Kitabı oku: «The Maid of Orleans», sayfa 4

SCENE II

The same. QUEEN ISABEL, attended by a PAGE.

ISABEL

 
   What must I hear? This fatal strife forbear!
   What brain-bewildering planet o'er your minds
   Sheds dire perplexity? When unity
   Alone can save you, will you part in hate,
   And, warring 'mong yourselves, prepare your doom? —
   I do entreat you, noble duke, recall
   Your hasty order. You, renowned Talbot,
   Seek to appease an irritated friend!
   Come, Lionel, aid me to reconcile
   These haughty spirits and establish peace.
 

LIONEL

 
   Not I, madame. It is all one to me.
   'Tis my belief, when things are misallied,
   The sooner they part company the better.
 

ISABEL

 
   How? Do the arts of hell, which on the field
   Wrought such disastrous ruin, even here
   Bewilder and befool us? Who began
   This fatal quarrel? Speak! Lord-general!
   Your own advantage did you so forget,
   As to offend your worthy friend and ally?
   What could you do without his powerful arm?
   'Twas he who placed your monarch on the throne,
   He holds him there, and he can hurl him thence;
   His army strengthens you – still more his name.
   Were England all her citizens to pour
   Upon our coasts, she never o'er this realm
   Would gain dominion did she stand alone;
   No! France can only be subdued by France!
 

TALBOT

 
   A faithful friend we honor as we ought;
   Discretion warns us to beware the false.
 

BURGUNDY

 
   The liar's brazen front beseemeth him
   Who would absolve himself from gratitude.
 

ISABEL

 
   How, noble duke? Could you so far renounce
   Your princely honor, and your sense of shame,
   As clasp the hand of him who slew your sire?
   Are you so mad to entertain the thought
   Of cordial reconcilement with the Dauphin,
   Whom you yourself have hurled to ruin's brink?
   His overthrow you have well nigh achieved,
   And madly now would you renounce your work?
   Here stand your allies. Your salvation lies
   In an indissoluble bond with England?
 

BURGUNDY

 
   Far is my thought from treaty with the Dauphin;
   But the contempt and insolent demeanor
   Of haughty England I will not endure.
 

ISABEL

 
   Come, noble duke? Excuse a hasty word.
   Heavy the grief which bows the general down,
   And well you know misfortune makes unjust.
   Come! come! embrace; let me this fatal breach
   Repair at once, ere it becomes eternal.
 

TALBOT

 
   What think you, Burgundy? A noble heart,
   By reason vanquished, doth confess its fault.
   A wise and prudent word the queen hath spoken;
   Come, let my hand with friendly pressure heal
   The wound inflicted by my angry tongue.
 

BURGUNDY

 
   Discreet the counsel offered by the queen!
   My just wrath yieldeth to necessity.
 

ISABEL

 
   'Tis well! Now, with a brotherly embrace
   Confirm and seal the new-established bond;
   And may the winds disperse what hath been spoken.
 

[BURGUNDY and TALBOT embrace.

LIONEL (contemplating the group aside)

 
   Hail to an union by the furies planned!
 

ISABEL

 
   Fate hath proved adverse, we have lost a battle,
   But do not, therefore, let your courage sink.
   The Dauphin, in despair of heavenly aid,
   Doth make alliance with the powers of hell;
   Vainly his soul he forfeits to the devil,
   For hell itself cannot deliver him.
   A conquering maiden leads the hostile force;
   Yours, I myself will lead; to you I'll stand
   In place of maiden or of prophetess.
 

LIONEL

 
   Madame, return to Paris! We desire
   To war with trusty weapons, not with women.
 

TALBOT

 
   GO! go! Since your arrival in the camp,
   Fortune hath fled our banners, and our course
   Hath still been retrograde. Depart at once!
 

BURGUNDY

 
   Your presence here doth scandalize the host.
 

ISABEL (looks from one to the other with astonishment)

 
   This, Burgundy, from you? Do you take part
   Against me with these thankless English lords?
 

BURGUNDY

 
   Go! go! The thought of combating for you
   Unnerves the courage of the bravest men.
 

ISABEL

 
   I scarce among you have established peace,
   And you already form a league against me!
 

TALBOT

 
   Go, in God's name. When you have left the camp
   No devil will again appal our troops.
 

ISABEL

 
   Say, am I not your true confederate?
   Are we not banded in a common cause?
 

