Chapter 9 Lope de Vega, The Holy League (1603)[551]

Foreword and translation from Spanish by Ana Pinto

The Holy League is one of the dramas written in the Spanish Golden Century by a prolific Spanish playwright Lope de Vega (1562-1635).

The Holy League was written between 1598 and 1603^[552] and is based on historical facts contemporaneous with the writer’s lifetime. The battle of Lepanto was fought in 1571, which means that Lope de Vega was nine years old at that time. On the whole, both the action of the play and the main characters match historical events and figures. However there exist several inaccuracies concerning specific historical facts, which need some comment.

Rosa, Rosa Solimana, or Solimana are the three names given in the play to Sultan Selim’s first and favorite concubine, and it is well known that this was the name of Suleyman I’s famous first wife. Historically, Rossa, Rosa Solimana, or Roxelana, as she was also known in the Western world, was Selim Il’s mother and not his wife. She did not outlive Suleyman (1494-1566), for she died several years before him. Lope de Vega, very possibly, committed this anachronism on purpose in order to justify the inclusion of the famous Venetian painter Titian as a character in the play. On historical grounds, it seems certain that Titian made a portrait of Solimana,^[553] and that the painting, which was very likely brought to Spain, was well known in this country during the seventeenth century.^[554] Her portrait is now lost, although a copy exists in the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida.^[555]

Any literary work, even though it could be based on historical facts, is to be expected to have many more ingredients other than just historical accuracy, and in the composition of The Holy League, it is three paintings by Titian that seem to have also influenced the Spanish playwright.^[556] Besides Titian’s portrait of Rosa Solimana for the character of Rosa in the play, two other Titian’s paintings— Allegory of the Battle of Lepanto and Allegory of Religion—seem to have been the inspiration for the depiction of the battle of Lepanto in the third act of the play.

There exists a great deal of literature on the influence of painting on Lope de Vega’s work.^[557] And from these studies we know that the Spanish dramatist was well versed in the theory and history of art, and consequently he must have greatly admired Titian, for in Spain the Venetian painter was considered to be the greatest portraitist of the epoch, as Frederick De Armas points out.^[558] If this was so, it is not surprising to see that historical accuracy should have been sacrificed in order to focus on the extraordinary beauty of the Sultan’s most beloved wife. Audiences and readers of the play would very easily perceive the Sultana’s beauty if told that she had deserved to be painted by the great Titian. The Venetian painter had also captured on canvas another royal beauty closer to the Spanish public, the Empress Isabel of Portugal, Charles V’s wife.

Speaking of Titian’s painting of Rosa Solimana brings to light another trait of the play that seems to be rather puzzling: the oblivion of Suleyman the Magnificent. His name does not appear anywhere in the play; even when the shadow of Selim’s father comes in the middle of the night, Selim calls him by another name: “Selim, it’s your son, it’s Selim who calls you. / Father, Why are you leaving?” (“Selin, tu hijo soy, Selin te nombra. / Padre, ^por que te vas de esa manera?”) (Act I; my emphasis).

Historically, Selim I was Selim II’s grandfather. Why then, did Lope de Vega skip over Suleyman?^[559] No definitive answer can be given to this question, but it seems that the absence of Suleyman’s character in the play was intentional. A possible explanation could be that the very mention of Suleyman’s name could bring to Spanish audiences recent memories of the Ottoman glory, which would tarnish the Spanish glory of the historical moment the play wanted to praise.

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS

SELIM, Grand Turk

SELIM’S SERVANTS

ROSA SOLIMANA

CAPTIVE MUSICIANS

MUSTAPHA, pasha

PIYALE, pasha

ULUC ALI, King of Algiers

THREE CAPTIVES

A MERCHANT

CONSTANCE, captive

MARCELO, child

TITIAN, painter

VENETIAN SENATORS

FATIMA, Turkish woman

MAMI

ALI, Turk

ANDREA DORIA^{[560] [561]}

ACT I

(A great company of Turks.

SELIM: The water was really good.

Give Fatiman^[562] two hundred coins. SERVANT: Great gift!

