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diff --git a/old/53041-0.txt b/old/53041-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 96eb7eb..0000000 --- a/old/53041-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4689 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Numantia, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Numantia - -Author: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - -Translator: James Y. Gibson - -Release Date: September 13, 2016 [EBook #53041] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NUMANTIA *** - - - - -Produced by Josep Cols Canals, John Campbell and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - - - - - - - - - - TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE - - Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. - - Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been - corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within - the text and consultation of external sources. - - More detail can be found at the end of the book. - - - - -NUMANTIA - - - - - _BY THE SAME TRANSLATOR._ - - _Uniform with this Volume._ - - - JOURNEY TO PARNASSUS. - - COMPOSED BY - - MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA. - - IN ENGLISH TERCETS, - - _WITH PREFACE AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES_. - - - LONDON: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO. - - - - - NUMANTIA - - A TRAGEDY - - BY - - MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA - - - _TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH_ - - WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES - - BY - - JAMES Y. GIBSON - - TRANSLATOR OF THE "JOURNEY TO PARNASSUS" - - [Illustration: (Publisher's colophon)] - - LONDON - - _KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO_ - - MDCCCLXXXV - - - - - "A death with honour is supremest bliss, - No fate can be more excellent than this." - - _Act_ ii. p.27. - - - - - To the Memory of - - GENERAL GORDON, - - THE HERO OF KHARTOUM, THE MODERN PALADIN, OUR CHRISTIAN - THEOGENES, WHOSE SUBLIME FAITH, FORTITUDE, AND SELF-SACRIFICE, - MATCHLESS IN THESE TIMES, HAVE MADE HIS NAME SACRED IN EVERY - HOUSEHOLD, THE TRANSLATOR HUMBLY DEDICATES THIS ENGLISH - VERSION OF ONE OF THE SADDEST TRAGEDIES EVER PENNED; - WHICH NEVERTHELESS IS INSTINCT WITH THAT TRAGIC - PAIN WHICH PURIFIES THE SOUL, AND INCITES TO - SUCH DEEDS OF SELF-DEVOTION AS DISTIN- - GUISHED THE HERO, WHOSE LOSS - BRITAIN MOURNS THIS DAY - WITH A PECULIAR SOR- - ROW, NOT UNMIXED - WITH SHAME. - - - - -INTRODUCTION. - - -This is an attempt to render for the first time into readable -English verse the one great drama of Cervantes. It was presented on -the Madrid stage about the year 1586, during the reign of Philip -II., and was received with great applause as a work of national -interest. It remained, however, unprinted and was supposed to -be lost. In 1784, it was published for the first time by Sancha -of Madrid, in a volume which contained also Cervantes' _Viaje -del Parnaso_, and his _Trato de Argel_. The Editors, with a -carelessness characteristic of the times, do not tell us how it -was recovered or where they got it. The literary world, however, -received it gladly as a work of peculiar original power, in every -way worthy of the name of Cervantes. Strange to say, a number of -years afterwards, it sprang to life as an acting drama during -the memorable siege of Saragossa by the French, where it had a -besieged city for its stage, and patriots and heroes for its -actors and audience. A work that has such a history, and has shown -such persistent vitality, must have something in it worthy of the -study of all lovers of the Drama, and no apology seems needful -for presenting it now in an English version, which preserves the -original metres, and pays due regard to accuracy and idiomatic -expression. - -Rightly to estimate such a production we must take into account the -period during which it was written and the purpose for which it -was invented. Cervantes was at this time about thirty-nine years -of age. He returned from his captivity in Algiers in 1580. He was -married in 1584, and with the gallantry peculiar to his nature he -laid at the feet of his bride the first fruits of his genius, a -pastoral romance known as _La Galatea_. The newly married pair, who -lived at Esquivias, a few miles from Madrid, had the slenderest -of fortunes, and as love would not fill the cupboard, Cervantes -followed his natural inclination, went to Madrid, and took to -writing for the stage. Though the pay was scanty it was better than -could be got by writing sentimental romances. He remained at this -occupation till he left for Seville in 1588, and wrote, as he tells -us, between twenty and thirty plays. - -At this period, throughout Europe generally, dramatic art, and -tragic art especially, was still in its infancy, and its laws and -principles were as yet undetermined. In Italy Tasso had produced -his "Aminta" at Ferrara, and Guarini his "Pastor Fido" at Milan -(1585), but Italian Tragedy had yet to await the advent of Maffei, -Metastasio, and Alfieri in long after years. In France Corneille -and Racine were as yet unborn. In England such authors as Marlowe, -Greene, and Peele were beginning their careers, and Shakespeare, -a youth of twenty-two (he was seventeen years the junior of -Cervantes) was perchance only brooding over his "Venus and Adonis." -In Spain such writers as Juan del Encina, Torres del Naharro, Gil -de Vicente, and the authors of the famous Tragi-Comedy, Celestina, -at the beginning and middle of the sixteenth century, had done -good service to Spanish Literature, but had settled nothing as to -the form which the Spanish drama should take. Cervantes himself -looked upon Lope de Rueda as the true originator of a genuine -national theatre. He died in 1565, and was buried between the -choirs of the Cathedral of Cordova (that wonderful Moorish Mosque), -an unexampled honour in those days. A man of the people himself -(he was a gold-beater by trade) he became the idol of the people -both as actor and author. His _pasos_ (equivalent to the French -_proverbes_), founded on national manners, and flavoured with true -Spanish salt, were unrivalled, and wherever his booth-theatre was -pitched, in town or country, he was received with acclamation. -Cervantes, during his boyhood, was charmed with him, and the -impressions he received were never effaced. But that homespun -genius could teach him nothing in the highest walks of his art. - -When Cervantes, then, began to write for the Tragic stage he had -no models before him, and very little critical light to guide -him. He was the first genius of commanding power in modern times, -whether in Spain or elsewhere, who attempted to compose Tragedies, -and he was more or less a law to himself. His _Numantia_, which -German critics declare to be the first work of real tragic power -that had appeared in Europe since the extinction of the Greek and -Roman drama, has therefore a historical value apart altogether -from its artistic merit. The genius of Cervantes was Epic rather -than Dramatic, and it is interesting to observe that in this play, -almost his first and certainly his greatest effort, he adopts the -construction of the earlier Greek drama in its severest form, -rejecting, however, the Chorus, which he replaces by allegorical -figures serving a similar purpose. In the main he is a follower, -consciously or unconsciously, of Aeschylus, in such plays as the -_Seven against Thebes_, or _The Persians_. Aeschylus (according to -Aristophanes) says of his _Persians_ that it was the "taking of a -theme for poetry of a glorious exploit (κοσμῆσαι ἔργον ἄριστον)." -In like manner the _Numantia_ of Cervantes is simply a glorious -page in Spanish history converted into sounding verse. - -Viewed then as a drama, according to modern ideas, it is manifestly -defective. It has neither plot, passion, nor intrigue, and its -subject is eminently non-dramatic. The general use, too, of the -_Ottava rima_, with its ceaseless recurring rhymes, is more suited -to epic description than to dramatic action. But viewed as an -attempt to give form and body on the stage to a great national -event, with the intent of inspiring patriotic feelings, its success -is undoubted. Though the first act, which presents the motive -of the play, drags somewhat, the interest deepens with every -scene, and the tremendous catastrophe, with all its attendant -accessories of mingled horror, despair, and indomitable resolve, -is depicted with a skill, pathos, and concentrated power hitherto -unattained. In such a pictorial representation even the despised -Octave, supple, sonorous, and monotonous, seems not out of keeping. -Each speech is uttered as it were to the beat of the drum, or -to the prolonged wailings of the Dead March. When more vigorous -description is required Cervantes uses the _Terza rima_ with great -effect; and in almost the only bit of action represented (the -scaling of the wall by Caius Marius) he employs blank verse with -much fitness. If Cervantes had only invented for Spain a dramatic -blank verse as fine and effective as that of Shakespeare for -England, and had produced therein a series of plays showing such -original power as the _Numantia_, then would the Spanish drama, -perhaps, under his guidance have taken a different direction, -and reached a higher grade of excellence than it ever attained. -But this was not to be. The genius of the Spanish language was -against the first effort, and the prevailing taste of the people -was equally against the other. The great merit of Cervantes is not -that he founded or perfected a national dramatic school. This was -reserved for Lope de Vega, who submitted his genius to the taste of -the people, and for Calderon de la Barca, who refined and exalted -it to the utmost pitch of which it was capable. But this merit he -may certainly claim, that he was the first to give a certain form -and fulness to what before his time was formless and void. His -_Numantia_, if not a perfect drama and a model for imitation, has -an unwonted elevation and grandeur. It is free from that turgid -declamation, triviality of incident, and presentation of horrors -for horrors' sake, which were the curse of the contemporary tragic -plays. For simplicity, directness, and truthfulness of delineation -his drama was unique in its own age, and may, in regard to those -peculiar qualities, prove of some service even in ours. - -Those of our readers who desire to pursue the subject further -would do well to consult the higher dramatic critics. Hallam, -in his succinct "History of the Literature of the Middle Ages," -devotes three pages to the analysis and elucidation of this -remarkable drama, and his judgment both of its excellences and -faults is at once shrewd, candid, and appreciative. Ticknor, while -slightly protesting against the unmeasured praise bestowed upon -it by the Germans, acknowledges its unique historical value, and -praises especially its lighter portions, condemned by many as an -excrescence, for their exquisite simplicity and truthfulness. -Amongst the Germans, Bouterwek and Augustus W. Schlegel are -especially enthusiastic in their eulogies. We extract from the -latter's "History of Dramatic Literature" (Black's translation) -the following passage, as just as it is elegantly expressed: -"The _Destruction of Numantia_ has altogether the elevation of -the tragical cothurnus; and, from its unconscious and unlaboured -approximation to antique grandeur and purity, forms a remarkable -phenomenon in the history of modern poetry.... There is, if I may -so speak, a sort of Spartan pathos in the piece; every single -and personal consideration is swallowed up in the feeling of -patriotism, and by allusions to the warlike fame of his nation in -modern times he has contrived to connect the ancient history with -the interests of his own day.... When we consider the energetical -pathos in this drama we are constrained to consider it as merely -accidental that Cervantes did not devote himself to this species of -writing, and find room in it for the complete development of his -inventive mind." - -Sismondi and such acute critics as Schack and Lemcke corroborate -Schlegel's judgment in almost every respect. Among French writers -such authorities as M. Royer, who has written an admirable prose -translation of the _Numantia_, and M. Emile Chasles, whose Life of -Cervantes is the most graphic of all biographies, have given very -valuable and laudatory criticism. The list of critics' names might -easily be extended, but enough has already been given to justify -the importance we have attached to this unique work of Cervantes. - -This is not the place to allude to any other of Cervantes' -dramatic works, or to estimate their value. We hope yet to have -an opportunity of doing so when we present a translation of his -selected Comedies and Interludes for the approval of English -Cervantistas. Meanwhile we prefer that this translation of his -_Numantia_ should go forth alone. It was produced at first in -stirring times when the Spanish power, that had hitherto held -mastery in the world, was showing symptoms of declining vigour. -This English translation comes forth in equally stirring times, -when the power that supplanted the Spanish domination, and has -so long ruled the seas, is called on to make a mighty effort to -show that she can do so yet, despite of Teuton, Gaul, or Russ. The -enemies of Old England are busily predicting for her a fate like -that which overwhelmed Carthage or Numantia. We fear no such fate -if England to herself be true. Still the call to patriotism is -never out of place, and perhaps the British people who have taken -Cervantes to their hearts as the genial, mirth-provoking humourist, -may be disposed to show him like regard in his character of poet, -soldier, and patriot. It is true the scene he presents, and the -heroism he immortalizes are peculiarly Spanish; but Cervantes, -though a Spaniard to the backbone, had thoughts that interest -humanity, and the patriotic chord which he strikes in this drama -may perchance find an echo even in our colder northern bosoms. - -At all events Cervantes was no dilettante soldier. If he talks -of the horrors and glories of war and siege he talks of things -he knew and had felt. In his early manhood he was one of those -high-spirited youths (_Mozos de gran brio_), of good birth and -breeding, who crowded the ranks of the Spanish army in Italy, to -do service to their country and gain honour thereby. He had fought -and bled at Lepanto, in the affair at Navarino, at the storming of -Tunis and La Goleta. He was simply a private soldier and did his -duty bravely as hundreds of his comrades did. Strange to say, it -was only during his five years' captivity in Algiers that he was -enabled to display his higher military qualities and especially -his faculty of command. Amongst the 25,000 Spaniards in that den -of horrors he at once took the foremost place. He was the leader -in every daring plan of escape, and only failed at last through -treachery. He was the originator of that desperate scheme for -the seizure of Algiers by the uprising of the Christians, which -was nipped in the bud by the faint-heartedness of Philip II., -who feared to risk his fleet in such a glorious enterprise. But -successful or not he was idolized by his comrades, and feared by -his enslavers, who nevertheless would not touch his life, such -was the charm his heroic spirit exercised. But his bearing as -a man was more heroic still than his daring as a soldier. The -written testimony of his comrades, still preserved, tells us how -gentle he was in manners, how brave in heart; how generous to -his needier brethren even out of his poverty; how tender to the -captive children and how mindful of their welfare; how proud of his -honour as a Spaniard, and steadfast in his faith as a Christian, -while hundreds surrendered both in the sheer agony of despair. -Cervantes escaped, as by a miracle, from a life-long slavery in -Constantinople; but only to wage a life-long battle with adverse -fate, and at length to die with a smile on his lips. - -In the Dedication we have ventured to link the name of Gordon with -that of Cervantes, and in so doing we feel we do no dishonour to -the name of either. Though differing in language and