be a yard high when he needs it!
COUNCILLOR:
We did. And then he asked for more money. We
sent it. But still he hasn't stirred.
DOGE:
And what's his new excuse ?
COUNCILLOR:
That he's too weak to hazard a move.
DOGE:
With sixteen thousand cavalry ?!
(Another COUNCILLOR dashes in)


2ND COUNCILLOR:
Casalmaggiore has capitulated.
DOGE:
Have Pisani arrested!
COUNCILLOR:
(producing a document) Will you sign this order
to Carmagnola - to move at once ?
DOGE:
Bring the latest despatches to me at dinner.
COUNCILLOR:
Yes, Mr. Doge.
(The DOGE signs the document at the
table.
PHILIP, with RICCI and another
COUNCILLOR, enters the Throne Area
hurriedly, while there is also a flurry
of activity in the Personal Area with
the DOGE leaving and his COUNCILLORS
conferring with each other in whispers)
PHILIP:
Carmagnola mustn't move. If he does we're
finished. How many boats have we lost?
RICCI:
Over twenty by the latest accounts.
PHILIP:
But in God's name, why, why ?
RICCI:
Because we're not sailors and the Venetians are!
They've got the knack.
PHILIP:
If that man moves I'll - turn my dogs on you!
(The COUNCILLORS leave the Personal
Area. The document signed by the
Doge remains prominently on the table)
Tell Piccinino to prepare an ambuscade. At the
same time get a message to Carmagnola not to fear
an ambuscade.
RICCI:
How ?
PHILIP:
Don't ask how, you yellow idiot! Do it!
(RICCI hurries off.
CARMAGNOLA enters the Personal Area
dressed for camp, in a leisurely way.
LAMPUGNANO hurries into the Throne
Area)


LAMPUGNANO:
Enemy troops are at Pavia, sir.
PHILIP:
Pavia! Pavia! Thirty-five kilometres a way!
See that I'm left alone!
(LAMPUGNANO hurries off again.
CARMAGNOLA prepares himself a
glass of Cyprus wine. He goes to the
table and takes up the signed document.
He seats himself comfortably and
drinks, with the document before him.
PHILIP begins praying to all four
corners, shifting himself with queer,
abrupt movements, his lips moving
fervently, his head low to the ground.
CARMAGNOLA reads in silence.
The ENEMY PRISONER enters the
Personal Area silently and simply
stands there)
CARMAGNOLA:
(without raising his eyes) Prepare to move!
(The ENEMY PRISONER simply stands
there)
(looking up) And what brings you here ?
PHILIP:
(lifting his head from prayer) Tell him my thoughts
are with him all the time. That he's destined for
greater things than commanding even Venetian
armies. That he is destined for the dukedom of
Milan. Remember that I have no heir and that he
is a Visconti. Tell him that a soldier falls by the
sword as he lives by it, but that a prince's name
remains for ever.
(CARMAGNOLA nods as if the ENEMY
PRISONER had told him all this)
CARMAGNOLA:
And what other blandishments are there ?
ENEMY PRISONER:
If I'm a judge of the duke's sincerity, these were
about the sincerest words he ever spoke.
PHILIP:
Tell him I miss our conversations, our hunting,


PHILIP:
our fascinating strategic conferences - more than
(contd)
I miss my late wife.
CARMAGNOLA:
Whom he murdered.
PHILIP:
Tell him all princes are represented as bad,
because they can never champion all interests at
once. Tell him -
(He pauses)
CARMAGNOLA:
Yes ?
PHILIP:
- that he may begin ordering my court in the form
he will wish to inherit!
CARMAGNOLA:
What ?
PHILIP:
Let him state his disapproval of any of my
courtiers and he shall be removed from my
presence at once.
ENEMY PRISONER:
And I am instructed to say that your friend
Piccinino will be treating the forthcoming battle -
should you decide to move -
CARMAGNOLA:
I've already decided!
ENEMY PRISONER:
- as little more than a manoeuvre. You need fear
no ambuscades.
(He salutes and leaves)
PHILIP:
I could make him the greatest Visconti there ever
was. Imagine that! A peace with Venice!
Honoured as a Venetian nobleman and the sovereign
of Milan! All he has to do is to learn the ways of a
gentleman.
(PHILIP sits on the throne and claps his
hands.
LAMPUGNANO appears)
You're in touch with my niece Antonietta ?
LAMPUGNANO:
Yes. But she's closely watched.


PHILIP:
Tell her I hope - I hope the young Prince her son
is in good health. That'll cause a flutter. Tell
her - no, just leave it at that.
LAMPUGNANO:
Yes, sir.
PHILIP:
I think we've done well!
LAMPUGNANO:
Losing a whole fleet ?
PHILIP:
In fact, very well indeed. And keep your mouth
shut when I'm thinking aloud.
(LAMPUGNANO bows and leaves.
CARMAGNOLA tears up the DOGE's
order.
His ADJUTANT appears)
ADJUTANT:
The captains await your instructions:
CARMAGNOLA:
They are to advance at a leisurely pace and (after
a pause) under no circumstances provoke an action.
(The ADJUTANT salutes and leaves.
CARMAGNOLA crosses himself and also
leaves.
ANTONIETTA crosses the open area
from right to left mounted on Zoccoli or
high clogs, her hands on the heads of
TWO SERVING WOMEN who act as her
balances on either side, mumbling their
beads. MARIA goes behind watching
her progress. The clogs are about
fifteen inches high and glitter with jewels
round the heel. The unsteady little
party manoeuvres itself round to the
Personal Area, where ANTONIETTA
loses her balance and falls into MARIA's
arms)
ANTONIETTA:
I'll never be a Venetian at this rate!
MARIA:
Be careful what you say! (with a quick glance at the
SERVING WOMEN)


(When ANTONIETT. A has been lowered
from her clogs MARIA dismisses the
SERVING WOMEN. ANTONIETTA
rests on the bed)
ANTONIETTA:
How nice it must be just to walk through this city. - -
MARIA:
(taking out a letter) This came for you.
ANTONIETTA:
Where did you get it?
MARIA:
In the country. A couple of minutes before we left.
A man. Iknow howto take secret letters.
ANTONIETTA:
(opening the letter) It isn't signed!
MARIA:
Not So loud!
(PHILIP gazes down at ANTONIETTA
while she reads the letter)
PHILIP:
(as if reading the letter out) Though you're a
Venetian noblewoman now it can't be wrong of me to
congratulate you on the young prince's first birthday.
And though your husband is at war with us he is the
father of our rightful heir.
ANTONIETTA:
Burn it! Then go and call my women!
(MARIA burns the letter in the hearth
while ANTONIETTA sits thinking, still
watched by PHILIP.
Then MARIA goes out to call the women)
PHILIP:
I always meant you to be Duchess of Milan. In
giving you Carmagnola I was half ashamed: it was a
desperate act of politics. We have to bribe these
men, who change their loyalties from one month to
the next. I little realised how things would turn out.
And when later you gave birth to a son I saw that
Carmagnola must be won from Venice. (dreamily)
Do you remember the lawn behind our palace? the
stud-farm, the kennels, the mist in the plain at full
moon? Do you remember those lines of Petrarch's
- Di pensier in pensier, di monte in monte, mi guida
Amor. e


