The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Lord Byron, by Lord Byron This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Works of Lord Byron Poetry, Volume V. Author: Lord Byron Editor: Ernest Hartley Coleridge Release Date: November 14, 2007 [EBook #23475] Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF LORD BYRON *** Produced by Jonathan Ingram, David Cortesi and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES This etext is a Latin-1 file. The original work contained a few phrases or lines of Greek text. These are represented here as Beta-code transliterations, for example [Greek: tragos]. The original text used a few other characters not found in the Latin-1 character set. These have been represented using bracket notation, as follows: [)a], [)e], [)s] and [)z] represent letters with a breve (curved line) above; [=a] and [=u] represent letters with a macron (straight line) above. In a few places, a single superscript is shown by a caret, and two superscript letters by carets, as in J^n 10^th^. An important feature of this edition is its copious footnotes. Footnotes indexed with arabic numbers (as [17], [221]) are informational. Note text in square brackets is the work of editor E. H. Coleridge. Unbracketed note text is from earlier editions and is by a preceding editor or Byron himself. Footnotes indexed with letters (as [c], [bf]) document variant forms of the text from manuscripts and other sources. In the original, footnotes are printed at the foot of the page on which they are referenced, and their indices start over on each page. Here, footnotes are collected at the ends of each play or poem, and are numbered consecutively throughout. Within the blocks of footnotes are numbers in braces: {321}. These represent the page number on which following notes originally appeared. To find a note that was originally printed on page 27, search for {27}. The Works OF LORD BYRON. A NEW, REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. Poetry. Vol. V. EDITED BY ERNEST HARTLEY COLERIDGE, M.A., HON. F.R.S.L. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. 1901. PREFACE TO THE FIFTH VOLUME. The plays and poems contained in this volume were written within the space of two years--the last two years of Byron's career as a poet. But that was not all. Cantos VI.-XV. of _Don Juan_, _The Vision of Judgment_, _The Blues_, _The Irish Avatar_, and other minor poems, belong to the same period. The end was near, and, as though he had received a warning, he hastened to make the roll complete. Proof is impossible, but the impression remains that the greater part of this volume has been passed over and left unread by at least two generations of readers. Old play-goers recall Macready as "Werner," and many persons have read _Cain_; but apart from students of literature, readers of _Sardanapalus_ and of _The Two Foscari_ are rare; of _The Age of Bronze_ and _The Island_ rarer still. A few of Byron's later poems have shared the fate of Southey's epics; and, yet, with something of Southey's persistence, Byron believed that posterity would weigh his "regular dramas" in a fresh balance, and that his heedless critics would kick the beam. But "can these bones live"? Can dramas which excited the wondering admiration of Goethe and Lamartine and Sir Walter Scott touch or lay hold of the more adventurous reader of the present day? It is certain that even the half-forgotten works of a great and still popular poet, which have left their mark on the creative imagination of the poets and playwrights of three quarters of a century, will always be studied by the few from motives of curiosity, or for purposes of reference; but it is improbable, though not impossible, that in the revolution of taste and sentiment, moribund or extinct poetry will be born again into the land of the living. Poetry which has never had its day, such as Blake's _Songs of Innocence_, the _Lyrical Ballads_, or Fitzgerald's _Omar Khayyam_, may come, in due time, to be recognized at its full worth; but it is a harder matter for a poem which has lost its vogue to recapture the interest and enthusiasm of the many. Byron is only an instance in point. Bygone poetry has little or no attraction for modern readers. This poem or that drama may be referred to, and occasionally examined in the interests of general culture, or in support of a particular belief or line of conduct, as a classical or quasi-scriptural authority; but, with the rarest exceptions, plays and narrative poems are not read spontaneously or with any genuine satisfaction or delight. An old-world poem which will not yield up its secret to the idle _reader_ "of an empty day" is more or less "rudely dismissed," without even a show of favour or hospitality. And yet these forgotten works of the imagination are full of hidden treasures! There is not one of Byron's "impressionist studies" of striking episodes of history or historical legend, flung, as it were, with a "Take it or leave it" in the face of friend or foe, which does not transform names and shadows into persons and substance, which does not contain lines and passages of unquestionable beauty and distinction. But some would have it that Byron's plays, as a whole, are dull and uninspiring, monotonous harpings on worn-out themes, which every one has mastered or wishes to forget. A close study of the text, together with some knowledge of the subject as it presented itself to the author and arrested _his_ attention, may compel these impatient critics to a different conclusion. Byron did not scruple to refer the reader to his "sources," and was at pains to publish, in the notes and appendices to his dramas and poems, long extracts from old chronicles, from Plutarch's _Lives_, from French and Italian histories, which he had read himself, and, as he fondly believed, would be read by others, who were willing to submit themselves to his guidance. He expected his readers to take some trouble and to display some intelligence. Poetry is successful only so far as it is intelligible. To a clear cry an answer comes, but not to a muffled call. The reader who comes within speaking distance of his author can hear him, and to bring the living within speaking distance of the dead, the living must know the facts, and understand the ideas which informed and inspired the dead. Thought and attention are scarcely to be reckoned among necromantic arts, but thought and knowledge "can make these bones live," and stand upon their feet, if they do not leap and sing. I desire to renew my acknowledgments of the generous assistance of the officials of the British Museum, and, more especially, of Mr. Ernest Wallis Budge, Litt.D., M.A., _Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities_; of Mr. Leonard W. King, M.A., of the same department; and of Mr. George F. Barwick, _Superintendent of the Reading Room_. To Dr. Garnett, C.B., I am greatly indebted for invaluable hints and suggestions with regard to the interpretation of some obscure passages in _The Age of Bronze_ and other parts of the volume, and for reading the proofs of the "Introduction" and "Note to the Introduction to _Werner_." I have also to acknowledge the assistance and advice of Mr. W. Hale White, and of my friend Mr. Frank E. Taylor, of Chertsey. For assistance during the preparation of the volume, and more especially in the revision of proofs, I desire to express my cordial thanks to Mr. John Murray. ERNEST HARTLEY COLERIDGE. _December_ 3, 1901. CONTENTS OF VOL. V Preface to Vol. V. of the Poems v SARDANAPALUS: A TRAGEDY. Introduction to _Sardanapalus_ 3 Dedication 7 Preface 9 _Sardanapalus_ 13 THE TWO FOSCARI: AN HISTORICAL TRAGEDY. Introduction to _The Two Foscari_ 115 _The Two Foscari_ 121 CAIN: A MYSTERY. Introduction to _Cain_ 199 Dedication 205 Preface 207 _Cain_ 213 HEAVEN AND EARTH; A MYSTERY. Introduction to _Heaven and Earth_ 279 _Heaven and Earth_ 285 WERNER; OR, THE INHERITANCE: A TRAGEDY. Introduction to _Werner_ 325 Note to the Introduction to _Werner_ 329 Dedication 335 Preface 337 _Werner_ 341 _Werner_. [First Draft.] 453 THE DEFORMED TRANSFORMED: A DRAMA. Introduction to _The Deformed Transformed_ 469 Advertisement 473 _The Deformed Transformed_ 477 Fragment of the Third Part of _The Deformed Transformed_ 531 THE AGE OF BRONZE; OR, CARMEN SECULARE ET ANNUS HAUD MIRABILIS. Introduction to _The Age of Bronze_ 537 _The Age of Bronze_ 541 THE ISLAND; OR, CHRISTIAN AND HIS COMRADES. Introduction to _The Island_ 581 Advertisement 585 _The Island_. Canto the First 587 Canto the Second 598 Canto the Third 618 Canto the Fourth 626 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. LORD BYRON, FROM A PORTRAIT IN OILS BY W. E. WEST, IN THE POSSESSION OF MR. PERCY KENT _Frontispiece_ 2. ASSUR-BANI-PAL, FROM A SLAB IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM To face p. 12 3. THE LION OF S. MARK'S 138 4. GOETHE, FROM A DRAWING BY D. MACLISE, R.A., IN THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM 282 5. GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE, FROM THE MEZZOTINT BY VALENTINE GREEN, AFTER SIR J. REYNOLDS, P.R.A. 330 6. MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY, FROM A PICTURE BY R. ROTHWELL, R.H.A., IN THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY (1841) 474 SARDANAPALUS A TRAGEDY. [_Sardanapale, Tragedie Imitee de Lord Byron_, par L. Alvin, was performed at the Theatre Royal at Brussels, January 13, 16, 1834. _Sardanapalus_, a Tragedy, was played for the first time at Drury Lane Theatre, April 10, 1834, and (for the twenty-second time) June 5, 1834. Macready appeared as "Sardanapalus," Miss Phillips as "Zarina," and Miss Ellen Tree as "Myrrha." [In his diary for April 11, 1834 (see _Reminiscences_, 1875, i. 414, 415) Macready wrote, "On arriving at my chambers ... I found a letter without a signature; the seal was the head of Byron, and in the envelope was a folded sheet with merely the words, 'Werner, Nov., 1830. Byron, Ravenna, 1821,' and 'Sardanapalus, April 10th, 1834.' Encircling the name of Byron, etc., was a lock of grey hair fastened by a gold thread, which I am sure was Byron's, ... it surprised and pleased me."] _Sardanapalus, King of Assyria_, was produced at the Princess's Theatre, June 13, 1853, and played till September 2, 1853. Charles Kean appeared as "Sardanapalus," Miss Heath as "Zarina," and Mrs. Charles Kean as "Myrrha." _Sardanapale, Opera en Trois Actes_, par M. Henry Becque, Musique de M. Victorin Joncieres, was performed for the first time at the Theatre Imperial-Lyrique, February 8, 1867. _Lord Byron's Tragedy of Sardanapalus_, in four acts, was performed at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, March 31-April 28, 1877. Charles Calvert (the adapter) played "Sardanapalus," Miss Hathaway "Zarina," and Miss Fanny Ensor "Myrrha;" and June 26-July 27, 1877, at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Liverpool. Calvert's adaptation was also performed at Booth's Theatre, New York.] INTRODUCTION TO _SARDANAPALUS_ Byron's passion or infatuation for the regular drama lasted a little over a year. _Marino Faliero_, _Sardanapalus_, and the _Two Foscari_, were the fruits of his "self-denying ordinance to dramatize, like the Greeks ... striking passages of history" (letter to Murray, July 14, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 323). The mood was destined to pass, but for a while the neophyte was spell-bound. _Sardanapalus, a Tragedy_, the second and, perhaps, the most successful of these studies in the poetry of history, was begun at Ravenna, January 13, 1821, "with all deliberate speed;" but, for a time, from laziness or depression of spirits, or, perhaps, from the counter-excitement of "the poetry of politics" (_Letters_, 1901, v. 205), that is, the revolutionary drama which had begun to run its course, a month went by before he had finished the first act (February 15). Three months later (May 28) he announces the completion of the drama, the last act having been "dashed off" in two or three days (_Letters_, 1901, v. 300). For the story of Sardanapalus, which had excited his interest as a schoolboy, Byron consulted the pages of Diodorus Siculus (_Bibliothecae Historicae_, lib. ii. pp. 78, sq., ed. 1604), and, possibly to ward off and neutralize the distracting influence of Shakespeare and other barbarian dramatists, he "turned over" the tragedies of Seneca (_Letters_, 1901, v. 173). It is hardly necessary to remind the modern reader that the Sardanapalus of history is an unverified if not an unverifiable personage. Diodorus the Sicilian, who was contemporary with Cicero, derived his knowledge of Assyrian history from the _Persica_ of Ctesias of Cnidos, who was private physician at the court of Artaxerxes Mnemon (B.C. 405-359), and is said to have had access to, and to have consulted, the "Persian authorities" ([Greek: diphthe/rai Basilikai\]). The character which Ctesias depicted or invented, an effeminate debauchee, sunk in luxury and sloth, who at the last was driven to take up arms, and, after a prolonged but ineffectual resistance, avoided capture by suicide, cannot be identified. Asurbanipal (A[)s]ur-b[=a]ni-apli), the son of Esarhaddon and grandson of Sennacherib, who ascended the throne B.C. 668, and reigned for about forty years, was, as the cuneiform records and the friezes of his palace testify, a bold hunter and a mighty warrior. He vanquished Tark[=u] (Tirhakah) of Ethiopia, and his successor, Urdaman[=e]. Ba'al King of Tyre, Yakinl[=u] King of the island-city of Arvad, Sand[)a]sarm[=u] of Cilicia, Teumman of Elam, and other potentates, suffered defeat at his hands. "The land of Elam," writes the king or his "Historiographer Royal," "through its extent I covered as when a mighty storm approaches; I cut off the head of Teumman, their king... Beyond number I slew his warriors; alive in my hands I took his fighting men; with their corpses, as with thorns and thistles, I filled the vicinity of Susa; their blood I caused to flow in the Eulaeus, and I stained its waters like wool." Clearly the Sardanapalus who painted his face and carded purple wool in the _penetralia_ of his seraglio does not bear even a traditional resemblance to A[)s]ur-b[=a]ni-apli the Conqueror. All that can be affirmed with any certainty is that within twenty years of the death of Asurbanipal, the Assyrian Empire passed into the hands of the Medes;[1] but there is nothing to show whether the period of decay had already set in before the close of his reign, or under which of his two successors, [)A]sur-etil-il[=a]ni or Sin-[)s]ar-i[)s]kun, the final catastrophe (B.C. 606) took place (_Encyclopedia Biblica_, art. "Assyria," art. "[)A]sur-bani-pal," by Leonard W. King). "I have made," writes Byron (May 25, 1821), "Sardanapalus brave though voluptuous (as history represents him), and as amiable as my poor pen could make him." Diodorus, or rather Ctesias, who may have drawn upon personal reminiscences of his patron, Artaxerxes Mnemon (see Plutarch's _Artaxerxes_, _passim_), does not enlarge upon his amiability, and credits him only with the courage of despair. Byron's Sardanapalus, with his sudden transition from voluptuous abandonment to heroic chivalry, his remorseful recognition of the sanctities of wedlock, his general good nature, his "sly, insinuating sarcasms" (Moore's Diary, September 30, 1821, _Memoirs_, iii. 282), "all made out of the carver's brain," resembles _history_ as little as _history_ resembles the Assyrian record. Fortunately, the genius of the poet escaped from the meshes which he had woven round himself, and, in spite of himself, he was constrained to "beat his music out," regardless of his authorities. The character of Myrrha, which bears some resemblance to Aspasia, "a native of Phocea in Ionia--the favourite mistress of Cyrus" (see Plutarch's _Artaxerxes_, Langhorne's Translation, 1838, p. 699), was introduced partly to pacify the Countess Guiccioli, who had quarrelled with him for maintaining that "love was not the loftiest theme for true tragedy," and, in part, to prove that he was not a slave to his own ideals, and could imagine and delineate a woman who was both passionate and high-minded. Diodorus (_Bibl. Hist._, lib. iii. p. 130) records the exploits of Myrina, Queen of the Amazons, but it is probable that Byron named his Ionian slave after Mirra, who gives her name to Alfieri's tragedy, which brought on a convulsive fit of tears and shuddering when he first saw it played at Bologna in August, 1819 (_Letters_, 1900, iv. 339). _Sardanapalus, a Tragedy_, was published together with _The Two Foscari, a Tragedy_, and _Cain, a Mystery_, December 19, 1821. The three plays were reviewed by Heber in the _Quarterly Review_, July, 1822, vol. xxvii. pp. 476-524; by Jeffrey in the _Edinburgh Review_, February, 1822, vol. 36, pp. 413-452; in _Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_, February, 1822, vol. xi. pp. 212-217; and in the _Portfolio_ (Philadelphia), December, 1822, vol. xiv. pp. 487-492. TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS GOETHE A STRANGER PRESUMES TO OFFER THE HOMAGE OF A LITERARY VASSAL TO HIS LIEGE LORD, THE FIRST OF EXISTING WRITERS, WHO HAS CREATED THE LITERATURE OF HIS OWN COUNTRY, AND ILLUSTRATED THAT OF EUROPE. THE UNWORTHY PRODUCTION WHICH THE AUTHOR VENTURES TO INSCRIBE TO HIM IS ENTITLED SARDANAPALUS.[2] PREFACE In publishing the following Tragedies[3] I have only to repeat, that they were not composed with the most remote view to the stage. On the attempt made by the managers in a former instance, the public opinion has been already expressed. With regard to my own private feelings, as it seems that they are to stand for nothing, I shall say nothing. For the historical foundation of the following compositions the reader is referred to the Notes. The Author has in one instance attempted to preserve, and in the other to approach, the "unities;" conceiving that with any very distant departure from them, there may be poetry, but can be no drama. He is aware of the unpopularity of this notion in present English literature; but it is not a system of his own, being merely an opinion, which, not very long ago, was the law of literature throughout the world, and is still so in the more civilised parts of it. But "nous avons change tout cela," and are reaping the advantages of the change. The writer is far from conceiving that any thing he can adduce by personal precept or example can at all approach his regular, or even irregular predecessors: he is merely giving a reason why he preferred the more regular formation of a structure, however feeble, to an entire abandonment of all rules whatsoever. Where he has failed, the failure is in the architect,--and not in the art. In this tragedy it has been my intention to follow the account of Diodorus Siculus;[4] reducing it, however, to such dramatic regularity as I best could, and trying to approach the unities. I therefore suppose the rebellion to explode and succeed in one day by a sudden conspiracy, instead of the long war of the history. DRAMATIS PERSONAE MEN. SARDANAPALUS, _king of Nineveh and Assyria, etc._ ARBACES, _the Mede who aspired to the Throne_. BELESES, _a Chaldean and Soothsayer_. SALEMENES, _the King's Brother-in-Law_. ALTADA, _an Assyrian Officer of the Palace_. PANIA. ZAMES. SFERO. BALEA. WOMEN. ZARINA, _the Queen_. MYRRHA, _an Ionian female Slave, and the Favourite Mistress of_ SARDANAPALUS. _Women composing the Harem of_ SARDANAPALUS, _Guards, Attendants, Chaldean Priests, Medes, etc., etc._ SCENE.--A Hall in the Royal Palace of Nineveh. SARDANAPALUS.[5] ACT I. SCENE I.--_A Hall in the Palace_. _Salemenes_ (_solus_). He hath wronged his queen, but still he is her lord; He hath wronged my sister--still he is my brother; He hath wronged his people--still he is their sovereign-- And I must be his friend as well as subject: He must not perish thus. I will not see The blood of Nimrod and Semiramis Sink in the earth, and thirteen hundred years Of Empire ending like a shepherd's tale; He must be roused. In his effeminate heart There is a careless courage which Corruption 10 Has not all quenched, and latent energies, Repressed by circumstance, but not destroyed-- Steeped, but not drowned, in deep voluptuousness. If born a peasant, he had been a man To have reached an empire: to an empire born, He will bequeath none; nothing but a name, Which his sons will not prize in heritage:-- Yet--not all lost--even yet--he may redeem His sloth and shame, by only being that Which he should be, as easily as the thing 20 He should not be and is. Were it less toil To sway his nations than consume his life? To head an army than to rule a harem? He sweats in palling pleasures, dulls his soul,[a] And saps his goodly strength, in toils which yield not Health like the chase, nor glory like the war-- He must be roused. Alas! there is no sound [_Sound of soft music heard from within_. To rouse him short of thunder. Hark! the lute-- The lyre--the timbrel; the lascivious tinklings Of lulling instruments, the softening voices 30 Of women, and of beings less than women, Must chime in to the echo of his revel, While the great King of all we know of earth Lolls crowned with roses, and his diadem Lies negligently by to be caught up By the first manly hand which dares to snatch it. Lo, where they come! already I perceive The reeking odours of the perfumed trains, And see the bright gems of the glittering girls,[b] At once his Chorus and his Council, flash 40 Along the gallery, and amidst the damsels, As femininely garbed, and scarce less female, The grandson of Semiramis, the Man-Queen.-- He comes! Shall I await him? yes, and front him, And tell him what all good men tell each other, Speaking of him and his. They come, the slaves Led by the monarch subject to his slaves. SCENE II. _Enter_ SARDANAPALUS _effeminately dressed, his Head crowned with Flowers, and his Robe negligently flowing, attended by a Train of Women and young Slaves_. _Sar._ (_speaking to some of his attendants_). Let the pavilion[6] over the Euphrates Be garlanded, and lit, and furnished forth For an especial banquet; at the hour Of midnight we will sup there: see nought wanting, And bid the galley be prepared. There is A cooling breeze which crisps the broad clear river: We will embark anon. Fair Nymphs, who deign To share the soft hours of Sardanapalus, We'll meet again in that the sweetest hour, When we shall gather like the stars above us, 10 And you will form a heaven as bright as theirs; Till then, let each be mistress of her time, And thou, my own Ionian Myrrha,[7] choose; Wilt thou along with them or me? _Myr._ My Lord-- _Sar._ My Lord!--my Life! why answerest thou so coldly? It is the curse of kings to be so answered. Rule thy own hours, thou rulest mine--say, wouldst thou Accompany our guests, or charm away The moments from me? _Myr._ The King's choice is mine. _Sar._ I pray thee say not so: my chiefest joy 20 Is to contribute to thine every wish. I do not dare to breathe my own desire, Lest it should clash with thine; for thou art still Too prompt to sacrifice thy thoughts for others. _Myr._ I would remain: I have no happiness Save in beholding thine; yet-- _Sar._ Yet! what YET? Thy own sweet will shall be the only barrier Which ever rises betwixt thee and me. _Myr._ I think the present is the wonted hour Of council; it were better I retire. 30 _Sal._ (_comes forward and says_) The Ionian slave says well: let her retire. _Sar._ Who answers? How now, brother? _Sal._ The _Queen's_ brother, And your most faithful vassal, royal Lord. _Sar._ (_addressing his train_). As I have said, let all dispose their hours Till midnight, when again we pray your presence. [_The court retiring_. (_To_ MYRRHA,[c] _who is going_.) Myrrha! I thought _thou_ wouldst remain. _Myr._ Great King, Thou didst not say so. _Sar._ But _thou_ looked'st it: I know each glance of those Ionic eyes,[d] Which said thou wouldst not leave me. _Myr._ Sire! your brother---- _Sal._ His _Consort's_ brother, minion of Ionia! 40 How darest _thou_ name _me_ and not blush? _Sar._ Not blush! Thou hast no more eyes than heart to make her crimson Like to the dying day on Caucasus, Where sunset tints the snow with rosy shadows, And then reproach her with thine own cold blindness, Which will not see it. What! in tears, my Myrrha? _Sal._ Let them flow on; she weeps for more than one, And is herself the cause of bitterer tears. _Sar._ Cursed be he who caused those tears to flow! _Sal._ Curse not thyself--millions do that already. 50 _Sar._ Thou dost forget thee: make me not remember I am a monarch. _Sal._ Would thou couldst! _Myr._ My sovereign, I pray, and thou, too, Prince, permit my absence. _Sar._ Since it must be so, and this churl has checked Thy gentle spirit, go; but recollect That we must forthwith meet: I had rather lose An empire than thy presence. [_Exit_ MYRRHA. _Sal._ It may be, Thou wilt lose both--and both for ever! _Sar._ Brother! I can at least command myself, who listen To language such as this: yet urge me not 60 Beyond my easy nature. _Sal._ 'Tis beyond That easy--far too easy--idle nature, Which I would urge thee. O that I could rouse thee! Though 'twere against myself. _Sar._ By the god Baal! The man would make me tyrant. _Sal._ So thou art. Think'st thou there is no tyranny but that Of blood and chains? The despotism of vice, The weakness and the wickedness of luxury, The negligence, the apathy, the evils Of sensual sloth--produce ten thousand tyrants, 70 Whose delegated cruelty surpasses The worst acts of one energetic master, However harsh and hard in his own bearing. The false and fond examples of thy lusts Corrupt no less than they oppress, and sap In the same moment all thy pageant power And those who should sustain it; so that whether A foreign foe invade, or civil broil Distract within, both will alike prove fatal: The first thy subjects have no heart to conquer; 80 The last they rather would assist than vanquish. _Sar._ Why, what makes thee the mouth-piece of the people? _Sal._ Forgiveness of the Queen, my sister wrongs; A natural love unto my infant nephews; Faith to the King, a faith he may need shortly, In more than words; respect for Nimrod's line; Also, another thing thou knowest not. _Sar._ What's that? _Sal._ To thee an unknown word. _Sar._ Yet speak it; I love to learn. _Sal._ Virtue. _Sar._ Not know the word! Never was word yet rung so in my ears-- 90 Worse than the rabble's shout, or splitting trumpet: I've heard thy sister talk of nothing else. _Sal._ To change the irksome theme, then, hear of vice. _Sar._ From whom? _Sal._ Even from the winds, if thou couldst listen Unto the echoes of the Nation's voice. _Sar._ Come, I'm indulgent, as thou knowest, patient, As thou hast often proved--speak out, what moves thee? _Sal._ Thy peril. _Sar._ Say on. _Sal._ Thus, then: all the nations, For they are many, whom thy father left In heritage, are loud in wrath against thee. 100 _Sar._ 'Gainst _me!!_ What would the slaves? _Sal._ A king. _Sar._ And what Am I then? _Sal._ In their eyes a nothing; but In mine a man who might be something still. _Sar._ The railing drunkards! why, what would they have? Have they not peace and plenty? _Sal._ Of the first More than is glorious: of the last, far less Than the King recks of. _Sar._ Whose then is the crime, But the false satraps, who provide no better? _Sal._ And somewhat in the Monarch who ne'er looks Beyond his palace walls, or if he stirs 110 Beyond them, 'tis but to some mountain palace, Till summer heats wear down. O glorious Baal! Who built up this vast empire, and wert made A God, or at the least shinest like a God Through the long centuries of thy renown, This, thy presumed descendant, ne'er beheld As king the kingdoms thou didst leave as hero, Won with thy blood, and toil, and time, and peril! For what? to furnish imposts for a revel, Or multiplied extortions for a minion. 120 _Sar._ I understand thee--thou wouldst have me go Forth as a conqueror. By all the stars Which the Chaldeans read--the restless slaves[e] Deserve that I should curse them with their wishes, And lead them forth to glory. _Sal._ Wherefore not? Semiramis--a woman only--led These our Assyrians to the solar shores Of Ganges. _Sar._ Tis most true. And _how_ returned? _Sal._ Why, like a _man_--a hero; baffled, but Not vanquished. With but twenty guards, she made 130 Good her retreat to Bactria. _Sar._ And how many Left she behind in India to the vultures? _Sal._ Our annals say not. _Sar._ Then I will say for them-- That she had better woven within her palace Some twenty garments, than with twenty guards Have fled to Bactria, leaving to the ravens, And wolves, and men--the fiercer of the three, Her myriads of fond subjects. Is _this_ Glory? Then let me live in ignominy ever. _Sal._ All warlike spirits have not the same fate. 140 Semiramis, the glorious parent of A hundred kings, although she failed in India, Brought Persia--Media--Bactria--to the realm Which she once swayed--and thou _mightst_ sway. _Sar._ _I sway_ them-- She but subdued them. _Sal._ It may be ere long That they will need her sword more than your sceptre. _Sar._ There was a certain Bacchus, was there not? I've heard my Greek girls speak of such--they say He was a God, that is, a Grecian god, An idol foreign to Assyria's worship, 150 Who conquered this same golden realm of Ind Thou prat'st of, where Semiramis was vanquished. _Sal._ I have heard of such a man; and thou perceiv'st That he is deemed a God for what he did. _Sar._ And in his godship I will honour him-- Not much as man. What, ho! my cupbearer! _Sal._ What means the King? _Sar._ To worship your new God And ancient conqueror. Some wine, I say. _Enter Cupbearer_. _Sar._ (_addressing the Cupbearer_). Bring me the golden goblet thick with gems, Which bears the name of Nimrod's chalice. Hence, 160 Fill full, and bear it quickly. [_Exit Cupbearer_. _Sal._ Is this moment A fitting one for the resumption of Thy yet unslept-off revels? _Re-enter Cupbearer, with wine_. _Sar._ (_taking the cup from him_). Noble kinsman, If these barbarian Greeks of the far shores And skirts of these our realms lie not, this Bacchus Conquered the whole of India,[8] did he not? _Sal._ He did, and thence was deemed a Deity.[f] _Sar._ Not so:--of all his conquests a few columns.[9] Which may be his, and might be mine, if I Thought them worth purchase and conveyance, are 170 The landmarks of the seas of gore he shed, The realms he wasted, and the hearts he broke. But here--here in this goblet is his title To immortality--the immortal grape From which he first expressed the soul, and gave To gladden that of man, as some atonement For the victorious mischiefs he had done. Had it not been for this, he would have been A mortal still in name as in his grave; And, like my ancestor Semiramis, 180 A sort of semi-glorious human monster. Here's that which deified him--let it now Humanise thee; my surly, chiding brother, Pledge me to the Greek God! _Sal._ For all thy realms I would not so blaspheme our country's creed. _Sar._ That is to say, thou thinkest him a hero, That he shed blood by oceans; and no God, Because he turned a fruit to an enchantment, Which cheers the sad, revives the old, inspires The young, makes Weariness forget his toil, 190 And Fear her danger; opens a new world When this, the present, palls. Well, then _I_ pledge thee And _him_ as a true man, who did his utmost In good or evil to surprise mankind. [_Drinks_. _Sal._ Wilt thou resume a revel at this hour? _Sar._ And if I did, 'twere better than a trophy, Being bought without a tear. But that is not My present purpose: since thou wilt not pledge me, Continue what thou pleasest. (_To the Cupbearer_.) Boy, retire. [_Exit Cupbearer_. _Sal._ I would but have recalled thee from thy dream; 200 Better by me awakened than rebellion. _Sar._ Who should rebel? or why? what cause? pretext? I am the lawful King, descended from A race of Kings who knew no predecessors. What have I done to thee, or to the people, That thou shouldst rail, or they rise up against me? _Sal._ Of what thou hast done to me, I speak not. _Sar._ But Thou think'st that I have wronged the Queen: is't not so? _Sal._ _Think!_ Thou hast wronged her! _Sar._ Patience, Prince, and hear me. She has all power and splendour of her station, 210 Respect, the tutelage of Assyria's heirs, The homage and the appanage of sovereignty. I married her as monarchs wed--for state, And loved her as most husbands love their wives. If she or thou supposedst I could link me Like a Chaldean peasant to his mate, Ye knew nor me--nor monarchs--nor mankind. _Sal._ I pray thee, change the theme: my blood disdains Complaint, and Salemenes' sister seeks not Reluctant love even from Assyria's lord! 220 Nor would she deign to accept divided passion With foreign strumpets and Ionian slaves. The Queen is silent. _Sar._ And why not her brother? _Sal._ I only echo thee the voice of empires, Which he who long neglects not long will govern. _Sar._ The ungrateful and ungracious slaves! they murmur Because I have not shed their blood, nor led them To dry into the desert's dust by myriads, Or whiten with their bones the banks of Ganges; Nor decimated them with savage laws, 230 Nor sweated them to build up Pyramids, Or Babylonian walls. _Sal._ Yet these are trophies More worthy of a people and their prince Than songs, and lutes, and feasts, and concubines, And lavished treasures, and contemned virtues. _Sar._ Or for my trophies I have founded cities: There's Tarsus and Anchialus, both built In one day--what could that blood-loving beldame, My martial grandam, chaste Semiramis, Do more, except destroy them? _Sal._ 'Tis most true; 240 I own thy merit in those founded cities, Built for a whim, recorded with a verse Which shames both them and thee to coming ages. _Sar._ Shame me! By Baal, the cities, though well built, Are not more goodly than the verse! Say what Thou wilt 'gainst me, my mode of life or rule, But nothing 'gainst the truth of that brief record. Why, those few lines contain the history Of all things human: hear--"Sardanapalus, The king, and son of Anacyndaraxes, 250 In one day built Anchialus and Tarsus. Eat, drink, and love; the rest's not worth a fillip."[10] _Sal._ A worthy moral, and a wise inscription, For a king to put up before his subjects! _Sar._ Oh, thou wouldst have me doubtless set up edicts-- "Obey the king--contribute to his treasure-- Recruit his phalanx--spill your blood at bidding-- Fall down and worship, or get up and toil." Or thus--"Sardanapalus on this spot Slew fifty thousand of his enemies. 260 These are their sepulchres, and this his trophy." I leave such things to conquerors; enough For me, if I can make my subjects feel The weight of human misery less, and glide Ungroaning to the tomb: I take no license Which I deny to them. We all are men. _Sal._ Thy Sires have been revered as Gods-- _Sar._ In dust And death, where they are neither Gods nor men. Talk not of such to me! the worms are Gods;[11] At least they banqueted upon your Gods, 270 And died for lack of farther nutriment. Those Gods were merely men; look to their issue-- I feel a thousand mortal things about me, But nothing godlike,--unless it may be The thing which you condemn, a disposition To love and to be merciful, to pardon The follies of my species, and (that's human) To be indulgent to my own. _Sal._ Alas! The doom of Nineveh is sealed.--Woe--woe To the unrivalled city! _Sar._ What dost dread? 280 _Sal._ Thou art guarded by thy foes: in a few hours The tempest may break out which overwhelms thee, And thine and mine; and in another day What _is_ shall be the past of Belus' race. _Sar._ What must we dread? _Sal._ Ambitious treachery, Which has environed thee with snares; but yet There is resource: empower me with thy signet To quell the machinations, and I lay The heads of thy chief foes before thy feet. _Sar._ The heads--how many? _Sal._ Must I stay to number 290 When even thine own's in peril? Let me go; Give me thy signet--trust me with the rest. _Sar._ I will trust no man with unlimited lives. When we take those from others, we nor know What we have taken, nor the thing we give. _Sal._ Wouldst thou not take their lives who seek for thine? _Sar._ That's a hard question--But I answer, Yes. Cannot the thing be done without? Who are they Whom thou suspectest?--Let them be arrested. _Sal._ I would thou wouldst not ask me; the next moment 300 Will send my answer through thy babbling troop Of paramours, and thence fly o'er the palace, Even to the city, and so baffle all.-- Trust me. _Sar._ Thou knowest I have done so ever; Take thou the signet. [_Gives the signet_. _Sal._ I have one more request. _Sar._ Name it. _Sal._ That thou this night forbear the banquet In the pavilion over the Euphrates. _Sar._ Forbear the banquet! Not for all the plotters That ever shook a kingdom! Let them come, And do their worst: I shall not blench for them; 310 Nor rise the sooner; nor forbear the goblet; Nor crown me with a single rose the less; Nor lose one joyous hour.--I fear them not. _Sal._ But thou wouldst arm thee, wouldst thou not, if needful? _Sar._ Perhaps. I have the goodliest armour, and A sword of such a temper, and a bow, And javelin, which might furnish Nimrod forth: A little heavy, but yet not unwieldy. And now I think on't, 'tis long since I've used them, Even in the chase. Hast ever seen them, brother? 320 _Sal._ Is this a time for such fantastic trifling?-- If need be, wilt thou wear them? _Sar._ Will I not? Oh! if it must be so, and these rash slaves Will not be ruled with less, I'll use the sword Till they shall wish it turned into a distaff. _Sal._ They say thy Sceptre's turned to that already. _Sar._ That's false! but let them say so: the old Greeks, Of whom our captives often sing, related The same of their chief hero, Hercules, Because he loved a Lydian queen: thou seest 330 The populace of all the nations seize Each calumny they can to sink their sovereigns. _Sal._ They did not speak thus of thy fathers. _Sar._ No; They dared not. They were kept to toil and combat; And never changed their chains but for their armour: Now they have peace and pastime, and the license To revel and to rail; it irks me not. I would not give the smile of one fair girl For all the popular breath[12] that e'er divided A name from nothing. What are the rank tongues[13] 340 Of this vile herd, grown insolent with feeding, That I should prize their noisy praise, or dread Their noisome clamour? _Sal._ You have said they are men; As such their hearts are something. _Sar._ So my dogs' are; And better, as more faithful:--but, proceed; Thou hast my signet:--since they are tumultuous, Let them be tempered, yet not roughly, till Necessity enforce it. I hate all pain, Given or received; we have enough within us, The meanest vassal as the loftiest monarch, 350 Not to add to each other's natural burthen Of mortal misery, but rather lessen, By mild reciprocal alleviation, The fatal penalties imposed on life: But this they know not, or they will not know. I have, by Baal! done all I could to soothe them: I made no wars, I added no new imposts, I interfered not with their civic lives, I let them pass their days as best might suit them, Passing my own as suited me. _Sal._ Thou stopp'st 360 Short of the duties of a king; and therefore They say thou art unfit to be a monarch. _Sar._ They lie.--Unhappily, I am unfit To be aught save a monarch; else for me The meanest Mede might be the king instead. _Sal._ There is one Mede, at least, who seeks to be so. _Sar._ What mean'st thou!--'tis thy secret; thou desirest Few questions, and I'm not of curious nature. Take the fit steps; and, since necessity Requires, I sanction and support thee. Ne'er 370 Was man who more desired to rule in peace The peaceful only: if they rouse me, better They had conjured up stern Nimrod from his ashes, "The Mighty Hunter!" I will turn these realms To one wide desert chase of brutes, who _were_, But _would_ no more, by their own choice, be human. _What_ they have found me, they belie; _that which_ They yet may find me--shall defy their wish To speak it worse; and let them thank themselves. _Sal._ Then thou at last canst feel? _Sar._ Feel! who feels not 380 Ingratitude?[14] _Sal._ I will not pause to answer With words, but deeds. Keep thou awake that energy Which sleeps at times, but is not dead within thee, And thou may'st yet be glorious in thy reign, As powerful in thy realm. Farewell! [_Exit_ SALEMENES. _Sar._ (_solus_). Farewell! He's gone; and on his finger bears my signet, Which is to him a sceptre. He is stern As I am heedless; and the slaves deserve To feel a master. What may be the danger, I know not: he hath found it, let him quell it. 390 Must I consume my life--this little life-- In guarding against all may make it less? It is not worth so much! It were to die Before my hour, to live in dread of death, Tracing revolt; suspecting all about me, Because they are near; and all who are remote, Because they are far. But if it should be so-- If they should sweep me off from Earth and Empire, Why, what is Earth or Empire of the Earth? I have loved, and lived, and multiplied my image; 400 To die is no less natural than those Acts of this clay! 'Tis true I have not shed Blood as I might have done, in oceans, till My name became the synonyme of Death-- A terror and a trophy. But for this I feel no penitence; my life is love: If I must shed blood, it shall be by force. Till now, no drop from an Assyrian vein Hath flowed for me, nor hath the smallest coin Of Nineveh's vast treasures e'er been lavished 410 On objects which could cost her sons a tear: If then they hate me, 'tis because I hate not: If they rebel, 'tis because I oppress not. Oh, men! ye must be ruled with scythes, not sceptres, And mowed down like the grass, else all we reap Is rank abundance, and a rotten harvest Of discontents infecting the fair soil, Making a desert of fertility.-- I'll think no more.--Within there, ho! _Enter an_ ATTENDANT. _Sar._ Slave, tell The Ionian Myrrha we would crave her presence. 420 _Attend._ King, she is here. MYRRHA _enters_. _Sar._ (_apart to Attendant_). Away! (_Addressing_ MYRRHA.) Beautiful being! Thou dost almost anticipate my heart; It throbbed for thee, and here thou comest: let me Deem that some unknown influence, some sweet oracle, Communicates between us, though unseen, In absence, and attracts us to each other. _Myr._ There doth. _Sar._ I know there doth, but not its name: What is it? _Myr._ In my native land a God, And in my heart a feeling like a God's, Exalted; yet I own 'tis only mortal; 430 For what I feel is humble, and yet happy-- That is, it would be happy; but---- [MYRRHA _pauses_. _Sar._ There comes For ever something between us and what We deem our happiness: let me remove The barrier which that hesitating accent Proclaims to thine, and mine is sealed. _Myr._ My Lord!-- _Sar._ My Lord--my King--Sire--Sovereign; thus it is-- For ever thus, addressed with awe. I ne'er Can see a smile, unless in some broad banquet's Intoxicating glare, when the buffoons 440 Have gorged themselves up to equality, Or I have quaffed me down to their abasement. Myrrha, I can hear all these things, these names, Lord--King--Sire--Monarch--nay, time was I prized them; That is, I suffered them--from slaves and nobles; But when they falter from the lips I love, The lips which have been pressed to mine, a chill Comes o'er my heart, a cold sense of the falsehood Of this my station, which represses feeling In those for whom I have felt most, and makes me 450 Wish that I could lay down the dull tiara, And share a cottage on the Caucasus With thee--and wear no crowns but those of flowers. _Myr._ Would that we could! _Sar._ And dost _thou_ feel this?--Why? _Myr._ Then thou wouldst know what thou canst never know. _Sar._ And that is---- _Myr._ The true value of a heart; At least, a woman's. _Sar._ I have proved a thousand--A thousand, and a thousand. _Myr._ Hearts? _Sar._ I think so. _Myr._ Not one! the time may come thou may'st. _Sar._ It will. Hear, Myrrha; Salemenes has declared-- 460 Or why or how he hath divined it, Belus, Who founded our great realm, knows more than I-- But Salemenes hath declared my throne In peril. _Myr._ He did well. _Sar._ And say'st _thou_ so? Thou whom he spurned so harshly, and now dared[g] Drive from our presence with his savage jeers, And made thee weep and blush? _Myr._ I should do both More frequently, and he did well to call me Back to my duty. But thou spakest of peril Peril to thee---- _Sar._ Aye, from dark plots and snares 470 From Medes--and discontented troops and nations. I know not what--a labyrinth of things-- A maze of muttered threats and mysteries: Thou know'st the man--it is his usual custom. But he is honest. Come, we'll think no more on't-- But of the midnight festival. _Myr._ 'Tis time To think of aught save festivals. Thou hast not Spurned his sage cautions? _Sar._ What?--and dost thou fear? _Myr._ Fear!--I'm a Greek, and how should I fear death? A slave, and wherefore should I dread my freedom? 480 _Sar._ Then wherefore dost thou turn so pale? _Myr._ I love. _Sar._ And do not I? I love thee far--far more Than either the brief life or the wide realm, Which, it may be, are menaced;--yet I blench not. _Myr._ That means thou lovest nor thyself nor me; For he who loves another loves himself, Even for that other's sake. This is too rash: Kingdoms and lives are not to be so lost. _Sar._ Lost!--why, who is the aspiring chief who dared Assume to win them? _Myr._ Who is he should dread 490 To try so much? When he who is their ruler Forgets himself--will they remember him? _Sar._ Myrrha! _Myr._ Frown not upon me: you have smiled Too often on me not to make those frowns Bitterer to bear than any punishment Which they may augur.--King, I am your subject! Master, I am your slave! Man, I have loved you!-- Loved you, I know not by what fatal weakness, Although a Greek, and born a foe to monarchs-- A slave, and hating fetters--an Ionian, 500 And, therefore, when I love a stranger, more Degraded by that passion than by chains! Still I have loved you. If that love were strong Enough to overcome all former nature, Shall it not claim the privilege to save you? _Sar._ _Save_ me, my beauty! Thou art very fair, And what I seek of thee is love--not safety. _Myr._ And without love where dwells security? _Sar._ I speak of woman's love. _Myr._ The very first Of human life must spring from woman's breast, 510 Your first small words are taught you from her lips, Your first tears quenched by her, and your last sighs Too often breathed out in a woman's hearing, When men have shrunk from the ignoble care Of watching the last hour of him who led them. _Sar._ My eloquent Ionian! thou speak'st music: The very chorus of the tragic song I have heard thee talk of as the favourite pastime Of thy far father-land. Nay, weep not--calm thee. _Myr._ I weep not.--But I pray thee, do not speak 520 About my fathers or their land. _Sar._ Yet oft Thou speakest of them. _Myr._ True--true: constant thought Will overflow in words unconsciously; But when another speaks of Greeks, it wounds me. _Sar._ Well, then, how wouldst thou _save_ me, as thou saidst? _Myr._ By teaching thee to save thyself, and not Thyself alone, but these vast realms, from all The rage of the worst war--the war of brethren. _Sar._ Why, child, I loathe all war, and warriors; I live in peace and pleasure: what can man 530 Do more? _Myr._ Alas! my Lord, with common men There needs too oft the show of war to keep The substance of sweet peace; and, for a king, 'Tis sometimes better to be feared than loved. _Sar._ And I have never sought but for the last. _Myr._ And now art neither. _Sar._ Dost _thou_ say so, Myrrha? _Myr._ I speak of civic popular love, _self_-love, Which means that men are kept in awe and law, Yet not oppressed--at least they must not think so, Or, if they think so, deem it necessary, 540 To ward off worse oppression, their own passions. A King of feasts, and flowers, and wine, and revel, And love, and mirth, was never King of Glory. _Sar._ Glory! what's that? _Myr._ Ask of the Gods thy fathers. _Sar._ They cannot answer; when the priests speak for them, 'Tis for some small addition to the temple. _Myr._ Look to the annals of thine Empire's founders. _Sar._ They are so blotted o'er with blood, I cannot. But what wouldst have? the Empire _has been_ founded. I cannot go on multiplying empires. 550 _Myr._ Preserve thine own. _Sar._ At least, I will enjoy it. Come, Myrrha, let us go on to the Euphrates: The hour invites, the galley is prepared, And the pavilion, decked for our return, In fit adornment for the evening banquet, Shall blaze with beauty and with light, until It seems unto the stars which are above us Itself an opposite star; and we will sit Crowned with fresh flowers like---- _Myr._ Victims. _Sar._ No, like sovereigns, The Shepherd Kings of patriarchal times, 560 Who knew no brighter gems than summer wreaths,[h] And none but tearless triumphs. Let us on. _Enter_ PANIA. _Pan._ May the King live for ever! _Sar._ Not an hour Longer than he can love. How my soul hates This language, which makes life itself a lie, Flattering dust with eternity.[i] Well, Pania! Be brief. _Pan._ I am charged by Salemenes to Reiterate his prayer unto the King, That for this day, at least, he will not quit The palace: when the General returns, 570 He will adduce such reasons as will warrant His daring, and perhaps obtain the pardon Of his presumption. _Sar._ What! am I then cooped? Already captive? can I not even breathe The breath of heaven? Tell prince Salemenes, Were all Assyria raging round the walls In mutinous myriads, I would still go forth. _Pan._ I must obey, and yet---- _Myr._ Oh, Monarch, listen.-- How many a day and moon thou hast reclined Within these palace walls in silken dalliance, 580 And never shown thee to thy people's longing; Leaving thy subjects' eyes ungratified, The satraps uncontrolled, the Gods unworshipped, And all things in the anarchy of sloth, Till all, save evil, slumbered through the realm! And wilt thou not now tarry for a day,-- A day which may redeem thee? Wilt thou not Yield to the few still faithful a few hours, For them, for thee, for thy past fathers' race, And for thy sons' inheritance? _Pan._ 'Tis true! 590 From the deep urgency with which the Prince Despatched me to your sacred presence, I Must dare to add my feeble voice to that Which now has spoken. _Sar._ No, it must not be. _Myr._ For the sake of thy realm! _Sar._ Away! _Pan._ For that Of all thy faithful subjects, who will rally Round thee and thine. _Sar._ These are mere fantasies: There is no peril:--'tis a sullen scheme Of Salemenes, to approve his zeal, And show himself more necessary to us. 600 _Myr._ By all that's good and glorious take this counsel. _Sar._ Business to-morrow. _Myr._ Aye--or death to-night. _Sar._ Why let it come then unexpectedly, 'Midst joy and gentleness, and mirth and love; So let me fall like the plucked rose!--far better Thus than be withered. _Myr._ Then thou wilt not yield, Even for the sake of all that ever stirred A monarch into action, to forego A trifling revel. _Sar._ No. _Myr._ Then yield for _mine_; For my sake! _Sar._ Thine, my Myrrha! _Myr._ 'Tis the first 610 Boon which I ever asked Assyria's king. _Sar._ That's true, and, wer't my kingdom, must be granted. Well, for thy sake, I yield me. Pania, hence! Thou hear'st me. _Pan._ And obey. [_Exit_ PANIA. _Sar._ I marvel at thee. What is thy motive, Myrrha, thus to urge me? _Myr._ Thy safety; and the certainty that nought Could urge the Prince thy kinsman to require Thus much from thee, but some impending danger. _Sar._ And if I do not dread it, why shouldst thou? _Myr._ Because _thou_ dost not fear, I fear for _thee_. 620 _Sar._ To-morrow thou wilt smile at these vain fancies. _Myr._ If the worst come, I shall be where none weep, And that is better than the power to smile. And thou? _Sar._ I shall be King, as heretofore. _Myr._ Where? _Sar._ With Baal, Nimrod, and Semiramis, Sole in Assyria, or with them elsewhere. Fate made me what I am--may make me nothing-- But either that or nothing must I be: I will not live degraded. _Myr._ Hadst thou felt Thus always, none would ever dare degrade thee. 630 _Sar._ And who will do so now? _Myr._ Dost thou suspect none? _Sar._ Suspect!--that's a spy's office. Oh! we lose Ten thousand precious moments in vain words, And vainer fears. Within there!--ye slaves, deck The Hall of Nimrod for the evening revel; If I must make a prison of our palace, At least we'll wear our fetters jocundly; If the Euphrates be forbid us, and The summer-dwelling on its beauteous border, Here we are still unmenaced. Ho! within there! 640 [_Exit_ SARDANAPALUS. _Myr._ (_solus_). Why do I love this man? My country's daughters Love none but heroes. But I have no country! The slave hath lost all save her bonds. I love him; And that's the heaviest link of the long chain-- To love whom we esteem not. Be it so: The hour is coming when he'll need all love, And find none. To fall from him now were baser Than to have stabbed him on his throne when highest Would have been noble in my country's creed: I was not made for either. Could I save him, 650 I should not love _him_ better, but myself; And I have need of the last, for I have fallen In my own thoughts, by loving this soft stranger: And yet, methinks, I love him more, perceiving That he is hated of his own barbarians, The natural foes of all the blood of Greece. Could I but wake a single thought like those Which even the Phrygians felt when battling long 'Twixt Ilion and the sea, within his heart, He would tread down the barbarous crowds, and triumph. 660 He loves me, and I love him; the slave loves Her master, and would free him from his vices. If not, I have a means of freedom still, And if I cannot teach him how to reign, May show him how alone a King can leave His throne. I must not lose him from my sight. [_Exit_. ACT II. SCENE I.--_The Portal of the same Hall of the Palace_. _Beleses_ (_solus_). The Sun goes down: methinks he sets more slowly, Taking his last look of Assyria's Empire. How red he glares amongst those deepening clouds, Like the blood he predicts. If not in vain, Thou Sun that sinkest, and ye stars which rise, I have outwatched ye, reading ray by ray The edicts of your orbs, which make Time tremble[j] For what he brings the nations, 'tis the furthest Hour of Assyria's years. And yet how calm! An earthquake should announce so great a fall-- 10 A summer's sun discloses it. Yon disk, To the star-read Chaldean, bears upon Its everlasting page the end of what Seemed everlasting; but oh! thou true Sun! The burning oracle of all that live, As fountain of all life, and symbol of Him who bestows it, wherefore dost thou limit Thy lore unto calamity? Why not Unfold the rise of days more worthy thine All-glorious burst from ocean? why not dart 20 A beam of hope athwart the future years, As of wrath to its days? Hear me! oh, hear me! I am thy worshipper, thy priest, thy servant-- I have gazed on thee at thy rise and fall, And bowed my head beneath thy mid-day beams, When my eye dared not meet thee. I have watched For thee, and after thee, and prayed to thee, And sacrificed to thee, and read, and feared thee, And asked of thee, and thou hast answered--but Only to thus much: while I speak, he sinks-- 30 Is gone--and leaves his beauty, not his knowledge, To the delighted West, which revels in Its hues of dying glory. Yet what is Death, so it be but glorious? 'Tis a sunset; And mortals may be happy to resemble The Gods but in decay. _Enter_ ARBACES _by an inner door_. _Arb._ Beleses, why So wrapt in thy devotions? Dost thou stand Gazing to trace thy disappearing God Into some realm of undiscovered day? Our business is with night--'tis come. _Bel._ But not 40 Gone. _Arb._ Let it roll on--we are ready. _Bel._ Yes. Would it were over! _Arb._ Does the prophet doubt, To whom the very stars shine Victory? _Bel._ I do not doubt of Victory--but the Victor. _Arb._ Well, let thy science settle that. Meantime I have prepared as many glittering spears As will out-sparkle our allies--your planets. There is no more to thwart us. The she-king, That less than woman, is even now upon The waters with his female mates. The order 50 Is issued for the feast in the pavilion. The first cup which he drains will be the last Quaffed by the line of Nimrod. _Bel._ 'Twas a brave one. _Arb._ And is a weak one--'tis worn out--we'll mend it. _Bel._ Art sure of that? _Arb._ Its founder was a hunter-- I am a soldier--what is there to fear? _Bel._ The soldier. _Arb._ And the priest, it may be: but If you thought thus, or think, why not retain Your king of concubines? why stir me up? Why spur me to this enterprise? your own 60 No less than mine? _Bel._ Look to the sky! _Arb._ I look. _Bel._ What seest thou? _Arb._ A fair summer's twilight, and The gathering of the stars. _Bel._ And midst them, mark Yon earliest, and the brightest, which so quivers, As it would quit its place in the blue ether. _Arb._ Well? _Bel._ 'Tis thy natal ruler--thy birth planet. _Arb._ (_touching his scabbard_). My star is in this scabbard: when it shines, It shall out-dazzle comets. Let us think Of what is to be done to justify Thy planets and their portents. When we conquer, 70 They shall have temples--aye, and priests--and thou Shalt be the pontiff of--what Gods thou wilt; For I observe that they are ever just, And own the bravest for the most devout. _Bel._ Aye, and the most devout for brave--thou hast not Seen me turn back from battle. _Arb._ No; I own thee As firm in fight as Babylonia's captain, As skilful in Chaldea's worship: now, Will it but please thee to forget the priest, And be the warrior? _Bel._ Why not both? _Arb._ The better; 80 And yet it almost shames me, we shall have So little to effect. This woman's warfare Degrades the very conqueror. To have plucked A bold and bloody despot from his throne, And grappled with him, clashing steel with steel, That were heroic or to win or fall; But to upraise my sword against this silkworm,[15] And hear him whine, it may be---- _Bel._ Do not deem it: He has that in him which may make you strife yet; And were he all you think, his guards are hardy, 90 And headed by the cool, stern Salemenes. _Arb._ They'll not resist. _Bel._ Why not? they are soldiers. _Arb._ True, And therefore need a soldier to command them. _Bel._ That Salemenes is. _Arb._ But not their King. Besides, he hates the effeminate thing that governs, For the Queen's sake, his sister. Mark you not He keeps aloof from all the revels? _Bel._ But Not from the council--there he is ever constant. _Arb._ And ever thwarted: what would you have more To make a rebel out of? A fool reigning, 100 His blood dishonoured, and himself disdained: Why, it is _his_ revenge we work for. _Bel._ Could He but be brought to think so: this I doubt of. _Arb._ What, if we sound him? _Bel._ Yes--if the time served. _Enter_ BALEA. _Bal._ Satraps! The king commands your presence at The feast to-night. _Bel._ To hear is to obey. In the pavilion? _Bal._ No; here in the palace. _Arb._ How! in the palace? it was not thus ordered. _Bal._ It is so ordered now. _Arb._ And why? _Bal._ I know not. May I retire? _Arb._ Stay. _Bel._ (_to Arb. aside_). Hush! let him go his way. 110 (_Alternately to Bal._) Yes, Balea, thank the Monarch, kiss the hem Of his imperial robe, and say, his slaves Will take the crumbs he deigns to scatter from His royal table at the hour--was't midnight? _Bal._ It was: the place, the hall of Nimrod. Lords, I humble me before you, and depart. [_Exit_ BALEA. _Arb._ I like not this same sudden change of place; There is some mystery: wherefore should he change it? _Bel._ Doth he not change a thousand times a day? Sloth is of all things the most fanciful-- 120 And moves more parasangs in its intents Than generals in their marches, when they seek To leave their foe at fault.--Why dost thou muse? _Arb._ He loved that gay pavilion,--it was ever His summer dotage. _Bel._ And he loved his Queen-- And thrice a thousand harlotry besides-- And he has loved all things by turns, except Wisdom and Glory. _Arb._ Still--I like it not. If he has changed--why, so must we: the attack Were easy in the isolated bower, 130 Beset with drowsy guards and drunken courtiers; But in the hall of Nimrod---- _Bel._ Is it so? Methought the haughty soldier feared to mount A throne too easily--does it disappoint thee To find there is a slipperier step or two Than what was counted on? _Arb._ When the hour comes, Thou shall perceive how far I fear or no. Thou hast seen my life at stake--and gaily played for: But here is more upon the die--a kingdom. _Bel._ I have foretold already--thou wilt win it: 140 Then on, and prosper. _Arb._ Now were I a soothsayer, I would have boded so much to myself. But be the stars obeyed--I cannot quarrel With them, nor their interpreter. Who's here? _Enter_ SALEMENES. _Sal._ Satraps! _Bel._ My Prince! _Sal._ Well met--I sought ye both, But elsewhere than the palace. _Arb._ Wherefore so? _Sal._ 'Tis not the hour. _Arb._ The hour!--what hour? _Sal._ Of midnight. _Bel._ Midnight, my Lord! _Sal._ What, are you not invited? _Bel._ Oh! yes--we had forgotten. _Sal._ Is it usual Thus to forget a Sovereign's invitation? _Arb._ Why--we but now received it. 150 _Sal._ Then why here? _Arb._ On duty. _Sal._ On what duty? _Bel._ On the state's. We have the privilege to approach the presence; But found the Monarch absent.[k] _Sal._ And I too Am upon duty. _Arb._ May we crave its purport? _Sal._ To arrest two traitors. Guards! Within there! _Enter Guards_. _Sal._ (_continuing_). Satraps, Your swords. _Bel._ (_delivering his_). My lord, behold my scimitar. _Arb._ (_drawing his sword_). Take mine. _Sal._ (_advancing_). I will. _Arb._ But in your heart the blade-- The hilt quits not this hand.[l] _Sal._ (_drawing_). How! dost thou brave me? Tis well--this saves a trial, and false mercy. 160 Soldiers, hew down the rebel! _Arb._ Soldiers! Aye-- _Alone, you_ dare not. _Sal._ Alone! foolish slave-- What is there in thee that a Prince should shrink from Of open force? We dread thy treason, not Thy strength: thy tooth is nought without its venom-- The serpent's, not the lion's. Cut him down. _Bel._ (_interposing_). Arbaces! Are you mad? Have I not rendered _My_ sword? Then trust like me our Sovereign's justice. _Arb._ No--I will sooner trust the stars thou prat'st of, And this slight arm, and die a king at least 170 Of my own breath and body--so far that None else shall chain them. _Sal._ (_to the Guards_). You hear _him_ and _me_. Take him not,--kill. [_The Guards attack_ ARBACES, _who defends himself valiantly and dexterously till they waver_. _Sal._ Is it even so; and must I do the hangman's office? Recreants! see How you should fell a traitor. [SALEMENES _attacks_ ARBACES. _Enter_ SARDANAPALUS _and Train_. _Sar._ Hold your hands-- Upon your lives, I say. What, deaf or drunken? My sword! O fool, I wear no sword: here, fellow, Give me thy weapon. [_To a Guard_. [SARDANAPALUS _snatches a sword from one of the soldiers, and rushes between the combatants--they separate_. _Sar._ In my very palace! What hinders me from cleaving you in twain, Audacious brawlers? _Bel._ Sire, your justice. _Sal._ Or-- 180 Your weakness. _Sar._ (_raising the sword_). How? _Sal._ Strike! so the blow's repeated Upon yon traitor--whom you spare a moment, I trust, for torture--I'm content. _Sar._ What--him! Who dares assail Arbaces? _Sal._ I! _Sar._ Indeed! Prince, you forget yourself. Upon what warrant? _Sal._ (_showing the signet_). Thine. _Arb._ (_confused_). The King's! _Sal._ Yes! and let the King confirm it. _Sar._ I parted not from this for such a purpose. _Sal._ You parted with it for your safety--I Employed it for the best. Pronounce in person. Here I am but your slave--a moment past 190 I was your representative. _Sar._ Then sheathe Your swords. [ARBACES _and_ SALEMENES _return their swords to the scabbards_. _Sal._ Mine's sheathed: I pray you sheathe _not_ yours: Tis the sole sceptre left you now with safety. _Sar._ A heavy one; the hilt, too, hurts my hand. (_To a Guard_.) Here, fellow, take thy weapon back. Well, sirs, What doth this mean? _Bel._ The Prince must answer that. _Sal._ Truth upon my part, treason upon theirs. _Sar._ Treason--Arbaces! treachery and Beleses! That were an union I will not believe. _Bel._ Where is the proof? _Sal._ I'll answer that, if once 200 The king demands your fellow-traitor's sword. _Arb._ (_to Sal._). A sword which hath been drawn as oft as thine Against his foes. _Sal._ And now against his brother, And in an hour or so against himself. _Sar._ That is not possible: he dared not; no-- No--I'll not hear of such things. These vain bickerings Are spawned in courts by base intrigues, and baser Hirelings, who live by lies on good men's lives. You must have been deceived, my brother. _Sal._ First Let him deliver up his weapon, and 210 Proclaim himself your subject by that duty, And I will answer all. _Sar._ Why, if I thought so-- But no, it cannot be: the Mede Arbaces-- The trusty, rough, true soldier--the best captain Of all who discipline our nations----No, I'll not insult him thus, to bid him render The scimitar to me he never yielded Unto our enemies. Chief, keep your weapon. _Sal._ (_delivering back the signet_). Monarch, take back your signet. _Sar._ No, retain it; But use it with more moderation. _Sal._ Sire, 200 I used it for your honour, and restore it Because I cannot keep it with my own. Bestow it on Arbaces. _Sar._ So I should: He never asked it. _Sal._ Doubt not, he will have it, Without that hollow semblance of respect. _Bel._ I know not what hath prejudiced the Prince So strongly 'gainst two subjects, than whom none Have been more zealous for Assyria's weal. _Sal._ Peace, factious priest, and faithless soldier! thou Unit'st in thy own person the worst vices 230 Of the most dangerous orders of mankind. Keep thy smooth words and juggling homilies For those who know thee not. Thy fellow's sin Is, at the least, a bold one, and not tempered By the tricks taught thee in Chaldea. _Bel._ Hear him, My liege--the son of Belus! he blasphemes The worship of the land, which bows the knee Before your fathers. _Sar._ Oh! for that I pray you Let him have absolution. I dispense with The worship of dead men; feeling that I 240 Am mortal, and believing that the race From whence I sprung are--what I see them--ashes. _Bel._ King! Do not deem so: they are with the stars, And---- _Sar._ You shall join them ere they will rise, If you preach farther--Why, _this_ is rank treason. _Sal._ My lord! _Sar._ To school me in the worship of Assyria's idols! Let him be released-- Give him his sword. _Sal._ My Lord, and King, and Brother, I pray ye pause. _Sar._ Yes, and be sermonised, And dinned, and deafened with dead men and Baal, 250 And all Chaldea's starry mysteries. _Bel._ Monarch! respect them. _Sar._ Oh! for that--I love them; I love to watch them in the deep blue vault, And to compare them with my Myrrha's eyes; I love to see their rays redoubled in The tremulous silver of Euphrates' wave, As the light breeze of midnight crisps the broad And rolling water, sighing through the sedges Which fringe his banks: but whether they may be Gods, as some say, or the abodes of Gods, 260 As others hold, or simply lamps of night, Worlds--or the lights of Worlds--I know nor care not. There's something sweet in my uncertainty I would not change for your Chaldean lore; Besides, I know of these all clay can know Of aught above it, or below it--nothing. I see their brilliancy and feel their beauty[m]-- When they shine on my grave I shall know neither. _Bel._ For _neither_, Sire, say _better_. _Sar._ I will wait, If it so please you, Pontiff, for that knowledge. 270 In the mean time receive your sword, and know That I prefer your service militant Unto your ministry--not loving either. _Sal._ (_aside_). His lusts have made him mad. Then must I save him, Spite of himself. _Sar._ Please you to hear me, Satraps! And chiefly thou, my priest, because I doubt thee More than the soldier; and would doubt thee all Wert thou not half a warrior: let us part In peace--I'll not say pardon--which must be Earned by the guilty; this I'll not pronounce ye, 280 Although upon this breath of mine depends Your own; and, deadlier for ye, on my fears. But fear not--for that I am soft, not fearful-- And so live on. Were I the thing some think me, Your heads would now be dripping the last drops Of their attainted gore from the high gates Of this our palace, into the dry dust, Their only portion of the coveted kingdom They would be crowned to reign o'er--let that pass. As I have said, I will not _deem_ ye guilty, 290 Nor _doom_ ye guiltless. Albeit better men Than ye or I stand ready to arraign you; And should I leave your fate to sterner judges, And proofs of all kinds, I might sacrifice Two men, who, whatsoe'er they now are, were Once honest. Ye are free, sirs. _Arb._ Sire, this clemency---- _Bel._ (_interrupting him_). Is worthy of yourself; and, although innocent, We thank---- _Sar._ Priest! keep your thanksgivings for Belus; His offspring needs none. _Bel._ But being innocent---- _Sar._ Be silent.--Guilt is loud. If ye are loyal, 300 Ye are injured men, and should be sad, not grateful. _Bel._ So we should be, were justice always done By earthly power omnipotent; but Innocence Must oft receive her right as a mere favour. _Sar._ That's a good sentence for a homily, Though not for this occasion. Prithee keep it To plead thy Sovereign's cause before his people. _Bel._ I trust there is no cause. _Sar._ No _cause_, perhaps; But many causers:--if ye meet with such In the exercise of your inquisitive function 310 On earth, or should you read of it in heaven In some mysterious twinkle of the stars, Which are your chronicles, I pray you note, That there are worse things betwixt earth and heaven Than him who ruleth many and slays none; And, hating not himself, yet loves his fellows Enough to spare even those who would not spare him Were they once masters--but that's doubtful. Satraps! Your swords and persons are at liberty To use them as ye will--but from this hour 320 I have no call for either. Salemenes! Follow me. [_Exeunt_ SARDANAPALUS, SALEMENES, _and the Train, etc., leaving_ ARBACES _and_ BELESES. _Arb._ Beleses! _Bel._ Now, what think you? _Arb._ That we are lost. _Bel._ That we have won the kingdom. _Arb._ What? thus suspected--with the sword slung o'er us But by a single hair, and that still wavering, To be blown down by his imperious breath Which spared us--why, I know not. _Bel._ Seek not why; But let us profit by the interval.[n] The hour is still our own--our power the same-- The night the same we destined. He hath changed 330 Nothing except our ignorance of all Suspicion into such a certainty As must make madness of delay. _Arb._ And yet-- _Bel._ What, doubting still? _Arb._ He spared our lives, nay, more, Saved them from Salemenes. _Bel._ And how long Will he so spare? till the first drunken minute. _Arb._ Or sober, rather. Yet he did it nobly; Gave royally what we had forfeited Basely---- _Bel._ Say bravely. _Arb._ Somewhat of both, perhaps-- But it has touched me, and, whate'er betide, 340 I will no further on. _Bel._ And lose the world! _Arb._ Lose any thing except my own esteem. _Bel._ I blush that we should owe our lives to such A king of distaffs! _Arb._ But no less we owe them; And I should blush far more to take the grantor's![16] _Bel._ Thou may'st endure whate'er thou wilt--the stars Have written otherwise. _Arb._ Though they came down, And marshalled me the way in all their brightness, I would not follow. _Bel._ This is weakness--worse Than a scared beldam's dreaming of the dead, 350 And waking in the dark.--Go to--go to. _Arb._ Methought he looked like Nimrod as he spoke, Even as the proud imperial statue stands Looking the monarch of the kings around it, And sways, while they but ornament, the temple. _Bel._ I told you that you had too much despised him, And that there was some royalty within him--What then? he is the nobler foe. _Arb._ But we The meaner.--Would he had not spared us! _Bel._ So-- Wouldst thou be sacrificed thus readily? 360 _Arb._ No--but it had been better to have died Than live ungrateful. _Bel._ Oh, the souls of some men! Thou wouldst digest what some call treason, and Fools treachery--and, behold, upon the sudden, Because for something or for nothing, this Rash reveller steps, ostentatiously, 'Twixt thee and Salemenes, thou art turned Into--what shall I say?--Sardanapalus! I know no name more ignominious. _Arb._ But An hour ago, who dared to term me such 370 Had held his life but lightly--as it is, I must forgive you, even as he forgave us-- Semiramis herself would not have done it. _Bel._ No--the Queen liked no sharers of the kingdom, Not even a husband.[17] _Arb._ I must serve him truly---- _Bel._ And humbly? _Arb._ No, sir, proudly--being honest. I shall be nearer thrones than you to heaven; And if not quite so haughty, yet more lofty. You may do your own deeming--you have codes, And mysteries, and corollaries of 380 Right and wrong, which I lack for my direction, And must pursue but what a plain heart teaches. And now you know me. _Bel._ Have you finished? _Arb._ Yes-- With you. _Bel._ And would, perhaps, betray as well As quit me? _Arb._ That's a sacerdotal thought, And not a soldier's. _Bel._ Be it what you will-- Truce with these wranglings, and but hear me. _Arb._ No-- There is more peril in your subtle spirit Than in a phalanx. _Bel._ If it must be so-- I'll on alone. _Arb._ Alone! _Bel._ Thrones hold but one. 390 _Arb._ But this is filled. _Bel._ With worse than vacancy-- A despised monarch. Look to it, Arbaces: I have still aided, cherished, loved, and urged you; Was willing even to serve you, in the hope To serve and save Assyria. Heaven itself Seemed to consent, and all events were friendly, Even to the last, till that your spirit shrunk Into a shallow softness; but now, rather Than see my country languish, I will be Her saviour or the victim of her tyrant-- 400 Or one or both--for sometimes both are one; And if I win--Arbaces is my servant. _Arb._ _Your_ servant! _Bel._ Why not? better than be slave, The _pardoned_ slave of _she_ Sardanapalus! _Enter_ PANIA. _Pan._ My Lords, I bear an order from the king. _Arb._ It is obeyed ere spoken. _Bel._ Notwithstanding, Let's hear it. _Pan._ Forthwith, on this very night, Repair to your respective satrapies Of Babylon and Media. _Bel._ With our troops? _Pan._ My order is unto the Satraps and 410 Their household train. _Arb._ But---- _Bel._ It must be obeyed: Say, we depart. _Pan._ My order is to see you Depart, and not to bear your answer. _Bel._ (_aside_). Aye[o]! Well, Sir--we will accompany you hence. _Pan._ I will retire to marshal forth the guard Of honour which befits your rank, and wait Your leisure, so that it the hour exceeds not. [_Exit_ PANIA. _Bel._ Now then obey! _Arb._ Doubtless. _Bel._ Yes, to the gates That grate the palace, which is now our prison-- No further. _Arb._ Thou hast harped the truth indeed! 420 The realm itself, in all its wide extension, Yawns dungeons at each step for thee and me. _Bel._ Graves! _Arb._ If I thought so, this good sword should dig One more than mine. _Bel._ It shall have work enough. Let me hope better than thou augurest; At present, let us hence as best we may. Thou dost agree with me in understanding This order as a sentence? _Arb._ Why, what other Interpretation should it bear? it is The very policy of Orient monarchs-- 430 Pardon and poison--favours and a sword-- A distant voyage, and an eternal sleep. How many Satraps in his father's time-- For he I own is, or at least _was_, bloodless-- _Bel._ But _will_ not--_can_ not be so now. _Arb._ I doubt it. How many Satraps have I seen set out In his Sire's day for mighty Vice-royalties, Whose tombs are on their path! I know not how, But they all sickened by the way, it was So long and heavy. _Bel._ Let us but regain 440 The free air of the city, and we'll shorten The journey. _Arb._ 'Twill be shortened at the gates, It may be. _Bel._ No; they hardly will risk that. They mean us to die privately, but not Within the palace or the city walls, Where we are known, and may have partisans: If they had meant to slay us here, we were No longer with the living. Let us hence. _Arb._ If I but thought he did not mean my life-- _Bel._ Fool! hence--what else should despotism alarmed 450 Mean? Let us but rejoin our troops, and march. _Arb._ Towards our provinces? _Bel._ No; towards your kingdom. There's time--there's heart, and hope, and power, and means-- Which their half measures leave us in full scope.-- Away! _Arb._ And I even yet repenting must Relapse to guilt! _Bel._ Self-defence is a virtue, Sole bulwark of all right. Away, I say! Let's leave this place, the air grows thick and choking, And the walls have a scent of night-shade--hence! Let us not leave them time for further council. 460 Our quick departure proves our civic zeal; Our quick departure hinders our good escort, The worthy Pania, from anticipating The orders of some parasangs from hence: Nay, there's no other choice, but----hence, I say[p]. [_Exit with_ ARBACES, _who follows reluctantly_. _Enter_ SARDANAPALUS _and_ SALEMENES. _Sar._ Well, all is remedied, and without bloodshed, That worst of mockeries of a remedy; We are now secure by these men's exile. _Sal._ Yes, As he who treads on flowers is from the adder Twined round their roots. _Sar._ Why, what wouldst have me do? 470 _Sal._ Undo what you have done. _Sar._ Revoke my pardon? _Sal._ Replace the crown now tottering on your temples. _Sar._ That were tyrannical. _Sal._ But sure. _Sar._ We are so. What danger can they work upon the frontier? _Sal._ They are not there yet--never should they be so, Were I well listened to. _Sar._ Nay, I _have_ listened Impartially to thee--why not to them? _Sal._ You may know that hereafter; as it is, I take my leave to order forth the guard. _Sar._ And you will join us at the banquet? _Sal._ Sire, 480 Dispense with me--I am no wassailer: Command me in all service save the Bacchant's. _Sar._ Nay, but 'tis fit to revel now and then. _Sal._ And fit that some should watch for those who revel Too oft. Am I permitted to depart? _Sar._ Yes----Stay a moment, my good Salemenes, My brother--my best subject--better Prince Than I am King. You should have been the monarch, And I--I know not what, and care not; but Think not I am insensible to all 490 Thine honest wisdom, and thy rough yet kind, Though oft-reproving sufferance of my follies. If I have spared these men against thy counsel, That is, their lives--it is not that I doubt The advice was sound; but, let them live: we will not Cavil about their lives--so let them mend them. Their banishment will leave me still sound sleep, Which their death had not left me. _Sal._ Thus you run The risk to sleep for ever, to save traitors-- A moment's pang now changed for years of crime. 500 Still let them be made quiet. _Sar._ Tempt me not; My word is past. _Sal._ But it may be recalled. _Sar._ 'Tis royal. _Sal._ And should therefore be decisive. This half-indulgence of an exile serves But to provoke--a pardon should be full, Or it is none. _Sar._ And who persuaded me After I had repealed them, or at least Only dismissed them from our presence, who Urged me to send them to their satrapies? _Sal._ True; that I had forgotten; that is, Sire, 510 If they e'er reached their Satrapies--why, then, Reprove me more for my advice. _Sar._ And if They do not reach them--look to it!--in safety, In safety, mark me--and security-- Look to thine own. _Sal._ Permit me to depart; Their _safety_ shall be cared for. _Sar._ Get thee hence, then; And, prithee, think more gently of thy brother. _Sal._ Sire, I shall ever duly serve my sovereign. [_Exit_ SALEMENES. _Sar._ (_solus_). That man is of a temper too severe; Hard but as lofty as the rock, and free 520 From all the taints of common earth--while I Am softer clay, impregnated with flowers: But as our mould is, must the produce be. If I have erred this time, 'tis on the side Where Error sits most lightly on that sense, I know not what to call it; but it reckons With me ofttimes for pain, and sometimes pleasure; A spirit which seems placed about my heart To count its throbs, not quicken them, and ask Questions which mortal never dared to ask me, 530 Nor Baal, though an oracular deity--[q] Albeit his marble face majestical Frowns as the shadows of the evening dim His brows to changed expression, till at times I think the statue looks in act to speak. Away with these vain thoughts, I will be joyous-- And here comes Joy's true herald. _Enter_ MYRRHA. _Myr._ King! the sky Is overcast, and musters muttering thunder, In clouds that seem approaching fast, and show In forked flashes a commanding tempest.[r] 540 Will you then quit the palace? _Sar._ Tempest, say'st thou? _Myr._ Aye, my good lord. _Sar._ For my own part, I should be Not ill content to vary the smooth scene, And watch the warring elements; but this Would little suit the silken garments and Smooth faces of our festive friends. Say, Myrrha, Art thou of those who dread the roar of clouds? _Myr._ In my own country we respect their voices As auguries of Jove.[s] _Sar._ Jove!--aye, your Baal-- Ours also has a property in thunder, 550 And ever and anon some falling bolt Proves his divinity,--and yet sometimes Strikes his own altars. _Myr._ That were a dread omen. _Sar._ Yes--for the priests. Well, we will not go forth Beyond the palace walls to-night, but make Our feast within. _Myr._ Now, Jove be praised! that he Hath heard the prayer thou wouldst not hear. The Gods Are kinder to thee than thou to thyself, And flash this storm between thee and thy foes, To shield thee from them. _Sar._ Child, if there be peril, 560 Methinks it is the same within these walls As on the river's brink. _Myr._ Not so; these walls Are high and strong, and guarded. Treason has To penetrate through many a winding way, And massy portal; but in the pavilion There is no bulwark. _Sar._ No, nor in the palace, Nor in the fortress, nor upon the top Of cloud-fenced Caucasus, where the eagle sits Nested in pathless clefts, if treachery be: Even as the arrow finds the airy king, 570 The steel will reach the earthly. But be calm; The men, or innocent or guilty, are Banished, and far upon their way. _Myr._ They live, then? _Sar._ So sanguinary? _Thou!_ _Myr._ I would not shrink From just infliction of due punishment On those who seek your life: were't otherwise, I should not merit mine. Besides, you heard The princely Salemenes. _Sar._ This is strange; The gentle and the austere are both against me, And urge me to revenge. _Myr._ 'Tis a Greek virtue. 580 _Sar._ But not a kingly one--I'll none on't; or If ever I indulge in't, it shall be With kings--my equals. _Myr._ These men sought to be so. _Sar._ Myrrha, this is too feminine, and springs From fear---- _Myr._ For you. _Sar._ No matter, still 'tis fear. I have observed your sex, once roused to wrath, Are timidly vindictive to a pitch Of perseverance, which I would not copy. I thought you were exempt from this, as from The childish helplessness of Asian women[t]. 590 _Myr._ My Lord, I am no boaster of my love, Nor of my attributes; I have shared your splendour, And will partake your fortunes. You may live To find one slave more true than subject myriads: But this the Gods avert! I am content To be beloved on trust for what I feel, Rather than prove it to you in your griefs[u], Which might not yield to any cares of mine. _Sar._ Grief cannot come where perfect love exists, Except to heighten it, and vanish from 600 That which it could not scare away. Let's in-- The hour approaches, and we must prepare To meet the invited guests who grace our feast. [_Exeunt_. ACT III. SCENE I.--_The Hall of the Palace illuminated_--SARDANAPALUS _and his Guests at Table.--A storm without, and Thunder occasionally heard during the Banquet_. _Sar._ Fill full! why this is as it should be: here Is my true realm, amidst bright eyes and faces Happy as fair! Here sorrow cannot reach. _Zam._ Nor elsewhere--where the King is, pleasure sparkles. _Sar._ Is not this better now than Nimrod's huntings, Or my wild Grandam's chase in search of kingdoms She could not keep when conquered? _Alt._ Mighty though They were, as all thy royal line have been, Yet none of those who went before have reached The acme of Sardanapalus, who 10 Has placed his joy in peace--the sole true glory. _Sar._ And pleasure, good Altada, to which glory Is but the path. What is it that we seek? Enjoyment! We have cut the way short to it, And not gone tracking it through human ashes, Making a grave with every footstep. _Zam._ No; All hearts are happy, and all voices bless The King of peace--who holds a world in jubilee. _Sar._ Art sure of that? I have heard otherwise; Some say that there be traitors. _Zam._ Traitors they 20 Who dare to say so!--'Tis impossible. What cause? _Sar._ What cause? true,--fill the goblet up; We will not think of them: there are none such, Or if there be, they are gone. _Alt._ Guests, to my pledge! Down on your knees, and drink a measure to The safety of the King--the monarch, say I? The God Sardanapalus! [ZAMES _and the Guests kneel, and exclaim_-- Mightier than His father Baal, the God Sardanapalus! [_It thunders as they kneel; some start up in confusion_. _Zam._ Why do you rise, my friends? in that strong peal His father gods consented. _Myr._ Menaced, rather. 30 King, wilt thou bear this mad impiety? _Sar._ Impiety!--nay, if the sires who reigned Before me can be Gods, I'll not disgrace Their lineage. But arise, my pious friends; Hoard your devotion for the Thunderer there: I seek but to be loved, not worshipped. _Alt._ Both-- Both you must ever be by all true subjects. _Sar._ Methinks the thunders still increase: it is An awful night. _Myr._ Oh yes, for those who have No palace to protect their worshippers. 40 _Sar._ That's true, my Myrrha; and could I convert My realm to one wide shelter for the wretched, I'd do it. _Myr._ Thou'rt no God, then--not to be Able to work a will so good and general, As thy wish would imply. _Sar._ And your Gods, then, Who can, and do not? _Myr._ Do not speak of that, Lest we provoke them. _Sar._ True--, they love not censure Better than mortals. Friends, a thought has struck me: Were there no temples, would there, think ye, be Air worshippers?[v] that is, when it is angry, 50 And pelting as even now. _Myr._ The Persian prays Upon his mountain. _Sar._ Yes, when the Sun shines. _Myr._ And I would ask if this your palace were Unroofed and desolate, how many flatterers Would lick the dust in which the King lay low? _Alt._ The fair Ionian is too sarcastic Upon a nation whom she knows not well; The Assyrians know no pleasure but their King's, And homage is their pride. _Sar._ Nay, pardon, guests, The fair Greek's readiness of speech. _Alt._ _Pardon!_ sire: 60 We honour her of all things next to thee. Hark! what was that? _Zam._ That! nothing but the jar Of distant portals shaken by the wind. _Alt._ It sounded like the clash of--hark again! _Zam._ The big rain pattering on the roof. _Sar._ No more. Myrrha, my love, hast thou thy shell in order? Sing me a song of Sappho[18]; her, thou know'st, Who in thy country threw---- _Enter_ PANIA, _with his sword and garments bloody, and disordered. The guests rise in confusion_. _Pan._ (_to the Guards_). Look to the portals; And with your best speed to the walls without. Your arms! To arms! The King's in danger. Monarch 70 Excuse this haste,--'tis faith. _Sar._ Speak on. _Pan._ It is As Salemenes feared; the faithless Satraps---- _Sar._ You are wounded--give some wine. Take breath, good Pania. _Pan._ 'Tis nothing--a mere flesh wound. I am worn More with my speed to warn my sovereign, Than hurt in his defence. _Myr._ Well, Sir, the rebels? _Pan._ Soon as Arbaces and Beleses reached Their stations in the city, they refused To march; and on my attempt to use the power Which I was delegated with, they called 80 Upon their troops, who rose in fierce defiance. _Myr._ All? _Pan._ Too many. _Sar._ Spare not of thy free speech, To spare mine ears--the truth. _Pan._ My own slight guard Were faithful, and what's left of it is still so. _Myr._ And are these all the force still faithful? _Pan._ No-- The Bactrians, now led on by Salemenes, Who even then was on his way, still urged By strong suspicion of the Median chiefs, Are numerous, and make strong head against The rebels, fighting inch by inch, and forming 90 An orb around the palace, where they mean To centre all their force, and save the King. (_He hesitates_.) I am charged to---- _Myr._ 'Tis no time for hesitation. _Pan._ Prince Salemenes doth implore the King To arm himself, although but for a moment, And show himself unto the soldiers: his Sole presence in this instant might do more Than hosts can do in his behalf. _Sar._ What, ho! My armour there. _Myr._ And wilt thou? _Sar._ Will I not? Ho, there!--but seek not for the buckler: 'tis 100 Too heavy:--a light cuirass and my sword. Where are the rebels? _Pan._ Scarce a furlong's length From the outward wall the fiercest conflict rages. _Sar._ Then I may charge on horseback. Sfero, ho! Order my horse out.--There is space enough Even in our courts, and by the outer gate, To marshal half the horsemen of Arabia. [_Exit_ SFERO _for the armour_. _Myr._ How I do love thee! _Sar._ I ne'er doubted it. _Myr._ But now I know thee. _Sar._ (_to his Attendant_). Bring down my spear too-- Where's Salemenes? _Pan._ Where a soldier should be, 110 In the thick of the fight. _Sar._ Then hasten to him----Is The path still open, and communication Left 'twixt the palace and the phalanx? _Pan._ 'Twas When I late left him, and I have no fear; Our troops were steady, and the phalanx formed. _Sar._ Tell him to spare his person for the present, And that I will not spare my own--and say, I come. _Pan._ There's victory in the very word. [_Exit_ PANIA. _Sar._ Altada--Zames--forth, and arm ye! There Is all in readiness in the armoury. 120 See that the women are bestowed in safety In the remote apartments: let a guard Be set before them, with strict charge to quit The post but with their lives--command it, Zames. Altada, arm yourself, and return here; Your post is near our person. [_Exeunt_ ZAMES, ALTADA, _and all save_ MYRRHA. _Enter_ SFERO _and others with the King's Arms, etc._ _Sfe._ King! your armour. _Sar._ (_arming himself_). Give me the cuirass--so: my baldric; now My sword: I had forgot the helm--where is it? That's well--no, 'tis too heavy; you mistake, too-- It was not this I meant, but that which bears 130 A diadem around it. _Sfe._ Sire, I deemed That too conspicuous from the precious stones To risk your sacred brow beneath--and trust me, This is of better metal, though less rich. _Sar._ You deemed! Are you too turned a rebel? Fellow! Your part is to obey: return, and--no-- It is too late--I will go forth without it. _Sfe._ At least, wear this. _Sar._ Wear Caucasus! why, 'tis A mountain on my temples. _Sfe._ Sire, the meanest Soldier goes not forth thus exposed to battle. 140 All men will recognise you--for the storm Has ceased, and the moon breaks forth in her brightness. _Sar._ I go forth to be recognised, and thus Shall be so sooner. Now--my spear! I'm armed. [_In going stops short, and turns to_ SFERO. Sfero--I had forgotten--bring the mirror[19]. _Sfe._ The mirror, Sire? _Sar._ Yes, sir, of polished brass, Brought from the spoils of India--but be speedy. [_Exit_ SFERO. _Sar._ Myrrha, retire unto a place of safety. Why went you not forth with the other damsels? _Myr._ Because my place is here. _Sar._ And when I am gone---- 150 _Myr._ I follow. _Sar._ _You!_ to battle? _Myr._ If it were so, 'Twere not the first Greek girl had trod the path. I will await here your _return_. _Sar._ The place Is spacious, and the first to be sought out, If they prevail; and, if it be so, And I return not---- _Myr._ Still we meet again. _Sar._ How? _Myr._ In the spot where all must meet at last-- In Hades! if there be, as I believe, A shore beyond the Styx; and if there be not, In ashes. _Sar._ Darest thou so much? _Myr._ I dare all things 160 Except survive what I have loved, to be A rebel's booty: forth, and do your bravest. _Re-enter_ SFERO _with the mirror_. _Sar._ (_looking at himself_). This cuirass fits me well, the baldric better, And the helm not at all. Methinks I seem [_Flings away the helmet after trying it again_. Passing well in these toys; and now to prove them. Altada! Where's Altada? _Sfe._ Waiting, Sire, Without: he has your shield in readiness. _Sar._ True--I forgot--he is my shield-bearer By right of blood, derived from age to age. Myrrha, embrace me;--yet once more--once more-- 170 Love me, whate'er betide. My chiefest glory Shall be to make me worthier of your love. _Myr._ Go forth, and conquer! [_Exeunt_ SARDANAPALUS _and_ SFERO. Now, I am alone: All are gone forth, and of that all how few Perhaps return! Let him but vanquish, and Me perish! If he vanquish not, I perish; For I will not outlive him. He has wound About my heart, I know not how nor why. Not for that he is King; for now his kingdom Rocks underneath his throne, and the earth yawns 180 To yield him no more of it than a grave; And yet I love him more. Oh, mighty Jove! Forgive this monstrous love for a barbarian, Who knows not of Olympus! yes, I love him Now--now--far more than----Hark--to the war shout! Methinks it nears me. If it should be so, [_She draws forth a small vial_. This cunning Colchian poison, which my father Learned to compound on Euxine shores, and taught me How to preserve, shall free me! It had freed me Long ere this hour, but that I loved until 190 I half forgot I was a slave:--where all Are slaves save One, and proud of servitude, So they are served in turn by something lower In the degree of bondage: we forget That shackles worn like ornaments no less Are chains. Again that shout! and now the clash Of arms--and now--and now---- _Enter_ ALTADA. _Alt._ Ho, Sfero, ho! _Myr._ He is not here; what wouldst thou with him? How Goes on the conflict? _Alt._ Dubiously and fiercely. _Myr._ And the King? _Alt._ Like a king. I must find Sfero, 200 And bring him a new spear with his own helmet.[w] He fights till now bare-headed, and by far Too much exposed. The soldiers knew his face, And the foe too; and in the moon's broad light, His silk tiara and his flowing hair Make him a mark too royal. Every arrow Is pointed at the fair hair and fair features, And the broad fillet which crowns both. _Myr._ Ye Gods, Who fulminate o'er my father's land, protect him! Were you sent by the King? _Alt._ By Salemenes, 210 Who sent me privily upon this charge, Without the knowledge of the careless sovereign. The King! the King fights as he revels! ho! What, Sfero! I will seek the armoury-- He must be there. [_Exit_ ALTADA. _Myr._ 'Tis no dishonour--no-- 'Tis no dishonour to have loved this man. I almost wish now, what I never wished Before--that he were Grecian. If Alcides Were shamed in wearing Lydian Omphale's She-garb, and wielding her vile distaff; surely 220 He, who springs up a Hercules at once, Nursed in effeminate arts from youth to manhood, And rushes from the banquet to the battle, As though it were a bed of love, deserves That a Greek girl should be his paramour, And a Greek bard his minstrel--a Greek tomb His monument. How goes the strife, sir? _Enter an Officer_. _Officer_. Lost, Lost almost past recovery. Zames! Where Is Zames? _Myr._ Posted with the guard appointed To watch before the apartment of the women. 230 [_Exit Officer_. _Myr._ (_sola_). He's gone; and told no more than that all's lost! What need have I to know more? In those words, Those little words, a kingdom and a king, A line of thirteen ages, and the lives Of thousands, and the fortune of all left With life, are merged; and I, too, with the great, Like a small bubble breaking with the wave Which bore it, shall be nothing. At the least, My fate is in my keeping: no proud victor Shall count me with his spoils. _Enter_ PANIA. _Pan._ Away with me, 240 Myrrha, without delay; we must not lose A moment--all that's left us now. _Myr._ The King? _Pan._ Sent me here to conduct you hence, beyond The river, by a secret passage. _Myr._ Then He lives---- _Pan._ And charged me to secure your life, And beg you to live on for his sake, till He can rejoin you. _Myr._ Will he then give way? _Pan._ Not till the last. Still, still he does whate'er Despair can do; and step by step disputes The very palace. _Myr._ They are here, then:--aye, 250 Their shouts come ringing through the ancient halls, Never profaned by rebel echoes till This fatal night. Farewell, Assyria's line! Farewell to all of Nimrod! Even the name Is now no more. _Pan._ Away with me--away! _Myr._ No: I'll die here!--Away, and tell your King I loved him to the last. _Enter_ SARDANAPALUS _and_ SALEMENES _with Soldiers_. PANIA _quits_ MYRRHA, _and ranges himself with them_. _Sar._ Since it is thus, We'll die where we were born--in our own halls[x] Serry your ranks--stand firm. I have despatched A trusty satrap for the guard of Zames, All fresh and faithful; they'll be here anon. All is not over,--Pania, look to Myrrha. [PANIA _returns towards_ MYRRHA. _Sal._ We have breathing time; yet once more charge, my friends-- One for Assyria! _Sar._ Rather say for Bactria! My faithful Bactrians, I will henceforth be King of your nation, and we'll hold together This realm as province. _Sal._ Hark! they come--they come. _Enter_ BELESES _and_ ARBACES _with the Rebels_. _Arb._ Set on, we have them in the toil. Charge! charge! _Bel._ On! on!--Heaven fights for us, and with us--On! [_They charge the King and_ SALEMENES _with their troops, who defend themselves till the arrival of_ ZAMES _with the Guard before mentioned. The Rebels are then driven off, and pursued by_ SALEMENES, _etc. As the King is going to join the pursuit,_ BELESES _crosses him_. _Bel._ Ho! tyrant--_I_ will end this war. _Sar._ Even so, 270 My warlike priest, and precious prophet, and Grateful and trusty subject: yield, I pray thee. I would reserve thee for a fitter doom, Rather than dip my hands in holy blood. _Bel._ Thine hour is come. _Sar._ No, thine.--I've lately read, Though but a young astrologer, the stars; And ranging round the zodiac, found thy fate In the sign of the Scorpion, which proclaims That thou wilt now be crushed. _Bel._ But not by thee. [_They fight;_ BELESES _is wounded and disarmed_. _Sar._ (_raising his sword to despatch him, exclaims_)-- Now call upon thy planets, will they shoot 280 From the sky to preserve their seer and credit? [_A party of Rebels enter and rescue_ BELESES. _They assail the King, who in turn, is rescued by a Party of his Soldiers, who drive the Rebels off_. The villain was a prophet after all. Upon them--ho! there--victory is ours. [_Exit in pursuit_. _Myr._ (_to Pan._) Pursue! Why stand'st thou here, and leavest the ranks Of fellow-soldiers conquering without thee? _Pan._ The King's command was not to quit thee. _Myr._ _Me!_ Think not of me--a single soldier's arm Must not be wanting now. I ask no guard, I need no guard: what, with a world at stake, Keep watch upon a woman? Hence, I say, 290 Or thou art shamed! Nay, then, _I_ will go forth, A feeble female, 'midst their desperate strife, And bid thee guard me _there_--where thou shouldst shield Thy sovereign. [_Exit_ MYRRHA. _Pan._ Yet stay, damsel!--She's gone. If aught of ill betide her, better I Had lost my life. Sardanapalus holds her Far dearer than his kingdom, yet he fights For that too; and can I do less than he, Who never flashed a scimitar till now? Myrrha, return, and I obey you, though 300 In disobedience to the monarch. [_Exit_ PANIA. _Enter_ ALTADA _and_ SFERO _by an opposite door_. _Alt._ Myrrha! What, gone? yet she was here when the fight raged, And Pania also. Can aught have befallen them? _Sfe._ I saw both safe, when late the rebels fled; They probably are but retired to make Their way back to the harem. _Alt._ If the King Prove victor, as it seems even now he must, And miss his own Ionian, we are doomed To worse than captive rebels. _Sfe._ Let us trace them: She cannot be fled far; and, found, she makes 310 A richer prize to our soft sovereign Than his recovered kingdom. _Alt._ Baal himself Ne'er fought more fiercely to win empire, than His silken son to save it: he defies All augury of foes or friends; and like The close and sultry summer's day, which bodes A twilight tempest, bursts forth in such thunder As sweeps the air and deluges the earth. The man's inscrutable. _Sfe._ Not more than others. All are the sons of circumstance: away-- 320 Let's seek the slave out, or prepare to be Tortured for his infatuation, and[y] Condemned without a crime. [_Exeunt_. _Enter_ SALEMENES _and Soldiers, etc._ _Sal._ The triumph is Flattering: they are beaten backward from the palace, And we have opened regular access To the troops stationed on the other side Euphrates, who may still be true; nay, must be, When they hear of our victory. But where Is the chief victor? where's the King? _Enter_ SARDANAPALUS, _cum suis, etc., and_ MYRRHA. _Sar._ Here, brother. _Sal._ Unhurt, I hope. _Sar._ Not quite; but let it pass. 330 We've cleared the palace---- _Sal._ And I trust the city. Our numbers gather; and I've ordered onward A cloud of Parthians, hitherto reserved, All fresh and fiery, to be poured upon them In their retreat, which soon will be a flight. _Sar._ It is already, or at least they marched Faster than I could follow with my Bactrians, Who spared no speed. I am spent: give me a seat. _Sal._ There stands the throne, Sire. _Sar._ Tis no place to rest on, For mind nor body: let me have a couch, 340 [_They place a seat_. A peasant's stool, I care not what: so--now I breathe more freely. _Sal._ This great hour has proved The brightest and most glorious of your life. _Sar._ And the most tiresome. Where's my cupbearer? Bring me some water. _Sal._ (_smiling_) 'Tis the first time he Ever had such an order: even I,[z] Your most austere of counsellors, would now Suggest a purpler beverage. _Sar._ Blood--doubtless. But there's enough of that shed; as for wine, I have learned to-night the price of the pure element: 350 Thrice have I drank of it, and thrice renewed, With greater strength than the grape ever gave me, My charge upon the rebels. Where's the soldier Who gave me water in his helmet?[20] _One of the Guards_. Slain, Sire! An arrow pierced his brain, while, scattering[aa] The last drops from his helm, he stood in act To place it on his brows. _Sar._ Slain! unrewarded! And slain to serve my thirst: that's hard, poor slave! Had he but lived, I would have gorged him with Gold: all the gold of earth could ne'er repay 360 The pleasure of that draught; for I was parched As I am now. [_They bring water--he drinks_. I live again--from henceforth The goblet I reserve for hours of love, But war on water. _Sal._ And that bandage, Sire, Which girds your arm? _Sar._ A scratch from brave Beleses. _Myr._ Oh! he is wounded![ab] _Sar._ Not too much of that; And yet it feels a little stiff and painful, Now I am cooler. _Myr._ You have bound it with---- _Sar._ The fillet of my diadem: the first time That ornament was ever aught to me, 370 Save an incumbrance. _Myr._ (_to the Attendants_). Summon speedily A leech of the most skilful: pray, retire: I will unbind your wound and tend it. _Sar._ Do so, For now it throbs sufficiently: but what Know'st thou of wounds? yet wherefore do I ask? Know'st thou, my brother, where I lighted on This minion? _Sal._ Herding with the other females, Like frightened antelopes. _Sar._ No: like the dam Of the young lion, femininely raging (And femininely meaneth furiously, 380 Because all passions in excess are female,) Against the hunter flying with her cub, She urged on with her voice and gesture, and Her floating hair and flashing eyes,[21] the soldiers, In the pursuit. _Sal._ Indeed! _Sar._ You see, this night Made warriors of more than me. I paused To look upon her, and her kindled cheek; Her large black eyes, that flashed through her long hair As it streamed o'er her; her blue veins that rose Along her most transparent brow; her nostril 390 Dilated from its symmetry; her lips Apart; her voice that clove through all the din, As a lute pierceth through the cymbal's clash, Jarred but not drowned by the loud brattling; her Waved arms, more dazzling with their own born whiteness Than the steel her hand held, which she caught up From a dead soldier's grasp;--all these things made Her seem unto the troops a prophetess Of victory, or Victory herself, Come down to hail us hers.