ANOTHER SERVANT: Though they are dumb, their sound gives away that they are of gold.

SELIM: A wonderful mixture of perfumes!

There is no better comfort, nor more beneficial effects than these fragrances, for the person who is in love.

SERVANT: If baths did not soften

man’s flesh, you would be very right. SELIM: What nonsense!

Is my flesh with my sweaty face expected to be eaten?

SERVANT: No, but it is advisable for a good king to be strong and healthy;

this is why kings used

to practice hunting not only for pleasure.

It helps eradicate idleness, it is similar to warfare, and it strengthens man’s body for sea and land fights.

SELIM: Tell me, fool, were not

the Romans, among all past

and present nations, a warlike people?

SERVANT: Yes, Sir, they were. SELIM: Well then, they had baths,

and they made use of them so frequently that thousands of bath-houses were built.

SERVANT: But those who were fighting

did not make use of them,

it was only those who were living peacefully. SELIM: Get off, you impertinent!

(Enter Rosa Solimana.)

ROSA: Who are you cross with?

SELIM: If I ever lost in Orient

what has been conquered more by my good luck than by my people, and saw this beautiful face,

I would forget and be enthralled; For seeing you is seeing paradise, but you would stop being so if you ever felt any grief. My power is not infinite, and I am not called Great Lord because I can control a vast territory, from the German frozen lands to the scorched Egypt;

neither am I, because Anatolia, Armenia and Syria,

Mount Taurus and the Hyrcanian Sea, and the lands from Arabia to Hungary are under my rule;

neither am I, because I crossed the Tigris, saw Mesopotamia and covered the Tanais with blood, destroyed the great Rhodes, and laid siege to Malta;

neither am I, because my power has reached the cold Danube, and the Indian Bengala;

neither am I, because Sijeto equals the misfortune of Chios;

neither am I, because you know how many people adore my person, which is over the moon, and implore my favor as if it were Allah’s; neither am I, because several provinces, though of a different faith, give me silk, birds, and horses;

neither am I, because I have so many vassals who pay me tributes and taxes;

neither am I, because of so many pearls, silver and gold, and luxurious palaces full of riches;

I am called Great Lord only because I am the master of this beauty that I adore.

If among all the gifts given

to a mortal creature by the celestial hand

I had wisdom,

and if you were a man of humble origins, poor and without renown, and if another man, like you are now, wanted to make me the universal mistress of his kingdoms,

I would surrender myself to this body which is what my soul adores.

What about your bath?

SELIM: Such a presence you have that, even though I could not feel you with my senses, I could feel you with my soul.

An alfaqui,^[563] who is my friend, says that Allah is everywhere, and I do not contradict him, since you are my Allah and everywhere you are with me.

Please take a seat, as flowers and springs in this garden invite you with their scents and streams;

and make these lips ask for impossible things.

For power, not that of Christians who are vile and dejected, but Ottoman Turkish power can find phoenixes in nests and stars in hands.

Ask for the sun before it sets, and I will take it and place it at your feet with the Spaniard’s pride and the Albanian’s fury.

Be aware that there is only one thing that will be impossible for me to grant you: Giving you my whole soul so that you can see it. ROSA: Look! I will easily be satisfied:

Have someone come and sing.

SELIM: So be it.

Majesty also shines in these small things. Call someone to come and sing.

SERVANT: Here you are!

The three Spanish captives

SELIM: Sing something.

SERVANT: What will their song really say? ROSA: Though their music is strange,

it is pleasing to me.

CAPTIVE MUSICIANS (singing):

In Selim’s arms

Rosa Solimana appears. She is the flower of Anatolia and the beauty of Asia.

The more Selim conquers with the help of his janissary power, the more she conquers with her eyes, for they kill what they look at.

Happiness to the soul who is paid homage by the person to whom the world pays tributes! To Rosa, the fair Italy owes its present peace, because, in order to enjoy her beauty, Selim refuses to take up arms.