TALBOT

 
   Thank God! your cause of quarrel is not ours.
   We combat in an honorable strife.
 

BURGUNDY

 
   A father's bloody murder I avenge.
   Stern filial duty consecrates my arms.
 

TALBOT

 
   Confess at once. Your conduct towards the Dauphin
   Is an offence alike to God and man.
 

ISABEL

 
   Curses blast him and his posterity!
   The shameless son who sins against his mother!
 

BURGUNDY

 
   Ay! to avenge a husband and a father!
 

ISABEL

 
   To judge his mother's conduct he presumed!
 

LIONEL

 
   That was, indeed, irreverent in a son!
 

ISABEL

 
   And me, forsooth, he banished from the realm.
 

TALBOT

 
   Urged to the measure by the public voice.
 

ISABEL

 
   A curse light on him if I e'er forgive him!
   Rather than see him on his father's throne —
 

TALBOT

 
   His mother's honor you would sacrifice!
 

ISABEL

 
   Your feeble natures cannot comprehend
   The vengeance of an outraged mother's heart.
   Who pleasures me, I love; who wrongs, I hate.
   If he who wrongs me chance to be my son,
   All the more worthy is he of my hate.
   The life I gave I will again take back
   From him who doth, with ruthless violence,
   The bosom rend which bore and nourished him.
   Ye, who do thus make war upon the Dauphin,
   What rightful cause have ye to plunder him?
   What crime hath he committed against you?
   What insult are you called on to avenge?
   Ambition, paltry envy, goad you on;
   I have a right to hate him – he's my son.
 

TALBOT

 
   He feels his mother in her dire revenge!
 

ISABEL

 
   Mean hypocrites! I hate you and despise.
   Together with the world, you cheat yourselves!
   With robber-hands you English seek to clutch
   This realm of France, where you have no just right,
   Nor equitable claim, to so much earth
   As could be covered by your charger's hoof.
   – This duke, too, whom the people style the Good,
   Doth to a foreign lord, his country's foe,
   For gold betray the birthland of his sires.
   And yet is justice ever on your tongue.
   – Hypocrisy I scorn. Such as I am,
   So let the world behold me!
 

BURGUNDY

 
                  It is true!
   Your reputation you have well maintained.
 

ISABEL

 
   I've passions and warm blood, and as a queen
   Came to this realm to live, and not to seem.
   Should I have lingered out a joyless life
   Because the curse of adverse destiny
   To a mad consort joined my blooming youth?
   More than my life I prize my liberty.
   And who assails me here – But why should I
   Stoop to dispute with you about my rights?
   Your sluggish blood flows slowly in your veins!
   Strangers to pleasure, ye know only rage!
   This duke, too – who, throughout his whole career,
   Hath wavered to and fro, 'twixt good and ill —
   Can neither love or hate with his whole heart.
   – I go to Melun. Let this gentleman,
 

[Pointing to LIONEL.

 
   Who doth my fancy please, attend me there,
   To cheer my solitude, and you may work
   Your own good pleasure! I'll inquire no more
   Concerning the Burgundians or the English.
 

[She beckons to her PAGE, and is about to retire.

LIONEL

 
   Rely upon us, we will send to Melun
   The fairest youths whom we in battle take.
 

[Coming back.

ISABEL

 
   Skilful your arm to wield the sword of death,
   The French alone can round the polished phrase.
 

[She goes out.

SCENE III

TALBOT, BURGUNDY, LIONEL.

TALBOT

 
   Heavens! What a woman!
 

LIONEL

 
                Now, brave generals,
   Your counsel! Shall we prosecute our flight,
   Or turn, and with a bold and sudden stroke
   Wipe out the foul dishonor of to-day?
 

BURGUNDY

 
   We are too weak, our soldiers are dispersed,
   The recent terror still unnerves the host.
 

TALBOT

 
   Blind terror, sudden impulse of a moment,
   Alone occasioned our disastrous rout.
   This phantom of the terror-stricken brain,
   More closely viewed will vanish into air.
   My counsel, therefore, is, at break of day,
   To lead the army back, across the stream,
   To meet the enemy.
 

BURGUNDY

 
             Consider well —
 

LIONEL

 
   Your pardon! Here is nothing to consider
   What we have lost we must at once retrieve,
   Or look to be eternally disgraced.
 

