The Man. Not all, unless your courage fail before the time.
The Count. Before what time?
The Man. Before death!
A Baron (leading him off on the other side). It is reported that you have seen and spoken with our dreadful foe, Count Henry. If we should fall into his hands, will he have the least compassion upon us?
The Man. To tell you the truth, such compassion as our fathers never dreamed could be shown to them: 'the gallows!'
The Baron. We must guard against that to the utmost of our power!
The Man. What says your excellency?
Prince. I must speak a few words alone with you, (He draws Count Henry aside.) It is all very well to encourage our people, but you must surely be aware that we can hold out no longer.
The Man. What else is left us, prince?
Prince. As you have been appointed chief, it is for you to propose the terms of capitulation.
The Man. Not so loud....
Prince. Why not?
The Man. Because your excellency would thus forfeit your own life! (He turns to the men thronging around him.) He who speaks of surrender will be punished with death!
Baron, Count, and Prince (together.) He who speaks of surrender will be punished with death!
All. With death! With death! Vivat! vivat!
Exeunt.
The gallery of the tower. The Man. Jacob.
The Man. Where is my son, Jacob?
Jacob. He is in the north tower, seated on the threshold of the old vault and dungeon, singing strange songs of prophecy.
The Man. Man the Leonoren bastion as strongly as possible, stir not from the spot, and make constant use of the best glass to observe what movements are going on among the forces of the besiegers.
Jacob. So help me God the Lord!
It were well to give a glass of brandy to our troops to keep up their sinking courage.
The Man. If necessary, open the cellars of our counts and princes.
Exit Jacob.
The Man (mounting some feet higher, and standing wider the banner upon a small terrace). With the whole power of my eyes I trace your plans; with the concentrated hatred of my soul I surround you, my enemies! No longer with a single voice, or with a vain enthusiasm, am I to meet you; but with the sharp swords and strength of men governed by my will I seek our last encounter!
It is a noble thing to be the leader in this contest; to look even from the bed of death, if so it must be, upon the strange power added to my own single arm through the many wills subjected to my rule; and glorious to gaze thus down upon you, my enemies, lying far below in the abyss and crying up to me from the depths, as the damned cry up to heaven!
Yet a few hours more of time, and then I, with thousands of the miserable wretches who have forgotten and renounced their God, will be no more foreverbut come what will, one day of life at least is left meI will enjoy it to the utmostI will rulecombatlive! Is this my last song?
The sun sets behind the cliffs; sinks in a long, dark shroud of vaporon every side his rays pour blood into the valley. Foreshadow of my bloody death, I greet thee with a more sincere and faithful heart than I was wont to salute the allurements of pleasure, deception, enchantment, love, in the past days of my youth!
Not through low intrigue, through cunning skill, through laborious effort, have I attained the fulfilment of my wishes; but suddenly and unlocked for, as I have ever dreamed I would!
Ruler over those who were but yesterday my equals, I have reached the aim of my ambition: I stand on the very threshold of the eternal sleep!
A hall in the castle lighted with torches; George reclining upon a bed; the Man enters, and places his weapons upon a table.
The Man. Let a hundred men keep guard upon the bulwarks, the remainder may repose after our long and exhausting combat!
Voice (without). So help me God the Lord!
The Man. You must have been frightened, George, with the noise of our attack, the firing of musketry, the cries of the soldiers!
But keep up your courage, my child; we shall not be taken to-day, nor to-morrow.
George. I have indeed heard it all distinctly, but it is not that which strikes terror to my heart; the thunder of the cannon flies on and is here no longerit is something else that haunts me, that appals me, father!
The Man. You fear for me, George?
George. No. I know your hour has not yet struck.
The Man. A heavy weight has fallen from my heart to-day, for in the plain below, scattered like autumn leaves, lie the corpses of our foes, foiled in their fierce attack.
Come, George, we are alone, come! tell me all thy thronging thoughts; I will listen to thee once more as of old in our own home!
