Don Carlos

   Yes, Alva, you are right! All this may lead   To something dreadful – leave me for a moment —ALVA   But, gracious sire, all this is not enough —KING (snatching up the papers)   Nor this, nor this? – nor all the harmony   Of these most damning proofs? 'Tis clear as day —   I knew it long ago – their heinous guilt   Began when first I took her from your hands,   Here in Madrid. I think I see her now,   With look of horror, pale as midnight ghost,   Fixing her eyes upon my hoary hair!   'Twas then the treacherous game began!ALVA                       The prince,   In welcoming a mother – lost his bride!   Long had they nursed a mutual passion, long   Each other's ardent feelings understood,   Which her new state forbade her to indulge.   The fear which still attends love's first avowal   Was long subdued. Seduction, bolder grown,   Spoke in those forms of easy confidence   Which recollections of the past allowed.   Allied by harmony of souls and years,   And now by similar restraints provoked,   They readily obeyed their wild desires.   Reasons of state opposed their early union —   But can it, sire, be thought she ever gave   To the state council such authority?   That she subdued the passion of her soul   To scrutinize with more attentive eye   The election of the cabinet. Her heart   Was bent on love, and won a diadem.KING (offended, and with bitterness)   You are a nice observer, duke, and I   Admire your eloquence. I thank you truly.

[Rising coldly and haughtily.

   But you are right. The queen has deeply erred   In keeping from me letters of such import,   And in concealing the intrusive visit   The prince paid in the garden: – from a false   Mistaken honor she has deeply erred   And I shall question further.

[Ringing the bell.

                   Who waits now   Within the antechamber? You, Duke Alva,   I need no longer. Go.ALVA               And has my zeal   A second time displeased your majesty?KING (to a page who enters)   Summon Domingo. Duke, I pardon you   For having made me tremble for a moment,   With secret apprehension, lest yourself   Might fall a victim to a foul misdeed.

[Exit ALVA.

SCENE IV

The KING, DOMINGO.

KING walks up and down the room to collect his thoughts.

DOMINGO (after contemplating the KING for some time with a respectful silence)   How joyfully surprised I am to find   Your majesty so tranquil and collected.KING   Surprised!DOMINGO         And heaven be thanked my fears were groundless!   Now may I hope the best.KING                Your fears! What feared you?DOMINGO   I dare not hide it from your majesty   That I had learned a secret —KING (gloomily)                   And have I   Expressed a wish to share your secret with you?   Who ventures to anticipate me thus?   Too forward, by mine honor!DOMINGO                  Gracious monarch!   The place, the occasion, seal of secrecy   'Neath which I learned it – free me from this charge.   It was intrusted to me at the seat   Of penitence – intrusted as a crime   That deeply weighed upon the tender soul   Of the fair sinner who confessed her guilt,   And sought the pardon of offended heaven.   Too late the princess weeps a foul misdeed   That may involve the queen herself in ruin.KING   Indeed! Kind soul! You have correctly guessed   The occasion of your summons. You must guide me   Through this dark labyrinth wherein blind zeal   Has tangled me. From you I hope for truth.   Be candid with me; what must I believe,   And what determine? From your sacred office   I look for strictest truth.DOMINGO                  And if, my liege,   The mildness ever incident to this   My holy calling, did not such restraint   Impose upon me, still I would entreat   Your majesty, for your own peace of mind,   To urge no further this discovery,   And cease forever to pursue a secret   Which never can be happily explained.   All that is yet discovered may be pardoned.   Let the king say the word – and then the queen   Has never sinned. The monarch's will bestows   Virtue and fortune, both with equal ease.   And the king's undisturbed tranquillity   Is, in itself, sufficient to destroy   The rumors set on foot by calumny.KING   What! Rumors! and of me! among my subjects!DOMINGO   All falsehood, sire! Naught but the vilest falsehood!   I'll swear 'tis false! Yet what's believed by all,   Groundless and unconfirmed although it be,   Works its effect, as sure as truth itself.KING   Not in this case, by heaven!DOMINGO                  A virtuous name   Is, after all, my liege, the only prize   Which queens and peasants' wives contest together.KING   For which I surely have no need to tremble.      [He looks doubtingly at DOMINGO. After a pause.   Priest, thou hast something fearful to impart.   Delay it not. I read it plainly stamped   In thy ill-boding looks. Then out with it,   Whate'er it be. Let me no longer tremble   Upon the rack. What do the people say?DOMINGO   The people, sire, are liable to err,   Nay err assuredly. What people think   Should not alarm the king. Yet that they should   Presume so far as to indulge such thoughts —KING   Why must I beg this poisonous draught so long?DOMINGO   The people often muse upon that month   Which brought your majesty so near the grave,   From that time, thirty weeks had scarce elapsed,   Before the queen's delivery was announced.

