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SCENE VII

CARLOS and COUNT LERMA.

LERMA

   Save yourself, prince! The king's enraged against you.
   Your liberty, if not your life's in danger!
   Ask me no further – I have stolen away
   To give you warning – fly this very instant!

CARLOS

Heaven will protect me!

LERMA

                As the queen observed
   To me, this moment, you must leave Madrid
   This very day, and fly to Brussels, prince.
   Postpone it not, I pray you. The commotion
   Favors your flight. The queen, with this design,
   Has raised it. No one will presume so far
   As to lay hand on you. Swift steeds await you
   At the Carthusian convent, and behold,
   Here are your weapons, should you be attacked.

[LERMA gives him a dagger and pistols.

CARLOS

Thanks, thanks, Count Lerma!

LERMA

                  This day's sad event
   Has moved my inmost soul! No faithful friend
   Will ever love like him. No patriot breathes
   But weeps for you. More now I dare not say.

CARLOS

Count Lerma! he who's gone considered you
A man of honor.

LERMA

           Farewell, prince, again!
   Success attend you! Happier times will come —
   But I shall be no more. Receive my homage!

[Falls on one knee.

CARLOS (endeavors to prevent him, with much emotion)

Not so – not so, count! I am too much moved —
I would not be unmanned!

LERMA (kissing his hand with feeling)

                My children's king!
   To die for you will be their privilege!
   It is not mine, alas! But in those children
   Remember me! Return in peace to Spain.
   May you on Philip's throne feel as a man,
   For you have learned to suffer! Undertake
   No bloody deed against your father, prince!
   Philip compelled his father to yield up
   The throne to him; and this same Philip now
   Trembles at his own son. Think, prince, of that
   And may Heaven prosper and direct your path!

[Exit quickly. CARLOS about to hasten away by another side, but turns rapidly round, and throws himself down before the copse, which he again folds in his arms. He then hurries from the room.

SCENE VIII

The KING's Antechamber.
DUKE ALVA and DUKE FERIA enter in conversation.

ALVA

The town is quieted. How is the king?

FERIA

   In the most fearful state. Within his chamber
   He is shut up, and whatso'er may happen
   He will admit no person to his presence.
   The treason of the marquis has at once
   Changed his whole nature. We no longer know him.

ALVA

I must go to him, nor respect his feelings.
A great discovery which I have made —

FERIA

A new discovery!

ALVA

            A Carthusian monk
   My guards observed, with stealthy footsteps, creep
   Into the prince's chamber, and inquire
   With anxious curiosity, about
   The Marquis Posa's death. They seized him straight,
   And questioned him. Urged by the fear of death,
   He made confession that he bore about him
   Papers of high importance, which the marquis
   Enjoined him to deliver to the prince,
   If, before sunset, he should not return.

FERIA

Well, and what further?

ALVA

                These same letters state
   That Carlos from Madrid must fly before
   The morning dawn.

FERIA

Indeed!

ALVA

   And that a ship at Cadiz lies
   Ready for sea, to carry him to Flushing.
   And that the Netherlands but wait his presence,
   To shake the Spanish fetters from their arms.

FERIA

Can this be true?

ALVA

             And other letters say
   A fleet of Soliman's will sail for Rhodes,
   According to the treaty, to attack
   The Spanish squadron in the Midland seas.

FERIA

Impossible.

ALVA

          And hence I understand
   The object of the journeys, which of late
   The marquis made through Europe. 'Twas no less
   Than to rouse all the northern powers to arms
   In aid of Flanders' freedom.

FERIA

Was it so?

ALVA

   There is besides appended to these letters
   The full concerted plan of all the war
   Which is to disunite from Spain's control
   The Netherlands forever. Naught omitted;
   The power and opposition close compared;
   All the resources accurately noted,
   Together with the maxims to be followed,
   And all the treaties which they should conclude.
   The plan is fiendish, but 'tis no less splendid.

FERIA

The deep, designing traitor!

ALVA

                  And, moreover,
   There is allusion made, in these same letters,
   To some mysterious conference the prince
   Must with his mother hold upon the eve
   Preceding his departure.

FERIA

That must be
This very day.

ALVA

           At midnight. But for this
   I have already taken proper steps.
   You see the case is pressing. Not a moment
   Is to be lost. Open the monarch's chamber.

FERIA

Impossible! All entrance is forbidden.

ALVA

I'll open then myself; the increasing danger
Must justify my boldness.

[As he is on the point of approaching the door it opens, and the KING comes out.

FERIA

'Tis himself.