ANTONIETTA:
(to herself) From thought to thought, from hill to
hill, Love is my guide.
(The WOMEN and MARIA come with
ANTONIETTA's brocade dress and
headdress. They begin dressing her
again. She sighs)
So many parties. Audiences.
MARIA:
You asked for this one. So fix a smile on your face!
(RICCI bursts in on PHILIP)
RICCI:
Carmagnola fell into our ambuscade! He's lost
upwards of two hundred horse! Do you hear?
(PHILIP turns slowly)
PHILIP:
What else do you think I intended ?
RICCI:
But he himself escaped.
PHILIP:
The point is this, did he throw himself into the
attack?
RICCI:
On the contrary. He ambled into it. His instruc-
tions were not to provoke an action.
PHILIP:
I like Carmagnola!
RICCI:
One begins to wonder if he's commanding the
Venetian forces or ours, he loses his battles so
disarmingly.
PHILIP:
Come down the the map-room and we'll fix more
defeats for him.
(PHILIP and RICCI leave just as
ANTONIETTA, dressed now in magnificent
brocade, her headdress steady, struts
out of the Personal Area with MARIA and
the SERVING WOMEN.
ANTONIETTA and her train cross the
Open Area from left to right as the DOGE
and a COUNCILLOR enter the Throne Area.
ANTONIETTA enters the Throne Area


without her attendants, and the DOGE
hands her in a kindly way to a seat at
his side)
DOGE:
Yes, my dear?
ANTONIETTA:
May I join my husband? I miss him so much!
DOGE:
But of course you may. I wonder you took the
trouble to ask me. (patting her hand) I don't think
you're used to our freedom. You know, we give
each other infinite liberty. And if we make mistakes
in that wide area, well, that's our fault.
ANTONIETTA:
Is he well?
DOGE:
Your husband has just had one of the most igno-
minious defeats of his career.
ANTONIETT. A:
What ?
DOGE:
He fell into an ambush. Oh he's all right. A
defeat now and then colours a commander's career.
But when he invades Milan -
ANTONIETTA:
Milan ?
DOGE:
Does it sound alarming to a Visconti ? Philip is our
enemy after all. Yours too.
ANTONIETTA:
Yes! Yes he is!
(A COUNCILLOR enters)
COUNCILLOR:
Council is about to sit.
DOGE:
When will you leave ?
ANTONIETTA:
Tonight.
DOGE:
Good luck, my dear.
ANTONIETTA:
Thank you.
(The COUNCILLOR bows her out)
DOGE:
She almost smacked me round the face when I said
'invade Milan'! Have you traced the letters she gets ?


COUNCILLOR:
To Milan, yes.
DOGE:
He draws in his net, you see.
COUNCILLOR:
He's got a mind like a snake. In politics, that
works.
DOGE:
Do you think he means to get me as well ?
COUNCILLOR:
I think perhaps we ought to give Carmagnola
another warning about him. He's receiving that
slimy Savoyard Henri de Colombier every day still.
DOGE: :
On the contrary. Let our proveditors know that
they mustn't meddle with him or question his
finances. You know how sensitive he is.
COUNCILLOR:
He's just asked for another thousand ducats by the
way. To compensate his cavalrymen for the loss
of their horses, believe it or not.
DOGE :
(laughing) So we pay for his defeats as well!
(CARMAGNOLA enters the Personal
Area in uniform, tired and slow.
He throws himself on his bed)
(as he prepares to leave the Throne Area) We'll
give it to him of course. But add a note that as
this kind of payment isn't usual he should keep
quiet about it and pay it out as if it came from his
own pocket.
COUNCILLOR:
Sometimes I think he's got both you and Philip just
where he wants you.
DOGE: :
(stopping) He isn't taking money from Philip, is
he ?
COUNCILLOR:
(as they leave) We can't be absolutely sure about :
that. But it seems--- -very much on the cards.
(The Throne Area is empty.
CARMAGNOLA begins snoring.
The ENEMY PRISONER is suddenly
standing there.)
ENEMY PRISONER:
My lord.


CARMAGNOLA:
(waking as if by the force of the other man's
presence) Come and sit down. Here.
(ENEMY PRISONER sits down on the
end of the bed. In this scene they
talk in urgently low tones, as if in
complicity)
ENEMY PRISONER:
Stifling weather. Not ideal for war.
CARMAGNOLA:
Oh it's good enough for me. As you'll find in a
week from now. I'll teach you how to make war in
July!
ENEMY PRISONER:
I've tried to explain--
CARMAGNOLA:
That was a damned dirty trick!
ENEMY PRISONER:
Piccinino mistook his orders!
CARMAGNOLA:
Piccinino never mistakes anything. Itrained him,
so I know.
ENEMY PRISONER:
He has no excuse to offer--
CARMAGNOLA:
ENEMY PRISONER:
Our common friend. His orders simply didn't
reach Piccinino in time.
CARMAGNOLA:
But you just now said Piccinino mistook his orders!
ENEMY PRISONER:
My dear sir, I'm officially a prisoner of war, I
can't know everything that's going on in the
Milanese court.
CARMAGNOLA:
I've half a mind to send you back! Does he want
Venice as an ally or not ? does he want the united
state he's dreaming about, with access to the
Adriatic on one side and the Mediterranean on the
other-- -my God, do you see what a wonderful
chance that is to bring Venice and Milan together ?
Tell him I'm preparing that, I'm softening their
minds for nothing short of that! Doesn't he realise
that we shall all be flattened by powers north of
the Alps, by Spain or France or the Empire, if
not this century then the next, if we don't make
common cause ?


ENEMY PRISONER:
He said once that there had never been a military
commander capable of playing politics----until
you.
CARMAGNOLA:
Well then, let me get on with the job!
ENEMY PRISONER:
May I convey that as quickly as possible, before
you attack, as you say you will ?
CARMAGNOLA:
I'll give you twelve hours!
(ENEMY PRISONER salutes abruptly
and leaves.
Then, as CARMAGNOLA settles back
again, the ENEMY PRISONER
returns hurriedly)
ENEMY PRISONER:
I forgot to say---your account in Milan has been
credited--
CARMAGNOLA:
Get out! -
(ENEMY PRISONER leaves again.
CARMAGNOLA has just settled to
sleep when his ADJUTANT enters)
ADJUTANT:
The Lady Visconti, sir!!
CARMAGNOLA:
(bounding up from the bed) What ?
(ANTONIETTA appears and his
ADJUTANT withdraws)
ANTONIETTA:
(as they embrace) Are there spies here too ?
CARMAGNOLA:
Spies ?
ANTONIETTA:
I'm followed everywhere!
CARMAGNOLA:
You're so tired---tired!
ANTONIETTA:
-of trying to be Venetian!
CARMAGNOLA:
One day we shall be both Venetian and Milanese, and
there won't be any more treachery.
ANTONIETTA:
Do they trust you ?


CARMAGNOLA:
They set spies on me night and day. They
call them provision men. But then they
set spies on the doge. And he sets spies on
them. It's a democracy, Antonietta---
a spying state.
(He strolls to the door and
looks out, then returns)
Well how is he?
ANTONIETTA:
Who?
CARMAGNOLA:
Philip! You saw him on the way here?
ANTONIETTA:
Yes!
CARMAGNOLA:
Does he still look down on me?
ANTONIETTA:
Look down on you?
CARMAGNOLA:
He plays with me like a toy soldier!
Struts me up and down the land, winning him
victories! To show me who's the gentleman!
He'd never do that to any of his own kind,
play with them like that! Not even to his
resident snakes, Ricci and Lampugnanol I
They know how to talk to him like gentlemen,
how to smile and wheedle and intrigue!
And I don't! I don't!
ANTONIETTA:
Francesco!
CARMAGNOLA:
Yet he taught me how to do it. Poured out
all he knew. He tried so hard. And all I
learned was names. Dante, Petrarch !
But not a line of their work! He taught me to


CARMAGNOLA:
walk! And I didn't learn! I didn't! I
(contd)
stumble along as if I'd got a horse under me.
And all the glitter of Venice, the honours
they shower me with, the banquets and
speeches and the finest navy in the world,
it means nothing to me any more.
ANTONIETTA:
What!
CARMAGNOLA:
At first I thought it would. A new life.
But no. Those mists---I can almost taste
them! And the owls! They're worth all
the seagulls here! all the light! all the
golden mosaics of St. Mark's! (seizing her)
Antonietta, never let them know my secret!
Not even my mother! Not even if I die!
Never let them know I'm a traitor!
ANTONIETTA:
A traitor to who' ?
CARMAGNOLA:
To Venice!
(Great confusion outside)
What the hell?
(He collides with the ADJUTANT
on his way in)
ADJUTANT:
We've been surprised!
CARMAGNOLA:
(dashing out) Put a guard on my wife!
(The ADJUTANT bars the way as
she tries to go after CARMAGNOLA)


