University of Virginia Library

ACT III.

Scene I.

—A sumptuous tent belonging to Octavian. Enter from the tent Octavian, who meets Acilius entering the stage from
Acil.
Good morrow to the bridegroom! What a smile
The day puts on to greet you!

Oct.
Ay, it smiles
But not, like us, to ruin. We shall make
A noble woman wretched.

Acil.
Thine the fault then!
After the sacred rite that made you one,
I held discourse with Norma, and to her
Art thou indebted for a scheme that falls
Within my perfect favor: she will use
Her power to make of Gaul a Roman province,
And thou, since I've the power of delegation,
Shalt be proconsul.

Oct.
Proconsul! I proconsul?
O, my dear lord, this tasks my gratitude
Beyond all utterance.

Acil.
Thank thy wife alone.

Oct.
Wife! But that word sounds strangely.

Acil.
Cherish it.
Though, marrying in the service of the state,
Thou canst throw off the yoke, (if yoke it be,)
Yet do I trust, of thy own choice thou wilt
Accept her as thy honorable wife.
Then, ruling her, 'twill be an easy thing
To rule thy province.

Oct.
Yet remember this:
'Tis as a virgin priestess that she sways
The people: let the whisper go abroad
That she is wedded, shame and opposition
Might be upon her track.

Acil.
Then leave to time
The publication: wait till you are stronger,
The people more enlightened: then divulge it.

Oct.
Yet do I fear that stealthy renegade,
Arnulf, the Gaul.

Acil.
We'll pack him off to Rome
Among the prisoners. He's of no more use.
We love the treason, but we hate the traitor.
(Enter Norma from the tent.)
Norma, good morrow! and accept, I pray thee,
A soldier's homage.

Nor.
'Tis a joy to know
That you're my friend.

Acil.
We'll carry out thy scheme;
We'll leave Octavian here to rule in Gaul.

Nor.
And Gaul shall be as free as now she is?

Acil.
Gaul shall be Rome; and we of Italy
Complain provincial Rome is more befriended
Than we the central people.

Nor.
Do not think
I would betray my country. Never! Never!
But merged in Rome she springs to higher life;
No more a camp—a fluctuating tribe—
Rent by intestine broils and border wars—
Open to despot ravage and dominion—
But part of a great nation—part of Rome.
If in these words I show a swift conversion,
And if to love I owe it, do not think
'Tis fixed on aught less firm than my persuasion.

Acil.
I heartily trust thee, lady. Fare thee well.
Prize thy high fortune at its worth, Octavian!
'Tis time our scouts were in. We'll meet anon.

[Exit
Nor.
So soon a dreamer? Whither stray thy thoughts?

Oct.
On to the future, Norma, the fair future!
On to the heights to which thy hand has beckoned—
The heights proconsular!

Nor.
The way is clear;
And, though the Druid faction may oppose,
The people will be with us. Long enough
Has priestly craft degraded them and plundered:
O! we will raise them, liberate, enlighten.
Walking by early light on yonder terrace
I saw the sun yet crimson smite the mist
Surging up from the valley: fold on fold
Rose the thick vapor threatening to obscure
The golden dawn,—yet see the laughing day!
So shall Truth mount, and pour its blazing shafts
Through Error's mist, changing each murky cloud
To a white wreath of glory. We, Octavian,
We will speed on the time shall bring that light.

Oct.
Enthusiast! with thy guidance I shall need
No new Egeria.

Nor.
Ah!

Oct.
What thought was that?

Nor.
If I have lost my gift of divination!
If the clairvoyant vision has departed!
O! then, Octavian, these bright fantasies
Are but the lure to ruin. I must leave you—
At once—before my absence can be noted.

Oct.
I go to see the litter is prepared.
Keep thy brave heart from drooping. Courage, Norma!

Nor.
Ay! 't was a passing mood. Go now.

Oct.
The future
Shall to glad memories turn our present doubts.

