ACT ONE
 
 
Solitary enclosed place with many trees and decayed ruins. On the banks of the Tiber. In the distance is seen the Quirinal Hill with a small temple at the summit.
 
 
SCENE I
 
 
Cecilio, then Cinna.
 
 
Recitative
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
Oh heaven, my friend Cinna
 
 
I await in vain. My impatience
 
 
grows with his delaying. Alas, how wearisome
 
 
is each moment
 
 
for the human heart, which wavers
 
 
betwixt hope and fear! My doubts…
 
 
But, am I not misled? He comes! The gods be praised!
 
 
Cinna
 
 
Cecilio, oh with what joy
 
 
I see thee again! Ah, suffer me,
 
 
now that my happiness overflows, to offer thee a pledge
 
 
of my friendship and of ever cordial love.
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
How my impatient soul
 
 
through vows hath sought to speed thy coming!
 
 
What confusion, what fear
 
 
she suffered through thy delay!
 
 
And what dark visions
 
 
thrust themselves into my thoughts!
 
 
The troubled soul
 
 
is alarmed and bewildered…
 
 
Cinna
 
 
My delay doth conceal a special purpose.
 
 
Thou shalt learn all from me.
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
Ah, be not offended
 
 
by my impatience… Giunia… my adored,
 
 
my dear beloved, is she still
 
 
all love, all loyalty? Does she still recall that sweet devotion
 
 
she once vowed me?
 
 
Has her tender heart remained constant?
 
 
Cinna
 
 
She bewails thy death…
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
How so?… Alas, tell me…
 
 
speak: who durst invent
 
 
such a lie?
 
 
Cinna
 
 
Silla's wily craft,
 
 
in order to subdue her loving faith.
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
(Starting to depart.)
 
 
Let us hasten to allay her grief.
 
 
Cinna
 
 
Stay! As yet thou knowest not
 
 
the enormity of the offence, that thy return
 
 
out of banishment will lead to death.
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
Just to preserve a life
 
 
that without her I loathe
 
 
could I allow my bride to fall a prey
 
 
to one so cruel and unjust?
 
 
Cinna
 
 
Oh hear me! – Where
 
 
dost thou hope to see again
 
 
thy faithful Giunia?
 
 
Silla has dragged her off into his own house…
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
And Cinna
 
 
stood by and let this happen?…
 
 
Cinna
 
 
What could he attempt alone?
 
 
Alas, 'tis vain
 
 
to oppose him in whose hands lies all the power.
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
Oh hostile gods! –
 
 
Thus may I never hope
 
 
to see my bride again?
 
 
Cinna
 
 
Listen. Not far
 
 
from this secluded spot
 
 
the silent park
 
 
lies spread beneath the sky, which in gloomy chambers
 
 
conceals the graves of the departed heroes.
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
What shall I do?
 
 
Cinna
 
 
Take
 
 
that secret path,
 
 
which leads thither through the midst of the ruins.
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
And what will there befall?
 
 
Cinna
 
 
Thou knowest that the park borders
 
 
on Silla's palace.
 
 
Oft in company with her faithful ones,
 
 
Giunia is wont during the daytime to descend thither. There,
 
 
dolorous next to her father’s woeful urn,
 
 
she often wets it with her tears.
 
 
Thou wilt surprise her! Thou canst in her bosom
 
 
revive the hope
 
 
that is by now extinguished! You will bring each other comfort.
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
Oh bliss!
 
 
Cinna
 
 
Elsewhere,
 
 
with many friends united
 
 
for thy defence
 
 
shall I keep vigil. Be hopeful!
 
 
Today shall the gods, after a long,
 
 
fainthearted and tormenting bondage,
 
 
give Rome again her freedom, and thee thy bride.
 
 
No. 1 Aria
 
 
Cinna
 
     
 
    Come whither love would guide thee,
 
 
come, already I sense in my breast
 
 
the lofty aspirations
 
 
of thy approaching joy.
 
     
 
    Not for ever is the sea turbulent,
 
 
not for ever is the sky overcast,
 
 
in time it will smile, joyful and tranquil
 
 
in serenity and calm.
 
 
(Exit.)
 
 
SCENE II
 
 
Cecilio alone.
 
 
Accompanied Recitative
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
I dare to hope
 
 
soon to soothe my eyes
 
 
with the sight of my sweet idol?
 
 
Already I see
 
 
her surprise, her happiness.
 
 
Already I hear
 
 
the calls that sound for me:
 
 
"my husband, my life!"
 