Also Spain feels grateful to her influence. Mars has his sword hanging in Venus’ temple. Happiness to the soul who is paid homage by the person to whom the world pays tributes! SELIM: Spain, you have an advantage

in savoir faire!

ROSA: It seems that listening to them

makes you feel elated.

SELIM: In the name of Allah! I rather enjoy

this singing than the sound of flutes.

ROSA: Will they dance Spanish dances too? SELIM: Hey! Dance!

What would you like them to dance?

ROSA: The tournament.

SELIM: I would very much like to see this dance. ROSA: Dance only that dance!

(Dancing takes place, and enter Mustapha.)

MUSTAPHA: How do you dare to forbid me to enter where the Great Lord is?

SERVANT: There is not a place reserved for you. SELIM: Hey! What is this noise?

SERVANT: Mustapha would like to speak to you.

MUSTAPHA: O, valiant descendant, of the great Ottoman house, which has been so fortunate for centuries in the control of Asia!

How is it possible that you consent, being the best of your house, to have your soul enslaved by the dominion of the flesh?

The lazy when clothed in silk and rich drapery do not get renown.

Renown is acquired by taking up arms.

Would your ancestors not have left you less than Armenia and Arabia, if they had been lazy and prone to always enjoying themselves in rich beds? Do not lose what they won with palm and laurel, because the value of things consists in keeping them.

Rosa is certainly handsome,

but fame is much more beautiful;

and virtue alone exceeds everything created. Perfumes are not so dear to a good captain and king, as the smell of the black smoke from the burning of gunpowder. [...]

[Mustapha’s long speech follows. He reminds Selim of the great exploits of the kings of Spain (Charles V and his son Philip II, contemporaries of his) achieved by taking up arms. Selim interrupts him by saying:]

SELIM: Mustapha, stop!

Stop, Mustapha!

Are you mad?

MUSTAPHA: Sir.

SELIM: Go away and leave me alone!

MUSTAPHA: I’ll leave, but one day you will know.

SELIM: Leave immediately! (Exit Mustapha.)

O! My Solimana!

How terrible it is that these people do not let me rest for one day only!

They act so, because they get richer with war, where they become robbers of Italy’s gold.

They long to see my banners plowing through the land and sailing the sea.

Do not allow anyone to enter here!

And you are allowed to resume your singing.

(Enter Piyale pasha.)

PIYALE: Sir, allow me to enter so that I can talk to you.

SELIM: What do you want, Piyale? PIYALE: You are extremely idle,

Great Lord of the greatest part of the world, for you almost own from the Nile to the Indian Ganges, and, considering who you are, I don’ t know how your sanjakbeys^[564]and pashas can dare to talk to you.

It is true that Mars is usually portrayed weaponless in Venus’ arms, and these portraits are done in this way, not because he is always unarmed for he would stop being Mars, but to show how passion is appeased, which is a very important thing for captains. In Solimana’s arms, Sir, you are lying carelessly, and your laziness lets Christians rest.

Now France has peace and great prosperity. The King of Poland sleeps fearless of your cannon-shots. Maximilian, who is pleased because he knows your present exercises, takes off his steel gauntlets and puts on leather gloves. In Hungary, Sigismund lives in delightful peace. Portugal unmolested trades from India all kind of things.

Palatine Polish build libraries.

Castile sleeps. And Oran steals men from your lands.

Please sir, look at your ancestors’ extraordinary achievements!

SELIM: How very impertinent of you

to talk like that!

Piyale, leave the garden at once!

If you do not leave, I will order my Janissaries to cut your throat.

PIYALE: But sir...

SELIM: I am telling you to go away.

PIYALE: Consider.

SELIM: Ooph dog! leave at once!

Or else I will have your fierce tongue nailed to those doors.

What do you think of it?

ROSA: Do not get angry, for my life’s sake!

SELIM: You have added moderation to my anger.

ROSA: I feel very grateful

for helping you temper your anger.

But they [these men] have spoken to you with great zeal.

SELIM: Do you know how much I love you?

ROSA: I would like your love tempered,

so that you can first attend the things of your realm.

