Don Carlos

   Princess, methinks I see a hyacinth   Yonder in bloom. Wilt bring it to me, sweet?

[The PRINCESS goes towards the palace, the QUEEN

      softly to the MARQUIS.   I'm much mistaken, sir, or your arrival   Has made one heart more happy here at court.MARQUIS   I have found a sad one – one that in this world   A ray of sunshine —EBOLI              As this gentleman   Has seen so many countries, he, no doubt,   Has much of note to tell us.MARQUIS                  Doubtless, and   To seek adventures is a knight's first duty —   But his most sacred is to shield the fair.MONDECAR   From giants! But there are no giants now!MARQUIS   Power is a giant ever to the weak.QUEEN   The chevalier says well. There still are giants;   But there are knights no more.MARQUIS                   Not long ago,   On my return from Naples, I became   The witness of a very touching story,   Which ties of friendship almost make my own   Were I not fearful its recital might   Fatigue your majesty —QUEEN               Have I a choice?   The princess is not to be lightly balked.   Proceed. I too, sir, love a story dearly.MARQUIS   Two noble houses in Mirandola,   Weary of jealousies and deadly feuds,   Transmitted down from Guelphs and Ghibellines,   Through centuries of hate, from sire to son,   Resolved to ratify a lasting peace   By the sweet ministry of nuptial ties.   Fernando, nephew of the great Pietro,   And fair Matilda, old Colonna's child,   Were chosen to cement this holy bond.   Nature had never for each other formed   Two fairer hearts. And never had the world   Approved a wiser or a happier choice.   Still had the youth adored his lovely bride   In the dull limner's portraiture alone.   How thrilled his heart, then, in the hope to find   The truth of all that e'en his fondest dreams   Had scarcely dared to credit in her picture!   In Padua, where his studies held him bound;   Fernando panted for the joyful hour,   When he might murmur at Matilda's feet   The first pure homage of his fervent love.

[The QUEEN grows more attentive; the MARQUIS continues, after a short pause, addressing himself chiefly to PRINCESS EBOLI.

   Meanwhile the sudden death of Pietro's wife   Had left him free to wed. With the hot glow   Of youthful blood the hoary lover drinks   The fame that reached him of Matilda's charms.   He comes – he sees – he loves! The new desire   Stifles the voice of nature in his heart.   The uncle woos his nephew's destined bride,   And at the altar consecrates his theft.QUEEN   And what did then Fernando?MARQUIS                  On the wings   Of Jove, unconscious of the fearful change,   Delirious with the promised joy, he speeds   Back to Mirandola. His flying steed   By starlight gains the gate. Tumultuous sounds   Of music, dance, and jocund revelry   Ring from the walls of the illumined palace.   With faltering steps he mounts the stair; and now   Behold him in the crowded nuptial hall,   Unrecognized! Amid the reeling guests   Pietro sat. An angel at his side —   An angel, whom he knows, and who to him   Even in his dreams, seemed ne'er so beautiful.   A single glance revealed what once was his —   Revealed what now was lost to him forever.EBOLI   O poor Fernando!QUEEN            Surely, sir, your tale   Is ended? Nay, it must be.MARQUIS                  No, not quite.QUEEN   Did you not say Fernando was your friend?MARQUIS   I have no dearer in the world.EBOLI                   But pray   Proceed, sir, with your story.MARQUIS                   Nay, the rest   Is very sad – and to recall it sets   My sorrow fresh abroach. Spare me the sequel.

[A general silence.

QUEEN (turning to the PRINCESS EBOLI)   Surely the time is come to see my daughter,   I prithee, princess, bring her to me now!

[The PRINCESS withdraws. The MARQUIS beckons a Page. The QUEEN opens the letters, and appears surprised. The MARQUIS talks with MARCHIONESS MONDECAR. The QUEEN having read the letters, turns to the MARQUIS with a penetrating look.