 
My heart
 
 
beats and speaks to me
 
 
of exuberant tenderness and foretells…
 
 
Oh heaven, all alone here am I,
 
 
beside myself with joy. Why do I not hasten
 
 
to embrace my betrothed?
 
 
Perhaps, alas,
 
 
she is shedding tears of grief
 
 
in this very hour in sorrow over my death
 
 
bereft of hope and counsel!
 
 
No. 2 Aria
 
 
Cecilio
 
     
 
    The tender moment,
 
 
reward of love so great,
 
 
is already imagined by my heart
 
 
in its sweet thoughts.
 
     
 
    And how shall that joy be,
 
 
which awaits me at her side,
 
 
when the very thought alone
 
 
so entices my rapture?
 
 
(Exit.)
 
 

Giunia's apartments. A circle of statues of the most famous Roman heroines.
 
 
SCENE III
 
 
Silla, Celia, Aufidio and guards.
 
 
Recitative
 
 
Silla
 
 
To thee, Celia, I entrust the care
 
 
of my beloved, of my peace of mind. See to it
 
 
that Mario's stubborn and arrogant daughter grow more wise.
 
 
Constrain her no longer to reject me.
 
 
Celia
 
 
Brother, thou knowest that hitherto
 
 
I have done all things for thee. I flatter myself
 
 
that I shall see a change in her mind.
 
 
Aufidio
 
 
Counsel and pleas
 
 
hast thou tried in vain with this proud woman.
 
 
A ruler disdained,
 
 
when he is admired by Rome and the whole world,
 
 
if all else fails, will employ anger and force.
 
 
Silla
 
 
Force will I use! For mercy
 
 
has brought me only the contempt
 
 
of this ungrateful woman
 
 
and offensive resistance. This very day
 
 
shall she follow me to the altar
 
 
and requite my feeling,
 
 
else the new sun will not rise again for her.
 
 
Celia
 
 
Oh, Silla, oh, my brother,
 
 
I tremble for thee
 
 
when thou art driven to extremity.
 
 
Alas, oh, alas,
 
 
force is oft
 
 
the wretched mother of the black, outrageous deed.
 
 
Silla
 
 
What is there left, then, for me to try
 
 
when so stubbornly she flees me and disdains me?
 
 
Celia
 
 
With the gentler arts alone must thou approach her.
 
 
If 'tis true, if I may boast
 
 
of having power in thy heart, then, then let me
 
 
turn towards Giunia. Soon will she come
 
 
to thee. Then hearken to her.
 
 
Mayhap
 
 
her mind will change.
 
 
Silla
 
 
Once more will I give her proof of my mercy.
 
 
I will wait for Giunia
 
 
and I will speak with her as a husband. But may she not abuse
 
 
my love and kindness, and have to tremble
 
 
when, finally, Silla as an insulted ruler will speak
 
 
made pitiless through her.
 
 
Celia
 
 
Trust in me, my brother. Today
 
 
will Giunia be wiser. Till now
 
 
has her heart nourished
 
 
a secret hope. If her betrothed
 
 
has perished, the lure of that love
 
 
no more remains. Renew watchfully
 
 
thy wooing. If a nearby lover
 
 
triumphs over a distant one,
 
 
the victory over a lover who no longer breathes
 
 
will be an even easier enterprise for him that is alive.
 
 
No. 3 Aria
 
 
Celia
 
     
 
    If flattering hope
 
 
cannot sustain those who love,
 
 
fidelity withers
 
 
even in the most constant.
 
     
 
    That heart so true and tender,
 
 
ah, yes, even that heart
 
 
that is still so obstinate,
 
 
that heart will bend to thee.
 
 
(Exit.)
 
 
SCENE IV
 
 
Silla, Aufidio and guards.
 
 
Recitative
 
 
Aufidio
 
 
Master, it grieves me
 
 
to see thee still exposed to spurning and insult.
 
 
A plebeian heart
 
 
may abase itself in meek pleadings; but Silla, the proud
 
 
terror of Asia, the victor of Pontus,
 
 
the disposer of the Senate
 
 
who beheld a Mithridates at his feet,
 
 
will he suffer himself to be intimidated by a mere maid?
 
 
Silla
 
 
A generous heart
 
 
is not made low by love. If it is made coward through love,
 
 
then among the heroes that the most distant provinces
 
 
did shake and devastate,
 
 
is not one that was not a coward.
 
 
This very day, friend,
 
 
shall Giunia be my wife.
 
 
Aufidio
 
 
She comes.
 
