University of Virginia Library

SCENE V.

—A Colonnade in Rome.
Enter Agnes.
Agn.
Oh, for a bolt of lightning, to strike down
And scatter all Rome's statuary in the streets!
To sweep her gods to an impalpable dust,
Confused and lost in air! Let the dread hand
Of great avenging nature, in our cause,
Heap this blind city in one funeral pyre;
Where treacherous Gregory may sit crowned with flames!
But of this blindness what dark share was mine?
What error, and what madness of resolve!
Why did I listen to Matilda's voice,
Devoted as she is, and lost of soul,
To this arch-demon, whom she thought a saint;
Though now the strong truth beats upon her brain,
Or 'twill do soon, as with an iron mace,
By knowledge of his crimes! My princely son!
What, in the winter, too? Ne'er could I dream
Of such a penance, and a bodily act
Outreaching credible sense. I was betrayed.
See, who come hitherward! more penitents;
Rage and self-hatred struggle in their looks.
Enter Guido, Tancredi, and Fabio.
How fare your knees, my lords? do they not glow
With keen reflections of your contrite hearts?

Tan.
With shame and fury, rather!

Fab.
And deep hate.

Agn.
Then whet your blades upon your ignominy,
And send the poison back with every blow.

Tan.
Would it could be!

Agn.
It can be, and it shall!
The Tuscan armies loathe this Gregory,
Who scowls and scoffs at his best friend—the sword!
And ranks a soldier as the lowest tool
Of his supremacy.

Gui.
Madam, you know the Princess
Of Tuscany?

Agn.
Yes; and methinks she 's ours!
Canst prove the murder of Pope Alexander?
Canst give me proof of this, and other deeds
Now darkly rumoured?

Gui.
No; but certainly
You can obtain them, as I may advise.

Agn.
Enough. Matilda's soul by these fierce truths
Shall be enfranchised.

Tan.
Madam, you startle us!

Agn.
The German troops will gladly snatch a chance
Of thrusting home his scorn.

Tan.
But who will lead them?

Agn.
I, in my son's name! I will lead them on.

Enter the Emperor, in a rich robe, with ghastly looks.
Tan.
(aside).
How doth the lingering sense of Gregory's curse,
Though now removed, return upon his heart!

Emp.
Have I once more a name?

Gui.
Great sir, take life
Into your own high hands!

Tan.
Trample our shame!

Emp.
(abstractedly).
Thou preternatural influence! thou pall,
From whose incumbent darkness o'er my head,
The dead-faced sufferers and the gleaming ghosts
Start, and leap down with cries upon my soul!
Break up the substance of thy panoply
Of torment—Oh, retreat into the night!
And let the shape-thronged whirlwind of thy spell,
In clouded silence, with no parting hints,
Shift and disperse! What are all these?

Gui.
He dreams.

Agn.
O, pallid image of an heroic prince!
Art thou my son?

Emp.
This is a sorry hour!

Agn.
For Gregory. Dost thou mark?

Emp.
What wouldst thou say?

Agn.
Heap up destruction!

Emp.
Upon Gregory?

Agn.
Upon whom else in the wide world?
Stands he not up, the highest devil that's set
Amidst the scorching desert? From prostration
Spring serpent-like, and strike the idol down!

Emp.
(bitterly).
He was thine idol once, though never mine:
I looked not for this change.

Agn.
It is his change
That hath unscarfed mine eyes, and I do loathe him
An hundred fold for that my soul once worshipped.

Emp.
His change?

Agn.
Say rather, the discovery
By circumstance, which sails on every wind,
Of blackest regions, earthed up in his heart;
Luxuriant with all fruits that breed despair,
Though 'neath a sapphire and carbuncle blaze,
Ripe hanging over pits of dazzling gloom,
They lied of crowns in heaven. Rise, thou king!
His deeds in secret shall no longer bloom,
But rot in daylight. From thy mind cast off
All sense of sanctity, all reverent fear
Of his usurped vicegerency of heaven:
Murder and mischiefs, heresies and lies,
Shall soon be hung i' the air where all may see!

Emp.
I gasp for too much breath! Hear I aright?

Agn.
Nay, more; methinks, Matilda wavers from him.

Emp.
Matilda! No, no!—say you?

Agn.
Believe it well.
Of Godfrey art thou sure; for even now
I learnt that Gregory's murderous guards pursued him,
E'en to the fane, where he took sanctuary;
And long were seen to glide around the walls.
Taunt me not, then, with this my sudden change;
But taunt thy pride with its base penitence!

Emp.
All thou canst say falls faint in my hot ear:
I hate myself! I madden at my thoughts!

Agn.
I'm glad to see it: but waste not thy passion
Upon things past: the German nobles now
Will crowd around thee with their powers: I know
They cannot brook the insatiate despotism
Of one who stole the eternal keys, and feigned
That angels stooped and laid them in his lap.
To full allegiance gladly they'll return.

Emp.
Is this true?

Agn.
It will prove so. Centius
Must be recalled, who, with these outraged lords,
And hosts beside, will join thee in the field.

Tan.
We will—we will!

Emp.
Peace! I can hear no more!

Agn.
Let nations hear thee; and speak first to Rome!
Dominion waits thee: look up, like an eagle,
And scan the circles of yon altitude
Which shall be thine! Gregory no longer shines.

Emp.
What! this Infallible, whom I have felt
The adumbration and the realised power
Of heaven and earth; chief substance of the forms
That walk upon the walls of destiny!
A murderer, dost thou say? A heretic?

Gui.
Oh, the bright day; the excellent, holy day!

Emp.
The German nobles, and the Tuscan force,
With friends in Rome beside?

Agn.
All will be thine.

Emp.
When that my armies faded from my call,
I moved as in a dream; now do I wake,
And will repay, with deadly certitude,
The sufferings of involuntary sleep.

Agn.
(embracing him).
Thou art my son—my great, imperial son!

Emp.
Again I feel a king, and doubly strong:
First did I mount the throne by lawful choice;
Now will I carve me out an emperor's seat—
Space, wealth, dominion, majesty, and might—
By trampling opposition into mire,
Till none shall know where Gregory's armies stood!

[Exeunt.