creed, and -separated by well-nigh three centuries, they are, nevertheless, -kindred souls. In both the Quixotic spirit, in its noblest sense, -is clearly displayed. Cervantes was the inventor of Quixotism -because it lay deep in his nature. This Quixotism, what is it but -the sublime of imprudence? To do what the enthusiasm of the soul -prompts and compels; to do it with single-hearted unselfishness; -without regard to the adequacy or inadequacy of means; without -regard even to eventual success or non-success; but with simple -regard to the inspired voice of duty within, come what may: that is -Quixotism in supreme degree. Of this sublime imprudence Cervantes -and Gordon were equally guilty in their day, and both reaped the -reward of it, especially from their country's rulers. It was their -joint fate during life to be an enigma to most, a wonder to many, -and in death or after death to be beloved by all. It is not for us -to say more of the noble man whose name is now a household word -amongst us. It is to be hoped when his Diaries are brought to -light, and the true story of his sufferings and death is known, -that one of our gifted poets may do for the Hero of Khartoum what -Cervantes has done for the heroes of Numantia, with a higher harp -if not with loftier patriotism. Meanwhile we may be permitted to -pay, with all humility, this little tribute to his memory. - -In conclusion, we have cordially to thank Don Pascual de Gayangos -for the interest he has shown in this venture, and for the pains he -has taken to elucidate the errors and imperfections of the original -text. We have also to thank our dear Amanuensis, whose delicate -taste, and skill in languages ancient and modern, have added -materially to any worth this little work may have. - - J. Y. G. - - SWAYNESTHORPE, - LONG DITTON, - _April, 1885_. - - - - -_PERSONS REPRESENTED._ - - -ROMANS. - - SCIPIO, _the Roman General_. - QUINTUS FABIUS, _his Brother_. - JUGURTHA, _a Roman Officer_. - CAIUS MARIUS, _a Roman Soldier_. - Roman Soldiers. - - -NUMANTINES. - - THEOGENES, _Chief Governor of Numantia_. - CORABINO, } _Governors of Numantia_. - FOUR NUMANTINES, } - MORANDRO, } _Numantine Soldiers_. - LEONCIO, } - MARQUINO, _a Wizard_. - MILVIO, _his Attendant_. - VIRIATO, } _Numantine Youths_. - SERVIO, } - A CORPSE. - LYRA, _affianced to Morandro_. - THE BROTHER OF LYRA. - -Numantine wives, priests _with their_ attendants, _two_ -ambassadors, soldiers, children, &c. - - -ALLEGORICAL PERSONAGES. - - SPAIN, _with mural crown_. - DOURO, _with its tributaries_. - WAR. - SICKNESS. - HUNGER. - FAME. - -_The Scene is laid alternately in the Roman Camp and within the -walls of Numantia._ - - - - -NUMANTIA. - - - - -ACT I. - - -SCENE I. - - _Enter_ SCIPIO[1] _and_ JUGURTHA.[2] - -SCIPIO. - - This hard and heavy task, the brunt of which - The Roman Senate gave me to sustain, - Hath brought me stress and toil to such a pitch - As quite unhinges my o'erburdened brain. - A war so long,--in strange events so rich,-- - Wherein so many Romans have been slain, - Who dares presume to bring it to a close? - Who would not tremble to renew its woes? - -JUGURTHA. - - Who, Scipio? Who can boast the great success, - The untold valour, which in thee abound? - The two combined are equal to the stress, - Thine arms with glorious triumph shall be crowned. - -SCIPIO. - - The strength, inspired by prudent manliness, - Will bring the loftiest summits to the ground; - While brutal force, moved by a hand insane, - Will change to rugged heaps the smoothest plain. - 'Tis needful, then, and firstly, to repress - The flagrant madness of our soldiery, - Who, mindful not of glory and noblesse, - In gross consuming lust do sunken lie. - My sole desire is this, I wish no less, - To raise our men from their debauchery; - For if the friend will first amendment show, - More quickly then will I subdue the foe. - Marius! - - _Enter_ CAIUS MARIUS.[3] - - My Lord? - -SCIPIO. - - Let notice quick be sent, - To all our warriors let the mandate run, - That without sloth or hindrance to prevent, - They all appear within this place as one; - For I would make to them, with grave intent, - A brief harangue. - -CAIUS MARIUS. - - At once it shall be done. - -SCIPIO. - - Go quickly, for 'tis well that all be told - Our novel plans, although the means be old. - - [_Exit_ CAIUS MARIUS. - -JUGURTHA. - - Be sure, my Lord, there is no soldier here - Who fears not, loves thee not beyond compare; - And since thy valour, in its proud career, - Extends from Southern seas to Northern Bear, - Each man with daring heart, devoid of fear, - Soon as he hears the martial trumpet blare, - Will, in thy service, rush to deeds of glory, - Outstripping far the fabled deeds of story. - -SCIPIO. - - Our first concern must be this rampant vice, - Which like a canker spreads, to curb and tame; - For should it run unfettered, in a trice - We bid farewell to good repute and fame. - This damage must be cured at any price; - For should we fail to quench its blazing flame, - Such vice alone would kindle fiercer war - Than all the foemen of this land by far. - - [_Behind, they publish the edict, having first beat the - drum to assemble._ - - Order of our General: - Let the soldiers quartered here - Presently in arms appear - In the chief square, one and all. - And if any man resist - This our summons and decree, - Let his name, as penalty, - Be at once struck off the list. - -JUGURTHA. - - No doubt, my Lord, but it is wise and sane - To curb thine army with an iron bit, - And hold the soldier back with tightened rein - When he would plunge into the loathsome pit. - Our army's force would be a thing in vain - If right and virtue do not go with it; - Although it march along in proud array, - With thousand squadrons, and with banners gay. - - [_At this point there enter as many soldiers as may be, - and_ CAIUS MARIUS, _armed in antique fashion, without - arquebuses, and_ SCIPIO, _ascending a small eminence - on the stage, glances round at the soldiers and - says_: - -SCIPIO. - - By that proud gesture, by the lusty swell - Of these rich trappings, with their martial sheen, - My friends, for Romans I do know you well-- - Romans in build and gallant port, I mean; - But by the tale these soft white fingers tell, - And that rich bloom which on your cheeks is seen, - Ye seem to have been reared at British fires, - And drawn your parentage from Flemish sires. - My friends, this wide-spread languor and decay, - Which for yourselves hath borne such bitter fruit, - Nerves up your fallen foes to sterner fray, - And brings to nought your valour and repute. - This city's walls, that stand as firm to-day - As battled rock, are witnesses to boot - How all your native strength hath turned to shame, - And bears no stamp of Roman but the name. - Seems it, my sons, a manly thing to own, - That when the Roman name towers far and wide, - Within the land of Spain yourselves alone - Should humble it and level down its pride? - What feebleness is this, so strangely grown? - What feebleness? If I may now decide, - It is a feebleness loose living breeds-- - The mortal enemy of manly deeds. - Soft Venus ne'er with savage Mars did start - A paction firm and stable at the core: - She follows pleasures; he pursues the art - That leads to hardships, and to fields of gore. - So let the Cyprian goddess now depart, - And let her son frequent this camp no more; - For he whose life in revelling is spent - Is badly lodged within a martial tent. - Think ye, the battering-ram with iron head - Will of itself break down the battled wall? - Or crowds of armèd men and armour dread - Suffice alone the foemen to appal? - If dauntless strength be not with prudence wed, - Which plans with wisdom and provides for all, - But little fruit will mighty squadrons yield, - Or heaps of warlike stores upon the field. - Let but the smallest army join as one - In bonds of martial law, as strict as pure, - Then will ye see it, radiant as the sun, - March where it will to victory secure. - But let an army manly courses shun, - Were it a world itself in miniature, - Soon will its mighty bulk be seen to reel - Before the iron hand, and breast of steel. - Ye well may be ashamed, ye men of might, - To see how these few Spaniards, sore distressed, - With haughty spirit, and to our despite, - Defend with vigour their Numantian nest. - Full sixteen years[4] and more have taken flight, - And still they struggle on, and well may jest - At having conquered with ferocious hands, - And kept at bay, our countless Roman bands. - Self-conquered are ye; for beneath the sway - Of base lascivious vice ye lose renown, - And while with love and wine ye sport and play, - Ye scarce have strength to take your armour down. - Blush then with all your might, as well ye may, - To see how this poor little Spanish town - Bids bold defiance to the Roman host, - And smites the hardest when beleaguered most. - At every hazard let our camp be freed, - And cleanly purged of that vile harlot race, - Which are the root and cause, in very deed, - Why ye have sunk into this foul disgrace. - One drinking-cup, no more, is all ye need; - And let your lecherous couches now give place - To those wherein of yore ye slept so sound-- - The homely brushwood strewn upon the ground. - Why should a soldier reek of odours sweet, - When scent of pitch and resin is the best? - Or why have kitchen-things to cook his meat, - To give withal his squeamish stomach zest? - The warrior, who descends to such a treat, - Will hardly bear his buckler on the breast; - For me all sweets and dainties I disdain, - While in Numantia lives one son of Spain. - Let not, my men, this stern and just decree - Of mine appear to you as harshly meant; - For in the end its profit ye will see - When ye have followed it with good intent. - 'Tis passing hard to do, I well agree, - To give your habits now another bent; - But if ye change them not, then look for war - More terrible than this affront by far. - From downy couches and from wine and play - Laborious Mars is ever wont to fly; - He seeks some other tools, some other way, - Some other arms to raise his standard high. - Not luck nor hazard here have any sway, - Each man is master of his destiny; - 'Tis sloth alone that evil fortune breeds, - But patient toil to rule and empire leads. - Though this I say, so sure am I withal - That now at last ye'll act as Romans do, - That I do hold as nought the armèd wall - Of these rude Spaniards, a rebellious crew. - By this right hand I swear before you all, - That if your hands be to your spirits true, - Then mine with recompense will open wide, - And this my tongue shall tell your deeds with pride. - - [_The soldiers glance at one another, and make signs to - one of them, CAIUS MARIUS, who replies for all, and - thus says_: - -CAIUS MARIUS. - - If thou hast marked, and with attentive eye, - Illustrious Commander of this force, - The upturned faces of the standers-by, - While listening to thy brief and grave discourse, - From some must thou have seen the colour fly, - In others deepen, stung with quick remorse; - Plain proof that fear and shame have both combined - To trouble and perplex each soldier's mind. - Shame--to behold the abject, low estate - On which with self-abasement they must look, - Without one plea defensive to abate - The wholesome rigour of thy stern rebuke; - Fear--at the dire results of crimes so great; - And that vile sloth, whose sight they cannot brook, - Affects them so, that they would rather die - Than wallow longer in its misery. - But place and time remaineth to them still - To make some slight atonement for this wrong; - And this is reason why such flagrant ill - Doth twine around them with a bond less strong. - So from to-day, with prompt and ready will, - The very meanest of our warlike throng - Will place without reserve, as is most meet, - Their goods and life and honour at thy feet. - Receive with right good-will, O master mine, - This fitting gift their better minds supply, - And think them Romans of the ancient line, - In whom the manly spirit cannot die. - My comrades, raise your right hands as a sign - That ye approve this pledge as well as I. - -_Soldiers._ - - What thou hast said for us we all declare, - And swear to keep our promise. - -_All._ - - Yes, we swear. - -SCIPIO. - - In such a pledge new confidence I find - This war with greater vigour to pursue, - While glowing ardour burns in every mind - To change the old life and begin the new. - Let not your promise whistle down the wind, - But let your lances prove it to be true, - For mine with truth and clearness shall be shown, - To match the worth and value of your own. - -_Soldier._ - - Two Numantines accredited are here, - With solemn message, Scipio, to thee. - -SCIPIO. - - What keeps them back? Why do they not appear? - -_Soldier._ - - They wait behind for thy permission free. - -SCIPIO. - - Be they ambassadors, their right is clear. - -_Soldier._ - - I judge them so. - -SCIPIO. - - Then let them come to me; - 'Tis always good the enemy to know, - Whether a true heart or a false he show. - For Falsehood never cometh in such wise - Enwrapped in Truth, that we may not descry - Some little cranny in the close disguise, - Through which to gaze upon the secret lie. - To listen to the foe is always wise, - We profit more than we can lose thereby; - In things of war experience shows, in sooth, - That what I say is well-established truth. - - _Enter the Numantine Ambassadors, First and Second._ - -_First Ambassador._ - - If, good my lord, thou grant us without fear - To speak the message we have brought this day, - Where now we stand, or to thy private ear, - We shall deliver all we come to say. - -SCIPIO. - - Speak freely, then, I grant you audience here. - -_First Ambassador._ - - With this permission, in such courteous way - Conceded to us by thy regal grace, - I shall proceed to state our urgent case. - Numantia, to whom my birth I owe, - Hath sent me, noble general, to thee, - As to the bravest Roman Scipio - The night e'er covered, or the day can see; - And begs of thee the friendly hand to show, - In token that thou graciously agree - To cease the struggle that hath raged so long, - And caused to thee and her such cruel wrong. - She says, that from the Roman Senate's law, - And rule, she never would have turned aside, - Had not some brutal Consuls, with their raw - And ruthless hands, done outrage to her pride. - With fiercer statutes than the world e'er saw, - With greedy lust, extending far and wide, - They placed upon our necks such grievous yoke, - As might the meekest citizens provoke. - Throughout the time, with such a lengthened bound, - Wherein both sides have made such cruel sport, - No brave commander have we ever found - Whose kindness or whose favour we could court. - But now, at length, that Fate hath brought it round - To guide our vessel to so good a port, - We joyfully haul in our warlike sails, - Prepared for any treaty--that avails. - Nor think, my lord, that it is fear alone - Which makes us sue for peace at such an hour; - By proofs unnumbered it is widely known - That still Numantia wields an arm of power. - It is thy worth and valour lure us on, - And give assurance that our luck will tower - Far higher than our highest hopes extend, - To have thee for our master and our friend. - On such an errand have we come to-day. - My lord, make answer as it pleaseth thee. - -SCIPIO. - - Since but a late repentance ye display, - Your friendship is of small account to me. - Give, give anew the sturdy right arm play, - For what mine own is worth I fain would see; - Since in its might hath fortune deigned to place - My added glory, and your fell disgrace. - To sue for peace will hardly recompense - The shameless doings of so many years. - Let war and rapine come; and in defence - Bring out anew your files of valiant spears - -_Second Ambassador._ - - Take heed, my lord; for this false confidence - Brings in its train a thousand cheats and fears; - And this bold arrogance which thou dost show - But nerves our arms to strike a harder blow. - Our plea for peace, on which thou now hast frowned, - Although we urged it with the best intent, - Will make our righteous cause be wide renowned, - And Heaven itself will give its blest assent. - Mark, ere thou treadest on Numantian ground, - Oft wilt thou prove, and to thy heart's content, - What bolts of wrath the