SCENE IX

The KING. The preceding.
All are alarmed at his appearance, fall back, and let him pass through them. He appears to be in a waking dream, like a sleep-walker. His dress and figure indicate the disorder caused by his late fainting. With slow steps he walks past the GRANDEES and looks at each with a fixed eye, but without recognizing any of them. At last he stands still, wrapped in thought, his eyes fixed on the ground, till the emotions of his mind gradually express themselves in words.

KING

Restore me back the dead! Yes, I must have him.

DOMINGO (whispering to ALVA)

Speak to him, duke.

KING

              He died despising me!
   Have him again I must, and make him think
   More nobly of me.

ALVA (approaching with fear)

Sire!

KING (looking round the circle)

                Who speaks to me!
   Have you forgotten who I am? Why not
   Upon your knees, before your king, ye creatures!
   Am I not still your king? I must command
   Submission from you. Do you all then slight me
   Because one man despised me?

ALVA

                  Gracious king!
   No more of him: a new and mightier foe
   Arises in the bosom of your realm.

FERIA

Prince Carlos —

KING

            Had a friend who died for him;
   For him! With me he might have shared an empire.
   How he looked down upon me! From the throne
   Kings look not down so proudly. It was plain
   How vain his conquest made him. His keen sorrow
   Confessed how great his loss. Man weeps not so
   For aught that's perishable. Oh, that he might
   But live again! I'd give my Indies for it!
   Omnipotence! thou bring'st no comfort to me:
   Thou canst not stretch thine arm into the grave
   To rectify one little act, committed
   With hasty rashness, 'gainst the life of man.
   The dead return no more. Who dare affirm
   That I am happy? In the tomb he dwells,
   Who scorned to flatter me. What care I now
   For all who live? One spirit, one free being,
   And one alone, arose in all this age!
   He died despising me!

ALVA

               Our lives are useless!
   Spaniards, let's die at once! E'en in the grave
   This man still robs us of our monarch's heart.

KING (sits down, and leans his head on his arm)

   Oh! had he died for me! I loved him, too,
   And much. Dear to me was he as a son.
   In his young mind there brightly rose for me
   A new and beauteous morning. Who can say
   What I had destined for him? He to me
   Was a first love. All Europe may condemn me,
   Europe may overwhelm me with its curse,
   But I deserved his thanks.

DOMINGO

What spell is this?

KING

   And, say, for whom did he desert me thus?
   A boy, – my son? Oh, no, believe it not!
   A Posa would not perish for a boy;
   The scanty flame of friendship could not fill
   A Posa's heart. It beat for human kind.
   His passion was the world, and the whole course
   Of future generations yet unborn.
   To do them service he secured a throne —
   And lost it. Such high treason 'gainst mankind
   Could Posa e'er forgive himself? Oh, no;
   I know his feelings better. Not that he
   Carlos preferred to Philip, but the youth —
   The tender pupil, – to the aged monarch.
   The father's evening sunbeam could not ripen
   His novel projects. He reserved for this
   The young son's orient rays. Oh, 'tis undoubted,
   They wait for my decease.

ALVA

And of your thoughts,
Read in these letters strongest confirmation.

KING

   'Tis possible he may miscalculate.
   I'm still myself. Thanks, Nature, for thy gifts;
   I feel within my frame the strength of youth;
   I'll turn their schemes to mockery. His virtue
   Shall be an empty dream – his death, a fool's.
   His fall shall crush his friend and age together.
   We'll test it now – how they can do without me.
   The world is still for one short evening mine,
   And this same evening will I so employ,
   That no reformer yet to cone shall reap
   Another harvest, in the waste I'll leave,
   For ten long generations after me.
   He would have offered me a sacrifice
   To his new deity – humanity!
   So on humanity I'll take revenge.
   And with his puppet I'll at once commence.

[To the DUKE ALVA.

What you have now to tell me of the prince,
Repeat. What tidings do these letters bring?

ALVA

These letters, sire, contain the last bequest
Of Posa to Prince Carlos.

KING (reads the papers, watched by all present. He then lays them aside and walks in silence up and down the room)

Summon straight
The cardinal inquisitor; and beg

He will bestow an hour upon the king,

This very night!

TAXIS

            Just on the stroke of two
   The horses must be ready and prepared,
   At the Carthusian monastery.

ALVA

                  Spies
   Despatched by me, moreover, have observed
   Equipments at the convent for a journey,
   On which the prince's arms were recognized.

FERIA

   And it is rumored that large sums are raised
   In the queen's name, among the Moorish agents,
   Destined for Brussels.