[Exit
(Enter Arnulf.)
Arn.
(Aside.)
As I surmised, 't is she! safe in the snare!
How as her lover moves he bears along
Her very soul in fond attendance on him!
O, lady fair! brief—brief shall be thy joy!
At risk of his displeasure I'll accost her.
I'll seize revenge while the brimmed cup is sparkling
Close at my lips,—lest it be dashed away
Forever.— (Approaches her.)
Greeting to the priestess!

Nor.
Ah!
What man art thou?

Arn.
Hast thou forgotten Arnulf?
Come now, I feel the slight.

Nor.
This tone of insult!—
(Goes up and calls.)
Octavian!

Arn.
Hush! Learn but how much thou ow'st me,
Thou'lt patiently attend.

Nor.
For good thou com'st not—
So much my heart assures me. Memory gropes
In vain to join to some past act thy features.

Arn.
An officer of rank among the Arverni
Fell into poverty and debt, for which
The army's tyrant, Ambron, would disgrace him.
Norma could save from ruin—from despair—
But she repelled him—sanctioned his abasement—
And gave him up to frenzy.

Nor.
I remember:
But let me tell the tale. An officer,
Bearer of a dead soldier's little store
Of money for that soldier's family,
Staked it at play, and, to the last denarius,
Lost it. But did he labour to redress
The wrong he had inflicted? He ignored it;
Spurned from his pathway the beseeching widow,
Laughed and caroused while those whom he had plundered
Were common beggars. Now the gods pursue me
With every wo, if I not use my power
To reach and deal perdition on the caitiff
Who, trusted with another's means which are
His life, his children's future, perils them
For his own gain or need.—Away with thee!

Arn.
O! I've not told thee half.

Nor.
And thou hast added
Desertion to thy other baseness. Why
Do I behold thee here in the enemy's camp?

Arn.
Why do I see thee here?

Nor.
Slave! I am Norma—
High priestess, and accountable to none
Of mortal mould.

Arn.
And yet, methinks, a priestess,
Pledged to a vestal life, who seeks a husband
Within the enemy's lines—Ah! Not at random
Was that shaft sent!

Nor.
(Dismayed, goes up and calls.)
Octavian!

Arn.
Wilt thou lose
The best of all I have in store for thee?
I spake of what thou owest me; thus it is:
My instigation sent yon charming youth
To play the lover—cheat thee of thy heart—
And crown thy treasonous passion with a marriage.
A marriage! A mere stratagem of war!
Binding while state necessity may prompt,
Then—flax in the fire! Rome's object was to gain
Time to ward off the battle thou wert urging,
Till her new levies should arrive.

Nor.
Ah no!
'Twas not a plot! Only thy base construction
Would wrench it that way.

Arn.
'Twas my plot, I tell thee—
Mine, Norma! that I might approach thee thus,
And ask, are we not quits?

Nor.
Thy plot! 'Tis well.
I thank thee for the assurance, as it takes
The blame from one whose honor word of thine
Should have been impotent to cast a doubt on.

Arn.
'Tis pity from thy refuge of delusion
To drive thee thus; but know, the Roman scouts
Are in, and bring report, a reënforcement
Is near at hand. Rome asks no more delay;
(Enter Octavian from the tent.)
And Norma, who has used her potency
To ruin Gaul—Rome's purpose being served—
Is now in the enemy's hands a prisoner,
And soon shall be the common scoff of the camp.

Oct.
(With drawn sword.)
Out, renegade!—I'll not profane my sword
With thy foul blood.—O! gentle wife, forgive me
That thou wert so unhedged by care of mine
Such rude accost befell thee.

Nor.
But I knew
'Twas false—false—false, Octavian. Sheathe thy sword.
Nay, thou shalt not so soon resist me. Sheathe it. (He obeys.)


Arn.
(Aside.)
Caresses! Blandishments! As I do live,
Both are enamored! O, the yielding fool!
The shallow milksop! In his own noose caught!
And, after all my diligence of hate,
Have I so blundered that my enemy
Finds the bright crown of her felicity
Wrought from the deadly substance of my curse?

