University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

The front of Norma's cottage. Enter from the cottage Norma, meeting Adalgisa, who has entered.
Norma.
Now Adalgisa, why this breathless haste?
What is it? What has happened?

Adal.
In the grove,
Sacred to you, O Norma, and your women,
I met a man.

Nor.
One of the foresters
Who license have, at certain hours, to be there.
A bright discovery, girl!

Adal.
No forester,
A noble chief, more like; though simply clad.

Nor.
Did you not give the alarm?

Adal.
He pleaded with me
In words so strangely fluent—

Nor.
Adalgisa!
You parleyed with him then?

Adal.
I could not help it.
He seized my hand,—

Nor.
And you did let him hold it?

Adal.
I was bewildered. He was on his knees,—

Nor.
You let him kneel?

Adal.
Imploring me to hear him
Ere I betrayed.

Nor.
How could he pass the guard?

Adal.
Many were absent at the consecration.

Nor.
True. I forgot. What Gallic chief would dare
Profane our grounds?

Adal.
O, priestess! he confessed
Himself a Roman.

Nor.
Ha! most like, a spy!
He must be tracked. (Going.)


(Enter Octavian, unnoticed by them.)
Adal.
(Withholding Norma.)
Wait but a few short moments.
Poor at the best his chances of escape!

Oct.
(Aside.)
And 'tis for me she pleads!

Adal.
(Seeing Octavian.)
Ah! This is he!

Nor.
Intruder! Is your life so vile a thing
That you thus venture where 'tis forfeited
Beyond redemption?

Oct.
Nay, I hold it precious,
But 'twere a cheap exchange for this encounter.

Nor.
'Tis doubly forfeited: first as our foe—

Oct.
Not thine, O noble lady!

Nor.
Then, as daring
To invade these precincts. Adalgisa, go
Summon the sacred guard. ... Wilt thou obey?
[Exit Adalgisa reluctantly.
(Aside.)
He heard me, yet he heeds not! (To Oct.)
Are you mad?
Found here, your life will not be long enough
For a last prayer. Fly, Roman, while you may!
He will not stir! Do you then court your doom?

Oct.
'Twill not be hard, after your anger, lady.

Nor.
My anger? I'm not angry. I could weep, tho',
Vexed to thus see you trifle with your time.
Away!

Oct.
To be thus banished from your presence,
Is it not worse than death?

Nor.
Then stay, perverse one,
And give a woman's eyes the spectacle
Of a swift, violent end! .... Why are you here?

Oct.
Thou see'st:—to look on Norma!

Nor.
Every moment
Speeds on your danger. Hark!

Oct.
Regard it not.
Bear with me through the interval, and then
Let the swift death come down!

Nor.
Inexplicable!
Were you a spy,—

Oct.
I should not linger here!

Nor.
Your name?

Oct.
Octavian.

Nor.
And your birth-place?

Oct.
Rome.

Nor.
The worse for you! Rome? The imperious city!
The splendid murderess! Sending armies forth
To earth's remotest climes to kill and ravage,
Enslave and plunder and depopulate!
Rome? Malediction, ruin and despair
On Rome! In what have we offended Rome?
Have we infringed her borders? Threatened her—
Wronged her in any way? She cannot say it!
But the gods do not sleep. Rome's day will come!

Oct.
Couldst thou but see Rome in her glory, lady,
Her temples, arches, amphitheatres,
And the full tide of life that throbs and pours
Along her avenues—

Nor.
What to me her pomp?
Temples? We have them in our groves of oak,
Ampler than her Ca-pito-line. For arches,
Behold the vista of yon stately trees!
And, would you see an amphitheatre,
Pause on the slope of yonder towering hill!

Oct.
Fairer than all, the abode where Norma dwells!
Here might the wanderer pause, and cry content!
Fate! give me here to dwell, and let the world
Roll on with all its pageants. Every tree,
The vines, the trellised roses, and the shrubs
Do seem more fragrant and more beautiful
Because of Norma's love and Norma's care!—
If I did vaunt Rome's grandeur, 'twas to add
That yonder bower were dearer to Octavian
Than her imperial gardens. I could tell thee
Such tales of Rome, her glory and her guilt—
Her heroes, poets—

Nor.
(Subdued.)
Poets?