KING

Where is Carlos?

ALVA

With Posa's body.

KING

And there are lights as yet
Within the queen's apartments?

ALVA

                   Everything
   Is silent there. She has dismissed her maids
   Far earlier than as yet has been her custom.
   The Duchess of Arcos, who was last with her,
   Left her in soundest sleep.

[An officer of the Body Guard enters, takes the DUKE OF FERIA aside, and whispers to him. The latter, struck with surprise, turns to DUKE ALVA. The others crowd round him, and a murmuring noise arises.

FERIA, TAXIS, and DOMINGO (at the same time)

'Tis wonderful!

KING

What is the matter!

FERIA

News scarce credible!

DOMINGO

Two soldiers, who have just returned from duty,
Report – but – oh, the tale's ridiculous!

KING

What do they say?

ALVA

             They say, in the left wing
   Of the queen's palace, that the emperor's ghost
   Appeared before them, and with solemn gait
   Passed on. This rumor is confirmed by all
   The sentinels, who through the whole pavilion
   Their watches keep. And they, moreover, add,
   The phantom in the queen's apartment vanished.

KING

And in what shape appeared it?

OFFICER

                   In the robes,
   The same attire he in Saint Justi wore
   For the last time, apparelled as a monk.

KING

   A monk! And did the sentries know his person
   Whilst he was yet alive? They could not else
   Determine that it was the emperor.

OFFICER

The sceptre which he bore was evidence
It was the emperor.

DOMINGO

And the story goes
He often has been seen in this same dress.

KING

Did no one speak to him?

OFFICER

No person dared.
The sentries prayed, and let him pass in silence.

KING

The phantom vanished in the queen's apartments!

OFFICER

In the queen's antechamber.

[General silence.

KING (turns quickly round)

What say you?

ALVA

Sire! we are silent.

KING (after some thought, to the OFFICER)

              Let my guards be ready
   And under arms, and order all approach
   To that wing of the palace to be stopped.
   I fain would have a word with this same ghost.

[Exit OFFICER. Enter a PAGE.

PAGE

The cardinal inquisitor.

KING (to all present)

Retire!

[The CARDINAL INQUISITOR, an old man of ninety, and blind, enters, supported on a staff, and led by two Dominicans. The GRANDEES fall on their knees as he passes, and touch the hem of his garment. He gives them his blessing, and they depart.

SCENE X

The KING and the GRAND INQUISITOR. A long silence.

GRAND INQUISITOR

Say, do I stand before the king?

KING

You do.

GRAND INQUISITOR

I never thought it would be so again!

KING

I now renew the scenes of early youth,
When Philip sought his sage instructor's counsel.

GRAND INQUISITOR

Your glorious sire, my pupil, Charles the Fifth,
Nor sought or needed counsel at my hands.

KING

So much happier he! I, cardinal,
Am guilty of a murder, and no rest —

GRAND INQUISITOR

What was the reason for this murder?

KING

'Twas
A fraud unparalleled —

GRAND INQUISITOR

I know it all.

KING

What do you know? Through whom, and since what time?

GRAND INQUISITOR

For years – what you have only learned since sunset.

KING (with astonishment)

You know this man then!

GRAND INQUISITOR

                All his life is noted
   From its commencement to its sudden close,
   In Santa Casa's holy registers.

KING

Yet he enjoyed his liberty!

GRAND INQUISITOR

                  The chain
   With which he struggled, but which held him bound,
   Though long, was firm, nor easy to be severed.

KING

He has already been beyond the kingdom.

GRAND INQUISITOR

Where'er he travelled I was at his side.

KING (walks backwards and forwards in displeasure)

You knew the hands, then, I had fallen into;
And yet delayed to warn me!

GRAND INQUISITOR

                  This rebuke
   I pay you back. Why did you not consult us
   Before you sought the arms of such a man?
   You knew him: one sole glance unmasked him to you.
   Why did you rob the office of its victim?
   Are we thus trifled with! When majesty
   Can stoop to such concealment, and in secret,
   Behind our backs, league with our enemies,
   What must our fate be then? If one be spared
   What plea can justify the fate of thousands?

KING

But he, no less, has fallen a sacrifice.

GRAND INQUISITOR

   No; he is murdered – basely, foully murdered.
   The blood that should so gloriously have flowed
   To honor us has stained the assassin's hand.
   What claim had you to touch our sacred rights?
   He but existed, by our hands to perish.
   God gave him to this age's exigence,
   To perish, as a terrible example,
   And turn high-vaunting reason into shame.
   Such was my long-laid plan – behold, destroyed
   In one brief hour, the toil of many years.
   We are defrauded, and your only gain
   Is bloody hands.

