 | Rosamunda |  |
ACT THE FOURTH.
SCENE THE FIRST.
Romilda, Ildovaldo.Rom.
I've seen Rosmunda. Can I now believe? ...
Il.
All is at length disposed: thou'rt safe already,
Provided that thou wilt at fall of night
To me repair. Scarce from the fatal walls
Shall we have parted, ere we shall discover
A guard of chosen champions: afterwards
All obstacles will vanish with our progress.
Rom.
Oh thou, my true defender! Who indeed
Could have imagined this? Where I expected
Death, as the least of ills, shall I receive
Life and enjoyment from the same Rosmunda?
Say, should my bosom welcome such a hope?
We, who were erewhile in the depths of woe,
Are, in a space incalculably swift,
Raised to the pinnacle of happiness?
I join'd to thee? I free? exempt from danger? ...
Can this be true?
Il.
That I should rescue thee
I was convinced, but in a different manner:
Yet this involves less danger to ourselves.
In this Rosmunda doth befriend herself,
E'en more than us; she is compell'd to do it.
It grieves me, for the present, to be forced
To drag thee from thy kingdom; but, in safety
42
To reconduct thee in another fashion
One day to thy hereditary realm.
Rom.
Where'er with thee I am my kingdom lies.
Hence I've such transports that all seems unreal ...
But yet such ecstacy scarce counteracts
The new forebodings that assault my heart.
The traitor Almachilde is my lover;
I have not merited his impious love;
All unexpected to my innocent ears
It came; but yet I heard it; nor in him ...
Il.
I should have understood that miscreant better:
But for my gifts I swear I will exact
A recompense; the victory, the realm,
His life that I defended with my blood,
He shall repay to me. But, for the present,
I ought to shun him, and I will, while thou
Art not in safety.
Rom.
Ah! thou canst not know
What agonizing wounds my heart sustain'd
In hearing his base words! How all at once
I seem'd less worthy in my own esteem,
Since I had pleased a nature so ignoble!
Oh how I hate him!—But Rosmunda is
The origin of all my wretchedness;
She has oppress'd and laden me with insults,
And evermore degraded me. I feel
An inauspicious presage in my heart
That she will never, never prove to me
The instrument of safety; I know well
The infinite abhorrence, which, in her,
By her ferocity, her deadly crimes,
43
But all, whate'er they be, all the effects
Of her wild passions, as a lesser ill
I rather chuse to bear, than the base love
And insolent addresses of her minion.
Il.
His foolish hardihood shall cost him dear:
Appease thyself; it was no crime of thine
That thou didst hear him.
Rom.
I, but for one moment,
Should ne'er have seem'd accessible to him;
Behold my fault; should never have endured
That he for my misfortunes dared to seem
Impress'd with pity; never should have made him
The witness of my tears; a joy by me
To proud Rosmunda evermore denied.
Often my eyes with tear-drops ill suppress'd,
My heart with sorrow fill'd, the miscreant saw;
Hence rose his boldness; ... hence my guilt arose;
And a disgrace I ever must deplore. ...
Il.
To make thee e'en exult in this, leave me;
And him in tears of blood to weep his crime.
To him who never blamed thee yet, Romilda,
One look of thine, in which thy innocent soul,
And thy most pure and ardent heart, shine forth,
More than exculpates thee.—Let this suffice.
Be thou here ready at the approach of night
To follow me; of nothing else take thought.
Meanwhile the sight of Almachilde shun;
Thus his suspicious wilt thou best defeat.
Rosmunda equally do thou avoid,
For she, perchance ...
Rom.
I understand thee well;
Lest in her bosom for a pitying deed
44
Il.
Farewell. A longer stay
Our projects may defeat.
Rom.
Dost thou then leave me?
Il.
Ere long, and never more shall we be severed.
SCENE THE SECOND.
Almachilde, Romilda, Ildovaldo, Soldiers.Al.
Oh stop!
Rom.
Oh Heaven!
Il.
Who brings thee here before me?
Rom.
Circled by soldiers! ...
Al.
Whither dost thou fly?
Oh stop. Much have I to impart to thee.
I do not come, although I have the power,
By violence to restrain thee. In the camp
Thou hast, by stealth, arm'd thy most faithful followers:
Tell me the cause? Perchance, on the same day
Thou wouldst defend thy monarch and betray him.
Il.