QUEEN   You have not spoken of Matilda! She   Haply was ignorant of Fernando's grief?MARQUIS   Matilda's heart has no one fathomed yet —   Great souls endure in silence.QUEEN   You look around you. Who is it you seek?MARQUIS   Just then the thought came over me, how one,   Whose name I dare not mention, would rejoice,   Stood he where I do now.QUEEN                And who's to blame,   That he does not?MARQUIS (interrupting her eagerly)             My liege! And dare I venture   To interpret thee, as fain I would? He'd find   Forgiveness, then, if now he should appear.QUEEN (alarmed)   Now, marquis, now? What do you mean by this?MARQUIS   Might he, then, hope?QUEEN               You terrify me, marquis.   Surely he will not —MARQUIS              He is here already.

SCENE V

The QUEEN, CARLOS, MARQUIS POSA, MARCHIONESS MONDECAR.

The two latter go towards the avenue.

CARLOS (on his knees before the QUEEN)   At length 'tis come – the happy moment's come,   And Charles may touch this all-beloved hand.QUEEN   What headlong folly's this? And dare you break   Into my presence thus? Arise, rash man!   We are observed; my suite are close at hand.CARLOS   I will not rise. Here will I kneel forever,   Here will I lie enchanted at your feet,   And grow to the dear ground you tread on?QUEEN   Madman! To what rude boldness my indulgence leads!   Know you, it is the queen, your mother, sir,   Whom you address in such presumptuous strain?   Know, that myself will to the king report   This bold intrusion —CARLOS               And that I must die!   Let them come here, and drag me to the scaffold!   A moment spent in paradise like this   Is not too dearly purchased by a life.QUEEN   But then your queen?CARLOS (rising)              O God, I'll go, I'll go!   Can I refuse to bend to that appeal?   I am your very plaything. Mother, mother,   A sign, a transient glance, one broken word   From those dear lips can bid me live or die.   What would you more? Is there beneath the sun   One thing I would not haste to sacrifice   To meet your lightest wish?QUEEN                  Then fly!CARLOS                       God!QUEEN   With tears I do conjure you, Carlos, fly!   I ask no more. O fly! before my court,   My guards, detecting us alone together,   Bear the dread tidings to your father's ear.CARLOS   I bide my doom, or be it life or death.   Have I staked every hope on this one moment,   Which gives thee to me thus at length alone,   That idle fears should balk me of my purpose?   No, queen! The world may round its axis roll   A hundred thousand times, ere chance again   Yield to my prayers a moment such as this.QUEEN   It never shall to all eternity.   Unhappy man! What would you ask of me?CARLOS   Heaven is my witness, queen, how I have struggled,   Struggled as mortal never did before,   But all in vain! My manhood fails – I yield.QUEEN   No more of this – for my sake – for my peace.CARLOS   You were mine own, – in face of all the world, —   Affianced to me by two mighty crowns,   By heaven and nature plighted as my bride,   But Philip, cruel Philip, stole you from me!QUEEN   He is your father?CARLOS             And he is your husband!QUEEN   And gives to you for an inheritance,   The mightiest monarchy in all the world.CARLOS   And you, as mother!QUEEN              Mighty heavens! You rave!CARLOS   And is he even conscious of his treasure?   Hath he a heart to feel and value yours?   I'll not complain – no, no, I will forget,   How happy, past all utterance, I might   Have been with you, – if he were only so.   But he is not – there, there, the anguish lies!   He is not, and he never – never can be.   Oh, you have robbed me of my paradise,   Only to blast it in King Philip's arms!QUEEN   Horrible thought!CARLOS             Oh, yes, right well I know   Who 'twas that knit this ill-starred marriage up.   I know how Philip loves, and how he wooed.   What are you in this kingdom – tell me, what?   Regent, belike! Oh, no! If such you were,   How could fell Alvas act their murderous deeds,   Or Flanders bleed a martyr for her faith?   Are you even Philip's wife? Impossible, —   Beyond belief. A wife doth still possess   Her husband's heart. To whom doth his belong?   If ever, perchance, in some hot feverish mood,   He yields to gentler impulse, begs he not   Forgiveness of his sceptre and gray hairs?QUEEN   Who told you that my lot, at Philip's side   Was one for men to pity?CARLOS                My own heart!   Which feels, with burning pangs, how at my side   It had been to be envied.QUEEN                 Thou vain man!   What if my heart should tell me the reverse?   How, sir, if Philip's watchful tenderness,   The looks that silently proclaim his love,   Touched me more deeply than his haughty son's   Presumptuous eloquence? What, if an old man's   Matured esteem —CARLOS            That makes a difference! Then,   Why then, forgiveness! – I'd no thought of this;   I had no thought that you could love the king.QUEEN   To honor him's my pleasure and my wish.CARLOS   Then you have never loved?QUEEN                 Singular question!CARLOS   Then you have never loved?QUEEN                 I love no longer!CARLOS   Because your heart forbids it, or your oath?QUEEN   Leave me; nor never touch this theme again.CARLOS   Because your oath forbids it, or your heart?QUEEN   Because my duty – but, alas, alas!   To what avails this scrutiny of fate,   Which we must both obey?CARLOS                Must – must obey?QUEEN   What means this solemn tone?CARLOS                  Thus much it means   That Carlos is not one to yield to must   Where he hath power to will! It means, besides,   'That Carlos is not minded to live on,   The most unhappy man in all his realm,   When it would only cost the overthrow   Of Spanish laws to be the happiest.QUEEN   Do I interpret rightly? Still you hope?   Dare you hope on, when all is lost forever?CARLOS   I look on naught as lost – except the dead.QUEEN   For me – your mother, do you dare to hope?

