Chapter IV: Act II: A hall in the KING'S palace, with high windows at the hack (3)

Yes, and thereat eternity may take a voice and lament. She shall not shake my royal heart.

For what can chaos itself and the night of creation avail

Against the man whose soul in the uttermost depths of shadow, in the crowning horror of silence, stands firm

And fears neither pain nor death?

MURMUR (_in the crowd_): He has put the crown on his head.

_(Silence._

TÊTE-D'OR (_shouting_): Search my heart and if you find there

Anything save an immortal desire, take it and cast it on the dunghill for a hen to carry away in her beak!

I do not come here with an unworthy thought.

Cassius (_rushing forward_): Will none of you speak? Who dares to say "What shall we do?"

Shall he be the only one to speak of this? Will you be silent forever?

As for me I shall follow you, O King! Here you are again, O King, like a rose preserved in honey! Hail!

I have listened to you and I have understood, and also

I fought at your side when you gained the victory,

And it was I, all unworthy, my breast distended with an intolerable joy, who bore the tidings hither.

Like a runner carrying in his mouth a draught of water to one that thirsts!

Now that this air has fanned my martial cheek

And my eyes have been dazzled an instant by this miracle of suns,

I will fight, I will march in the place from whence it blows and shines.

And now I see another thing, O King!

You, who like a beggar before a prince,

Were not afraid to tear your veil before this shadowy country and to reveal yourself!

And I kneel before you! Remember that I was the first to kneel.

SIGH, _then_ CRY (_among the onlookers_): We kneel before you, O King!

_(All except the leaders, kneel._

TÊTE-D'OR: Rise! Rise!

VOICE: We kneel before you.

TÊTE-D'OR: Rise! Do not humble yourselves before me.

_(They rise._

VOICE: Then we will rise and now we stand at our full stature. Hail, O King!

TÊTE-D'OR: I, the King! Ah!

What did you say?

Who am I? What have I said? What have I done?

VOICE: Did you not stand before us and did you not....

TÊTE-D'OR: Alas!

Who am I?

Alas! I myself am weak!

VOICE: ... say

That you would make all force recoil before your face?

TÊTE-D'OR: I am only a beggar! I cannot do it! Come!

If anyone knows another course to follow

Let him announce it and I will live in the grass of the field like an ox.

VOICE: We do not know of one.

TÊTE-D'OR: "I wish. I know. It shall be."

That word

Is sure. If the earth

Were only a quicksand, I would not be deceived.

VOICE: Do you hesitate, now?

TÊTE-D'OR (_he shakes and spreads out his hair_)

--By this hair,

Splendid, saturate with Aurora, fleece imbrued with the blood of the Mother, token of freedom,

Golden veil that I raise with my hands!

I will dare! I will turn my steps to a place where never a leaf nor tinkling spring

Imparts its counsel of peace.

Oh!

Is it not sure and visible, this thing?

Unafraid shall I go forth, like a flaming tree! And like the sun I shall descend to drink.

See where I stand in your midst like a candelabrum.

--Bind up my hair, Cassius, and braid it like the tail of a horse.

_(While Cassius binds up his hair._

THE BROTHER OF THE KING (_advancing_): O Tête-d'or, you have killed my brother!

And you have taken his crown, despoiling his daughter and me, and in the place of the ancient right you put a right that is new.

But you have placed the crown upon your head. And that it is to which I am attached, and I am as it were a witness of this new wedding.

My brother is no longer my brother and his daughter is my niece no more, and if occasion demands I will give you my aid against her and against your enemies.

I salute you, O King.

_(He takes his bloody hand._

TÊTE-D'OR: Thank you, sir!

THE OFFICERS OF STATE (_coming forward according to their rank and taking his hand_): We salute you,

O King!

TÊTE-D'OR: Do your duty, you who are like the senses of the King and like his memory.

THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE (_from where he stands_):

I also salute you.

_(TÊTE-D'OR makes no answer._

THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE (_coming forward and raising his hand_): I salute you, O King.

TÊTE-D'OR: Salute also, voice of the streets, clamor of the markets.

Do your duty and cry! Cry and I will try to understand.

THE MAN OUT OF OFFICE (_hastily following this example_): I salute you, O King!

Do not trust that man nor the others.... I will watch your enemies and keep an eye on all.

TÊTE-D'OR: Thanks, dog of the gardener! Be active and vigilant and I will give you your part.