SELIM: Then, I want you to see how much I love you

by humbly prostrating at your feet all that I am.

(Kneel Selim.)

ROSA: Oh, my Lord!

SELIM: I am fine in this position.

SERVANT: (This either witchcraft or madness must be.)

ROSA: Sir, how can you kneel here?

SELIM: Yes, Rosa, and even that is not enough.

ROSA: Oh my dearest! Kneeling down

is not a proper thing for you to do;

even though love is mad,

the love you feel for me must not drive you mad.

SELIM: It is my pleasure to do so.

ROSA: So be it,

but the world is upside down.

SELIM: If I had two thousand worlds

I would put them beneath your feet.

And if I could turn all this sand under your feet into pearls, I would do so,

because your feet do not deserve less.

ROSA: Please stand up, for my life’s sake!

SELIM: It’s that life that gives me mine.

(Enter Uluc Ali, King of Algiers.)

ULUC ALI: Please let me in.

SELIM: In the name of Allah! The King of Algiers!

ULUC ALI: Can’t I see you only for one day?

SELIM: Speak out promptly, Uluc Ali!

ULUC ALI: Great Lord,

whose great courage is capable of controlling the world.

It is not fair so unwillingly to listen to the person who is speaking to you and loves you so dearly.

Just now Piyale and the great Mustapha have left this place, and they complained about Solimana who keeps you occupied morning, evening, and night.

You signed a treaty of peace with Venice last year, because you wanted to live a life that your dignity despises;

and, to tell you the truth, that peace was cowardly and foolish. By this treaty, relying on your power and with their hands unoccupied, the Venetians know that they can plunder other places.

Pius V, their Pope, incites them, and I fear that he is hiding some mischief, for the time is ripe for it.

Captives say, my lord, that since that fisherman, Christ’s church has never had such a renowned and formidable minister.

When he is in conclave

with his cardinals,

he only speaks of his affront, your deeds and your majesty.

He makes kings worry about your Alcoran and your faith, because he has in mind to conquer Jerusalem, his prophet’s tomb.

You do not know what Pius V is like; all that I have said is nothing compared to what he is.

All fifth-ranked people, my lord, if it pleases you to consider them, have divine courage: Fifth was King don Fernando and Charles the Emperor.

What would happen if Rome knew that a woman controls and tames the Great Lord, causing dishonor to his sword and a great insult to Mahomet? Lo, Sir!

SELIM: Vile dog!

In the name of the person you have mentioned I hope he sheds your dirty blood!

What do you all want? Let me alone, shadows! Since I do not know how to call you.

Is there in the world anything more tyrannical and insulting? I’ll kill you!

ULUC ALI: Great Lord!

SELIM: Run away, you dog! ULUC ALI: That’ll be better.

(Exit Uluc Ali.)

ROSA: Oh, my darling!

SELIM: Rosa, please leave me alone!

In the name of Mahomet! if anyone else talks about you again he’ll see what I can do!

ROSA: You are extremely angry.

SELIM: See what will happen if Uluc Ali comes again and talks to me!

ROSA: Lo! Do not be cruel,

as all was due to their loyalty.

SELIM: Can’t these dogs see

that you are like the Alcoran

which is beyond all dispute?

Long live my darling!

And if, as I fear, anyone

insists on speaking about you,

I’ll promise, and swear it to Allah,

that I’ll have his hair and beard shaved,

and he’ll be condemned to the galleys!

Let us go in! It is about time to rest.

ROSA: Your having felt annoyed

really worries me.

SELIM: Looking at you, madam,

cannot make me annoyed.

You have the power to spare their life;

for, your power over me

is mightier than mine.

Let them come and see me,

and I’ll grant them favors. [...]

[A new scene follows, and various Christian captives appear; among them, there is a mother, called Constance, and her small son, who wait to be redeemed by a Trinitarian friar. The latter and also a merchant are present on the stage. After this scene, another one opens and Selim appears on the stage.]

(Exeunt the captives. Enter a shadow followed by a troop and Selim with his sword drawn. Exit the shadow through the other door.)