ADJUTANT:
Madam, please!
(Sounds of battle, horses. The
ADJUTANT calls in a SOLDIER who
stands back to the entrance guarding
ANTONIETTA. The ADJUTANT
then rushes off.
PHILIP appears suddenly in the Throne
Area as if drawn by the sounds of
war. He stares across the Open
Area.
Flashes of battle across the Open
Area. Battle trumpets)
PHILIP:
(as if watching the battle) Because of the summer
heat a blinding dust is being kicked up. They can't
tell friend from enemy. Carmagnola has taken to
horse, he flies after the enemy but has over-
looked the fact that he doesn't know where the
enemy is. My own brilliant commander, too, seems
to have dropped a clanger, being altogether lost.
Carmagnola is down! (with great glee) Down!
ANTONIETTA:
PHILIP:
He isn't dead. They take such care not to kill
each other, these damned condottieri. And we pay
half our exchequers to them. When the dust dies
down my brilliant commander will send Carmagnola
his compliments, together with a barrel of wine,
and they'll probably sing dirty barrack songs
together until four o'clock in the morning.
(to ANTONIETTA) That's the man I married you
to. That's the man we must turn into a gentleman
and, perhaps, the Duke of Milan, should I die
young, which they predict.
(He sits himself quietly on his throne
as if to study the effect of his own
words.
The battlefield quietens and
CARMAGNOLA returns covered
with dust, panting hard, followed by
his ADJUTANT in an equal state)


CARMAGNOLA:
(to his ADJUTANT) That was a silly damned trick!
(to ANTONIETTA) He nearly puts his pike through
ANTONIETTA:
Who?
CARMAGNOLA:
This chap! Sends me for six and goes riding after
one of his own batmen, whom he nearly cuts in
two!
ADJUTANT:
Well, visibility was down to nil.
CARMAGNOLA:
I've always said, headquarters troops should never
be let loose on a field of battle.
ADJUTANT:
And it was an emergency after all.
CARMAGNOLA:
It certainly was for me. If I hadn't called on
Piccinino for help you might have killed me.
ADJUTANT:
(laughing) I'd stick to you past the gates of hell!
CARMAGNOLA:
(putting his arm round his shoulder) I wonder,
am I really brave ? I'm a marvellous actor, you
know.
ADJUTANT:
Isn't it the same ?
CARMAGNOLA:
And tonight I'm going to stage a brilliant victory.
I'll show this eunuch duke to play me tricks!
Come to the mess, darling. (taking ANTONIETTA's
hand) Call my officers.
ADJUTANT:
Yes, sir.
(They all leave.
PHILIP claps his hand once and
LAMPUGNANO appears at once),
PHILIP:
You must have your ear glued to that door. I only
clapped once.
LAMPUGNANO:
Service is my life.
PHILIP:
Write directly to Carmagnola. Tell him I set
Piccinino on his camp tonight so as to cover the
fact that we've reached full agreement. I expect
Carmagnola to put in a stiff attack by way of


PHILIP:
retaliation but I shall take this as I hope he took
(contd)
my surprise attack, as a blind. On the other
hand I must ask for an immediate return of
prisoners, if our agreement is to go through,
assuming he gets a victory. I'm preparing the
deed of settlement now.
LAMPUGNANO:
Deed of settlement ?
PHILIP:
Just keep your mouth shut, otherwise you: might
find service your death, as well as your life!
I tolerate a man like you just so far and--
(LAMPUGNANO leaps out of the
Throne Area.)
PHILIP:
Come back!
(LAMPUGNANO returns as quickly)
I want to hunt.
(LAMPUGNANO helps him out of
the throne. They lea ve.
The DOGE crosses the Open Area
from the left and CORNARO meets him
from the other side)
DOGE:
Ah, there you are. This is off the record.
(coming downstage) We've just decided in
council---send a couple of men---we thought of
young Mocenigo and Fantino Michieli---to
Carmagnola as my personal representatives.
They must enter his headquarters in some pomp,
as if this was my own visit. He's got to attack.
No more of these blasted skirmishes. He's
eating away. our resources, we're spending more
a day than we do in a month of peace. He must
cross the River Adda now, before Philip reforms
his navy. And then he'll damned well take Milan!
CORNARO:
Carmagnola's just been surprised in his own camp.
Nothing much, but he was almost liquidated!
DOGE:
Good God!
CORNARO:
We should have dealt with him ages ago.


DOGE:
But where's another commander?
CORNARO:
Oh they're all the same!
DOGE:
But they all play double too! We must push him
into war!
CORNARO:
I'll find Mocenigo and Michieli right away.
(He leaves, right.
The DOGE follows after him slowly
and resignedly.
Sounds of battle, in the distance.
Flashes across the Open Area.
CARMAGNOLA enters the Personal
Area followed by the ENEMY
PRISONER.)
CARMAGNOLA:
Do you hear it? That's the sound when I mean
business!
ENEMY PRISONER:
And the prisoners, sir?
CARMAGNOLA:
You shall have them back at once.
ENEMY PRISONER:
Unconditionally.?
CARMAGNOLA:
Unconditionally.
ENEMY PRISONER:
Despite the fact that we have Venetian prisoners
in our hands?
CARMAGNOLA:
Despite that fact.
ENEMY PRISONER:
May I convey that to----?
CARMAGNOLA:
You may. I just want to tickle Piccinino's arse
tonight, that's all. Nothing serious. After all,
we military men must have some fun.
(The ADJUTANT enters)
ADJUTANT:
May we have instructions about the prisoners, sir ?
CARMAGNOLA:
How many have come in so far?


ADJUTANT:
Upwards of three hundred.
CARMAGNOLA:
See that they get a drink and send them back.
ADJUTANT:
In exchange.?
CARMAGNOLA:
No. Just send them back. What's the matter ?
Are you stuck to the ground?
(The ADJUTANT salutes and leaves)
And now leave me alone, to listen to that music.
(The ENEMY PRISONER bows and
leaves. The rumble of battle
continues. CARMAGNOLA lies on
the bed and closes his eyes.
TWO HOODED FIGURES enter and
stand by the entrance.
CARMAGNOLA happens to open his
eyes, sees them and jumps up. One
of the figures smartly offers him a
letter)
HOODED FIGURE:
From the doge.
CARMAGNOLA:
(without taking the letter) Let me see your faces!
(They draw their hoods aside for a
moment)
Michieli! Mocenigo! What's going on? (taking
the letter) You gave me quite a fright. It wasn't
that I thought you human---I can deal with any-
thing human---but the other world.. Well sit
down for God's sake! What, are you going to
keep up the farce ?
HOODED FIGURE:
We have instructions to watch you open the letter.
CARMAGNOLA:
(opening it) You Venetians love mystery, don't
you ? Well now I've done it let's have a drink.
HOODED FIGURE :
We must leave at once.
CARMAGNOLA:
By the way, how did you penetrate my camp ?


HOODED FIGURE:
We showed the doge's seal. There isn't a
Venetian alive who wouldn't give his life for that!
CARMAGNOLA:
(striding after them) Is that another sneer? I've
(But they have gone.
He reads the letter)
(screaming) Adjutant! Adjutant!
(After some confusion outside the
ADJUTANT appears)
ADJUTANT:
Yes, sir ?
CARMAGNOLA:
Take this letter down!
ADJUTANT:
Yes, sir.
CARMAGNOLA:
Well, how are you going to do it without pen or
paper?
(The ADJUTANT hurries out to find
these and CARMAGNOLA strides up
and down mightily, brooding on the
letter. And the ADJUTANT returns
equipped)
'To the doge'.
ADJUTANT:
To the doge.
CARMAGNOLA:
Don't gape! All neadquarters troops gape! You'll
get a bullet in your mouth one day if you leave it
open wide enough!
ADJUNTAT:
'To the doge'.
CARMAGNOLA:
'I am writing you personally to tell you that I have
had just about enough of your countrymen's sneers
and jibes about my powers as a commander. You
know as well as I do that I am treating as well as
fighting, and if you want treaties as well as
victories you will have to wait for them. Not
content with two provision experts whose job is to
breathe down my neck you send a couple of noble-
men dressed up like scarecrows who frighten me