[22] _Sal._ (_aside_). This is too much. 400 Again the love-fit's on him, and all's lost, Unless we turn his thoughts. (_Aloud_.) But pray thee, Sire, Think of your wound--you said even now 'twas painful. _Sar._ That's true, too; but I must not think of it. _Sal._ I have looked to all things needful, and will now Receive reports of progress made in such Orders as I had given, and then return To hear your further pleasure. _Sar._ Be it so. _Sal._ (_in retiring_). Myrrha! _Myr._ Prince! _Sal._ You have shown a soul to-night, Which, were he not my sister's lord----But now 410 I have no time: thou lovest the King? _Myr._ I love Sardanapalus. _Sal._ But wouldst have him King still? _Myr._ I would not have him less than what he should be. _Sal._ Well then, to have him King, and yours, and all He should, or should not be; to have him _live_, Let him not sink back into luxury. You have more power upon his spirit than Wisdom within these walls, or fierce rebellion Raging without: look well that he relapse not. _Myr._ There needed not the voice of Salemenes 420 To urge me on to this: I will not fail. All that a woman's weakness can---- _Sal._ Is power Omnipotent o'er such a heart as his: Exert it wisely. [_Exit_ SALEMENES. _Sar._ Myrrha! what, at whispers With my stern brother? I shall soon be jealous. _Myr._ (_smiling_). You have cause, Sire; for on the earth there breathes not A man more worthy of a woman's love, A soldier's trust, a subject's reverence, A king's esteem--the whole world's admiration! _Sar._ Praise him, but not so warmly. I must not 430 Hear those sweet lips grow eloquent in aught That throws me into shade; yet you speak truth. _Myr._ And now retire, to have your wound looked to, Pray lean on me. _Sar._ Yes, love! but not from pain. [_Exeunt omnes_. ACT IV. SCENE I.--SARDANAPALUS _discovered sleeping upon a Couch, and occasionally disturbed in his slumbers, with_ MYRRHA _watching_. _Myr._ (_sola, gazing_). I have stolen upon his rest, if rest it be, Which thus convulses slumber: shall I wake him? No, he seems calmer. Oh, thou God of Quiet! Whose reign is o'er sealed eyelids and soft dreams, Or deep, deep sleep, so as to be unfathomed, Look like thy brother, Death,[23]--so still, so stirless-- For then we are happiest, as it may be, we Are happiest of all within the realm Of thy stern, silent, and unwakening Twin. Again he moves--again the play of pain 10 Shoots o'er his features, as the sudden gust Crisps the reluctant lake that lay so calm[ac] Beneath the mountain shadow; or the blast Ruffles the autumn leaves, that drooping cling Faintly and motionless to their loved boughs. I must awake him--yet not yet; who knows From what I rouse him? It seems pain; but if I quicken him to heavier pain? The fever Of this tumultuous night, the grief too of His wound, though slight, may cause all this, and shake 20 Me more to see than him to suffer. No: Let Nature use her own maternal means, And I await to second, not disturb her. _Sar._ (_awakening_). Not so--although he multiplied the stars, And gave them to me as a realm to share From you and with you! I would not so purchase The empire of Eternity. Hence--hence-- Old Hunter of the earliest brutes! and ye,[ad] Who hunted fellow-creatures as if brutes! Once bloody mortals--and now bloodier idols, 30 If your priests lie not! And thou, ghastly Beldame! Dripping with dusky gore, and trampling on The carcasses of Inde--away! away! Where am I? Where the spectres? Where--No--that Is no false phantom: I should know it 'midst All that the dead dare gloomily raise up From their black gulf to daunt the living. Myrrha! _Myr._ Alas! thou art pale, and on thy brow the drops Gather like night dew. My beloved, hush-- Calm thee. Thy speech seems of another world, 40 And thou art lord of this. Be of good cheer; All will go well. _Sar._ Thy _hand_--so--'tis thy hand; 'Tis flesh; grasp--clasp--yet closer, till I feel Myself that which I was. _Myr._ At least know me For what I am, and ever must be--thine. _Sar._ I know it now. I know this life again. Ah, Myrrha! I have been where we shall be. _Myr._ My lord! _Sar._ I've been i' the grave--where worms are lords And kings are----But I did not deem it so; I thought 'twas nothing. _Myr._ So it is; except 50 Unto the timid, who anticipate That which may never be. _Sar._ Oh, Myrrha! if Sleep shows such things, what may not Death disclose? _Myr._ I know no evil Death can show, which Life Has not already shown to those who live Embodied longest. If there be indeed A shore where Mind survives, 'twill be as Mind All unincorporate: or if there flits A shadow of this cumbrous clog of clay. Which stalks, methinks, between our souls and heaven, 60 And fetters us to earth--at least the phantom, Whate'er it have to fear, will not fear Death. _Sar._ I fear it not; but I have felt--have seen-- A legion of the dead. _Myr._ And so have I. The dust we tread upon was once alive, And wretched. But proceed: what hast thou seen? Speak it, 'twill lighten thy dimmed mind. _Sar._ Methought---- _Myr._ Yet pause, thou art tired--in pain--exhausted; all Which can impair both strength and spirit: seek Rather to sleep again. _Sar._ Not now--I would not 70 Dream; though I know it now to be a dream What I have dreamt:--and canst thou bear to hear it? _Myr._ I can bear all things, dreams of life or death, Which I participate with you in semblance Or full reality. _Sar._ And this looked real, I tell you: after that these eyes were open, I saw them in their flight--for then they fled. _Myr._ Say on. _Sar._ I saw, that is, I dreamed myself Here--here--even where we are, guests as we were, Myself a host that deemed himself but guest, 80 Willing to equal all in social freedom; But, on my right hand and my left, instead Of thee and Zames, and our customed meeting, Was ranged on my left hand a haughty, dark, And deadly face; I could not recognise it, Yet I had seen it, though I knew not where: The features were a Giant's, and the eye Was still, yet lighted; his long locks curled down On his vast bust, whence a huge quiver rose With shaft-heads feathered from the eagle's wing, 90 That peeped up bristling through his serpent hair.[ae] I invited him to fill the cup which stood Between us, but he answered not; I filled it; He took it not, but stared upon me, till I trembled at the fixed glare of his eye: I frowned upon him as a king should frown; He frowned not in his turn, but looked upon me With the same aspect, which appalled me more, Because it changed not; and I turned for refuge To milder guests, and sought them on the right, 100 Where thou wert wont to be. But---- [_He pauses_. _Myr._ What instead? _Sar._ In thy own chair--thy own place in the banquet-- I sought thy sweet face in the circle--but Instead--a grey-haired, withered, bloody-eyed, And bloody-handed, ghastly, ghostly thing, Female in garb, and crowned upon the brow, Furrowed with years, yet sneering with the passion Of vengeance, leering too with that of lust, Sate:--my veins curdled.[24] _Myr._ Is this all? _Sar._ Upon Her right hand--her lank, bird-like, right hand--stood 110 A goblet, bubbling o'er with blood; and on Her left, another, filled with--what I saw not, But turned from it and her. But all along The table sate a range of crowned wretches, Of various aspects, but of one expression. _Myr._ And felt you not this a mere vision? _Sar._ No: It was so palpable, I could have touched them. I turned from one face to another, in The hope to find at last one which I knew Ere I saw theirs: but no--all turned upon me, 120 And stared, but neither ate nor drank, but stared, Till I grew stone, as they seemed half to be, Yet breathing stone, for I felt life in them, And life in me: there was a horrid kind Of sympathy between us, as if they Had lost a part of death to come to me, And I the half of life to sit by them. We were in an existence all apart From heaven or earth----And rather let me see Death all than such a being! _Myr._ And the end? 130 _Sar._ At last I sate, marble, as they, when rose The Hunter and the Crone; and smiling on me-- Yes, the enlarged but noble aspect of The Hunter smiled upon me--I should say, His lips, for his eyes moved not--and the woman's Thin lips relaxed to something like a smile. Both rose, and the crowned figures on each hand Rose also, as if aping their chief shades-- Mere mimics even in death--but I sate still: A desperate courage crept through every limb, 140 And at the last I feared them not, but laughed Full in their phantom faces. But then--then The Hunter laid his hand on mine: I took it, And grasped it--but it melted from my own; While he too vanished, and left nothing but The memory of a hero, for he looked so. _Myr._ And was: the ancestor of heroes, too, And thine no less. _Sar._ Aye, Myrrha, but the woman, The female who remained, she flew upon me, And burnt my lips up with her noisome kisses; 150 And, flinging down the goblets on each hand, Methought their poisons flowed around us, till Each formed a hideous river. Still she clung; The other phantoms, like a row of statues, Stood dull as in our temples, but she still Embraced me, while I shrunk from her, as if, In lieu of her remote descendant, I Had been the son who slew her for her incest.[25] Then--then--a chaos of all loathsome things Thronged thick and shapeless: I was dead, yet feeling-- 160 Buried, and raised again--consumed by worms, Purged by the flames, and withered in the air! I can fix nothing further of my thoughts, Save that I longed for thee, and sought for thee, In all these agonies,--and woke and found thee. _Myr._ So shalt thou find me ever at thy side, Here and hereafter, if the last may be. But think not of these things--the mere creations Of late events, acting upon a frame Unused by toil, yet over-wrought by toil-- 170 Such as might try the sternest. _Sar._ I am better. Now that I see thee once more, _what was seen_ Seems nothing. _Enter_ SALEMENES. _Sal._ Is the king so soon awake? _Sar._ Yes, brother, and I would I had not slept; For all the predecessors of our line Rose up, methought, to drag me down to them. My father was amongst them, too; but he, I know not why, kept from me, leaving me Between the hunter-founder of our race, And her, the homicide and husband-killer, 180 Whom you call glorious. _Sal._ So I term you also, Now you have shown a spirit like to hers. By day-break I propose that we set forth, And charge once more the rebel crew, who still Keep gathering head, repulsed, but not quite quelled. _Sar._ How wears the night? _Sal._ There yet remain some hours Of darkness: use them for your further rest. _Sar._ No, not to-night, if 'tis not gone: methought I passed hours in that vision. _Myr._ Scarcely one; I watched by you: it was a heavy hour, 190 But an hour only. _Sar._ Let us then hold council; To-morrow we set forth. _Sal._ But ere that time, I had a grace to seek. _Sar._ 'Tis granted. _Sal._ Hear it Ere you reply too readily; and 'tis For _your_ ear only. _Myr._ Prince, I take my leave. [Exit MYRRHA. _Sal._ That slave deserves her freedom. _Sar._ Freedom only! That slave deserves to share a throne. _Sal._ Your patience-- 'Tis not yet vacant, and 'tis of its partner I come to speak with you. _Sar._ How! of the Queen? _Sal._ Even so. I judged it fitting for their safety, 200 That, ere the dawn, she sets forth with her children For Paphlagonia, where our kinsman Cotta[26] Governs; and there, at all events, secure My nephews and your sons their lives, and with them Their just pretensions to the crown in case---- _Sar._ I perish--as is probable: well thought-- Let them set forth with a sure escort. _Sal._ That Is all provided, and the galley ready To drop down the Euphrates; but ere they Depart, will you not see---- _Sar._ My sons? It may 210 Unman my heart, and the poor boys will weep; And what can I reply to comfort them, Save with some hollow hopes, and ill-worn smiles? You know I cannot feign. _Sal._ But you can feel! At least, I trust so: in a word, the Queen Requests to see you ere you part--for ever. _Sar._ Unto what end? what purpose? I will grant Aught--all that she can ask--but such a meeting. _Sal._ You know, or ought to know, enough of women, Since you have studied them so steadily[af], 220 That what they ask in aught that touches on The heart, is dearer to their feelings or Their fancy, than the whole external world. I think as you do of my sister's wish; But 'twas her wish--she is my sister--you Her husband--will you grant it? _Sar._ 'Twill be useless: But let her come. _Sal._ I go. [_Exit_ SALEMENES. _Sar._ We have lived asunder Too long to meet again--and _now_ to meet! Have I not cares enow, and pangs enow, To bear alone, that we must mingle sorrows, 230 Who have ceased to mingle love? _Re-enter_ SALEMENES _and_ ZARINA. _Sal._ My sister! Courage: Shame not our blood with trembling, but remember From whence we sprung. The Queen is present, Sire. _Zar._ I pray thee, brother, leave me. _Sal._ Since you ask it. [_Exit_ SALEMENES. _Zar._ Alone with him! How many a year has passed[27], Though we are still so young, since we have met, Which I have worn in widowhood of heart. He loved me not: yet he seems little changed-- Changed to me only--would the change were mutual! He speaks not--scarce regards me--not a word, 240 Nor look--yet he _was_ soft of voice and aspect, Indifferent, not austere. My Lord! _Sar._ Zarina! _Zar._ No, _not_ Zarina--do not say Zarina. That tone--That word--annihilate long years, And things which make them longer. _Sar._ 'Tis too late To think of these past dreams. Let's not reproach-- That is, reproach me not--for the _last_ time---- _Zar._ And _first_, I ne'er reproached you. _Sar._ 'Tis most true; And that reproof comes heavier on my heart Than----But our hearts are not in our own power. 250 _Zar._ Nor hands; but I gave both. _Sar._ Your brother said It was your will to see me, ere you went From Nineveh with----(_He hesitates_.) _Zar._ Our children: it is true. I wish to thank you that you have not divided My heart from all that's left it now to love-- Those who are yours and mine, who look like you, And look upon me as you looked upon me Once----but _they_ have not changed. _Sar._ Nor ever will. I fain would have them dutiful. _Zar._ I cherish Those infants, not alone from the blind love 260 Of a fond mother, but as a fond woman. They are now the only tie between us. _Sar._ Deem not I have not done you justice: rather make them Resemble your own line than their own Sire. I trust them with you--to you: fit them for A throne, or, if that be denied----You have heard Of this night's tumults? _Zar._ I had half forgotten, And could have welcomed any grief save yours, Which gave me to behold your face again. _Sar._ The throne--I say it not in fear--but 'tis 270 In peril: they perhaps may never mount it: But let them not for this lose sight of it. I will dare all things to bequeath it them; But if I fail, then they must win it back Bravely--and, won, wear it wisely, not as I[ag] Have wasted down my royalty. _Zar._ They ne'er Shall know from me of aught but what may honour Their father's memory. _Sar._ Rather let them hear The truth from you than from a trampling world. If they be in adversity, they'll learn 280 Too soon the scorn of crowds for crownless Princes, And find that all their father's sins are theirs. My boys!--I could have borne it were I childless. _Zar._ Oh! do not say so--do not poison all My peace left, by unwishing that thou wert A father. If thou conquerest, they shall reign, And honour him who saved the realm for them, So little cared for as his own; and if---- _Sar._ 'Tis lost, all Earth will cry out, "thank your father!" And they will swell the echo with a curse. 290 _Zar._ That they shall never do; but rather honour The name of him, who, dying like a king, In his last hours did more for his own memory Than many monarchs in a length of days, Which date the flight of time, but make no annals. _Sar._ Our annals draw perchance unto their close; But at the least, whate'er the past, their end Shall be like their beginning--memorable. _Zar._ Yet, be not rash--be careful of your life, Live but for those who love. _Sar._ And who are they? 300 A slave, who loves from passion--I'll not say Ambition--she has seen thrones shake, and loves; A few friends who have revelled till we are As one, for they are nothing if I fall; A brother I have injured--children whom I have neglected, and a spouse---- _Zar._ Who loves. _Sar._ And pardons? _Zar._ I have never thought of this, And cannot pardon till I have condemned. _Sar._ My wife! _Zar._ Now blessings on thee for that word! I never thought to hear it more--from thee. 310 _Sar._ Oh! thou wilt hear it from my subjects. Yes-- These slaves whom I have nurtured, pampered, fed, And swoln with peace, and gorged with plenty, till They reign themselves--all monarchs in their mansions-- Now swarm forth in rebellion, and demand His death, who made their lives a jubilee; While the few upon whom I have no claim Are faithful! This is true, yet monstrous. _Zar._ 'Tis Perhaps too natural; for benefits Turn poison in bad minds. _Sar._ And good ones make 320 Good out of evil. Happier than the bee, Which hives not but from wholesome flowers. _Zar._ Then reap The honey, nor inquire whence 'tis derived. Be satisfied--you are not all abandoned. _Sar._ My life insures me that. How long, bethink you, Were not I yet a king, should I be mortal; That is, where mortals _are_, not where they must be? _Zar._ I know not. But yet live for my--that is, Your children's sake! _Sar._ My gentle, wronged Zarina! I am the very slave of Circumstance 330 And Impulse--borne away with every breath! Misplaced upon the throne--misplaced in life. I know not what I could have been, but feel I am not what I should be--let it end. But take this with thee: if I was not formed To prize a love like thine, a mind like thine, Nor dote even on thy beauty--as I've doted On lesser charms, for no cause save that such Devotion was a duty, and I hated All that looked like a chain for me or others 340 (This even Rebellion must avouch); yet hear These words, perhaps among my last--that none E'er valued more thy virtues, though he knew not To profit by them--as the miner lights Upon a vein of virgin ore, discovering That which avails him nothing: he hath found it, But 'tis not his--but some superior's, who Placed him to dig, but not divide the wealth Which sparkles at his feet; nor dare he lift Nor poise it, but must grovel on, upturning 350 The sullen earth. _Zar._ Oh! if thou hast at length Discovered that my love is worth esteem, I ask no more--but let us hence together, And _I_--let me say _we_--shall yet be happy. Assyria is not all the earth--we'll find A world out of our own--and be more blessed Than I have ever been, or thou, with all An empire to indulge thee. _Enter_ SALEMENES. _Sal._ I must part ye-- The moments, which must not be lost, are passing. _Zar._ Inhuman brother! wilt thou thus weigh out 360 Instants so high and blest? _Sal._ Blest! _Zar._ He hath been So gentle with me, that I cannot think Of quitting. _Sal._ So--this feminine farewell Ends as such partings end, in _no_ departure. I thought as much, and yielded against all My better bodings. But it must not be. _Zar._ Not be? _Sal._ Remain, and perish---- _Zar._ With my husband---- _Sal._ And children. _Zar._ Alas! _Sal._ Hear me, sister, like _My_ sister:--all's prepared to make your safety Certain, and of the boys too, our last hopes; 370 'Tis not a single question of mere feeling, Though that were much--but 'tis a point of state: The rebels would do more to seize upon The offspring of their sovereign, and so crush---- _Zar._ Ah! do not name it. _Sal._ Well, then, mark me: when They are safe beyond the Median's grasp, the rebels Have missed their chief aim--the extinction of The line of Nimrod. Though the present King Fall, his sons live--for victory and vengeance. _Zar._ But could not I remain, alone? _Sal._ What! leave 380 Your children, with two parents and yet orphans-- In a strange land--so young, so distant? _Zar._ No-- My heart will break. _Sal._ Now you know all--decide. _Sar._ Zarina, he hath spoken well, and we Must yield awhile to this necessity. Remaining here, you may lose all; departing, You save the better part of what is left, To both of us, and to such loyal hearts As yet beat in these kingdoms. _Sal._ The time presses. _Sar._ Go, then. If e'er we meet again, perhaps 390 I may be worthier of you--and, if not, Remember that my faults, though not atoned for, Are _ended_. Yet, I dread thy nature will Grieve more above the blighted name and ashes Which once were mightiest in Assyria--than---- But I grow womanish again, and must not; I must learn sternness now. My sins have all Been of the softer order----_hide_ thy tears-- I do not bid thee _not_ to shed them--'twere Easier to stop Euphrates at its source 400 Than one tear of a true and tender heart-- But let me not behold them; they unman me Here when I had remanned myself. My brother, Lead her away. _Zar._ Oh, God! I never shall Behold him more! _Sal._ (_striving to conduct her_). Nay, sister, I _must_ be obeyed. _Zar._ I must remain--away! you shall not hold me. What, shall he die alone?--_I_ live alone? _Sal._ He shall _not die alone_; but lonely you Have lived for years. _Zar._ That's false! I knew _he_ lived, And lived upon his image--let me go! 410 _Sal._ (_conducting her off the stage_). Nay, then, I must use some fraternal force, Which you will pardon. _Zar._ Never. Help me! Oh! Sardanapalus, wilt thou thus behold me Torn from thee? _Sal._ Nay--then all is lost again, If that this moment is not gained. _Zar._ My brain turns-- My eyes fail--where is he? [_She faints_. _Sar._ (_advancing_). No--set her down; She's dead--and you have slain her. _Sal._ 'Tis the mere Faintness of o'erwrought passion: in the air She will recover. Pray, keep back.--[_Aside_.] I must Avail myself of this sole moment to 420 Bear her to where her children are embarked, I' the royal galley on the river. [SALEMENES _bears her off_. _Sar._ (_solus_). This, too-- And this too must I suffer--I, who never Inflicted purposely on human hearts A voluntary pang! But that is false-- She loved me, and I loved her.--Fatal passion! Why dost thou not expire at _once_ in hearts Which thou hast lighted up at once? Zarina![ah] I must pay dearly for the desolation Now brought upon thee. Had I never loved 430 But thee, I should have been an unopposed Monarch of honouring nations. To what gulfs A single deviation from the track Of human duties leads even those who claim The homage of mankind as their born due, And find it, till they forfeit it themselves! _Enter_ MYRRHA. _Sar._ _You_ here! Who called you? _Myr._ No one--but I heard Far off a voice of wail and lamentation, And thought---- _Sar._ It forms no portion of your duties To enter here till sought for. _Myr._ Though I might, 440 Perhaps, recall some softer words of yours (Although they _too were chiding_), which reproved me, Because I ever dreaded to intrude; Resisting my own wish and your injunction To heed no time nor presence, but approach you Uncalled for:--I retire. _Sar._ Yet stay--being here. I pray you pardon me: events have soured me Till I wax peevish--heed it not: I shall Soon be myself again. _Myr._ I wait with patience, What I shall see with pleasure. _Sar._ Scarce a moment 450 Before your entrance in this hall, Zarina, Queen of Assyria, departed hence. _Myr._ Ah! _Sar._ Wherefore do you start? _Myr._ Did I do so? _Sar._ 'Twas well you entered by another portal, Else you had met. That pang at least is spared her! _Myr._ I know to feel for her. _Sar._ That is too much, And beyond nature--'tis nor mutual[ai] Nor possible. You cannot pity her, Nor she aught but---- _Myr._ Despise the favourite slave? Not more than I have ever scorned myself. 460 _Sar._ Scorned! what, to be the envy of your sex, And lord it o'er the heart of the World's lord? _Myr._ Were you the lord of twice ten thousand worlds-- As you are like to lose the one you swayed-- I did abase myself as much in being Your paramour, as though you were a peasant-- Nay, more, if that the peasant were a Greek. _Sar._ You talk it well---- _Myr._ And truly. _Sar._ In the hour Of man's adversity all things grow daring Against the falling; but as I am not 470 Quite fall'n, nor now disposed to bear reproaches, Perhaps because I merit them too often, Let us then part while peace is still between us. _Myr._ Part! _Sar._ Have not all past human beings parted, And must not all the present one day part? _Myr._ Why? _Sar._ For your safety, which I will have looked to, With a strong escort to your native land; And such gifts, as, if you had not been all A Queen, shall make your dowry worth a kingdom. _Myr._ I pray you talk not thus. _Sar._ The Queen is gone: 480 You need not shame to follow. I would fall Alone--I seek no partners but in pleasure. _Myr._ And I no pleasure but in parting not. You shall not force me from you. _Sar._ Think well of it-- It soon may be too late. _Myr._ So let it be; For then you cannot separate me from you. _Sar._ And will not; but I thought you wished it. _Myr._ I! _Sar._ You spoke of your abasement. _Myr._ And I feel it Deeply--more deeply than all things but love. _Sar._ Then fly from it. _Myr._ 'Twill not recall the past-- 490 'Twill not restore my honour, nor my heart. No--here I stand or fall. If that you conquer, I live to joy in your great triumph: should Your lot be different, I'll not weep, but share it. You did not doubt me a few hours ago. _Sar._ Your courage never--nor your love till now; And none could make me doubt it save yourself. Those words---- _Myr._ Were words. I pray you, let the proofs Be in the past acts you were pleased to praise This very night, and in my further bearing, 500 Beside, wherever you are borne by fate. _Sar._ I am content: and, trusting in my cause, Think we may yet be victors and return To peace--the only victory I covet. To me war is no glory--conquest no Renown. To be forced thus to uphold my right Sits heavier on my heart than all the wrongs[aj] These men would bow me down with. Never, never Can I forget this night, even should I live To add it to the memory of others. 510 I thought to have made mine inoffensive rule An era of sweet peace 'midst bloody annals, A green spot amidst desert centuries, On which the Future would turn back and smile, And cultivate, or sigh when it could not Recall Sardanapalus' golden reign. I thought to have made my realm a paradise, And every moon an epoch of new pleasures. I took the rabble's shouts for love--the breath Of friends for truth--the lips of woman for 520 My only guerdon--so they are, my Myrrha: [_He kisses her_. Kiss me. Now let them take my realm and life! They shall have both, but never _thee!_ _Myr._ No, never! Man may despoil his brother man of all That's great or glittering--kingdoms fall, hosts yield, Friends fail--slaves fly--and all betray--and, more Than all, the most indebted--but a heart That loves without self-love! 'Tis here--now prove it. _Enter_ SALEMENES. _Sal._ I sought you--How! _she_ here again? _Sar._ Return not _Now_ to reproof: methinks your aspect speaks 530 Of higher matter than a woman's presence. _Sal._ The only woman whom it much imports me At such a moment now is safe in absence-- The Queen's embarked. _Sar._ And well? say that much. _Sal._ Yes. Her transient weakness has passed o'er; at least, It settled into tearless silence: her Pale face and glittering eye, after a glance Upon her sleeping children, were still fixed Upon the palace towers as the swift galley Stole down the hurrying stream beneath the starlight; 540 But she said nothing. _Sar._ Would I felt no more Than she has said! _Sal._ 'Tis now too late to feel. Your feelings cannot cancel a sole pang: To change them, my advices bring sure tidings That the rebellious Medes and Chaldees, marshalled By their two leaders, are already up In arms again; and, serrying their ranks, Prepare to attack: they have apparently Been joined by other Satraps. _Sar._ What! more rebels? Let us be first, then. _Sal._ That were hardly prudent 550 Now, though it was our first intention. If By noon to-morrow we are joined by those I've sent for by sure messengers, we shall be In strength enough to venture an attack, Aye, and pursuit too; but, till then, my voice Is to await the onset. _Sar._ I detest That waiting; though it seems so safe to fight Behind high walls, and hurl down foes into Deep fosses, or behold them sprawl on spikes Strewed to receive them, still I like it not-- 560 My soul seems lukewarm; but when I set on them, Though they were piled on mountains, I would have A pluck at them, or perish in hot blood!-- Let me then charge. _Sal._ You talk like a young soldier. _Sar._ I am no soldier, but a man: speak not Of soldiership, I loathe the word, and those Who pride themselves upon it; but direct me Where I may pour upon them. _Sal._ You must spare To expose your life too hastily; 'tis not Like mine or any other subject's breath: 570 The whole war turns upon it--with it; this Alone creates it, kindles, and may quench it-- Prolong it--end it. _Sar._ Then let us end both! 'Twere better thus, perhaps, than prolong either; I'm sick of one, perchance of both. [_A trumpet sounds without_. _Sal._ Hark! _Sar._ Let us Reply, not listen. _Sal._ And your wound! _Sar._ 'Tis bound-- 'Tis healed--I had forgotten it. Away! A leech's lancet would have scratched me deeper;[ak] The slave that gave it might be well ashamed To have struck so weakly. _Sal._ Now, may none this hour 580 Strike with a better aim! _Sar._ Aye, if we conquer; But if not, they will only leave to me A task they might have spared their king. Upon them! [_Trumpet sounds again_. _Sal._ I am with you. _Sar._ Ho, my arms! again, my arms! [_Exeunt_. ACT V. SCENE I.-_The same Hall in the Palace_. MYRRHA _and_ BALEA. _Myr._ (_at a window_)[28] The day at last has broken. What a night Hath ushered it! How beautiful in heaven! Though varied with a transitory storm, More beautiful in that variety! How hideous upon earth! where Peace and Hope, And Love and Revel, in an hour were trampled By human passions to a human chaos, Not yet resolved to separate elements-- 'Tis warring still! And can the sun so rise, So bright, so rolling back the clouds into 10 Vapours more lovely than the unclouded sky, With golden pinnacles, and snowy mountains, And billows purpler than the Ocean's, making In heaven a glorious mockery of the earth, So like we almost deem it permanent; So fleeting, we can scarcely call it aught Beyond a vision, 'tis so transiently Scattered along the eternal vault: and yet It dwells upon the soul, and soothes the soul, And blends itself into the soul, until 20 Sunrise and sunset form the haunted epoch Of Sorrow and of Love; which they who mark not, Know not the realms where those twin genii[al] (Who chasten and who purify our hearts, So that we would not change their sweet rebukes For all the boisterous joys that ever shook The air with clamour) build the palaces Where their fond votaries repose and breathe Briefly;--but in that brief cool calm inhale Enough of heaven to enable them to bear 30 The rest of common, heavy, human hours, And dream them through in placid sufferance, Though seemingly employed like all the rest Of toiling breathers in allotted tasks[am] Of pain or pleasure, _two_ names for _one_ feeling, Which our internal, restless agony Would vary in the sound, although the sense Escapes our highest efforts to be happy. _Bal._ You muse right calmly: and can you so watch The sunrise which may be our last? _Myr._ It is 40 Therefore that I so watch it, and reproach Those eyes, which never may behold it more, For having looked upon it oft, too oft, Without the reverence and the rapture due To that which keeps all earth from being as fragile As I am in this form. Come, look upon it, The Chaldee's God, which, when I gaze upon, I grow almost a convert to your Baal. _Bal._ As now he reigns in heaven, so once on earth He swayed. _Myr._ He sways it now far more, then; never 50 Had earthly monarch half the power and glory Which centres in a single ray of his. _Bal._ Surely he is a God! _Myr._ So we Greeks deem too; And yet I sometimes think that gorgeous orb Must rather be the abode of Gods than one Of the immortal sovereigns. Now he breaks Through all the clouds, and fills my eyes with light That shuts the world out. I can look no more. _Bal._ Hark! heard you not a sound? _Myr._ No, 'twas mere fancy; They battle it beyond the wall, and not 60 As in late midnight conflict in the very Chambers: the palace has become a fortress Since that insidious hour; and here, within The very centre, girded by vast courts And regal halls of pyramid proportions, Which must be carried one by one before They penetrate to where they then arrived, We are as much shut in even from the sound Of peril as from glory. _Bal._ But they reached Thus far before. _Myr._ Yes, by surprise, and were 70 Beat back by valour: now at once we have Courage and vigilance to guard us. _Bal._ May they Prosper! _Myr._ That is the prayer of many, and The dread of more: it is an anxious hour; I strive to keep it from my thoughts. Alas! How vainly! _Bal._ It is said the King's demeanour In the late action scarcely more appalled The rebels than astonished his true subjects. _Myr._ 'Tis easy to astonish or appal The vulgar mass which moulds a horde of slaves; 80 But he did bravely. _Bal._ Slew he not Beleses? I heard the soldiers say he struck him down. _Myr._ The wretch was overthrown, but rescued to Triumph, perhaps, o'er one who vanquished him In fight, as he had spared him in his peril; And by that heedless pity risked a crown. _Bal._ Hark! _Myr._ You are right; some steps approach, but slowly. _Enter Soldiers, bearing in_ SALEMENES _wounded, with a broken javelin in his side: they seat him upon one of the couches which furnish the Apartment_. _Myr._ Oh, Jove! _Bal._ Then all is over. _Sal._ That is false. Hew down the slave who says so, if a soldier. _Myr._ Spare him--he's none: a mere court butterfly, 90 That flutter in the pageant of a monarch. _Sal._ Let him live on, then. _Myr._ So wilt thou, I trust. _Sal._ I fain would live this hour out, and the event, But doubt it. Wherefore did ye bear me here? _Sol._ By the King's order. When the javelin struck you, You fell and fainted: 'twas his strict command To bear you to this hall. _Sal._ 'Twas not ill done: For seeming slain in that cold dizzy trance, The sight might shake our soldiers--but--'tis vain, I feel it ebbing! _Myr._ Let me see the wound; 100 I am not quite skilless: in my native land 'Tis part of our instruction. War being constant, We are nerved to look on such things.[an] _Sol._ Best extract The javelin. _Myr._ Hold! no, no, it cannot be. _Sal._ I am sped, then! _Myr._ With the blood that fast must follow The extracted weapon, I do fear thy life. _Sal._ And I _not_ death. Where was the King when you Conveyed me from the spot where I was stricken? _Sol._ Upon the same ground, and encouraging With voice and gesture the dispirited troops 110 Who had seen you fall, and faltered back. _Sal._ Whom heard ye Named next to the command? _Sol._ I did not hear. _Sal._ Fly, then, and tell him, 'twas my last request That Zames take my post until the junction, So hoped for, yet delayed, of Ofratanes, Satrap of Susa. Leave me here: our troops Are not so numerous as to spare your absence. _Sol._ But Prince---- _Sal._ Hence, I say! Here's a courtier and A woman, the best chamber company. As you would not permit me to expire 120 Upon the field, I'll have no idle soldiers About my sick couch. Hence! and do my bidding! [_Exeunt the Soldiers_. _Myr._ Gallant and glorious Spirit! must the earth So soon resign thee? _Sal._ Gentle Myrrha, 'tis The end I would have chosen, had I saved The monarch or the monarchy by this; As 'tis, I have not outlived them. _Myr._ You wax paler. _Sal._ Your hand; this broken weapon but prolongs My pangs, without sustaining life enough To make me useful: I would draw it forth 130 And my life with it, could I but hear how The fight goes. _Enter_ SARDANAPALUS _and Soldiers_. _Sar._ My best brother! _Sal._ And the battle Is lost? _Sar._ (_despondingly_). You see _me here_. _Sal._ I'd rather see you _thus!_ [_He draws out the weapon from the wound, and dies_. _Sar._ And _thus_ I will be seen; unless the succour, The last frail reed of our beleagured hopes, Arrive with Ofratanes. _Myr._ Did you not Receive a token from your dying brother, Appointing Zames chief? _Sar._ I did. _Myr._ Where's Zames? _Sar._ Dead. _Myr._ And Altada? _Sar._ Dying. _Myr._ Pania? Sfero? _Sar._ Pania yet lives; but Sfero's fled or captive. 140 I am alone. _Myr._ And is all lost? _Sar._ Our walls, Though thinly manned, may still hold out against Their present force, or aught save treachery: But i' the field---- _Myr._ I thought 'twas the intent Of Salemenes not to risk a sally Till ye were strengthened by the expected succours. _Sar._ _I_ over-ruled him. _Myr._ Well, the _fault's_ a brave one. _Sar._ But fatal. Oh, my brother! I would give These realms, of which thou wert the ornament, The sword and shield, the sole-redeeming honour, 150 To call back----But I will not weep for thee; Thou shall be mourned for as thou wouldst be mourned. It grieves me most that thou couldst quit this life Believing that I could survive what thou Hast died for--our long royalty of race. If I redeem it, I will give thee blood Of thousands, tears of millions, for atonement, (The tears of all the good are thine already). If not, we meet again soon,--if the spirit Within us lives beyond:--thou readest mine, 160 And dost me justice now. Let me once clasp That yet warm hand, and fold that throbless heart [_Embraces the body_. To this which beats so bitterly. Now, bear The body hence. _Sol._ Where? _Sar._ To my proper chamber. Place it beneath my canopy, as though The King lay there: when this is done, we will Speak further of the rites due to such ashes. [_Exeunt Soldiers with the body of_ SALEMENES. _Enter_ PANIA. _Sar._ Well, Pania! have you placed the guards, and issued The orders fixed on? _Pan._ Sire, I have obeyed. _Sar._ And do the soldiers keep their hearts up? _Pan._ Sire? 170 _Sar._ I am answered! When a king asks twice, and has A question as an answer to _his_ question, It is a portent. What! they are disheartened? _Pan._ The death of Salemenes, and the shouts Of the exulting rebels on his fall, Have made them---- _Sar._ _Rage_--not droop--it should have been. We'll find the means to rouse them. _Pan._ Such a loss Might sadden even a victory. _Sar._ Alas! Who can so feel it as I feel? but yet, Though cooped within these walls, they are strong, and we 180 Have those without will break their way through hosts, To make their sovereign's dwelling what it was-- A palace, not a prison--nor a fortress. _Enter an Officer, hastily_. _Sar._ Thy face seems ominous. Speak! _Offi._ I dare not. _Sar._ Dare not? While millions dare revolt with sword in hand! That's strange. I pray thee break that loyal silence Which loathes to shock its sovereign; we can hear Worse than thou hast to tell. _Pan._ Proceed--thou hearest. _Offi._ The wall which skirted near the river's brink Is thrown down by the sudden inundation 190 Of the Euphrates, which now rolling, swoln From the enormous mountains where it rises, By the late rains of that tempestuous region, O'erfloods its banks, and hath destroyed the bulwark. _Pan._ That's a black augury! it has been said For ages, "That the City ne'er should yield To man, until the River grew its foe." _Sar._ I can forgive the omen, not the ravage. How much is swept down of the wall? _Offi._ About Some twenty stadia.[29] _Sar._ And all this is left 200 Pervious to the assailants? _Offi._ For the present The River's fury must impede the assault; But when he shrinks into his wonted channel, And may be crossed by the accustomed barks, The palace is their own. _Sar._ That shall be never. Though men, and gods, and elements, and omens, Have risen up 'gainst one who ne'er provoked them, My father's house shall never be a cave For wolves to horde and howl in. _Pan._ With your sanction, I will proceed to the spot, and take such measures 210 For the assurance of the vacant space As time and means permit. _Sar._ About it straight, And bring me back, as speedily as full And fair investigation may permit, Report of the true state of this irruption Of waters. [_Exeunt_ PANIA _and the Officer_. _Myr._ Thus the very waves rise up Against you. _Sar._ They are not my subjects, girl, And may be pardoned, since they can't be punished. _Myr._ I joy to see this portent shakes you not. _Sar._ I am past the fear of portents: they can tell me 220 Nothing I have not told myself since midnight: Despair anticipates such things. _Myr._ Despair! _Sar._ No; not despair precisely. When we know All that can come, and how to meet it, our Resolves, if firm, may merit a more noble Word than this is to give it utterance. But what are words to us? we have well nigh done With them and all things. _Myr._ Save _one deed_--the last And greatest to all mortals; crowning act Of all that was, or is, or is to be-- 230 The only thing common to all mankind, So different in their births, tongues, sexes, natures, Hues, features, climes, times, feelings, intellects,[ao] Without one point of union save in this-- To which we tend, for which we're born, and thread The labyrinth of mystery, called life. _Sar._ Our clue being well nigh wound out, let's be cheerful. They who have nothing more to fear may well Indulge a smile at that which once appalled; As children at discovered bugbears. _Re-enter_ PANIA. _Pan._ 'Tis 240 As was reported: I have ordered there A double guard, withdrawing from the wall, Where it was strongest, the required addition To watch the breach occasioned by the waters. _Sar._ You have done your duty faithfully, and as My worthy Pania! further ties between us Draw near a close--I pray you take this key: [_Gives a key_. It opens to a secret chamber, placed Behind the couch in my own chamber--(Now Pressed by a nobler weight than e'er it bore-- 250 Though a long line of sovereigns have lain down Along its golden frame--as bearing for A time what late was Salemenes.)--Search The secret covert to which this will lead you; 'Tis full of treasure;[30] take it for yourself And your companions:[ap] there's enough to load ye, Though ye be many. Let the slaves be freed, too; And all the inmates of the palace, of Whatever sex, now quit it in an hour. Thence launch the regal barks, once formed for pleasure, 260 And now to serve for safety, and embark. The river's broad and swoln, and uncommanded, (More potent than a king) by these besiegers. Fly! and be happy! _Pan._ Under your protection! So you accompany your faithful guard. _Sar._ No, Pania! that must not be; get thee hence, And leave me to my fate. _Pan._ 'Tis the first time I ever disobeyed: but now---- _Sar._ So all men Dare beard me now, and Insolence within Apes Treason from without. Question no further; 270 'Tis my command, my last command. Wilt _thou_ Oppose it? _thou!_ _Pan._ But yet--not yet. _Sar._ Well, then, Swear that you will obey when I shall give The signal. _Pan._ With a heavy but true heart, I promise. _Sar._ 'Tis enough. Now order here Faggots, pine-nuts, and withered leaves, and such Things as catch fire and blaze with one sole spark; Bring cedar, too, and precious drugs, and spices, And mighty planks, to nourish a tall pile; Bring frankincense and myrrh, too, for it is 280 For a great sacrifice I build the pyre! And heap them round yon throne. _Pan._ My Lord! _Sar._ I have said it, And _you_ have sworn. _Pan._ And could keep my faith Without a vow. [_Exit_ PANIA. _Myr._ What mean you? _Sar._ You shall know Anon--what the whole earth shall ne'er forget. PANIA, _returning with a Herald_. _Pan._ My King, in going forth upon my duty, This herald has been brought before me, craving An audience. _Sar._ Let him speak. _Her._ The _King_ Arbaces---- _Sar._ What, crowned already?--But, proceed. _Her._ Beleses, The anointed High-priest---- _Sar._ Of what god or demon? 290 With new kings rise new altars. But, proceed; You are sent to prate your master's will, and not Reply to mine. _Her._ And Satrap Ofratanes---- _Sar._ Why, _he_ is _ours_. _Her._ (_showing a ring_). Be sure that he is now In the camp of the conquerors; behold His signet ring. _Sar._ 'Tis his. A worthy triad! Poor Salemenes! thou hast died in time To see one treachery the less: this man Was thy true friend and my most trusted subject. Proceed. _Her._ They offer thee thy life, and freedom 300 Of choice to single out a residence In any of the further provinces, Guarded and watched, but not confined in person, Where thou shalt pass thy days in peace; but on Condition that the three young princes are Given up as hostages. _Sar._ (_ironically_). The generous Victors! _Her._ I wait the answer. _Sar._ Answer, slave! How long Have slaves decided on the doom of kings? _Her._ Since they were free. _Sar._ Mouthpiece of mutiny! Thou at the least shalt learn the penalty 310 Of treason, though its proxy only. Pania! Let his head be thrown from our walls within The rebels' lines, his carcass down the river. Away with him! [PANIA _and the Guards seizing him_. _Pan._ I never yet obeyed Your orders with more pleasure than the present. Hence with him, soldiers! do not soil this hall Of royalty with treasonable gore; Put him to rest without. _Her._ A single word: My office, King, is sacred. _Sar._ And what's _mine_? That thou shouldst come and dare to ask of me 320 To lay it down? _Her._ I but obeyed my orders, At the same peril if refused, as now Incurred by my obedience. _Sar._ So there are New monarchs of an hour's growth as despotic As sovereigns swathed in purple, and enthroned From birth to manhood! _Her._ My life waits your breath. Yours (I speak humbly)--but it may be--yours May also be in danger scarce less imminent: Would it then suit the last hours of a line Such as is that of Nimrod, to destroy 330 A peaceful herald, unarmed, in his office; And violate not only all that man Holds sacred between man and man--but that More holy tie which links us with the Gods? _Sar._ He's right.--Let him go free.--My life's last act Shall not be one of wrath. Here, fellow, take [_Gives him a golden cup from a table near_. This golden goblet, let it hold your wine, And think of _me_; or melt it into ingots, And think of nothing but their weight and value. _Her._ I thank you doubly for my life, and this 340 Most gorgeous gift, which renders it more precious. But must I bear no answer? _Sar._ Yes,--I ask An hour's truce to consider. _Her._ But an hour's? _Sar._ An hour's: if at the expiration of That time your masters hear no further from me, They are to deem that I reject their terms, And act befittingly. _Her._ I shall not fail To be a faithful legate of your pleasure. _Sar._ And hark! a word more. _Her._ I shall not forget it, Whate'er it be. _Sar._ Commend me to Beleses; 350 And tell him, ere a year expire, I summon Him hence to meet me. _Her._ Where? _Sar._ At Babylon. At least from thence he will depart to meet me. _Her._ I shall obey you to the letter. [_Exit Herald_. _Sar._ Pania!-- Now, my good Pania!--quick--with what I ordered. _Pan._ My Lord,--the soldiers are already charged. And see! they enter. _Soldiers enter, and form a Pile about the Throne, etc._[31] _Sar._ Higher, my good soldiers, And thicker yet; and see that the foundation Be such as will not speedily exhaust Its own too subtle flame; nor yet be quenched 360 With aught officious aid would bring to quell it. Let the throne form the _core_ of it; I would not Leave that, save fraught with fire unquenchable, To the new comers. Frame the whole as if 'Twere to enkindle the strong tower of our Inveterate enemies. Now it bears an aspect! How say you, Pania, will this pile suffice For a King's obsequies? _Pan._ Aye, for a kingdom's. I understand you, now. _Sar._ And blame me? _Pan._ No-- Let me but fire the pile, and share it with you. 370 _Myr._ That _duty's_ mine. _Pan._ A woman's! _Myr._ 'Tis the soldier's Part to die _for_ his sovereign, and why not The woman's with her lover? _Pan._ 'Tis most strange! _Myr._ But not so rare, my Pania, as thou think'st it. In the mean time, live thou.--Farewell! the pile Is ready. _Pan._ I should shame to leave my sovereign With but a single female to partake His death. _Sar._ Too many far have heralded Me to the dust already. Get thee hence; Enrich thee. _Pan._ And live wretched! _Sar._ Think upon 380 Thy vow:--'tis sacred and irrevocable. _Pan._ Since it is so, farewell. _Sar._ Search well my chamber, Feel no remorse at bearing off the gold; Remember, what you leave you leave the slaves Who slew me: and when you have borne away All safe off to your boats, blow one long blast Upon the trumpet as you quit the palace. The river's brink is too remote, its stream Too loud at present to permit the echo To reach distinctly from its banks. Then fly,-- 390 And as you sail, turn back; but still keep on Your way along the Euphrates: if you reach The land of Paphlagonia, where the Queen Is safe with my three sons in Cotta's court, Say what you _saw_ at parting, and request That she remember what I _said_ at one Parting more mournful still. _Pan._ That royal hand! Let me then once more press it to my lips; And these poor soldiers who throng round you, and Would fain die with you! [_The Soldiers and_ PANIA _throng round him, kissing his hand and the hem of his robe_. _Sar._ My best! my last friends! 400 Let's not unman each other: part at once: All farewells should be sudden, when for ever, Else they make an eternity of moments, And clog the last sad sands of life with tears. Hence, and be happy: trust me, I am not _Now_ to be pitied; or far more for what Is past than present;--for the future, 'tis In the hands of the deities, if such There be: I shall know soon. Farewell--Farewell. [_Exeunt_ PANIA _and Soldiers_. _Myr._ These men were honest: it is comfort still 410 That our last looks should be on loving faces. _Sar._ And _lovely_ ones, my beautiful!--but hear me! If at this moment,--for we now are on The brink,--thou feel'st an inward shrinking from This leap through flame into the future, say it: I shall not love thee less; nay, perhaps more, For yielding to thy nature: and there's time Yet for thee to escape hence. _Myr._ Shall I light One of the torches which lie heaped beneath The ever-burning lamp that burns without, 420 Before Baal's shrine, in the adjoining hall? _Sar._ Do so. Is that thy answer? _Myr._ Thou shalt see. [_Exit_ MYRRHA. _Sar._ (_solus_). She's firm. My fathers! whom I will rejoin, It may be, purified by death from some Of the gross stains of too material being, I would not leave your ancient first abode To the defilement of usurping bondmen; If I have not kept your inheritance As ye bequeathed it, this bright part of it, Your treasure--your abode--your sacred relics 430 Of arms, and records--monuments, and spoils, In which _they_ would have revelled, I bear with me To you in that absorbing element, Which most personifies the soul as leaving The least of matter unconsumed before Its fiery workings:--and the light of this Most royal of funereal pyres shall be[aq] Not a mere pillar formed of cloud and flame, A beacon in the horizon for a day, And then a mount of ashes--but a light[ar] 440 To lesson ages, rebel nations, and Voluptuous princes. Time shall quench full many A people's records, and a hero's acts; Sweep empire after empire, like this first Of empires, into nothing; but even then Shall spare this deed of mine, and hold it up A problem few dare imitate, and none Despise--but, it may be, avoid the life Which led to such a consummation. MYRRHA _returns with a lighted Torch in one Hand, and a Cup in the other_. _Myr._ Lo! I've lit the lamp which lights us to the stars. 450 _Sar._ And the cup? _Myr._ 'Tis my country's custom to Make a libation to the Gods. _Sar._ And mine To make libations amongst men. I've not Forgot the custom; and although alone, Will drain one draught in memory of many A joyous banquet past. [SARDANAPALUS _takes the cup, and after drinking and tinkling the reversed cup, as a drop falls, exclaims_-- And this libation Is for the excellent Beleses. _Myr._ Why Dwells thy mind rather upon that man's name Than on his mate's in villany? _Sar._ The other Is a mere soldier, a mere tool, a kind 460 Of human sword in a friend's hand; the other Is master-mover of his warlike puppet; But I dismiss them from my mind.--Yet pause, My Myrrha! dost thou truly follow me, Freely and fearlessly? _Myr._ And dost thou think A Greek girl dare not do for love, that which An Indian widow braves for custom?[as] _Sar._ Then We but await the signal. _Myr._ It is long In sounding. _Sar._ Now, farewell; one last embrace. _Myr._ Embrace, but _not_ the last; there is one more. 470 _Sar._ True, the commingling fire will mix our ashes. _Myr._ And pure as is my love to thee, shall they, Purged from the dross of earth, and earthly passion, Mix pale with thine. A single thought yet irks me. _Sar._ Say it. _Myr._ It is that no kind hand will gather The dust of both into one urn. _Sar._ The better: Rather let them be borne abroad upon The winds of heaven, and scattered into air, Than be polluted more by human hands Of slaves and traitors. In this blazing palace, 480 And its enormous walls of reeking ruin, We leave a nobler monument than Egypt Hath piled in her brick mountains, o'er dead kings,[32] Or _kine_--for none know whether those proud piles Be for their monarch, or their ox-god Apis: So much for monuments that have forgotten Their very record! _Myr._ Then farewell, thou earth! And loveliest spot of earth! farewell, Ionia! Be thou still free and beautiful, and far Aloof from desolation! My last prayer 490 Was for thee, my last thoughts, save _one_, were of thee! _Sar._ And that? _Myr._ Is yours. [_The trumpet of_ PANIA _sounds without_. _Sar._ Hark! _Myr._ _Now_! _Sar._ Adieu, Assyria! I loved thee well, my own, my fathers' land, And better as my country than my kingdom. I sated thee with peace and joys; and this Is my reward! and now I owe thee nothing, Not even a grave. [_He mounts the pile_. Now, Myrrha! _Myr._ Art thou ready? _Sar._ As the torch in thy grasp. [MYRRHA _fires the pile_. _Myr._ 'Tis fired! I come. [_As_ MYRRHA _springs forward to throw herself into the flames, the Curtain falls_.[33] FOOTNOTES: [1] {4}[For a description of the fall of Nineveh, see _Nahum_ ii. 1, sqq.--"He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face.... The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet.... The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved," etc.] [2] {7}["A manuscript dedication of _Sardanapalus_ ... was forwarded to him, with an obliging inquiry whether it might be prefixed to the tragedy. The German, who, at his advanced age, was conscious of his own powers, and of their effects, could only gratefully and modestly consider this Dedication as the expression of an inexhaustible intellect, deeply feeling and creating its own object. He was by no means dissatisfied when, after long delay, _Sardanapalus_ appeared without the Dedication; and was made happy by the possession of a facsimile of it, engraved on stone, which he considered a precious memorial."--_Lebensverhaeltnik zu Byron_, _Werke_, 1833, xlvi. 221-225. (See, too, for translation, _Life_, p. 593.)] [3] {9}[_Sardanapalus_ originally appeared in the same volume with _The Two Foscari_ and _Cain_. The date of publication was December 19, 1821.] [4] {10}["Sardanapalus, the Thirtieth from Ninus, and the last King of the Assyrians, exceeded all his Predecessors in Sloth and Luxury; for besides that he was seen of none out of his family, he led a most effeminate life: for wallowing in Pleasure and wanton Dalliances, he cloathed himself in Womens' attire, and spun fine Wool and Purple amongst the throngs of his Whores and Concubines. He painted likewise his Face, and decked his whole Body with other Allurements.... He imitated likewise a Woman's voice...; and proceeded to such a degree of voluptuousness that he composed verses for his Epitaph ... which were thus translated by a Grecian out of the Barbarian language-- [Greek: Tau~t' e)/cho o(/s' e)/phagon kai\ e)phy/brisa, kai\ met' e)/rotos Te/rpn' e)/pathon' ta\ de\ polla\ kai\ o)/lbia kei~na le/leiptai.] "What once I gorged I now enjoy, And wanton Lusts me still employ; All other things by Mortals prized Are left as dirt by me despised." --_The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian_, made English by G. Booth, of the City of Chester, Esquire, 1700, p. 65. "Another king of the sort was Sardanapalus.... And so, when Arbaces, who was one of the generals under him, a Mede by birth, endeavoured to manage by the assistance of one of the eunuchs, whose name was Sparamizus, to see Sardanapalus: and when ... he saw him painted with vermilion, and adorned like a woman, sitting among his concubines, carding purple wool, and sitting among them with his feet up, wearing a woman's robe, and with his beard carefully scraped, and his face smoothed with pumice stone (for he was whiter than milk, and pencilled under his eyes and eyebrows; and when he saw Arbaces he was putting a little more white under his eyes). Most historians, of whom Duris is one, relate that Arbaces, being indignant at his countrymen being ruled over by such a monarch as that, stabbed him and slew him. But Ctesias says that he went to war with him, and collected a great army, and then that Sardanapalus, being dethroned by Arbaces, died, burning himself alive in his palace, having heaped up a funeral pile four plethra in extent, on which he placed 150 golden couches."--_The Deipnosophistae_ ... of Athenaeus, bk. xii. c. 38, translated by C. D. Yonge, 1854, iii. 847.] [5] {13}[This prince surpassed all his predecessors in effeminacy, luxury, and cowardice. He never went out of his palace, but spent all his time among a company of women, dressed and painted like them, and employed like them at the distaff. He placed all his happiness and glory in the possession of immense treasures, in feasting and rioting, and indulging himself in all the most infamous and criminal pleasures. He ordered two verses to be put upon his tomb, signifying that he carried away with him all he had eaten, and all the pleasures he had enjoyed, but left everything else behind him,--_an epitaph_, says Aristotle, _fit for a hog_. Arbaces, governor of Media, having found means to get into the palace, and having with his own eyes seen Sardanapalus in the midst of his infamous seraglio, enraged at such a spectacle, and not able to endure that so many brave men should be subjected to a prince more soft and effeminate than the women themselves, immediately formed a conspiracy against him. Beleses, governor of Babylon, and several others, entered into it. On the first rumour of this revolt the king hid himself in the inmost part of his palace. Being afterwards obliged to take the field with some forces which he had assembled, he at first gained three successive victories over the enemy, but was afterwards overcome, and pursued to the gates of Nineveh; wherein he shut himself, in hopes the rebels would never be able to take a city so well fortified, and stored with provisions for a considerable time. The siege proved indeed of very great length. It had been declared by an ancient oracle that Nineveh could never be taken unless the river became an enemy to the city. These words buoyed up Sardanapalus, because he looked upon the thing as impossible. But when he saw that the Tigris, by a violent inundation, had thrown down twenty stadia (two miles and a half) of the city wall, and by that means opened a passage to the enemy, he understood the meaning of the oracle, and thought himself lost. He resolved, however, to die in such a manner as, according to his opinion, should cover the infamy of his scandalous and effeminate life. He ordered a pile of wood to be made in his palace, and, setting fire to it, burnt himself, his eunuchs, his women, and his treasures.--Diod. Sic., _Bibl. Hist_., lib. ii. pag. 78, sqq., ed. 1604, p. 109.] [a] {14} _He sweats in dreary, dulled effeminacy_.--[MS. M. erased.] [b] {15} _And see the gewgaws of the glittering girls_.--[MS. M. erased.] [6] ["The words _Queen_ (_vide infra_, line 83) and _pavilion_ occur, but it is not an allusion to his Britannic Majesty, as you may tremulously (for the admiralty custom) imagine. This you will one day see (if I finish it), as I have made Sardanapalus _brave_ (though voluptuous, as history represents him), and also as _amiable_ as my poor powers could render him. So that it could neither be truth nor satire on any living monarch."--Letter to Murray, May 25, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 299. Byron pretended, or, perhaps, really thought, that such a phrase as the "Queen's wrongs" would be supposed to contain an allusion to the trial of Queen Caroline (August-November, 1820), and to the exclusion of her name from the State prayers, etc. Unquestionably if the play had been put on the stage at this time, the pit and gallery would have applauded the sentiment to the echo. There was, too, but one "pavilion" in 1821, and that was not on the banks of the Euphrates, but at Brighton. _Qui s'excuse s'accuse_. Byron was not above "paltering" with his readers "in a double sense."] [7] {16} "The Ionian name had been still more comprehensive; having included the Achaians and the B[oe]otians, who, together with those to whom it was afterwards confined, would make nearly the whole of the Greek nation; and among the Orientals it was always the general name for the Greeks."--MITFORD'S _Greece_, 1818. i. 199. [c] {17} _To Byblis_----.--[MS. M.] [d] _I know each glance of those deep Greek-souled eyes_.--[MS. M. erased.] [e] {19} ----_I have a mind_ _To curse the restless slaves with their own wishes_.--[MS. M. erased.] [8] {21}[For the occupation of India by Dionysus, see Diod. Siculi _Bib. Hist_., lib. ii, pag. 87, c.] [f] _He did, and thence was deemed a God in story_.--[MS. M. erased.] [9] [Strabo (_Rerum Geog_., lib. iii. 1807, p. 235) throws some doubt on the existence of these columns, which he suggests were islands or "pillar" rocks. According to Plutarch (Langhorne's Translation, 1838, p. 490), Alexander built great altars on the banks of the Ganges, on which the native kings were wont to "offer sacrifices in the Grecian manner." Hence, perhaps, the legend of the columns erected by Dionysus.] [10] "For this expedition he took only a small chosen body of the phalanx, but all his light troops. In the first day's march he reached Anchialus, a town said to have been founded by the king of Assyria, Sardanapalus. The fortifications, in their magnitude and extent, still in Arrian's time, bore the character of greatness, which the Assyrians appear singularly to have affected in works of the kind. A monument representing Sardanapalus was found there, warranted by an inscription in Assyrian characters, of course in the old Assyrian language, which the Greeks, whether well or ill, interpreted thus: 'Sardanapalus, son of Anacyndaraxes, in one day founded Anchialus and Tarsus. Eat, drink, play; all other human joys are not worth a fillip.' Supposing this version nearly exact (for Arrian says it was not quite so), whether the purpose has not been to invite to civil order a people disposed to turbulence, rather than to recommend immoderate luxury, may perhaps reasonably be questioned. What, indeed, could be the object of a king of Assyria in founding such towns in a country so distant from his capital, and so divided from it by an immense extent of sandy deserts and lofty mountains, and, still more, how the inhabitants could be at once in circumstances to abandon themselves to the intemperate joys which their prince has been supposed to have recommended, is not obvious. But it may deserve observation that, in that line of coast, the southern of Lesser Asia, ruins of cities, evidently of an age after Alexander, yet barely named in history, at this day astonish the adventurous traveller by their magnificence and elegance amid the desolation which, under a singularly barbarian government, has for so many centuries been daily spreading in the finest countries of the globe. Whether more from soil and climate, or from opportunities for commerce, extraordinary means must have been found for communities to flourish there; whence it may seem that the measures of Sardanapalus were directed by juster views than have been commonly ascribed to him. But that monarch having been the last of a dynasty ended by a revolution, obloquy on his memory would follow of course from the policy of his successors and their partisans. The inconsistency of traditions concerning Sardanapalus is striking in Diodorus's account of him."--MITFORD's _Greece_, 1820, ix. 311-313, and note 1. [The story of the sepulchral monument with its cynical inscription rests on the authority of Aristobulus, who served under Alexander, and wrote his history. The passage is quoted by Strabo (lib. xiv. ed. 1808, p. 958), and as follows by Athenaeus (lib. xii. cap. 40) in the _Deipnosophistae_: "And Aristobulus says, 'In Anchiale, which was built by Sardanapalus, did Alexander, when he was on his expedition against the Persians, pitch his camp. And at no great distance was the monument of Sardanapalus, on which there is a marble figure putting together the fingers of its right hand, as if it were giving a fillip. And there was on it the following inscription in Assyrian characters:-- Sardanapalus The king, and son of Anacyndaraxes, In one day built Anchiale and Tarsus: Eat, drink, and love, the rest's not worth e'en this.' By '_this_' meaning the fillip he was giving with his fingers." "We may conjecture," says Canon Rawlinson, "that the monument was in reality a stele containing the king [Sennacherib] in an arched frame, with the right hand raised above the left, which is the ordinary attitude, and an inscription commemorating the occasion of its erection" [the conquest of Cilicia and settlement of Tarsus].--_The Five Great Monarchies, etc._, 1871, ii. 216.] [11] {25}[Compare "Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures else to fat us; and we fat ourselves for maggots."--_Hamlet_. act iv. sc. 3, lines 21-23.] [12] {27}[Compare--"The fickle reek of popular breath." _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza clxxi. line 2.] [13] Compare--"I have not flattered its rank breath." _Childe Harold_, Canto III. stanza cxiii. line 2. Compare, too, Shakespeare, _Coriolanus_, act iii. sc. i, lines 66, 67. [14] {28}["Rode. Winter's wind somewhat more unkind than ingratitude itself, though Shakespeare says otherwise. At least, I am so much more accustomed to meet with ingratitude than the north wind, that I thought the latter the sharper of the two. I had met with both in the course of the twenty-four hours, so could judge."--_Extracts from a Diary_, January 19, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 177.] [g] {31} ----_and even dared_ _Profane our presence with his savage jeers_.--[MS. M.] [h] {34} _Who loved no gems so well as those of nature_.--[MS. M.] [i] _Wishing eternity to dust_----.--[MS. M.] [j] {38} _Each twinkle unto which Time trembles, and_ _Nations grow nothing_----.--[MS. M. erased.] [15] {40}[Compare "these swoln silkworms," _Marino Faliero_, act ii. sc. 2. line 115, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 386, note 4.] [k] {43} _But found the Monarch claimed his privacy_.--[MS. M. erased.] [l] ----_not else_ _It quits this living hand_.--[MS. M. erased.] [m] _I know them beautiful, and see them brilliant_.--[MS. M. erased.] [n] {49} ----_by the foolish confidence_.--[MS. M. erased.] [16] [The first edition reads "grantor." In the MS. the word may be either "granter" or "grantor." "Grantor" is a technical term, in law, for one "who grants a conveyance."] [17] {50}[According to AElian, _Var. Hist._, vii. i, Semiramis, having obtained from her husband permission to rule over Asia for five days, thrust him into a dungeon, and obtained the sovereign power for herself (ed. Paris, 1858, p. 355).] [o] {52} _Aye--that's earnest!_--[MS. M. erased.] [p] {54} _Nay, if thou wilt not_----.--[MS. M. erased.] [q] {56} _Nor silent Baal, our imaged deity_, _Although his marble face looks frowningly_, _As the dusk shadows of the evening cast_ _His trow in coming dimness and at times_.--[MS. M. erased.] [r] / _a wide-spread_ \ _In distant flashes_ < _tempest_ > --[MS. M erased] \ _the approaching_ / [s] _As from the Gods to augur_.--[MS. M. erased.] [t] {58} _The weaker merit of our Asian women_.--[MS. M. erased.] [u] _Rather than prove that love to you in griefs_.--[MS. M. erased.] [v] {60} _Worshippers in the air_.--[MS. M. erased.] [18] {61}[Perhaps Grillparzer's _Sappho_ was responsible for the anachronism. See "Extracts from a Diary," January 12, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, V. 171, note 1.] [19] {63}["In the third act, when Sardanapalus calls for a _mirror_ to look at himself in his _armour_, recollect to quote the Latin passage from _Juvenal_ upon Otho (a similar character, who did the same thing: Gifford will help you to it). The trait is, perhaps, too familiar, but it is historical (of Otho, at least), and natural in an effeminate character."--Letter to Murray, May 30, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 301. The quotation was not made in the first edition, 1821, nor in any subsequent issue, till 1832. It is from Juvenal, _Sat._ ii. lines 199-203-- "Ille tenet speculum, pathici gestamen Othonis, Actoris Aurunci spolium, quo se ille videbat Armatum, cum jam tolli vexilla juberet. Res memoranda novis annalibus, atque recenti Historia, speculum civilis sarcina belli." "This grasps a mirror--pathic Otho's boast (Auruncan Actor's spoil), where, while his host, With shouts, the signal of the fight required, He viewed his mailed form; viewed, and admired! Lo, a new subject for the historic page, A MIRROR, midst the arms of civil rage!" Gifford.] [w] {66} ----_and his own helmet_.--[MS. M. erased.] [x] {68} _We'll die where we were raised_----.--[MS. M. erased.] [y] {70} _Tortured because his mind is tortured_.--[MS. M. erased.] [z] _He ever such an order_----.--[MS. M. erased.] _He ever had that order_----.--[MS. M. erased.] [20] {72}["When 'the king was almost dying with thirst' ... the eunuch Satibarzanes sought every place for water.... After much search he found one of those poor Caunians had about two quarts of bad water in a mean bottle, and he took it and carried it to the king. After the king had drawn it all up, the eunuch asked him, 'If he did not find it a disagreeable beverage?' Upon which he swore by all the gods, 'That he had never drunk the most delicious wine, nor the lightest and clearest water with so much pleasure. I wish only,' continued he, 'that I could find the man who gave it thee, that I might make him a recompense. In the mean time I entreat the gods to make him happy and rich.'"--Plutarch's _Artaxerxes_, Langhorne's translation, 1838, p. 694. Poetry as well as history repeats itself. Compare the "water green" which Gunga Din brought, at the risk of his own life, to fill the wounded soldier's helmet (_Barrack-Room Ballads_, by Rudyard Kipling, 1892, p. 25). Compare, too-- "_Arn._ 'Tis a scratch.... In the shoulder, not the sword arm-- And that's enough. I am thirsty: would I had A helm of water!" _The Deformed Transformed_, part ii sc. ii. 44, seq., _vide post_, p. 518.] [aa] {73} ----_ere they had time_ _To place his helm again_.--[MS. M. erased.] [ab] _O ye Gods! wounded_.--[MS. M.] [21] {73}[Compare--"His flashing eyes, his floating hair." _Kubla Khan_, line 49.] [22] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto I. stanzas lv., lvi., _Poetical Works, 1898_, i. 57, 58, and note 11, pp. 91, 92.] [23] {75}[Compare-- "How wonderful is Death, Death and his brother Sleep!" Shelley's _Queen Mab, i. lines 1, 2_] [ac] _Crisps the unswelling wave_.--[MS. M. erased] [ad] {76} _Old Hunter of mankind when baited and ye_ _All brutal who pursued both brutes and men_.--[MS. M. erased.] [ae] {78} _With arrows peeping through his falling hair_.--[MS. M. erased.] [24] [In the diary for November 23, 1813 (_Letters_, 1898, ii. 334, 335), Byron alludes to a dream which "chilled his blood" and shook his nerves. Compare Coleridge's _Pains of Sleep_, lines 23-26-- "Desire with loathing strangely mixed, On wild or hateful objects fixed. Fantastic passions! maddening brawl! And shame and terror over all!"] [25] {79}[For the story of Semiramis and Ninya, see _Justinus Hist_., lib. i. cap. ii.] [26] {81}[See Diod. Siculi _Bibl. Hist._, lib. ii. 80 c. Cotta was not a kinsman, but a loyal tributary.] [af] {82} The MS. inserts--(_But I speak only of such as are virtuous_.) [27] [Byron must often have pictured to himself an unexpected meeting with his wife. In certain moods he would write letters to her which were never sent, or never reached her hands. The scene between Sardanapalus and Zarina reflects the sentiments contained in one such letter, dated November 17, 1821, which Moore printed in his _Life_, pp. 581, 582. See _Letters_, 1901, v. 479.] [ag] {84} _Bravely and won wear wisely--not as I_.--[MS. M, erased.] [ah] {88} _Which thou hast lighted up at once? but leavest_ _One to grieve o'er the other's change--Zarina_.-[MS. M, erased.] [ai] {89} ----_natural_.--[MS. M. The first edition reads "mutual."] [aj] {91} _Is heavier sorrow than the wrong which_--[MS. M. erased.] [ak] {93} _A leech's lancet would have done as much_.--[MS. M. erased.] [28] {94}[Myrrha's apostrophe to the sunrise may be compared with the famous waking vision of the "Solitary" in the Second Book of the _Excursion_ (_Works of Wordsworth_, 1889, p. 439)-- "The appearance, instantaneously disclosed, Was of a mighty city--boldly say A wilderness of building, sinking far And self-withdrawn into a boundless depth, Far sinking into splendour--without end! Fabric it seemed of diamond and of gold, With alabaster domes, and silver spires, And blazing terrace upon terrace, high Uplifted." But the difference, even in form, between the two passages is more remarkable than the resemblance, and the interpretation, the moral of Byron's vision is distinct from, if not alien to, Wordsworth's. The "Solitary" sees all heaven opened; the revealed abode of spirits in beatitude--a refuge and a redemption from "this low world of care;" while Myrrha drinks in "enough of heaven," a medicament of "Sorrow and of Love," for the invigoration of "the common, heavy, human hours" of mortal existence. For a charge of "imitation," see _Works of Lord Byron_, 1832, xiii. 172, note I. See, too, _Poetical Works, etc._, 1891, p. 271, note 2.] [al] {95} _Sunrise and sunset form the epoch of_ _Sorrow and love; and they who mark them not_ {_Are fit for neither of those_ {_Can ne'er hold converse with these two_.--[MS. M. erased.] [am] _Of labouring wretches in alloted tasks_.--[MS. M. erased.] [an] {97} _We are used to such inflictions_.--[MS. M. erased.] [29] {101} About two miles and a half. [ao] {102} _Complexions, climes, aeras, and intellects_.--[MS. M. erased.] [30] {103}[Athenaeus represents the treasures which Sardanapalus placed in the chamber erected on his funeral pile as amounting to a thousand myriads of talents of gold, and ten times as many talents of silver.] [ap] _Ye will find the crevice_ _To which the key fits, with a little care_.--[MS. M. erased.] [31] {106}["Then the king caused a huge pile of wood to be made in the palace court, and heaped together upon it all his gold, silver, and royal apparel, and enclosing his eunuchs and concubines in an apartment within the pile, caused it to be set on fire, and burned himself and them together."--Diod. Siculi _Bibl. Hist._, lib. ii. cap. 81A. "And he also erected on the funeral pile a chamber 100 feet long, made of wood, and in it he had couches spread, and there he himself lay down with his wife, and his concubines lay on other couches around.... And he made the roof of the apartment of large stout beams, and there all the walls of it he made of numerous thick planks, so that it was impossible to escape out of it,... And ... he bade the slaves set fire to the pile; and it was fifteen days burning. And those who saw the smoke wondered, and thought that he was celebrating a great sacrifice, but the eunuchs alone knew what was really being done. And in this way Sardanapalus, who had spent his life in extraordinary luxury, died with as much magnanimity as possible."--Athenaeus, _Deipnosophistae_, bk. xii. cap. 38. See _Abydenus apud Eusebium_, Praep. Ev. 9. 41. 4; Euseb., _Chron_., 1878, p. 42, ed. A. Schoene. Saracus was the last king of Assyria, and being invaded by Cyaxares and a faithless general Nabopolassar ... "unable to resist them, took counsel of despair, and after all means of resistance were exhausted, burned himself in his palace." "The self-immolation of Saracus has a parallel in the conduct of the Israelitish king Zimri, who, 'when he saw that the city was taken, went into the palace of the king's house, and burnt the king's house over him, and died' (1 Kings xvi. 18); and again in that of the Persian governor Boges, who burnt himself with his wives and children at Eion (Herod., vii. 107)."--_The Five Great Monarchies, etc._, by Rev. G. Rawlinson, 1871, ii. 232, note 4.] [aq] {109} _Funereal_----.--[MS. M.] [ar] _And strew the earth with, ashes_----.--[MS. M. erased.] [as] {110} ----_And what is there_ _An Indian widow dares for custom which_ _A Greek girl_----.--[MS. M. erased.] [32] {111}[Bishop Heber (_Quarterly Review_, July, 1821, vol. xxvii. p. 503) takes exception to these lines on the ground that they "involve an anachronism, inasmuch as, whatever date be assigned to the erection of the earlier pyramids, there can be no reason for apprehending that, at the fall of Nineveh, and while the kingdom and hierarchy of Egypt subsisted in their full splendour, the destination of those immense fabrics could have been a matter of doubt.... Herodotus, three hundred years later, may have been misinformed on these points," etc., etc. According to modern Egyptology, the erection of the "earlier pyramids" was an event of remotest antiquity when the Assyrian Empire was in its infancy.] [33] End of Act fifth.--B. Ravenne. May 27^th^ 1821. Mem.--I began the drama on the 13th of January, 1821, and continued the two first acts very slowly and at long intervals. The three last acts were written since the 13th of May, 1821 (this present month, that is to say in a fortnight). THE TWO FOSCARI:[34] AN HISTORICAL TRAGEDY.[35] "The _father_ softens, but the _governor's_ resolved."--_Critic_.[36] [_The Two Foscari_ was produced at Drury Lane Theatre April 7, and again on April 18 and April 25, 1838. Macready played "Frances Foscari," Mr. Anderson "Jacopo Foscari," and Miss Helen Faucit "Marina." According to the _Times_, April 9, 1838, "Miss Faucit's Marina, the most energetic part of the whole, was clever, and showed a careful attention to the points which might be made." Macready notes in his diary, April 7, 1838 (_Reminiscences_, 1875, ii. 106): "Acted Foscari very well. Was very warmly received ... was called for at the end of the tragedy, and received by the whole house standing up and waving handkerchiefs with great enthusiasm. Dickens, Forster, Procter, Browning, Talfourd, all came into my room."] INTRODUCTION TO _THE TWO FOSCARI_ The _Two Foscari_ was begun on June 12, and finished, within the month, on July 9, 1821. Byron was still in the vein of the historic drama, though less concerned with "ancient chroniclers" and original "authorities" (_vide ante_, Preface to _Marino Faliero_, vol. iv. p. 332) than heretofore. "The Venetian play," he tells Murray, July 14, 1821, is "rigidly historical;" but he seems to have depended for his facts, not on Sanudo or Navagero, but on Daru's _Histoire de la Republique de Venise_ (1821, ii. 520-537), and on Sismondi's _Histoire des Republiques ... du Moyen Age_ (1815, x. 36-46). The story of the Two Doges, so far as it concerns the characters and action of Byron's play, may be briefly re-told. It will be found to differ in some important particulars from the extracts from Daru and Sismondi which Byron printed in his "Appendix to the _Two Foscari_" (_Sardanapalus, etc._, 1821, pp. 305-324), and no less from a passage in Smedley's _Sketches from Venetian History_ (1832, ii. 93-105), which was substituted for the French "Pieces justificatives," in the collected edition of 1832-1835, xiii. 198-202, and the octavo edition of 1837, etc., pp. 790, 791. Francesco, son of Nicolo Foscari, was born in 1373. He was nominated a member of the Council of Ten in 1399, and, after holding various offices of state, elected Doge in 1423. His dukedom, the longest on record, lasted till 1457. He was married, in 1395, to Maria, daughter of Andrea Priuli, and, _en secondes noces_, to Maria, or Marina, daughter of Bartolommeo Nani. By his two wives he was the father of ten children--five sons and five daughters. Of the five sons, four died of the plague, and the fifth, Jacopo, lived to be the cause, if not the hero, of a tragedy. The younger of the "Two Foscari" was a man of some cultivation, a collector and student of Greek manuscripts, well-mannered, and of ready wit, a child and lover of Venice, but indifferent to her ideals and regardless of her prejudices and restrictions. He seems to have begun life in a blaze of popularity, the admired of all admirers. His wedding with Lucrezia Contarini (January, 1441) was celebrated with a novel and peculiar splendour. Gorgeous youths, Companions of the Hose (_della calza_), in jackets of crimson velvet, with slashed sleeves lined with squirrel fur, preceded and followed the bridegroom's train. A hundred bridesmaids accompanied the bride. Her dowry exceeded 16,000 ducats, and her jewels, which included a necklace worn by a Queen of Cyprus, were "rich and rare." And the maiden herself was a pearl of great price. "She behaved," writes her brother, "and does behave, so well beyond what could have been looked for. I believe she is inspired by God!" Jacopo had everything which fortune could bestow, but he lacked a capacity for right conduct. Four years after his marriage (February 17, 1445) an accusation was laid before the Ten (Romanin, _Storia_, etc., iv. 266) that, contrary to the law embodied in the Ducal _Promissione_, he had accepted gifts of jewels and money, not only from his fellow-citizens, but from his country's bitterest enemy, Filippo Visconti, Duke of Milan. Jacopo fled to Trieste, and in his absence the Ten, supported by a giunta of ten, on their own authority and independently of the Doge, sentenced him to perpetual banishment at Nauplia, in Roumania. One of the three _Capi di' dieci_ was Ermolao (or _Venetice_ Almoro) Donato, of whom more hereafter. It is to be noted that this sentence was never carried into effect. At the end of four months, thanks to the intervention of five members of the Ten, he was removed from Trieste to Treviso, and, two years later (September 13, 1447), out of consideration to the Doge, who pleaded that the exile of his only son prevented him from giving his whole heart and soul to the Republic, permitted to return to Venice. So ends the first chapter of Jacopo's misadventures. He stands charged with unlawful, if not criminal, appropriation of gifts and moneys. He had been punished, but less than he deserved, and, for his father's sake, the sentence of exile had been altogether remitted. Three years went by, and once again, January, 1451, a charge was preferred against Jacopo Foscari, and on this occasion he was arrested and brought before the Ten. He was accused of being implicated in the murder of Ermolao Donato, who was assassinated November 5, 1450, on leaving the Ducal Palace, where he had been attending the Council of the Pregadi. On the morning after the murder Benedetto Gritti, one of the "avvogadori di Commun," was at Mestre, some five miles from Venice, and, happening to accost a servant of Jacopo's who was loading a barge with wood, asked for the latest news from Venice, and got as answer, "Donato has been murdered!" The possession of the news some hours before it had been made public, and the fact that the newsmonger had been haunting the purlieus of the Ducal Palace on the previous afternoon, enabled the Ten to convict Jacopo. They alleged (Decree of X., March 26, 1451) that other evidence ("_testificationes et scripturae_") was in their possession, and they pointed to the prisoner's obstinate silence on the rack--a silence unbroken save by "several incantations and magic words which fell from him," as a confirmation of his guilt. Moreover, it was "for the advantage of the State from many points of view" that convicted and condemned he should be. The question of his innocence or guilt (complicated by the report or tradition that one Nicolo Erizzo confessed on his death-bed that he had assassinated Donato for reasons of his own) is still under discussion. Berlan (_I due Foscari_, etc., 1852, p. 36) sums up against him. It may, however, be urged in favour of Jacopo that the Ten did not produce or quote the _scripturae et testificationes_ which convinced them of his guilt; that they stopped short of the death-penalty, and pronounced a sentence inadequate to the crime; and, lastly, that not many years before they had taken into consideration the possibility and advisability of poisoning Filippo Visconti, an event which would, no doubt, have been "to the advantage of the State from many points of view." Innocent or guilty, he was sentenced to perpetual banishment to the city of Candia, on the north coast of the island of Crete; and, guilty or innocent, Jacopo was not the man to make the best of what remained to him and submit to fate. Intrigue he must, and, five years later (June, 1456), a report reached Venice that papers had been found in his possession, some relating to the Duke of Milan, calculated to excite "nuovi scandali e disordini," and others in cypher, which the Ten could not read. Over and above these papers there was direct evidence that Jacopo had written to the _Imperatore dei Turchi_, imploring him to send his galley and take him away from Candia. Here was a fresh instance of treachery to the Republic, and, July 21, 1456, Jacopo returned to Venice under the custody of Lorenzo Loredano. According to Romanin (_Storia, etc._, iv. 284), he was not put to the torture, but confessed his guilt spontaneously, pleading, by way of excuse, that the letter to the Duke of Milan had been allowed to fall into the hands of spies, with a view to his being recalled to Venice and obtaining a glimpse of his parents and family, even at a risk of a fresh trial. On the other hand, the _Dolfin Cronaca_, the work of a kinsman of the Foscari, which records Jacopo's fruitless appeal to the sorrowful but inexorable Doge, and other incidents of a personal nature, testifies, if not to torture on the rack, "to mutilation by thirty strokes of the lash." Be that as it may, he was once more condemned to lifelong exile, with the additional penalty that he should be imprisoned for a year. He sailed for Venice July 31, 1456, and died at Candia, January 12, 1457. Jacopo's misconduct and consequent misfortune overshadowed the splendour of his father's reign, and, in very truth "brought his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." After his son's death, the aged Doge, now in his eighty-fifth year, retired to his own apartments, and refused to preside at Councils of State. The Ten, who in 1446 had yielded to the Doge's plea that a father fretting for an exiled son could not discharge his public duties, were instant that he should abdicate the dukedom on the score of decrepitude. Accounts differ as to the mode in which he received the sentence of deposition. It is certain that he was compelled to abdicate on Sunday morning, October 23, 1457, but was allowed a breathing-space of a few days to make his arrangements for quitting the Ducal Palace. On Monday, October 24, the Great Council met to elect his successor, and sat with closed doors till Sunday, October 30. On Thursday, October 27, Francesco, heedless of a suggestion that he should avoid the crowd, descended the Giants' Staircase for the last time, and, says the _Dolfin Cronaca_, "after crossing the courtyard, went out by the door leading to the prisons, and entered his boat by the Ponte di Paglia." "He was dressed," says another chronicle (_August. Cod._ I, cl. vii.), "in a scarlet mantle, from which the fur lining had been taken," surmounted by a scarlet hood, an old friend which he had worn when his ducal honours were new, and which he had entrusted to his wife's care to be preserved for "red" days and festivals of State. "In his hand he held his staff, as he walked very slowly. His brother Marco was by his side, behind him were cousins and grandsons ... and in this way he went to his own house." On Sunday, October 30, Pasquale Malipiero was declared Doge, and two days after, All Saints' Day, at the first hour of the morning, Francesco Foscari died. If the interval between ten o'clock on Sunday night and one o'clock on Tuesday morning disproves the legend that the discrowned Doge ruptured a blood-vessel at the moment when the bell was tolling for the election of his successor, the truth remains that, old as he was, he died of a broken heart. His predecessor, Tomaso Mocenigo, had prophesied on his death-bed that if the Venetians were to make Foscari Doge they would forfeit their "gold and silver, their honour and renown." "From your position of lords," said he, "you will sink to that of vassals and servants to men of arms." The prophecy was fulfilled. "If we look," writes Mr. H. F. Brown (_Venice, etc._, 1893, p. 306), "at the sum-total of Foscari's reign ... we find that the Republic had increased her land territory by the addition of two great provinces, Bergamo and Brescia ... But the price had been enormous ... her debt rose from 6,000,000 to 13,000,000 ducats. Venetian funds fell to 18-1/2.... Externally there was much pomp and splendour.... But underneath this bravery there lurked the official corruption of the nobles, the suspicion of the Ten, the first signs of bank failures, the increase in the national debt, the fall in the value of the funds. Land wars and landed possessions drew the Venetians from the sea to _terra ferma_.... The beginning of the end had arrived." (See _Two Doges of Venice_, by Alethea Wiel, 1891; _I due Foscari, Memorie Storicho Critiche_, di Francesco Berlan, 1852; _Storia Documentata di Venezia_, di S. Romanin, 1855, vol. iv.; _Die beiden Foscari_, von Richard Senger, 1878. For reviews, etc., of _The Two Foscari, vide ante_, "Introduction to _Sardanapalus_," p. 5.) Both Jeffrey in the _Edinburgh_, and Heber in the _Quarterly Review_, took exception to the character of Jacopo Foscari, in accordance with the Horatian maxim, "Incredulus odi." "If," said Jeffrey, "he had been presented to the audience wearing out his heart in exile, ... we might have caught some glimpse of the nature of his motives." As it is (in obedience to the "unities") "we first meet with him led from the 'Question,' and afterwards ... clinging to the dungeon walls of his native city, and expiring from his dread of leaving them." The situation lacks conviction. "If," argued Heber, "there ever existed in nature a case so extraordinary as that of a man who gravely preferred tortures and a dungeon at home, to a temporary residence in a beautiful island and a fine climate; it is what few can be made to believe, and still fewer to sympathize with." It was, no doubt, with reference to these criticisms that Byron told Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 173) that it was no invention of his that the "young Foscari should have a sickly affection for his native city.... I painted the men as I found them, as they were--not as the critics would have them.... But no painting, however highly coloured, can give an idea of the intensity of a Venetian's affection for his native city." Goethe, on the other hand, was "not careful" to note these inconsistencies and perplexities. He thought that the dramatic handling of _The Two Foscari_ was "worthy of great praise," was "admirable!" (_Conversations with Goethe_, 1874, p. 265). DRAMATIS PERSONAE MEN. FRANCIS FOSCARI, _Doge of Venice_. JACOPO FOSCARI, _Son of the Doge_. JAMES LOREDANO, _a Patrician_. MARCO MEMMO, _a Chief of the Forty_. BARBARIGO, _a Senator_. _Other Senators, The Council of Ten, Guards, Attendants, etc., etc._ WOMAN. MARINA, _Wife of young_ FOSCARI. SCENE--The Ducal Palace, Venice. THE TWO FOSCARI. ACT I. SCENE I.--_A Hall in the Ducal Palace_. _Enter_ LOREDANO _and_ BARBARIGO, _meeting_. _Lor._ WHERE is the prisoner? _Bar._ Reposing from The Question. _Lor._ The hour's past--fixed yesterday For the resumption of his trial.--Let us Rejoin our colleagues in the council, and Urge his recall. _Bar._ Nay, let him profit by A few brief minutes for his tortured limbs; He was o'erwrought by the Question yesterday, And may die under it if now repeated.[at][37] _Lor._ Well? _Bar._ I yield not to you in love of justice, Or hate of the ambitious Foscari, 10 Father and son, and all their noxious race; But the poor wretch has suffered beyond Nature's Most stoical endurance. _Lor._ Without owning His crime? _Bar._ Perhaps without committing any. But he avowed the letter to the Duke Of Milan, and his sufferings half atone for Such weakness. _Lor._ We shall see. _Bar._ You, Loredano, Pursue hereditary hate too far. _Lor._ How far? _Bar._ To extermination. _Lor._ When they are Extinct, you may say this.--Let's in to council. 20 _Bar._ Yet pause--the number of our colleagues is not Complete yet; two are wanting ere we can Proceed. _Lor._ And the chief judge, the Doge? _Bar._ No--he, With more than Roman fortitude, is ever First at the board in this unhappy process Against his last and only son.[38] _Lor._ True--true-- His _last_. _Bar._ Will nothing move you? _Lor._ _Feels he_, think you? _Bar._ He shows it not. _Lor._ I have marked _that_--the wretch! _Bar._ But yesterday, I hear, on his return To the ducal chambers, as he passed the threshold 30 The old man fainted. _Lor._ It begins to work, then. _Bar._ The work is half your own. _Lor._ And should be _all_ mine-- My father and my uncle are no more. _Bar._ I have read their epitaph, which says they died By poison.[39] _Lor._ When the Doge declared that he Should never deem himself a sovereign till The death of Peter Loredano, both The brothers sickened shortly:--he _is_ Sovereign. _Bar._ A wretched one. _Lor._ What should they be who make Orphans? _Bar._ But _did_ the Doge make you so? _Lor._ Yes. 40 _Bar._ What solid proofs? _Lor._ When Princes set themselves To work in secret, proofs and process are Alike made difficult; but I have such Of the first, as shall make the second needless. _Bar._ But you will move by law? _Lor._ By all the laws Which he would leave us. _Bar._ They are such in this Our state as render retribution easier Than 'mongst remoter nations. Is it true That you have written in your books of commerce, (The wealthy practice of our highest nobles) 50 "Doge Foscari, my debtor for the deaths Of Marco and Pietro Loredano, My sire and uncle?"[40] _Lor._ It is written thus. _Bar._ And will you leave it unerased? _Lor._ Till balanced. _Bar._ And how? [_Two Senators pass over the stage, as in their way to "the Hall of the Council of Ten."_ _Lor._ You see the number is complete. Follow me. [_Exit_ LOREDANO. _Bar._ (_solus_). Follow _thee_! I have followed long Thy path of desolation, as the wave Sweeps after that before it, alike whelming[au] The wreck that creaks to the wild winds, and wretch Who shrieks within its riven ribs, as gush 60 The waters through them; but this son and sire Might move the elements to pause, and yet Must I on hardily like them--Oh! would I could as blindly and remorselessly!-- Lo, where he comes!--Be still, my heart! they are Thy foes, must be thy victims: wilt thou beat For those who almost broke thee? _Enter Guards, with young_ FOSCARI _as Prisoner, etc._ _Guard_. Let him rest. Signor, take time. _Jac. Fos._ I thank thee, friend, I'm feeble; But thou mayst stand reproved. _Guard_. I'll stand the hazard. _Jac. Fos._ That's kind:--I meet some pity, but no mercy;[av] 70 This is the first. _Guard_. And might be the last, did they Who rule behold us. _Bar._ (_advancing to the Guard_). There is one who does: Yet fear not; I will neither be thy judge Nor thy accuser; though the hour is past, Wait their last summons--I am of "the Ten,"[41] And waiting for that summons, sanction you Even by my presence: when the last call sounds, We'll in together.--Look well to the prisoner! _Jac. Fos._ What voice is that?--'Tis Barbarigo's! Ah! Our House's foe, and one of my few judges. 80 _Bar._ To balance such a foe, if such there be, Thy father sits amongst thy judges. _Jac. Fos._ True, He judges. _Bar._ Then deem not the laws too harsh Which yield so much indulgence to a sire, As to allow his voice in such high matter As the state's safety-- _Jac. Fos._ And his son's. I'm faint; Let me approach, I pray you, for a breath Of air, yon window which o'erlooks the waters. _Enter an Officer, who whispers_ BARBARIGO. _Bar._ (to the Guard). Let him approach. I must not speak with him Further than thus: I have transgressed my duty 90 In this brief parley, and must now redeem it[aw] Within the Council Chamber. [_Exit_ BARBARIGO. [_Guard conducting_ JACOPO FOSCARI _to the window_. _Guard_. There, sir, 'tis Open.--How feel you? _Jac. Fos._ Like a boy--Oh Venice! _Guard_. And your limbs? _Jac. Fos._ Limbs! how often have they borne me[42] Bounding o'er yon blue tide, as I have skimmed The gondola along in childish race, And, masqued as a young gondolier, amidst My gay competitors, noble as I, Raced for our pleasure, in the pride of strength; While the fair populace of crowding beauties, 100 Plebeian as patrician, cheered us on With dazzling smiles, and wishes audible, And waving kerchiefs, and applauding hands, Even to the goal!--How many a time have I Cloven with arm still lustier, breast more daring, The wave all roughened; with a swimmer's stroke Flinging the billows back from my drenched hair, And laughing from my lip the audacious brine, Which kissed it like a wine-cup, rising o'er The waves as they arose, and prouder still 110 The loftier they uplifted me; and oft, In wantonness of spirit, plunging down Into their green and glassy gulfs, and making My way to shells and sea-weed, all unseen By those above, till they waxed fearful; then Returning with my grasp full of such tokens As showed that I had searched the deep: exulting, With a far-dashing stroke, and, drawing deep The long-suspended breath, again I spurned The foam which broke around me, and pursued 120 My track like a sea-bird.--I was a boy then. _Guard_. Be a man now: there never was more need Of manhood's strength. _Jac. Fos._ (_looking from the lattice_). My beautiful, my own, My only Venice--_this is breath_! Thy breeze, Thine Adrian sea-breeze, how it fans my face! Thy very winds feel native to my veins, And cool them into calmness! How unlike The hot gales of the horrid Cyclades, Which howled about my Candiote dungeon,[43] and Made my heart sick. _Guard_. I see the colour comes[ax] 130 Back to your cheek: Heaven send you strength to bear What more may be imposed!--I dread to think on't. _Jac. Fos._ They will not banish me again?--No--no, Let them wring on; I am strong yet. _Guard_. Confess, And the rack will be spared you. _Jac. Fos._ I confessed Once--twice before: both times they exiled me. _Guard_. And the third time will slay you. _Jac. Fos._ Let them do so, So I be buried in my birth-place: better Be ashes here than aught that lives elsewhere. _Guard_. And can you so much love the soil which hates you? 140 _Jac. Fos._ The soil!--Oh no, it is the seed of the soil Which persecutes me: but my native earth Will take me as a mother to her arms. I ask no more than a Venetian grave, A dungeon, what they will, so it be here. _Enter an Officer_. _Offi._ Bring in the prisoner! _Guard_. Signor, you hear the order. _Jac. Fos._ Aye, I am used to such a summons; 'tis The third time they have tortured me:--then lend me Thine arm. [_To the Guard_. _Offi._ Take mine, sir; 'tis my duty to Be nearest to your person. _Jac. Fos._ You!--you are he 150 Who yesterday presided o'er my pangs-- Away!--I'll walk alone. _Offi._ As you please, Signor; The sentence was not of my signing, but I dared not disobey the Council when They---- _Jac. Fos._ Bade thee stretch me on their horrid engine. I pray thee touch me not--that is, just now; The time will come they will renew that order, But keep off from me till 'tis issued. As I look upon thy hands my curdling limbs Quiver with the anticipated wrenching, 160 And the cold drops strain through my brow, as if---- But onward--I have borne it--I can bear it.-- How looks my father? _Offi._ With his wonted aspect. _Jac. Fos._ So does the earth, and sky, the blue of Ocean, The brightness of our city, and her domes, The mirth of her Piazza--even now Its merry hum of nations pierces here, Even here, into these chambers of the unknown Who govern, and the unknown and the unnumbered Judged and destroyed in silence,--all things wear 170 The self-same aspect, to my very sire! Nothing can sympathise with Foscari, Not even a Foscari.--Sir, I attend you. [_Exeunt_ JACOPO FOSCARI, _Officer, etc._ _Enter_ MEMMO _and another Senator_. _Mem._ He's gone--we are too late:--think you "the Ten" Will sit for any length of time to-day? _Sen._ They say the prisoner is most obdurate, Persisting in his first avowal; but More I know not. _Mem._ And that is much; the secrets Of yon terrific chamber are as hidden From us, the premier nobles of the state, 180 As from the people. _Sen._ Save the wonted rumours, Which--like the tales of spectres, that are rife Near ruined buildings--never have been proved, Nor wholly disbelieved: men know as little Of the state's real acts as of the grave's Unfathomed mysteries. _Mem._ But with length of time We gain a step in knowledge, and I look Forward to be one day of the decemvirs. _Sen._ Or Doge? _Mem._ Why, no; not if I can avoid it. _Sen._ 'Tis the first station of the state, and may 190 Be lawfully desired, and lawfully Attained by noble aspirants. _Mem._ To such I leave it; though born noble, my ambition Is limited: I'd rather be an unit Of an united and Imperial "Ten," Than shine a lonely, though a gilded cipher.-- Whom have we here? the wife of Foscari? _Enter_ MARINA, _with a female Attendant_. _Mar._ What, no one?--I am wrong, there still are two; But they are senators. _Mem._ Most noble lady, Command us. _Mar._ _I command_!--Alas! my life 200 Has been one long entreaty, and a vain one. _Mem._ I understand thee, but I must not answer. _Mar._ (_fiercely_). True--none dare answer here save on the rack, Or question save those---- _Mem._ (_interrupting her_). High-born dame![44] bethink thee Where thou now art. _Mar._ Where I now am!--It was My husband's father's palace. _Mem._ The Duke's palace. _Mar._ And his son's prison!--True, I have not forgot it; And, if there were no other nearer, bitterer Remembrances, would thank the illustrious Memmo For pointing out the pleasures of the place. 