Oct.
Hast thou heard
Of any?

Nor.
Ay! ... Hark! Leave me! You refuse still?
Have you no friends, no kindred will deplore you
Looking for your return, long, long in vain?

Oct.
Remind me not of that.

Nor.
Have you no mother?

Oct.
Ay, one so fond, she spoiled me.

Nor.
You've a sister?

Oct.
A precious one!

Nor.
And you've perhaps a wife?

Oct.
No, on my soul, no wife. Had I a wife,
I had not ventured thus.

Nor.
What frenzy led you
Into this hazard?

Oct.
Love ... I dreamed of Norma—
Dreamed—but her presence beggars all I dreamed
Of noble and most lovely.

Nor.
Trebly forfeit
Is your life now.

Oct.
I know it.

Nor.
Sacrilege
Is in your words.

Oct.
I know it. But consider:
If I approach thee with less awe than love,
To me, adoring other gods than thine,
Thou'rt but a peerless woman, not a priestess.

Nor.
So! I begin to fathom you. You hope,
I, in my woman's weakness, now will spare you
Because of these soft flatteries, coined so aptly.

Oct.
Lady! a taunt upon a Roman's courage
Is sharp as one on Norma's purity:
To any face but hers I'd say as false.
(Going, and speaking in a loud voice.)
What, ho! Who hears?

Nor.
(Stopping him)
Hold! Hush!

Oct.
Sound the alarm!
Come forth!

Nor.
I do beseech you!

Oct.
Will none hear?

Nor.
I wronged you. Pardon me.

Oct.
O! pardon me,
Bright excellence, that thus intruding, I
Have dared to—

(Enter Adalgisa.)
Nor.
(Eagerly.)
Adalgisa! Back so quickly?
Are they at hand? Speak! Do I hear their tramp?
Thou'rt prompt, when human life is in the balance.

Adal.
Such labyrinths the foresters have made!
Running with headlong haste, I missed the path,
And took one that has brought me here again.

Oct.
(Aside.)
I knew she'd miss the path

Nor.
And thou art here,
Thy errand unfulfilled? This thy obedience?

Adal.
Be not offended. Instantly I'll go
And try again.

Nor.
No. I have those within
Need not a second bidding ere they heed me.
Go to the temple. Stay! No word, I charge thee,
Of this event. Begone.
[Exit Adalgisa
There's yet a chance
Of safety for you, Roman. Take that path,
Keep in the thickest of the wood till nightfall,
Then speed to your encampment.

Oct.
Quitting thee,
Perchance forever? Urge me not to that.

Nor.
What would you do?

Oct.
Dwell near thee;—see thee—hear thee!

Nor.
Impossible! This once, by a kind marvel,
Detection has o'erlooked you. Such a chance
May not again befriend.

Oct.
That is my risk.
Here I remain.

Nor.
Audacious! On your head
Then be your blood.

[Exit
Oct.
Ha! Gone? Of all my shafts
Not one sent home to the mark! Void all my art?
How did I blunder in my wooing? Ovid!
Thou art a traitor!—No, thou'rt not.—She comes.

(Enter Norma.)
Nor.
(Aside.)
Threats move him not:
Persuasion may. (To Oct.)
My purpose rests suspended
You see! I shrink from pushing on the peril
Your life already stands in: but be sure,
'Tis not for you—not that I care for you,
More than for any straggler of your camp,
That I recoil from seeing you struck down.
Beware of such presumptions—they are dangerous.
I show you mercy I would show to any.

Oct.
If Norma spares me but to show her scorn,
'Tis cruelty, not mercy.

Nor.
Solve me this:
What should he do who truly loved me?

Oct.
Do?
Lay down his life for thee as eagerly
As crown his temples with the bridegroom's wreath.

Nor.
What's more than life?