George (hurriedly). Follow me, thenfollow me, father! A dreadful trialsentenceis reëchoed here every night. Oh come with me!
He goes to a door in the wall hidden by a heavy fall of tapestry, and opens it.
The Man. George! where art thou going? Who has made known to thee this secret passage into endless vaults covered with eternal darkness? to this black charnel house, where moulder the bones of earlier and countless victims?
George. Where thine eye, accustomed to the sunshine, has no power to pierce, my spirit presses forward.
Gloom roll on to gloomand darkness gather unto darkness!
He enters the door, followed by his father, and rapidly descends into the vault.
A long, vaulted, subterranean dungeon. Grates, bars, chains, and broken instruments of torture. The Man, with a torch in his hand, stands at the base of a great block of granite, on the top of which stands George.
The Man. Come down to me, George, I implore!
George. Hearest thou not these voices? Seest thou not these forms?
The Man. All is still as the graveand almost as dark. The light of the torch is instantly swallowed up by the damp chill gloom around us!
George. Listen! Ever nearer! ever clearer! One after another they are slowly filing on from the depths of the narrow vaultsthey are solemnly seating themselves below, far in the background; behind thee, father!
The Man. Thy madness is my damnation! Thy mind is wandering, my poor child; thou art destroying the strength which I now so sorely need!
George. I see their pale and stately forms as they collect for fearful judgment! I see the prisoner approach the dreadful bar, his tall form seems.... I cannot discern his featuresthey float and flow like morning mist! Hark!
Chorus of Voices. We, once chained, beaten, tormented, choked with dust and broken with stones, through the Power now given to our hands, proceed in our turn to sentence!
We too will judge and torture; try and condemn; Satan himself will delight to assume the execution of our sentence.
The Man. George, what dost thou see?
George. The prisoner! the prisoner, father! He wring his handsO father! father!
The Man. George, what dost thou see?
George. The prisoner! the prisoner, father! He wring his handsO father! father!
A Voice. With thee dies out the accursed race; all its power, all its passions, all its pride, have joined in thee to perish!
Chorus of Voices. Because thou hast loved nothingrevered nothing save thyself and thine own thoughtsthou art condemnedart damned to all eternity!
The Man. I see nothing, but I hear from every sideabovebelowsighs and wailsjudgment, threatening, and eternal doom!
George. The prisoner! he raises his haughty head as thou dost, father, when thou art angered! He answers with proud words, as thou dost, when thou scornestfather!
Chorus of Voices. In vain! thou plead'st in vain! there is no redemption for him more, in earth or heaven!
A Voice. Yet another day of passing earthly glory, of all share in which thine ancestors have robbed me and my brethrenand then thou fallest foreverthou, with thy brethren!
Your burials will be, as once were ours, without the toll of holy knells, without tears, sobs, or wailing mourners, without friends, without relations, and you will die transfixed upon the same rock of universal human pain!
The Man. I know you, wretched ghosts! wandering stars amid the angelic hosts!
He goes forward into the darkness.
George. Father! go not into that fearful gloom! Father! in the name of Jesus ChristI imploreI conjure theefather!
The Man (turning toward his son). Whom do you see below? Speak, and tell me truly, George!
George. The prisonerhe is thyself, my father!
He is white as snowgaggedchainedthey drag him onthey torture thee, my father!
I hear thy gasping breaththy groansthy sobs! (He falls upon his knees.) Forgive me, father! My mother shines through the darkand commands me to....
He falls back in a fainting fit.
The Man (catching the falling boy in his arms). This alone was wanting! Ha! my own, my only child has led me to the brink of hell!
Maryinexorable spirit! God!!
And thou, second Mary, to whom I have so often prayed!
Here then is the beginning of eternal darkness, eternal torture!
Back! back into life! one day of glory is at least still left me! First must I combat with my fellow menand then for my eternal struggle!
Chorus of Spirits (dying away in the distance). Because thou hast loved nothing, revered nothing, save thyself and thine own thoughtsthou art, damned to all eternity!