210 _Mem._ Be calm! _Mar._ (_looking up towards heaven_). I am; but oh, thou eternal God! Canst _thou_ continue so, with such a world? _Mem._ Thy husband yet may be absolved. _Mar._ He is, In Heaven. I pray you, Signer Senator, Speak not of that; you are a man of office, So is the Doge; he has a son at stake Now, at this moment, and I have a husband, Or had; they are there within, or were at least An hour since, face to face, as judge and culprit: Will _he_ condemn _him_? _Mem._ I trust not. _Mar._ But if 220 He does not, there are those will sentence both. _Mem._ They can. _Mar._ And with them power and will are one In wickedness;--my husband's lost! _Mem._ Not so; Justice is judge in Venice. _Mar._ If it were so, There now would be no Venice. But let it Live on, so the good die not, till the hour Of Nature's summons; but "the Ten's" is quicker, And we must wait on't. Ah! a voice of wail! [_A faint cry within_. _Sen._ Hark! _Mem._ 'Twas a cry of-- _Mar._ No, no; not my husband's-- Not Foscari's. _Mem._ The voice was-- _Mar._ _Not his_: no. 230 He shriek! No; that should be his father's part, Not his--not his--he'll die in silence. [_A faint groan again within_. _Mem._ What! Again? _Mar._ _His_ voice! it seemed so: I will not Believe it. Should he shrink, I cannot cease To love; but--no--no--no--it must have been A fearful pang, which wrung a groan from him. _Sen._ And, feeling for thy husband's wrongs, wouldst thou Have him bear more than mortal pain in silence? _Mar._ We all must bear our tortures. I have not Left barren the great house of Foscari, 240 Though they sweep both the Doge and son from life; I have endured as much in giving life To those who will succeed them, as they can In leaving it: but mine were joyful pangs: And yet they wrung me till I _could_ have shrieked, But did not; for my hope was to bring forth Heroes, and would not welcome them with tears. _Mem._ All's silent now. _Mar._ Perhaps all's over; but I will not deem it: he hath nerved himself, And now defies them. _Enter an Officer hastily_. _Mem._ How now, friend, what seek you? 250 _Offi._ A leech. The prisoner has fainted. [_Exit Officer_. _Mem._ Lady, 'Twere better to retire. _Sen._ (_offering to assist her_), I pray thee do so. _Mar._ Off! _I_ will tend him. _Mem._ You! Remember, lady! Ingress is given to none within those chambers Except "the Ten," and their familiars. _Mar._ Well, I know that none who enter there return As they have entered--many never; but They shall not balk my entrance. _Mem._ Alas! this Is but to expose yourself to harsh repulse, And worse suspense. _Mar._ Who shall oppose me? _Mem._ They 260 Whose duty 'tis to do so. _Mar._ 'Tis _their_ duty To trample on all human feelings, all Ties which bind man to man, to emulate The fiends who will one day requite them in Variety of torturing! Yet I'll pass. _Mem._ It is impossible. _Mar._ That shall be tried.[ay] Despair defies even despotism: there is That in my heart would make its way through hosts With levelled spears; and think you a few jailors Shall put me from my path? Give me, then, way; 270 This is the Doge's palace; I am wife Of the Duke's son, the _innocent_ Duke's son, And they shall hear this! _Mem._ It will only serve More to exasperate his judges. _Mar._ What Are _judges_ who give way to anger? they Who do so are assassins. Give me way. [_Exit_ MARINA. _Sen._ Poor lady! _Mem._ 'Tis mere desperation: she Will not be admitted o'er the threshold. _Sen._ And Even if she be so, cannot save her husband. But, see, the officer returns. [_The Officer passes over the stage with another person_. _Mem._ I hardly 280 Thought that "the Ten" had even this touch of pity, Or would permit assistance to this sufferer. _Sen._ Pity! Is't pity to recall to feeling The wretch too happy to escape to Death By the compassionate trance, poor Nature's last Resource against the tyranny of pain? _Mem._ I marvel they condemn him not at once. _Sen._ That's not their policy: they'd have him live, Because he fears not death; and banish him, Because all earth, except his native land, 290 To him is one wide prison, and each breath Of foreign air he draws seems a slow poison, Consuming but not killing. _Mem._ Circumstance Confirms his crimes, but he avows them not. _Sen._ None, save the Letter, which, he says, was written Addressed to Milan's duke, in the full knowledge That it would fall into the Senate's hands, And thus he should be re-conveyed to Venice.[45] _Mem._ But as a culprit. _Sen._ Yes, but to his country; And that was all he sought,--so he avouches. 300 _Mem._ The accusation of the bribes was proved. _Sen._ Not clearly, and the charge of homicide Has been annulled by the death-bed confession Of Nicolas Erizzo, who slew the late Chief of "the Ten."[46] _Mem._ Then why not clear him? _Sen._ That They ought to answer; for it is well known That Almoro Donato, as I said, Was slain by Erizzo for private vengeance. _Mem._ There must be more in this strange process than The apparent crimes of the accused disclose-- 310 But here come two of "the Ten;" let us retire. [_Exeunt_ MEMMO _and Senator_. _Enter_ LOREDANO _and_ BARBARIGO. _Bar._ (_addressing_ LOR.). That were too much: believe me, 'twas not meet The trial should go further at this moment. _Lor._ And so the Council must break up, and Justice Pause in her full career, because a woman Breaks in on our deliberations? _Bar._ No, That's not the cause; you saw the prisoner's state. _Lor._ And had he not recovered? _Bar._ To relapse Upon the least renewal. _Lor._ 'Twas not tried. _Bar._ 'Tis vain to murmur; the majority 320 In council were against you. _Lor._ Thanks to _you_, sir, And the old ducal dotard, who combined The worthy voices which o'er-ruled my own. _Bar._ I am a judge; but must confess that part Of our stern duty, which prescribes the Question,[47] And bids us sit and see its sharp infliction, Makes me wish-- _Lor._ What? _Bar._ That _you_ would _sometimes_ feel, As I do always. _Lor._ Go to, you're a child, Infirm of feeling as of purpose, blown About by every breath, shook[48] by a sigh, 330 And melted by a tear--a precious judge For Venice! and a worthy statesman to Be partner in my policy. _Bar._ He shed No tears. _Lor._ He cried out twice. _Bar._ A Saint had done so, Even with the crown of Glory in his eye, At such inhuman artifice of pain As was forced on him; but he did not cry[az] For pity; not a word nor groan escaped him, And those two shrieks were not in supplication, But wrung from pangs, and followed by no prayers. 340 _Lor._ He muttered many times between his teeth, But inarticulately.[49] _Bar._ That I heard not: You stood more near him. _Lor._ I did so. _Bar._ Methought, To my surprise too, you were touched with mercy, And were the first to call out for assistance When he was failing. _Lor._ I believed that swoon His last. _Bar._ And have I not oft heard thee name His and his father's death your nearest wish? _Lor._ If he dies innocent, that is to say, With his guilt unavowed, he'll be lamented. 350 _Bar._ What, wouldst thou slay his memory? _Lor._ Wouldst thou have His state descend to his children, as it must, If he die unattainted? _Bar._ War with _them_ too? _Lor._ With all their house, till theirs or mine are nothing. _Bar._ And the deep agony of his pale wife, And the repressed convulsion of the high And princely brow of his old father, which Broke forth in a slight shuddering, though rarely, Or in some clammy drops, soon wiped away In stern serenity; these moved you not? 360 [_Exit_ LOREDANO. He's silent in his hate, as Foscari Was in his suffering; and the poor wretch moved me More by his silence than a thousand outcries Could have effected. 'Twas a dreadful sight When his distracted wife broke through into The hall of our tribunal, and beheld What we could scarcely look upon, long used To such sights. I must think no more of this, Lest I forget in this compassion for Our foes, their former injuries, and lose 370 The hold of vengeance Loredano plans For him and me; but mine would be content With lesser retribution than he thirsts for, And I would mitigate his deeper hatred To milder thoughts; but, for the present, Foscari Has a short hourly respite, granted at The instance of the elders of the Council, Moved doubtless by his wife's appearance in The hall, and his own sufferings.--Lo! they come: How feeble and forlorn! I cannot bear 380 To look on them again in this extremity: I'll hence, and try to soften Loredano.[ba] [_Exit_ BARBARIGO. ACT II. SCENE I.--_A hall in the_ DOGE'S _Palace_. _The_ DOGE _and a Senator_. _Sen._ Is it your pleasure to sign the report Now, or postpone it till to-morrow? _Doge_. Now; I overlooked it yesterday: it wants Merely the signature. Give me the pen-- [_The_ DOGE _sits down and signs the paper_. There, Signor. _Sen._ (_looking at the paper_). You have forgot; it is not signed. _Doge_. Not signed? Ah, I perceive my eyes begin To wax more weak with age. I did not see That I had dipped the pen without effect.[bb] _Sen._ (_dipping the pen into the ink, and placing the paper before the_ DOGE). Your hand, too, shakes, my Lord: allow me, thus-- _Doge_. 'Tis done, I thank you. _Sen._ Thus the act confirmed 10 By you and by "the Ten" gives peace to Venice. _Doge_. 'Tis long since she enjoyed it: may it be As long ere she resume her arms! _Sen._ 'Tis almost Thirty-four years of nearly ceaseless warfare With the Turk, or the powers of Italy; The state had need of some repose. _Doge_. No doubt: I found her Queen of Ocean, and I leave her Lady of Lombardy; it is a comfort[bc] That I have added to her diadem The gems of Brescia and Ravenna; Crema[50] 20 And Bergamo no less are hers; her realm By land has grown by thus much in my reign, While her sea-sway has not shrunk. _Sen._ 'Tis most true, And merits all our country's gratitude. _Doge_. Perhaps so. _Sen._ Which should be made manifest. _Doge_. I have not complained, sir. _Sen._ My good Lord, forgive me. _Doge_. For what? _Sen._ My heart bleeds for you. _Doge_. For me, Signor? _Sen._ And for your---- _Doge_. Stop! _Sen._ It must have way, my Lord: I have too many duties towards you And all your house, for past and present kindness, 30 Not to feel deeply for your son. _Doge_. Was this In your commission? _Sen._ What, my Lord? _Doge_. This prattle Of things you know not: but the treaty's signed; Return with it to them who sent you. _Sen._ I Obey. I had in charge, too, from the Council, That you would fix an hour for their reunion. _Doge_. Say, when they will--now, even at this moment, If it so please them: I am the State's servant. _Sen._ They would accord some time for your repose. _Doge_. I have no repose, that is, none which shall cause 40 The loss of an hour's time unto the State. Let them meet when they will, I shall be found _Where_ I should be, and _what_ I have been ever. [_Exit Senator. The_ DOGE _remains in silence_. _Enter an Attendant_. _Att._ Prince! _Doge_. Say on. _Att._ The illustrious lady Foscari Requests an audience. _Doge_. Bid her enter. Poor Marina! [_Exit Attendant. The_ DOGE _remains in silence as before_. _Enter MARINA_. _Mar._ I have ventured, father, on Your privacy. _Doge_. I have none from you, my child. Command my time, when not commanded by The State. _Mar._ I wished to speak to you of _him_. _Doge_. Your husband? 50 _Mar._ And your son. _Doge_. Proceed, my daughter! _Mar._ I had obtained permission from "the Ten" To attend my husband for a limited number Of hours. _Doge_. You had so. _Mar._ 'Tis revoked. _Doge_. By whom? _Mar._ "The Ten."--When we had reached "the Bridge of Sighs,"[51] Which I prepared to pass with Foscari, The gloomy guardian of that passage first Demurred: a messenger was sent back to "The Ten;"--but as the Court no longer sate, And no permission had been given in writing, I was thrust back, with the assurance that 60 Until that high tribunal reassembled The dungeon walls must still divide us. _Doge_. True, The form has been omitted in the haste With which the court adjourned; and till it meets, 'Tis dubious. _Mar._ Till it meets! and when it meets, They'll torture him again; and he and I Must purchase by renewal of the rack The interview of husband and of wife, The holiest tie beneath the Heavens!--Oh God! Dost thou see this? _Doge_. Child--child---- _Mar._ (_abruptly_). Call _me_ not "child!" 70 You soon will have no children--you deserve none-- You, who can talk thus calmly of a son In circumstances which would call forth tears Of blood from Spartans! Though these did not weep Their boys who died in battle, is it written That they beheld them perish piecemeal, nor Stretched forth a hand to save them? _Doge_. You behold me: I cannot weep--I would I could; but if Each white hair on this head were a young life, This ducal cap the Diadem of earth, 80 This ducal ring with which I wed the waves A talisman to still them--I'd give all For him. _Mar._ With less he surely might be saved. _Doge_. That answer only shows you know not Venice. Alas! how should you? she knows not herself, In all her mystery. Hear me--they who aim At Foscari, aim no less at his father; The sire's destruction would not save the son; They work by different means to the same end, And that is--but they have not conquered yet. 90 _Mar._ But they have crushed. _Doge_. Nor crushed as yet--I live. _Mar._ And your son,--how long will he live? _Doge_. I trust, For all that yet is past, as many years And happier than his father. The rash boy, With womanish impatience to return, Hath ruined all by that detected letter: A high crime, which I neither can deny Nor palliate, as parent or as Duke: Had he but borne a little, little longer His Candiote exile, I had hopes--he has quenched them-- 100 He must return. _Mar._ To exile? _Doge_. I have said it. _Mar._ And can I not go with him? _Doge_. You well know This prayer of yours was twice denied before By the assembled "Ten," and hardly now Will be accorded to a third request, Since aggravated errors on the part Of your Lord renders them still more austere. _Mar._ Austere? Atrocious! The old human fiends, With one foot in the grave, with dim eyes, strange To tears save drops of dotage, with long white[bd] 110 And scanty hairs, and shaking hands, and heads As palsied as their hearts are hard, they counsel, Cabal, and put men's lives out, as if Life Were no more than the feelings long extinguished In their accursed bosoms. _Doge_. You know not---- _Mar._ I do--I do--and so should you, methinks-- That these are demons: could it be else that Men, who have been of women born and suckled-- Who have loved, or talked at least of Love--have given Their hands in sacred vows--have danced their babes 120 Upon their knees, perhaps have mourned above them-- In pain, in peril, or in death--who are, Or were, at least in seeming, human, could Do as they have done by yours, and you yourself-- _You_, who abet them? _Doge_. I forgive this, for You know not what you say. _Mar._ _You_ know it well, And feel it nothing. _Doge_. I have borne so much, That words have ceased to shake me. _Mar._ Oh, no doubt! You have seen your son's blood flow, and your flesh shook not; And after that, what are a woman's words? 130 No more than woman's tears, that they should shake you. _Doge_. Woman, this clamorous grief of thine, I tell thee, Is no more in the balance weighed with that Which----but I pity thee, my poor Marina! _Mar._ Pity my husband, or I cast it from me; Pity thy son! _Thou_ pity!--'tis a word Strange to thy heart--how came it on thy lips? _Doge_. I must bear these reproaches, though they wrong me. Couldst thou but read---- _Mar._ 'Tis not upon thy brow, Nor in thine eyes, nor in thine acts,--where then 140 Should I behold this sympathy? or shall? _Doge_ (_pointing downwards_). There. _Mar._ In the earth? _Doge_. To which I am tending: when It lies upon this heart, far lightlier, though Loaded with marble, than the thoughts which press it Now, you will know me better. _Mar._ Are you, then, Indeed, thus to be pitied? _Doge_. Pitied! None Shall ever use that base word, with which men Cloak their soul's hoarded triumph, as a fit one To mingle with my name; that name shall be, As far as _I_ have borne it, what it was 150 When I received it. _Mar._ But for the poor children Of him thou canst not, or thou wilt not save, You were the last to bear it. _Doge_. Would it were so! Better for him he never had been born; Better for me.--I have seen our house dishonoured. _Mar._ That's false! A truer, nobler, trustier heart, More loving, or more loyal, never beat Within a human breast. I would not change My exiled, persecuted, mangled husband, Oppressed but not disgraced, crushed, overwhelmed, 160 Alive, or dead, for Prince or Paladin In story or in fable, with a world To back his suit. Dishonoured!--_he_ dishonoured! I tell thee, Doge, 'tis Venice is dishonoured; His name shall be her foulest, worst reproach, For what he suffers, not for what he did. 'Tis ye who are all traitors, Tyrant!--ye! Did you but love your Country like this victim Who totters back in chains to tortures, and Submits to all things rather than to exile, 170 You'd fling yourselves before him, and implore His grace for your enormous guilt. _Doge_. He was Indeed all you have said. I better bore The deaths of the two sons[52] Heaven took from me, Than Jacopo's disgrace. _Mar._ That word again? _Doge_. Has he not been condemned? _Mar._ Is none but guilt so? _Doge_. Time may restore his memory--I would hope so. He was my pride, my----but 'tis useless now-- I am not given to tears, but wept for joy When he was born: those drops were ominous. 180 _Mar._ I say he's innocent! And were he not so, Is our own blood and kin to shrink from us In fatal moments? _Doge_. I shrank not from him: But I have other duties than a father's; The state would not dispense me from those duties; Twice I demanded it, but was refused:[53] They must then be fulfilled. _Enter an Attendant_. _Att._ A message from "The Ten." _Doge_. Who bears it? _Att._ Noble Loredano. _Doge_. He!--but admit him. [_Exit Attendant_. _Mar._ Must I then retire? _Doge_. Perhaps it is not requisite, if this 190 Concerns your husband, and if not----Well, Signor, [_To_ LOREDANO _entering_. Your pleasure? _Lor._ I bear that of "the Ten." _Doge_. They Have chosen well their envoy. _Lor._ 'Tis _their_ choice Which leads me here. _Doge_. It does their wisdom honour, And no less to their courtesy.--Proceed. _Lor._ We have decided. _Doge_. We? _Lor._ "The Ten" in council. _Doge_. What! have they met again, and met without Apprising me? _Lor._ They wished to spare your feelings, No less than age. _Doge_. That's new--when spared they either? I thank them, notwithstanding. _Lor._ You know well 200 That they have power to act at their discretion, With or without the presence of the Doge. _Doge_. 'Tis some years since I learned this, long before I became Doge, or dreamed of such advancement. You need not school me, Signor; I sate in That Council when you were a young patrician. _Lor._ True, in my father's time; I have heard him and The Admiral, his brother, say as much. Your Highness may remember them; they both Died suddenly.[54] _Doge_. And if they did so, better 210 So die than live on lingeringly in pain. _Lor._ No doubt: yet most men like to live their days out. _Doge_. And did not they? _Lor._ The Grave knows best: they died, As I said, suddenly. _Doge_. Is that so strange, That you repeat the word emphatically? _Lor._ So far from strange, that never was there death In my mind half so natural as theirs. Think _you_ not so? _Doge_. What should I think of mortals? _Lor._ That they have mortal foes. _Doge_. I understand you; Your sires were mine, and you are heir in all things. 220 _Lor._ You best know if I should be so. _Doge_. I do. Your fathers were my foes, and I have heard Foul rumours were abroad; I have also read Their epitaph, attributing their deaths To poison. 'Tis perhaps as true as most Inscriptions upon tombs, and yet no less A fable. _Lor._ Who dares say so? _Doge_. I!----'Tis true Your fathers were mine enemies, as bitter As their son e'er can be, and I no less Was theirs; but I was _openly_ their foe: 230 I never worked by plot in Council, nor Cabal in commonwealth, nor secret means Of practice against life by steel or drug. The proof is--your existence. _Lor._ I fear not. _Doge_. You have no cause, being what I am; but were I That you would have me thought, you long ere now Were past the sense of fear. Hate on; I care not. _Lor._ I never yet knew that a noble's life In Venice had to dread a Doge's frown, That is, by open means. _Doge_. But I, good Signor, 240 Am, or at least _was_, more than a mere duke, In blood, in mind, in means; and that they know Who dreaded to elect me, and have since Striven all they dare to weigh me down: be sure, Before or since that period, had I held you At so much price as to require your absence, A word of mine had set such spirits to work As would have made you nothing. But in all things I have observed the strictest reverence; Not for the laws alone, for those _you_ have strained 250 (I do not speak of _you_ but as a single Voice of the many) somewhat beyond what I could enforce for my authority, Were I disposed to brawl; but, as I said, I have observed with veneration, like A priest's for the High Altar, even unto The sacrifice of my own blood and quiet, Safety, and all save honour, the decrees, The health, the pride, and welfare of the State. And now, sir, to your business. _Lor._ 'Tis decreed, 260 That, without further repetition of The Question, or continuance of the trial, Which only tends to show how stubborn guilt is, ("The Ten," dispensing with the stricter law Which still prescribes the Question till a full Confession, and the prisoner partly having Avowed his crime in not denying that The letter to the Duke of Milan's his), James Foscari return to banishment, And sail in the same galley which conveyed him. 270 _Mar._ Thank God! At least they will not drag him more Before that horrible tribunal. Would he But think so, to my mind the happiest doom, Not he alone, but all who dwell here, could Desire, were to escape from such a land. _Doge_. That is not a Venetian thought, my daughter. _Mar._ No, 'twas too human. May I share his exile? _Lor._ Of this "the Ten" said nothing. _Mar._ So I thought! That were too human, also. But it was not Inhibited? _Lor._ It was not named. _Mar. (to the Doge_). Then, father, 280 Surely you can obtain or grant me thus much: [_To_ LOREDANO. And you, sir, not oppose my prayer to be Permitted to accompany my husband. _Doge_. I will endeavour. _Mar._ And you, Signor? _Lor._ Lady! 'Tis not for me to anticipate the pleasure Of the tribunal. _Mar._ Pleasure! what a word To use for the decrees of---- _Doge_. Daughter, know you In what a presence you pronounce these things? _Mar._ A Prince's and his subject's. _Lor._ Subject! _Mar._ Oh! It galls you:--well, you are his equal, as 290 You think; but that you are not, nor would be, Were he a peasant:--well, then, you're a Prince, A princely noble; and what then am I? _Lor._ The offspring of a noble house. _Mar._ And wedded To one as noble. What, or whose, then, is The presence that should silence my free thoughts? _Lor._ The presence of your husband's Judges. _Doge_. And The deference due even to the lightest word That falls from those who rule in Venice. _Mar._ Keep Those maxims for your mass of scared mechanics, 300 Your merchants, your Dalmatian and Greek slaves, Your tributaries, your dumb citizens, And masked nobility, your sbirri, and Your spies, your galley and your other slaves, To whom your midnight carryings off and drownings, Your dungeons next the palace roofs, or under The water's level;[55] your mysterious meetings, And unknown dooms, and sudden executions, Your "Bridge of Sighs," your strangling chamber, and Your torturing instruments, have made ye seem 310 The beings of another and worse world! Keep such for them: I fear ye not. I know ye;[be] Have known and proved your worst, in the infernal Process of my poor husband! Treat me as Ye treated him:--you did so, in so dealing With him. Then what have I to fear _from_ you, Even if I were of fearful nature, which I trust I am not? _Doge_. You hear, she speaks wildly. _Mar._ Not wisely, yet not wildly. _Lor._ Lady! words Uttered within these walls I bear no further 320 Than to the threshold, saving such as pass Between the Duke and me on the State's service. Doge! have you aught in answer? _Doge_. Something from The Doge; it may be also from a parent. _Lor._ My mission _here_ is to the _Doge_. _Doge_. Then say The Doge will choose his own ambassador, Or state in person what is meet; and for The father---- _Lor._ I remember _mine_.--Farewell! I kiss the hands of the illustrious Lady, And bow me to the Duke. [_Exit_ LOREDANO. _Mar._ Are you content? 330 _Doge_. I am what you behold. _Mar._ And that's a mystery. _Doge_. All things are so to mortals; who can read them Save he who made? or, if they can, the few And gifted spirits, who have studied long That loathsome volume--man, and pored upon Those black and bloody leaves, his heart and brain,[bf] But learn a magic which recoils upon The adept who pursues it: all the sins We find in others, Nature made our own; All our advantages are those of Fortune; 340 Birth, wealth, health, beauty, are her accidents, And when we cry out against Fate, 'twere well We should remember Fortune can take nought Save what she _gave_--the rest was nakedness, And lusts, and appetites, and vanities, The universal heritage, to battle With as we may, and least in humblest stations,[bg] Where Hunger swallows all in one low want,[bh] And the original ordinance, that man Must sweat for his poor pittance, keeps all passions 350 Aloof, save fear of famine! All is low, And false, and hollow--clay from first to last, The Prince's urn no less than potter's vessel. Our Fame is in men's breath, our lives upon Less than their breath; our durance upon days[bi] Our days on seasons; our whole being on Something which is not _us_![56]--So, we are slaves, The greatest as the meanest--nothing rests Upon our will; the will itself no less[bj] Depends upon a straw than on a storm; 360 And when we think we lead, we are most led,[57] And still towards Death, a thing which comes as much Without our act or choice as birth, so that Methinks we must have sinned in some old world, And _this_ is Hell: the best is, that it is not Eternal. _Mar._ These are things we cannot judge On earth. _Doge_. And how then shall we judge each other, Who are all earth, and I, who am called upon To judge my son? I have administered My country faithfully--victoriously-- 370 I dare them to the proof, the _chart_ of what She was and is: my reign has doubled realms; And, in reward, the gratitude of Venice Has left, or is about to leave, _me_ single. _Mar._ And Foscari? I do not think of such things, So I be left with him. _Doge_. You shall be so; Thus much they cannot well deny. _Mar._ And if They should, I will fly with him. _Doge_. That can ne'er be. And whither would you fly? _Mar._ I know not, reck not-- To Syria, Egypt, to the Ottoman-- 380 Any where, where we might respire unfettered, And live nor girt by spies, nor liable To edicts of inquisitors of state. _Doge_. What, wouldst thou have a renegade for husband, And turn him into traitor? _Mar._ He is none! The Country is the traitress, which thrusts forth Her best and bravest from her. Tyranny Is far the worst of treasons. Dost thou deem None rebels except subjects? The Prince who Neglects or violates his trust is more 390 A brigand than the robber-chief. _Doge_. I cannot Charge me with such a breach of faith. _Mar_ No; thou Observ'st, obey'st such laws as make old Draco's A code of mercy by comparison. _Doge_. I found the law; I did not make it. Were I A subject, still I might find parts and portions Fit for amendment; but as Prince, I never Would change, for the sake of my house, the charter Left by our fathers. _Mar._ Did they make it for The ruin of their children? _Doge_. Under such laws, Venice 400 Has risen to what she is--a state to rival In deeds, and days, and sway, and, let me add, In glory (for we have had Roman spirits Amongst us), all that history has bequeathed Of Rome and Carthage in their best times, when The people swayed by Senates. _Mar._ Rather say, Groaned under the stern Oligarchs. _Doge_. Perhaps so; But yet subdued the World: in such a state An individual, be he richest of Such rank as is permitted, or the meanest, 410 Without a name, is alike nothing, when The policy, irrevocably tending To one great end, must be maintained in vigour. _Mar._ This means that you are more a Doge than father. _Doge_. It means, I am more citizen than either. If we had not for many centuries Had thousands of such citizens, and shall, I trust, have still such, Venice were no city. _Mar._ Accursed be the city where the laws Would stifle Nature's! _Doge_. Had I as many sons 420 As I have years, I would have given them all, Not without feeling, but I would have given them To the State's service, to fulfil her wishes, On the flood, in the field, or, if it must be, As it, alas! has been, to ostracism, Exile, or chains, or whatsoever worse She might decree. _Mar._ And this is Patriotism? To me it seems the worst barbarity. Let me seek out my husband: the sage "Ten," With all its jealousy, will hardly war 430 So far with a weak woman as deny me A moment's access to his dungeon. _Doge_. I'll So far take on myself, as order that You may be admitted. _Mar._ And what shall I say To Foscari from his father? _Doge_. That he obey The laws. _Mar._ And nothing more? Will you not see him Ere he depart? It may be the last time. _Doge_. The last!--my boy!--the last time I shall see My last of children! Tell him I will come. [_Exeunt_. ACT III. SCENE I.--_The prison of_ JACOPO FOSCARI. _Jac. Fos._ (_solus_). No light, save yon faint gleam which shows me walls Which never echoed but to Sorrow's sounds,[58] The sigh of long imprisonment, the step Of feet on which the iron clanked the groan Of Death, the imprecation of Despair! And yet for this I have returned to Venice, With some faint hope, 'tis true, that Time, which wears The marble down, had worn away the hate Of men's hearts; but I knew them not, and here Must I consume my own, which never beat 10 For Venice but with such a yearning as The dove has for her distant nest, when wheeling High in the air on her return to greet Her callow brood. What letters are these which [_Approaching the wall_. Are scrawled along the inexorable wall? Will the gleam let me trace them? Ah! the names Of my sad predecessors in this place,[59] The dates of their despair, the brief words of A grief too great for many. This stone page Holds like an epitaph their history; 20 And the poor captive's tale is graven on His dungeon barrier, like the lover's record Upon the bark of some tall tree,[60] which bears His own and his beloved's name. Alas! I recognise some names familiar to me, And blighted like to mine, which I will add, Fittest for such a chronicle as this, Which only can be read, as writ, by wretches.[bk] [_He engraves his name_. _Enter a Familiar of "the Ten."_ _Fam._ I bring you food. _Jac. Fos._ I pray you set it down; I am past hunger: but my lips are parched-- 30 The water! _Fam._ There. _Jac. Fos._ (_after drinking_). I thank you: I am better. _Fam._ I am commanded to inform you that Your further trial is postponed. _Jac. Fos._ Till when? _Fam._ I know not.--It is also in my orders That your illustrious lady be admitted. _Jac. Fos._ Ah! they relent, then--I had ceased to hope it: 'Twas time. _Enter_ MARINA. _Mar._ My best beloved! _Jac. Fos._ (_embracing her_). My true wife, And only friend! What happiness! _Mar._ We'll part No more. _Jac. Fos._ How! would'st thou share a dungeon? _Mar._ Aye, The rack, the grave, all--any thing with thee, 40 But the tomb last of all, for there we shall Be ignorant of each other, yet I will Share that--all things except new separation; It is too much to have survived the first. How dost thou? How are those worn limbs? Alas! Why do I ask? Thy paleness---- _Jac. Fos._ 'Tis the joy Of seeing thee again so soon, and so Without expectancy, has sent the blood Back to my heart, and left my cheeks like thine, For thou art pale too, my Marina! _Mar._ 'Tis 50 The gloom of this eternal cell, which never Knew sunbeam, and the sallow sullen glare Of the familiar's torch, which seems akin[bl] To darkness more than light, by lending to The dungeon vapours its bituminous smoke, Which cloud whate'er we gaze on, even thine eyes-- No, not thine eyes--they sparkle--how they sparkle! _Jac. Fos._ And thine!--but I am blinded by the torch. _Mar._ As I had been without it. Couldst thou see here? _Jac. Fos._ Nothing at first; but use and time had taught me 60 Familiarity with what was darkness; And the grey twilight of such glimmerings as Glide through the crevices made by the winds Was kinder to mine eyes than the full Sun, When gorgeously o'ergilding any towers Save those of Venice; but a moment ere Thou earnest hither I was busy writing. _Mar._ What? _Jac. Fos._ My name: look, 'tis there--recorded next The name of him who here preceded me,-- If dungeon dates say true. _Mar._ And what of him? 70 _Jac. Fos._ These walls are silent of men's ends; they only Seem to hint shrewdly of them. Such stern walls Were never piled on high save o'er the dead, Or those who soon must be so.--_What of him?_ Thou askest.--What of me? may soon be asked, With the like answer--doubt and dreadful surmise-- Unless thou tell'st my tale. _Mar._ _I speak_ of thee! _Jac. Fos._ And wherefore not? All then shall speak of me: The tyranny of silence is not lasting, And, though events be hidden, just men's groans 80 Will burst all cerement, even a living grave's! I do not _doubt_ my memory, but my life; And neither do I fear. _Mar._ Thy life is safe. _Jac. Fos._ And liberty? _Mar._ The mind should make its own! _Jac. Fos._ That has a noble sound; but 'tis a sound, A music most impressive, but too transient: The Mind is much, but is not all. The Mind Hath nerved me to endure the risk of death, And torture positive, far worse than death (If death be a deep sleep), without a groan, 90 Or with a cry which rather shamed my judges Than me; but 'tis not all, for there are things More woful--such as this small dungeon, where I may breathe many years. _Mar._ Alas! and this Small dungeon is all that belongs to thee Of this wide realm, of which thy sire is Prince. _Jac. Fos._ That thought would scarcely aid me to endure it. My doom is common; many are in dungeons, But none like mine, so near their father's palace; But then my heart is sometimes high, and hope 100 Will stream along those moted rays of light Peopled with dusty atoms, which afford Our only day; for, save the gaoler's torch, And a strange firefly, which was quickly caught Last night in yon enormous spider's net, I ne'er saw aught here like a ray. Alas! I know if mind may bear us up, or no, For I have such, and shown it before men; It sinks in solitude: my soul is social. _Mar._ I will be with thee. _Jac. Fos._ Ah! if it were so! 110 But _that_ they never granted--nor will grant, And I shall be alone: no men; no books-- Those lying likenesses of lying men. I asked for even those outlines of their kind, Which they term annals, history, what you will, Which men bequeath as portraits, and they were Refused me,--so these walls have been my study, More faithful pictures of Venetian story, With all their blank, or dismal stains, than is The Hall not far from hence, which bears on high 120 Hundreds of Doges, and their deeds and dates. _Mar._ I come to tell thee the result of their Last council on thy doom. _Jac. Fos._ I know it--look! [_He points to his limbs, as referring to the Question which he had undergone_. _Mar._ No--no--no more of that: even they relent From that atrocity. _Jac. Fos._ What then? _Mar._ That you Return to Candia. _Jac. Fos._ Then my last hope's gone. I could endure my dungeon, for 'twas Venice; I could support the torture, there was something In my native air that buoyed my spirits up Like a ship on the Ocean tossed by storms, 130 But proudly still bestriding[61] the high waves, And holding on its course; but _there_, afar, In that accursed isle of slaves and captives, And unbelievers, like a stranded wreck, My very soul seemed mouldering in my bosom, And piecemeal I shall perish, if remanded. _Mar._ And _here_? _Jac. Fos._ At once--by better means, as briefer.[bm] What! would they even deny me my Sire's sepulchre, As well as home and heritage? _Mar._ My husband! I have sued to accompany thee hence, 140 And not so hopelessly. This love of thine For an ungrateful and tyrannic soil Is Passion, and not Patriotism; for me, So I could see thee with a quiet aspect, And the sweet freedom of the earth and air, I would not cavil about climes or regions. This crowd of palaces and prisons is not A Paradise; its first inhabitants Were wretched exiles. _Jac. Fos._ Well I know _how_ wretched! _Mar._ And yet you see how, from their banishment 150 Before the Tartar into these salt isles, Their antique energy of mind, all that Remained of Rome for their inheritance, Created by degrees an ocean Rome;[62] And shall an evil, which so often leads To good, depress thee thus? _Jac. Fos._ Had I gone forth From my own land, like the old patriarchs, seeking Another region, with their flocks and herds; Had I been cast out like the Jews from Zion, Or like our fathers, driven by Attila[63] 160 From fertile Italy, to barren islets, I would have given some tears to my late country And many thoughts; but afterwards addressed Myself, with those about me, to create A new home and fresh state: perhaps I could Have borne this--though I know not. _Mar._ Wherefore not? It was the lot of millions, and must be The fate of myriads more. _Jac. Fos._ Aye--we but hear Of the survivors' toil in their new lands, Their numbers and success; but who can number 170 The hearts which broke in silence at that parting, Or after their departure; of that malady[64] Which calls up green and native fields to view From the rough deep, with such identity To the poor exile's fevered eye, that he Can scarcely be restrained from treading them? That melody,[65] which out of tones and tunes[bn] Collects such pasture for the longing sorrow Of the sad mountaineer, when far away From his snow canopy of cliffs and clouds, 180 That he feeds on the sweet, but poisonous thought, And dies.[66] You call this _weakness_! It is strength, I say,--the parent of all honest feeling. He who loves not his Country, can love nothing. _Mar._ Obey her, then: 'tis she that puts thee forth. _Jac. Fos._ Aye, there it is; 'tis like a mother's curse Upon my soul--the mark is set upon me. The exiles you speak of went forth by nations, Their hands upheld each other by the way, Their tents were pitched together--I'm alone. 190 _Mar._ You shall be so no more--I will go with thee. _Jac. Fos._ My best Marina!--and our children? _Mar._ They, I fear, by the prevention of the state's Abhorrent policy, (which holds all ties As threads, which may be broken at her pleasure), Will not be suffered to proceed with us. _Jac. Fos._ And canst thou leave them? _Mar._ Yes--with many a pang! But--I _can_ leave them, children as they are, To teach you to be less a child. From this Learn you to sway your feelings, when exacted 200 By duties paramount; and 'tis our first On earth to bear. _Jac. Fos._ Have I not borne? _Mar._ Too much From tyrannous injustice, and enough To teach you not to shrink now from a lot, Which, as compared with what you have undergone Of late, is mercy. _Jac. Fos._ Ah! you never yet Were far away from Venice, never saw Her beautiful towers in the receding distance, While every furrow of the vessel's track Seemed ploughing deep into your heart; you never 210 Saw day go down upon your native spires[bo] So calmly with its gold and crimson glory, And after dreaming a disturbed vision Of them and theirs, awoke and found them not. _Mar._ I will divide this with you. Let us think Of our departure from this much-loved city, (Since you must _love_ it, as it seems,) and this Chamber of state, her gratitude allots you. Our children will be cared for by the Doge, And by my uncles; we must sail ere night. 220 _Jac. Fos._ That's sudden. Shall I not behold my father? _Mar._ You will. _Jac. Fos._ Where? _Mar._ Here, or in the ducal chamber-- He said not which. I would that you could bear Your exile as he bears it. _Jac. Fos._ Blame him not. I sometimes murmur for a moment; but He could not now act otherwise. A show Of feeling or compassion on his part Would have but drawn upon his aged head Suspicion from "the Ten," and upon mine Accumulated ills. _Mar._ Accumulated! 230 What pangs are those they have spared you? _Jac. Fos._ That of leaving Venice without beholding him or you, Which might have been forbidden now, as 'twas Upon my former exile. _Mar._ That is true, And thus far I am also the State's debtor, And shall be more so when I see us both Floating on the free waves--away--away-- Be it to the earth's end, from this abhorred, Unjust, and---- _Jac. Fos._ Curse it not. If I am silent, Who dares accuse my Country? _Mar._ Men and Angels! 240 The blood of myriads reeking up to Heaven, The groans of slaves in chains, and men in dungeons, Mothers, and wives, and sons, and sires, and subjects, Held in the bondage of ten bald-heads; and Though last, not least, _thy silence! Couldst thou_ say Aught in its favour, who would praise like _thee_? _Jac. Fos._ Let us address us then, since so it must be, To our departure. Who comes here? _Enter_ LOREDANO _attended by Familiars_. _Lor._ (_to the Familiars_). Retire, But leave the torch. [_Exeunt the two Familiars_. _Jac. Fos._ Most welcome, noble Signor. I did not deem this poor place could have drawn 250 Such presence hither. _Lor._ 'Tis not the first time I have visited these places. _Mar._ Nor would be The last, were all men's merits well rewarded. Came you here to insult us, or remain[bp] As spy upon us, or as hostage for us? _Lor._ Neither are of my office, noble Lady! I am sent hither to your husband, to Announce "the Ten's" decree. _Mar._ That tenderness Has been anticipated: it is known. _Lor._ As how? _Mar._ I have informed him, not so gently, 260 Doubtless, as your nice feelings would prescribe, The indulgence of your colleagues; but he knew it. If you come for our thanks, take them, and hence! The dungeon gloom is deep enough without you, And full of reptiles, not less loathsome, though Their sting is honester. _Jac. Fos._ I pray you, calm you: What can avail such words? _Mar._ To let him know That he is known. _Lor._ Let the fair dame preserve Her sex's privilege. _Mar._ I have some sons, sir, Will one day thank you better. _Lor._ You do well 270 To nurse them wisely. Foscari--you know Your sentence, then? _Jac. Fos._ Return to Candia? _Lor._ True-- For life. _Jac. Fos._ Not long. _Lor._ I said--for _life_. _Jac. Fos._ And I Repeat--not long. _Lor._ A year's imprisonment In Canea--afterwards the freedom of The whole isle. _Jac. Fos._ Both the same to me: the after Freedom as is the first imprisonment. Is't true my wife accompanies me? _Lor._ Yes, If she so wills it. _Mar._ Who obtained that justice? _Lor._ One who wars not with women. _Mar._ But oppresses 280 Men: howsoever let him have _my_ thanks For the only boon I would have asked or taken From him or such as he is. _Lor._ He receives them As they are offered. _Mar._ May they thrive with him So much!--no more. _Jac. Fos._ Is this, sir, your whole mission? Because we have brief time for preparation, And you perceive your presence doth disquiet This lady, of a house noble as yours. _Mar._ Nobler! _Lor._ How nobler? _Mar._ As more generous! We say the "generous steed" to express the purity 290 Of his high blood. Thus much I've learnt, although Venetian (who see few steeds save of bronze),[67] From those Venetians who have skirred[68] the coasts Of Egypt and her neighbour Araby: And why not say as soon the "_generous man_?" If race be aught, it is in qualities More than in years; and mine, which is as old As yours, is better in its product, nay-- Look not so stern--but get you back, and pore Upon your genealogic tree's most green 300 Of leaves and most mature of fruits, and there Blush to find ancestors, who would have blushed For such a son--thou cold inveterate hater! _Jac. Fos._ Again, Marina! _Mar._ Again! _still_, Marina. See you not, he comes here to glut his hate With a last look upon our misery? Let him partake it! _Jac. Fos._ That were difficult. _Mar._ Nothing more easy. He partakes it now-- Aye, he may veil beneath a marble brow And sneering lip the pang, but he partakes it. 310 A few brief words of truth shame the Devil's servants No less than Master; I have probed his soul A moment, as the Eternal Fire, ere long, Will reach it always. See how he shrinks from me! With death, and chains, and exile in his hand, To scatter o'er his kind as he thinks fit; They are his weapons, not his armour, for I have pierced him to the core of his cold heart. I care not for his frowns! We can but die, And he but live, for him the very worst 320 Of destinies: each day secures him more His tempter's. _Jac. Fos._ This is mere insanity. _Mar._ It may be so; and _who_ hath made us _mad_? _Lor._ Let her go on; it irks not me. _Mar._ That's false! You came here to enjoy a heartless triumph Of cold looks upon manifold griefs! You came To be sued to in vain--to mark our tears, And hoard our groans--to gaze upon the wreck Which you have made a Prince's son--my husband; In short, to trample on the fallen--an office 330 The hangman shrinks from, as all men from him! How have you sped? We are wretched, Signor, as Your plots could make, and vengeance could desire us, And how _feel you_? _Lor._ As rocks. _Mar._ By thunder blasted: They feel not, but no less are shivered. Come, Foscari; now let us go, and leave this felon, The sole fit habitant of such a cell, Which he has peopled often, but ne'er fitly Till he himself shall brood in it alone. _Enter the_ DOGE. _Jac. Fos._ My father! _Doge_ (_embracing him_). Jacopo! my son--my son! 340 _Jac. Fos._ My father still! How long it is since I Have heard thee name my name--_our_ name! _Doge_. My boy! Couldst thou but know---- _Jac. Fos._ I rarely, sir, have murmured. _Doge_. I feel too much thou hast not. _Mar._ Doge, look there! [_She points to_ LOREDANO. _Doge_. I see the man--what mean'st thou? _Mar._ Caution! _Lor._ Being The virtue which this noble lady most[bq] May practise, she doth well to recommend it. _Mar._ Wretch! 'tis no virtue, but the policy Of those who fain must deal perforce with vice: As such I recommend it, as I would 350 To one whose foot was on an adder's path. _Doge_. Daughter, it is superfluous; I have long Known Loredano. _Lor._ You may know him better. _Mar._ Yes; _worse_ he could not. _Jac. Fos._ Father, let not these Our parting hours be lost in listening to Reproaches, which boot nothing. Is it--is it, Indeed, our last of meetings? _Doge_. You behold These white hairs! _Jac. Fos._ And I feel, besides, that mine Will never be so white. Embrace me, father! I loved you ever--never more than now. 360 Look to my children--to your last child's children: Let them be all to you which he was once, And never be to you what I am now. May I not see _them_ also? _Mar._ No--not _here_. _Jac. Fos._ They might behold their parent any where. _Mar._ I would that they beheld their father in A place which would not mingle fear with love, To freeze their young blood in its natural current. They have fed well, slept soft, and knew not that Their sire was a mere hunted outlaw. Well, 370 I know his fate may one day be their heritage, But let it only be their _heritage_, And not their present fee. Their senses, though Alive to love, are yet awake to terror; And these vile damps, too, and yon _thick green_ wave Which floats above the place where we now stand-- A cell so far below the water's level, Sending its pestilence through every crevice, Might strike them: _this is not their_ atmosphere, However you--and you--and most of all, 380 As worthiest--_you_, sir, noble Loredano! May breathe it without prejudice. _Jac. Fos._ I had not Reflected upon this, but acquiesce. I shall depart, then, without meeting them? _Doge_. Not so: they shall await you in my chamber. _Jac. Fos._ And must I leave them--_all_? _Lor._ You must. _Jac. Fos._ Not one? _Lor._ They are the State's. _Mar._ I thought they had been mine. _Lor._ They are, in all maternal things. _Mar._ That is, In all things painful. If they're sick, they will Be left to me to tend them; should they die, 390 To me to bury and to mourn; but if They live, they'll make you soldiers, senators, Slaves, exiles--what _you_ will; or if they are Females with portions, brides and _bribes_ for nobles! Behold the State's care for its sons and mothers! _Lor._ The hour approaches, and the wind is fair. _Jac. Fos._ How know you that here, where the genial wind Ne'er blows in all its blustering freedom? _Lor._ 'Twas so When I came here. The galley floats within A bow-shot of the "Riva di Schiavoni." 400 _Jac. Fos._ Father! I pray you to precede me, and Prepare my children to behold their father. _Doge_. Be firm, my son! _Jac. Fos._ I will do my endeavour. _Mar._ Farewell! at least to this detested dungeon, And him to whose good offices you owe In part your past imprisonment. _Lor._ And present Liberation. _Doge_. He speaks truth. _Jac. Fos._ No doubt! but 'tis Exchange of chains for heavier chains I owe him. He knows this, or he had not sought to change them, But I reproach not. _Lor._ The time narrows, Signor. 410 _Jac. Fos._ Alas! I little thought so lingeringly To leave abodes like this: but when I feel That every step I take, even from this cell, Is one away from Venice, I look back Even on these dull damp walls, and---- _Doge_. Boy! no tears. _Mar._ Let them flow on: he wept not on the rack To shame him, and they cannot shame him now. They will relieve his heart--that too kind heart-- And I will find an hour to wipe away Those tears, or add my own. I could weep now, 420 But would not gratify yon wretch so far. Let us proceed. Doge, lead the way. _Lor._ (_to the Familiar_). The torch, there! _Mar._ Yes, light us on, as to a funeral pyre, With Loredano mourning like an heir. _Doge_. My son, you are feeble; take this hand. _Jac. Fos._ Alas! Must youth support itself on age, and I Who ought to be the prop of yours? _Lor._ Take mine. _Mar._ Touch it not, Foscari; 'twill sting you. Signor, Stand off! be sure, that if a grasp of yours Would raise us from the gulf wherein we are plunged, 430 No hand of ours would stretch itself to meet it. Come, Foscari, take the hand the altar gave you; It could not save, but will support you ever. [_Exeunt_. ACT IV. SCENE I.--_A Hall in the Ducal Palace_. _Enter_ LOREDANO _and_ BARBARIGO. _Bar._ And have you confidence in such a project? _Lor._ I have. _Bar._ 'Tis hard upon his years. _Lor._ Say rather Kind to relieve him from the cares of State. _Bar._ 'Twill break his heart. _Lor._ Age has no heart to break. He has seen his son's half broken, and, except A start of feeling in his dungeon, never Swerved. _Bar._ In his countenance, I grant you, never; But I have seen him sometimes in a calm So desolate, that the most clamorous grief Had nought to envy him within. Where is he? 10 _Lor._ In his own portion of the palace, with His son, and the whole race of Foscaris. _Bar._ Bidding farewell. _Lor._ A last! as, soon, he shall Bid to his Dukedom. _Bar._ When embarks the son? _Lor._ Forthwith--when this long leave is taken. 'Tis Time to admonish them again. _Bar._ Forbear; Retrench not from their moments. _Lor._ Not I, now We have higher business for our own. This day Shall be the last of the old Doge's reign, As the first of his son's last banishment, 20 And that is vengeance. _Bar._ In my mind, too deep. _Lor._ 'Tis moderate--not even life for life, the rule Denounced of retribution from all time; They owe me still my father's and my uncle's. _Bar._ Did not the Doge deny this strongly? _Lor._ Doubtless. _Bar._ And did not this shake your suspicion? _Lor._ No. _Bar._ But if this deposition should take place By our united influence in the Council, It must be done with all the deference Due to his years, his station, and his deeds. 30 _Lor._ As much of ceremony as you will, So that the thing be done. You may, for aught I care, depute the Council on their knees, (Like Barbarossa to the Pope,) to beg him To have the courtesy to abdicate. _Bar._ What if he will not? _Lor._ We'll elect another, And make him null. _Bar._ But will the laws uphold us?[69] _Lor._ What laws?--"The Ten" are laws; and if they were not, I will be legislator in this business. _Bar._ At your own peril? _Lor._ There is none, I tell you, 40 Our powers are such. _Bar._ But he has twice already Solicited permission to retire, And twice it was refused. _Lor._ The better reason To grant it the third time. _Bar._ Unasked? _Lor._ It shows The impression of his former instances: If they were from his heart, he may be thankful: If not, 'twill punish his hypocrisy. Come, they are met by this time; let us join them, And be _thou_ fixed in purpose for this once. I have prepared such arguments as will not 50 Fail to move them, and to remove him: since Their thoughts, their objects, have been sounded, do not _You_, with your wonted scruples, teach us pause, And all will prosper. _Bar._ Could I but be certain This is no prelude to such persecution Of the sire as has fallen upon the son, I would support you. _Lor._ He is safe, I tell you; His fourscore years and five may linger on As long as he can drag them: 'tis his throne Alone is aimed at. _Bar._ But discarded Princes 60 Are seldom long of life. _Lor._ And men of eighty More seldom still. _Bar._ And why not wait these few years? _Lor._ Because we have waited long enough, and he Lived longer than enough. Hence! in to council! [_Exeunt_ LOREDANO _and_ BARBARIGO. _Enter_ MEMMO[70] _and a Senator_. _Sen._ A summons to "the Ten!" why so? _Mem._ "The Ten" Alone can answer; they are rarely wont To let their thoughts anticipate their purpose By previous proclamation. We are summoned-- That is enough. _Sen._ For them, but not for us; I would know why. _Mem._ You will know why anon, 70 If you obey: and, if not, you no less Will know why you should have obeyed. _Sen._ I mean not To oppose them, _but_---- _Mem._ In Venice "_but_"'s a traitor. But me no "_buts_" unless you would pass o'er The Bridge which few repass.[71] _Sen._ I am silent. _Mem._ Why Thus hesitate? "The Ten" have called in aid Of their deliberation five and twenty Patricians of the Senate--you are one, And I another; and it seems to me Both honoured by the choice or chance which leads us 80 To mingle with a body so august. _Sen._ Most true. I say no more. _Mem._ As we hope, Signor, And all may honestly, (that is, all those Of noble blood may,) one day hope to be Decemvir, it is surely for the Senate's[br] Chosen delegates, a school of wisdom, to Be thus admitted, though as novices, To view the mysteries. _Sen._ Let us view them: they, No doubt, are worth it. _Mem._ Being worth our lives If we divulge them, doubtless they are worth 90 Something, at least to you or me. _Sen._ I sought not A place within the sanctuary; but being Chosen, however reluctantly so chosen, I shall fulfil my office. _Mem._ Let us not Be latest in obeying "the Ten's" summons. _Sen._ All are not met, but I am of your thought So far--let's in. _Mem._ The earliest are most welcome In earnest councils--we will not be least so. [_Exeunt_. _Enter the_ DOGE, JACOPO FOSCARI, _and_ MARINA. _Jac. Fos._ Ah, father! though I must and will depart, Yet--yet--I pray you to obtain for me 100 That I once more return unto my home, Howe'er remote the period. Let there be A point of time, as beacon to my heart, With any penalty annexed they please, But let me still return. _Doge_. Son Jacopo, Go and obey our Country's will:[72] 'tis not For us to look beyond. _Jac. Fos._ But still I must Look back. I pray you think of me. _Doge_. Alas! You ever were my dearest offspring, when They were more numerous, nor can be less so 110 Now you are last; but did the State demand The exile of the disinterred ashes Of your three goodly brothers, now in earth,[73] And their desponding shades came flitting round To impede the act, I must no less obey A duty, paramount to every duty. _Mar._ My husband! let us on: this but prolongs Our sorrow. _Jac. Fos._ But we are not summoned yet; The galley's sails are not unfurled:--who knows? The wind may change. _Mar._ And if it do, it will not 120 Change _their_ hearts, or your lot: the galley's oars Will quickly clear the harbour. _Jac. Fos._ O, ye Elements! Where are your storms? _Mar._ In human breasts. Alas! Will nothing calm you? _Jac. Fos._ Never yet did mariner Put up to patron saint such prayers for prosperous And pleasant breezes, as I call upon you, Ye tutelar saints of my own city! which Ye love not with more holy love than I, To lash up from the deep the Adrian waves, And waken Auster, sovereign of the Tempest! 130 Till the sea dash me back on my own shore A broken corse upon the barren Lido, Where I may mingle with the sands which skirt The land I love, and never shall see more! _Mar._ And wish you this with _me_ beside you? _Jac. Fos._ No-- No--not for thee, too good, too kind! May'st thou Live long to be a mother to those children Thy fond fidelity for a time deprives Of such support! But for myself alone, May all the winds of Heaven howl down the Gulf, 140 And tear the vessel, till the mariners, Appalled, turn their despairing eyes on me, As the Phenicians did on Jonah, then Cast me out from amongst them, as an offering To appease the waves. The billow which destroys me Will be more merciful than man, and bear me Dead, but _still bear_ me to a native grave, From fishers' hands, upon the desolate strand, Which, of its thousand wrecks, hath ne'er received One lacerated like the heart which then 150 Will be.--But wherefore breaks it not? why live I? _Mar._ To man thyself, I trust, with time, to master Such useless passion. Until now thou wert A sufferer, but not a loud one: why What is this to the things thou hast borne in silence-- Imprisonment and actual torture? _Jac. Fos._ Double, Triple, and tenfold torture! But you are right, It must be borne. Father, your blessing. _Doge_. Would It could avail thee! but no less thou hast it. _Jac. Fos._ Forgive---- _Doge_. What? _Jac. Fos._ My poor mother, for my birth, 160 And me for having lived, and you yourself (As I forgive you), for the gift of life, Which you bestowed upon me as my sire. _Mar._ What hast thou done? _Jac. Fos._ Nothing. I cannot charge My memory with much save sorrow: but I have been so beyond the common lot Chastened and visited, I needs must think That I was wicked. If it be so, may What I have undergone here keep me from A like hereafter! _Mar._ Fear not: _that's_ reserved 170 For your oppressors. _Jac. Fos._ Let me hope not. _Mar._ Hope not? _Jac. Fos._ I cannot wish them _all_ they have inflicted. _Mar._ _All!_ the consummate fiends! A thousandfold May the worm which never dieth feed upon them! _Jac. Fos._ They may repent. _Mar._ And if they do, Heaven will not Accept the tardy penitence of demons. _Enter an Officer and Guards_. _Offi._ Signor! the boat is at the shore--the wind Is rising--we are ready to attend you. _Jac. Fos._ And I to be attended. Once more, father, Your hand! _Doge_. Take it. Alas! how thine own trembles! 180 _Jac. Fos._ No--you mistake; 'tis yours that shakes, my father. Farewell! _Doge_. Farewell! Is there aught else? _Jac. Fos._ No--nothing. [_To the Officer_. Lend me your arm, good Signor. _Offi._ You turn pale-- Let me support you--paler--ho! some aid there! Some water! _Mar._ Ah, he is dying! _Jac. Fos._ Now, I'm ready-- My eyes swim strangely--where's the door? _Mar._ Away! Let me support him--my best love! Oh, God! How faintly beats this heart--this pulse! _Jac. Fos._ The light! _Is_ it the light?--I am faint. [_Officer presents him with water_. _Offi._ He will be better, Perhaps, in the air. _Jac. Fos._ I doubt not. Father--wife-- 190 Your hands! _Mar._ There's death in that damp, clammy grasp.[74] Oh, God!--My Foscari, how fare you? _Jac. Fos._ Well! [_He dies_. _Offi._ He's gone! _Doge_. He's free. _Mar._ No--no, he is not dead; There must be life yet in that heart--he could not[bs] Thus leave me. _Doge_. Daughter! _Mar._ Hold thy peace, old man! I am no daughter now--thou hast no son. Oh, Foscari! _Offi._ We must remove the body. _Mar._ Touch it not, dungeon miscreants! your base office Ends with his life, and goes not beyond murder, Even by your murderous laws. Leave his remains 200 To those who know to honour them. _Offi._ I must Inform the Signory, and learn their pleasure. _Doge_. Inform the Signory from _me_, the Doge, They have no further power upon those ashes: While he lived, he was theirs, as fits a subject-- Now he is _mine_--my broken-hearted boy! [_Exit Officer_. _Mar._ And I must live! _Doge_. Your children live, Marina. _Mar._ My children! true--they live, and I must live To bring them up to serve the State, and die As died their father. Oh! what best of blessings 210 Were barrenness in Venice! Would my mother Had been so! _Doge_. My unhappy children! _Mar._ What! _You_ feel it then at last--_you!_--Where is now The Stoic of the State? _Doge_ (_throwing himself down by the body_). _Here!_ _Mar._ Aye, weep on! I thought you had no tears--you hoarded them Until they are useless; but weep on! he never Shall weep more--never, never more. _Enter_ LOREDANO _and_ BARBARIGO. _Lor._ What's here? _Mar._ Ah! the Devil come to insult the dead! Avaunt! Incarnate Lucifer! 'tis holy ground. A martyr's ashes now lie there, which make it 220 A shrine. Get thee back to thy place of torment! _Bar._ Lady, we knew not of this sad event, But passed here merely on our path from council. _Mar._ Pass on. _Lor._ We sought the Doge. _Mar._ (_pointing to the Doge, who is still on the ground by his son's body_) He's busy, look, About the business _you_ provided for him. Are ye content? _Bar._ We will not interrupt A parent's sorrows. _Mar._ No, ye only make them, Then leave them. _Doge_ (_rising_). Sirs, I am ready. _Bar._ No--not now. _Lor._ Yet 'twas important. _Doge_. If 'twas so, I can Only repeat--I am ready. _Bar._ It shall not be 230 Just now, though Venice tottered o'er the deep Like a frail vessel. I respect your griefs. _Doge_. I thank you. If the tidings which you bring Are evil, you may say them; nothing further Can touch me more than him thou look'st on there; If they be good, say on; you need not _fear_ That they can _comfort_ me. _Bar._ I would they could! _Doge_. I spoke not to _you_, but to Loredano. _He_ understands me. _Mar._ Ah! I thought it would be so. _Doge_. What mean you? _Mar._ Lo! there is the blood beginning 240 To flow through the dead lips of Foscari-- The body bleeds in presence of the assassin. [_To_ LOREDANO. Thou cowardly murderer by law, behold How Death itself bears witness to thy deeds! _Doge_. My child! this is a phantasy of grief. Bear hence the body. [_To his attendants_] Signors, if it please you, Within an hour I'll hear you. [_Exeunt_ DOGE, MARINA, _and attendants with the body_. _Manent_ LOREDANO _and_ BARBARIGO. _Bar._ He must not Be troubled now. _Lor._ He said himself that nought Could give him trouble farther. _Bar._ These are words; But Grief is lonely, and the breaking in 250 Upon it barbarous. _Lor._ Sorrow preys upon Its solitude, and nothing more diverts it From its sad visions of the other world, Than calling it at moments back to this. The busy have no time for tears. _Bar._ And therefore You would deprive this old man of all business? _Lor._ The thing's decreed. The Giunta[75] and "the Ten" Have made it law--who shall oppose that law? _Bar._ Humanity! _Lor._ Because his son is dead? _Bar._ And yet unburied. _Lor._ Had we known this when 260 The act was passing, it might have suspended Its passage, but impedes it not--once passed. _Bar._ I'll not consent. _Lor._ You have consented to All that's essential--leave the rest to me. _Bar._ Why press his abdication now? _Lor._ The feelings Of private passion may not interrupt The public benefit; and what the State Decides to-day must not give way before To-morrow for a natural accident. _Bar._ You have a son. _Lor._ I _have_--and _had_ a father. 270 _Bar._ Still so inexorable? _Lor._ Still. _Bar._ But let him Inter his son before we press upon him This edict. _Lor._ Let him call up into life My sire and uncle--I consent. Men may, Even aged men, be, or appear to be, Sires of a hundred sons, but cannot kindle An atom of their ancestors from earth. The victims are not equal; he has seen His sons expire by natural deaths, and I My sires by violent and mysterious maladies. 280 I used no poison, bribed no subtle master Of the destructive art of healing, to Shorten the path to the eternal cure. His sons--and he had four--are dead, without _My_ dabbling in vile drugs. _Bar._ And art thou sure He dealt in such? _Lor._ Most sure. _Bar._ And yet he seems All openness. _Lor._ And so he seemed not long Ago to Carmagnuola. _Bar._ The attainted And foreign traitor? _Lor._ Even so: when _he_, After the very night in which "the Ten" 290 (Joined with the Doge) decided his destruction, Met the great Duke at daybreak with a jest, Demanding whether he should augur him "The good day or good night?" his Doge-ship answered, "That he in truth had passed a night of vigil, In which" (he added with a gracious smile) "There often has been question about you."[76] 'Twas true; the question was the death resolved Of Carmagnuola, eight months ere he died; And the old Doge, who knew him doomed, smiled on him 300 With deadly cozenage, eight long months beforehand-- Eight months of such hypocrisy as is Learnt but in eighty years. Brave Carmagnuola Is dead; so is young Foscari and his brethren-- I never _smiled_ on _them_. _Bar._ Was Carmagnuola Your friend? _Lor._ He was the safeguard of the city. In early life its foe, but in his manhood, Its saviour first, then victim. _Bar._ Ah! that seems The penalty of saving cities. He Whom we now act against not only saved 310 Our own, but added others to her sway. _Lor._ The Romans (and we ape them) gave a crown To him who took a city: and they gave A crown to him who saved a citizen In battle: the rewards are equal. Now, If we should measure forth the cities taken By the Doge Foscari, with citizens Destroyed by him, or _through_ him, the account Were fearfully against him, although narrowed To private havoc, such as between him 320 And my dead father. _Bar._ Are you then thus fixed? _Lor._ Why, what should change me? _Bar._ That which changes me. But you, I know, are marble to retain A feud. But when all is accomplished, when The old man is deposed, his name degraded, His sons all dead, his family depressed, And you and yours triumphant, shall you sleep? _Lor._ More soundly. _Bar._ That's an error, and you'll find it Ere you sleep with your fathers. _Lor._ They sleep not In their accelerated graves, nor will 330 Till Foscari fills his. Each night I see them Stalk frowning round my couch, and, pointing towards The ducal palace, marshal me to vengeance. _Bar._ Fancy's distemperature! There is no passion More spectral or fantastical than Hate; Not even its opposite, Love, so peoples air With phantoms, as this madness of the heart. _Enter an Officer_. _Lor._ Where go you, sirrah? _Offi._ By the ducal order To forward the preparatory rites For the late Foscari's interment. _Bar._ Their 340 Vault has been often opened of late years. _Lor._ 'Twill be full soon, and may be closed for ever! _Offi._ May I pass on? _Lor._ You may. _Bar._ How bears the Doge This last calamity? _Offi._ With desperate firmness. In presence of another he says little, But I perceive his lips move now and then; And once or twice I heard him, from the adjoining Apartment, mutter forth the words--"My son!" Scarce audibly. I must proceed. [_Exit Officer_. _Bar._ This stroke Will move all Venice in his favour. _Lor._ Right! 350 We must be speedy: let us call together The delegates appointed to convey The Council's resolution. _Bar._ I protest Against it at this moment. _Lor._ As you please-- I'll take their voices on it ne'ertheless, And see whose most may sway them, yours or mine. [_Exeunt_ BARBARIGO _and_ LOREDANO. ACT V. SCENE I.--_The_ DOGE'S _Apartment_. _The_ DOGE _and Attendants_. _Att._ My Lord, the deputation is in waiting; But add, that if another hour would better Accord with your will, they will make it theirs. _Doge_. To me all hours are like. Let them approach. [_Exit Attendant_. _An Officer_. Prince! I have done your bidding. _Doge_. What command? _Offi._ A melancholy one--to call the attendance Of---- _Doge_. True--true--true: I crave your pardon. I Begin to fail in apprehension, and Wax very old--old almost as my years. Till now I fought them off, but they begin 10 To overtake me. _Enter the Deputation, consisting of six of the Signory and the Chief of the Ten_. Noble men, your pleasure! _Chief of the Ten_. In the first place, the Council doth condole With the Doge on his late and private grief. _Doge_. No more--no more of that. _Chief of the Ten_. Will not the Duke Accept the homage of respect? _Doge_. I do Accept it as 'tis given--proceed. _Chief of the Ten_. "The Ten," With a selected giunta from the Senate Of twenty-five of the best born patricians, Having deliberated on the state Of the Republic, and the o'erwhelming cares 20 Which, at this moment, doubly must oppress Your years, so long devoted to your Country, Have judged it fitting, with all reverence, Now to solicit from your wisdom (which Upon reflection must accord in this), The resignation of the ducal ring, Which you have worn so long and venerably: And to prove that they are not ungrateful, nor Cold to your years and services, they add An appanage of twenty hundred golden 30 Ducats, to make retirement not less splendid Than should become a Sovereign's retreat. _Doge_. Did I hear rightly? _Chief of the Ten_. Need I say again? _Doge_. No.--Have you done? _Chief of the Ten_. I have spoken. Twenty four[77] Hours are accorded you to give an answer. _Doge_. I shall not need so many seconds. _Chief of the Ten_. We Will now retire. _Doge_. Stay! four and twenty hours Will alter nothing which I have to say. _Chief of the Ten_. Speak! _Doge_. When I twice before reiterated My wish to abdicate, it was refused me: 40 And not alone refused, but ye exacted An oath from me that I would never more Renew this instance. I have sworn to die In full exertion of the functions, which My Country called me here to exercise, According to my honour and my conscience-- I cannot break _my_ oath. _Chief of the Ten_. Reduce us not To the alternative of a decree, Instead of your compliance. _Doge_. Providence Prolongs my days to prove and chasten me; 50 But ye have no right to reproach my length Of days, since every hour has been the Country's. I am ready to lay down my life for her, As I have laid down dearer things than life: But for my dignity--I hold it of The _whole_ Republic: when the _general_ will Is manifest, then you shall all be answered. _Chief of the Ten_. We grieve for such an answer; but it cannot Avail you aught. _Doge_. I can submit to all things, But nothing will advance; no, not a moment. 60 What you decree--decree. _Chief of the Ten_. With this, then, must we Return to those who sent us? _Doge_. You have heard me. _Chief of the Ten_. With all due reverence we retire. [_Exeunt the Deputation, etc._ _Enter an Attendant_. _Att._ My Lord, The noble dame Marina craves an audience. _Doge_. My time is hers. _Enter_ MARINA. _Mar._ My Lord, if I intrude-- Perhaps you fain would be alone? _Doge_. Alone! Alone, come all the world around me, I Am now and evermore. But we will bear it. _Mar._ We will, and for the sake of those who are, Endeavour----Oh, my husband! _Doge_. Give it way: 70 I cannot comfort thee. _Mar._ He might have lived, So formed for gentle privacy of life, So loving, so beloved; the native of Another land, and who so blest and blessing As my poor Foscari? Nothing was wanting Unto his happiness and mine save not To be Venetian. _Doge_. Or a Prince's son. _Mar._ Yes; all things which conduce to other men's Imperfect happiness or high ambition, By some strange destiny, to him proved deadly. 80 The Country and the People whom he loved, The Prince of whom he was the elder born, And---- _Doge_. Soon may be a Prince no longer. _Mar._ How? _Doge_. They have taken my son from me, and now aim At my too long worn diadem and ring. Let them resume the gewgaws! _Mar._ Oh, the tyrants! In such an hour too! _Doge_. 'Tis the fittest time; An hour ago I should have felt it. _Mar._ And Will you not now resent it?--Oh, for vengeance! But he, who, had he been enough protected, 90 Might have repaid protection in this moment, Cannot assist his father. _Doge_. Nor should do so Against his Country, had he a thousand lives Instead of that---- _Mar._ They tortured from him. This May be pure patriotism. I am a woman: To me my husband and my children were Country and home. I loved _him_--how I loved him! I have seen him pass through such an ordeal as The old martyrs would have shrunk from: he is gone, And I, who would have given my blood for him, 100 Have nought to give but tears! But could I compass The retribution of his wrongs!--Well, well! I have sons, who shall be men. _Doge_. Your grief distracts you. _Mar._ I thought I could have borne it, when I saw him Bowed down by such oppression; yes, I thought That I would rather look upon his corse Than his prolonged captivity:--I am punished For that thought now. Would I were in his grave! _Doge_. I must look on him once more. _Mar._ Come with me! _Doge_. Is he---- _Mar._ Our bridal bed is now his bier, 110 _Doge_. And he is in his shroud! _Mar._ Come, come, old man! [_Exeunt the_ DOGE _and_ MARINA. _Enter_ BARBARIGO _and_ LOREDANO. _Bar._ (_to an Attendant_). Where is the Doge? _Att._ This instant retired hence, With the illustrious lady his son's widow. _Lor._ Where? _Att._ To the chamber where the body lies. _Bar._ Let us return, then. _Lor._ You forget, you cannot. We have the implicit order of the Giunta To await their coming here, and join them in Their office: they'll be here soon after us. _Bar._ And will they press their answer on the Doge? _Lor._ 'Twas his own wish that all should be done promptly. 120 He answered quickly, and must so be answered; His dignity is looked to, his estate Cared for--what would he more? _Bar._ Die in his robes: He could not have lived long; but I have done My best to save his honours, and opposed This proposition to the last, though vainly. Why would the general vote compel me hither? _Lor._ 'Twas fit that some one of such different thoughts From ours should be a witness, lest false tongues Should whisper that a harsh majority 130 Dreaded to have its acts beheld by others. _Bar._ And not less, I must needs think, for the sake Of humbling me for my vain opposition. You are ingenious, Loredano, in Your modes of vengeance, nay, poetical, A very Ovid in the art of _hating_; 'Tis thus (although a secondary object, Yet hate has microscopic eyes), to you I owe, by way of foil to the more zealous, This undesired association in 140 Your Giunta's duties. _Lor._ How!--_my_ Giunta! _Bar._ _Yours!_ They speak your language, watch your nod, approve Your plans, and do your work. Are they not _yours?_ _Lor._ You talk unwarily. 'Twere best they hear not This from you. _Bar._ Oh! they'll hear as much one day From louder tongues than mine; they have gone beyond Even their exorbitance of power: and when This happens in the most contemned and abject States, stung humanity will rise to check it. _Lor._ You talk but idly. _Bar._ That remains for proof. 150 Here come our colleagues. _Enter the Deputation as before_. _Chief of the Ten_. Is the Duke aware We seek his presence? _Att._ He shall be informed. [_Exit Attendant_. _Bar._ The Duke is with his son. _Chief of the Ten_. If it be so, We will remit him till the rites are over. Let us return. 'Tis time enough to-morrow. _Lor._ (_aside to Bar_.) Now the rich man's hell-fire upon your tongue, Unquenched, unquenchable! I'll have it torn From its vile babbling roots, till you shall utter Nothing but sobs through blood, for this! Sage Signors, I pray ye be not hasty. [_Aloud to the others_. _Bar._ But be human! 160 _Lor._ See, the Duke comes! _Enter the_ DOGE. _Doge_. I have obeyed your summons. _Chief of the Ten_. We come once more to urge our past request. _Doge_. And I to answer. _Chief of the Ten_. What? _Doge_. My only answer. You have heard it. _Chief of the Ten_. Hear _you_ then the last decree, Definitive and absolute! _Doge_. To the point-- To the point! I know of old the forms of office, And gentle preludes to strong acts.--Go on! _Chief of the Ten_. You are no longer Doge; you are released From your imperial oath as Sovereign; Your ducal robes must be put off; but for 170 Your services, the State allots the appanage Already mentioned in our former congress. Three days are left you to remove from hence, Under the penalty to see confiscated All your own private fortune. _Doge_. That last clause, I am proud to say, would not enrich the treasury. _Chief of the Ten_. Your answer, Duke! _Lor._ Your answer, Francis Foscari! _Doge_. If I could have foreseen that my old age Was prejudicial to the State, the Chief Of the Republic never would have shown 180 Himself so far ungrateful, as to place His own high dignity before his Country; But this _life_ having been so many years _Not_ useless to that Country, I would fain Have consecrated my last moments to her. But the decree being rendered, I obey.[bt][78] _Chief of the Ten_. If you would have the three days named extended, We willingly will lengthen them to eight, As sign of our esteem. _Doge_. Not eight hours, Signor, Not even eight minutes--there's the ducal ring, 190 [_Taking off his ring and cap_. And there the ducal diadem! And so The Adriatic's free to wed another. _Chief of the Ten_. Yet go not forth so quickly. _Doge_. I am old, sir, And even to move but slowly must begin To move betimes. Methinks I see amongst you A face I know not.--Senator! your name, You, by your garb, Chief of the Forty! _Mem._ Signor, I am the son of Marco Memmo. _Doge_. Ah! Your father was my friend.--But _sons_ and _fathers!_-- What, ho! my servants there! _Atten._ My Prince! _Doge_. No Prince-- 200 There are the princes of the Prince! [_Pointing to the Ten's Deputation_ --Prepare To part from hence upon the instant. _Chief of the Ten_. Why So rashly? 'twill give scandal. _Doge_ (_to the Ten_). Answer that; It is your province. [_To the Servants_. --Sirs, bestir yourselves: There is one burthen which I beg you bear With care, although 'tis past all farther harm-- But I will look to that myself. _Bar._ He means The body of his son. _Doge_. And call Marina, My daughter! _Enter_ MARINA. _Doge_. Get thee ready, we must mourn Elsewhere. _Mar._ And everywhere. _Doge_. True; but in freedom, 210 Without these jealous spies upon the great. Signers, you may depart: what would you more? We are going; do you fear that we shall bear The palace with us? Its _old_ walls, ten times As _old_ as I am, and I'm very old, Have served you, so have I, and I and they Could tell a tale; but I invoke them not To fall upon you! else they would, as erst The pillars of stone Dagon's temple on The Israelite and his Philistine foes. 220 Such power I do believe there might exist In such a curse as mine, provoked by such As you; but I curse not. Adieu, good Signers! May the next Duke be better than the present! _Lor._ The _present_ Duke is Paschal Malipiero. _Doge_. Not till I pass the threshold of these doors. _Lor._ Saint Mark's great bell is soon about to toll For his inauguration. _Doge_. Earth and Heaven! Ye will reverberate this peal; and I Live to hear this!--the first Doge who e'er heard 230 Such sound for his successor: happier he, My attainted predecessor, stern Faliero-- This insult at the least was spared him. _Lor._ What! Do you regret a traitor? _Doge_. No--I merely Envy the dead. _Chief of the Ten_. My Lord, if you indeed Are bent upon this rash abandonment Of the State's palace, at the least retire By the private staircase, which conducts you towards The landing-place of the canal. _Doge_. No. I Will now descend the stairs by which I mounted 240 To sovereignty--the Giants' Stairs, on whose Broad eminence I was invested Duke. My services have called me up those steps, The malice of my foes will drive me down them.[79] _There_ five and thirty years ago was I Installed, and traversed these same halls, from which I never thought to be divorced except A corse--a corse, it might be, fighting for them-- But not pushed hence by fellow-citizens. But come; my son and I will go together-- 250 He to his grave, and I to pray for mine. _Chief of the Ten_. What! thus in public? _Doge_. I was publicly Elected, and so will I be deposed. Marina! art thou willing? _Mar._ Here's my arm! _Doge_. And here my _staff_: thus propped will I go forth. _Chief of the Ten_. It must not be--the people will perceive it. _Doge_. The people,--There's no people, you well know it, Else you dare not deal thus by them or me. There is a _populace_, perhaps, whose looks May shame you; but they dare not groan nor curse you, 260 Save with their hearts and eyes. _Chief of the Ten_. You speak in passion, Else---- _Doge_. You have reason. I have spoken much More than my wont: it is a foible which Was not of mine, but more excuses you, Inasmuch as it shows, that I approach A dotage which may justify this deed Of yours, although the law does not, nor will. Farewell, sirs! _Bar._ You shall not depart without An escort fitting past and present rank. We will accompany, with due respect, 270 The Doge unto his private palace. Say! My brethren, will we not? _Different voices_. Aye!--Aye! _Doge_. You shall not Stir--in my train, at least. I entered here As Sovereign--I go out as citizen By the same portals, but as citizen. All these vain ceremonies are base insults, Which only ulcerate the heart the more, Applying poisons there as antidotes. Pomp is for Princes--I am none!--That's false, I _am_, but only to these gates.--Ah! _Lor._ Hark! 280 [_The great bell of St. Mark's tolls_. _Bar._ The bell! _Chief of the Ten_. St. Mark's, which tolls for the election Of Malipiero. _Doge_. Well I recognise The sound! I heard it once, but once before, And that is five and thirty years ago; Even _then_ I _was not young_. _Bar._ Sit down, my Lord! You tremble. _Doge_. 'Tis the knell of my poor boy! My heart aches bitterly. _Bar._ I pray you sit. _Doge_. No; my seat here has been a throne till now. Marina! let us go. _Mar._ Most readily. _Doge_. (_walks a few steps, then stops_). I feel athirst--will no one bring me here 290 A cup of water? _Bar._ I---- _Mar._ And I---- _Lor._ And I---- [_The Doge takes a goblet from the hand of_ LOREDANO. _Doge_. I take _yours_, Loredano, from the hand Most fit for such an hour as this.[bu] _Lor._ Why so? _Doge_. 'Tis said that our Venetian crystal has Such pure antipathy to poisons as To burst, if aught of venom touches it. You bore this goblet, and it is not broken. _Lor._ Well, sir! _Doge_. Then it is false, or you are true. For my own part, I credit neither; 'tis An idle legend. _Mar._ You talk wildly, and 300 Had better now be seated, nor as yet Depart. Ah! now you look as looked my husband! _Bar._ He sinks!--support him!--quick--a chair--support him! _Doge_. The bell tolls on!--let's hence--my brain's on fire! _Bar._ I do beseech you, lean upon us! _Doge_. No! A Sovereign should die standing. My poor boy! Off with your arms!--_That bell!_[80] [_The_ DOGE _drops down and dies_. _Mar._ My God! My God! _Bar._ (_to Lor._). Behold! your work's completed! _Chief of the Ten_. Is there then No aid? Call in assistance! _Att._ 'Tis all over. _Chief of the Ten_. If it be so, at least his obsequies 310 Shall be such as befits his name and nation, His rank and his devotion to the duties Of the realm, while his age permitted him To do himself and them full justice. Brethren, Say, shall it not be so? _Bar._ He has not had The misery to die a subject where[bv] He reigned: then let his funeral rites be princely.[81] _Chief of the Ten_. We are agreed, then? _All, except Lor., answer,_ Yes. _Chief of the Ten_. Heaven's peace be with him! _Mar._ Signers, your pardon: this is mockery. 320 Juggle no more with that poor remnant, which, A moment since, while yet it had a soul, (A soul by whom you have increased your Empire, And made your power as proud as was his glory), You banished from his palace and tore down From his high place, with such relentless coldness; And now, when he can neither know these honours, Nor would accept them if he could, you, Signors, Purpose, with idle and superfluous pomp, To make a pageant over what you trampled. 330 A princely funeral will be your reproach, And not his honour. _Chief of the Ten_. Lady, we revoke not Our purposes so readily. _Mar._ I know it, As far as touches torturing the living. I thought the dead had been beyond even _you_, Though (some, no doubt) consigned to powers which may Resemble that you exercise on earth. Leave him to me; you would have done so for His dregs of life, which you have kindly shortened: It is my last of duties, and may prove 340 A dreary comfort in my desolation.[bw] Grief is fantastical, and loves the dead, And the apparel of the grave. _Chief of the Ten_. Do you Pretend still to this office? _Mar._ I do, Signor. Though his possessions have been all consumed In the State's service, I have still my dowry, Which shall be consecrated to his rites, And those of---- [_She stops with agitation_. _Chief of the Ten_. Best retain it for your children. _Mar._ Aye, they are fatherless, I thank you. _Chief of the Ten_. We Cannot comply with your request. His relics 350 Shall be exposed with wonted pomp, and followed Unto their home by the new Doge, not clad As _Doge_, but simply as a senator. _Mar._ I have heard of murderers, who have interred Their victims; but ne'er heard, until this hour, Of so much splendour in hypocrisy O'er those they slew.[82] I've heard of widows' tears-- Alas! I have shed some--always thanks to you! I've heard of _heirs_ in sables--you have left none To the deceased, so you would act the part 360 Of such. Well, sirs, your will be done! as one day, I trust, Heaven's will be done too![bx] _Chief of the Ten_. Know you, Lady, To whom ye speak, and perils of such speech? _Mar._ I know the former better than yourselves; The latter--like yourselves; and can face both. Wish you more funerals? _Bar._ Heed not her rash words; Her circumstances must excuse her bearing. _Chief of the Ten_. We will not note them down. _Bar._ (_turning to Lor., who is writing upon his tablets_). What art thou writing, With such an earnest brow, upon thy tablets? _Lor._ (_pointing to the Doge's body_). That _he_ has paid me![83] _Chief of the Ten_. What debt did he owe you? 370 _Lor._ A long and just one; Nature's debt and _mine_.[84] [_Curtain falls_[85] FOOTNOTES: [34] {113}[The MS. of _The Two Foscari_ is now in the possession of H.R.H. the Princess of Wales.] [35] [Begun June the 12th, completed July the 9th, Ravenna, 1821.--_Byron MS_.] [36] [_Gov._ "_The father softens--but the governor is fixed_." _Dingle_. "Aye that antithesis of persons is a most established figure."--_Critic_, act ii. sc. 2. Byron may have guessed that this passage would be quoted against him, and, by taking it as a motto, hoped to anticipate or disarm ridicule; or he may have selected it out of bravado, as though, forsooth, the public were too stupid to find him out.] [at] ----_too soon repeated_.--[MS. erased.] [37] {121}[It is a moot point whether Jacopo Foscari was placed on the rack on the occasion of his third trial. The original document of the X. (July 23, 1456) runs thus: "Si videtur vobis per ea quae dicta et lecta sunt, quod _procedatur_ contra Ser Jacobum Foscari;" and it is argued (see F. Berlan, _I due Foscari, etc._, 1852, p. 57), (1) that the word _procedatur_ is not a euphemism for "tortured," but should be rendered "judgment be given against;" (2) that if the X had decreed torture, torture would have been expressly enjoined; and (3) that as the decrees of the Council were not divulged, there was no motive for ambiguity. S. Romanin (_Storia Documentata, etc._, 1853, iv. 284) and R. Senger (_Die beiden Foscari_, 1878, p. 116) take the same view. On the other hand, Miss A. Wiel (_Two Doges of Venice_, 1891, p. 107) points out that, according to the _Dolfin Cronaca_, which Berlan did not consult, Jacopo was in a "mutilated" condition when the trial was over, and he was permitted to take a last farewell of his wife and children in Torricella. Goethe (_Conversations_, 1874, pp. 264, 265) did not share Eckermann's astonishment that Byron "could dwell so long on this torturing subject." "He was always a self-tormentor, and hence such subjects were his darling theme."] [38] {122}[It is extremely improbable that Francesco Foscari was present in person at the third or two preceding trials of his son. As may be gathered from the _parte_ of the Council of Ten relating to the first trial, there was a law which prescribed the contrary: "In ipsius Domini Ducis praesentia de rebus ad ipsum, vel ad filios suos tangentibus non tractetur, loquatur vel consulatur, sicut non potest (_fieri_) quando tractatur de rebus tangentibus ad attinentes Domini Ducis." The fact that "Nos Franciscus Foscari," etc., stood at the commencement of the decree of exile may have given rise to the tradition that the Doge, like a Roman father, tried and condemned his son. (See Berlan's _I due Foscari_, p. 13.)] [39] {123}[Pietro Loredano, admiral of the Venetian fleet, died November 11, 1438. His death was sudden and suspicious, for he was taken with violent pains and spasms after presiding at a banquet in honour of his victories over the Milanese; and, when his illness ended fatally, it was remembered that the Doge had publicly declared that so long as the admiral lived he would never be _de facto_ Prince of the Republic. Jacopo Loredano chose to put his own interpretation on this outburst of impatience, and inscribed on his father's monument in the Church of the Monastery of Sant' Elena, in the Isola della Santa Lena, the words, "Per insidias hostium veneno sublatus." (See _Ecclesiae Venetae_, by Flaminio Cornaro, 1749, ix. 193, 194; see, too, Cicogna's _Inscrizioni Veneziane_, 1830, iii. 381.) Not long afterwards Marco Loredano, the admiral's brother, met with a somewhat similar fate. He had been despatched by the X. to Legnano, to investigate the conduct of Andrea Donate, the Doge's brother-in-law, who was suspected of having embezzled the public moneys. His report was unfavourable to Donato, and, shortly after, he too fell sick and died. It is most improbable that the Doge was directly or indirectly responsible for the death of either brother; but there was an hereditary feud, and the libellous epitaph was a move in the game.] [40] {124}[Daru gives Palazzi's _Fasti Ducales_ and _L'Histoire Venitienne_ of Vianolo as his authorities for this story.] [au]4 ----_checked by nought_ _The vessel that creaks_----.--[MS. M. erased.] [av] {125} ----_much pity_.--[MS. M. erased.] [41] ["This whole episode in the private life of the Foscari family is valuable chiefly for the light it throws upon the internal history of Venice. We are clearly in an atmosphere unknown before. The Council of Ten is all-powerful; it even usurps functions which do not belong to it by the constitution. The air is charged with plots, suspicion, assassination, denunciation, spies,--all the paraphernalia which went to confirm the popular legend as to the terrible nature of the _Dieci_."--_Venice, etc._, by Horatio F. Brown, 1893, p. 305.] [aw] {126} _In this brief colloquy, and must redeem it_.--[MS. M.] [42] [Compare-- "And I have loved thee, Ocean! and my joy Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be Borne, like thy bubbles, onward: from a boy I wantoned with thy breakers." _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza clxxxiv. lines 1-4, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 461, note 2.] [43] {127}[The climate of Crete is genial and healthy; but the town of Candia is exposed to winds from the north and north-west.] [ax] _I see your colour comes_.--[MS. M.] [44] {130}["She was a Contarini (her name was Lucrezia, not Marina)-- 'A daughter of the house that now among Its ancestors in monumental brass Numbers eight Doges.' On the occasion of her marriage the Bucentaur came out in its splendour; and a bridge of boats was thrown across the Canal Grande for the bridegroom and his retinue of three hundred horse."--_Foscari_, by Samuel Rogers, _Poems_, 1852, ii. 93, note. According to another footnote (_ibid_., p. 90), "this story (_Foscari_) and the tragedy of the _Two Foscari_ were published within a few days of each other, in November, 1821." The first edition of _Italy_ was published anonymously in 1822. According to the announcement of a corrected and enlarged edition, which appeared in the _Morning Chronicle_, April 11, 1823, "a few copies of this poem were printed off the winter before last, while the author was abroad."] [ay] {132} _Do not deem so_.--[MS. M.] [45] {133}[Jacopo's plea, that the letter to the Duke of Milan was written for the express purpose of being recalled to Venice, is inadmissible for more reasons than one. In the first place, if on suspicion of a letter written but never sent, the Ten had thought fit to recall him, it by no means followed that they would have granted him an interview with his wife and family; and, secondly, the fact that there were letters in cypher found in his possession, and that a direct invitation to the Sultan to rescue him by force was among the impounded documents ("Quod requirebat dictum Teucrum ut mitteret ex galeis suis ad accipiendum et levandum eum de dicto loco"), proves that the appeal to the Duke of Milan was _bona fide_, and not a mere act of desperation. (See _The Two Doges_, pp. 101, 102, and Berlan's _I due Poscari_, p. 53, etc.)] [46] {134}[There is no documentary evidence for this "confession," which rests on a mere tradition. (_Vide_ Sanudo, _Vita Ducum Venetorum_, _apud_ Muratori, _Rerum Ital. Script_., 1733, xxii. col. 1139; see, too, Berlan, _I due Foscari_, p. 37.) Moreover, Almoro Donato was not chief of the "Ten" at the date of his murder. The three "Capi" for November, 1450, were Ermolao Vallaresso, Giovanni Giustiniani, and Andrea Marcello (_vide ibid._, p. 25).] [47] {135}["Examination by torture: 'Such presumption is only sufficient to put the person to the rack or torture' (Ayliffe's _Parergon_)."--_Cent. Dict._, art. "Question."] [48] [Shakespeare, Milton, Thompson, and others, use "shook" for "shaken."] [az] _As was proved on him_----.--[MS. M.] [49] [The inarticulate mutterings are probably an echo of the "incantation and magic words" ("incantationem et verba quas sibi reperta sunt de quibus ad funem utitur ... quoniam in fune aliquam nec vocem nec gemitum emittit sed solum inter dentes ipse videtur et auditur loqui" [_Die beiden Foscari_, pp. 160, 161]), which, according to the decree of the Council of Ten, dated March 26, 1451, Jacopo let fall "while under torture" during his second trial.] [ba] {137} _I'll hence and follow Loredano home_.--[MS. M.] [bb] _That I had dipped the pen too heedlessly_.--[MS. M.] [bc] {138} _Mistress of Lombardy--'tis some comfort to me_.--[MS. M.] [50] [Compare "Ce fut l'epoque, ou Venise etendit son empire sur Brescia, Bergame, Ravenne, et Creme; ou elle fonda sa domination de Lombardie," etc. (Sismondi's _Histoire des Republiques_, x. 38). Brescia fell to the Venetians, October, 1426; Bergamo, in April, 1428; Ravenna, in August, 1440; and Crema, in 1453.] [51] {139}[The Bridge of Sighs was not built till the end of the sixteenth century. (_Vide ante, Marino Faliero_, act i. sc. 2, line 508, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 363, note 2; see, too, _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza i. line 1, _et post_, act iv. sc. 1, line 75.)] [bd] {141} _To tears save those of dotage_----.--[MS. M.] [52] {143}[Five sons were born to the Doge, of whom four died of the plague (_Two Doges, etc._, by A. Wiel, 1891, p. 77).] [53] {144}[The Doge offered to abdicate in June, 1433, in June, 1442, and again in 1446 (see Romanin, _Storia, etc._, 1855, iv. 170, 171, note 1).] [54] [_Vide ante_, p. 123.] [55] {148}[For the _Pozzi_ and _Piombi_, see _Marino Faliero_, act i. sc. 2, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 363, note 2.] [be] _Keep this for them_----.--[MS. M.] [bf] {149} _The blackest leaf, his heart, and blankest, his brain_.--[MS. M.] [bg] ----_and best in humblest stations_.--[MS. M.] [bh] _Where hunger swallows all--where ever was_ _The monarch who could bear a three days' fast?_--[MS. M.] [bi] _Their disposition_----.--[MS. M.] [56] [It would seem that Byron's "not ourselves" by no means "made for" righteousness.] [bj] ----_the will itself dependent_ _Upon a storm, a straw, and both alike_ _Leading to death_----.--[MS. M.] [57] [Compare--"The boldest steer but where their ports invite." _Childe Harold_, Canto III. stanza lxx. lines 7-9; and Canto IV. stanza xxxiv., _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 260, 353, and 74, note 1.] [58] {152}[Compare-- "Our voices took a dreary tone, An echo of the dungeon stone." _Prisoner of Chillon_, lines 63, 64. Compare, too-- "----prisoned solitude. And the Mind's canker in its savage mood, When the impatient thirst of light and air Parches the heart." _Lament of Tasso_, lines 4-7.] [59] {153}[For inscriptions on the walls of the _Pozzi_, see note 1 to _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_, Canto IV., _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 465-467. Hobhouse transferred these "scratchings" to his pocket-books, and thence to his _Historical Notes_; but even as prison inscriptions they lack both point and style.] [60] [Compare-- "Run, run, Orlando; carve on every tree The fair, the chaste and unexpressive she." _As You Like It_, act iii. sc. 2, lines 9, 10.] [bk] _Which never can be read but, as 'twas written,_ _By wretched beings_.--[MS.] [bl] {154} _Of the familiar's torch, which seems to love_ _Darkness far more than light_.--[MS.] [61] {157}[Compare-- "Once more upon the waters! yet once more! And the waves bound beneath me as a steed That knows his rider." _Childe Harold_, Canto III. stanza ii. lines 1-3, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 217, note 1.] [bm] _At once by briefer means and better_.--[MS.] [62] {158} In Lady Morgan's fearless and excellent work upon Italy, I perceive the expression of "Rome of the Ocean" applied to Venice. The same phrase occurs in the "Two Foscari." My publisher can vouch for me, that the tragedy was written and sent to England some time before I had seen Lady Morgan's work, which I only received on the 16th of August. I hasten, however, to notice the coincidence, and to yield the originality of the phrase to her who first placed it before the public. [Byron calls Lady Morgan's _Italy_ "fearless" on account of her strictures on the behaviour of Great Britain to Genoa in 1814. "England personally stood pledged to Genoa.... When the British officers rode into their gates bearing the white flag consecrated by the holy word of '_independence_,' the people ... '_kissed their garments_.'... Every heart was open.... Lord William Bentinck's flag of '_Independenza_' was taken down from the steeples and high places at sunrise; before noon the arms of Sardinia blazoned in their stead; and yet the Genoese did not rise _en masse_ and massacre the English" (_Italy_, 1821, i. 245, 246). The passage which Byron feared might be quoted to his disparagement runs as follows: "As the bark glides on, as the shore recedes, and the city of waves, the Rome of the ocean, rises on the horizon, the spirits rally; ... and as the spires and cupolas of Venice come forth in the lustre of the mid-day sun, and its palaces, half-veiled in the aerial tints of distance, gradually assume their superb proportions, then the dream of many a youthful vigil is realized" (_ibid_., ii. 449).] [63] [Compare _Marino Faliero_, act ii. sc. 2, line 110, _Poetical Works_, 901, iv. 386, note 3.] [64] {159} The Calenture.--[From the Spanish _Calentura_, a fever peculiar to sailors within the tropics-- "So, by a calenture misled, The mariner with rapture sees, On the smooth ocean's azure bed, Enamelled fields and verdant trees: With eager haste he longs to rove In that fantastic scene, and thinks It must be some enchanted grove; And in he leaps, and down he sinks." Swift, _The South-Sea Project_, 1721, ed. 1824, xiv. 147.] [65] Alluding to the Swiss air and its effects.--[The _Ranz des Vaches_, played upon the bag-pipe by the young cowkeepers on the mountains:--"An air," says Rousseau, "so dear to the Swiss, that it was forbidden, under the pain of death, to play it to the troops, as it immediately drew tears from them, and made those who heard it desert, or die of what is called _la maladie du pais_, so ardent a desire did it excite to return to their country. It is in vain to seek in this air for energetic accents capable of producing such astonishing effects, for which strangers are unable to account from the music, which is in itself uncouth and wild. But it is from habit, recollections, and a thousand circumstances, retraced in this tune by those natives who hear it, and reminding them of their country, former pleasures of their youth, and all their ways of living, which occasion a bitter reflection at having lost them." Compare Byron's Swiss "Journal" for September 19, 1816, _Letters_, 1899, ii. 355.] [bn] _That malady, which_----.--[MS. M.] [66] [Compare _Don Juan_, Canto XVI. stanza xlvi. lines 6, 7-- "The calentures of music which o'ercome The mountaineers with dreams that they are highlands."] [bo] {160} ----_upon your native towers_.--[MS. M.] [bp] {162} _Come you here to insult us_----.--[MS. M.] [67] {163}[For "steeds of brass," compare _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza xiii. line I, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 338, and 336, note 1.] [68] [The first and all subsequent editions read "skimmed the coasts." Byron wrote "skirred," a word borrowed from Shakespeare. Compare _Siege of Corinth_, line 692, _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 480, note 4.] [bq] {165} ----_which this noble lady worst_,--[MS. M.] [69] {169}[According to the law, it rested with the six councillors of the Doge and a majority of the Grand Council to insist upon the abdication of a Doge. The action of the Ten was an usurpation of powers to which they were not entitled by the terms of the Constitution.] [70] {170}[A touching incident is told concerning an interview between the Doge and Jacopo Memmo, head of the Forty. The Doge had just learnt (October 21, 1457) the decision of the Ten with regard to his abdication, and noticed that Memmo watched him attentively. "Foscari called to him, and, touching his hand, asked him whose son he was. He answered, 'I am the son of Messer Marin Memmo.'--' He is my dear friend,' said the Doge; 'tell him from me that it would be pleasing to me if he would come and see me, so that we might go at our leisure in our boats to visit the monasteries'" (_The Two Doges_, by A. Weil, 1891, p. 124; see, too, Romanin, _Storia, etc._, 1855, iv. 291).] [71] {171}[_Vide ante_, p. 139, note 1.] [br] _Decemvirs, it is surely_----.--[MS. M.] [72] {172}[Romanin (_Storia, etc._, 1855, iv. 285, 286) quotes the following anecdote from the _Cronaca Dolfin_:-- "Alla commozione, alle lagrime, ai singulti che accompagnavano gli ultimi abbraciamenti, Jacopo piu che mai sentendo il dolore di quel distacco, diceva: _Padre ve priego, procure per mi, che ritorni a casa mia_. E messer lo doxe: _Jacomo va e obbedisci quel che vuol la terra e non cerear piu oltre_. Ma, uscito l'infelice figlio dalla stanza, piu non resistendo alla piena degli affetti, si getto piangendo sopra una sedia e lamentando diceva: _O pieta grande_!"] [73] [_Vide ante_, act ii. sc. I, line 174, p. 143, note 1.] [74] {175}[So, too, Coleridge of Keats: "There is death in that hand;" and of Adam Steinmetz: "Alas! there is _death_ in that dear hand." See _Table Talk_ for August 14, 1832, and _Letter to John Peirse Kennard_, August 13, 1832, _Letters of S. T. C._, 1895, ii. 764. Jacopo Foscari was sent back to exile in Crete, and did not die till February, 1457. His death at Venice, immediately after his sentence, is contrived for the sake of observing "the unities."] [bs] ----_he would not_ _Thus leave me_.--[MS. M.] [75] {178}[It is to be noted that the "Giunta" was demanded by Loredano himself--a proof of his bona fides, as the addition of twenty-five nobles to the original Ten would add to the chance of opposition on the part of the supporters and champions of the Doge (see _The Two Doges_, and Romanin, _Storia, etc., iv. 286, note 3_).] [76] {179} An historical fact. See DARU [1821], tom. ii. [pp. 398, 399. Daru quotes as his authorities Sabellicus and Pietro Giustiniani. As a matter of fact, the Doge did his utmost to save Carmagnola, pleading that his sentence should be commuted to imprisonment for life (see _The Two Doges_, p. 66; and Romanin, _Storia, etc._, iv. 161).] [77] {183}[By the terms of the "parte," or act of deposition drawn up by the Ten, October 21, 1457, the time granted for deliberation was "till the third hour of the following day." This limitation as to time was designed to prevent the Doge from summoning the Grand Council, "to whom alone belonged the right of releasing him from the dukedom." (_The Two Doges_, p. 118; _Diebeiden Foscari_, 1878, pp. 174-176).] [bt] {188} _The act is passed--I will obey it_.