DUKE
His city?
MORANZONE
He is Mantuan by birth.
DUKE
[advancing towards GUIDO]
You have the eyes of one I used to know,
But he died childless. Are you honest, boy?
Then be not spendthrift of your honesty,
But keep it to yourself; in Padua
Men think that honesty is ostentatious, so
It is not of the fashion. Look at these lords.
COUNT BARDI
[aside]
Here is some bitter arrow for us, sure.
DUKE
Why, every man among them has his price,
Although, to do them justice, some of them
Are quite expensive.
COUNT BARDI
[aside]
There it comes indeed.
DUKE
So be not honest; eccentricity
Is not a thing should ever be encouraged,
Although, in this dull stupid age of ours,
The most eccentric thing a man can do
Is to have brains, then the mob mocks at him;
And for the mob, despise it as I do,
I hold its bubble praise and windy favours
In such account, that popularity
Is the one insult I have never suffered.
MAFFIO
[aside]
He has enough of hate, if he needs that.
DUKE
Have prudence; in your dealings with the world
Be not too hasty; act on the second thought,
First impulses are generally good.
GUIDO
[aside]
Surely a toad sits on his lips, and spills its venom there.
DUKE
See thou hast enemies,
Else will the world think very little of thee;
It is its test of power; yet see thou show'st
A smiling mask of friendship to all men,
Until thou hast them safely in thy grip,
Then thou canst crush them.
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