Enveloped with a vestment of strange form, His countenance is hidden; but his step, His lofty port, his voice in vain disguised, Proclaim if that I dare pronounce it - Sal. Whom?
Atten. Thy royal brother!
Sal. Bring him instantly. [Exit Attendant.] Now, with his specious, smooth, persuasive tongue, Fraught with some wily subterfuge, he thinks
To dissipate my anger. He shall die!
[Enter Attendant and Malek Adhel.]
Leave us together. [Exit Attendant.] [Aside.] I should know that
Now summon all thy fortitude, my soul,
Nor, though thy blood cry for him, spare the guilty!
[Aloud.] Well, stranger, speak; but first unveil thyself, For Saladin must view the form that fronts him.
Malek Adhel. Behold it, then!
Sal. I see a traitor's visage.
Mal. Ad. A brother's!
Saladin owns no kindred with a villain.
Mal. Ad. O, patience, Heaven! Had any tongue but thine Uttered that word, it ne'er should speak another.
Sal. And why not now? Can this heart be more pierced By Malek Adhel's sword than by his deeds?
O, thou hast made a desert of this bosom! For open candor, planted sly disguise; For confidence, suspicion; and the glow Of generous friendship, tenderness and love, Forever banished! Whither can I turn, When he by blood, by gratitude, by faith, By every tie, bound to support, forsakes me? Who, who can stand, when Malek Adhel falls? Henceforth I turn me from the sweets of love: The smiles of friendship, and this glorious world, In which all find some heart to rest upon, Shall be to Saladin a cheerless void, His brother has betrayed him!
Mal. Ad. Thou art softened;
I am thy brother, then; but late thou saidst My tongue can never utter the base title! Sal. Was it traitor? True!
Thou hast betrayed me in my fondest hopes! Villain? 'Tis just; the title is appropriate! Dissembler? "T is not written in thy face; No, nor imprinted on that specious brow;
But on this breaking heart the name is stamped, Forever stamped, with that of Malek Adhel!
Thinkest thou I'm softened? By Mohammed! these nands Should crush these aching eyeballs, ere a tear
Fall from them at thy fate! O, monster, monster!
The brute that tears the infant from its nurse
Is excellent to thee, for in his form
The impulse of his nature may be read; But thou, so beautiful, so proud, so noble, O, what a wretch art thou! O! can a term In all the various tongues of man be found To match thy infamy?
Mal. Ad. Go on! go on!
T is but a little while to hear thee, Saladin; And, bursting at thy feet, this heart will prove Its penitence, at least.
Sal. That were an end
Too noble for a traitor! The bowstring is
A more appropriate finish! Thou shalt die!
Mal. Ad. And death were welcome at another's mandate
What, what have I to live for? Be it so,
If that, in all thy armies, can be found
An executing hand.
Sal. O, doubt it not!
They 're eager for the office. Perfidy,
So black as thine, effaces from their minds
All memory of thy former excellence.
Mal. Ad. Defer not, then, their wishes. Saladin,
If e'er this form was joyful to thy sight,
This voice seemed grateful to thine ear, accede
To my last prayer: — O, lengthen not this scene.
To which the agonies of death were pleasing!
Let me die speedily!
Sal. This very hour!
[Aside.] For, O! the more I look upon that face,
The more I hear the accents of that voice,
The monarch softens, and the judge is lost
In all the brother's weakness; yet such guilt,
Such vile ingratitude, it calls for vengeance;
And vengeance it shall have! What, ho! who waits there?
Atten. Did your highness call? Sal. Assemble quickly
My forces in the court. Tell them they come
To view the death of yonder bosom-traitor.
And, bid them mark, that he who will not spare
His brother when he errs, expects obedience,
Silent obedience, from his followers. [Exit Attendant.]
Mal. Ad Now. Saladin,
The word is given, I have nothing more To fear from thee, my brother. I am not About to crave a miserable life.
Without thy love, thy honor, thy esteem, Life were a burden to me. Think not, either, The justice of thy sentence I would question. But one request now trembles on my tongue, One wish still clinging round the heart, which soon Not even that shall torture, — will it, then, Thinkest thou, thy slumbers render quieter, Thy waking thoughts more pleasing, to reflect, That when thy voice had doomed a brother' death, The last request which e'er was his to utte
Thy harshness made him carry to the gra e?
Sal. Speak, then; but ask thyself if thou hast reason To look for much indulgence here.
Mal. Ad. I have not!