CARMAGNOLA:
out of my wits, being a devout man with a certain
(contd)
number of judicial but none the less regretted
murders on my shoulders. Iwill not tolerate
this atmosphere of mistrust and espionage in my
own headquarters! Iwill not tolerate civilians
fresh from the counting house coming here and
teaching me war! Today I decided to snatch a
victory and I did it. I pulled Piccinino's tail
because he tried to pull mine. And let me add--
by way of a serious warning--- that if you cannot
appreciate my services there are other more
discerning employers in Italy who can. 1 (he
pauses) 'There are even employers who would
give their thrones (at a height of raging
indignation) for my services! who would call
my child a prince! 1
(ANTONIETTA appears)
ANTONIETTA:
Francesco! So much shouting!
CARMAGNOLA:
My God, for two pins I'd go out and destroy Milan
now, just to show them! (to the ADJUTANT)
You'd better cut that last bit out. And get it off
tonight! Get it to Venice before those two ghouls
arrive!
ADJUTANT:
Which two ghouls ?
CARMAGNOLA:
Get out!
(The ADJUTANT goes off)
I took four hundred and seventy-two prisoners in -
less than an hour's battle this afternoon. And
these damned seamen---!
ANTONIETTA:
That's enough.
(She coaxes him to a quiet mood)
What did they say then ?
CARMAGNOLA:
To attack at once. To besiege Milan. The idea!
(They sit together, musing in silence)
Ah, I feel good all of a sudden! You know, to be made
such a fuss over---two of Venice's greatest
noblemen to travel all that way in fancy dress, just
for me-- - what power I must have!


(He looks round cautiously)
CARMAGNOLA:
Antonietta, you said he wanted me back?
(contd)
Did he say that?
ANTONIETTA:
Yes!
CARMAGNOLA:
And on what grounds? There---you can't
give me any! My God you're credulous!
He calls you to his bedroom and reels off
an artful little speech and you lap it up!
ANTONIETTA:
You asked me what he said.
CARMAGNOLA:
Yes! I'd like to know!
ANTONIETTA:
He said he'd prove it in time. That he
wants you back.
CARMAGNOLA:
And how will he prove it?
ANTONIETTA:
He said leave it to him.
CARMAGNOLA:
And so I will! And meanwhile I'll fight.
He under-estimated me didn't he? You said
so yourself, that he never expected me to
run to a foreign state! Well that's why
I'm here, because these people don't
under-estimate me! And until he estimates
me at my proper worth I'll keep a sword
under his nose!


ANTONIETTA:
Darling.
CARMAGNOLA:
All right, I'll win them a battle! I've worked it
out! I'll take Montechiaro--- -after a month's
siége at most-- --I'll push on to Cremona---I
think I'll have old Piccinino in a bog this time,
yes a boy-- -Adjutant! adjutànt!
(The ADJUTANT appears again)
CARMAGNOLA:
Call my officers!
(The ADJUTANT follows him out
phewing and shaking his head.
And ANTONIETTA lowers her
head to the bed.
The dawn begins to come up in
the Open Area.
PHILIP, DUKE OF MILAN crosses
the Open Area from right to left in
a hunting party.
LAMPUGNANO hurries after him)
LAMPUGNANO:
He's seven miles from Montechiaro.
(ANTONIETTA raises her head,
listening)
PHILIP:
What ?
LAMPUGNANO:
He's back to his old games. Our men got divided.
They got in a bog!
PHILIP: :
I'll give him bog!
(The campanile of Venice begins
pealing as for a celebration. There
is a stir in the Throne Area as the
DOGE and his COUNCILLORS enter)
DOGE'S COUNCILLOR: He's taken the Milanese in the rear!
LAMPUGNANO:
Shall we cancel the hunt ?
PHILIP:
No, we'll cancel the deed of settlement! Tell him
that.


LAMP UGNANO:
Yes, sir.
(The HUNTING PARTY goes on)
DOGE'S COUNCILLOR: Eight thousand horsemen surrendered to him.
DOGE:
Eight thousand!
COUNCILLOR:
He's got all the enemy baggage. An immense catch!
DOGE:
You see what he can do!
(MARIA with SERVING WOMEN
hurries in the Personal Area to
dress ANTONIETTA in brocade,
head-dress and clogs as before.
They raise her from the bed)
COUNCILLOR:
The Milanese horses got caught up in briars, all
the men were stung, it must have been a treat!
You see, your letter worked a miracle!
DOGE:
I think I'll visit his house in person. What do you
say to that for an honour?
(Trumpets and music. The bells of
all Venice sound out.)
We'll make that man a Venetian if it kills us!
(CARMAGNOLA enters the Open
Area from the left in ceremonial
dress with ATTENDANTS, They
pause to wait for ANTONIETTA.
She wobbles out of the Personal
Area with her hands on the heads of
TWO SERVING WOMEN and MARIA
behind her.
The two parties join in the Open Area
ahd proceed right towards the Throne
Area.
There are sounds of wild celebration.
The procession disappears behind
the Throne Area.
CARMAGNOLA appears in the Throne
Area alone and the DOGE kisses him
on both cheeks)


CARMAGNOLA:
I've got a treaty in my pocket. He'll agree to
anything.
DOGE: :
(making him sit at his side) We want the Romagna,
Tuscany and Bologna free entirely from his inter-
ference.
CARMAGNOLA:
That'll be all right.
DOGE:
But you must now press the attack.
CARMAGNOLA:
To Milan ?
DOGE:
Wasn't that what you had in mind?
CARMAGNOLA:
But how ? Reduce, Milan to chaos?? and then
finance the chaos? He's the only man who commands
the respect of the Milanese nobility. They'd never
follow the Venetian flag!
DOGE:
It must be finished now.
CARMAGNOLA:
But look at the expense alone!
DOGE: :
(presenting him with a document) These are the
deeds of a wonderful house in the Bresciano. For
you! The fief of Castenedolo is yours!
COUNCILLOR:
(entering and bowing to CARMAGNOLA) All of
Venice is wearing Carmagnola caps, your
Magnificence!
(This is a signal for the DOGE and
CARMAGNOLA to rise and head the
procession. They leave the Throne
Area while ANTONIETTA and her
party appear again in the Open Area
and wait for them. When the
DOGE's party join them they all
cross the Opèn Area to the sounds
of celebration.
PHILIP and his HUNTING PARTY
enter the Personal Area. The sounds
of Venetian celebration gradually die
away as the procession winds out of
sight.
LAMPUGNANO hurries in to the
Personal Area)


LAMPUGNANO:
We've just had another message. He won't come
near Milan So long as the deed of settlement is
signed.
PHILIP:
Tell him in that case I'll sign it. But he mustn't
put his nose within ten miles of this city.
LAMPUGNANO:
And he's asking them for leave to visit the baths of
Abano again.
PHILIP:
Good God! They must think he's got cast-iron
bowels, to stand all that treatment!
LAMPUGNANO:
What's more, they're letting him go. And the
doge paid a personal visit to his house on the Grand
Canal, which is the greatest honour a Venetian
nobleman can get.
PHILIP:
I've always made it a rule, never kiss a military
commander's arse. They make you pay for it in
the end.
LAMPUGNANO:
Shall we put: extra guards on the city wall tonight ?
PHILIP :
Of course not! Now leave me alone. (as they
leave) By the way, offer him five thousand ducats
and Genoa if he'll return to my service. He won't,
but he may as well feel I want him to.
(They leave. The night draws on.
PHILIP begins praying to the four
corners)
(bursting out fervently) Oh God let me not die!
(as an after thought) Even if I'm the only one!
(He moves wearily to his bed, The
palace owls are heard again.
Suddenly he claps his hands and
watches the entrance as if to time
the ATTENDANT.
The ATTENDANT dashes in)
Not bad. All right, you can go.
(The ATTENDANT leaves again.
PHILIP crosses himself and lies
down.