--[MS. M.] [78] [For this speech, see Daru (who quotes from Pietro Giustiniani, _Histoire, etc._, 1821, ii. 534).] [79] {190}[See Daru's _Histoire, etc._, 1821, ii. 535. The _Cronaca Augustini_ is the authority for the anecdote (see _The Two Doges_, 1891, p. 126).] [bu] {192} _I take yours, Loredano--'tis the draught_ _Most fitting such an hour as this_.--[MS. M.] [80] {193}[_Vide ante_, Introduction to _The Two Foscari_, p. 118.] [bv] _The wretchedness to die_----.--[MS. M.] [81] ["A decree was at once passed that a public funeral should be accorded to Foscari, ... and the bells of St. Mark were ordered to peal nine times.... The same Council also determined that on Thursday night, November 3, the corpse should be carried into the room of the 'Signori di notte,' dressed in a golden mantle, with the ducal bonnet on his head, golden spurs on his feet, ... the gold sword by his side." But Foscari's wife, Marina (or Maria) Nani, opposed. "She declined to give up the body, which she had caused to be dressed in plain clothes, and she maintained that no one but herself should provide for the funeral expenses, even should she have to give up her dower." It is needless to add that her protest was unavailing, and that the decree of the Ten was carried into effect.--_The Two Doges_, 1891, pp. 129, 130.] [bw] {194} ----_comfort to my desolation_.--[MS. M.] [82] {195} The Venetians appear to have had a particular turn for breaking the hearts of their Doges. The following is another instance of the kind in the Doge Marco Barbarigo: he was succeeded by his brother Agostino Barbarigo, whose chief merit is here mentioned.--"Le doge, blesse de trouver constamment un contradicteur et un censeur si amer dans son frere, lui dit un jour en plein conseil: 'Messire Augustin, vous faites tout votre possible pour hater ma mort; vous vous flattez de me succeder; mais, si les autres vous connaissent aussi bien que je vous connais, ils n'auront garde de vous elire.' La-dessus il se leva, emu de colere, rentra dans son appartement, et mourut quelques jours apres. Ce frere, contre lequel il s'etait emporte, fut precisement le successeur qu'on lui donna. C'etait un merite don't on aimait a tenir compte; surtout a un parent, de s'etre mis en opposition avec le chef de la republique."--DARU, _Hist, de Venise_, 1821, in. 29. [bx] _I trust Heavens will be done also_.--[MS.] [83] "_L'ha pagata_." An historical fact. See _Hist. de Venise_, par P. DARU, 1821, ii. 528, 529. [Daru quotes Palazzi's _Fasti Ducales_ as his authority for this story. According to Pietro Giustiniani (_Storia_, lib. viii.), Jacopo Loredano was at pains to announce the decree of the Ten to the Doge in courteous and considerate terms, and begged him to pardon him for what it was his duty to do. Romanin points out that this version of the interview is inconsistent with the famous "_L'hapagata_."--_Storia, etc._, iv. 290, note i.] [84] {196}[Here the original MS. ends. The two lines which follow, were added by Gifford. In the margin of the MS. Byron has written, "If the last line should appear obscure to those who do not recollect the historical fact mentioned in the first act of Loredano's inscription in his book, of 'Doge Foscari, debtor for the deaths of my father and uncle,' you may add the following lines to the conclusion of the last act:-- _Chief of the Ten_. For what has he repaid thee? _Lor._ For my father's And father's brother's death--by his son's and own! Ask Gifford about this."] [85] [The _Appendix_ to the First Edition of _The Two Foscari_ consisted of (i.) an extract from P. Daru's _Histoire de la Republique Francaise_, 1821, ii. 520-537; (ii.) an extract from J. C. L. Simonde de Sismondi's _Histoire des Republiques Italiennes du Moyen Age_, 1815, x. 36-46; and (iii.) a note in response to certain charges of plagiarism brought against the author in the _Literary Gazette_ and elsewhere; and to Southey's indictment of the "Satanic School," which had recently appeared in the Preface to the Laureate's _Vision of Judgement_ (_Poetical Works of Robert Southey_, 1838, x. 202-207). See, too, the "Introduction to _The Vision of Judgment_," _Poetical Works_, 1891, iv. pp. 475-480.] CAIN: A MYSTERY. "Now the Serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." _Genesis_, _Chapter 3rd, verse 1_. INTRODUCTION TO _CAIN_. Cain was begun at Ravenna, July 16, and finished September 9, 1821 (_vide_ MS. M.). Six months before, when he was at work on the first act of _Sardanapalus_, Byron had "pondered" _Cain_, but it was not till _Sardanapalus_ and a second historical play, _The Two Foscari_, had been written, copied out, and sent to England, that he indulged his genius with a third drama--on "a metaphysical subject, something in the style of _Manfred_" (_Letters_, 1901, v. 189). Goethe's comment on reading and reviewing _Cain_ was that he should be surprised if Byron did not pursue the treatment of such "biblical subjects," as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (_Conversations, etc._, 1879, p. 62); and, many years after, he told Crabb Robinson (_Diary_, 1869, ii. 435) that Byron should have lived "to execute his vocation ... to dramatize the Old Testament." He was better equipped for such a task than might have been imagined. A Scottish schoolboy, "from a child he had known the Scriptures," and, as his _Hebrew Melodies_ testify, he was not unwilling to turn to the Bible as a source of poetic inspiration. Moreover, he was born with the religious temperament. Questions "of Providence, foreknowledge, will and fate," exercised his curiosity because they appealed to his imagination and moved his spirit. He was eager to plunge into controversy with friends and advisers who challenged or rebuked him, Hodgson, for instance, or Dallas; and he responded with remarkable amenity to the strictures and exhortations of such orthodox professors as Mr. Sheppard and Dr. Kennedy. He was, no doubt, from first to last a _heretic_, impatient, not to say contemptuous, of authority, but he was by no means indifferent to religion altogether. To "argue about it and about" was a necessity, if not an agreeable relief, to his intellectual energies. It would appear from the Ravenna diary (January 28, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 190,191), that the conception of Lucifer was working in his brain before the "tragedy of Cain" was actually begun. He had been recording a "thought" which had come to him, that "at the very height of human desire and pleasure, a certain sense of doubt and sorrow"--an _amari aliquid_ which links the future to the past, and so blots out the present--"mingles with our bliss," making it of none effect, and, by way of moral or corollary to his soliloquy, he adds three lines of verse headed, "Thought for a speech of Lucifer in the Tragedy of _Cain_"-- "Were Death an _Evil_, would _I_ let thee live? Fool! live as I live--as thy father lives, And thy son's sons shall live for evermore." In these three lines, which were not inserted in the play, and in the preceding "thought," we have the key-note to _Cain_. "Man walketh in a vain shadow"--a shadow which he can never overtake, the shadow of an eternally postponed fruition. With a being capable of infinite satisfaction, he is doomed to realize failure in attainment. In all that is best and most enjoyable, "the rapturous moment and the placid hour," there is a foretaste of "Death the Unknown"! The tragedy of _Manfred_ lies in remorse for the inevitable past; the tragedy of _Cain_, in revolt against the limitations of the inexorable present. The investigation of the "sources" of _Cain_ does not lead to any very definite conclusion (see _Lord Byron's Cain und Seine Quellen_, von Alfred Schaffner, 1880). He was pleased to call his play "a Mystery," and, in his Preface (_vide post_, p. 207), Byron alludes to the Old Mysteries as "those very profane productions, whether in English, French, Italian, or Spanish." The first reprint of the _Chester Plays_ was published by the Roxburghe Club in 1818, but Byron's knowledge of Mystery Plays was probably derived from _Dodsley's Plays_ (ed. 1780, l., xxxiii.-xlii.), or from John Stevens's Continuation of Dugdale's _Monasticon_ (_vide post_, p. 207), or possibly, as Herr Schaffner suggests, from Warton's _History of English Poetry_, ed. 1871, ii. 222-230. He may, too, have witnessed some belated _Rappresentazione_ of the Creation and Fall at Ravenna, or in one of the remoter towns or villages of Italy. There is a superficial resemblance between the treatment of the actual encounter of Cain and Abel, and the conventional rendering of the same incident in the _Ludus Coventriae_, and in the _Mistere du Viel Testament_; but it is unlikely that he had closely studied any one Mystery Play at first hand. On the other hand, his recollections of Gessner's _Death of Abel_ which "he had never read since he was eight years old," were clearer than he imagined. Not only in such minor matters as the destruction of Cain's altar by a whirlwind, and the substitution of the Angel of the Lord for the _Deus_ of the Mysteries, but in the Teutonic domesticities of Cain and Adah, and the evangelical piety of Adam and Abel, there is a reflection, if not an imitation, of the German idyll (see Gessner's _Death of Abel_, ed. 1797, pp. 80, 102). Of his indebtedness to Milton he makes no formal acknowledgment, but he was not ashamed to shelter himself behind Milton's shield when he was attacked on the score of blasphemy and profanity. "If _Cain_ be blasphemous, _Paradise Lost_ is blasphemous" (letter to Murray, Pisa, February 8, 1822), was, he would fain believe, a conclusive answer to his accusers. But apart from verbal parallels or coincidences, there is a genuine affinity between Byron's Lucifer and Milton's Satan. Lucifer, like Satan, is "not less than Archangel ruined," a repulsed but "unvanquished Titan," marred by a demonic sorrow, a confessor though a rival of Omnipotence. He is a majestic and, as a rule, a serious and solemn spirit, who compels the admiration and possibly the sympathy of the reader. There is, however, another strain in his ghostly attributes, which betrays a more recent consanguinity: now and again he gives token that he is of the lineage of Mephistopheles. He is sometimes, though rarely, a mocking as well as a rebellious spirit, and occasionally indulges in a grim _persiflage_ beneath the dignity if not the capacity of Satan. It is needless to add that Lucifer has a most lifelike personality of his own. The conception of the spirit of evil justifying an eternal antagonism to the Creator from the standpoint of a superior morality, may, perhaps, be traced to a Manichean source, but it has been touched with a new emotion. Milton's devil is an abstraction of infernal pride-- "Sole Positive of Night! Antipathist of Light! Fate's only essence! primal scorpion rod-- The one permitted opposite of God!" Goethe's devil is an abstraction of scorn. He "maketh a mock" alike of good and evil! But Byron's devil is a spirit, yet a mortal too--the traducer, because he has suffered for his sins; the deceiver, because he is self-deceived; the hoper against hope that there is a ransom for the soul in perfect self-will and not in perfect self-sacrifice. Byron did not uphold Lucifer, but he "had passed that way," and could imagine a spiritual warfare not only against the _Deus_ of the Mysteries or of the Book of Genesis, but against what he believed and acknowledged to be the Author and Principle of good. _Autres temps, autres m[oe]urs!_ It is all but impossible for the modern reader to appreciate the audacity of _Cain_, or to realize the alarm and indignation which it aroused by its appearance. Byron knew that he was raising a tempest, and pleads, in his Preface, "that with regard to the language of Lucifer, it was difficult for me to make him talk like a clergyman," and again and again he assures his correspondents (_e.g._ to Murray, November 23, 1821, "_Cain_ is nothing more than a drama;" to Moore, March 4, 1822, "With respect to Religion, can I never convince you that _I_ have no such opinions as the characters in that drama, which seems to have frightened everybody?" _Letters_, 1901, v. 469; vi. 30) that it is Lucifer and not Byron who puts such awkward questions with regard to the "politics of paradise" and the origin of evil. Nobody seems to have believed him. It was taken for granted that Lucifer was the mouthpiece of Byron, that the author of _Don Juan_ was not "on the side of the angels." Little need be said of the "literature," the pamphlets and poems which were evoked by the publication of _Cain: A Mystery_. One of the most prominent assailants (said to be the Rev. H. J. Todd (1763-1845), Archdeacon of Cleveland, 1832, author _inter alia_ of _Original Sin_, _Free Will_, etc., 1818) issued _A Remonstrance to Mr. John Murray, respecting a Recent Publication_, 1822, signed "Oxoniensis." The sting of the _Remonstrance_ lay in the exposure of the fact that Byron was indebted to Bayle's _Dictionary_ for his rabbinical legends, and that he had derived from the same source his Manichean doctrines of the _Two Principles, etc._, and other "often-refuted sophisms" with regard to the origin of evil. Byron does not borrow more than a poet and a gentleman is at liberty to acquire by way of raw material, but it cannot be denied that he had read and inwardly digested more than one of Bayle's "most objectionable articles" (_e.g._ "Adam," "Eve," "Abel," "Manichees," "Paulicians," etc.). The _Remonstrance_ was answered in _A Letter to Sir Walter Scott, etc._, by "Harroviensis." Byron welcomed such a "Defender of the Faith," and was anxious that Murray should print the letter together with the poem. But Murray belittled the "defender," and was upbraided in turn for his slowness of heart (letter to Murray, June 6, 1822, _Letters_, 1901, vi. 76). Fresh combatants rushed into the fray: "Philo-Milton," with a _Vindication of the "Paradise Lost" from the charge of exculpating "Cain: A Mystery_," London, 1822; "Britannicus," with a pamphlet entitled, _Revolutionary Causes, etc., and A Postscript containing Strictures on "Cain," etc._, London, 1822, etc.; but their works, which hardly deserve to be catalogued, have perished with them. Finally, in 1830, a barrister named Harding Grant, author of _Chancery Practice_, compiled a work (_Lord Byron's "Cain," etc., with Notes_) of more than four hundred pages, in which he treats "the proceedings and speeches of Lucifer with the same earnestness as if they were existing and earthly personages." But it was "a week too late." The "Coryphaeus of the Satanic School" had passed away, and the tumult had "dwindled to a calm." _Cain_ "appeared in conjunction with" _Sardanapalus_ and _The Two Foscari_, December 19, 1821. Last but not least of the three plays, it had been announced "by a separate advertisement (_Morning Chronicle_, November 24, 1821), for the purpose of exciting the greater curiosity" (_Memoirs of the Life, etc._ [by John Watkins], 1822, p. 383), and it was no sooner published than it was pirated. In the following January, "_Cain: A Mystery_, by the author of _Don Juan_," was issued by W. Benbow, at Castle Street, Leicester Square (the notorious "Byron Head," which Southey described as "one of those preparatory schools for the brothel and the gallows, where obscenity, sedition, and blasphemy are retailed in drams for the vulgar"!). Murray had paid Byron L2710 for the three tragedies, and in order to protect the copyright, he applied, through counsel (Lancelot Shadwell, afterwards Vice-Chancellor), for an injunction in Chancery to stop the sale of piratical editions of _Cain_. In delivering judgment (February 12, 1822), the Chancellor, Lord Eldon (see _Courier_, Wednesday, February 13), replying to Shadwell, drew a comparison between _Cain_ and _Paradise Lost_, "which he had read from beginning to end during the course of the last Long Vacation--_solicitae jucunda oblivia vitae_." No one, he argued, could deny that the object and effects of _Paradise Lost_ were "not to bring into disrepute," but "to promote reverence for our religion," and, _per contra_, no one could affirm that it was impossible to arrive at an opposite conclusion with regard to "the Preface, the poem, the general tone and manner of _Cain_." It was a question for a jury. A jury might decide that _Cain_ was blasphemous, and void of copyright; and as there was a reasonable doubt in his mind as to the character of the book, and a doubt as to the conclusion at which a jury would arrive, he was compelled to refuse the injunction. According to Dr. Smiles (_Memoir of John Murray_, 1891, i. 428), the decision of a jury was taken, and an injunction eventually granted. If so, it was ineffectual, for Benbow issued another edition of _Cain_ in 1824 (see Jacob's _Reports_, p. 474, note). See, too, the case of Murray _v_. Benbow and Another, as reported in the _Examiner_, February 17, 1822; and cases of Wolcot _v_. Walker, Southey _v_. Sherwood, Murray _v_. Benbow, and Lawrence _v_. Smith [_Quarterly Review_, April, 1822, vol. xxvii. pp. 120-138]. "_Cain_," said Moore (February 9, 1822), "has made a sensation." Friends and champions, the press, the public "turned up their thumbs." Gifford shook his head; Hobhouse "launched out into a most violent invective" (letter to Murray, November 24, 1821); Jeffrey, in the _Edinburgh_, was regretful and hortatory; Heber, in the _Quarterly_, was fault-finding and contemptuous. The "parsons preached at it from Kentish Town to Pisa" (letter to Moore, February 20, 1822). Even "the very highest authority in the land," his Majesty King George IV., "expressed his disapprobation of the blasphemy and licentiousness of Lord Byron's writings" (_Examiner_, February 17, 1822). Byron himself was forced to admit that "my Mont Saint Jean seems Cain" (_Don Juan_, Canto XI. stanza lvi. line 2). The many were unanimous in their verdict, but the higher court of the few reversed the judgment. Goethe said that "Its beauty is such as we shall not see a second time in the world" (_Conversations, etc._, 1874, p. 261); Scott, in speaking of "the very grand and tremendous drama of _Cain_," said that the author had "matched Milton on his own ground" (letter to Murray, December 4, 1821, _vide post_, p. 206); "_Cain_," wrote Shelley to Gisborne (April 10, 1822), "is apocalyptic; it is a revelation never before communicated to man." Uncritical praise, as well as uncritical censure, belongs to the past; but the play remains, a singular exercise of "poetic energy," a confession, _ex animo_, of "the burthen of the mystery, ... the heavy and the weary weight Of all this unintelligible world." For reviews of _Cain: A Mystery_, _vide ante_, "Introduction to _Sardanapalus_," p. 5; see, too, _Eclectic Review_, May, 1822, N.S. vol. xvii. pp. 418-427; _Examiner_, June 2, 1822; _British Review_, 1822, vol. xix. pp. 94-102. For O'Doherty's parody of the "Pisa" Letter, February 8, 1822, see _Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_, February, 1822, vol. xi. pp. 215-217; and for a review of Harding Grant's _Lord Byron's Cain, etc._, see _Fraser's Magazine_, April, 1831, iii. 285-304. TO SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART., THIS MYSTERY OF CAIN IS INSCRIBED, BY HIS OBLIGED FRIEND AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, THE AUTHOR.[86] PREFACE The following scenes are entitled "A Mystery," in conformity with the ancient title annexed to dramas upon similar subjects, which were styled "Mysteries, or Moralities."[87] The author has by no means taken the same liberties with his subject which were common formerly, as may be seen by any reader curious enough to refer to those very profane productions, whether in English, French, Italian, or Spanish. The author has endeavoured to preserve the language adapted to his characters; and where it is (and this is but rarely) taken from actual _Scripture_, he has made as little alteration, even of words, as the rhythm would permit. The reader will recollect that the book of Genesis does not state that Eve was tempted by a demon, but by "the Serpent[88];" and that only because he was "the most subtil of all the beasts of the field." Whatever interpretation the Rabbins and the Fathers may have put upon this, I take the words as I find them, and reply, with Bishop Watson[89] upon similar occasions, when the Fathers were quoted to him as Moderator in the schools of Cambridge, "Behold the Book!"--holding up the Scripture. It is to be recollected, that my present subject has nothing to do with the _New Testament_, to which no reference can be here made without anachronism.[90] With the poems upon similar topics I have not been recently familiar. Since I was twenty I have never read Milton; but I had read him so frequently before, that this may make little difference. Gesner's "Death of Abel" I have never read since I was eight years of age, at Aberdeen. The general impression of my recollection is delight; but of the contents I remember only that Cain's wife was called Mahala, and Abel's Thirza; in the following pages I have called them "Adah" and "Zillah," the earliest female names which occur in Genesis. They were those of Lamech's wives: those of Cain and Abel are not called by their names. Whether, then, a coincidence of subject may have caused the same in expression, I know nothing, and care as little. [I[91] am prepared to be accused of Manicheism,[92] or some other hard name ending in _ism_, which makes a formidable figure and awful sound in the eyes and ears of those who would be as much puzzled to explain the terms so bandied about, as the liberal and pious indulgers in such epithets. Against such I can defend myself, or, if necessary, I can attack in turn. "Claw for claw, as Conan said to Satan and the deevil take the shortest nails" (Waverley).[93]] The reader will please to bear in mind (what few choose to recollect), that there is no allusion to a future state in any of the books of Moses, nor indeed in the Old Testament. For a reason for this extraordinary omission he may consult Warburton's "Divine Legation;"[94] whether satisfactory or not, no better has yet been assigned. I have therefore supposed it new to Cain, without, I hope, any perversion of Holy Writ. With regard to the language of Lucifer, it was difficult for me to make him talk like a clergyman upon the same subjects; but I have done what I could to restrain him within the bounds of spiritual politeness. If he disclaims having tempted Eve in the shape of the Serpent, it is only because the book of Genesis has not the most distant allusion to anything of the kind, but merely to the Serpent in his serpentine capacity. _Note_.--The reader will perceive that the author has partly adopted in this poem the notion of Cuvier,[95] that the world had been destroyed several times before the creation of man. This speculation, derived from the different strata and the bones of enormous and unknown animals found in them, is not contrary to the Mosaic account, but rather confirms it; as no human bones have yet been discovered in those strata, although those of many known animals are found near the remains of the unknown. The assertion of Lucifer, that the pre-Adamite world was also peopled by rational beings much more intelligent than man, and proportionably powerful to the mammoth, etc., etc., is, of course, a poetical fiction to help him to make out his case. I ought to add, that there is a "tramelogedia" of Alfieri, called "Abele."[96] I have never read that, nor any other of the posthumous works of the writer, except his Life. RAVENNA, _Sept_. 20, 1821. DRAMATIS PERSONAE. MEN. ADAM. CAIN. ABEL. SPIRITS. ANGEL OF THE LORD. LUCIFER. WOMEN. EVE. ADAH. ZILLAH. CAIN: A MYSTERY. ACT I. SCENE I.--_The Land without Paradise.--Time, Sunrise_. ADAM, EVE, CAIN, ABEL, ADAH, ZILLAH, _offering a Sacrifice_. _Adam_. God, the Eternal! Infinite! All-wise!-- Who out of darkness on the deep didst make Light on the waters with a word--All Hail! Jehovah! with returning light--All Hail! _Eve_. God! who didst name the day, and separate Morning from night, till then divided never-- Who didst divide the wave from wave, and call Part of thy work the firmament--All Hail! _Abel_. God! who didst call the elements into Earth, ocean, air and fire--and with the day 10 And night, and worlds which these illuminate, Or shadow, madest beings to enjoy them, And love both them and thee--All Hail! All Hail! _Adah_. God! the Eternal parent of all things! Who didst create these best and beauteous beings, To be beloved, more than all, save thee-- Let me love thee and them:--All Hail! All Hail! _Zillah_. Oh, God! who loving, making, blessing all, Yet didst permit the Serpent to creep in, And drive my father forth from Paradise, 20 Keep us from further evil:--Hail! All Hail! _Adam_. Son Cain! my first-born--wherefore art thou silent? _Cain_. Why should I speak? _Adam_. To pray. _Cain_. Have ye not prayed? _Adam_. We have, most fervently. _Cain_. And loudly: I Have heard you. _Adam_. So will God, I trust. _Abel_. Amen! _Adam_. But thou my eldest born? art silent still? _Cain_. 'Tis better I should be so. _Adam_. Wherefore so? _Cain_. I have nought to ask. _Adam_. Nor aught to thank for? _Cain_. No. _Adam_. Dost thou not _live_? _Cain_. Must I not die? _Eve_. Alas! The fruit of our forbidden tree begins 30 To fall. _Adam_. And we must gather it again. Oh God! why didst thou plant the tree of knowledge? _Cain_. And wherefore plucked ye not the tree of life? Ye might have then defied him. _Adam_. Oh! my son, Blaspheme not: these are Serpent's words. _Cain_. Why not? The snake spoke _truth_; it _was_ the Tree of Knowledge; It _was_ the Tree of Life: knowledge is good, And Life is good; and how can both be evil? _Eve_. My boy! thou speakest as I spoke in sin, Before thy birth: let me not see renewed 40 My misery in thine. I have repented. Let me not see my offspring fall into The snares beyond the walls of Paradise, Which even in Paradise destroyed his parents. Content thee with what _is_. Had we been so, Thou now hadst been contented.--Oh, my son! _Adam_. Our orisons completed, let us hence, Each to his task of toil--not heavy, though Needful: the earth is young, and yields us kindly Her fruits with little labour. _Eve_. Cain--my son-- 50 Behold thy father cheerful and resigned-- And do as he doth. [_Exeunt_ ADAM _and_ EVE. _Zillah_. Wilt thou not, my brother? _Abel_. Why wilt thou wear this gloom upon thy brow, Which can avail thee nothing, save to rouse The Eternal anger? _Adah_. My beloved Cain Wilt thou frown even on me? _Cain_. No, Adah! no; I fain would be alone a little while. Abel, I'm sick at heart; but it will pass; Precede me, brother--I will follow shortly. And you, too, sisters, tarry not behind; 60 Your gentleness must not be harshly met: I'll follow you anon. _Adah_. If not, I will Return to seek you here. _Abel_. The peace of God Be on your spirit, brother! [_Exeunt_ ABEL, ZILLAH, _and_ ADAH. _Cain_ (_solus_). And this is Life?--Toil! and wherefore should I toil?--because My father could not keep his place in Eden? What had _I_ done in this?--I was unborn: I sought not to be born; nor love the state To which that birth has brought me. Why did he Yield to the Serpent and the woman? or 70 Yielding--why suffer? What was there in this? The tree was planted, and why not for him? If not, why place him near it, where it grew The fairest in the centre? They have but One answer to all questions, "'Twas _his_ will, And _he_ is good." How know I that? Because He is all-powerful, must all-good, too, follow? I judge but by the fruits--and they are bitter-- Which I must feed on for a fault not mine. Whom have we here?--A shape like to the angels 80 Yet of a sterner and a sadder aspect Of spiritual essence: why do I quake? Why should I fear him more than other spirits, Whom I see daily wave their fiery swords Before the gates round which I linger oft, In Twilight's hour, to catch a glimpse of those Gardens which are my just inheritance, Ere the night closes o'er the inhibited walls And the immortal trees which overtop The Cherubim-defended battlements? 90 If I shrink not from these, the fire-armed angels, Why should I quail from him who now approaches? Yet--he seems mightier far than them, nor less Beauteous, and yet not all as beautiful As he hath been, and might be: sorrow seems Half of his immortality.[97] And is it So? and can aught grieve save Humanity? He cometh. _Enter_ LUCIFER. _Lucifer_. Mortal! _Cain_. Spirit, who art thou? _Lucifer_. Master of spirits. _Cain_. And being so, canst thou Leave them, and walk with dust? _Lucifer_. I know the thoughts 100 Of dust, and feel for it, and with you. _Cain_. How! You know my thoughts? _Lucifer_. They are the thoughts of all Worthy of thought;--'tis your immortal part[98] Which speaks within you. _Cain_. What immortal part? This has not been revealed: the Tree of Life Was withheld from us by my father's folly, While that of Knowledge, by my mother's haste, Was plucked too soon; and all the fruit is Death! _Lucifer_. They have deceived thee; thou shalt live. _Cain_. I live, But live to die; and, living, see no thing 110 To make death hateful, save an innate clinging, A loathsome, and yet all invincible Instinct of life, which I abhor, as I Despise myself, yet cannot overcome-- And so I live. Would I had never lived! _Lucifer_. Thou livest--and must live for ever. Think not The Earth, which is thine outward cov'ring, is Existence--it will cease--and thou wilt be-- No less than thou art now. _Cain_. No _less_! and why No more? _Lucifer_. It may be thou shalt be as we. 120 _Cain_. And ye? _Lucifer_. Are everlasting. _Cain_. Are ye happy? _Lucifer_. We are mighty. _Cain_. Are ye happy? _Lucifer_. No: art thou? _Cain_. How should I be so? Look on me! _Lucifer_. Poor clay! And thou pretendest to be wretched! Thou! _Cain_. I am:--and thou, with all thy might, what art thou? _Lucifer_. One who aspired to be what made thee, and Would not have made thee what thou art. _Cain_. Ah! Thou look'st almost a god; and---- _Lucifer_. I am none: And having failed to be one, would be nought Save what I am. He conquered; let him reign! 130 _Cain_. Who? _Lucifer_. Thy Sire's maker--and the Earth's. _Cain_. And Heaven's, And all that in them is. So I have heard His Seraphs sing; and so my father saith. _Lucifer_. They say--what they must sing and say, on pain Of being that which I am,--and thou art-- Of spirits and of men. _Cain_. And what is that? _Lucifer_. Souls who dare use their immortality-- Souls who dare look the Omnipotent tyrant in His everlasting face, and tell him that His evil is not good! If he has made, 140 As he saith--which I know not, nor believe-- But, if he made us--he cannot unmake: We are immortal!--nay, he'd _have_ us so, That he may torture:--let him! He is great-- But, in his greatness, is no happier than We in our conflict! Goodness would not make Evil; and what else hath he made? But let him Sit on his vast and solitary throne-- Creating worlds, to make eternity Less burthensome to his immense existence 150 And unparticipated solitude;[99] Let him crowd orb on orb: he is alone Indefinite, Indissoluble Tyrant; Could he but crush himself, 'twere the best boon He ever granted: but let him reign on! And multiply himself in misery! Spirits and Men, at least we sympathise-- And, suffering in concert, make our pangs Innumerable, more endurable, By the unbounded sympathy of all 160 With all! But _He_! so wretched in his height, So restless in his wretchedness, must still Create, and re-create--perhaps he'll make[100] One day a Son unto himself--as he Gave you a father--and if he so doth, Mark me! that Son will be a sacrifice! _Cain_. Thou speak'st to me of things which long have swum In visions through my thought: I never could Reconcile what I saw with what I heard. My father and my mother talk to me 170 Of serpents, and of fruits and trees: I see The gates of what they call their Paradise Guarded by fiery-sworded Cherubim, Which shut them out--and me: I feel the weight Of daily toil, and constant thought: I look Around a world where I seem nothing, with Thoughts which arise within me, as if they Could master all things--but I thought alone This misery was _mine_. My father is Tamed down; my mother has forgot the mind 180 Which made her thirst for knowledge at the risk Of an eternal curse; my brother is A watching shepherd boy,[101] who offers up The firstlings of the flock to him who bids The earth yield nothing to us without sweat;[by] My sister Zillah sings an earlier hymn Than the birds' matins; and my Adah--my Own and beloved--she, too, understands not The mind which overwhelms me: never till Now met I aught to sympathise with me. 190 'Tis well--I rather would consort with spirits. _Lucifer_. And hadst thou not been fit by thine own soul For such companionship, I would not now Have stood before thee as I am: a serpent Had been enough to charm ye, as before.[bz] _Cain_. Ah! didst _thou_ tempt my mother? _Lucifer_. I tempt none, Save with the truth: was not the Tree, the Tree Of Knowledge? and was not the Tree of Life Still fruitful? Did _I_ bid her pluck them not? Did I plant things prohibited within 200 The reach of beings innocent, and curious By their own innocence? I would have made ye Gods; and even He who thrust ye forth, so thrust ye Because "ye should not eat the fruits of life, And become gods as we." Were those his words? _Cain_. They were, as I have heard from those who heard them, In thunder. _Lucifer_. Then who was the Demon? He Who would not let ye live, or he who would Have made ye live for ever, in the joy And power of Knowledge? _Cain_. Would they had snatched both 210 The fruits, or neither! _Lucifer_. One is yours already, The other may be still. _Cain_. How so? _Lucifer_. By being Yourselves, in your resistance. Nothing can Quench the mind, if the mind will be itself And centre of surrounding things--'tis made To sway. _Cain_. But didst thou tempt my parents? _Lucifer_. I? Poor clay--what should I tempt them for, or how? _Cain_. They say the Serpent was a spirit. _Lucifer_. Who Saith that? It is not written so on high: The proud One will not so far falsify, 220 Though man's vast fears and little vanity Would make him cast upon the spiritual nature His own low failing. The snake _was_ the snake-- No more;[102] and yet not less than those he tempted, In nature being earth also--_more_ in _wisdom_, Since he could overcome them, and foreknew The knowledge fatal to their narrow joys. Think'st thou I'd take the shape of things that die? _Cain_. But the thing had a demon? _Lucifer_. He but woke one In those he spake to with his forky tongue. 230 I tell thee that the Serpent was no more Than a mere serpent: ask the Cherubim Who guard the tempting tree. When thousand ages Have rolled o'er your dead ashes, and your seed's, The seed of the then world may thus array Their earliest fault in fable, and attribute To me a shape I scorn, as I scorn all That bows to him, who made things but to bend Before his sullen, sole eternity; But we, who see the truth, must speak it. Thy 240 Fond parents listened to a creeping thing, And fell. For what should spirits tempt them? What Was there to envy in the narrow bounds Of Paradise, that spirits who pervade Space----but I speak to thee of what thou know'st not, With all thy Tree of Knowledge. _Cain_. But thou canst not Speak aught of Knowledge which I would not know, And do not thirst to know, and bear a mind To know. _Lucifer_. And heart to look on? _Cain_. Be it proved. _Lucifer_. Darest thou look on Death? _Cain_. He has not yet 250 Been seen. _Lucifer_. But must be undergone. _Cain_. My father Says he is something dreadful, and my mother Weeps when he's named; and Abel lifts his eyes To Heaven, and Zillah casts hers to the earth, And sighs a prayer; and Adah looks on me, And speaks not. _Lucifer_. And thou? _Cain_. Thoughts unspeakable Crowd in my breast to burning, when I hear Of this almighty Death, who is, it seems, Inevitable. Could I wrestle with him? I wrestled with the lion, when a boy, 260 In play, till he ran roaring from my gripe. _Lucifer_. It has no shape; but will absorb all things That bear the form of earth-born being. _Cain_. Ah! I thought it was a being: who could do Such evil things to beings save a being? _Lucifer_. Ask the Destroyer. _Cain_. Who? _Lucifer_. The Maker--Call him Which name thou wilt: he makes but to destroy. _Cain_. I knew not that, yet thought it, since I heard Of Death: although I know not what it is-- Yet it seems horrible. I have looked out 270 In the vast desolate night in search of him; And when I saw gigantic shadows in The umbrage of the walls of Eden, chequered By the far-flashing of the Cherubs' swords, I watched for what I thought his coming; for With fear rose longing in my heart to know What 'twas which shook us all--but nothing came. And then I turned my weary eyes from off Our native and forbidden Paradise, Up to the lights above us, in the azure, 280 Which are so beautiful: shall they, too, die? _Lucifer_. Perhaps--but long outlive both thine and thee. _Cain_. I'm glad of that: I would not have them die-- They are so lovely. What is Death? I fear, I feel, it is a dreadful thing; but what, I cannot compass: 'tis denounced against us, Both them who sinned and sinned not, as an ill-- What ill? _Lucifer_. To be resolved into the earth. _Cain_. But shall I know it? _Lucifer_. As I know not death, I cannot answer.[103] _Cain_. Were I quiet earth, 290 That were no evil: would I ne'er had been Aught else but dust! _Lucifer_. That is a _grovelling_ wish, Less than thy father's--for he wished to know! _Cain_. But not to live--or wherefore plucked he not The Life-tree? _Lucifer_. He was hindered. _Cain_. Deadly error! Not to snatch first that fruit:--but ere he plucked The knowledge, he was ignorant of Death. Alas! I scarcely now know what it is, And yet I fear it--fear I know not what! _Lucifer_. And I, who know all things, fear nothing; see 300 What is true knowledge. _Cain_. Wilt thou teach me all? _Lucifer_. Aye, upon one condition. _Cain_. Name it. _Lucifer_. That Thou dost fall down and worship me--thy Lord. _Cain_. Thou art not the Lord my father worships. _Lucifer_. No. _Cain_. His equal? _Lucifer_. No;--I have nought in common with him! Nor would: I would be aught above--beneath-- Aught save a sharer or a servant of His power. I dwell apart; but I am great:-- Many there are who worship me, and more Who shall--be thou amongst the first. _Cain_. I never 310 As yet have bowed unto my father's God. Although my brother Abel oft implores That I would join with him in sacrifice:-- Why should I bow to thee? _Lucifer_. Hast thou ne'er bowed To him? _Cain_. Have I not said it?--need I say it? Could not thy mighty knowledge teach thee that? _Lucifer_. He who bows not to him has bowed to me.[104] _Cain_. But I will bend to neither. _Lucifer_. Ne'er the less, Thou art my worshipper; not worshipping Him makes thee mine the same. _Cain_. And what is that? 320 _Lucifer_. Thou'lt know here--and hereafter. _Cain_. Let me but Be taught the mystery of my being. _Lucifer_. Follow Where I will lead thee. _Cain_. But I must retire To till the earth--for I had promised---- _Lucifer_. What? _Cain_. To cull some first-fruits. _Lucifer_. Why? _Cain_. To offer up With Abel on an altar. _Lucifer_. Said'st thou not Thou ne'er hadst bent to him who made thee? _Cain_. Yes-- But Abel's earnest prayer has wrought upon me; The offering is more his than mine--and Adah---- _Lucifer_. Why dost thou hesitate? _Cain_. She is my sister, 330 Born on the same day, of the same womb; and She wrung from me, with tears, this promise; and Rather than see her weep, I would, methinks, Bear all--and worship aught. _Lucifer_. Then follow me! _Cain_. I will. _Enter_ ADAH. _Adah_. My brother, I have come for thee; It is our hour of rest and joy--and we Have less without thee. Thou hast laboured not This morn; but I have done thy task: the fruits Are ripe, and glowing as the light which ripens: Come away. _Cain_. Seest thou not? _Adah_. I see an angel; 340 We have seen many: will he share our hour Of rest?--he is welcome. _Cain_. But he is not like The angels we have seen. _Adah_. Are there, then, others? But he is welcome, as they were: they deigned To be our guests--will he? _Cain_ (_to Lucifer_). Wilt thou? _Lucifer_. I ask Thee to be mine. _Cain_. I must away with him. _Adah_. And leave us? _Cain_. Aye. _Adah_. And _me_? _Cain_. Beloved Adah! _Adah_. Let me go with thee. _Lucifer_. No, she must not. _Adah_. Who Art thou that steppest between heart and heart? _Cain_. He is a God. _Adah_. How know'st thou? _Cain_. He speaks like 350 A God. _Adah_. So did the Serpent, and it lied. _Lucifer_. Thou errest, Adah!--was not the Tree that Of Knowledge? _Adah_. Aye--to our eternal sorrow. _Lucifer_. And yet that grief is knowledge--so he lied not: And if he did betray you, 'twas with Truth; And Truth in its own essence cannot be But good. _Adah_. But all we know of it has gathered Evil on ill; expulsion from our home, And dread, and toil, and sweat, and heaviness; Remorse of that which was--and hope of that 360 Which cometh not. Cain! walk not with this Spirit. Bear with what we have borne, and love me--I Love thee. _Lucifer_. More than thy mother, and thy sire? _Adah_. I do. Is that a sin, too? _Lucifer_. No, not yet; It one day will be in your children. _Adah_. What! Must not my daughter love her brother Enoch? _Lucifer_. Not as thou lovest Cain. _Adah_. Oh, my God! Shall they not love and bring forth things that love Out of their love? have they not drawn their milk Out of this bosom? was not he, their father, 370 Born of the same sole womb,[105] in the same hour With me? did we not love each other? and In multiplying our being multiply Things which will love each other as we love Them?--And as I love thee, my Cain! go not Forth with this spirit; he is not of ours. _Lucifer_. The sin I speak of is not of my making, And cannot be a sin in you--whate'er It seem in those who will replace ye in Mortality[106]. _Adah_. What is the sin which is not 380 Sin in itself? Can circumstance make sin Or virtue?--if it doth, we are the slaves Of---- _Lucifer_. Higher things than ye are slaves: and higher Than them or ye would be so, did they not Prefer an independency of torture To the smooth agonies of adulation, In hymns and harpings, and self-seeking prayers, To that which is omnipotent, because It is omnipotent, and not from love, But terror and self-hope. _Adah_. Omnipotence 390 Must be all goodness. _Lucifer_. Was it so in Eden? _Adah_. Fiend! tempt me not with beauty; thou art fairer Than was the Serpent, and as false. _Lucifer_. As true. Ask Eve, your mother: bears she not the knowledge Of good and evil? _Adah_. Oh, my mother! thou Hast plucked a fruit more fatal to thine offspring Than to thyself; thou at the least hast passed Thy youth in Paradise, in innocent And happy intercourse with happy spirits: But we, thy children, ignorant of Eden, 400 Are girt about by demons, who assume The words of God, and tempt us with our own Dissatisfied and curious thoughts--as thou Wert worked on by the snake, in thy most flushed And heedless, harmless wantonness of bliss. I cannot answer this immortal thing Which stands before me; I cannot abhor him; I look upon him with a pleasing fear, And yet I fly not from him: in his eye There is a fastening attraction which 410 Fixes my fluttering eyes on his; my heart Beats quick; he awes me, and yet draws me near, Nearer and nearer:--Cain--Cain--save me from him! _Cain_. What dreads my Adah? This is no ill spirit. _Adah_. He is not God--nor God's: I have beheld The Cherubs and the Seraphs; he looks not Like them. _Cain_. But there are spirits loftier still-- The archangels. _Lucifer_. And still loftier than the archangels. _Adah_. Aye--but not blessed. _Lucifer_. If the blessedness Consists in slavery--no. _Adah_. I have heard it said, 420 The Seraphs _love most_--Cherubim _know most_[107]-- And this should be a Cherub--since he loves not. _Lucifer_. And if the higher knowledge quenches love, What must _he be_ you cannot love when known?[ca] Since the all-knowing Cherubim love least, The Seraphs' love can be but ignorance: That they are not compatible, the doom Of thy fond parents, for their daring, proves. Choose betwixt Love and Knowledge--since there is No other choice: your sire hath chosen already: 430 His worship is but fear. _Adah_. Oh, Cain! choose Love. _Cain_. For thee, my Adah, I choose not--It was Born with me--but I love nought else. _Adah_. Our parents? _Cain_. Did they love us when they snatched from the Tree That which hath driven us all from Paradise? _Adah_. We were not born then--and if we had been, Should we not love them--and our children, Cain? _Cain_. My little Enoch! and his lisping sister! Could I but deem them happy, I would half Forget----but it can never be forgotten 440 Through thrice a thousand generations! never Shall men love the remembrance of the man Who sowed the seed of evil and mankind In the same hour! They plucked the tree of science And sin--and, not content with their own sorrow, Begot _me_--_thee_--and all the few that are, And all the unnumbered and innumerable Multitudes, millions, myriads, which may be, To inherit agonies accumulated By ages!--and _I_ must be sire of such things! 450 Thy beauty and thy love--my love and joy, The rapturous moment and the placid hour, All we love in our children and each other, But lead them and ourselves through many years Of sin and pain--or few, but still of sorrow, Interchecked with an instant of brief pleasure, To Death--the unknown! Methinks the Tree of Knowledge Hath not fulfilled its promise:--if they sinned, At least they ought to have known all things that are Of knowledge--and the mystery of Death[cb]. 460 What do they know?--that they are miserable. What need of snakes and fruits to teach us that? _Adah_. I am not wretched, Cain, and if thou Wert happy---- _Cain_. Be thou happy, then, alone-- I will have nought to do with happiness, Which humbles me and mine. _Adah_. Alone I could not, Nor _would_ be happy; but with those around us I think I could be so, despite of Death, Which, as I know it not, I dread not, though It seems an awful shadow--if I may 470 Judge from what I have heard. _Lucifer_. And thou couldst not _Alone_, thou say'st, be happy? _Adah_. Alone! Oh, my God! Who could be happy and alone, or good? To me my solitude seems sin; unless When I think how soon I shall see my brother, His brother, and our children, and our parents. _Lucifer_. Yet thy God is alone; and is he happy? Lonely, and good? _Adah_. He is not so; he hath The angels and the mortals to make happy, And thus becomes so in diffusing joy. 480 What else can joy be, but the spreading joy?[cc] _Lucifer_. Ask of your sire, the exile fresh from Eden; Or of his first-born son: ask your own heart; It is not tranquil. _Adah_. Alas! no! and you-- Are you of Heaven? _Lucifer_. If I am not, enquire The cause of this all-spreading happiness (Which you proclaim) of the all-great and good Maker of life and living things; it is His secret, and he keeps it. _We_ must bear, And some of us resist--and both in vain, 490 His Seraphs say: but it is worth the trial, Since better may not be without: there is A wisdom in the spirit, which directs To right, as in the dim blue air the eye Of you, young mortals, lights at once upon The star which watches, welcoming the morn. _Adah_. It is a beautiful star; I love it for Its beauty. _Lucifer_. And why not adore? _Adah_. Our father Adores the Invisible only. _Lucifer_. But the symbols Of the Invisible are the loveliest 500 Of what is visible; and yon bright star Is leader of the host of Heaven. _Adah_. Our father Saith that he has beheld the God himself Who made him and our mother. _Lucifer_. Hast _thou_ seen him? _Adah_. Yes--in his works. _Lucifer_. But in his being? _Adah_. No-- Save in my father, who is God's own image; Or in his angels, who are like to thee-- And brighter, yet less beautiful and powerful In seeming: as the silent sunny noon, All light, they look upon us; but thou seem'st 510 Like an ethereal night[108], where long white clouds Streak the deep purple, and unnumbered stars Spangle the wonderful mysterious vault With things that look as if they would be suns; So beautiful, unnumbered, and endearing, Not dazzling, and yet drawing us to them, They fill my eyes with tears, and so dost thou. Thou seem'st unhappy: do not make us so, And I will weep for thee. _Lucifer_. Alas! those tears! Couldst thou but know what oceans will be shed---- 520 _Adah_. By me? _Lucifer_. By all. _Adah_. What all? _Lucifer_. The million millions-- The myriad myriads--the all-peopled earth-- The unpeopled earth--and the o'er-peopled Hell, Of which thy bosom is the germ. _Adah_. O Cain! This spirit curseth us. _Cain_. Let him say on; Him will I follow. _Adah_. Whither? _Lucifer_. To a place _Whence_ he shall come back to thee in an hour; But in that hour see things of many days. _Adah_. How can that be? _Lucifer_. Did not your Maker make Out of old worlds this new one in few days? 530 And cannot I, who aided in this work, Show in an hour what he hath made in many, Or hath destroyed in few? _Cain_. Lead on. _Adah_. Will he, In sooth, return within an hour? _Lucifer_. He shall. With us acts are exempt from time, and we Can crowd eternity into an hour, Or stretch an hour into eternity: We breathe not by a mortal measurement-- But that's a mystery. Cain, come on with me. _Adah_. Will he return? _Lucifer_. Aye, woman! he alone 540 Of mortals from that place (the first and last Who shall return, save ONE), shall come back to thee, To make that silent and expectant world As populous as this: at present there Are few inhabitants. _Adah_. Where dwellest thou? _Lucifer_. Throughout all space. Where should I dwell? Where are Thy God or Gods--there am I: all things are Divided with me: Life and Death--and Time-- Eternity--and heaven and earth--and that Which is not heaven nor earth, but peopled with 550 Those who once peopled or shall people both-- These are my realms! so that I do divide _His_, and possess a kingdom which is not _His_[109]. If I were not that which I have said, Could I stand here? His angels are within Your vision. _Adah_. So they were when the fair Serpent Spoke with our mother first. _Lucifer_. Cain! thou hast heard. If thou dost long for knowledge, I can satiate That thirst; nor ask thee to partake of fruits Which shall deprive thee of a single good 560 The Conqueror has left thee. Follow me. _Cain_. Spirit, I have said it. [_Exeunt_ LUCIFER _and_ CAIN. _Adah_ (_follows exclaiming_). Cain! my brother! Cain! ACT II. SCENE I.--_The Abyss of Space_. _Cain_. I tread on air, and sink not--yet I fear To sink. _Lucifer_. Have faith in me, and thou shalt be Borne on the air[110], of which I am the Prince. _Cain_. Can I do so without impiety? _Lucifer_. Believe--and sink not! doubt--and perish! thus Would run the edict of the other God, Who names me Demon to his angels; they Echo the sound to miserable things, Which, knowing nought beyond their shallow senses, Worship the _word_ which strikes their ear, and deem 10 Evil or good what is proclaimed to them In their abasement. I will have none such: Worship or worship not, thou shalt behold The worlds beyond thy little world, nor be Amerced for doubts beyond thy little life, With torture of _my_ dooming. There will come An hour, when, tossed upon some water-drops[cd], A man shall say to a man, "Believe in me, And walk the waters;" and the man shall walk The billows and be safe. _I_ will not say, 20 Believe in _me_, as a conditional creed To save thee; but fly with me o'er the gulf Of space an equal flight, and I will show What thou dar'st not deny,--the history Of past--and present, and of future worlds. _Cain_. Oh God! or Demon! or whate'er thou art, Is yon our earth? _Lucifer_. Dost thou not recognise The dust which formed your father? _Cain_. Can it be? Yon small blue circle, swinging in far ether[ce], With an inferior circlet purpler it still[111], 30 Which looks like that which lit our earthly night? Is this our Paradise? Where are its walls, And they who guard them? _Lucifer_. Point me out the site Of Paradise. _Cain_. How should I? As we move Like sunbeams onward, it grows small and smaller, And as it waxes little, and then less, Gathers a halo round it, like the light Which shone the roundest of the stars, when I Beheld them from the skirts of Paradise: Methinks they both, as we recede from them, 40 Appear to join the innumerable stars Which are around us; and, as we move on, Increase their myriads. _Lucifer_. And if there should be Worlds greater than thine own--inhabited By greater things--and they themselves far more In number than the dust of thy dull earth, Though multiplied to animated atoms, All living--and all doomed to death--and wretched, What wouldst thou think? _Cain_. I should be proud of thought Which knew such things. _Lucifer_. But if that high thought were 50 Linked to a servile mass of matter--and, Knowing such things, aspiring to such things, And science still beyond them, were chained down To the most gross and petty paltry wants, All foul and fulsome--and the very best Of thine enjoyments a sweet degradation, A most enervating and filthy cheat To lure thee on to the renewal of Fresh souls and bodies[112], all foredoomed to be As frail, and few so happy---- _Cain_. Spirit! I 60 Know nought of Death, save as a dreadful thing Of which I have heard my parents speak, as of A hideous heritage I owe to them No less than life--a heritage not happy, If I may judge, till now. But, Spirit! if It be as thou hast said (and I within Feel the prophetic torture of its truth), Here let me die: for to give birth to those Who can but suffer many years, and die-- Methinks is merely propagating Death, 70 And multiplying murder. _Lucifer_. Thou canst not _All_ die--there is what must survive. _Cain_. The Other Spake not of this unto my father, when He shut him forth from Paradise, with death Written upon his forehead. But at least Let what is mortal of me perish, that I may be in the rest as angels are. _Lucifer_. _I_ am angelic: wouldst thou be as I am? _Cain_. I know not what thou art: I see thy power, And see thou show'st me things beyond _my_ power, 80 Beyond all power of my born faculties, Although inferior still to my desires And my conceptions. _Lucifer_. What are they which dwell So humbly in their pride, as to sojourn With worms in clay? _Cain_. And what art thou who dwellest So haughtily in spirit, and canst range Nature and immortality--and yet Seem'st sorrowful? _Lucifer_. I seem that which I am; And therefore do I ask of thee, if thou Wouldst be immortal? _Cain_. Thou hast said, I must be 90 Immortal in despite of me. I knew not This until lately--but since it must be, Let me, or happy or unhappy, learn To anticipate my immortality. _Lucifer_. Thou didst before I came upon thee. _Cain_. How? _Lucifer_. By suffering. _Cain_. And must torture be immortal? _Lucifer_. We and thy sons will try. But now, behold! Is it not glorious? _Cain_. Oh thou beautiful And unimaginable ether! and Ye multiplying masses of increased 100 And still-increasing lights! what are ye? what Is this blue wilderness of interminable Air, where ye roll along, as I have seen The leaves along the limpid streams of Eden? Is your course measured for ye? Or do ye Sweep on in your unbounded revelry Through an aerial universe of endless Expansion--at which my soul aches to think-- Intoxicated with eternity[113]? Oh God! Oh Gods! or whatsoe'er ye are! 110 How beautiful ye are! how beautiful Your works, or accidents, or whatsoe'er They may be! Let me die, as atoms die, (If that they die), or know ye in your might And knowledge! My thoughts are not in this hour Unworthy what I see, though my dust is; Spirit! let me expire, or see them nearer. _Lucifer_. Art thou not nearer? look back to thine earth! _Cain_. Where is it? I see nothing save a mass Of most innumerable lights. _Lucifer_. Look there! 120 _Cain_. I cannot see it. _Lucifer_. Yet it sparkles still. _Cain_. That!--yonder! _Lucifer_. Yea. _Cain_. And wilt thou tell me so? Why, I have seen the fire-flies and fire-worms Sprinkle the dusky groves and the green banks In the dim twilight, brighter than yon world Which bears them. _Lucifer_. Thou hast seen both worms and worlds, Each bright and sparkling--what dost think of them? _Cain_. That they are beautiful in their own sphere, And that the night, which makes both beautiful, The little shining fire-fly in its flight, 130 And the immortal star in its great course, Must both be guided. _Lucifer_. But by whom or what? _Cain_. Show me. _Lucifer_. Dar'st thou behold? _Cain_. How know I what I _dare_ behold? As yet, thou hast shown nought I dare not gaze on further. _Lucifer_. On, then, with me. Wouldst thou behold things mortal or immortal? _Cain_. Why, what are things? _Lucifer_. _Both_ partly: but what doth Sit next thy heart? _Cain_. The things I see. _Lucifer_. But what _Sate_ nearest it? _Cain_. The things I have not seen, Nor ever shall--the mysteries of Death. 140 _Lucifer_. What, if I show to thee things which have died, As I have shown thee much which cannot die? _Cain_. Do so. _Lucifer_. Away, then! on our mighty wings! _Cain_. Oh! how we cleave the blue! The stars fade from us! The earth! where is my earth? Let me look on it, For I was made of it. _Lucifer_. 'Tis now beyond thee, Less, in the universe, than thou in it; Yet deem not that thou canst escape it; thou Shalt soon return to earth, and all its dust: 'Tis part of thy eternity, and mine. 150 _Cain_. Where dost thou lead me? _Lucifer_. To what was before thee! The phantasm of the world; of which thy world Is but the wreck. _Cain_. What! is it not then new? _Lucifer_. No more than life is; and that was ere thou Or _I_ were, or the things which seem to us Greater than either: many things will have No end; and some, which would pretend to have Had no beginning, have had one as mean As thou; and mightier things have been extinct To make way for much meaner than we can 160 Surmise; for _moments_ only and the _space_ Have been and must be all _unchangeable_. But changes make not death, except to clay; But thou art clay--and canst but comprehend That which was clay, and such thou shall behold. _Cain_. Clay--Spirit--what thou wilt--I can survey. _Lucifer_. Away, then! _Cain_. But the lights fade from me fast, And some till now grew larger as we approached, And wore the look of worlds. _Lucifer_. And such they are. _Cain_. And Edens in them? _Lucifer_. It may be. _Cain_. And men? 170 _Lucifer_. Yea, or things higher. _Cain_. Aye! and serpents too?[cf] _Lucifer_. Wouldst thou have men without them? must no reptiles Breathe, save the erect ones? _Cain_. How the lights recede! Where fly we? _Lucifer_. To the world of phantoms, which Are beings past, and shadows still to come. _Cain_. But it grows dark, and dark--the stars are gone! _Lucifer_. And yet thou seest. _Cain_. 'Tis a fearful light! No sun--no moon--no lights innumerable-- The very blue of the empurpled night Fades to a dreary twilight--yet I see 180 Huge dusky masses; but unlike the worlds We were approaching, which, begirt with light, Seemed full of life even when their atmosphere Of light gave way, and showed them taking shapes Unequal, of deep valleys and vast mountains; And some emitting sparks, and some displaying Enormous liquid plains, and some begirt With luminous belts, and floating moons, which took, Like them, the features of fair earth:--instead, All here seems dark and dreadful. _Lucifer_. But distinct. 190 Thou seekest to behold Death, and dead things? _Cain_. I seek it not; but as I know there are Such, and that my sire's sin makes him and me, And all that we inherit, liable To such, I would behold, at once, what I Must one day see perforce. _Lucifer_. Behold! _Cain_. 'Tis darkness! _Lucifer_. And so it shall be ever--but we will Unfold its gates! _Cain_. Enormous vapours roll Apart--what's this? _Lucifer_. Enter! _Cain_. Can I return? _Lucifer_. Return! be sure: how else should Death be peopled? 200 Its present realm is thin to what it will be, Through thee and thine. _Cain_. The clouds still open wide And wider, and make widening circles round us! _Lucifer_. Advance! _Cain_. And thou! _Lucifer_. Fear not--without me thou Couldst not have gone beyond thy world. On! on! [_They disappear through the clouds_. SCENE II.--_Hades_. _Enter_ LUCIFER _and_ CAIN. _Cain_. How silent and how vast are these dim worlds! For they seem more than one, and yet more peopled Than the huge brilliant luminous orbs which swung So thickly in the upper air, that I Had deemed them rather the bright populace Of some all unimaginable Heaven, Than things to be inhabited themselves,[cg] But that on drawing near them I beheld Their swelling into palpable immensity Of matter, which seemed made for life to dwell on, 10 Rather than life itself. But here, all is So shadowy, and so full of twilight, that It speaks of a day past. _Lucifer_. It is the realm Of Death.--Wouldst have it present? _Cain_. Till I know That which it really is, I cannot answer. But if it be as I have heard my father Deal out in his long homilies, 'tis a thing-- Oh God! I dare not think on't! Cursed be He who invented Life that leads to Death! Or the dull mass of life, that, being life, 20 Could not retain, but needs must forfeit it-- Even for the innocent! _Lucifer_. Dost thou curse thy father? _Cain_. Cursed he not me in giving me my birth? Cursed he not me before my birth, in daring To pluck the fruit forbidden? _Lucifer_. Thou say'st well: The curse is mutual 'twixt thy sire and thee-- But for thy sons and brother? _Cain_. Let them share it With me, their sire and brother! What else is Bequeathed to me? I leave them my inheritance! Oh, ye interminable gloomy realms 30 Of swimming shadows and enormous shapes, Some fully shown, some indistinct, and all Mighty and melancholy--what are ye? Live ye, or have ye lived? _Lucifer_. Somewhat of both. _Cain_. Then what is Death? _Lucifer_. What? Hath not he who made ye Said 'tis another life? _Cain_. Till now he hath Said nothing, save that all shall die. _Lucifer_. Perhaps He one day will unfold that further secret. _Cain_. Happy the day! _Lucifer_. Yes; happy! when unfolded, Through agonies unspeakable, and clogged 40 With agonies eternal, to innumerable Yet unborn myriads of unconscious atoms, All to be animated for this only! _Cain_. What are these mighty phantoms which I see Floating around me?--They wear not the form Of the Intelligences I have seen Round our regretted and unentered Eden; Nor wear the form of man as I have viewed it In Adam's and in Abel's, and in mine, Nor in my sister-bride's, nor in my children's: 50 And yet they have an aspect, which, though not Of men nor angels, looks like something, which, If not the last, rose higher than the first, Haughty, and high, and beautiful, and full Of seeming strength, but of inexplicable Shape; for I never saw such. They bear not The wing of Seraph, nor the face of man, Nor form of mightiest brute, nor aught that is Now breathing; mighty yet and beautiful As the most beautiful and mighty which 60 Live, and yet so unlike them, that I scarce Can call them living.[114] _Lucifer_. Yet they lived. _Cain_. Where? _Lucifer_. Where Thou livest. _Cain_. When? _Lucifer_. On what thou callest earth They did inhabit. _Cain_. Adam is the first. _Lucifer_. Of thine, I grant thee--but too mean to be The last of these. _Cain_. And what are they? _Lucifer_. That which Thou shalt be. _Cain_. But what _were_ they? _Lucifer_. Living, high, Intelligent, good, great, and glorious things, As much superior unto all thy sire Adam could e'er have been in Eden, as 70 The sixty-thousandth generation shall be, In its dull damp degeneracy, to Thee and thy son;--and how weak they are, judge By thy own flesh. _Cain_. Ah me! and did _they_ perish? _Lucifer_. Yes, from their earth, as thou wilt fade from thine. _Cain_. But was _mine_ theirs? _Lucifer_. It was. _Cain_. But not as now. It is too little and too lowly to Sustain such creatures. _Lucifer_. True, it was more glorious. _Cain_. And wherefore did it fall? _Lucifer_. Ask him who fells.[115] _Cain_. But how? _Lucifer_. By a most crushing and inexorable 80 Destruction and disorder of the elements, Which struck a world to chaos, as a chaos Subsiding has struck out a world: such things, Though rare in time, are frequent in eternity.-- Pass on, and gaze upon the past. _Cain_. 'Tis awful! _Lucifer_. And true. Behold these phantoms! they were once Material as thou art. _Cain_. And must I be Like them? _Lucifer_. Let He[116] who made thee answer that. I show thee what thy predecessors are, And what they _were_ thou feelest, in degree 90 Inferior as thy petty feelings and Thy pettier portion of the immortal part Of high intelligence and earthly strength. What ye in common have with what they had Is Life, and what ye _shall_ have--Death: the rest Of your poor attributes is such as suits Reptiles engendered out of the subsiding Slime of a mighty universe, crushed into A scarcely-yet shaped planet, peopled with Things whose enjoyment was to be in blindness-- 100 A Paradise of Ignorance, from which Knowledge was barred as poison. But behold What these superior beings are or were; Or, if it irk thee, turn thee back and till The earth, thy task--I'll waft thee there in safety. _Cain_. No: I'll stay here. _Lucifer_. How long? _Cain_. For ever! Since I must one day return here from the earth, I rather would remain; I am sick of all That dust has shown me--let me dwell in shadows. _Lucifer_. It cannot be: thou now beholdest as 110 A vision that which is reality. To make thyself fit for this dwelling, thou Must pass through what the things thou seest have passed-- The gates of Death. _Cain_. By what gate have we entered Even now? _Lucifer_. By mine! But, plighted to return, My spirit buoys thee up to breathe in regions Where all is breathless save thyself. Gaze on; But do not think to dwell here till thine hour Is come! _Cain_. And these, too--can they ne'er repass To earth again? _Lucifer_. _Their_ earth is gone for ever-- 120 So changed by its convulsion, they would not Be conscious to a single present spot Of its new scarcely hardened surface--'twas-- Oh, what a beautiful world it _was_! _Cain_. And is! It is not with the earth, though I must till it, I feel at war--but that I may not profit By what it bears of beautiful, untoiling, Nor gratify my thousand swelling thoughts With knowledge, nor allay my thousand fears Of Death and Life. _Lucifer_. What thy world is, thou see'st, 130 But canst not comprehend the shadow of That which it was. _Cain_. And those enormous creatures, Phantoms inferior in intelligence (At least so seeming) to the things we have passed, Resembling somewhat the wild habitants Of the deep woods of earth, the hugest which Roar nightly in the forest, but ten-fold In magnitude and terror; taller than The cherub-guarded walls of Eden--with Eyes flashing like the fiery swords which fence them-- 140 And tusks projecting like the trees stripped of Their bark and branches--what were they? _Lucifer_. That which The Mammoth is in thy world;--but these lie By myriads underneath its surface. _Cain_. But None on it? _Lucifer_. No: for thy frail race to war With them would render the curse on it useless-- 'Twould be destroyed so early. _Cain_. But why _war_? _Lucifer_. You have forgotten the denunciation Which drove your race from Eden--war with all things, And death to all things, and disease to most things, 150 And pangs, and bitterness; these were the fruits Of the forbidden tree. _Cain_. But animals-- Did they, too, eat of it, that they must die? _Lucifer_. Your Maker told ye, _they_ were made for you, As you for him.--You would not have their doom Superior to your own? Had Adam not Fallen, all had stood. _Cain_. Alas! the hopeless wretches! They too must share my sire's fate, like his sons; Like them, too, without having shared the apple; Like them, too, without the so dear-bought _knowledge_! 160 It was a lying tree--for we _know_ nothing. At least it _promised knowledge_ at the _price_ Of death--but _knowledge_ still: but what _knows_ man? _Lucifer_. It may be death leads to the _highest_ knowledge; And being of all things the sole thing certain,[ch] At least leads to the _surest_ science: therefore The Tree was true, though deadly. _Cain_. These dim realms! I see them, but I know them not. _Lucifer_. Because Thy hour is yet afar, and matter cannot Comprehend spirit wholly--but 'tis something 170 To know there are such realms. _Cain_. We knew already That there was Death. _Lucifer_. But not what was beyond it. _Cain_. Nor know I now. _Lucifer_. Thou knowest that there is A state, and many states beyond thine own-- And this thou knewest not this morn. _Cain_. But all Seems dim and shadowy. _Lucifer_. Be content; it will Seem clearer to thine immortality. _Cain_. And yon immeasurable liquid space Of glorious azure which floats on beyond us, Which looks like water, and which I should deem[ci] 180 The river which flows out of Paradise Past my own dwelling, but that it is bankless And boundless, and of an ethereal hue-- What is it? _Lucifer_. There is still some such on earth, Although inferior, and thy children shall Dwell near it--'tis the phantasm of an Ocean. _Cain_. 'Tis like another world; a liquid sun-- And those inordinate creatures sporting o'er Its shining surface? _Lucifer_. Are its inhabitants, The past Leviathans. _Cain_. And yon immense 190 Serpent, which rears his dripping mane and vasty Head, ten times higher than the haughtiest cedar, Forth from the abyss, looking as he could coil Himself around the orbs we lately looked on-- Is he not of the kind which basked beneath The Tree in Eden? _Lucifer_. Eve, thy mother, best Can tell what shape of serpent tempted her. _Cain_. This seems too terrible. No doubt the other Had more of beauty. _Lucifer_. Hast thou ne'er beheld him? _Cain_. Many of the same kind (at least so called) 200 But never that precisely, which persuaded The fatal fruit, nor even of the same aspect. _Lucifer_. Your father saw him not? _Cain_. No: 'twas my mother Who tempted him--she tempted by the serpent. _Lucifer_. Good man! whene'er thy wife, or thy sons' wives, Tempt thee or them to aught that's new or strange, Be sure thou seest first who hath tempted _them_! _Cain_. Thy precept comes too late: there is no more For serpents to tempt woman to. _Lucifer_. But there Are some things still which woman may tempt man to, 210 And man tempt woman:--let thy sons look to it! My counsel is a kind one; for 'tis even Given chiefly at my own expense; 'tis true, 'Twill not be followed, so there's little lost.[117] _Cain_. I understand not this. _Lucifer_. The happier thou!-- Thy world and thou are still too young! Thou thinkest Thyself most wicked and unhappy--is it Not so? _Cain_. For crime, I know not; but for pain, I have felt much. _Lucifer_. First-born of the first man! Thy present state of sin--and thou art evil, 220 Of sorrow--and thou sufferest, are both Eden In all its innocence compared to what _Thou_ shortly may'st be; and that state again, In its redoubled wretchedness, a Paradise To what thy sons' sons' sons, accumulating In generations like to dust (which they In fact but add to), shall endure and do.-- Now let us back to earth! _Cain_. And wherefore didst thou Lead me here only to inform me this? _Lucifer_. Was not thy quest for knowledge? _Cain_. Yes--as being 230 The road to happiness! _Lucifer_. If truth be so, Thou hast it. _Cain_. Then my father's God did well When he prohibited the fatal Tree. _Lucifer_. But had done better in not planting it. But ignorance of evil doth not save From evil; it must still roll on the same, A part of all things. _Cain_. Not of all things. No-- I'll not believe it--for I thirst for good. _Lucifer_. And who and what doth not? _Who_ covets evil For its own bitter sake?--_None_--nothing! 'tis 240 The leaven of all life, and lifelessness. _Cain_. Within those glorious orbs which we behold, Distant, and dazzling, and innumerable, Ere we came down into this phantom realm, Ill cannot come: they are too beautiful. _Lucifer_. Thou hast seen them from afar. _Cain_. And what of that? Distance can but diminish glory--they, When nearer, must be more ineffable. _Lucifer_. Approach the things of earth most beautiful, And judge their beauty near. _Cain_. I have done this-- 250 The loveliest thing I know is loveliest nearest. _Lucifer_. Then there must be delusion.--What is that Which being nearest to thine eyes is still More beautiful than beauteous things remote? _Cain_. My sister Adah.--All the stars of heaven, The deep blue noon of night, lit by an orb Which looks a spirit, or a spirit's world-- The hues of twilight--the Sun's gorgeous coming-- His setting indescribable, which fills My eyes with pleasant tears as I behold 260 Him sink, and feel my heart float softly with him Along that western paradise of clouds-- The forest shade, the green bough, the bird's voice-- The vesper bird's, which seems to sing of love, And mingles with the song of Cherubim, As the day closes over Eden's walls;-- All these are nothing, to my eyes and heart, Like Adah's face: I turn from earth and heaven To gaze on it. _Lucifer_. 'Tis fair as frail mortality, In the first dawn and bloom of young creation, 270 And earliest embraces of earth's parents, Can make its offspring; still it is delusion. _Cain_. You think so, being not her brother. _Lucifer_. Mortal! My brotherhood's with those who have no children. _Cain_. Then thou canst have no fellowship with us. _Lucifer_. It may be that thine own shall be for me. But if thou dost possess a beautiful Being beyond all beauty in thine eyes, Why art thou wretched? _Cain_. Why do I exist? Why art _thou_ wretched? why are all things so? 280 Ev'n he who made us must be, as the maker Of things unhappy! To produce destruction Can surely never be the task of joy, And yet my sire says he's omnipotent: Then why is Evil--he being Good? I asked This question of my father; and he said, Because this Evil only was the path To Good. Strange Good, that must arise from out Its deadly opposite. I lately saw A lamb stung by a reptile: the poor suckling 290 Lay foaming on the earth, beneath the vain And piteous bleating of its restless dam; My father plucked some herbs, and laid them to The wound; and by degrees the helpless wretch Resumed its careless life, and rose to drain The mother's milk, who o'er it tremulous Stood licking its reviving limbs with joy. Behold, my son! said Adam, how from Evil Springs Good![118] _Lucifer_. What didst thou answer? _Cain_. Nothing; for He is my father: but I thought, that 'twere 300 A better portion for the animal Never to have been _stung at all_, than to Purchase renewal of its little life With agonies unutterable, though Dispelled by antidotes. _Lucifer_. But as thou saidst Of all beloved things thou lovest her Who shared thy mother's milk, and giveth hers Unto thy children---- _Cain_. Most assuredly: What should I be without her? _Lucifer_. What am I? _Cain_. Dost thou love nothing? _Lucifer_. What does thy God love? 310 _Cain_. All things, my father says; but I confess I see it not in their allotment here. _Lucifer_. And, therefore, thou canst not see if _I_ love Or no--except some vast and general purpose, To which particular things must melt like snows. _Cain_. Snows! what are they? _Lucifer_. Be happier in not knowing What thy remoter offspring must encounter; But bask beneath the clime which knows no winter. _Cain_. But dost thou not love something like thyself? _Lucifer_. And dost thou love _thyself_? _Cain_. Yes, but love more 320 What makes my feelings more endurable, And is more than myself, because I love it! _Lucifer_. Thou lovest it, because 'tis beautiful, As was the apple in thy mother's eye; And when it ceases to be so, thy love Will cease, like any other appetite.[119] _Cain_. Cease to be beautiful! how can that be? _Lucifer_. With time. _Cain_. But time has passed, and hitherto Even Adam and my mother both are fair: Not fair like Adah and the Seraphim-- 330 But very fair. _Lucifer_. All that must pass away In them and her. _Cain_. I'm sorry for it; but Cannot conceive my love for her the less: And when her beauty disappears, methinks He who creates all beauty will lose more Than me in seeing perish such a work. _Lucifer_. I pity thee who lovest what must perish. _Cain_. And I thee who lov'st nothing. _Lucifer_. And thy brother-- Sits he not near thy heart? _Cain_. Why should he not? _Lucifer_. Thy father loves him well--so does thy God. 340 _Cain_. And so do I. _Lucifer_. 'Tis well and meekly done. _Cain_. Meekly! _Lucifer_. He is the second born of flesh, And is his mother's favourite. _Cain_. Let him keep Her favour, since the Serpent was the first To win it. _Lucifer_. And his father's? _Cain_. What is that To me? should I not love that which all love? _Lucifer_. And the Jehovah--the indulgent Lord, And bounteous planter of barred Paradise-- He, too, looks smilingly on Abel. _Cain_. I Ne'er saw him, and I know not if he smiles. 350 _Lucifer_. But you have seen his angels. _Cain_. Rarely. _Lucifer_. But Sufficiently to see they love your brother: _His_ sacrifices are acceptable. _Cain_. So be they! wherefore speak to me of this? _Lucifer_. Because thou hast thought of this ere now. _Cain_. And if I _have_ thought, why recall a thought that---- (_he pauses as agitated_)--Spirit! _Here_ we are in _thy_ world; speak not of _mine_. Thou hast shown me wonders: thou hast shown me those Mighty Pre-Adamites who walked the earth Of which ours is the wreck: thou hast pointed out 360 Myriads of starry worlds, of which our own Is the dim and remote companion, in Infinity of life: thou hast shown me shadows Of that existence with the dreaded name Which my sire brought us--Death;[cj] thou hast shown me much But not all: show me where Jehovah dwells, In his especial Paradise--or _thine_: Where is it? _Lucifer_. _Here_, and o'er all space. _Cain_. But ye Have some allotted dwelling--as all things; Clay has its earth, and other worlds their tenants; 370 All temporary breathing creatures their Peculiar element; and things which have Long ceased to breathe _our_ breath, have theirs, thou say'st; And the Jehovah and thyself have thine-- Ye do not dwell together? _Lucifer_. No, we reign Together; but our dwellings are asunder. _Cain_. Would there were only one of ye! perchance An unity of purpose might make union In elements which seem now jarred in storms. How came ye, being Spirits wise and infinite, 380 To separate? Are ye not as brethren in Your essence--and your nature, and your glory? _Lucifer_. Art not thou Abel's brother? _Cain_. We are brethren, And so we shall remain; but were it not so, Is spirit like to flesh? can it fall out-- Infinity with Immortality? Jarring and turning space to misery-- For what? _Lucifer_. To reign. _Cain_. Did ye not tell me that Ye are both eternal? _Lucifer_. Yea! _Cain_. And what I have seen-- Yon blue immensity, is boundless? _Lucifer_. Aye. 390 _Cain_. And cannot ye both _reign_, then?--is there not Enough?--why should ye differ? _Lucifer_. We _both_ reign. _Cain_. But one of you makes evil. _Lucifer_. Which? _Cain_. Thou! for If thou canst do man good, why dost thou not? _Lucifer_. And why not he who made? _I_ made ye not; Ye are _his_ creatures, and not mine. _Cain_. Then leave us _His_ creatures, as thou say'st we are, or show me Thy dwelling, or _his_ dwelling. _Lucifer_. I could show thee Both; but the time will come thou shalt see one Of them for evermore.[120] _Cain_. And why not now? 400 _Lucifer_. Thy human mind hath scarcely grasp to gather The little I have shown thee into calm And clear thought: and _thou_ wouldst go on aspiring To the great double Mysteries! the _two Principles_![121] And gaze upon them on their secret thrones! Dust! limit thy ambition; for to see Either of these would be for thee to perish! _Cain_. And let me perish, so I see them! _Lucifer_. There The son of her who snatched the apple spake! But thou wouldst only perish, and not see them; 410 That sight is for the other state. _Cain_. Of Death? _Lucifer_. That is the prelude. _Cain_. Then I dread it less, Now that I know it leads to something definite. _Lucifer_. And now I will convey thee to thy world, Where thou shall multiply the race of Adam, Eat, drink, toil, tremble, laugh, weep, sleep--and die! _Cain_. And to what end have I beheld these things Which thou hast shown me? _Lucifer_. Didst thou not require Knowledge? And have I not, in what I showed, Taught thee to know thyself? _Cain_. Alas! I seem 420 Nothing.[122] _Lucifer_. And this should be the human sum Of knowledge, to know mortal nature's nothingness; Bequeath that science to thy children, and 'Twill spare them many tortures. _Cain_. Haughty spirit! Thou speak'st it proudly; but thyself, though proud, Hast a superior. _Lucifer_. No! By heaven, which he Holds, and the abyss, and the immensity Of worlds and life, which I hold with him--No! I have a Victor--true; but no superior.[123] Homage he has from all--but none from me: 430 I battle it against him, as I battled In highest Heaven--through all Eternity, And the unfathomable gulfs of Hades, And the interminable realms of space, And the infinity of endless ages, All, all, will I dispute! And world by world, And star by star, and universe by universe, Shall tremble in the balance, till the great Conflict shall cease, if ever it shall cease, Which it ne'er shall, till he or I be quenched! 440 And what can quench our immortality, Or mutual and irrevocable hate? He as a conqueror will call the conquered _Evil_; but what will be the _Good_ he gives? Were I the victor, _his_ works would be deemed The only evil ones. And you, ye new And scarce-born mortals, what have been his gifts To you already, in your little world? _Cain_. But few; and some of those but bitter. _Lucifer_. Back With me, then, to thine earth, and try the rest 450 Of his celestial boons to you and yours. Evil and Good are things in their own essence, And not made good or evil by the Giver; But if he gives you good--so call him; if Evil springs from _him_, do not name it _mine_, Till ye know better its true fount; and judge Not by words, though of Spirits, but the fruits Of your existence, such as it must be. _One good_ gift has the fatal apple given,-- Your _reason_:--let it not be overswayed 460 By tyrannous threats to force you into faith 'Gainst all external sense and inward feeling: Think and endure,--and form an inner world In your own bosom--where the outward fails; So shall you nearer be the spiritual Nature, and war triumphant with your own. [_They disappear_. ACT III. SCENE I.--_The Earth, near Eden, as in Act I_. _Enter_ CAIN _and_ ADAH. _Adah_. Hush! tread softly, Cain! _Cain_. I will--but wherefore? _Adah_. Our little Enoch sleeps upon yon bed Of leaves, beneath the cypress. _Cain_. Cypress! 'tis A gloomy tree, which looks as if it mourned O'er what it shadows; wherefore didst thou choose it For our child's canopy? _Adah_. Because its branches Shut out the sun like night, and therefore seemed Fitting to shadow slumber. _Cain_. Aye, the last-- And longest; but no matter--lead me to him. [_They go up to the child_. How lovely he appears! his little cheeks, 10 In their pure incarnation,[124] vying with The rose leaves strewn beneath them. _Adah_. And his lips, too, How beautifully parted! No; you shall not Kiss him, at least not now: he will awake soon-- His hour of mid-day rest is nearly over; But it were pity to disturb him till 'Tis closed. _Cain_. You have said well; I will contain My heart till then. He smiles, and sleeps!--sleep on, And smile, thou little, young inheritor Of a world scarce less young: sleep on, and smile! 20 Thine are the hours and days when both are cheering And innocent! _thou_ hast not plucked the fruit-- Thou know'st not thou art naked! Must the time Come thou shalt be amerced for sins unknown, Which were not thine nor mine? But now sleep on! His cheeks are reddening into deeper smiles, And shining lids are trembling o'er his long Lashes,[125] dark as the cypress which waves o'er them; Half open, from beneath them the clear blue Laughs out, although in slumber. He must dream-- 30 Of what? Of Paradise!--Aye! dream of it, My disinherited boy! 'Tis but a dream; For never more thyself, thy sons, nor fathers, Shall walk in that forbidden place of joy! _Adah_. Dear Cain! Nay, do not whisper o'er our son Such melancholy yearnings o'er the past: Why wilt thou always mourn for Paradise? Can we not make another? _Cain_. Where? _Adah_. Here, or Where'er thou wilt: where'er thou art, I feel not The want of this so much regretted Eden. 40 Have I not thee--our boy--our sire, and brother, And Zillah--our sweet sister, and our Eve, To whom we owe so much besides our birth? _Cain_. Yes--Death, too, is amongst the debts we owe her. _Adah_. Cain! that proud Spirit, who withdrew thee hence, Hath saddened thine still deeper. I had hoped The promised wonders which thou hast beheld, Visions, thou say'st, of past and present worlds, Would have composed thy mind into the calm Of a contented knowledge; but I see 50 Thy guide hath done thee evil: still I thank him, And can forgive him all, that he so soon Hath given thee back to us. _Cain_. So soon? _Adah_. 'Tis scarcely Two hours since ye departed: two _long_ hours To _me_, but only _hours_ upon the sun. _Cain_. And yet I have approached that sun, and seen Worlds which he once shone on, and never more Shall light; and worlds he never lit: methought Years had rolled o'er my absence. _Adah_. Hardly hours. _Cain_. The mind then hath capacity of time, 60 And measures it by that which it beholds, Pleasing or painful[126]; little or almighty. I had beheld the immemorial works Of endless beings; skirred extinguished worlds; And, gazing on eternity, methought I had borrowed more by a few drops of ages From its immensity: but now I feel My littleness again. Well said the Spirit, That I was nothing! _Adah_. Wherefore said he so? Jehovah said not that. _Cain_. No: _he_ contents him 70 With making us the _nothing_ which we are; And after flattering dust with glimpses of Eden and Immortality, resolves It back to dust again--for what? _Adah_. Thou know'st-- Even for our parents' error. _Cain_. What is that To us? they sinned, then _let them_ die! _Adah_. Thou hast not spoken well, nor is that thought Thy own, but of the Spirit who was with thee. Would _I_ could die for them, so _they_ might live! _Cain_. Why, so say I--provided that one victim 80 Might satiate the Insatiable of life, And that our little rosy sleeper there Might never taste of death nor human sorrow, Nor hand it down to those who spring from him. _Adah_. How know we that some such atonement one day May not redeem our race? _Cain_. By sacrificing The harmless for the guilty? what atonement[127] Were there? why, _we_ are innocent: what have we Done, that we must be victims for a deed Before our birth, or need have victims to 90 Atone for this mysterious, nameless sin-- If it be such a sin to seek for knowledge? _Adah_. Alas! thou sinnest now, my Cain: thy words Sound impious in mine ears. _Cain_. Then leave me! _Adah_. Never, Though thy God left thee. _Cain_. Say, what have we here? _Adah_. Two altars, which our brother Abel made During thine absence, whereupon to offer A sacrifice to God on thy return. _Cain_. And how knew _he_, that _I_ would be so ready With the burnt offerings, which he daily brings 100 With a meek brow, whose base humility Shows more of fear than worship--as a bribe To the Creator? _Adah_. Surely, 'tis well done. _Cain_. One altar may suffice; _I_ have no offering. _Adah_. The fruits of the earth,[128] the early, beautiful, Blossom and bud--and bloom of flowers and fruits-- These are a goodly offering to the Lord, Given with a gentle and a contrite spirit. _Cain_. I have toiled, and tilled, and sweaten in the sun, According to the curse:--must I do more? 110 For what should I be gentle? for a war With all the elements ere they will yield The bread we eat? For what must I be grateful? For being dust, and grovelling in the dust, Till I return to dust? If I am nothing-- For nothing shall I be an hypocrite, And seem well-pleased with pain? For what should I Be contrite? for my father's sin, already Expiate with what we all have undergone, And to be more than expiated by 120 The ages prophesied, upon our seed. Little deems our young blooming sleeper, there, The germs of an eternal misery To myriads is within him! better 'twere I snatched him in his sleep, and dashed him 'gainst The rocks, than let him live to---- _Adah_. Oh, my God! Touch not the child--my child! _thy_ child! Oh, Cain! _Cain_. Fear not! for all the stars, and all the power Which sways them, I would not accost yon infant With ruder greeting than a father's kiss. 130 _Adah_. Then, why so awful in thy speech? _Cain_. I said, 'Twere better that he ceased to live, than give Life to so much of sorrow as he must Endure, and, harder still, bequeath; but since That saying jars you, let us only say-- 'Twere better that he never had been born. _Adah_. Oh, do not say so! Where were then the joys, The mother's joys of watching, nourishing, And loving him? Soft! he awakes. Sweet Enoch! [_She goes to the child_. Oh, Cain! look on him; see how full of life, 140 Of strength, of bloom, of beauty, and of joy-- How like to me--how like to thee, when gentle-- For _then_ we are _all_ alike; is't not so, Cain? Mother, and sire, and son, our features are Reflected in each other; as they are In the clear waters, when _they_ are _gentle_, and When _thou_ art _gentle_. Love us, then, my Cain! And love thyself for our sakes, for we love thee. Look! how he laughs and stretches out his arms, And opens wide his blue eyes upon thine, 150 To hail his father; while his little form Flutters as winged with joy. Talk not of pain! The childless cherubs well might envy thee The pleasures of a parent! Bless him, Cain! As yet he hath no words to thank thee, but His heart will, and thine own too. _Cain_. Bless thee, boy! If that a mortal blessing may avail thee, To save thee from the Serpent's curse! _Adah_. It shall. Surely a father's blessing may avert A reptile's subtlety. _Cain_. Of that I doubt; 160 But bless him ne'er the less. _Adah_. Our brother comes. _Cain_. Thy brother Abel. _Enter_ ABEL. _Abel_. Welcome, Cain! My brother, The peace of God be on thee! _Cain_. Abel, hail! _Abel_. Our sister tells me that thou hast been wandering, In high communion with a Spirit, far Beyond our wonted range. Was he of those We have seen and spoken with, like to our father? _Cain_. No. _Abel_. Why then commune with him? he may be A foe to the Most High. _Cain_. And friend to man. Has the Most High been so--if so you term him? 170 _Abel_. _Term him!_ your words are strange to-day, my brother. My sister Adah, leave us for awhile-- We mean to sacrifice[129]. _Adah_. Farewell, my Cain; But first embrace thy son. May his soft spirit, And Abel's pious ministry, recall thee To peace and holiness! [_Exit_ ADAH, _with her child_. _Abel_. Where hast thou been? _Cain_. I know not. _Abel_. Nor what thou hast seen? _Cain_. The dead-- The Immortal--the Unbounded--the Omnipotent-- The overpowering mysteries of space-- The innumerable worlds that were and are-- 180 A whirlwind of such overwhelming things, Suns, moons, and earths, upon their loud-voiced spheres Singing in thunder round me, as have made me Unfit for mortal converse: leave me, Abel. _Abel_. Thine eyes are flashing with unnatural light-- Thy cheek is flushed with an unnatural hue-- Thy words are fraught with an unnatural sound-- What may this mean? _Cain_. It means--I pray thee, leave me. _Abel_. Not till we have prayed and sacrificed together. _Cain_. Abel, I pray thee, sacrifice alone-- 190 Jehovah loves thee well. _Abel_. _Both_ well, I hope. _Cain_. But thee the better: I care not for that; Thou art fitter for his worship than I am; Revere him, then--but let it be alone-- At least, without me. _Abel_. Brother, I should ill Deserve the name of our great father's son, If, as my elder, I revered thee not, And in the worship of our God, called not On thee to join me, and precede me in Our priesthood--'tis thy place. _Cain_. But I have ne'er 200 Asserted it. _Abel_. The more my grief; I pray thee To do so now: thy soul seems labouring in Some strong delusion; it will calm thee. _Cain_. No; Nothing can calm me more. _Calm!_ say I? Never Knew I what calm was in the soul, although I have seen the elements stilled. My Abel, leave me! Or let me leave thee to thy pious purpose. _Abel_. Neither; we must perform our task together. Spurn me not. _Cain_. If it must be so----well, then, What shall I do? _Abel_. Choose one of those two altars. 210 _Cain_. Choose for me: they to me are so much turf And stone. _Abel_. Choose thou! _Cain_. I have chosen. _Abel_. 'Tis the highest, And suits thee, as the elder. Now prepare Thine offerings. _Cain_. Where are thine? _Abel_. Behold them here-- The firstlings of the flock, and fat thereof-- A shepherd's humble offering. _Cain_. I have no flocks; I am a tiller of the ground, and must Yield what it yieldeth to my toil--its fruit: [_He gathers fruits_. Behold them in their various bloom and ripeness. [_They dress their altars, and kindle aflame upon them_[130]. _Abel_. My brother, as the elder, offer first 220 Thy prayer and thanksgiving with sacrifice. _Cain_. No--I am new to this; lead thou the way, And I will follow--as I may. _Abel_ (_kneeling_). Oh, God! Who made us, and who breathed the breath of life Within our nostrils, who hath blessed us, And spared, despite our father's sin, to make His children all lost, as they might have been, Had not thy justice been so tempered with The mercy which is thy delight, as to Accord a pardon like a Paradise, 230 Compared with our great crimes:--Sole Lord of light! Of good, and glory, and eternity! Without whom all were evil, and with whom Nothing can err, except to some good end Of thine omnipotent benevolence! Inscrutable, but still to be fulfilled! Accept from out thy humble first of shepherds' First of the first-born flocks--an offering, In itself nothing--as what offering can be Aught unto thee?--but yet accept it for 240 The thanksgiving of him who spreads it in The face of thy high heaven--bowing his own Even to the dust, of which he is--in honour Of thee, and of thy name, for evermore! _Cain_ (_standing erect during this speech_). Spirit whate'er or whosoe'er thou art, Omnipotent, it may be--and, if good, Shown in the exemption of thy deeds from evil; Jehovah upon earth! and God in heaven! And it may be with other names, because Thine attributes seem many, as thy works:-- 250 If thou must be propitiated with prayers, Take them! If thou must be induced with altars, And softened with a sacrifice, receive them; Two beings here erect them unto thee. If thou lov'st blood, the shepherd's shrine, which smokes On my right hand, hath shed it for thy service In the first of his flock, whose limbs now reek In sanguinary incense to thy skies; Or, if the sweet and blooming fruits of earth, And milder seasons, which the unstained turf 260 I spread them on now offers in the face Of the broad sun which ripened them, may seem Good to thee--inasmuch as they have not Suffered in limb or life--and rather form A sample of thy works, than supplication To look on ours! If a shrine without victim, And altar without gore, may win thy favour, Look on it! and for him who dresseth it, He is--such as thou mad'st him; and seeks nothing Which must be won by kneeling: if he's evil[ck], 270 Strike him! thou art omnipotent, and may'st-- For what can he oppose? If he be good, Strike him, or spare him, as thou wilt! since all Rests upon thee; and Good and Evil seem To have no power themselves, save in thy will-- And whether that be good or ill I know not, Not being omnipotent, nor fit to judge Omnipotence--but merely to endure Its mandate; which thus far I have endured. [_The fire upon the altar of_ ABEL _kindles into a column of the brightest flame, and ascends to heaven; while a whirlwind throws down the altar of_ CAIN, _and scatters the fruits abroad upon the earths_[131] _Abel_ (_kneeling_). Oh, brother, pray! Jehovah's wroth with thee. 280 _Cain_. Why so? _Abel_. Thy fruits are scattered on the earth. _Cain_. From earth they came, to earth let them return; Their seed will bear fresh fruit there ere the summer: Thy burnt flesh-offering prospers better; see How Heaven licks up the flames, when thick with blood! _Abel_. Think not upon my offering's acceptance, But make another of thine own--before It is too late. _Cain_. I will build no more altars, Nor suffer any---- _Abel_ (_rising_). Cain! what meanest thou? _Cain_. To cast down yon vile flatterer of the clouds, 290 The smoky harbinger of thy dull prayers-- Thine altar, with its blood of lambs and kids, Which fed on milk, to be destroyed in blood. _Abel_ (_opposing him_). Thou shalt not:--add not impious works to impious Words! let that altar stand--'tis hallowed now By the immortal pleasure of Jehovah, In his acceptance of the victims. _Cain_. _His_! _His pleasure!_ what was his high pleasure in The fumes of scorching flesh and smoking blood, To the pain of the bleating mothers, which 300 Still yearn for their dead offspring? or the pangs Of the sad ignorant victims underneath Thy pious knife? Give way! this bloody record Shall not stand in the sun, to shame creation! _Abel_. Brother, give back! thou shalt not touch my altar With violence: if that thou wilt adopt it, To try another sacrifice, 'tis thine. _Cain_. Another sacrifice! Give way, or else That sacrifice may be---- _Abel_. What mean'st thou? _Cain_. Give-- Give way!--thy God loves blood!--then look to it:-- 310 Give way, ere he hath _more_! _Abel_. In _his_ great name, I stand between thee and the shrine which hath Had his acceptance. _Cain_. If thou lov'st thyself, Stand back till I have strewed this turf along Its native soil:--else---- _Abel_ (_opposing him_). I love God far more Than life. _Cain_ (_striking him with a brand, on the temples, which he snatches from the altar_). Then take thy life unto thy God, Since he loves lives. _Abel_ (_falls_). What hast thou done--my brother? _Cain_. Brother! _Abel_. Oh, God! receive thy servant! and Forgive his slayer, for he knew not what He did--Cain, give me--give me thy hand; and tell 320 Poor Zillah-- _Cain_ (_after a moment's stupefaction_). _My_ hand! 'tis all red, and with---- What? [_A long pause.--Looking slowly round_. Where am I? alone! Where's Abel? where Cain? Can it be that I am he? My brother, Awake!--why liest thou so long on the green earth? 'Tis not the hour of slumber:--why so pale? What hast thou!--thou wert full of life this morn! Abel! I pray thee, mock me not! I smote Too fiercely, but not fatally. Ah, why Wouldst thou oppose me? This is mockery; And only done to daunt me:--'twas a blow-- 330 And but a blow. Stir--stir--nay, only stir! Why, so--that's well!--thou breathest! breathe upon me! Oh God! Oh God! _Abel_ (_very faintly_). What's he who speaks of God? _Cain_. Thy murderer. _Abel_. Then may God forgive him! Cain, Comfort poor Zillah:--she has but one brother Now. [ABEL _dies_. _Cain_. And I none!--Who makes me brotherless? His eyes are open! then he is not dead! Death is like sleep[132]; and sleep shuts down our lids. His lips, too, are apart; why then he breathes; And yet I feel it not.--His heart!--his heart!-- 340 Let me see, doth it beat? methinks----No!--no! This is a vision, else I am become The native of another and worse world. The earth swims round me:--what is this?--'tis wet; [_Puts his hand to his brow, and then looks at it_. And yet there are no dews! 'Tis blood--my blood-- My brother's and my own! and shed by me! Then what have I further to do with life, Since I have taken life from my own flesh? But he can not be dead!--Is silence death? No; he will wake; then let me watch by him. 350 Life cannot be so slight, as to be quenched Thus quickly!--he hath spoken to me since-- What shall I say to him?--My brother!--No: He will not answer to that name; for brethren Smite not each other. Yet--yet--speak to me. Oh! for a word more of that gentle voice, That I may bear to hear my own again! _Enter_ ZILLAH. _Zillah_. I heard a heavy sound; what can it be? 'Tis Cain; and watching by my husband. What Dost thou there, brother? Doth he sleep? Oh, Heaven! 360 What means this paleness, and yon stream?--No, no! It is not blood; for who would shed his blood? Abel! what's this?--who hath done this? He moves not; He breathes not: and his hands drop down from mine With stony lifelessness! Ah! cruel Cain! Why camest thou not in time to save him from This violence? Whatever hath assailed him, Thou wert the stronger, and shouldst have stepped in Between him and aggression! Father!--Eve!-- Adah!--come hither! Death is in the world! 370 [_Exit_ ZILLAH, _calling on her Parents, etc._ _Cain_ (_solus_). And who hath brought him there?--I--who abhor The name of Death so deeply, that the thought Empoisoned all my life, before I knew His aspect--I have led him here, and given My brother to his cold and still embrace, As if he would not have asserted his Inexorable claim without my aid. I am awake at last--a dreary dream Had maddened me;--but _he_ shall ne'er awake! _Enter_ ADAM, EVE, ADAH, _and_ ZILLAH. _Adam_. A voice of woe from Zillah brings me here-- 380 What do I see?--'Tis true!--My son!--my son! Woman, behold the Serpent's work, and thine! [_To_ EVE. _Eve_. Oh! speak not of it now: the Serpent's fangs Are in my heart! My best beloved, Abel! Jehovah! this is punishment beyond A mother's sin, to take _him_ from me! _Adam_. Who, Or what hath done this deed?--speak, Cain, since thou Wert present; was it some more hostile angel, Who walks not with Jehovah? or some wild Brute of the forest? _Eve_. Ah! a livid light 390 Breaks through, as from a thunder-cloud! yon brand Massy and bloody! snatched from off the altar, And black with smoke, and red with---- _Adam_. Speak, my son! Speak, and assure us, wretched as we are, That we are not more miserable still. _Adah_. Speak, Cain! and say it was not _thou_! _Eve_. It was! I see it now--he hangs his guilty head, And covers his ferocious eye with hands Incarnadine! _Adah_. Mother, thou dost him wrong-- Cain! clear thee from this horrible accusal, 400 Which grief wrings from our parent. _Eve_. Hear, Jehovah! May the eternal Serpent's curse be on him! For he was fitter for his seed than ours. May all his days be desolate! May---- _Adah_. Hold! Curse him not, mother, for he is thy son-- Curse him not, mother, for he is my brother, And my betrothed. _Eve_. He hath left thee no brother-- Zillah no husband--me _no son!_ for thus I curse him from my sight for evermore! All bonds I break between us, as he broke 410 That of his nature, _in yon_----Oh Death! Death! Why didst thou not take _me_, who first incurred thee? Why dost thou not so now? _Adam_. Eve! let not this, Thy natural grief, lead to impiety! A heavy doom was long forespoken to us; And now that it begins, let it be borne In such sort as may show our God, that we Are faithful servants to his holy will. _Eve_ (_pointing to Cain_). _His will!_ the will of yon Incarnate Spirit Of Death, whom I have brought upon the earth 420 To strew it with the dead. May all the curses Of life be on him! and his agonies Drive him forth o'er the wilderness, like us From Eden, till his children do by him As he did by his brother! May the swords And wings of fiery Cherubim pursue him By day and night--snakes spring up in his path-- Earth's fruits be ashes in his mouth--the leaves On which he lays his head to sleep be strewed With scorpions! May his dreams be of his victim! 430 His waking a continual dread of Death! May the clear rivers turn to blood as he[133] Stoops down to stain them with his raging lip! May every element shun or change to him! May he live in the pangs which others die with! And Death itself wax something worse than Death To him who first acquainted him with man! Hence, fratricide! henceforth that word is _Cain_, Through all the coming myriads of mankind, Who shall abhor thee, though thou wert their sire! 440 May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods Deny thee shelter! earth a home! the dust A grave! the sun his light! and heaven her God[134]! [_Exit_ EVE. _Adam_. Cain! get thee forth: we dwell no more together. Depart! and leave the dead to me--I am Henceforth alone--we never must meet more. _Adah_. Oh, part not with him thus, my father: do not Add thy deep curse to Eve's upon his head! _Adam_. I curse him not: his spirit be his curse. Come, Zillah! _Zillah_. I must watch my husband's corse[135]. 