Yet will I ask for it. We part forever;
This is our last farewell; the king is satisfied; The judge has spoke the irrevocable sentence. None sees, none hears, save that omniscient power, Which, trust me, will not frown to look upon Two brothers part like such. When, in the face Of forces once my own, I 'm led to death, Then be thine eye unmoistened; let thy voice Then speak my doom untrembling; then, Unmoved, behold this stiff and blackened corse. But now I ask nay, turn not, Saladin !
I ask one single pressure of thy hand;
From that stern eye one solitary tear
O, torturing recollection! - one kind word
From the loved tongue which once breathed naught but kindness. Still silent? Brother! friend! beloved companion
Of all my youthful sports!—are they forgotten? - Strike me with deafness, make me blind, Ŏ Heaven! Let me not see this unforgiving man
Smile at my agonies! nor hear that voice Pronounce my doom, which would not say one word One little word, whose cherished memory Would soothe the struggles of departing life! Yet, yet thou wilt! O, turn thee, Saladin! Look on my face, thou canst not spurn me then,
Look on the once-loved face of Malek Adhel
For the last time, and call him
Sal. [seizing his hand]. Brother! brother!
Mal. Ad. [breaking away]. Now call thy followers
A single pang in store. Proceed! I'm ready. Sal. O, art thou ready to forgive, my brother? To pardon him who found one single error, One little failing, 'mid a splendid throng Of glorious qualities -
Mal. Ad. O, stay thee, Saladin! I did not ask for life. I only wished To carry thy forgiveness to the grave. No, Emperor, the loss of Cesarca Cries loudly for the blood of Malek Adhel. Thy soldiers, too, demand that he who lost What cost them many a weary hour to gain Should expiate his offences with his life. Lo! even now they crowd to view my death, Thy just impartiality. I go!
Pleased by my fate to add one other leaf To thy proud wreath of glory. [Going.]
Sal. Thou shalt not. [Enter Attendant.]
Atten. My lord, the troops assembled by your order Tumultuous throng the courts. The prince's death Not one of them but vows he will not suffer. The mutes have fled; the very guards rebel. Nor think I, in this city's spacious round,
Can e'er be found a hand to do the office.
Mal. Ad. O, faithful friends! [To Atten.] Thine shalt Atten. Mine? Never!
The other first shall lop it from the body.
Sal. They teach the Emperor his duty well.
Tell them he thanks them for it. Tell them, too,
'That ere their opposition reached our ears, Saladin had forgiven Malek Adhel.
Atten. O joyful news!
I haste to gladden many a gallant heart, And dry the tear on many a hardy cheek, Unused to such a visiter. [Exit.]
Sal. These men, the meanest in society, The outcasts of the earth, - by war, by nature, Hardened, and rendered callous, - these, who claim No kindred with thee, who have never heard The accents of affection from thy lips,
O, these can cast aside their vowed allegiance, Throw off their long obedience, risk their lives, To save thee from destruction! While I, I, who cannot, in all my memory,
Call back one danger which thou hast not shared One day of grief, one night of revelry.
Which thy resistless kindness hath not soothed, Or thy gay smile and converse rendered sweeter, I, who have thrice in the ensanguined field, When death seemed certain, only uttered "Brother!" And seen that form like lightning rush between Saladin and his foes, and that brave breast Dauntless exposed to many a furious blow Intended for my own,-I could forget That 't was to thee I owed the very breath Which sentenced thee to perish! O, 't is shameful! Thou canst not pardon me!
Mal. Ad. By these tears, I can!
O, brother! from this very hour, a new, A glorious life commences! I am all thine! Again the day of gladness or of anguish Shall Malek Adhel share; and oft again May this sword fence thee in the bloody field. Henceforth, Saladin,
My heart, my soul, my sword, are thine forever!
44. DAMON TO THE SYRACUSANS.-John Banım.
A nation's rights betrayed, and all content? What! with your own free willing hands yield up The ancient fabric of your constitution,
To be a garrison for common cut-throats! What! will ye all combine to tie a stone, Each to each other's neck, and drown like dogs? Are you so bound in fetters of the mind That there you sit, as if you were yourselves Incorporate with the marble? Syracusans! - But no! I will not rail, nor chide, nor curse you! I will implore you, fellow-countrymen, With blinded eyes, and weak and broken speech, I will implore you—O! I am weak in words, But I could bring such advocates before Your fathers' sacred images; old men,
That have been grandsires; women with their children, Caught up in fear and hurry, in their arms; —
And those old men should lift their shivering voices And palsied hands, and those affrighted mothers Should hold their innocent infants forth, and ask, Can you make slaves of them?
« PreviousContinue » |