Act the First: Scene VI

ESTRELLA. Learned Euclid . . .

ASTOLFO. Thales wise . .

ESTRELLA. The vast Zodiac . . .

ASTOLFO. The star spaces . . .

ESTRELLA. Who dost soar to . . .

ASTOLFO. Who dost rise...

ESTRELLA. The sun's orbit . . .

ASTOLFO. The stars' places . . .

ESTRELLA. To describe . . .

ASTOLFO. To map the skies . . .

ESTRELLA. Let me humbly interlacing . . .

ASTOLFO. Let me lovingly embracing . . .

ESTRELLA. Be the tendril of thy tree.

ASTOLFO. Bend respectfully my knee.

BASILIUS. Children, that dear word displacingColder names, my arms here bless;And be sure, since you assentedTo my plan, my love's excessWill leave neither discontented,Or give either more or less.And though I from being oldSlowly may the facts unfold,Hear in silence my narration,Keep reserved your admiration,Till the wondrous tale is told.You already know -- I pray youBe attentive, dearest children,Great, illustrious Court of Poland,Faithful vassals, friends and kinsmen,You already know -- my studiesHave throughout the whole world given meThe high title of "the learned,"Since 'gainst time and time's oblivionThe rich pencils of Timanthes,The bright marbles of Lysippus,Universally proclaim meThrough earth's bounds the great Basilius.You already know the sciencesThat I feel my mind most given toAre the subtle mathematics,By whose means my clear previsionTakes from rumour its slow office,Takes from time its jurisdictionOf, each day, new facts disclosing;Since in algebraic symbolsWhen the fate of future agesOn my tablets I see written,I anticipate time in tellingWhat my science hath predicted.All those circles of pure snow,All those canopies of crystal,Which the sun with rays illumines,Which the moon cuts in its circles,All those orbs of twinkling diamond,All those crystal globes that glisten,All that azure field of starsWhere the zodiac signs are pictured,Are the study of my life,Are the books where heaven has writtenUpon diamond-dotted paper,Upon leaves by sapphires tinted,With light luminous lines of gold,In clear characters distinctlyAll the events of human life,Whether adverse or benignant.These so rapidly I readThat I follow with the quicknessOf my thoughts the swiftest movementsOf their orbits and their circles.Would to heaven, that ere my mindTo those mystic books addictedWas the comment of their marginsAnd of all their leaves the index,Would to heaven, I say, my lifeHad been offered the first victimOf its anger, that my death-strokeHad in this way have been given me,Since the unhappy find even meritIs the fatal knife that kills them,And his own self-murdererIs the man whom knowledge injures!--I may say so, but my storySo will say with more distinctness,And to win your admirationOnce again I pray you listen.--Clorilene, my wife, a sonBore me, so by fate afflictedThat on his unhappy birthdayAll Heaven's prodigies assisted.Nay, ere yet to life's sweet lifeGave him forth her womb, that livingSepulchre (for death and lifeHave like ending and beginning),Many a time his mother sawIn her dreams' delirious dimnessFrom her side a monster break,Fashioned like a man, but sprinkledWith her blood, who gave her death,By that human viper bitten.Round his birthday came at last,All its auguries fulfilling(For the presages of evilSeldom fail or even linger):Came with such a horoscope,That the sun rushed blood-red tintedInto a terrific combatWith the dark moon that resisted;Earth its mighty lists outspreadAs with lessening lights diminishedStrove the twin-lamps of the sky.'Twas of all the sun's eclipsesThe most dreadful that it sufferedSince the hour its bloody visageWept the awful death of Christ.For o'erwhelmed in glowing cindersThe great orb appeared to sufferNature's final paroxysm.Gloom the glowing noontide darkened,Earthquake shook the mightiest buildings,Stones the angry clouds rained down,And with blood ran red the rivers.In this frenzy of the sun,In its madness and delirium,Sigismund was born, thus earlyGiving proofs of his condition,Since his birth his mother slew,Just as if these words had killed her,"I am a man, since good with evilI repay here from the beginning,"--I, applying to my studies,Saw in them as 'twere forewrittenThis, that Sigismund would beThe most cruel of all princes,Of all men the most audacious,Of all monarchs the most wicked;That his kingdom through his meansWould be broken and partitioned,The academy of the vices,And the high school of sedition;And that he himself, borne onwardBy his crimes' wild course resistless,Would even place his feet on me;For I saw myself down-stricken,Lying on the ground before him(To say this what shame it gives me!)While his feet on my white hairsAs a carpet were imprinted.Who discredits threatened ill,Specially an ill previsionedBy one's study, when self-loveMakes it his peculiar business?