SELIM: Stop! Wait!

Shadow! why are you getting away?

And if you are a soul,

Wait! Wait for a moment!

Selim, it is your son, it is Selim who calls you.

Father, why are you leaving?

It seems that I am taken aback by what I see;

everything horrifies me,

everything disturbs me;

I shrink back in fear.

Did I not deserve to touch you?

O! frozen shadow!

My courage failed! This is true!

You went out cast by the winds

And now I feel ghastlier and stiffer than you.

If you were created by my fears

and if I saw you in my sleep, how could you speak to me? how could you shout and make me hear your swift feet?

Am I Selim? Yes, I am.

Can I feel? Yes, I can.

Has it begun to shine? Yes, day is breaking. Where am I? I am in my chamber. Solimana, what has happened?

Maybe that vision presaged my death, which for a king is horrendous news.

What did my father tell me?

Be it what it may, I will face danger. Come on, soldiers! Get out my banners! Down idleness! The Christian is to tremble, and so are Charles the Fifth’s son and the Fifth Pius, and so too the Hungarian and the Venetian, for, today the world will see my mighty power.

Today the world will know that I am both a Scythian and an Ottoman.

Today I want to have Peter’s [i.e., the Pope’s] ship sunk by my galleys.

Come on, soldiers! Get out my banners!

(Enter Rosa Solimana.)

ROSA: As fast as I could get dressed

and leave your bed,

I have come, for I heard you speaking aloud.

SELIM: Hurry up! Call my pashas! ROSA: I am afraid you are sleeping;

no one has come in here.

SELIM: Rosa, the time when I was mad and blind

is now gone by;

even though my passion is not dead it has now cooled down.

The man who came here was my father, that venerable old man.

ROSA: Pull yourself together!

You have imagined there was another person when you saw yourself reflected in that mirror.

SELIM: That is enough;

Do not talk about what that might be. ROSA: I know what it was.

SELIM: And, what is it?

ROSA: You certainly have grown tired of me,

and, as daylight was taking long to come out, you invented this story.

Cold shadows mean that your soul is cold. When you men have in bed what you do not desire and do detest, you imagine, like sick people, that you see deaths and shadows. If you do not feel like lying with me, do not deceive yourself, since you have three hundred women at your disposal.

But, why do you call me instead? Having me drives you madly in love, it takes the shine off your reputation, but I know that a man loses his wits enjoying what he detests.

Yesterday you were Great Lord for deserving my favors rather than for ruling the whole Asia. How is it, Selim, that your deep love has turned to such scorn?

Yesterday, kneeling down you placed the world at my feet and you were willing to give me a thousand others.

And today, with such deep hatred you cast me out of your side. What can this mean?

Yesterday I could see

my feet treading on a king as loot; yesterday I was treading on pearls and today I am shedding them and you do not try to dry them up.

SELIM: Please, do not cry, Rosa, do not cry!

I do not want your sweet cheeks to get burnt by your tears.

But it is not advisable

to spend one’s whole life in love.

Go into the chamber, then You will know what the matter is.

ROSA: I am willing to obey.

SELIM: And I still think that the world is too little

for you to be offered and be placed at your feet.

ROSA: When will you see me again?

SELIM: Later.

ROSA: Are you telling me the truth?

SELIM: Come on! Won’t you leave?

ROSA: Sir...

SELIM: Come on, then!

ROSA: How could I have been brought

to this miserable condition?

SELIM: In the name of Allah!

I feel that a greater fire is burning me!

(ExitRosa. Enter Piyale, UlucAli, andMustapha.)

[In this scene, Selim meets his two pashas and the King of Algiers to tell them how his last night’s vision has changed his mind and life. He tells them about his plans and entrusts one of the pashas (Mustapha) with a mission: to go to Venice and ask the Venetians to give him back Cyprus, otherwise war would be declared.]

[The following four scenes are about the Christian captives ’ leaving. Some are going to Spain, while the mother (Constance) and her small son are going to Cyprus on board of Mustapha’s brig on his way to Venice.]

