Demetrius
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ACT I
SCENE I
THE DIET AT CRACOW.
On the rising of the curtain the Polish Diet is discovered, seated in the great senate hall. On a raised platform, elevated by three steps, and surmounted by a canopy, is the imperial throne, the escutcheons of Poland and Lithuania suspended on each side. The KING seated upon the throne; on his right and left hand his ten royal officers standing on the platform. Below the platform the BISHOPS, PALATINES, and CASTELLANS seated on each side of the stage.
Opposite to these stand the Provincial DEPUTIES, in a double line, uncovered. All armed. The ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN, as the primate of the kingdom, is seated next the proscenium; his chaplain behind him, bearing a golden cross.
ARCHBISHOP OF GNESENThus then hath this tempestuous Diet been Conducted safely to a prosperous close; And king and commons part as cordial friends. The nobles have consented to disarm, And straight disband the dangerous Rocoss1; Whilst our good king his sacred word has pledged, That every just complaint shall have redress. And now that all is peace at home, we may Look to the things that claim our care abroad. Is it the will of the most high Estates That Prince Demetrius, who hath advanced A claim to Russia's crown, as Ivan's son, Should at their bar appear, and in the face Of this august assembly prove his right?CASTELLAN OF CRACOW Honor and justice both demand he should; It were unseemly to refuse his prayer.BISHOP OF WERMELAND The documents on which he rests have been Examined, and are found authentic. We May give him audience.SEVERAL DEPUTIES Nay! We must, we must!LEO SAPIEHA To hear is to admit his right.ODOWALSKY And not To hear is to reject his claims unheard.ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN Is it your will that he have audience? I ask it for the second time – and third.IMPERIAL CHANCELLOR Let him stand forth before our throne!SENATORS And speak!DEPUTIES Yes, yes! Let him be heard![The Imperial GRAND MARSHAL beckons with his baton to the doorkeeper, who goes out.
LEO SAPIEHA (to the CHANCELLOR) Write down, my lord, That here I do protest against this step, And all that may ensue therefrom, to mar The peace of Poland's state and Moscow's crown.[Enters DEMETRIUS. Advances some steps towards the throne, and makes three bows with his head uncovered, first to the KING, next to the SENATORS, and then to the DEPUTIES, who all severally answer with an inclination of the head. He then takes up his position so as to keep within his eye a great portion of the assemblage, and yet not to turn his back upon the throne.
ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN Prince Dmitri, son of Ivan! if the pomp Of this great Diet scare thee, or a sight So noble and majestic chain thy tongue, Thou may'st – for this the senate have allowed — Choose thee a proxy, wheresoe'er thou list, And do thy mission by another's lips.DEMETRIUS My lord archbishop, I stand here to claim A kingdom, and the state of royalty. 'Twould ill beseem me should I quake before A noble people, and its king and senate. I ne'er have viewed a circle so august, But the sight swells my heart within my breast And not appals me. The more worthy ye, To me ye are more welcome; I can ne'er Address my claim to nobler auditory.ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN .. The august republic Is favorably bent. ..DEMETRIUS Most puissant king! Most worthy and most potent Bishops and palatines, and my good lords, The deputies of the august republic! It gives me pause and wonder to behold Myself, Czar Ivan's son, now stand before The Polish people in their Diet here. Both realms were sundered by a bloody hate, And, whilst my father lived, no peace might be. Yet now hath Heaven so ordered these events, That I, his blood, who with my nurse's milk Imbibed the ancestral hate, appear before you A fugitive, compelled to seek my rights Even here in Poland's heart. Then, ere I speak, Forget magnanimously all rancors past, And that the Czar, whose son I own myself, Rolled war's red billows to your very homes. I stand before you, sirs, a prince despoiled. I ask protection. The oppressed may urge A sacred claim on every noble breast. And who in all earth's circuit shall be just, If not a people great and valiant, – one In plenitude of power so free, it needs To render 'count but to itself alone, And may, unchallenged, lend an open ear And aiding hand to fair humanity.ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN You do allege you are Czar Ivan's son; And truly, nor your bearing nor your speech Gainsays the lofty title that you urge, But shows us that you are indeed his son. And you shall find that the republic bears A generous spirit. She has never quailed To Russia in the field! She loves, alike, To be a noble foe – a cordial friend.DEMETRIUS Ivan Wasilowitch, the mighty Czar Of Moscow, took five spouses to his bed, In the long years that spared him to the throne. The first, a lady of the heroic line Of Romanoff, bare him Feodor, who reigned After his father's death. One only son, Dmitri, the last blossom of his strength, And a mere infant when his father died, Was born of Marfa, of Nagori's line. Czar Feodor, a youth, alike effeminate In mind and body, left the reins of power To his chief equerry, Boris Godunow, Who ruled his master with most crafty skill. Feodor was childless, and his barren bride Denied all prospect of an heir. Thus, when The wily Boiar, by his fawning arts, Had coiled himself into the people's favor, His wishes soared as high as to the throne. Between him and his haughty hopes there stood A youthful prince, the young Demetrius Iwanowitsch, who with his mother lived At Uglitsch, where her widowhood was passed. Now, when his fatal purpose was matured, He sent to Uglitsch ruffians, charged to put The Czarowitsch to death. One night, when all was hushed, the castle's wing, Where the young prince, apart from all the rest, With his attendants lay, was found on fire. The raging flames ingulfed the pile; the prince Unseen, unheard, was spirited away, And all the world lamented him as dead. All Moscow knows these things to be the truth.ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN Yes, these are facts familiar to us all. The rumor ran abroad, both far and near, That Prince Demetrius perished in the flames When Uglitsch was destroyed. And, as his death Raised to the throne the Czar who fills it now, Fame did not hesitate to charge on him This murder foul and pitiless. But yet, His death is not the business now in hand! This prince is living still! He lives in you! So runs your plea. Now bring us to the proofs! Whereby do you attest that you are he? What are the signs by which you shall be known? How 'scaped you those were sent to hunt you down And now, when sixteen years are passed, and you Well nigh forgot, emerge to light once more?DEMETRIUS 'Tis scarce a year since I have known myself; I lived a secret to myself till then, Surmising naught of my imperial birth. I was a monk with monks, close pent within The cloister's precincts, when I first began To waken to a consciousness of self. My impetuous spirit chafed against the bars, And the high blood of princes began to course In strange unbidden moods along my veins. At length I flung the monkish cowl aside, And fled to Poland, where the noble Prince Of Sendomir, the generous, the good, Took me as guest into his princely house, And trained me up to noble deeds of arms.ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN How? You still ignorant of what you were? Yet ran the rumor then on every side, That Prince Demetrius was still alive. Czar Boris trembled on his throne, and sent His sassafs to the frontiers, to keep Sharp watch on every traveller that stirred. Had not the tale its origin with you? Did you not give the rumor birth yourself? Had you not named to any that you were Demetrius?DEMETRIUS I relate that which I know. If a report went forth I was alive, Then had some god been busy with the fame. Myself I knew not. In the prince's house, And in the throng of his retainers lost, I spent the pleasant springtime of my youth. In silent homage My heart was vowed to his most lovely daughter. Yet in those days it never dreamed to raise Its wildest thoughts to happiness so high. My passion gave offence to her betrothed, The Castellan of Lemberg. He with taunts Chafed me, and in the blindness of his rage Forgot himself so wholly as to strike me. Thus savagely provoked, I drew my sword; He, blind with fury, rushed upon the blade, And perished there by my unwitting hand.MEISCHEK Yes, it was even so.DEMETRIUS Mine was the worst mischance! A nameless youth, A Russian and a stranger, I had slain A grandee of the empire – in the house Of my kind patron done a deed of blood, And sent to death his son-in-law and friend. My innocence availed not; not the pity Of all his household, nor his kindness – his, The noble Palatine's, – could save my life; For it was forfeit to the law, that is, Though lenient to the Poles, to strangers stern. Judgment was passed on me – that judgment death. I knelt upon the scaffold, by the block; To the fell headsman's sword I bared my throat, And in the act disclosed a cross of gold, Studded with precious gems, which had been hung About my neck at the baptismal font. This sacred pledge of Christian redemption I had, as is the custom of my people, Worn on my neck concealed, where'er I went, From my first hours of infancy; and now, When from sweet life I was compelled to part, I grasped it as my only stay, and pressed it With passionate devotion to my lips.[The Poles intimate their sympathy by dumb show.
