_Venoni._ (_alone, and wandering about the garden with a distracted air_) Where shall I direct-- where seek-- a cloud obscures my eyes-- despair, rage, powers of vengeance! powers of fury! guide me, desert me not; give me strength to-- my limbs refuse to bear me: I faint, I die! (_he falls upon the ground_) The _prior_, the fathers _Jeronymo_, _Anastasio_, and _Nicolo_, and other monks enter with torches. _Pri._ (_speaking without_) What clamours make the garden resound? who thus disturbs the hallowed silence which---- how? Venoni! alone! stretched on the earth! he is insensible; yet sure there was some one with him! speak, Jeronymo; heard you not?-- _Jer._ Two voices certainly seemed to mingle, and the dispute was earnest. _Ana._ Whoever was here, cannot have gone far. Let us seek. _Pri._ Lose not a moment: be Nicolo your companion. [Exeunt Anastasio and Nicolo. _Pri._ Meanwhile, be it our care to restore Venoni to himself: his fortune is not yet in our possession. (_he kneels and supports Venoni in his arms_) My son! Venoni! look up, Venoni. _Venoni._ (_reviving_) Who names me? who speaks to me? _Pri._ One whom your situation cuts to the very heart. What has produced this new distress? tell me, my son? _Venoni._ (_whom the prior has assisted to rise, casts round him a wild unconscious look, and unable to support himself reclines his head on the prior’s bosom_) What has happened? where am I? _Pri._ In the arms of that tender friend whose sympathy-- _Venoni._ (_struck by the voice, and recollecting himself, raises his head, fixes his eyes on the prior, and repulses him with a look of extreme horror_) Thou? thou? oh, eternal justice! _Pri._ (_astonished_) How is this? you drive me from you; and does then the sight of me inspire you with disgust? _Venoni._ (_shuddering_) Disgust? _Pri._ In what have I offended? what is my crime? _Venoni._ (_exasperated beyond bounds_) And still dare you ask? inhuman! still dare you ask-- what is your crime? oh, monstrous hypocrisy! oh, guilt beyond belief! she is dead! and still dare you ask-- in what have you offended? Enter father _Anastasio_ and father _Nicolo_. _Ana._ Tis in vain that-- _Pri._ Silence! (_with calm dignity_) hear me, Venoni! tis plain that your senses are disordered, and I therefore listen to these insults without resentment: these insults which I have so little deserved from you. But I know well that your injustice proceeds not from your heart; and when this paroxysm of delirium is past-- _Venoni._ Delirium? no, no! do not hope it! excess of misery-- desire of vengeance have restored my reason: I feel but too well, both for myself and you, that my senses are right again, and tremble thou to hear they are so! I see you now in your true colours, in all the horrors of your atrocious guilt! your hour is arrived; your cup is full; and the abyss already yawns beneath your feet, which within an hour shall bury you in its womb for ever! farewell! (_going_)