 | Attila, My Attila! |  |
35
ACT II
Scene—The same as Act I. Some months later.Honoria is sitting on the raised seat, her hands clasped round the back of her head. She seems to be in reverie and smiles to herself. The curtain on the left is drawn aside; Eugenius enters and approaches her.
Eugenius
Augusta, the ambassador desires
An audience, if your leisure . . .
Honoria
You would say
Anthemius is starting—bring him in,
You foolish boy, and do not look so formal.
Eugenius
But, dearest, be discreet.
Honoria
(Clouding)
Behind my chair,
I shall forget your presence.
Eugenius opens the curtain and admits Anthemius and Marsa; then, having introduced them, he leans against the wall behind Honoria's seat, looking sullen and anxious)
Marsa too!
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Lady, my husband comes to say farewell.
Honoria
Again, and very soon. (To Anthemius)
You must be sorry
To leave your new-born child.
Anthemius
My little daughter!
Yes, but I leave her with the dearest guardian
Whom I regret still more.
Honoria
I understand.
It must be hard to part; but, darling Marsa,
You need not look so sad, an embassy
Does not mean bloodshed.
Marsa
It may mean detention
Among the Scythian waggons.
Honoria
Oh, what fun,
And what adventure! How I love to hear
Of the black hordes. (Turning sharply round to Eugenius)
You know, Eugenius,
They bellow like wild beasts, their countless drums
Keep echo ringing, and their cavalry . . .
Eugenius
Faugh, princess, these are scarcely fairytales
For an imperial ear.
Honoria
(Haughtily)
Oh, you think that!
We like strong contrasts, and it interests us
To hear about the bowl of ivy-wood
Our hero drinks from, and his simple fare.
Marsa
Princess, of flesh—raw flesh.
Anthemius
Or cooked between
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Eugenius
An imperial taste
Calls that simplicity!
Honoria
A chamberlain
Is not the fitting censurer of kings.
Eugenius
You think the gulf between too deep?
Honoria
I do.
Shall we in silken chambers judge a captain
Who never leaves his saddle, rides and rides
From Caucasus to the Armorian Field.
It is so ignorant.
Eugenius
And wonderful
A lady cares to champion a wretch
Who never changes anything he wears
Until it drops away, who eats his meat
As jackals do, whose face is horrible.
Honoria
Eugenius, peace! Our envoy owns the Hun,
When mounted on his wiry steed, a presence
To pause before, admiring. If we dared,
If we had courage to encounter him,
What battles would be waged, for he is great
And free as a wood-centaur.
Anthemius
Shall I take him,
Augusta, your defiance?
Honoria
(Laughing)
No, my faith
He is not what the soldiers he inspires
With such base terror paint him. Say, Augusta
Counts him a hero and a hunter-devil,
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Anthemius
I must go.
Marsa
(Advancing to embrace him)
Farewell.
Anthemius
Oh, you will come a little further?
Marsa
(Shaking her head and glancing toward Eugenius)
My place is with the princess.
Honoria
Marsa, go!
We must not leave the fathers of our children,
Not till we must. Go with him to the cradle,
Then with him to the door, and, if you will,
Take him aboard, and watch the vessel out
From the long wharf at Classis. It is calm,
Yet breezy too—a most delicious day.
Anthemius
And you a goddess. Vale!
(Exeunt Anthemius and Marsa. Eugenius lets the curtain fall behind them and comes back quickly to Honoria)
Honoria
I, a goddess!
No, but at last a woman, very woman,
With not a touch of miracle about me,
Except, except . . . for surely you can guess
Why I am kind to Marsa? O dear love,
And you too will not be what you have been,
Mere man, you too will have another name,
You too—
Eugenius
My God, I feared that this would come!
(He turns away)
Honoria
What! You can stand and look out at the sea
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When I have breathed my secret in your ear,
And promised you such honour?
Eugenius
(Facing her coldly)
Honour!—Death.
Honoria
Impossible! But can you think of that
Now? Why, Eugenius, I have heard that mothers
Die very often when their babes are born.
What if they do! I never had a fear,
Nor any of my people; we are all
Free-born, accustomed to vicissitude,
And take a change of fortune as the changes
Of wind or weather: you must be the same.
Eugenius
Why should I? You have always treated me
As an inferior; you will treat my child,
Out of your pride, as an inferior too.
You love me!—but I never shall forget
The different voice with which you speak to counts
And generals, the way you let me feel
I stand behind them, and your little laugh
When I draw back: these things have injured me
Like drops of burning oil upon my skin
One after one—what hell! And I have nothing
To put against them but a single hour
Of mastery you gave in ignorance,
In wantonness, and then . . .
Honoria
You must be mad!
Oh, you have disappointed me—the names
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Simply because it was conferred on you!
You called it an intrigue.
