University of Virginia Library

ACT I

Scene—A room of state in the palace at Ravenna, opening through a colonnade on to a terrace with a distant view of the harbour.
Eugenius is walking up and down the terrace: he stops under the boughs of a pomegranate and picks up a bracelet from the ground. In the room itself slaves, some fair Goths, some Africans, are spreading carpets, putting up hangings, and wreathing the columns.
Satyrus enters with more slaves, who are bringing in tripods; he points out where they are to place them, then fixes his eyes on Eugenius.
Satyrus
The dog, I loathe him!—fingering some toy
He means to give the princess. Insolence
For him to note her birthday!
(Going up to Eugenius)
Chamberlain,
Some gift you would present?

Eugenius
That's my affair.

Satyrus
Indeed! But you mistake: nothing that touches
My princess. . . .

Eugenins
Mine—Honoria.

Satyrus
I say nothing
Touching the honour of my Empress' daughter
Has ever been indifferent to me.

Eugenius
(Shrugging his shoulders)
She has her preferences, and does not choose
Her mother's chamberlain for confidant.

Satyrus
(To a Gothic lad)
Slave, there must be fresh garlands; wreathe those pillars.
(In the same voice to Eugenius)
Give me that bracelet!

Eugenius
Shall we come to blows!
You fool, you think I do not know my place!
This is the princess' bracelet; I am waiting
To give it back to her: that privilege
Surely belongs to me, her chamberlain.
I must reprove her for her carelessness
In leaving it about.

(He holds it up provokingly before Satyrus)
Satyrus
(Sharply)
You know the news?

Eugenius
Why naturally there is nothing you
Can tell me, holding office similar
To mine, except some tattle of the court.

Satyrus
I beg your pardon, I am higher up
The scale than you—Placidia's officer,
And able therefore to announce her pleasure
To you as to the court.
(Close to him and speaking so that the slaves do not hear)
Our pretty princess
To-day is made Augusta.

Eugenius
What a farce!

Satyrus
Her mother is in earnest, and commands
The servants to remember that this title
Removes the princess from all intimate
Connection with them. Do not use reproof.
Why, you have dropped the bangle.
(He moves down the room)
Fritigern—
Now Pluto catch you, rascal!

(He buffets a slave-boy who has knocked over a tripod)
Eugenius
Were she dead
I should be nearer to her!

Satyrus
(Coming up to him again)
Chamberlain,
I must instruct you: absolute prostration,
You know, before Augusta.

Eugenius
(Between his teeth)
Damn your eyes!

Satyrus
You never must address her; but in silence,
And with your lids kept on the ground . . .

(Enter Honoria, dressed very simply in white; Eugenius looks up at her with a flash of admiration)
Honoria
Dear hearts,
How grave you look, some point of etiquette
Knitting your brows! On whom will you confer
The place of honour at my feast to-night?
Meanwhile I am sixteen.

Satyrus
And such a beauty,
Venus is doubtless pouting. (To Eugenius)
Chamberlain,
Our blessèd princess should have kept her room
Till summoned by her mother to receive
The state's congratulations on her birthday.

Honoria
But no one greeted me. I sat alone
So long; and then I heard the slaves at work
Unrolling the big tapestries—the bustle
Of steps attracted me, and here I am!
Now set me on that throne and talk to me.
Eugenius, help!

Satyrus
(Pushing him back)
Eugenius must attend
To these instructions.
(He holds out a roll of parchment. Eugenius impatiently takes and reads it as he goes out. One by one the slaves leave, having finished their preparations)
You must be content,
My sweet chick of an empress, with my homage,
Just for the present; more will follow soon—
The perfect homage of the stiffened back
And lowered eye and more than stiffened tongue.

Honoria
O Satyrus, but that is very sad:
I hate formalities so much—the banquet,
The stupid faces, all those serious men,
Who might cheer death a little if his guests,
But do not interest me. How sweet a silk
They have hung up to canopy that chair!

Satyrus
Your chair.

