 | Elvira |  |
SCENE V.
The back scene opens and discovers the Lords of the council met, RODRIGO, ALVAREZ, and others.The King walks slowly up to his chair of State.
ALONZO.
Be seated, Lords—Alas! I look around,
And read on every face the secret pangs
Your bosoms share with mine. The ready drop
Stands trembling in each eye, as if yourselves
Had each a son to judge and to condemn!
But let us rise above all private feelings;
Remorse should have no place, where Justice reigns:
And those, whom heaven appoints to counsel kings,
Must shed no tear, but for offended laws.
All other grief is weakness, or is guilt.
And read on every face the secret pangs
Your bosoms share with mine. The ready drop
Stands trembling in each eye, as if yourselves
Had each a son to judge and to condemn!
But let us rise above all private feelings;
Remorse should have no place, where Justice reigns:
And those, whom heaven appoints to counsel kings,
Must shed no tear, but for offended laws.
All other grief is weakness, or is guilt.
The Prince, a rebel to the law and us,
Has set at nought the binding faith of oaths;
The solemn ties of treaties ratify'd,
Whatever links one nation to another,
And king to king. Nor is this all. You saw,
With horror and astonishment you saw him,
In arms and at the head of traitors arm'd,
Assault this palace! force its gates against me!
And, if he shun'd himself the guilt supreme
Of parricide, he left his king expos'd,
His father at the mercy of those rebels
Whom he had made so!—These are his offences.
'Tis yours to judge them, and pronounce his doom.
Rodrigo, speak.
Has set at nought the binding faith of oaths;
The solemn ties of treaties ratify'd,
Whatever links one nation to another,
And king to king. Nor is this all. You saw,
With horror and astonishment you saw him,
In arms and at the head of traitors arm'd,
Assault this palace! force its gates against me!
And, if he shun'd himself the guilt supreme
Of parricide, he left his king expos'd,
His father at the mercy of those rebels
Whom he had made so!—These are his offences.
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Rodrigo, speak.
RODRIGO.
Alas! I should be silent.
You know, and have approv'd the tender love
I bear Elvira. To my happiness
Don Pedro is the sole, the fatal bar:
And you command me, Sir, to judge a rival!
But far be from me each imagin'd hope,
However dear, that but respects myself!
Is it a question, can it bear debate,
If he, tho deem'd a criminal, should live?
Search your own breast: the powerful pleadings there
Will best inform you what I should advise.
Forgive, my Lord, this transport.
ALONZO.
Let calm reason
Guide all you say. Proceed.
RODRIGO.
I ask again,
Is it in question, whether your renown
Should live by him, or be for ever lost?
He—and there is none other—can support
The sceptre's weight; he only, after you,
Preserve this kingdom flourishing and happy.
Weigh then, with candor weigh, against his crime,
Th'acknowledg'd prize of benefits like these.
ALONZO.
But treaties seal'd, and sanctify'd by oaths,
He dares to violate.
RODRIGO.
Are treaties then,
But leagues of regal cruelty and force?
Must you, to please a neighbouring monarch's pride,
In your own son exterminate your race?
Extinguish every future hope? and would not
The cheek of Ferdinand burn red with shame,
Should his lov'd sister owe a husband's hand
To cold obedience; while, in other realms,
New thrones, new hearts, attend the fair one's choice?
But leagues of regal cruelty and force?
Must you, to please a neighbouring monarch's pride,
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Extinguish every future hope? and would not
The cheek of Ferdinand burn red with shame,
Should his lov'd sister owe a husband's hand
To cold obedience; while, in other realms,
New thrones, new hearts, attend the fair one's choice?
He forc'd the palace gates. The crime is own'd:
But no design against your crown or person
Urg'd that blind violence. Alas! his aim
Was but to screen th'endanger'd life of one,
His fondness trembled for. You see him thus—
A rebel? no: a lover in despair!
And can a moment's rashness merit death?
No: let him live—and tho my bosom bleeds
At what I utter—yes, indulge his love!