CARMAGNOLA and ANTONIETTA
pass across the Open Area from
right to left, strolling, still in
their ceremonial dress, fragments
of streamers hanging from their
shoulders)
CARMAGNOLA:
(stopping) Do you hear the owls?
ANTONIETTA:
Yes.
CARMAGNOLA:
They remind you of---? (she nods) I'm tired of
war. (looking up at the sky) How I need
civilisation!
ANTONIETTA:
Did they offer you more money, besides the fief?
CARMAGNOLA:
They'd give me those stars-if they could. Yes,
a thousand ducats a month in peace and war, and
in war all ransoms and prize money. And the entire
command of the Venetian armies in Lombardy.
ANTONIETTA:
And you still aren 't pleased?
CARMAGNOLA:
The world isn't just for us, my dear. We have to
realise certain ideas.
ANTONIETTA:
And what will you do?
CARMAGNOLA:
At this moment, take you home and behave like
a good husband.
(He begins singing quietly,
and they wander off arm in arm.
But he stops again)
Shall I tell you why he took my command away?
ANTONIETTA:
Who?
CARMAGNOLA:
Philip.


ANTONIETTA:
'Philip'. It's always 'Philip'!.
CARMAGNOLA:
To see if I'd behave like a gentleman! like an
equal! And I didn't, by running away! I wish---!
Antonietta---I Sometimes when I look at you
I see all the Italian nobility in your face! I'd
give my life for that! for a bit of your self-
assurance, for your thrilling voices, the way
you glance at people, as if you had God in your
eyes! And the set of your chin, everything
moulded in authority, in sweetness too,
because nothing can be taken away from you,
you've got it all inside! Your authority
was never just power, like mine, you never
made it for yourself---it was in your blood!
That's why I fell in love with you! why I became
a Visconti! Being a Visconti means more to
ANTONIETTA:
Ssssh! Not here!
CARMAGNOLA:
Why not? I've won them victories haven't I?
What more do they want? They're only
merchants, like all these damned sea peoples,
they make love to profit and loss columns!
And I give my heart, Antonietta! I give it to you!
And being a fool I give it to him!
ANTONIETTA:
Francesco!
(She hushes him, and they
wander off.
PHILIP snores.
Light begins to come up in the
Open Area. The crying of the
owls ceases.
PHILIP starts awake, claps his
hands quickly, jumping out of bed
as best he can. RICCI comes in)
PHILIP:
(pulling on a dressing gown) I'm going to get
married!
RICCI:
What?


PHILIP:
Call a council quick. Get the nobles heated up
about it. It'll take their minds off our defeat.
LAMPUGNANO dashes in)
LAMPUGNANO:
Florence attacked Lucca!
PHILIP:
What? We're in luck, luck! I've been waiting for
an act of unprincipled aggression for weeks! Now
we can jump on Florence!
LAMPUGNANO:
The military want to know
PHILIP:
But first I'll get married.
LAMPUGNANO:
Married ?
PHILIP:
(tweeking his cheek) Didn't you know ? I've fallen
in love. (as they help him out) I had a dream.
I heard a man say to his wife, 'And now' I'm going
to take you home and----' Ucch!
(They all stumble out of the Personal
Area.
It is still dawn. The DOGE and
PAOLO CORNARO, with
COUNCILLORS, pass slowly across
the Open Area from the left)
DOGE:
I can think of nicer things than discussing
Carmagnola all night----sleeping in my own bed,
for instance.
(They all stretch and yawn and look
up at the sky)
CORNARO:
What marvellous skies we have.
DOGE:
Yet he never did seem intoxicated with us, did he ?
Some people simply don't get bitten. Odd. Do you
know what he said to me when he passed us just now ?
Didn't you hear him ?
COUNCILLOR:
DOGE:
Most uncanny. He said, are you coming from a late
council or going to an early one ? And he laughed.
And I said, as a matter of fact we've been talking
about you. That seemed to tickle him no end. He
doesn't suspect a thing.


COUNCILLOR:
That's usual with self-destructive people.
(They stroll on and pass out of sight
behind the Throne Area. We hear
their voices, talking casually, and
one of them laughs softly. The
light continues to grow. Then they
enter the Throne Area)
DOGE:
After all he's been given more public honours than
any other military commander in Venetian history-
two vast houses, a fief, an income that made even
the Grand Chancellor reel when he heard it. Philip
can offer him nothing by comparison. And yet..
CORNARO:
Philip's most powerful weapon is charm, believe
it or not. He can charm even me, his worst enemy.
DOGE:
The fact remains that he's just attacked Florence.
Do we rob ourselves of a commander at this moment,
the only commander who can beat him - - I ?
CORNARO:
But if he's being charmed----?
DOGE: :
Don't you see we've got to take a chance ? We've
invested in Carmagnola. And we've got to wait for
the dividend.
CORNARO:
If any.
COUNCILLOR:
Here we go again. This is where we started last
night.
CORNARO:
(to the DOGE) Very well. But I'm warning you,
he won't move a yard towards Milan.
(The ENEMY PRISONER enters the
Personal Area and takes a seat as if
a meeting had been arranged. He
waits. There is the sound of
distant battle)
DOGE:
One thing we must do is keep his wife in Venice.
If only to intercept her letters.
COUNCILLOR:
Yes, I've seen to that.
DOGE:
Another point is this, we've got an absolutely water-
tight case against him if we ever need it. For one
thing he's plotted to put his son, technically speaking


DOGE:
a Venetian nobleman, on the throne of Milan with-
(contd)
out our prior knowledge.
CORNARO:
You see, from poor old Carmagnola's point of view
this damn-fool deed of settlement which Philip never
means to sign is a step towards uniting Venice and
Milan.
DOGE:
Also he's dying to be a prince. He'd make quite a
good one, by the way.
COUNCILLOR:
As long as other people did his dirty tricks for him.
DOGE:
I wonder he never learned a good repertoire of
dirty tricks from Philip.
CARMAGNOLA enters the
Personal Area hurriedly, in
uniform again. The ENEMY
PRISONER rises smartly)
CARMAGNOLA:
Well 1? I've only got a moment for you---!
ENEMY PRISONER:
Yes, it's true he's marrying.
CARMAGNOLA:
And why ?
ENEMY PRISONER:
Well, naturally, as a political ploy. To rid Venice
of an ally.
CARMAGNOLA:
The Duke of Savoy actually agreed to leave us if
Philip married his daughter?
ENEMY PRISONER:
Yes.
CARMAGNOLA:
You damned fool! All right then. He'll get his
war. But I'll make him pay. I'll have him hanging
by one leg from his own battlements, and the owls
fighting each other to get at his carrion flesh!
ENEMY PRISONER:
Philip, Duke of Milan ?
CARMAGNOLA:
That's the man I mean!
(The ADJUTANT comes in hurriedly)
ADJUTANT:
Trevisano's surrounded--- (seeing the ENEMY
PRISONER for the first time)
CARMAGNOLA:
Call my officers.


ADJUTANT:
Yes, sir.
(He leaves again)
CARMAGNOLA:
(also preparing to leave) You hear that ?
ENEMY PRISONER:
(following him) I hope you don't think Philip
capable of issue ?
CARMAGNOLA:
Well, I always called him the eunuch duke but--
ENEMY PRISONER:
I should have thought his sterility was famous!
CARMAGNOLA:
(stopping) Sterile ?
ENEMY PRISONER:
Apart from the fact that he has already signed
the deed of settlement:
CARMAGNOLA:
(to hide his astonished excitement at the news)
I'm supposed to believe that, the day before he
marries ?
ENEMY PRISONER:
The document's here, in my quarters!
(A COUNCILLOR rushes into the
Throne Area)
COUNCILLOR:
Florence has capitulated! Savoy is arming against
DOGE:
My God!
(They jump up)
CORNARO:
Get an envoy to Carmagnola:
DOGE:
Perhaps you should go yourself.
(They leave the Throne Area.
CARMAGNOLA stands before the
ENEMY PRISONER as if his powers
of speech were paralysed)
ENEMY PRISONER:
I ought to add a personal message from Philip:
that the doge's council had an all-night meeting to
discuss your fate.
CARMAGNOLA:
My fate - - ?