insulted foe can send, - Who wished to be thy vassal, and good friend. - -SCIPIO. - - Hast thou aught more to say? - -_First Ambassador._ - - No, we have more - To do, since thou, my lord, will have it so. - Thou hast refused the just peace we implore, - And hast belied thy better self, I know; - Soon wilt thou see the power we have in store, - When thou hast showed us all thou hast to show, - For prating peace away is easier far - Than breaking through the serried ranks of war. - -SCIPIO. - - Thou speakest truth; and now to make it plain - That I can treat in peace, in war command, - Your proffered friendship I do now disdain; - I here remain the sworn foe of your land, - And so with this ye may return again. - -_Second Ambassador._ - - Meanst thou, my lord, on this resolve to stand? - -SCIPIO. - - Yes, I do mean it. - -_Second Ambassador._ - - Then, To arms! I say, - And no Numantian voice will answer, Nay! - - [_Exeunt the Ambassadors; and QUINTUS FABIUS, brother - of SCIPIO, says_: - -QUINTUS FABIUS. - - Methinks our indolence, which now is past, - Hath made you bold within our midst to brawl; - But now the wished-for time hath come at last, - When ye will see our glory, and your fall. - -SCIPIO. - - Vain boasting, Fabius, is beneath the caste - Of valiant men, with honour at their call; - So calm thy threats, to good persuasion yield, - And keep thy courage for the battle-field. - Though, sooth, I do not mean that this proud foe - Should meet us hand to hand in very deed. - Some other way to conquest will I go, - Which promises to bring me better speed. - I mean to curb their pride, their wits o'erthrow, - And on itself to let their fury feed; - For with a deep wide ditch I'll gird them round, - And hunger fierce will bear them to the ground. - No longer shall this soil be coloured red - With Roman blood. Sufficient for the State - Is what these Spaniards have already shed - In this long brutal war, and obstinate. - Now bare your arms for other work instead,-- - This hard-bound earth to break and excavate; - They serve us better, foul with dust and mud, - Than when bedabbled with the foeman's blood. - Let no one in the ranks this duty shun, - But join in strife his neighbour to surpass. - Let officer and private work as one, - Without distinction, or respect of class. - Myself will seize the spade, and when begun - Will break the ground as deftly as the mass. - Do all as I, and let what will befall, - This scheme of mine will satisfy you all. - -QUINTUS FABIUS. - - O valiant sir, my brother and my lord, - In this we recognize thy prudent care, - For it were folly, by the wise ignored, - And rash display of valour, past compare, - To face in arms the fury and the sword - Of these wild rebels, frantic with despair; - To shut them in will yield us better fruit, - And wither all their courage at the root. - 'Tis easy to surround the city quite, - Save where the river shows an open line. - -SCIPIO. - - Now let us go, and straightway bring to light - This little-used and novel plan of mine; - Then to the Roman Senate in its might, - (If Heaven's smiles but on our project shine,) - Will complete Spain be subject, far and wide, - By simple conquest of this people's pride. - - -SCENE II. - - _Enters a damsel, crowned with a mural crown, bearing heraldic - castles in her hand, signifying SPAIN, and says_: - -SPAIN. - - Thou Heaven, the lofty, vast, serenely grand, - Who, with thy fructifying powers, hast crowned - With wealth the chiefest part of this my land, - And made it great above the realms around, - Let my sad dole excite thy pity bland; - And since thou giv'st the wretched calm profound, - To me be gracious in my throes of pain, - For I am she, the lonely, luckless Spain. - Let it suffice thee that, beneath thy care, - My powerful limbs in fiercest fires were tossed, - And through my heart thou to the sun laidst bare - The dark benighted kingdom of the lost. - My wealth 'midst thousand tyrants thou didst share; - Phœnicians, Greeks as well, in countless host - Did part my realms; for thou didst will it so, - Or else my wickedness deserved the blow. - Is't possible that I should always be - Of nations strange the meek and lowly slave, - Nor ever have one glimpse of Liberty, - Nor ever see my native banners wave? - And yet, perchance, it is a just decree, - That I should sink beneath a fate so grave, - Since my most valiant men and sons of fame - Are foes at heart, and brothers but in name. - For public ends they never will unite, - These brilliant spirits--a divided host; - Nay, rather will they stand apart, or fight, - When strength and unity are needed most; - And thus by fatal discords they invite - The wild barbarian hosts, at fearful cost, - Who sack their treasures with a greedy glee, - And shower their cruelties on them and me. - It is Numantia, and only she, - Who with her blood her life will dearly sell; - Who with her sword unsheathed, and flashing free, - Defends the Liberty she loves so well. - But now her race is over, woe is me! - The hour, the fated hour is on the knell, - When she must part with life, but not with fame, - Like Phœnix rising fresh from out the flame. - Those Romans there, a countless timid band, - Who in a thousand ways their conquests seek, - Decline to measure swords, and hand to hand, - With these brave Numantines, so few and weak. - O might their plans be buried in the sand, - And all their fancies turn to crazy freak, - And this Numantia, this little spot, - Regain once more its free and happy lot! - But now, alas! the foe hath girt it round, - Not with confronting arms, foreboding ill - To its weak walls, but with a wit profound - And ready hands hath laboured with such skill, - That with a trench deep-hollowed in the ground - The town is circled, over plain and hill-- - And only on the side where runs the river - Is there defence against this strange endeavour. - So these poor Numantines are close confined - And rooted to the spot, as if by charms; - No man can leave, no man may entrance find; - They have no fear of stormings or alarms; - But as they gaze around, before, behind, - And see no labour for their powerful arms, - With fearful accents, and ferocious breath, - They cry aloud for war, or else for death! - And since the side the spacious Douro scours, - Laving the city in its onward way, - Is that alone which, in their evil hours, - May lend the prisoned Numantines some stay, - Before their grand machines or massive towers - Be founded in its stream, I fain would pray - The bounteous river, radiant with renown, - To aid and succour my beleaguered town. - Thou gentle Douro,[5] whose meand'ring stream - Doth lave my breast, and give it life untold, - As thou wouldst see thy rolling waters gleam, - Like pleasant Tagus, bright with sands of gold; - As thou wouldst have the nymphs, a merry team, - Light-footed bound from meads and groves of old, - To pay their homage to thy waters clear, - And lend thee bounteously their favours dear; - Then lend, I pray, to these my piteous cries - Attentive ear, and come to ease my woes. - Let nothing hinder thee in any wise, - Although thou leav'st awhile thy sweet repose; - For thou and all thy waters must arise - To give me vengeance on these Roman foes; - Else all is over, 'tis a hopeless case, - To save from ruin this Numantian race. - - _Enter the river DOURO, with several boys attired as rivers - like himself, these being the tributary streams which flow into - the Douro._ - -DOURO. - - O Spain, my mother dear, thy piercing cries - Have struck upon mine ears for many an hour, - And if I did not haste me to arise, - It was that succour lay beyond my power. - That fatal day, that day of miseries, - Which seals Numantia's doom, begins to lower; - The stars have willed it so, and well I fear - No means remain to change a fate so drear. - Minuesa, Tera, Orvion as well, - Whose floods increase the volume of mine own, - Have caused my bosom so to rise and swell - That all its ancient banks are overflown. - But my swift current will not break their spell, - As if I were a brook, their pride has grown - To do what thou, O Spain, didst never dream, - To plant their dams and towers athwart my stream. - But since the course of stern, relentless Fate, - Brings round the final fall, without avail, - Of this thy well-beloved Numantian state, - And closes up its sad and wondrous tale, - One comfort still its sorrows may abate, - That never shall Oblivion's sombre veil - Obscure the bright sun of its splendid deeds, - Admired by all, while age to age succeeds. - But though this day the cruel Romans wave - Their banners o'er thy wide and fertile land,-- - Here beat thee down, there treat thee as a slave, - With pride ambitious, and a haughty hand,-- - The time will come (if I the knowledge grave - Which Heaven to Proteus taught do understand) - When these said Romans shall receive their fall - From those whom presently they hold in thrall. - I see them come, the peoples from afar, - Who on thy gentle breast will seek to dwell, - When, to thy heart's content, they have made war - Against the Romans, and have curbed them well. - Goths shall they be; who, bright with glory's star, - Leaving their fame through all the world to swell, - Will in thy bosom seek repose from strife, - And give their sturdy powers a higher life. - In coming years will Attila, that man - Of wrath, avenge thy wrongs with bloody hands; - Will place the hordes of Rome beneath the ban, - And make them subject to his stern commands; - And, forcing way into the Vatican,[6] - Thy gallant sons, with sons of other lands, - Will cause the Pilot of the sacred bark - Take speedy flight, and steer into the dark. - The time will also come, when one may stand - And see the Spaniard brandishing his knife - Above the Roman neck, and stay his hand - At bidding of his chief, from taking life. - The great Albano[7] he, who gives command - To draw the Spanish army from the strife, - In numbers weak, and yet in courage strong, - A match in valour for a mightier throng. - And when the rightful Lord of heaven and earth - Is recognized as such on every hand, - He, who shall then be stablished and set forth - As God's viceregent over every land, - Will on thy kings bestow a style of worth - As fitting to their zeal as it is grand; - They all shall bear of Catholic the name, - In true succession to the Goths of fame. - But he, whose hand of vigour best shall bind - In one thine honour, and thy realm's content, - And make the Spanish name, too long confined, - Hold place supreme by general assent, - A king shall be, whose sound and thoughtful mind - On grand affairs is well and wisely bent; - His name through all the world he rules shall run, - The second Philip,[8] second yet to none. - Beneath his fortunate imperial hand - Three kingdoms once divided under stress - Again beneath one single crown shall stand, - For common welfare, and thy happiness. - The Lusitanian banner, famed and grand, - Which once was severed from the flowing dress - Of fair Castile, will now be knit anew, - And in its ancient place have honour due. - What fear and envy, O beloved Spain, - Shall bear to thee the nations strange and brave; - Whose blood shall serve thy flashing sword to stain, - O'er whom thy banners shall triumphant wave! - Let hopes like these assuage the bitter pain, - Which wrings thy heart in this sad hour and grave, - For what the cruel Fates have willed must be, - Numantia must abide the stern decree. - -SPAIN. - - Thy words, O famous Douro, have in part - Relieved the poignant anguish of my wrong; - There is no guile in thy prophetic heart, - And so my confidence in thee is strong. - -DOURO. - - O Spain, thou mayst believe what I impart, - Although these happy days may tarry long. - My nymphs await me now, and so, farewell! - -SPAIN. - - May heaven thy limpid waters bless and swell! - - - - -ACT II. - - -SCENE I. - -_Interlocutors._ - - _THEOGENES and CORABINO, with four other Numantines, Governors - of Numantia, MARQUINO, a wizard, and a Corpse which will appear - in due time. They are seated in council, and the four nameless - Numantines are distinguished by First, Second, Third, and - Fourth._ - -THEOGENES. - - Ye valiant men, it seems to me this day - That every adverse fate and direful sign - Conspire to crush us with their baleful sway, - And cause our force and fury to decline. - The Romans shut us in, do what we may, - With cruel craft our strength to undermine. - No vengeance comes to us by death in fight, - Nor, save with wings, can we escape by flight, - Not these alone would crush us to the ground, - Who oft have suffered at our hands defeat; - For Spaniards too, with them in paction bound, - Would cut our throats with treachery complete. - May Heaven such knavish villany confound! - May lightning flashes wound their nimble feet, - Who rush to give their friends a deadly blow, - And lend their succour to our wily foe! - See if ye cannot now devise some plan - To mend our fortunes, and our city save; - For this laborious siege, of lengthened span, - Prepares for us a sure and certain grave. - Across that fearful ditch no single man - May seek the fortune that awaits the brave; - Though valiant arms, at times, in close array - Will sweep a thousand obstacles away. - -CORABINO. - - I would that mighty Jove, in sovereign grace, - Might grant our gallant youth this very day - To meet the Roman army face to face, - Where'er their arms might have the freest play. - Not death itself, in such a happy case, - Would keep their Spanish fortitude at bay; - They'd hew a pathway, beat the foemen down, - And succour bring to our Numantian town. - But since we find ourselves in this sad state, - Like women harboured and by force confined, - Then let us do our utmost in the strait, - And show a daring and determined mind; - Let us invite our foes to test their fate - By single combat; haply we shall find - That, worn out by this siege and lengthened fray, - They fain would end it in this simple way. - But if this remedy should not succeed, - And this our just demand should baffled be, - One other plan may bring us better speed, - Though more laborious, as it seems to me: - That ditch and battled trench, which now impede - Our passage to the foeman's camp ye see, - By sudden night assault let us break through, - And march for succour to good friends and true. - -_First Numantine._ - - Be it by ditch or death, we must, 'tis plain, - Free passage force, if we would still survive; - For death is most insufferable pain, - If it should come when life is most alive. - Death is the certain cure for woes that drain - The strength of life, and on it grow and thrive; - For death with honour is supremest bliss; - No fate can be more excellent than this. - -_Second Numantine._ - - Can higher honour crown our latest years, - If so our souls must from our bodies part, - Than thus to rush upon the Roman spears, - And dying, strike our foemen at the heart? - Let him who will display the coward's fears, - And stay within the city all apart; - For me, at least, my life I'd rather yield, - Within the ditch, or on the open field. - -_Third Numantine._ - - This cruel hunger, fearsome and malign, - Which tracks our path, and goads us bitterly, - Constrains me to consent to your design, - However rash and hair-brained it may be. - By death in fight this insult we decline; - Who would not die of hunger come with me, - To force the trenches, and with one accord - Cut out a path to safety with the sword. - -_Fourth Numantine._ - - It seemeth good to me, before we dare - The desperate act which promises relief, - That we should summon from the rampart there - Our haughty foe, and ask of him in brief: - That he will grant an open field and fair - To one Numantian, and one Roman chief, - And that the death of either in the fight - Shall end our quarrel and decide the right. - These Romans are a people of such pride - That they will sanction what we now propose; - And if by this our challenge they abide, - Then sure am I our griefs will have a close; - For here sits Corabino at our side, - Upon whose mighty valour I repose, - That he alone, in open fight with three, - Will from the Romans snatch the victory. - 'Tis also fitting that Marquino here, - Whose fame as sage diviner is so great, - Should note what sign or planet in the sphere - Forbodeth death to us, or glorious fate; - And find some means perchance