[The next scene takes place at the Senate in Venice; the senators are assembled to welcome the famous painter Titian back from Constantinople where he had been sent to paint the portrait of Rosa Solimana.]

(Enter four Venetian senators and Titian, the painter.)

FIRST SENATOR: You are very welcome back to your country, you, famous painter, great and illustrious Titian, glory of the past and present century.

TITIAN: My very honorable Venetian Senate, following your advice I went to Constantinople, since Selim asked you to send me in order to paint Rosa Solimana, which is against the rules of his despicable sect; I painted her, served him and, well paid, have come back to my country and brought you this letter.

SECOND SENATOR: I have heard that Selim spends his time

in idleness.

TITIAN: You can easily disarm your galleys;

for, buried in idleness, love, and sleep,

he spends his time, like Nero or Commodus.

THIRD SENATOR: I am going to read the letter.

FIRST SENATOR: We are all ears.

THIRD SENATOR: “Selim, Sultan by the grace of God, Emperor of Constantinople, etc., last year, I swore peace with you, noble Senate and the Venetian Republic, and now I swear again to make that peace inviolable until my successors’ time. I have been very well served by Titian, your famous painter; and I beg you to grant him a noble title, for his art deserves it, and his moral integrity compels me to ask you this. May God preserve you.”

FIRST SENATOR: What Selim asks is fair;

so, from now on a title will be granted to you, Titian.

TITIAN: I kiss your feet, my invincible lords.

FIRST SENATOR: Have you by any chance brought a copy

of Rosa Solimana’s portrait with you?

TITIAN: I have brought this one

which I offer to your assembly.

(Titian shows them the portrait.)

THIRD SENATOR: What a beautiful lady!

SECOND SENATOR: Since she is a woman who keeps Selim calm, she deserves a place among the most famous women.

God be with you, Titian, for the Senate needs to speak about an important issue.

TITIAN: May the high heavens preserve you! SECOND SENATOR: Sirs, would you please take a seat.

(Exit Titian and sit the senators.)

ACT II

[The first scene of Act II opens with Mustapha, on his way back to Constantinople, trying to seduce the Christian captive woman (Constance), who is still with him and has not been left in Cyprus on his way to Venice. A new scene follows that takes place in Constantinople; the dramatis personae are Selim and Fatima.]

(Enter Selim and Fatima.)

SELIM: As true as the moon is in the sky, you will be foolish and fall from that sky if you go on feeling jealous. I admit that Rosa is the most beloved one, and her first place will not be occupied by anyone. Let Rosa be there, for she is entitled to be the first; but my heart is big enough, so that there can be a place for you. If in my baths, as you know, there is room for three hundred women, How is it that you want to be so important and not to share it with another?

Value your second place, as if given by Allah, and do not oppress the heart of a man of the world.

FATIMA: Selim, just as a realm cannot be well ruled even for one day by two kings, likewise, love that is a king, too, does not like company.

Your bath-house has enough room for a thousand women, but you will not be able to have two women in your heart, which is plainer than the palm, for if they feel jealous, they will quarrel and, if they quarrel they will cause your soul great distress. If because of a woman, a hundred provinces are inflamed, What will two angry women not do to one soul?

SELIM: I understand, Fatima,

what you mean, but to a sound mind what does it matter if they [the women]are foolish? FATIMA: And will a very good instrument

sound fully accorded if it has not very good strings? Do you not see that dissonance will follow?

SELIM: No, because an expert hand makes up for any deficiency.

Do a thousand seeds not live peacefully

in a pomegranate?

Why do you not like that a soul could hold two tastes?

FATIMA: But when pressed,

the seeds try to open the pomegranate;

and there being many of them,

they long to come out of their enclosure.

SELIM: Fatima, there is always

an exception to everything; my heart is capable of that, see if you want to adapt to it.

FATIMA: Please tell me that you like me

to satisfy desire,

and I will do it, but do not say that you love two women.

(Enter Rosa.)

ROSA: You are so busy

that you can hardly be seen.

SELIM: My dear Rosa!

I have to pay attention to state matters.

