 | The Priestess |  |
SCENE II.
A Druidical temple and altar. A brazen shield for sounding an alarm hung on one side. Enter Norma, wearing an oaken chaplet.Nor.
And all the while he loved another! All
The while his soul dwelt on another's image!
Each passionate word he spoke was prompted by
Another's charms—framed for another's ear!
Abhorred dissembler! if I pardon thee
May my keen sense of wrong expire, and outrage
Familiar grown be rendered and received
But as my due! And 't was his transient glance
At Adalgisa could so fortify
His heart against me—make desertion easy—
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The lure of my perdition! But for her
I still might be a wife—he might be loyal!
(Enter Adalgisa.)
You trespass on my privacy. Away!—
Nay, do not mind me. Stay! Forgive my harshness,
You too have suffered. 'T was in ignorance
You crossed me here. (Her heart.)
Adal.
Yet, Norma, like a culprit
I feel, approaching thee. O! may I not
Strive some way to undo the wrong which I
Unwittingly have aided? I will see him—
Fall at his feet—admonish—lead him back
To love and duty!—
Nor.
No! too late! too late!
As well restore to the crushed flower its bloom!
Or make the shattered column whole again.
No more, O! never more, can be restored
The glory vanished.
Adal.
Nay, despair not. I
Will so plead to him for thee—
Nor.
Plead for me?
To him? To him? Leave me!
[Exit Adalgisa
Plead for me! She!
Tease him to take me back! Entreat, and be
Rejected—laughed at! O! not yet—not yet
Am I so abject grown that I would sue
For such return of love as was not given
From its own free, unprompted overflow.
The love that importunity could win
Were bought for me too dearly! ...
Sue to him!
Let him beware lest the time swiftly come
When he must sue to me for his base life!
And shall he have it? Ye dark Powers, who know
Our thoughts before they're uttered—who are nigh
Invisible but vigilant to aid
The vengeful purpose, gird me with your strength,
And check each throb of pity, filling me
With rancor not my own, to launch upon him
A traitor's death.
(Enter Egbert.)
The news? How leans the battle?
Egb.
To victory! The Roman is defeated!
His army put to flight, and utterly
Disbanded.
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The proconsul—?
Egb.
No one yet
Knows of his fate.
Nor.
Our triumph were imperfect
Should he escape. Let search be made for him
On every side. Be speedy. [Exit Egbert
Now, Octavian,
Now hast thou found that she, upon whose heart
Thou thought'st to trample with thy armëd heel,
In safety, had, with sense to feel her wrong,
The power to punish. Little didst thou dream
Of this. She's but a woman (thou didst reckon)—
A burst of tears—some words of fierce upbraiding—
And there 't will end; and I shall go my way
Pleasantly with my paramour, and laugh
Among my peers in Rome at Norma's love
And my abandonment.—Perfidious wretch!
Now shalt thou learn what thou hast lost in Norma—
Shalt learn to prize—if not her love—her power.
(Enter Egbert.)
Well?
Egb.
The proconsul—he is captured.
Nor.
Hang him
On the first tree!
Egb.
But he fought hard! It was not
Till they had stunned him with a battle axe,
Aimed from behind and battering his helmet,
That they could take him.
Nor.
(With changed emotion.)
Is he wounded?
Egb.
Slightly.
When he came to, he grasped a sword and strove
To slay himself.
Nor.
To ... slay himself?
Egb.
But we
Prevented that, and have him now secured.
Nor.
Bring him before me. [Exit Egbert
Wounded? Seeking death?
Norma! What's this? Dost tremble? Where's the firmness
That now should brace thee to an awful justice?
Let him see no relenting. Think upon
Thy wrongs—his perfidy—and death shall seem
A penalty too light. Down, thoughts of ruth!
He comes. I know his step too well—too well!
(Enter Egbert with Octavian, pinioned.)
(Aside.)
Pinioned! (To Egbert.)
Release him.
Egb.
Norma, I'm forbidden
To do that.
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Is it done?
Egb.
To me thy word
Is still supreme. I do it. (Releases Octavian.)
Nor.
Leave us now.
[Exit Egbert.
Are you much injured?
Oct.
Nay, not consciously.
Methinks my sense is dead to outward pain.
Nor.
And can your inward pain, think you, compare
With what I have endured—you have inflicted?
But now, you're in my power.
Oct.
Norma, I know it;
And so (though all unworthy) ask one grace—
A swift release from life! No word of thine
Can aggravate remorse, or make me look
With a more poignant loathing on myself.
I've wronged thee to that pitch, thy mercy would
Be an ignoble weakness! 't is my death
Alone can right thee.
Nor.
O, Octavian!
How did I trust thee! Thy betrayal robs me
Not of a husband merely, but of faith
In human goodness—plants within my heart
A wretched incredulity for that
Eager belief in virtue, which could plume
Immortal hopes.
Oct.
