University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

—Gardens of a Villa in Tivoli.
Enter Eberardus and a German Officer.
Ebe.
Why hath the Emperor followed me:—why thus
Peril his person?

Off.
Sir, 't was his intent
To burst all unannounced, as from the sky,
And glare through Rome, striking a final blow
On Gregory's fall.

Ebe.
Who still reigns paramount,
And hurls destruction on the Emperor's head!
Say you our royal master is apprised
Of how the event hath turned?

Offi.
The news outsped
The proof, as doth a screaming cormorant
The coming storm.

Ebe.
Oh, Majesty! how sad
And hollow is thy earth; for while, above,
A chorus rings thy praises in the clouds,
Echoes, beneath thy very throne, the truth
With melancholy modulations breathe;
Near and remote, as is the voice of death.

Offi.
My lord—the Emperor!

Ebe.
How shall I meet his passion?

Enter the Emperor, wildly.
Emp.
Deposed! deposed!—and excommunicate!
Monstrous and mad audacity! This Gregory!
This whirlpool-seated spawn! this offal-god
For ideot fish to stare at all agape!
This horned king o' the cloven herd of Rome!
How dares he thus to jest with our decree,
And feign this big retort! Is it not feigned?
Is it not mere inflation of his state?
Knows he our heel can stamp him flat as coin?
Or can it be that he—O, Eberardus!
Tell—tell me all thy mind; what doth he mean?

Ebe.
My liege, I crave your pardon, 'tis too true.

Emp.
True! true! dost think he will resist me then,
And to resistance add supremacy,
Deposing me instead?

Ebe.
Your Majesty
Can never be deposed from hearts that love you.

Emp.
That love me!—be deposed! Thou poisonous madman!
Thy dreams are plagues! I see—I see thou think'st it!
But what of that—what if all Germany think so?
Their thinking shall not make it come to pass:
Still shall my subjects know me for their king.
Enter an Attendant with a scroll.
What's this? a list of all the nobles' names:
All who besought to attend me hither!—what!
Withdrawing—yes, withdrawing fealty—
Their sworn allegiance to the Imperial throne!

Ebe.
Great sir! I do beseech you not to lose
All fortitude in this extremity!

Emp.
Confederate princes! Oh, confederate devils!
I will but lose myself in extreme hate
At such desertion. Never more shall day
Afford them ease or pastime; every night
I'll stuff with vague and multiplying fears;
And when their turrets flame above their heads,
And split like glass, through the red smoke my voice,
Following the trumpet's all remorseless blast,
Shall taunt their very ashes!

Ebe.
Pray you, my liege!

Emp.
What ho!—it shall be done!
This instant shall my couriers mount and away!
With orders to my army, which ere now
Hath reached the frontiers. Where are my guards?
What ho!—no answer!—ho! within, I say!
All silent? palsied!—are they anathematised?
A few hours since, and lackies to my nod,
Were plenteous as the gnats around a bough,
Swayed by a summer breeze!
Enter an Officer, slowly.
You come with speed, sir!
Your loyalty finds wings to take our orders!

Off.
I rather come to bring intelligence
To your late Majesty.

Emp.
Late!

Off.
Of your late army.

Emp.
Late army!—Majesty!

Off.
Its leaders, sir,
Advanced beyond the frontiers, have declared
The throne is vacant.

Emp.
Oh!

[Sinks on a couch.
Ebe.
Do—do they say this?

Off.
You'll find they do, sir, if you take horse and meet them.

[Exit.
Emp.
Confederate nobles—army—all desert
An excommunicated king! King! I am none!
Crown—sceptre—sacred head—all sink i'the dust
When swords turn traitors. Knew'st thou of this before?

Ebe.
I did in part, my liege, anticipate
Some wide disaster from the anathemas
Pronounced against you. Much I feared the army,
Soon as the princes and chief captains heard
You had arrayed yourself against the church—

Emp.
(rising).
How have I done so?

Ebe.
By opposing Gregory,
Whom all Rome's sanctity elects and favours.

Emp.
Curses! Oh, tenfold curses light upon him,
And those who love him!—What—what can be done?

Ebe.
By violence nought, my liege; or worse. But reason
Would counsel to conciliate, not provoke.
I pray your Majesty set out forthwith
For Rome.

Emp.
For Rome! and lay myself along
The Vatican steps, to soften the ascent
Of arrogant Gregory?

Ebe.
My liege, consider.

Emp.
Consider dost thou say—consider what?
Oh, I can read thy face; thine altered face!
The lines and shades equivocate, and tell
Of truths that blink on seeing first the light:
A novel charge; a doubt is written on it,
In the blank space of gone security.
Yet speak—yet give the words—consider what?

Ebe.
That thou art—

Emp.
Throneless, and bereft of power!
But I have soldiers still, who may be true.

Ebe.
Pardon me, sire; there 's something left untold,
Full well I know that Gregory now is leagued
With Duke Rhodolpho of Suabia,
'Gainst whom your armies will no longer strive.
Moreover, 'tis believed that while he seeks
The Normans for allies, by secret means,
Shaming his sacred office, he has urged
The Saxons to revolt. Return you cannot:
By countless spies we 're watched.

Emp.
Take you this sword!
I know the use of't, and on human grounds
Would never blench at any mortal foe;
But heaven, or hell, or both alternately,
Will have me prostrate. I will go to Rome,
Or anywhere you wish—I ask not why—
But I do think I never shall return!

[Exeunt.