_(All have trodden in the blood of the KING. The whole stage is covered with footprints and there are the marks of bloody hands on the walls._

_(Silence._

_(CASSIUS, who was behind TÊTE-D'OR, now steps in front of him and kneels again. TÊTE-D'OR slowly lowers his eyes till their glances meet and they stare at each other with a certain wildness in their gaze._

CASSIUS: O golden hope, most cherished violence, arriving at the end of our dreary day

As the sunlight gains an added sweetness

When it inundates old roofs after centuries of soot!

Suffer this hand to touch you! O effulgent Autumn, guide us!

_(He rises._

And now I stand again.

And my cry is Forward! Let every man arise! Bring forth the chariots and the cannon!

And let us go out from this wearisome ravine, that the wind of the open sky and the warmth of the sun may strike upon our faces!

Space is free! The earth is flat like a field of beets in October,

The world shall behold! And it shall be astonished!

And like a perjured judge

Passing sentence against itself, shall fall from its rotten judgment seat,

While our trumpets through the fields shall blare so loudly

That never from that day forth shall the clang of copper and bronze

Be thought sonorous.

TÊTE-D'OR: In the midst of the Earth there is a field

And he who, from spurs to crest

Wreathes himself with the fumiter and bluets that flower there,

--By the plains and the amphitheatre of mountains,

By the seas, by the swollen rivers and by the murmuring forests,

Shall be hailed as King, Father,

Stem of Justice, Throne of Thrift!

--I turn my steps to a region where the drum is never silent, where the baldric is never turned,

To a road that is bordered with fire, a place of brutal acts and terrible cries!

I shall not fear! But I shall fare forth like the famine and the cyclone!

Hate and Anger

And Vengeance and the frenzied Image of Pain

March before me, and Hope unveils its solemn face!

Come! the time commands and the road will no longer be denied.

I shall march! I shall fight! I shall crush the barrier beneath my conquering feet! I shall break the vain resistance like rotten wood!

_(Enter the PRINCESS veiled in black._

What woman's shape is this that stands before me! Unveil!

THE PRINCESS: O Father, are you here?

TÊTE-D'OR: He is here.

THE PRINCESS: Victorious Tête-d'or! My father bade me come to give you greeting!

And if you ask why I wear this mourning veil that prevents my seeing you

It is to honor you, like my native land

Who has come before you and from whose darkened face you have removed the sombre veil.

And I have learned that Cébès is no more.

I salute you, victorious head!

_(She removes her veil and looks at him._

_(TÊTE-D'OR stands, sword in hand and crowned, his feet on the wide robe of the KING. To his right, the BROTHER OF THE KING and the Magistrates of the republic. To his left the Representatives of the people. The bystanders make a hedge on both sides leaving a free passage to the door._

_(The PRINCESS slowly stretches out her arms and kneeling she kisses the ground, where she remains prostrate._

_(Two women lift her up clasping her under the arms and she stands before TÊTE-D'OR, her head bowed on her breast._

_(Silence._

THE SCHOOLMASTER (_weeping, to_ TÊTE-D'OR): Behold her, O King, and have pity!

I was her tutor and when she was but a child I held her on my knee,

When in her picture book I showed her the images of the creation.

And on her fête-day, according to ancient custom,

When the women came to cure their baby's spasms,

At mid-day when in her cymar of flowered silk she appeared on the topmost step

In the glory of youth and beauty, like a sunflower upturning its beaming face to the sun,

All the people were like a man on whom there suddenly falls

The healing shadow of whispering branches,

So much upon the air, like a sweet and gracious breeze,

Poured forth the fragrant smell of the ancient, royal vine!

And now, poor child, you are like a shattered blossom, like the sunflower stripped from its stalk, turning its drooping face to the earth!

Behold her, O King! Like a purchased ewe she is here beneath your hand.

_(Silence._

THE PRINCESS: Will you not kill me also?

_(She slowly raises her head and looks about her._

I knew you all by your names, I have grown up among you and now you have betrayed me.

Not a friend is left me and everyone turns towards me a hostile face.

O you in whom my father trusted as in a son, putting his arm about your neck! And you! And you! O teacher that taught me from childhood, you also are ranked with my foes!

And you, my father's brother, stand at his murderer's right hand!

THE BROTHER OF THE KING: Young girl, I do not know you! But I am he who stands at the right hand of the Prince.

THE PRINCESS: O Father! O Father!

O King of this country, august as the ascension of the hand when it begins the sign of the cross,

It is thus that they have wearied of allegiance and thrown you to the earth,

They have thrown you aside like a worthless thing, like a bone that one tosses to dogs!