450 _Adam_. We will return again, when he is gone Who hath provided for us this dread office. Come, Zillah! _Zillah_. Yet one kiss on yon pale clay, And those lips once so warm--my heart! my heart! [_Exeunt_ ADAM _and_ ZILLAH _weeping_. _Adah_. Cain! thou hast heard, we must go forth. I am ready, So shall our children be. I will bear Enoch, And you his sister. Ere the sun declines Let us depart, nor walk the wilderness Under the cloud of night.--Nay, speak to me. To _me--thine own_. _Cain_. Leave me! _Adah_. Why, all have left thee. 460 _Cain_. And wherefore lingerest thou? Dost thou not fear To dwell with one who hath done this? _Adah_. I fear Nothing except to leave thee, much as I Shrink from the deed which leaves thee brotherless. I must not speak of this--it is between thee And the great God. _A Voice from within exclaims_. Cain! Cain! _Adah_. Hear'st thou that voice? _The Voice within_. Cain! Cain! _Adah_. It soundeth like an angel's tone. _Enter the_ ANGEL _of the Lord_.[136] _Angel_. Where is thy brother Abel? _Cain_. Am I then My brother's keeper? _Angel_. Cain! what hast thou done? The voice of thy slain brother's blood cries out, 470 Even from the ground, unto the Lord!--Now art thou Cursed from the earth, which opened late her mouth To drink thy brother's blood from thy rash hand. Henceforth, when thou shalt till the ground, it shall not Yield thee her strength; a fugitive shalt thou Be from this day, and vagabond on earth! _Adah_. This punishment is more than he can bear. Behold thou drivest him from the face of earth, And from the face of God shall he be hid. A fugitive and vagabond on earth, 480 'Twill come to pass, that whoso findeth him Shall slay him. _Cain_. Would they could! but who are they Shall slay me? Where are these on the lone earth As yet unpeopled? _Angel_. Thou hast slain thy brother, And who shall warrant thee against thy son? _Adah_. Angel of Light! be merciful, nor say That this poor aching breast now nourishes A murderer in my boy, and of his father. _Angel_. Then he would but be what his father is. Did not the milk of Eve give nutriment 490 To him thou now seest so besmeared with blood? The fratricide might well engender parricides.-- But it shall not be so--the Lord thy God And mine commandeth me to set his seal On Cain, so that he may go forth in safety. Who slayeth Cain, a sevenfold vengeance shall Be taken on his head. Come hither! _Cain_. What Wouldst thou with me? _Angel_. To mark upon thy brow[cl] Exemption from such deeds as thou hast done. _Cain_. No, let me die! _Angel_. It must not be. [_The_ ANGEL _sets the mark on_ CAIN'S _brow_. _Cain_. It burns 500 My brow, but nought to that which is within it! Is there more? let me meet it as I may. _Angel_. Stern hast thou been and stubborn from the womb, As the ground thou must henceforth till; but he Thou slew'st was gentle as the flocks he tended. _Cain_. After the fall too soon was I begotten; Ere yet my mother's mind subsided from The Serpent, and my sire still mourned for Eden. That which I am, I am; I did not seek For life, nor did I make myself; but could I 510 With my own death redeem him from the dust-- And why not so? let him return to day, And I lie ghastly! so shall be restored By God the life to him he loved; and taken From me a being I ne'er loved to bear. _Angel_. Who shall heal murder? what is done, is done; Go forth! fulfil thy days! and be thy deeds Unlike the last! [_The_ ANGEL _disappears_. _Adah_. He's gone, let us go forth; I hear our little Enoch cry within Our bower. _Cain_. Ah! little knows he what he weeps for! 520 And I who have shed blood cannot shed tears! But the four rivers[137] would not cleanse my soul. Think'st thou my boy will bear to look on me? _Adah_. If I thought that he would not, I would---- _Cain_ (_interrupting her_). No, No more of threats: we have had too many of them: Go to our children--I will follow thee. _Adah_. I will not leave thee lonely with the dead-- Let us depart together. _Cain_. Oh! thou dead And everlasting witness! whose unsinking Blood darkens earth and heaven! what thou _now_ art 530 I know not! but if _thou_ seest what _I_ am, I think thou wilt forgive him, whom his God Can ne'er forgive, nor his own soul.--Farewell! I must not, dare not touch what I have made thee. I, who sprung from the same womb with thee, drained The same breast, clasped thee often to my own, In fondness brotherly and boyish, I Can never meet thee more, nor even dare To do that for thee, which thou shouldst have done For me--compose thy limbs into their grave-- 540 The first grave yet dug for mortality. But who hath dug that grave? Oh, earth! Oh, earth! For all the fruits thou hast rendered to me, I Give thee back this.--Now for the wilderness! [ADAH _stoops down and kisses the body of_ ABEL. _Adah_. A dreary, and an early doom, my brother, Has been thy lot! Of all who mourn for thee, I alone must not weep. My office is Henceforth to dry up tears, and not to shed them; But yet of all who mourn, none mourn like me, Not only for thyself, but him who slew thee. 550 Now, Cain! I will divide thy burden with thee. _Cain_. Eastward from Eden will we take our way; 'Tis the most desolate, and suits my steps. _Adah_. Lead! thou shalt be my guide, and may our God Be thine! Now let us carry forth our children. _Cain_. And _he_ who lieth there was childless! I Have dried the fountain of a gentle race, Which might have graced his recent marriage couch, And might have tempered this stern blood of mine, Uniting with our children Abel's offspring! 560 O Abel! _Adah_. Peace be with him! _Cain_. But with _me!_---- [_Exeunt_. FOOTNOTES: [86] {205}[On the 13th December [1821] Sir Walter received a copy of Cain, as yet unpublished, from Murray, who had been instructed to ask whether he had any objection to having the "Mystery" dedicated to him. He replied in these words-- "Edinburgh, _4th December_, 1821. "My Dear Sir,--I accept, with feelings of great obligation, the flattering proposal of Lord Byron to prefix my name to the very grand and tremendous drama of 'Cain.'[*] I may be partial to it, and you will allow I have cause; but I do not know that his Muse has ever taken so lofty a flight amid her former soarings. He has certainly matched Milton on his own ground. Some part of the language is bold, and may shock one class of readers, whose line will be adopted by others out of affectation or envy. But then they must condemn the 'Paradise Lost,' if they have a mind to be consistent. The fiend-like reasoning and bold blasphemy of the fiend and of his pupil lead exactly to the point which was to be expected,--the commission of the first murder, and the ruin and despair of the perpetrator. "I do not see how any one can accuse the author himself of Manicheism. The Devil talks the language of that sect, doubtless; because, not being able to deny the existence of the Good Principle, he endeavours to exalt himself--the Evil Principle--to a seeming equality with the Good; but such arguments, in the mouth of such a being, can only be used to deceive and to betray. Lord Byron might have made this more evident, by placing in the mouth of Adam, or of some good and protecting spirit, the reasons which render the existence of moral evil consistent with the general benevolence of the Deity. The great key to the mystery is, perhaps, the imperfection of our own faculties, which see and feel strongly the partial evils which press upon us, but know too little of the general system of the universe, to be aware how the existence of these is to be reconciled with the benevolence of the great Creator. "To drop these speculations, you have much occasion for some mighty spirit, like Lord Byron, to come down and trouble the waters; for, excepting 'The John Bull,'[**] you seem stagnating strangely in London. "Yours, my dear Sir, "Very truly, "WALTER SCOTT. "To John Murray, Esq."-_Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott_, by J. G. Lockhart, Esq., 1838, iii. 92, 93. [[*] "However, the praise often given to Byron has been so exaggerated as to provoke, perhaps, a reaction in which he is unduly disparaged. 'As various in composition as Shakespeare himself, Lord Byron has embraced,' says Sir Walter Scott, 'every topic of human life, and sounded every string on the divine harp, from its slightest to its most powerful and heart-astounding tones.... In the very grand and tremendous drama of Cain,' etc.... 'And Lord Byron has done all this,' Scott adds, 'while managing his pen with the careless and negligent ease of a man of quality.'"--_Poetry of Byron, chosen and arranged by Matthew Arnold_, 1881, p. xiii. Scott does not add anything of the kind. The comparison with Shakespeare was written after Byron's death in May, 1824; the appreciation of Cain in December, 1821 (_vide supra_); while the allusion to "a man of quality" is to be found in an article contributed to the _Quarterly Review_ in 1816!] [[**] The first number of _John Bull_, "For God, the King, and the People," was published Sunday, December 17, 1820. Theodore Hook was the editor, and it is supposed that he owed his appointment to the intervention of Sir Walter Scott. The _raison d'etre_ of _John Bull_ was to write up George IV., and to write down Queen Caroline. "The national movement (in favour of the Queen) was arrested; and George IV. had mainly _John Bull_ to thank for that result."--_A Sketch_, [by J. G. Lockhart], 1852, p. 45.]] [87] {207}["Mysteries," or Mystery Plays, were prior to and distinct from "Moralities." Byron seems to have had some acquaintance with the archaeology of the drama, but it is not easy to divine the source or extent of his knowledge. He may have received and read the Roxburghe reprint of the _Chester Plays_, published in 1818; but it is most probable that he had read the pages devoted to mystery plays in _Warton's History of Poetry_, or that he had met with a version of the _Ludus Coventriae_ (reprinted by J. O. Halliwell Phillipps, in 1841), printed in Stevens's continuation of Dugdale's _Monasticon_, 1722, i. 139-153. There is a sixteenth-century edition of _Le Mistere du Viel Testament_, which was reprinted by the Baron James de Rothschild, in 1878 (see for "De la Mort d'Abel et de la Malediction Cayn," pp. 103-113); but it is improbable that it had come under Byron's notice. For a quotation from an Italian Mystery Play, _vide post_, p. 264; and for Spanish "Mystery Plays," see _Teatro Completo de Juan del Encina_, "Proemio," Madrid, 1893, and _History of Spanish Literature_, by George Ticknor, 1888, i. 257. For instances of the profanity of Mystery Plays, see the _Towneley Plays_ ("Mactacio Abel," p. 7), first published by the Surtees Society in 1836, and republished by the Early English Text Society, 1897, E.S. No. lxxi.] [88] {208}[For the contention that "the snake was the snake"--no more (_vide post_, p. 211), see _La Bible enfin Expliquee_, etc.; _[OE]uvres Completes de Voltaire_, Paris, 1837, vi. 338, note. "La conversation de la femme et du serpent n'est point racontee comme une chose surnaturelle et incroyable, comme un miracle, ou conune une allegorie." See, too, Bayle (_Hist. and Crit. Dictionary_, 1735, ii. 851, art. "Eve," note A), who quotes Josephus, Paracelsus, and "some Rabbins," to the effect that it was an actual serpent which tempted Eve; and compare _Critical Remarks on the Hebrew Scriptures_, by the Rev. Alexander Geddes, LL.D., 1800, p. 42.] [89] [Richard Watson (1737-1816), Bishop of Llandaff, 1782, was appointed Moderator of the Schools in 1762, and Regius Professor of Divinity October 31, 1771. According to his own story (_Anecdotes of the Life of Richard Watson_, 1817, p. 39), "I determined to study nothing but my Bible.... I had no prejudice against, no predilection for, the Church of England, but a sincere regard for the _Church of Christ_, and an insuperable objection to every degree of dogmatical intolerance. I never troubled myself with answering any arguments which the opponents in the Divinity Schools brought against the articles of the Church, ... but I used on such occasions to say to them, holding the New Testament in my hand, '_En sacrum codicem_! Here is the foundation of truth! Why do you follow the streams derived from it by the sophistry, or polluted by the passions, of man?'" It may be conceived that Watson's appeal to "Scripture" was against the sentence of orthodoxy. His authority as "a school Divine" is on a par with that of the author of _Cain_, or of an earlier theologian who "quoted Genesis like a very learned clerk"!] [90] [Byron breaks through his self-imposed canon with regard to the New Testament. There are allusions to the doctrine of the Atonement, act i. sc. I, lines 163-166: act iii. sc. I, lines 85-88; to the descent into Hades, act i. sc. I, lines 541, 542; and to the miraculous walking on the Sea of Galilee, act ii. se. i, lines 16-20.] [91] {209}[The words enclosed in brackets are taken from an original draft of the Preface.] [92] [The Manichaeans (the disciples of Mani or Manes, third century A.D.) held that there were two co-eternal Creators--a God of Darkness who made the body, and a God of Light who was responsible for the soul--and that it was the aim and function of the good spirit to rescue the soul, the spiritual part of man, from the possession and grasp of the body, which had been created by and was in the possession of the spirit of evil. St. Augustine passed through a stage of Manicheism, and in after-life exposed and refuted the heretical tenets which he had advocated, and with which he was familiar. See, for instance, his account of the Manichaean heresy "de duplici terra, de regno lucis et regno tenebrarum" (_Opera_, 1700, viii. 484, c; vide ibid., i. 693, 717; x. 893, d. etc.).] [93] [Conan the Jester, a character in the Irish ballads, was "a kind of Thersites, but brave and daring even to rashness. He had made a vow that he would never take a blow without returning it; and having ... descended to the infernal regions, he received a cuff from the arch-fiend, which he instantly returned, using the expression in the text ('blow for blow')." Sometimes the proverb is worded thus: "'Claw for claw, and the devil take the shortest nails,' as Conan said to the devil."--_Waverley Novels_, 1829 (notes to chap. xxii. of _Waverley_), i. 241, note 1; see, too, ibid., p. 229.] [94] [The full title of Warburton's book runs thus: _The Divine Legation of Moses Demonstrated on the Principles of a Religious Deist; from the omission of the Doctrine of a Future State of Reward and Punishment in the Jewish Dispensation_. (See, more particularly (ed. 1741), Vol. II. pt. ii. bk. v. sect. 5, pp. 449-461, and bk. vi. pp. 569-678.) Compare the following passage from _Dieu et les Hommes_ (_[OE]uvres, etc._, de Voltaire, 1837, vi. 236, chap. xx.): "Notre Warburton s'est epuise a ramasser dans son fatras de la Divine legation, toutes les preuves que l'auteur du _Pentateuque_, n'a jamais parle d'une vie a venir, et il n'a pas eu grande peine; mais il en tire une plaisante conclusion, et digne d'un esprit aussi faux que le sien."] [95] {210}[See _Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles_, par M. le B^on^ G. Cuvier, Paris, 1821, i., "Discours Preliminaire," pp. iv., vii; and for the thesis, "Il n'y a point d'os humaines fossiles," see p. lxiv.; see, too, Cuvier's _Discours sur les revolutions de la surface du globe_, ed. 1825, p. 282: "Si l'on peut en juger par les differens ordres d'animaux dont on y trouve les depouilles, ils avaient peut-etre subi jusqu' a deux ou trois irruptions de la mer." It is curious to note that Moore thought that Cuvier's book was "a most desolating one in the conclusions to which it may lead some minds" (_Life_, p. 554).] [96] {211}[Alfieri's _Abele_ was included in his _Opere inediti_, published by the Countess of Albany and the Abbe Calma in 1804. "In a long Preface ... dated April 25, 1796, Alfieri gives a curious account of the reasons which induced him to call it ... 'Tramelogedy.' He says that _Abel_ is neither a tragedy, a comedy, a drama, a tragi-comedy, nor a Greek tragedy, which last would, he thinks, be correctly described as melo-tragedy. Opera-tragedy would, in his opinion, be a fitting name for it; but he prefers interpolating the word 'melo' into the middle of the word 'tragedy,' so as not to spoil the ending, although by so doing he has cut in two ... the root of the word--[Greek: tragos]."--_The Tragedies of Vittorio Alfieri_, edited by E. A. Bowring, C. B., 1876, ii. 472. There is no resemblance whatever between Byron's _Cain_ and Alfieri's _Abele_.] [97] {216}[Compare-- " ... his form had not yet lost All her original brightness, nor appears Less than Arch-angel mind, and the excess Of glory obscure." _Paradise Lost_, i. 591-593. Compare, too-- " ... but his face Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care Sat on his faded cheek." Ibid., i., 600-602.] [98] [According to the Manichaeans, the divinely created and immortal soul is imprisoned in an alien and evil body. There can be no harmony between soul and body.] [99] {218}[Compare-- "Let him unite above Star upon star, moon, Sun; And let his God-head toil To re-adorn and re-illume his Heaven, Since in the end derision Shall prove his works and all his efforts vain." _Adam, a Sacred Drama_, by Giovanni Battista Andreini; Cowper's _Milton_, 1810, iii. 24, sqq.] [100] {219}[Lines 163-166 ("perhaps" ... "sacrifice"), which appear in the MS., were omitted from the text in the first and all subsequent editions. In the edition of 1832, etc. (xiv. 27), they are printed as a variant in a footnote. The present text follows the MS.] [101] [According to the _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, the word "Abel" signifies "shepherd" or "herdman." The Massorites give "breath," or "vanity," as an equivalent.] [by] _A drudging husbandman who offers up_ _The first fruits of the earth to him who made_ _That earth_----.--[MS. M. erased.] [bz] {220} _Have stood before thee as I am; but chosen_ _The serpents charming symbol_.--[MS. M. erased.] [102] {221}[_Vide ante_, "Preface," p. 208.] [103] {223}[Compare-- "If, as thou sayst thine essence be as ours, We have replied in telling thee, the thing Mortals call Death hath nought to do with us." _Manfred_, act i. sc. 1, lines 161-163, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 90.] [104] {224}[Dr. Arnold, speaking of _Cain_, used to say, "There is something to me almost awful in meeting suddenly, in the works of such a man, so great and solemn a truth as is expressed in that speech of Lucifer, 'He who bows not to God hath bowed to me'" (Stanley's _Life of Arnold_, ed. 1887, i. 263, note). It may be awful, but it is not strange. Byron was seldom at a loss for a text, and must have been familiar with the words, "He that is not with Me is against Me." Moreover, he was a man of genius!] [105] {226}["The most common opinion is that a son and daughter were born together; and they go so far as to tell us the very name of the daughters. Cain's twin sister was called Calmana (see, too, _Le Mistere du Viel Testament_, lines 1883-1936, ed. 1878), or Caimana, or Debora, or Azzrum; that of Abel was named Delbora or Awina."--Bayle's _Dictionary_, 1735, ii. 854, art. "Eve," D.] [106] {227}[It is impossible not to be struck with the resemblance between many of these passages and others in _Manfred_, _e.g._ act ii. sc. 1, lines 24-28, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 99, note 1.] [ca] {228} _What can_ he be _who places love in ignorance?_--[MS. M.] [107] {228}["One of the second order of angels of the Dionysian hierarchy, reputed to excel specially in knowledge (as the seraphim in love). See Bacon's _Advancement of Learning_, i. 28: 'The first place is given to the Angels of loue, which are tearmed Seraphim, the second to the Angels of light, which are tearmed Cherubim,'"-_N. Eng. Dict._, art. "Cherub."] [cb] {229} _But it was a lie no doubt_.--[MS. M. erased.] [cc] {230}_What else can be joy?_----.--[MS. M.] [108] {231}[Compare--"She walks in Beauty like the night." _Hebrew Melodies_, i. 1, _Poetical Works_, 1900, iii. 381.] [109] {232}[Lucifer was evidently indebted to the Manichaeans for his theory of the _duplex terra_--an infernal as well as a celestial kingdom.] [110] {233}["According to the prince of the power of the air" (_Eph_. ii. 2).] [cd] _An hour, when walking on a petty lake_.--[MS. M. erased.] [ce] {234} _Yon round blue circle swinging in far ether_ _With an inferior circlet dimmer still_.--[MS. M. erased.] [111] [Compare-- "And, fast by, hanging in a golden chain, This pendent World, in bigness as a star Of smallest magnitude, close by the moon." _Paradise Lost_, ii. 1051-1053. Compare, too-- "The magic car moved on. Earth's distant orb appeared The smallest light that twinkles in the heavens; Whilst round the chariot's way Innumerable systems rolled, And countless spheres diffused An ever-varying glory." Shelley's _Queen Mab, Poetical Works_, 1829, p. 106.] [112] {235}["Several of the ancient Fathers, too much prejudiced in favour of virginity, have pretended that if Man had persevered in innocence he would not have entered into the carnal commerce of matrimony, and that the propagation of mankind would have been effected quite another way." (See St. Augustine, _De Civitate Dei_, xiv. cap. xxi.; Bayle's _Dictionary_, art. "Eve," 1735, ii. 853, note C.)] [113] {236}[Compare-- "Below lay stretched the universe! There, far as the remotest line That bounds imagination's flight, Countless and unending orbs In many motions intermingled, Yet still fulfilled immutably Eternal Nature's laws." Shelley's _Queen Mab_, ii. _ibid._, p. 107.] [cf] {239} _And with serpents too?_--[MS. M.] [cg] {240} _Rather than things to be inhabited_.--[MS. M.] [114] {241}["I have ... supposed Cain to be shown in the _rational_ pre-Adamites, beings endowed with a higher intelligence than man, but totally unlike him in form, and with much greater strength of mind and person. You may suppose the small talk which takes place between him and Lucifer upon these matters is not quite canonical."--Letter to Moore, September 19, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 368.] [115] {243}[Compare the "jingle between king and kine," in _Sardanapalus_, act v. sc. I, lines 483, 484. It is hard to say whether Byron inserted and then omitted to erase these blemishes from negligence and indifference, or whether he regarded them as permissible or even felicitous.] [116] ["_Let_ He." There is no doubt that Byron wrote, or that he should have written, "Let Him."] [ch] {246} _And being of all things the sole thing sure_.--[MS. M.] [ci] _Which seems like water and which I should deem_.--[MS. M.] [117] {247}[Lucifer's candour and disinterested advice are "after" and in the manner of Mephistopheles.] [118] {250}["If you say that God permitted sin to manifest His wisdom, which shines the more brightly by the disorders which the wickedness of men produces every day, than it would have done in a state of innocence, it may be answered that this is to compare the Deity to a father who should suffer his children to break their legs on purpose to show to all the city his great art in setting their broken bones; or to a king who should suffer seditions and factions to increase through all his kingdom, that he might purchase the glory of quelling them.... This is that doctrine of a Father of the Church who said, 'Felix culpa quae talem Redemptorem meruit!'"--Bayle's _Dictionary_, 1737, art. "Paulicians," note B, 25, iv. 515.] [119] {251}[Lucifer does not infect Cain with his cynical theories as to the origin and endurance of love. For the antidote, compare Wordsworth's sonnet "To a Painter" (No. II), written in 1841-- "Morn into noon did pass, noon into eve, And the old day was welcome as the young, As welcome, and as beautiful--in sooth More beautiful, as being a thing more holy," etc. _Works_, 1889, p. 772.] [cj] {252} _Which my sire shrinks from--Death_----.--[MS. erased.] [120] {254}[In Byron's Diary for January 28, 1821, we find the following entry-- "_Thought for a speech of Lucifer, in the Tragedy of Cain_. "Were _Death_ an _evil_, would _I_ let thee _live_? Fool! live as I live--as thy father lives. And thy sons' sons shall live for evermore!" _Letters_, 1901, v. 191.] [121] [Matthew Arnold (_Poetry of Byron_, 1881, p. xxii.) quotes these lines as an instance of Byron's unknowingness and want of humour. It cannot be denied that he leaves imbedded in his fabric lumps of unshapen material, which mar the symmetry of his art. Lucifer's harangue involves a reference to "hard words ending in _ism_." The _spirit_ of error, not the Manichaean heresy, should have proceeded out of his lips.] [122] ["Cain is a proud man: if Lucifer promised him kingdoms, etc., it would _elate_ him: the object of the Demon is to _depress_ him still further in his own estimation than he was before, by showing him infinite things and his own abasement, till he falls into the frame of mind that leads to the catastrophe, from mere _internal_ irritation, _not_ premeditation, or envy of Abel (which would have made him contemptible), but from the rage and fury against the inadequacy of his state to his conceptions, and which discharges itself rather against Life, and the author of Life, than the mere living."--Letter to Moore, November 3, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 470. Here, no doubt, Byron is speaking _in propria persona_. It was this sense of limitation, of human nothingness, which provoked an "internal irritation ... a rage and fury against the inadequacy of his state to his conceptions." His "spirit beats its mortal bars," not, like Galahad, to be possessed by, but to possess the Heavenly Vision.] [123] {255}[Compare-- "What though the field be lost, All is not lost; th' unconquerable will And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield." _Paradise Lost_, i. 105-108.] [124] {257}[An obsolete form of _carnation_, the colour of "flesh."] [125] [Compare-- "Her dewy eyes are closed, And on their lids, whose texture fine Scarce hides the dark-blue orbs beneath, The baby Sleep is pillowed." Shelley's _Queen Mab_, i., _ibid._, p. 104.] [126] {258}["Time is our consciousness of the succession of ideas in our mind.... One man is stretched on the rack during twelve hours, another sleeps soundly in his bed. The difference of time perceived by these two persons is immense: one hardly will believe that half an hour has elapsed, the other could credit that centuries had flown during his agony."--Shelley's note to the lines-- " ... the thoughts that rise In time-destroying infiniteness." _Queen Mab_, viii., _ibid._, p. 136.] [127] {259}[_Vide ante_, p. 208.] [128] {260}[It is Adah, Cain's wife, who suggests the disastrous compromise, not a "burnt-offering," but the "fruits of the earth," which would cost the giver little or nothing--an instance in point of Lucifer's cynical reminder (_vide ante_, act ii. sc. 2, line 210, p. 247) "that there are some things still which woman may tempt man to."] [129] {262}["From the beginning" the woman is ineligible for the priesthood--"He for God only, she for God in him" (_Paradise Lost_, iv. 299). "Let the women keep silence in the churches" (_Corinthians_, i. xiv. 34).] [130] {264}[Compare the following passage from _La Rapresentatione di Abel et di Caino_ (in Firenze l'anno MDLIV.)-- "Abel parla a dio fatto il sacrifitio, Rendendogli laude. Signor per cui di tanti bene abondo Liquali tu sommamente mi concedi Tanto mi piace, et tanto me' giocondo Quanto delle mie greggie che tu vedi El piu grasso el migliore el piu mondo Ti do con lieto core come tu vedi Tu vedi la intentione con lequal vegno," etc.] [ck] {265} _Which must be won with prayers--if he be evil_.--[MS. M.] [131] {266}[See Gessner's _Death of Abel_.] [132] {268}[Compare-- "How wonderful is Death-- Death and his brother Sleep!" _Queen Mab_, i. lines 1, 2.] [133] {271}[Compare-- "And Water shall hear me, And know thee and fly thee; And the Winds shall not touch thee When they pass by thee.... And thou shalt seek Death To release thee in vain." _The Curse of Kehama_, by R. Southey, Canto II.] [134] [The last three lines of this terrible denunciation were not in the original MS. In forwarding them to Murray (September 12, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 361), to be added to Eve's speech, Byron says, "There's as pretty a piece of Imprecation for you, when joined to the lines already sent, as you may wish to meet with in the course of your business. But don't forget the addition of these three lines, which are clinchers to Eve's speech."] [135] [If Byron had read his plays aloud, or been at pains to revise the proofs, he would hardly have allowed "corse" to remain in such close proximity to "curse."] [136] {272}["I have avoided introducing the Deity, as in Scripture (though Milton does, and not very wisely either); but have adopted his angel as sent to Cain instead, on purpose to avoid shocking any feelings on the subject, by falling short of what all uninspired men must fall short in, viz. giving an adequate notion of the effect of the presence of Jehovah. The Old Mysteries introduced him liberally enough, and this is avoided in the New."--Letter to Murray, February 8, 1822, _Letters_, 1901, vi. 13. Byron does not seem to have known that in the older portions of the Bible "Angel of the Lord" is only a name for the Second Person of the Trinity.] [cl] {273} _On thy brow_----.--[MS.] [137] {274}[The "four rivers" which flowed round Eden, and consequently the only waters with which Cain was acquainted upon earth.] HEAVEN AND EARTH; A MYSTERY. FOUNDED ON THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE IN GENESIS, CHAP. VI. 1, 2. "And it came to pass ... that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." "And woman wailing for her demon lover." Coleridge [_Kubla Khan_, line 16] INTRODUCTION TO _HEAVEN AND EARTH_. _Heaven and Earth_ was begun at Ravenna October 9, 1821. "It occupied about fourteen days" (Medwin's _Conversations_, 1824, p. 231), and was forwarded to Murray, November 9, 1821. "You will find _it_," wrote Byron (_Letters_, 1901, v. 474), "_pious_ enough, I trust--at least some of the Chorus might have been written by Sternhold and Hopkins themselves for that, and perhaps for the melody." It was on "a scriptural subject"--"less speculative than _Cain_, and very pious" (_Letters_, 1901, v. 475; vi. 31). It was to be published, he insists, at the same time, and, if possible, in the same volume with the "others" (_Sardanapalus_, etc.), and would serve, so he seems to have _reflected_ ("The moment he reflects, he is a child," said Goethe), as an antidote to the audacities, or, as some would have it, the impieties of _Cain_! He reckoned without his publisher, who understood the temper of the public and of the Government, and was naturally loth to awaken any more "reasonable doubts" in the mind of the Chancellor with regard to whether a "scriptural drama" was irreverent or profane. The new "Mystery" was revised by Gifford and printed, but withheld from month to month, till, at length, "the fire kindled," and, on the last day of October, 1821, Byron instructed John Hunt to "obtain from Mr. Murray _Werner: a Drama_, and another dramatic poem called _Heaven and Earth_." It was published in the second number of _The Liberal_ (pp. 165-206), January 1, 1823. The same subject, the unequal union of angelic lovers with the daughters of men, had taken Moore's fancy a year before Byron had begun to "dramatize the Old Testament." He had designed a long poem, but having discovered that Byron was at work on the same theme, he resolved to restrict himself to the production of an "episode," to "give himself the chance of ... an _heliacal rising_," before he was outshone by the advent of a greater luminary. Thanks to Murray's scruples, and the "translation" of MSS. to Hunt, the "episode" took the lead of the "Mystery" by eight days. The _Loves of the Angels_ (see _Memoirs_, etc., 1853, iv. 28) was published December 23, 1822. None the less, lyric and drama were destined to run in double harness. Critics found it convenient to review the two poems in the same article, and were at pains to draw a series of more or less pointed and pungent comparisons between the unwilling though not unwitting rivals. Wilson, in _Blackwood_, writes, "The first [the _Loves, etc._] is all glitter and point like a piece of Derbyshire spar, and the other is dark and massy like a block of marble.... Moore writes with a crow-quill, ... Byron writes with an eagle's plume;" while Jeffrey, in the _Edinburgh_, likens Moore to "an _aurora borealis_" and Byron to "an eruption of Mount Vesuvius"! There is, indeed, apart from the subject, nothing in common between Moore's tender and alluring lyric and Byron's gloomy and tumultuous rhapsody, while contrast is to be sought rather in the poets than in their poems. The _Loves of the Angels_ is the finished composition of an accomplished designer of Amoretti, one of the best of his kind, _Heaven and Earth_ is the rough and unpromising sketch thrown off by a great master. Both the one and the other have passed out of the ken of readers of poetry, but, on the whole, the _Loves of the Angels_ has suffered the greater injustice. It is opined that there may be possibilities in a half-forgotten work of Byron, but it is taken for granted that nothing worthy of attention is to be found in Moore. At the time, however, Moore scored a success, and Byron hardly escaped a failure. It is to be noted that within a month of publication (January 18, 1823) Moore was at work upon a revise for a fifth edition--consulting D'Herbelot "for the project of turning the poor 'Angels' into Turks," and so "getting rid of that connection with the Scriptures," which, so the Longmans feared, would "in the long run be a drag on the popularity of the poem" (_Memoirs, etc._, 1853, iv. 41). It was no wonder that Murray was "timorous" with regard to Byron and his "scriptural dramas," when the Longmans started at the shadow of a scriptural allusion. Byron, in his innocence, had taken for his motto the verse in _Genesis_ (ch. vi. 2), which records the intermarriage of the "sons of God" with the "daughters of men." In _Heaven and Earth_ the angels _are_ angels, members, though erring members, of Jehovah's "thundering choir," and the daughters of men are the descendants of Cain. The question had come up for debate owing to the recent appearance of a translation of the _Book of Enoch_ (by Richard Laurence, LL.D., Oxford, 1821); and Moore, by way of safeguarding himself against any suspicion of theological irregularity, is careful to assure his readers ("Preface" to _Loves of the Angels_, 1823, p. viii. and note, pp. 125-127) that the "sons of God" were the descendants of Seth, and not beings of a supernatural order, as a mis-translation by the LXX., assisted by Philo and the "rhapsodical fictions of the _Book of Enoch_" had induced the ignorant or the profane to suppose. Nothing is so dangerous as innocence, and a little more of that _empeiria_ of which Goethe accused him, would have saved Byron from straying from the path of orthodoxy. It is impossible to say for certain whether Laurence's translation of the whole of the _Book of Enoch_ had come under Byron's notice before he planned his new "Mystery," but it is plain that he was, at any rate, familiar with the well-known fragment, "Concerning the 'Watchers'" [[Greek: Peri\ ton E)grego/ron]], which is preserved in the _Chronographia_ of Georgius Syncellus, and was first printed by J. J. Scaliger in _Thes. temp. Euseb._ in 1606. In the prophecy of the Deluge to which he alludes (_vide post_, p. 302, note 1), the names of the delinquent seraphs (Semjaza and Azazel), and of the archangelic monitor Raphael, are to be found in the fragment. The germ of _Heaven and Earth_ is not in the _Book of Genesis_, but in the _Book of Enoch_. Medwin, who prints (_Conversations_, 1824, pp. 234-238) what purports to be the prose sketch of a Second Part of _Heaven and Earth_ (he says that Byron compared it to Coleridge's promised conclusion of _Christabel_--"that, and nothing more!"), detects two other strains in the composition of the "Mystery," an echo of Goethe's Faust and a "movement" which recalls the _Eumenides_ of AEschylus. Byron told Murray that his fourth tragedy was "more lyrical and Greek" than he at first intended, and there is no doubt that with the _Prometheus Vinctus_ he was familiar, if not at first hand, at least through the medium of Shelley's rendering. But apart from the "Greek choruses," which "Shelley made such a fuss about," Byron was acquainted with, and was not untouched by, the metrical peculiarities of the _Curse of Kehama_, and might have traced a kinship between his "angels" and Southey's "Glendoveers," to say nothing of _their_ collaterals, the "glumms" and "gawreys" of _Peter Wilkins_ (see notes to Southey's _Curse of Kehama_, Canto VI., _Poetical Works_, 1838, viii. 231-233). Goethe was interested in _Heaven and Earth_. "He preferred it," says Crabb Robinson (_Diary_, 1869, ii. 434), "to all the other serious poems of Byron.... 'A bishop,' he exclaimed, though it sounded almost like satire, 'might have written it.' Goethe must have been thinking of a _German_ bishop!" (For his daughter-in-law's translation of the speeches of Anah and Aholibamah with their seraph-lovers, see _Goethe-Jahrbuch_, 1899, pp. 18-21 [Letters, 1901, v. Appendix II. p. 518].) _Heaven and Earth_ was reviewed by Jeffrey in the _Edinburgh Review_, February, 1823, vol. 38, pp. 42-48; by Wilson in _Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_, January, 1823, vol. xiii. pp. 71, 72; and in the _New Monthly Magazine_, N.S., 1823, vol. 7, pp. 353-358. DRAMATIS PERSONAE. ANGELS. SAMIASA. AZAZIEL. RAPHAEL, THE ARCHANGEL. MEN. NOAH AND HIS SONS. IRAD. JAPHET. WOMEN. ANAH. AHOLIBAMAH. _Chorus of Spirits of the Earth.--Chorus of Mortals_. HEAVEN AND EARTH. PART I. SCENE I.--_A woody and mountainous district near Mount Ararat.--Time, midnight_. _Enter_ ANAH _and_ AHOLIBAMAH.[138] _Anah_. OUR father sleeps: it is the hour when they Who love us are accustomed to descend Through the deep clouds o'er rocky Ararat:-- How my heart beats! _Aho._ Let us proceed upon Our invocation. _Anah_. But the stars are hidden. I tremble. _Aho._ So do I, but not with fear Of aught save their delay. _Anah_. My sister, though I love Azaziel more than----oh, too much! What was I going to say? my heart grows impious. _Aho._ And where is the impiety of loving 10 Celestial natures? _Anah_. But, Aholibamah, I love our God less since his angel loved me: This cannot be of good; and though I know not That I do wrong, I feel a thousand fears Which are not ominous of right. _Aho._ Then wed thee Unto some son of clay, and toil and spin! There's Japhet loves thee well, hath loved thee long: Marry, and bring forth dust! _Anah_. I should have loved Azaziel not less were he mortal; yet I am glad he is not. I cannot outlive him. 20 And when I think that his immortal wings Will one day hover o'er the sepulchre Of the poor child of clay[139] which so adored him, As he adores the Highest, death becomes Less terrible; but yet I pity him: His grief will be of ages, or at least Mine would be such for him, were I the Seraph, And he the perishable. _Aho._ Rather say, That he will single forth some other daughter Of earth, and love her as he once loved Anah. 30 _Anah_. And if it should be so, and she loved him, Better thus than that he should weep for me. _Aho._ If I thought thus of Samiasa's love, All Seraph as he is, I'd spurn him from me. But to our invocation!--'Tis the hour. _Anah_. Seraph! From thy sphere! Whatever star contain thy glory; In the eternal depths of heaven Albeit thou watchest with "the seven,"[140] 40 Though through space infinite and hoary Before thy bright wings worlds be driven, Yet hear! Oh! think of her who holds thee dear! And though she nothing is to thee, Yet think that thou art all to her. Thou canst not tell,--and never be Such pangs decreed to aught save me,-- The bitterness of tears. Eternity is in thine years, 50 Unborn, undying beauty in thine eyes; With me thou canst not sympathise, Except in love, and there thou must Acknowledge that more loving dust Ne'er wept beneath the skies. Thou walk'st thy many worlds, thou see'st The face of him who made thee great, As he hath made me of the least Of those cast out from Eden's gate: Yet, Seraph dear! 60 Oh hear! For thou hast loved me, and I would not die Until I know what I must die in knowing, That thou forget'st in thine eternity Her whose heart Death could not keep from o'er-flowing For thee, immortal essence as thou art! Great is their love who love in sin and fear; And such, I feel, are waging in my heart A war unworthy: to an Adamite Forgive, my Seraph! that such thoughts appear, 70 For sorrow is our element; Delight An Eden kept afar from sight, Though sometimes with our visions blent. The hour is near Which tells me we are not abandoned quite.-- Appear! Appear! Seraph! My own Azaziel! be but here, And leave the stars to their own light! 80 _Aho._ Samiasa! Wheresoe'er Thou rulest in the upper air-- Or warring with the spirits who may dare Dispute with him Who made all empires, empire; or recalling Some wandering star, which shoots through the abyss, Whose tenants dying, while their world is falling, Share the dim destiny of clay in this; Or joining with the inferior cherubim, 90 Thou deignest to partake their hymn-- Samiasa! I call thee, I await thee, and I love thee. Many may worship thee, that will I not: If that thy spirit down to mine may move thee, Descend and share my lot! Though I be formed of clay, And thou of beams More bright than those of day On Eden's streams, 100 Thine immortality can not repay With love more warm than mine My love. There is a ray In me, which, though forbidden yet to shine, I feel was lighted at thy God's and thine. It may be hidden long: death and decay Our mother Eve bequeathed us--but my heart Defies it: though this life must pass away, Is _that_ a cause for thee and me to part? Thou art immortal--so am I: I feel-- 110 I feel my immortality o'ersweep All pains, all tears, all fears, and peal, Like the eternal thunders of the deep, Into my ears this truth--"Thou liv'st for ever!" But if it be in joy I know not, nor would know; That secret rests with the Almighty giver, Who folds in clouds the fonts of bliss and woe. But thee and me he never can destroy; Change us he may, but not o'erwhelm; we are 120 Of as eternal essence, and must war With him if he will war with us; with _thee_ I can share all things, even immortal sorrow; For thou hast ventured to share life with _me_, And shall _I_ shrink from thine eternity? No! though the serpent's sting should pierce me thorough, And thou thyself wert like the serpent, coil Around me still! and I will smile, And curse thee not; but hold Thee in as warm a fold 130 As----but descend, and prove A mortal's love For an immortal. If the skies contain More joy than thou canst give and take, remain! _Anah_. Sister! sister! I view them winging Their bright way through the parted night. _Aho._ The clouds from off their pinions flinging, As though they bore to-morrow's light. _Anah_. But if our father see the sight! _Aho._ He would but deem it was the moon 140 Rising unto some sorcerer's tune An hour too soon.[141] _Anah_. They come! _he_ comes!--Azaziel! _Aho._ Haste To meet them! Oh! for wings to bear My spirit, while they hover there, To Samiasa's breast! _Anah_. Lo! they have kindled all the west, Like a returning sunset;--lo! On Ararat's late secret crest A mild and many-coloured bow, 150 The remnant of their flashing path, Now shines! and now, behold! it hath Returned to night, as rippling foam, Which the Leviathan hath lashed From his unfathomable home, When sporting on the face of the calm deep, Subsides soon after he again hath dashed Down, down, to where the Ocean's fountains sleep. _Aho._ They have touched earth! Samiasa! _Anah_. My Azaziel! [_Exeunt_. SCENE II.--_Enter_ IRAD _and_ JAPHET. _Irad_. Despond not: wherefore wilt thou wander thus To add thy silence to the silent night, And lift thy tearful eye unto the stars? They cannot aid thee. _Japh._ But they soothe me--now Perhaps she looks upon them as I look. Methinks a being that is beautiful Becometh more so as it looks on beauty, The eternal beauty of undying things. Oh, Anah! _Irad_. But she loves thee not. _Japh._ Alas! _Irad_. And proud Aholibamah spurns me also. 10 _Japh._ I feel for thee too. _Irad_. Let her keep her pride, Mine hath enabled me to bear her scorn: It may be, time too will avenge it. _Japh._ Canst thou Find joy in such a thought? _Irad_. Nor joy nor sorrow. I loved her well; I would have loved her better, Had love been met with love: as 'tis, I leave her To brighter destinies, if so she deems them. _Japh._ What destinies? _Irad_. I have some cause to think She loves another. _Japh._ Anah! _Irad_. No; her sister. _Japh._ What other? _Irad_. That I know not; but her air, 20 If not her words, tells me she loves another. _Japh._ Aye, but not Anah: she but loves her God. _Irad_. Whate'er she loveth, so she loves thee not, What can it profit thee? _Japh._ True, nothing; but I love. _Irad_. And so did I. _Japh._ And now thou lov'st not, Or think'st thou lov'st not, art thou happier? _Irad_. Yes. _Japh._ I pity thee. _Irad_. Me! why? _Japh._ For being happy, Deprived of that which makes my misery. _Irad_. I take thy taunt as part of thy distemper, And would not feel as thou dost for more shekels 30 Than all our father's herds would bring, if weighed Against the metal of the sons of Cain--[142] The yellow dust they try to barter with us, As if such useless and discoloured trash, The refuse of the earth, could be received For milk, and wool, and flesh, and fruits, and all Our flocks and wilderness afford.--Go, Japhet, Sigh to the stars, as wolves howl to the moon-- I must back to my rest. _Japh._ And so would I If I could rest. _Irad_. Thou wilt not to our tents then? 40 _Japh._ No, Irad; I will to the cavern,[143] whose Mouth they say opens from the internal world, To let the inner spirits of the earth Forth when they walk its surface. _Irad_. Wherefore so? What wouldst thou there? _Japh._ Soothe further my sad spirit With gloom as sad: it is a hopeless spot, And I am hopeless. _Irad_. But 'tis dangerous; Strange sounds and sights have peopled it with terrors. I must go with thee. _Japh._ Irad, no; believe me I feel no evil thought, and fear no evil. 50 _Irad_. But evil things will be thy foe the more As not being of them: turn thy steps aside, Or let mine be with thine. _Japh._ No, neither, Irad; I must proceed alone. _Irad_. Then peace be with thee! [_Exit_ IRAD. _Japh._ (_solus_). Peace! I have sought it where it should be found, In love--with love, too, which perhaps deserved it; And, in its stead, a heaviness of heart, A weakness of the spirit, listless days, And nights inexorable to sweet sleep Have come upon me. Peace! what peace? the calm 60 Of desolation, and the stillness of The untrodden forest, only broken by The sweeping tempest through its groaning boughs; Such is the sullen or the fitful state Of my mind overworn. The Earth's grown wicked, And many signs and portents have proclaimed A change at hand, and an o'erwhelming doom To perishable beings. Oh, my Anah! When the dread hour denounced shall open wide The fountains of the deep, how mightest thou 70 Have lain within this bosom, folded from The elements; this bosom, which in vain Hath beat for thee, and then will beat more vainly, While thine--Oh, God! at least remit to her Thy wrath! for she is pure amidst the failing As a star in the clouds, which cannot quench, Although they obscure it for an hour. My Anah! How would I have adored thee, but thou wouldst not; And still would I redeem thee--see thee live When Ocean is earth's grave, and, unopposed 80 By rock or shallow, the Leviathan, Lord of the shoreless sea and watery world, Shall wonder at his boundlessness of realm. [_Exit_ JAPHET. _Enter_ NOAH _and_ SHEM. _Noah_. Where is thy brother Japhet? _Shem_. He went forth, According to his wont, to meet with Irad, He said; but, as I fear, to bend his steps Towards Anah's tents, round which he hovers nightly, Like a dove round and round its pillaged nest; Or else he walks the wild up to the cavern Which opens to the heart of Ararat. 90 _Noah_. What doth he there? It is an evil spot Upon an earth all evil; for things worse Than even wicked men resort there: he Still loves this daughter of a fated race, Although he could not wed her if she loved him, And that she doth not. Oh, the unhappy hearts Of men! that one of my blood, knowing well The destiny and evil of these days, And that the hour approacheth, should indulge In such forbidden yearnings! Lead the way; 100 He must be sought for! _Shem_. Go not forward, father: I will seek Japhet. _Noah_. Do not fear for me: All evil things are powerless on the man Selected by Jehovah.--Let us on. _Shem_. To the tents of the father of the sisters? _Noah_. No; to the cavern of the Caucasus. [_Exeunt_ NOAH _and_ SHEM. SCENE III.--_The mountains.--A cavern,[144] and the rocks of Caucasus_. _Japh._ (_solus_). Ye wilds, that look eternal; and thou cave, Which seem'st unfathomable; and ye mountains, So varied and so terrible in beauty; Here, in your rugged majesty of rocks And toppling trees that twine their roots with stone[145] In perpendicular places, where the foot Of man would tremble, could he reach them--yes, Ye look eternal! Yet, in a few days, Perhaps even hours, ye will be changed, rent, hurled Before the mass of waters; and yon cave, 10 Which seems to lead into a lower world, Shall have its depths searched by the sweeping wave, And dolphins gambol in the lion's den! And man----Oh, men! my fellow-beings! Who Shall weep above your universal grave, Save I? Who shall be left to weep? My kinsmen, Alas! what am I better than ye are, That I must live beyond ye? Where shall be The pleasant places where I thought of Anah While I had hope? or the more savage haunts, 20 Scarce less beloved, where I despaired for her? And can it be!--Shall yon exulting peak, Whose glittering top is like a distant star, Lie low beneath the boiling of the deep? No more to have the morning sun break forth, And scatter back the mists in floating folds From its tremendous brow? no more to have Day's broad orb drop behind its head at even, Leaving it with a crown of many hues? No more to be the beacon of the world, 30 For angels to alight on, as the spot Nearest the stars? And can those words "_no more_" Be meant for thee, for all things, save for us, And the predestined creeping things reserved By my sire to Jehovah's bidding? May _He_ preserve _them_, and I _not_ have the power To snatch the loveliest of earth's daughters from A doom which even some serpent, with his mate, Shall 'scape to save his kind to be prolonged, To hiss and sting through some emerging world, 40 Reeking and dank from out the slime, whose ooze Shall slumber o'er the wreck of this, until The salt morass subside into a sphere Beneath the sun, and be the monument, The sole and undistinguished sepulchre, Of yet quick myriads of all life? How much Breath will be stilled at once! All beauteous world! So young, so marked out for destruction, I With a cleft heart look on thee day by day, And night by night, thy numbered days and nights. 50 I cannot save thee, cannot save even her Whose love had made me love thee more; but as A portion of thy dust, I cannot think Upon thy coming doom without a feeling Such as--Oh God! and canst thou-- [_He pauses_. [_A rushing sound from the cavern is heard, and shouts of laughter--afterwards a Spirit passes_. _Japh._ In the name Of the Most High, what art thou? _Spirit_ (_laughs_). Ha! ha! ha![146] _Japh._ By all that earth holds holiest, speak! _Spirit_ (_laughs_). Ha! ha! _Japh._ By the approaching deluge! by the earth Which will be strangled by the ocean! by The deep which will lay open all her fountains! 60 The heaven which will convert her clouds to seas, And the Omnipotent who makes and crushes! Thou unknown, terrible, and indistinct, Yet awful Thing of Shadows, speak to me! Why dost thou laugh that horrid laugh? _Spirit_. Why weep'st thou? _Japh._ For earth and all her children. _Spirit_. Ha! ha! ha! [_Spirit vanishes_. _Japh._ How the fiend mocks the tortures of a world, The coming desolation of an orb, On which the sun shall rise and warm no life! How the earth sleeps! and all that in it is 70 Sleep too upon the very eve of death! Why should they wake to meet it? What are here, Which look like death in life, and speak like things Born ere this dying world? They come like clouds! [_Various Spirits pass from the cavern_. _Spirit_. Rejoice! The abhorred race Which could not keep in Eden their high place, But listened to the voice Of knowledge without power, Are nigh the hour, 80 Of Death! Not slow, not single, not by sword, nor sorrow, Nor years, nor heart-break, nor Time's sapping motion, Shall they drop off. Behold their last to-morrow! Earth shall be Ocean! And no breath, Save of the winds, be on the unbounded wave! Angels shall tire their wings, but find no spot: Not even a rock from out the liquid grave Shall lift its point to save, 90 Or show the place where strong Despair hath died, After long looking o'er the ocean wide For the expected ebb which cometh not: All shall be void, Destroyed![147] Another element shall be the lord Of life, and the abhorred Children of dust be quenched; and of each hue Of earth nought left but the unbroken blue; And of the variegated mountain 100 Shall nought remain Unchanged, or of the level plain; Cedar and pine shall lift their tops in vain: All merged within the universal fountain, Man, earth, and fire, shall die, And sea and sky Look vast and lifeless in the eternal eye. Upon the foam Who shall erect a home? _Japh._ (_coming forward_). My sire! 110 Earth's seed shall not expire; Only the evil shall be put away From day. Avaunt! ye exulting demons of the waste! Who howl your hideous joy When God destroys whom you dare not destroy: Hence! haste! Back to your inner caves! Until the waves Shall search you in your secret place, 120 And drive your sullen race Forth, to be rolled upon the tossing winds, In restless wretchedness along all space! _Spirit_. Son of the saved! When thou and thine have braved The wide and warring element; When the great barrier of the deep is rent, Shall thou and thine be good or happy?--No! Thy new world and new race shall be of woe-- Less goodly in their aspect, in their years 130 Less than the glorious giants, who Yet walk the world in pride, The Sons of Heaven by many a mortal bride. Thine shall be nothing of the past, save tears! And art thou not ashamed Thus to survive, And eat, and drink, and wive? With a base heart so far subdued and tamed, As even to hear this wide destruction named, Without such grief and courage, as should rather 140 Bid thee await the world-dissolving wave, Than seek a shelter with thy favoured father, And build thy city o'er the drowned earth's grave? Who would outlive their kind, Except the base and blind? Mine Hateth thine As of a different order in the sphere, But not our own. There is not one who hath not left a throne 150 Vacant in heaven to dwell in darkness here, Rather than see his mates endure alone. Go, wretch! and give A life like thine to other wretches--live! And when the annihilating waters roar Above what they have done, Envy the giant patriarchs then no more, And scorn thy sire as the surviving one! Thyself for being his son! _Chorus of Spirits issuing from the cavern_. Rejoice! 160 No more the human voice Shall vex our joys in middle air With prayer; No more Shall they adore; And we, who ne'er for ages have adored The prayer-exacting Lord, To whom the omission of a sacrifice Is vice; We, we shall view the deep's salt sources poured 170 Until one element shall do the work Of all in chaos; until they, The creatures proud of their poor clay, Shall perish, and their bleached bones shall lurk In caves, in dens, in clefts of mountains, where The deep shall follow to their latest lair; Where even the brutes, in their despair, Shall cease to prey on man and on each other, And the striped tiger shall lie down to die Beside the lamb, as though he were his brother; 180 Till all things shall be as they were, Silent and uncreated, save the sky: While a brief truce Is made with Death, who shall forbear The little remnant of the past creation, To generate new nations for his use; This remnant, floating o'er the undulation Of the subsiding deluge, from its slime, When the hot sun hath baked the reeking soil Into a world, shall give again to Time 190 New beings--years, diseases, sorrow, crime-- With all companionship of hate and toil, Until---- _Japh._ (_Interrupting them_). The eternal Will Shall deign to expound this dream Of good and evil; and redeem Unto himself all times, all things; And, gathered under his almighty wings, Abolish Hell! And to the expiated Earth Restore the beauty of her birth, 200 Her Eden in an endless paradise, Where man no more can fall as once he fell, And even the very demons shall do well! _Spirits_. And when shall take effect this wondrous spell? _Japh._ When the Redeemer cometh; first in pain, And then in glory. _Spirit_. Meantime still struggle in the mortal chain, Till Earth wax hoary; War with yourselves, and Hell, and Heaven, in vain, Until the clouds look gory 210 With the blood reeking from each battle-plain; New times, new climes, new arts, new men; but still, The same old tears, old crimes, and oldest ill, Shall be amongst your race in different forms; But the same moral storms Shall oversweep the future, as the waves In a few hours the glorious giants' graves[148]. _Chorus of Spirits_. Brethren, rejoice! Mortal, farewell! Hark! hark! already we can hear the voice 220 Of growing Ocean's gloomy swell; The winds, too, plume their piercing wings; The clouds have nearly filled their springs; The fountains of the great deep shall be broken, And heaven set wide her windows[149]; while mankind View, unacknowledged, each tremendous token-- Still, as they were from the beginning, blind. We hear the sound they cannot hear, The mustering thunders of the threatening sphere; Yet a few hours their coming is delayed; 230 Their flashing banners, folded still on high, Yet undisplayed, Save to the Spirit's all-pervading eye. Howl! howl! oh Earth! Thy death is nearer than thy recent birth; Tremble, ye mountains, soon to shrink below The Ocean's overflow! The wave shall break upon your cliffs; and shells, The little shells, of ocean's least things be Deposed where now the eagle's offspring dwells[150]-- 240 How shall he shriek o'er the remorseless sea! And call his nestlings up with fruitless yell, Unanswered, save by the encroaching swell;-- While man shall long in vain for his broad wings, The wings which could not save:-- Where could he rest them, while the whole space brings Nought to his eye beyond the deep, his grave? Brethren, rejoice! And loudly lift each superhuman voice-- All die, 250 Save the slight remnant of Seth's seed-- The seed of Seth, Exempt for future sorrow's sake from death. But of the sons of Cain None shall remain; And all his goodly daughters Must lie beneath the desolating waters; Or, floating upward, with their long hair laid Along the wave, the cruel heaven upbraid, Which would not spare 260 Beings even in death so fair. It is decreed, All die! And to the universal human cry The universal silence shall succeed! Fly, brethren, fly! But still rejoice! We fell! They fall! So perish all 270 These petty foes of Heaven who shrink from Hell! [_The Spirits disappear, soaring upwards_. _Japh._ (_solus_). God hath proclaimed the destiny of earth; My father's ark of safety hath announced it; The very demons shriek it from their caves; The scroll[151] of Enoch prophesied it long In silent books, which, in their silence, say More to the mind than thunder to the ear: And yet men listened not, nor listen; but Walk darkling to their doom: which, though so nigh, Shakes them no more in their dim disbelief, 280 Than their last cries shall shake the Almighty purpose, Or deaf obedient Ocean, which fulfils it. No sign yet hangs its banner in the air; The clouds are few, and of their wonted texture; The Sun will rise upon the Earth's last day As on the fourth day of creation, when God said unto him, "Shine!" and he broke forth Into the dawn, which lighted not the yet Unformed forefather of mankind--but roused Before the human orison the earlier 290 Made and far sweeter voices of the birds, Which in the open firmament of heaven Have wings like angels, and like them salute Heaven first each day before the Adamites: Their matins now draw nigh--the east is kindling-- And they will sing! and day will break! Both near, So near the awful close! For these must drop Their outworn pinions on the deep; and day, After the bright course of a few brief morrows,-- Aye, day will rise; but upon what?--a chaos, 300 Which was ere day; and which, renewed, makes Time Nothing! for, without life, what are the hours? No more to dust than is Eternity Unto Jehovah, who created both. Without him, even Eternity would be A void: without man, Time, as made for man, Dies with man, and is swallowed in that deep Which has no fountain; as his race will be Devoured by that which drowns his infant world.-- What have we here? Shapes of both earth and air? 310 No--_all_ of heaven, they are so beautiful. I cannot trace their features; but their forms, How lovelily they move along the side Of the grey mountain, scattering its mist! And after the swart savage spirits, whose Infernal immortality poured forth Their impious hymn of triumph, they shall be Welcome as Eden. It may be they come To tell me the reprieve of our young world, For which I have so often prayed.--They come! 320 Anah! oh, God! and with her---- _Enter_ SAMIASA, AZAZIEL, ANAH, _and_ AHOLIBAMAH. _Anah_. Japhet! _Sam._ Lo! A son of Adam! _Aza._ What doth the earth-born here, While all his race are slumbering? _Japh._ Angel! what Dost thou on earth when thou should'st be on high? _Aza._ Know'st thou not, or forget'st thou, that a part Of our great function is to guard thine earth? _Japh._ But all good angels have forsaken earth, Which is condemned; nay, even the evil fly The approaching chaos. Anah! Anah! my In vain, and long, and still to be, beloved! 330 Why walk'st thou with this Spirit, in those hours When no good Spirit longer lights below? _Anah_. Japhet, I cannot answer thee; yet, yet Forgive me---- _Japh._ May the Heaven, which soon no more Will pardon, do so! for thou art greatly tempted. _Aho._ Back to thy tents, insulting son of Noah! We know thee not. _Japh._ The hour may come when thou May'st know me better; and thy sister know Me still the same which I have ever been. _Sam._ Son of the patriarch, who hath ever been 340 Upright before his God, whate'er thy gifts, And thy words seem of sorrow, mixed with wrath, How have Azaziel, or myself, brought on thee Wrong? _Japh._ Wrong! the greatest of all wrongs! but, thou Say'st well, though she be dust--I did not, could not, Deserve her. Farewell, Anah! I have said That word so often! but now say it, ne'er To be repeated. Angel! or whate'er Thou art, or must be soon, hast thou the power To save this beautiful--_these_ beautiful 350 Children of Cain? _Aza._ From what? _Japh._ And is it so, That ye too know not? Angels! angels! ye Have shared man's sin, and, it may be, now must Partake his punishment; or, at the least, My sorrow. _Sam._ Sorrow! I ne'er thought till now To hear an Adamite speak riddles to me. _Japh._ And hath not the Most High expounded them? Then ye are lost as they are lost. _Aho._ So be it! If they love as they are loved, they will not shrink More to be mortal, than I would to dare 360 An immortality of agonies With Samiasa! _Anah_. Sister! sister! speak not Thus. _Aza._ Fearest thou, my Anah? _Anah_. Yes, for thee: I would resign the greater remnant of This little life of mine, before one hour Of thine eternity should know a pang. _Japh._ It is for _him_, then! for the Seraph thou Hast left me! That is nothing, if thou hast not Left thy God too! for unions like to these, Between a mortal and an immortal, cannot 370 Be happy or be hallowed. We are sent Upon the earth to toil and die; and they Are made to minister on high unto The Highest: but if he can _save_ thee, soon The hour will come in which celestial aid Alone can do so. _Anah_. Ah! he speaks of Death. _Sam._ Of death to _us_! and those who are with us! But that the man seems full of sorrow, I Could smile. _Japh._ I grieve not for myself, nor fear. I am safe, not for my own deserts, but those 380 Of a well-doing sire, who hath been found Righteous enough to save his children. Would His power was greater of redemption! or That by exchanging my own life for hers, Who could alone have made mine happy, she, The last and loveliest of Cain's race, could share The ark which shall receive a remnant of The seed of Seth! _Aho._ And dost thou think that we, With Cain's, the eldest born of Adam's, blood Warm in our veins,--strong Cain! who was begotten 390 In Paradise[152],--would mingle with Seth's children? Seth, the last offspring of old Adam's dotage? No, not to save all Earth, were Earth in peril! Our race hath always dwelt apart from thine From the beginning, and shall do so ever. _Japh._ I did not speak to thee, Aholibamah! Too much of the forefather whom thou vauntest Has come down in that haughty blood which springs From him who shed the first, and that a brother's! But thou, my Anah! let me call thee mine, 400 Albeit thou art not; 'tis a word I cannot Part with, although I must from thee. My Anah! Thou who dost rather make me dream that Abel Had left a daughter, whose pure pious race Survived in thee, so much unlike thou art The rest of the stem Cainites, save in beauty, For all of them are fairest in their favour---- _Aho._ (_interrupting him_). And would'st thou have her like our father's foe In mind, in soul? If _I_ partook thy thought, And dreamed that aught of _Abel_ was in _her_!-- 410 Get thee hence, son of Noah; thou makest strife. _Japh._ Offspring of Cain, thy father did so! _Aho._ But He slew not Seth: and what hast thou to do With other deeds between his God and him? _Japh._ Thou speakest well: his God hath judged him, and I had not named his deed, but that thyself Didst seem to glory in him, nor to shrink From what he had done. _Aho._ He was our father's father; The eldest born of man, the strongest, bravest, And most enduring:--Shall I blush for him 420 From whom we had our being? Look upon Our race; behold their stature and their beauty, Their courage, strength, and length of days---- _Japh._ They are numbered. _Aho._ Be it so! but while yet their hours endure, I glory in my brethren and our fathers. _Japh._ My sire and race but glory in their God, Anah! and thou?---- _Anah_. Whate'er our God decrees, The God of Seth as Cain, I must obey, And will endeavour patiently to obey. But could I dare to pray in his dread hour 430 Of universal vengeance (if such should be), It would not be to live, alone exempt Of all my house. My sister! oh, my sister! What were the world, or other worlds, or all The brightest future, without the sweet past-- Thy love, my father's, all the life, and all The things which sprang up with me, like the stars, Making my dim existence radiant with Soft lights which were not mine? Aholibamah! Oh! if there should be mercy--seek it, find it: 440 I abhor Death, because that thou must die. _Aho._ What, hath this dreamer, with his father's ark, The bugbear he hath built to scare the world, Shaken _my_ sister? Are _we_ not the loved Of Seraphs? and if we were not, must we Cling to a son of Noah for our lives? Rather than thus----But the enthusiast dreams The worst of dreams, the fantasies engendered By hopeless love and heated vigils. Who Shall shake these solid mountains, this firm earth, 450 And bid those clouds and waters take a shape Distinct from that which we and all our sires Have seen them wear on their eternal way? Who shall do this? _Japh._ He whose one word produced them. _Aho._ Who _heard_ that word? _Japh._ The universe, which leaped To life before it. Ah! smilest thou still in scorn? Turn to thy Seraphs: if they attest it not, They are none. _Sam._ Aholibamah, own thy God! _Aho._ I have ever hailed our Maker, Samiasa, As thine, and mine: a God of Love, not Sorrow. 460 _Japh._ Alas! what else is Love but Sorrow? Even He who made earth in love had soon to grieve Above its first and best inhabitants. _Aho._ 'Tis said so. _Japh._ It is even so. _Enter_ NOAH _and_ SHEM. _Noah_. Japhet! What Dost thou here with these children of the wicked? Dread'st thou not to partake their coming doom? _Japh._ Father, it cannot be a sin to seek To save an earth-born being; and behold, These are not of the sinful, since they have The fellowship of angels. _Noah_. These are they, then, 470 Who leave the throne of God, to take them wives From out the race of Cain; the sons of Heaven, Who seek Earth's daughters for their beauty? _Aza._ Patriarch! Thou hast said it. _Noah_. Woe, woe, woe to such communion! Has not God made a barrier between Earth And Heaven, and limited each, kind to kind? _Sam._ Was not man made in high Jehovah's image? Did God not love what he had made? And what Do we but imitate and emulate His love unto created love? _Noah_. I am 480 But man, and was not made to judge mankind, Far less the sons of God; but as our God Has deigned to commune with me, and reveal _His_ judgments, I reply, that the descent Of Seraphs from their everlasting seat Unto a perishable and perishing, Even on the very _eve_ of _perishing_[153]?--world, Cannot be good. _Aza._ What! though it were to save? _Noah_. Not ye in all your glory can redeem What he who made you glorious hath condemned. 490 Were your immortal mission safety, 'twould Be general, not for two, though beautiful; And beautiful they are, but not the less Condemned. _Japh._ Oh, father! say it not. _Noah_. Son! son! If that thou wouldst avoid their doom, forget That they exist: they soon shall cease to be, While thou shalt be the sire of a new world, And better. _Japh._ Let me die with _this_, and _them_! _Noah_. Thou _shouldst_ for such a thought, but shalt not: he Who _can_, redeems thee. _Sam._ And why him and thee, 500 More than what he, thy son, prefers to both? _Noah_. Ask him who made thee greater than myself And mine, but not less subject to his own Almightiness. And lo! his mildest and Least to be tempted messenger appears! _Enter_ RAPHAEL[154] _the Archangel_. _Raph._ Spirits! Whose seat is near the throne, What do ye here? Is thus a Seraph's duty to be shown, Now that the hour is near 510 When Earth must be alone? Return! Adore and burn, In glorious homage with the elected "Seven." Your place is Heaven. _Sam._ Raphael! The first and fairest of the sons of God, How long hath this been law, That Earth by angels must be left untrod? Earth! which oft saw 520 Jehovah's footsteps not disdain her sod! The world he loved, and made For love; and oft have we obeyed His frequent mission with delighted pinions: Adoring him in his least works displayed; Watching this youngest star of his dominions; And, as the latest birth of his great word, Eager to keep it worthy of our Lord. Why is thy brow severe? And wherefore speak'st thou of destruction near? 530 _Raph._ Had Samiasa and Azaziel been In their true place, with the angelic choir, Written in fire They would have seen Jehovah's late decree, And not enquired their Maker's breath of me: But ignorance must ever be A part of sin; And even the Spirits' knowledge shall grow less As they wax proud within; 540 For Blindness is the first-born of Excess. When all good angels left the world, ye stayed, Stung with strange passions, and debased By mortal feelings for a mortal maid: But ye are pardoned thus far, and replaced With your pure equals. Hence! away! away! Or stay, And lose Eternity by that delay! _Aza._ And thou! if Earth be thus forbidden In the decree 550 To us until this moment hidden, Dost thou not err as we In being here? _Raph._ I came to call ye back to your fit sphere, In the great name and at the word of God, Dear, dearest in themselves, and scarce less dear-- That which I came to do[155]: till now we trod Together the eternal space; together Let us still walk the stars[156]. True, Earth must die! Her race, returned into her womb, must wither, 560 And much which she inherits: but oh! why Cannot this Earth be made, or be destroyed, Without involving ever some vast void In the immortal ranks? immortal still In their immeasurable forfeiture. Our brother Satan fell; his burning will Rather than longer worship dared endure! But ye who still are pure! Seraphs! less mighty than that mightiest one,-- Think how he was undone! 570 And think if tempting man can compensate For Heaven desired too late? Long have I warred, Long must I war With him who deemed it hard To be created, and to acknowledge him Who midst the cherubim Made him as suns to a dependent star, Leaving the archangels at his right hand dim. I loved him--beautiful he was: oh, Heaven! 580 Save _his_ who made, what beauty and what power Was ever like to Satan's! Would the hour In which he fell could ever be forgiven! The wish is impious: but, oh ye! Yet undestroyed, be warned! Eternity With him, or with his God, is in your choice: He hath not tempted you; he cannot tempt The angels, from his further snares exempt: But man hath listened to his voice, And ye to woman's--beautiful she is, 590 The serpent's voice less subtle than her kiss. The snake but vanquished dust; but she will draw A second host from heaven, to break Heaven's law. Yet, yet, oh fly! Ye cannot die; But they Shall pass away, While ye shall fill with shrieks the upper sky For perishable clay, Whose memory in your immortality 600 Shall long outlast the Sun which gave them day. Think how your essence differeth from theirs In all but suffering! why partake The agony to which they must be heirs-- Born to be ploughed with years, and sown with cares, And reaped by Death, lord of the human soil? Even had their days been left to toil their path Through time to dust, unshortened by God's wrath, Still they are Evil's prey, and Sorrow's spoil. _Aho._ Let them fly! 610 I hear the voice which says that all must die, Sooner than our white-bearded patriarchs died; And that on high An ocean is prepared, While from below The deep shall rise to meet Heaven's overflow-- Few shall be spared, It seems; and, of that few, the race of Cain Must lift their eyes to Adam's God in vain. Sister! since it is so, 620 And the eternal Lord In vain would be implored For the remission of one hour of woe, Let us resign even what we have adored, And meet the wave, as we would meet the sword, If not unmoved, yet undismayed, And wailing less for us than those who shall Survive in mortal or immortal thrall, And, when the fatal waters are allayed, Weep for the myriads who can weep no more. 630 Fly, Seraphs! to your own eternal shore, Where winds nor howl, nor waters roar. Our portion is to die, And yours to live for ever: But which is best, a dead Eternity, Or living, is but known to the great Giver. Obey him, as we shall obey; I would not keep this life of mine in clay An hour beyond his will; Nor see ye lose a portion of his grace, 640 For all the mercy which Seth's race Find still. Fly! And as your pinions bear ye back to Heaven, Think that my love still mounts with thee on high, Samiasa! And if I look up with a tearless eye, 'Tis that an angel's bride disdains to weep,-- Farewell! Now rise, inexorable deep! _Anah_. And must we die? 650 And must I lose thee too, Azaziel? Oh, my heart! my heart! Thy prophecies were true! And yet thou wert so happy too! The blow, though not unlocked for, falls as new: But yet depart! Ah! why? Yet let me not retain thee--fly! My pangs can be but brief; but thine would be 660 Eternal, if repulsed from Heaven for me. Too much already hast thou deigned To one of Adam's race! Our doom is sorrow: not to us alone, But to the Spirits who have not disdained To love us, cometh anguish with disgrace. The first who taught us knowledge hath been hurled From his once archangelic throne Into some unknown world: And thou, Azaziel! No-- 670 Thou shall not suffer woe For me. Away! nor weep! Thou canst not weep; but yet May'st suffer more, not weeping: then forget Her, whom the surges of the all-strangling deep Can bring no pang like this. Fly! fly! Being gone, 'twill be less difficult to die. _Japh._ Oh say not so! Father! and thou, archangel, thou! Surely celestial mercy lurks below 680 That pure severe serenity of brow: Let them not meet this sea without a shore, Save in our ark, or let me be no more! _Noah_. Peace, child of passion, peace! If not within thy heart, yet with thy tongue Do God no wrong! Live as he wills it--die, when he ordains, A righteous death, unlike the seed of Cain's. Cease, or be sorrowful in silence; cease To weary Heaven's ear with thy selfish plaint. 690 Wouldst thou have God commit a sin for thee? Such would it be To alter his intent For a mere mortal sorrow. Be a man! And bear what Adam's race must bear, and can. _Japh._ Aye, father! but when they are gone, And we are all alone, Floating upon the azure desert, and The depth beneath us hides our own dear land, And dearer, silent friends and brethren, all 700 Buried in its immeasurable breast, Who, who, our tears, our shrieks, shall then command? Can we in Desolation's peace have rest? Oh God! be thou a God, and spare Yet while 'tis time! Renew not Adam's fall: Mankind were then but twain, But they are numerous now as are the waves And the tremendous rain, Whose drops shall be less thick than would their graves, 710 Were graves permitted to the seed of Cain. _Noah_. Silence, vain boy! each word of thine's a crime. Angel! forgive this stripling's fond despair. _Raph._ Seraphs! these mortals speak in passion: Ye! Who are, or should be, passionless and pure, May now return with me. _Sam._ It may not be: We have chosen, and will endure. _Raph._ Say'st thou? _Aza._ He hath said it, and I say, Amen! _Raph._ Again! Then from this hour, 720 Shorn as ye are of all celestial power, And aliens from your God, Farewell! _Japh._ Alas! where shall they dwell? Hark, hark! Deep sounds, and deeper still, Are howling from the mountain's bosom: There's not a breath of wind upon the hill, Yet quivers every leaf, and drops each blossom: Earth groans as if beneath a heavy load. _Noah_. Hark, hark! the sea-birds cry! 730 In clouds they overspread the lurid sky, And hover round the mountain, where before Never a white wing, wetted by the wave, Yet dared to soar, Even when the waters waxed too fierce to brave. Soon it shall be their only shore, And then, no more! _Japh._ The sun! the sun[157]! He riseth, but his better light is gone; And a black circle, bound 740 His glaring disk around, Proclaims Earth's last of summer days hath shone! The clouds return into the hues of night, Save where their brazen-coloured edges streak The verge where brighter morns were wont to break. _Noah_. And lo! yon flash of light, The distant thunder's harbinger, appears! It cometh! hence, away! Leave to the elements their evil prey! Hence to where our all-hallowed ark uprears 750 Its safe and wreckless sides! _Japh._ Oh, father, stay! Leave not my Anah to the swallowing tides! _Noah_. Must we not leave all life to such? Begone! _Japh._ Not I. _Noah_. Then die With them! How darest thou look on that prophetic sky, And seek to save what all things now condemn, In overwhelming unison 760 With just Jehovah's wrath! _Japh._ Can rage and justice join in the same path? _Noah_. Blasphemer! darest thou murmur even now! _Raph._ Patriarch, be still a father! smooth thy brow: Thy son, despite his folly, shall not sink: He knows not what he says, yet shall not drink With sobs the salt foam of the swelling waters; But be, when passion passeth, good as thou, Nor perish like Heaven's children with man's daughters. _Aho._ The tempest cometh; heaven and earth unite 770 For the annihilation of all life. Unequal is the strife Between our strength and the Eternal Might! _Sam._ But ours is with thee; we will bear ye far To some untroubled star, Where thou, and Anah, shalt partake our lot: And if thou dost not weep for thy lost earth, Our forfeit Heaven shall also be forgot. _Anah_. Oh! my dear father's tents, my place of birth, And mountains, land, and woods! when ye are not, 780 Who shall dry up my tears? _Aza._ Thy spirit-lord. Fear not; though we are shut from Heaven, Yet much is ours, whence we can not be driven. _Raph._ Rebel! thy words are wicked, as thy deeds Shall henceforth be but weak: the flaming sword, Which chased the first-born out of Paradise, Still flashes in the angelic hands. _Aza._ It cannot slay us: threaten dust with death, And talk of weapons unto that which bleeds. What are thy swords in our immortal eyes? 790 _Raph._ The moment cometh to approve thy strength; And learn at length How vain to war with what thy God commands: Thy former force was in thy faith. _Enter Mortals, flying for refuge_. _Chorus of Mortals_. The heavens and earth are mingling--God! oh God! What have we done? Yet spare! Hark! even the forest beasts howl forth their prayer! The dragon crawls from out his den, To herd, in terror, innocent with men; And the birds scream their agony through air. 800 Yet, yet, Jehovah! yet withdraw thy rod Of wrath, and pity thine own world's despair! Hear not man only but all nature plead! _Raph._ Farewell, thou earth! ye wretched sons of clay, I cannot, must not, aid you. 'Tis decreed! [_Exit_ RAPHAEL. _Japh._ Some clouds sweep on as vultures for their prey, While others, fixed as rocks, await the word At which their wrathful vials shall be poured. No azure more shall robe the firmament, Nor spangled stars be glorious: Death hath risen: 810 In the Sun's place a pale and ghastly glare Hath wound itself around the dying air. _Aza._ Come, Anah! quit this chaos-founded prison, To which the elements again repair, To turn it into what it was: beneath The shelter of these wings thou shall be safe, As was the eagle's nestling once within Its mother's.--Let the coming chaos chafe With all its elements! Heed not their din! A brighter world than this, where thou shalt breathe 820 Ethereal life, will we explore: These darkened clouds are not the only skies. [AZAZIEL _and_ SAMIASA _fly off, and disappear with_ ANAH _and_ AHOLIBAMAH. _Japh._ They are gone! They have disappeared amidst the roar Of the forsaken world; and never more, Whether they live, or die with all Earth's life, Now near its last, can aught restore Anah unto these eyes. _Chorus of Mortals_. Oh son of Noah! mercy on thy kind! What! wilt thou leave us all--all--_all_ behind? While safe amidst the elemental strife, 830 Thou sitt'st within thy guarded ark? _A Mother_ (_offering her infant to_ JAPHET). Oh, let this child embark! I brought him forth in woe, But thought it joy To see him to my bosom clinging so. Why was he born? What hath he done-- My unweaned son-- To move Jehovah's wrath or scorn? What is there in this milk of mine, that Death 840 Should stir all Heaven and Earth up to destroy My boy, And roll the waters o'er his placid breath? Save him, thou seed of Seth! Or cursed be--with him who made Thee and thy race, for which we are betrayed! _Japh._ Peace! 'tis no hour for curses, but for prayer! _Chorus of Mortals_. For prayer!!! And where Shall prayer ascend, 850 When the swoln clouds unto the mountains bend And burst, And gushing oceans every barrier rend, Until the very deserts know no thirst? Accursed Be he who made thee and thy sire! We deem our curses vain; we must expire; But as we know the worst, Why should our hymns be raised, our knees be bent Before the implacable Omnipotent, 860 Since we must fall the same? If he hath made Earth, let it be his shame, To make a world for torture.--Lo! they come, The loathsome waters, in their rage! And with their roar make wholesome nature dumb! The forest's trees (coeval with the hour When Paradise upsprung, Ere Eve gave Adam knowledge for her dower, Or Adam his first hymn of slavery sung), So massy, vast, yet green in their old age, 870 Are overtopped, Their summer blossoms by the surges lopped, Which rise, and rise, and rise. Vainly we look up to the lowering skies-- They meet the seas, And shut out God from our beseeching eyes. Fly, son of Noah, fly! and take thine ease, In thine allotted ocean-tent; And view, all floating o'er the element, The corpses of the world of thy young days: 880 Then to Jehovah raise Thy song of praise! _A Mortal_. Blessed are the dead Who die in the Lord! And though the waters be o'er earth outspread, Yet, as _his_ word, Be the decree adored! He gave me life--he taketh but The breath which is his own: And though these eyes should be for ever shut, 890 Nor longer this weak voice before his throne Be heard in supplicating tone, Still blessed be the Lord, For what is past, For that which is: For all are his, From first to last-- Time--Space--Eternity--Life--Death-- The vast known and immeasurable unknown. He made, and can unmake; 900 And shall I, for a little gasp of breath, Blaspheme and groan? No; let me die, as I have lived, in faith, Nor quiver, though the Universe may quake! _Chorus of Mortals_. Where shall we fly? Not to the mountains high; For now their torrents rush, with double roar, To meet the Ocean, which, advancing still, Already grasps each drowning hill, Nor leaves an unsearched cave. 910 _Enter a Woman_. _Woman_. Oh, save me, save! Our valley is no more: My father and my father's tent, My brethren and my brethren's herds, The pleasant trees that o'er our noonday bent, And sent forth evening songs from sweetest birds, The little rivulet which freshened all Our pastures green, No more are to be seen. When to the mountain cliff I climbed this morn, 920 I turned to bless the spot, And not a leaf appeared about to fall;-- And now they are not!-- Why was I born? _Japh._ To die! in youth to die! And happier in that doom, Than to behold the universal tomb, Which I Am thus condemned to weep above in vain. Why, when all perish, why must I remain? [_The waters rise; Men fly in every direction; many are overtaken by the waves: the Chorus of Mortals disperses in search of safety up the mountains:_ JAPHET _remains upon a rock, while the Ark floats towards him in the distance_.[158] FOOTNOTES: [138] {285}[Aholibamah ("tent of the highest") was daughter of Anah (a Hivite clan-name), the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife, Gen. xxxvi. 14. Irad was the son of Enoch, and grandson of Cain, Gen. iv. 18.] [139] {286}[Compare _Manfred_, act i. sc. I, line 131, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 89, and note i.] [140] The archangels, said to be seven in number, and to occupy the eighth rank in the celestial hierarchy. [Compare _Tobit_ xii. 15, "I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels which present the prayers of the saints." _The Book of Enoch_ (ch. xx.) names the other archangels, "Uriel, Rufael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqael, and Gabriel, who is over Paradise and the serpents and the cherubin." In the _Celestial Hierarchy_ of Dionysius the Areopagite, a chapter is devoted to archangels, but their names are not recorded, or their number given. On the other hand, "The teaching of the oracles concerning the angels affirms that they are thousand thousands and myriad myriads."--_Celestial Hierarchy, etc._, translated by the Rev. J. Parker, 1894, cap. xiv. p. 43. It has been supposed that "the seven which are the eyes of the Lord" (_Zech._ iv. 10) are the seven archangels.] [141] {289}["The adepts of Incantation ... enter the realms of air, and by their spells they scatter the clouds, they gather the clouds, they still the storm.... We may adduce Ovid (_Amor._, bk. ii., El., i. 23), who says, 'Charmers draw down the horns of the blood-red moon,'... Here it is to be observed that in the opinion of simple-minded persons, the moon could be actually drawn down from heaven. So Aristophanes says (_Clouds_, lines 739, 740), 'If I should purchase a Thessalian witch, and draw down the moon by night;' and Claudian (_In Ruffin._, bk. i. 145), 'I know by what spell the Thessalian sorceress snatches away the lunar beam.'"--_Magic Incantations_, by Christianus Pazig (circ. 1700), edited by Edmund Goldsmid, F.R.H.S., F.S.A. (Scot.), 1886, pp. 30, 31. See, too, Virgil, _Eclogues_, viii. 69, "Carmina vel c[oe]lo possunt de ducere Lunam."] [142] {291}["Tubal-Cain [the seventh in descent from Cain] was an instructor of every artificer of brass and iron" (_Gen._ iv. 22). According to the _Book of Enoch_, cap. viii., it was "Azazel," one of the "sons of the heavens," who "taught men to make swords, and knives, and skins, and coats of mail, and made known to them metals, and the art of working them, bracelets and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyebrows, and the most costly and choicest stones, and all colouring tincture, so that the world was changed."] [143] [_Vide post_, p. 294.] [144] {294}[Byron's knowledge of Mount Ararat was probably derived from the following passage in Tournefort: "It is a most frightful sight; David might well say such sort of places show the grandeur of the Lord. One can't but tremble to behold it; and to look on the horrible precipices ever so little will make the head turn round. The noise made by a vast number of crows [hence the 'rushing sound,' _vide post_, p. 295], who are continually flying from one side to the other, has something in it very frightful. To form any idea of this place you must imagine one of the highest mountains in the world opening its bosom, only to show the most horrible spectacle that can be thought of. All the precipices are perpendicular, and the extremities are rough and blackish, as if a smoke came out of the sides and smutted them."--_A Voyage in the Levant_, by M. [Joseph Pitton de] Tournefort, 1741, iii. 205, 206. Kitto also describes this "vast chasm," which contained "an enormous mass of ice, which seems to have fallen from a cliff that overhangs the ice" (_Travels in Persia_, 1846, i. 34); but Professor Friedrich Parrot, who was the first to ascend Mount Ararat, does not enlarge upon the "abyss" or chasm.--_Journey to Ararat_, translated by W. D. Cowley, 1845, p. 134.] [145] [Compare the description of the "roots like snakes," which "wind out from rock and sand," in the scene on the Hartz Mountains in Goethe's _Faust_.] [146] {296} [Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 233) compares the laughter of the fiends in the cave of Caucasus with the snoring of the Furies in the _Eumenides_ of AEschylus-- [Greek: R(e/gkousi d' ou) platoi~si physia/masin] (line 53). ("Their snoring nostrils blow fearsome breath.") There is a closer parallel with-- [Greek: Gela~ de\ dai/mon e)p' a)ndri\ thermo~] (line 560). ("The spirit mocketh the headlong soul.")] [147] {297}[Matthew Arnold, _Poetry of Byron_, 1881, xiv., xv., quotes this line in proof of Byron's barbarian insensibility, "to the true artist's fine passion for the correct use and consummate management of words."] [148] {300} "[And] there were giants in the earth in those days; and ... after, ... mighty men, which were of old, men of renown."--_Genesis_ [vi. 4]. [149] "The same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened."--_Genesis_ [vii. II]. [150] {301}[Byron falls in with the popular theory as to the existence of fossil remains of marine animals at a height above the level of the sea. The "deluge" accounted for what was otherwise inexplicable.] [151] {302} The book of Enoch, preserved by the Ethiopians, is said by them to be anterior to the flood. [Some fragments of the _Book of Enoch_ (_vide ante_, Introduction to _Heaven and Earth_, p. 281), which were included by Georgius Syncellus (a Byzantine writer of the eighth century A.D.) in his _Chronographia_, pp. ii, 26 (_Corpus Script. Hist. Byzantintae_, 1829, i. 20), were printed by J. J. Scaliger in 1606. They were, afterwards, included (i. 347-354) in the _Spicilegium SS. Patrum_ of Joannes Ernestus Grabius, which was published at Oxford in 1714. A year after (1715) one of the fragments was "made English," and published under the title of _The History of the Angels and their Gallantry with the Daughters of Men_, written by Enoch the Patriarch. In 1785 James Bruce, the traveller, discovered three MSS. of the _Book of Enoch_. One he conveyed to the library at Paris: a second MS. he presented to the Bodleian Library at Oxford (_Travels_, ii. 422, 8vo ed. 1805). In 1801 an article entitled, "Notice du Libre d'Enoch," was contributed by Silvestre de Sacy to the _Magasin Encyclopedique_ (An. vi. tom. i. p. 369); and in 1821 Richard Laurence, LL.D., published a translation "from the Ethiopic MS. in the Bodleian Library." This was the first translation of the book as a whole. The following extracts, which were evidently within Byron's recollection when he planned _Heaven and Earth_, are taken from _The Book of Enoch_, translated from Professor Dillman's Ethiopic Text, by R. H. Charles, Oxford, 1892:-- "Chap. vi. [1. And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied in those days that beautiful and comely daughters were born unto them. [2. And the angels, the sons of the Heavens, saw and lusted after them, and spake one to another, 'Come now, let us choose us wives from among the children of men, and beget children.' [3. And Semjaza, who was the leader, spake unto them: I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed.... [6. And they descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon.... "Chap. viii. [i. And Azazel taught men to make swords, etc. "Chap. x. Then spake the Most High, the Great, the Holy One, and sent Arsjalaljur (= Uriel) to the son of Lamech, and said to him, 'Tell him in My Name to hide thyself!' and reveal to him that the end is approaching; for the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge will presently cover up the whole earth, and all that is in it will be destroyed. [3. And now instruct him that he may escape, as his seed may be preserved for all generations. [4. And again the Lord spake to Rafael; Bind Azazel hand and foot, and place him in darkness; make an opening in the desert which is in Dudael and place him therein. [5. And place upon him rough and ragged rocks," etc.] [152] {306}[This does not correspond with Cain's statement--"After the fall too soon was I begotten," _Cain_, act. iii. sc. I, line 506 (_vide ante_). Bayle (_Hist. and Crit. Dict._, 1735, art. "Eve," note B) has a great deal to say with regard to the exact date of the birth of Cain. He concludes with _Cornelius a Lapide_, who quotes Torniellus, "Cain genitum ease mox post expulsionem Adae et Evae ex Paradiso."] [153] {309}[Byron said that it was difficult to make Lucifer talk "like a clergyman." He contrived to make Noah talk like a street-preacher.] [154] [In the original MS. "Michael."--"I return you," says Byron, "the revise. I have softened the part to which Gifford objected, and changed the name of Michael to Raphael, who was an angel of gentler sympathies."