Oct.
And didst thou think to make me the blind tool
Of thy revenge?—Against a woman, too?
A prisoner she? Thou liest! Unfaithful I?
Again thou liest!

Arn.
The end's not yet, my lord.
The time may come—

Oct.
If thou canst bring it—ay!
We'll circumscribe thy means.
(Beckons off. Enter Soldiers, who arrest Arnulf.)
The air of Rome
Shall ventilate thy temper till 'tis sweeter.

Arn.
Rome! Well, dear friends, should we ne'er meet again,—

Oct.
We shall not languish. No more words! Away!

[Exeunt Arnulf and Soldiers.
Nor.
Alas! that hate should be as strong almost—
Almost as love!—No! Not as ours, for that,
Attainment but makes stronger.

Oct.
And more strong!
Come, Norma, all is ready for thy journey.
I'll walk beside thy litter to the outposts,
And we'll discuss the future. True it is
An army of assistance is approaching.

Nor.
Therefore shall it be easier to make peace,
And give to Gaul a ruler in Octavian.

Oct.
Who shall owe all—all to the hand beloved!

[Exeunt

SCENE II.

A field. Enter to music Rudiger and Druids—Adalgisa and Women—Gontran and Soldiers.
Gont.
Soldiers, our Druid fathers have convoked us,
To offer weighty cause why instant battle
Should against Rome be hurled—why your chief, Ambron,
Should be deposed, and Norma no more heeded.

Rud.
Time was, the Druid need not have stood forth
To show why his monitions should prevail.
But we are here for action. Briefly then:
Why is not Norma present? Why has her
Loud, eloquent cry for war sunk all at once
To pleadings for delay? This may enlighten:
Yesterday she was tracked to the enemy's outposts.
Men of Gaul, we're betrayed. She tampers with
The Roman—and is even now, perchance,
Haggling upon the price which he shall pay her
For Gaul's enslavement. Ask ye proof of this?
Her threat to us! Her absence from this meeting!
And Ambron—where is he?

(Enter Ambron.)
Amb.
Who summons Ambron?

Rud.
Behold him, pledged to follow Norma's bidding—
No matter where it lead—to war or peace—
Fidelity or treason! Ask you why
Ambron is thus devoted? Other thoughts
Than reverence for her office mingle with
His zeal in Norma's service—nor is she
Slow to requite his kindness.

Amb.
Slandering dotard!
I had borne all but that! Not thy gray hairs
Shall shield thee from my fury.

Gont.
(Interposing.)
Nay!

Amb.
I thank thee.
Age be his shield!—Soldiers, hear me proclaim
The crime of Norma. She has even dared
Say to these remnants of old wickedness.
In your detested rites venture to shed
The sacred human blood, and yours shall flow.
They were but yesterday detected by her
In disobedience. With indignant words
She bade them loose their victim. They, enraged,
And, thinking by one blow to feed their grudge
And reinstate their stripped authority,
Favored the act of one, who drew his dagger
And rushed upon the priestess. She repelled him.
And I came timely in to rescue her
From the assassins. (Sensation among the Soldiers.)


Rud.
And the act of one.
Unauthorized, uncountenanced, he brings
Against us all! But does the tale disprove
Our charge of treason? Where this while is Norma?
She knows the charge is true. She will not venture
To reäppear before you.

Amb.
She is here!

(Enter Norma.)
Nor.
I bring you peace, my country, peace and freedom.

Rud.
Whence? We may doubt the gift, knowing the giver.

Nor.
Rudiger, I salute you. When we met
Last, 'twas a sharp response ye tendered me.
Whence bring I peace? From Rome who brings the war!

Rud.
So! As I told you, soldiers! She has been
Bargaining with the enemy.

Nor.
And why not?
What will ye fight for, soldiers, should the war
Go on? For Druid empire—human sacrifices—
Assassination, perjury, and plunder.
At length the mist before my eyes is scattered.
The Druids have deceived us—falsely charged
'Gainst Rome, intents she never harbored. Come!
Abandon this poor, tottering Druid system,
Effete and doting, and Rome asks no more!
Was it not time I bargained with the Roman
When these men sought my life; ay, would have had it
But for the noble Ambron!
(Cries of “Down with the Druids! Down! Down with them!”)