His life is all: a life like mine is nothing!
But no design against your crown or person
Urg'd that blind violence. Alas! his aim
Was but to screen th'endanger'd life of one,
His fondness trembled for. You see him thus—
A rebel? no: a lover in despair!
And can a moment's rashness merit death?
No: let him live—and tho my bosom bleeds
At what I utter—yes, indulge his love!
His life is all: a life like mine is nothing!
ALONZO.
You prove the blood you spring from: and this effort,
This generous violence you do your heart,
While it misleads, both honors and exalts you.
But 'tis the hero, not the judge has spoken.
What says Alvarez?
ALVAREZ.
Could your eye, my Lord,
Pierce inward to my heart, the conflict there,
The war that gratitude and duty wage,
Would leave it doubtful which you most should pity,
Don Pedro or his judge. He sav'd my life.
Beneath an African's uplifted sabre,
Faint, bleeding thro my former wounds, I lay.
He saw, he flew, and on his shield receiv'd
Th'impending sword! Was it, good heaven, for this,
That I, who but for his protecting arm
Had now been dust, should sit to judge his fate?
Ah no, my Lord: I would be dumb for ever!
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Fair honor and the duty of this place
Exact it of you; call on you to speak
By truth's unbiass'd dictates. This great cause
Imports ourself, our realm, and all mankind.
ALVAREZ.
Alas, my Lord, to what alternate horror,
As subject and as man, am I expos'd?
But hence all private ties, the first and dearest!
My life is his; my duty, Sir, is yours:
And from the fear, so busy here within,
Of being deem'd ungrateful to a friend,
I dare not be a traitor to my king.
As subject and as man, am I expos'd?
But hence all private ties, the first and dearest!
My life is his; my duty, Sir, is yours:
And from the fear, so busy here within,
Of being deem'd ungrateful to a friend,
I dare not be a traitor to my king.
The law has spoke. His sentence is pronounc'd,
Is past already; in despight of tears,
Of all the pain'd reluctance pity strives with:
For when the sovereign majesty of kings
Is once invaded, but one way remains
To expiate that offence. Th'insulted rights,
You sit to judge of, are not yours. They grow
Inherent to the throne: And you, my Lord,
Are to all present, all succeeding princes
Accountable for what you now decree.
I go too far.
Is past already; in despight of tears,
Of all the pain'd reluctance pity strives with:
For when the sovereign majesty of kings
Is once invaded, but one way remains
To expiate that offence. Th'insulted rights,
You sit to judge of, are not yours. They grow
Inherent to the throne: And you, my Lord,
Are to all present, all succeeding princes
Accountable for what you now decree.
I go too far.
ALONZO.
Proceed.
ALVAREZ.
It cannot be:
Tears choak my voice.
ALONZO.
Keep nothing from my view:
Thy virtue here demands it.
ALVAREZ.
I obey.
Should pity now prevail in his behalf,
You are no more a king! You reign at mercy
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Your subjects too, the rebels of to-day,
Who now will think him formidably theirs,
Are from this moment his. A nod from him
Will be their law; and each licentious hour
Wear its red mark of civil broils and murders:
The crown, the sceptre may remain with you,
The power, that should sustain them, will be his!
ALONZO.
Heroic proof of loyalty and truth!
I can discern the painful throes of soul
This firmness costs thee: but its felt ascendant,
The sovereign influence of such virtue, chides
Fond nature from my bosom. Now, who else
Among you, Lords, stands forth to give his suffrage?—
What! no one rise?—Alas! the tears that stream
From each dejected eye, this mournful silence,
Big with all horror, but too clearly speak,
What you have judg'd—My son is then condemn'd!
For you, for all my people, for mankind,
I here devote him—Were I but a father,
He still might live—A monarch must be just:
Who has betray'd the law would be a tyrant!
He shall not reign: No, from that threaten'd danger
I now deliver you, your wives, and children.
Let all retire: and you, Mendoza, go,
Inform him of his fate—
| Elvira | |