These days I have made new arrangements

of my ships, and galleys

for the protection of our coasts with a Turkish infantry.

I have appointed new captains,

I have provided munitions, and employed soldiers from diverse nations.

Ship-building has left that small mountain over there bare.

ROSA: And has Fatima been the purveyor

of those things you have done?

SELIM: She is a friend and advisor.

ROSA: Is she an advisor and friend?

If you consider her as a friend

I can understand that you might feel obliged to her, but, if it is true that you consider her as an advisor, you will carry out an ineffectual war guided by a woman’s advice.

FATIMA: Now, Selim, you will see

if your heart can hold both.

ROSA: All your activities, Selim,

take place here;

I have never seen you use other weapons, or other brave squadrons.

Fragrances, music, play, delicacies, and wonderful baths are your wars and your damage, and, then, Fatima.

FATIMA: Sir, widen your heart

if we are both to be held.

SELIM: How fearless you have grown!

ROSA: I do not know how Allah blesses me

with so much patience to endure you.

SELIM: Do not take so many liberties.

It is enough! Leave it alone!

FATIMA: I am glad that this anger begins to annoy you.

In good faith, you were going to put two adders into your heart!

ROSA: You will soon see my folly if you do not leave, Fatima.

SELIM: Oh! It is clear that arrogance and beauty often go hand in hand!

(Enter Ali.)

ALI: I would like to speak to you, Sir, SELIM: Speak out, then!

ALI: Mustapha has already come.

SELIM: Do you know by chance, Ali,

if Venice accepts to hand over Cyprus to me?

ALI: What a captain you sent to fulfill such mission and bring you the news you expected!

SELIM: Tell me, then. Is Mustapha not as brave when he gets started, as the dead Barbarossa, who was the terror of people?

ALI: All this is flattery of braggarts;

but take Barbarossa’s awe-inspiring face out of his tomb,

and you will see that even dead he is more successful than the living Mustapha. I will not say anymore, for the person who has brought shame on all of us is about to come here.

SELIM: Tell me, what has he done?

ALI: He addressed the Republic so cowardly

that he left the Senate

feeling miserable and ashamed.

SELIM: Venice, even if my ambassador had been a child,

could you possibly have spoken evil?

ALI: And Venice

has already protected its coast with galleys.

In the name of Mahomet! If you send me there

I will cast fire into its ships and it will burn!

ROSA: I am afraid this is jealousy.

ALI: Yes, but of my great deeds,

which make me the fear of the world.

SELIM: Tell me, Ali...

[Selim continues questioning Ali in order to find out what has happened between him andMustapha. Finally he discovers that Ali feels a grudge against Mustapha for a matter of love: Constance, the beautiful Christian captive, has been coveted by both. While discreditingMustapha, Ali tries to get appointed as commander-in- chieffor the campaign against Venice. Later, Mustapha joins the scene, and both Ali and Mustapha argue. While listening to their personal complaints about each other, Selim appoints Ali as General of the Army, but he finally gets cross with both and says:]

SELIM: In the name of Allah! Ali,

I will have you both impaled!

ROSA: You have much disfavored Mustapha,

who is such a gifted and renowned man, and has rendered such good service to you.

SELIM: What else can be done?

FATIMA: I will tell you what, Sir,

You can favor them both,

since both are brave men.

SELIM: This is the peace I want to make:

I decide to appoint Mustapha too

as the general of this war;

You, Ali, are to command the sea,

and Mustapha, the land.

ROSA: You have decided extremely well.

FATIMA: You must be given the prize for your courage.

SELIM: Rosa, you two, do the same:

Share me between you both,

one is to have my body,

and the other one, my soul.

[This scene ends and is followed by other scenes in which some Christian people talk about the formation of a Christian alliance against the Ottomans. The remainder of Act II deals with the Turkish campaign against Cyprus, carried out by both Ali andMustapha, who succeed in capturing the island.]