KING

Passion impelled me to it.
Forgive me.

GRAND INQUISITOR

          Passion! And does royal Philip
   Thus answer me? Have I alone grown old?
               [Shaking his head angrily.
   Passion! Make conscience free within your realms,
   If you're a slave yourself.

KING

In things like this
I'm but a novice. Bear in patience with me.

GRAND INQUISITOR

   No, I'm ill pleased with you – to see you thus
   Tarnish the bygone glories of your reign.
   Where is that Philip, whose unchanging soul,
   Fixed as the polar star in heaven above,
   Round its own axis still pursued its course?
   Is all the memory of preceding years
   Forever gone? And did the world become
   New moulded when you stretched your hand to him?
   Was poison no more poison? Did distinction
   'Twixt good and evil, truth and falsehood, vanish?
   What then is resolution? What is firmness?
   What is the faith of man, if in one weak,
   Unguarded hour, the rules of threescore years
   Dissolve in air, like woman's fickle favor?

KING

   I looked into his eyes. Oh, pardon me
   This weak relapse into mortality.
   The world has one less access to your heart;
   Your eyes are sunk in night.

GRAND INQUISITOR

                  What did this man
   Want with you? What new thing could he adduce,
   You did not know before? And are you versed
   So ill with fanatics and innovators?
   Does the reformer's vaunting language sound
   So novel to your ears? If the firm edifice
   Of your conviction totters to mere words,
   Should you not shudder to subscribe the fate
   Of many thousand poor, deluded souls
   Who mount the flaming pile for nothing worse?

KING

I sought a human being. These Domingos —

GRAND INQUISITOR

   How! human beings! What are they to you?
   Cyphers to count withal – no more! Alas!
   And must I now repeat the elements
   Of kingly knowledge to my gray-haired pupil?
   An earthly god must learn to bear the want
   Of what may be denied him. When you whine
   For sympathy is not the world your equal?
   What rights should you possess above your equals?

KING (throwing himself into a chair)

   I'm a mere suffering mortal, that I feel;
   And you demand from me, a wretched creature,
   What the Creator only can perform.

GRAND INQUISITOR

   No, sire; I am not thus to be deceived.
   I see you through. You would escape from us.
   The church's heavy chains pressed hard upon you;
   You would be free, and claim your independence.

[He pauses. The KING is silent.

   We are avenged. Be thankful to the church,
   That checks you with the kindness of a mother.
   The erring choice you were allowed to make
   Has proved your punishment. You stand reproved!
   Now you may turn to us again. And know
   If I, this day, had not been summoned here,
   By Heaven above! before to-morrow's sun,
   You would yourself have stood at my tribunal!

KING

   Forbear this language, priest. Restrain thyself.
   I'll not endure it from thee. In such tones
   No tongue shall speak to me.

GRAND INQUISITOR

                  Then why, O king
   Call up the ghost of Samuel? I've anointed
   Two monarchs to the throne of Spain. I hoped
   To leave behind a firm-established work.
   I see the fruit of all my life is lost.
   Don Philip's hands have shattered what I built.
   But tell me, sire, wherefore have I been summoned?
   What do I hear? I am not minded, king,
   To seek such interviews again.

KING

                   But one
   One service more – the last – and then in peace
   Depart. Let all the past be now forgotten —
   Let peace be made between us. We are friends.

GRAND INQUISITOR

When Philip bends with due humility.

KING (after a pause)

My son is meditating treason.

GRAND INQUISITOR,

Well!
And what do you resolve?

KING

On all, or nothing.

GRAND INQUISITOR

What mean you by this all?

KING

He must escape,
Or die.

GRAND INQUISITOR

Well, sire! decide.

KING

                  And can you not
   Establish some new creed to justify
   The bloody murder of one's only son?

GRAND INQUISITOR

To appease eternal justice God's own Son
Expired upon the cross.

KING

And can you spread
This creed throughout all Europe?

GRAND INQUISITOR

Ay, as far
As the true cross is worshipped.

KING

                  But I sin —
   Sin against nature. Canst thou, by thy power,
   Silence her mighty voice.

GRAND INQUISITOR

The voice of nature
Avails not over faith.

KING

               My right to judge
   I place within your hands. Can I retrace
   The step once taken?

GRAND INQUISITOR

Give him to me!

KING

My only son! For whom then have I labored?

