University of Virginia Library

Scene XIV.

Sigismund, Estrella, Rosaura, Soldiers, Attendants, Basilius, Astolfo, and Clotaldo.
A Soldier.
'Mid the thickets of the mountain,
'Neath these dark boughs so united,
The King hides.

Sigismund.
Pursue him then,
Leave no single shrub unrifled,
Nothing must escape your search,
Not a plant, and not a pine tree.

Clotaldo.
Fly, my lord!

Basilius.
And wherefore fly?

Astolfo.
Come!

Basilius.
Astolfo, I'm decided.

Clotaldo.
What to do?

Basilius.
To try, Clotaldo,
One sole remedy that surviveth.
[To Sigismund.
If 'tis me thou'rt seeking, Prince,
At thy feet behold me lying.
[Kneeling.
Let thy carpet be these hairs
Which the snows of age have whitened.
Tread upon my neck, and trample
On my crown; in base defilement
Treat me with all disrespect;
Let thy deadliest vengeance strike me
Through my honour; as thy slave
Make me serve thee, and in spite of
All precautions let fate be,
Let heaven keep the word it plighted.

Sigismund.
Princes of the Court of Poland,
Who such numerous surprises
Have astonished seen, attend,
For it is your prince invites ye.
That which heaven has once determined,
That which God's eternal finger
Has upon the azure tablets
Of the sky sublimely written,
Those transparent sheets of sapphire
Superscribed with golden ciphers
Ne'er deceive, and never lie;
The deceiver and the liar
Is he who to use them badly
In a wrongful sense defines them.
Thus, my father, who is present,
To protect him from the wildness
Of my nature, made of me
A fierce brute, a human wild-beast;
So that I, who from my birth,
From the noble blood that trickles
Through my veins, my generous nature,
And my liberal condition,
Might have proved a docile child,
And so grew, it was sufficient
By so strange an education,
By so wild a course of living,
To have made my manners wild;—
What a method to refine them!
If to any man 'twas said,
“It is fated that some wild beast
Will destroy you,” would it be
Wise to wake a sleeping tiger
As the remedy of the ill?
If 'twere said, “this sword here hidden
In its sheath, which thou dost wear,
Is the one foredoomed to kill thee,”
Vain precaution it would be
To preserve the threatened victim.
Bare to point it at his breast.
If 'twere said, “these waves that ripple
Calmly here for thee will build
Foam-white sepulchres of silver,”
Wrong it were to trust the sea
When its haughty breast is lifted
Into mountain heights of snow,
Into hills of curling crystal.
Well, this very thing has happened
Unto him, who feared a wild-beast,
And awoke him while he slept;
Or who drew a sharp sword hidden
Naked forth, or dared the sea
When 'twas roused by raging whirlwinds.
And though my fierce nature (hear me)
Was as 'twere the sleeping tiger,
A sheathed sword my innate rage,
And my wrath a quiet ripple,
Fate should not be forced by means
So unjust and so vindictive,
For they but excite it more;
And thus he who would be victor
O'er his fortune, must succeed
By wise prudence and self-strictness.
Not before an evil cometh
Can it rightly be resisted
Even by him who hath foreseen it,
For although (the fact's admitted)
By an humble resignation
It is possible to diminish
Its effects, it first must happen,
And by no means can be hindered.
Let it serve as an example
This strange sight, this most surprising
Spectacle, this fear, this horror,
This great prodigy; for none higher
E'er was worked than this we see,
After years of vain contriving,
Prostrate at my feet a father,
And a mighty king submitted.
This the sentence of high heaven
Which he did his best to hinder
He could not prevent. Can I,
Who in valour and in science,
Who in years am so inferior,
It avert? My lord, forgive me,
[To the King.
Rise, sir, let me clasp thy hand;
For since heaven has now apprized thee
That thy mode of counteracting
Its decree was wrong, a willing
Sacrifice to thy revenge
Let my prostrate neck be given.

Basilius.
Son, this noble act of thine
In my heart of hearts reviveth
All my love, thou'rt there reborn.
Thou art Prince; the bay that bindeth
Heroes' brows, the palm, be thine,
Let the crown thine own deeds give thee.

All.
Long live Sigismund our King!

Sigismund.
Though my sword must wait a little
Ere great victories it can gain,
I to-day will win the highest,
The most glorious, o'er myself.—
Give, Astolfo, give your plighted
Hand here to Rosaura, since
It is due and I require it.

Astolfo.
Though 'tis true I owe the debt,
Still 'tis needful to consider
That she knows not who she is;
It were infamous, a stigma
On my name to wed a woman. ...

Clotaldo.
Stay, Astolfo, do not finish;
For Rosaura is as noble
As yourself. My sword will right her
In the field against the world:
She's my daughter, that's sufficient.

Astolfo.
What do you say?

Clotaldo.
Until I saw her
To a noble spouse united,
I her birth would not reveal.
It were now a long recital,
But the sum is, she's my child.

Astolfo.
That being so, the word I've plighted
I will keep.

Sigismund.
And that Estrella
May not now be left afflicted,
Seeing she has lost a prince
Of such valour and distinction,
I propose from mine own hand
As a husband one to give her,
Who, if he does not exceed
Him in worth, perhaps may rival.
Give to me thy hand.

Estrella.
I gain
By an honour so distinguished.

Sigismund.
To Clotaldo, who so truly
Served my father, I can give him
But these open arms wherein
He will find whate'er he wishes.

A Soldier.
If thou honorest those who serve thee,
Thus, to me the first beginner
Of the tumult through the land,
Who from out the tower, thy prison,
Drew thee forth, what wilt thou give?

Sigismund.
Just that tower: and that you issue
Never from it until death,
I will have you guarded strictly;
For the traitor is not needed
Once the treason is committed.

Basilius.
So much wisdom makes one wonder.

Astolfo.
What a change in his condition!

Rosaura.
How discreet! how calm! how prudent!

Sigismund.
Why this wonder, these surprises,
If my teacher was a dream,
And amid my new aspirings
I am fearful I may wake,
And once more a prisoner find me
In my cell? But should I not,
Even to dream it is sufficient:
For I thus have come to know
That at last all human blisses
Pass and vanish as a dream,
And the time that may be given me
I henceforth would turn to gain:
Asking for our faults forgiveness,
Since to generous, noble hearts
It is natural to forgive them.