The Poems of Emma Lazarus Volume II Part 21

Atone, ye mighty! G.o.d is wroth! Expel The enemies of heaven--raze their homes!

[Confused cries from below, which gradually die away in the distance.]

Woe to G.o.d's enemies! Death to the Jews!

They poison all our wells--they bring the plague.

Kill them who killed our Lord! Their homes shall be A wilderness--drown them in their own blood!

[The LANDGRAVE and SCHNETZEN withdraw from the window.]

SCHNETZEN.

Do not the people ask the same as I?

Is not the people's voice the voice of G.o.d?

LANDGRAVE.

I will consider.

SCHNETZEN.

Not too long, my liege.

The moment favors. Later 't were hard to show Due cause to his Imperial Majesty, For slaughtering the va.s.sals of the Crown.

Two mighty friends are theirs. His holiness Clement the Sixth and Kaiser Karl.

LANDGRAVE.

'T were rash Contending with such odds.

SCHNETZEN.

Courage, my lord.

These battle singly against death and fate.

Your allies are the sense and heart o' the world.

Priests warring for their Christ, n.o.bles for gold, And peoples for the very breath of life Spoiled by the poison-mixers. Kaiser Karl Lifts his lone voice unheard, athwart the roar Of such a flood; the papal bull is whirled An unconsidered rag amidst the eddies.

LANDGRAVE.

What credence lend you to the general rumor Of the river poison?

SCHNETZEN.

Such as mine eyes avouch.

I have seen, yea touched the leathern wallet found On the body of one from whom the truth was wrenched By salutary torture. He confessed, Though but a famulus of the master-wizard, The horrible old Moses of Mayence, He had flung such pouches in the Rhine, the Elbe, The Oder, Danube--in a hundred brooks, Until the wholesome air reeked pestilence; 'T was an ell long, filled with a dry, fine dust Of rusty black and red, deftly compounded Of powdered flesh of basilisks, spiders, frogs, And lizards, baked with sacramental dough In Christian blood.

LANDGRAVE.

Such goblin-tales may curdle The veins of priest-rid women, fools, and children.

They are not for the ears of sober men.

SCHNETZEN.

Pardon me, Sire. I am a simple soldier.

My G.o.d, my conscience, and my suzerain, These are my guides--blindfold I follow them.

If your keen royal wit pierce the gross web Of common superst.i.tion--be not wroth At your poor va.s.sal's loyal ignorance.

Remember, too, Susskind retains your bonds.

The old fox will not press you; he would bleed Against the native instinct of the Jew, Rather his last gold doit and so possess Your ease of mind, nag, chafe, and toy with it; Abide his natural death, and other Jews Less devilish-cunning, franklier Hebrew-viced, Will claim redemption of your pledge.

LANDGRAVE.

How know you That Susskind holds my bonds?

SCHNETZEN.

You think the Jews Keep such things secret? Not a Jew but knows Your debt exact--the sum and date of interest, And that you visit Susskind, not for love, But for his shekels.

LANDGRAVE.

Well, the Jews shall die.

This is the will of G.o.d. Whom shall I send To bear my message to the council?

SCHNETZEN.

I Am ever at your 'hest. To-morrow morn Sees me in Nordhausen.

LANDGRAVE.

Come two hours hence.

I will deliver you the letter signed.

Make ready for your ride.

SCHNETZEN (kisses FREDERICK'S hand).

Farewell, my master.

(Aside.) Ah, vengeance cometh late, Susskind von Orb, But yet it comes! My wife was burned through thee, Thou and thy children are consumed by me!

[Exit.]

SCENE II.

A Room in the Wartburg Monastery.

PRINCESS MATHILDIS and

PRIOR PEPPERCORN.

PRIOR.

Be comforted, my daughter. Your lord's wisdom Goes hand in hand with his known piety Thus dealing with your son. To love a Jewess Is flat contempt of Heaven--to ask in marriage, Sheer spiritual suicide. Let be; Justice must take its course.

PRINCESS.

Justice is murdered; Oh slander not her corpse. For my son's fault, A thousand innocents are doomed. Is that G.o.d's justice?