Oct.
Love, honor.

Nor.
You say true—
Honor—a woman's honor! Sully that
With but suspicion—and she is a ruin.
Innocent, she may smile on desolation
And grow the prouder for the world's traducing.
Guilty, she smiles no more—except in mockery—
And she is crushed indeed. You may suppose,
Lacking Rome's culture, we more lightly prize
Womanhood's crown of virtue: know then, Roman,
The Gaul who's held a coward is less scorned
Than she the wanton. If among the people,
Bound by no oaths, obscure, unconsecrated,
Our maidens keep a spotless fame, shall I,—
Chief ministress between the gods and them
And all—thus parley with the man who dares
Accost me in a language which to hear
Alone is crime? Each moment that you linger,
While I omit denouncing and exposing,
'Tis not your life alone is jeoparded,—
My peace, my good report, my sacred honor,
All—all are on the verge!

Oct.
(Aside.)
She moves me!—No!
Not to save Rome will I molest her more.
(To Norma.)
I go. Forgive me, Norma. In my trespass,
Believe me, not a thought of profanation
Did mingle ever. In my heart I bear
(If my good stars shall guide me forth in safety)
Treasures not there before, for which I thank thee,—
Thy image and the memory of thy goodness!
Farewell! The gods, whose fit interpreter
Thou art, defend thee ever!

[Exit
Nor.
He is gone!
Gone, too, with step as free as if he trod
To sport instead of danger. Peace go with him! ...
Tears? Did I weep then when he took his leave?
Well: what of that? If he had been a beggar,
Mean and uncouth, I should have wept the same—
Indeed I should! I weep at veriest trifles—
A wounded bird—some story of old time—
Mere fiction, 't may be. (Looking off.)
Ah! he takes the road
Must lead to certain peril. (Calling.)
Ho! Not that!
The left! the left!—With what a luminous smile,
Yet sad, he waves his thanks—then moves away—
Away forever from me! ... Footsteps? Hark!
Foresters? Ha! They go to cross his track—
They will detect—arrest him. (Calling.)
Roman! Stop!
Return!—He will not hear me, or not heed.—
Roman!—Will nothing turn him then?—Octavian!
Ah! now he hears. (Goes to the opposite side of the stage, listens.)

Are voices this way, too?
Ay, but too surely! Ruin all around!
How shall I save him? Bid him enter there
In my own sacred dwelling? Never! Rather
I'd perish with him. Yet—
(Enter Octavian.)
You've stayed too long.
You'll be detected. Scouts on every side
Traverse the forest. O! why came you here?
I cannot shelter you. Impossible!
Nearer they come, and nearer.

Oct.
Stay not, Norma;
On me be all the peril. With my sword
I'll make a lane through fifty foresters.

Nor.
Madness! Resistance—death! Go in! go in!
Quick! And hide there till nightfall.

Oct.
Noble lady,
I thank thee, but I cannot.

Nor.
In, I say.

Oct.
A Roman, Norma, will not be outdone
In generous daring by a woman. No!
I'll not subject thee to the ruinous chance
Such hospitality may bring upon thee.
I'll meet them yonder.

Nor.
(Withholding him.)
No. You shall not do it.
Go in!

Oct.
I'll not.

Nor.
Go! ... if you love me, go!
(Octavian abruptly goes in.)
So! I've at last compelled him. But that word—
Why did I give it utterance? Ha! how wildly
My heart is throbbing, as 'twould leap to the light!—
Footsteps again?—My limbs sink under me.
I've not the strength to drag me—where? Within?
Into his presence? Oh! what powerful Fate
Has of a sudden seized me in its arms?
But it shall not detain me! Loose thy hold!
Away! I will go free! I will. ... Ah me!
Weak, weak—I faint—

(Enter Octavian, who supports her.)
Oct.
Let me support thee in.

(As he supports her, voices are heard without—Norma breaks from him.)
Nor.
No! Go you in. I ask it. I will come,
When I am calmer, and confer with you.

[Exit Octavian; Norma in a different direction.