Amb.
Let them retire unharmed, but be henceforth
Druids no more, but common men. Ye will it!
And so (revivers of the impossible past!)
Depart forthwith, nor dare to abuse our mercy.

(Druids, all but Rudiger, Exeunt.)
Rud.
While thrives the oak, the Druid shall survive.

[Exit
Nor.
Then, to be free, my countrymen, we must
Be part of the mighty empire—part of Rome!
Rome offers her adoption—her protection—
Her roads—her fortresses—her means of plenty—
And to the soldiers, who will join her army,
Double their present pay—the officers,
Their present rank, with prospect of promotion.
Ye have the offer. Shall it be accepted?

Egbert.
Ay, soldiers, ay! The thing for us—for Gaul!

(Cries of ay! from the soldiers.)
Nor.
Then go, give signal to the enemy—
To our friends, brothers, rather—of the issue—
And with them interchange a soldier's hug.

(Music and cries. Exeunt all but Norma and Ambron. The latter, when all have gone out, drops his sword. Norma picks it up and hands it to him.)
Nor.
Thou hast dropped thy sword.

Amb.
I've no more need of it.

Nor.
Then thank the gods and give it to its scabbard
Against the time of need.

Amb.
(Receives and puts up sword.)
O, Norma! Norma!
Thou hast transformed me wholly. I who held
In this right hand the destiny of Gaul,—
Who hated peace as sailors do a calm—
I now give up my power, as 'twere a bauble
I had outgrown.

Nor.
A noble sacrifice!

Amb.
Of no true nobleness the change is bred.
Self, self, and always self, the only motive!
O! be thou here the prophetess, and read
What my tongue dare not utter.

Nor.
Speak.

Amb.
I love.
I know there's profanation in this madness,
But Druid rigor now is at an end
And thou art free.

Nor.
Free, Ambron? I am bound
In fetters past release. I am a wife.

Amb.
A wife!

Nor.
A secret this, my more than brother!

Amb.
One that more crushes than a battle lost.
And yet, even here I trust thee. Who's thy husband?

Nor.
A Roman chief—Octavian—soon to be
Proconsul here.

Amb.
A Roman! A proconsul!
How—why—I see it all! Heroic Norma!
You wed Gaul's ruler, to secure Gaul's welfare.

Nor.
That hope, methinks, was foremost; yet it was not
Unpaired with love such as a wife should bring.

Amb.
Felicity attend thee! May the gods
Shower their selectest blessings on you both.
Thou hast been much to me—hast made my life
From contact with thine own more rich and sacred;
So that my present sorrow seemeth better
Than all the ignorant joy of former years.
Dost thou remember what a mere barbarian,
Rude in attire, in speech, in superstition,
I was when first thou took'st me into training,
Shaped my chaotic thoughts, my ruffian passions,
By forms and intuitions of thine own,
Till the rough savage grew to be a man
And the brute life obedient to a higher?
Now, must I lose my teacher?

Nor.
No. Why shouldst thou?
Stay with us; still our army's honored chief.

Amb.
It cannot be. Among the mountains dwells
My sire, a gray-haired peasant, with his flocks.
Him I rejoin, to find in scenes of beauty
And simple occupations (thanks to thee!)
Contentment that in war and power abides not.
Farewell! But should the dark hour overtake thee—
Should grief, disaster, reach or threaten thee,
Then call on Ambron! He will keep the sword
Thou didst restore. Farewell!

Nor.
Go, noble friend!
We shall recall thee, soon; though not, I trust,
At prompting of misfortune.

Amb.
So I trust.

[Exit
(Shouts from without.)
Nor.
Those shouts proclaim the meeting of the armies.
Met, not in homicidal wrath, to stain
The turf with carnage—but as brothers meet.
Shout on! ye lift my heart up—higher—higher!
Octavian must be there—my husband! Soon,
Proconsul over Gaul! Joy, Norma, joy!