[She fixes a penetrating look on him, then continues with dignity and earnestness.

   And yet why not? A new elected monarch   Can do far more – make bonfires of the laws   His father left – o'erthrow his monuments —   Nay, more than this – for what shall hinder him? —   Drag from his tomb, in the Escurial,   The sacred corpse of his departed sire,   Make it a public spectacle, and scatter   Forth to the winds his desecrated dust.   And then, at last, to fill the measure up —CARLOS   Merciful heavens, finish not the picture!QUEEN   End all by wedding with his mother.CARLOS                      Oh!   Accursed son!

[He remains for some time paralyzed and speechless.

           Yes, now 'tis out, 'tis out!   I see it clear as day. Oh, would it had   Been veiled from me in everlasting darkness!   Yes, thou art gone from me – gone – gone forever.   The die is cast; and thou art lost to me.   Oh, in that thought lies hell; and a hell, too,   Lies in the other thought, to call thee mine.   Oh, misery! I can bear my fate no longer,   My very heart-strings strain as they would burst.QUEEN   Alas, alas! dear Charles, I feel it all,   The nameless pang that rages in your breast;   Your pangs are infinite, as is your love,   And infinite as both will be the glory   Of overmastering both. Up, be a man,   Wrestle with them boldly. The prize is worthy   Of a young warrior's high, heroic heart;   Worthy of him in whom the virtues flow   Of a long ancestry of mighty kings.   Courage! my noble prince! Great Charles's grandson   Begins the contest with undaunted heart,   Where sons of meaner men would yield at once.CARLOS   Too late, too late! O God, it is too late!QUEEN   Too late to be a man! O Carlos, Carlos!   How nobly shows our virtue when the heart   Breaks in its exercise! The hand of Heaven   Has set you up on high, – far higher, prince,   Than millions of your brethren. All she took   From others she bestowed with partial hand   On thee, her favorite; and millions ask,   What was your merit, thus before your birth   To be endowed so far above mankind?   Up, then, and justify the ways of Heaven;   Deserve to take the lead of all the world,   And make a sacrifice ne'er made before.CARLOS   I will, I will; I have a giant's strength   To win your favor; but to lose you, none.QUEEN   Confess, my Carlos, I have harshly read thee;   It is but spoken, and waywardness, and pride,   Attract you thus so madly to your mother!   The heart you lavish on myself belongs   To the great empire you one day shall rule.   Look that you sport not with your sacred trust!   Love is your high vocation; until now   It hath been wrongly bent upon your mother:   Oh, lead it back upon your future realms,   And so, instead of the fell stings of conscience,   Enjoy the bliss of being more than man.   Elizabeth has been your earliest love,   Your second must be Spain. How gladly, Carlos,   Will I give place to this more worthy choice!CARLOS (overpowered by emotion, throws himself at her feet)   How great thou art, my angel! Yes, I'll do   All, all thou canst desire. So let it be.