[The KING rises and rings the bell. DUKE ALVA enters. DOMINGO alarmed.

   I am amazed, your majesty!KING (going towards ALVA)                 Toledo!   You are a man – defend me from this priest!DOMINGO (he and DUKE ALVA exchange embarrassed looks. After a pause)   Could we have but foreseen that this occurrence   Would be avenged upon its mere relater.KING   Said you a bastard? I had scarce, you say,   Escaped the pangs of death when first she felt   She should, in nature's time, become a mother.   Explain how this occurred! 'Twas then, if I   Remember right, that you, in every church,   Ordered devotions to St. Dominick,   For the especial wonder he vouchsafed.   On one side or the other, then, you lie!   What would you have me credit? Oh, I see   Full plainly through you now! If this dark plot   Had then been ripe your saint had lost his fame.ALVA   This plot?KING         How can you with a harmony   So unexampled in your very thoughts   Concur, and not have first conspired together?   Would you persuade me thus? Think you that I   Perceived not with what eagerness you pounced   Upon your prey? With what delight you fed   Upon my pain, – my agony of grief?   Full well I marked the ardent, burning zeal   With which the duke forestalled the mark of grace   I destined for my son. And how this priest   Presumed to fortify his petty spleen   With my wrath's giant arm! I am, forsooth,   A bow which each of you may bend at pleasure   But I have yet a will. And if I needs   Must doubt – perhaps I may begin with you.ALVA   Reward like this our truth did ne'er expect.KING   Your truth! Truth warns of apprehended danger.   'Tis malice that speaks only of the past.   What can I gain by your officiousness?   Should your suspicion ripen to full truth,   What follows but the pangs of separation,   The melancholy triumphs of revenge?   But no: you only fear – you feed me with   Conjectures vague. To hell's profound abyss   You lead me on, then flee yourself away.DOMINGO   What other proofs than these are possible,   When our own eyes can scarcely trust themselves?KING (after a long pause, turning earnestly and solemnly      towards DOMINGO).   The grandees of the realm shall be convened,   And I will sit in judgment. Then step forth   In front of all, if you have courage for it,   And charge her as a strumpet. She shall die —   Die without mercy – and the prince, too, with her!   But mark me well: if she but clear herself   That doom shall fall on you. Now, dare you show   Honor to truth by such a sacrifice?   Determine. No, you dare not. You are silent.   Such is the zeal of liars!ALVA (who has stood at a distance, answers coldly and calmly)                 I will do it.KING (turns round with astonishment and looks at the DUKE for a long time without moving)   That's boldly said! But thou hast risked thy life   In stubborn conflicts for far less a prize.   Has risked it with a gamester's recklessness —   For honor's empty bubble. What is life   To thee? I'll not expose the royal blood   To such a madman's power, whose highest hope   Must be to yield his wretched being up   With some renown. I spurn your offer. Go;   And wait my orders in the audience chamber.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V

The KING alone.

   Now give me, gracious Providence! a man.   Thou'st given me much already. Now vouchsafe me   A man! for thou alone canst grant the boon.   Thine eye doth penetrate all hidden things   Oh! give me but a friend: for I am not   Omniscient like to thee. The ministers   Whom thou hast chosen for me thou dost know —   And their deserts: and as their merits claim,   I value them. Their subjugated vices,   Coerced by rein severe, serve all my ends,   As thy storms purify this nether world.   I thirst for truth. To reach its tranquil spring,   Through the dark heaps of thick surrounding error,   Is not the lot of kings. Give me the man,   So rarely found, of pure and open heart,   Of judgment clear, and eye unprejudiced,   To aid me in the search. I cast the lots.   And may I find that man, among the thousands   Who flutter in the sunshine of a court.

[He opens an escritoire and takes out a portfolio.

      After turning over the leaves a long time.   Nothing but names, mere names are here: – no note   E'en of the services to which they owe   Their place upon the roll! Oh, what can be   Of shorter memory than gratitude!   Here, in this other list, I read each fault   Most accurately marked. That is not well!   Can vengeance stand in need of such a help?

[He reads further.

   Count Egmont! What doth he here? Long ago   The victory of St. Quentin is forgotten.   I place him with the dead.

[He effaces this name and writes it on the other roll after he has read further.