GRAND INQUISITOR

For the grave rather than for liberty!

KING (rising up)

We are agreed. Come with me.

GRAND INQUISITOR

Monarch! Whither

KING

From his own father's hands to take the victim.

[Leads him away.

SCENE XI

Queen's Apartment.
CARLOS. The QUEEN. Afterwards the KING and attendants. CARLOS in monk's attire, a mask over his face, which he is just taking off; under his arm a naked sword. It is quite dark. He approaches a door, which is in the act of opening. The QUEEN comes out in her night-dress with a lighted candle. CARLOS falls on one knee before her.

CARLOS

Elizabeth!

QUEEN (regarding him with silent sorrow)

Do we thus meet again?

CARLOS

'Tis thus we meet again!

[A silence.

QUEEN (endeavoring to collect herself)

            Carlos, arise!
   We must not now unnerve each other thus.
   The mighty dead will not be honored now
   By fruitless tears. Tears are for petty sorrows!
   He gave himself for thee! With his dear life
   He purchased thine. And shall this precious blood
   Flow for a mere delusion of the brain?
   Oh, Carlos, I have pledged myself for thee.
   On that assurance did he flee from hence
   More satisfied. Oh, do not falsify
   My word.

CARLOS (with animation)

        To him I'll raise a monument
   Nobler than ever honored proudest monarch,
   And o'er his dust a paradise shall bloom!

QUEEN

   Thus did I hope to find thee! This was still
   The mighty purpose of his death. On me
   Devolves the last fulfilment of his plans,
   And I will now fulfil my solemn oath.
   Yet one more legacy your dying friend
   Bequeathed to me. I pledged my word to him,
   And wherefore should I now conceal it from you?
   To me did he resign his Carlos – I
   Defy suspicion, and no longer tremble
   Before mankind, but will for once assume
   The courage of a friend; My heart shall speak.
   He called our passion – virtue! I believe him,
   And will my heart no longer —

CARLOS

                   Hold, O queen!
   Long was I sunk in a delusive dream.
   I loved, but now I am at last awake
   Forgotten be the past. Here are your letters, —
   Destroy my own. Fear nothing from my passion,
   It is extinct. A brighter flame now burns,
   And purifies my being. All my love
   Lies buried in the grave. No mortal wish
   Finds place within this bosom.

[After a pause, taking her hand.

                   I have come
   To bid farewell to you, and I have learned
   There is a higher, greater good, my mother,
   Than to call thee mine own. One rapid night
   Has winged the tardy progress of my years,
   And prematurely ripened me to manhood.
   I have no further business in the world,
   But to remember him. My harvest now
   Is ended.

[He approaches the QUEEN, who conceals her face.

Mother! will you not reply!

QUEEN

Carlos! regard not these my tears. I cannot
Restrain then. But believe me I admire you.

CARLOS

   Thou wert the only partner of our league
   And by this name thou shalt remain to me
   The most beloved object in this world.
   No other woman can my friendship share,
   More than she yesterday could win my love.
   But sacred shall the royal widow be,
   Should Providence conduct me to the throne.

[The KING, accompanied by the GRAND INQUISITOR, appears in the background without being observed.

   I hasten to leave Spain, and never more
   Shall I behold my father in this world.
   No more I love him. Nature is extinct
   Within this breast. Be you again his wife —
   His son's forever lost to him! Return
   Back to your course of duty – I must speed
   To liberate a people long oppressed
   From a fell tyrant's hand. Madrid shall hail
   Carlos as king, or ne'er behold him more.
   And now a long and last farewell —

[He kisses her.

QUEEN

                     Oh, Carlos!
   How you exalt me! but I dare not soar
   To such a height of greatness: – yet I may
   Contemplate now your noble mind with wonder.

CARLOS

   Am I not firm, Elizabeth? I hold thee
   Thus in my arms and tremble not. The fear
   Of instant death had, yesterday, not torn me
   From this dear spot.

[He leaves her.

              All that is over now,
   And I defy my mortal destinies.
   I've held thee in these arms and wavered not.
   Hark! Heard you nothing!

[A clock strikes.

QUEEN

Nothing but the bell
That tolls the moment of our separation.

CARLOS

   Good night, then, mother! And you shall, from Ghent,
   Receive a letter, which will first proclaim
   Our secret enterprise aloud. I go
   To dare King Philip to an open contest.
   Henceforth there shall be naught concealed between us!
   You need not shun the aspect of the world.
   Be this my last deceit.

[About to take up the mask – the KING stands between them.