 
Perceive on her face the mien
 
 
of stubborn love,
 
 
of smouldering hate, of desperate grief.
 
 
Silla
 
 
I wish to hear her. Leave me alone.
 
 
(Exit Aufidio.)
 
 
SCENE V
 
 
Silla, Giunia and guards.
 
 
Recitative
 
 
Silla
 
 
Am I always to see thee
 
 
weeping and oppressed with grief? Will thy fair gaze
 
 
never
 
 
turn in joy toward me?
 
 
Oh heaven! Thou cost not answer?
 
 
Dost sigh and art perplexed. Alas, reveal to me:
 
 
what so grievously
 
 
excites thee, what makes thee grow pale, and why so skilfully thou dost prevent
 
 
mine eyes from meeting thine?
 
 
Giunia
 
 
Oh wretched one, because thou alone art my hate.
 
 
Silla
 
 
Nay. I can not believe
 
 
that such proud cruelty
 
 
towards me is contained in thy lovely heart.
 
 
Hate and love have the same measure.
 
 
Giunia
 
 
Not in me. As much as I will love my betrothed,
 
 
so much will I hate Silla.
 
 
Since love and hate extend beyond death, deep in my soul
 
 
which will never be changed
 
 
he will always be my love and you the object of my hate.
 
 
Silla
 
 
Pray tell me: how I have offended thee
 
 
that thou shouldst hate me so? What have I not done
 
 
for thee, Giunia? Death
 
 
robbed thee of thy father
 
 
and within my walls
 
 
I generously offer thee refuge,
 
 
fulfil every duty of a host.
 
 
Nonetheless thou dost persist in thy hatred of me and Silla doth remain vile in thine eyes?
 
 
Giunia
 
 
Am I to stretch out my arms to love
 
 
an enemy of my father?
 
 
Hast thou forgotten how barbarously thou didst proceed against him?
 
 
In harsh banishment
 
 
with the worthiest citizens
 
 
my betrothed pines and dies.
 
 
And the author of all this, should I love him?
 
 
To thy greater torment I swear before thee here anew
 
 
that still I love Cecilio. I honour in him,
 
 
even if he were dead,
 
 
my father's choice. If inhuman fate
 
 
has taken him from my side
 
 
to further thy vile lust,
 
 
he will nonetheless live on within this heart.
 
 
Silla
 
 
Oh haughty one, love him then! And scorn me
 
 
as tyrant and foe.
 
 
List! In the face of so great contempt
 
 
will I give thee time for remorse.
 
 
Forget this insane pride,
 
 
this vain affection, this unwholesome hatred
 
 
or prepare thyself to follow
 
 
the dismal shades of thy father and thy bridegroom
 
 
to glowing Erebus.
 
 
Giunia
 
 
Me, a daughter of great Marius
 
 
dost thou think with the horrors of death
 
 
to discourage?
 
 
There shall be no room in thy soul for any hope
 
 
that could violate my love,
 
 
if thou would know, inhuman one,
 
 
what a true Roman heart can endure.
 
 
Silla
 
 
Think more on the peril, o Giunia,
 
 
think and decide.
 
 
A remnant of compassion still I feel
 
 
because I love thee.
 
 
Oh, decide for the better…
 
 
Giunia
 
 
My mind is already set.
 
 
My dead father's command
 
 
will I always follow:
 
 
ever to detest Silla,
 
 
ever to honour my bridegroom, and then to die.
 
 
No. 4 Aria
 
 
Giunia
 
     
 
    From the dark shore
 
 
come, o father, come, o beloved husband,
 
 
to receive the last breath
 
 
of a daughter and a bride.
 
     
 
    Thou, barbarian,
 
 
ragest in thy wrath;
 
 
but this, infamous one, is not
 
 
the sorest punishment meted out for thee.
 
     
 
    In time I shall be happy,
 
 
no more constrained to be near thee;
 
 
thou wilt remain
 
 
with the torments of thy conscience.
 
 
(Exit.)
 
 
SCENE VI
 
 
Silla and guards.
 
 
Recitative
 
 
Silla
 
 
Can I bear
 
 
such insolent scorn? Does not my soul grow turbulent
 
 
with too much slighting? Who then has made her
 
 
so insensitive? Does a dictator
 
 
suffer himself thus to be insulted
 
 
by a thoughtlessly bold woman?…
 
 
And yet, shame on me, and yet she enchants me!
 
 
Accompanied Recitative
 
 
Enchants me?
 
 
Does not Silla's heart yet blush
 
 
for its own weakness?
 
