Count Alarcos; a Tragedy - novelonlinefull.com
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I:2:16 ALAR.
Joy is sometimes grave, And deepest when 'tis calm. And I am joyful If it be joy, this long forbidden hall Once more to pace, and feel each fearless step Tread on a baffled foe.
I:2:17 COUN.
Hast thou still foes
I:2:18 ALAR.
I trust so; I should not be what I am, Still less what I will be, if hate did not Pursue me as my shadow. Ah! fair wife, Thou knowest not Burgos. Thou hast yet to fathom The depths of thy new world.
I:2:19 COUN.
I do recoil As from some unknown woo, from this same world.
I thought we came for peace.
I:2:20 ALAR.
Peace dwells within No lordly roof in Burgos. We have come For triumph.
I:2:21 COUN.
So I share thy lot, Alarcos, All feelings are the same.
I:2:22 ALAR.
My Florimonde, I took thee from a fair and pleasant home In a soft land, where, like the air they live in, Men's hearts are mild. This proud and fierce Castille Resembles not thy gentle Aquitaine, More than the eagle may a dove, and yet It is my country. Danger in its bounds Weighs more than foreign safety. But why speak Of what exists not?
I:2:23 COUN.
And I hope may never!
I:2:24 ALAR.
And if it come, what then? This chance shall find me Not unprepared.
I:2:25 COUN.
But why should there be danger?
And why should'st thou, the foremost prince of Spain, Fear or make foes? Thou standest in no light Would fall on other shoulders; thou hast no height To climb, and nought to gain. Thou art complete; The King alone above thee, and thy friend.
I:2:26 ALAR.
So I would deem. I did not speak of fear.
I:2:27 COUN.
Of danger?
I:2:28 ALAR.
That's delight, when it may lead To mighty ends. Ah, Florimonde! thou art too pure; Unsoiled in the rough and miry paths Of ibis same trampling world; unskilled in heats Of fierce and emulous spirits. There's a rapture In the strife of factions, that a woman's soul Can never reach. Men smiled on me to-day Would gladly dig my grave; and yet I smiled, And gave them coin as ready as their own, And not less base.
I:2:29 COUN.
And can there be such men, And canst thou live with them?
I:2:30 ALAR.
Ay! and they saw Me ride this morning in my state again; The people cried 'Alarcos and Castille!'
The shout will dull their feasts.
I:2:31 COUN.
There was a time Thou didst look back as on a turbulent dream On this same life.
I:2:32 ALAR.
I was an exile then.
This stirring Burgos has revived my vein.
Yea, as I glanced from off the Citadel This very morn, and at my feet outspread Its amphitheatre of solemn towers And groves of golden pinnacles, and marked Turrets of friends and foes; or traced the range, Spread since my exile, of our city's walls Washed by the swift Arlanzon: all around The flash of lances, blaze of banners, rush Of hurrying hors.e.m.e.n, and the haughty blast Of the soul-stirring trumpet, I renounced My old philosophy, and gazed as gazes The falcon on his quarry!
I:2:33 COUN.
Jesu grant The lure will bear no harm!
[A trumpet sounds.]
I:2:34 ALAR.
Whose note is that?
I hear the tramp of hors.e.m.e.n in the court; We have some guests.
I:2:35 COUN.
Indeed!
[Enter the COUNT OF SIDONIA and the COUNT OF LEON.]
I:2:36 ALAR.
My n.o.ble friends, My Countess greets ye!
I:2:37 SIDO.
And indeed we pay To her our homage.
I:2:38 LEON.
Proud our city boasts So fair a presence.
I:2:39 COUN.
Count Alarcos' friends Are ever welcome here.
I:2:40 ALAR.
No common wife.
Who welcomes with a smile her husband's friends.
I:2:41 SIDO.
Indeed a treasure! When I marry, Count, I'll claim your counsel.
I:2:42 COUN.
'Tis not then your lot?
I:2:43 SIDO.
Not yet, sweet dame; tho' sooth to say, full often I dream such things may be.
I:2:44 COUN.
Your friend is free?
I:2:45 LEON.
And values freedom: with a rosy chain I still should feel a captive.