Honoria
Then I am glad I am sixteen.

Satyrus
But hear my counsel: you must be demure
Now you are growing older.

Honoria
How delicious
When growing older means that every day
One is a little nearer to one's youth;
A little nearer—oh, I can be solemn!—
A little nearer to the grave, but then
What grave? The grave of one's own wretched childhood,
With all the pedagogues and punishments
That make it hateful. Who would be a child?
The only honest thing that children do
Is to cry out with rage when they are whipt;
They never wander where they have a mind,
They never eat or drink what they are fond of,
And they are always hearing of their faults.
It is so doleful.
Satyrus, what right
Had you to send Eugenius away?
He is my chamberlain.

Satyrus
(Not heeding)
Princess, your mother
Is planning for you on this festival
An unexpected pleasure.

Honoria
Scarcely that—
No pleasure that a parent plans can be
An unexpected pleasure, for one knows
So well beforehand what they think will please:
A solid benefit, an empty honour,
More purses in the treasury, but nothing,
Nothing to spend to-day the way we like.
And then my mother is so dismal.

Satyrus
(In an alarmed whisper)
Hush,
She enters with her train.

(Galla Placidia advances, escorted by several mutes and other attendants. Honoria receives her mother with the deepest reverence, remaining prostrate till she is on the throne)
Placidia
But how is this,
That you are here, unsummoned? Satyrus—
And on this day! It is a grave offence.

Honoria
Mother, it was no fault of his.

Placidia
(To Satyrus)
Dismissal
Will follow on a second breach of rule.
An eunuch, and not versed in etiquette—
What else is there to interest you?

Satyrus
So much!
Empress, your sorrows and your cares.

Placidia
Well said!
I was unjust. Honoria, you are weeping,
And why, you foolish girl?

Honoria
It is my birthday,
And, mother, I am waiting for a kiss.

Placidia
(To Satyrus and the others)
Withdraw a little!
(They go into the corridors at the side of the room and Satyrus waits by the door of the audience-chamber to the right)
Now embrace me, child!

Honoria
I cannot. I should wet your robes with tears.
Let me go back into my room again;
I have displeased you.

Placidia
Do not be so headstrong!
Come here, Honoria; you are now sixteen,
And I must talk with you.

Honoria
No, do not, mother!
But there is something that I really want
To talk with you about, if you will listen . . .
(Twisting her fingers)
For just a little while. I am too frightened
To speak of it to Marsa.

Placidia
Well, what is it?

Honoria
I cannot even tell you . . . I am happy,
Yet so intensely wretched. Is it wrong
To feel like this?

Placidia
Quite proper to reserve
This confidence for me.

Honoria
(In a low, eager voice)
Then tell me all!
It seems some god that I am worshipping,
And do not know his name. Night after night
I have been like Europa on the sea
In spray and storm and utter loneliness,
Save for the sense that I was borne along
Riding in perfect safety—and the peril
Was so delicious, for I steered my course
Right through the waves. Mother, in every dream
It was the same.

Placidia
What pagan fancies—hush!
Your nurse must be reproved for telling tales
Like this one of Europa. I can see
You have been too much with inferiors—
They are not to be trusted. From to-day
You will be my companion.

Honoria
(In a high voice)
Everywhere?

Placidia
Child, do not shriek like that—your father's habit,
But very vulgar.

Honoria
(Irritably)
If he did not please you,
Why did you choose my father?

Placidia
You suppose
That in my second marriage I had choice?
My childless brother gave me to Constantius,
His Roman general—and I have lived
As women must to please my family.

Honoria
And not to please yourself? Yet nurse declares
When you were taken prisoner by the Goths
In girlhood, you had lovers—two at once.
I want to be a captive and have lovers,
Two at a time, and freely choose at last
The great, barbaric fellow as you chose.
Adolphus was a hero!

Placidia
He was king
Before I would consent to marry him,
King of the Goths . . . and yet I will not feign,
I loved him, loved him dearly.