The jewel was observed; its sheen and worth Awakened curiosity and wonder. They set me free, and questioned me; yet still I could not call to memory a time I had not worn the jewel on my person. Now it so happened that three Boiars who Had fled from the resentment of their Czar Were on a visit to my lord at Sambor. They saw the trinket, – recognized it by Nine emeralds alternately inlaid With amethysts, to be the very cross Which Ivan Westislowsky at the font Hung on the neck of the Czar's youngest son. They scrutinized me closer, and were struck To find me marked with one of nature's freaks, For my right arm is shorter than my left. Now, being closely plied with questions, I Bethought me of a little psalter which I carried from the cloister when I fled. Within this book were certain words in Greek Inscribed there by the Igumen himself. What they imported was unknown to me, Being ignorant of the language. Well, the psalter Was sent for, brought, and the inscription read. It bore that Brother Wasili Philaret (Such was my cloister-name), who owned the book, Was Prince Demetrius, Ivan's youngest son, By Andrei, an honest Diak, saved By stealth in that red night of massacre. Proofs of the fact lay carefully preserved Within two convents, which were pointed out. On this the Boiars at my feet fell down, Won by the force of these resistless proofs, And hailed me as the offspring of their Czar. So from the yawning gulfs of black despair Fate raised me up to fortune's topmost heights. And now the mists cleared off, and all at once Memories on memories started into life In the remotest background of the past. And like some city's spires that gleam afar In golden sunshine when naught else is seen, So in my soul two images grew bright, The loftiest sun-peaks in the shadowy past. I saw myself escaping one dark night, And a red lurid flame light up the gloom Of midnight darkness as I looked behind me A memory 'twas of very earliest youth, For what preceded or came after it In the long distance utterly was lost. In solitary brightness there it stood A ghastly beacon-light on memory's waste. Yet I remembered how, in later years, One of my comrades called me, in his wrath Son of the Czar. I took it as a jest, And with a blow avenged it at the time. All this now flashed like lightning on my soul, And told with dazzling certainty that I Was the Czar's son, so long reputed dead. With this one word the clouds that had perplexed My strange and troubled life were cleared away. Nor merely by these signs, for such deceive; But in my soul, in my proud, throbbing heart I felt within me coursed the blood of kings; And sooner will I drain it drop by drop Than bate one jot my title to the crown.ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN And shall we trust a scroll which might have found Its way by merest chance into your hands Backed by the tale of some poor renegades? Forgive me, noble youth! Your tone, I grant, And bearing, are not those of one who lies; Still you in this may be yourself deceived. Well may the heart be pardoned that beguiles Itself in playing for so high a stake. What hostage do you tender for your word?DEMETRIUS I tender fifty, who will give their oaths, — All Piasts to a man, and free-born Poles Of spotless reputation, – each of whom Is ready to enforce what I have urged. There sits the noble Prince of Sendomir, And at his side the Castellan of Lublin; Let them declare if I have spoke the truth.ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN How seem these things to the august Estates? To the enforcement of such numerous proofs Doubt and mistrust, methinks, must needs give way. Long has a creeping rumor filled the world That Dmitri, Ivan's son, is still alive. The Czar himself confirms it by his fears. – Before us stands a youth, in age and mien Even to the very freak that nature played, The lost heir's counterpart, and of a soul Whose noble stamp keeps rank with his high claims. He left a cloister's precincts, urged by strange, Mysterious promptings; and this monk-trained boy Was straight distinguished for his knightly feats. He shows a trinket which the Czarowitsch Once wore, and one that never left his side; A written witness, too, by pious hands, Gives us assurance of his princely birth; And, stronger still, from his unvarnished speech And open brow truth makes his best appeal. Such traits as these deceit doth never don; It masks its subtle soul in vaunting words, And in the high-glossed ornaments of speech. No longer, then, can I withhold the title Which he with circumstance and justice claims And, in the exercise of my old right, I now, as primate, give him the first voice.ARCHBISHOP OF LEMBERG My voice goes with the primate's.SEVERAL VOICES So does mine.SEVERAL PALATINES And mine!ODOWALSKY And mine.DEPUTIES And all!SAPIEHA My gracious sirs! Weigh well ere you decide! Be not so hasty! It is not meet the council of the realm Be hurried on to —ODOWALSKY There is nothing here For us to weigh; all has been fully weighed. The proofs demonstrate incontestably. This is not Moscow, sirs! No despot here Keeps our free souls in manacles. Here truth May walk by day or night with brow erect. I will not think, my lords, in Cracow here, Here in the very Diet of the Poles, That Moscow's Czar should have obsequious slaves.DEMETRIUS Oh, take my thanks, ye reverend senators! That ye have lent your credence to these proofs; And if I be indeed the man whom I Protest myself, oh, then, endure not this Audacious robber should usurp my seat, Or longer desecrate that sceptre which To me, as the true Czarowitsch, belongs. Yes, justice lies with me, – you have the power. 'Tis the most dear concern of every state And throne, that right should everywhere prevail, And all men in the world possess their own. For there, where justice holds uncumbered sway, There each enjoys his heritage secure, And over every house and every throne Law, truth, and order keep their angel watch. It is the key-stone of the world's wide arch, The one sustaining and sustained by all, Which, if it fail, brings all in ruin down.(Answers of SENATORS giving assent to DEMETRIUS.)