                 The Marquis Posa!   The Marquis Posa! I can scarce recall   This person to mind. And doubly marked!   A proof I destined him for some great purpose.   How is it possible? This man, till now,   Has ever shunned my presence – still has fled   His royal debtor's eye? The only man,   By heaven, within the compass of my realm,   Who does not court my favor. Did he burn   With avarice, or ambition, long ago   He had appeared before my throne. I'll try   This wondrous man. He who can thus dispense   With royalty will doubtless speak the truth.

SCENE VI

The Audience Chamber.

DON CARLOS in conversation with the PRINCE of PARMA. DUKES ALVA, FERIA, and MEDINA SIDONIA, COUNT LERMA, and other GRANDEES, with papers in their hands, awaiting the KING.

MEDINA SIDONIA (seems to be shunned by all the GRANDEES, turns towards DUKE ALVA, who, alone and absorbed in himself, walks up and down)   Duke, you have had an audience of the king?   How did you find him minded?ALVA                  Somewhat ill   For you, and for the news you bring.MEDINA SIDONIA                      My heart   Was lighter 'mid the roar of English cannon   Than here on Spanish ground.

[CARLOS, who had regarded him with silent sympathy, now approaches him and presses his hand.

                  My warmest thanks,   Prince, for this generous tear. You may perceive   How all avoid me. Now my fate is sealed.CARLOS   Still hope the best both from my father's favor,   And your own innocence.MEDINA SIDONIA                Prince, I have lost   A fleet more mighty than e'er ploughed the waves.   And what is such a head as mine to set   'Gainst seventy sunken galleons? And therewith   Five hopeful sons! Alas! that breaks my heart.

SCENE VII

The KING enters from his chamber, attired. The former all uncover and make room on both sides, while they form a semicircle round him. Silence.

KING (rapidly surveying the whole circle)   Be covered, all.

[DON CARLOS and the PRINCE of PARMA approach first and kiss the KING's hand: he turns with friendly mien to the latter, taking no notice of his son.

            Your mother, nephew, fain   Would be informed what favor you have won   Here in Madrid.PARMA            That question let her ask   When I have fought my maiden battle, sire.KING   Be satisfied; your turn will come at last,   When these old props decay.

[To the DUKE OF FERIA.

                  What brings you here?FERIA (kneeling to the KING)   The master, sire, of Calatrava's order   This morning died. I here return his cross.KING (takes the order and looks round the whole circle)   And who is worthiest after him to wear it?

[He beckons to DUKE ALVA, who approaches and bends on one knee. The KING hangs the order on his neck.

   You are my ablest general! Ne'er aspire   To more, and, duke, my favors shall not fail you.

[He perceives the DUKE of MEDINA SIDONIA.

   My admiral!MEDINA SIDONIA          And here you see, great king,   All that remains of the Armada's might,   And of the flower of Spain.KING (after a pause)                  God rules above us!   I sent you to contend with men, and not   With rocks and storms. You're welcome to Madrid.

[Extending his hand to him to kiss.

   I thank you for preserving in yourself   A faithful servant to me. For as such   I value him, my lords; and 'tis my will   That you should honor him.

[He motions him to rise and cover himself, then turns to the others.

                  What more remains?

[To DON CARLOS and the PRINCE OF PARMA.

   Princes, I thank you.

[They retire; the other GRANDEES approach, and kneeling, hand their papers to the KING. He looks over them rapidly, and hands them to DUKE ALVA.

               Duke, let these be laid   Before me in the council. Who waits further?

[No one answers.

   How comes it that amidst my train of nobles   The Marquis Posa ne'er appears? I know   This Marquis Posa served me with distinction.   Does he still live? Why is he not among you?LERMA   The chevalier is just returned from travel,   Completed through all Europe. He is now   Here in Madrid, and waits a public day   To cast himself before his sovereign's feet.ALVA   The Marquis Posa? Right, he is the same   Bold Knight of Malta, sire, of whom renown   Proclaims this gallant deed. Upon a summons   Of the Grand Master, all the valiant knights   Assembled in their island, at that time   Besieged by Soliman. This noble youth,   Scarce numbering eighteen summers, straightway fled   From Alcala, where he pursued his studies,   And suddenly arrived at La Valette.   "This Cross," he said, "was bought for me; and now   To prove I'm worthy of it." He was one   Of forty knights who held St. Elmo's Castle,   At midday, 'gainst Piali, Ulucciali,   And Mustapha, and Hassem; the assault   Being thrice repeated. When the castle fell,   And all the valiant knights were killed around him,   He plunged into the ocean, and alone   Reached La Valette in safety. Two months after   The foe deserts the island, and the knight   Returned to end his interrupted studies.FERIA   It was the Marquis Posa, too, who crushed   The dread conspiracy in Catalonia;   And by his marked activity preserved   That powerful province to the Spanish crown.KING   I am amazed! What sort of man is this   Who can deserve so highly, yet awake   No pang of envy in the breasts of three   Who speak his praise? The character he owns   Must be of noble stamp indeed, or else   A very blank. I'm curious to behold   This wondrous man.