Honoria
(Caressing her mother)
I forgive
Your coldness to my father.

Placidia
(Smiling, as she returns Honoria's caress)
A romance
Holds you at once! But did you hear the end?
I would not speak of it except to save
My daughter from the folly of desiring
A captive's miseries. My hero fell
At Barcelona by a traitor's hands;
I was once more a prisoner, but this time
I was not wooed or flattered, I was set
To march on foot twelve miles before the horse
Of the assassin. All you know of me
Dates from that day.

Honoria
(More passionately caressing her)
O mother, this is cruel,
And I so pity you . . .

Placidia
(Holding Honoria's hand and looking out fixedly)
I had a son
By that first marriage. I have let the past
Be past; but in his little, silver coffin
My life is buried. Do not speak to me,
But keep my hands, I like to feel your fingers—
How soft!
You see, there must not be romance,
Child, in your life.

Honoria
I do not see it so.

Placidia
I want to save you from how many things
That I have borne, that I would rather die
Than bear again.

Honoria
But let me bear them once!

Placidia
I would prolong your youth and . . .

(Enter Valentinian)
Honoria
Valentinian,
Stolen from his tutor! Why, how sweet of him!

Placidia
But very premature. Congratulations
Must not be offered yet.

Honoria
Brother and sister
Must have one kiss.

(She embraces him)
Placidia
(To Honoria)
There is a great surprise
In preparation for you; such an honour
As you are scarcely fitted to receive—
At least in this poor raiment—that you could not
Have dreamed, it is so wonderful.

Honoria
(Shaking her head)
Oh, nothing
Can be more wonderful than what I dream.
Val, are you in the secret?

Valentinian
In the plot—
Whew! I could tell you . . .

Placidia
(Angrily)
Valentinian!
(In a peremptory tone to Honoria)
Dress!
Marsa has full instructions. Keep your room
Until I summon you.

Honoria
(Going)
What can it be?

(She leaves the room, Satyrus lifting the curtain for her to pass)
Placidia
Now, Valentinian, you must understand
The meaning of my action of to-day,
And not defeat it foolishly. I live,
As you must, for the glory of our house,
The Theodosian House: Honoria too
Must live for it. Think of the great example
Her cousin gives her in Byzantium!
Pulcheria, the Augusta, keeps herself
A virgin that her brother may continue
Sole emperor in the East, as in the West
It is my will you should be sole Augustus.
A son-in-law shall never share your throne;
Yet no one less than emperor may espouse
The daughter of our sacred family.

Valentinian
A proud distinction!

Placidia
She must think it is,
And will, if you are wise.
(To Satyrus, who approaches at a sign from his mistress)
O Satyrus,
Is she not looking pretty? All my life
I have been planning how to give her pleasure;
But she is like her father. When I stooped
To give Constantius the imperial title
He held it sixteen months, and all that time . . .

Satyrus
Yes, madam, he kept falling off to sleep,
And lost in flesh. . . .

Placidia
(To Valentinian, who is slinking off)
No, Valentinian, stay,
It will be well for you to hear the story,
To know your father's miserable end,
And learn what to avoid.

Satyrus
Young gentleman,
Back to your place—a little to the right.
Your father was a soldier, and was fond
Of drink, and dice, and swearing: in the purple
He found that he had nothing left to do,
And simply died.
(Earnestly, as he turns to Placidia)
Madam, if I may speak,
Our little princess is as fresh and hearty
As (Bowing)
your late consort; if we cut her off
From every pleasure, we shall lose her too.

Valentinian
Why should you trouble, mother, with the girl?
I will take care she does not spoil my life.

Placidia
I would not have her wed, even for love,
If that were possible.

Satyrus
Indeed, what future
Would you determine for her?

Placidia
None at all;
Comfort is never with futurity.
Oh, you are far too solemn, all of you.
I want light-hearted children. . . . Nothing deep,
No prying into mysteries! The young
Should let us take the tragic parts in life,
Us who are older.
(Turning severally to Valentinian, Satyrus, and Eugenius, who has entered and stands a little apart)
If you all combine
To show Honoria how blest she is
In being made Augusta we are safe.