[Exit

SCENE III.

A Grove. Enter Adalgisa and Bertha.
Ber.
I shall miss all the show.

Adal.
Return, then, Bertha.

Ber.
A precious coward to fly because a soldier
Chanced to stare at thee—such a soldier, too!
Some chief of rank, be sure, among the Romans.
He looked as he had cause to win some glance
Of recognition from thee. Hast thou met him
Ever before?

Adal.
Met him before? How could I?

Ber.
That know I not. This know I, Adalgisa,
Eyes had he only for thyself of all
Our white-robed company—an oversight
Quite unaccountable, my dear, since I
Stood nearer to him by some two or three.

Adal.
'Tis not for us to court such glances, Bertha;
Our safety lies in flight.

Ber.
To be quite candid,
I'd rather not be safe when such the danger.
But look thro' the leaves. A line of burnished armor
Is flowing, glittering, like a sunlit river
By the grove's border. I can stay no longer.

[Exit
Adal.
Ay, it was he. Too well do I remember
That eager glance—those features. Brief our meeting—
But memories for a life-time followed it.
Few were his words; but how like melodies
They haunt my soul, and go before my prayers.
And now he's here again—here as a friend—
And he has seen me—marked me;—but my duty
Lies plain before me, and I thus pursue it.
(Going.)
Till his departure from the land, seclusion
Must keep me from his sight.—'Tis he again!

(Enter Octavian.)
Oct.
Do not avoid me. We have met before.

Adal.
Good reason why we should not meet again.
Let me pass on.

Oct.
Fair saint, 'twere irreligion
To let thee pass, receiving from the gazer
No word of adoration.
When thou didst quit thy cluster of fair women,
I was bereft even as the earth might be
Should the moon vanish 'mid attending planets,
And rob the night of glory.

Adal.
Why detain me?

Oct.
To get the assurance you again will meet me.
For so much beauty taken from my life,
Would leave it ugly and unprofitable.

Adal.
I cannot grant it. Danger to thyself
And me, were in the act.

Oct.
Believe it not.
The power supreme of Gaul rests now in me.

Adal.
Ah! The proconsul?

Oct.
None the less thy slave.

Adal.
Whate'er thy power, still Norma's will must be
The law for us.

Oct.
(Aside.)
Norma! That name recalls
My errant duty. Shame on thee, Octavian!
(To Adal.)
Go! If thou'lt bar my looking on thy face
Ever again, thou wilt have served me better
Than if thou hadst snatched me from captivity—
Saved me from the terriblest strait that ever man
Was thrown into by passion. There 's a peril,
I tell thee, in thy looks, while thou dost linger,
To which the thick of the battle, plague and tempest,
Are innocent of danger.

Adal.
Fare thee well.

(She moves away, turns, and he goes towards her.)
Oct.
That last look swept before it every scruple.
(Taking her hand.)
Promise thou 'lt meet me as I asked.

Adal.
I cannot.

Oct.
Promise, or I will hold thee with a grasp
Inseverable as fate.

Adal.
Some one approaches.

Oct.
I care not. Promise.

Adal.
Let me go. I promise.

(Enter Ambron [illeg.] in simple costume.)
Amb.
Release her, Roman!
[Adalgisa breaks away, and exit.
Thou art ignorant,
'T would seem, of Gallic manners.

Oct.
Teach me them.

Amb.
Never detain with an ungentle grasp
A woman who would fly thee.

Oct.
In return
I'll teach thee something of our Roman code:
Never so misinterpret woman's coyness
As to impute to any man, not quite
A clown, unworthy rudeness.

Amb.
I beheld her
Struggling to unloose thy hold.

Oct.
What if she struggled
Half willing to be vanquished?

Amb.
Profanation
Is in the thought. No vestal more renowned
Than she for sanctity! Thy intimation
Covers a hideous slander.

Oct.
Slander?

Amb.
Ay!
Wilt have a plainer word.

Oct.
Little thou know'st
To whom thou'rt speaking.

