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• A New Life in Death : ACT ONE Scene One , ACT ONE Scene Four , ACT TWO Scene Two

A New Life in Death, translated by Kathleen Jeffs (née Mountjoy)

ACT ONE Scene One

Context:

This is the opening of the play.

Sample text

[MILENE and AGLAES enter the battlefield with their attendants]

MILENE:

What a pleasure to see you.

AGLAES:

What a pleasure to find you here.

MILENE:

I will have to kill you.

AGLAES:

And I will put you to death.

MILENE:

What extraordinarily good luck I have.

AGLAES:

My good fortune is extraordinary.

MILENE:

Why are you so blind?

AGLAES:

Why can’t you see?

MILENE:

I am immovable.

AGLAES:

I am unstoppable.

MILENE:

I await you on the field.

AGLAES:

On the field I await you.

MILENE:

This will be our arena.

Trumpets sound and the attendants march off, leaving the two women alone.

AGLAES:

And this will be the end of you.

MILENE:

Valour will be seen today.

AGLAES:

It is time for it to be seen.

MILENE:

This is how Milene fights.

AGLAES:

This is Aglaes, you monster.

MILENE:

How could I delay your sentence?

AGLAES:

How could I suspend your death?

MILENE:

Wait.

AGLAES:

It’s now too late.

MILENE:

Listen;
I will tell you why I must kill you,
Aglaes, insane barbarian.
You know I am Milene,
among the stars I am a sun of gold,
golden as the lilies in our French standard.
My blood is that of the gods
my valour is that of kings,
my empire is that of fortune,
and my arm is strong as death.
My ways are miracles,
and the world holds them so dear,
they have granted me
the prowess of the Phoenix.
My fields are flooded with
riches from the heavens,
grains of gold rain down,
and oceans of corn.
My sheep and my goats,
as they cross the wide valleys,
move like foamy seas,
like snow drifting on mountains,
and in whose abundant fleeces
and in whose fertile tribute
is a Babylonia of wool
producing an ocean of milk.
Among legions of cows,
regiments of oxen,
white bulls yield to me,
their starry hides shine
and sparkle like jewels in the sun,
making them heavenly jewels,
if not Jupiter, Europa’s thief.
My possessions are like my qualities,
beyond comprehension,
because Fortune and Heaven compete
to show me the greatest favour.

[She continues to say that her rival had better leave the man she intends to be her husband alone, but Aglaes responds with a similar invocation and warning.]

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation A New Life in Death by Kathleen Jeffs (née Mountjoy) is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

ACT ONE Scene Four

Context:

The women each have a suitor; Ortuardo for Milene, and Dileno for Aglaes. The suitors come calling, but the women push them away, preferring to fight each other for the love of Arnesto. Onorato emerges to give the news that the women’s beloved Arnesto has been killed by the Christians, and they vow revenge on Christians. Whereas Aglaes and Milene have previously been at war, they now join forces.

Sample text

Trumpets sound, and enter AGLAES and MILENE on horseback.

MILENE:

Insane and vile Christians ...

AGLAES:

Christians treacherous and savage ...

MILENE:

who against the sovereign gods ...

AGLAES:

who to the cult of the gentiles ...

MILENE:

raise public unrest ...

AGLAES:

make civil war ...

MILENE:

although you fear no one, not even Caesar ...

AGLAES:

although you fear not heaven itself ...

MILENE:

how can you walk the earth?

AGLAES:

how can the world hold your evil?

MILENE:

Charge, powerful Romans;
for they are the barbarians.

AGLAES:

Charge, powerful legion;
for they are vile, but strong.

MILENE:

Avenge Arnesto’s death ...

AGLAES:

Demonstrate his youthful strength ...

MILENE:

... so that through my actions he will gain ...

AGLAES:

... so that he will gain and be thankful ...

MILENE:

... a new life, in death.

AGLAES:

... in death, a new life.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation A New Life in Death by Kathleen Jeffs (née Mountjoy) is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

ACT TWO Scene Two

Context:

Aglaes has fallen in love with her servant, Boniface. She receives a note from Milene requesting that he join Milene’s service and come away with her to France. Both women are now again in love with the same man; this time it is not with Arnesto, who has died, but Boniface. Milene is trying to take him away from Aglaes, so Aglaes devises a way to make sure Milene cannot have him. Both women intend to cancel their upcoming nuptials to Italian noblemen, which will upset Caesar and throw the noble authority structure into disarray.

Sample text

AGLAES:

Enough; leave me,

[Exit CANDOR and MUSICIAN.]

Is this meant to be a wedding?
I call it hell.
This jealousy—my suspicions about
the plumes and flounces have all come true.
How could that barbarous woman
dare to compete with me
for all my pleasures! Gods,
I’ll kill her, I’ll kill her!
And I won’t be married, either,
Italy will burn in civil war!
Boniface has conquered my heart.
Gods, who but you could ever conquer
my great strength and my honour?

Enter ONORATO.

