University of Virginia Library

Scene IV.

A forest: the moonlit sea glistens between the trees.
Enter Arabs with the Duke.
1st Arab.
Against this column: there's an ancient beast
Here in the neighbourhood, which to-night will thank us
For the ready meal.

[they bind the Duke against a column.
2nd Arab.
Christian, to thy houris
Boast that we took thy blood in recompense
Of our best comrades.

1st Arab.
Hast a saint or mistress?
Call on them, for next minute comes the arrow.

Duke.
O Wolfram! now methinks thou lift'st the cup.
Strike quickly, Arab.

1st. Arab.
Brothers, aim at him.

Enter Wolfram and knights.
Wolfr.
Down, murderers, down.

2nd Arab.
Fly! there are hundreds on us.

(Fight—the Arabs are beaten out and pursued by the knights.)
Wolfr.
(unbinding the Duke)
Thank heaven, not too late! Now you are free.
There is your life again.

Duke.
Hast thou drunk wine?
Answer me, knight, hast thou drunk wine this evening?

Wolfr.
Nor wine, nor poison. The slave told me all.
O Melveric, if I deserve it from thee,
Now canst thou mix my draught. But be't forgotten.

Duke.
And wilt thou not now kill me?

Wolfr.
Let us strive
Henceforward with good deeds against each other,
And may you conquer there. Hence, and for ever,
No one shall whisper of that deadly thought.
Now we will leave this coast.

Duke.
Ay, we will step
Into a boat and steer away: but whither?
Think'st thou I'll live in the vile consciousness
That I have dealt so wickedly and basely,
And been of thee so like a god forgiven?
No: 'tis impossible .. Friend, by your leave— [takes a sword from a fallen Arab.

O what a coward villain must I be,
So to exist.

Wolfr.
Be patient but awhile,
And all such thoughts will soften.

Duke.
The grave be patient,
That's yawning at our feet for one of us.
I want no comfort. I am comfortable,
As any soul under the eaves of Heaven:
For one of us must perish in this instant.
Fool, would thy virtue shame and crush me down;
And make a grateful blushing bondslave of me?
O no! I dare be wicked still: the murderer,
My thought has christened me, I must remain.
O curse thy meek, forgiving, idiot heart,
That thus must take its womanish revenge,
And with the loathliest poison, pardon, kill me:
Twice-sentenced, die!

[Strikes at Wolfram.
Wolfr.
Madman, stand off.

Duke.
I pay my thanks in steel.
Thus be all pardoners pardoned.

[Fight: Wolfram falls.
Wolfr.
Murderer! mine and my father's! O my brother,
Too true thy parting words .. Repent thou never!

Duke.
So then we both are blasted: but thou diest,
Who daredst to love athwart my love, discover,
And then forgive, my treachery. Now proclaim me.
Let my name burn through all dark history
Over the waves of time, as from a light-house,
Warning approach. My worldly work is done.

Ziba runs in.
Ziba.
They come, they come; if thy thought be not yet
Incarnate in a deed, it is too late.
Is it a deed?

Duke.
Look at me.

Ziba.
'Tis enough.

Duke.
See'st? Know'st? Be silent and be gone.

[Ziba retires: the knights re-enter with Sibylla.
Knight.
O luckless victory! our leader wounded!

Sibyl.
Bleeding to death! and he, whom he gave life to,
Even his own, unhurt and armed! Speak, Wolfram:
Let me not think thou'rt dying.

Wolfr.
But I am:
Slain villanously. Had I stayed, Sibylla—
But thou and life are lost; so I'll be silent.

Sibyl.
O Melveric, why kneel'st not thou beside him?
Weep'st not with me? For thee he fell. O speak!
Who did this, Wolfram?

Wolfr.
'Tis well done, my Sibylla:
So burst the portals of sepulchral night
Before the immortal rising of the sun.

Sibyl.
Who did this, Melveric?

Duke.
Let him die in quiet.
Hush! there's a thought upon his lips again.

Wolfr.
A kiss, Sibylla! I ne'er yet have kissed thee,
And my new bride, death's lips are cold, they say.
Now it is darkening.

Sibyl.
O not yet, not yet!
Who did this, Wolfram?

Wolfr.
Thou know'st, Melveric:
At the last day reply thou to that question,
When such an angel asks it: I'll not answer
Or then or now.

[Dies.
(Sibylla throws herself on the body; the Duke stands motionless; the rest gather round in silence. The scene closes.)
A voice from the waters.