TALBOT

 
   It is resolved. To-morrow morn we fight,
   This dread-inspiring phantom to destroy,
   Which thus doth blind and terrify the host
   Let us in fight encounter this she-devil.
   If she oppose her person to our sword,
   Trust me, she never will molest us more;
   If she avoid our stroke – and be assured
   She will not stand the hazard of a battle —
   Then is the dire enchantment at an end?
 

LIONEL

 
   So be it! And to me, my general, leave
   This easy, bloodless combat, for I hope
   Alive to take this ghost, and in my arms,
   Before the Bastard's eyes – her paramour —
   To bear her over to the English camp,
   To be the sport and mockery of the host.
 

BURGUNDY

 
   Make not too sure.
 

TALBOT

 
             If she encounter me,
   I shall not give her such a soft embrace.
   Come now, exhausted nature to restore
   Through gentle sleep. At daybreak we set forth.
 

[They go out.

SCENE IV

JOHANNA with her banner, in a helmet and breastplate, otherwise attired as a woman. DUNOIS, LA HIRE, knights and soldiers appear above upon the rocky path, pass silently over, and appear immediately after on the scene.

JOHANNA (to the knights who surround her while the procession continues above)

 
   The wall is scaled and we are in the camp!
   Now fling aside the mantle of still night,
   Which hitherto hath veiled your silent march,
   And your dread presence to the foe proclaim.
   By your loud battle-cry – God and the maiden!
   ALL (exclaim aloud, amidst the loud clang of arms).
   God and the maiden!
 

[Drums and trumpets.

SENTINELS (behind the scene)

 
   The foe! The foe! The foe!
 

JOHANNA

 
   Ho! torches here. Hurl fire into the tents!
   Let the devouring flames augment the horror,
   While threatening death doth compass them around!
 

[Soldiers hasten on, she is about to follow.

DUNOIS (holding her back)

 
   Thy part thou hast accomplished now, Johanna!
   Into the camp thou hast conducted us,
   The foe thou hast delivered in our hands,
   Now from the rush of war remain apart!
   The bloody consummation leave to us.
 

LA HIRE

 
   Point out the path of conquest to the host;
   Before us, in pure hand, the banner bear.
   But wield the fatal weapon not thyself;
   Tempt not the treacherous god of battle, for
   He rageth blindly, and he spareth not.
 

JOHANNA

 
   Who dares impede my progress? Who presume
   The spirit to control which guideth me?
   Still must the arrow wing its destined flight!
   Where danger is, there must Johanna be;
   Nor now, nor here, am I foredoomed to fall;
   Our monarch's royal brow I first must see
   Invested with the round of sovereignty.
   No hostile power can rob me of my life,
   Till I've accomplished the commands of God.
 

[She goes out.

LA HIRE

 
   Come, let us follow after her, Dunois,
   And let our valiant bosoms be her shield!
 

[Exit.

SCENE V

ENGLISH SOLDIERS hurry over the stage.

Afterwards TALBOT.

1 SOLDIER

 
   The maiden in the camp!
 

2 SOLDIER

 
                Impossible!
   It cannot be! How came she in the camp?
 

3 SOLDIER

 
   Why, through the air! The devil aided her!
 

4 AND 5 SOLDIERS

 
   Fly! fly! We are dead men!
 

TALBOT (enters)

 
   They heed me not! They stay not at my call!
   The sacred bands of discipline are loosed!
   As hell had poured her damned legions forth,
   A wild, distracting impulse whirls along,
   In one mad throng, the cowardly and brave.
   I cannot rally e'en the smallest troop
   To form a bulwark gainst the hostile flood,
   Whose raging billows press into our camp!
   Do I alone retain my sober senses,
   While all around in wild delirium rave?
   To fly before these weak, degenerate Frenchmen
   Whom we in twenty battles have overthrown?
   Who is she then – the irresistible —
   The dread-inspiring goddess, who doth turn
   At once the tide of battle, and transform
   The lions bold a herd of timid deer?
   A juggling minx, who plays the well-learned part
   Of heroine, thus to appal the brave?
   A woman snatch from me all martial fame?
 

SOLDIER (rushing in)

 
   The maiden comes! Fly, general, fly! fly!
 

TALBOT (strikes him down)

 
   Fly thou, thyself, to hell! This sword shall pierce
   Who talks to me of fear, or coward flight!
 