[He rises.

   Here in the sight of heaven I stand and swear —   I swear to thee, eternal – no, great Heaven! —   Eternal silence only, – not oblivion!QUEEN   How can I ask from you what I myself   Am not disposed to grant?MARQUIS (hastening from the alley)                 The king!QUEEN                      Oh God!MARQUIS   Away, away! fly from these precincts, prince!QUEEN   His jealousy is dreadful – should he see you —CARLOS   I'll stay.QUEEN         And who will be the victim then?CARLOS (seizing the MARQUIS by the arm)   Away, away! Come, Roderigo, come!              [Goes and returns.   What may I hope to carry hence with me?QUEEN   Your mother's friendship.CARLOS                 Friendship! Mother!QUEEN                            And   These tears with it – they're from the Netherlands.

[She gives him some letters. Exit CARLOS with the MARQUIS.

The QUEEN looks restlessly round in search of her ladies, who are nowhere to be seen. As she is about to retire up, the KING enters.

SCENE VI

The KING, the QUEEN, DUKE ALVA, COUNT LERMA, DOMINGO, LADIES, GRANDEES, who remain at a little distance.

KING   How, madam, alone; not even one of all   Your ladies in attendance? Strange! Where are they?QUEEN   My gracious lord!KING             Why thus alone, I say?

[To his attendants.

   I'll take a strict account of this neglect.   'Tis not to be forgiven. Who has the charge   Of waiting on your majesty to-day?QUEEN   Oh, be not angry! Good, my lord, 'tis I   Myself that am to blame – at my request   The Princess Eboli went hence but now.KING   At your request!QUEEN            To call the nurse to me,   With the Infanta, whom I longed to see.KING   And was your retinue dismissed for that?   This only clears the lady first in waiting.   Where was the second?MONDECAR (who has returned and mixed with the other ladies, steps forward)               Your majesty, I feel   I am to blame for this.KING                You are, and so   I give you ten years to reflect upon it,   At a most tranquil distance from Madrid.

[The MARCHIONESS steps back weeping. General silence.

      The bystanders all look in confusion towards the QUEEN.QUEEN   What weep you for, dear marchioness?

[To the KING.

                      If I   Have erred, my gracious liege, the crown I wear,   And which I never sought, should save my blushes   Is there a law in this your kingdom, sire,   To summon monarch's daughters to the bar?   Does force alone restrain your Spanish ladies?   Or need they stronger safeguard than their virtue?   Now pardon me, my liege; 'tis not my wont   To send my ladies, who have served me still   With smiling cheerfulness, away in tears.Here, Mondecar

[She takes off her girdle and presents it to the MARCHIONESS.

            You have displeased the king,   Not me. Take this remembrance of my favor,   And of this hour. I'd have you quit the kingdom.   You have only erred in Spain. In my dear France,   All men are glad to wipe such tears away.   And must I ever be reminded thus?   In my dear France it had been otherwise.

[Leaning on the MARCHIONESS and covering her face.

KING   Can a reproach, that in my love had birth,   Afflict you so? A word so trouble you,   Which the most anxious tenderness did prompt?

[He turns towards the GEANDEES.