DEMETRIUS Oh, look on me, renowned Sigismund! Great king, on thine own bosom turn thine eyes. And in my destiny behold thine own. Thou, too, hast known the rude assaults of fate; Within a prison camest thou to the world; Thy earliest glances fell on dungeon walls. Thou, too, hadst need of friends to set thee free, And raise thee from a prison to a throne. These didst thou find. That noble kindness thou Didst reap from them, oh, testify to me. And you, ye grave and honored councillors, Most reverend bishops, pillars of the church, Ye palatines and castellans of fame, The moment has arrived, by one high deed, To reconcile two nations long estranged. Yours be the glorious boast, that Poland's power Hath given the Muscovites their Czar, and in The neighbor who oppressed you as a foe Secure an ever-grateful friend. And you, The deputies of the august republic, Saddle your steeds of fire! Leap to your seats! To you expand high fortune's golden gates; I will divide the foeman's spoil with you. Moscow is rich in plunder; measureless In gold and gems, the treasures of the Czar; I can give royal guerdons to my friends, And I will give them, too. When I, as Czar, Set foot within the Kremlin, then, I swear, The poorest of you all, that follows me, Shall robe himself in velvet and in sables; With costly pearls his housings shall he deck, And silver be the metal of least worth, That he shall shoe his horses' hoofs withal.[Great commotion among the DEPUTIES. KORELA, Hetman of the Cossacks, declares himself ready to put himself at the head of an army.
ODOWALSKY How! shall we leave the Cossack to despoil us At once of glory and of booty both? We've made a truce with Tartar and with Turk, And from the Swedish power have naught to fear. Our martial spirit has been wasting long In slothful peace; our swords are red with rust. Up! and invade the kingdom of the Czar, And win a grateful and true-hearted friend, Whilst we augment our country's might and glory.MANY DEPUTIES War! War with Moscow!OTHERS Be it so resolved! On to the votes at once!SAPIEHA (rises) Grand marshal, please To order silence! I desire to speak.A CROWD OF VOICES War! War with Moscow!SAPIEHA Nay, I will be heard. Ho, marshal, do your duty![Great tumult within and outside the hall.
GRAND MARSHAL 'Tis, you see, Quite fruitless.SAPIEHA What? The marshal's self suborned? Is this our Diet, then, no longer free? Throw down your staff, and bid this brawling cease; I charge you, on your office, to obey![The GRAND MARSHAL casts his baton into the centre of the hall; the tumult abates.
What whirling thoughts, what mad resolves are these? Stand we not now at peace with Moscow's Czar? Myself, as your imperial envoy, made A treaty to endure for twenty years; I raised this right hand, that you see, aloft In solemn pledge, within the Kremlin's walls; And fairly hath the Czar maintained his word. What is sworn faith? what compacts, treaties, when A solemn Diet tramples on them all?DEMETRIUS Prince Leo Sapieha! You concluded A bond of peace, you say, with Moscow's Czar? That did you not; for I, I am that Czar. In me is Moscow's majesty; I am The son of Ivan, and his rightful heir. Would the Poles treat with Russia for a peace, Then must they treat with me! Your compact's null, As being made with one whose's title's null.ODOWALSKY What reck we of your treaty? So we willed When it was made – our wills are changed to-day.SAPIEHA Is it, then, come to this? If none beside Will stand for justice, then, at least, will I. I'll rend the woof of cunning into shreds, And lay its falsehoods open to the day. Most reverend primate! art thou, canst thou be So simple-souled, or canst thou so dissemble? Are ye so credulous, my lords? My liege, Art thou so weak? Ye know not – will not know, Ye are the puppets of the wily Waywode Of Sendomir, who reared this spurious Czar, Whose measureless ambition, while we speak, Clutches in thought the spoils of Moscow's wealth. Is't left for me to tell you that even now The league is made and sworn betwixt the twain, — The pledge the Waywode's youngest daughter's hand? And shall our great republic blindly rush Into the perils of an unjust war, To aggrandize the Waywode, and to crown His daughter as the empress of the Czar? There's not a man he has not bribed and bought. He means to rule the Diet, well I know; I see his faction rampant in this hall, And, as 'twere not enough that he controlled The Seym Walmy by a majority, He's girt the Diet with three thousand horse, And all Cracow is swarming like a hive With his sworn feudal vassals. Even now They throng the halls and chambers where we sit, To hold our liberty of speech in awe. Yet stirs no fear in my undaunted heart; And while the blood keeps current in my veins, I will maintain the freedom of my voice! Let those who think like men come stand by me Whilst I have life shall no resolve be passed That is at war with justice and with reason. 'Twas I that ratified the peace with Moscow, And I will hazard life to see it kept.ODOWALSKY Give him no further hearing! Take the votes![The BISHOP OF CRACOW and WILNA rise, and descend each to his own side, to collect the votes.
