He had placed himself at the head of a party of banditti, and, pleased
with the liberty which till then he had never tasted, and with the
power which his new situation afforded him, he became so much attached
to this wild and lawless mode of life, that he determined never to
quit it till death should dissolve those ties which now made his rank
only oppressive. This event seemed at so great a distance, that he
seldom allowed himself to think of it. Whenever it should happen, he
had no doubt that he might either resume his rank without danger of
discovery, or might justify his present conduct as a frolic which a
few acts of generosity would easily excuse. He knew his power would
then place him beyond the reach of censure, in a country where the
people are accustomed to implicit subordination, and seldom dare to
scrutinize the actions of the nobility.
His sensations, however, on discovering his father, were not very
pleasing; but proclaiming the duke, he protected him from farther
outrage. With the duke, whose heart was a stranger to the softer affections,
indignation usurped the place of parental feeling. His pride was the
only passion affected by the discovery; and he had the rashness to
express the indignation, which the conduct of his son had excited, in
terms of unrestrained invective. The banditti, inflamed by the
opprobium with which he loaded their order, threatened instant
punishment to his temerity; and the authority of Riccardo could hardly
restrain them within the limits of forbearance.
The menaces, and at length entreaties of the duke, to prevail with his
son to abandon his present way of life, were equally ineffectual.
Secure in his own power, Riccardo laughed at the first, and was
insensible to the latter; and his father was compelled to relinquish
the attempt. The duke, however, boldly and passionately accused him of
having plundered and secreted a lady and cavalier, his friends, at the
same time describing Julia, for whose liberation he offered large
rewards. Riccardo denied the fact, which so much exasperated the duke,
that he drew his sword with an intention of plunging it in the breast
of his son. His arm was arrested by the surrounding banditti, who
half unsheathed their swords, and stood suspended in an attitude of
menace. The fate of the father now hung upon the voice of the son.
Riccardo raised his arm, but instantly dropped it, and turned away.
The banditti sheathed their weapons, and stepped back.
Riccardo solemnly swearing that he knew nothing of the persons
described, the duke at length became convinced of the truth of the
assertion, and departing from the cave, rejoined his people. All the
impetuous passions of his nature were roused and inflamed by the
discovery of his son in a situation so wretchedly disgraceful. Yet it
was his pride rather than his virtue that was hurt; and when he wished
him dead, it was rather to save himself from disgrace, than his son
from the real indignity of vice. He had no means of reclaiming him; to
have attempted it by force, would have been at this time the excess of
temerity, for his attendants, though numerous, were undisciplined, and
would have fallen certain victims to the power of a savage and
dexterous banditti.