Eugenius
And so it is.
Honoria
You said you should regret it.
Eugenius
(With a despairing gesture)
Well, I do.
Honoria
Oh why? I am Augusta, at my will
Able to give protection. For a time
My mother may be angry; but she loved
All of herself, like me, when she was young;
And then my father was not of her rank.
We shall be wedded; you will be received
Augustus here, and someday in the East:
For very shortly I shall take your hand,
And say that you are mine, and claim the future.
Eugenius
O damn the future! Do you call this love?
Why thrust me forward? I am not your bridegroom,
I never can be; leave me out of count,
If you regard my safety. Tell your mother
Of your condition, but of nothing else,
And she will see you through.
(He turns to leave her)
Honoria
You cast me off?
That will be very lonely.
Eugenius
(Returning)
If you take it
Like that, and if it costs you anything
To know we shall be severed all our lives . . .
But you have made me play with life and death
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Honoria
If I thought,
Dear love, that any harm could come to you . . .
Eugenius
Oh, you are such a child! But there is nothing
That you can do can alter my delight
In you, in every motion, every glance,
The way you turn your head, your very anger.
(He caresses her)
Honoria
(Returning his caress)
Then put away your fears, for I am certain,
As if a god had sworn it, you are safe.
Come, be yourself again, just what you were
That April day.
Eugenius
Ah, would it might be so—
You just the same!
Honoria
(Angrily)
It is a sacrilege
To wish that, and an insult. I am sorry
You give my news no welcome, but it matters
Less than I could have thought.
(As if addressing a Servant)
See that my couch
Has warmer wraps upon it, for I like
To lie out in the sunshine. I am going
To peep at Marsa's baby, and to nurse it
If it is crying for her.
(She goes toward the door, glances back at Eugenius, breaks into laughter, and returns to him)
Do not look
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How brief and poor their happiness, while ours
Grows with us, like a summer, night and day,
And day and night.
(She kisses him while Satyrus draws back the curtains of the door, unperceived)
There, I forgive you freely.
Eugenius
Hush! Some one comes.
(He leaves her and stands at a distance, looking out toward the harbour, indifferently. Enter Satyrus)
Honoria
(Turning)
You want me, Satyrus?
A message from my mother?
Satyrus
No, Augusta.
I want your chamberlain.
Honoria
And there he is,
Watching Anthemius' vessel.
But this scowl . . .
I am quite glad I am not the offender.
You are the only person in the world
It grieves me to offend.
Satyrus
Dear, little lady,
As you the only one I cannot thwart.
Honoria
I know; we spoil each other. I believe
You rather would connive at anything
Than own your little princess in a fault.
Now would you not? You are so much my friend.
Satyrus
As faithful as the dust is to your feet,
For only you yourself can shake me off.
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Honoria
Marsa is away;
I sent her with her husband.
Satyrus
Pooh! Your service
Should be her first concern.
Honoria
But I dismissed her.
Satyrus
As I dismiss you to Eurynome,
Your nurse, you little scapegrace! You will bring us
Poor fellows to the headsman. Bid her call
The retinue your mother has appointed
To wait on you, the mutes and all the slaves—
The women-slaves, remember! Now be good.
(Exit Honoria, playfully half thrust through the door by Satyrus, who walks up, as soon as she is gone, to Eugenius)
Eugenius
What do you want?
Satyrus
I am a messenger.
Eugenius
Well, I am quite attentive.
Satyrus
Very so—
But soon you will be, for the Empress sends
To bid you wait her coming in this room;
And I am not to leave you.
Eugenius
(Shortly)
This is strange.
Satyrus
I thought it strange, but I obey her will.
I thought it strange she ordered me to watch
The princess and report how she preserved
Her dignity; but listen, chamberlain,
I do not any longer think it strange.
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Why?
Satyrus
I have seen her stoop.
Eugenius
What have you seen?
Satyrus
She kissed you, dog!
Eugenius
She did not.
Satyrus
Yes, she did.
I saw her from the passage. Have you thought
How even a kiss could ruin her?
Eugenius
Indeed
You would be less than man if you should tell
Of my—
Satyrus
O leave your infamy alone!
I know your secret: women do not kiss
Like that a stranger to their arms. You tremble;
Yes, and your handsome blood has left your face.
You look but half a man, or scarcely one
At all—though you have stained her.
Eugenius
It is false.
Satyrus
I do not need your lies to make me sure:
By those white lips it is too evident
I speak the truth.
Eugenius
Betray what you have seen;
That's all you can betray: but I am lost
With that . . . the Empress is so terrible.
Satyrus
If you are lost, then you will lose yourself;
I shall not harm you by a single word.
Eugenius
You will not?
Satyrus
No . . . or rather by my silence
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I should be glad to march you to the gate,
And hand you to an executioner.