Lend me thy dagger, Norma,
And let me spare thee one affliction more
(For such it will be, if not now, hereafter!)
The order for my death.
Nor.
I've still the power
To save and free thee.
Oct.
But thou durst not use it.
Nor.
I dare and will, on one condition.
Oct.
What?
Nor.
Give me thy oath that thou'lt henceforth forever
Abandon all pursuit of Adalgisa!
Thus shalt thou have thy life—thy liberty!
Oct.
The first I ask not, and the last I gain
In losing that.
Nor.
Swear, swear! Time flies.
Oct.
I cannot!
Nor.
Thou wilt not give her up?
Oct.
To save life? No!
Nor.
Beware! My passion will not be outdone
By thine. Her too I have within my power.
Oct.
Thou wouldst not harm her?
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Thou canst speak and save her.
Oct.
She's guiltless.
Nor.
Guiltless? Ask our Druid fathers
Who (thanks to thee!) now lift their heads again,
If she, a priestess, who'd have fled with thee,
Is guiltless? Dost thou know the punishment
They have for such offenders? I will tell thee:
Death at the stake, by fire!
Oct.
Most horrible!
Thou'lt not denounce her for a crime which thou
Art guilty of?
Nor.
Why not? Is death to me
A terror, think'st thou? Thou shalt live to taste
The sweetness of that cup which thou couldst send
In such a generous measure to my lips. (Going.)
Oct.
Norma!
Nor.
Back!
Oct.
Spare her! Mercy, I implore thee,
Mercy for her! The rack, the flame for me!
Torture my flesh—
Nor.
What's torture of the flesh
To that appalling torture of the spirit
Which thou hast made me feel?
(Smites the shield furiously.)
Oct.
Not for my life,
Norma, but hers—I yield—I take thy oath.
Nor.
Thou dost?
This also promise: 'gainst thy own life thou
Wilt lift no hand.
Oct.
That's harder—but I promise.
Nor.
And spite of thy disloyalty to me
I trust thee. Thou shalt live—shalt have thy freedom.
Oct.
And Adalgisa?
Nor.
I would yield myself
Up to their flames, sooner than harm a hair
Of her dear head.
Oct.
(Kneels.)
More than thy threats, thy mercy
Forces me to my knees and makes the vileness
Of all my wrongs too glaring. O, forgive!
Nor.
Never! Up, up! The Druids are at hand.
(Octavian rises—Norma kneels at the altar. Music. Enter Rudiger, with Druids, Gontran with Soldiers, Arnulf, priestesses, &c.)
Rudiger.
(To Arnulf.)
Suspects she aught?
Arnulf.
I've watched her narrowly.
But can learn nothing.
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(To Gontran.)
Can we trust the army?
Gont.
Those near around us are picked men—the mass
I cannot answer for.
Arn.
We need not fear them.
When all is carried, they will be the first
To throw their caps up for you. In delay
Our danger lies.
Rud.
Enough! (To Norma.)
Your summons, Norma,
Has here convoked us, and we wait your word.
Nor.
(Rising and coming forward.)
This victory, Gauls, gained with such petty loss
On our side—proves it not, the gods have guided
(Better than we could plan) our destiny?
Who would have thought, the step so many deemed
Rome's triumph and Gaul's overthrow, should end
In this day's work? Thus do the Eternal Powers
Make our own blindness and hostility
Serve their designs—lodging in what seems evil
To us our highest good. Has the event
Justified all I did?
Egb.
Ay, Norma!
Nor.
Then learn my present act—and to the gods
Confide the consequences. I release
Herewith our prisoner, the proconsul.
Rud., Gont., Arn.
No!
It must not be!
Nor.
Not be? Who dares dispute
My sovereign will?
Rud.
I dare, and many dare
Dispute it. He must die!
Nor.
Must die? A prisoner
Of war must die? be murdered in cold blood?
Rome can retaliate—have ye thought of that?
Rud.
'T is not as prisoner of war we doom him:
He has committed sacrilege! has wedded
A priestess of the temple—and for that—
Say, soldiers, what should be his sentence?
Soldiers.
Death!
Rud.
What hers, the partner of his crime?
Soldiers.
Death! Death!
Arnulf.
Her name?
Rud.
Behold her—Norma!
All.
Norma!
Rud.
Ay!
Will she deny it?
Nor.
She denies all right
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Her supreme pleasure. She has violated
No oath—no sacrilege committed—and
She fears not but the gods will shield their own
To your confusion.
Rud.
We will hear no more.
Nor.
Am I hemmed in by foes? What! Soldiers! Men
Of Gaul! By all deserted? Not one faithful?
Not—
Rud.
We forbid all manner of appeal
From the decree. No more!—Your chaplet, Norma!
Nor.
(Taking it off.)
Not to thy hands I yield it—but to earth
Who gave it me. (Throws it to the ground.)
Oct.
Druids, on me let fall
Your heaviest vengeance! But, as ye are men—
Not wolves—or as ye would escape the swift
And certain punishment which Rome shall send—
Spare her, a woman.
