Demetrius (play) Read online

  Even to the very freak that nature played,

  The lost heir's counterpart, and of a soul

  Whose noble stamp keeps rank with his high claims.

  He left a cloister's precincts, urged by strange,

  Mysterious promptings; and this monk-trained boy

  Was straight distinguished for his knightly feats.

  He shows a trinket which the Czarowitsch

  Once wore, and one that never left his side;

  A written witness, too, by pious hands,

  Gives us assurance of his princely birth;

  And, stronger still, from his unvarnished speech

  And open brow truth makes his best appeal.

  Such traits as these deceit doth never don;

  It masks its subtle soul in vaunting words,

  And in the high-glossed ornaments of speech.

  No longer, then, can I withhold the title

  Which he with circumstance and justice claims

  And, in the exercise of my old right,

  I now, as primate, give him the first voice.

  ARCHBISHOP OF LEMBERG.

  My voice goes with the primate's.

  SEVERAL VOICES.

  So does mine.

  SEVERAL PALATINES.

  And mine!

  ODOWALSKY.

  And mine.

  DEPUTIES.

  And all!

  SAPIEHA.

  My gracious sirs!

  Weigh well ere you decide! Be not so hasty!

  It is not meet the council of the realm

  Be hurried on to--

  ODOWALSKY.

  There is nothing here

  For us to weigh; all has been fully weighed.

  The proofs demonstrate incontestably.

  This is not Moscow, sirs! No despot here

  Keeps our free souls in manacles. Here truth

  May walk by day or night with brow erect.

  I will not think, my lords, in Cracow here,

  Here in the very Diet of the Poles,

  That Moscow's Czar should have obsequious slaves.

  DEMETRIUS.

  Oh, take my thanks, ye reverend senators!

  That ye have lent your credence to these proofs;

  And if I be indeed the man whom I

  Protest myself, oh, then, endure not this

  Audacious robber should usurp my seat,

  Or longer desecrate that sceptre which

  To me, as the true Czarowitsch, belongs.

  Yes, justice lies with me,-you have the power.

  'Tis the most dear concern of every state

  And throne, that right should everywhere prevail,

  And all men in the world possess their own.

  For there, where justice holds uncumbered sway,

  There each enjoys his heritage secure,

  And over every house and every throne

  Law, truth, and order keep their angel watch.

  It is the key-stone of the world's wide arch,

  The one sustaining and sustained by all,

  Which, if it fail, brings all in ruin down.

  (Answers of SENATORS giving assent to DEMETRIUS.)

  DEMETRIUS.

  Oh, look on me, renowned Sigismund!

  Great king, on thine own bosom turn thine eyes.

  And in my destiny behold thine own.

  Thou, too, hast known the rude assaults of fate;

  Within a prison camest thou to the world;

  Thy earliest glances fell on dungeon walls.

  Thou, too, hadst need of friends to set thee free,

  And raise thee from a prison to a throne.

  These didst thou find. That noble kindness thou

  Didst reap from them, oh, testify to me.

  And you, ye grave and honored councillors,

  Most reverend bishops, pillars of the church,

  Ye palatines and castellans of fame,

  The moment has arrived, by one high deed,

  To reconcile two nations long estranged.

  Yours be the glorious boast, that Poland's power

  Hath given the Muscovites their Czar, and in

  The neighbor who oppressed you as a foe

  Secure an ever-grateful friend. And you,

  The deputies of the august republic,

  Saddle your steeds of fire! Leap to your seats!

  To you expand high fortune's golden gates;

  I will divide the foeman's spoil with you.

  Moscow is rich in plunder; measureless

  In gold and gems, the treasures of the Czar;

  I can give royal guerdons to my friends,

  And I will give them, too. When I, as Czar,

  Set foot within the Kremlin, then, I swear,

  The poorest of you all, that follows me,

  Shall robe himself in velvet and in sables;

  With costly pearls his housings shall he deck,

  And silver be the metal of least worth,

  That he shall shoe his horses' hoofs withal.

  [Great commotion among the DEPUTIES. KORELA, Hetman

  of the Cossacks, declares himself ready to put himself

  at the head of an army.

  ODOWALSKY.

  How! shall we leave the Cossack to despoil us

  At once of glory and of booty both?

  We've made a truce with Tartar and with Turk,

  And from the Swedish power have naught to fear.

  Our martial spirit has been wasting long

  In slothful peace; our swords are red with rust.

  Up! and invade the kingdom of the Czar,

  And win a grateful and true-hearted friend,

  Whilst we augment our country's might and glory.

  MANY DEPUTIES.

  War! War with Moscow!

  OTHERS.

  Be it so resolved!

  On to the votes at once!

  SAPIEHA (rises).