to make it clear, - If we shall issue from our present strait, - When once this doubtful cruel siege has passed, - The victors or the vanquished at the last. - Be it as well our first and chief concern - To make to Jove a solemn sacrifice; - It well may be that thereby we shall earn - A boon still higher than the proffered price. - If by such aid supernal we shall learn - To staunch the wounds of our deep-rooted vice, - Then haply may our rugged fates relent, - And change to brighter fortune and content. - There never lacketh opportunity to die, - The desperate may have it when inclined; - The fitting time and place are always nigh - To show in dying the determined mind. - But lest the passing hours in vain should fly, - Say if ye now approve what I've designed, - And if ye do not, then devise some plan - Will better suit, and pleasure every man. - -MARQUINO. - - There is good reason in thy sage advice; - Its weighty counsel is approved by me; - Prepare the offering and the sacrifice, - And let the challenge quick delivered be. - As for myself, I'll hasten in a trice - To show my science in supreme degree; - For one I'll drag from out the heart of Hell - Our future, be it good or bad, to tell. - -THEOGENES. - - I herewith offer me, if so indeed - Ye can but trust my valour and my might, - To sally forth, if it be so decreed, - And be your champion in the single fight. - -CORABINO. - - Thy valour rare deserves a better meed; - We well may trust--it is thy patent right-- - Affairs by far more difficult and grave - To him who is the bravest of the brave. - And since the chiefest place is at thy call, - Due to thy worth, by general assent, - I, who esteem myself the least of all, - Will act as herald of this tournament. - -_First Numantine._ - - Then I, with all the people, great and small, - Will do what gives to Jove the most content; - For prayers and sacrifice have mighty sway, - When purged and contrite hearts prepare the way. - -_Second Numantine._ - - Now let us go, with ready wills and free, - To do as we have sworn, whate'er befall, - Before pale hunger's gnawing misery - Hath brought us to the last extreme of all. - -_Third Numantine._ - - If Heaven already hath pronounced decree - That we are doomed in dire distress to fall, - May Heaven revoke it now, and aid us soon, - If our contrition meriteth the boon. - - -SCENE II. - - _Enter first two Numantine soldiers, MORANDRO and LEONCIO._ - -LEONCIO. - - Where, Morandro, dost thou go? - What strange errand hast thou got? - -MORANDRO. - - If myself do know it not - Just as little wilt thou know. - -LEONCIO. - - Would that amorous whim of thine - I could pluck from out thy pate! - -MORANDRO. - - Nay, my reason hath more weight - Since I felt this flame of mine. - -LEONCIO. - - 'Tis a fact, undoubted lore, - That the love-devoted swain - Hath, by reason of his pain, - Weightier reason than before. - -MORANDRO. - - What thou speakest thus to me, - Is it wit, or malice, friend? - -LEONCIO. - - Thou my wit mayst apprehend, - I, thy pure simplicity. - -MORANDRO. - - Am I simple, loving well? - -LEONCIO. - - Yes, if love will not allow - For the whom, and when, and how; - Ask thy reason, it will tell. - -MORANDRO. - - Who can bounds assign to love? - -LEONCIO. - - Reason's self will show them thee. - -MORANDRO. - - Reasonable will they be, - But of slender value prove. - -LEONCIO. - - What of reason is there, pray, - In the amorous endeavour? - -MORANDRO. - - Love 'gainst reason goeth never, - Though it go some other way. - -LEONCIO. - - Is it not beyond all reason, - Gallant soldier as thou art, - Thus to show a lover's heart, - In this sad and straitened season? - At a time when thou art bound - Round the god of war to rally, - Is it meet with love to dally, - Scatt'ring thousand sweets around? - See thy country in a stir, - Enemies before, behind, - And wilt thou, with troubled mind, - Turn to love, and not to her? - -MORANDRO. - - Thus to hear thee idly speak, - Makes my blood with fury dance. - When did love, by any chance, - Make the manly bosom weak? - Do I leave my post to fly - To my lady's side instead, - Or lie sleeping on my bed, - When my captain watches by? - Hast thou seen me fail to move - At the urgent call of duty, - Lured away by wanton beauty, - Or still less by honest love? - If with truth thou canst not tell - Any point wherein I fail, - Wherefore thus against me rail, - Just because I love so well? - If I shun the circles bright, - Brooding o'er my sad condition, - Put thyself in my position, - Thou wilt see that I have right. - Know'st thou not how many years - I was mad for Lyra's sake, - Till at length the clouds did break, - Scatt'ring all my doubts and fears? - For her father gave consent - That we twain should wedded be; - And my Lyra's love for me, - Mine for her, gave full content. - But, alas! thou art aware - How this brutal, cruel war - Came our happiness to mar, - Sunk my glory to despair. - For our marriage may not be - Till the din of war hath ceased; - 'Tis no time to wed and feast - Till this land of ours be free. - Think what slender hope is here - That my bliss will ever be, - When our chance of victory - Rests upon the foeman's spear! - Here we are with ruin near us, - Fosse and trench around us lying, - All our men with hunger dying, - And no thought of war to cheer us! - Is it strange, that when I know - All my hopes are but as wind, - I should go with saddened mind, - Just as now thou seest me go? - -LEONCIO. - - O Morandro, calm thy breast; - Let me see thine ancient glance; - For by hidden ways, perchance, - Help will reach us--and the best. - Sovereign Jove will doubtless show - To our brave Numantian folk - How to burst this Roman yoke - By some sharp and sudden blow. - Then in calm and sweet repose - Wilt thou seek thy wedded wife, - And in love's endearing strife - Soon forget thy present woes. - For this day, by sage advice, - Will Numantia, all astir, - Unto Jove, the Thunderer, - Make a solemn sacrifice. - See what crowds of people hie - With the victim and the fire! - Mighty Jove, all-powerful sire, - Look upon our misery! - - [_There enter two Numantines, clad as ancient priests, - leading in between them, fastened by the horns, - a big lamb, crowned with olive or ivy and other - flowers; also a page with a silver salver and - a towel on his shoulder; another with a silver - goblet filled with water; another with one filled - with wine; another with a silver dish and a little - incense; another with fire and wood; another who - arranges a table with a coverlet, on which all the - aforesaid articles are placed. There enter on the - scene all those who have already appeared in the - comedy in the dress of Numantines, the priests - coming after; and one of them, letting go the lamb, - thus says_: - -_First Priest._ - - Most certain signs, foreboding woes unchecked, - Have shown their evil forms across my way, - And my hoar hairs are standing all erect. - -_Second Priest._ - - If my divinings lead me not astray, - No good will issue from this enterprise. - Alas, Numantia! Ah, luckless day! - -_First Priest._ - - Let us, despite these mournful auguries, - Perform our office with becoming speed. - -_Second Priest._ - - Bring hither, friends, this table, and likewise - The incense, wine, and water which we need - Arrange thereon. Now stand ye all apart; - Repent ye of your every evil deed; - The first and best oblation on your part - Is that which heaven regards with chiefest grace, - A chastened spirit and a guileless heart. - -_First Priest._ - - The fire upon the ground ye must not place. - There comes a brazier to receive it now, - For so our rites demand in such a case. - -_Second Priest._ - - Make clean your hands and necks, and keep your vow. - -_First Priest._ - - Bring water here! Is not the fire alight? - -_One._ - - No man can kindle it, my lords, I trow. - -_Second Priest._ - - O Jove! Will adverse Fate, to our despite, - Pursue us thus to ruin in its ire? - What keeps the kindle-wood from taking light? - -_One._ - - It seems, my lord, there is some little fire. - -_First Priest._ - - Away with thee, thou lurid flame and spare! - The sight of thee makes every hope expire. - Mark how the thickening smoke is curling there, - And to the western side directs its flight; - While that pale flame which quivers in the air - Darts to the east its points of yellow light; - A luckless sign, which hastens to proclaim - That total loss and ruin are in sight. - -_Second Priest._ - - Although our death may give the Romans fame, - Their victory, methinks, to smoke will turn, - Our death and glory change to vivid flame. - -_First Priest._ - - Since it is fitting, bring the hallowed urn, - And quick bedew the sacred fire with wine; - The incense also it behoves to burn. - - [_They besprinkle the fire and its adjuncts with wine, - and then place incense on the fire._ - -_Second Priest._ - - Great Jupiter, direct thy force benign - For good to sad Numantia in her woe, - And turn to naught the stern opposing sign. - -_First Priest._ - - As burns the sacred incense in the glow, - Forced into smoke by virtue of the fire, - So exercise thy virtue on the foe, - That all his wealth and glory, powerful Sire, - May pass away in clouds of murky air, - As thou canst do it, and as I desire. - -_Second Priest._ - - May Heaven restrain the foe with arm laid bare, - As now we hold this victim firmly bound, - And may he share the fate _she_ hath to share! - -_First Priest._ - - Ill bodes the augury; no hope is found - That our beleaguered town will e'er be free - To burst the tightening bonds that gird her round. - - [_Under the stage they make a noise with a barrel full - of stones, and discharge a rocket._ - -_Second Priest._ - - Didst thou not hear a noise, my friend, or see - That flaming bolt which passed with angry flight, - In speedy answer to thy prophecy? - -_First Priest._ - - I stand appalled; I quake with very fright; - What fearful signs are hovering in the sky, - Foreboding bitter end, disastrous fight! - Seest not that troop of eagles fierce on high, - Who fight these birds with cruel beak and bill, - And round their quivering prey in circles fly! - -_Second Priest._ - - They use alone their strength and cruel will - To drive these birds into some narrow spot, - Then close them in with wily art and skill. - -_First Priest._ - - That omen I denounce; I like it not: - Imperial eagles conquering as they go! - Numantia falls,--it is her certain lot. - -_Second Priest._ - - Eagles, the heralds of stupendous woe! - Thine augury is true; it fits the case: - Our hours are numbered,--it is time to go. - -_First Priest._ - - Not yet; the sacrifice must now take place - Of this pure victim, destined to appease - The deity who shows the fearful face. - O mighty Pluto, thou whom Fate did please - To grant a dwelling in the realms obscure, - And rule the infernal hosts with thy decrees; - As thou wouldst live in peace, and rest secure - That she, of sacred Ceres daughter fair, - Will greet thy love with an affection pure, - Then listen to this wretched people's prayer; - Do all that lies within thy proper sphere, - And make their welfare thy peculiar care. - Seal up that horrid cave profound and drear - Whence sally forth the direful Sisters three, - To do the damage we have cause to fear, - For much they revel in our misery. - - [_He takes some flocks of hair from the lamb and throws - them into the air._ - - So may the wind make all their projects vain, - And as I now proceed to lave and stain - This shining knife with that pure victim's gore, - With guileless spirit and a purpose plain, - So may Numantia's soil be sprinkled o'er - With Roman blood; and may its reddened sands - Serve also for their grave, as oft before. - - [_Here enters from under the stage a demon, from the - middle of his body upwards, who seizes the lamb - and carries it behind. He presently returns again, - and scatters and disperses the fire and all the - sacrifices._ - - But who hath snatched the victim from my hands? - Ye holy gods, what means this fearful thing? - What prodigies are raging in these lands? - Can nothing move your hearts, or pity bring? - Not the sad wailings of our wretched folk, - Or sweetness of the holy songs we sing? - -_Second Priest._ - - These rather seem their anger to provoke, - Else why these fearful signs of coming wrath - That press us downward like a hateful yoke! - Our schemes of life are but a passing breath; - Our hardest labour ends in quick decay; - The good of others hastens but our death. - -_One of the People._ - - Enough; since Heaven hath now decreed this day - Our bitter end, its misery profound, - Why need we more for pity's sake to pray? - -_Another._ - - Then let us wail with such a doleful sound - Our woeful lot, that coming ages may - Rehearse our hopeless valour round and round. - And let Marquino make a full display - Of all his lore; and tell the sum of fears - And horrors springing from this fateful day, - Which now hath turned our laughter into tears. - - [_Exeunt omnes, save MORANDRO and LEONCIO, who remain - alone._ - -MORANDRO. - - What, Leoncio, dost thou say? - Shall my sorrows have their cure - 'Neath these signs so good and sure, - Which the Heavens now display? - Shall I better fortune have, - When the din of war is o'er? - That will happen, not before, - When this ground becomes my grave. - -LEONCIO. - - To the gallant soldier, friend, - Auguries can give no pain; - Sturdy heart and steady brain - Bring him fortune in the end. - Passing phantoms vain and dim - Cannot shake or do him harm; - Courage high and manly arm - Are the star and sign for him. - But if thou wouldst still believe - Such a palpable delusion, - We shall have them in profusion, - If my sight doth not deceive. - For Marquino now will show - All the best his lore can borrow, - And the end of all our sorrow, - Good or bad, we soon will know. - Seems to me he comes this way; - In what strange attire he sallies! - -MORANDRO. - - Who with ugly beings dallies - Well may ugly be as they! - Shall we follow him, or fly? - -LEONCIO. - - Better far to follow now, - For if fitting cause allow, - We may serve him by-and-by. - - [_Here enters MARQUINO, clad with a black robe of wide - glazed buckram, and black flowing hair; his feet - unshod, and at his girdle he must carry, so as to - be seen, three phials full of water, one black, - another tinged with saffron, the last clear; in - the one hand a lance, black-lacquered, and in the - other a book. MILVIO accompanies him, and as they - advance, LEONCIO and MORANDRO stand at one side._ - -MARQUINO. - - Where say'st thou, Milvio, lies the luckless youth? - -MILVIO. - - Within this sepulchre interred he lies. - -MARQUINO. - - Thou know'st the spot; thou dost not err, in sooth? - -MILVIO. - - No, for this stone, that stands before mine eyes, - I left to mark the place where now doth dwell - The lad we sepulchred with tears and sighs. - -MARQUINO. - - What died he of? - -MILVIO. - - Of living not too well. - For withering, wasting hunger laid him low, - That cruel plague, the progeny of Hell. - -MARQUINO. - - It was no wound, so far as thou dost know, - That pierced his heart and cut the vital thread, - No cancer, nay, nor homicidal blow? - I ask thee this, for to my science dread - It matters that this body be complete, - Entire in all its parts, from foot to head. - -MILVIO. - - Three hours ago I paid him, as was meet, - The last respects, and bore him to his tomb. - He died of hunger; this I now repeat. - -MARQUINO. - - 'Tis well; the fitting season is in bloom, - Announced before by each propitious sign, - To summon from the nether realms of gloom - The fallen spirits, fearsome and malign. - Now to my verses give attentive ear: - Fierce Pluto, thou, whom Fate hath called to reign - Within the wide domain of darkness drear, - Amongst the ministers of souls in pain, - Cause that my wishes be respected here, - However much they go against the grain; - And in this dire extreme delay not long, - Nor wait a second summons from my tongue. - I wish that to the corpse, interred by us, - The soul that gave it life thou shouldst restore. - Though Charon yonder, fierce and rigorous, - Should hold it fast upon the blackened shore; - Though, in the triple throat of Cerberus - The grim, it lies ensconced in anguish sore; - Forth let it come to seek our world of light, - Then quick return