--July 6, 1822, _Letters_, vi. 93.] [155] {311}[That is, "to call you back." His ministry and function of clemency were almost as dear to him as his ministry and function of adoration and obedience.] [156] [For the connection of stars with angels, see _Book of Enoch_, xxv. 1.] [157] {315}[Compare _Darkness_, lines 2-5, _Poetical Works_, 1891, iv. 42, 43.] [158] {321}[Sketch of Second Part of _Heaven and Earth_, as reported by Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, pp. 234-237)-- "Azazael and Samiasa ... rise into the air with the two sisters.... The appearance of the land strangled by the ocean will serve by way of scenery and decorations. The affectionate tenderness of Adah for those from whom she is parted, and for ever, and her fears contrasting with the loftier spirit of Aholibamah triumphing in the hopes of a new and greater destiny will make the dialogue. They, in the meantime, continue their aerial voyage, everywhere denied admittance in those floating islands over the sea of space, and driven back by guardian-spirits of the different planets, till they are at length forced to alight on the only peak of the earth uncovered by water. Here a parting takes place between the lovers.... The fallen angels are suddenly called, and condemned, their destination and punishment unknown. The sisters cling to the rock, the waters mounting higher and higher. Now enter Ark. The scene draws up, and discovers Japhet endeavouring to persuade the Patriarch, with very strong arguments of love and pity, to receive the sisters, or at least Adah, on board. Adah joins in his entreaties, and endeavours to cling to the sides of the vessel. The proud and haughty Aholibamah scorns to pray either to God or man, and anticipates the grave by plunging into the waters. Noah is still inexorable. [Adah] is momentarily in danger of perishing before the eyes of the Arkites. Japhet is in despair. The last wave sweeps her from the rock, and her lifeless corpse floats past in all its beauty, whilst a sea-bird screams over it, and seems to be the spirit of her angel lord. I once thought of conveying the lovers to the moon or one of the planets; but it is not easy for the imagination to make any unknown world more beautiful than this; besides, I did not think they would approve of the moon as a residence. I remember what Fontenelle said of its having no atmosphere, and the dark spots having caverns where the inhabitants reside. There was another objection: all the human interest would have been destroyed, which I have even endeavoured to give my angels."] WERNER; OR, THE INHERITANCE: A TRAGEDY. [_Werner_ was produced, for the first time, at the Park Theatre, New York, in 1826. Mr. Barry played "Werner." _Werner_ was brought out at Drury Lane Theatre, and played, for the first time, December 15, 1830. Macready appeared as "Werner," J. W. Wallack as "Ulric," Mrs. Faucit as "Josephine," and Miss Mordaunt as "Ida." According to the _Times_, December 16, 1830, "Mr. Macready appeared to very great advantage. We have never seen him exert himself more--we have never known him to exert himself with more powerful effect. Three of his scenes were masterpieces." Genest says that _Werner_ was acted seventeen times in 1830-31. There was a revival in 1833. Macready says (_Diary_, March 20) that he acted "'Werner' with unusual force, truth, and collectedness ... finished off each burst of passion, and, in consequence, entered on the following emotion with clearness and earnestness" (Macready's _Reminiscences_, 1875, i 36.6). _Werner_ was played in 1834, 5, 6, 7, 9; in 1841; in 1843-4 (New York, Boston, Baltimore, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Montreal); in 1845 (Paris, London, Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin); in 1846, 1847; in America in 1848; in the provinces in 1849; in 1850; and, for the last time, at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, January 14, 1851. At the farewell performance Macready appeared as "Werner," Mr. Davenport as "Ulric," Mrs. Warner as "Josephine," Mrs. Ryder as "Ida." In the same year (1851) a portrait of Macready as "Werner," by Daniel Maclise, R.A., was on view at the Exhibition at the Royal Academy. The motto was taken from _Werner_, act i. sc. 1, lines 114, _sq._ (See, for a detailed criticism of Macready's "Werner," _Our Recent Actors_, by Westland Marston, 1881, i. 89-98; and for the famous "Macready _burst_," in act ii. sc. 2, and act v. sc. 1, _vide ibid._, i. 97.) _Werner_ was brought out at Sadler's Wells Theatre, November 21, 1860, and repeated November 22, 23, 24, 28, 29; December, 3, 4, 11, 13, 14, 1860. Phelps appeared as "Werner," Mr. Edmund Phelps as "Ulric," Miss Atkinson as "Josephine." "Perhaps the old actor never performed the part so finely as he did on that night. The identity between the real and ideal relations of the characters was as vivid to him as to the audience, and gave a deeper intensity, on both sides, to the scenes between father and son." (See _The London Stage_, by H. Barton Baker, 1889, ii. 217.) On the afternoon of June 1, 1887, _Werner_ (four acts, arranged by Frank Marshall) was performed at the Lyceum Theatre for the benefit of Westland Marston. [Sir] Henry Irving appeared as "Werner," Miss Ellen Terry as "Josephine," Mr. Alexander as "Ulric." (See for an appreciation of Sir Henry Irving's presentation of _Werner_, the _Athenaeum_, June 4, 1887.)] INTRODUCTION TO _WERNER_. _Werner; or, The Inheritance_, was begun at Pisa, December 18, 1821, and finished January 20, 1822. At the end of the month, January 29, Byron despatched the MS., not to Murray, but to Moore, then in retreat at Paris, intending, no doubt, that it should be placed in the hands of another publisher; but a letter from Murray "melted him," and on March 6, 1822 (_Letters_, 1901, vi. 34), he desired Moore to forward the packet to Albemarle Street. The play was set up in type, and revised proofs were returned to Murray at the end of June; but, for various reasons, publication was withheld, and, on October 31, Byron informed John Hunt that he had empowered his friend Douglas Kinnaird to obtain _Werner_, with other MSS., from Murray. None the less, milder counsels again prevailed, and on Saturday, November 23, 1822, _Werner_ was published, not in the same volume with _Heaven and Earth_, as Byron intended and expected, nor by John Hunt, as he had threatened, but by itself, and, as heretofore, by John Murray. _Werner_ was "the last of all the flock" to issue from Murray's fold. In his Preface to _Werner_ (_vide post_, p. 337) Byron disclaims all pretensions to originality. "The following drama," he writes, "is taken entirely from the 'German's Tale, Kruitzner,' published ... in Lee's _Canterbury Tales_.... I have adopted the characters, plan, and even the language, of many parts of this story." _Kruitzner_ seems to have made a deep impression on his mind. When he was a boy of thirteen (_i.e._ in 1801, when the fourth volume of the _Canterbury Tales_ was published), and again in 1815, he set himself to turn the tale into a drama. His first attempt, named _Ulric and Ilvina_, he threw into the fire, but he had nearly completed the first act of his second and maturer adaptation when he was "interrupted by circumstances," that is, no doubt, the circumstances which led up to and ended in the separation from his wife. (See letter of October 9, 1821, _Letters_, 1901, v. 391.) On his leaving England for the Continent, April 25, 1816, the fragment was left behind. Most probably the MS. fell into his sister's hands, for in October, 1821, it was not forthcoming when Byron gave directions that Hobhouse should search for it "amongst my papers." Ultimately it came into the possession of the late Mr. Murray, and is now printed for the first time in its entirety (_vide post_, pp. 453-466: selections were given in the _Nineteenth Century_, August, 1899). It should be borne in mind that this unprinted first act of _Werner_, which synchronizes with the _Siege of Corinth_ and _Parisina_, was written when Byron was a member of the sub-committee of management of Drury Lane Theatre, and, as the numerous stage directions testify, with a view to stage-representation. The MS. is scored with corrections, and betrays an unusual elaboration, and, perhaps, some difficulty and hesitation in the choice of words and the construction of sentences. In the opening scene the situation is not caught and gripped, while the melancholy squalor of the original narrative is only too faithfully reproduced. The _Werner_ of 1821, with all its shortcomings, is the production of a playwright. The _Werner_ of 1815 is the attempt of a highly gifted amateur. When Byron once more bethought himself of his old subject, he not only sent for the MS. of the first act, but desired Murray "to cut out Sophia Lee's" (_vide post_, p. 337) "_German's Tale_ from the _Canterbury Tales_, and send it in a letter" (_Letters_, 1901, v. 390). He seems to have intended from the first to construct a drama out of the story, and, no doubt, to acknowledge the source of his inspiration. On the whole, he carried out his intention, taking places, characters, and incidents as he found them, but recasting the materials and turning prose into metre. But here and there, to save himself trouble, he "stole his brooms ready made," and, as he acknowledges in the Preface, "adopted even the language of the story." Act ii. sc. 2, lines 87-172; act iii. sc. 4; and act v. sc. 1, lines 94-479, are, more or less, faithful and exact reproductions of pp. 203-206, 228-232, and 252-271 of the novel (see _Canterbury Tales_, ed. 1832, vol. ii.). On the other hand, in the remaining three-fourths of the play, the language is not Miss Lee's, but Byron's, and the "conveyance" of incidents occasional and insignificant. Much, too, was imported into the play (_e.g._ almost the whole of the fourth act), of which there is neither hint nor suggestion in the story. Maginn's categorical statement (see "O'Doherty on _Werner_," _Miscellanies_, 1885, i. 189) that "here Lord Byron has _invented_ nothing--absolutely, positively, undeniably NOTHING;" that "there is not one incident in his play, not even the most trivial, that is not to be found in the novel," etc., is "positively and undeniably" a falsehood. Maginn read _Werner_ for the purpose of attacking Byron, and, by printing selected passages from the novel and the play, in parallel columns, gives the reader to understand that he had made an exhaustive analysis of the original and the copy. The review, which is quoted as an authority in the editions of 1832 (xiv. pp. 113, 114) and 1837, etc., p. 341, is disingenuous and misleading. The original story may be briefly retold. The prodigal and outlawed son of a Bohemian noble, Count Siegendorf, after various adventures, marries, under the assumed name of Friedrich Kruitzner, the daughter of an Italian scholar and man of science, of noble birth, but in narrow circumstances. A son, Conrad, is born to him, who, at eight years of age, is transferred to the charge of his grandfather. Twelve years go by, and, when the fortunes of the younger Siegendorf are at their lowest ebb, he learns, at the same moment, that his father is dead, and that a distant kinsman, the Baron Stralenheim, is meditating an attack on his person, with a view to claiming his inheritance. Of Conrad, who has disappeared, he hears nothing. An accident compels the count and the baron to occupy adjoining quarters in a small town on the northern frontier of Silesia; and, again, another accident places the usurping and intriguing baron at the mercy of his poverty-stricken and exiled kinsman. Stralenheim has fallen asleep near the fire in his easy-chair. Papers and several rouleaux of gold are ranged on a cabinet beside the bed. Kruitzner, who is armed with "a large and sharp knife," is suddenly confronted with his unarmed and slumbering foe, and though habit and conscience conspire to make murder impossible, he yields to a sudden and irresistible impulse, and snatches up "the portion of gold which is nearest." He has no sooner returned to his wife and confessed his deed, than Conrad suddenly appears on the scene, and at the very moment of an unexpected and joyous reunion with his parents, learns that his father is a thief. Kruitzner pleads "guilty with extenuating circumstances," and Conrad, who either is or pretends to be disgusted at his father's sophistries, makes the best of a bad business, and undertakes to conceal his father's dishonour and rescue him from the power of Stralenheim. The plot hinges on the unlooked-for and unsuspected action of Conrad. Unlike his father, he is not the man to let "I dare not wait upon I would," but murders Stralenheim in cold blood, and, at the same time, diverts suspicion from his father and himself to the person of his comrade, a Hungarian soldier of fortune, who is already supposed to be the thief, and who had sought and obtained shelter in the apartments of the conscience-stricken Kruitzner. The scene changes to Prague. Siegendorf, no longer Kruitzner, has regained his inheritance, and is once more at the height of splendour and prosperity. A service of thanksgiving is being held in the cathedral to commemorate the signature of the Treaty of Prague (1635), and the count is present in state. Suddenly he catches sight of the Hungarian, and, "like a flash of lightning" feels and remembers that he _is_ a thief, and that he might, however unjustly, be suspected if not accused of the murder of Stralenheim. The service is over, and the count is recrossing "Muldau's Bridge," when he hears the fatal word _Kruitzner_, "the seal of his shame," spoken in his ear. He returns to his castle, and issues orders that the Hungarian should be arrested and interrogated. An interview takes place, at which the Hungarian denounces Conrad as the murderer of Stralenheim. The son acknowledges the deed, and upbraids the father for his weakness and credulity in supposing that his escape from Stralenheim's machinations could have been effected by any other means. If, he argues, circumstances can palliate dishonesty, they can compel and justify murder. Common sense even now demands the immediate slaughter of the Hungarian, as it compelled and sanctioned the effectual silencing of Stralenheim. But Siegendorf knows not "thorough," and shrinks at assassination. He repudiates and denounces his son, and connives at the escape of the Hungarian. Conrad, who is banished from Prague, rejoins his former associates, the "black bands," which were the scandal and terror of the neighbouring provinces, and is killed in a skirmish with the regular troops. Siegendorf dies of a broken heart. The conception of _The German's Tale_, as Byron perceived, is superior to the execution. The style is laboured and involved, and the narrative long-winded and tiresome. It is, perhaps, an adaptation, though not a literal translation, of a German historical romance. But the _motif_--a son predestined to evil by the weakness and sensuality of his father, a father punished for his want of rectitude by the passionate criminality of his son, is the very key-note of tragedy. If from haste or indolence Byron scamped his task, and cut up whole cantles of the novel into nerveless and pointless blank verse, here and there throughout the play, in scattered lines and passages, he outdoes himself. The inspiration is fitful, but supreme. _Werner_ was reviewed in _Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_, December, 1822, vol. xii. pp. 710-719 (republished in _Miscellanies_ of W. Maginn, 1885, i. 189); in the _Scots Magazine_, December, 1822, N.S. vol. xi. pp. 688-694; the _European Magazine_, January, 1823, vol. 83, pp. 73-76; and in the _Eclectic Review_, February, 1823, N.S. vol. xix. pp. 148-155. NOTE TO THE INTRODUCTION TO _WERNER_. In an article entitled, "Did Byron write _Werner_?" which appeared in the _Nineteenth Century_ (August, 1899, vol. 46, pp. 243-250), the Hon. F. Leveson Gower undertakes to prove that _Werner_ was not written by Lord Byron, but by Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (born June 9, 1757, died March 30, 1806). He adduces, in support of this claim, (1) a statement made to him by his sister, the late Lady Georgiana Fullerton, to the effect that their grandmother, the duchess, "wrote the poem and gave the MS. to her niece, Lady Caroline Ponsonby (better known as Lady Caroline Lamb), and that she, some years later, handed it over to Lord Byron, who, in 1822, published it in his own name;" (2) a letter written in 1822 by his mother, Lady Granville, to her sister, Lady Carlisle, which asserts that their mother, the duchess, "wrote an entire tragedy from Miss Lee's _Kreutzner the Hungarian_ (_sic_)," and that the MS. had been sent to her by Lady Caroline's brother, Mr. William Ponsonby, and was in her possession; (3) another letter of Lady Granville's, dated December 3, 1822, in which she informs her sister that her husband, Lord Granville, had promised to read _Werner_ aloud to her (i.e. Byron's _Werner_, published November 23, 1822), a promise which, if fulfilled, must have revealed one of two things--the existence of two dramas based on Miss Lee's _Kruitzner_, or the identity of Byron's version with that of the duchess. Now, argues Mr. Leveson Gower, if Lady Granville had known that two dramas were in existence, she would not have allowed her daughter, Lady Georgiana Fullerton, to believe "that the duchess was the author of the published poem." I will deal with the external evidence first. Practically it amounts to this: (1) that Lady Granville knew that her mother, the Duchess of Devonshire, dramatized Miss Lee's _Kruitzner_; and (2) that Lady Georgiana Fullerton believed that the duchess gave the MS. of her play to Lady Caroline Ponsonby, and that, many years after, Lady Caroline handed it over to Byron. The external evidence establishes the fact that the Duchess of Devonshire dramatized _Kruitzner_, but it does not prove that Byron purloined her adaptation. It records an unverified impression on the part of the duchess's granddaughter, that the MS. of a play written between the years 1801-1806, passed into Byron's hands about the year 1813; that he took a copy of the MS.; and that in 1821-22 he caused his copy to be retranscribed and published under his own name. But Mr. Leveson Gower appeals to internal as well as external evidence, (1) He regards the great inferiority of _Werner_ to Byron's published plays, and to the genuine (hitherto) unpublished first act, together with the wholesale plagiarisms from Miss Lee's story, as an additional proof that the work was none of his. (2) He notes, as a suspicious circumstance, that "while the rough copies of his other poems have been preserved, no rough copy of _Werner_ is to be found." In conclusion, he deals with two possible objections which may be brought against his theory: (1) that Byron would not have incurred the risk of detection at the hands of the owners of the duchess's MS.; and (2) that a great poet of assured fame and reputation could have had no possible motive for perpetrating a literary fraud. The first objection he answers by assuming that Byron would have counted on the reluctance of the "Ponsonby family and the daughters of the Duchess" to rake up the ashes of old scandals; the second, by pointing out that, in 1822, he was making "frantic endeavours to obtain money, not for himself, but to help the cause of Greece." (1) With regard to the marked inferiority of _Werner_ to Byron's other plays, and the relative proportion of adapted to original matter, Mr. Leveson Gower appears to have been misled by the disingenuous criticism of Maginn and other contemporary reviewers (_vide_ the Introduction, etc., p. 326). There is no such inferiority, and the plagiarisms, which were duly acknowledged, are confined to certain limited portions of the play. (2) There is nothing unusual in the fact that the rough draft of _Werner_ cannot be found. In fact, but few of the early drafts of the dramas and other poems written in the later Italian days ever reached Murray's hands, or are still in existence. The fair copy for the printer alone was sent home. The time had gone by when Byron's publisher, who was also his friend, would stipulate that "all the original MSS., copies and scraps" should fall to his share. But no argument can be founded on so insignificant a circumstance. Finally, the argument on which Mr. Leveson Gower dwells at some length, that Byron's "motive" for perpetrating a literary fraud was the necessity for raising money for the cause of Greek independence, is refuted by the fact that _Werner_ was begun in December, 1821, and finished in January, 1822, and that it was not till the spring of 1823 that he was elected a member of the Greek Committee, or had any occasion to raise funds for the maintenance of troops or the general expenses of the war. So far from attempting to raise money by _Werner_, in letters to Murray, dated March 6, October 24, November 18, 1822, he emphatically waives the question of "terms," and makes no demand or request for money whatever. It was not till December 23, 1823 (_Letters_, 1901, vi. 287), two years after the play had been written, that he speaks of applying the two or three hundred pounds which the copyright of _Werner_ might be worth, to the maintenance of armed men in the service of the _Provisional Government_. He could not have "purloined" and palmed off as his own the duchess's version of Miss Lee's story in order to raise money for a purpose which had not arisen. He had no intention at first or last of presenting the copyright of _Werner_ to Murray or Hunt, but he was willing to wait for his money, and had no motive for raising funds by an illegal and dishonourable trick. That Byron did _not_ write _Werner_ is, surely, non-proven on the external and internal evidence adduced by Mr. Leveson Gower. On the other hand, there is abundant evidence, both external and internal, that, apart from his acknowledged indebtedness to Miss Lee's story, he did write _Werner_. To take the external evidence first. On the first page of Mrs. Shelley's transcript of _Werner_, Byron inserted the date, "Dec. 18, 1821," and on the last he wrote "[The End] of fifth act of the Drama. B. P[isa]. Jy 21. 1822." Turning to the journal of Edward Williams (Shelley's _Prose Works_, 1880, iv. 318), I find the following entries:-- "December 21, 1821. Lord B. told me that he had commenced a tragedy from Miss Lee's _German Tale_ ('_Werner_'), and had been fagging at it all day." "January 8, 1822. Mary read us the first two acts of Lord B.'s _Werner_." Again, in an unpublished diary of the same period it is recorded that Mrs. Shelley was engaged in the task of copying on January 17, 1822, and the eight following days, and that on January 25 she finished her transcript. Again, Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 409) records the fact that Byron told him "that he had almost finished another play ... called _Werner_;" and (p. 412) "that _Werner_ was written in twenty-eight days, and one entire act at a sitting." It is almost incredible that Byron should have recopied a copy of the duchess's play in order to impose on Mrs. Shelley and Williams and Medwin; and it is quite incredible that they were in the plot, and lent themselves to the deception. It is certain that both Williams and Medwin believed that Byron was the author of _Werner_, and it is certain that nothing would have induced Mrs. Shelley to be _particeps criminis_--to copy a play which was not Byron's, to be published as Byron's, and to suffer her copy to be fraudulently endorsed by her guilty accomplice. The internal evidence of the genuineness of _Werner_ is still more convincing. In the first place, there are numerous "undesigned coincidences," allusions, and phrases to be found in _Werner_ and elsewhere in Byron's _Poetical Works_, which bear his sign-manual, and cannot be attributed to another writer; and, secondly, scattered through the play there are numerous lines, passages, allusions--"a cloud of witnesses" to their Byronic inspiration and creation. Take the following parallels:-- _Werner_, act i. sc. 1, lines 693, 694-- "... as parchment on a drum, Like Ziska's skin." _Age of Bronze_, lines 133, 134-- "The time may come, His name shall beat the alarm like Ziska's drum." _Werner_, act ii. sc. 2, lines 177, 178-- "... save your throat From the Raven-stone." _Manfred_, act iii. (original version)-- "The raven sits On the Raven-stone." _Werner_, act ii. sc. 2, line 279-- "Things which had made this silkworm cast his skin." _Marino Faliero_, act ii. sc. 2, line 115-- "... these swoln silkworms masters." ("Silkworm," as a term of contempt, is an Italianism.) _Werner_, act iii. sc. 1, lines 288, 289-- "I fear that men must draw their chariots, as They say kings did Sesostris'." _Age of Bronze_, line 45-- "The new Sesostris, whose unharnessed kings." _Werner_, act iii. sc. 3, lines 10, 11-- "... while the knoll Of long-lived parents." _Childe Harold_, Canto III. stanza xcvi. lines 5, 6-- "... is the knoll Of what in me is sleepless." (Byron is the authority for the use of "knoll" as a substantive.) Or, compare the statement (see act i. sc. 1, line 213, _sq._) that "A great personage ... is drowned below the ford, with five post-horses, A monkey and a mastiff--and a valet," with the corresponding passage in _Kruitzner_ and in Byron's unfinished fragment; and note that "the monkey, the mastiff, and the valet," which formed part of Byron's retinue in 1821, are conspicuous by their absence from Miss Lee's story and the fragment. Space precludes the quotation of further parallels, and for specimens of a score of passages which proclaim their author the following lines must suffice:-- Act i. sc. 1, lines 163-165-- "... although then My passions were all living serpents, and Twined like the Gorgon's round me." Act iii. sc. 1, lines 264-268-- "... sound him with the gem; 'Twill sink into his venal soul like lead Into the deep, and bring up slime and mud. And ooze, too, from the bottom, as the lead doth With its greased understratum." _Did_ Byron write _Werner_, or was it the Duchess of Devonshire? (For a correspondence on the subject, see _Literature_, August 12, 19, 26, September 9, 1899.) TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS GOETHE BY ONE OF HIS HUMBLEST ADMIRERS, THIS TRAGEDY IS DEDICATED. PREFACE The following drama is taken entirely from the _German's Tale, Kruitzner_, published many years ago in "Lee's _Canterbury Tales_" written (I believe) by two sisters, of whom one furnished only this story and another, both of which are considered superior to the remainder of the collection.[159] I have adopted the characters, plan, and even the language of many parts of this story. Some of the characters are modified or altered, a few of the names changed, and one character (Ida of Stralenheim) added by myself: but in the rest the original is chiefly followed. When I was young (about fourteen, I think,) I first read this tale, which made a deep impression upon me; and may, indeed, be said to contain the germ of much that I have since written. I am not sure that it ever was very popular; or, at any rate, its popularity has since been eclipsed by that of other great writers in the same department. But I have generally found that those who _had_ read it, agreed with me in their estimate of the singular power of mind and conception which it developes. I should also add _conception_, rather than execution; for the story might, perhaps, have been developed with greater advantage. Amongst those whose opinions agreed with mine upon this story, I could mention some very high names: but it is not necessary, nor indeed of any use; for every one must judge according to his own feelings. I merely refer the reader to the original story, that he may see to what extent I have borrowed from it; and am not unwilling that he should find much greater pleasure in perusing it than the drama which is founded upon its contents. I had begun a drama upon this tale so far back as 1815, (the first I ever attempted, except one at thirteen years old, called "Ulric and Ilvina," which I had sense enough to burn,) and had nearly completed an act, when I was interrupted by circumstances. This is somewhere amongst my papers in England; but as it has not been found, I have re-written the first, and added the subsequent acts. The whole is neither intended, nor in any shape adapted, for the stage[cm]. DRAMATIS PERSONAE. MEN. WERNER. ULRIC. STRALENHEIM. IDENSTEIN. GABOR. FRITZ. HENRICK. ERIC. ARNHEIM. MEISTER. RODOLPH. LUDWIG. WOMEN. JOSEPHINE. IDA STRALENHEIM. SCENE--Partly on the Frontier of Silesia, and partly in Siegendorf Castle, near Prague. Time--_The Close of the Thirty Years' War_[160]. WERNER; OR, THE INHERITANCE. ACT I. SCENE I.--_The Hall of a decayed Palace near a small Town on the Northern Frontier of Silesia--the Night tempestuous_. WERNER _and_ JOSEPHINE, _his Wife_. _Jos._ My love, be calmer! _Wer._ I am calm. _Jos._ To me-- Yes, but not to thyself: thy pace is hurried, And no one walks a chamber like to ours, With steps like thine, when his heart is at rest. Were it a garden, I should deem thee happy, And stepping with the bee from flower to flower; But _here!_ _Wer._ 'Tis chill; the tapestry lets through The wind to which it waves: my blood is frozen. _Jos._ Ah, no! _Wer._ (_smiling_). Why! wouldst thou have it so? _Jos._ I would Have it a healthful current. _Wer._ Let it flow 10 Until 'tis spilt or checked--how soon, I care not. _Jos._ And am I nothing in thy heart? _Wer._ All--all. _Jos._ Then canst thou wish for that which must break mine? _Wer._ (_approaching her slowly_). But for _thee_ I had been--no matter what-- But much of good and evil; what I am, Thou knowest; what I might or should have been, Thou knowest not: but still I love thee, nor Shall aught divide us. [WERNER _walks on abruptly, and then approaches_ JOSEPHINE. The storm of the night, Perhaps affects me; I'm a thing of feelings, And have of late been sickly, as, alas! 20 Thou know'st by sufferings more than mine, my Love! In watching me. _Jos._ To see thee well is much-- To see thee happy---- _Wer._ Where hast thou seen such? Let me be wretched with the rest! _Jos._ But think How many in this hour of tempest shiver Beneath the biting wind and heavy rain, Whose every drop bows them down nearer earth, Which hath no chamber for them save beneath Her surface. _Wer._ And that's not the worst: who cares For chambers? rest is all. The wretches whom 30 Thou namest--aye, the wind howls round them, and The dull and dropping rain saps in their bones The creeping marrow. I have been a soldier, A hunter, and a traveller, and am A beggar, and should know the thing thou talk'st of. _Jos._ And art thou not now sheltered from them all? _Wer._ Yes. And from these alone. _Jos._ And that is something. _Wer._ True--to a peasant.[cn] _Jos._ Should the nobly born Be thankless for that refuge which their habits Of early delicacy render more 40 Needful than to the peasant, when the ebb Of fortune leaves them on the shoals of life? _Wer._ It is not that, thou know'st it is not: we Have borne all this, I'll not say patiently, Except in thee--but we have borne it. _Jos._ Well? _Wer._ Something beyond our outward sufferings (though These were enough to gnaw into our souls) Hath stung me oft, and, more than ever, _now_. When, but for this untoward sickness, which Seized me upon this desolate frontier, and 50 Hath wasted, not alone my strength, but means, And leaves us--no! this is beyond me!--but For this I had been happy--_thou_ been happy-- The splendour of my rank sustained--my name-- My father's name--been still upheld; and, more Than those---- _Jos._ (_abruptly_). My son--our son--our Ulric, Been clasped again in these long-empty arms, And all a mother's hunger satisfied. Twelve years! he was but eight then:--beautiful He was, and beautiful he must be now, 60 My Ulric! my adored! _Wer._ I have been full oft The chase of Fortune; now she hath o'ertaken My spirit where it cannot turn at bay,-- Sick, poor, and lonely. _Jos._ Lonely! my dear husband? _Wer._ Or worse--involving all I love, in this Far worse than solitude. _Alone_, I had died, And all been over in a nameless grave. _Jos._ And I had not outlived thee; but pray take Comfort! We have struggled long; and they who strive With Fortune win or weary her at last, 70 So that they find the goal or cease to feel Further. Take comfort,--we shall find our boy. _Wer._ We were in sight of him, of every thing Which could bring compensation for past sorrow-- And to be baffled thus! _Jos._ We are not baffled. _Wer._ Are we not penniless? _Jos._ We ne'er were wealthy. _Wer._ But I was born to wealth, and rank, and power; Enjoyed them, loved them, and, alas! abused them, And forfeited them by my father's wrath, In my o'er-fervent youth: but for the abuse 80 Long-sufferings have atoned. My father's death Left the path open, yet not without snares. This cold and creeping kinsman, who so long Kept his eye on me, as the snake upon The fluttering bird, hath ere this time outstept me, Become the master of my rights, and lord Of that which lifts him up to princes in Dominion and domain. _Jos._ Who knows? our son May have returned back to his grandsire, and Even now uphold thy rights for thee? _Wer._ 'Tis hopeless. 90 Since his strange disappearance from my father's, Entailing, as it were, my sins upon Himself, no tidings have revealed his course. I parted with him to his grandsire, on The promise that his anger would stop short Of the third generation; but Heaven seems To claim her stern prerogative, and visit Upon my boy his father's faults and follies. _Jos._ I must hope better still,--at least we have yet Baffled the long pursuit of Stralenheim. 100 _Wer._ We should have done, but for this fatal sickness;-- More fatal than a mortal malady, Because it takes not life, but life's sole solace: Even now I feel my spirit girt about By the snares of this avaricious fiend:-- How do I know he hath not tracked us here? _Jos._ He does not know thy person; and his spies, Who so long watched thee, have been left at Hamburgh. Our unexpected journey, and this change Of name, leaves all discovery far behind: 110 None hold us here for aught save what we seem. _Wer._ Save what we seem! save what we _are_--sick beggars, Even to our very hopes.--Ha! ha! _Jos._ Alas! That bitter laugh! _Wer._ _Who_ would read in this form The high soul of the son of a long line? _Who_, in this garb, the heir of princely lands? _Who_, in this sunken, sickly eye, the pride Of rank and ancestry? In this worn cheek And famine-hollowed brow, the Lord of halls Which daily feast a thousand vassals? _Jos._ You 120 Pondered not thus upon these worldly things, My Werner! when you deigned to choose for bride The foreign daughter of a wandering exile. _Wer._ An exile's daughter with an outcast son, Were a fit marriage: but I still had hopes To lift thee to the state we both were born for. Your father's house was noble, though decayed; And worthy by its birth to match with ours. _Jos._ Your father did not think so, though 'twas noble; But had my birth been all my claim to match 130 With thee, I should have deemed it what it is. _Wer._ And what is that in thine eyes? _Jos._ All which it Has done in our behalf,--nothing. _Wer._ How,--nothing? _Jos._ Or worse; for it has been a canker in Thy heart from the beginning: but for this, We had not felt our poverty but as Millions of myriads feel it--cheerfully; But for these phantoms of thy feudal fathers, Thou mightst have earned thy bread, as thousands earn it; Or, if that seem too humble, tried by commerce, 140 Or other civic means, to amend thy fortunes. _Wer._ (_ironically_). And been an Hanseatic burgher? Excellent! _Jos._ Whate'er thou mightest have been, to me thou art What no state high or low can ever change, My heart's first choice;--which chose thee, knowing neither Thy birth, thy hopes, thy pride; nought, save thy sorrows: While they last, let me comfort or divide them: When they end--let mine end with them, or thee! _Wer._ My better angel! Such I have ever found thee; This rashness, or this weakness of my temper, 150 Ne'er raised a thought to injure thee or thine. Thou didst not mar my fortunes: my own nature In youth was such as to unmake an empire, Had such been my inheritance; but now, Chastened, subdued, out-worn, and taught to know Myself,--to lose this for our son and thee! Trust me, when, in my two-and-twentieth spring, My father barred me from my father's house, The last sole scion of a thousand sires (For I was then the last), it hurt me less 160 Than to behold my boy and my boy's mother Excluded in their innocence from what My faults deserved-exclusion; although then My passions were all living serpents,[161] and Twined like the Gorgon's round me. [_A loud knocking is heard_. _Jos._ Hark! _Wer._ A knocking! _Jos._ Who can it be at this lone hour? We have Few visitors. _Wer._ And poverty hath none, Save those who come to make it poorer still. Well--I am prepared. [WERNER _puts his hand into his bosom, as if to search for some weapon_. _Jos._ Oh! do not look so. I Will to the door. It cannot be of import 170 In this lone spot of wintry desolation:-- The very desert saves man from mankind. [_She goes to the door_. _Enter_ IDENSTEIN. _Iden._ A fair good evening to my fair hostess And worthy----What's your name, my friend? _Wer._ Are you Not afraid to demand it? _Iden._ Not afraid? Egad! I am afraid. You look as if I asked for something better than your name, By the face you put on it. _Wer._ Better, sir! _Iden._ Better or worse, like matrimony: what Shall I say more? You have been a guest this month 180 Here in the prince's palace--(to be sure, His Highness had resigned it to the ghosts And rats these twelve years--but 'tis still a palace)-- I say you have been our lodger, and as yet We do not know your name. _Wer._ My name is Werner[162]. _Iden._ A goodly name, a very worthy name, As e'er was gilt upon a trader's board: I have a cousin in the lazaretto Of Hamburgh, who has got a wife who bore The same. He is an officer of trust, 190 Surgeon's assistant (hoping to be surgeon), And has done miracles i' the way of business. Perhaps you are related to my relative? _Wer._ To yours? _Jos._ Oh, yes; we are, but distantly. (_Aside to_ WERNER.) Cannot you humour the dull gossip till We learn his purpose? _Iden._ Well, I'm glad of that; I thought so all along, such natural yearnings Played round my heart:--blood is not water, cousin; And so let's have some wine, and drink unto Our better acquaintance: relatives should be 200 Friends. _Wer._ You appear to have drunk enough already; And if you have not, I've no wine to offer, Else it were yours: but this you know, or should know: You see I am poor, and sick, and will not see That I would be alone; but to your business! What brings you here? _Iden._ Why, what should bring me here? _Wer._ I know not, though I think that I could guess That which will send you hence. _Jos._ (_aside_). Patience, dear Werner! _Iden._ You don't know what has happened, then? _Jos._ How should we? _Iden._ The river has o'erflowed. _Jos._ Alas! we have known 210 That to our sorrow for these five days; since It keeps us here. _Iden._ But what you don't know is, That a great personage, who fain would cross Against the stream and three postilions' wishes, Is drowned below the ford, with five post-horses, A monkey, and a mastiff--and a valet[163]. _Jos._ Poor creatures! are you sure? _Iden._ Yes, of the monkey, And the valet, and the cattle; but as yet We know not if his Excellency's dead Or no; your noblemen are hard to drown, 220 As it is fit that men in office should be; But what is certain is, that he has swallowed Enough of the Oder[164] to have burst two peasants; And now a Saxon and Hungarian traveller, Who, at their proper peril, snatched him from The whirling river, have sent on to crave A lodging, or a grave, according as It may turn out with the live or dead body. _Jos._ And where will you receive him? here, I hope, If we can be of service--say the word. 230 _Iden._ Here? no; but in the Prince's own apartment, As fits a noble guest:--'tis damp, no doubt, Not having been inhabited these twelve years; But then he comes from a much damper place, So scarcely will catch cold in't, if he be Still liable to cold--and if not, why He'll be worse lodged to-morrow: ne'ertheless, I have ordered fire and all appliances To be got ready for the worst--that is, In case he should survive. _Jos._ Poor gentleman! 240 I hope he will, with all my heart. _Wer._ Intendant, Have you not learned his name? (_Aside to his wife_.) My Josephine, Retire: I'll sift this fool. [_Exit_ JOSEPHINE. _Iden._ His name? oh Lord! Who knows if he hath now a name or no? 'Tis time enough to ask it when he's able To give an answer; or if not, to put His heir's upon his epitaph. Methought Just now you chid me for demanding names? _Wer._ True, true, I did so: you say well and wisely. _Enter_ GABOR.[165] _Gab._ If I intrude, I crave---- _Iden._ Oh, no intrusion! 250 This is the palace; this a stranger like Yourself; I pray you make yourself at home: But where's his Excellency? and how fares he? _Gab._ Wetly and wearily, but out of peril: He paused to change his garments in a cottage (Where I doffed mine for these, and came on hither), And has almost recovered from his drenching. He will be here anon. _Iden._ What ho, there! bustle! Without there, Herman, Weilburg, Peter, Conrad! [_Gives directions to different servants who enter_. A nobleman sleeps here to-night--see that 260 All is in order in the damask chamber-- Keep up the stove--I will myself to the cellar-- And Madame Idenstein (my consort, stranger,) Shall furnish forth the bed-apparel; for, To say the truth, they are marvellous scant of this Within the palace precincts, since his Highness Left it some dozen years ago. And then His Excellency will sup, doubtless? _Gab._ Faith! I cannot tell; but I should think the pillow Would please him better than the table, after 270 His soaking in your river: but for fear Your viands should be thrown away, I mean To sup myself, and have a friend without Who will do honour to your good cheer with A traveller's appetite. _Iden._ But are you sure His Excellency----But his name: what is it? _Gab._ I do not know. _Iden._ And yet you saved his life. _Gab._ I helped my friend to do so. _Iden._ Well, that's strange, To save a man's life whom you do not know. _Gab._ Not so; for there are some I know so well, 280 I scarce should give myself the trouble. _Iden._ Pray, Good friend, and who may you be? _Gab._ By my family, Hungarian. _Iden._ Which is called? _Gab._ It matters little. _Iden._ (_aside_). I think that all the world are grown anonymous, Since no one cares to tell me what he's called! Pray, has his Excellency a large suite? _Gab._ Sufficient. _Iden._ How many? _Gab._ I did not count them. We came up by mere accident, and just In time to drag him through his carriage window. _Iden._ Well, what would I give to save a great man! 290 No doubt you'll have a swingeing sum as recompense. _Gab._ Perhaps. _Iden._ Now, how much do you reckon on? _Gab._ I have not yet put up myself to sale: In the mean time, my best reward would be A glass of your[166] Hockcheimer--a _green_ glass, Wreathed with rich grapes and Bacchanal devices, O'erflowing with the oldest of your vintage: For which I promise you, in case you e'er Run hazard of being drowned, (although I own It seems, of all deaths, the least likely for you,) 300 I'll pull you out for nothing. Quick, my friend, And think, for every bumper I shall quaff, A wave the less may roll above your head. _Iden._ (_aside_). I don't much like this fellow--close and dry He seems,--two things which suit me not; however, Wine he shall have; if that unlocks him not, I shall not sleep to-night for curiosity. [_Exit_ IDENSTEIN. _Gab._ (_to_ WERNER). This master of the ceremonies is The intendant of the palace, I presume: 'Tis a fine building, but decayed. _Wer._ The apartment 310 Designed for him you rescued will be found In fitter order for a sickly guest. _Gab._ I wonder then you occupied it not, For you seem delicate in health. _Wer._ (_quickly_). Sir! _Gab._ Pray Excuse me: have I said aught to offend you? _Wer._ Nothing: but we are strangers to each other. _Gab._ And that's the reason I would have us less so: I thought our bustling guest without had said You were a chance and passing guest, the counterpart Of me and my companions. _Wer._ Very true. 320 _Gab._ Then, as we never met before, and never, It may be, may again encounter, why, I thought to cheer up this old dungeon here (At least to me) by asking you to share The fare of my companions and myself. _Wer._ Pray, pardon me; my health---- _Gab._ Even as you please. I have been a soldier, and perhaps am blunt In bearing. _Wer._ I have also served, and can Requite a soldier's greeting. _Gab._ In what service? The Imperial? _Wer._ (_quickly, and then interrupting himself_). I commanded--no--I mean 330 I served; but it is many years ago, When first Bohemia[167] raised her banner 'gainst The Austrian. _Gab._ Well, that's over now, and peace Has turned some thousand gallant hearts adrift To live as they best may: and, to say truth, Some take the shortest. _Wer._ What is that? _Gab._ Whate'er They lay their hands on. All Silesia and Lusatia's woods are tenanted by bands Of the late troops, who levy on the country Their maintenance: the Chatelains must keep 340 Their castle walls--beyond them 'tis but doubtful Travel for your rich Count or full-blown Baron. My comfort is that, wander where I may, I've little left to lose now. _Wer._ And I--nothing. _Gab._ That's harder still. You say you were a soldier. _Wer._ I was. _Gab._ You look one still. All soldiers are Or should be comrades, even though enemies. Our swords when drawn must cross, our engines aim (While levelled) at each other's hearts; but when A truce, a peace, or what you will, remits 350 The steel into its scabbard, and lets sleep The spark which lights the matchlock, we are brethren. You are poor and sickly--I am not rich, but healthy; I want for nothing which I cannot want; You seem devoid of this--wilt share it? [GABOR _pulls out his purse_. _Wer._ Who Told you I was a beggar? _Gab._ You yourself, In saying you were a soldier during peace-time. _Wer._ (_looking at him with suspicion_). You know me not. _Gab._ I know no man, not even Myself: how should I then know one I ne'er Beheld till half an hour since? _Wer._ Sir, I thank you. 360 Your offer's noble were it to a friend, And not unkind as to an unknown stranger, Though scarcely prudent; but no less I thank you. I am a beggar in all save his trade; And when I beg of any one, it shall be Of him who was the first to offer what Few can obtain by asking. Pardon me. [_Exit_ WERNER. _Gab._ (_solus_). A goodly fellow by his looks, though worn As most good fellows are, by pain or pleasure, Which tear life out of us before our time; 370 I scarce know which most quickly: but he seems To have seen better days, as who has not Who has seen yesterday?--But here approaches Our sage intendant, with the wine: however, For the cup's sake I'll bear the cupbearer. _Enter_ IDENSTEIN. _Iden._ 'Tis here! the _supernaculum!_[168] twenty years Of age, if 'tis a day. _Gab._ Which epoch makes Young women and old wine; and 'tis great pity, Of two such excellent things, increase of years, Which still improves the one, should spoil the other. 380 Fill full--Here's to our hostess!--your fair wife! [_Takes the glass_. _Iden._ Fair!--Well, I trust your taste in wine is equal To that you show for beauty; but I pledge you Nevertheless. _Gab._ Is not the lovely woman I met in the adjacent hall, who, with An air, and port, and eye, which would have better Beseemed this palace in its brightest days (Though in a garb adapted to its present Abandonment), returned my salutation-- Is not the same your spouse? _Iden._ I would she were! 390 But you're mistaken:--that's the stranger's wife. _Gab._ And by her aspect she might be a Prince's; Though time hath touched her too, she still retains Much beauty, and more majesty. _Iden._ And that Is more than I can say for Madame Idenstein, At least in beauty: as for majesty, She has some of its properties which might Be spared--but never mind! _Gab._ I don't. But who May be this stranger? He too hath a bearing Above his outward fortunes. _Iden._ There I differ. 400 He's poor as Job, and not so patient; but Who he may be, or what, or aught of him, Except his name (and that I only learned To-night), I know not. _Gab._ But how came he here? _Iden._ In a most miserable old caleche, About a month since, and immediately Fell sick, almost to death. He should have died. _Gab._ Tender and true!--but why? _Iden._ Why, what is life Without a living? He has not a stiver.[co] _Gab._ In that case, I much wonder that a person 410 Of your apparent prudence should admit Guests so forlorn into this noble mansion. _Iden._ That's true: but pity, as you know, _does_ make One's heart commit these follies; and besides, They had some valuables left at that time, Which paid their way up to the present hour; And so I thought they might as well be lodged Here as at the small tavern, and I gave them The run of some of the oldest palace rooms. They served to air them, at the least as long 420 As they could pay for firewood. _Gab._ Poor souls! _Iden._ Aye, Exceeding poor. _Gab._ And yet unused to poverty, If I mistake not. Whither were they going? _Iden._ Oh! Heaven knows where, unless to Heaven itself. Some days ago that looked the likeliest journey For Werner. _Gab._ Werner! I have heard the name. But it may be a feigned one. _Iden._ Like enough! But hark! a noise of wheels and voices, and A blaze of torches from without. As sure As destiny, his Excellency's come. 430 I must be at my post; will you not join me, To help him from his carriage, and present Your humble duty at the door? _Gab._ I dragged him From out that carriage when he would have given His barony or county to repel The rushing river from his gurgling throat. He has valets now enough: they stood aloof then, Shaking their dripping ears upon the shore, All roaring "Help!" but offering none; and as For _duty_ (as you call it)--I did mine _then_, 440 Now do _yours_. Hence, and bow and cringe him here! _Iden._ _I_ cringe!--but I shall lose the opportunity-- Plague take it! he'll be _here_, and I _not there!_ [_Exit_ IDENSTEIN _hastily_. _Re-enter_ WERNER. _Wer._ (_to himself_). I heard a noise of wheels and voices. How All sounds now jar me! [_Perceiving_ GABOR. Still here! Is he not A spy of my pursuer's? His frank offer So suddenly, and to a stranger, wore The aspect of a secret enemy; For friends are slow at such. _Gab._ Sir, you seem rapt; And yet the time is not akin to thought. 450 These old walls will be noisy soon. The baron, Or count (or whatsoe'er this half drowned noble May be), for whom this desolate village and Its lone inhabitants show more respect Than did the elements, is come. _Iden._ (_without_). This way-- This way, your Excellency:--have a care, The staircase is a little gloomy, and Somewhat decayed; but if we had expected So high a guest--Pray take my arm, my Lord! _Enter_ STRALENHEIM, IDENSTEIN, _and Attendants--partly his own, and partly Retainers of the Domain of which_ IDENSTEIN _is Intendant_. _Stral._ I'll rest here a moment. _Iden._ (_to the servants_). Ho! a chair! 460 Instantly, knaves. [STRALENHEIM _sits down_. _Wer._ (_aside_). Tis he! _Stral._ I'm better now. Who are these strangers? _Iden._ Please you, my good Lord, One says he is no stranger. _Wer._ (_aloud and hastily_). _Who_ says that? [_They look at him with surprise_. _Iden._ Why, no one spoke _of you_, or _to you_!--but Here's one his Excellency may be pleased To recognise. [_Pointing to_ GABOR. _Gab._ I seek not to disturb His noble memory. _Stral._ I apprehend This is one of the strangers to whose aid[cp] I owe my rescue. Is not that the other? [_Pointing to_ WERNER. My state when I was succoured must excuse 470 My uncertainty to whom I owe so much. _Iden._ He!--no, my Lord! he rather wants for rescue Than can afford it. 'Tis a poor sick man, Travel-tired, and lately risen from a bed From whence he never dreamed to rise. _Stral._ Methought That there were two. _Gab._ There were, in company; But, in the service rendered to your Lordship, I needs must say but _one_, and he is absent. The chief part of whatever aid was rendered Was _his_: it was his fortune to be first. 480 My will was not inferior, but his strength And youth outstripped me; therefore do not waste Your thanks on me. I was but a glad second Unto a nobler principal. _Stral._ Where is he? _An Atten._ My Lord, he tarried in the cottage where Your Excellency rested for an hour, And said he would be here to-morrow. _Stral._ Till That hour arrives, I can but offer thanks, And then---- _Gab._ I seek no more, and scarce deserve So much. My comrade may speak for himself. 490 _Stral._ (_fixing his eyes upon_ WERNER: _then aside_). It cannot be! and yet he must be looked to. 'Tis twenty years since I beheld him with These eyes; and, though my agents still have kept _Theirs_ on him, policy has held aloof My own from his, not to alarm him into Suspicion of my plan. Why did I leave At Hamburgh those who would have made assurance If this be he or no? I thought, ere now, To have been lord of Siegendorf, and parted In haste, though even the elements appear 500 To fight against me, and this sudden flood May keep me prisoner here till---- [_He pauses and looks at_ WERNER: _then resumes_. This man must Be watched. If it is he, he is so changed, His father, rising from his grave again, Would pass by him unknown. I must be wary: An error would spoil all. _Iden._ Your Lordship seems Pensive. Will it not please you to pass on? _Stral._ 'Tis past fatigue, which gives my weighed-down spirit An outward show of thought. I will to rest. _Iden._ The Prince's chamber is prepared, with all 510 The very furniture the Prince used when Last here, in its full splendour. (_Aside_). Somewhat tattered, And devilish damp, but fine enough by torch-light; And that's enough for your right noble blood Of twenty quarterings upon a hatchment; So let their bearer sleep 'neath something like one Now, as he one day will for ever lie. _Stral._ (_rising and turning to_ GABOR). Good night, good people! Sir, I trust to-morrow Will find me apter to requite your service. In the meantime I crave your company 520 A moment in my chamber. _Gab._ I attend you. _Stral_, (_after a few steps, pauses, and calls_ WERNER). Friend! _Wer._ Sir! _Iden._ _Sir!_ Lord--oh Lord! Why don't you say His Lordship, or his Excellency? Pray, My Lord, excuse this poor man's want of breeding: He hath not been accustomed to admission To such a presence. _Stral._ (_to_ IDENSTEIN). Peace, intendant! _Iden._ Oh! I am dumb. _Stral._ (_to_ WERNER). Have you been long here? _Wer._ Long? _Stral._ I sought An answer, not an echo. _Wer._ You may seek Both from the walls. I am not used to answer Those whom I know not. _Stral._ Indeed! Ne'er the less, 530 You might reply with courtesy to what Is asked in kindness. _Wer._ When I know it such I will requite--that is, _reply_--in unison. _Stral._ The intendant said, you had been detained by sickness-- If I could aid you--journeying the same way? _Wer._ (_quickly_). I am not journeying the same way! _Stral._ How know ye That, ere you know my route? _Wer._ Because there is But one way that the rich and poor must tread Together. You diverged from that dread path Some hours ago, and I some days: henceforth 540 Our roads must lie asunder, though they tend All to one home. _Stral._ Your language is above Your station. _Wer._ (_bitterly_). Is it? _Stral._ Or, at least, beyond Your garb. _Wer._ 'Tis well that it is not beneath it, As sometimes happens to the better clad. But, in a word, what would you with me? _Stral._ (_startled_). I? _Wer._ Yes--you! You know me not, and question me, And wonder that I answer not--not knowing My inquisitor. Explain what you would have, And then I'll satisfy yourself, or me. 550 _Stral._ I knew not that you had reasons for reserve. _Wer._ Many have such:--Have you none? _Stral._ None which can Interest a mere stranger. _Wer._ Then forgive The same unknown and humble stranger, if He wishes to remain so to the man Who can have nought in common with him. _Stral._ Sir, I will not balk your humour, though untoward: I only meant you service--but good night! Intendant, show the way! (_To_ GABOR.) Sir, you will with me? [_Exeunt_ STRALENHEIM _and Attendants_; IDENSTEIN _and_ GABOR. _Wer._ (_solus_). 'Tis he! I am taken in the toils. Before 560 I quitted Hamburg, Giulio, his late steward, Informed me, that he had obtained an order From Brandenburg's elector, for the arrest Of Kruitzner (such the name I then bore) when I came upon the frontier; the free city Alone preserved my freedom--till I left Its walls--fool that I was to quit them! But I deemed this humble garb, and route obscure, Had baffled the slow hounds in their pursuit. What's to be done? He knows me not by person; 570 Nor could aught, save the eye of apprehension, Have recognised _him_, after twenty years-- We met so rarely and so coldly in Our youth. But those about him! Now I can Divine the frankness of the Hungarian, who No doubt is a mere tool and spy of Stralenheim's, To sound and to secure me. Without means! Sick, poor--begirt too with the flooding rivers, Impassable even to the wealthy, with All the appliances which purchase modes 580 Of overpowering peril, with men's lives,-- How can I hope! An hour ago methought My state beyond despair; and now, 'tis such, The past seems paradise. Another day, And I'm detected,--on the very eve Of honours, rights, and my inheritance, When a few drops of gold might save me still In favouring an escape. _Enter_ IDENSTEIN _and_ FRITZ _in conversation_. _Fritz_. Immediately. _Iden._ I tell you, 'tis impossible. _Fritz_. It must Be tried, however; and if one express 590 Fail, you must send on others, till the answer Arrives from Frankfort, from the commandant. _Iden._ I will do what I can. _Fritz_. And recollect To spare no trouble; you will be repaid Tenfold. _Iden._ The Baron is retired to rest? _Fritz_. He hath thrown himself into an easy chair Beside the fire, and slumbers; and has ordered He may not be disturbed until eleven, When he will take himself to bed. _Iden._ Before An hour is past I'll do my best to serve him. 600 _Fritz_. Remember! [_Exit_ FRITZ. _Iden._ The devil take these great men! they Think all things made for them. Now here must I Rouse up some half a dozen shivering vassals From their scant pallets, and, at peril of Their lives, despatch them o'er the river towards Frankfort. Methinks the Baron's own experience Some hours ago might teach him fellow-feeling: But no, "it _must_" and there's an end. How now? Are you there, Mynheer Werner? _Wer._ You have left Your noble guest right quickly. _Iden._ Yes--he's dozing, 610 And seems to like that none should sleep besides. Here is a packet for the Commandant Of Frankfort, at all risks and all expenses; But I must not lose time: Good night! [_Exit_ IDEN. _Wer._ "To Frankfort!" So, so, it thickens! Aye, "the Commandant!" This tallies well with all the prior steps Of this cool, calculating fiend, who walks Between me and my father's house. No doubt He writes for a detachment to convey me Into some secret fortress.--Sooner than 620 This---- [WERNER _looks around, and snatches up a knife lying on a table in a recess_. Now I am master of myself at least. Hark,--footsteps! How do I know that Stralenheim Will wait for even the show of that authority Which is to overshadow usurpation? That he suspects me 's certain. I'm alone-- He with a numerous train: I weak--he strong In gold, in numbers, rank, authority. I nameless, or involving in my name Destruction, till I reach my own domain; He full-blown with his titles, which impose 630 Still further on these obscure petty burghers Than they could do elsewhere. Hark! nearer still! I'll to the secret passage, which communicates With the----No! all is silent--'twas my fancy!-- Still as the breathless interval between The flash and thunder:--I must hush my soul Amidst its perils. Yet I will retire, To see if still be unexplored the passage I wot of: it will serve me as a den Of secrecy for some hours, at the worst. 640 [WERNER _draws a panel, and exit, closing it after him_. _Enter_ GABOR _and_ JOSEPHINE. _Gab._ Where is your husband? _Jos._ _Here_, I thought: I left him Not long since in his chamber. But these rooms Have many outlets, and he may be gone To accompany the Intendant. _Gab._ Baron Stralenheim Put many questions to the Intendant on The subject of your lord, and, to be plain, I have my doubts if he means well. _Jos._ Alas! What can there be in common with the proud And wealthy Baron, and the unknown Werner? _Gab._ That you know best. _Jos._ Or, if it were so, how 650 Come you to stir yourself in his behalf, Rather than that of him whose life you saved? _Gab._ I helped to save him, as in peril; but I did not pledge myself to serve him in Oppression. I know well these nobles, and Their thousand modes of trampling on the poor. I have proved them; and my spirit boils up when I find them practising against the weak:-- This is my only motive. _Jos._ It would be Not easy to persuade my consort of 660 Your good intentions. _Gab._ Is he so suspicious? _Jos._ He was not once; but time and troubles have Made him what you beheld. _Gab._ I'm sorry for it. Suspicion is a heavy armour, and With its own weight impedes more than protects. Good night! I trust to meet with him at day-break. [_Exit_ GABOR. _Re-enter_ IDENSTEIN _and some Peasants_. JOSEPHINE _retires up the Hall_. _First Peasant_. But if I'm drowned? _Iden._ Why, you will be well paid for 't, And have risked more than drowning for as much, I doubt not. _Second Peasant_. But our wives and families? _Iden._ Cannot be worse off than they are, and may 670 Be better. _Third Peasant_. I have neither, and will venture. _Iden._ That's right. A gallant carle, and fit to be A soldier. I'll promote you to the ranks In the Prince's body-guard--if you succeed: And you shall have besides, in sparkling coin, Two thalers. _Third Peasant_. No more! _Iden._ Out upon your avarice! Can that low vice alloy so much ambition? I tell thee, fellow, that two thalers in Small change will subdivide into a treasure. Do not five hundred thousand heroes daily 680 Risk lives and souls for the tithe of one thaler? When had you half the sum? _Third Peasant_. Never--but ne'er The less I must have three. _Iden._ Have you forgot Whose vassal you were born, knave? _Third Peasant_. No--the Prince's, And not the stranger's. _Iden._ Sirrah! in the Prince's Absence, I am sovereign; and the Baron is My intimate connection;--"Cousin Idenstein! (Quoth he) you'll order out a dozen villains." And so, you villains! troop--march--march, I say; And if a single dog's ear of this packet 690 Be sprinkled by the Oder--look to it! For every page of paper, shall a hide Of yours be stretched as parchment on a drum, Like Ziska's skin,[169] to beat alarm to all Refractory vassals, who can not effect Impossibilities.--Away, ye earth-worms! [_Exit, driving them out_. _Jos._ (_coming forward_). I fain would shun these scenes, too oft repeated, Of feudal tyranny o'er petty victims; I cannot aid, and will not witness such. Even here, in this remote, unnamed, dull spot, 700 The dimmest in the district's map, exist The insolence of wealth in poverty O'er something poorer still--the pride of rank In servitude, o'er something still more servile; And vice in misery affecting still A tattered splendour. What a state of being! In Tuscany, my own dear sunny land, Our nobles were but citizens and merchants,[170] Like Cosmo. We had evils, but not such As these; and our all-ripe and gushing valleys 710 Made poverty more cheerful, where each herb Was in itself a meal, and every vine Rained, as it were, the beverage which makes glad The heart of man; and the ne'er unfelt sun (But rarely clouded, and when clouded, leaving His warmth behind in memory of his beams) Makes the worn mantle, and the thin robe, less Oppressive than an emperor's jewelled purple. But, here! the despots of the north appear To imitate the ice-wind of their clime, 720 Searching the shivering vassal through his rags, To wring his soul--as the bleak elements His form. And 'tis to be amongst these sovereigns My husband pants! and such his pride of birth-- That twenty years of usage, such as no Father born in a humble state could nerve His soul to persecute a son withal, Hath changed no atom of his early nature; But I, born nobly also, from my father's Kindness was taught a different lesson. Father! 730 May thy long-tried and now rewarded spirit Look down on us and our so long desired Ulric! I love my son, as thou didst me! What's that? Thou, Werner! can it be? and thus? _Enter_ WERNER _hastily, with the knife in his hand, by the secret panel, which he closes hurriedly after him_. _Wer._ (_not at first recognising her_). Discovered! then I'll stab--(_recognising her_). Ah! Josephine Why art thou not at rest? _Jos._ What rest? My God! What doth this mean? _Wer._ (_showing a rouleau_). Here's _gold_--_gold_, Josephine, Will rescue us from this detested dungeon. _Jos._ And how obtained?--that knife! _Wer._ 'Tis bloodless--_yet_. Away--we must to our chamber. _Jos._ But whence comest thou? 740 _Wer._ Ask not! but let us think where we shall go-- This--this will make us way--(_showing the gold_)--I'll fit them now. _Jos._ I dare not think thee guilty of dishonour. _Wer._ Dishonour! _Jos._ I have said it. _Wer._ Let us hence: 'Tis the last night, I trust, that we need pass here. _Jos._ And not the worst, I hope. _Wer._ Hope! I make _sure_. But let us to our chamber. _Jos._ Yet one question-- What hast thou _done_? _Wer._ (_fiercely_). Left one thing _undone_, which Had made all well: let me not think of it! Away! _Jos._ Alas that I should doubt of thee! 750 [_Exeunt_. ACT II. SCENE I.--_A Hall in the same Palace_. _Enter_ IDENSTEIN _and Others_. _Iden._ Fine doings! goodly doings! honest doings! A Baron pillaged in a Prince's palace! Where, till this hour, such a sin ne'er was heard of. _Fritz_. It hardly could, unless the rats despoiled The mice of a few shreds of tapestry. _Iden._ Oh! that I e'er should live to see this day! The honour of our city's gone for ever. _Fritz_. Well, but now to discover the delinquent: The Baron is determined not to lose This sum without a search. _Iden._ And so am I. 10 _Fritz_. But whom do you suspect? _Iden._ Suspect! all people Without--within--above--below--Heaven help me! _Fritz_. Is there no other entrance to the chamber? _Iden._ None whatsoever. _Fritz_. Are you sure of that? _Iden._ Certain. I have lived and served here since my birth, And if there were such, must have heard of such, Or seen it. _Fritz_. Then it must be some one who Had access to the antechamber. _Iden._ Doubtless. _Fritz_. The man called _Werner's_ poor! _Iden._ Poor as a miser[171]. But lodged so far off, in the other wing, 20 By which there's no communication with The baron's chamber, that it can't be he. Besides, I bade him "good night" in the hall, Almost a mile off, and which only leads To his own apartment, about the same time When this burglarious, larcenous felony Appears to have been committed. _Fritz_. There's another, The stranger---- _Iden._ The Hungarian? _Fritz_. He who helped To fish the baron from the Oder. _Iden._ Not Unlikely. But, hold--might it not have been 30 One of the suite? _Fritz_. How? _We_, sir! _Iden._ No--not _you_, But some of the inferior knaves. You say The Baron was asleep in the great chair-- The velvet chair--in his embroidered night-gown; His toilet spread before him, and upon it A cabinet with letters, papers, and Several rouleaux of gold; of which _one_ only Has disappeared:--the door unbolted, with No difficult access to any. _Fritz_. Good sir, Be not so quick; the honour of the corps 40 Which forms the Baron's household's unimpeached From steward to scullion, save in the fair way Of peculation; such as in accompts, Weights, measures, larder, cellar, buttery, Where all men take their prey; as also in Postage of letters, gathering of rents, Purveying feasts, and understanding with The honest trades who furnish noble masters[cq]; But for your petty, picking, downright thievery, We scorn it as we do board wages. Then 50 Had one of our folks done it, he would not Have been so poor a spirit as to hazard His neck for _one_ rouleau, but have swooped all; Also the cabinet, if portable. _Iden._ There is some sense in that---- _Fritz_. No, Sir, be sure 'Twas none of our corps; but some petty, trivial Picker and stealer, without art or genius. The only question is--Who else could have Access, save the Hungarian and yourself? _Iden._ You don't mean me? _Fritz_. No, sir; I honour more 60 Your talents---- _Iden._ And my principles, I hope. _Fritz_. Of course. But to the point: What's to be done? _Iden._ Nothing--but there's a good deal to be said. We'll offer a reward; move heaven and earth, And the police (though there's none nearer than Frankfort); post notices in manuscript (For we've no printer); and set by my clerk To read them (for few can, save he and I). We'll send out villains to strip beggars, and Search empty pockets; also, to arrest 70 All gipsies, and ill-clothed and sallow people. Prisoners we'll have at least, if not the culprit; And for the Baron's gold--if 'tis not found, At least he shall have the full satisfaction Of melting twice its substance in the raising The ghost of this rouleau. Here's alchemy For your Lord's losses! _Fritz_. He hath found a better. _Iden._ _Where?_ _Fritz_. In a most immense inheritance. The late Count Siegendorf, his distant kinsman, Is dead near Prague, in his castle, and my Lord 80 Is on his way to take possession. _Iden._ Was there No heir? _Fritz_. Oh, yes; but he has disappeared Long from the world's eye, and, perhaps, the world. A prodigal son, beneath his father's ban For the last twenty years; for whom his sire Refused to kill the fatted calf; and, therefore, If living, he must chew the husks still. But The Baron would find means to silence him, Were he to re-appear: he's politic, And has much influence with a certain court. 90 _Iden._ He's fortunate. _Fritz_. 'Tis true, there is a grandson, Whom the late Count reclaimed from his son's hands, And educated as his heir; but, then, His birth is doubtful. _Iden._ How so? _Fritz_. His sire made A left-hand, love, imprudent sort of marriage, With an Italian exile's dark-eyed daughter: Noble, they say, too; but no match for such A house as Siegendorf's. The grandsire ill Could brook the alliance; and could ne'er be brought To see the parents, though he took the son. 100 _Iden._ If he's a lad of mettle, he may yet Dispute your claim, and weave a web that may Puzzle your Baron to unravel. _Fritz_. Why, For mettle, he has quite enough: they say, He forms a happy mixture of his sire And grandsire's qualities,--impetuous as The former, and deep as the latter; but The strangest is, that he too disappeared Some months ago. _Iden._ The devil he did! _Fritz_. Why, yes: It must have been at _his_ suggestion, at 110 An hour so critical as was the eve Of the old man's death, whose heart was broken by it. _Iden._ Was there no cause assigned? _Fritz_. Plenty, no doubt, And none, perhaps, the true one. Some averred It was to seek his parents; some because The old man held his spirit in so strictly (But that could scarce be, for he doted on him); A third believed he wished to serve in war, But, peace being made soon after his departure, He might have since returned, were that the motive; 120 A fourth set charitably have surmised, As there was something strange and mystic in him, That in the wild exuberance of his nature He had joined the black bands[172], who lay waste Lusatia, The mountains of Bohemia and Silesia, Since the last years of war had dwindled into A kind of general condottiero system Of bandit-warfare; each troop with its chief, And all against mankind. _Iden._ That cannot be. A young heir, bred to wealth and luxury, 130 To risk his life and honours with disbanded Soldiers and desperadoes! _Fritz_. Heaven best knows! But there are human natures so allied Unto the savage love of enterprise, That they will seek for peril as a pleasure. I've heard that nothing can reclaim your Indian, Or tame the tiger, though their infancy Were fed on milk and honey. After all, Your Wallenstein, your Tilly and Gustavus, Your Bannier, and your Torstenson and Weimar[173], 140 Were but the same thing upon a grand scale; And now that they are gone, and peace proclaimed, They who would follow the same pastime must Pursue it on their own account. Here comes The Baron, and the Saxon stranger, who Was his chief aid in yesterday's escape, But did not leave the cottage by the Oder Until this morning. _Enter_ STRALENHEIM _and_ ULRIC. _Stral._ Since you have refused All compensation, gentle stranger, save Inadequate thanks, you almost check even them, 150 Making me feel the worthlessness of words, And blush at my own barren gratitude, They seem so niggardly, compared with what Your courteous courage did in my behalf---- _Ulr._ I pray you press the theme no further. _Stral._ But Can I not serve you? You are young, and of That mould which throws out heroes; fair in favour; Brave, I know, by my living now to say so; And, doubtlessly, with such a form and heart, Would look into the fiery eyes of War, 160 As ardently for glory as you dared An obscure death to save an unknown stranger, In an as perilous, but opposite, element. You are made for the service: I have served; Have rank by birth and soldiership, and friends, Who shall be yours. 'Tis true this pause of peace Favours such views at present scantily; But 'twill not last, men's spirits are too stirring; And, after thirty years of conflict, peace Is but a petty war, as the time shows us 170 In every forest, or a mere armed truce. War will reclaim his own; and, in the meantime, You might obtain a post, which would ensure A higher soon, and, by my influence, fail not To rise. I speak of Brandenburgh, wherein I stand well with the Elector[174]; in Bohemia, Like you, I am a stranger, and we are now Upon its frontier. _Ulr._ You perceive my garb Is Saxon, and, of course, my service due To my own Sovereign. If I must decline 180 Your offer, 'tis with the same feeling which Induced it. _Stral._ Why, this is mere usury! I owe my life to you, and you refuse The acquittance of the interest of the debt, To heap more obligations on me, till I bow beneath them. _Ulr._ You shall say so when I claim the payment. _Stral._ Well, sir, since you will not-- You are nobly born? _Ulr._ I have heard my kinsmen say so. _Stral._ Your actions show it. Might I ask your name? _Ulr._ Ulric. _Stral._ Your house's? _Ulr._ When I'm worthy of it, 190 I'll answer you. _Stral._ (_aside_). Most probably an Austrian, Whom these unsettled times forbid to boast His lineage on these wild and dangerous frontiers, Where the name of his country is abhorred. [_Aloud to_ FRITZ _and_ IDENSTEIN. So, sirs! how have ye sped in your researches? _Iden._ Indifferent well, your Excellency. _Stral._ Then I am to deem the plunderer is caught? _Iden._ Humph!--not exactly. _Stral._ Or, at least, suspected? _Iden._ Oh! for that matter, very much suspected. _Stral._ Who may he be? _Iden._ Why, don't _you_ know, my Lord? 200 _Stral._ How should I? I was fast asleep. _Iden._ And so Was I--and that's the cause I know no more Than does your Excellency. _Stral._ Dolt! _Iden._ Why, if Your Lordship, being robbed, don't recognise The rogue; how should I, not being robbed, identify The thief among so many? In the crowd, May it please your Excellency, your thief looks Exactly like the rest, or rather better: 'Tis only at the bar and in the dungeon, That wise men know your felon by his features; 210 But I'll engage, that if seen there but once, Whether he be found criminal or no, His face shall be so. _Stral._ (_to_ FRITZ). Prithee, Fritz, inform me What hath been done to trace the fellow? _Fritz_. Faith! My Lord, not much as yet, except conjecture. _Stral._ Besides the loss (which, I must own, affects me Just now materially), I needs would find The villain out of public motives; for So dexterous a spoiler, who could creep Through my attendants, and so many peopled 220 And lighted chambers, on my rest, and snatch The gold before my scarce-closed eyes, would soon Leave bare your borough, Sir Intendant! _Iden._ True; If there were aught to carry off, my Lord. _Ulr._ What is all this? _Stral._ You joined us but this morning, And have not heard that I was robbed last night. _Ulr._ Some rumour of it reached me as I passed The outer chambers of the palace, but I know no further. _Stral._ It is a strange business: The Intendant can inform you of the facts. 230 _Iden._ Most willingly. You see---- _Stral._ (_impatiently_). Defer your tale, Till certain of the hearer's patience. _Iden._ That Can only be approved by proofs. You see---- _Stral._ (_again interrupting him, and addressing_ ULRIC). In short, I was asleep upon my chair, My cabinet before me, with some gold Upon it (more than I much like to lose, Though in part only): some ingenious person Contrived to glide through all my own attendants, Besides those of the place, and bore away A hundred golden ducats, which to find 240 I would be fain, and there's an end. Perhaps You (as I still am rather faint) would add To yesterday's great obligation, this, Though slighter, yet not slight, to aid these men (Who seem but lukewarm) in recovering it? _Ulr._ Most willingly, and without loss of time-- (_To_ IDENSTEIN.) Come hither, mynheer! _Iden._ But so much haste bodes Right little speed, and---- _Ulr._ Standing motionless None; so let's march: we'll talk as we go on. _Iden._ But---- _Ulr._ Show the spot, and then I'll answer you. 250 _Fritz_. I will, sir, with his Excellency's leave. _Stral._ Do so, and take yon old ass with you. _Fritz_. Hence! _Ulr._ Come on, old oracle, expound thy riddle! [_Exit with_ IDENSTEIN _and_ FRITZ. _Stral._ (_solus_). A stalwart, active, soldier-looking stripling, Handsome as Hercules ere his first labour, And with a brow of thought beyond his years When in repose, till his eye kindles up In answering yours. I wish I could engage him: I have need of some such spirits near me now, For this inheritance is worth a struggle. 260 And though I am not the man to yield without one, Neither are they who now rise up between me And my desire. The boy, they say, 's a bold one; But he hath played the truant in some hour Of freakish folly, leaving fortune to Champion his claims. That's well. The father, whom For years I've tracked, as does the blood-hound, never In sight, but constantly in scent, had put me To fault; but _here_ I _have_ him, and that's better. It must be _he_! All circumstance proclaims it; 270 And careless voices, knowing not the cause Of my enquiries, still confirm it.--Yes! The man, his bearing, and the mystery Of his arrival, and the time; the account, too, The Intendant gave (for I have not beheld her) Of his wife's dignified but foreign aspect; Besides the antipathy with which we met, As snakes and lions shrink back from each other By secret instinct that both must be foes Deadly, without being natural prey to either; 280 All--all--confirm it to my mind. However, We'll grapple, ne'ertheless. In a few hours The order comes from Frankfort, if these waters Rise not the higher (and the weather favours Their quick abatement), and I'll have him safe Within a dungeon, where he may avouch His real estate and name; and there's no harm done, Should he prove other than I deem. This robbery (Save for the actual loss) is lucky also; He's poor, and that's suspicious--he's unknown, 290 And that's defenceless.--True, we have no proofs Of guilt--but what hath he of innocence? Were he a man indifferent to my prospects, In other bearings, I should rather lay The inculpation on the Hungarian, who Hath something which I like not; and alone Of all around, except the Intendant, and The Prince's household and my own, had ingress Familiar to the chamber. _Enter_ GABOR. Friend, how fare you? _Gab._ As those who fare well everywhere, when they 300 Have supped and slumbered, no great matter how-- And you, my Lord? _Stral._ Better in rest than purse: Mine inn is like to cost me dear. _Gab._ I heard Of your late loss; but 'tis a trifle to One of your order. _Stral._ You would hardly think so, Were the loss yours. _Gab._ I never had so much (At once) in my whole life, and therefore am not Fit to decide. But I came here to seek you. Your couriers are turned back--I have outstripped them, In my return. _Stral._ You!--Why? _Gab._ I went at daybreak, 310 To watch for the abatement of the river, As being anxious to resume my journey. Your messengers were all checked like myself; And, seeing the case hopeless, I await The current's pleasure. _Stral._ Would the dogs were in it! Why did they not, at least, attempt the passage? I ordered this at all risks. _Gab._ Could you order The Oder to divide, as Moses did The Red Sea (scarcely redder than the flood Of the swoln stream), and be obeyed, perhaps 320 They might have ventured. _Stral._ I must see to it: The knaves! the slaves!--but they shall smart for this. [_Exit_ STRALENHEIM. _Gab._ (_solus_). There goes my noble, feudal, self-willed Baron! Epitome of what brave chivalry The preux Chevaliers of the good old times Have left us. Yesterday he would have given His lands[175] (if he hath any), and, still dearer, His sixteen quarterings, for as much fresh air As would have filled a bladder, while he lay Gurgling and foaming half way through the window 330 Of his o'erset and water-logged conveyance; And now he storms at half a dozen wretches Because they love their lives too! Yet, he's right: 'Tis strange they should, when such as he may put them To hazard at his pleasure. Oh, thou world! Thou art indeed a melancholy jest! [_Exit_ GABOR. SCENE II.--_The Apartment of_ WERNER, _in the Palace_. _Enter_ JOSEPHINE _and_ ULRIC. _Jos._ Stand back, and let me look on thee again! My Ulric!--my beloved!--can it be-- After twelve years? _Ulr._ My dearest mother! _Jos._ Yes! My dream is realised--how beautiful!-- How more than all I sighed for! Heaven receive A mother's thanks! a mother's tears of joy! This is indeed thy work!--At such an hour, too, He comes not only as a son, but saviour. _Ulr._ If such a joy await me, it must double What I now feel, and lighten from my heart 10 A part of the long debt of duty, not Of love (for that was ne'er withheld)--forgive me! This long delay was not my fault. _Jos._ I know it, But cannot think of sorrow now, and doubt If I e'er felt it, 'tis so dazzled from My memory by this oblivious transport!-- My son! _Enter_ WERNER. _Wer._ What have we here,--more strangers?-- _Jos._ No! Look upon him! What do you see? _Wer._ A stripling, For the first time-- _Ulr._ (_kneeling_). For twelve long years, my father! _Wer._ Oh, God! _Jos._ He faints! _Wer._ No--I am better now-- 20 Ulric! (_Embraces him_.) _Ulr._ My father, Siegendorf! _Wer._ (_starting_). Hush! boy-- The walls may hear that name! _Ulr._ What then? _Wer._ Why, then-- But we will talk of that anon. Remember, I must be known here but as Werner. Come! Come to my arms again! Why, thou look'st all I should have been, and was not. Josephine! Sure 'tis no father's fondness dazzles me; But, had I seen that form amid ten thousand Youth of the choicest, my heart would have chosen This for my son! _Ulr._ And yet you knew me not! 30 _Wer._ Alas! I have had that upon my soul Which makes me look on all men with an eye That only knows the evil at first glance. _Ulr._ My memory served me far more fondly: I Have not forgotten aught; and oft-times in The proud and princely halls of--(I'll not name them, As you say that 'tis perilous)--but i' the pomp Of your sire's feudal mansion, I looked back To the Bohemian mountains many a sunset, And wept to see another day go down 40 O'er thee and me, with those huge hills between us. They shall not part us more. _Wer._ I know not that. Are you aware my father is no more? _Ulr._ Oh, Heavens! I left him in a green old age, And looking like the oak, worn, but still steady Amidst the elements, whilst younger trees Fell fast around him. 'Twas scarce three months since. _Wer._ Why did you leave him? _Jos._ (_embracing_ ULRIC). Can you ask that question? Is he not _here_? _Wer._ True; he hath sought his parents, And found them; but, oh! _how_, and in what state! 50 _Ulr._ All shall be bettered. What we have to do Is to proceed, and to assert our rights, Or rather yours; for I waive all, unless Your father has disposed in such a sort Of his broad lands as to make mine the foremost, So that I must prefer my claim for form: But I trust better, and that all is yours. _Wer._ Have you not heard of Stralenheim? _Ulr._ I saved His life but yesterday: he's here. _Wer._ You saved The serpent who will sting us all! _Ulr._ You speak 60 Riddles: what is this Stralenheim to us? _Wer._ Every thing. One who claims our father's lands: Our distant kinsman, and our nearest foe. _Ulr._ I never heard his name till now. The Count, Indeed, spoke sometimes of a kinsman, who, If his own line should fail, might be remotely Involved in the succession; but his titles Were never named before me--and what then? His right must yield to ours. _Wer._ Aye, if at Prague: But here he is all-powerful; and has spread 70 Snares for thy father, which, if hitherto He hath escaped them, is by fortune, not By favour. _Ulr._ Doth he personally know you? _Wer._ No; but he guesses shrewdly at my person, As he betrayed last night; and I, perhaps, But owe my temporary liberty To his uncertainty. _Ulr._ I think you wrong him (Excuse me for the phrase); but Stralenheim Is not what you prejudge him, or, if so, He owes me something both for past and present. 80 I saved his life, he therefore trusts in me. He hath been plundered too, since he came hither: Is sick, a stranger, and as such not now Able to trace the villain who hath robbed him: I have pledged myself to do so; and the business Which brought me here was chiefly that:[176] but I Have found, in searching for another's dross, My own whole treasure--you, my parents! _Wer._ (_agitatedly_). Who Taught you to mouth that name of "villain?" _Ulr._ What More noble name belongs to common thieves? 90 _Wer._ Who taught you thus to brand an unknown being With an infernal stigma? _Ulr._ My own feelings Taught me to name a ruffian from his deeds. _Wer._ Who taught you, long-sought and ill-found boy! that It would be safe for my own son to insult me? _Ulr._ I named a villain. What is there in common With such a being and my father? _Wer._ Every thing! That ruffian is thy father![177] _Jos._ Oh, my son! Believe him not--and yet!--(_her voice falters_.) _Ulr._ (_starts, looks earnestly at_ WERNER _and then says slowly_) And you avow it? _Wer._ Ulric, before you dare despise your father, 100 Learn to divine and judge his actions. Young, Rash, new to life, and reared in Luxury's lap, Is it for you to measure Passion's force, Or Misery's temptation? Wait--(not long, It cometh like the night, and quickly)--Wait!-- Wait till, like me, your hopes are blighted[178] till Sorrow and Shame are handmaids of your cabin-- Famine and Poverty your guests at table; Despair your bed-fellow--then rise, but not From sleep, and judge! Should that day e'er arrive-- 110 Should you see then the Serpent, who hath coiled Himself around all that is dear and noble Of you and yours, lie slumbering in your path, With but _his_ folds between your steps and happiness, When _he_, who lives but to tear from you name, Lands, life itself, lies at your mercy, with Chance your conductor--midnight for your mantle-- The bare knife in your hand, and earth asleep, Even to your deadliest foe; and he as 'twere Inviting death, by looking like it, while 120 His death alone can save you:--Thank your God! If then, like me, content with petty plunder, You turn aside----I did so. _Ulr._ But---- _Wer._ (_abruptly_). Hear me! I will not brook a human voice--scarce dare Listen to my own (if that be human still)-- Hear me! you do not know this man--I do.[179] He's mean, deceitful, avaricious. You Deem yourself safe, as young and brave; but learn None are secure from desperation, few From subtilty. My worst foe, Stralenheim, 130 Housed in a Prince's palace, couched within A Prince's chamber, lay below my knife! An instant--a mere motion--the least impulse-- Had swept him and all fears of mine from earth. He was within my power--my knife was raised-- Withdrawn--and I'm in his:--are you not so? Who tells you that he knows you _not?_ Who says He hath not lured you here to end you? or To plunge you, with your parents, in a dungeon? [_He pauses_. _Ulr._ Proceed--proceed! _Wer._ _Me_ he hath ever known, 140 And hunted through each change of time--name--fortune-- And why not _you?_ Are you more versed in men? He wound snares round me; flung along my path Reptiles, whom, in my youth, I would have spurned Even from my presence; but, in spurning now, Fill only with fresh venom. Will you be More patient? Ulric!--Ulric!--there are crimes Made venial by the occasion, and temptations Which nature cannot master or forbear.[180] _Ulr._ (_who looks first at him and then at_ JOSEPHINE). My mother! _Wer._ Ah! I thought so: you have now 150 Only one parent. I have lost alike Father and son, and stand alone. _Ulr._ But stay! [WERNER _rushes out of the chamber_. _Jos._ (_to_ ULRIC). Follow him not, until this storm of passion Abates. Think'st thou, that were it well for him, I had not followed? _Ulr._ I obey you, mother, Although reluctantly. My first act shall not Be one of disobedience. _Jos._ Oh! he is good! Condemn him not from his own mouth, but trust To me, who have borne so much with him, and for him, That this is but the surface of his soul, 160 And that the depth is rich in better things. _Ulr._ These then are but my father's principles[181]? My mother thinks not with him? _Jos._ Nor doth he Think as he speaks. Alas! long years of grief Have made him sometimes thus. _Ulr._ Explain to me More clearly, then, these claims of Stralenheim, That, when I see the subject in its bearings, I may prepare to face him, or at least To extricate you from your present perils. I pledge myself to accomplish this--but would 170 I had arrived a few hours sooner! _Jos._ Aye! Hadst thou but done so! _Enter_ GABOR _and_ IDENSTEIN, _with Attendants_. _Gab._ (_to_ ULRIC). I have sought you, comrade. So this is my reward! _Ulr._ What do you mean? _Gab._ 'Sdeath! have I lived to these years, and for this! (_To_ IDENSTEIN.) But for your age and folly, I would---- _Iden._ Help! Hands off! Touch an Intendant! _Gab._ Do not think I'll honour you so much as save your throat From the Ravenstone[182] by choking you myself. _Iden._ I thank you for the respite: but there are Those who have greater need of it than me. 180 _Ulr._ Unriddle this vile wrangling, or---- _Gab._ At once, then, The Baron has been robbed, and upon me This worthy personage has deigned to fix His kind suspicions--me! whom he ne'er saw Till yester evening. _Iden._ Wouldst have me suspect My own acquaintances? You have to learn That I keep better company. _Gab._ You shall Keep the best shortly, and the last for all men, The worms! You hound of malice! [GABOR _seizes on him_. _Ulr._ (_interfering_). Nay, no violence: He's old, unarmed--be temperate, Gabor! _Gab._ (_letting go_ IDENSTEIN). True: 190 I am a fool to lose myself because Fools deem me knave: it is their homage. _Ulr._ (_to_ IDENSTEIN). How Fare you? _Iden._ Help! _Ulr._ I _have_ helped you. _Iden._ Kill him! then I'll say so. _Gab._ I am calm--live on! _Iden._ That's more Than you shall do, if there be judge or judgment In Germany. The Baron shall decide! _Gab._ Does _he_ abet you in your accusation? _Iden._ Does he not? _Gab._ Then next time let him go sink Ere I go hang for snatching him from drowning. But here he comes! _Enter_ STRALENHEIM. _Gab._ (_goes up to him_). My noble Lord, I'm here! 200 _Stral._ Well, sir! _Gab._ Have you aught with me? _Stral._ What should I Have with you? _Gab._ You know best, if yesterday's Flood has not washed away your memory; But that's a trifle. I stand here accused, In phrases not equivocal, by yon Intendant, of the pillage of your person Or chamber:--is the charge your own or his? _Stral._ I accuse no man. _Gab._ Then you acquit me, Baron? _Stral._ I know not whom to accuse, or to acquit, Or scarcely to suspect. _Gab._ But you at least 210 Should know whom _not_ to suspect. I am insulted-- Oppressed here by these menials, and I look To you for remedy--teach them their duty! To look for thieves at home were part of it, If duly taught; but, in one word, if I Have an accuser, let it be a man Worthy to be so of a man like me. I am your equal. _Stral._ You! _Gab._ Aye, sir; and, for Aught that you know, superior; but proceed-- I do not ask for hints, and surmises, 220 And circumstance, and proof: I know enough Of what I have done for you, and what you owe me, To have at least waited your payment rather Than paid myself, had I been eager of Your gold. I also know, that were I even The villain I am deemed, the service rendered So recently would not permit you to Pursue me to the death, except through shame, Such as would leave your scutcheon but a blank. But this is nothing: I demand of you 230 Justice upon your unjust servants, and From your own lips a disavowal of All sanction of their insolence: thus much You owe to the unknown, who asks no more, And never thought to have asked so much. _Stral._ This tone May be of innocence. _Gab._ 'Sdeath! who dare doubt it, Except such villains as ne'er had it? _Stral._ You Are hot, sir. _Gab._ Must I turn an icicle Before the breath of menials, and their master[cr]? _Stral._ Ulric! you know this man; I found him in 240 _Your_ company. _Gab._ We found _you_ in the Oder; Would we had left you there! _Stral._ I give you thanks, sir. _Gab._ I've earned them; but might have earned more from others, Perchance, if I had left you to your fate. _Stral._ Ulric! you know this man? _Gab._ No more than you do If he avouches not my honour. _Ulr._ I Can vouch your courage, and, as far as my Own brief connection led me, honour. _Stral._ Then I'm satisfied. _Gab._ (_ironically_). Right easily, methinks. What is the spell in his asseveration 250 More than in mine? _Stral._ I merely said that _I_ Was satisfied--not that you are absolved. _Gab._ Again! Am I accused or no? _Stral._ Go to! You wax too insolent. If circumstance And general suspicion be against you, Is the fault mine? Is't not enough that I Decline all question of your guilt or innocence? _Gab._ My Lord, my Lord, this is mere cozenage[183], A vile equivocation; you well know Your doubts are certainties to all around you-- 260 Your looks a voice--your frowns a sentence; you Are practising your power on me--because You have it; but beware! you know not whom You strive to tread on. _Stral._ Threat'st thou? _Gab._ Not so much As you accuse. You hint the basest injury, And I retort it with an open warning. _Stral._ As you have said, 'tis true I owe you something, For which you seem disposed to pay yourself. _Gab._ Not with your gold. _Stral._ With bootless insolence. [_To his Attendants and_ IDENSTEIN. You need not further to molest this man, 270 But let him go his way. Ulric, good morrow! [_Exit_ STRALENHEIM, IDENSTEIN, _and Attendants_. _Gab._ (_following_). I'll after him and---- _Ulr._ (_stopping him_). Not a step. _Gab._ Who shall Oppose me? _Ulr._ Your own reason, with a moment's Thought. _Gab._ Must I bear this? _Ulr._ Pshaw! we all must bear The arrogance of something higher than Ourselves--the highest cannot temper Satan, Nor the lowest his vicegerents upon earth. I've seen you brave the elements, and bear Things which had made this silkworm[184] cast his skin-- And shrink you from a few sharp sneers and words? 280 _Gab._ Must I bear to be deemed a thief? If 'twere A bandit of the woods, I could have borne it-- There's something daring in it:--but to steal The moneys of a slumbering man!-- _Ulr._ It seems, then, You are _not_ guilty. _Gab._ Do I hear aright? _You_ too! _Ulr._ I merely asked a simple question. _Gab._ If the judge asked me, I would answer "No"-- To you I answer _thus_. [_He draws_. _Ulr._ (_drawing_). With all my heart! _Jos._ Without there! Ho! help! help!--Oh, God! here's murder! [_Exit_ JOSEPHINE, _shrieking_. GABOR _and_ ULRIC _fight_. GABOR _is disarmed just as_ STRALENHEIM, JOSEPHINE, IDENSTEIN, _etc., re-enter_. _Jos._ Oh! glorious Heaven! He's safe! _Stral._ (_to_ JOSEPHINE). _Who's_ safe! _Jos._ My---- _Ulr._ (_interrupting her with a stern look, and turning afterwards to_ STRALENHEIM). Both! 290 Here's no great harm done. _Stral._ What hath caused all this? _Ulr._ _You_, Baron, I believe; but as the effect Is harmless, let it not disturb you.--Gabor! There is your sword; and when you bare it next, Let it not be against your _friends_. [ULRIC _pronounces the last words slowly and emphatically in a low voice to_ GABOR. _Gab._ I thank you Less for my life than for your counsel. _Stral._ These Brawls must end here. _Gab._ (_taking his sword_). They _shall_. You've wronged me, Ulric, More with your unkind thoughts than sword: I would The last were in my bosom rather than The first in yours. I could have borne yon noble's 300 Absurd insinuations--ignorance And dull suspicion are a part of his Entail will last him longer than his lands-- But I may fit _him_ yet:--you have vanquished me. I was the fool of passion to conceive That I could cope with you, whom I had seen Already proved by greater perils than Rest in this arm. We may meet by and by, However--but in friendship. [_Exit_ GABOR. _Stral._ I will brook No more! This outrage following upon his insults, 310 Perhaps his guilt, has cancelled all the little I owed him heretofore for the so-vaunted Aid which he added to your abler succour. Ulric, you are not hurt?-- _Ulr._ Not even by a scratch. _Stral._ (_to_ IDENSTEIN). Intendant! take your measures to secure Yon fellow: I revoke my former lenity. He shall be sent to Frankfort with an escort, The instant that the waters have abated. _Iden._ Secure him! He hath got his sword again---- And seems to know the use on't; 'tis his trade, 320 Belike;--_I'm_ a civilian. _Stral._ Fool! are not Yon score of vassals dogging at your heels Enough to seize a dozen such? Hence! after him! _Ulr._ Baron, I do beseech you! _Stral._ I must be Obeyed. No words! _Iden._ Well, if it must be so-- March, vassals! I'm your leader, and will bring The rear up: a wise general never should Expose his precious life--on which all rests. I like that article of war. [_Exit_ IDENSTEIN _and Attendants_. _Stral._ Come hither, Ulric; what does that woman here? Oh! now 330 I recognise her, 'tis the stranger's wife Whom they _name_ "Werner." _Ulr._ 'Tis his name. _Stral._ Indeed! Is not your husband visible, fair dame?-- _Jos._ Who seeks him? _Stral._ No one--for the present: but I fain would parley, Ulric, with yourself Alone. _Ulr._ I will retire with you. _Jos._ Not so: You are the latest stranger, and command All places here. (_Aside to_ ULRIC, _as she goes out_.) O Ulric! have a care-- Remember what depends on a rash word! _Ulr._ (_to_ JOSEPHINE). Fear not!-- [_Exit_ JOSEPHINE. _Stral._ Ulric, I think that I may trust you; 340 You saved my life--and acts like these beget Unbounded confidence. _Ulr._ Say on. _Stral._ Mysterious And long-engendered circumstances (not To be now fully entered on) have made This man obnoxious--perhaps fatal to me. _Ulr._ Who? Gabor, the Hungarian? _Stral._ No--this "Werner"-- With the false name and habit. _Ulr._ How can this be? He is the poorest of the poor--and yellow Sickness sits caverned in his hollow eye[cs]: The man is helpless. _Stral._ He is--'tis no matter;-- 350 But if he be the man I deem (and that He is so, all around us here--and much That is not here--confirm my apprehension) He must be made secure ere twelve hours further. _Ulr._ And what have I to do with this? _Stral._ I have sent To Frankfort, to the Governor, my friend, (I have the authority to do so by An order of the house of Brandenburgh), For a fit escort--but this cursed flood Bars all access, and may do for some hours. 360 _Ulr._ It is abating. _Stral._ That is well. _Ulr._ But how Am I concerned? _Stral._ As one who did so much For me, you cannot be indifferent to That which is of more import to me than The life you rescued.--Keep your eye on _him_! The man avoids me, knows that I now know him.-- Watch him!--as you would watch the wild boar when He makes against you in the hunter's gap-- Like him he must be speared. _Ulr._ Why so? _Stral._ He stands Between me and a brave inheritance! 370 Oh! could you see it! But you shall. _Ulr._ I hope so. _Stral._ It is the richest of the rich Bohemia, Unscathed by scorching war. It lies so near The strongest city, Prague, that fire and sword Have skimmed it lightly: so that now, besides Its own exuberance, it bears double value Confronted with whole realms far and near Made deserts. _Ulr._ You describe it faithfully. _Stral._ Aye--could you see it, you would say so--but, As I have said, you shall. _Ulr._ I accept the omen. 380 _Stral._ Then claim a recompense from it and me, Such as _both_ may make worthy your acceptance And services to me and mine for ever. _Ulr._ And this sole, sick, and miserable wretch-- This way-worn stranger--stands between you and This Paradise?--(As Adam did between The devil and his)--[_Aside_]. _Stral._ He doth. _Ulr._ Hath he no right? _Stral._ Right! none. A disinherited prodigal, Who for these twenty years disgraced his lineage In all his acts--but chiefly by his marriage, 390 And living amidst commerce-fetching burghers, And dabbling merchants, in a mart of Jews. _Ulr._ He has a wife, then? _Stral._ You'd be sorry to Call such your mother. You have seen the woman He _calls_ his wife. _Ulr._ Is she not so? _Stral._ No more Than he's your father:--an Italian girl, The daughter of a banished man, who lives On love and poverty with this same Werner. _Ulr._ They are childless, then? _Stral._ There is or was a bastard, Whom the old man--the grandsire (as old age 400 Is ever doting) took to warm his bosom, As it went chilly downward to the grave: But the imp stands not in my path--he has fled, No one knows whither; and if he had not, His claims alone were too contemptible To stand.--Why do you smile? _Ulr._ At your vain fears: A poor man almost in his grasp--a child Of doubtful birth--can startle a grandee! _Stral._ All's to be feared, where all is to be gained. _Ulr._ True; and aught done to save or to obtain it. 410 _Stral._ You have harped the very string next to my heart[185]. I may depend upon you? _Ulr._ 'Twere too late To doubt it. _Stral._ Let no foolish pity shake Your bosom (for the appearance of the man Is pitiful)--he is a wretch, as likely To have robbed me as the fellow more suspected, Except that circumstance is less against him; He being lodged far off, and in a chamber Without approach to mine; and, to say truth, I think too well of blood allied to mine, 420 To deem he would descend to such an act: Besides, he was a soldier, and a brave one Once--though too rash. _Ulr._ And they, my Lord, we know By our experience, never plunder till They knock the brains out first--which makes them heirs, Not thieves. The dead, who feel nought, can lose nothing, Nor e'er be robbed: their spoils are a bequest-- No more. _Stral._ Go to! you are a wag. But say I may be sure you'll keep an eye on this man, And let me know his slightest movement towards 430 Concealment or escape. _Ulr._ You may be sure You yourself could not watch him more than I Will be his sentinel. _Stral._ By this you make me Yours, and for ever. _Ulr._ Such is my intention. [_Exeunt_. ACT III. SCENE I.--_A Hall in the same Palace, from whence the secret Passage leads_. _Enter_ WERNER _and_ GABOR. _Gab._ Sir, I have told my tale: if it so please you To give me refuge for a few hours, well-- If not, I'll try my fortune elsewhere. _Wer._ How Can I, so wretched, give to Misery A shelter?--wanting such myself as much As e'er the hunted deer a covert---- _Gab._ Or The wounded lion his cool cave. Methinks You rather look like one would turn at bay, And rip the hunter's entrails. _Wer._ Ah! _Gab._ I care not If it be so, being much disposed to do 10 The same myself. But will you shelter me? I am oppressed like you--and poor like you-- Disgraced---- _Wer._ (_abruptly_). Who told you that I was disgraced? _Gab._ No one; nor did I say _you_ were so: with Your poverty my likeness ended; but I said _I_ was so--and would add, with truth, As undeservedly as _you_. _Wer._ Again! As _I_? _Gab._ Or any other honest man. What the devil would you have? You don't believe me Guilty of this base theft? _Wer._ No, no--I cannot. 20 _Gab._ Why that's my heart of honour! yon young gallant-- Your miserly Intendant and dense noble-- All--all suspected me; and why? because I am the worst clothed, and least named amongst them; Although, were Momus'[186] lattice in your breasts, My soul might brook to open it more widely Than theirs: but thus it is--you poor and helpless-- Both still more than myself. _Wer._ How know you that? _Gab._ You're right: I ask for shelter at the hand Which I call helpless; if you now deny it, 30 I were well paid. But you, who seem to have proved The wholesome bitterness of life, know well, By sympathy, that all the outspread gold Of the New World the Spaniard boasts about Could never tempt the man who knows its worth, Weighed at its proper value in the balance, Save in such guise (and there I grant its power, Because I feel it,) as may leave no nightmare Upon his heart o' nights. _Wer._ What do you mean? _Gab._ Just what I say; I thought my speech was plain: 40 You are no thief--nor I--and, as true men, Should aid each other. _Wer._ It is a damned world, sir. _Gab._ So is the nearest of the two next, as The priests say (and no doubt they should know best), Therefore I'll stick by this--as being both To suffer martyrdom, at least with such An epitaph as larceny upon my tomb. It is but a night's lodging which I crave; To-morrow I will try the waters, as The dove did--trusting that they have abated. 50 _Wer._ Abated? Is there hope of that? _Gab._ There was At noontide. _Wer._ Then we may be safe. _Gab._ Are _you_ In peril? _Wer._ Poverty is ever so. _Gab._ That I know by long practice. Will you not Promise to make mine less? _Wer._ Your poverty? _Gab._ No--you don't look a leech for that disorder; I meant my peril only: you've a roof, And I have none; I merely seek a covert. _Wer._ Rightly; for how should such a wretch as I Have gold? _Gab._ Scarce honestly, to say the truth on't, 60 Although I almost wish you had the Baron's. _Wer._ Dare you insinuate? _Gab._ What? _Wer._ Are you aware To whom you speak? _Gab._ No; and I am not used Greatly to care. (_A noise heard without_.) But hark! they come! _Wer._ Who come? _Gab._ The Intendant and his man-hounds after me: I'd face them--but it were in vain to expect Justice at hands like theirs. Where shall I go? But show me any place. I do assure you, If there be faith in man, I am most guiltless: Think if it were your own case! _Wer._ (_aside_). Oh, just God! 70 Thy hell is not hereafter! Am I dust still? _Gab._ I see you're moved; and it shows well in you: I may live to requite it. _Wer._ Are you not A spy of Stralenheim's? _Gab._ Not I! and if I were, what is there to espy in you? Although, I recollect, his frequent question About you and your spouse might lead to some Suspicion; but you best know--what--and why. I am his deadliest foe. _Wer._ _You?_ _Gab._ After such A treatment for the service which in part 80 I rendered him, I am his enemy: If you are not his friend you will assist me. _Wer._ I will. _Gab._ But how? _Wer._ (_showing the panel_). There is a secret spring: Remember, I discovered it by chance, And used it but for safety. _Gab._ Open it, And I will use it for the same. _Wer._ I found it, As I have said: it leads through winding walls, (So thick as to bear paths within their ribs, Yet lose no jot of strength or stateliness,) And hollow cells, and obscure niches, to 90 I know not whither; you must not advance: Give me your word. _Gab._ It is unecessary: How should I make my way in darkness through A Gothic labyrinth of unknown windings? _Wer._ Yes, but who knows to what place it may lead? _I_ know not--(mark you!)--but who knows it might not Lead even into the chamber of your foe? So strangely were contrived these galleries By our Teutonic fathers in old days, When man built less against the elements 100 Than his next neighbour. You must not advance Beyond the two first windings; if you do (Albeit I never passed them,) I'll not answer For what you may be led to. _Gab._ But I will. A thousand thanks! _Wer._ You'll find the spring more obvious On the other side; and, when you would return, It yields to the least touch. _Gab._ I'll in--farewell! [GABOR _goes in by the secret panel_. _Wer._ (_solus_). What have I done? Alas! what _had_ I done Before to make this fearful? Let it be Still some atonement that I save the man, 110 Whose sacrifice had saved perhaps my own-- They come! to seek elsewhere what is before them! _Enter_ IDENSTEIN _and Others_. _Iden._ Is he not here? He must have vanished then Through the dim Gothic glass by pious aid Of pictured saints upon the red and yellow Casements, through which the sunset streams like sunrise On long pearl-coloured beards and crimson crosses. And gilded crosiers, and crossed arms, and cowls, And helms, and twisted armour, and long swords, All the fantastic furniture of windows 120 Dim with brave knights and holy hermits, whose Likeness and fame alike rest in some panes Of crystal, which each rattling wind proclaims As frail as any other life or glory. He's gone, however. _Wer._ Whom do you seek? _Iden._ A villain. _Wer._ Why need you come so far, then? _Iden._ In the search Of him who robbed the Baron. _Wer._ Are you sure You have divined the man? _Iden._ As sure as you Stand there: but where's he gone? _Wer._ Who? _Iden._ He we sought. _Wer._ You see he is not here. _Iden._ And yet we traced him 130 Up to this hall. Are you accomplices? Or deal you in the black art? _Wer._ I deal plainly, To many men the blackest. _Iden._ It may be I have a question or two for yourself Hereafter; but we must continue now Our search for t'other. _Wer._ You had best begin Your inquisition now: I may not be So patient always. _Iden._ I should like to know, In good sooth, if you really are the man That Stralenheim's in quest of. _Wer._ Insolent! 140 Said you not that he was not here? _Iden._ Yes, _one_; But there's another whom he tracks more keenly, And soon, it may be, with authority Both paramount to his and mine. But come! Bustle, my boys! we are at fault. [_Exit_ IDENSTEIN _and Attendants_. _Wer._ In what A maze hath my dim destiny involved me! And one base sin hath done me less ill than The leaving undone one far greater. Down, Thou busy devil, rising in my heart! Thou art too late! I'll nought to do with blood. 150 _Enter_ ULRIC. _Ulr._ I sought you, father. _Wer._ Is't not dangerous? _Ulr._ No; Stralenheim is ignorant of all Or any of the ties between us: more-- He sends me here a spy upon your actions, Deeming me wholly his. _Wer._ I cannot think it: 'Tis but a snare he winds about us both, To swoop the sire and son at once. _Ulr._ I cannot Pause in each petty fear, and stumble at The doubts that rise like briers in our path, But must break through them, as an unarmed carle 160 Would, though with naked limbs, were the wolf rustling In the same thicket where he hewed for bread. Nets are for thrushes, eagles are not caught so: We'll overfly or rend them. _Wer._ Show me _how?_ _Ulr._ Can you not guess? _Wer._ I cannot. _Ulr._ That is strange. Came the thought ne'er into your mind _last night_? _Wer._ I understand you not. _Ulr._ Then we shall never More understand each other. But to change The topic---- _Wer._ You mean to _pursue_ it, as 'Tis of our safety. _Ulr._ Right; I stand corrected. 170 I see the subject now more clearly, and Our general situation in its bearings. The waters are abating; a few hours Will bring his summoned myrmidons from Frankfort, When you will be a prisoner, perhaps worse, And I an outcast, bastardised by practice Of this same Baron to make way for him. _Wer._ And now your remedy! I thought to escape By means of this accursed gold; but now I dare not use it, show it, scarce look on it. 180 Methinks it wears upon its face my guilt For motto, not the mintage of the state; And, for the sovereign's head, my own begirt With hissing snakes, which curl around my temples, And cry to all beholders, Lo! a villain! _Ulr._ You must not use it, at least now; but take This ring. [_He gives_ WERNER _a jewel_. _Wer._ A gem! It was my father's! _Ulr._ And As such is now your own. With this you must Bribe the Intendant for his old caleche And horses to pursue your route at sunrise, 190 Together with my mother. _Wer._ And leave you, So lately found, in peril too? _Ulr._ Fear nothing! The only fear were if we fled together, For that would make our ties beyond all doubt. The waters only lie in flood between This burgh and Frankfort: so far's in our favour The route on to Bohemia, though encumbered, Is not impassable; and when you gain A few hours' start, the difficulties will be The same to your pursuers. Once beyond 200 The frontier, and you're safe. _Wer._ My noble boy! _Ulr._ Hush! hush! no transports: we'll indulge in them In Castle Siegendorf! Display no gold: Show Idenstein the gem (I know the man, And have looked through him): it will answer thus A double purpose. Stralenheim lost _gold_-- _No_ jewel: therefore it could _not_ be his; And then the man who was possest of this Can hardly be suspected of abstracting The Baron's coin, when he could thus convert 210 This ring to more than Stralenheim has lost By his last night's slumber. Be not over timid In your address, nor yet too arrogant, And Idenstein will serve you. _Wer._ I will follow In all things your direction. _Ulr._ I would have Spared you the trouble; but had I appeared To take an interest in you, and still more By dabbling with a jewel in your favour, All had been known at once. _Wer._ My guardian angel! This overpays the past. But how wilt thou 220 Fare in our absence? _Ulr._ Stralenheim knows nothing Of me as aught of kindred with yourself. I will but wait a day or two with him To lull all doubts, and then rejoin my father. _Wer._ To part no more! _Ulr._ I know not that; but at The least we'll meet again once more. _Wer._ My boy! My friend! my only child, and sole preserver! Oh, do not hate me! _Ulr._ Hate my father! _Wer._ Aye, My father hated me. Why not my son? _Ulr._ Your father knew you not as I do. _Wer._ Scorpions 230 Are in thy words! Thou know me? in this guise Thou canst not know me, I am not myself; Yet (hate me not) I will be soon. _Ulr._ I'll _wait!