Samuel Coleridge - The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Chef Ragozzi. Halt! [Stops him. 65

On pain of death, my Lord! am I commanded

To stop all ingress to the palace.

Raab Kiuprili. Thou!

Chef Ragozzi. No place, no name, no rank excepted —

Raab Kiuprili. Thou!

Chef Ragozzi. This life of mine, O take it, Lord Kiuprili!

I give it as a weapon to thy hands, 70

Mine own no longer. Guardian of Illyria,

Useless to thee, ‘tis worthless to myself.

Thou art the framer of my nobler being;

Nor does there live one virtue in my soul,

One honourable hope, but calls thee father. 75

Yet ere thou dost resolve, know that yon palace

Is guarded from within, that each access

Is thronged by armed conspirators, watched by ruffians

Pampered with gifts, and hot upon the spoil

Which that false promiser still trails before them. 80

I ask but this one boon — reserve my life

Till I can lose it for the realm and thee!

Raab Kiuprili. My heart is rent asunder. O my country,

O fallen Illyria, stand I here spell-bound?

Did my King love me? Did I earn his love? 85

Have we embraced as brothers would embrace?

Was I his arm, his thunderbolt? And now

Must I, hagridden, pant as in a dream?

Or, like an eagle, whose strong wings press up

Against a coiling serpent’s folds, can I 90

Strike but for mockery, and with restless beak

Gore my own breast? — Ragozzi, thou art faithful?

Chef Ragozzi. Here before Heaven I dedicate my faith

To the royal line of Andreas.

Raab Kiuprili. Hark, Ragozzi!

Guilt is a timorous thing ere perpetration: 95

Despair alone makes wicked men be bold.

Come thou with me! They have heard my voice in flight,

Have faced round, terror-struck, and feared no longer

The whistling javelins of their fell pursuers.

Ha! what is this?

[Black flag displayed from the Tower of the Palace: a

death-bell tolls, &c.

Vengeance of Heaven! He is dead. 100

Chef Ragozzi. At length then ‘tis announced. Alas! I fear,

That these black death-flags are but treason’s signals.

Raab Kiuprili. A prophecy too soon fulfilled! See yonder!

O rank and ravenous wolves! the death-bell echoes

Still in the doleful air — and see! they come. 105

Chef Ragozzi. Precise and faithful in their villainy

Even to the moment, that the master traitor

Had pre-ordained them.

Raab Kiuprili. Was it overhaste,

Or is it scorn, that in this race of treason

Their guilt thus drops its mask, and blazons forth 110

Their infamous plot even to an idiot’s sense?

Chef Ragozzi. Doubtless they deem Heaven too usurp’d! Heaven’s

justice

Bought like themselves!

Being equal all in crime,

Do you press on, ye spotted parricides!

For the one sole preeminence yet doubtful, 115

The prize of foremost impudence in guilt?

Raab Kiuprili. The bad man’s cunning still prepares the way

For its own outwitting. I applaud, Ragozzi!

Ragozzi! I applaud,

In thee, the virtuous hope that dares look onward

And keeps the life-spark warm of future action 120

Beneath the cloak of patient sufferance.

Act and appear, as time and prudence prompt thee:

I shall not misconceive the part thou playest.

Mine is an easier part — to brave the usurper.

[Enter a procession of EMERICK’S Adherents, Nobles,

Chieftains, and Soldiers, with Music. They

advance toward the front of the stage. KIUPRILI

makes the signal for them to stop. — The Music

ceases.

Leader of the Procession. The Lord Kiuprili! — Welcome from the

camp. 125

Raab Kiuprili. Grave magistrates and chieftains of Illyria,

In good time come ye hither, if ye come

As loyal men with honourable purpose

To mourn what can alone be mourned; but chiefly

To enforce the last commands of royal Andreas 130

And shield the Queen, Zapolya: haply making

The mother’s joy light up the widow’s tears.

Leader. Our purpose demands speed. Grace our procession;

A warrior best will greet a warlike king.

Raab Kiuprili. This patent written by your lawful king, 135

(Lo! his own seal and signature attesting)

Appoints as guardians of his realm and offspring,

The Queen, and the Prince Emerick, and myself.

[Voices of Live KING EMERICK! an EMERICK! an EMERICK!

What means this clamour? Are these madmen’s voices?

Or is some knot of riotous slanderers leagued 140

To infamize the name of the king’s brother

With a lie black as Hell? unmanly cruelty,

Ingratitude, and most unnatural treason? [Murmurs.

What mean these murmurs? Dare then any here

Proclaim Prince Emerick a spotted traitor? 145

One that has taken from you your sworn faith,

And given you in return a Judas’ bribe,

Infamy now, oppression in reversion,

And Heaven’s inevitable curse hereafter?

[Loud murmurs, followed by cries — EMERICK! No Baby

Prince! No Changelings!

Yet bear with me awhile! Have I for this 150

Bled for your safety, conquered for your honour?

Was it for this, Illyrians! that I forded

Your thaw-swoln torrents, when the shouldering ice

Fought with the foe, and stained its jagged points

With gore from wounds I felt not? Did the blast 155

Beat on this body, frost-and-famine-numbed,

Till my hard flesh distinguished not itself

From the insensate mail, its fellow warrior?

And have I brought home with me Victory,

And with her, hand in hand, firm-footed Peace, 160

Her countenance twice lighted up with glory,

As if I had charmed a goddess down from Heaven?

But these will flee abhorrent from the throne

Of usurpation!

[Murmurs increase — and cries of Onward! Onward!

Have you then thrown off shame,

And shall not a dear friend, a loyal subject, 165

Throw off all fear? I tell ye, the fair trophies

Valiantly wrested from a valiant foe,

Love’s natural offerings to a rightful king,

Will hang as ill on this usurping traitor,

This brother-blight, this Emerick, as robes 170

Of gold plucked from the images of gods

Upon a sacrilegious robber’s back. [Enter LORD CASIMIR.

Casimir. Who is this factious insolent, that dares brand

The elected King, our chosen Emerick?

My father!

Raab Kiuprili. Casimir! He, he a traitor! 175

Too soon indeed, Ragozzi! have I learnt it. [Aside.

Casimir. My father and my lord!

Raab Kiuprili. I know thee not!

Leader. Yet the remembrancing did sound right filial.

Raab Kiuprili. A holy name and words of natural duty

Are blasted by a thankless traitor’s utterance. 180

Casimir. O hear me, Sire! not lightly have I sworn

Homage to Emerick. Illyria’s sceptre

Demands a manly hand, a warrior’s grasp.

The queen Zapolya’s self-expected offspring

At least is doubtful: and of all our nobles, 185

The king, inheriting his brother’s heart,

Hath honoured us the most. Your rank, my lord!

Already eminent, is — all it can be —

Confirmed: and me the king’s grace hath appointed

Chief of his council and the lord high steward. 190

Raab Kiuprili. (Bought by a bribe!) I know thee now still less.

Casimir. So much of Raab Kiuprili’s blood flows here,

That no power, save that holy name of father,

Could shield the man who so dishonoured me.

Raab Kiuprili. The son of Raab Kiuprili a bought bond-slave, 195

Guilt’s pander, treason’s mouth-piece, a gay parrot,

School’d to shrill forth his feeder’s usurp’d titles.

And scream, Long live King Emerick!

Leaders. Aye, King Emerick!