Valentinian
But she will learn the truth.

Placidia
Concerning life
A woman will believe what she is told,
If she is told it soon enough.

Satyrus
Oh then,
Since there's no help, we all will do her honour,
Poor, little princess, to her heart's content.

Valentinian
I'll say I wish I had been born a girl.
What sport!

Placidia
(To Eugenius)
Eugenius, you have had instructions?
Though you are young, you will retain your office;
You are correct in conduct, and your manners
Formal and full of deference. There will be
But little need of change in your behaviour
Towards the Augusta. Simply emphasise
Her distance from all ordinary life;
Treat her with adoration, we may hope
She will become a goddess. Summon her.
(Exit Eugenius)
Good Satyrus, why do you look so grim?

Satyrus
Because that fellow has your confidence,
And can deceive you with his smirks and bows.
If I were in his place—

Placidia
(Smiling)
You would do harm,
And make my child a rebel. No contention!
You must support me at this crisis. See,
(Re-enter Honoria with Eugenius, Marsa, and a train of girls)
There is a stormy pout upon her lip,
Her father's pout.

Satyrus
They enter like two lovers;
He takes her hand.

Placidia
She is not keeping step,
That is the reason; now he gives the form
Of salutation.

Satyrus
Whispering in her ear!

(Honoria breaks away from Eugenius, and stands forward proudly)
Honoria
But, dear ones, I have seen you all before:
I can do nothing for a second time;
And now I have put on my birthday-dress
My thoughts are of myself. What can you say
Or do to please me, and, above all things,
What is this wonderful, mysterious gift?

Placidia
I like your carriage. Daughter, ask yourself
What best would minister to your ambition,
Being the grand-child of so great an emperor
As Theodosius. What?

Honoria
To have my will
Like him.

Placidia
What is your will?

Honoria
I cannot say,
It stretches out so far.

Placidia
Youth has no answer
To any question: therefore Destiny
Summons with beckoning finger and no speech.
She summoned Theodosius from his exile
Among the sheep at Cauca, and to-day
She beckons you, his grand-child, to become
A crowned Augusta.

Honoria
This is wonderful:
(Looking rapidly at the circle)
And should be joyous, but you all have faces
As after tidings of some great defeat.

Satyrus
It is the shock of putting on new manners—
We must not treat you as a little puss
Her very slaves are free to banter with,
But . . .

Honoria
What? You cannot change me in a minute,
And I must have some fun!

Placidia
You are an empress.

Honoria
But while you live—and there is Valentinian;
I cannot understand.

(Valentinian laughs)
Placidia
You will be free
From all the cares of state, free to enjoy
Your dignities.

Honoria
But what am I to do?

Placidia
The question of a slave! Still less to do
The higher up one reaches, and at last,
On the throne, nothing.

Satyrus
That is perfect bliss.

Honoria
Nothing to do!

Placidia
But so much to observe.
You will be present when ambassadors
Return, and smile at them when they depart:
You will accept rich gifts and will be envied—
That is a woman's goal—be envied, dear,
By other women.

Honoria
While I envy them,
Unless you all are jesting.

Valentinian
I'll begin
To show we are in earnest.
(Kneeling)
Sacred one,
I swear to treat you as divinity
Whatever you command.

Honoria
O Valentinian,
Dear boy, you must not mock me. It is cruel
To-day when I am serious.
(Petulantly)
I refuse
To be Augusta.

Valentinian
(Nodding to Placidia)
As I told you, mother.
(To Honoria)
But this has all been settled by the state
Without your intervention: women's business
Has to be settled so.

Honoria
(Flashing out)
I would not marry
An emperor at your bidding.

Valentinian
(Clapping his hands)
Excellent.
O you green girl, you think I want a fellow
To share my throne! Why, you are made Augusta
To keep you always inaccessible
To any suitor—general, count, or king;
Not one of them shall plague you—me, I mean.

