University of Virginia Library

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 ...

Al.
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
I wish to see thee: in my bosom, fraud
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
To disencumber my unworthy brows
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
A rage too desperate; do not add, I pray thee,
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.