Rud.
Threats and pleas avail not.
Nothing can change your doom. Ye die together.
And that forthwith. Prepare there!
(Looking off.
Nor.
Then, Octavian,
The power to keep my pledge to save and free thee
Is gone.
Oct.
Regard not that. For thee—for thee
Only—I grieve! O! in this solemn hour
Grant me thy pardon—I alone have brought
This wo and death upon thee!
Nor.
I forgive thee—
And count it happiness with thee to die.
Oct.
Those words have quite unmanned me—they have shown me
The vastness of that love, which, like a wild
Insensate prodigal, I forfeited.
O, Norma!
The frenzy that could lead me to forsake thee
Was but the senses passion—now I know.
From death's own touchstone, that my soul's true love
Is my own wife.
Nor.
My husband! All's forgiven!
Oct.
Wilt thou again receive it?
(Offers her a ring.)
Nor.
Joyfully! (Puts on ring.)
O! what a cloud is lifted! what a flood
Of bliss comes pouring on my heart—restoring
All that was lost, in fuller, richer measure!
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A happier one that ever! Dear Octavian!
(Arnulf approaches with four Soldiers.)
Arn.
It grieveth me to interrupt this dalliance.
But see! the flames are lighted—and we wait.
Ye overlook me. Is this courteous, when
Ye owe me your acquaintance?
Nor.
There is mercy
In thy revenge. Thou'st given us this last
Dear privilege—to die together!
Arn.
Come, then!
Your time is ended. (Sound of a trumpet without.)
Rud.
Hold! Who dares invade
Our sacred precincts with untimely music?
(Enter ---, Soldiers and then Ambron.)
All.
Ambron!
Amb.
A greeting to you all. Norma! What's this?
What rites are these?
Rud.
Approach her not, O Ambron!
Of sacrilege convicted, in her union
With the proconsul, both are here condemned
To die the death.
Amb.
Indeed! That's somewhat sudden.
Rud.
Hadst thou been with us sooner, thou hadst shared
In this day's triumph over the proconsul.
Amb.
And ye did miss, regret me? 'Tis a pity
That I was absent. Well: why do ye pause?
Gont.
On with the prisoners!
(A pause.)
Amb.
Now this is strange!
Will no man stir to do his captain's bidding?
Heard ye? He said, On with the prisoners! Well;
Will none obey? All motionless! What means it?
(To Rudiger.)
Druid, explain!
Rud.
Ambron, respect for thee
Withholds them till thy voice has seconded
The order. Now, good Ambron, noble Ambron,
The pride of Gaul—fit wielder of the sword
Of Brennus—thou wilt acquiesce—wilt punish
This sacrilegious pair!—think of it, Ambron:
She must needs wed a Roman—was there no one,
If recreant she must be, more worthy of
Her choice among her valiant countrymen?
Thou wilt stand by us here, good Ambron—wilt
Move not a finger to avert the sentence
The army has confirmed!
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The army, truly!
Your squad of traitors ye do call an army!
Let one—or all—come forward if they dare
T' oppose my will in this. I know the army—
Have told them all ye charge 'gainst Norma—and
They are as true to follow us as is
The thunder-clap the lightning—to unite
With us to sweep from the polluted earth
The Druids and their worship. Hear ye that?
Back to your caves! Your triumph endeth here.
Norma, thou'rt free! Octavian, thou art free!
Arnulf.
(Aside.)
Balked in my patient hate, when all seemed won?
The brand, I owe to Norma, on this flesh—
Ay, on this heart—shall it be cancelled never?
(To Norma.)
Norma! a word with thee; a single word!
This for thee, Norma! (Tries to stab Norma, but stabs Octavian, who has warded off the blow. Ambron, with his sword, wounds Arnulf, who is then seized by two of Ambron's men. Octavian is supported by Norma.)
Ambron, curses on
Thy fortune that could bring thee here to save
Her thy heart doats on! Could I reach thee, I—
Amb.
Away with him! Away!
(Arnulf is carried out.)
Nor.
Octavian! husband.
In saving me, thou'rt wounded!
Oct.
Welcome wound!
Nor.
Droop not—'tis slight—indeed 'tis slight.
Oct.
No, dearest;
The justice of the gods was in the blow,
And it went home. Norma, forgive thy husband—
Forget his guilt—and—if thou canst—imagine
Some touch of goodness in him—and be sure
He blessed thee—dying—by this token. (Kisses her.)
Nor.
Dying!
Oct.
Ambron, farewell! Protect her still. Where, Norma—
Where art thou? Do not leave me.
Nor.
Leave thee? Never!
Oct.
So! Keep thy hand upon my heart—and smile
Forgiveness on me—till I die. Farewell! (Dies.)
Nor.
Octavian! My beloved! One word! Dead? Dead?
(Falls on the body.)
Curtain Falls.
| The Priestess | |