The Empress has not told me why she wishes
To speak with you, but from her face I judge
She comes about this business. Keep your wits,
And listen! She will try to find the man—
But must not find him; it would wound to death
The honour of Augusta: if a child
Is born, much better it be fatherless
Than fathered on a servant. Let opinion
Give it to some great Count—you understand?
Eugenius
Yes. When the Empress questions—
Satyrus
You deny;
I simply hold my tongue. Ah, here she comes.
(Enter Galla Placidia)
Placidia
Eugenius!
Eugenius
Madam?
Placidia
I am here to speak
On a most solemn matter, delicate,
Concerning the imperial honour, deeply
Touching my own . . . for I have heard report
The princess is with child. Her nurse believes
The scandal; I have watched her constantly,
And I am almost sure it is not false.
What do you think? You are her chamberlain;
Have you the least ground for believing it?
Answer!
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(In a low voice)
I have not.
Placidia
Have you, Satyrus?
By my command you watched her.
Satyrus
No, I have not.
She often talked and jested first with this
And then with that great noble. She is free,
And showers her smiles and graceful, little questions
On all her courtiers.
Placidia
You adhere to this?
Satyrus
I do. I cannot fix on any one
She seemed to favour most.
Placidia
(To Eugenius)
And you, it seems,
Suspected nothing? You are rather backward,
I fancy, in your protest.
Eugenius
I am?—No.
Placidia
Well, Satyrus, Eugenius, I have vowed
By every means to search this treason out,
By every means; I will give lavishly:
And, if you are afraid to speak the truth,
You, Satyrus, or you, gold and my favour
Should make you fearless.
Satyrus
The reward is great,
But I have nothing I can give for it,
No evidence, not even the least surmise
To offer for your treasure.
Eugenius
Nor have I.
Placidia
Further, Eugenius, if you have received
A bribe from the seducer, I extend
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Eugenius
I cannot . . . but—
Satyrus
(Quickly)
We neither of us know.
Placidia
(To Eugenius)
I hold you, as Augusta's chamberlain,
Responsible for this calamity;
Unless you track the wretch, who dared dishonour
The princess in your charge, my will is fixed:
You will be questioned under sharpest torture,
And if that fails to move you, then your life
Will pay the penalty of your neglect.
Eugenius
Torture!
Placidia
You also, Satyrus, will suffer
The same examination and same end
Unless the work I trusted you to do
Is done efficiently.
Satyrus
But death and torment
Are useless as your gold, for I have nothing
I can reveal—as yet.
Placidia
So fine a bloodhound
As you will track the victim.
(Eugenius watches him breathlessly)
Satyrus
Who can tell!
But if I do not—then I know my fate.
Placidia
Yes. (To Eugenius)
It is also yours. You realise—
Torture and then the executioner
Out at the western gate: but torture first.
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O Empress, Empress, if I am to find
The man who has so angered you, at least
Give me conditions I can offer him—
Can offer anyone I might suspect—
To win him to avowal, for your mercy . . .
Satyrus
I will not offer mercy in my search.
Empress, forbid such trifling; keep the law.
Placidia
I do not care if mercy or the law
Find me the girl's seducer.
Eugenius
Then, I hope,
You deign to give conditions?
Placidia
Yes, his life,
If he will make avowal—his bare life:
Not an escape from punishment.
Satyrus
Such grace
Is scarcely worth a thought.
Eugenius
You will not torture?
Placidia
We use that to extort confession, not
As punishment.
Eugenius
Oh then, I need not seek:
The man is here.
Placidia
You?
Eugenius
(Falling on his knees)
I am he.
Placidia
(Moving far back from him)
My daughter
Could give herself to him, a caitiff-slave!
Yet from the first I never had a doubt;
I saw her profanation in his face,
And I determined I would make his tongue
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Would force you, honest Satyrus, to find
Occasion for convicting him. I knew
You were his mortal enemy; and yet
You could not see his guilt!
Satyrus
It took your wisdom
To find him out; although his vile conditions
Made me suspect at last.
Placidia
If I but wielded
The might to strike him dead!
Satyrus
But he is safe;
You were too clement.
Placidia
Yet his wish to live
Will prove his worst calamity.
Satyrus
(Joyously)
It will!
What shall you do with him?
Placidia
Dismiss him first
For some trumped-up dishonesty, some stealing
Of revenue: that done, he shall be scourged
With the iron-knotted lash they use for slaves,
And banished to the Aquilegian mines.
So, he has saved his life.
(Re-enter Honoria, with Valentinian and Marsa)
Honoria
(To Marsa)
You watched the vessel?—
Eugenius, what has happened?
(From the moment he confessed he has been kneeling, his head bowed over his arms. At Honoria's voice he looks up; then bows his head again
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Placidia
You are here
In time to see the partner of your guilt
Sunk in humiliation. Look at him—
The servant you intrigued with!
