in Lodovic Sforza, Duke of Milan — Gomersall, Robert
Metadata
Play
Lodovic Sforza, Duke of Milan
Author
Gomersall, Robert
Year (catalogued)
1628
First performance
1628
Decade
1620s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
Closet/Unacted (?)
Speech prefix(es)
Tri. | Triulcio. | 〈…〉 iv.
Words
475
Characters
2485
Typicality
0.35 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A01853
BritDrama no.
2236
Cluster
Cluster 21 — Old fathers & plain counsel
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
What answer from the Citadel? once more Give them a summons, if they yield not then Ent Isabella Give and assault. Madame, you shall be honourably used, You, and your fair son: take your liberty To choose your own free course: for this young Lord, He must to France with us, where he shall learn The good of royal education: Where he shall know the happy difference Between a petty, and a kingly Court. Some wait upon the Princess. Never till now had we the victory, And now no single one, this happy hour Has gained a a conquest for Posterity. They may be idle now, now the French youth May grow up without wounds, and at their homes, Steal to a private graven, no more being forced To death, though by a glory; nay this Land May thank us, for our thrift of victory, For lighting on this blessed occasion, Which makes us needs no more to conquer them: If heaven continue us this kindness still, Wee'll measure out our conquests by our will. Brave soldiers, How we rejoice we may embrace at last, Not with armed hands, without the gilded and shame Of civil murder but are these the troops That now must learn to use their valour well? To give a death without a prodigy? A conquering cheerfulness adorns their face These are not common soldiers: look you pale, Then I must know the mystery. Yea I know all, but yet from thy forced tongue Will I extract confession; fetch a rack, To make him howl the truth, he will not speak. What shall I do? Oh I am lost in doubt, Nor know, what to refuse, or what to grant. Shall then the Swizzers to their valour add A tainture of disloyalty? to whom? Who can accuse us for our treachery? One that has patronized it by his act: That hath betrayed his Nephew: shall a man Be counted treacherous, that betrays vice? It was a crime to aid him, can it e A crime to leave him too? Oh paradox! Resolve me Goodness what 'tis best to do: And that does whisper a dislike: for what, What goodness can there be in civil war? When we shall kill them that were born with us, When we shall make the Father die his sword In the sons blood, and strangely give a death To him, to whom he kindly gave a life, When the mixed blood of the same Family Shall make a cruel incest: this we do If we are honest: I'll learn treason first, And the most accurate sin. Triulcio, Our Country calls us, and not thou, to be Dishonest then is the best honesty. Is he fled then? Oh our unhappy sloth! Why ran we not as well as we did fight? Are Cowards swifter then their Conquerors.
Plot summary
Plot — Lodovic Sforza, Duke of Milan
Sforza is ambitious to rule Milan even though primogeniture has passed him by, leaving him as merely the Protector to his nephew, the Duke Galeazzo. He invites the King of France, who covets the throne of Naples, to invade Italy to press his claim by force, relying on French support for his own usurpation of Milan. He then poisons Galeazzo, and attempts to dispose of the two poisoners; but one of them, Vitellio, survives and plans revenge using forged documents which implicate Sforza in the crime. After the coronation, rumours of foul play begin to circulate. Vittellio is caught lurking around Sforza’s bedchamber, intending to murder him, so Sforza has him strangled. Caiazzo plans to murder Isabella, Galeazzo’s widow, as she visits his tomb, but realizes that he could do better for himself by marrying her. She refuses him, but he promises her revenge on Sforza as a mark of his good faith, When she remains resolute, he threatens to ===== PAGE 305 ===== 1628 rape her, but is prevented by Sforza’s arrival. He claims she tried to persuade him to assassinate Sforza, but the Duke takes no reprisals. Sforza is visited by Galeazzo’s ghost, who foretells that he will fall from power and die in prison, Meanwhile, the French take Naples with ease, frustrating Sforza’s exit strategy: he was expecting them to be tied down in a long war, giving him time to co-ordinate Italian forces to expel them. The French King is taken ill at a tennis match and dies. The deposed Neapolitan ruler retakes his throne, so the French invade Italy again. When they reach Milan, Caiazzo defects with his soldiers, the senators surrender the city, and Isabella hands herself over, only to have her baby son taken from her and sent to be brought up in France. Sforza strengthens his army with Swiss mercenaries, but their captain is persuaded to transfer allegiance to the French; he offers to help Sforza escape disguised as a common soldier, but they are betrayed. The French conquer Milan, and, as the ghost foretold, Sforza spends the rest of his life in captivity.