No More Learning

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.