[He goes out.

SCENE VI

The prospect opens. The English camp is seen in flames.

Drums, flight, and pursuit. After a while MONTGOMERY enters.

MONTGOMERY (alone)

 
   Where shall I flee? Foes all around and death! Lo! here
   The furious general, who with threatening sword, prevents
   Escape, and drives us back into the jaws of death.
   The dreadful maiden there – the terrible – who like
   Devouring flame, destruction spreads; while all around
   Appears no bush wherein to hide – no sheltering cave!
   Oh, would that o'er the sea I never had come here!
   Me miserable – empty dreams deluded me —
   Cheap glory to achieve on Gallia's martial fields.
   And I am guided by malignant destiny
   Into this murderous flight. Oh, were I far, far hence.
   Still in my peaceful home, on Severn's flowery banks,
   Where in my father's house, in sorrow and in tears,
   I left my mother and my fair young bride.
 

[JOHANNA appears in the distance.

 
   Wo's me! What do I see! The dreadful form appears!
   Arrayed in lurid light, she from the raging fire
   Issues, as from the jaws of hell, a midnight ghost.
   Where shall I go? where flee? Already from afar
   She seizes on me with her eye of fire, and flings
   Her fatal and unerring coil, whose magic folds
   With ever-tightening pressure, bind my feet and make
   Escape impossible! Howe'er my heart rebels,
   I am compelled to follow with my gaze that form
   Of dread!
 

[JOHANNA advances towards him some steps; and again remains standing.

 
         She comes! I will not passively await
   Her furious onset! Imploringly I'll clasp
   Her knees! I'll sue to her for life. She is a woman.
   I may perchance to pity move her by my tears!
 

[While he is on the point of approaching her she draws near.

SCENE VII

JOHANNA, MONTGOMERY.

JOHANNA

 
   Prepare to die! A British mother bore thee!
 

MONTGOMERY (falls at her feet)

 
   Fall back, terrific one! Forbear to strike
   An unprotected foe! My sword and shield
   I've flung aside, and supplicating fall
   Defenceless at thy feet. A ransom take!
   Extinguish not the precious light of life!
   With fair possessions crowned, my father dwells
   In Wales' fair land, where among verdant meads
   The winding Severn rolls his silver tide,
   And fifty villages confess his sway.
   With heavy gold he will redeem his son,
   When he shall hear I'm in the camp of France.
 

JHANNA

 
   Deluded mortal! to destruction doomed!
   Thou'rt fallen in the maiden's hand, from which
   Redemption or deliverance there is none.
   Had adverse fortune given thee a prey
   To the fierce tiger or the crocodile —
   Hadst robbed the lion mother of her brood —
   Compassion thou might'st hope to find and pity;
   But to encounter me is certain death.
   For my dread compact with the spirit realm —
   The stern inviolable – bindeth me,
   To slay each living thing whom battle's God,
   Full charged with doom, delivers to my sword.
 

MONTGOMERY

 
   Thy speech is fearful, but thy look is mild;
   Not dreadful art thou to contemplate near;
   My heart is drawn towards thy lovely form.
   Oh! by the mildness of thy gentle sex,
   Attend my prayer. Compassionate my youth.
 

JOHANNA

 
   Name me not woman! Speak not of my sex!
   Like to the bodiless spirits, who know naught
   Of earth's humanities, I own no sex;
   Beneath this vest of steel there beats no heart.
 

MONTGOMERY

 
   Oh! by love's sacred, all-pervading power,
   To whom all hearts yield homage, I conjure thee.
   At home I left behind a gentle bride,
   Beauteous as thou, and rich in blooming grace:
   Weeping she waiteth her betrothed's return.
   Oh! if thyself dost ever hope to love,
   If in thy love thou hopest to be happy,
   Then ruthless sever not two gentle hearts,
   Together linked in love's most holy bond!
 

JOHANNA

 
   Thou dost appeal to earthly, unknown gods,
   To whom I yield no homage. Of love's bond,
   By which thou dost conjure me, I know naught
   Nor ever will I know his empty service.
   Defend thy life, for death doth summon thee.
 

MONTGOMERY

 
   Take pity on my sorrowing parents, whom
   I left at home. Doubtless thou, too, hast left
   Parents, who feel disquietude for thee.
 