[To DUKE ALVA.

             Conduct him to the council   When mass is over.

[Exit DUKE. The KING calls FERIA.

             And do you preside   Here in my place.

[Exit.

FERIA             The king is kind to-day.MEDIA SIDONIA   Call him a god! So he has proved to me!FERIA   You well deserve your fortune, admiral!   You have my warmest wishes.ONE OF THE GRANDEES                  Sir, and mine.A SECOND   And also mine.A THIRD           My heart exults with joy —   So excellent a general!THE FIRST                The king   Showed you no kindness, 'twas your strict desert.LERMA (to MEDINA SIDONIA, taking leave)   Oh, how two little words have made your fortune![Exeunt all

SCENE VIII

The KING's Cabinet.

MARQUIS POSA and DUKE ALVA.

MARQUIS (as he enters)   Does he want me? What me? Impossible!   You must mistake the name. What can he want   With me?ALVA        To know you.MARQUIS               Curiosity!   No more; I regret the precious minutes   That I must lose: time passes swiftly by.ALVA   I now commend you to your lucky stars.   The king is in your hands. Employ this moment   To your own best advantage; for, remember,   If it is lost, you are alone to blame.

SCENE IX

The MARQUIS alone.

MARQUIS   Duke, 'tis well spoken! Turn to good account   The moment which presents itself but once!   Truly this courtier reads a useful lesson   If not in his sense good, at least in mine.      [Walks a few steps backwards and forwards.   How came I here? Is it caprice or chance   That shows me now my image in this mirror?   Why, out of millions, should it picture me —   The most unlikely – and present my form   To the king's memory? Was this but chance?   Perhaps 'twas something more! – what else is chance   But the rude stone which from the sculptor's hand   Receives its life? Chance comes from Providence,   And man must mould it to his own designs.   What the king wants with me but little matters;   I know the business I shall have with him.   Were but one spark of truth with boldness flung   Into the despot's soul, how fruitful 'twere   In the kind hand of Providence; and so   What first appeared capricious act of chance,   May be designed for some momentous end.   Whate'er it be, I'll act on this belief.

[He takes a few turns in the room, and stands at last in tranquil contemplation before a painting. The KING appears in the neighboring room, where he gives some orders. He then enters and stands motionless at the door, and contemplates the MARQUIS for some time without being observed.

SCENE X

The KING, and MARQUIS POSA.

The MARQUIS, as soon as he observes the KING, comes forward and sinks on one knee; then rises and remains standing before him without any sign of confusion.

KING (looks at him with surprise)   We've met before then?MARQUIS               No.KING                  You did my crown   Some service? Why then do you shun my thanks?   My memory is thronged with suitor's claims.   One only is omniscient. 'Twas your duty   To seek your monarch's eye! Why did you not?MARQUIS   Two days have scarce elapsed since my return   From foreign travel, sire.KING                 I would not stand   Indebted to a subject; ask some favor —MARQUIS   I enjoy the laws.KING             So does the murderer!MARQUIS   Then how much more the honest citizen!   My lot contents me, sire.KING (aside)                 By heavens! a proud   And dauntless mind! That was to be expected.   Proud I would have my Spaniards. Better far   The cup should overflow than not be full.   They say you've left my service?MARQUIS                     To make way   For some one worthier, I withdrew.KING   'Tis pity. When spirits such as yours make holiday,   The state must suffer. But perchance you feared   To miss the post best suited to your merits.MARQUIS   Oh, no! I doubt not the experienced judge,   In human nature skilled – his proper study, —   Will have discovered at a glance wherein   I may be useful to him, wherein not.   With deepest gratitude, I feel the favor   Wherewith, by so exalted an opinion,   Your majesty is loading me; and yet —

[He pauses.

KING   You hesitate?MARQUIS           I am, I must confess,   Sire, at this moment, unprepared to clothe   My thoughts, as the world's citizen, in phrase   Beseeming to your subject. When I left   The court forever, sire, I deemed myself   Released from the necessity to give   My reasons for this step.KING                 Are they so weak?   What do you fear to risk by their disclosure?MARQUIS   My life at farthest, sire, – were time allowed   For me to weary you – but this denied —   Then truth itself must suffer. I must choose   'Twixt your displeasure and contempt.   And if I must decide, I rather would appear   Worthy of punishment than pity.KING (with a look of expectation)                    Well?MARQUIS   I cannot be the servant of a prince.

