Count Julian Part 5

COV. I attend Ever most humbly and most gratefully My too kind sovereign, cousin now no more; Could I perform but half the services I owe her, I were happy for a time; Or dared I show her half my love, 'twere bliss.

EGI. Oh! I sink under gentleness like thine.

Thy sight is death to me; and yet 'tis dear.

The gaudy trappings of a.s.sumptive state Drop at the voice of nature to the earth, Before thy feet--I cannot force myself To hate thee, to renounce thee; yet--Covilla!

Yet--oh distracting thought! 'tis hard to see, Hard to converse with, to admire, to love - As from my soul I do, and must do, thee - One who hath robbed me of all pride and joy, All dignity, all fondness. I adored Roderigo--he was brave, and in discourse Most voluble; the ma.s.ses of his mind Were vast, but varied; now absorbed in gloom, Majestic, not austere; now their extent Opening, and waving in bright levity -

JUL. Depart, my daughter--'twere as well to bear His presence as his praise--go--she will dream This phantasm out, nor notice thee depart.

[COVILLA goes.

EGI. What pliancy! what tenderness! what life!

Oh for the smiles of those who smile so seldom, The love of those who know no other love!

Such he was, Egilona, who was thine.

JUL. While he was worthy of the realm and thee.

EGI. Can it be true, then, Julian, that thy aim Is sovereignty? not virtue, nor revenge?

JUL. I swear to Heaven, nor I nor child of mine Ever shall mount to this polluted throne.

EGI. Then am I still a queen. The savage Moor Who could not conquer Ceuta from thy sword, In his own country, not with every wile Of his whole race, not with his myriad crests Of cavalry, seen from the Calpian heights Like locusts on the parched and gleamy coast, Will never conquer Spain.

JUL. Spain then was conquered When fell her laws before time traitor king.

SECOND ACT: FOURTH SCENE.

Officer announces OPAS.

O queen, the metropolitan attends On matters of high import to the state, And wishes to confer in privacy.

EGI. [to JULIAN.] Adieu then; and whate'er betide the country, Sustain at least the honours of our house.

[JULIAN goes before OPAS enters.

OPAS. I cannot but commend, O Egilona, Such resignation and such dignity.

Indeed he is unworthy; yet a queen Rather to look for peace, and live remote From cities, and from courts, and from her lord, I hardly could expect in one so young, So early, widely, wondrously admired.

EGI. I am resolved: religious men, good Opas, In this resemble the vain libertine; They find in woman no consistency, No virtue but devotion, such as comes To infancy or age, or fear or love, Seeking a place of rest, and finding none Until it soar to heaven.

OPAS. A spring of mind That rises when all pressure is removed, Firmness in pious and in chaste resolves, But weakness in much fondness; these, O queen, I did expect, I own.

EGI. The better part Be mine; the worst hath been--and is no more.

OPAS. But if Roderigo have at length prevailed That Egilona willingly resigns All claim to royalty, and casts away, Indifferent or estranged, the marriage-bond His perjury tore asunder, still the church Hardly can sanction his new nuptial rites.

EGI. What art thou saying! what new nuptial rites?

OPAS. Thou knowest not?

EGI. Am I a wife; a queen?

Abandon it! my claim to royalty!

Whose hand was on my head when I arose Queen of this land? whose benediction sealed My marriage vow? who broke it? was it I?

And wouldst thou, virtuous Opas, wouldst thou dim The glorious light of thy declining days?

Wouldst thou administer the sacred vows, And sanction them, and bless them, for another, And bid her live in peace while I am living?

Go then; I execrate and banish him For ever from my sight: we were not born For happiness together; none on earth Were even so dissimilar as we.

He is not worth a tear, a wish, a thought - Never was I deceived in him--I found No tenderness, no fondness, from the first: A love of power, a love of perfidy, Such is the love that is returned for mine.

Ungrateful man! 'twas not the pageantry Of regal state, the clarions, nor the guard, Nor loyal valour, nor submissive beauty, Silence at my approach, awe at my voice, Happiness at my smile, that led my youth Toward Roderigo! I had lived obscure, In humbleness, in poverty, in want, Blest, oh supremely blest! with him alone: And he abandons me, rejects me, scorns me, Insensible! inhuman! for another!

Thou shalt repent thy wretched choice, false man!

Crimes such as thine call loudly for perdition; Heaven will inflict it, and not I--but I Neither will fall alone, nor live despised.

[A trumpet sounds.

OPAS. Peace, Egilona, he arrives; compose Thy turbid thoughts, meet him with dignity.

EGI. He! in the camp of Julian! trust me, sir, He comes not hither, dares no longer use The signs of state, and flies from every foe.

[Retires some distance.

SECOND ACT: FIFTH SCENE.

Enter MUZA and ABDALAZIS.

MUZA [to ABDALAZIS.] I saw him but an instant, and disguised, Yet this is not the traitor; on his brow Observe the calm of wisdom and of years.

OPAS. Whom seekest thou?

MUZA. Him who was king I seek.

He came arrayed as herald to this tent.

ABD. Thy daughter! was she nigh? perhaps for her Was this disguise.

MUZA. Here, Abdalazis, kings Disguise from other causes; they obtain Beauty by violence, and power by fraud.

Treason was his intent: we must admit Whoever come; our numbers are too small For question or selection, and the blood Of Spaniards shall win Spain for us to-day.

ABD. The wicked cannot move from underneath Thy ruling eye.

MUZA. Right! Julian and Roderigo Are leagued against us, on these terms alone, That Julian's daughter weds the Christian king.

EGI. [rus.h.i.+ng forward.] 'Tis true--and I proclaim it -

ABD. Heaven and earth!

Was it not thou, most lovely, most high-souled, Who wishedst us success, and me a crown?

[OPAS goes abruptly.

EGI. I give it--I am Egilona, queen Of that detested man.