_ In the mean time be sure that all a son Can do for parents shall be done for mine. _Wer._ I see it, and I feel it; yet I feel Further--that you despise me. _Ulr._ Wherefore should I? _Wer._ Must I repeat my humiliation? _Ulr._ No! I have fathomed it and you. But let us talk Of this no more. Or, if it must be ever, 240 Not _now_. Your error has redoubled all The present difficulties of our house At secret war with that of Stralenheim: All we have now to think of is to baffle HIM. I have shown _one_ way. _Wer._ The only one, And I embrace it, as I did my son, Who showed _himself_ and father's _safety_ in One day. _Ulr._ You _shall_ be safe; let that suffice. Would Stralenheim's appearance in Bohemia Disturb your right, or mine, if once we were 250 Admitted to our lands? _Wer._ Assuredly, Situate as we are now; although the first Possessor might, as usual, prove the strongest-- Especially the next in blood. _Ulr._ _Blood_! 'tis A word of many meanings; in the veins, And out of them, it is a different thing-- And so it should be, when the same in blood (As it is called) are aliens to each other, Like Theban brethren:[187] when a part is bad, A few spilt ounces purify the rest. 260 _Wer._ I do not apprehend you. _Ulr._ That may be-- And should, perhaps--and yet--but get ye ready; You and my mother must away to-night. Here comes the Intendant: sound him with the gem; 'Twill sink into his venal soul like lead Into the deep, and bring up slime and mud, And ooze, too, from the bottom, as the lead doth With its greased understratum;[188] but no less Will serve to warn our vessels through these shoals. The freight is rich, so heave the line in time! 270 Farewell! I scarce have time, but yet your _hand_, My father!---- _Wer._ Let me embrace thee! _Ulr._ We may be Observed: subdue your nature to the hour! Keep off from me as from your foe! _Wer._ Accursed Be he who is the stifling cause which smothers The best and sweetest feeling of our hearts; At such an hour too! _Ulr._ Yes, curse--it will ease you! Here is the Intendant. _Enter_ IDENSTEIN. _Ulr._ Master Idenstein, How fare you in your purpose? Have you caught The rogue? _Iden._ No, faith! _Ulr._ Well, there are plenty more: 280 You may have better luck another chase. Where is the Baron? _Iden._ Gone back to his chamber: And now I think on't, asking after you With nobly-born impatience. _Ulr._ Your great men Must be answered on the instant, as the bound Of the stung steed replies unto the spur: 'Tis well they have horses, too; for if they had not, I fear that men must draw their chariots, as They say kings did Sesostris[189]. _Iden._ Who was he? _Ulr._ An old Bohemian--an imperial gipsy. 290 _Iden._ A gipsy or Bohemian, 'tis the same, For they pass by both names. And was he one? _Ulr._ I've heard so; but I must take leave. Intendant, Your servant!--Werner (_to_ WERNER _slightly_), if that be your name, Yours. [_Exit_ ULRIC. _Iden._ A well-spoken, pretty-faced young man! And prettily behaved! He knows his station, You see, sir: how he gave to each his due Precedence! _Wer._ I perceived it, and applaud His just discernment and your own. _Iden._ That's well-- That's very well. You also know your place, too; 300 And yet I don't know that _I_ know your place. _Wer._ (_showing the ring_). Would this assist your knowledge? _Iden._ How!--What!--Eh! A jewel! _Wer._ 'Tis your own on one condition. _Iden._ Mine!--Name it! _Wer._ That hereafter you permit me At thrice its value to redeem it: 'tis A family ring. _Iden._ A family!--_yours!_--a gem! I'm breathless! _Wer._ You must also furnish me, An hour ere daybreak, with all means to quit This place. _Iden._ But is it real? Let me look on it: _Diamond_, by all that's glorious! _Wer._ Come, I'll trust you: 310 You have guessed, no doubt, that I was born above My present seeming. _Iden._ I can't say I did, Though this looks like it: this is the true breeding Of gentle blood! _Wer._ I have important reasons For wishing to continue privily My journey hence. _Iden._ So then _you are_ the man Whom Stralenheim's in quest of? _Wer._ I am not; But being taken for him might conduct So much embarrassment to me just now, And to the Baron's self hereafter--'tis 320 To spare both that I would avoid all bustle. _Iden._ Be you the man or no, 'tis not my business; Besides, I never could obtain the half From this proud, niggardly noble, who would raise The country for some missing bits of coin, And never offer a precise reward--[ct] But _this!_--another look! _Wer._ Gaze on it freely; At day-dawn it is yours. _Iden._ Oh, thou sweet sparkler! Thou more than stone of the philosopher! Thou touch-stone of Philosophy herself! 330 Thou bright eye of the Mine! thou loadstar of The soul! the true magnetic Pole to which All hearts point duly north, like trembling needles! Thou flaming Spirit of the Earth! which, sitting High on the Monarch's Diadem, attractest More worship than the majesty who sweats Beneath the crown which makes his head ache, like Millions of hearts which bleed to lend it lustre! Shalt thou be mine? I am, methinks, already A little king, a lucky alchymist!-- 340 A wise magician, who has bound the devil Without the forfeit of his soul. But come, Werner, or what else? _Wer._ Call me Werner still; You may yet know me by a loftier title. _Iden._ I do believe in thee! thou art the spirit Of whom I long have dreamed in a low garb.-- But come, I'll serve thee; thou shalt be as free As air, despite the waters; let us hence: I'll show thee I am honest--(oh, thou jewel!) Thou shalt be furnished, Werner, with such means 350 Of flight, that if thou wert a snail, not birds[cu] Should overtake thee.--Let me gaze again! I have a foster-brother in the mart Of Hamburgh skilled in precious stones. How many Carats may it weigh?--Come, Werner, I will wing thee. [_Exeunt_. SCENE II.--STRALENHEIM'S _Chamber_. STRALENHEIM _and_ FRITZ. _Fritz_. All's ready, my good Lord! _Stral._ I am not sleepy, And yet I must to bed: I fain would say To rest, but something heavy on my spirit, Too dull for wakefulness, too quick for slumber, Sits on me as a cloud along the sky, Which will not let the sunbeams through, nor yet Descend in rain and end, but spreads itself 'Twixt earth and heaven, like envy between man And man, an everlasting mist:--I will Unto my pillow. _Fritz_. May you rest there well! 10 _Stral._ I feel, and fear, I shall. _Fritz_. And wherefore fear? _Stral._ I know not why, and therefore do fear more, Because an undescribable----but 'tis All folly. Were the locks as I desired Changed, to-day, of this chamber? for last night's Adventure makes it needful. _Fritz_. Certainly, According to your order, and beneath The inspection of myself and the young Saxon Who saved your life. I think they call him "Ulric." _Stral._ You _think!_ you supercilious slave! what right 20 Have you to _tax your_ memory, which should be Quick, proud, and happy to retain the _name_ Of him who saved your master, as a litany Whose daily repetition marks your duty.-- Get hence; "_You think_" indeed! you, who stood still Howling and dripping on the bank, whilst I Lay dying, and the stranger dashed aside The roaring torrent, and restored me to Thank him--and despise you. "_You think!_" and scarce Can recollect his name! I will not waste 30 More words on you. Call me betimes. _Fritz_. Good night! I trust to-morrow will restore your Lordship To renovated strength and temper. [_The scene closes_. SCENE III.--_The secret Passage_. _Gab._ (_solus_). Four-- Five--six hours have I counted, like the guard Of outposts, on the never-merry clock, That hollow tongue[190] of time, which, even when It sounds for joy, takes something from enjoyment With every clang. 'Tis a perpetual knell, Though for a marriage-feast it rings: each stroke Peals for a hope the less; the funeral note Of Love deep-buried, without resurrection, In the grave of Possession; while the knoll[191] 10 Of long-lived parents finds a jovial echo To triple time in the son's ear. I'm cold-- I'm dark;--I've blown my fingers--numbered o'er And o'er my steps--and knocked my head against Some fifty buttresses--and roused the rats And bats in general insurrection, till Their cursed pattering feet and whirling wings Leave me scarce hearing for another sound. A light! It is at distance (if I can Measure in darkness distance): but it blinks 20 As through a crevice or a key-hole, in The inhibited direction: I must on, Nevertheless, from curiosity. A distant lamp-light is an incident In such a den as this. Pray Heaven it lead me To nothing that may tempt me! Else--Heaven aid me To obtain or to escape it! Shining still! Were it the star of Lucifer himself, Or he himself girt with its beams, I could Contain no longer. Softly: mighty well! 30 That corner's turned--so--ah! no;--right! it draws Nearer. Here is a darksome angle--so, That's weathered.--Let me pause.--Suppose it leads Into some greater danger than that which I have escaped--no matter, 'tis a new one; And novel perils, like fresh mistresses, Wear more magnetic aspects:--I will on, And be it where it may--I have my dagger Which may protect me at a pinch.--Burn still, Thou little light! Thou art my _ignis fatuus!_ 40 My stationary Will-o'-the-wisp![192]--So! so! He hears my invocation, and fails not. [_The scene closes_. SCENE IV.--_A Garden_. _Enter_ WERNER. _Wer._ I could not sleep--and now the hour's at hand! All's ready. Idenstein has kept his word; And stationed in the outskirts of the town, Upon the forest's edge, the vehicle Awaits us. Now the dwindling stars begin To pale in heaven; and for the last time I Look on these horrible walls. Oh! never, never Shall I forget them. Here I came most poor, But not dishonoured: and I leave them with A stain,--if not upon my name, yet in 10 My heart!--a never-dying canker-worm, Which all the coming splendour of the lands, And rights, and sovereignty of Siegendorf Can scarcely lull a moment. I must find Some means of restitution, which would ease My soul in part: but how, without discovery?-- It must be done, however; and I'll pause Upon the method the first hour of safety. The madness of my misery led to this Base infamy; repentance must retrieve it: 20 I will have nought of Stralenheim's upon My spirit, though he would grasp all of mine; Lands, freedom, life,--and yet he sleeps as soundly Perhaps, as infancy[193], with gorgeous curtains Spread for his canopy, o'er silken pillows, Such as when----Hark! what noise is that? Again! The branches shake; and some loose stones have fallen From yonder terrace. [ULRIC _leaps down from the terrace_. Ulric! ever welcome! Thrice welcome now! this filial---- _Ulr._ Stop! before We approach, tell me---- _Wer._ Why look you so? _Ulr._ Do I 30 Behold my father, or---- _Wer._ What? _Ulr._ An assassin? _Wer._ Insane or insolent! _Ulr._ Reply, sir, as You prize your life, or mine! _Wer._ To what must I Answer? _Ulr._ Are you or are you not the assassin Of Stralenheim? _Wer._ I never was as yet The murderer of any man. What mean you? _Ulr._ Did not you _this_ night (as the night before) Retrace the secret passage? Did you not _Again_ revisit Stralenheim's chamber? and---- [ULRIC _pauses_. _Wer._ Proceed. _Ulr._ _Died_ he not by your hand? _Wer._ Great God! 40 _Ulr._ You are innocent, then! my father's innocent! Embrace me! Yes,--your tone--your look--yes, yes,-- Yet _say_ so. _Wer._ If I e'er, in heart or mind, Conceived deliberately such a thought, But rather strove to trample back to hell Such thoughts--if e'er they glared a moment through The irritation of my oppressed spirit-- May Heaven be shut for ever from my hopes, As from mine eyes! _Ulr._ But Stralenheim is dead. _Wer._ 'Tis horrible! 'tis hideous, as 'tis hateful!-- 50 But what have I to do with this? _Ulr._ No bolt Is forced; no violence can be detected, Save on his body. Part of his own household Have been alarmed; but as the Intendant is Absent, I took upon myself the care Of mustering the police. His chamber has, Past doubt, been entered secretly. Excuse me, If nature---- _Wer._ Oh, my boy! what unknown woes Of dark fatality, like clouds, are gathering Above our house! _Ulr._ My father! I acquit you! 60 But will the world do so? will even the judge, If--but you must away this instant. _Wer._ No! I'll face it. Who shall dare suspect me? _Ulr._ Yet You had _no_ guests--_no_ visitors--no life Breathing around you, save my mother's? _Wer._ Ah! The Hungarian? _Ulr._ He is gone! he disappeared Ere sunset. _Wer._ No; I hid him in that very Concealed and fatal gallery. _Ulr._ _There_ I'll find him. [ULRIC _is going_. _Wer._ It is too late: he had left the palace ere I quitted it. I found the secret panel 70 Open, and the doors which lead from that hall Which masks it: I but thought he had snatched the silent And favourable moment to escape The myrmidons of Idenstein, who were Dogging him yester-even. _Ulr._ You reclosed The panel? _Wer._ Yes; and not without reproach (And inner trembling for the avoided peril) At his dull heedlessness, in leaving thus His shelterer's asylum to the risk Of a discovery. _Ulr._ You are sure you closed it? 80 _Wer._ Certain. _Ulr._ That's well; but had been better, if You ne'er had turned it to a den for---- [_He pauses_. _Wer._ Thieves! Thou wouldst say: I must bear it, and deserve it; But not---- _Ulr._ No, father; do not speak of this: This is no hour to think of petty crimes, But to prevent the consequence of great ones. Why would you shelter this man? _Wer._ Could I shun it? A man pursued by my chief foe; disgraced For my own crime: a victim to _my_ safety, Imploring a few hours' concealment from 90 The very wretch who was the cause he needed Such refuge. Had he been a wolf, I could not Have in such circumstances thrust him forth. _Ulr._ And like the wolf he hath repaid you. But It is too late to ponder thus:--you must Set out ere dawn. I will remain here to Trace the murderer, if 'tis possible. _Wer._ But this my sudden flight will give the Moloch Suspicion: two new victims in the lieu Of one, if I remain. The fled Hungarian, 100 Who seems the culprit, and---- _Ulr._ Who _seems?_ _Who_ else Can be so? _Wer._ Not _I_, though just now you doubted-- You, my _son!_--doubted---- _Ulr._ And do you doubt of him The fugitive? _Wer._ Boy! since I fell into The abyss of crime (though not of _such_ crime), I, Having seen the innocent oppressed for me, May doubt even of the guilty's guilt. Your heart Is free, and quick with virtuous wrath to accuse Appearances; and views a criminal In Innocence's shadow, it may be, 110 Because 'tis dusky. _Ulr._ And if I do so, What will mankind, who know you not, or knew But to oppress? You must not stand the hazard. Away!--I'll make all easy. Idenstein Will for his own sake and his jewel's hold His peace--he also is a partner in Your flight--moreover---- _Wer._ Fly! and leave my name Linked with the Hungarian's, or, preferred as poorest, To bear the brand of bloodshed? _Ulr._ Pshaw! leave any thing Except our fathers' sovereignty and castles, 120 For which you have so long panted, and in vain! What _name?_ You have _no name_, since that you bear Is feigned. _Wer._ Most true: but still I would not have it Engraved in crimson in men's memories, Though in this most obscure abode of men---- Besides, the search---- _Ulr._ I will provide against Aught that can touch you. No one knows you here As heir of Siegendorf: if Idenstein Suspects, 'tis _but suspicion_, and he is A fool: his folly shall have such employment, 130 Too, that the unknown Werner shall give way To nearer thoughts of self. The laws (if e'er Laws reached this village) are all in abeyance With the late general war of thirty years, Or crushed, or rising slowly from the dust, To which the march of armies trampled them. Stralenheim, although noble, is unheeded _Here_, save as _such_--without lands, influence, Save what hath perished with him. Few prolong A week beyond their funeral rites their sway 140 O'er men, unless by relatives, whose interest Is roused: such is not here the case; he died Alone, unknown,--a solitary grave, Obscure as his deserts, without a scutcheon, Is all he'll have, or wants. If _I_ discover The assassin, 'twill be well--if not, believe me, None else; though all the full-fed train of menials May howl above his ashes (as they did Around him in his danger on the Oder), Will no more stir a finger _now_ than _then_. 150 Hence! hence! I must not hear your answer.--Look! The stars are almost faded, and the grey Begins to grizzle the black hair of night. You shall not answer:--Pardon me that I Am peremptory: 'tis your son that speaks, Your long-lost, late-found son.--Let's call my mother! Softly and swiftly step, and leave the rest To me: I'll answer for the event as far As regards _you_, and that is the chief point, As my first duty, which shall be observed. 160 We'll meet in Castle Siegendorf--once more Our banners shall be glorious! Think of that Alone, and leave all other thoughts to me, Whose youth may better battle with them--Hence! And may your age be happy!--I will kiss My mother once more, then Heaven's speed be with you! _Wer._ This counsel's safe--but is it honourable? _Ulr._ To save a father is a child's chief honour. [_Exeunt_. ACT IV. SCENE I.--_A Gothic Hall in the Castle of Siegendorf, near Prague_. _Enter_ ERIC _and_ HENRICK, _Retainers of the Count_. _Eric_. So, better times are come at last; to these Old walls new masters and high wassail--both A long desideratum. _Hen._ Yes, for _masters_, It might be unto those who long for novelty, Though made by a new grave: but, as for wassail, Methinks the old Count Siegendorf maintained His feudal hospitality as high As e'er another Prince of the empire. _Eric_. Why For the mere cup and trencher, we no doubt Fared passing well; but as for merriment 10 And sport, without which salt and sauces season The cheer but scantily, our sizings were Even of the narrowest. _Hen._ The old count loved not The roar of revel; are you sure that _this_ does? _Eric_. As yet he hath been courteous as he's bounteous, And we all love him. _Hen._ His reign is as yet Hardly a year o'erpast its honeymoon, And the first year of sovereigns is bridal: Anon, we shall perceive his real sway And moods of mind. _Eric_. Pray Heaven he keep the present! 20 Then his brave son, Count Ulric--there's a knight! Pity the wars are o'er! _Hen._ Why so? _Eric_. Look on him! And answer that yourself. _Hen._ He's very youthful, And strong and beautiful as a young tiger. _Eric_. That's not a faithful vassal's likeness. _Hen._ But Perhaps a true one. _Eric_. Pity, as I said, The wars are over: in the hall, who like Count Ulric for a well-supported pride, Which awes, but yet offends not? in the field, Who like him with his spear in hand, when gnashing 30 His tusks, and ripping up, from right to left, The howling hounds, the boar makes for the thicket? Who backs a horse, or bears a hawk, or wears A sword like him? Whose plume nods knightlier? _Hen._ No one's, I grant you. Do not fear, if war Be long in coming, he is of that kind Will make it for himself, if he hath not Already done as much. _Eric_. What do you mean? _Hen._ You can't deny his train of followers (But few our native fellow-vassals born 40 On the domain) are such a sort of knaves As---- [_Pauses_. _Eric_. What? _Hen._ The war (you love so much) leaves living. Like other parents, she spoils her worst children. _Eric_. Nonsense! they are all brave iron-visaged fellows, Such as old Tilly loved. _Hen._ And who loved Tilly? Ask that at Magdebourg[194]--or, for that matter, Wallenstein either;--they are gone to---- _Eric_. Rest! But what beyond 'tis not ours to pronounce. _Hen._ I wish they had left us something of their rest: The country (nominally now at peace) 50 Is over-run with--God knows who: they fly By night, and disappear with sunrise; but Leave us no less desolation, nay, even more, Than the most open warfare. _Eric_. But Count Ulric-- What has all this to do with him? _Hen._ With him! He----might prevent it. As you say he's fond Of war, why makes he it not on those marauders? _Eric_. You'd better ask himself. _Hen._ I would as soon Ask the lion why he laps not milk. _Eric_. And here he comes! _Hen._ The devil! you'll hold your tongue? 60 _Eric_. Why do you turn so pale? _Hen._ 'Tis nothing--but Be silent. _Eric_. I will, upon what you have said. _Hen._ I assure you I meant nothing,--a mere sport Of words, no more; besides, had it been otherwise, He is to espouse the gentle Baroness Ida of Stralenheim, the late Baron's heiress; And she, no doubt, will soften whatsoever Of fierceness the late long intestine wars Have given all natures, and most unto those Who were born in them, and bred up upon 70 The knees of Homicide; sprinkled, as it were, With blood even at their baptism. Prithee, peace On all that I have said! _Enter_ ULRIC _and_ RODOLPH. Good morrow, count. _Ulr._ Good morrow, worthy Henrick. Eric, is All ready for the chase? _Eric_. The dogs are ordered Down to the forest, and the vassals out To beat the bushes, and the day looks promising. Shall I call forth your Excellency's suite? What courser will you please to mount? _Ulr._ The dun, Walstein. _Eric_. I fear he scarcely has recovered 80 The toils of Monday: 'twas a noble chase: You speared _four_ with your own hand. _Ulr._ True, good Eric; I had forgotten--let it be the grey, then, Old Ziska: he has not been out this fortnight. _Eric_. He shall be straight caparisoned. How many Of your immediate retainers shall Escort you? _Ulr._ I leave that to Weilburgh, our Master of the horse. [_Exit_ ERIC. Rodolph! _Rod._ My Lord! _Ulr._ The news Is awkward from the---- [RODOLPH _points to_ HENRICK. How now, Henrick? why Loiter you here? _Hen._ For your commands, my Lord. 90 _Ulr._ Go to my father, and present my duty, And learn if he would aught with me before I mount. [_Exit_ HENRICK. Rodolph, our friends have had a check Upon the frontiers of Franconia[195], and 'Tis rumoured that the column sent against them Is to be strengthened. I must join them soon. _Rod._ Best wait for further and more sure advices. _Ulr._ I mean it--and indeed it could not well Have fallen out at a time more opposite To all my plans. _Rod._ It will be difficult 100 To excuse your absence to the Count your father. _Ulr._ Yes, but the unsettled state of our domain In high Silesia will permit and cover My journey. In the mean time, when we are Engaged in the chase, draw off the eighty men Whom Wolffe leads--keep the forests on your route: You know it well? _Rod._ As well as on that night When we---- _Ulr._ We will not speak of that until We can repeat the same with like success: And when you have joined, give Rosenberg this letter. 110 [_Gives a letter_. Add further, that I have sent this slight addition To our force with you and Wolffe, as herald of My coming, though I could but spare them ill At this time, as my father loves to keep Full numbers of retainers round the castle, Until this marriage, and its feasts and fooleries, Are rung out with its peal of nuptial nonsense. _Rod._ I thought you loved the lady Ida? _Ulr._ Why, I do so--but it follows not from that I would bind in my youth and glorious years, 120 So brief and burning, with a lady's zone, Although 'twere that of Venus:--but I love her, As woman should be loved--fairly and solely. _Rod._ And constantly? _Ulr._ I think so; for I love Nought else.--But I have not the time to pause Upon these gewgaws of the heart. Great things We have to do ere long. Speed! speed! good Rodolph! _Rod._ On my return, however, I shall find The Baroness Ida lost in Countess Siegendorf? _Ulr._ Perhaps: my father wishes it, and, sooth, 130 'Tis no bad policy: this union with The last bud of the rival branch at once Unites the future and destroys the past. _Rod._ Adieu. _Ulr._ Yet hold--we had better keep together Until the chase begins; then draw thou off, And do as I have said. _Rod._ I will. But to Return--'twas a most kind act in the count Your father to send up to Konigsberg For this fair orphan of the Baron, and To hail her as his daughter. _Ulr._ Wondrous kind! 140 Especially as little kindness till Then grew between them. _Rod._ The late Baron died Of a fever, did he not? _Ulr._ How should I know? _Rod._ I have heard it whispered there was something strange About his death--and even the place of it Is scarcely known. _Ulr._ Some obscure village on The Saxon or Silesian frontier. _Rod._ He Has left no testament--no farewell words? _Ulr._ I am neither confessor nor notary, So cannot say. _Rod._ Ah! here's the lady Ida. 150 _Enter_ IDA STRALENHEIM. _Ulr._ You are early, my sweet cousin! _Ida._ Not _too_ early, Dear Ulric, if I do not interrupt you. Why do you call me "_Cousin?_" _Ulr._ (_smiling_). Are we not so? _Ida._ Yes, but I do not like the name; methinks It sounds so cold, as if you thought upon Our pedigree, and only weighed our blood. _Ulr._ (_starting_). Blood! _Ida._ Why does yours start from your cheeks? _Ulr._ Aye! doth it? _Ida._ It doth--but no! it rushes like a torrent Even to your brow again. _Ulr._ (_recovering himself_). And if it fled, It only was because your presence sent it 160 Back to my heart, which beats for you, sweet Cousin! _Ida._ "Cousin" again. _Ulr._ Nay, then, I'll call you sister. _Ida._ I like that name still worse.--Would we had ne'er Been aught of kindred! _Ulr._ (_gloomily_). Would we never had! _Ida._ Oh, heavens! and can _you wish that?_ _Ulr._ Dearest Ida! Did I not echo your own wish? _Ida._ Yes, Ulric, But then I wished it not with such a glance, And scarce knew what I said; but let me be Sister, or cousin, what you will, so that I still to you am something. _Ulr._ You shall be 170 All--all---- _Ida._ And you to _me are_ so already; But I can wait. _Ulr._ Dear Ida! _Ida._ Call me Ida, _Your_ Ida, for I would be yours, none else's-- Indeed I have none else left, since my poor father-- [_She pauses_. _Ulr._ You have _mine_--you have _me_. _Ida._ Dear Ulric, how I wish My father could but view my happiness, Which wants but this! _Ulr._ Indeed! _Ida._ You would have loved him, He you; for the brave ever love each other: His manner was a little cold, his spirit Proud (as is birth's prerogative); but under 180 This grave exterior----Would you had known each other! Had such as you been near him on his journey, He had not died without a friend to soothe His last and lonely moments. _Ulr._ Who says _that?_ _Ida._ What? _Ulr._ That he _died alone_. _Ida._ The general rumour, And disappearance of his servants, who Have ne'er returned: that fever was most deadly Which swept them all away. _Ulr._ If they were near him, He could not die neglected or alone. _Ida._ Alas! what is a menial to a death-bed, 190 When the dim eye rolls vainly round for what It loves?--They say he died of a fever. _Ulr._ _Say!_ It _was_ so. _Ida._ I sometimes dream otherwise. _Ulr._ All dreams are false. _Ida._ And yet I see him as I see you. _Ulr._ _Where?_ _Ida._ In sleep--I see him lie Pale, bleeding, and a man with a raised knife Beside him. _Ulr._ But you do not see his _face?_ _Ida_ (_looking at him_). No! Oh, my God! do _you?_ _Ulr._ Why do you ask? _Ida._ Because you look as if you saw a murderer! _Ulr._ (_agitatedly_). Ida, this is mere childishness; your weakness 200 Infects me, to my shame: but as all feelings Of yours are common to me, it affects me. Prithee, sweet child, change---- _Ida._ Child, indeed! I have Full fifteen summers! [_A bugle sounds_. _Rod._ Hark, my Lord, the bugle! _Ida_ (_peevishly to_ RODOLPH). Why need you tell him that? Can he not hear it Without your echo? _Rod._ Pardon me, fair Baroness! _Ida._ I will not pardon you, unless you earn it By aiding me in my dissuasion of Count Ulric from the chase to-day. _Rod._ You will not, Lady, need aid of mine. _Ulr._ I must not now 210 Forgo it. _Ida._ But you shall! _Ulr._ _Shall!_ _Ida._ Yes, or be No true knight.--Come, dear Ulric! yield to me In this, for this one day: the day looks heavy, And you are turned so pale and ill. _Ulr._ You jest. _Ida._ Indeed I do not:--ask of Rodolph. _Rod._ Truly, My Lord, within this quarter of an hour You have changed more than e'er I saw you change In years. _Ulr._ 'Tis nothing; but if 'twere, the air Would soon restore me. I'm the true cameleon, And live but on the atmosphere;[196] your feasts 220 In castle halls, and social banquets, nurse not My spirit--I'm a forester and breather Of the steep mountain-tops,[197] where I love all The eagle loves. _Ida._ Except his prey, I hope. _Ulr._ Sweet Ida, wish me a fair chase, and I Will bring you six boars' heads for trophies home. _Ida._ And will you not stay, then? You shall not go! Come! I will sing to you. _Ulr._ Ida, you scarcely Will make a soldier's wife. _Ida._ I do not wish To be so; for I trust these wars are over, 230 And you will live in peace on your domains. _Enter_ WERNER _as_ COUNT SIEGENDORF. _Ulr._ My father, I salute you, and it grieves me With such brief greeting.--You have heard our bugle; The vassals wait. _Sieg._ So let them.--You forget To-morrow is the appointed festival In Prague[198] for peace restored. You are apt to follow The chase with such an ardour as will scarce Permit you to return to-day, or if Returned, too much fatigued to join to-morrow The nobles in our marshalled ranks. _Ulr._ You, Count, 240 Will well supply the place of both--I am not A lover of these pageantries. _Sieg._ No, Ulric; It were not well that you alone of all Our young nobility---- _Ida._ And far the noblest In aspect and demeanour. _Sieg._ (_to_ IDA). True, dear child, Though somewhat frankly said for a fair damsel.-- But, Ulric, recollect too our position, So lately reinstated in our honours. Believe me, 'twould be marked in any house, But most in _ours_, that ONE should be found wanting 250 At such a time and place. Besides, the Heaven Which gave us back our own, in the same moment It spread its peace o'er all, hath double claims On us for thanksgiving: first, for our country; And next, that we are here to share its blessings. _Ulr._ (_aside_). Devout, too! Well, sir, I obey at once. (_Then aloud to a servant_.) Ludwig, dismiss the train without! [_Exit_ LUDWIG. _Ida._ And so You yield, at once, to him what I for hours Might supplicate in vain. _Sieg._ (_smiling_). You are not jealous Of me, I trust, my pretty rebel! who 260 Would sanction disobedience against all Except thyself? But fear not; thou shalt rule him Hereafter with a fonder sway and firmer. _Ida._ But I should like to govern _now_. _Sieg._ You shall, Your _harp_, which by the way awaits you with The Countess in her chamber. She complains That you are a sad truant to your music: She attends you. _Ida._ Then good morrow, my kind kinsmen! Ulric, you'll come and hear me? _Ulr._ By and by. _Ida._ Be sure I'll sound it better than your bugles; 270 Then pray you be as punctual to its notes: I'll play you King Gustavus' march. _Ulr._ And why not Old Tilly's? _Ida._ Not that monster's! I should think My harp-strings rang with groans, and not with music, Could aught of _his_ sound on it:--but come quickly; Your mother will be eager to receive you. [_Exit_ IDA. _Sieg._ Ulric, I wish to speak with you alone. _Ulr._ My time's your vassal.-- (_Aside to_ RODOLPH.) Rodolph, hence! and do As I directed: and by his best speed And readiest means let Rosenberg reply. 280 _Rod._ Count Siegendorf, command you aught? I am bound Upon a journey past the frontier. _Sieg._ (_starts_). Ah!-- Where? on _what_ frontier? _Rod._ The Silesian, on My way--(_Aside to_ ULRIC.)--_Where_ shall I say? _Ulr._ (_aside to_ RODOLPH). To Hamburgh. (_Aside to himself_). That Word will, I think, put a firm padlock on His further inquisition. _Rod._ Count, to Hamburgh. _Sieg._ (_agitated_). Hamburgh! No, I have nought to do there, nor Am aught connected with that city. Then God speed you! _Rod._ Fare ye well, Count Siegendorf! [_Exit_ RODOLPH. _Sieg._ Ulric, this man, who has just departed, is 290 One of those strange companions whom I fain Would reason with you on. _Ulr._ My Lord, he is Noble by birth, of one of the first houses In Saxony. _Sieg._ I talk not of his birth, But of his bearing. Men speak lightly of him. _Ulr._ So they will do of most men. Even the monarch Is not fenced from his chamberlain's slander, or The sneer of the last courtier whom he has made Great and ungrateful. _Sieg._ If I must be plain, The world speaks more than lightly of this Rodolph: 300 They say he is leagued with the "black bands" who still Ravage the frontier. _Ulr._ And will you believe The world? _Sieg._ In this case--yes. _Ulr._ In _any_ case, I thought you knew it better than to take An accusation for a sentence. _Sieg._ Son! I understand you: you refer to----but My destiny has so involved about me Her spider web, that I can only flutter Like the poor fly, but break it not. Take heed, Ulric; you have seen to what the passions led me: 310 Twenty long years of misery and famine Quenched them not--twenty thousand more, perchance, Hereafter (or even here in _moments_ which Might date for years, did Anguish make the dial), May not obliterate or expiate The madness and dishonour of an instant. Ulric, be warned by a father!--I was not By mine, and you behold me! _Ulr._ I behold The prosperous and beloved Siegendorf, Lord of a Prince's appanage, and honoured 320 By those he rules and those he ranks with. _Sieg._ Ah! Why wilt thou call me prosperous, while I fear For thee? Beloved, when thou lovest me not! All hearts but one may beat in kindness for me-- But if my son's is cold!---- _Ulr._ Who _dare_ say that? _Sieg._ None else but I, who see it--_feel_ it--keener Than would your adversary, who dared say so, Your sabre in his heart! But mine survives The wound. _Ulr._ You err. My nature is not given To outward fondling: how should it be so, 330 After twelve years' divorcement from my parents? _Sieg._ And did not _I_ too pass those twelve torn years In a like absence? But 'tis vain to urge you-- Nature was never called back by remonstrance. Let's change the theme. I wish you to consider That these young violent nobles of high name, But dark deeds (aye, the darkest, if all Rumour Reports be true), with whom thou consortest, Will lead thee---- _Ulr._ (_impatiently_). I'll be _led_ by no man. _Sieg._ Nor Be leader of such, I would hope: at once 340 To wean thee from the perils of thy youth And haughty spirit, I have thought it well That thou shouldst wed the lady Ida--more As thou appear'st to love her. _Ulr._ I have said I will obey your orders, were they to Unite with Hecate--can a son say more? _Sieg._ He says too much in saying this. It is not The nature of thine age, nor of thy blood, Nor of thy temperament, to talk so coolly, Or act so carelessly, in that which is 350 The bloom or blight of all men's happiness, (For Glory's pillow is but restless, if Love lay not down his cheek there): some strong bias, Some master fiend is in thy service, to Misrule the mortal who believes him slave, And makes his every thought subservient; else Thou'dst say at once--"I love young Ida, and Will wed her;" or, "I love her not, and all The powers on earth shall never make me."--So Would _I_ have answered. _Ulr._ Sir, _you_ wed for love. 360 _Sieg._ I did, and it has been my only refuge In many miseries. _Ulr._ Which miseries Had never been but for this love-match. _Sieg._ Still Against your age and nature! Who at twenty E'er answered thus till now? _Ulr._ Did you not warn me Against your own example? _Sieg._ Boyish sophist! In a word, do you love, or love not, Ida? _Ulr._ What matters it, if I am ready to Obey you in espousing her? _Sieg._ As far As you feel, nothing--but all life for her. 370 She's young--all-beautiful--adores you--is Endowed with qualities to give happiness, Such as rounds common life into a dream Of something which your poets cannot paint, And (if it were not wisdom to love virtue), For which Philosophy might barter Wisdom; And giving so much happiness, deserves A little in return. I would not have her Break her heart with a man who has none to break! Or wither on her stalk like some pale rose 380 Deserted by the bird she thought a nightingale, According to the Orient tale.[199] She is---- _Ulr._ The daughter of dead Stralenheim, your foe: I'll wed her, ne'ertheless; though, to say truth, Just now I am not violently transported In favour of such unions. _Sieg._ But she loves you. _Ulr._ And I love her, and therefore would think _twice_. _Sieg._ Alas! Love never did so. _Ulr._ Then 'tis time He should begin, and take the bandage from His eyes, and look before he leaps; till now 390 He hath ta'en a jump i' the dark. _Sieg._ But you consent? _Ulr._ I did, and do. _Sieg._ Then fix the day. _Ulr._ Tis usual, And, certes, courteous, to leave that to the lady. _Sieg._ _I_ will engage for _her_. _Ulr._ So will not _I_ For any woman: and as what I fix, I fain would see unshaken, when she gives Her answer, I'll give mine. _Sieg._ But 'tis your office To woo. _Ulr._ Count, 'tis a marriage of your making, So be it of your wooing; but to please you, I will now pay my duty to my mother, 400 With whom, you know, the lady Ida is.-- What would you have? You have forbid my stirring For manly sports beyond the castle walls, And I obey; you bid me turn a chamberer, To pick up gloves, and fans, and knitting-needles, And list to songs and tunes, and watch for smiles, And smile at pretty prattle, and look into The eyes of feminine, as though they were The stars receding early to our wish Upon the dawn of a world-winning battle-- 410 What can a son or man do more? [_Exit_ ULRIC. _Sieg._ (_solus_). Too much!-- Too much of duty, and too little love! He pays me in the coin he owes me not: For such hath been my wayward fate, I could not Fulfil a parent's duties by his side Till now; but love he owes me, for my thoughts Ne'er left him, nor my eyes longed without tears To see my child again,--and now I have found him! But how! obedient, but with coldness; duteous In my sight, but with carelessness; mysterious-- 420 Abstracted--distant--much given to long absence, And where--none know--in league with the most riotous Of our young nobles; though, to do him justice, He never stoops down to their vulgar pleasures; Yet there's some tie between them which I can not Unravel. They look up to him--consult him-- Throng round him as a leader: but with me He hath no confidence! Ah! can I hope it After--what! doth my father's curse descend Even to my child? Or is the Hungarian near 430 To shed more blood? or--Oh! if it should be! Spirit of Stralenheim, dost thou walk these walls To wither him and his--who, though they slew not, Unlatched the door of Death for thee? 'Twas not Our fault, nor is our sin: thou wert our foe, And yet I spared thee when my own destruction Slept with thee, to awake with thine awakening! And only took--Accursed gold! thou liest Like poison in my hands; I dare not use thee, Nor part from thee; thou camest in such a guise, 440 Methinks thou wouldst contaminate all hands Like mine. Yet I have done, to atone for thee, Thou villanous gold! and thy dead master's doom, Though he died not by me or mine, as much As if he were my brother! I have ta'en His orphan Ida--cherished her as one Who will be mine. _Enter an_ ATTENDANT. _Atten._ The abbot, if it please Your Excellency, whom you sent for, waits Upon you. [_Exit_ ATTENDANT. _Enter the_ PRIOR ALBERT. _Prior_. Peace be with these walls, and all Within them! _Sieg._ Welcome, welcome, holy father! 450 And may thy prayer be heard!--all men have need Of such, and I---- _Prior_. Have the first claim to all The prayers of our community. Our convent, Erected by your ancestors, is still Protected by their children. _Sieg._ Yes, good father; Continue daily orisons for us In these dim days of heresies and blood, Though the schismatic Swede, Gustavus, is Gone home. _Prior_. To the endless home of unbelievers, Where there is everlasting wail and woe, 460 Gnashing of teeth, and tears of blood, and fire Eternal and the worm which dieth not! _Sieg._ True, father: and to avert those pangs from one, Who, though of our most faultless holy Church, Yet died without its last and dearest offices, Which smooth the soul through purgatorial pains, I have to offer humbly this donation In masses for his spirit. [SIEGENDORF _offers the gold which he had taken from_ STRALENHEIM. _Prior_. Count, if I Receive it, 'tis because I know too well Refusal would offend you. Be assured 470 The largess shall be only dealt in alms, And every mass no less sung for the dead. Our House needs no donations, thanks to yours, Which has of old endowed it; but from you And yours in all meet things 'tis fit we obey. For whom shall mass be said? _Sieg._ (_faltering_). For--for--the dead. _Prior_. His name? _Sieg._ 'Tis from a soul, and not a name, I would avert perdition. _Prior_. I meant not To pry into your secret. We will pray For one unknown, the same as for the proudest. 480 _Sieg._ Secret! I have none: but, father, he who's gone Might _have_ one; or, in short, he did bequeath-- No, not bequeath--but I bestow this sum For pious purposes. _Prior_. A proper deed In the behalf of our departed friends. _Sieg._ But he who's gone was not my friend, but foe, The deadliest and the stanchest. _Prior_. Better still! To employ our means to obtain Heaven for the souls Of our dead enemies is worthy those Who can forgive them living. _Sieg._ But I did not 490 Forgive this man. I loathed him to the last, As he did me. I do not love him now, But---- _Prior_. Best of all! for this is pure religion! You fain would rescue him you hate from hell-- An evangelical compassion--with Your own gold too! _Sieg._ Father, 'tis not my gold. _Prior_. Whose, then? You said it was no legacy. _Sieg._ No matter whose--of this be sure, that he Who owned it never more will need it, save In that which it may purchase from your altars: 500 'Tis yours, or theirs. _Prior_. Is there no blood upon it? _Sieg._ No; but there's worse than blood--eternal shame! _Prior_. Did he who owned it die in his _bed?_ _Sieg._ Alas! He did. _Prior_. Son! you relapse into revenge, If you regret your enemy's bloodless death. _Sieg._ His death was fathomlessly deep in blood. _Prior_. You said he died in his bed, not battle. _Sieg._ He Died, I scarce know--but--he was stabbed i' the dark, And now you have it--perished on his pillow By a cut-throat!--Aye!--you may look upon me! 510 _I_ am _not_ the man. I'll meet your eye on that point, As I can one day God's. _Prior_. Nor did he die By means, or men, or instrument of yours? _Sieg._ No! by the God who sees and strikes! _Prior_. Nor know you Who slew him? _Sieg._ I could only guess at _one_, And he to me a stranger, unconnected, As unemployed. Except by one day's knowledge, I never saw the man who was suspected. _Prior_. Then you are free from guilt. _Sieg._ (_eagerly_). Oh! _am_ I?--say! _Prior_. You have said so, and know best. _Sieg._ Father! I have spoken 520 The truth, and nought but truth, if _not_ the _whole_; Yet say I am _not_ guilty! for the blood Of this man weighs on me, as if I shed it, Though, by the Power who abhorreth human blood, I did not!--nay, once spared it, when I might And _could_--aye, perhaps, _should_ (if our self-safety Be e'er excusable in such defences Against the attacks of over-potent foes): But pray for him, for me, and all my house; For, as I said, though I be innocent, I know not why, a like remorse is on me, As if he had fallen by me or mine. Pray for me, Father! I have prayed myself in vain. _Prior_. I will. Be comforted! You are innocent, and should Be calm as innocence. _Sieg._ But calmness is not Always the attribute of innocence. I feel it is not. _Prior_. But it will be so, When the mind gathers up its truth within it. Remember the great festival to-morrow, In which you rank amidst our chiefest nobles, As well as your brave son; and smooth your aspect, Nor in the general orison of thanks For bloodshed stopt, let blood you shed not rise, A cloud, upon your thoughts. This were to be Too sensitive. Take comfort, and forget Such things, and leave remorse unto the guilty. [_Exeunt_. ACT V. SCENE I.--_A large and magnificent Gothic Hall in the Castle of Siegendorf, decorated with Trophies, Banners, and Arms of that Family_. _Enter_ ARNHEIM _and_ MEISTER, _attendants of_ COUNT SIEGENDORF. _Arn._ Be quick! the Count will soon return: the ladies Already are at the portal. Have you sent The messengers in search of him he seeks for? _Meis._ I have, in all directions, over Prague, As far as the man's dress and figure could By your description track him. The devil take These revels and processions! All the pleasure (If such there be) must fall to the spectators,-- I'm sure none doth to us who make the show. _Arn._ Go to! my Lady Countess comes. _Meis._ I'd rather 10 Ride a day's hunting on an outworn jade, Than follow in the train of a great man, In these dull pageantries. _Arn._ Begone! and rail Within. [_Exeunt_. _Enter the_ COUNTESS JOSEPHINE SIEGENDORF _and_ IDA STRALENHEIM. _Jos._ Well, Heaven be praised! the show is over. _Ida._ How can you say so? Never have I dreamt Of aught so beautiful. The flowers, the boughs, The banners, and the nobles, and the knights, The gems, the robes, the plumes, the happy faces, The coursers, and the incense, and the sun Streaming through the stained windows, even the _tombs_, 20 Which looked so calm, and the celestial hymns, Which seemed as if they rather came from Heaven Than mounted there--the bursting organ's peal Rolling on high like an harmonious thunder; The white robes and the lifted eyes; the world At peace! and all at peace with one another! Oh, my sweet mother! [_Embracing_ JOSEPHINE. _Jos._ My beloved child! For such, I trust, thou shalt be shortly. _Ida._ Oh! I am so already. Feel how my heart beats! _Jos._ It does, my love; and never may it throb 30 With aught more bitter. _Ida._ Never shall it do so! How should it? What should make us grieve? I hate To hear of sorrow: how can we be sad, Who love each other so entirely? You, The Count, and Ulric, and your daughter Ida. _Jos._ Poor child! _Ida._ Do you pity me? _Jos._ No: I but envy, And that in sorrow, not in the world's sense Of the universal vice, if one vice be More general than another. _Ida._ I'll not hear A word against a world which still contains 40 You and my Ulric. Did you ever see Aught like him? How he towered amongst them all! How all eyes followed him! The flowers fell faster-- Rained from each lattice at his feet, methought, Than before all the rest; and where he trod I dare be sworn that they grow still, nor e'er Will wither. _Jos._ You will spoil him, little flatterer, If he should hear you. _Ida._ But he never will. I dare not say so much to him--I fear him. _Jos._ Why so? he loves you well. _Ida._ But I can never 50 Shape my thoughts _of_ him into words _to_ him: Besides, he sometimes frightens me. _Jos._ How so? _Ida._ A cloud comes o'er his blue eyes suddenly, Yet he says nothing. _Jos._ It is nothing: all men, Especially in these dark troublous times, Have much to think of. _Ida._ But I cannot think Of aught save him. _Jos._ Yet there are other men, In the world's eye, as goodly. There's, for instance, The young Count Waldorf, who scarce once withdrew His eyes from yours to-day. _Ida._ I did not see him, 60 But Ulric. Did you not see at the moment When all knelt, and I wept? and yet, methought, Through my fast tears, though they were thick and warm, I saw him smiling on me. _Jos._ I could not See aught save Heaven, to which my eyes were raised, Together with the people's. _Ida._ I thought too Of Heaven, although I looked on Ulric. _Jos._ Come, Let us retire! they will be here anon, Expectant of the banquet. We will lay Aside these nodding plumes and dragging trains. 70 _Ida._ And, above all, these stiff and heavy jewels, Which make my head and heart ache, as both throb Beneath their glitter o'er my brow and zone. Dear mother, I am with you. _Enter_ COUNT SIEGENDORF, _in full dress, from the solemnity_, and LUDWIG. _Sieg._ Is he not found? _Lud._ Strict search is making every where; and if The man be in Prague, be sure he will be found. _Sieg._ Where's Ulric? _Lud._ He rode round the other way With some young nobles; but he left them soon; And, if I err not, not a minute since I heard his Excellency, with his train, 80 Gallop o'er the west drawbridge. _Enter ULRIC, splendidly dressed_. _Sieg._ (_to_ LUDWIG). See they cease not Their quest of him I have described. [_Exit_ LUDWIG. Oh, Ulric! How have I longed for thee! _Ulr._ Your wish is granted-- Behold me! _Sieg._ I have seen the murderer. _Ulr._ Whom? Where? _Sieg._ The Hungarian, who slew Stralenheim. _Ulr._ You dream. _Sieg._ I live! and as I live, I saw him-- Heard him! he dared to utter even my name. _Ulr._ What name? _Sieg._ Werner! _'twas_ mine. _Ulr._ It must be so No more: forget it. _Sieg._ Never! never! all My destinies were woven in that name: 90 It will not be engraved upon my tomb, But it may lead me there. _Ulr._ To the point----the Hungarian? _Sieg._ Listen!--The church was thronged: the hymn was raised; "_Te Deum_" pealed from nations rather than From choirs, in one great cry of "God be praised" For one day's peace, after thrice ten dread years, Each bloodier than the former: I arose, With all the nobles, and as I looked down Along the lines of lifted faces,--from Our bannered and escutcheoned gallery, I 100 Saw, like a flash of lightning (for I saw A moment and no more), what struck me sightless To all else--the Hungarian's face! I grew Sick; and when I recovered from the mist Which curled about my senses, and again Looked down, I saw him not. The thanksgiving Was over, and we marched back in procession. _Ulr._ Continue. _Sieg._ When we reached the Muldau's bridge, The joyous crowd above, the numberless Barks manned with revellers in their best garbs, 110 Which shot along the glancing tide below, The decorated street, the long array, The clashing music, and the thundering Of far artillery, which seemed to bid A long and loud farewell to its great doings, The standards o'er me, and the tramplings round, The roar of rushing thousands,--all--all could not Chase this man from my mind, although my senses No longer held him palpable. _Ulr._ You saw him No more, then? _Sieg._ I looked, as a dying soldier 120 Looks at a draught of water, for this man; But still I saw him not; but in his stead---- _Ulr._ What in his stead? _Sieg._ My eye for ever fell Upon your dancing crest; the loftiest. As on the loftiest and the loveliest head, It rose the highest of the stream of plumes, Which overflowed the glittering streets of Prague. _Ulr._ What's this to the Hungarian? _Sieg._ Much! for I Had almost then forgot him in my son; When just as the artillery ceased, and paused 130 The music, and the crowd embraced in lieu Of shouting, I heard in a deep, low voice, Distinct and keener far upon my ear Than the late cannon's volume, this word--"_Werner!_" _Ulr._ Uttered by---- _Sieg._ HIM! I turned--and saw--and fell. _Ulr._ And wherefore? Were you seen? _Sieg._ The officious care Of those around me dragged me from the spot, Seeing my faintness, ignorant of the cause: You, too, were too remote in the procession (The old nobles being divided from their children) 140 To aid me. _Ulr._ But I'll aid you now. _Sieg._ In what? _Ulr._ In searching for this man, or----When he's found, What shall we do with him? _Sieg._ I know not that. _Ulr._ Then wherefore seek? _Sieg._ Because I cannot rest Till he is found. His fate, and Stralenheim's, And ours, seem intertwisted! nor can be Unravelled, till---- _Enter an_ ATTENDANT. _Atten._ A stranger to wait on Your Excellency. _Sieg._ Who? _Atten._ He gave no name. _Sieg._ Admit him, ne'ertheless. [_The_ ATTENDANT _introduces_ GABOR, _and afterwards exit_. Ah! _Gab._ 'Tis then Werner! _Sieg._ (_haughtily_). The same you knew, sir, by that name; and _you!_ 150 _Gab._ (_looking round_). I recognise you both: father and son, It seems. Count, I have heard that you, or yours, Have lately been in search of me: I am here. _Sieg._ I have sought you, and have found you: you are charged (Your own heart may inform you why) with such A crime as---- [_He pauses_. _Gab._ Give it utterance, and then I'll meet the consequences. _Sieg._ You shall do so-- Unless---- _Gab._ First, who accuses me? _Sieg._ All things, If not all men: the universal rumour-- My own presence on the spot--the place--the time-- 160 And every speck of circumstance unite To fix the blot on you. _Gab._ And on _me only?_ Pause ere you answer: is no other name, Save mine, stained in this business? _Sieg._ Trifling villain! Who play'st with thine own guilt! Of all that breathe Thou best dost know the innocence of him 'Gainst whom thy breath would blow thy bloody slander. But I will talk no further with a wretch, Further than justice asks. Answer at once, And without quibbling, to my charge. _Gab._ 'Tis false! 170 _Sieg._ Who says so? _Gab._ I. _Sieg._ And how disprove it? _Gab._ By The presence of the murderer. _Sieg._ Name him. _Gab._ He May have more names than one. Your Lordship had so Once on a time. _Sieg._ If you mean me, I dare Your utmost. _Gab._ You may do so, and in safety; I know the assassin. _Sieg._ Where is he? _Gab._ (_pointing to_ ULRIC). Beside you! [ULRIC _rushes forward to attack_ GABOR; SIEGENDORF _interposes_. _Sieg._ Liar and fiend! but you shall not be slain; These walls are mine, and you are safe within them. Ulric, repel this calumny, as I [_He turns to_ ULRIC. Will do. I avow it is a growth so monstrous, 180 I could not deem it earth-born: but be calm; It will refute itself. But touch him not. [ULRIC _endeavours to compose himself_. _Gab._ Look at _him_, Count, and then _hear me_. _Sieg._ (_first to_ GABOR, _and then looking at_ ULRIC). I hear thee. My God! you look---- _Ulr._ How? _Sieg._ As on that dread night, When we met in the garden. _Ulr._ (_composing himself_). It is nothing. _Gab._ Count, you are bound to hear me. I came hither Not seeking you, but sought. When I knelt down Amidst the people in the church, I dreamed not To find the beggared Werner in the seat Of Senators and Princes; but you have called me, 190 And we have met. _Sieg._ Go on, sir. _Gab._ Ere I do so, Allow me to inquire, who profited By Stralenheim's death? Was't I--as poor as ever; And poorer by suspicion on my name! The Baron lost in that last outrage neither Jewels nor gold; his life alone was sought.-- A life which stood between the claims of others To honours and estates scarce less than princely. _Sieg._ These hints, as vague as vain, attach no less To me than to my son. _Gab._ I can't help that. 200 But let the consequence alight on him Who feels himself the guilty one amongst us. I speak to you, Count Siegendorf, because I know you innocent, and deem you just. But ere I can proceed--_dare_ you protect me? _Dare_ you command me? [SIEGENDORF _first looks at the Hungarian, and then at_ ULRIC, _who has unbuckled his sabre, and is drawing lines with it on the floor--still in its sheath_. _Ulr._ (_looks at his father, and says_,) Let the man go on! _Gab._ I am unarmed, Count, bid your son lay down His sabre. _Ulr._ (_offers it to him contemptuously_). Take it. _Gab._ No, sir, 'tis enough That we are both unarmed--I would not choose To wear a steel which may be stained with more 210 Blood than came there in battle. _Ulr._ (_casts the sabre from him in contempt_). It--or some Such other weapon in my hand--spared yours Once, when disarmed and at my mercy. _Gab._ True-- I have not forgotten it: you spared me for Your own especial purpose--to sustain An ignominy not my own. _Ulr._ Proceed. The tale is doubtless worthy the relater. But is it of my father to hear further? [_To_ SIEGENDORF. _Sieg._ (_takes his son by the hand_). My son, I know my own innocence, and doubt not Of yours--but I have promised this man patience; 220 Let him continue. _Gab._ I will not detain you, By speaking of myself much: I began Life early--and am what the world has made me. At Frankfort on the Oder, where I passed A winter in obscurity, it was My chance at several places of resort (Which I frequented sometimes, but not often) To hear related a strange circumstance In February last. A martial force, Sent by the state, had, after strong resistance, 230 Secured a band of desperate men, supposed Marauders from the hostile camp.--They proved, However, not to be so--but banditti, Whom either accident or enterprise Had carried from their usual haunt--the forests Which skirt Bohemia--even into Lusatia. Many amongst them were reported of High rank--and martial law slept for a time. At last they were escorted o'er the frontiers, And placed beneath the civil jurisdiction 240 Of the free town of Frankfort. Of _their_ fate I know no more. _Sieg._ And what is this to Ulric? _Gab._ Amongst them there was said to be one man Of wonderful endowments:--birth and fortune, Youth, strength, and beauty, almost superhuman, And courage as unrivalled, were proclaimed His by the public rumour; and his sway, Not only over his associates, but His judges, was attributed to witchcraft, Such was his influence:--I have no great faith 250 In any magic save that of the mine-- I therefore deemed him wealthy.--But my soul Was roused with various feelings to seek out This prodigy, if only to behold him. _Sieg._ And did you so? _Gab._ You'll hear. Chance favoured me: A popular affray in the public square Drew crowds together--it was one of those Occasions where men's souls look out of them, And show them as they are--even in their faces: The moment my eye met his, I exclaimed, 260 "This is the man!" though he was then, as since, With the nobles of the city. I felt sure I had not erred, and watched him long and nearly; I noted down his form--his gesture--features, Stature, and bearing--and amidst them all, 'Midst every natural and acquired distinction, I could discern, methought, the assassin's eye And gladiator's heart. _Ulr._ (_smiling_). The tale sounds well. _Gab._ And may sound better.--He appeared to me One of those beings to whom Fortune bends, 270 As she doth to the daring--and on whom The fates of others oft depend; besides, An indescribable sensation drew me Near to this man, as if my point of fortune Was to be fixed by him.--There I was wrong. _Sieg._ And may not be right now. _Gab._ I followed him, Solicited his notice--and obtained it-- Though not his friendship:--it was his intention To leave the city privately--we left it Together--and together we arrived 280 In the poor town where Werner was concealed, And Stralenheim was succoured----Now we are on The verge--_dare_ you hear further? _Sieg._ I must do so-- Or I have heard too much. _Gab._ I saw in you A man above his station--and if not So high, as now I find you, in my then Conceptions, 'twas that I had rarely seen Men such as you appeared in height of mind, In the most high of worldly rank; you were Poor, even to all save rags: I would have shared 290 My purse, though slender, with you--you refused it. _Sieg._ Doth my refusal make a debt to you, That thus you urge it? _Gab._ Still you owe me something, Though not for that; and I owed you my safety, At least my seeming safety, when the slaves Of Stralenheim pursued me on the grounds That _I_ had robbed him. _Sieg._ _I_ concealed you--I, Whom and whose house you arraign, reviving viper! _Gab._ I accuse no man--save in my defence. You, Count, have made yourself accuser--judge: 300 Your hall's my court, your heart is my tribunal. Be just, and _I'll_ be merciful! _Sieg._ You merciful?-- You! Base calumniator! _Gab._ I. 'Twill rest With me at last to be so. You concealed me-- In secret passages known to yourself, You said, and to none else. At dead of night, Weary with watching in the dark, and dubious Of tracing back my way, I saw a glimmer, Through distant crannies, of a twinkling light: I followed it, and reached a door--a secret 310 Portal--which opened to the chamber, where, With cautious hand and slow, having first undone As much as made a crevice of the fastening, I looked through and beheld a purple bed, And on it Stralenheim!-- _Sieg._ Asleep! And yet You slew him!--Wretch! _Gab._ He was already slain, And bleeding like a sacrifice. My own Blood became ice. _Sieg._ But he was all alone! You saw none else? You did not see the---- [_He pauses from agitation_. _Gab._ No, _He_, whom you dare not name, nor even I 320 Scarce dare to recollect, was not then in The chamber. _Sieg._ (_to_ ULRIC). Then, my boy! thou art guiltless still-- Thou bad'st me say _I_ was so once.--Oh! now Do thou as much. _Gab._ Be patient! I can _not_ Recede now, though it shake the very walls Which frown above us. You remember,--or If not, your son does,--that the locks were changed Beneath _his_ chief inspection on the morn Which led to this same night: how he had entered He best knows--but within an antechamber, 330 The door of which was half ajar, I saw A man who washed his bloody hands, and oft With stern and anxious glance gazed back upon-- The bleeding body--but it moved no more. _Sieg._ Oh! God of fathers! _Gab._ I beheld his features As I see yours--but yours they were not, though Resembling them--behold them in Count Ulric's! Distinct as I beheld them, though the expression Is not now what it then was!--but it was so When I first charged him with the crime--so lately. 340 _Sieg._ This is so-- _Gab._ (_interrupting him_). Nay--but hear me to the end! _Now_ you must do so.--I conceived myself Betrayed by you and _him_ (for now I saw There was some tie between you) into this Pretended den of refuge, to become The victim of your guilt; and my first thought Was vengeance: but though armed with a short poniard (Having left my sword without), I was no match For him at any time, as had been proved That morning--either in address or force. 350 I turned and fled--i' the dark: chance rather than Skill made me gain the secret door of the hall, And thence the chamber where you slept: if I Had found you _waking_, Heaven alone can tell What vengeance and suspicion might have prompted; But ne'er slept guilt as Werner slept that night. _Sieg._ And yet I had horrid dreams! and such brief sleep, The stars had not gone down when I awoke. Why didst thou spare me? I dreamt of my father-- And now my dream is out! _Gab._ 'Tis not my fault, 360 If I have read it.--Well! I fled and hid me-- Chance led me here after so many moons-- And showed me Werner in Count Siegendorf! Werner, whom I had sought in huts in vain, Inhabited the palace of a sovereign! You sought me and have found me--now you know My secret, and may weigh its worth. _Sieg._ (_after a pause_). Indeed! _Gab._ Is it revenge or justice which inspires Your meditation? _Sieg._ Neither--I was weighing The value of your secret. _Gab._ You shall know it 370 At once:--When you were poor, and I, though poor, Rich enough to relieve such poverty As might have envied mine, I offered you My purse--you would not share it:--I'll be franker With you: you are wealthy, noble, trusted by The imperial powers--you understand me? _Sieg._ Yes. _Gab._ Not quite. You think me venal, and scarce true: 'Tis no less true, however, that my fortunes Have made me both at present. You shall aid me: I would have aided you--and also have 380 Been somewhat damaged in my name to save Yours and your son's. Weigh well what I have said. _Sieg._ Dare you await the event of a few minutes' Deliberation? _Gab._ (_casts his eyes on_ ULRIC, _who is leaning against a pillar_). If I should do so? _Sieg._ I pledge my life for yours. Withdraw into This tower. [_Opens a turret-door_. _Gab._ (_hesitatingly_). This is the second _safe_ asylum You have offered me. _Sieg._ And was not the first so? _Gab._ I know not that even now--but will approve The second. I have still a further shield.-- I did not enter Prague alone; and should I 390 Be put to rest with Stralenheim, there are Some tongues without will wag in my behalf. Be brief in your decision![200] _Sieg._ I will be so.-- My word is sacred and irrevocable Within _these_ walls, but it extends no further. _Gab._ I'll take it for so much. _Sieg._ (_points to_ ULRIC'S _sabre, still upon the ground_). Take also _that_-- I saw you eye it eagerly, and him Distrustfully. _Gab._ (_takes up the sabre_). I will; and so provide To sell my life--not cheaply. [GABOR _goes into the turret, which_ SIEGENDORF _closes_. _Sieg._ (_advances to_ ULRIC). Now, Count Ulric! For son I dare not call thee--What say'st thou? 400 _Ulr._ His tale is true. _Sieg._ True, monster! _Ulr._ Most true, father! And you did well to listen to it: what We know, we can provide against. He must Be silenced. _Sieg._ Aye, with half of my domains; And with the other half, could he and thou Unsay this villany. _Ulr._ It is no time For trifling or dissembling. I have said His story's true; and he too must be silenced. _Sieg._ How so? _Ulr._ As Stralenheim is. Are you so dull As never to have hit on this before? 410 When we met in the garden, what except Discovery in the act could make me know His death? Or had the Prince's household been Then summoned, would the cry for the police Been left to such a stranger? Or should I Have loitered on the way? Or could _you, Werner_, The object of the Baron's hate and fears, Have fled, unless by many an hour before Suspicion woke? I sought and fathomed you, Doubting if you were false or feeble: I 420 Perceived you were the latter: and yet so Confiding have I found you, that I doubted At times your weakness. _Sieg._ Parricide! no less Than common stabber! What deed of my life, Or thought of mine, could make you deem me fit For your accomplice? _Ulr._ Father, do not raise The devil you cannot lay between us. This Is time for union and for action, not For family disputes. While _you_ were tortured, Could _I_ be calm? Think you that I have heard 430 This fellow's tale without some feeling?--You Have taught me feeling for _you_ and myself; For whom or what else did you ever teach it? _Sieg._ Oh! my dead father's curse! 'tis working now. _Ulr._ Let it work on! the grave will keep it down! Ashes are feeble foes: it is more easy To baffle such, than countermine a mole, Which winds its blind but living path beneath you. Yet hear me still!--If _you_ condemn me, yet, Remember _who_ hath taught me once too often 440 To listen to him! _Who_ proclaimed to me That _there were crimes_ made venial by the occasion? That passion was our nature? that the goods Of Heaven waited on the goods of fortune? _Who_ showed me his humanity secured By his _nerves_ only? _Who_ deprived me of All power to vindicate myself and race In open day? By his disgrace which stamped (It might be) bastardy on me, and on Himself--a _felon's_ brand! The man who is 450 At once both warm and weak invites to deeds He longs to do, but dare not. Is it strange That I should _act_ what you could _think?_ We have done With right and wrong; and now must only ponder Upon effects, not causes. Stralenheim, Whose life I saved from impulse, as _unknown_, I would have saved a peasant's or a dog's, I slew _Known_ as our foe--but not from vengeance. He Was a rock in our way which I cut through, As doth the bolt, because it stood between us 460 And our true destination--but not idly. As stranger I preserved him, and he _owed me_ His _life_: when due, I but resumed the debt. He, you, and I stood o'er a gulf wherein I have plunged our enemy. _You_ kindled first The torch--_you_ showed the path; now trace me that Of safety--or let me! _Sieg._ I have done with life! _Ulr._ Let us have done with that which cankers life-- Familiar feuds and vain recriminations Of things which cannot be undone. We have 470 No more to learn or hide: I know no fear, And have within these very walls men who (Although you know them not) dare venture all things. You stand high with the state; what passes here Will not excite her too great curiosity: Keep your own secret, keep a steady eye, Stir not, and speak not;--leave the rest to me: We must have no _third_ babblers thrust between us. [_Exit_ ULRIC. _Sieg._ (_solus_). Am I awake? are these my father's halls? And _you_--my son? _My_ son! _mine!_ I who have ever 480 Abhorred both mystery and blood, and yet Am plunged into the deepest hell of both! I must be speedy, or more will be shed-- The Hungarian's!--Ulric--he hath partisans, It seems: I might have guessed as much. Oh fool! Wolves prowl in company. He hath the key (As I too) of the opposite door which leads Into the turret. Now then! or once more To be the father of fresh crimes, no less Than of the criminal! Ho! Gabor! Gabor! 490 [_Exit into the turret, closing the door after him_. SCENE II.--_The Interior of the Turret_. GABOR _and_ SIEGENDORF. _Gab._ Who calls? _Sieg._ I--Siegendorf! Take these and fly! Lose not a moment! [_Tears off a diamond star and other jewels, and thrusts them into_ GABOR'S _hand_. _Gab._ What am I to do With these? _Sieg._ Whate'er you will: sell them, or hoard, And prosper; but delay not, or you are lost! _Gab._ You pledged your honour for my safety! _Sieg._ And Must thus redeem it. Fly! I am not master, It seems, of my own castle--of my own Retainers--nay, even of these very walls, Or I would bid them fall and crush me! Fly! Or you will be slain by---- _Gab._ Is it even so? 10 Farewell, then! Recollect, however, Count, You sought this fatal interview! _Sieg._ I did: Let it not be more fatal still!--Begone! _Gab._ By the same path I entered? _Sieg._ Yes; that's safe still; But loiter not in Prague;--you do not know With whom you have to deal. _Gab._ I know too well-- And knew it ere yourself, unhappy Sire! Farewell! [_Exit_ GABOR. _Sieg._ (_solus and listening_). He hath cleared the staircase. Ah! I hear The door sound loud behind him! He is safe! Safe!--Oh, my father's spirit!--I am faint-- 20 [_He leans down upon a stone seat, near the wall of the tower, in a drooping posture_. _Enter_ ULRIC _with others armed, and with weapons drawn_. _Ulr._ Despatch!--he's there! _Lud._ The Count, my Lord! _Ulr._ (_recognizing_ SIEGENDORF). _You_ here, sir! _Sieg._ Yes: if you want another victim, strike! _Ulr._ (_seeing him stript of his jewels_). Where is the ruffian who hath plundered you? Vassals, despatch in search of him! You see 'Twas as I said--the wretch hath stript my father Of jewels which might form a Prince's heir-loom! Away! I'll follow you forthwith. [_Exeunt all but_ SIEGENDORF _and_ ULRIC. What's this? Where is the villain? _Sieg._ There are _two_, sir: which Are you in quest of? _Ulr._ Let us hear no more Of this: he must be found. You have not let him 30 Escape? _Sieg._ He's gone. _Ulr._ With your connivance? _Sieg._ With My fullest, freest aid. _Ulr._ Then fare you well! [ULRIC _is going_. _Sieg._ Stop! I command--entreat--implore! Oh, Ulric! Will you then leave me? _Ulr._ What! remain to be Denounced--dragged, it may be, in chains; and all By your inherent weakness, half-humanity, Selfish remorse, and temporizing pity, That sacrifices your whole race to save A wretch to profit by our ruin! No, Count, Henceforth you have no son! _Sieg._ I never had one; 40 And would you ne'er had borne the useless name! Where will you go? I would not send you forth Without protection. _Ulr._ Leave that unto me. I am not alone; nor merely the vain heir Of your domains; a thousand, aye, ten thousand Swords, hearts, and hands are mine. _Sieg._ The foresters! With whom the Hungarian found you first at Frankfort! _Ulr._ Yes--men--who are worthy of the name! Go tell Your Senators that they look well to Prague; Their Feast of Peace was early for the times; 50 There are more spirits abroad than have been laid With Wallenstein! _Enter_ JOSEPHINE _and_ IDA. _Jos._ What is't we hear? My Siegendorf! Thank Heaven, I see you safe! _Sieg._ Safe! _Ida._ Yes, dear father! _Sieg._ No, no; I have no children: never more Call me by that worst name of parent. _Jos._ What Means my good Lord? _Sieg._ That you have given birth To a demon! _Ida_ (_taking_ ULRIC'S _hand_). Who shall dare say this of Ulric? _Sieg._ Ida, beware! there's blood upon that hand. _Ida_ (_stooping to kiss it_). I'd kiss it off, though it were mine. _Sieg._ It is so! _Ulr._ Away! it is your father's! [_Exit_ ULRIC. _Ida._ Oh, great God! 60 And I have loved this man! [IDA _falls senseless_--JOSEPHINE _stands speechless with horror_. _Sieg._ The wretch hath slain Them both!--My Josephine! we are now alone! Would we had ever been so!--All is over For me!--Now open wide, my sire, thy grave; Thy curse hath dug it deeper for thy son In mine!--The race of Siegendorf is past. The end of the fifth act and the Drama. B. P. J^y 20, 1822. FOOTNOTES: [159] {337}[This is not correct. _The Young Lady's Tale, or the Two Emilys_ and _The Clergyman's Tale, or Pembroke_, were contributed by Sophia Lee. _Kruitzner, or The Germans Tale_, was written by Harriet Lee (1757-1851), the younger of the sisters. Miss Lee began her literary career as a dramatist. A comedy, _The New Peerage; or, Our Eyes may deceive us_, was played at Drury Lane, November 10, 1787. In 1798 she published _The Mysterious Marriage; or, The Heirship of Rosalva_. After the publication of Byron's _Werner_, she wrote a dramatic version of _The German's Tale_, under the title of _The Three Strangers_. It was brought out at Covent Garden, December 10, 1825, and acted four times. The first volume of the _Canterbury Tales_, by Harriet Lee, was published in 1797; the second volume, by Sophia Lee, in 1798 (a second edition of these volumes was published in 1799); a third volume (second edition), by Sophia and Harriet Lee, appeared in 1800; the fourth volume, by Harriet Lee (which contains _The German's Tale_, pp. 3-368) was published in 1801; and the fifth volume, by Harriet Lee, in 1805. There can be little doubt that Byron's visit to Churchill's grave at Dover, which took place April 25, 1816 (see _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 45), was suggested by a passage in the _Introduction_, pp. vii.-ix., to the first volume (1797) of the _Canterbury Tales_. The author "wanders forth to note the _memorabilia_ of Dover," is informed that "the greatest curiosity in the place is the tomb of a poet," and hastens "to a spot surrounded by ruined walls, in the midst of which stood the white marble tablet marked with Churchill's name," etc.] [cm] {338} [_Of England or any other country. It may seem unnecessary to add this, but having seen a poem of mine never intended for representation, dragged in spite of my remonstrance upon the theatres of more than one nation, I trust it will not be deemed impertinent if I once more repeat my protest against_ [_a gross_] _folly which may injure me--and_ [_benefit_] _no one. If it be understood that_ all dramatic _writing is generically intended for the stage, I deny it_[*]. _With the exception of Shakespeare_ (_or Tate, Cibber, and Thompson under his name_), _not one in fifty plays of our dramatists is ever acted, however much they may be read. Only_ one _of Massinger--none of Ford--none of Marlowe_, one _of Ben Jonson--none of Webster, none of Heywood: and, even in Comedy, Congreve is rarely acted, and that in only one of his plays. Neither is Joanna Baillie. I am far from attempting to raise myself to a level with the least of these names--I only wish to be_ [_exempted_] _from a stage which is not theirs. Perhaps Mr. Lamb's essay upon the effects of dramatic representation on the intelligent auditor_[**]----_marks are just with regard to this--plays of Shakespeare himself--the hundredfold to those of others_.--From a mutilated page of MS. M.] [*] [Byron is replying to Jeffrey (_Edinburgh Review_, February, 1822, vol. 36, p. 422). "A drama is not merely a dialogue, but _an action_: and necessarily supposes that something is to pass before the eyes of assembled spectators.... If an author does not bear this continually in his mind, and does not write in the ideal presence of an eager and diversified assemblage, he may be a poet, perhaps, but assuredly he will never be a dramatist."] [**] ["It may seem a paradox, but I cannot help being of opinion that the plays of Shakespeare are less calculated for performance on a stage than those of almost any other dramatist whatever."--"On the Tragedies of Shakespeare," _Complete Works of Charles Lamb_, 1875, p. 255. It was, too, something of a paradox that Byron should be eager to shelter himself under the aegis of Charles Lamb. But unpopularity, like poverty, brings together strange bedfellows.] [160] {340}[The Thirty Years' War dates from the capture of Pilsen by Mansfeld, November 21, 1618, and did not end till the Peace of Westphalia, October 24, 1648. The incident recorded in act v., a solemn commemoration of the Treaty of Prague, must have taken place in 1635. But in _Werner_ there is little or no attempt "to follow history."] [cn] {342} _Yea--to a peasant_.--[MS. erased.] [161] {346}[Compare--"And still my passions wake and war." Lines "To----" [Lady Blessington], _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 564.] [162] {347}[It has been surmised that Byron had some knowledge of the early life and history of the dramatist Friedrich Ludwig Zacharias Werner (1768-1823), and that a similarity of character and incident suggested the renaming of Kruitzner. But the change of name was made in 1815, not in 1821, and it is far more probable that Byron called his hero "Werner," because "Kruitzner" is unrhythmical, or simply because "Werner," a common German surname, is not unlike "Werther," which was "familiar as a household word."] [163] {348}["Lord Byron's establishment at Pisa was, like everything else about him, somewhat singular; it consisted of a monkey, a mastiff, a bull-dog, two cats, ... several servants in livery, and the trusty Fletcher as _Major Domo_, or superintendant of the _Menagerie_."--_Life, Writings, Opinions, etc._, 1825, ii. 203, 204. See, too, Medwin, _Conversations_, 1824, pp. 1, 2.] [164] [The Oder crosses and re-crosses the northern frontier of Silesia.] [165] {349}[In Miss Lee's _Kruitzner_ Gabor is always spoken of as "The Hungarian." He is no doubt named after Bethlen Gabor, Prince of Transylvania, who was elected King of Hungary, August, 1620.] [166] {351}[Compare--"And so--for God's sake--hock and soda-water." Fragment written on MS. of Canto I. of _Don Juan_.] [167] {352}[On the 18th of August, 1619, Bethlen Gabor threw in his lot with the Bohemians, and "wrote the Directors at Prague that he would march with his troops, and in September would, in their defence, enter Moravia."--History of the Thirty Years War, by A. Gindely, 1885, i. 166. _Vide ibid._, for portrait of "Gabriel Bethlem, D. G. Princeps Transsylvaniae, etc., AEtatis suae 40, A^o Christi, 1620."] [168] {354}[From _super_, and _nagel_, "a nail." To drink _supernaculum_ is to empty the cup so thoroughly that the last drop or "pearl," drained on to the nail, retains its shape, and does not run. If "the pearl" broke and began to slide, the drinker was "sconced." Hence, good liquor. See Rabelais' _Life of Gargantua, etc._, Urquhart's Translation, 1863, lib. i, ch. 5.] [co] {355} _Without means and he has not a stiver left_.--[MS. erased.] [cp] {357} _ This is one of those to whom I owe aid_.--[MS. erased.] [169] {364}[Compare Age of Bronze, line 130, _vide post_, p. 549.] [170] {365}[For the "merchant dukes" of Florence, see _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza lx. line 4. See, too, _ibid_., stanza xlviii. line 8, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 375, and 365, note 1.] [171] {367}["Your printer has made one odd mistake:--'poor as a _Mouse_' instead of 'poor as a _Miser_.' The expression may seem strange, but it is only a translation of 'Semper avarus eget!'" (Hor., _Epist. I._ ii. 56).--Letter to Murray, May 29, 1822, _Letters_, 1901, vi. 75.] [cq] {368} ----_who furnish our good masters_.--[MS. M.] [172] {385}[The Swedish garrisons did not evacuate Bohemia till 1649, and then, as their occupation was gone, with considerable reluctance. "It need not, therefore, be a matter of wonder that from the discharged soldiers numerous bands of robbers ['_bande nere_,' or 'black bands:' see _Deformed Transformed_, Part II. sc. i. line 65] were formed; that these pursued on their own account the trade that they had formerly carried on under the cover of military law, and that commerce became again unsafe on the highways."--_History of the Thirty Years' War_, by A. Gindely, 1885, ii. 382, 383.] [173] [Albrecht Wenceslaus Eusebius, Count of Waldstein, Duke of Mecklenburg, quartermaster of the Imperial Army in the Thirty Years' War, was born in Bohemia, September 15, 1583, and assassinated at Egra, February 25, 1634. Johann Tserclaes Count von Tilly, born 1559, defeated the Bohemians at the battle of Prague, November 8, 1620, died April 30, 1632. Gustavus Adolphus, the "Lion of the North," born December 9, 1594, succeeded his father, Charles IX., King of Sweden, in 1611. As head of the Protestant League, he invaded Germany, defeated the armies of Conti and Schaumburg, June-December, 1630; defeated Tilly at Leipzig and Breitenfeld, September 7, 1631; defeated Wallenstein at Lutzen; but was killed in battle, November 16, 1632. Johan Bannier, or Baner, Swedish general, born June 23, 1595, defeated the Saxons near Chemnitz, April 4, 1639, died December, 1649. Lennart Torstenson, Swedish general, born 1603, fought at the battle of Leipzig, and was taken prisoner at Nuernburg. In 1641 he was appointed General-in-Chief of the Swedes in Germany, and died at Stockholm, April, 1651. Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, born 1604, succeeded Gustavus Adolphus in command in Germany, November 16, 1632; defeated the Imperialists at Rheinfeld, 1638; died at Huningen, 1639. Banier and Torstenson were living when the Peace of Westphalia was proclaimed, November 3, 1648.] [174] {373}[George William, Elector of Brandenburgh (1595-1640), was in alliance with Gustavus Adolphus; John George, Elector of Saxony (1585-1656) (_vide supra_, line 179), was on the side of the Imperialists.] [175] {377}[Compare _The Antiquary_, by Sir W. Scott, i. 366, chap. vii. ed. 1851: "'Good man,' said Sir Arthur, 'can you think of nothing?--of no help?--I'll make you rich--I'll give you a farm--I'll----' 'Our riches will soon be equal,' said the beggar, looking upon the strife of the waters. 'They are sae already; for I hae nae land, and you would give your fair bounds and barony for a square yard of rock that would be dry for twal hours.'"--_The Antiquary_ was published in 1816, six years before the second version of _Werner_ was written, and ten years after the death of the Duchess of Devonshire.] [176] {381}[The following is the original passage in the novel:--"'Stralenheim,' said Conrad, 'does not appear to me altogether the man you take him for:--but were it even otherwise, he owes me gratitude not only for the past, but for what he supposes to be my present employment. I saved his life, and he therefore places confidence in me. He has been robbed last night--is sick--a stranger--and in no condition to discover the villain who has plundered him.... and the business on which I sought the Intendant was chiefly that.'"--_Canterbury Tales_, by Sophia and Harriet Lee, 1838, ii. 203, 204.] [177] ["'And who,' said he, 'has entitled you to brand thus with ignominious epithets a being you do not know? Who ... has taught you that it would be safe even for my son to insult me?'--'It is not necessary to know the person of a ruffian,' replied Conrad, indignantly, 'to give him the appellation he merits:--and what is there in common between my father and such a character?'--'_Everything_,' said Siegendorf, bitterly,--'for that ruffian was your father!'"--Ibid., p. 204.] [178] {382}["'Conrad ... before you thus presume to chastise me with your eye, learn to understand my actions! Young, and inexperienced in the world--reposing hitherto in the bosom of indulgence and luxury, is it for _you_ to judge of the impulse of the passions, or the temptations of misery? Wait till, like me, you have blighted your fairest hopes--have endured humiliation and sorrow--poverty and insult--before you pretend to judge of their effect on you! Should that miserable day ever arrive--should you see the being at your mercy who stands between you and everything that is dear or noble in life!--who is ready to tear from you your name--your inheritance--your very life itself--congratulate your own heart, if, like me, you are content with petty plunder, and are not tempted to exterminate a serpent, who now lives, perhaps to sting us all.'"--_Canterbury Tales_, by Sophia and Harriet Lee, 1838, ii. 204, 205.] [179] {383}["'You do not know this man,' continued he; 'I do!--I believe him to be mean--sordid--deceitful! You will conceive yourself safe, because you are young and brave! Learn, however, ... none are so secure but desperation or subtilty may reach them! Stralenheim, in the palace of a prince, was in my power! My knife was held over him--a single moment would have swept him from the face of the earth, and with him all my future fears:--I forbore--and I am now in his.--Are you certain that you are not so too? Who assures you he does not know you?--who tells you that he has not lured you into his society, either to rid himself of you for ever, or to plunge you with your family into a dungeon?'"--_Canterbury Tales_, by Sophia and Harriet Lee, 1838, ii. 205. It should be noted that this and other passages from Miss Lee's story, which have been selected for comparison with the text, are to be regarded as representative parallels--samples of a far more extended adaptation. _Vide ante_, "The Introduction to _Werner_," p. 326.] [180] ["'Me ... he has known invariably through every change of fortune or of name--and why not you?--_Me_ he has entrapped--are you more discreet? He has wound the snares of Idenstein around me:--of a reptile, whom, a few years ago, I would have spurned from my presence, and whom, in spurning now, I have furnished with fresh venom:--will _you_ be more patient?--Conrad, Conrad, there are crimes rendered venial by the occasion, and temptations too exquisite for human fortitude to master or endure.'"--_Canterbury Tales_, by Sophia and Harriet Lee, 1838, ii. 205.] [181] {384}["'These are only the systems of my father ... My mother thinks not with him?'"--Ibid., p. 206.] [182] {385} The Ravenstone, "Rabenstein," is the _stone gibbet_ of Germany, and so called from the ravens perching on it. [Compare _Manfred_, act iii., First Version, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 122.] [cr] {387} ----_and a master_.--[MS. M.] [183] {388}[Compare--"Cozenage, mere cozenage." _Merry Wives of Windsor_, act iv. sc. 5, line 58. If further proof were needed, the repetition or echo of Shakespearian phrases, here and elsewhere in the play, would reveal Byron's handiwork.] [184] {389}[Compare _Marino Faliero_, act ii, sc. 2, line 115--"These swoln silkworms masters." Silkworm ("mal bigatto") is an Italianism. See _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 386, note 4.] [cs] {391} ----_and hollow_ _Sickness sits caverned in his yellow eye_.--[MS. M.] [185] {393}["Thou hast harped my fear aright." _Macbeth_, act iv. sc. 1, line 74.] [186] {396}["Momus is the god of cruel mockery. He is said to have found fault with the man formed by Hephaestus, because a little door had not been left in his breast, so as to enable his fellows to look into his secret thoughts." (See Lucian's _Hermotimus_, cap. xx.) There was a proverb, [Greek: To~| Mo/mo| a)re/skein] _Momo santisfacere; vide Adagia_ Variorum, 1643, p. 58. Byron describes Suwarrow as "Now Mars, now Momus" (_Don Juan_, Canto VII. stanza lv. line 7).] [187] {403}[For the "Theban brethren," Eteocles and Polynices, see the _Septem c. Thebas_ of AEschylus. Byron had read and liked the "Seven before Thebes."--_Letters_, 1900, iv. 174.] [188] {404}[A cavity at the lower end of the lead attached to a sounding-line is partially filled with an _arming_ (tallow), to which the bottom, especially if it be sand, shells, or fine gravel, adheres.--Knights's _American Mechanical Dictionary_, 1877, art. "Sounding-Apparatus."] [189] {405}[Compare _The Age of Bronze_, line 45, for the story of Sesostris being drawn by kings. (See Diodorus Siculus, _Bibl. Hist._, lib. i. p. 37, C., ed. 1604, p. 53.)] [ct] {406} _And never offered aught as a reward_.--[MS. M. erased.] [cu] {407} ----_that if thou wert a snail, none else_.--[MS. M.] [190] {408}[Compare--"The iron tongue of midnight." _Midsummer Night's Dream_, act v. sc. 1, line 352.] [191] [Compare _Childe Harold_, Canto III. stanza xcvi. line 5, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 275, note I.] [192] {409}[Compare--"With your leave, I will call a will-o'-the-wisp." Goethe's _Faust_.] [193] {410}[Compare--"Sleep she as sound as careless infancy." _Merry Wives of Windsor_, act v. sc. 5, line 50.] [194] {416}[At the siege of Magdeburg, May 19, 1631, "soldiers and citizens, with their wives, boys and girls, old and young, were all mercilessly butchered." "The city was set fire to at more than twelve points, and, except the cathedral and about fifty houses, sank into soot and ashes. It was not Tilly and his men, but Magdeburg's own people, who kindled the city to a conflagration."--_History of the Thirty Years' War_, by Anton Gindely, 1885, ii. 65, 66.] [195] {418}[In Miss Lee's _Kruitzner_, Conrad meets his death in a skirmish on the frontiers of Franconia.] [196] {423}[Compare "Excellent, i' faith; of the chameleon's dish: I eat the air" (Hamlet, act iii. sc. 2, lines 88, 89).] [197] [Compare-- "Had his free breathing been denied The range of the steep mountain's side." _Prisoner of Chillon_, lines 142, 143.] [198] [The Treaty of Prague was signed May 30, 1635.] [199] {428}[For "the attachment of the nightingale to the rose," see _Giaour_ lines 21-31, _Poetical Works_, 1900, in. 86, note 1.] [200] {446}["_Gab._ I have yet an additional security. I did not enter Prague a solitary individual; and there are tongues without that will speak for me, although I should even share the fate of Stralenheim! Let your deliberation be short.--_Sieg._ My promise is solemn--sacred--irrevocable: it extends not, however, beyond my own walls."--_Canterbury Tales_, 1838, ii. 268; see, too, pp. 269, 270.] WERNER Nov. 1815. [FIRST DRAFT.] ACT I. SCENE I.--_A ruinous chateau on the Silesian frontier of Bohemia_. _Josepha_. THE storm is at it's height--how the wind howls, Like an unearthly voice, through these lone chambers! And the rain patters on the flapping casement Which quivers in it's frame--the night is starless-- Yet cheerly Werner! still our hearts are warm: The tempest is without, or should be so-- For we are sheltered here where Fortune's clouds May roll all harmless o'er us as the wrath Of these wild elements that menace now, Yet do not reach us. _Werner_ (_without attending, and walking disturbedly, speaking to himself_). No--'Tis past--'tis blighted, 10 The last faint hope to which my withered fortune Clung with a feeble and a fluttering grasp, Yet clung convulsively--for twas the _last_-- Is broken with the rest: would that my heart were! But there is pride, and passion's war within, Which give my breast vitality to suffer, As it hath suffered through long years till now. My father's wrath extends beyond the grave, And haunts me in the shape of Stralenheim! He revels in my fathers palace--I-- 20 Exiled--disherited--a nameless outcast! [_Werner pauses_. My boy, too, where and what is he?--my father Might well have limited his curse to me. If that my heritage had passed to Ulric, I had not mourned my own less happy lot. No--No--all's past--all torn away. _Josepha_. Dear Werner, Oh banish these discomfortable thoughts That thus contend within you: we are poor, So we have ever been--but I remember The time when thy Josepha's smile could turn 30 Thy heart to hers--despite of every ill. So let it now--alas! you hear me not. _Werner_. What said you?--let it pass--no matter what-- Think me not churlish, Sweet, I am not well. My brain is hot and busy--long fatigue And last night's watching have oppressed me much. _Josepha_. Then get thee to thy couch. I do perceive In thy pale cheek and in thy bloodshot eye A strange distemperature--nay, as a boon, I do entreat thee to thy rest. _Werner_. My _rest!_ 40 Well--be it so--Good Night! _Josepha_. Thy hand is burning; I will prepare a potion:--peace be with thee-- Tomorrow's dawn I trust will find thee healthful; And, then, our Ulric may perchance-- _Werner_. _Our_ Ulric--thine and mine--our only boy-- Curse on his father and his father's Sire! (For, if it is so, I will render back A curse that Heaven will hear as well as his), Our Ulric by his father's fault or folly, And by my father's unrelenting pride, 50 Is at this hour, perchance, undone. This night That shelters us may shower it's wrath on him-- A homeless beggar for his parent's sin-- Thy sin and mine--Thy child and mine atones-- Our Ulric--Woman!--I'll to no bed to-night-- There is no pillow for my thoughts. _Josepha_. What words, What fearful words are these! what may they mean? _Werner_. Look on me--thou hast known me, hitherto, As an oppressed, but yet a humble creature; By birth predestined to the yoke I've borne. 60 Till now I've borne it patiently, at least, In bitter silence--but the hour is come, That should and shall behold me as I was, And ought again to be-- _Josepha_. I know not what Thy mystery may tend to, but my fate-- My heart--my will--my love are linked with thine, And I would share thy sorrow: lay it open. _Werner_. Thou see'st the son of Count--but let it pass-- I forfeited the name in wedding thee: That fault of many faults a father's pride 70 Proclaimed the last and worst--and, from that hour, He disavowed, disherited, debased A wayward son----tis a long tale--too long-- And I am heartsick of the heavy thought. _Josepha_. Oh, I could weep--but that were little solace: Yet tell the rest--or, if thou wilt not, say-- Yet say--why, through long years, from me withheld, This fearful secret that hath gnawed thy soul? _Werner_. Why? had it not been base to call on thee For patience and for pity--to awake 80 The thirst of grandeur in thy gentle spirit-- To tell thee what thou shouldst have been--the wife Of one, in power--birth--wealth, preeminent-- Then, sudden quailing in that lofty tone, To bid thee soothe thy husband--peasant Werner? _Josepha_. I would thou wert, indeed, the peasant Werner; For then thy soul had been of calmer mould, And suited to thy lot---- _Werner_. Was it not so? Beneath a humble name and garb--the which My youthful riot and a father's frown, 90 Too justly fixed upon me, had compelled My bowed down spirit to assume too well-- Since it deceived the world, myself, and thee: I linked my lot irrevocably with thine-- And I have loved thee deeply--long and dearly-- Even as I love thee still--but these late crosses, And most of all the last,--have maddened me; And I am wild and wayward as in youth, Ere I beheld thee-- _Josepha_. Would thou never hadst! Since I have been a blight upon thy hope, 100 And marred alike the present and the future. _Werner_. Yet say not so--for all that I have known Of true and calm content--of love--of peace-- Has been with thee and from thee: wert thou not, I were a lonely and self-loathing thing. Ulric has left us! all, save thou, have left me! Father and son--Fortune--Fame--Power--Ambition-- The ties of being--the high soul of man-- All save the long remorse--the consciousness, The curse of living on, regretting life 110 Mispent in miserably gazing upward, While others soared--Away, I'll think no more. _Josepha_. But Ulric--wherefore didst thou let him leave His home and us? tis now three weary years. _Werner_ (_interrupting her quickly_). Since my hard father, half-relenting, sent The offer of a scanty stipend which I needs must earn by rendering up my son-- Fool that I was--I thought this quick compliance, And never more assuming in myself The haught name of my house would soften him-- 120 And for our child secure the heritage Forfeit in me forever. Since that hour, Till the last year, the wretched pittance came-- Then ceased with every tidings of my son And Sire--till late I heard the last had ceased To live--and unforgiving died--Oh God! _Josepha_. Was it for this our Ulric left us so? Thou dids't deceive me then--he went not forth To join the legions of Count Tilly's war? _Werner_. I know not--he had left my father's castle, 130 Some months before his death--but why?--but why? Left it as I did ere his birth, perchance, Like me an outcast. Old age had not made My father meeker--and my son, Alas! Too much his Sire resembled---- _Josepha_. Yet there's comfort. Restrain thy wandering Spirit--Ulric cannot Have left his native land--thou dost not know, Though it looks strangely, thy Sire and he In anger parted--Hope is left us still. _Werner_. The best hope that I ever held in youth, 140 When every pulse was life, each thought a joy, (Yet not irrationally sanguine, since My birth bespoke high thoughts,) hath lured and left me. I will not be a dreamer in mine age-- The hunter of a shadow--let _boys hope_: Of Hope I now know nothing but the name-- And that's a sound which jars upon my heart. I've wearied thee--Good night--my patient Love! _Josepha_. I must not leave thee thus--my husband--friend-- My heart is rent in twain for thee--I scarce 150 Dare greet thee as I would, lest that my love Should seem officious and ill timed:--'tis early-- Yet rest were as a healing balm to thee-- Then once again--Good night! _Voice Without_. What Ho--lights ho! SCENE II. _Josepha_. What noise is that? 'tis nearer--hush! they knock. [_A knocking heard at the gate_--WERNER _starts_. _Werner_ (_aside_). It may be that the bloodhounds of the villain, Who long has tracked me, have approached at last: I'll not be taken tamely. _Josepha_. 'Twas the voice, The single voice of some lone traveller. I'll to the door. _Werner_. No--stay thou here--again! [_Knocking repeated. Opens the door_. Well--Sir--your pleasure? _Enter_ CARL _the Bavarian_. _Carl_. Thanks most worthy Sir! My pleasure, for to-night, depends on yours-- I'm weary, wet, and wayworn--without shelter, Unless you please to grant it. _Josepha_. You shall have it, 10 Such as this ruinous mansion may afford: Tis spacious, but too cold and crazy now For Hospitality's more cordial welcome: But as it is 'tis yours. _Werner_ (_to his wife_). Why say ye so? At once such hearty greeting to a stranger? At such a lonely hour, too-- _Josepha_ (_in reply to Werner_). Nay--he's honest. There is trust-worthiness in his blunt looks. _Werner_ (_to Josepha_). "Trustworthiness in looks!" I'll trust no looks! I look into men's faces for their age, Not for their actions--had he Adam's brow, 20 Open and goodly as before the fall, I've lived too long to trust the frankest aspect. (_To Carl_) Whence come you Sir? _Carl_. From Frankfort, on my way To my own country--I've a companion too-- He tarries now behind:--an hour ago, On reaching that same river on your frontier, We found it swoln by storms--a stranger's carriage, Despite the current, drawn by sturdy mules, Essayed to pass, and nearly reached the middle Of that which was the _ford_ in gentler weather, 30 When down came driver, carriage, mules, and all-- You may suppose the worthy Lord within Fared ill enough:--worse still he might have suffered, But that my comrade and myself rushed in, And with main strength and some good luck beside, Dislodged and saved him: he'll be here anon. His equipage by this time is at Dresden-- I left it floating that way. _Werner_. Where is he? _Carl_. Hitherward on his way, even like myself-- We saw the light and made for the nearest shelter: 40 You'll not deny us for a single night? You've room enough, methinks--and this vast ruin Will not be worse for three more guests. _Werner_. Two more: And thou?--well--be it so--(_aside_) (tonight will soon Be overpast: they shall not stay tomorrow)-- Know you the name of him you saved? _Carl_. Not I! I think I heard him called a Baron Something-- But was too chill to stay and hear his titles: You know they are sometimes tedious in the reckoning, If counted over by the noble wearer. 50 Has't any wine? I'm wet, stung to the marrow-- My comrade waited to escort the Baron: They will be here, anon--they, too, want cheering: I'll taste for them, if it please you, courteous host! _Josepha_. Such as our vintage is shall give you welcome: I'll bring you some anon. [_goes out_. _Carl_ (_looking round_). A goodly mansion! And has been nobly tenanted, I doubt not. This worn magnificence some day has shone On light hearts and long revels--those torn banners Have waved o'er courtly guests--and yon huge lamp 60 High blazed through many a midnight--I could wish My lot had led me here in those gay times! Your days, my host, must pass but heavily. Are you the vassal of these antient chiefs, Whose heir wastes elsewhere their fast melting hoards, And placed to keep their cobwebs company? _Werner_ (_who has been absorbed in thought till the latter part of his speech_). A Vassal!--I a vassal!--_who_ accosts me With such familiar question?--(_checks himself and says aside_)--Down startled pride! Have not long years of wretchedness yet quenched thee, And, suffering evil, wilt thou start at scorn? 70 (_To Carl_.) Sir! if I boast no birth--and, as you see, My state bespeaks none--still, no being breathes Who calls me slave or servant.--Like yourself I am a stranger here--a lonely guest-- But, for a time, on sufferance. On my way, From--a far distant city--Sickness seized, And long detained me in the neighbouring hamlet. The Intendant of the owner of this castle, Then uninhabited, with kind intent, Permitted me to wait returning health 80 Within these walls--more sheltered than the cot Of humble peasants. _Carl_. Worthy Sir, your mercy! I meant not to offend you--plain of speech, And blunt in apprehension, I do judge Men's station from their seeming--but themselves From acts alone. You bid me share your shelter, And I am bound to you; and had you been The lowliest vassal had not thanked you less, Than I do now, believing you his better, Perhaps my own superior-- _Werner_. What imports it? 90 What--who I am--or whence--you are welcome--sit-- You shall have cheer anon. (_walks disturbedly aside_) _Carl_ (_to himself_). Here's a strange fellow! Wild, churlish, angry--_why_, I know not, seek not. Would that the wine were come! my doublet's wet, But my throat dry as Summer's drought in desarts. Ah--here it sparkles! _Enter_ JOSEPHA _with wine in flask--and a cup. As she pours it out a Voice is heard without calling at a distance_. WERNER _starts_--JOSEPHA _listens tremulously_. _Werner_. That voice--that voice--Hark! No--no--tis silent--Sir--I say--that voice-- Whose is it--speak-- _Carl_ (_drinking unconcernedly_). Whose is it? faith, I know not-- And, yet, 'tis my companion's: he's like you, And does not care to tell his name and station. 100 [_The voice again and nearer_. _Josepha_. 'Tis his--I knew it--Ulric!--Ulric!--Ulric! [_She drops the wine and rushes out_. _Carl_. The flask's unhurt--but every drop is spilt. Confound the voice! I say--would he were dumb! And faith! to me, he has been nearly so-- A silent and unsocial travelling mate. _Werner_ (_stands in agitation gazing towards the door_). If it be he--I cannot move to meet him. Yes--it must be so--there is no such voice That so could sound and shake me: he is here, And I am-- _Enter_ STRALENHEIM. _Werner_ (_turns and sees him_). A curse upon thee, stranger! Where dids't thou learn a tone so like my boy's? 110 Thou mock bird of my hopes--a curse upon thee! Out! Out! I say. Thou shalt not harbour here. _Stralenheim_. What means the peasant? knows he unto whom He dares address this language? _Carl_. Noble Sir! Pray heed him not--he's Phrenzy's next door neighbour, And full of these strange starts and causeless jarrings. _Werner_. Oh, that long wished for voice!