Placidia
Hush, Valentinian, when a girl becomes
A woman, it is usual for her mother
To speak to her of life.

Honoria
(Passionately)
Then you must tell me
What Valentinian meant.

Placidia
Not here . . . in private.

Honoria
He said you only call me by this title
To keep away my suitors. Is it so?
Was that his meaning?

Valentinian
(Doggedly)
Yes.

Placidia
Be dutiful,
And hold your peace.

Honoria
He can be silent now.
But am I not to love?

Placidia
You are appointed
To be the very guardian of the West,
As saintly and in conduct as austere
As . . .

Honoria
You? I never could resemble you,
Not if I wished.

Placidia
No, as Pulcheria, child,
Your cousin in the East.

Honoria
(With terrified eyes)
But she's a nun.

Placidia
There you mistake: she simply does not marry
Because in all the world there is no suitor
Whom she could wed without humiliation
Or weakening of the empire.

Honoria
All the same—

Valentinian
She is a virgin.

Honoria
Do you think she wishes
Not to be married?

Placidia
She was made Augusta
At the same age as you, and ever since
Has kept her maiden-vow.

Honoria
She felt like that.
I do not! I would rather drop down dead
Than live on like my cousin.
(With a gesture of despairing appeal)
Mother, you—
This cannot be your doom! There is no way
Of blessing any human life except
One bless it at the source. You poison mine!
I should have been content with very little,
A birthday kiss, and then, had you been kind—
But you are making winter now forever,
With just a word, betwixt us. From my heart
So much is gone already of the love
That was kept waiting for you. Bring it back;
Remove this curse from me!

Placidia
Child, it is wisdom
To bear what fate appoints.

Honoria
(Drawing back with a stunned, uncertain movement, and leaning on the arm of Eugenius)
If it were fate
It would be easy to endure her tortures:
This misery is something that you choose
To settle on me. It is fate to love,
You cannot alter that—fate to be young
For just a little while. What is your hope?
You cannot change my nature with the burthen
Of your mock title.

Placidia
If I married you,
You could not say you would not be a wife:
You are Augusta—there is no dispute.
I bore you for the purple, I provide
All that your blood requires; and presently—
I can be patient—I shall see you grow
Reserved and haughty and so beautiful
Knowing you are a goddess; on the coins
You will be graven, and your name inscribed
As Salus Reipublicæ. Respond
To the great future I have wrought for you,
And let me pass down to my grave content.

Honoria
(Loosing her grasp of Eugenius and advancing toward her mother)
So this is your proposal: I become
The simple consolation of your age
By having no experience of my own,
No life unlinked from the starved end of yours,
No dreams I dream until they come to pass,
No taste of what I covet, no response!
But what must be must be: the old shall learn
The terror of that maxim. What must be
Must be, if youth decrees it. You may order
My name graved on the coins and make your idol
Of any clay that mixes. . . .

Placidia
In three hours
You will receive the formal recognition
Of your new honour.
(She turns to go, then says to Satyrus, who is hurriedly lifting the curtain at the door)
Gently, Satyrus,
The girl must be rebuked.
(To Honoria)
When you are old
You will not waste your time in prophecy;
You will be in possession of events,
And silently dispose them to your will.

(Exit with Valentinian, Satyrus, and train. Honoria, with a wave of her hand, dismisses her women. Then, turning to Marsa, puts her arms round her neck)
Honoria
O Marsa, I have had one birthday-gift;
But have you nothing for me, nothing real?
I am not changed, but you are not yourselves.
I think that I shall die or else go mad
If you desert me, and become my servants.
Can you not speak to me?

Marsa
We all, dear princess,
Have gifts; their presentation is reserved.

Honoria
Why then, no thanks at all.
(Eugenius goes out quietly)
There is a question—
But first, you are my friend?

Marsa
You doubt it, dear?