And they bear your blood on the soles of their shoes, and upon the sides of their den

Are stains like those on the walls of a slaughter-house!

_(She tears her mantle in two._

Treason! Treason!

Sun, behold this impious act!

Listen to me, O you who are gathered here about this pool of blood. The thought of your pernicious hearts is laid bare!

You have had enough of me,

You do not want me to be your queen! And I renounce you also and will trouble you no more.

I will go out from the midst of you, O iniquitous and fraudulent hearts!

I strip you from me like these vain adornments!

_(She tears off her ornaments and throws them down._

All! All! Take all again! O vanities, I divest myself of you, and I shall go forth naked from this place!

And now permit me to depart if I am free to go,

For I cannot endure the glance of yonder basilisk!

TÊTE-D'OR: Do you think to astonish me, young girl, do you think that I am afraid of you?

Behold this hand, behold me, young girl, it is I who killed your father!

I offered him as a fitting sacrifice

And his blood spurted upon me, and he tumbled at my feet, writhing in the agony of death.

For I saved this land with my sword, and turning upon its incapable master,

I put him to death as was just, and the punishment meted out did not exceed the crime.

THE PRINCESS: Father! Father!

TÊTE-D'OR: Cry! Call him!

"Father! Father!" See, doubtless he hears. Call louder!

What is a man that is dead? And who exists beyond the grave to still be mindful of us?

And you, where were you before you were born, work of the womb?

So, having lived, we return to the same nameless nothingness

A human soul inflated with love and malediction!

That is why I shall do my part here and shall rise like a lofty tree.

THE PRINCESS: The blood of my father is on you. It has fallen upon you like rain,

And your own shall flow like a spring.

TÊTE-D'OR: Joyfully, joyfully, I accept the omen! So be it! So be it! I long to see that day!

Let it flow, let it submerge the world!

Let the vein of my heart be pierced, let my blood leap forth like a lion, let it gush like a subterranean sea beneath the iron of the drill.

--And now,

And now, depart! There is no place for you here.

THE PRINCESS: Let me carry my father with me.

TÊTE-D'OR: Take him! Carry away the fallen.

THE PRINCESS (_kneeling before the body_): Sire!

O sacred dead, let me touch you and be not angry thereat, for these are the hands of your daughter.

And as you carried me here and there in your arms when I was already grown,

Even so I shall bear you away, O sole remaining possession, O my dead and fallen race.

_(With difficulty she puts the body on her shoulders and goes out, carrying it thus on her back._

TÊTE-D'OR: Though every heart should glut itself with anguish it shall not shake me for mine is full to the brim!

I killed him scarcely seeing him, like a partridge shot in a dream,

Or as the hurrying traveller pulls up an importunate fern.

--I have said what I had to say and soon

I shall announce to you what we shall undertake.

My time is at hand.

Like the arch of the rainbow my glory shall rise above the world,

Announcing to those who see it the birth of a new day!

I breathe you again! I worship you, sweet perfume of victory!

Rose, give me your scent! Sun, cover your face in your bed of celestial down!

And bury this child.

For it is not fitting that I should soil by commerce with the dead the Majesty of Empire.

This dead child! The dawn of my future glory!

_(He goes out with a convulsive sob._

_(Pause._

_(Enter the group of Mourners who take their places around the body of CÉBÈS._

_(Drum-beats. They raise the body on their shoulders and sombrely go out._

_(Increasing murmur outside. Confused noise of bells and voices. Discharge of cannon at regular intervals. All go out except CASSIUS. Military music is heard approaching amid a tremendous hubbub. All at once it breaks of and loud cries are heard, which draw nearer, and the noise of an armed crowd running._

_(They enter the palace. Frightful clamor. The soldiers, some of them carrying their standards, crowd into the hall. Others enter through the windows. Rattle of sabres on the stairs. The discharge of firearms. Scene of confusion through which can be heard only the cry, "Tête-d'or!"_

CASSIUS (_to an officer_): What is the matter?

THE OFFICER: They say that he has been assassinated.

_(CASSIUS mounts upon the throne and draws his sword._

_(He vainly tries many times to make himself heard. At last there is a kind of silence._

CASSIUS (_shouting at the top of his voice_): He is not dead, but has made himself our King!

CLAMOR: Tête-d'or!

_(The soldiers form in ranks, around the flags, and march about the hall._

_(Discharge of artillery in the court. The hall fills with smoke through which largely enters the light of the sun._