 
Then let love be silent, let the proud woman die.
 
 
Who so despises my love,
 
 
let her fear my rage.
 
 
Let her long call me cruel, let her spurn
 
 
my hand, my heart, my tenderness,
 
 
from this day forward
 
 
I am her tyrant!
 
 
No. 5 Aria
 
 
Silla
 
     
 
    The desire for vengeance and for death
 
 
inflames me and so agitates my breast,
 
 
that each tender feeling of the soul
 
 
that has been scorned, is turned to wrath.
 
     
 
    Perhaps thou wilt at the end
 
 
of the fateful duel
 
 
beg that thy life be spared;
 
 
yet tears will then be fruitless,
 
 
and fruitless the anguish.
 
 
(Exit with the guards.)
 
 

Imposing, rather dark vestibule at the entrance to the subterranean chambers in which stand sumptious monuments to the Roman heroes.
 
 
SCENE VII
 
 
Cecilio alone.
 
 
Accompanied Recitative
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
Death, thou that shapest man's destiny,
 
 
here in these cold graves lie
 
 
the witnesses of your hand. Heroes, warriors, potentates
 
 
who laid waste the earth
 
 
are now covered and enclosed here beneath narrow marble walls.
 
 
On countless lips
 
 
the world re-echoed marvelling at their deeds,
 
 
and now deep, gloomy silence clothes them round.
 
 
Ye gods!… Who is approaching?
 
 
Giunia?… My dear betrothed?… Alas, she is not alone;
 
 
I shall conceal myself… but where? Oh stars!
 
 
How my heart beats!… What rapture I…
 
 
What shall I do?
 
 
Remain?… Depart?… Oh heaven!
 
 
I will hide myself behind this urn.
 
 
(Hides behind Marius' urn.)
 
 
SCENE VIII
 
 
Giunia enters with her train of young women and nobles. Sadly they sing the following chorus.
 
 
No. 6 Chorus
 
 
Chorus
 
     
 
    From these sorrowing urns
 
 
step forth, ye venerated souls,
 
 
and wrathfully avenge
 
 
the freedom of Rome.
 
 
Giunia
 
     
 
    O beloved shade of my father,
 
 
that thou dost waft about me,
 
 
may my tears, my sighs
 
 
move thee to pity!
 
 
Chorus
 
     
 
    Let the proud one who upon the Capitol
 
 
holds the reins of Rome in his hand,
 
 
this day be buried from his throne,
 
 
as fitting example to all the ages.
 
 
Accompanied Recitative
 
 
Giunia
 
 
O father, since the godless Silla
 
 
aroused thy hatred while thou wast alive,
 
 
Giunia now stands, because she is thy daughter
 
 
and because Roman blood throbs in her veins,
 
 
with supplication before thy urn.
 
 
Thou too, adored shade
 
 
of my departed love, wend hither and aid
 
 
thy faithful bride. Far from thee
 
 
she loathes the doom-fraught air
 
 
of this bitter existence…
 
 
SCENE IX
 
 
Cecilio and the aforementioned.
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
Here am I, dearest one!
 
 
Giunia
 
 
Oh stars!… I quake!… What do I see?
 
 
Is it thou?… Is this perchance some fever?…
 
 
A ghost maybe, or truly thou?… Ye gods!
 
 
Dost thou deceive me, light of my eyes?…
 
 
Alas, could I but know
 
 
whether I am victim of some sweet illusion!…
 
 
So… is it thou?…
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
Thy faithful bridegroom. It is I.
 
 
No. 7 Duet
 
 
Giunia
 
     
 
    In Elysium await me,
 
 
shade of my dear love,
 
 
so that heaven soon, oh God, soon
 
 
may unite me to thee.
 
 
Cecilio
 
     
 
    Adored, dear bride,
 
 
in thy sweet countenance alone
 
 
my faithful soul finds
 
 
sweet Elysium again.
 
 
Giunia
 
     
 
    My bridegroom… Ye gods! Thou art yet alive?
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
Entire in faith and love.
 
 
Giunia and Cecilio
 
 
Joyous my sighs,
 
 
joyous my grief.
 
 
(Joining hands.)
 
 
Giunia
 
     
 
    Dear hope!
 
 
Cecilio
 
 
Beloved treasure!
 
 
Giunia and Cecilio
 
     
 
    Now that upon my breast,
 
 
o Love, thou art,
 
 
the weeping of my eyes
 
 
teaches me rather
 
 
that joy too
 
 
has her tears.
 
 
(Exit.)
 
 
End of the first act.