Night.
JULIA GONZAGA, GIOVANNI VALDESSO.
JULIA.
Do not go yet.
VALDESSO.
The night is far advanced; I fear to stay too late, and weary you With these discussions.
JULIA.
I have much to say.
I speak to you, Valdesso, with that frankness Which is the greatest privilege of friendship .-- Speak as I hardly would to my confessor, Such is my confidence in you.
VALDESSO.
Dear Countess If loyalty to friendship be a claim Upon your confidence, then I may claim it.
JULIA.
Then sit again, and listen unto things That nearer are to me than life itself.
VALDESSO.
In all things I am happy to obey you, And happiest then when you command me most.
JULIA.
Laying aside all useless rhetoric, That is superfluous between us two, I come at once unto the point and say, You know my outward life, my rank and fortune; Countess of Fondi, Duchess of Trajetto, A widow rich and flattered, for whose hand In marriage princes ask, and ask it only To be rejected.

All the world can offer Lies at my feet.

If I remind you of it, It is not in the way of idle boasting, But only to the better understanding Of what comes after.
VALDESSO.
God hath given you also Beauty and intellect; and the signal grace To lead a spotless life amid temptations, That others yield to.
JULIA.
But the inward life,-- That you know not; 't is known but to myself, And is to me a mystery and a pain.
A soul disquieted, and ill at ease, A mind perplexed with doubts and apprehensions, A heart dissatisfied with all around me, And with myself, so that sometimes I weep, Discouraged and disgusted with the world.
VALDESSO.
Whene'er we cross a river at a ford, If we would pass in safety, we must keep Our eyes fixed steadfast on the shore beyond, For if we cast them on the flowing stream, The head swims with it; so if we would cross The running flood of things here in the world, Our souls must not look down, but fix their sight On the firm land beyond.
JULIA.
I comprehend you.
You think I am too worldly; that my head Swims with the giddying whirl of life about me.
Is that your meaning?
VALDESSO.
Yes; your meditations Are more of this world and its vanities Than of the world to come.
JULIA.
Between the two I am confused.
VALDESSO.
Yet have I seen you listen Enraptured when Fra Bernardino preached Of faith and hope and charity.
JULIA.
I listen, But only as to music without meaning.
It moves me for the moment, and I think How beautiful it is to be a saint, As dear Vittoria is; but I am weak And wayward, and I soon fall back again To my old ways, so very easily.
There are too many week-days for one Sunday.
VALDESSO.
Then take the Sunday with you through the week, And sweeten with it all the other days.
JULIA.
In part I do so; for to put a stop To idle tongues, what men might say of me If I lived all alone here in my palace, And not from a vocation that I feel For the monastic life, I now am living With Sister Caterina at the convent Of Santa Chiara, and I come here only On certain days, for my affairs, or visits Of ceremony, or to be with friends.
For I confess, to live among my friends Is Paradise to me; my Purgatory Is living among people I dislike.
And so I pass my life in these two worlds, This palace and the convent.
VALDESSO.
It was then The fear of man, and not the love of God, That led you to this step.

Why will you not Give all your heart to God?
JULIA.
If God commands it, Wherefore hath He not made me capable Of doing for Him what I wish to do As easily as I could offer Him This jewel from my hand, this gown I wear, Or aught else that is mine?
VALDESSO.
The hindrance lies In that original sin, by which all fell.
JULIA.
Ah me, I cannot bring my troubled mind To wish well to that Adam, our first parent, Who by his sin lost Paradise for us, And brought such ills upon us.
VALDESSO.
We ourselves, When we commit a sin, lose Paradise, As much as he did.

Let us think of this, And how we may regain it.
JULIA.
Teach me, then, To harmonize the discord of my life, And stop the painful jangle of these wires.
VALDESSO.
That is a task impossible, until You tune your heart-strings to a higher key Than earthly melodies.
JULIA.
How shall I do it?
Point out to me the way of this perfection, And I will follow you; for you have made My soul enamored with it, and I cannot Rest satisfied until I find it out.
But lead me privately, so that the world Hear not my steps; I would not give occasion For talk among the people.
VALDESSO.
Now at last I understand you fully.