ENEMY PRISONER:
And he hopes you won't let our quarrel develop
too bitterly in the next two days. The Venetian
fleet is already forming at the mouth of the Po:
thirty-seven galleys, forty-eight small craft,
with ten thousand oarsmen in all----
CARMAGNOLA:
Do you thinkI don "tknow that, you hired snake ?
ENEMY PRISONER:
And I believe they're promising you a whole city
if you win. Over twelve thousand men have been
put under your command. But remember this:
we can pitch an equal force against you, we have
Pisa, Mantua and Ferrara on our side, besides
Savoy. You've just lost Florence. The German
emperor is on his way down into Italy--
CARMAGNOLA:
At this moment my commander Trevisano is
surrounded--
ENEMY PRISONER:
You can get him out of danger without moving from
this spot!
CARMAGNOLA:
Fetch Piccinino off! Do you hear that ?
ENEMY PRISONER:
(triumphant) Will you promise to send Trevisano
no immédiate relief? Until I come back ?
(Sounds of alarm in the distance)
CARMAGNOLA:
Get me that deed of settlement, quick!
(The ENEMY PRISONER disappears
at once. CARMAGNOLA stands
exhausted, irresolute.
The ADJUTANT dashes in again)
ADJUTANT:
Trevisano wants support! There are dead and
wounded everywhere!
CARMAGNOLA:
Tell him to fight!
ADJUTANT:
He's asking you to create a diversion!
CARMAGNOLA:
Take this letter down. (further alarms outside,
which CARMAGNOLA disregards) 'To the doge.
Another message has come from Duke Philip of
Milan. He wishes to assure us of his good will and
integrity. He reminds us that he is Italian, and
desires to prove himself such: that, as it is


CARMAGNOLA:
credibly reported that the emperor is coming down
(contd)
to Italy, he wishes to make common cause against
him with Venice and Florence. And he is begging
me to arrange the preliminaries of such a league. 1
Get that off at once.
ADJUTANT:
And the present situation ?
CARMAGNOLA:
Shall I move camp and give Piccinino the finest
walk-over he's ever had?
(The ADJUTANT stares at him,
salutes and goes. The distant
bugles continue to sound, while
CARMAGNOLA paces up and down,
preoccupied.
PHILIP enters the Throne Area
quite alone, straining on his stick,
making sure no one is following him.
He stands watching CARMAGNOLA
below in the Personal Area. And
what he now says seems to torture
CARMAGNOLA, paralyse him more
completely than the words of the
ENEMY PRISONER)
PHILIP:
You see, all I have is my mind. My great moments
are thoughts, as yours are victories. A political
man can't help sacrificing lives. He always has to
choose the cheaper of two paths expensive with evil.
How can I put it ? To bring your son to my throne,
I must make the throne valuable, respected. Hence
my declaration of war. I must make Venice see the
necessity of joining me, rather than resisting me.
Power is a great persuader. Of course there are
idealists even in politics but they never get high
office. There are certain implacable facts. Your
training is necessarily slow.
CARMAGNOLA:
Oh God, what have I done ? Oh God!
PHILIP:
And the idea of one Italian state shining with
civilisation, perhaps under your son, the prince of
both Venice and Milan, is an ideal too, it may be
a dream too, but Dante, Petrarch dreamed it. By
the time it got to our level it became a plan. And
that's where you come in. Have I made you strong
enough, with the endless fuel of my ideas, night
after night, pacing across that bedroom floor to
the sound of the owls---- ?


CARMAGNOLA:
Oh God!
PHILIP:
Can you fulfil the ideal without being an idealist ?
There is the hub of all political pain.
(He stands watching CARMAGNOLA.
The ADJUTANT enters quietly, as
PHILIP limps painfully out of the
Throne Area)
ADJUTANT:
Sir, there's someone from Venice.
CARMAGNOLA:
(in an outburst) Iwon't have any more spies!
ADJUTANT:
He comes from the doge.
CARMAGNOLA:
The doge himself is a spy----!
(CORNARO suddenly stands before
him)
Ah, it's you.
(They embrace)
CORNARO:
Trevisano capitulated an hour ago. I've arrested
him and his officers on a charge of cowardice.
CARMAGNOLA:
And so you should. As if I can move camp and
teach Trevisano tactics.
CORNARO:
(watching him) The carnage was frightful.
CARMAGNOLA:
(to the ADJUTANT) All right.
(The ADJUTANT leavés)
'The carnage was frightful'. That doesn't carry
an inference, does it? ?
CORNARO:
No. Otherwise we would have arrested you,
surely?
CORNARO covers this with a laugh)
CARMAGNOLA:
And why are you here ?
CORNARO:
If you attack now, if you take Milan now, Milan will
be yours. That's my message. You may sit where


CORNARO:
Philip is sitting at this moment, but it must be
(contd)
done quickly! The summer's passing away!
CARMAGNOLA considers this
with great deliberation)
CARMAGNOLA:
My answer to Philip after months of negotiation
will be to destroy his city ?
CORNARO:
My lord, why do you trust this proved liar?
CARMAGNOLA:
Oh I could take his throne! But could I win the
loyalty of his noblemen ?
CORNARO:
You're a Visconti after all!
CARMAGNOLA:
CORNARO:
My dear sir, you doubt yourself---your powers?
CARMAGNOLA:
(He stops in confusion and there is
silence)
CORNARO:
My lord, will you attack Milan ?
CARMAGNOLA:
I shall do what I'm ordered to do.
CORNARO:
You are ordered to cease negotiating with Philip.
CARMAGNOLA:
(after a crushed pause) Very well.
CORNARO:
You will cross the River Adda. You will reduce
Milan.
(CARMAGNOLA nods. CORNARO is
about to leave when CARMAGNOLA
speaks again)
CARMAGNOLA:
May I---? (CORNARO turns)
-give you my
considered answer in an hour ?
CORNARO:
(with a long sigh) Very well.
(He leaves slowly.
CARMAGNOLA stands thinking to
hims self for some time)


CARMAGNOLA:
Adjutant! Adjutant!
(The ADJUTANT appears)
Show the Savoyard in.
(The ADJUTANT disappears and then
ushers in the ENEMY PRISONER.
When CARMAGNOLA and the ENEMY
PRISONER are alone the latter lays
a document on the table without a
Leave quickly.
(The ENEMY PRISONER goes.
CARMAGNOLA sits down to read the
document with great satisfaction.
There is the sound of a distant
cannonade.
The ENEMY PRISONER passes across
the Open Area on his way back to his
quarters. The ADJUTANT walks
behind him)
ADJUTANT:
Monsieur Henri Colombier!
ENEMY PRISONER:
(turning) Oui?
(At this moment TWO HOODED
FIGURES come in from the opposite
side and seize the ENEMY PRISONER
from behind while he is facing the
ADJUTANT. They put hands over
his mouth and bear him struggling
away. The ADJUTANT strolls
back after them.
CORNARO enters the Personal Area
again silently)
CORNARO:
Well, sir ?
(CARMAGNOLA starts and thrusts
the deed of settlement away)
CARMAGNOLA:
Sit down by me.


(CORNARO does so. There is again
the rumble of distant cannons.
CARMAGNOLA pours wine but
CORNARO leaves his untouched)
CARMAGNOLA:
I shall attack.
CORNARO:
CARMAGNOLA:
But after careful consideration I must point out that
a full-scale attack this summer is out of the question.
With your permission I should like to plan for a
spring campaign next year, when we will scotch
this eunuch duke.
CORNARO:
But your men are in fine condition. Piccinino has
just lost a battle.
CARMAGNOLA:
All the same, moving from camp now, on the basis
of a hastily prepared campaign, at the height of the
summer, would be disastrous to my mind.
CORNARO:
Is that your last word?
CARMAGNOLA:
Yes.
CORNARO:
My instructions were to plead with you for an
immediate attack but that if for any reason you felt
it impossible this year, I was to ask you to return
to Venice for consultations. I am to say that
various plans have suggested themselves to the
Signory for a spring campaign next year but that
much difference of opinion exists-- -
CARMAGNOLA:
Well, of course, it does take a lot of
preparation--
CORNARO:
--and since you enjoy peculiarly intimate
conversance with Lombard geography on both sides
of the Po the doge begs you to come to Venice as
soon as you can.
CARMAGNOLA:
Of course!
CORNARO:
Then I shall arrange for the Marquis of Mantua
to receive you on the way with full military honours--
CARMAGNOLA:


CORNARO:
And of course all Venice will turn out for you as
usual. When will you leave ?
CARMAGNOLA:
Why (with a smile) with a lovely wife in Venice,
I could even leave tonight.
(CORNARO rises)
(pointing out his untouched glass) Won't you
drink to me before we leave ?
CORNARO:
With all my heart, sir.
(He puts back the glass in a few
gulps)
CARMAGNOLA:
(also rising, and taking the deed of settlement)
Have I convinced you---personally, I mean ?
CORNARO:
Well, a campaign now might get us into the stormy
season, yes.
(More cannon, closer now.
They leave together.
ANTONIETTA crosses the Open Area
on clogs, her hands on the head of
TWO SERVING WOMEN as before,
again accompanied by MARIA,
A DOGE's COUNCILLOR comes from
the opposite side and bows to her.
She is about to pass on when he speaks
to her)
COUNCILLOR:
My Lady Visconti.
ANTONIETTA:
(taking it as a normal greeting) Good morning.
COUNCILLOR:
(gently stopping her) Would you like to return to
your house, my lady ?
ANTONIETTA:
I beg your pardon ?
COUNCILLOR:
Will you please return to your house ?
ANTONIETTA:
I'm on my way to the country!
COUNCILLOR:
It would please the doge, my lady, if you returned
to your house.


ANTONIETTA:
(staring at him) Oh my God!
MARIA:
What's the matter?
ANTONIETTA:
Turn, turn!
(Steadying herself on the SERVING
WOMEN, she turns back)
MARIA:
ANTONIETTA:
Follow me!
(The COUNCILLOR remains at a
distance watching rigidly as the
little party returns the way it came,
with MARIA giving frightened glances
back at him. Slowly the
COUNCILLOR follows them.
At once the bell of the campanile
sounds, together with trumpets and
the music of celebration. Drums.
We hear cheering crowds.
The same COUNCILLOR enters the
Throne Area alone and simply
stands there.
CARMAGNOLA and CORNARO
together with ATTENDANTS pass
across the Open Area in procession
from left to right.
As they do so TWO MUFFLED
FIGURES enter the Personal Area
and ransack all the drawers they can


find, collect up documents, pull
away the bed, blankets. When this
is done they remove every article
of furniture too. The Personal Area
is left with a stool only. A THIRD
FIGURE enters and attaches a heavy
chain with ankle grips to the floor.
It has become a prison cell.
The sounds of celebration continue
and CARMAGNOLA passes smiling.
A fanfare of trumpets welcomes him
as he passes out of sight behind the
Throne Area.
The COUNCILLOR in the Throne
Area waits to receive him, and
CARMAGNOLA enters the Area
smiling, turning at once towards
the ducal throne to embrace the
DOGE, whom he finds absent. He
looks at the COUNCILLOR
questioningly)
COUNCILLOR:
Your Magnificence, the doge had a slight fall
coming down the stairs and must postpone the
audience, with your permission.
CARMAGNOLA:
But I've much to say to him, I've come a long way---
could I go to his apartments ?
COUNCILLOR:
He won't be out of the doctor's hands until late
today.
CARMAGNOLA:
I'm sorry, then.


(CARMAGNOLA leaves the Throne
Area again with the COUNCILLOR
behind him. The sounds of celebration
continue in the distance.
They both appear again in the Open
Area, accompanied now by PAOLO
CORNARO.
CARMAGNOLA stops about centre
stage, meaning to leave them)
CARMAGNOLA:
(pointing upstage left) Well, this is my way.
COUNCILLOR:
No, my lord, your way lies here. (pointing towards
the Personal Area)
CARMAGNOLA:
But, surely, the gates are there---?
COUNCILLOR:
Count Carmagnola, that (pointing implacably)
is your way.
CARMAGNOLA:
(after a questioning stare at CORNARO) Ah, I
was right then! I was right!
(The TWO MUFFLED FIGURES re-
enter and close on him. PAOLO
CORNARO slips away without a word.
The sounds of celebration have ceased.
In the silence PHILIP enters the
Throne Area and calmly composes
himself on the throne as if to watch
a great spectacle.
CARMAGNOLA is led into the Personal
Area and his leg is locked in the iron
grip. They leave him.
The campanile begins to toll as for a
traitor)
CARMAGNOLA:
So sudden. -
PHILIP:
(straining forward) Did he say something?
(ANTONIETTA appears in the Personal
Area)


CARMAGNOLA:
Antoniettal ! You see?
ANTONIETTA:
They found the deed of settlement. They saw all
my letters..
CARMAGNOLA:
Do you know---they offered me Milan---the
Venetians did!---I turned it down, because I
(PHILIP strains forward again.
TWO ATTENDANTS enter the Personal
Area and begin stripping CARMAGNOLA
of his robes. They lead him out.)
PHILIP:
He won't take long to confess. Like all military
men he's rather soft underneath.
(The campanile continues tolling)
PHILIP:
(to ANTONIETTA) Your house is ready for you.
You can stay in Venice a month or SO after his
execution--
ANTONIETTA:
PHILIP:
Then come back to us, with your child. And who
knows I may have another husband for you.
CARMAGNOLA screams, off)
ANTONIETTA:
I love him! I love him! !
ATTENDANTS enter and take her
out, crying.
RICCI enters the Throne Area)
RICCI:
The Venetian navy--
PHILIP:
Sssh! I only heard one scream.
RICCI:
My lord?
PHILIP:
Exactly as I thought, one touch of the braziers and
he told them everything. Well, they know the
man they're dealing with now. I mean me. It doesn't
do to leave the service of a political man like me.
RICCI:
(staring at him) Yes, sir.


PHILIP:
You see, Carmagnola's in prison.
RICCI:
Carmagnola?! The great Carmagnolal
CARMAGNOLA is led back into the
Personal Area, shivering and crying.
ANTONIETTA walks across the Open
Area, helped by MARIA. The tolling
continues)
PHILIP:
You were saying ?
RICCI:
The Venetian fleet in the Po has been all but
annihilated.
PHILIP:
That's gratifying.
RICCI:
Is that all you have to say after your finest victory
yet?
PHILIP:
If you'd had as many triumphs as I've had you'd
know they turn sour in your mouth.
(The BISHOP enters the Personal
Area.
PHILIP waves RICCI away, as if to
enjoy a new spectacle)
CARMAGNOLA:
Have they decided?
BISHOP:
Not yet.
CARMAGNOLA:
What are the indictments?
BISHOP:
Failing to support Trevisano. Collusion with Philip
Duke of Milan over the battle of Cremona.
CARMAGNOLA:
And my wife---?
BISHOP:
She'll be safe. Her property will remain hers.
I can assure you of that.
CARMAGNOLA:
Do you remember our conversation ?
BISHOP:
Yes.
CARMAGNOLA:
I tried to find what you said---inside. I think I did.
One day, in the evening, after a little skirmish, when


CARMAGNOLA:
the Sun was going down and it was still dusty, I felt
(contd)
a marvellous peace and knew it was something basic,
the thing that joined me to the rest of the world. I
wasn't alone any more.
BISHOP:
Yet you ended here.
CARMAGNOLA:
Because I did what my heart advised, and not my
head.
BISHOP:
Your heart advised you to negotiate with a liar and
a pagan?
CARMAGNOLA:
Yes.
BISHOP:
With the end of putting your son on his throne ?
CARMAGNOLA:
With the end of stopping war !
BISHOP:
You, a military commander?
CARMAGNOLA:
He taught me to be more than that!
BISHOP:
CARMAGNOLA:
Philip!
BISHOP:
Do you realise he plotted and schemed your
downfall?
CARMAGNOLA:
Yes.
BISHOP:
Do you forgive him?
CARMAGNOLA:
Yes, father, with all my heart.
(A sigh escapes PHILIP)
BISHOP:
If they decide on your death, would you like to
remain Venetian ?
CARMAGNOLA:
My humble wish is to be buried in the Frari,
among the great Venetians, because in my heart
I am no traitor, only a fool.
BISHOP:
Venice lavished all she could on you. Do you forgive
her? Do you forgive Francesco Foscari, the doge?
Paolo Cornaro?
CARMAGNOLA:
With all my heart.