Amb.
Little know or care!
Think'st thou I learn my hearer's quality
Before I speak a truth?

Oct.
Remember, this
Is now provincial Rome.

Amb.
A rare beginning—
To persecute a dedicated maiden
With base advances.

Oct.
Base!

Amb.
I said it. Base!
Be wiser for the future, or thou'lt find
That Rome's dominion will be overturned
As suddenly as set up. And so, take heed! (Going.)


Oct.
Stay! Since thy lecture is complete, hear mine.
We have a way in Rome of teaching such
As thou art, when the tongue is too unruly,
A wholesome discipline with blows—and so
Conduct thyself accordingly.

Amb.
Indeed!
And when a low-born fellow like myself
Raises his voice, or fails to duck his head
In thy high presence, thou wilt—

Oct.
Have him whipped!

(Ambron laughs in his face. Octavian puts his hand on his sword.)
Amb.
Nay, don't be frightened by a Gallic laugh.
We'll have no bloodshed. 'T would profane the occasion.

Oct.
Insolent! When thou know'st who 'tis thou tauntest—

Amb.
Wert thou the emperor, he who would insult
The common soldier, or the common peasant,
Is a common fool.

Oct.
(Draws.)
Draw, villain! Let me see
If thou canst thrust as well with steel as speech.
Come! or I'll smite thee with the flat of my sword.
Thou'rt a laggard with thy weapon.

Amb.
(Aside, and half drawing.)
I'll not harm him.

Oct.
Come! Should I leave thee wounded on the ground,
Tell those who come to aid thee, that Octavian,
Proconsul, punished thee for disrespect.

Amb.
(Aside.)
Octavian! Norma's husband! And already
False—in intent at least. O, wretched woman!
What wo is in thy future!

Oct.
(Aside.)
So! The name
Has stunned him. He shall fight, though.

Amb.
(Aside.)
I could slay him
Now with a will. (Half draws.)
I'll do it—rescue Norma
From pangs in store through him—No, Ambron, no!
She loves him. That shall make each hair of his head
Sacred, although he spurn me.
To fly temptation, I must fly the encounter.
(To Octavian.)
I shall not fight thee.

Oct.
What if I call thee coward?

Amb.
Thou'lt have had
Some cause.

Oct.
What if I smite thee?

Amb.
'T will be a new sensation, and I cannot
Foretell the effect.

Oct.
Gaul, thou hast angered me
As no man ever dared, and now refusest
To fight me—Yet I will not call thee coward,
For such I cannot hold thee; and I see
It is not fear that sways thee. (Puts up his sword.)

There! thy act
Has been like water to my rage. We both
Have said what should exasperate the other.
Exchange forgiveness. (Offers his hand.)


Amb.
(Aside.)
Generous, too, as brave!
There's hope. (Takes Octavian's hand.)

No longer as thy enemy,
But as thy friend, Octavian, because Norma's,
(Start not—I know it all!) let me appeal
To what there is of goodness in thy nature,
Faithfully—

Oct.
Hush! She comes; and not alone.

(Enter hastily Norma and Adalgisa.)
Nor.
(To Adal.)
In anger? Foolish girl! They're met in friendship. (She dismisses her. Exit Adalgisa.)

My husband!

Oct.
Hush! Should some one overhear thee!

Nor.
But this is Ambron, who knows all.

Oct.
This Ambron?
Sir, I can prize true nobleness. Your hand!
(Aside to him.)
And let the past be cancelled.

Amb.
(Aside to Oct.)
And the future
Be pledged to Norma wholly.

Nor.
'T is the sight
I most have longed for—Ambron and Octavian
With hands in friendly clasp! Come, ye are missed,
Both, from the pageant.

Oct.
Go! I'll follow thee.
[Exit Norma.
Precede me, noble Ambron. Go with Norma.

(Exit Ambron. Octavian looks off in the direction of Adalgisa's departure. Reënter Ambron.)
Amb.
Nay, let us go together.

Oct.
(Giving his hand which Ambron takes.)
Be it so!

[Exeunt.