ACT III

[The first scene opens with two Spanish soldiers talking about the Venetian defeat at Cyprus and the preparations for creating a Christian alliance against the Sultan. The alliance, called the “Holy League,” is concluded between the Pope (Pius V), Philip II, and the Venetians. The principal leaders of the alliance will be King Philip’s brother, Juan of Austria, and the Genoese Admiral Andrea Doria. Meanwhile, in Constantinople the following scene takes place.]

(Enter Selim with Rosa and Fatima.)

SELIM: Why do you think it is strange

that I should care about Mars?

ROSA: You have been so dedicated to Cupid

that I do not know when

you have made use of his weapons.

SELIM: My dearest Solimana,

I have been practicing in order to be prepared

to face the day when a misfortune

might befall;

and since Fortune is a wheel,

nobody should trust his present position.

Ali, Uluc Ali,

and Mustapha are very happy

with their important victories;

And, for my sake, they do not fear

the sea, nor the force of winds.

It seems that they are almost getting to Italy and landing there.

But I am afraid that they can be confronted

with this army of the League

that is being prepared.

FATIMA: Do not worry about that Christian League.

If our men are

three dexterous and brave captains,

they will achieve victory over the League.

SELIM: I greatly fear that young don Juan.

FATIMA: Even though there were two thousand don Juans,

Ali will win over the Pope,

So will Uluc Ali over King Philip

And so, too, will Mustapha over the Venetians.

SELIM: Will Allah help me or the Pope?

ROSA: If this decision depended on my will, yours would be the victory.

SELIM: And that very same day, Rosa,

I would give you the same glory.

ROSA: Selim, you must trust Allah.

(Enter Mami, a Turk.)

[Mami, an envoy from the Ottoman fleet, has been sent to ask Selim’s advice about the opportunity to go into battle against the Holy League in the gulf of Lepanto, where it has retreated. Mami speaks in Rosa and Fatima’s presence and, after giving some news to Selim, he says:]

MAMI: He [i.e., Ali] wants completely to destroy

Christendom,

but he does not want to go into battle without knowing what you wish.

SELIM: I want to ask your advice.

MAMI: (Upon my soul, what kind of advice!

What a senate of elderly people!

To two women he entrusts

his reputation! It seems clear

that he sees it from afar!)

FATIMA: For such bellicose people,

placed on the moon,

rich, honorable and glorious,

who have gained the victory over the adverse fortune, What endeavor will be impossible to accomplish?

ROSA: Fatima is right,

and it is not to be feared

that they might be defeated,

for they have been trained to win.

MAMI: Oh, what a strange decree!

SELIM: Mami!

MAMI: My Lord!

SELIM: Let it be so.

Once there, they should attack.

MAMI: Yes, Sir.

SELIM: People say that this don Juan

is strong and discreet.

MAMI: Ali had one of the thousand portraits of him

drawn in Italy.

SELIM: And is he strong, Mami?

MAMI: His appearance does not do justice to his soul.

SELIM: But it does in many people.

MAMI: He is handsome and noble,

and fair as a German;

I swear that he is a man.

And being a man and don Juan

makes him to be loved rather than feared.

He is a man so dear to men, children, and women

that no one has ever existed like him.

SELIM: What do you intend? Make me feel jealous?

MAMI: No, I don’t. I have said what I feel.

SELIM: Wait, and I’ll write to the generals.

(Exit Selim.)

ROSA: Tell me,

Can all that be seen in don Juan?

MAMI: I saw all that in his portrait

And all that has made him famous.

ROSA: When coming back, will you not

bring a portrait of don Juan?

MAMI: Certainly not! But if you tip me...

ROSA: I will not be ungrateful to you.

MAMI: Why do you want to have it?

ROSA: Just to have a look at him.

FATIMA: How very extravagant your wishes are!

ROSA: Fatima, I get annoyed

when people praise things without seeing them.

FATIMA: Where do you intend to place it?

ROSA: In the apple of my eye.

(Exeunt Mami, Rosa, and Fatima.)

[This scene ends, and so does Rosa Solimana’s presence in the play. The last part of Act III deals with the Turkish defeat and the victory of the Holy League over the Ottomans.]