Honoria
Then tell me, Marsa, you who are a wife,
What is it I am missing?

Marsa
Oh, I cannot!
There is no modesty in such discourse,
And Juno shuts our lips.

Honoria
(Turning away)
Then we are strangers,
The girl and wife, and never can be friends—
(In a frenzied voice)
Unless, indeed, some mighty conqueror
Should take me captive. Ah, how glorious
If such a thing could be! If Attila
Could lay siege to Ravenna!

Marsa
Are you mad?

Honoria
(Continuing)
And bear me off and take me to the tents,
The filthy tents your husband shudders at.
I should not be afraid.

Marsa
You do not know
What you are talking of.

Honoria
(With a defiant smile)
But I can guess.
There would not be a wedding and a mother,
But the free air and the great Tartar Chief.
We should make terms! I should be capable.
But, as you say, it is too wild a hope—
Ravenna is impregnable.

Marsa
(With pity)
Dear princess!

(Eugenius has been standing by the door with a bunch of fresh roses in his hand. Honoria at last perceives him)
Honoria
What have you there, Eugenius?

Eugenius
(Kneeling)
Very humbly
I pray for leave to offer you these roses
As my poor present.
(Raising his eyes)
Lady, all the years
You live will be most happy to the subjects
You love or stoop to honour: to yourself
May they be sweet!

(She lifts a branch and smells the roses, smiling at Eugenius)
Honoria
That is a wish—your roses
Are sweet now, as you offer them, how sweet!
Why, they are all I have. I never held them
Loose in my hands like this: I touched them only
When I was drinking, or in wreaths or crowns
As the Augusta should. But I can pluck them,
Can blow the stiff buds open if I choose,
And crush them in my fingers.

Marsa
Chamberlain,
It is not kind of you to bring your gift—
And out of form as well.

Eugenius
But for the future,
Trust me, good Marsa, I shall serve my mistress
As one some day to mingle with the gods,
When once she takes upon her the new state
For which we are preparing. I must go—
(To Honoria)
But first your pardon.

Honoria
I am fond of flowers.

(He goes quickly into the ante-room. Honoria plays with the flowers in silence)
Marsa
(Breaking the silence)
If I could see you married—by and by;
Say to some subject king.

Honoria
A subject king
My husband—then?

Marsa
Oh, you would understand
If you were married.

Honoria
To some subject king?

Marsa
Yes, even then, for you would be a bride.

Honoria
And is that everything?

Marsa
I think it is.

Honoria
Ah, now you tell me all I need to know!

Marsa
And when at last the hope of motherhood . .

Honoria
Hush, you are right! We cannot speak of this—
You are so far beyond me. Kiss me, Marsa!
Again, again! (They kiss)
Now leave me to myself.
(Exit Marsa)
(Honoria holds the roses high up above her)
A young man's gift! He gave them with his eyes
As well as with his hands: their odour pierces;
They shine with youth and water-drops and silver;
Their flush goes through me.
If there were no need
To learn the secrets of my womanhood
From matrons and from mothers; if this way
The roses take to open to the sun
And to enjoy were right! I am beginning
To think all life is simple and we want
No masters in it, if we will but live.
Only the courage seems impiety
For just a girl to dare to be herself.
The dear, old gods were great enough to know
All that we have to give, all that we suffer:
I wish that I had lived in pagan times!
But even now will not youth answer youth?
This is so bold a course that I should like
To pray before I go on it: yet all
The Church has taught me seems to slip away.
(She goes towards the ante-room and calls)
Eugenius!

Eugenius
(Sweeping the curtain back as he runs forward)
What, the voice of my most dear,
My most adored, young mistress!

Honoria
Most adored—
How? In what way?

Eugenius
Sweet lady, I am come
Fresh from your mother and she teaches me
That henceforth I must serve you with the honour
We give to what is infinitely high,
Apart and sovereign.

Honoria
Ah, and not the honour
You give to any woman whom you love?