unto thy realms of night. - Since come it must, let it instructed come, - Anent the issue of this bloody fray. - In _no_ point let the wretched soul be dumb, - Nor aught conceal, but in the plainest way, - Without ambiguous phrase, rehearse the sum, - Lest doubt and dim confusion win the day. - Now send it forth. Why keep me waiting here, - Or must I make my meaning still more clear? - Ye faithless ones, why turn ye not the stone? - Tell me, false ministers, what keeps ye back? - How? Have ye not sufficient portents shown, - That ye will aid me in the thing I lack? - Say, have ye mischievous designs alone? - Or wish ye I should put upon the track, - This very moment, my enchanting arts, - To soften down your fierce and stony hearts? - Well then, ye rabble vile, with falsehood rife, - Prepare yourselves for words of harder grain; - Know that my voice hath power upon your life, - To give you double fury, double pain! - Tell me, thou traitor, husband of the wife - Who six months yearly, to her sweetest gain, - Remains without thee, cuckold as thou art, - Why art thou dumb, when I speak out my heart? - This iron point, bedewed with water clear - Which never touched the ground in month of May, - Will strike this stone, and straightway will appear - The strength and potency of my assay. - - [_With water of the clear phial he bathes the point - of the lance, and then strikes the board; below, - rockets are fired off, or a noise is made with the - barrel of stones._ - - Ye rabble, now it seems that ye have fear, - And show by stunning proofs your fell dismay. - What sounds are these, ye people vile and coarse? - Ye come at last, although ye come by force. - Lift up this stone, ye curs, whate'er betide, - And show the body that lies buried here. - What means this sluggishness? Where do ye hide? - Why at my mandate do ye not appear? - Ye infidels, ye put my threats aside, - Because ye think ye have no more to fear; - But this black water of the Stygian lake - Will give your tardiness a speedy shake! - Thou water, drawn upon a dismal night - Of darkness dread, from out the fatal lake, - By that dread power which doth with thee unite, - Before which any other power must quake, - Give forth thy diabolic strength aright! - And him who first the Serpent's form did take - I conjure, I constrain, beseech, command, - To come with speedy wings at my demand! - - [_He sprinkles the sepulchre with water, and it opens._ - - Come forth, thou ill-starred youth, stay not behind, - Return to see the sun, serene and blest! - Forsake that realm, where thou shalt never find - One single happy day of cloudless rest! - And since thou canst, unbosom now thy mind, - Of all that thou hast seen in its dark breast; - I mean, regarding that which I demand, - And more, if it concerns the case in hand. - - [_The body comes forth in its shroud, with masked face, - discoloured like a dead man's, and walks, dragging - itself by little and little, and at length falls - flat on the stage, without moving foot or hand, - till its time comes._ - - What! Dost not answer? Dost not live again, - Or haply hast thou tasted death once more? - Then will I quicken thee anew with pain, - And for thy good the gift of speech restore. - Since thou art one of us, do not disdain - To speak and answer, as I now implore; - If thou be dumb, then I'll use measures strong, - To loosen thy most timid, worthless tongue. - - [_He sprinkles the body with the yellow water, and - whips it with a thong._ - - Ye spirits vile, it worketh not, ye trust! - But wait, for soon the enchanted water here - Will show my will to be as strong and just - As yours is treacherous and insincere. - And though this flesh were turned to very dust, - Yet being quickened by this lash austere, - Which cuts with cruel rigour like a knife, - It will regain a new though fleeting life. - - [_At this point the body moves and shudders._ - - Thou rebel soul, seek now the home again - Thou leftest empty these few hours ago! - -_The Body._[9] - - Restrain the fury of thy reckless pain; - Suffice it, O Marquino, man of woe, - What I do suffer in the realms obscure, - Nor give me pangs more fearful to endure. - Thou errest, if thou thinkest that I crave, - For greater pleasure and for less dismay, - This painful, pinched, and narrow life I have, - Which even now is ebbing fast away. - Nay, rather dost thou cause me dolour grave, - Since Death a second time, with bitter sway, - Will triumph over me in life and soul, - And gain a double palm, beyond control. - For he and others of the dismal band - Who do thy bidding, subject to thy spell, - Are raging round and round, and waiting stand, - Till I shall finish what I have to tell: - The woeful end, most terrible and grand, - Of our Numantia, since I know it well: - For she shall fall, and by the hands austere - Of those who are to her most near and dear. - The Romans ne'er shall victory obtain - O'er proud Numantia; still less shall she - A glorious triumph o'er her foemen gain; - Twixt friends and foes, both brave to a degree, - Think not that settled peace shall ever reign - Where rage meets rage in strife eternally. - The friendly hand, with homicidal knife, - Will slay Numantia, and will give her life. - - [_He hurls himself into the sepulchre, and says_: - - I say no more, Marquino, time is fleet; - The Fates will grant to me no more delay, - And though my words may seem to thee deceit, - Thou'lt find at last the truth of what I say. - -MARQUINO. - - O fearful signs! O misery complete! - If such events, my friend, are on the way, - Before I gaze on this my people's doom - I'll end my wretched being in this tomb! - - [_MARQUINO hurls himself into the sepulchre._ - -MORANDRO. - - Say, Leoncio, am I right, - Are not my forebodings true? - That my hopes and pleasures too - Change into the opposite? - Who can Fate and Fortune brave? - Shut and barred is every way, - Save, and let Marquino say, - Certain death and speedy grave. - -LEONCIO. - - What are all these strange illusions? - Terrors grim and phantasies. - What are signs and witcheries? - Diabolical delusions. - Thinkest thou such things have worth? - Slender knowledge dost thou show; - Little care the dead below - For the living here on earth. - -MILVIO. - - Such a monstrous sacrifice - Never had Marquino made, - Could our fate have been delayed, - Which he saw with prophet's eyes. - Let us tell this tale of woe - To the town whose end is near; - But on such an errand drear - Who will stir one step to go? - - [_Exeunt._ - - -END OF ACT II. - - - - -ACT III. - - -SCENE I. - - _Enter SCIPIO, QUINTUS FABIUS, and CAIUS MARIUS; afterwards - CORABINO._ - -SCIPIO. - - In very sooth, I am content to view - How Fortune's wishes tally with mine own; - For this free haughty nation I subdue - Without a struggle, by my wits alone. - The occasion comes, I seize it as my due, - For when it flits and runs, and once hath flown, - Full well I know in war we pay the cost, - Our credit vanishes, and life is lost. - It may be judged a foolish, monstrous thing, - To hold our enemies beleaguered there; - That shame on Roman chivalry we bring, - By using arts of conquest strange and rare. - If such be said, then to this hope I cling, - That shrewd and practised soldiers will declare - That victory to be of most repute, - Which yields with least of blood the most of fruit. - What glory more exalted can we know, - Within the range of war affairs, I mean, - Than thus to conquer and subdue the foe, - Nor let our naked weapons once be seen? - For when the blood of friends is forced to flow, - To gain a triumph when the fight is keen, - I wot the pleasure is not half so high - As that which springs from bloodless victory. - - [_Here a trumpet sounds from the wall of Numantia._ - -QUINTUS FABIUS. - - Listen, my lord, there comes a trumpet's blast - From out Numantia's town, and sure am I - They mean to speak to thee from thence at last, - For this strong wall impedes their coming nigh. - See, Corabino to the tower hath passed, - And waves a peaceful banneret on high. - Let us advance a space. - -SCIPIO. - - Well, be it so. - -CAIUS MARIUS. - - This spot is good, we need no further go. - - [_CORABINO stands on the battlement, having a white - banner on the point of his lance._ - -CORABINO. - - Ye Romans, say, from my position here - Is't possible my voice your ears can reach? - -CAIUS MARIUS. - - Be pleased to lower it, speak slow and clear, - And then right well we'll understand your speech. - -CORABINO. - - Entreat the General that he come near - The entrance of the fosse; I do beseech - That he will hear my message. - -SCIPIO. - - Tell it now, - For I am Scipio. - -CORABINO. - - Then listen thou. - Numantia asks thee, prudent general, - To ponder well how many years have flown - Since war hath raged, with its commanding thrall, - Between thy Roman people and our own; - And haply to prevent that worse befall, - When once this warfare to a plague hath grown, - She much desires, if thou shouldst deem it right, - To end it with a short and single fight. - One soldier of her own she offers thee, - To combat in the lists in open fray - With one of yours, as stout and brave as he, - To show their prowess with a full display. - And if the evil Fates should so decree, - That one shall perish in this glorious way, - If it be ours, we shall resign our land; - If it be yours; the war is at a stand. - To make this solemn compact more secure, - We offer thee of hostages the best. - I know thou wilt consent; for thou art sure - Of all the soldiers under thy behest, - And knowest that the least thou canst procure - Will cause to sweat, in face and loins and breast, - Numantia's bravest, most determined son, - And thus thy crowning triumph shall be won. - Make answer now, my lord, if thou agree, - And presently to work we shall proceed. - -SCIPIO. - - Your words are jest and mirth and mockery; - None but a fool would think of such a deed! - Employ the means of meek and humble plea, - If ye are eager that your necks be freed, - Nor feel the rigour of the Roman knife, - And from our powerful grip escape with life. - If that brute beast, shut up within its cage, - For savage wildness and ferocious will, - Can there be tamed by dint of cunning sage, - Through lapse of time, and means of crafty skill, - The man who lets him free to vent his rage - Will show himself a madman wilder still. - Wild beasts are ye, as such we hold ye fast, - And right or wrong, we'll tame ye at the last! - In spite of you Numantia shall be mine, - Nor cost me at the worst a single man; - So let the boldest-minded of your line - Break through the ditch and trenches if he can; - And if my valour shows some little sign - Of cowardice in working out this plan, - Let now the gusty wind bear off the shame, - And when I conquer, bear it back--as fame. - - [_Exeunt SCIPIO and his men._ - -CORABINO. - - Coward! Wilt hear no more? Wilt hide thy shame? - The just and equal combat dost thou fear? - Thy conduct stamps contempt upon thy name, - By no such means wilt thou sustain it here, - Thine answer is so cowardly and tame. - Ye Romans, cowards are ye, it is clear, - Your trust is only in your teeming host, - Ye fear to raise the doughty arms ye boast! - O cruel, treacherous, of little worth, - Conspirators and tyrants are ye all! - Ungrateful, grasping, low in breed and birth, - Ferocious, obstinate and rustical! - Lascivious, base, renowned through all the earth - For toiling hands whose bravery is small! - What glory hope ye from our death and doom, - While thus ye hold us in a living tomb? - Ye squadrons close, or single files that scour - The open field, where neither ditch nor wall - Can offer hindrance to your rampant power, - Or check the fatal fierce assault at all, - 'Twere well, instead of turning tail this hour, - And keeping these your useless blades in thrall, - That your vast army, boastful of its powers, - Should grapple with this feeble band of ours. - But as it is your long accustomed trade, - To conquer men with numbers and with guile, - These compacts, which for valiant men are made, - Are ill-adapted to your crafty style. - Ye timid hares, in savage skins arrayed, - Go, trumpet forth your deeds, for in a while, - I trust in mighty Jove to see you all - Beneath Numantia's sovereignty and thrall. - - [_He descends from the wall, and presently enter the - Numantines who were present at the beginning of the - Second Act, except MARQUINO, who threw himself into - the sepulchre; and MORANDRO also enters._ - -THEOGENES. - - Our fate, dear friends, hath brought us to such stress, - Our woes hang o'er us with such deepening gloom, - That death would be supremest happiness. - Ye saw; prophetic of our coming doom, - The sacrifice with all its omens dread; - Ye saw Marquino swallowed in the tomb; - Our bold defiance hath to nothing led; - What more remains to do I cannot tell, - Except to speed our passage to the dead. - This night let each Numantian bosom swell - With ardour suited to our past renown, - And let our actions match our purpose well; - Let us with might the hostile wall break down, - And on the field die fighting with the foe, - And not like cowards in this straitened town. - This deed will only serve, full well I know, - To change the mode in which we have to die, - For Death will march with us where'er we go. - -CORABINO. - - In this thy bold resolve agreed am I, - I fain would perish breaking down that wall, - And single-handed breach it manfully. - But one thing giveth me concern not small, - For if our wives should hear of our design, - Then sure am I that nothing will befall. - For once, of old we had a purpose fine - To sally forth and leave our wives behind. - We each were ready horsed, and all in line, - When they, who thought our purpose most unkind, - Within an instant snatched our reins away, - Nor left a single one. So, close confined, - We had perforce within the walls to stay. - So will it happen, and with ease, again, - If so their tears their inmost thoughts betray. - -MORANDRO. - - Our present plan to every one is plain, - They all do know it, and in accents sad - They pour their wailings forth with bitter pain; - And cry: that be our fortunes good or bad, - They all will go with us in woe or weal, - Though of their company we be not glad. - - [_Here enter four or more women of Numantia, and LYRA - with them. The women carry certain figures of - children in their arms, and some lead them by the - hand, with the exception of LYRA, who carries none._ - - See, how they come to make a fond appeal, - That ye will leave them not in this sad case, - And mean to soften down your hearts of steel. - Within their arms they bear, with tearful face, - Your tender sons; and to the loving breast - They press them close, and give them last embrace. - -_First Wife._ - - Sweet lords of ours, if 'mid the woes increased - Which shower their sorrows on Numantia's head-- - Of which the mortal sufferings are the least-- - Or in those better days which now are fled, - We ever showed ourselves your spouses true, - And ye our husbands kind and honourèd, - Why, at this mournful time, when we may view - The wrath of heaven poured out to our distress, - Are all your proofs of love so scant and few? - We long have known, what now your looks express, - That on the Roman spears ye mean to bound; - Because their cruelty affects you less - Than that fell hunger-plague which rages round; - From out whose lean and clutching hands, I say, - No refuge nor escape can now be found. - If so ye mean to die in open fray, - And leave us here forsaken in these lands, - To foul dishonour and to death a prey, - Then first within our bosoms sheathe your brands; - For this were better far in every wise, - Than see us outraged in the foemen's hands. - I am resolved, so far as in me lies, - And fixed in this resolve I mean to dwell: - To die at last where'er my husband dies. - The same plain tale each one of us will tell, - That not the fear of death, however great, - Will keep her from the man who loves her well, - In good or bad, in sweet or bitter fate. - -_Another._ - - Tell me, noble warriors, say, - Have ye still the thought unkind - Thus to leave us all behind, - And go forward to the fray? - Will ye leave, by any chance, - These, Numantia's virgins pure, - Keener anguish to endure - From the Roman arrogance? - And our sons, in freedom born, - Will ye leave them to