MANY War, war with Moscow!ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN (to SAPIEHA) Noble sir, give way! You see the mass are hostile to your views; Then do not force a profitless division!IMPERIAL HIGH CHANCELLOR (descends from the throne to SAPIEHA) The king entreats you will not press the point, Sir Waywode, to division in the Diet.DOORKEEPER (aside to ODOWALSKY) Keep a bold front, and fearless – summon those That wait without. All Cracow stands by you.IMPERIAL GRAND MARSHAL (to SAPIEHA) Such excellent decrees have passed before; Oh, cease, and for their sake, so fraught with good, Unite your voice with the majority!BISHOP OF CRACOW (has collected the votes on his side) On this right bench are all unanimous.SAPIEHA And let them to a man! Yet I say no! I urge my veto – I break up the Diet. Stay further progress! Null and void fire all The resolutions passed —[General commotion; the KING descends from the throne, the barriers are broken down, and there arises a tumultuous uproar. DEPUTIES draw their swords, and threaten SAPIEHA with them. The BISHOPS interpose, and protect him with their stoles.
Majority? What is it? The majority is madness; Reason has still ranked only with the few. What cares he for the general weal that's poor? Has the lean beggar choice, or liberty? To the great lords of earth, that hold the purse, He must for bread and raiment sell his voice. 'Twere meet that voices should be weighed, not counted. Sooner or later must the state be wrecked, Where numbers sway and ignorance decides.ODOWALSKY Hark to the traitor! —DEPUTIES Hew him into shreds! Down with him!ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN (snatches the crucifix out of his chaplain's hand and interposes) Peace, peace Shall native blood be in the Diet shed? Prince Sapieha! be advised![To the BISHOPS.
Bring him away, And interpose your bosoms as his shield! Through this side door remove him quietly, Or the wild mob will tear him limb from limb![SAPIEHA, still casting looks of defiance, is forced away by the BISHOPS, whilst the ARCHBISHOPS OF GNESEN and LEMBERG keep the DEPUTIES at bay. Amidst violent tumult and clashing of arms, the hall is emptied of all but DEMETRIUS, MEISCHEK, ODOWALSKY, and the Hetman of the Cossacks.
ODOWALSKY That point miscarried, — Yet shall you not lack aid because of this: If the republic holds the peace with Moscow, At our own charges we shall push your claims.KORELA Who ever could have dreamed, that he alone Would hold his ground against the assembled Diet?MEISCHEK The king! the king![Enter KING SIGISMUND, attended by the LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR, the GRAND MARSHAL, and several BISHOPS.
KING Let me embrace you, prince! At length the high republic does you justice; My heart has done so long, and many a day. Your fate doth move me deeply, as, indeed, What monarch's heart but must be moved by it?DEMETRIUS The past, with all its sorrows, is forgot; Here on your breast I feel new life begin.KING I love not many words; yet what a king May offer, who has vassals richer far Than his poor self, that do I offer you. You have been witness of an untoward scene, But deem not ill of Poland's realm because A tempest jars the vessel of the state.MEISCHEK When winds are wild the steersman backs his helm, And makes for port with all the speed he may.KING The Diet is dissolved. Although I wished, I could not break the treaty with the Czar. But you have powerful friends; and if the Pole, At his own risk, take arms on your behalf, Or if the Cossack choose to venture war, They are free men, I cannot say them nay.MEISCHEK The whole Rocoss is under arms already. Please it but you, my liege, the angry stream That raved against your sovereignty may turn Its wrath on Moscow, leaving you unscathed.KING The best of weapons Russia's self will give thee; Thy surest buckler is the people's heart. By Russia only Russia will be vanquished. Even as the Diet heard thee speak to-day, Speak thou at Moscow to thy subjects, prince. So chain their hearts, and thou wilt be their king. In Sweden I by right of birth ascended The throne of my inheritance in peace; Yet did I lose the kingdom of my sires Because my people's hearts were not with me.Enter MARINA.