   Here stand the assembled vassals of my throne.   Did ever sleep descend upon these eyes,   Till at the close of the returning day   I've pondered, how the hearts of all my subjects   Were beating 'neath the furthest cope of heaven?   And should I feel more anxious for my throne   Than for the partner of my bosom? No!   My sword and Alva can protect my people,   My eye alone assures thy love.QUEEN                   My liege,   If that I have offended —KING                 I am called   The richest monarch in the Christian world;   The sun in my dominions never sets.   All this another hath possessed before,   And many another will possess hereafter.   That is mine own. All that the monarch hath   Belongs to chance – Elizabeth to Philip.   This is the point in which I feel I'm mortal.QUEEN   What fear you, sire?KING              Should these gray hairs not fear?   But the same instant that my fear begins   It dies away forever.

[To the grandees.

               I run over   The nobles of my court and miss the foremost.   Where is my son, Don Carlos?

[No one answers.

                  He begins   To give me cause of fear. He shuns my presence   Since he came back from school at Alcala.   His blood is hot. Why is his look so cold?   His bearing all so stately and reserved?   Be watchful, duke, I charge you.ALVA                    So I am:   Long as a heart against this corslet beats,   So long may Philip slumber undisturbed;   And as God's cherub guards the gates of heaven   So doth Duke Alva guard your royal throne.LERMA   Dare I, in all humility, presume   To oppose the judgment of earth's wisest king?   Too deeply I revere his gracious sire   To judge the son so harshly. I fear much   From his hot blood, but nothing from his heart.KING   Lerma, your speech is fair to soothe the father,   But Alva here will be the monarch's shield —   No more of this.

[Turning to his suite.

            Now speed we to Madrid,   Our royal duties summon us. The plague   Of heresy is rife among my people;   Rebellion stalks within my Netherlands —   The times are imminent. We must arrest   These erring spirits by some dread example.   The solemn oath which every Christian king   Hath sworn to keep I will redeem to-morrow.   'Twill be a day of doom unparalleled.   Our court is bidden to the festival.

[He leads off the QUEEN, the rest follow.

SCENE VII

DON CARLOS (with letters in his hand), and MARQUIS POSA enter from opposite sides.

CARLOS   I am resolved – Flanders shall yet be saved:   So runs her suit, and that's enough for me!MARQUIS   There's not another moment to be lost:   'Tis said Duke Alva in the cabinet   Is named already as the governor.CARLOS   Betimes to-morrow will I see the king   And ask this office for myself. It is   The first request I ever made to him,   And he can scarce refuse. My presence here   Has long been irksome to him. He will grasp   This fair pretence my absence to secure.   And shall I confess to thee, Roderigo?   My hopes go further. Face to face with him,   'Tis possible the pleading of a son   May reinstate him in his father's favor.   He ne'er hath heard the voice of nature speak;   Then let me try for once, my Roderigo,   What power she hath when breathing from my lips.MARQUIS   Now do I hear my Carlos' voice once more;   Now are you all yourself again!

SCENE VIII

The preceding. COUNT LERMA.

COUNT               Your grace,   His majesty has left Aranjuez;   And I am bidden —CARLOS             Very well, my lord —   I shall overtake the king —MARQUIS (affecting to take leave with ceremony)                  Your highness, then,   Has nothing further to intrust to me?CARLOS   Nothing. A pleasant journey to Madrid!   You may, hereafter, tell me more of Flanders.

[To LERMA, who is waiting for him.

   Proceed, my lord! I'll follow thee anon.

SCENE IX

DON CARLOS, MARQUIS POSA.