  Grand marshal, please

  To order silence! I desire to speak.

  A CROWD OF VOICES.

  War! War with Moscow!

  SAPIEHA.

  Nay, I will be heard.

  Ho, marshal, do your duty!

  [Great tumult within and outside the hall.

  GRAND MARSHAL.

  'Tis, you see,

  Quite fruitless.

  SAPIEHA.

  What? The marshal's self suborned?

  Is this our Diet, then, no longer free?

  Throw down your staff, and bid this brawling cease;

  I charge you, on your office, to obey!

  [The GRAND MARSHAL casts his baton into the centre

  of the hall; the tumult abates.

  What whirling thoughts, what mad resolves are these?

  Stand we not now at peace with Moscow's Czar?

  Myself, as your imperial envoy, made

  A treaty to endure for twenty years;

  I raised this right hand, that you see, aloft

  In solemn pledge, within the Kremlin's walls;

  And fairly hath the Czar maintained his word.

  What is sworn faith? what compacts, treaties, when

  A solemn Diet tramples on them all?

  DEMETRIUS.

  Prince Leo Sapieha! You concluded

  A bond of peace, you say, with Moscow's Czar?

  That did you not; for I, I am that Czar.

  In me is Moscow's majesty; I am

  The son of Ivan, and his rightful heir.

  Would the Poles treat with Russia for a peace,

  Then must they treat with me! Your compact's null,

  As being made with one whose's title's null.

  ODOWALSKY.

  What reck we of your treaty? So we willed

  When it was made-our wills are changed to-day.

  SAPIEHA.

  Is it, then, come to this? If none beside

  Will stand for justice, then, at least, will I.

  I'll rend the woof of cunning into shreds,

  And lay its falsehoods o
pen to the day.

  Most reverend primate! art thou, canst thou be

  So simple-souled, or canst thou so dissemble?

  Are ye so credulous, my lords? My liege,

  Art thou so weak? Ye know not-will not know,

  Ye are the puppets of the wily Waywode

  Of Sendomir, who reared this spurious Czar,

  Whose measureless ambition, while we speak,

  Clutches in thought the spoils of Moscow's wealth.

  Is't left for me to tell you that even now

  The league is made and sworn betwixt the twain,-

  The pledge the Waywode's youngest daughter's hand?

  And shall our great republic blindly rush

  Into the perils of an unjust war,

  To aggrandize the Waywode, and to crown

  His daughter as the empress of the Czar?

  There's not a man he has not bribed and bought.

  He means to rule the Diet, well I know;

  I see his faction rampant in this hall,

  And, as 'twere not enough that he controlled

  The Seym Walmy by a majority,

  He's girt the Diet with three thousand horse,

  And all Cracow is swarming like a hive

  With his sworn feudal vassals. Even now

  They throng the halls and chambers where we sit,

  To hold our liberty of speech in awe.

  Yet stirs no fear in my undaunted heart;

  And while the blood keeps current in my veins,

  I will maintain the freedom of my voice!

  Let those who think like men come stand by me

  Whilst I have life shall no resolve be passed

  That is at war with justice and with reason.

  'Twas I that ratified the peace with Moscow,

  And I will hazard life to see it kept.

  ODOWALSKY.

  Give him no further hearing! Take the votes!

  [The BISHOP OF CRACOW and WILNA rise, and descend

  each to his own side, to collect the votes.

  MANY.

  War, war with Moscow!

  ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN (to SAPIEHA).

  Noble sir, give way!

  You see the mass are hostile to your views;

  Then do not force a profitless division!

  IMPERIAL HIGH CHANCELLOR (descends from the throne to SAPIEHA).

  The king entreats you will not press the point,

  Sir Waywode, to division in the Diet.

  DOORKEEPER (aside to ODOWALSKY).

  Keep a bold front, and fearless-summon those

  That wait without. All Cracow stands by you.

  IMPERIAL GRAND MARSHAL (to SAPIEHA).

  Such excellent decrees have passed before;

  Oh, cease, and for their sake, so fraught with good,

  Unite your voice with the majority!

  BISHOP OF CRACOW (has collected the votes on his side).

  On this right bench are all unanimous.

  SAPIEHA.

  And let them to a man! Yet I say no!

  I urge my veto-I break up the Diet.

  Stay further progress! Null and void fire all

  The resolutions passed--

  [General commotion; the KING descends from the throne,

  the barriers are broken down, and there arises a tumultuous

  uproar. DEPUTIES draw their swords, and threaten SAPIEHA

  with them. The BISHOPS interpose, and protect him with

  their stoles.

  Majority?

  What is it? The majority is madness;

  Reason has still ranked only with the few.

  What cares he for the general weal that's poor?