Eugenius
Princess, not that: we love and would attain;
When we adore it is impossible
To hunger for possession.

Honoria
(Turning and looking out over the terrace)
There is nothing
In all that sunny earth that is adored;
Each thing is loved. Oh, I am envious!
They treat me as a part of yonder world
Where God and all His saints are overhead;
While really I am just a maiden-girl
Who would be loved, who would not be left out
By April, who . . .

(She suddenly kisses him)
Eugenius
(Repulsing her)
Is this your majesty?
I will not bear your tortures! If I do
My part, do yours: be distant and official.

Honoria
Oh, this is terrible! Is Love a Count
Of the Domestics, some great personage
High in esteem? I am so ignorant,
I thought Love was a god.

Eugenius
You are not such
A child but you can put men on the rack,
Bring them to banishment and . . .

Honoria
(With defiant eagerness)
Was Evander
Sent to the Chersonese because of me?

Eugenius
How your eyes sparkle! Yes, because you plagued him,
And kept him at your heels, he had to go.
And, my fair mistress, there are other men—

Honoria
So many!

Eugenius
You cajole.

Honoria
(Tossing her head)
Whom I admire.

Eugenius
I know—that beast Metellus?

Honoria
Yes.

Eugenins
And then
Julian and Sextus, either at a pinch.

Honoria
Yes, you are right.

Eugenius
And the ambassadors.

Honoria
Oh, they amuse me.

Eugenius
But you love that fool,
Your brother's friend, young Paulus.

Honoria
(Taking up Eugenius' roses, smelling them, and looking at him from just above the bunch)
Do you think
Young Paulus loves me? Has he ever said?
Now, dear Eugenius, tell me?

Eugenius
He has said
He would not have you for Rome's richest province.

Honoria
(Tossing the roses away)
How hateful of him! But Evander perhaps
Was of a different mood?

Eugenius
Yes, he adored you;
I know it as a fact you broke his heart.

Honoria
And he is in the Chersonese—how sad!
And yet I envy him. It must be gloomy
On those wild shores; but, if he really loves,
The time will pass by quickly. Happy thought!
I am Augusta—he shall be recalled.

Eugenius
(In vibrating tones)
Is that worth while?

Honoria
(Haughtily)
Yes, for so great a gift.

Eugenius
You love him then?

Honoria
I cannot tell before!
It brings a burning rapture to my body
To think of him.

Eugenius
(Violently clasping her in his arms)
Then I will take his place.
These are an exile's kisses, these and these!
That fellow at the Euxine—I have stood
In banishment beside you every day,
A madness in my heart to spread this fire
Across your cheeks, your breast, to hold your lips
Thus helpless to my pleasure.
(Laughing)
I will have
A more voluptuous memory to soothe
My exile than that wretched courtier.
Now kiss me!

Honoria
(Drawing back)
Do you boast?

Eugenius
A little while
To dream I am your equal, that this hair
Is mine, and I may push it from your neck
All back and then—

Honoria
(Restraining him by a caress)
Your hair is bright enough,
Much like Apollo's.
(Setting herself free)
Do not speak so fiercely,
Or dream of boasting, for that wounds me. What!
You can be thinking of another hour
When you will brag of this one! Do not touch me
As if without my leave.

Eugenius
(Bitterly)
Oh, I expected
That this would follow: you would recollect
I am your chamberlain.

Honoria
And not my lover!
Oh then, begone!
That I should ever kiss my chamberlain,
I, the Augusta! I must die of shame.
(She turns away angrily as she hears his derisive laugh. There is absolute silence: then he gives a shivering moan. She turns back and speaks in a changed voice)
Eugenius, when you heard the flutes last night
I sat and watched you. It was wonderful
How all the primness passed out of your face:
What were you thinking of?

Eugenius
Oh, not the flutes!
Honoria, sweet, you madden me.

Honoria
Again
That soft, large freedom fills your eyes. Forget
All but the music.
(Laying her hand on his arm)
You have learnt my name.

(They embrace)