[The KING looks at him with astonishment.

   I will not cheat the buyer. Should you deem   Me worthy of your service, you prescribe   A course of duty for me; you command   My arm in battle and my head in council.   Then, not my actions, but the applause they meet   At court becomes their object. But for me   Virtue possesses an intrinsic worth.   I would, myself, create that happiness   A monarch, with my hand, would seek to plant,   And duty's task would prove an inward joy,   And be my willing choice. Say, like you this?   And in your own creation could you hear   A new creator? For I ne'er could stoop   To be the chisel where I fain would be —   The sculptor's self. I dearly love mankind,   My gracious liege, but in a monarchy   I dare not love another than myself.KING   This ardor is most laudable. You wish   To do good deeds to others; how you do them   Is but of small account to patriots,   Or to the wise. Choose then within these realms   The office where you best may satisfy   This noble impulse.MARQUIS              'Tis not to be found.KING   How!MARQUIS      What your majesty would spread abroad,   Through these my hands – is it the good of men?   Is it the happiness that my pure love   Would to mankind impart? Before such bliss   Monarchs would tremble. No! Court policy   Has raised up new enjoyments for mankind.   Which she is always rich enough to grant;   And wakened, in the hearts of men, new wishes   Which such enjoyments only can content.   In her own mint she coins the truth – such truth!   As she herself can tolerate: all forms   Unlike her own are broken. But is that   Which can content the court enough for me?   Must my affection for my brother pledge   Itself to work my brother injury?   To call him happy when he dare not think?   Sire, choose not me to spread the happiness   Which you have stamped for us. I must decline   To circulate such coin. I cannot be   The servant of a prince.KING (suddenly)                You are, perhaps,   A Protestant?MARQUIS (after some reflection)           Our creeds, my liege, are one.

[A pause.

   I am misunderstood. I feared as much.   You see the veil torn by my hand aside   From all the mysteries of majesty.   Who can assure you I shall still regard   As sacred that which ceases to alarm me?   I may seem dangerous, because I think   Above myself. I am not so, my liege;   My wishes lie corroding here. The rage

[Laying his hand on his breast.

   For innovation, which but serves to increase   The heavy weight of chains it cannot break,   Shall never fire my blood! The world is yet   Unripe for my ideal; and I live   A citizen of ages yet to come.   But does a fancied picture break your rest?   A breach of yours destroys it.KING                   Say, am I   The first to whom your views are known?MARQUIS                        You are.KING (rises, walks a few paces and then stops opposite the MARQUIS – aside)   This tone, at least, is new; but flattery   Exhausts itself. And men of talent still   Disdain to imitate. So let us test   Its opposite for once. Why should I not?   There is a charm in novelty. Should we   Be so agreed, I will bethink me now   Of some new state employment, in whose duties   Your powerful mind —MARQUIS              Sire, I perceive how small,   How mean, your notions are of manly worth.   Suspecting, in an honest man's discourse,   Naught but a flatterer's artifice – methinks   I can explain the cause of this your error.   Mankind compel you to it. With free choice   They have disclaimed their true nobility,   Lowered themselves to their degraded state.   Before man's inward worth, as from a phantom,   They fly in terror – and contented with   Their poverty, they ornament their chains   With slavish prudence; and they call it virtue   To bear them with a show of resignation.   Thus did you find the world, and thus it was   By your great father handed o'er to you.   In this debased connection – how could you   Respect mankind?KING            Your words contain some truth.MARQUIS   Alas! that when from the Creator's hand   You took mankind, and moulded him to suit   Your own ideas, making yourself the god   Of this new creature, you should overlook   That you yourself remained a human being —   A very man, as from God's hands you came.   Still did you feel a mortal's wants and pains.   You needed sympathy; but to a God   One can but sacrifice, and pray, and tremble —   Wretched exchange! Perversion most unblest   Of sacred nature! Once degrade mankind,   And make him but a thing to play upon,   Who then can share the harmony with you?KING (aside)   By heaven, he moves me!MARQUIS                But this sacrifice   To you is valueless. You thus become   A thing apart, a species of your own.   This is the price you pay for being a god;   'Twere dreadful were it not so, and if you   Gained nothing by the misery of millions!   And if the very freedom you destroyed   Were the sole blessing that could make you happy.   Dismiss me, sire, I pray you; for my theme   Bears me too far; my heart is full; too strong   The charm, to stand before the only man   To whom I may reveal it.

[The COUNT LERMA enters, and whispers a few words to the KING, who signs him to withdraw, and continues sitting in his former posture.