(Marsa makes an instinctive movement of horror from Honoria's side)
Honoria
(Low to her)
Not by me!
Go yonder to my mother.
Valentinian
Do you mean
That slave upon his knees has injured her?
Beast!
(He goes violently toward Eugenius)
Honoria
Valentinian, you are not his judge:
You are not fit to judge us.
Placidia
I am judge,
And this your rightful place. Come here, my son.
(She points to her right hand and speaks to him as he joins her)
Honoria
(Defiantly walking up to Eugenius and putting her hands on his neck)
Eugenius, rise! It is not in this way
Our love should be declared. A criminal,
When you should be a lover! Side by side
We should have fired my mother to remember
How in her days of youth she found the sweetness
Of breathing was to love; then, by my father,
Implored her to forget you were not royal:
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By this behaviour, and to hear you weep
Is blasphemy. O stop!
Placidia
You shall not speak,
Girl, of my love for one who was a hero,
An honourable wooer; I forbid
Your father's honest name to pass your lips.
As for that man—take off your hands from him!
His doom is settled.
Honoria
I too am Augusta;
My title can protect him.
Valentinian
You Augusta!
You look sublime in contact with that worm—
A goddess, worship her!
Placidia
This childish folly
Must end. The wretch is sentenced.
Honoria
If you mean
The title you conferred on me is empty
As now you make it, then I must beseech
At least a hearing from the true Augusta.
I gave myself; my lover never spoke
His love, or sought to win me. This is truth—
Yes, by my very lineage; and in justice
I ask his life.
Placidia
You need not. It was granted
As price of his confession.
Satyrus
He betrayed you
For that—his life.
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(Taking away her hands from Eugenius' neck and shrinking back)
Eugenius, you could do it!
I must have dreamt about you, and I wake
To find . . . O Satyrus!
(Eugenius sobs more bitterly)
Valentinian
A rich reward
For trusting an informer.
Placidia
You are sorry
At last and own your sin?
Honoria
I am not sorry.
No, I am glad I meet you as a woman,
I meet you as a mother. Shall I own
A sin, when nothing but the purest impulse
Of nature called, with that deliciousness
That we are born to follow, and I went
With peace and utter faith where I was led!
That is not sin. But now there is a crime
Indeed, for which I burn. It cannot make
The change in me a mockery, but, oh,
It mocks at love, at everything I did,
At innocence and honour.
(Eugenius springs up and comes toward her, but not near)
Eugenius
Do not think
I, your vile servant, did not give you love,
Although I have betrayed it. Deeper far
Than any treason is the truth I loved;
It is my only truth, just as the leper's
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Honoria
You have your life.
Why do you speak to me when there is nothing
That I can do for you?
Eugenius
(With a cry)
Princess, your pardon!
Honoria
(Her face averted)
Nothing that I can do. If we discover
The gold coin we have used as gold is false,
Is counterfeit, there is no talk of pardon:
Gold is too precious. Do not plead again!
You make me gasp for breath.
Eugenius
But turn your face!
Think of the years that I shall famish for you,
Shut in those awful mines among the slaves.
Honoria
I am not hard—if it can give you pleasure—
(She turns and looks at him)
Eugenius
O ecstasy! (He seizes her hands)
To hold these firm, warm hands
Again—one instant! Kiss me!
Valentinian
Infamous!
Take that, you dog!
(He strikes him in the face across his mouth. Eugenius staggers an instant, then stands, with clenched hands, as if waiting)
Placidia
Son, you debase yourself
Even by touching him. Call in the guard.
Remember, he is charged with larceny.
(Eugenius breaks into a short laugh and glances defiantly
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Honoria
(Mechanically taking up her mother's words)
—Call in the guard! (Going to her mother)
And now my punishment.
(Raising her hands to her temples)
Or have I borne it all? It must be past,
I think, already.
Placidia
It is not begun,
But soon will be in force. You will be sent,
When possible, to Theodosius' court,
And placed among your cousins in their house,
Where they devote their virgin days to prayer,
Their needle and their studies. As attendant,
I place you in the charge of Satyrus,
Parting from his true service for the sake
Of your complete security. Meanwhile
You will be strictly kept within your room
Till some few months are passed.
Honoria
You look so cold,
So dead! O mother, this is horrible:
You fill me with alarm lest . . .
Placidia
Come away;
The guard will soon be here, and I insist.
Honoria
(Piteously)
Marsa, come too!—And Satyrus will come!
(Suddenly, with a sharp, frightened cry, falling on her knees, and clasping her hands)
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In which your life is buried—save my child!
(Eugenius makes a movement toward her, then lets his arms fall, and goes on waiting)
| Attila, My Attila! | |