ds
Droop tail at sight of me and fawn away
Innocuous.
[The crowd does indeed seem to have fallen completely under the sway
of LUC.'s magnetism, and is evidently convinced that it had been about
to make an end of the monk.]
Take thou, and wear henceforth,
As a sure talisman 'gainst future perils,
This little, little ring.
[SAV. makes awkward gesture of refusal. Angry murmurs from the crowd.
Cries of 'Take thou the ring!' 'Churl!' 'Put it on!' etc.
Enter the Borgias' FOOL and stands unnoticed on fringe of crowd.]
I hoped you 'ld like it--
Neat but not gaudy. Is my taste at fault?
I'd so look'd forward to--
[Sob.] No, I'm not crying,
But just a little hurt.
[Hardly a dry eye in the crowd. Also swayings and snarlings
indicative that SAV.'s life is again not worth a moment's purchase.
SAV. makes awkward gesture of acceptance, but just as he is about to
put ring on finger, the FOOL touches his lute and sings:--]

Wear not the ring,
It hath an unkind sting,
Ding, dong, ding.
Bide a minute,
There's poison in it,
Poison in it,
Ding-a-dong, dong, ding.

LUC.
The fellow lies.
[The crowd is torn with conflicting opinions. Mingled cries of 'Wear
not the ring!' 'The fellow lies!' 'Bide a minute!' 'Death to the
Fool!' 'Silence for the Fool!' 'Ding-a-dong, dong, ding!' etc.]

FOOL [Sings.]
Wear not the ring,
For Death's a robber-king,
Ding, [etc.]
There's no trinket
Is what you think it,
What you think it,
Ding-a-dong, [etc.]

[SAV. throws ring in LUC.'s face. Enter POPE JULIUS II, with Papal
army.]
POPE
Arrest that man and woman!
[Re-enter Guelfs and Ghibellines fighting. SAV. and LUC. are arrested
by Papal officers. Enter MICHAEL ANGELO. ANDREA DEL SARTO appears for a
moment at a window. PIPPA passes. Brothers of the Misericordia go by,
singing a Requiem for Francesca da Rimini. Enter BOCCACCIO, BENVENUTO
CELLINI, and many others, making remarks highly characteristic of
themselves but scarcely audible through the terrific thunderstorm
which now bursts over Florence and is at its loudest and darkest
crisis as the Curtain falls.]

ACT IV

TIME: Three hours later.
SCENE: A Dungeon on the ground-floor of the Palazzo Civico.

The stage is bisected from top to bottom by a wall, on one side of
which