That I defended thee no more recall;
This is the only stigma on my honour;
Do not remember it: if no one else
Can wash it out, assuredly canst thou
By such a recompense as thou hast given.
Rom.
Traitor, dar'st thou, where I am, come in arms,
And feign conciliatory purposes?
Al.
No, no, I do not feign. Since I have tried
With words in vain, 'tis needful now with deeds
That I should prove to thee my love.
Il.
Thou wretch ...
45
And dar'st thou yet? ...
Al.
If 'tis your will, ye hear
From me no more the language of a king:
But if ye do refuse, ye shall be forced
To hear my words. The time is now gone by
For me to moderate my fatal love:
In vain I will'd it, and in vain ye hope it.
I scorn to have recourse, for thy possession,
To circumventive stratagems; yet never,
That others by such means should win thy charms
Will I endure. Thou mean'st to drag her hence;
This seems to me unworthy of thy valour;
Pursue a wiser plan; I am prepared,
I swear to thee, beneath my kingly power
To seek no refuge.
Il.
If thou dost not make
Thy ill-gain'd power a refuge from my rage,
Say, as a refuge from what danger then?
What lying pomp of noble sentiments
Dar'st thou assume, while here on every side
Begirt with armed satellites?
Al.
'Tis true
I keep these at my side, lest thou shouldst not
Consent at present to appear my equal.
These are a monarch's train; this likewise is
A warrior's sword; the sword alone I keep;
These, if thou fear'st not, at one nod of mine
Shall disappear. Bestir thyself: to thee
I give the challenge: let Romilda be
The guerdon of the most successful valour.
Il.
Do thou then die beneath this hand of mine! ..
Rom.
Your swords! ... oh heavens! ... why are ye thus outrageous?
46
That thou shouldst join with him in single combat?
Il.
Thou speakest truth. To what indignity,
Heated with rage, would I demean myself!
Rom.
Canst thou endure the look of Ildovaldo,
Much less the opposition of his sword?
And if untoward fate to thee should yield
The palm of victory, dost thou fondly think
That I should e'er be thine? Dost thou not know
That I love Ildovaldo more than life,
And that I hate thee more than I love him?
Il.
Should he, then, most a veteran in arms,
Or most a veteran in treachery, gain her?
Al.
What? While I make myself thy equal; while
I hold myself in readiness to fight
For that which I could wrest from thee, thou dar'st
To a magnanimous challenge make reply
With taunting words?—Thou wilt not be my equal?
Then thou art not so: then to-day, I ought,
As fitting from the greater to the less,
Thy insolence to punish. First by right,
And afterwards by every other means,
If thou compel me to them, have I fix'd
To gain my purpose. On no terms will I
Romilda yield to thee. I loved her first:
The outrage which my right-hand did to her,
My right-hand only can repair once more:
I can avenge her: to her ancient rights,
To all her lost possessions, can restore her;
I can do this; and this thou canst not do,
Nor any one but me.
Rom.
It is most true;
Thou canst add perfidy to perfidy,
47
Wert thou ungrateful only to thy wife,
More than enough e'en that would be to make thee
Detestable to me. I heed not death:
What do I say? far rather would I go
A certain sacrifice to Alaric;
Far rather here remain a slave, exposed
To the dire malice of my cruel step-mother,
Than e'er as my defender suffer thee.
Il.
And I profess to thee, that never thou
Didst a more deep opprobrium cast on me
Than in the attempt to make thyself my equal.
Thou hast not with this foolish love of thine
As yet offended me. Art thou, perchance,
A rival to be fear'd, except, indeed,
The prize disputed be Rosmunda's love?
And she is verily thy counterpart.—
Nor doth thy dark ingratitude inflict
A deeper wound: in this I recognise
In thee a real king.—By hands most vile
Be my head severed from my lifeless trunk
On the dire scaffold; but to single combat
No longer challenge me; in doing this
Thou dost alone offend me. Have I stain'd
My sword, as thou hast, with nocturnal blood,
So that I could, exempted from dishonour,
With thy sword measure it?
Al.
Enough, enough.
Save with thy tongue thou wilt not combat? wilt not
Receive me as thy rival? As thy king
Thou shalt receive me then.—Arrest him, soldiers.
Rom.
Ah! no ...
48
Vile sword, that didst defend a tyrant,
Lie on the earth. My hand, and not another's,
Shall strip me of my arms ...
Rom.