be slaves? - Better far to find their graves - In your arms, than bear this scorn. - Will ye sate the Roman greed, - Pander to the Roman lust, - On our cherished rights and just - Let their rank injustice feed? - Shall our homes by villany - Be despoiled of every treasure, - And the Romans have the pleasure - Of the weddings yet to be? - Much and sorely have ye erred, - Thousand ills will travel faster, - If without a dog and master - Thus ye leave the helpless herd. - But if such a course ye try - Bear us with you to the strife; - Each will hold it as her life - By her husband's side to die. - Shorten not the road, I pray, - Leading onward to the dead; - Watchful hunger holds its thread, - Which it lessens every day. - -_Another._ - - Sons of mothers, sad in lot,[10] - What is this? Where is your speech? - Will ye not with tears beseech - These your sires to leave you not? - 'Tis enough that hunger fell - With its pain should bring ye low; - Why await a rougher blow - From the Roman's hand as well? - Tell them they begot you free, - And in freedom were ye born; - And your mothers, now forlorn, - Brought ye up free men to be! - Tell them, with unbated breath, - All is over with the strife, - And that they who gave you life - Now are bound to give you death. - Walls, that form our city's lines, - If ye can, speak, I entreat, - And with thousand tongues repeat: - Liberty, ye Numantines! - By our homes and sacred fanes, - Reared in peace for happier lives, - These your tender sons and wives - Plead for pity in their pains! - Soften down, ye warriors bold, - These hard breasts, as well ye may, - And like Numantines display - Hearts as loving as of old! - Not by breaking down the wall - Will ye cure so great an ill; - Fate as stern, and nearer still, - Lies within for one and all. - -LYRA. - - All the tender maids as well - Place their urgent case before ye, - And for pity's sake implore ye - All their rising fears to quell. - Do not leave so rich a prey - To the grasping hands ye see; - Think what all these Romans be, - Hungry wolves, and fierce are they. - 'Tis an act most desperate - Thus to sally from the town; - Speedy death and wide renown-- - That will be your certain fate. - But suppose your chivalry - Turn out better in the main, - Is there any town in Spain - Ready now to welcome ye? - My poor wit may waste its breath, - But the issue of this strife - Will but give the foemen life, - And to all Numantia death. - At your gallant deed and rare, - Think, the Romans will but mock; - Can three thousand stand the shock - Of the eighty thousand there? - Though these walls be overpassed, - Battered down, without a guard, - Still the issue will be hard, - Sorry vengeance, death at last. - Better take the fate we have, - Which the will of heaven gives; - Be it safety for our lives, - Or a summons to the grave. - -THEOGENES. - - Assuage your grief, and dry your tearful eyes, - Ye tender wives, and let it now be known - That we do feel your anguish in such wise, - That love within our hearts hath overflown. - Whether your pain to higher pitch shall rise, - Or else be lessened by our kindly tone, - We ne'er shall leave you now in life or death, - But serve you truly to our latest breath. - We thought, indeed, to sally from the town - To meet with certain death, but not to fly; - Though death it would not be, but live renown, - To deal out glorious vengeance as we die. - But since our plan is subject to your frown, - And it were folly other plans to try, - O sons beloved, and ye, our honoured wives, - From this time forth we knit in one our lives. - One thing alone is needful, that the foe - Shall reap from us no triumph and no fame, - Nay, rather shall he serve, in this our woe, - As witness to immortalize our name. - If now with me ye hand in hand will go, - Through thousand ages shall your glory flame, - For nothing in Numantia shall remain - Which these proud foes can garner to their gain. - Make now a fire in middle of the square, - Whose tongues of flame shall to the heavens swell, - And hurl therein our goods, without a care, - The poorest and the richest things as well. - This will ye judge a simple, light affair, - When to your listening ears I have to tell - What ye must do, with honour to your names, - When once your wealth is swallowed in the flames. - Meanwhile to stay, but for a single hour, - The hunger which devours us as its prey, - Cause that these wretched Romans[11] in our power - Be slain and quartered without more delay, - And then distributed from hut to tower, - To all both great and small, this very day. - So shall our banquet through the country ring, - A cruel, strange, and necessary thing! - My friends, what think ye? Are ye all agreed? - -CORABINO. - - For me, I hold myself as well content; - So let us put in action with due speed - This strange and just design with one consent. - -THEOGENES. - - When ye have done what I have now decreed, - I shall disclose the rest of my intent. - So let us forth to do what all desire, - And kindle up the rich consuming fire. - -_First Wife._ - - With right good will we shall begin this day - To gather up our jewels for the fire; - And yield our lives, to use them as ye may, - As ye have yielded to our joint desire. - -LYRA. - - Quick, let us hasten all! Away, away, - To burn our treasures, and our rich attire, - Which might the Romans' hands make rich indeed, - And fill to overflow their grasping greed. - - [_Exeunt omnes, and as MORANDRO departs, he takes LYRA - by the arm, and detains her._ - -MORANDRO.[12] - - Lyra, why so swiftly fly? - Let me now enjoy the pleasure - Which within my heart I'll treasure - While I live, and when I die. - Let mine eyes with rapture rest - On thy beauty for a space; - Since my fortune, void of grace, - Turns my passion into jest. - Thou, sweet Lyra, art the dream - Ever to my fancy given, - With such music sweet of heaven, - That my pains like rapture seem. - Why so sad, with thought o'ercast, - Thou, my heart's delight and treasure? - -LYRA. - - I am thinking how my pleasure - And thine own are fading fast. - Not the siege, and not the strife, - Give it homicidal blows; - For before the war shall close - I shall end my hapless life. - -MORANDRO. - - What, my love, what dost thou say? - -LYRA. - - That this hunger gnaws me so, - Dulls my strength and vital glow, - And my life ebbs fast away. - Canst thou bliss and marriage-bed - Seek from one in such extreme? - Much I fear it, 'tis no dream, - One short hour, and I am dead. - Yesterday my brother died, - With the pangs of hunger worn; - And my mother, left forlorn, - Died of hunger by his side. - If till now my health and life - Have not yielded to its rigour, - 'Tis because my youthful vigour - Kept the mast'ry in the strife. - But these many days ago - All the weary strife is o'er, - I have strength and power no more - To contend with such a foe. - -MORANDRO. - - Lyra, dry thy saddened eyes, - And let mine with tears of woe - Like to mighty rivers flow, - Swollen by thy griefs and sighs. - Though this hunger, raging high, - Grasp thee firm in deadly strife, - While I have one spark of life, - Thou shalt not of hunger die. - In an instant will I flee, - Leap the ditch, and break the wall, - And will Death himself appal, - Till he loose his grasp of thee. - From the Romans' mouth, alone, - If my vigour hath not fled, - I will snatch the very bread, - And will place it in thine own. - With my arm, in deadly fight, - From the jaws of Death I'll free thee - For it kills me more to see thee, - Lady dear, in such a plight. - Bread to eat I'll bring to thee, - Spite of all the Romans do, - If my hands are strong and true, - As of old they used to be. - -LYRA. - - Thou dost speak like one distraught; - But, Morandro, 'tis not just - That I taste a single crust - With thy fearful peril bought. - Such a spoil, if gained by thee, - Would be little to my mind; - And more truly wilt thou find - Loss to thee, than gain to me. - In its freshness and its bloom - Still enjoy thy youth divine; - Better is thy life than mine, - To avert the city's doom. - Better will thine arm and blade - Shield it in its evil hour, - Than the weak and puny power - Of a tender, saddened maid. - Wert thou able to prolong - This my life a single day, - Hunger still would have its way, - And the strife will not be long. - -MORANDRO. - - Lyra, all thy words are vain, - Nothing now my way can bar; - Steadfast will, and lucky star - Light my path and make it plain. - Meanwhile pray the gods divine - Now to bless my hardy toil, - Bring me back with fitting spoil - To assuage thy griefs and mine. - -LYRA. - - O Morandro, sweet and good, - Do not go; I am afraid, - For I see the foeman's blade - Stained and reddened with thy blood. - O Morandro, dearest life, - Do not make this journey sad; - If the going-forth be bad, - Worse the issue from the strife. - If thine ardour I restrain, - I have witness there in Heaven, - That my heart with fear is riven, - For my loss, and not my gain. - But, dear friend, if it must be, - If this venture must take place, - Take as pledge this fond embrace, - That my spirit goes with thee. - -MORANDRO. - - Heaven, sweet Lyra, be thy guard! - See, Leoncio comes to me. - -LYRA. - - May'st thou be from danger free, - And thy hopes be thy reward! - - [_LEONCIO has been listening to all that passed between - his friend MORANDRO and LYRA._ - -LEONCIO. - - Morandro, 'tis a fearful sacrifice - To make for her; and well dost thou declare - That lover's breast hath nought of cowardice. - Though from thy manliness and valour rare - Still more we hope to gain, yet much I fear - That Fate unkind will prove a miser there. - To Lyra's tale I gave a listening ear, - And know her dire extreme and dismal plight, - So foreign to the worth we all revere. - I heard thee pledge thine honour and thy might - To free her from her present strait, and brave - The cruel Roman spears in reckless fight. - In such an urgent case, dear friend, I crave - To be thy comrade, for it is my due, - And aid thee with the little strength I have. - -MORANDRO. - - Half of my heart! O Friendship leal and true, - Unsevered in the hardships of the fray, - Or in the happiest days we ever knew! - Enjoy sweet life, Leoncio, whilst thou may; - Remain within the town, for I would spurn - By act of mine thy blooming youth to slay. - Alone I have to go, alone return, - Beladen with the richest spoil and rare, - Which constant faith and fervent love can earn. - -LEONCIO. - - If so, Morandro, thou art well aware - How my desires, in good or evil fate, - Go hand in hand with thine in equal share, - Then wilt thou feel, no fears however great, - Not Death itself, nor other power malign, - Can keep me from thy fortunes separate. - With thee have I to go, with thee in fine - Return, unless the will of Heaven ordain - That I must lose my life in shielding thine. - -MORANDRO. - - Remain, my friend, for pity's sake, remain! - For should I finish now my hapless life - In this emprise of peril and of pain, - Thou may'st, at ending of the fatal strife, - Console my weeping mother, sore distressed, - And her, so much beloved--my promised wife. - -LEONCIO. - - It is, my friend, a very sorry jest, - To think that I, if haply thou be slain, - Would have such calm and quiet in my breast, - As to console, in this their urgent pain, - Thy grieving mother, and thy tearful bride. - Thy death and mine are linked, and it is plain - That I must follow thee, whate'er betide; - Morandro, friend, it is, it must be so, - No word of thine will keep me from thy side. - -MORANDRO. - - If go thou must, let us together go, - And in the silence of the gloomy night - Make sudden fierce assault upon the foe. - Bear nothing with thee but thine armour light, - For lucky chance and daring will combined - Will serve us more than hardest mail in fight. - Bear also this fix'd purpose in thy mind, - To seize and carry off with daring hand - Whatever good provision thou canst find. - -LEONCIO. - - Then let us go; I am at thy command. - - [_Exeunt._ - - -SCENE II. - -_Two Numantines._ - -_First._ - - Dear brother, let our spirits through our eyes - Pour forth their wailings changed to bitter tears; - Let Death approach, and bear away as prize - Our hapless life of misery and fears. - -_Second._ - - A little space will end our griefs and sighs, - For Death stands ready armed, and now appears - To bear on speedy wings as welcome spoil - Whatever dwells upon Numantian soil. - I see most truly what the tokens are - That our dear land must sink in awful gloom; - Nor need these Roman ministers of war - Decree our ruin and adjudge our doom: - Our own, who reckon it more fearful far - That we should drag out life within a tomb, - Have given sentence that we end our days, - A stern decree, but worthy of all praise. - They now have raised within the public square - A monstrous, greedy, all-consuming fire, - Whose flames, replenished by our riches rare, - Assail the very heavens in their ire. - To this, with quickened speed, pricked on by care, - Or else, with timid feet, which sufferings tire, - Come all, as to a holy sacrifice, - And feed its flames with all the wealth they prize. - The pearl of beauty from the rosy East, - The gold into a thousand vessels made, - The diamond and ruby bright, increased - With stores of purple fine and rich brocade, - Are hurled into the blazing fire, to feast - Its fierce luxurious flames, with grand parade; - Spoils these, which might have served the Roman bands - To fill their bosoms, and enrich their hands. - - [_Here enter certain people laden with robes, who go in - by one door, and out by the other._ - - Turn thee to see a sight of misery! - See, how our swarming folk of every name - With quickened steps and eager faces fly - To feed the fury of the maddened flame! - And not with faggots green, or fodder dry, - Or any worthless fuel like the same, - But with their garnered wealth, and luckless treasure, - Which in its burning gives them greater pleasure. - -_First._ - - If such a deed as this would end our woe, - We well might see and bear it patiently, - But ah! it is decreed, as well I know, - O cruel sentence, that we all must die; - Before the barbarous rigour of the foe - Upon our necks with cruel grip shall lie, - Ourselves our executioners must be, - And not these Romans steeped in perfidy. - Think, every woman, child, and old man here, - By stern decree to death must straightway go, - Since in the end the pangs of hunger drear - Will take their lives, and with a fiercer blow. - But, brother, mark the woman drawing near, - Who, once upon a time, as thou dost know, - Was loved by me, and with a love as great - As is the sorrow which is now her fate. - - [_A woman enters with a child in her arms, and leading - another by the hand, who carries robes to be - burned._ - -_Mother._ - - O this life, so hard and dread, - Agony intense and drear! - -_Son._ - - Mother, is there no one here, - Who for this will give us bread? - -_Mother._ - - Neither bread, nor other thing - Fit for thee to eat, my son! - -_Son._ - - Then, indeed, am I undone, - Hunger kills me with its sting; - Give me bread, one little jot, - Mother, I will ask no more! - -_Mother._ - - Son, thy words do pain me sore! - -_Son._ - - Mother, then thou wishest not? - -_Mother._ - - Yes, I wish; but know not where - Bread to get, though oft I try it. - -_Son._ - - Mother, thou may'st surely buy it, - If not, let me buy it there. - Yet to quit me of my dread, - If on any one I fall, - I will give him clothes and all - For one little bit of bread. - -_Mother_ (_to her Infant_). - - Suckest thou, thou hapless brood? - Feel'st not, that to my unrest - Thou from out my withered breast - Draw'st not milk, but simple blood? - Take the flesh, and bit by bit - May it give thee much content, - For my feeble arms and spent - Thee to carry are not fit! - O ye children of my heart, - Can I give ye life afresh, - If scarce with my very flesh - I can nourishment impart? - Hunger, with thy biting breath, - How thou cuttest short my life? - O thou hard and cruel strife, - Sent alone to cause me death! - -_Son._ - - Mother mine, I cannot stay, - Back and homeward let us go; - Hunger only seems to grow, - As we journey on the way. - -_Mother._ - - Here, my son, the house must be, - Whence we presently shall throw - Down into the fiery glow - All the load that presses thee! - - [_Exeunt._ - - - - -ACT IV. - - -SCENE I. - - _They sound to arms with great vehemence, and at the alarm - there enter on the stage SCIPIO, JUGURTHA, and CAIUS MARIUS._ - -SCIPIO. - - What meaneth this? Who sounds the call to arm - At such a time, my captains? Have ye found - Some maddened straggling men, who to their harm - Would seek a sepulchre within this ground? - Or hath some mutiny the war alarm - Provoked with such an urgent, deafening sound? - For this proud foe I hold so firmly now - I have more terror of the friend, I vow. - - _Enter QUINTUS FABIUS, with sword unsheathed._ - -QUINTUS FABIUS. - - Calm, prudent general, thine angry mood, - For this my blade doth know the cause right well, - Which now hath cost thee many a soldier good, - Of those who most in manliness excel. - Two Numantines, with pride and daring rude, - Whose deeds of courage my applause compel, - O'erleaping the wide ditch and battled height, - Have waged within thy camp a cruel fight. - They sallied through our guards and pickets first, - To face a thousand spears in open fray, - And dealt their blows with such a fury curst, - That to our very camp they hewed their way; - Into Fabricius' tent with rage they burst, - And made of strength and valour such display, - That in an instant six stout men and true - Were by their deadly steel pierced through and through. - Ne'er did the burning bolt with speedier flight - Cleave in its onward course the smitten air; - Ne'er did the meteor, with its stream of light, - More quickly pass athwart the heavens fair; - Than passed these two, exulting in their might, - Through middle of thy host, and soaked the bare - Hard ground with Roman blood, which forth did stream - Where'er their flashing swords were seen to gleam. - With breast pierced through the bold Fabricius lay; - Horatius fell with head cleft to the brain; - Olmida lost his right arm in the fray, - And little hope of life doth now remain; - Our brave Estatius made a full display - Of all his lithesome vigour, but in vain, - For as he ran the Numantine to meet, - His passage on to death was still more fleet. - With speed of lightning, hurrying where they may, - They ran from tent to tent, until they found - Some scraps of biscuit, which they seized as prey. - With fury, still unquenched, they turned them round; - The one escaped by flight and got away, - A thousand swords made t'other bite the ground; - Whence I infer that hunger made them bold, - And raised their daring to a pitch untold. - -SCIPIO. - - If worn with hunger, shut in utterly, - They show such daring and such martial ire, - What would they not have done, remaining free, - With all their strength and ardour still entire? - Unvanquished now, yet vanquished shall ye be, - For all your reckless fury will expire, - When matched against our prudence and our skill, - Which have the power to crush the proudest will. - - [_Exeunt SCIPIO and his men, and presently they sound - to arms in the town, and MORANDRO enters wounded - and streaming with blood, with a little white - basket on his left arm, containing a small piece of - biscuit stained with blood, and says_: - -MORANDRO. - - Com'st them not, Leoncio, say? - Friend, what hath befallen thee? - If thou comest not with me, - How can I without thee stay? - Friend, where art thou, tell me, where? - Dying? dead? Alas! to grieve me, - Never, never wouldst thou leave me, - It was I who left thee there! - Can it be that thou art lost, - All thy flesh in pieces torn, - Tokens of the price forlorn - Which this bread of mine hath cost? - Why did not that fatal blow, - Which hath laid thee with the dead, - Rather fall upon my head, - Take my life, and end my woe? - But the Fates, in cruel mood, - Would not have me thus to die; - Gave me greater misery, - Gave to thee the higher good! - Thou wilt bear the palm for ever, - Of the lealest, truest friend; - And to thee my soul I'll send, - To excuse my rash endeavour; - Quickly, for a craving dread - Lures me on my death to meet - At my dearest Lyra's feet, - Giving her this bitter bread; - Bread, which from the foe was taken,-- - Taken? 'Tis more precious food, - Purchased with the very blood - Of two friends, by luck forsaken. - - [_LYRA enters with some robes, which she is taking to - be burned, and says_: - -LYRA. - - What is this mine eyes behold? - -MORANDRO. - - Him, whom soon no more thou'lt see, - For my pains are crushing me - With a speed I cannot hold. - Ended, Lyra, is the strife, - And my promise kept have I, - That thou shouldst not have to die - While I have one spark of life. - Even better might I say, - That thou soon wilt come to know, - How thy strength with food will grow, - And my life will pass away. - -LYRA. - - What say'st thou, Morandro dear? - -MORANDRO. - - Lyra, thou wilt lose thy hunger - While, by fate in cruel anger, - Life I lose, and end it here. - But my blood so freely poured, - Mingled with the bread ye eat, - Will, belovèd one and sweet, - But a bitter meal afford. - Here thou hast the bread well-guarded - By full eighty thousand fiends; - And which cost two faithful friends - Life, and all they most regarded. - Love, that so for thee hath bled, - Well, my lady, may'st thou cherish; - I, that love thee so, must perish, - And Leoncio lieth dead. - My affection pure and bright, - Take it with thy hand of love, - That is food all price above, - And will give thee most delight. - Since in hours of joy and dole - Thou hast been my love, I vow, - Take, O take my body now, - As thou hast received my soul. - - [_He falls dead, and LYRA gathers him in the folds of - the robes._ - -LYRA. - - O Morandro, sweetest one, - How art thou, what dost thou feel? - How hath all thy strength of steel - Passed away, and been undone? - Woe is me, and is it true - That my spouse is lying dead? - O event of direst dread, - That misfortune ever knew! - Who hath made thee, sweetest friend, - Having excellence supreme, - Valiant lover to extreme, - Luckless soldier at the end? - Thou didst sally to the strife, - Husband mine, in such a way, - That to give my death delay - Thou hast robbed me of my life! - O thou bread, with blood bestained, - Which for me was freely shed, - I do not esteem thee bread, - It is poison I have gained! - To my mouth I'll carry thee, - Not to give me nourishment, - But to kiss, to my content, - That dear blood which flowed for me! - - [_At this point there enters a youth, speaking in an - exhausted way, who is the brother of LYRA._ - -_Brother._ - - Lyra, sister, pained am I, - For my sire is dead and gone, - And my mother, left alone, - Dieth now as I must die! - Hunger fell hath laid them low; - Sister mine, and hast thou bread? - Bread, how slowly hast thou sped, - For I cannot taste thee now! - Hunger makes my throat to shrink - With such rigour, though the bread - Were as water pure instead, - Not one droplet could I drink! - Take it to thee, sister dear, - For, my senses to confound, - Now I see the bread abound, - Whilst my life is ebbing here! - - [_He falls down dead._ - -LYRA. - - Brother dear, and art thou gone? - Neither breath nor life hath he; - Ill is good in some degree - When it cometh all alone. - Fortune, wherefore dost thou grieve me, - With one loss and then another? - Wherefore at one time together - Orphan, widow, dost thou leave me? - O thou cruel Roman host! - How thy sword doth gird me round - With two corpses on the ground, - Spouse and brother, both are lost! - Sweetest husband, tender brother, - You I'll match in loving well, - For in heaven or in hell - Soon I'll see the one and other! - In the manner of my death - I to part from you am loath; - For the sword and hunger both - Have to take my latest breath. - Rather will I give my breast - Point of dagger, than this bread; - For to one who lives in dread - Death is gain and sweetest rest. - Am I coward, can it be? - Arm of mine, what dost thou fear? - Sweetest husband, brother dear, - I am coming, wait for me! - - [_At this point there enters a woman flying, and behind - her a Numantian soldier with a short sword in his - hand to kill her._ - -_Woman._ - - Eternal Sire! O Jove compassionate! - Protect me in this dire extremity! - - _Soldier._ - - Although thou hurry with a speed more great, - Beneath my ruthless hand thou hast to die! - - [_Exit the woman, and LYRA says_: - -LYRA. - - Thy cutting sword, thy warlike arm of weight, - On _me_ their fatal power, good soldier, try; - Let her who prizes life with life remain, - And take mine own, for it is full of pain! - -_Soldier._ - - Although it is the Senate's stern command, - That not one woman shall in life abide, - Where shall we find the bold audacious hand - Who would not from thy beauty turn aside? - I, lady, am not one of such a band, - Nor do I wish to be thy homicide; - Some other hand and sword must strike for me, - For I was born alone to worship thee. - -LYRA. - - This mercy which to me thou dost extend, - O valiant soldier, I do swear to thee, - And Heaven above its seal to this will lend, - That I esteem it harshest cruelty! - I would have held thee as a very friend, - If with a steady hand and courage free - Thou hadst transpierced my heart, so full of woes, - And brought my wretched being to a close. - But since thou wilt thy pity now bestow, - Against my wish, and to increase my gloom, - Then to my wretched spouse like pity show, - And help me now to bear him to his tomb: - Take thou my brother too, who lieth low - Upon the ground, cut off with life in bloom; - My husband went to death to save my life, - While hunger bore my brother from the strife. - -_Soldier._ - - To all that thou requirest I adhere, - Provided on the way thou wilt relate - What brought thy loving spouse, and brother dear, - To this the last extremity of fate. - -LYRA. - - My friend, I have no strength to speak, I fear. - -_Soldier._ - - Art thou exhausted? Is thy pain so great? - Bear thou thy brother, for the load is less; - And I thy spouse; it giveth more distress. - - [_Exeunt, bearing the two bodies._ - - -SCENE II. - - _Here enters a woman armed with a shield on the left arm, and - a short lance in her hand, who represents WAR; along with her - comes SICKNESS, leaning on a crutch, her head swathed with - bandages, wearing a yellow mask; and HUNGER follows, clad in a - robe of yellow buckram, wearing a yellow or discoloured mask; - these figures may be represented by men, as they wear masks._ - -WAR. - - Hunger and Sickness, ministers most dire - Of my commands, which make the world to quail! - Of life and health devourers in your ire, - With whom nor cries, nor threats, nor rights avail! - Since ye are cognisant of my desire, - It needs not that again I tell the tale, - How pleasure and content will fill my breast, - If quickly ye fulfil my stern behest. - The Fates, with that inexorable might, - Whose energy none living can impair, - Constrain me now my forces to unite - With these sagacious Roman soldiers there, - Who for a time will rise to glory's height, - While those poor Spaniards perish in despair; - But time will come when I shall change it all, - Will smite the mighty, and assist the small. - For I, who am the great and powerful War, - (By countless mothers all in vain abhorred, - Though he who curses me at times errs far, - Unconscious of the worth that owns me lord) - Do know right well that through all lands that are - Shall flash the valour of the Spanish sword, - At that sweet season when shall rule the land - A Charles, a Philip, and a Ferdinand. - -SICKNESS. - - If Hunger now, our true and trusty friend, - Had not so swiftly done her work and well, - And made her homicidal power extend - O'er all the folk that in Numantia dwell, - Thy will through me would have secured its end, - In such an easy manner as to swell - The rich reward the Roman will obtain, - Much better far than what he hopes to gain. - Though Hunger, in so far as she hath sway, - Now holds the Numantines in such a strait, - That shut and barred is every open way - Of happy exit from their adverse fate, - Yet Fury's falchion, with its fearful play, - The adverse sign with its tremendous weight, - Within their midst with such a rigour reign, - There is no need of hunger or of pain. - Fierce rage and madness, thy attendant brood, - Have taken foul possession of each breast, - And thirst with equal relish for their blood, - As if they did the Roman's grim behest. - Fire, fury, slaughter are their chiefest good, - To die--they reckon of all fates the best; - To snatch the triumph from the Roman bands, - Themselves will perish by their very hands. - -HUNGER. - - Now turn your eyes, and see the flaming fire, - That blazes from the tall roofs of the town! - List to the fearful sighings that expire - From thousand breasts, while they their terror drown! - Hark to the wailings terrible and dire - Of beauteous women, who to death go down; - Their tender limbs in flame and ashes lie, - No father, friend, or love to heed their cry! - As timid sheep, upon their careless way, - Whom some ferocious wolf attacks and drives, - Go hurrying hither, thither, all astray, - With panting dread to lose their simple lives; - So, fleeing from the swords upraised to slay, - Do these poor children, and these tender wives, - Run on from street to street, O fate insane! - To lengthen out their certain death, in vain. - Within the breast of his belovèd bride - The husband sheathes his keen and glittering brand; - Devoid of pity, and of filial pride, - The son against the mother turns his hand; - The father, casting clemency aside, - Against his very offspring takes his stand, - And while with furious thrusts to death they bleed, - He finds a piteous pleasure in the deed! - No square, or street, or mansion can be found, - That is not filled with blood and with the dead; - The sword destroys, the fierce fire blazes round, - And Cruelty with fearsome step doth tread! - Soon will ye see upon the level ground - The strongest and the loftiest turrets spread, - The humble dwellings, and the temples high, - Shall turn to dust and ashes by and by! - Come, ye shall see how in the bosoms dear - Of tender children and belovèd wife - Theogenes, with courage all austere, - Doth prove the temper of his cruel knife; - And when the deadly work is over here, - So little recks he of his wearied life, - He seeks for Death, and by a mode unknown, - Which causes other ruin than his own! - -WAR. - - Now let us go; and see that each prepare - To do his proper work within this spot; - To what I say give undivided care, - Nor swerve from my intention by one jot. - - [_Exeunt._ - - -SCENE III. - - [_THEOGENES enters with two young SONS and a daughter - and their MOTHER._ - -THEOGENES. - - If love paternal hath no longer sway - To check the fearful deed which I intend; - Think, O my sons, if I can now give way, - When thoughts of honour with my purpose blend! - O poignant is the grief, the sore dismay, - We feel when Life must have a sudden end; - But mine is more, since I by Fate's decree - Your cruel executioner must be! - Ye shall not live, O children of my soul, - To be the Romans' slaves, nor shall their power, - However much it rage beyond control, - Above our lives and yours in triumph tower. - The shortest road which leadeth to the goal - Of our dear Liberty in this sad hour, - Which Heaven offers us with piteous breath, - Conducts us only to the arms of Death. - Nor thou, dear consort, sweetest of thy race, - Shalt suffer peril from the Roman bands; - Nor shall they soil thy modesty and grace - With eyes lascivious, or with ruthless hands! - My sword shall snatch thee from this foul disgrace, - Their schemes shall baffled be by my commands, - And this shall be the guerdon of their lust, - To triumph o'er Numantia in the dust! - Thou, dear, belovèd consort, it was I - Who first advised that we, with one accord, - Should rather perish than as cravens lie - Beneath the terror of the Roman sword; - I will not therefore be the last to die, - Nor shall my children here. - -_Wife._ - - If, good my lord, - There were some other way to set us free, - Then Heaven knows how happy I should be! - But since it cannot be, to my regret, - And since my road to death is near and plain, - Keep back the brutal Roman sword, and let - The trophy of our lives with thee remain. - Though death be sure, it is my pleasure yet - To die within Diana's sacred fane; - Good husband, lead us, and in loving