Mortadello

96 MORTADELLO ALESSANDRO. An idle page in Venice chronicle ! 2ND MASK. See to it, sir, that you with us, in changing barque, Accomplish and renew the glories of St. Mark ! ALESSANDRO. Ay ! ’tis the period when final fortune smiles. By the great grace of God the City of the Isles Under her angel’s wings shall dare a thousand things— A grace as great as God’s, a face as fair as Spring’s ! [The curtain falls. SCENE III. The palace of COUNT ALESSANDRO. A chamber arrayed for dining, the table being curved like a horse-shoe. MORTADELLO on the right of the host, ZELINA on the right again, then THE FIRST MASK and a Venetian gen- tlewoman. On the left of the host THE SECOND MASK, then a gentlewoman, then LORENZO and another gentle- woman. It is after midnight. The guests are in various stages of intoxication, which ALESSANDRO and THE MASKS only simulate. ALESSANDRO. And thus the banquet ends. MORTADELLO. The god is in the shrine. ALESSANDRO. Prepare yourselves, my friends, no mercy on the wine ! Ho there ! [Attendants appear, bringing great vases of silver. MORTADELLO. What flagons ! ALESSANDRO. Ay, Cellini’s masterpiece. 1ST MASK. And these ? ALESSANDRO. Dug recently from an old grave in Greece. But that’s the shell ; the truth lies darkling in the deep.