Your leader bound
In fetters! Ah, vile sycophants! ... now hear me;
Suspend ... perhaps I ... Oh horrible state! ... Oh hear me ...
Il.
What art thou doing? Wherefore pray'st thou thus?—
I love thee; and thou lov'st me in return.
What cause have we to fear?
Al.
Without delay
From my sight drag him.
Il.
My sole punishment
Arises from thy presence. Let us go.—
Provided that I never more should see thee,
At once I leave to thee my last farewell,
Beloved Romilda, and the solemn vow
Of love eternal, e'en beyond the tomb.
SCENE THE THIRD.
Romilda, Almachilde.Rom.
Ah! let me fall exhausted at thy side ...
I will pursue him ... Wretch, dost thou prevent me?
At all events ...
Al.
Ah! hinder not, that I,
A little while at least, detain thee here.
Rom.
Oh rage! oh grief! ... Permit me at his side ...
Al.
Hear me.
Rom.
Too much already have I heard thee ...
My lover ...
49
Thou canst not pursue him now; ...
But fear not: I, for liberty and life,
Spite of my wishes, for thyself, perchance,
Preserve him yet. In a dark dungeon he
Shall never be immured; nor shall endure,
I swear, from my hands any misery.
I well remember yet, that by his means
I am alive to-day: he hath sustain'd
Transient coercion. But ... oh Heaven! ... to suffer
Another thus to seize my only good
On earth, thy precious presence ...
Rom.
Yet of love? ...
Ah, why have I not here a sword to free me
From thy unwelcome words!
Al.
Ah! pardon me;
I will not utter more. I hope, in short,
Amply to rescue from this transient wrong
Thy lover, (envied name!) and hope, at once,
Of what I owe him to discharge myself.
Rom.
Dost feign humanity? So much art thou
More in mine eyes an object of abhorrence.
What canst thou give? what debt canst thou repay?
Restore our liberty; and never more
Molest our presence, never; the sole gift
Is this, which thou canst yield to me.
Al.
Oh never
Can I surrender thee to any one:
But, spite of thy consent, I may obtain thee.
Rom.
I think it not: and shall that ever happen
While I've a dagger to defend myself?
To cheat me, or to wrest me from my purpose,
In vain thou hopest. One with Ildovaldo ...
Al.
Of him, of me, and of thyself, the mistress
50
I harbour not. Only prevent not thou
That I exert myself for thee. If I
Already have bereft thee of thy father,
And neither tears nor penitence to thee
Once more can bring him back; I will to-day,
Aught else of which thou hast been robb'd, restore.
Rosmunda is an everlasting blot
To my good fame: in seeing her alone
I feel the incurable and festering wound
Of dire remorse, within my heart become
More insupportable from day to day:
The bed, the throne, the love of such a woman,
(While I am doomed to share them,) render me
More guilty in the eyes of other men,
And in my own more vile. The time is come ...
Rom.
The time for what? ... Speak; speak ... Oh, worthy thou,
Worthy Rosmunda, nay, far worse than she,
Thou wouldst, perchance, at a command of mine
Thyself destroy her? Now, thou miscreant, know,
That most intensely as I do detest her,
I rather would on thee, than her, obtain
Meet retribution. True it is, the death
Of my ill-fated father was, at first,
The project of Rosmunda; but the wretch
Who dared to perpetrate it, who was he?—
Go; for I well perceive, by thy discourse,
That no great stress of words were needful now
To goad thee on to new enormities.
Al.
I have committed one; but, in my mind,
More than one great and expiatory deed
Do I revolve; and it shall be the first
51
Of this unlawful crown, and give it thee,
For it is due to thee; whate'er the risk,
Thy champion, the defender of thy rights
To make myself, beneath thy feet to lay
Prostrate the pride (and be it whom it may)
Of thy oppressor: afterwards, when safe
I shall behold thee on the throne, e'en then
Of all thy vassals to profess myself
The most submissive, the most culpable,
And the most reverential; then to hear
My final sentence from thy lips; to see
(Ah sight of woe!) enthroned, and at thy side
Thy Ildovaldo, my liege sovereign:
And drag, so long as it seems good to thee,
In desolation my opprobrious days,
The laughing-stock of all; and 'mid such woe
Retain no other solace in the world
Than that of seeing thee: a crime not mine,
As far as in me lies, by means like these,
I shall have expiated ...
Rom.
Cease, oh cease.
I do not at thy hands require a throne:
Restore to me my lover, he is mine
More than the throne is mine, and more I prize him.
