Memoirs of Casanova — Volume 03: Military Career by Giacomo Casanova
page 100 of 150 (66%)
page 100 of 150 (66%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
free in Corfu."
"I have orders to deliver your person to M. Foscari, on board the bastarda." "Well, you shall not execute your orders this time." "If you do not obey the commands of the general, his honour will compel him to use violence against you, and of course he can do it. But tell me, what would you do if the general should leave you in this island for the sake of the joke? There is no fear of that, however, and, after the report which I must give, the general will certainly make up his mind to stop the affair without shedding blood." "Without a fight it will be difficult to arrest me, for with five hundred peasants in such a place as this I would not be afraid of three thousand men." "One man will prove enough; you will be treated as a leader of rebels. All these peasants may be devoted to you, but they cannot protect you against one man who will shoot you for the sake of earning a few pieces of gold. I can tell you more than that: amongst all those men who surround you there is not one who would not murder you for twenty sequins. Believe me, go with me. Come to enjoy the triumph which is awaiting you in Corfu. You will be courted and applauded. You will narrate yourself all your mad frolics, people will laugh, and at the same time will admire you for having listened to reason the moment I came here. Everybody feels esteem for you, and M. D---- R---- thinks a great deal of you. He praises very highly the command you have shewn over your passion in refraining from thrusting your sword through that insolent |
|