iate me; your position in the state is
too high for you to descend so low.

Don Fregose
Your audacity equals the extent of your downfall. Are you unaware that
the magistrates of Barcelona look upon you as an accomplice of the
thief who robbed Lothundiaz? The flight of your servant proves the
crime, and the freedom you now enjoy is due to the intercessions of
this lady. (Points to Faustine.)

Fontanares
My servant, your excellency, might have been in early life a criminal,
but since he has followed my fortune he has been an innocent man. I
declare, on my honor, that he is guiltless of any such act as theft.
The jewels which were seized at the moment he was engaged in selling
them were the free gift of Marie Lothundiaz, from whom I had refused
to accept them.

Faustine
What pride he shows, even in adversity! Nothing can bend him.

Sarpi
And how do you explain the resurrection of your grandfather, the
pretended director of the Venetian arsenal? Unfortunately for you, the
senora and myself were acquainted with the actual man.

Fontanares
I caused my servant to put on this disguise in order that he might
talk science and mathematics with Don Ramon. Senor Lothundiaz will
tell you that the philosopher of Catalonia and Quinola perfectly
understood each other.

Monipodio (to Quinola)
He has ruined himself!

Don Ramon
On this subject I appeal to my writings.

Faustine
Do not be perturbed, Don Ramon; it is so natural for people of this
kind, when they find themselves falling, to drag down other people
with them!

Lothundiaz
Such a disposition is detestable.

Fontanares
Before I die I ought to speak the truth, senora, to those who have
flung me into the abyss. (To Don Fregose) My lord, the king promised
me the protection of his people at Barcelona, and here I have met with
nothing but hatred! Oh, you grandees of the land, you rich, and all
who have in your hands power and influence, why is it that you thus
throw obstacles in the way of advancing thought? Is it the law of God
that you should persecute and put to shame that which eventually you
will be compelled to adore? Had I been pliant, abject and a flatterer,
I might have succeeded! In me you have persecuted that which
represents all that is noblest in man--His consciousness of his own
power, the majesty of his labor, the heavenly inspiration which urges
him to put his hand to enterprise, and--love, that spirit of human
trust, which rekindles courage when i