A large hall in the castle of the Holy Trinity; arms and armor hang upon the walls, with various Gothic ornaments. The Man; women, children, some old men, and nobles are kneeling at his feet. The Godfather stands in the centre of the hall, and crowds of men are in the background.
The Man. No, no. By my sonby the memory of my wifenever! never!
Voices of Women. Have mercy upon us! Hunger gnaws our bowels; our children die of famine; fear is upon us day and night; have pity upon us!
Voices of Men. It still is time! Listen to the heralddismiss not the envoy!
Godfather. I regard not your reproaches, Count Henry, for my whole life has been that of a good citizen.
If I have assumed the office of ambassador, which I am at this moment fulfilling, it is because I understand the age in which we live, and estimate our times aright.
Pancratius is, if I may so express myself, the representative of the people....
The Man. Out of my sight, old man!(Aside to Jacob.) Bring a detachment of soldiers hither!
Exit Jacob.
The women rise from their knees weeping and sobbing, and the men draw back a few paces.
A Baron.We are all lost, and through you alone, Count Henry!
Second Baron. We renounce all further obedience.
A Prince. Let us arrange for ourselves the terms of the surrender of this castle with the worthy envoy!
Godfather. The great man who sent me here secures life to you all, if you will enter into a league with him and acknowledge the justice of the struggle of the century.
Many Voices. We acknowledge it.
The Man. You have sworn to me, and I have sworn to you, to die upon these walls; I intend to keep my oath, and you shall be true to yours. You are all to die with me!
Ha! can you indeed still wish to live?
Ha! ask the spirits of your fathers why, when living, they were guilty of such continuous oppression, and why they ruled with so much cruelty!(To a Count.) Why have you, count, oppressed your serfs?(To another.) Why have you passed your youth in cards and dice, and your life in the land of the stranger?(To another.) Why have you crept before the great, and scorned the lowly?-(To one of the women.) Why did you not bring up your sons to defend you? As knights and soldiers, they might then have served you now; but you have preferred dealings with Jews and lawyers: call upon them, then, for life and safety.(He rises and extends his arms toward them.) Why hasten ye thus to shame? why wrap your last hours in shrouds of infamy?
On with me, ye knights and nobles! On, where bayonets glitter, swift balls whistle!
Oh seek not the accursed gallows prepared for you by the New Men; believe me, the masked and silent hangman stands waiting to throw the rope of shame around your high-born throats!
A Voice. He speaks the truthto our bayonets!
Another Voice. We die of hunger; there is no more food!
Voices of Women. Our children! Your children! Mercy!
Godfather. I promise you safetysafety of life and limb....
The Man (approaching the Godfather, and seizing him y the shoulder). Sacred person of the herald, go! Go, and hide thy gray hairs in the tents of Jews and low mechanics, that I may not dye them in thine own base blood!
Jacob enters with a division of armed men.
Take aim at this brow, furrowed with the folds of idle learning! Aim at this liberty cap, which trembles on the brainless head before every breath from the lips of a man!
The Godfather escapes.
Allcry, with one breath: Bind Count Henry! Deliver him up to Pancratius!
The Man. Wait but a single moment, lords! (He goes from one soldier to another.) Do you remember when we climbed a mountain's rocky slope, a savage wild beast closely tracked our steps, and when you, frightened, fell into a yawning chasm, I rescued you, and saved your life? You were most grateful then. Have you forgotten it?Jerome, we once were cast away upon the Danube's craggy shore; we braved the waves, and saved our lives; we were bold swimmers, and we helped each other well!Christophe, Hieronymus, you sailed with me upon the wild Black Sea; we were young sailors then!(To others.) When the fire destroyed your homes, who built your cottages anew?(To others.) You fled to me from cruel lords, and I redressed your wrongs.(Addressing himself to the men generally.) Reflect, and choose! Speak! will you arm with me to battle for our rights, or will you leave me here to die alonewith haughty smiles upon my stiffening lips, because, among so many men, I found no single man?