BISHOP:
Have you anything to say?
CARMAGNOLA:
Believing that power can ever be turned to good,
that was my sin.
BISHOP:
What ought you to have done ?
CARMAGNOLA:
Given up power.
BISHOP:
Can good only be achieved by the powerless then ?
CARMAGNOLA:
Good is a light that shines from a man, not from
his place, his baton, his court.
BISHOP:
Then think of your presence here as a step on the
way. You are laying down your power now. God
has been showing you all this time that at last it
must be given up. You are about to realise
CARMAGNOLA:
But I' m afraid, afraid----!
(The BISHOP blesses CARMAGNOLA)
BISHOP:
Misereatur tui omnipotens Deus, et, dimissis
peccatis tuis, perducat te ad vitam aetérnam.
CARMAGNOLA:
Amen.
BISHOP:
Indulgentiam, absolutionem, et remissionem
peccatorum tuorum tribuat tibi omnipotens et
miséricors Dominus.
CARMAGNOLA:
Amen.
BISHOP:
Dominus noster Jesus Christus te absolvat;
et ego auctoritate ipsius te absolvo ab omni
vinculo excommunicationis, et interdicti, in
quantum possum, et tu indiges; deinde ego te
absolvo a peccatis tuis, in nomine Patris, et
Filii (sign of the cross) et Spiritus Sancti.
CARMAGNOLA:
Amen.
(The BISHOP leaves)
PHILIP:
Do you remember? Di pensier in pensier, di
monte in monte.


CARMAGNOLA:
From thought to thought, from hill to hill..
PHILIP:
Mi guida Amor.
CARMAGNOLA:
Love is my guide.
PHILIP:
E, com' Amor la 'nvita, or ride or piagne or
teme or s'assicura!
CARMAGNOLA:
And my spirit smiles, cries, fears, feels
safe according to what Love wants!
PHILIP:
Onde alla vista uom di tal vita esperto diria:
questi arde, e di suo stato è incerto.
CARMAGNOLA:
(crying out desperately) So that any man expert
in a life like mine would say, He burns, he's
uncertain of his life, of what's going to happen, he
burns, he burns----!
(A HOODED FIGURE, bearing a cross,
stands at the door and CARMAGNOLA
starts. The hood is pointed, with slits
for the eyes; a cassock reaches to
the feet.
The BISHOP returns. The tolling of the
campanile becomes louder. There is the
drum tap of execution.)
BISHOP:
You will receive communion, my son, at the
church of San Fantin---
CARMAGNOLA:
(in horror) San Fantin!
(The HOODED FIGURE, with the cross,
goes before CARMAGNOLA. The
BISHOP follows them out.
A procession of similarly HOODED
FIGURES led by the cross (the others
hold candles on wooden holders) cross
the Open Area towards the right.
CARMAGNOLA follows alone, also
hooded now.)
PHILIP:
Count Carmagnola is on his way to his last communion,
having been confessed. By tradition the traitors of
Venice are given last communion at the dismal, dark-
fronted church of San Fantin.


(The sound of Friars chanting from
inside the church.
The procession disappears. PHILIP
stands, craning, to keep sight of
them, his mouth open, swaying on his
stick.
The drum-taps, the Gregorian chant
and the bell of the campanile reach
their climax)
PHILIP:
He will now be taken, relieved of his hood and cloak,
to the place of execution, between the columns at the
edge of the sea. His head will be severed from his
body. The doge, by the way, was against the death
penalty. So was Paolo Cornaro. But they were out-
voted. Carmagnola is considered too powerful, and
too knowledgeable, to live. His execution was voted
by twenty seven to nineteen.
(The procession passes again across the
Open Area slowly and this time
CARMAGNOLA has a gag in his mouth
and is wearing a scarlet vest with
trimmed sleeves, leggings of the same
colour, a crimson jerkin and a velvet
capà la Carmagnola. His hands are
tied behind him.
We hear a crowd. The drum beats come
to the fore. The light grows more
brilliant.
PHILIP follows every movement closely,
craning.
The DOGE and his COUNCILLORS follow
the procession at a distance. The
DOGE has his head bowed. mutely, and
walks unsteadily. CORNARO helps him.
In the same party are ANTONIETTA
and MARIA in long black veils.
The bell of the campanile ceases.
The crowd is hushed. The Open Area
is empty)
PHILIP:
A vast crowd.. Who not many days before cheered
Carmagnola through the side-canals on his way to
the ducal palàce.


(Silence.
Suddenly there is the sound of a
falling axe---a great thump followed
by another. At each stroke PHILIP
is convulsed with horror, SO much
that he seems about to fall.
At the third stroke there is a great
cry of SVENTURA! SVENTURA!
from the crowd.
PHILIP is trembling with the effort
to call out to someone. So powerful
is his horror that, his stick fallen to
the ground, his body seems to be
sustained on invisible wings. In a
last effort he manages to cry out:)
PHILIP:
(pointing) His head ! His head!
(RICCI and LAMPUGNANO rush in.
The bell of the campanile is heard
again.
The COURTIERS bear PHILIP back
to the throne)
PHILIP:
LAMPUGNANO:
Yes, yes!
(PHILIP continues to stare in the
direction of the execution.
The DOGE and his COUNCILLORS
stroll back.
ANTONIETTA and MARIA also pass
slowly across the Open Area.
ANTONIETTA faints and the DOGE's
COUNCILLORS run forward to pick
her up. She is carried away.
MARIA remains alone. She lets out
a long keening cry and begins tearing
the clothes away from her breast and
loosening her hair frantically until
it is all over her face. A COUNCILLOR


rushes back and supports her off.
Her cries die away)
PHILIP:
Did you hear the crowd? 'Bad luck, bad luck',
they said.
RICCI:
The crowd?
PHILIP:
But it isn't true. He won ! Yes he won in the
end!
(He begins laughing quietly)
LAMPUGNANO:
Who won' ?
PHILIP:
Carmagnola. Do you know, they've even promised
to bury him in the Frari, among the greatest
heroes of Venetian history ? Shall we hunt ?
(They help him out of the throne.
The campanile continues to toll)
END OF ACT TWO
CURTAIN


APPENDIX 1
COSTUMES
The doge's official costume was the so-called 'dalmatic', a wide-sleeved,
loose and long vestment with slit sides, of gold or silver, with a cloak of
golden brocade trimmed with ermine on top; he wore a hat of fine cambric
which was never taken off even in church, with ear-flaps and strings; on
this he placed the biretta or corno, with its horn-shaped crown, made
sometimes with cloth of gold and sometimes with crimson silk bordered
with gold, and occasionally studded with gems. For an audience he might
wear a dark scarlet robe with a biretta of the same colour.
For a normal audience in the Collegio the doge had on his right the
Lord Chancellor in a great dark-blue toga and ample white collar falling
on to the shoulders, with a wide hat. The six councillors had bright red
togas with dark-blue hats rather like swollen berets. The toga (the
obligatory wear of the Venetian nobleman wherever he went) had voluminous
sleeves, the length of which depended on his social distinction. The doge's
reached to the ground.
Trumpeters for great state occasions, in procession, were
six in number and had their long silver instruments held out in front of
them by pages.
N.B. The words CUSTODES LIBERT ATIS may be suspended over
the doge's throne, in imitation of the Collegio throne. It could surmount
the St. Mark's banner dropped behind the throne when the scene is Venice,
while the Visconti arms could be dropped for the Milanese scenes.
APPENDIX 2.
MAIN CHARACTERS
FRANCESCO CARMAGNOLA was born in 1390, PHILIP DUKE OF MILAN
in 1392, and FRANCESCO FOSCARI, doge of Venice, in 1362. Carmagnola
was therefore forty-two when, on 5th May 1432, he was led to his execution.
Foscari became doge in 1423 when he was sixty-one.
There are portraits of Carmagnola and Foscari, but Philip always
refused to have his portrait painted: however, the description of him that
has been left by a chronicler is very detailed. Philip and Foscari were
said to resemble each other, though to judge by his portrait the doge Foscari
was the handsomer of the two.


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