JOHANNA

 
   Unhappy man! thou dost remember me
   How many mothers of this land your arms
   Have rendered childless and disconsolate;
   How many gentle children fatherless;
   How many fair young brides dejected widows!
   Let England's mothers now be taught despair,
   And learn to weep the bitter tear oft shed
   By the bereaved and sorrowing wives of France.
 

MONTGOMERY

 
   'Tis hard in foreign lands to die unwept.
 

JOHANNA

 
   Who called you over to this foreign land,
   To waste the blooming culture of our fields,
   To chase the peasant from his household hearth,
   And in our cities' peaceful sanctuary
   To hurl the direful thunderbolt of war?
   In the delusion of your hearts ye thought
   To plunge in servitude the freeborn French,
   And to attach their fair and goodly realm,
   Like a small boat, to your proud English bark!
   Ye fools! The royal arms of France are hung
   Fast by the throne of God; and ye as soon
   From the bright wain of heaven might snatch a star
   As rend a single village from this realm,
   Which shall remain inviolate forever!
   The day of vengeance is at length arrived;
   Not living shall ye measure back the sea,
   The sacred sea – the boundary set by God
   Betwixt our hostile nations – and the which
   Ye ventured impiously to overpass.
 

MONTGOMERY (lets go her hands)

 
   Oh, I must die! I feel the grasp of death!
 

JOHANNA

 
   Die, friend! Why tremble at the approach of death?
   Of mortals the irrevocable doom?
   Look upon me! I'm born a shepherd maid;
   This hand, accustomed to the peaceful crook,
   Is all unused to wield the sword of death.
   Yet, snatched away from childhood's peaceful haunts,
   From the fond love of father and of sisters,
   Urged by no idle dream of earthly glory,
   But heaven-appointed to achieve your ruin,
   Like a destroying angel I must roam,
   Spreading dire havoc around me, and at length
   Myself must fall a sacrifice to death!
   Never again shall I behold my home!
   Still, many of your people I must slay,
   Still, many widows make, but I at length
   Myself shall perish, and fulfil my doom.
   Now thine fulfil. Arise! resume thy sword,
   And let us fight for the sweet prize of life.
 

MONTGOMERY (stands up)

 
   Now, if thou art a mortal like myself,
   Can weapons wound thee, it may be assigned
   To this good arm to end my country's woe,
   Thee sending, sorceress, to the depths of hell.
   In God's most gracious hands I leave my fate.
   Accursed one! to thine assistance call
   The fiends of hell! Now combat for thy life!
 

[He seizes his sword and shield, and rushes upon her; martial music is heard in the distance. After a short conflict MONTGOMERY falls.

SCENE VIII

JOHANNA (alone)

 
   To death thy foot did bear thee – fare thee well!
 

[She steps away from him and remains absorbed in thought.

 
   Virgin, thou workest mightily in me!
   My feeble arm thou dost endue with strength,
   And steep'st my woman's heart in cruelty.
   In pity melts the soul and the hand trembles,
   As it did violate some sacred fane,
   To mar the goodly person of the foe.
   Once I did shudder at the polished sheath,
   But when 'tis needed, I'm possessed with strength,
   And as it were itself a thing of life,
   The fatal weapon, in my trembling grasp,
   Self-swayed, inflicteth the unerring stroke.
 

SCENE IX

A KNIGHT with closed visor, JOHANNA.

KNIGHT

 
   Accursed one! thy hour of death has come!
   Long have I sought thee on the battle-field,
   Fatal delusion! get thee back to hell,
   Whence thou didst issue forth.
 

JOHANNA

 
                   Say, who art thou,
   Whom his bad genius sendeth in my way?
   Princely thy port, no Briton dost thou seem,
   For the Burgundian colors stripe thy shield,
   Before the which my sword inclines its point.
 

KNIGHT

 
   Vile castaway! Thou all unworthy art
   To fall beneath a prince's noble hand.
   The hangman's axe should thy accursed head
   Cleave from thy trunk, unfit for such vile use
   The royal Duke of Burgundy's brave sword.
 

JOHANNA

 
   Art thou indeed that noble duke himself?
 

KNIGHT (raises his visor)

 
   I'm he, vile creature, tremble and despair!
   The arts of hell shall not protect thee more.
   Thou hast till now weak dastards overcome;
   Now thou dost meet a man.