If thou deny this, thou shalt see me fall
By my own hands.
Al.
Thy lover then shall be
To me the surety of thy life. I swear
I will inflict on him the direst tortures
If thou lay'st violent hands upon thyself.
Take heed: ... With too much fervency e'en now
I hate my rival ... in my breast I bear
52
Fury, to fury too intense already ...
I ask no other boon, than leave to act
An humble instrument in thy behalf;
And at the expense of my eternal woe,
To make thee fortunate in thy allotment.
And what reward do I require? Towards me
Somewhat to mitigate thy fierce aversion,
And somewhat my own infamy. And this,
Whether thou wilt or not, I will perform.
I fly to consummate my purposes.
Ah! perhaps my deeds may be more prevalent
To soften thy aversion than my words.
Meanwhile I yield thee time for meditation ...
My baseness thou alone canst verify,
By persevering to esteem me base.
SCENE THE FOURTH.
Romilda.Rom.
Ah wretched me! ... What evils does he threaten?
To what do hatred and my rage impel me?
He in his fetters holds my love: I will
Save him, whate'er the risk ... Wretch that I am!
I am compell'd to feign with this fell monster ...
Oh Heaven! if he deluded me? I freeze ...
I tremble ... Ildovaldo in the power
Of an offended rival; thou hast not
A sword, with which illustriously to die ...
Nor can I give thee one ... what should I do?
To whom recur for aid? ...
53
SCENE THE FIFTH.
Rosmunda, Romilda.Ros.
Where is the traitor?
With thee erewhile he here held conference: ..
Where has he flown?
Rom.
Now hear ...
Ros.
I have heard all.
In guilty fetters Ildovaldo groans.
Where, where is he, that in my palace thus
Usurps the royal power? Perfidious woman,
He was erewhile with thee ...
Rom.
Ah! do thou hear me.
Yet thou know'st not the whole; his impious views
Thou hast not yet discover'd: to myself
Is ill applied the stigma of perfidious.
But yet deem me perfidious still, if that
In any wise can solace thee; and make
An exhibition cruel as thou canst
Of my devoted person: but only now
From his accursed hands, without delay,
Wrest Ildovaldo; thence ...
Ros.
Thou shalt behold
That I will wrest him quickly.
Rom.
May just Heaven,
If thou dost this, be to thy reign propitious;
And may the calm shade of my murder'd father
No more thy nights disturb; may the new villain
That thou hast foster'd at thy side, alone
Fall victim of his own atrocity!
But if 'twould be a task too difficult
To loose my faithful lover's impious chains,
54
Obtain a sword, by which to free himself
From the fierce rancour of a cruel rival.
And at the same time grant, ere he expire,
That he may learn that I defied all force;
That in myself secure, worthy of him,
I by no hands, except my own, here fell
Transfix'd; and here, invoking his loved name,
Breathed forth my latest sigh.
Ros.
Lov'st thou so well?
And is thy love so fervently return'd?
Oh rage! ... and I ... Be pacified; ere long
Thou shalt behold thy lover disenthrall'd; ...
Go ... and my presence carefully avoid:
Amply on me art thou avenged already;
I am most wretched, and am I compell'd
To make thee happy ... thee?
Rom.
Although thy rage
Alone dispose thee to espouse my cause,
On that account I shall not be less grateful;
Nor will I hide from thee the precipice
Towards which thou art impell'd. Madden'd with love,
The ungrateful Almachilde would at once
From thee thy sceptre and thy freedom wrest,
Perhaps take thy life away: and further dares
To tempt me with the infamous reversion
Of these abominable gifts.
Ros.
'Tis thou,
Thou vile enchantress, that hast thus seduced him.
Rom.
Then murder me; and save, without delay,
My Ildovaldo only ...
Ros.
For thy sake
55
Are thy deserts so great? Thou liest. Oh rage!
And am I doom'd from thy lips to receive
This horrid secret? ... Must I then by thee
Be saved? If to thy vows the heavens be kind,
Go thou so far from me that I no more
Tidings of thee may hear: Oh never, never,
May I behold thee happy ... Hence ... away! ...
Rom.
But ...
Ros.
Didst thou hear me?
SCENE THE SIXTH.
Rosmunda.Ros.
Oh despair! oh death!
And am I then, am I, compell'd to fly
To loose, myself, her lover from his chains?
| Rosamunda | |