CARLOS   I understood thy hint, and thank thee for it.   A stranger's presence can alone excuse   This forced and measured tone. Are we not brothers?   In future, let this puppet-play of rank   Be banished from our friendship. Think that we   Had met at some gay masking festival,   Thou in the habit of a slave, and I   Robed, for a jest, in the imperial purple.   Throughout the revel we respect the cheat,   And play our parts with sportive earnestness,   Tripping it gayly with the merry throng;   But should thy Carlos beckon through his mask,   Thou'dst press his hand in silence as he passed,   And we should be as one.MARQUIS                The dream's divine!   But are you sure that it will last forever?   Is Carlos, then, so certain of himself   As to despise the charms of boundless sway?   A day will come – an all-important day —   When this heroic mind – I warn you now —   Will sink o'erwhelmed by too severe a test.   Don Philip dies; and Carlos mounts the throne,   The mightiest throne in Christendom. How vast   The gulf that yawns betwixt mankind and him —   A god to-day, who yesterday was man!   Steeled to all human weakness – to the voice   Of heavenly duty deaf. Humanity —   To-day a word of import in his ear —   Barters itself, and grovels 'mid the throng   Of gaping parasites; his sympathy   For human woe is turned to cold neglect,   His virtue sunk in loose voluptuous joys.   Peru supplies him riches for his folly,   His court engenders devils for his vices.   Lulled in this heaven the work of crafty slaves,   He sleeps a charmed sleep; and while his dream   Endures his godhead lasts. And woe to him   Who'd break in pity this lethargic trance!   What could Roderigo do? Friendship is true,   And bold as true. But her bright flashing beams   Were much too fierce for sickly majesty:   You would not brook a subject's stern appeal,   Nor I a monarch's pride!CARLOS                Tearful and true,   Thy portraiture of monarchs. Yes – thou'rt right,   But 'tis their lusts that thus corrupt their hearts,   And hurry them to vice. I still am pure.   A youth scarce numbering three-and-twenty years.   What thousands waste in riotous delights,   Without remorse – the mind's more precious part —   The bloom and strength of manhood – I have kept,   Hoarding their treasures for the future king.   What could unseat my Posa from my heart,   If woman fail to do it?MARQUIS                I, myself!   Say, could I love you, Carlos, warm as now,   If I must fear you?CARLOS              That will never be.   What need hast thou of me? What cause hast thou   To stoop thy knee, a suppliant at the throne?   Does gold allure thee? Thou'rt a richer subject   Than I shall be a king! Dost covet honors?   E'en in thy youth, fame's brimming chalice stood   Full in thy grasp – thou flung'st the toy away.   Which of us, then, must be the other's debtor,   And which the creditor? Thou standest mute.   Dost tremble for the trial? Art thou, then,   Uncertain of thyself?MARQUIS               Carlos, I yield!   Here is my hand.CARLOS            Is it mine own?MARQUIS                     Forever —   In the most pregnant meaning of the word!CARLOS   And wilt thou prove hereafter to the king   As true and warm as to the prince to-day?MARQUIS   I swear!CARLOS        And when round my unguarded heart   The serpent flattery winds its subtle coil,   Should e'er these eyes of mine forget the tears   They once were wont to shed; or should these ears   Be closed to mercy's plea, – say, wilt thou, then,   The fearless guardian of my virtue, throw   Thine iron grasp upon me, and call up   My genius by its mighty name?MARQUIS                   I will.CARLOS   And now one other favor let me beg.   Do call me thou! Long have I envied this   Dear privilege of friendship to thine equals.   The brother's thou beguiles my ear, my heart,   With sweet suggestions of equality.   Nay, no reply: – I guess what thou wouldst say —   To thee this seems a trifle – but to me,   A monarch's son, 'tis much. Say, wilt thou be   A brother to me?MARQUIS            Yes; thy brother, yes!CARLOS   Now to the king – my fears are at an end.   Thus, arm-in-arm with thee, I dare defy   The universal world into the lists.[Exeunt

ACT II

SCENE I

The royal palace at Madrid.

KING PHILIP under a canopy; DUKE ALVA at some distance, with his head covered; CARLOS.

CARLOS   The kingdom takes precedence – willingly   Doth Carlos to the minister give place —   He speaks for Spain; I am but of the household.

[Bows and steps backward.