ONORATO:

Otuardo and Dileno,
captains of armies of flowers,
whose servants, plumes and colours
would make an April morning look pale,
await the light of your majesty’s presence.
You are elegant and beautiful,
the peacock of the heavens is not as lovely,
your elegance brings glorious ostentation
to the highest heavens,
your fame gives pretty words
to the feathers of the wind and the stars.
Has Milene arrived?

AGLAES:

Milene has just sent me this note.

ONORATO: [Reading.]

Milene no longer wishes to be married.

AGLAES:

She’s madly in love.

ONORATO:

With whom?

AGLAES:

She loves, uncle, a low-born man.

ONORATO:

Who is he?

AGLAES:

My servant.

ONORATO:

Your servant?

AGLAES:

They tell me he has been
in my service for many years.

ONORATO:

Who is he?

AGLAES:

I do not recall his name.
(Aside.) Two can play these lovers’ games.

ONORATO:

Oh, how many lose their
souls in the frivolity of youth.
But, Aglaes, I cannot believe
Milene would commit such an error.

AGLAES:

Read it in the note.

ONORATO:

I see this for what it is,
but if the man is Boniface I am not surprised,
because Heaven has granted him
features which are envied by men;
he is not so badly born,
although his birth is unequal to his high standing.

AGLAES:

She would have him for her husband.

ONORATO:

Caesar would cut off his head;
and she would be locked in a holy cloister
where she would shock the world with her madness.
I will go and reprimand her,
and I will return the servant to your household.

AGLAES:

Love will ensure my revenge on her!

ONORATO:

Raise him in status and in office,
for the young man merits it.

AGLAES:

At your command I will offer him my soul,
the greatest prize.

Enter LAURETA.

LAURETA:

Milene, accompanied by Otuardo and Dileno,
has come to see you, and enters now.

Enter MILENE and BONIFACE, with her arm around his shoulders, and OTUARDO, DILENO and CANDOR.

MILENE:

My day provides me with little chance,
but however brief the opportunity,
I want to thank you for the favour of Boniface.

AGLAES:

(Aside.) Her dishonest hand around his shoulders
sends my soul into envious chaos; but,
is this to be a second Arnesto?

OTUARDO:

Our day has finally come.

DILENO:

How blessed we are in love,
our long petition is finally answered.

ONORATO:

Boniface, they tell us Milene
is taking you to France,
but it does not suit us
for you to go there at the moment.
Although such honours do become you,
you owe me a debt.

BONIFACE:

It is so.

MILENE:

Aglaes did not treat you as you deserved,
you are in better hands now.

AGLAES:

You wish to oppose me?

ONORATO:

Oh foolish youth!

BONIFACE:

I confess I am indebted to Lord Onorato, but ...

MILENE:

Leaving me would be unjust; stay,
you owe me that much.

AGLAES:

Milene, there are more serious matters at stake here than your whims.

MILENE:

Your feeble understanding is revealed
in your ignorant words.

AGLAES:

Actions are more important.

CANDOR: (Aside.)

(Look how attentively the suitors are listening,
and how unhappy they are!)
They, when they are married,
will be the wives,
and these fierce women will be the husbands,
a whisker away from tigers and Amazons.

ONORATO:

What do you say?

AGLAES:

Onorato, that I will not be married.

MILENE:

And neither will I.

ONORATO:

How is it that I do not kill you on the spot?

OTUARDO:

In this confusing insanity
I entomb my hopes,
but the love that I felt shall turn to revenge.

DILENO:

I have been blind
and now I am disillusioned,
but now after my soaring hopes,
my failed love
will become vile disdain and barbarous vengeance.

Exit OTUARDO and DILENO.

CANDOR:

Those couple of nunces never stood a chance.

ONORATO:

You, Milene, are disturbing the peace
for a servant, and by your actions,
you are inciting the noblemen’s scorn.
Do you not know that Otuardo is the prince of Piamonte,
and you, Aglaes, that Dileno is the prince of of Reginaldo?

AGLAES:

That which the lips keep dumb, love speaks.

ONORATO:

Do you not know that in Rome
he takes his seat at the side of Caesar?

MILENO:

We know the men very well.

ONORATO:

Well then how can you abandon them?

BOTH:

We hate them.

ONORATO:

Who governs you?

BOTH:

Arnesto.

ONORATO:

And in this, you are both resolved?

BOTH:

We are.

ONORATO:

They are lost; follow me, Boniface.

MILENE:

My Boniface;
even if I risk a thousand lives,
I’ll take him to France.

ONORATO:

In time you may try, but not now.

BONIFACE:

I am grateful; goodbye, my Lady.

Exit ONORATO and BONIFACE.

MILENE:

I stand defeated, I’ll lose my mind.

AGLAES:

And I am avenged on you, peasant ingrate.

MILENE:

You will see what I can do.

AGLAES:

You will see who brings you down and who kills you.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation A New Life in Death by Kathleen Jeffs (née Mountjoy) is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Entry written by Kathleen Jeffs. Last updated on 4 October 2010.

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