May Egilona be another's wife
Whether he die or live! but oh!--Covilla -
She never can be mine! yet she may be
Still happy--no, Covilla, no--not happy,
But more deserving happiness without it.
Mine never! nor another's--'tis enough.
The tears I shed no rival can deride;
In the fond intercourse, a name once cherished
Will never be defended by faint smiles,
Nor given up with vows of altered love.
And is the passion of my soul at last
Reduced to this? is this my happiness?
This my sole comfort? this the close of all
Those promises, those tears, those last adieus,
And those long vigils for the morrow's dawn?
OPAS. Arouse thee! be thyself. O Sisabert,
Awake to glory from these feverish dreams:
The enemy is in our land--two enemies -
We must quell both--shame on us, if we fail.
SIS. Incredible! a nation be subdued
Peopled as ours!
OPAS. Corruption may subvert
What force could never.
SIS. Traitors may.
OPAS. Alas
If traitors can, the basis is but frail.
I mean such traitors as the vacant world
Echoes most stunningly: not fur-robed knaves
Whose whispers raise the dreaming bloodhound's ear
Against benighted famished wanderers;
While with remorseless guilt they undermine
Palace and shed, their very father's house,
O blind! their own, their children's heritage,
To leave more ample space for fearful wealth.
Plunder in some most harmless guise they swathe,
Call it some very meek and hallowed name,
Some known and borne by their good forefathers,
And own and vaunt it thus redeemed from sin.
Pages:
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62