Mich. I'll question now, perhaps not then obey. Tell. A man! a man! "Tis Gesler's will that all Bow to that cap. Mich. Were it thy lady's cap, I'd courtesy to it. Sar. Do you mock us, friend? Mich. Not I. I'll bow to Gesler, if you please; The lion thinks as much of cowering. Do you hear me, slave? Mich. Slave! Tell. A man! I'll swear a man! Don't hold me, Verner. Sar. Villain, bow To Gesler's cap! Mich. No! not to Gesler's self. Sar. Seize him. (Soldiers come forward.) Tell. (Rushing forward.) Off, off, you base and hireling pack! Lay not your brutal touch upon the thing God made in his own image. Sar. What! shrink you, cowards? Your duty for you? Tell. Let them stir-I've scattered A flock of wolves did outnumber them Must I do For sport I did it.-Sport!-I scattered them With but a staff, not half so thick as this. (Wrests Sarnem's weapon from him-Sarnem and Soldiers fly.) Men of Altorf, What fear ye! See what things you fear-the show And surfaces of men. Why stand you wondering there? And see bold deeds achieved by others' hands? your thralls to fear? SELECTION XI. DRUID-ELIDURUS-ARVIRAGUS.- -Mason. Druid. Say, thou false one! What doom befits the slave who sells his country? Druid. No! lingering piecemeal death; Elid. That on my soul doth lie some secret grief, The great gods know it is not: ye can never: Elid. What, prince, I will not tell. those means, And I endure them; yet, I think, my patience Will for some space baffle your torturing fury. Druid. Be that best known when our inflicted goads Harrow thy flesh! Arvi. Stranger, ere this be tried, Confess the whole of thy black perfidy; So black, that when I look upon thy youth, Read thy mild eye, and mark thy modest brow, I think, indeed, thou durst not. Elid. Such a crime Indeed I durst not; and would rather be The very wretch thou seest. I'll speak no more. Druid. Brethren, 'tis so. This youth has been deceived. Elid. Yet, one word more. You say, the Romans have invaded Mona. Give me a sword, and twenty honest Britons, Lead then to torture. Arvi. Now on my soul this youth doth move me much. Not by such mode and rule, as Romans use, Elid. Gracious gods! Then there are hopes indeed. Oh, call them instant! Though in my chains, and some way dash them round Arvi. A thousand Britons, And armed! Oh instant blow the sacred trump, Druid. I know what thou wouldst say, might join thee, prince. True, were he free from crime, or had confessed. Elid. Confessed. Ah, think not, I will e'er- Reflect. Either thyself or brother must have wronged us: Elid. Hast thou a brother? no! Else hadst thou spared the word. Though I would prize an hour of freedom now Though I would seize it as the gift of heaven, I yet will spurn the boon, and hug my chains, Druid. Excellent youth! Thy words do speak thy soul, and such a soul, Shall be thine honor's pledge! so will we use him, Elid. I ask no other. Arvi. Thus then, my fellow-soldier, to thy clasp SELECTION XII. RAIMOND-PROCIDA.-Hemans. Raimond. When shall I breathe in freedom, and give scope To those untamable and burning thoughts, And restless aspirations which consume My heart in the land of bondage?-Oh! with you, Ye everlasting images of power, And of infinity! thou blue-rolling deep, And you, ye stars! whose beams are characters With you my soul finds room, and casts aside The weight that doth oppress her. But my thoughts Are wandering far; there should be one to share This awful and majestic solitude. (Procida enters unobserved.) Procida. He is here. Rai. Now, thou mysterious stranger, thou whose glance Doth fix itself on memory, and pursue Thought, like a spirit, haunting its lone hours; Reveal thyself; what art thou? Proc. One, whose life Hath been a troubled stream, and made its way Through rocks and darkness, and a thousand storms, With still a mighty aim.-But now the shades Of eve are gathering round me, and I come Rai. Seekest thou for peace? There is no land of peace; unless that deep And voiceless terror, which doth freeze men's thoughts Back to their source, and mantle its pale mien With a dull hollow semblance of repose, May so be called. He were bold Who now should wear his thoughts upon his brow Beneath Sicilian skies. To wear a foreign yoke. And this it is Proc. It matters not To him who holds the mastery o'er his spirit, To which we cling with most tenacious grasp, Rai. I deemed thee, by the ascendant soul which lived, For aught on earth.-But thou art like the rest. Proc. I would counsel thee. Thou must do that which men-aye valiant men— Where is he, whose heart Lies bare, through all its foldings, to the gaze Rai. Away, dissembler! Life hath its high and its ignoble tasks, By which the serpent wins his spell-bound prey? Proc. (Exultingly.) Why, this is joy! Oppression hath not crushed.-High-hearted youth Rai. My father! what of him? |