Count Alarcos; a Tragedy Part 2

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.