--I dreamed of it-- And then it did elude me--then--and now. _Enter_ ULRIC _and_ JOSEPHA. WERNER _falls on his neck_. Oh God! forgive, for thou dids't not forget me. Although I murmured--tis--it is my Son! 120 _Josepha_. Aye, 'tis dear Ulric--yet, methinks, he's changed, too: His cheek is tanned, his frame more firmly knit! That scar, too, dearest Ulric--I do fear me-- Thou hast been battling with these heretics, And that's a Swedish token on thy brow. _Ulric_. My heart is glad with yours--we meet like those Who never would have parted:--of the past You shall know more anon--but, here's a guest That asks a gentle welcome. Noble Baron, My father's silence looks discourtesy: 130 Yet must I plead his pardon--'tis his love Of a long truant that has rapt him, thus, From hospitable greeting--you'll be seated-- And, Father, we will sup like famished hunters. JOSEPHA _goes out here_. _Stralenheim_. I have much need of rest: no more refreshment! Were all my people housed within the hamlet, Or can they follow? _Ulric_. Not to night I fear. They staid in hope the damaged Cabriole Might, with the dawn of day, have such repairs, As circumstance admits of. _Carl_. Nay--that's hopeless. 140 They must not only mend but draw it too. The mules are drowned--a murrain on them both! One kicked me as I would have helped him on. _Stralenheim_. It is most irksome to me--this delay. I was for Prague on business of great moment. _Werner_. For Prague--Sir--Say you?-- _Stralenheim_. Yes, my host! for Prague. And these vile floods and villainous cross roads Steal my time from it's uses--but--my people? Where do they shelter? _Ulric_. In the boatman's shed, Near to the ferry: you mistook the ford-- 150 Tis higher to the right:--their entertainment Will be but rough--but 'tis a single night, And they had best be guardians of the baggage. The shed will hold the weather from their sleep, The woodfire warm them--and, for beds, a cloak Is swansdown to a seasoned traveller: It has been mine for many a moon, and may Tonight, for aught it recks me. _Stralenheim_. And tomorrow I must be on my journey--and betimes. It is not more than three days travel, hence, 160 To Mansfeldt Castle. _Werner and Ulric_. Mansfeldt Castle!-- _Stralenheim_. Aye! For thither tends my progress--so, betimes, Mine host I would be stirring--think of that! And let me find my couch of rest at present. _Werner_. You shall Sir--but--to Mansfeldt!-- [ULRIC _stops his father and says aside to him_, _Silence--father--_ Whate'er it be that shakes you thus--_tread down_-- (_To Stralenheim_) My father, Sir, was born not far from Prague, And knows it's environs--and, when he hears, The name endeared to him by native thoughts, He would ask of it, and it's habitants-- 170 You will excuse his plain blunt mode of question. _Stralenheim_. Indeed, perchance, then, he may aid my search. Pray, know you aught of one named Werner? who (But he no doubt has passed through many names), Lived long in Hamburgh--and has thence been traced Into Silesia--and not far from hence-- But there we lost him; he who can disclose Aught of him, or his hiding-place, will find Advantage in revealing it. _Ulric_. Why so--Sir? _Stralenheim_. There are strong reasons to suspect this man 180 Of crimes against the State--league with Swedes-- And other evil acts of moment:--he Who shall deliver him, bound hand and foot, Will benefit his country and himself: I will reward him doubly too. _Ulric_. You know him? _Stralenheim_. He never met my eyes--but Circumstance Has led me to near knowledge of the man. He is a villain--and an enemy To all men--most to me! If earth contain him, He shall be found and fettered: I have hopes, 190 By traces which tomorrow will unravel, A fresh clue to his lurking spot is nigh. _Carl_. And, if I find it, I will break the thread. What, all the world against one luckless wight! And he a fugitive--I would I knew him! _Ulric_. You'd help him to escape--is it not so? _Carl_. I would, indeed! _Ulric_. The greater greenhorn you! I would secure him--nay--I will do so. _Stralenheim_. If it be so--my gratitude for aid, And rescue of my life from the wild waters, 200 Will double in it's strength and it's requital. Your father, too, perhaps can help our search? _Werner_. _I_ turn a spy--no--not for _Mansfeldt Castle_, And all the broad domain it frowns upon. _Stralenheim_. Mansfeldt again!--you know it then? perchance, You also know the story of it's lords? _Werner_. Whate'er I know, there is no bribe of thine Can swerve me to the crooked path thou pointest. The chamber's ready, which your rest demands. _Stralenheim_ (_aside_). 'Tis strange--this peasant's tone is wondrous high, 210 His air imperious--and his eye shines out As wont to look command with a quick glance-- His garb befits him not--why, he may be The man I look for! now, I look again, There is the very lip--short curling lip-- And the oerjutting eye-brow dark and large, And the peculiar wild variety Of feature, even unto the Viper's eye, Of that detested race, and it's descendant Who stands alone between me and a power, 220 Which Princes gaze at with unquiet eyes! This is no peasant--but, whate'er he be, Tomorrow shall secure him and unfold. _Ulric_. It will not please you, Sir, then to remain With us beyond tomorrow? _Stralenheim_. Nay--I do not say so--there is no haste. And now I think again--I'll tarry here-- Perhaps until the floods abate--we'll see-- In the mean time--to my chamber--so--Good Night! [_Exit with_ WERNER. _Werner_. This way, Sir. _Carl_. And I to mine: pray, where are we to rest? 230 We'll sup within-- _Ulric_. What matter where--there's room. _Carl_. I would fain see my way through this vast ruin; Come take the lamp, and we'll explore together. _Josepha_ (_meeting them_). And I will with my son. _Ulric_. Nay--stay--dear mother! These chilly damps and the cold rush of winds Fling a rough paleness o'er thy delicate cheek-- And thou seem'st lovely in thy sickliness Of most transparent beauty:--but it grieves me. Nay! tarry here by the blaze of the bright hearth:-- I will return anon--and we have much 240 To listen and impart. Come, Carl, we'll find Some gorgeous canopy, and, thence, unroost It's present bedfellows the bats--and thou Shalt slumber underneath a velvet cloud That mantles o'er the couch of some dead Countess. [_Exit_ CARL _and_ ULRIC. _Josepha_ (_sola_). It was my joy to see him--nothing more I should have said--which sent my gush of blood Back on my full heart with a dancing tide: It was my weary hope's unthought fulfilment, My agony of mother-feelings curdled 250 At once in gathered rapture--which did change My cheek into the hue of fainting Nature. I should have answered thus--and yet I could not: For though 'twas true--it was not all the truth. I have much suffered in the thought of Werner's Late deep distemperature of mind and fortunes, Which since have almost driven him into phrenzy:-- And though that I would soothe, not share, such passions, And show not how they shake me:--when alone, I feel them prey upon me by reflection, 260 And want the very solace I bestowed; And which, it seems, I cannot give and have. Ulric must be my comforter--his father's Hath long been the most melancholy soul That ever hovered o'er the verge of Madness: And, better, had he leapt into it's gulph: Though to the Mad thoughts are realities, Yet they can play with sorrow--and live on. But with the mind of consciousness and care The body wears to ruin, and the struggle, 270 However long, is deadly----He is lost, And all around him tasteless:--in his mirth His very laughter moves me oft to tears, And I have turned to hide them--for, in him, As Sunshine glittering o'er unburied bones---- Soft--he is here.---- _Werner_. Josepha--where is Ulric? _Josepha_. Gone with the other stranger to gaze o'er These shattered corridors, and spread themselves A pillow with their mantles, in the least ruinous: I must replenish the diminished hearth 280 In the inner chamber--the repast is ready, And Ulric will be here again.-- THE DEFORMED TRANSFORMED: A DRAMA. INTRODUCTION TO _THE DEFORMED TRANSFORMED_. The date of the original MS. of _The Deformed Transformed_ is "Pisa, 1822." There is nothing to show in what month it was written, but it may be conjectured that it was begun and finished within the period which elapsed between the death of Allegra, April 20, and the death of Shelley, July 8, 1822. According to Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 227), an unfavourable criticism of Shelley's ("It is a bad imitation of _Faust_"), together with a discovery that "two entire lines" of Southey's-- "And water shall see thee, And fear thee, and flee thee"-- were imbedded in one of his "Songs," touched Byron so deeply that he "threw the poem into the fire," and concealed the existence of a second copy for more than two years. It is a fact that Byron's correspondence does not contain the remotest allusion to _The Deformed Transformed_; but, with regard to the plagiarism from Southey, in the play as written in 1822 there is neither Song nor Incantation which could have contained two lines from _The Curse of Kehama_. As a dramatist, Byron's function, or _metier_, was twofold. In _Manfred_, in _Cain_, in _Heaven and Earth_, he is concerned with the analysis and evolution of metaphysical or ethical notions; in _Marino Faliero_, in _Sardanapalus_, and _The Two Foscari_, he set himself "to dramatize striking passages of history;" in _The Deformed Transformed_ he sought to combine the solution of a metaphysical puzzle or problem, the relation of personality to individuality, with the scenic rendering of a striking historical episode, the Sack of Rome in 1527. In the note or advertisement prefixed to the drama, Byron acknowledges that "the production" is founded partly on the story of a forgotten novel, _The Three Brothers_, and partly on "the _Faust_ of the great Goethe." Arnaud, or Julian, the hero of _The Three Brothers_ (by Joshua Pickersgill, jun., 4 vols., 1803), "sells his soul to the Devil, and becomes an arch-fiend in order to avenge himself for the taunts of strangers on the deformity of his person" (see _Gent. Mag._, November, 1804, vol. 74, p. 1047; and _post_, pp. 473-479). The idea of an escape from natural bonds or disabilities by supernatural means and at the price of the soul or will, the _un_-Christlike surrender to the tempter, which is the _grund-stoff_ of the Faust-legend, was brought home to Byron, in the first instance, not by Goethe, or Calderon, or Marlowe, but by Joshua Pickersgill. A fellow-feeling lent an intimate and peculiar interest to the theme. He had suffered all his life from a painful and inconvenient defect, which his proud and sensitive spirit had magnified into a deformity. He had been stung to the quick by his mother's taunts and his sweetheart's ridicule, by the jeers of the base and thoughtless, by slanderous and brutal paragraphs in newspapers. He could not forget that he was lame. If his enemies had but possessed the wit, they might have given him "the sobriquet of _Le Diable Boiteux_" (letter to Moore, April 2, 1823, _Letters_, 1901, vi. 179). It was no wonder that so poignant, so persistent a calamity should be "reproduced in his poetry" (_Life_, p. 13), or that his passionate impatience of such a "thorn in the flesh" should picture to itself a mysterious and unhallowed miracle of healing. It is true, as Moore says (_Life_, pp. 45, 306), that "the trifling deformity of his foot" was the embittering circumstance of his life, that it "haunted him like a curse;" but it by no means follows that he seriously regarded his physical peculiarity as a stamp of the Divine reprobation, that "he was possessed by an _idee fixe_ that every blessing would be 'turned into a curse' to him" (letter of Lady Byron to H. C. Robinson, _Diary, etc._, 1869, in. 435, 436). No doubt he indulged himself in morbid fancies, played with the extravagances of a restless imagination, and wedded them to verse; but his intellect, "brooding like the day, a master o'er a slave," kept guard. He would never have pleaded on his own behalf that the tyranny of an _idee fixe_, a delusion that he was predestined to evil, was an excuse for his shortcomings or his sins. Byron's very considerable obligations to _The Three Brothers_ might have escaped notice, but the resemblance between his "Stranger," or "Caesar," and the Mephistopheles of "the great Goethe" was open and palpable. If Medwin may be trusted (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 210), Byron had read "_Faust_ in a sorry French translation," and it is probable that Shelley's inspired rendering of "May-day Night," which was published in _The Liberal_ (No. i., October 14, 1822, pp. 123-137), had been read to him, and had attracted his attention. _The Deformed Transformed_ is "a _Faustish_ kind of drama;" and Goethe, who maintained that Byron's play as a whole was "no imitation," but "new and original, close, genuine, and spirited," could not fail to perceive that "his devil was suggested by my Mephistopheles" (_Conversations_, 1874, p. 174). The tempter who cannot resist the temptation of sneering at his own wiles, who mocks for mocking's sake, is not Byron's creation, but Goethe's. Lucifer talked _at_ the clergy, if he did not "talk like a clergyman;" but the "bitter hunchback," even when he is _solus_, sneers as the river wanders, "at his own sweet will." He is not a doctor, but a spirit of unbelief! The second part of _The Deformed Transformed_ represents, in three scenes, the Siege and Sack of Rome in 1527. Byron had read Robertson's _Charles the Fifth_ (ed. 1798, ii. 313-329) in his boyhood (_Life_, p. 47), but it is on record that he had studied, more or less closely, the narratives of contemporary authorities. A note to _The Prophecy of Dante_ (_Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 258) refers to the _Sacco di Roma_, descritto da Luigi Guicciardini, and the _Ragguaglio Storico ... sacco di Roma dell' anno_ MDXXVII. of Jacopo Buonaparte; and it is evident that he was familiar with Cellini's story of the marvellous gests and exploits _quorum maxima pars fuit_, which were wrought at "the walls by the Campo Santo," or on the ramparts of the Castle of San Angelo. The Sack of Rome was a great national calamity, and it was something more: it was a profanation and a sacrilege. The literature which it evoked was a cry of anguish, a prophetic burden of despair. "Chants populaires," writes M. Emile Gebhart (_De l'Italie_, "Le Sac de Rome en 1527," 1876, pp. 267, _sq._), "_Nouvelles_ de Giraldi Cintio, en forme de Decameron ... recits historiques ... de Cesar Grollier, _Dialogues_ anonymes ... poesies de Pasquin, toute une litterature se developpa sur ce theme douloureux.... Le _Lamento di Roma_, [oe]uvre etrange, d'inspiration gibeline, rappelle les esperances politiques exprimees jadis par Dante ... 'Bien que Cesar m'ait depouillee de liberte, nous avons toujours ete d'accord dans une meme volonte. Je ne me lamenterais pas si lui regnait; mais je crois qu'il est ressuscite, ou qu'il ressuscitera veritablement, car souvent un Ange m'a annonce qu'un Cesar viendrait me delivrer.'... Enfin, voici une chanson francaise que repetaient en repassant les monts les soldats du Marquis de Saluces:-- "Parlons de la deffaiete De ces pouvres Rommains, Aussi de la complainete De notre pere saint. "'O noble roy de France, Regarde en pitie L'Eglise en ballance ... Pour Dieu! ne tarde plus, C'est ta mere, ta substance; O fils, n'en faictz reffus.'" "Le dernier monument," adds M. Gebhart, in a footnote, "de cette litterature, est le singulier drame de Byron, _The Deformed Transformed_, dont Jules Cesar est le heros, et le Sac de Rome le cadre." It is unlikely that Byron, who read everything he could lay his hands upon, and spared no trouble to master his "period," had not, either at first or second hand, acquainted himself with specimens of this popular literature. (For _La Presa e Lamento di Roma_, _Romae Lamentatio_, etc., see _Lamenti Storici dei Secoli xiv., xv_. (Medin e Fratri), _Scelta di Curiosita_, etc., 235, 236, 237, Bologna, 1890, vol. iii. See, too, for "Chanson sur la Mort du Connetable de Bourbon," _Recueil de Chants historiques francais_, par A. J. V. Le Roux de Lincy, 1842, ii. 99.) _The Deformed Transformed_ was published by John Hunt, February 20, 1824. A third edition appeared February 23, 1824. It was reviewed, unfavourably, in the _London Magazine_, March, 1824, vol. 9, pp. 315-321; the _Scots Magazine_, March, 1824, N.S. vol. xiv. pp. 353-356; and in the _Monthly Review_, March, 1824, Enlarged Series, 103, pp. 321, 324. One reviewer, however (_London Magazine_), had the candour to admit that "Lord Byron may write below himself, but he can never write below us!" For the unfinished third part, _vide post_, pp. 532-534. ADVERTISEMENT This production is founded partly on the story of a novel called "The Three Brothers[201]," published many years ago, from which M. G. Lewis's "Wood Demon"[202] was also taken; and partly on the "Faust" of the great Goethe. The present publication[203] contains the two first Parts only, and the opening chorus of the third. The rest may perhaps appear hereafter. DRAMATIS PERSONAE. Stranger, _afterwards_ Caesar Arnold. Bourbon. Philibert. Cellini. Bertha. Olimpia. _Spirits, Soldiers, Citizens of Rome, Priests, Peasants, etc._ THE DEFORMED TRANSFORMED:[cv] PART I. SCENE I.--_A Forest_. _Enter_ ARNOLD _and his mother_ BERTHA. _Bert._ Out, Hunchback! _Arn._ I was born so, Mother![204] _Bert._ Out, Thou incubus! Thou nightmare! Of seven sons, The sole abortion! _Arn._ Would that I had been so, And never seen the light! _Bert._ I would so, too! But as thou _hast_--hence, hence--and do thy best! That back of thine may bear its burthen; 'tis More high, if not so broad as that of others. _Arn._ It _bears_ its burthen;--but, my heart! Will it Sustain that which you lay upon it, Mother? I love, or, at the least, I loved you: nothing 10 Save You, in nature, can love aught like me. You nursed me--do not kill me! _Bert._ Yes--I nursed thee, Because thou wert my first-born, and I knew not If there would be another unlike thee, That monstrous sport of Nature. But get hence, And gather wood![205] _Arn._ I will: but when I bring it, Speak to me kindly. Though my brothers are So beautiful and lusty, and as free As the free chase they follow, do not spurn me: Our milk has been the same. _Bert._ As is the hedgehog's, 20 Which sucks at midnight from the wholesome dam Of the young bull, until the milkmaid finds The nipple, next day, sore, and udder dry. Call not thy brothers brethren! Call me not Mother; for if I brought thee forth, it was As foolish hens at times hatch vipers, by Sitting upon strange eggs. Out, urchin, out! [_Exit_ BERTHA. _Arn._ (_solus_). Oh, mother!--She is gone, and I must do Her bidding;--wearily but willingly I would fulfil it, could I only hope 30 A kind word in return. What shall I do? [_ARNOLD begins to cut wood: in doing this he wounds one of his hands_. My labour for the day is over now. Accursed be this blood that flows so fast; For double curses will be my meed now At home--What home? I have no home, no kin, No kind--not made like other creatures, or To share their sports or pleasures. Must I bleed, too, Like them? Oh, that each drop which falls to earth Would rise a snake to sting them, as they have stung me! Or that the Devil, to whom they liken me, 40 Would aid his likeness! If I must partake[206] His form, why not his power? Is it because I have not his will too? For one kind word From her who bore me would still reconcile me Even to this hateful aspect. Let me wash The wound. [ARNOLD _goes to a spring, and stoops to wash his hand: he starts back_. They are right; and Nature's mirror shows me, What she hath made me. I will not look on it Again, and scarce dare think on't. Hideous wretch That I am! The very waters mock me with 50 My horrid shadow--like a demon placed Deep in the fountain to scare back the cattle From drinking therein. [_He pauses_. And shall I live on, A burden to the earth, myself, and shame Unto what brought me into life? Thou blood, Which flowest so freely from a scratch, let me Try if thou wilt not, in a fuller stream, Pour forth my woes for ever with thyself On earth, to which I will restore, at once, This hateful compound of her atoms, and 60 Resolve back to her elements, and take The shape of any reptile save myself, And make a world for myriads of new worms! This knife! now let me prove if it will sever This withered slip of Nature's nightshade--my Vile form--from the creation, as it hath The green bough from the forest. [ARNOLD _places the knife in the ground, with the point upwards_. Now 'tis set, And I can fall upon it. Yet one glance On the fair day, which sees no foul thing like Myself, and the sweet sun which warmed me, but 70 In vain. The birds--how joyously they sing! So let them, for I would not be lamented: But let their merriest notes be Arnold's knell; The fallen leaves my monument; the murmur Of the near fountain my sole elegy. Now, knife, stand firmly, as I fain would fall! [_As he rushes to throw himself upon the knife, his eye is suddenly caught by the fountain, which seems in motion_. The fountain moves without a wind: but shall The ripple of a spring change my resolve? No. Yet it moves again! The waters stir, Not as with air, but by some subterrane 80 And rocking Power of the internal world. What's here? A mist! No more?-- [_A cloud comes from the fountain. He stands gazing upon it: it is dispelled, and a tall black man comes towards him_.[207] _Arn._ What would you? Speak! Spirit or man? _Stran._ As man is both, why not Say both in one? _Arn._ Your form is man's, and yet You may be devil. _Stran._ So many men are that Which is so called or thought, that you may add me To which you please, without much wrong to either. But come: you wish to kill yourself;--pursue Your purpose. _Arn._ You have interrupted me. _Stran._ What is that resolution which can e'er 90 Be interrupted? If I be the devil You deem, a single moment would have made you Mine, and for ever, by your suicide; And yet my coming saves you. _Arn._ I said not You _were_ the Demon, but that your approach Was like one. _Stran._ Unless you keep company With him (and you seem scarce used to such high Society) you can't tell how he approaches; And for his aspect, look upon the fountain, And then on me, and judge which of us twain 100 Looks likest what the boors believe to be Their cloven-footed terror. _Arn._ Do you--dare _you_ To taunt me with my born deformity? _Stran._ Were I to taunt a buffalo with this Cloven foot of thine, or the swift dromedary With thy Sublime of Humps, the animals Would revel in the compliment. And yet Both beings are more swift, more strong, more mighty In action and endurance than thyself, And all the fierce and fair of the same kind 110 With thee. Thy form is natural: 'twas only Nature's mistaken largess to bestow The gifts which are of others upon man. _Arn._ Give me the strength then of the buffalo's foot,[cw] When he spurns high the dust, beholding his Near enemy; or let me have the long And patient swiftness of the desert-ship, The helmless dromedary!--and I'll bear[cx] Thy fiendish sarcasm with a saintly patience. _Stran._ I will. _Arn._ (_with surprise_). Thou _canst?_ _Stran._ Perhaps. Would you aught else? 120 _Arn._ Thou mockest me. _Stran._ Not I. Why should I mock What all are mocking? That's poor sport, methinks. To talk to thee in human language (for Thou canst not yet speak mine), the forester Hunts not the wretched coney, but the boar, Or wolf, or lion--leaving paltry game To petty burghers, who leave once a year Their walls, to fill their household cauldrons with Such scullion prey. The meanest gibe at thee,-- Now _I_ can mock the mightiest.[cy] _Arn._ Then waste not 130 Thy time on me: I seek thee not. _Stran._ Your thoughts Are not far from me. Do not send me back: I'm not so easily recalled to do Good service. _Arn._ What wilt thou do for me? _Stran._ Change Shapes with you, if you will, since yours so irks you; Or form you to your wish in any shape. _Arn._ Oh! then you are indeed the Demon, for Nought else would wittingly wear mine. _Stran._ I'll show thee The brightest which the world e'er bore, and give thee Thy choice. _Arn._ On what condition? _Stran._ There's a question! 140 An hour ago you would have given your soul To look like other men, and now you pause To wear the form of heroes. _Arn._ No; I will not. I must not compromise my soul. _Stran._ What soul, Worth naming so, would dwell in such a carcase? _Arn._ 'Tis an aspiring one, whate'er the tenement In which it is mislodged. But name your compact: Must it be signed in blood? _Stran._ Not in your own. _Arn._ Whose blood then? _Stran._ We will talk of that hereafter. But I'll be moderate with you, for I see 150 Great things within you. You shall have no bond But your own will, no contract save your deeds. Are you content? _Arn._ I take thee at thy word. _Stran._ Now then!-- [_The Stranger approaches the fountain, and turns to_ ARNOLD. A little of your blood.[208] _Arn._ For what? _Stran._ To mingle with the magic of the waters, And make the charm effective. _Arn._ (_holding out his wounded arm_). Take it all. _Stran._ Not now. A few drops will suffice for this. [_The Stranger takes some of_ ARNOLD'S _blood in his hand, and casts it into the fountain_. Shadows of Beauty! Shadows of Power! Rise to your duty-- 160 This is the hour! Walk lovely and pliant[cz] From the depth of this fountain, As the cloud-shapen giant Bestrides the Hartz Mountain.[209] Come as ye were, That our eyes may behold The model in air Of the form I will mould, Bright as the Iris 170 When ether is spanned;-- Such _his_ desire is, [_Pointing to_ ARNOLD. Such _my_ command![da] Demons heroic-- Demons who wore The form of the Stoic Or sophist of yore-- Or the shape of each victor-- From Macedon's boy, To each high Roman's picture, 180 Who breathed to destroy-- Shadows of Beauty! Shadows of Power! Up to your duty-- This is the hour! [_Various phantoms arise from the waters, and pass in succession before the Stranger and_ ARNOLD. _Arn._ What do I see? _Stran._ The black-eyed Roman,[210] with The eagle's beak between those eyes which ne'er Beheld a conqueror, or looked along The land he made not Rome's, while Rome became His, and all theirs who heired his very name. 190 _Arn._ The phantom's bald; _my_ quest is beauty. Could I Inherit but his fame with his defects! _Stran._ His brow was girt with laurels more than hairs.[211] You see his aspect--choose it, or reject. I can but promise you his form; his fame Must be long sought and fought for. _Arn._ I will fight, too, But not as a mock Caesar. Let him pass: His aspect may be fair, but suits me not. _Stran._ Then you are far more difficult to please Than Cato's sister, or than Brutus's mother, 200 Or Cleopatra at sixteen[212]--an age When love is not less in the eye than heart. But be it so! Shadow, pass on! [_The phantom of Julius Caesar disappears_. _Arn._ And can it Be, that the man who shook the earth is gone,[db] And left no footstep? _Stran._ There you err. His substance Left graves enough, and woes enough, and fame More than enough to track his memory; But for his shadow--'tis no more than yours, Except a little longer and less crooked I' the sun. Behold another! [_A second phantom passes_. _Arn._ Who is he? 210 _Stran._ He was the fairest and the bravest of Athenians.[213] Look upon him well. _Arn._ He is More lovely than the last. How beautiful! _Stran._ Such was the curled son of Clinias;--wouldst thou Invest thee with his form? _Arn._ Would that I had Been born with it! But since I may choose further, I will _look_ further. [_The shade of Alcibiades disappears_. _Stran._ Lo! behold again! _Arn._ What! that low, swarthy, short-nosed, round-eyed satyr, With the wide nostrils and Silenus' aspect, The splay feet and low stature![214] I had better 220 Remain that which I am. _Stran._ And yet he was The earth's perfection of all mental beauty, And personification of all virtue. But you reject him? _Arn._ If his form could bring me That which redeemed it--no. _Stran._ I have no power To promise that; but you may try, and find it Easier in such a form--or in your own. _Arn._ No. I was not born for philosophy, Though I have that about me which has need on't. Let him fleet on. _Stran._ Be air, thou Hemlock-drinker! 230 [_The shadow of Socrates disappears: another rises_. _Arn._ What's here? whose broad brow and whose curly beard And manly aspect look like Hercules,[215] Save that his jocund eye hath more of Bacchus Than the sad purger of the infernal world, Leaning dejected on his club of conquest,[216] As if he knew the worthlessness of those For whom he had fought. _Stran._ It was the man who lost The ancient world for love. _Arn._ I cannot blame him, Since I have risked my soul because I find not That which he exchanged the earth for. _Stran._ Since so far 240 You seem congenial, will you wear his features? _Arn._ No. As you leave me choice, I am difficult. If but to see the heroes I should ne'er Have seen else, on this side of the dim shore, Whence they float back before us. _Stran._ Hence, Triumvir, Thy Cleopatra's waiting. [_The shade of Antony disappears: another rises_. _Arn._ Who is this? Who truly looketh like a demigod, Blooming and bright, with golden hair, and stature, If not more high than mortal, yet immortal In all that nameless bearing of his limbs, 250 Which he wears as the Sun his rays--a something Which shines from him, and yet is but the flashing Emanation of a thing more glorious still. Was _he e'er human only?_[217] _Stran._ Let the earth speak, If there be atoms of him left, or even Of the more solid gold that formed his urn. _Arn._ Who was this glory of mankind? _Stran._ The shame Of Greece in peace, her thunderbolt in war-- Demetrius the Macedonian, and Taker of cities. _Arn._ Yet one shadow more. 260 _Stran._ (_addressing the shadow_). Get thee to Lamia's lap! [_The shade of Demetrius Poliorcetes vanishes: another rises_. I'll fit you still, Fear not, my Hunchback: if the shadows of That which existed please not your nice taste, I'll animate the ideal marble, till Your soul be reconciled to her new garment _Arn._ Content! I will fix here. _Stran._ I must commend Your choice. The godlike son of the sea-goddess, The unshorn boy of Peleus, with his locks As beautiful and clear as the amber waves Of rich Pactolus, rolled o'er sands of gold, 270 Softened by intervening crystal, and Rippled like flowing waters by the wind, All vowed to Sperchius[218] as they were--behold them! And _him_--as he stood by Polixena, With sanctioned and with softened love, before The altar, gazing on his Trojan bride, With some remorse within for Hector slain And Priam weeping, mingled with deep passion For the sweet downcast virgin, whose young hand Trembled in _his_ who slew her brother. So 280 He stood i' the temple! Look upon him as Greece looked her last upon her best, the instant Ere Paris' arrow flew. _Arn._ I gaze upon him As if I were his soul, whose form shall soon Envelope mine. _Stran._ You have done well. The greatest Deformity should only barter with The extremest beauty--if the proverb's true Of mortals, that Extremes meet. _Arn._ Come! Be quick! I am impatient. _Stran._ As a youthful beauty Before her glass. _You both_ see what is not, 290 But dream it is what must be. _Arn._ Must I wait? _Stran._ No; that were a pity. But a word or two: His stature is twelve cubits; would you so far Outstep these times, and be a Titan? Or (To talk canonically) wax a son Of Anak? _Arn._ Why not? _Stran._ Glorious ambition! I love thee most in dwarfs! A mortal of Philistine stature would have gladly pared His own Goliath down to a slight David: But thou, my manikin, wouldst soar a show 300 Rather than hero. Thou shalt be indulged, If such be thy desire; and, yet, by being A little less removed from present men In figure, thou canst sway them more; for all Would rise against thee now, as if to hunt A new-found Mammoth; and their cursed engines, Their culverins, and so forth, would find way Through our friend's armour there, with greater ease Than the Adulterer's arrow through his heel Which Thetis had forgotten to baptize 310 In Styx. _Arn._ Then let it be as thou deem'st best. _Stran._ Thou shalt be beauteous as the thing thou seest, And strong as what it was, and---- _Arn._ I ask not For Valour, since Deformity is daring.[219] It is its essence to o'ertake mankind By heart and soul, and make itself the equal-- Aye, the superior of the rest. There is A spur in its halt movements, to become All that the others cannot, in such things As still are free to both, to compensate 320 For stepdame Nature's avarice at first. They woo with fearless deeds the smiles of fortune, And oft, like Timour the lame Tartar,[220] win them. _Stran._ Well spoken! And thou doubtless wilt remain Formed as thou art. I may dismiss the mould Of shadow, which must turn to flesh, to incase This daring soul, which could achieve no less Without it. _Arn._ Had no power presented me The possibility of change, I would Have done the best which spirit may to make 330 Its way with all Deformity's dull, deadly, Discouraging weight upon me, like a mountain, In feeling, on my heart as on my shoulders-- A hateful and unsightly molehill to The eyes of happier men. I would have looked On Beauty in that sex which is the type Of all we know or dream of beautiful, Beyond the world they brighten, with a sigh-- Not of love, but despair; nor sought to win, Though to a heart all love, what could not love me 340 In turn, because of this vile crooked clog, Which makes me lonely. Nay, I could have borne It all, had not my mother spurned me from her. The she-bear licks her cubs into a sort Of shape;--my Dam beheld my shape was hopeless. Had she exposed me, like the Spartan, ere I knew the passionate part of life, I had Been a clod of the valley,--happier nothing Than what I am. But even thus--the lowest, Ugliest, and meanest of mankind--what courage 350 And perseverance could have done, perchance Had made me something--as it has made heroes Of the same mould as mine. You lately saw me Master of my own life, and quick to quit it; And he who is so is the master of Whatever dreads to die. _Stran._ Decide between What you have been, or will be. _Arn._ I have done so. You have opened brighter prospects to my eyes, And sweeter to my heart. As I am now, I might be feared--admired--respected--loved 360 Of all save those next to me, of whom I Would be beloved. As thou showest me A choice of forms, I take the one I view. Haste! haste! _Stran._ And what shall _I_ wear? _Arn._ Surely, he Who can command all forms will choose the highest, Something superior even to that which was Pelides now before us. Perhaps _his_ Who slew him, that of Paris: or--still higher-- The Poet's God, clothed in such limbs as are Themselves a poetry. _Stran._ Less will content me; 370 For I, too, love a change. _Arn._ Your aspect is Dusky, but not uncomely.[221] _Stran._ If I chose, I might be whiter; but I have a _penchant_ For black--it is so honest, and, besides, Can neither blush with shame nor pale with fear; But I have worn it long enough of late, And now I'll take your figure. _Arn._ Mine! _Stran._ Yes. You Shall change with Thetis' son, and I with Bertha, Your mother's offspring. People have their tastes; You have yours--I mine. _Arn._ Despatch! despatch! _Stran._ Even so. 380 [_The Stranger takes some earth and moulds it along the turf, and then addresses the phantom of Achilles_. Beautiful shadow Of Thetis's boy! Who sleeps in the meadow Whose grass grows o'er Troy: From the red earth, like Adam,[222] Thy likeness I shape, As the Being who made him, Whose actions I ape. Thou Clay, be all glowing, Till the Rose in his cheek 390 Be as fair as, when blowing, It wears its first streak! Ye Violets, I scatter, Now turn into eyes! And thou, sunshiny Water, Of blood take the guise! Let these Hyacinth boughs Be his long flowing hair, And wave o'er his brows, As thou wavest in air! 400 Let his heart be this marble I tear from the rock! But his voice as the warble Of birds on yon oak! Let his flesh be the purest Of mould, in which grew The Lily-root surest, And drank the best dew! Let his limbs be the lightest Which clay can compound, 410 And his aspect the brightest On earth to be found! Elements, near me, Be mingled and stirred, Know me, and hear me, And leap to my word! Sunbeams, awaken This earth's animation![dc] 'Tis done! He hath taken His stand in creation! 420 [ARNOLD _falls senseless; his soul passes into the shape of Achilles, which rises from the ground; while the phantom has disappeared, part by part, as the figure was formed from the earth_. _Arn._ (_in his new form_). I love, and I shall be beloved! Oh, life! At last I feel thee! Glorious Spirit! _Stran._ Stop! What shall become of your abandoned garment, Yon hump, and lump, and clod of ugliness, Which late you wore, or were? _Arn._ Who cares? Let wolves And vultures take it, if they will. _Stran._ And if They do, and are not scared by it, you'll say It must be peace-time, and no better fare Abroad i' the fields. _Arn._ Let us but leave it there; No matter what becomes on't. _Stran._ That's ungracious; 430 If not ungrateful. Whatsoe'er it be, It hath sustained your soul full many a day. _Arn._ Aye, as the dunghill may conceal a gem Which is now set in gold, as jewels should be. _Stran._ But if I give another form, it must be By fair exchange, not robbery. For they[223] Who make men without women's aid have long Had patents for the same, and do not love Your Interlopers. The Devil may take men,[dd] Not make them,--though he reap the benefit 440 Of the original workmanship:--and therefore Some one must be found to assume the shape You have quitted. _Arn._ Who would do so? _Stran._ That I know not, And therefore I must. _Arn._ You! _Stran._ I said it ere You inhabited your present dome of beauty. _Arn._ True. I forget all things in the new joy Of this immortal change. _Stran._ In a few moments I will be as you were, and you shall see Yourself for ever by you, as your shadow. _Arn._ I would be spared this. _Stran._ But it cannot be. 450 What! shrink already, being what you are, From seeing what you were? _Arn._ Do as thou wilt. _Stran._ (_to the late form of_ ARNOLD, _extended on the earth_). Clay! not dead, but soul-less! Though no man would choose thee, An Immortal no less Deigns not to refuse thee. Clay thou art; and unto spirit All clay is of equal merit. Fire! _without_ which nought can live; Fire! but _in_ which nought can live, 460 Save the fabled salamander, Or immortal souls, which wander, Praying what doth not forgive, Howling for a drop of water, Burning in a quenchless lot: Fire! the only element Where nor fish, beast, bird, nor worm, Save the Worm which dieth not, Can preserve a moment's form, But must with thyself be blent: 470 Fire! man's safeguard and his slaughter: Fire! Creation's first-born Daughter, And Destruction's threatened Son, When Heaven with the world hath done: Fire! assist me to renew Life in what lies in my view Stiff and cold! His resurrection rests with me and you! One little, marshy spark of flame--[224] And he again shall seem the same; 480 But I his Spirit's place shall hold! [_An ignis-fatuus flits through the wood and rests on the brow of the body. The Stranger disappears: the body rises_. _Arn._ (_in his new form_). Oh! horrible! _Stran._ (_in_ ARNOLD'S _late shape_). What! tremblest thou? _Arn._ Not so-- I merely shudder. Where is fled the shape Thou lately worest? _Stran._ To the world of shadows. But let us thread the present. Whither wilt thou? _Arn._ Must thou be my companion? _Stran._ Wherefore not? Your betters keep worse company. _Arn._ _My_ betters! _Stran._ Oh! you wax proud, I see, of your new form: I'm glad of that. Ungrateful too! That's well; You improve apace;--two changes in an instant, 490 And you are old in the World's ways already. But bear with me: indeed you'll find me useful Upon your pilgrimage. But come, pronounce Where shall we now be errant? _Arn._ Where the World Is thickest, that I may behold it in Its workings. _Stran._ That's to say, where there is War And Woman in activity. Let's see! Spain--Italy--the new Atlantic world[225]-- Afric with all its Moors. In very truth, There is small choice: the whole race are just now 500 Tugging as usual at each other's hearts. _Arn._ I have heard great things of Rome. _Stran._ A goodly choice-- And scarce a better to be found on earth, Since Sodom was put out. The field is wide too; For now the Frank, and Hun, and Spanish scion Of the old Vandals, are at play along The sunny shores of the World's garden. _Arn._ How Shall we proceed? _Stran._ Like gallants, on good coursers. What, ho! my chargers! Never yet were better, Since Phaeton was upset into the Po[226]. 510 Our pages too! _Enter two Pages, with four coal-black horses_. _Arn._ A noble sight! _Stran._ And of A nobler breed. Match me in Barbary, Or your Kochlini race of Araby[de][227], With these! _Arn._ The mighty steam, which volumes high From their proud nostrils, burns the very air; And sparks of flame, like dancing fire-flies wheel Around their manes, as common insects swarm Round common steeds towards sunset. _Stran._ Mount, my lord: They and I are your servitors. _Arn._ And these Our dark-eyed pages--what may be their names? 520 _Stran._ You shall baptize them. _Arn._ What! in holy water? _Stran._ Why not? The deeper sinner, better saint. _Arn._ They are beautiful, and cannot, sure, be demons. _Stran._ True; the devil's always ugly: and your beauty Is never diabolical. _Arn._ I'll call him Who bears the golden horn, and wears such bright And blooming aspect, _Huon_;[228] for he looks Like to the lovely boy lost in the forest, And never found till now. And for the other And darker, and more thoughtful, who smiles not, 530 But looks as serious though serene as night, He shall be _Memnon_[229], from the Ethiop king Whose statue turns a harper once a day. And you? _Stran._ I have ten thousand names, and twice As many attributes; but as I wear A human shape, will take a human name. _Arn._ More human than the shape (though it was mine once) I trust. _Stran._ Then call me Caesar. _Arn._ Why, that name Belongs to Empire, and has been but borne By the World's lords. _Stran._ And therefore fittest for 540 The Devil in disguise--since so you deem me, Unless you call me Pope instead. _Arn._ Well, then, Caesar thou shalt be. For myself, my name Shall be plain Arnold still. _Caes._ We'll add a title[df]-- "Count Arnold:" it hath no ungracious sound, And will look well upon a billet-doux. _Arn._ Or in an order for a battle-field. _Caes._ (_sings_). To horse! to horse! my coal-black steed Paws the ground and snuffs the air! There's not a foal of Arab's breed 550 More knows whom he must bear; On the hill he will not tire, Swifter as it waxes higher; In the marsh he will not slacken, On the plain be overtaken; In the wave he will not sink, Nor pause at the brook's side to drink; In the race he will not pant, In the combat he'll not faint; On the stones he will not stumble, 560 Time nor toil shall make him humble; In the stall he will not stiffen, But be winged as a Griffin, Only flying with his feet: And will not such a voyage be sweet? Merrily! merrily! never unsound, Shall our bonny black horses skim over the ground! From the Alps to the Caucasus, ride we, or fly! For we'll leave them behind in the glance of an eye. [_They mount their horses, and disappear_. SCENE II.--_A Camp before the walls of Rome_. ARNOLD _and_ CAESAR. _Caes._ You are well entered now. _Arn._ Aye; but my path Has been o'er carcasses: mine eyes are full[dg] Of blood. _Caes._ Then wipe them, and see clearly. Why! Thou art a conqueror; the chosen knight And free companion of the gallant Bourbon, Late constable of France[230]; and now to be Lord of the city which hath been Earth's Lord Under its emperors, and--changing sex, Not sceptre, an Hermaphrodite of Empire-- _Lady_ of the old world[231]. _Arn._ How _old?_ What! are there 10 _New_ worlds? _Caes._ To _you_. You'll find there are such shortly, By its rich harvests, new disease, and gold; From one _half_ of the world named a _whole_ new one, Because you know no better than the dull And dubious notice of your eyes and ears. _Arn._ I'll trust them. _Caes._ Do! They will deceive you sweetly, And that is better than the bitter truth. _Arn._ Dog! _Caes._ Man! _Arn._ Devil! _Caes._ Your obedient humble servant. _Arn._ Say _master_ rather. Thou hast lured me on, Through scenes of blood and lust, till I am here. 20 _Caes._ And where wouldst thou be? _Arn._ Oh, _at_ peace--_in_ peace! _Caes._ And where is that which is so? From the star To the winding worm, all life is motion; and In life _commotion_ is the extremest point Of life. The planet wheels till it becomes A comet, and destroying as it sweeps The stars, goes out. The poor worm winds its way, Living upon the death of other things, But still, like them, must live and die, the subject Of something which has made it live and die. 30 You must obey what all obey, the rule Of fixed Necessity: against her edict Rebellion prospers not. _Arn._ And when it prospers---- _Caes._ 'Tis no rebellion. _Arn._ Will it prosper now? _Caes._ The Bourbon hath given orders for the assault, And by the dawn there will be work. _Arn._ Alas! And shall the city yield? I see the giant Abode of the true God, and his true saint, Saint Peter, rear its dome and cross into That sky whence Christ ascended from the cross, 40 Which his blood made a badge of glory and Of joy (as once of torture unto him),-- God and God's Son, man's sole and only refuge! _Caes._ 'Tis there, and shall be. _Arn._ What? _Caes._ The Crucifix Above, and many altar shrines below. Also some culverins upon the walls, And harquebusses, and what not; besides The men who are to kindle them to death Of other men. _Arn._ And those scarce mortal arches,[232] Pile above pile of everlasting wall, 50 The theatre where Emperors and their subjects (Those subjects _Romans_) stood at gaze upon The battles of the monarchs of the wild And wood--the lion and his tusky rebels Of the then untamed desert, brought to joust In the arena--as right well they might, When they had left no human foe unconquered-- Made even the forest pay its tribute of Life to their amphitheatre, as well As Dacia men to die the eternal death 60 For a sole instant's pastime, and "Pass on To a new gladiator!"--Must it fall? _Caes._ The city, or the amphitheatre? The church, or one, or all? for you confound Both them and me. _Arn._ To-morrow sounds the assault With the first cock-crow. _Caes._ Which, if it end with The evening's first nightingale, will be Something new in the annals of great sieges; For men must have their prey after long toil. _Arn._ The sun goes down as calmly, and perhaps 70 More beautifully, than he did on Rome On the day Remus leapt her wall. _Caes._ I saw him. _Arn._ You! _Caes._ Yes, Sir! You forget I am or was Spirit, till I took up with your cast shape, And a worse name. I'm Caesar and a hunch-back Now. Well! the first of Caesars was a bald-head, And loved his laurels better as a wig (So history says) than as a glory.[233] Thus The world runs on, but we'll be merry still. I saw your Romulus (simple as I am) 80 Slay his own twin, quick-born of the same womb, Because he leapt a ditch ('twas then no wall, Whate'er it now be); and Rome's earliest cement Was brother's blood; and if its native blood Be spilt till the choked Tiber be as red As e'er 'twas yellow, it will never wear The deep hue of the Ocean and the Earth, Which the great robber sons of fratricide Have made their never-ceasing scene of slaughter, For ages. _Arn._ But what have these done, their far 90 Remote descendants, who have lived in peace, The peace of Heaven, and in her sunshine of Piety? _Caes._ And what had _they_ done, whom the old Romans o'erswept?--Hark! _Arn._ They are soldiers singing A reckless roundelay, upon the eve Of many deaths, it may be of their own. _Caes._ And why should they not sing as well as swans? They are black ones, to be sure. _Arn._ So, you are learned, I see, too? _Caes._ In my grammar, certes. I Was educated for a monk of all times, 100 And once I was well versed in the forgotten Etruscan letters, and--were I so minded-- Could make their hieroglyphics plainer than Your alphabet. _Arn._ And wherefore do you not? _Caes._ It answers better to resolve the alphabet Back into hieroglyphics. Like your statesman, And prophet, pontiff, doctor, alchymist, Philosopher, and what not, they have built More Babels, without new dispersion, than The stammering young ones of the flood's dull ooze, 110 Who failed and fled each other. Why? why, marry, Because no man could understand his neighbour. They are wiser now, and will not separate For nonsense. Nay, it is their brotherhood, Their Shibboleth--their Koran--Talmud--their Cabala--their best brick-work, wherewithal They build more---- _Arn._ (_interrupting him_). Oh, thou everlasting sneerer! Be silent! How the soldier's rough strain seems Softened by distance to a hymn-like cadence! Listen! _Caes._ Yes. I have heard the angels sing. 120 _Arn._ And demons howl. _Caes._ And man, too. Let us listen: I love all music. _Song of the Soldiers within_. The black bands came over The Alps and their snow; With Bourbon, the rover, They passed the broad Po. We have beaten all foemen, We have captured a King[234], We have turned back on no men, And so let us sing! 130 Here's the Bourbon for ever! Though penniless all, We'll have one more endeavour At yonder old wall. With the Bourbon we'll gather At day-dawn before The gates, and together Or break or climb o'er The wall: on the ladder, As mounts each firm foot[dh], 140 Our shout shall grow gladder, And Death only be mute[235]. With the Bourbon we'll mount o'er The walls of old Rome, And who then shall count o'er[di] The spoils of each dome? Up! up with the Lily! And down with the Keys! In old Rome, the seven-hilly, We'll revel at ease. 150 Her streets shall be gory, Her Tiber all red, And her temples so hoary Shall clang with our tread. Oh, the Bourbon! the Bourbon[236]! The Bourbon for aye! Of our song bear the burden! And fire, fire away! With Spain for the vanguard, Our varied host comes; 160 And next to the Spaniard Beat Germany's drums; And Italy's lances Are couched at their mother; But our leader from France is, Who warred with his brother. Oh, the Bourbon! the Bourbon! Sans country or home, We'll follow the Bourbon, To plunder old Rome. 170 _Caes._ An indifferent song For those within the walls, methinks, to hear. _Arn._ Yes, if they keep to their chorus. But here comes The general with his chiefs and men of trust[dj]. A goodly rebel. _Enter the Constable_ BOURBON _"cum suis," etc., etc._ _Phil._ How now, noble Prince, You are not cheerful? _Bourb._ Why should I be so? _Phil._ Upon the eve of conquest, such as ours, Most men would be so. _Bourb._ If I were secure! _Phil._ Doubt not our soldiers. Were the walls of adamant, They'd crack them. Hunger is a sharp artillery. 180 _Bourb._ That they will falter is my least of fears. That they will be repulsed, with Bourbon for Their chief, and all their kindled appetites To marshal them on--were those hoary walls Mountains, and those who guard them like the gods Of the old fables, I would trust my Titans;-- But now---- _Phil._ They are but men who war with mortals. _Bourb._ True: but those walls have girded in great ages, And sent forth mighty spirits. The past earth And present phantom of imperious Rome[dk] 190 Is peopled with those warriors; and methinks They flit along the eternal City's rampart, And stretch their glorious, gory, shadowy hands, And beckon me away! _Phil._ So let them! Wilt thou Turn back from shadowy menaces of shadows? _Bourb._ They do not menace me. I could have faced, Methinks, a Sylla's menace; but they clasp, And raise, and wring their dim and deathlike hands, And with their thin aspen faces and fixed eyes Fascinate mine. Look there! _Phil._ I look upon 200 A lofty battlement. _Bourb._ And there! _Phil._ Not even A guard in sight; they wisely keep below, Sheltered by the grey parapet from some Stray bullet of our lansquenets, who might Practise in the cool twilight. _Bourb._ You are blind. _Phil._ If seeing nothing more than may be seen Be so. _Bourb._ A thousand years have manned the walls With all their heroes,--the last Cato[237] stands And tears his bowels, rather than survive The liberty of that I would enslave. 210 And the first Cassar with his triumphs flits From battlement to battlement. _Phil._ Then conquer The walls for which he conquered and be greater! _Bourb._ True: so I will, or perish. _Phil._ You can _not_. In such an enterprise to die is rather The dawn of an eternal day, than death. [_Count_ ARNOLD _and_ CAESAR _advance_. _Caes._ And the mere men--do they, too, sweat beneath The noon of this same ever-scorching glory? _Bourb._ Ah! Welcome the bitter Hunchback! and his master, The beauty of our host, and brave as beauteous, 220 And generous as lovely. We shall find Work for you both ere morning. _Caes._ You will find, So please your Highness, no less for yourself. _Bourb._ And if I do, there will not be a labourer More forward, Hunchback! _Caes._ You may well say so, For _you_ have seen that back--as general, Placed in the rear in action--but your foes Have never seen it. _Bourb._ That's a fair retort, For I provoked it:--but the Bourbon's breast Has been, and ever shall be, far advanced 230 In danger's face as yours, were you the _devil_. _Caes._ And if I were, I might have saved myself The toil of coming here. _Phil._ Why so? _Caes._ One half Of your brave bands of their own bold accord Will go to him, the other half be sent, More swiftly, not less surely. _Bourb._ Arnold, your Slight crooked _friend's_ as snake-like in his words As his deeds. _Caes._ Your Highness much mistakes me. The first snake was a flatterer--I am none; And for my deeds, I only sting when stung. 240 _Bourb._ You are brave, and _that's_ enough for me; and quick In speech as sharp in action--and that's more. I am not alone the soldier, but the soldiers' Comrade. _Caes._ They are but bad company, your Highness; And worse even for their friends than foes, as being More permanent acquaintance. _Phil._ How now, fellow! Thou waxest insolent, beyond the privilege Of a buffoon. _Caes._ You mean I speak the truth. I'll lie--it is as easy: then you'll praise me For calling you a hero. _Bourb._ Philibert! 250 Let him alone; he's brave, and ever has Been first, with that swart face and mountain shoulder, In field or storm, and patient in starvation; And for his tongue, the camp is full of licence, And the sharp stinging of a lively rogue Is, to my mind, far preferable to The gross, dull, heavy, gloomy execration Of a mere famished sullen grumbling slave,[dl] Whom nothing can convince save a full meal, And wine, and sleep, and a few Maravedis, 260 With which he deems him rich. _Caes._ It would be well If the earth's princes asked no more. _Bourb._ Be silent! _Caes._ Aye, but not idle. Work yourself with words![dm] You have few to speak. _Phil._ What means the audacious prater? _Caes._ To prate, like other prophets. _Bourb._ Philibert! Why will you vex him? Have we not enough To think on? Arnold! I will lead the attack To-morrow. _Arn._ I have heard as much, my Lord. _Bourb._ And you will follow? _Arn._ Since I must not lead. _Bourb._ 'Tis necessary for the further daring Of our too needy army, that their chief Plant the first foot upon the foremost ladder's First step. _Caes._ Upon its topmost, let us hope: So shall he have his full deserts. _Bourb._ The world's Great capital perchance is ours to-morrow.[dn] Through every change the seven-hilled city hath Retained her sway o'er nations, and the Caesars But yielded to the Alarics, the Alarics Unto the pontiffs. Roman, Goth, or priest. Still the world's masters! Civilised, barbarian, Or saintly, still the walls of Romulus Have been the circus of an Empire. Well! 'Twas _their_ turn--now 'tis ours; and let us hope That we will fight as well, and rule much better. _Caes._ No doubt, the camp's the school of civic rights. What would you make of Rome? _Bourb._ That which it was. _Caes._ In Alaric's time? _Bourb._ No, slave! in the first Caesar's, Whose name you bear like other curs---- _Caes._ And kings! 'Tis a great name for blood-hounds. _Bourb._ There's a demon In that fierce rattlesnake thy tongue. Wilt never Be serious? _Caes._ On the eve of battle, no;-- That were not soldier-like. 'Tis for the general To be more pensive: we adventurers Must be more cheerful. Wherefore should we think? Our tutelar Deity, in a leader's shape, Takes care of us. Keep thought aloof from hosts! If the knaves take to thinking, you will have To crack those walls alone. _Bourb._ You may sneer, since 'Tis lucky for you that you fight no worse for 't. _Caes._ I thank you for the freedom; 'tis the only 300 Pay I have taken in your Highness' service. _Bourb._ Well, sir, to-morrow you shall pay yourself. Look on those towers; they hold my treasury: But, Philibert, we'll in to council. Arnold, We would request your presence. _Arn._ Prince! my service Is yours, as in the field. _Bourb._ In both we prize it, And yours will be a post of trust at daybreak. _Caes._ And mine? _Bourb._ To follow glory with the Bourbon. Good night! _Arn._ (_to_ CAESAR). Prepare our armour for the assault, And wait within my tent. [_Exeunt_ BOURBON, ARNOLD, PHILIBERT, _etc._ _Caes._ (_solus_). Within thy tent! 310 Think'st thou that I pass from thee with my presence? Or that this crooked coffer, which contained Thy principle of life, is aught to me Except a mask? And these are men, forsooth! Heroes and chiefs, the flower of Adam's bastards! This is the consequence of giving matter The power of thought. It is a stubborn substance, And thinks chaotically, as it acts, Ever relapsing into its first elements. Well! I must play with these poor puppets: 'tis 320 The Spirit's pastime in his idler hours. When I grow weary of it, I have business Amongst the stars, which these poor creatures deem Were made for them to look at. 'Twere a jest now To bring one down amongst them, and set fire Unto their anthill: how the pismires then Would scamper o'er the scalding soil, and, ceasing From tearing down each other's nests, pipe forth One universal orison! ha! ha! [_Exit_ CAESAR. PART II. SCENE I.--_Before the walls of Rome.--The Assault: the Army in motion, with ladders to scale the walls_;[238] BOURBON _with a white scarf over his armour, foremost_. _Chorus of Spirits in the air_. I. 'Tis the morn, but dim and dark.[do] Whither flies the silent lark? Whither shrinks the clouded sun? Is the day indeed begun? Nature's eye is melancholy O'er the city high and holy: But without there is a din Should arouse the saints within, And revive the heroic ashes Round which yellow Tiber dashes. 10 Oh, ye seven hills! awaken, Ere your very base be shaken! II. Hearken to the steady stamp! Mars is in their every tramp! Not a step is out of tune, As the tides obey the moon! On they march, though to self-slaughter, Regular as rolling water, Whose high-waves o'ersweep the border Of huge moles, but keep their order, 20 Breaking only rank by rank. Hearken to the armour's clank! Look down o'er each frowning warrior, How he glares upon the barrier: Look on each step of each ladder, As the stripes that streak an adder. III. Look upon the bristling wall, Manned without an interval! Round and round, and tier on tier, Cannon's black mouth, shining spear, 30 Lit match, bell-mouthed Musquetoon, Gaping to be murderous soon; All the warlike gear of old, Mixed with what we now behold, In this strife 'twixt old and new, Gather like a locusts' crew. Shade of Remus! 'tis a time Awful as thy brother's crime! Christians war against Christ's shrine:-- Must its lot be like to thine? 40 IV. Near--and near--and nearer still, As the Earthquake saps the hill, First with trembling, hollow motion, Like a scarce awakened ocean, Then with stronger shock and louder, Till the rocks are crushed to powder,-- Onward sweeps the rolling host! Heroes of the immortal boast! Mighty Chiefs! eternal shadows! First flowers of the bloody meadows 50 Which encompass Rome, the mother Of a people without brother! Will you sleep when nations' quarrels Plough the root up of your laurels? Ye who weep o'er Carthage burning, Weep not--_strike_! for Rome is mourning![239] V. Onward sweep the varied nations! Famine long hath dealt their rations. To the wall, with hate and hunger, Numerous as wolves, and stronger, 60 On they sweep. Oh, glorious City! Must thou be a theme for pity? Fight, like your first sire, each Roman! Alaric was a gentle foeman, Matched with Bourbon's black banditti! Rouse thee, thou eternal City; Rouse thee! Rather give the torch With thine own hand to thy porch,[dp] Than behold such hosts pollute Your worst dwelling with their foot. 70 VI. Ah! behold yon bleeding spectre! Ilion's children find no Hector; Priam's offspring loved their brother; Rome's great sire forgot his mother, When he slew his gallant twin, With inexpiable sin. See the giant shadow stride O'er the ramparts high and wide! When the first o'erleapt thy wall, Its foundation mourned thy fall. 80 Now, though towering like a Babel, Who to stop his steps are able? Stalking o'er thy highest dome, Remus claims his vengeance, Rome! VII. Now they reach thee in their anger: Fire and smoke and hellish clangour Are around thee, thou world's wonder! Death is in thy walls and under. Now the meeting steel first clashes, Downward then the ladder crashes, 90 With its iron load all gleaming, Lying at its foot blaspheming! Up again! for every warrior Slain, another climbs the barrier. Thicker grows the strife: thy ditches Europe's mingling gore enriches. Rome! although thy wall may perish, Such manure thy fields will cherish, Making gay the harvest-home; But thy hearths, alas! oh, Rome!-- 100 Yet be Rome amidst thine anguish, Fight as thou wast wont to vanquish! VIII. Yet once more, ye old Penates! Let not your quenched hearts be Ates! Yet again, ye shadowy Heroes, Yield not to these stranger Neros! Though the son who slew his mother Shed Rome's blood, he was your brother: 'Twas the Roman curbed the Roman;-- Brennus was a baffled foeman. 110 Yet again, ye saints and martyrs, Rise! for yours are holier charters! Mighty Gods of temples falling, Yet in ruin still appalling! Mightier Founders of those altars, True and Christian,--strike the assaulters! Tiber! Tiber! let thy torrent Show even Nature's self abhorrent. Let each breathing heart dilated Turn, as doth the lion baited! 120 Rome be crashed to one wide tomb, But be still the Roman's Rome![240] [BOURBON, ARNOLD, CAESAR, _and others, arrive at the foot of the wall_. ARNOLD _is about to plant his ladder_. _Bourb._ Hold, Arnold! I am first. _Arn._ Not so, my Lord. _Bourb._ Hold, sir, I charge you! Follow! I am proud Of such a follower, but will brook no leader. [BOURBON _plants his ladder, and begins to mount_. Now, boys! On! on! [_A shot strikes him, and_ BOURBON _falls_. _Caes._ And off! _Arn._ Eternal powers! The host will be appalled,--but vengeance! vengeance! _Bourb._ 'Tis nothing--lend me your hand. [BOURBON _takes_ ARNOLD _by the hand, and rises; but as he puts his foot on the step, falls again_. Arnold! I am sped. Conceal my fall[241]--all will go well--conceal it! Fling my cloak o'er what will be dust anon; 130 Let not the soldiers see it. _Arn._ You must be Removed; the aid of---- _Bourb._ No, my gallant boy! Death is upon me. But what is _one_ life? The Bourbon's spirit shall command them still. Keep them yet ignorant that I am but clay, Till they are conquerors--then do as you may. _Caes._ Would not your Highness choose to kiss the cross? We have no priest here, but the hilt of sword May serve instead:--it did the same for Bayard[242]. _Bourb._ Thou bitter slave! to name _him_ at this time! 140 But I deserve it. _Arn._ (_to_ CAESAR). Villain, hold your peace! _Caes._ What, when a Christian dies? Shall I not offer A Christian "Vade in pace[243]?" _Arn._ Silence! Oh! Those eyes are glazing which o'erlooked the world, And saw no equal. _Bourb._ Arnold, shouldst thou see France----But hark! hark! the assault grows warmer--Oh! For but an hour, a minute more of life, To die within the wall! Hence, Arnold, hence! You lose time--they will conquer Rome without thee. _Arn._ And without _thee_. _Bourb._ Not so; I'll lead them still 150 In spirit. Cover up my dust, and breathe not That I have ceased to breathe. Away! and be Victorious. _Arn._ But I must not leave thee thus. _Bourb._ You must--farewell--Up! up! the world is winning. [BOURBON _dies_. _Caes._ (_to_ ARNOLD). Come, Count, to business. _Arn._ True. I'll weep hereafter. [ARNOLD _covers_ BOURBON'S _body with a mantle, mounts the ladder, crying_ The Bourbon! Bourbon! On, boys! Rome is ours! _Caes._ Good night, Lord Constable! thou wert a Man. [CAESAR _follows_ ARNOLD; _they reach the battlement;_ ARNOLD _and_ CAESAR _are struck down_. _Caes._ A precious somerset! Is your countship injured? _Arn._ No. [_Remounts the ladder_. _Caes._ A rare blood-hound, when his own is heated! And 'tis no boy's play. Now he strikes them down! 160 His hand is on the battlement--he grasps it As though it were an altar; now his foot Is on it, and----What have we here?--a Roman? The first bird of the covey! he has fallen [_A man falls_. On the outside of the nest. Why, how now, fellow? _Wounded Man_. A drop of water! _Caes._ Blood's the only liquid Nearer than Tiber. _Wounded Man_. I have died for Rome. [_Dies_. _Caes._ And so did Bourbon, in another sense. Oh, these immortal men! and their great motives! But I must after my young charge. He is 170 By this time i' the Forum. Charge! charge! [CAESAR _mounts the ladder; the scene closes_. SCENE II.--_The City_.--_Combats between the Besiegers and Besieged in the streets_. _Inhabitants flying in confusion_. _Enter_ CAESAR. _Caes._ I cannot find my hero; he is mixed With the heroic crowd that now pursue The fugitives, or battle with the desperate. What have we here? A Cardinal or two That do not seem in love with martyrdom. How the old red-shanks scamper! Could they doff Their hose as they have doffed their hats, 'twould be A blessing, as a mark[244] the less for plunder. But let them fly; the crimson kennels now Will not much stain their stockings, since the mire 10 Is of the self-same purple hue. _Enter a Party fighting_--ARNOLD _at the head of the Besiegers_. He comes, Hand in hand with the mild twins--Gore and Glory.[dq] Holla! hold, Count! _Arn._ Away! they must not rally. _Caes._ I tell thee, be not rash; a golden bridge Is for a flying enemy. I gave thee A form of beauty, and an Exemption from some maladies of body, But not of mind, which is not mine to give. But though I gave the form of Thetis' son, I dipped thee not in Styx; and 'gainst a foe 20 I would not warrant thy chivalric heart More than Pelides' heel; why, then, be cautious, And know thyself a mortal still. _Arn._ And who With aught of soul would combat if he were Invulnerable? That were pretty sport. Think'st thou I beat for hares when lions roar? [ARNOLD _rushes into the combat_. _Caes._ A precious sample of humanity! Well, his blood's up; and, if a little's shed, 'Twill serve to curb his fever. [ARNOLD _engages with a Roman, who retires towards a portico_. _Arn._ Yield thee, slave! I promise quarter. _Rom._ That's soon said. _Arn._ And done---- 30 My word is known. _Rom._ So shall be my deeds. [_They re-engage_. CAESAR _comes forward_. _Caes._ Why, Arnold! hold thine own: thou hast in hand A famous artisan, a cunning sculptor; Also a dealer in the sword and dagger. Not so, my musqueteer; 'twas he who slew The Bourbon from the wall.[245] _Arn._ Aye, did he so? Then he hath carved his monument. _Rom._ I yet May live to carve your better's. _Caes._ Well said, my man of marble! Benvenuto, Thou hast some practice in both ways; and he 40 Who slays Cellini will have worked as hard As e'er thou didst upon Carrara's blocks. [ARNOLD _disarms and wounds_ CELLINI, _hit slightly: the latter draws a pistol, and fires; then retires, and disappears through the portico_. _Caes._ How farest thou? Thou hast a taste, methinks, Of red Bellona's banquet. _Arn._ (_staggers_). 'Tis a scratch. Lend me thy scarf. He shall not 'scape me thus. _Caes._ Where is it? _Arn._ In the shoulder, not the sword arm-- And that's enough. I am thirsty: would I had A helm of water! _Caes._ That's a liquid now In requisition, but by no means easiest To come at. _Arn._ And my thirst increases;--but 50 I'll find a way to quench it. _Caes._ Or be quenched Thyself. _Arn._ The chance is even; we will throw The dice thereon. But I lose time in prating; Prithee be quick. [CAESAR _binds on the scarf_. And what dost thou so idly? Why dost not strike? _Caes._ Your old philosophers Beheld mankind, as mere spectators of The Olympic games. When I behold a prize Worth wrestling for, I may be found a Milo.[246] _Arn._ Aye, 'gainst an oak. _Caes._ A forest, when it suits me: I combat with a mass, or not at all. 60 Meantime, pursue thy sport as I do mine; Which is just now to gaze, since all these labourers Will reap my harvest gratis. _Arn._ Thou art still A fiend! _Caes._ And thou--a man. _Arn._ Why, such I fain would show me.[dr] _Caes._ True--as men are. _Arn._ And what is that? _Caes._ Thou feelest and thou see'st. [_Exit_ ARNOLD, _joining in the combat which still continues between detached parties. The scene closes_. SCENE III.--_St. Peter's--The interior of the Church--The Pope at the Altar--Priests, etc., crowding in confusion, and Citizens flying for refuge, pursued by Soldiery_. _Enter_ CAESAR. _A Spanish Soldier_. Down with them, comrades, seize upon those lamps! Cleave yon bald-pated shaveling to the chine! His rosary's of gold! _Lutheran Soldier_. Revenge! revenge! Plunder hereafter, but for vengeance now-- Yonder stands Anti-Christ! _Caes._ (_interposing_). How now, schismatic? What wouldst thou? _Luth. Sold._ In the holy name of Christ, Destroy proud Anti-Christ.[247] I am a Christian. _Caes._ Yea, a disciple that would make the founder Of your belief renounce it, could he see Such proselytes. Best stint thyself to plunder. 10 _Luth. Sold._ I say he is the Devil. _Caes._ Hush! keep that secret,[ds] Lest he should recognise you for his own. _Luth. Sold._ Why would you save him? I repeat he is The Devil, or the Devil's vicar upon earth. _Caes._ And that's the reason: would you make a quarrel With your best friends? You had far best be quiet; His hour is not yet come. _Luth. Sold._ That shall be seen! [_The Lutheran Soldier rushes forward: a shot strikes him from one of the Pope's Guards, and he falls at the foot of the Altar_. _Caes._ (_to the Lutheran_). I told you so. _Luth. Sold._ And will you not avenge me? _Caes._ Not I! You know that "Vengeance is the Lord's:" You see he loves no interlopers. _Luth. Sold._ (_dying_). Oh! 20 Had I but slain him, I had gone on high, Crowned with eternal glory! Heaven, forgive My feebleness of arm that reached him not, And take thy servant to thy mercy. 'Tis A glorious triumph still; proud Babylon's No more; the Harlot of the Seven Hills Hath changed her scarlet raiment for sackcloth And ashes! [_The Lutheran dies_. _Caes._ Yes, thine own amidst the rest. Well done, old Babel! [_The Guards defend themselves desperately, while the Pontiff escapes, by a private passage, to the Vatican and the Castle of St. Angelo_.[248] _Caes._ Ha! right nobly battled! Now, priest! now, soldier! the two great professions, 30 Together by the ears and hearts! I have not Seen a more comic pantomime since Titus Took Jewry. But the Romans had the best then; Now they must take their turn. _Soldiers_. He hath escaped! Follow! _Another Sold._ They have barred the narrow passage up, And it is clogged with dead even to the door. _Caes._ I am glad he hath escaped: he may thank me for't In part. I would not have his bulls abolished-- 'Twere worth one half our empire: his indulgences Demand some in return; no, no, he must not 40 Fall;--and besides, his now escape may furnish A future miracle, in future proof Of his infallibility. [_To the Spanish Soldiery_. Well, cut-throats! What do you pause for? If you make not haste, There will not be a link of pious gold left. And _you_, too, Catholics! Would ye return From such a pilgrimage without a relic? The very Lutherans have more true devotion: See how they strip the shrines! _Soldiers_. By holy Peter! He speaks the truth; the heretics will bear 50 The best away. _Caes._ And that were shame! Go to! Assist in their conversion. [_The Soldiers disperse; many quit the Church, others enter_. _Caes._ They are gone, And others come: so flows the wave on wave Of what these creatures call Eternity, Deeming themselves the breakers of the Ocean, While they are but its bubbles, ignorant That foam is their foundation. So, another! _Enter_ OLIMPIA, _flying from the pursuit--She springs upon the Altar_. _Sold._ She's mine! _Another Sold._ (_opposing the former_). You lie, I tracked her first: and were she The Pope's niece, I'll not yield her. [_They fight_. _3d Sold._ (_advancing towards_ OLIMPIA). You may settle Your claims; I'll make mine good. _Olimp._ Infernal slave! 60 You touch me not alive. _3d Sold._ Alive or dead! _Olimp._ (_embracing a massive crucifix_). Respect your God! _3d Sold._ Yes, when he shines in gold. Girl, you but grasp your dowry. [_As he advances_, OLIMPIA, _with a strong and sudden effort, casts down the crucifix; it strikes the Soldier, who falls_. _3d Sold._ Oh, great God! _Olimp._ Ah! now you recognise him. _3d Sold._ My brain's crushed! Comrades, help, ho! All's darkness! [He dies. _Other Soldiers_ (_coming up_). Slay her, although she had a thousand lives: She hath killed our comrade. _Olimp._ Welcome such a death! You have no life to give, which the worst slave Would take. Great God! through thy redeeming Son, And thy Son's Mother, now receive me as 70 I would approach thee, worthy her, and him, and thee! _Enter_ ARNOLD. _Arn._ What do I see? Accursed jackals! Forbear! _Caes._ (_aside and laughing_). Ha! ha! here's equity! The dogs Have as much right as he. But to the issue! _Soldiers_. Count, she hath slain our comrade. _Arn._ With what weapon? _Sold._ The cross, beneath which he is crushed; behold him Lie there, more like a worm than man; she cast it Upon his head. _Arn._ Even so: there is a woman Worthy a brave man's liking. Were ye such, Ye would have honoured her. But get ye hence, 80 And thank your meanness, other God you have none, For your existence. Had you touched a hair Of those dishevelled locks, I would have thinned Your ranks more than the enemy. Away! Ye jackals! gnaw the bones the lion leaves, But not even these till he permits. _A Sold._ (_murmuring_). The lion Might conquer for himself then. _Arn._ (_cuts him down_). Mutineer! Rebel in hell--you shall obey on earth! [_The Soldiers assault_ ARNOLD. _Arn._ Come on! I'm glad on't! I will show you, slaves, How you should be commanded, and who led you 90 First o'er the wall you were so shy to scale, Until I waved my banners from its height, As you are bold within it. [ARNOLD _mows down the foremost; the rest throw down their arms_. _Soldiers_. Mercy! mercy! _Arn._ Then learn to grant it. Have I taught you _who_ Led you o'er Rome's eternal battlements? _Soldiers_. We saw it, and we know it; yet forgive A moment's error in the heat of conquest-- The conquest which you led to. _Arn._ Get you hence! Hence to your quarters! you will find them fixed In the Colonna palace. _Olimp._ (_aside_). In my father's 100 House! _Arn._ (_to the Soldiers_). Leave your arms; ye have no further need Of such: the city's rendered. And mark well You keep your hands clean, or I'll find out a stream As red as Tiber now runs, for your baptism. _Soldiers_ (_deposing their arms and departing_). We obey! _Arn._ (_to_ OLIMPIA). Lady, you are safe. _Olimp._ I should be so, Had I a knife even; but it matters not-- Death hath a thousand gates; and on the marble, Even at the altar foot, whence I look down Upon destruction, shall my head be dashed, Ere thou ascend it. God forgive thee, man! 110 _Arn._ I wish to merit his forgiveness, and Thine own, although I have not injured thee. _Olimp._ No! Thou hast only sacked my native land,-- No injury!--and made my father's house A den of thieves! No injury!--this temple-- Slippery with Roman and with holy gore! No injury! And now thou wouldst preserve me, To be----but that shall never be! [_She raises her eyes to Heaven, folds her robe round her, and prepares to dash herself down on the side of the Altar opposite to that where_ ARNOLD _stands_. _Arn._ Hold! hold! I swear. _Olimp._ Spare thine already forfeit soul A perjury for which even Hell would loathe thee. 120 I know thee. _Arn._ No, thou know'st me not; I am not Of these men, though---- _Olimp._ I judge thee by thy mates; It is for God to judge thee as thou art. I see thee purple with the blood of Rome; Take mine, 'tis all thou e'er shalt have of me, And here, upon the marble of this temple, Where the baptismal font baptized me God's, I offer him a blood less holy But not less pure (pure as it left me then, A redeemed infant) than the holy water 130 The saints have sanctified! [OLIMPIA _waves her hand to_ ARNOLD _with disdain, and dashes herself on the pavement from the Altar_. _Arn._ Eternal God! I feel thee now! Help! help! she's gone. _Caes._ (_approaches_). I am here. _Arn._ Thou! but oh, save her! _Caes._ (_assisting him to raise_ OLIMPIA). She hath done it well! The leap was serious. _Arn._ Oh! she is lifeless! _Caes._ If She be so, I have nought to do with that: The resurrection is beyond me. _Arn._ Slave! _Caes._ Aye, slave or master, 'tis all one: methinks Good words, however, are as well at times. _Arn._ Words!--Canst thou aid her? _Caes._ I will try. A sprinkling Of that same holy water may be useful. 140 [_He brings some in his helmet from the font_. _Arn._ 'Tis mixed with blood. _Caes._ There is no cleaner now In Rome. _Arn._ How pale! how beautiful! how lifeless! Alive or dead, thou Essence of all Beauty, I love but thee! _Caes._ Even so Achilles loved Penthesilea;[249] with his form it seems You have his heart, and yet it was no soft one. _Arn._ She breathes! But no, 'twas nothing, or the last Faint flutter Life disputes with Death. _Caes._ She breathes. _Arn._ _Thou_ say'st it? Then 'tis truth. _Caes._ You do me right-- The Devil speaks truth much oftener than he's deemed: 150 He hath an ignorant audience. _Arn._ (_without attending to him_). Yes! her heart beats. Alas! that the first beat of the only heart I ever wished to beat with mine should vibrate To an assassin's pulse. _Caes._ A sage reflection, But somewhat late i' the day. Where shall we bear her? I say she lives. _Arn._ And will she live? _Cas._ As much As dust can. _Arn._ Then she is dead! _Caes._ Bah! bah! You are so, And do not know it. She will come to life-- Such as you think so, such as you now are; But we must work by human means. _Arn._ We will 160 Convey her unto the Colonna palace, Where I have pitched my banner. _Caes._ Come then! raise her up! _Arn._ Softly! _Caes._ As softly as they bear the dead, Perhaps because they cannot feel the jolting. _Arn._ But doth she live indeed? _Caes._ Nay, never fear! But, if you rue it after, blame not me. _Arn._ Let her but live! _Caes._ The Spirit of her life Is yet within her breast, and may revive. Count! count! I am your servant in all things, And this is a new office:--'tis not oft 170 I am employed in such; but you perceive How staunch a friend is what you call a fiend. On earth you have often only fiends for friends; Now _I_ desert not mine. Soft! bear her hence, The beautiful half-clay, and nearly spirit! I am almost enamoured of her, as Of old the Angels of her earliest sex.[250] _Arn._ Thou! _Caes._ I! But fear not. I'll not be your rival. _Arn._ Rival! _Caes._ I could be one right formidable; But since I slew the seven husbands of 180 Tobias' future bride (and after all Was smoked out by some incense),[251] I have laid Aside intrigue: 'tis rarely worth the trouble Of gaining, or--what is more difficult-- Getting rid of your prize again; for there's The rub! at least to mortals. _Arn._ Prithee, peace! Softly! methinks her lips move, her eyes open! _Caes._ Like stars, no doubt; for that's a metaphor For Lucifer and Venus. _Arn._ To the palace Colonna, as I told you! _Caes._ Oh! I know 190 My way through Rome. _Arn._ Now onward, onward! Gently! [_Exeunt, bearing_ OLIMPIA. _The scene closes_. PART III. SCENE I.--_A Castle in the Apennines, surrounded by a wild but smiling Country. Chorus of Peasants singing before the Gates_. _Chorus_. I. The wars are over, The spring is come; The bride and her lover Have sought their home: They are happy, we rejoice; Let their hearts have an echo in every voice! II. The spring is come; the violet's gone, The first-born child of the early sun:[dt] With us she is but a winter's flower, The snow on the hills cannot blast her bower, 10 And she lifts up her dewy eye of blue To the youngest sky of the self-same hue. III. And when the spring comes with her host Of flowers, that flower beloved the most Shrinks from the crowd that may confuse Her heavenly odour and virgin hues. IV. Pluck the others, but still remember Their herald out of dim December-- The morning star of all the flowers, The pledge of daylight's lengthened hours; 20 Nor, midst the roses, e'er forget The virgin--virgin Violet. _Enter_ CAESAR. _Caes._ (_singing_). The wars are all over, Our swords are all idle, The steed bites the bridle, The casque's on the wall. There's rest for the rover; But his armour is rusty, And the veteran grows crusty, As he yawns in the hall. 30 He drinks--but what's drinking? A mere pause from thinking! No bugle awakes him with life-and-death call. _Chorus_. But the hound bayeth loudly, The boar's in the wood, And the falcon longs proudly To spring from her hood: On the wrist of the noble She sits like a crest, And the air is in trouble 40 With birds from their nest. _Caes._ Oh! shadow of Glory! Dim image of War! But the chase hath no story, Her hero no star, Since Nimrod, the founder Of empire and chase, Who made the woods wonder And quake for their race. When the lion was young, 50 In the pride of his might, Then 'twas sport for the strong To embrace him in fight; To go forth, with a pine For a spear, 'gainst the mammoth, Or strike through the ravine[du] At the foaming behemoth; While man was in stature As towers in our time, The first born of Nature, 60 And, like her, sublime! _Chorus_. But the wars are over, The spring is come; The bride and her lover Have sought their home: They are happy, and we rejoice; Let their hearts have an echo from every voice! [_Exeunt the Peasantry, singing_. FRAGMENT OF THE THIRD PART OF _THE DEFORMED TRANSFORMED_. _Chorus_. When the merry bells are ringing, And the peasant girls are singing, And the early flowers are flinging Their odours in the air; And the honey bee is clinging To the buds; and birds are winging Their way, pair by pair: Then the earth looks free from trouble With the brightness of a bubble: Though I did not make it, 10 I could breathe on and break it; But too much I scorn it, Or else I would mourn it, To see despots and slaves Playing o'er their own graves. _Enter_ COUNT ARNOLD. {_Mem._ Jealous--Arnold of Caesar. {Olympia at first not liking Caesar {--then?--Arnold jealous of himself {under his former figure, owing to {the power of intellect, etc., etc., etc. _Arnold_. You are merry, Sir--what? singing too? _Caesar_. It is The land of Song--and Canticles you know Were once my avocation. _Arn._ Nothing moves you; You scoff even at your own calamity-- And such calamity! how wert thou fallen 20 Son of the Morning! and yet Lucifer Can smile. _Caes._ His shape can--would you have me weep, In the fair form I wear, to please you? _Arn._ Ah! _Caes._ You are grave--what have you on your spirit! _Arn._ Nothing. _Caes._ How mortals lie by instinct! If you ask A disappointed courtier--What's the matter? "Nothing"--an outshone Beauty what has made Her smooth brow crisp--"Oh, Nothing!"--a young heir When his Sire has recovered from the Gout, What ails him? "Nothing!" or a Monarch who 30 Has heard the truth, and looks imperial on it-- What clouds his royal aspect? "Nothing," "Nothing!" Nothing--eternal nothing--of these nothings All are a lie--for all to them are much! And they themselves alone the real "Nothings." Your present Nothing, too, is something to you-- What is it? _Arn._ Know you not? _Caes._ I only know What I desire to know! and will not waste Omniscience upon phantoms. Out with it! If you seek aid from me--or else be silent. 40 And eat your thoughts--till they breed snakes within you. _Arn._ Olimpia! _Caes._ I thought as much--go on. _Arn._ I thought she had loved me. _Caes._ Blessings on your Creed! What a good Christian you were found to be! But what cold Sceptic hath appalled your faith And transubstantiated to crumbs again The _body_ of your Credence? _Arn._ No one--but-- Each day--each hour--each minute shows me more And more she loves me not-- _Caes._ Doth she rebel? _Arn._ No, she is calm, and meek, and silent with me, 50 And coldly dutiful, and proudly patient-- Endures my Love--not meets it. _Caes._ That seems strange. You are beautiful and brave! the first is much For passion--and the rest for Vanity. _Arn._ I saved her life, too; and her Father's life, And Father's house from ashes. _Caes._ These are nothing. You seek for Gratitude--the Philosopher's stone. _Arn._ And find it not. _Caes._ You cannot find what is not. But _found_ would it content you? would you owe To thankfulness what you desire from Passion? 60 No! No! you would be _loved_--what you call loved-- _Self-loved_--loved for _yourself_--for neither health, Nor wealth, nor youth, nor power, nor rank, nor beauty-- For these you may be stript of--but _beloved_ As an abstraction--for--you know not what! These are the wishes of a moderate lover-- And _so_ you love. _Arn._ Ah! could I be beloved, Would I ask wherefore? _Caes._ Yes! and not believe The answer--You are jealous. _Arn._ And of whom? _Caes._ It may be of yourself,[252] for Jealousy 70 Is as a shadow of the Sun. The Orb Is mighty--as you mortals deem--and to Your little Universe seems universal; But, great as He appears, and is to you, The smallest cloud--the slightest vapour of Your humid earth enables you to look Upon a Sky which you revile as dull; Though your eyes dare not gaze on it when cloudless. Nothing can blind a mortal like to light. Now Love in you is as the Sun--a thing 80 Beyond you--and your Jealousy's of Earth-- A cloud of your own raising. _Arn._ Not so always! There is a cause at times. _Caes._ Oh, yes! when atoms jostle, The System is in peril. But I speak Of things you know not. Well, to earth again! This precious thing of dust--this bright Olimpia-- This marvellous Virgin, is a marble maid-- An Idol, but a cold one to your heat Promethean, and unkindled by your torch. _Arn._ Slave! _Caes._ In the victor's Chariot, when Rome triumphed, 90 There was a Slave of yore to tell him truth! You are a Conqueror--command your Slave. _Arn._ Teach me the way to win the woman's love. _Caes._ Leave her. _Arn._ Where that the path--I'd not pursue it. _Caes._ No doubt! for if you did, the remedy Would be for a disease already cured. _Arn._ All wretched as I am, I would not quit My unrequited love, for all that's happy. _Caes._ You have possessed the woman--still possess. What need you more? _Arn._ To be myself possessed-- 100 To be her heart as she is mine. FOOTNOTES: [201] {473}[_The Three Brothers_, by Joshua Pickersgill, junior, was published in 1803. There is no copy of _The Three Brothers_ in the British Museum. The following extracts are taken from a copy in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (vol. 4, cap. xi. pp. 229-350):-- "Arnaud, the natural son of the Marquis de Souvricour, was a child 'extraordinary in Beauty and Intellect.' When travelling with his parents to Languedoc, Arnaud being 8 years old, he was shot at by banditti, and forsaken by his parents. The Captain of the band nursed him. 'But those perfections to which Arnaud owed his existence, ceased to adorn it. The ball had gored his shoulder, and the fall had dislocated it; by the latter misadventure his spine likewise was so fatally injured as to be irrecoverable to its pristine uprightness. Injuries so compound confounded the Captain, who sorrowed to see a creature so charming, at once deformed by a crooked back and an excrescent shoulder.' Arnaud was found and taken back to his parents. 'The bitterest consciousness of his deformity was derived from their indelicate, though, perhaps, insensible alteration of conduct.... Of his person he continued to speak as of an abhorrent enemy.... "Were a blessing submitted to my choice, I would say, [said Arnaud] be it my immediate dissolution." "I think," said his mother, ... "that you could wish better." "Yes," adjoined Arnaud, "for that wish should be that I ever had remained unborn."' He polishes the broken blade of a sword, and views himself therein; the sight so horrifies him that he determines to throw himself over a precipice, but draws back at the last moment. He goes to a cavern, and conjures up the prince of hell. "Arnaud knew himself to be interrogated. What he required.... What was that answer the effects explain.... There passed in liveliest portraiture the various men distinguished for that beauty and grace which Arnaud so much desired, that he was ambitious to purchase them with his soul. He felt that it was his part to chuse whom he would resemble, yet he remained unresolved, though the spectator of an hundred shades of renown, among which glided by Alexander, Alcibiades, and Hephestion: at length appeared the supernatural effigy of a man, whose perfections human artist never could depict or insculp--Demetrius, the son of Antigonus. Arnaud's heart heaved quick with preference, and strait he found within his hand the resemblance of a poniard, its point inverted towards his breast. A mere automaton in the hands of the Demon, he thrust the point through his heart, and underwent a painless death. During his trance, his spirit metempsychosed from the body of his detestation to that of his admiration ... Arnaud awoke a Julian!'"] [202] {474}[For a _resume_ of M. G. Lewis's _Wood Demon_ (afterwards re-cast as _One O'clock; or, The Knight and the Wood-Demon_, 1811), see "First Visit to the Theatre in London," _Poems_, by Hartley Coleridge, 1851, i., Appendix C, pp. cxcix.-cciii. The _Wood Demon_ in its original form was never published.] [203] [Mrs. Shelley inscribed the following note on the fly-leaf of her copy of _The Deformed Transformed_:-- "This had long been a favourite subject with Lord Byron. I think that he mentioned it also in Switzerland. I copied it--he sending a portion of it at a time, as it was finished, to me. At this time he had a great horror of its being said that he plagiarised, or that he studied for ideas, and wrote with difficulty. Thus he gave Shelley Aikins' edition of the British poets, that it might not be found in his house by some English lounger, and reported home; thus, too, he always dated when he began and when he ended a poem, to prove hereafter how quickly it was done. I do not think that he altered a line in this drama after he had once written it down. He composed and corrected in his mind. I do not know how he meant to finish it; but he said himself that the whole conduct of the story was already conceived. It was at this time that a brutal paragraph[*] alluding to his lameness appeared, which he repeated to me lest I should hear it from some one else. No action of Lord Byron's life--scarce a line he has written--but was influenced by his personal defect." [*] It is possible that Mrs. Shelley alludes to a sentence in the _Memoirs, etc., of Lord Byron_. (by Dr. John Watkin), 1822, p. 46: "A malformation of one of his feet, and other indications of a rickety constitution, served as a plea for suffering him to range the hills and to wander about at his pleasure on the seashore, that his frame might be invigorated by air and exercise."] [cv] {477} _The Deformed--a drama.--B. Pisa, 1822_. [204] [Moore (_Life_, p. 13) quotes these lines in connection with a passage in Byron's "Memoranda," where, in speaking of his own sensitiveness on the subject of his deformed foot, he described the feeling of horror and humiliation that came over him, when his mother, in one of her fits of passion, called him "_a lame brat!_"... "It may be questioned," he adds, "whether that whole drama [_The Deformed Transformed_] was not indebted for its origin to that single recollection." Byron's early letters (_e.g._ November 2, 11, 17, 1804, _Letters_, 1898, i. 41, 45, 48) are full of complaints of his mother's "eccentric behaviour," her "fits of phrenzy," her "caprices," "passions," and so forth; and there is convincing proof--see _Life_, pp. 28, 306; _Letters_, 1898, ii. 122 (incident at Bellingham's execution); _Letters_, 1901, vi. 179 (_Le Diable Boiteux_)--that he regarded the contraction of the muscles of his legs as a more or less repulsive deformity. And yet, to quote one of a hundred testimonies,--"with regard to Lord Byron's features, Mr. Mathews observed, that he was the only man he ever contemplated, to whom he felt disposed to apply the word _beautiful_" (_Memoirs of Charles Matthews_, 1838, ii. 380). The looker-on or the consoler computes the magnitude and the liberality of the compensation. The sufferer thinks only of his sufferings.] [205] {478}[So, too, Prospero to Caliban, _Tempest_, act i. sc. 2, line 309, etc.] [206] {479}[Compare--"Have not partook oppression." _Marino Faliero_, act i. sc. 2, line 468, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 362, note 1.] [207] {480}[Compare the story of the philosopher Jamblichus and the raising of Eros and Anteros from their "fountain-dwellings."--_Manfred_, act ii. sc. 2, line 93, _Poetical Works_, 1901, iv. 105, note 2.] [cw] {481} _Give me the strength of the buffalo's foot_ (_which marks me_).--[MS.] [cx] _The sailless dromedary_----.--[MS.] [cy] {482} _Now I can gibe the mightiest_.--[MS.] [208] {483}[So, too, in _The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus_ (Marlowe's _Works_, 1858, p. 112), Faustus stabs his arm, "and with his proper blood Assures his soul to be great Lucifer's."] [cz] _Walk lively and pliant_. _You shall rise up as pliant_.--[MS, erased.] [209] This is a well-known German superstition--a gigantic shadow produced by reflection on the Brocken. [See Brewster's _Letters on Natural Magic_, 1831, p. 128.] [da] _And such my command_.--[MS.] [210] {484}["Nigris vegetisque oculis."--Suetonius, _Vitae C. Julius Caesar_, cap. xiv., _Opera Omnia_, 1826, i. 105.] [211] [_Vide post_, p. 501, note 1.] [212] ["Sed ante alias [Julius Caesar] dilexit M. Bruti matrem Serviliam ... dilexit et reginas ... sed maxime Cleopatram" (_ibid._, i. 113, 115). Cleopatra, born B.C. 69, was twenty-one years old when she met Caesar, B.C. 48.] [db] _And can_ _It be? the man who shook the earth is gone_.--[MS.] [213] {485}["Upon the whole, it may be doubted whether there be a name of Antiquity which comes down with such a general charm as that of _Alcibiades_. _Why?_ I cannot answer: who can?"--_Detached Thoughts_ (1821), No. 108, _Letters_, 1901, v. 461. For Sir Walter Scott's note on this passage, see _Letters_, 1900, iv. 77, 78, note 2.] [214] [The outside of Socrates was that of a satyr and buffoon, but his soul was all virtue, and from within him came such divine and pathetic things, as pierced the heart, and drew tears from the hearers.--Plato, _Symp_., p. 216, D.] [215] {486}["Anthony had a noble dignity of countenance, a graceful length of beard, a large forehead, an aquiline nose: and, upon the whole, the same manly aspect that we see in the pictures and statues of Hercules."--Plutarch's _Lives_, Langhorne's Translation, 1838, p. 634.] [216] [As in the "Farnese" Hercules.] [217] [The beauty and mien [of Demetrius Poliorcetes] were so inimitable that no statuary or painter could hit off a likeness. His countenance had a mixture of grace and dignity; and was at once amiable and awful; and the unsubdued and eager air of youth was blended with the majesty of the hero and the king.--Plutarch's _Lives_, Langhorne's Translation, 1838, p. 616. Demetrius the Besieger rescued Greece from the sway of Ptolemy and Cassander, B.C. 307. He passed the following winter at Athens, where divine honours were paid to him under the title of "the Preserver" ([Greek: o(Sote/r]). He was "the shame of Greece in peace," by reason of his profligacy--"the citadel was so polluted with his debaucheries, that it appeared to be kept sacred in some degree when he indulged himself only with such _Hetaerae_ as Chrysis, Lamia, Demo, and Anticyra." He was the unspiritual ancestor of Charles the Second. Once when his father, Antigonus, had been told that he was indisposed, "he went to see him; and when he came to the door, he met one of his favourites going out. He went in, however, and, sitting down by him, took hold of his hand. 'My fever,' said Demetrius, 'has left me.' 'I knew it,' said Antigonus, 'for I met it this moment at the door.'"--Plutarch's _Lives_, _ibid._, pp. 621-623.] [218] {488}[Spercheus was a river-god, the husband of Polydora, the daughter of Peleus. Peleus casts into the river the hair of his son Achilles, in the pious hope that his son-in-law would accept the votive offering, and grant the youth a safe return from the Trojan war. See _Iliad_, xxiii. 140, _sqq._] [219] {489}["Whosoever," says Bacon, "hath anything fixed in his person that doth induce contempt, hath also a perpetual spur in himself to rescue and deliver himself from scorn; therefore, all deformed persons are extreme bold; first, as in their own defence, as being exposed to scorn, but in process of time by a general habit; also it stirreth in them industry, and especially of this kind, to watch and observe the weakness of others, that they may have somewhat to repay." (Essay xliv.). Byron's "chief incentive, when a boy, to distinction was that mark of deformity on his person, by an acute sense of which he was first stung into the ambition of being great."--_Life_, p. 306.] [220] [Timur Bey, or Timur Lang, _i.e._ "the lame Timur" (A.D. 1336-1405), was the founder of the Mogul dynasty. He was the Tamerlane of history and of legend. Byron had certainly read the selections from Marlowe's _Tamburlaine the Great_, in Lamb's _Specimens of English Dramatic Poets_.] [221] {491}["I am black, but comely."--_Song of Solomon_ i. 5.] [222] Adam means "_red earth_," from which the first man was formed. [The word _ad[=a]m_ is said to be analogous to the Assyrian _admu_, "child"--_i.e._ "one made" by God.--_Encycl. Bibl._, art. "Adam."] [dc] {492} _This shape into Life_.--[_MS_.] [223] {493}[The reference is to the _homunculi_ of the alchymists. See Retzsch's illustrations to Goethe's _Faust_, 1834, plates 3, 4, 5. Compare, too, _The Second Part of Faust_, act ii.-- "The glass rings low, the charming power that lives Within it makes the music that it gives. It dims! it brightens! it will shape itself. And see! a graceful dazzling little elf. He lives! he moves! spruce mannikin of fire, What more can we? what more can earth desire?" Anster's Translation, 1886, p. 91.] [dd] _Your Interloper_----.--[MS.] [224] {494}[Compare _Prisoner of Chillon_, stanza ii. line 35, _Poetical Works_, 1091, iv. 15, note i. Compare, too, the dialogue between Mephistopheles and the Will-o'-the Wisp, in the scene on the Hartz Mountains, in _Faust_, Part I. (see Anster's Translation, 1886, p. 271).] [225] {495}[The immediate reference is to the composite forces, German, French, and Spanish, of the Imperial Army under the command of Charles de Bourbon: but there is in lines 498-507 a manifest allusion to the revolutionary movements in South America, Italy, and Spain, which were at their height in 1822. (See the _Age of Bronze_, section vi. lines 260, _sq._, _post_, pp. 555-557.)] [226] {496}[See Euripides, _Hippolytus_, line 733.] [de] _Kochlani_----.--[MS.] [227] [Kochlani horses were bred in a central province of Arabia.] [228] [Byron's knowledge of Huon of Bordeaux was, most probably, derived from Sotheby's _Oberon; or, Huon de Bourdeux: A Mask_, published in 1802. For _The Boke of Duke Huon of Burdeux_, done into English by Sir John Bourchier, Lord Berners, see the reprint issued by the Early English Text Society (E.S., No. xliii. 1884); and for _Analyse de Huon de Bordeaux, etc._, see _Les Epopees Francaises_, by Leon Gautier, 1880, ii. 719-773.] [229] {497}[The so-called statue of Memnon, the beautiful son of Tithonus and Eos (Dawn), is now known to be that of Amenhotep III., who reigned in the eighteenth dynasty, about 1430 B.C. Strabo, ed. 1807. p. 1155, was the first to record the musical note which sounded from the statue when it was touched by the rays of the rising sun. It used to be argued (see Gifford's note to _Don Juan_, Canto XIII. stanza lxiv. line 3, ed. 1837, p. 731) that the sounds were produced by a trick, but of late years it has been maintained that the Memnon's wail was due to natural causes, the pressure of suddenly-warmed currents of air through the pores and crevices of the stone. After the statue was restored, the phenomenon ceased. (See _La statue vocale de Memnon_, par J. A. Letronne, Paris, 1833, pp. 55, 56.)] [df] _We'll add a "Count" to it_.--[MS.] [dg] {498} ----_my eyes are full_.--[MS.] [230] [Charles de Bourbon, Comte de Montpensier et de la Marche, Dauphin d'Auvergne, was born February 17, 1490. He served in Italy with Bayard, and helped to decide the victory of Agnadello (A.D. 1510). He was appointed Constable of France by Francis I., January, 1515, and fought at the battle of Marignano, September 13, 1515. Not long afterwards he lost the king's favour, who was set against him by his mother, Louise de Savoie; was recalled from his command in Italy, and superseded by Odet de Foix, brother of the king's mistress. It was not, however, till he became a widower (Susanne, Duchesse de Bourbon, died April 28, 1521) that he finally broke with Francis and attached himself to the Emperor Charles V. _Madame_, the king's mother, not only coveted the vast estates of the house of Bourbon, but was enamoured of the Constable's person, and, so to speak, gave him his choice between marriage and a suit for his fiefs. Charles would have nothing to say to the lady's proposals or to her son's entreaties, and seeing that rejection meant ruin, he "entered into a correspondence with the Emperor and the King [Henry VIII.] of England ... and, finding this discovered, went into the Emperor's service." After various and varying successes, both in the South of France and in Lombardy, he found himself, in the spring of 1527, not so much the commander-in-chief as the popular _capo_ of a mixed body of German, Spanish, and Italian _condottieri_, unpaid and ill-disciplined, who had mutinied more than once, who could only be kept together by the prospect of unlimited booty, and a timely concession to their demands. "To Rome! to Rome!" cried the hungry and tumultuous _landsknechts_, and on May 5, 1527, the "late Constable of France," at the head of an army of 30,000 troops, appeared before the walls of the sacred city. On the morning of the 6th of May, he was killed by a shot from an arquebuse. His epitaph recounts his honours: "Aucto Imperio, Gallo victo, Superata Italia, Pontifice obsesso, Roma capta, Borbonius, Hic Jacet;" but in Paris they painted the sill of his gate-way yellow, because he was a renegade and a traitor. He could not have said, with the dying Bayard, "Ne me plaignez pas-je meurs sans avoir servi contre _ma patrie, mon roy_, et mon serment." (See _Modern Universal History_, 1760, xxiv. 150-152, Note C; _Nouvelle Biographie Universelle_, art. "Bourbon.")] [231] {499}[The contrast is between imperial Rome, the Lord of the world, and papal Rome, "the great harlot which hath corrupted the earth with her fornications" (_Rev._ ii. 19). Compare Part II. sc. iii. line 26, _vide post_, p. 521.] [232] {500}[Compare _Manfred_, act iii. sc. 4, line 10; and _Childe Harold_, Canto IV. stanza cxxviii. line 1