--Thus then crediting the fatesWhich far off my science witnessed,All these fatal auguriesSeen though dimly in the distance,I resolved to chain the monsterThat unhappily life was given to,To find out if yet the starsOwned the wise man's weird dominion.It was publicly proclaimedThat the sad ill-omened infantWas stillborn. I then a towerCaused by forethought to be builded'Mid the rocks of these wild mountainsWhere the sunlight scarce can gild it,Its glad entrance being barredBy these rude shafts obeliscal.All the laws of which you know,All the edicts that prohibitAnyone on pain of deathThat secluded part to visitOf the mountain, were occasionedBy this cause, so long well hidden.There still lives Prince Sigismund,Miserable, poor, in prison.Him alone Clotaldo sees,Only tends to and speaks with him;He the sciences has taught him,He the Catholic religionHas imparted to him, beingOf his miseries the sole witness.Here there are three things: the firstI rate highest, since my wishesAre, O Poland, thee to saveFrom the oppression, the afflictionOf a tyrant King, becauseOf his country and his kingdomHe were no benignant fatherWho to such a risk could give it.Secondly, the thought occursThat to take from mine own issueThe plain right that every lawHuman and divine hath given himIs not Christian charity;For by no law am I biddenTo prevent another proving,Say, a tyrant, or a villain,To be one myself: supposingEven my son should be so guilty,That he should not crimes commitI myself should first commit them.Then the third and last point is,That perhaps I erred in givingToo implicit a beliefTo the facts foreseen so dimly;For although his inclinationWell might find its precipices,He might possibly escape them:For the fate the most fastidious,For the impulse the most powerful.Even the planets most maliciousOnly make free will incline,But can force not human wishes.And thus 'twist these different causesVacillating and unfixed,I a remedy have thought ofWhich will with new wonder fill you.I to-morrow morning purpose,Without letting it be hintedThat he is my son, and thereforeYour true King, at once to fix himAs King Sigismund (for the nameStill he bears that first was given him)'Neath my canopy, on my throne,And in fine in my position,There to govern and command you,Where in dutiful submissionYou will swear to him allegiance.My resources thus are triple,As the causes of disquietWere which I revealed this instant.The first is; that he being prudent,Careful, cautious and benignant,Falsifying the wild actionsThat of him had been predicted,You'll enjoy your natural prince,He who has so long been livingHolding court amid these mountains,With the wild beasts for his circle.Then my next resource is this:If he, daring, wild, and wicked,Proudly runs with loosened reinO'er the broad plain of the vicious,I will have fulfilled the dutyOf my natural love and pity;Then his righteous depositionWill but prove my royal firmness,Chastisement and not revengeLeading him once more to the prison.My third course is this: the PrinceBeing what my words have pictured,From the love I owe you, vassals,I will give you other princesWorthier of the crown and sceptre;Namely, my two sisters' children,Who their separate pretensionsHaving happily commingledBy the holy bonds of marriage,Will then fill their fit position.This is what a king commands you,This is what a father bids you,This is what a sage entreats you,This is what an old man wishes;And as Seneca, the Spaniard,Says, a king for all his richesIs but slave of his Republic,This is what a slave petitions.

ASTOLFO. If on me devolves the answer,As being in this weighty businessThe most interested party,I, of all, express the opinion:--Let Prince Sigismund appear;He's thy son, that's all-sufficient.

ALL. Give to us our natural prince,We proclaim him king this instant!

BASILIUS. Vassals, from my heart I thank youFor this deference to my wishes:--Go, conduct to their apartmentsThese two columns of my kingdom,On to-morrow you shall see him.

ALL. Live, long live great King Basilius!