  Has the lean beggar choice, or liberty?

  To the great lords of earth, that hold the purse,

  He must for bread and raiment sell his voice.

  'Twere meet that voices should be weighed, not counted.

  Sooner or later must the state be wrecked,

  Where numbers sway and ignorance decides.

  ODOWALSKY.

  Hark to the traitor!--

  DEPUTIES.

  Hew him into shreds!

  Down with him!

  ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN (snatches the crucifix out of his chaplain's hand

  and interposes).

  Peace, peace

  Shall native blood be in the Diet shed?

  Prince Sapieha! be advised!

  [To the BISHOPS.

  Bring him away,

  And interpose your bosoms as his shield!

  Through this side door remove him quietly,

  Or the wild mob will tear him limb from limb!

  [SAPIEHA, still casting looks of defiance, is forced

  away by the BISHOPS, whilst the ARCHBISHOPS OF GNESEN

  and LEMBERG keep the DEPUTIES at bay. Amidst violent

  tumult and clashing of arms, the hall is emptied of all

  but DEMETRIUS, MEISCHEK, ODOWALSKY, and the Hetman of

  the Cossacks.

  ODOWALSKY.

  That point miscarried,-

  Yet shall you not lack aid because of this:

  If the republic holds the peace with Moscow,

  At our own charges we shall push your claims.

  KORELA.

  Who ever could have dreamed, that he alone

  Would hold his ground against the assembled Diet?

  MEISCHEK.

  The king! the king!

  [Enter KING SIGISMUND, attended by the LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR,

  the GRAND MARSHAL, and several BISHOPS.

  KING.

  Let me embrace you, prince!

  At length the high republic does you justice;

  My heart has done so long, and many a day.

  Your fate doth move me deeply, as, indeed,

  What monarch's heart but must be moved by it?

  DEMETRIUS.

  The past, with all its sorrows, is forgot;

  Here on your breast I feel new life begin.

  KING.

  I love not many words; yet what a king

  May offer, who has vassals richer far

  Than his poor self, that do I offer you.

  You have been witness of an untoward scene,

  But deem not ill of Poland's realm because

  A tempest jars the vessel of the state.

  MEISCHEK.

  When winds are wild the steersman backs his helm,

  And makes for port with all the speed he may.

  KING.

  The Diet is dissolved. Although I wished,

  I could not break the treaty with the Czar.

  But you have powerful friends; and if the Pole,

  At his own risk, take arms on your behalf,

  Or if the Cossack choose to venture war,

  They are free men, I cannot say them nay.

  MEISCHEK.

  The whole Rocoss is under arms already.

  Please it but you, my liege, the angry stream

  That raved against your sovereignty may turn

  Its wrath on Moscow, leaving you unscathed.

  KING.

  The best of weapons Russia's self will give thee;

  Thy surest buckler is the people's heart.

  By Russia only Russia will be vanquished.

  Even as the Diet heard thee speak to-day,

  Speak thou at Moscow to thy subjects, prince.

  So chain their hearts, and thou wilt be their king.

  In Sweden I by right of birth ascended

  The throne of my inheritance in peace;

  Yet did I lose the kingdom of my sires

  Because my people's hearts were not with me.

  Enter MARINA.

  MEISCHEK.

  My gracious liege, here, kneeling at your feet,

  Behold Marina, youngest of my daughters;

  The prince of Moscow offers her his heart.

  Thou art the stay and pillar of our house,

  And only from thy royal hand 'tis meet

 
That she receive her spouse and sovereign.

  [MARINA kneels to the KING.

  KING.

  Well, if you wish it, cousin, gladly I

  Will do the father's office to the Czar.

  [To DEMETRIUS, giving him MARINA'S hand.

  Thus do I bring you, in this lovely pledge,

  High fortune's blooming goddess; and may these

  Old eyes be spared to see this gracious pair

  Sit in imperial state on Moscow's throne.

  MARINA.

  My liege, I humbly thank your grace, and shall

  Esteem me still your slave where'er I be.

  KING.

  Rise up, Czaritza! This is not a place

  For you, the plighted bridesmaid of the Czar;

  For you, the daughter of my foremost Waywode.

  You are the youngest of your sisters; yet

  Your spirit wings a high and glorious course,

  And nobly grasps the top of sovereignty.

  DEMETRIUS.

  Be thou, great monarch, witness of my oath,

  As, prince to prince, I pledge it here to you!

  This noble lady's hand I do accept

  As fortune's dearest pledge, and swear that, soon

  As on my father's throne I take my seat,

  I'll lead her home in triumph as my bride,

  With all the state that fits a mighty queen.

  And, for a dowry, to my bride I give

  The principalities Pleskow and Great Neugart,