ire - Consign us to the sword, the rope, the fire! - -THEOGENES. - - So may it be, nor let our steps be slow, - For cruel Fate doth urge me on to death. - -_Son._ - - Why weepest, mother? Whither do we go? - Stay, stay, I am so faint, I have no breath! - My mother, let us eat, 'tis better so, - For me this bitter hunger wearyeth. - -_Mother._ - - Come to my arms, my darling sweet and good, - And I to thee will give thy death for food! - - [_Exeunt, and two lads enter flying, one of whom is - he who will hurl himself from the tower, called - VIRIATO, the other SERVIO._ - -VIRIATO. - - Servio, whither shall we fly? - -SERVIO. - - I will go the way thou shewest. - -VIRIATO. - - Come, how lazily thou goest! - Dost thou wish that both should die? - Sad one, look behind, before, - Thousand swords pursue to slay! - -SERVIO. - - Never can we get away, - 'Tis for us a task too sore. - Tell me, what dost thou desire? - Tell me, and I shall decide. - -VIRIATO. - - I shall run, and straightway hide - In the turret of my sire. - -SERVIO. - - Friend, 'tis well for thee to go, - But I cannot, worn and weary, - And the road so long and dreary, - Hunger gnaws and pains me so. - -VIRIATO. - - Wilt thou not? - -SERVIO. - - O leave me here. - -VIRIATO. - - If thou canst no longer fly, - Here, alas, thou hast to die, - Slain by hunger, sword, or fear! - Go I must, for much I dread - All that robs me of my life; - Be it fire or cruel knife - Which would lay me with the dead! - - [_Exit, and THEOGENES enters with two drawn swords, his - hands bloody, and as SERVIO sees him come he flees - and goes behind._ - -THEOGENES. - - O blood, that from my very bosom flows, - Since thou belongest to my children dear; - O hand, which wounds thyself with deadly blows, - Replete with honour and with might austere; - Thou Fortune, who art privy to our woes; - Ye Heavens, devoid of pity or of cheer, - Afford me now, in this my bitter lot, - Some glorious, speedy death upon the spot! - O valiant Numantines, take ye account - That some perfidious Roman foe am I, - Avenge within my bosom your affront, - And in its blood your hands and weapons dye! - - [_He hurls one sword from his hand._ - - Of these two swords take one, and quick confront - My fury wild, my grief that rageth high; - For, dying in the fight, we will not know - The keenest rigour of the final blow! - And he who cuts the other's vital thread, - Let him, in token of the favour free, - Entomb within the flame the wretched dead, - A duty this of highest charity! - Come quick, come now! O whither have ye sped? - My life the highest sacrifice will be; - That sweet compassion, which to friends ye show, - Change now to rabid rage against the foe! - -_A Numantine._ - - Whom, brave Theogenes, dost thou invoke? - What novel mode of dying dost thou seek? - Why dost thou urge us onward, and provoke - To such a strange and lamentable freak? - -THEOGENES. - - O valiant Numantine, if terror's yoke - Hath not unnerved thine arm and made it weak, - Take now this sword, and prove its point on me, - As if I were thy mortal enemy! - This mode of dying better pleaseth me, - Than any other in this time of woe. - -_Numantine._ - - It suits me too, and I will pleasure thee, - Since evil Fortune seems to will it so. - On to the square, where now the fire we see - Which burns to have our lives within its glow! - Who conquers there may, without fear or shame, - Consign the vanquished to the furious flame. - -THEOGENES. - - Thou speakest well; make haste, for my desire - Outruns Fate's tardy step with panting breath; - Let sword devour me, or the furious fire, - I see our glory in whatever death! - - [_Exeunt._ - - -SCENE IV. - - _SCIPIO, JUGURTHA, QUINTUS FABIUS, CAIUS MARIUS, and some Roman - Soldiers._ - -SCIPIO. - - Unless my thoughts be guilty of deceit, - Or these be lying signs which ye have marked - Within Numantia's walls--the horrid din, - The lamentable cries, the blazing fires-- - I fear and dread, and scarcely have a doubt, - That these our barbarous foemen, brought to bay, - Have turned their reckless rage against themselves. - There are no people seen to man the towers, - The watchmen give no customary calls, - A death-like silence reigns within the town, - As if these fierce and fiery Numantines - Were living there in peace, and at their ease. - -CAIUS MARIUS. - - Thou may'st at once be quit of such a doubt, - For if thou wishest it, I offer me - To scale the battlements, although in sooth - It is a somewhat perilous risk to run; - And solely to observe what our proud foes - Are doing now within Numantia's walls. - -SCIPIO. - - Plant then some ladder firm against the wall, - And, Marius, make thy present promise good! - -CAIUS MARIUS. - - Go, bring the ladder, and, Ermilius, you - Give orders that my buckler quick be fetched, - And eke my helmet with the snow-white plume; - For, faith, I mean this day to lose my life, - Or end the doubtings which possess the camp. - -ERMILIUS. - - Thy buckler and thy helmet both are brought; - And see, Olympius brings the ladder here. - -CAIUS MARIUS. - - Commend me now to great and mighty Jove, - For I am ready to fulfil my pledge. - - [_He ascends the ladder._ - -SCIPIO. - - Raise, Marius, raise the knee a little more, - Contract thy body, and protect thy head! - Courage! for thou hast reached the top at last. - What see'st thou? - -CAIUS MARIUS. - - Holy gods! and what is this? - -JUGURTHA. - - What startles thee? - -CAIUS MARIUS. - - It startles me to see - A ruddy lake of blood, and on the ground - In every street a thousand corpses lying! - -SCIPIO. - - And is there none alive? - -CAIUS MARIUS. - - I reckon not; - So far, at least, as my own vision goes, - There is no living being in the town. - -SCIPIO. - - Leap then within, and look thee well around! - - [_CAIUS MARIUS leaps into the town._ - - My friend, Jugurtha, follow him as well; - We all shall follow thee. - -JUGURTHA. - - It doth not suit - Thy weighty office to take such a step; - Assuage thy feelings, good my lord, and wait - Till Marius or myself return to bring - The latest tidings of this haughty town. - Hold firm the ladder there! Ye righteous heavens! - O what a saddening spectacle and grim - Is offered to my sight! O strange event! - The smoking blood is bathing all the soil, - The square and streets are crowded with the dead! - I mean to leap within and see the whole. - - [_JUGURTHA leaps into the city, and QUINTUS FABIUS - says_: - -QUINTUS FABIUS. - - Without a doubt these fiery Numantines, - By their barbaric fury goaded on, - Have chosen rather to consign their lives - Unto the sharp edge of their very swords, - Than yield them up to our victorious hands, - Whose sight and touch are horrible to them. - -SCIPIO. - - If but one living being had remained, - In Rome they had not me the triumph grudged - Of having curbed and crushed this haughty race, - The fierce and mortal foemen of our name; - In will determined, ready aye to face - The greatest peril and the direst risk; - Whom not a Roman here can ever boast - Of having challenged with the naked sword; - Whose valour, whose dexterity in arms, - Have forced me, and with reason, to surround - And pen them in like fierce untamèd beasts, - And gain that triumph with my art and skill - Which was impossible by dint of arms. - But Marius now returns, it seems to me. - - [_MARIUS enters by descending from the wall, and says_: - -CAIUS MARIUS. - - In vain, illustrious, prudent General, - Have we expended all our strength and might; - In vain hast thou been diligent withal; - Thy hopes of victory, that seemed so bright, - Assured thee by thy martial skill and lore, - Have changed to smoke, and vanished out of sight! - The mournful story, and the end full sore - Of proud Numantia's unconquered town, - Deserve to be remembered evermore. - Their loss and fall have gained them good renown; - Their dying, which displayed their firmness most, - Hath snatched from thee the triumph and the crown. - Our schemes are vain, and all our labour lost; - Their death with honour better issue shews - That all the power the Roman arms can boast. - This people, wearied with their countless woes, - Have snatched themselves from life and misery, - And given their long account a sudden close. - Numantia now is changed into a sea - Of ruby blood, encumbered with the slain, - Who fell by self-inflicted cruelty. - Escaped have they from slav'ry's grinding chain, - Whose load unequalled they declined to bear, - With swift audacity that feared no pain. - I saw within the middle of the square,[13] - Exposed to view, a fiercely blazing fire, - Fed with their corpses and their riches rare. - And as I gazed, there came with kindling ire - Theogenes, that valiant Numantine, - Intent on death with an insane desire; - And as he cursed his fate and luckless sign, - He sprang into the middle of the flame, - With fury suited to his mad design; - And as he sprang, he cried: "O brilliant Fame, - Come hither with thy countless tongues and eyes, - Behold a deed it fits thee to proclaim! - Approach, ye Romans, and receive the prize - Of this rich town, to dust and ashes changed, - Its fruits and flowers to thistles turned likewise!" - I went away, with steps and thoughts deranged, - And paced the chief part of the city round. - Through all the ruined streets and lanes I ranged, - But not one single Numantine I found, - Whom I could seize alive and bear away, - To bring thee tidings with a certain sound, - For what grave reason, in what fearful way, - They hurried on to ruin utterly, - With such a grand and terrible display. - -SCIPIO. - - And was, mayhap, my breast filled full and high - With barbarous arrogance and deaths combined, - And clean devoid of righteous cruelty? - Is it, perchance, quite foreign to my mind - To treat the vanquished with the mercy due, - As fits the victor who is brave and kind? - Right badly in Numantia's town ye knew - The manly valour reigning in my breast, - Which burns to conquer and to pardon too! - -QUINTUS FABIUS. - - My lord, Jugurtha may have news the best - Concerning that which thou desir'st to know, - For see, he now returns with much unrest. - - [_JUGURTHA returns by the same wall._ - -JUGURTHA. - - O prudent General, 'tis vain to shew - Thy valour further here; some otherwhere - Thy matchless skill and industry bestow. - Thy work is over in Numantia there; - They all are dead and gone, save one, I ween, - Who still doth live to give thee triumph rare. - Within that very tower, as I have seen, - There right in front of us, doth lurk a youth, - Alarm'd and timid, but of gentle mien. - -SCIPIO. - - This is enough to make, if it be truth, - In Rome my triumph o'er Numantia sure, - For more I do not now desire, in sooth. - Let us go straightway thither, and procure - Some means to get the youth within our hands, - Alive, for that is needful to secure. - -VIRIATO[14] [_from the tower_]. - - What come ye here to seek? Ye Roman bands, - If ye would fain within Numantia go, - There's nought to hinder ye in all these lands! - But with my tongue I give you here to know, - That I possess this city's ill-kept keys, - Which Death hath triumphed over as a foe! - -SCIPIO. - - O youth, I come desirous to have these; - But more to let thee know what lies for thee - Of pity in this bosom, if thou please. - -VIRIATO. - - Too late is all thy tardy clemency, - When there are none to claim it, since I go - To face the rigour of our stern decree; - For that resolve, so full of grief and woe, - Made by my kinsmen and my country dear, - Hath caused the fearful, final end ye know. - -QUINTUS FABIUS. - - This rash endeavour dazzles thee, I fear; - Say, dost thou hold it as a dreadful fate - To keep thy life in all its bloom and cheer? - -SCIPIO. - - Assuage, O tender youth, thine ardour great, - Subject the slender valour thou hast stored - To mine, which hath more honour and more weight; - For from this day I pledge my faith and word - That thou wilt be, what more canst thou require, - Thine only master, and thy proper lord; - And thou wilt jewels have and rich attire, - And live a life as happy and as free - As I can give thee, and thou canst desire, - If thou surrender with good-will to me! - -VIRIATO. - - The complete fury of the countless dead - Within this city, now reduced to dust; - Their fear of pactions with the foeman made; - Their horror of subjection all unjust; - Numantia's hatreds and her rancours dread, - I hold them all within this heart as trust; - I am the heir of all her bravery: - What folly then to think of conquering me! - Belovèd land, O town unfortunate, - Fear not that I, reared in thy bosom dear, - Do rave about my duty in this strait, - Or e'er will flinch through promise or through fear! - Though country fail me now, and Heaven and Fate, - Though all the world conspire to crush me here, - It cannot be that I will ever do - What is not worthy of thy valour true! - If to this hiding-place I ran through fear, - The fear of speedy death and desperate, - I'll sally forth, with mind and courage clear, - Impelled to follow and to share thy fate. - Vile dread hath passed, and I will offer here - Amends as daring as the fault was great; - And this the error of my guileless age - I'll pay by dying with a manly rage! - O valiant citizens, I here maintain - That I do hold your grand resolve as trust, - That these base Romans shall no triumph gain, - Unless it be above our very dust! - Their scheming plans with me shall prove in vain, - If so they deal at me a deadly thrust, - Or wile me on, with promises of weight, - To life and pleasure, that wide-opened gate! - Hold, Romans, let your burning ardour cease, - To break the wall ye have no need to move; - For though your mighty power should more increase, - Ye shall not conquer me, as I shall prove! - My firm resolve ye now may view in peace, - And if ye doubt the pure and perfect love - Which I have cherished for my country dear, - This fall of mine will straightway make it clear! - - [_He hurls himself from the tower._ - -SCIPIO. - - O matchless action, worthy of the meed - Which old and valiant soldiers love to gain! - Thou hast achieved a glory by thy deed - Not only for Numantia, but for Spain! - Thy valour strange, heroical indeed, - Hath robbed me of my rights, and made them vain, - For with thy fall thou hast upraised thy fame, - And levelled down my victories to shame! - O could Numantia gain what she hath lost, - I would rejoice, if but to see thee there! - For thou hast reaped the gain and honour most - Of this long siege, illustrious and rare! - Bear then, O stripling, bear away the boast, - Enjoy the glory which the Heavens prepare, - For thou hast conquered, by thy very fall, - Him who in rising falleth worst of all! - - [_A trumpet sounds and FAME enters._ - -FAME. - - From land to land let my clear voice extend, - And, with its sweetest, most melodious sound, - To every soul an ardent longing lend - To make this deed eternally renowned! - Raise, Romans, raise your heads, which lowly bend, - Bear off this body, which such vigour found, - In green and tender age, to snatch from you - The glorious triumph which you thought your due! - For I, who am the far-resounding Fame, - For ever on, while moves the orb of light - With step majestic through the heavenly frame, - And gives this lower world new strength and might, - Will give good heed to publish and proclaim - With tongue of truth, with wingèd words and right, - Numantia's valiant worth, unique and sole, - From Nile to Baltic and from pole to pole. - This peerless deed hath given proofs most plain - What valour, in the ages yet to be, - Shall dwell within the sons of mighty Spain, - The heirs of such ancestral bravery! - The cruel scythe of death shall work in vain, - And eke the flight of time, to hinder me - From sounding forth in song, without control, - Numantia's powerful arm, and constant soul! - In her alone I find such worth extreme - As claims a record in the proudest lays; - Such wealth of matter for the poet's theme, - I That thousand ages may rehearse always - Her deathless courage, and her strength supreme, - Which claim in prose and verse the loftiest praise; - 'Tis mine, in trust, to garner so much glory, - And so give happy ending to our story! - - -END OF THE TRAGEDY. - - - - -NOTES. - - -NOTE 1, PAGE 1. - -_Scipio._ This general was the famous Publius Scipio Aemilianus -Africanus Minor. His first campaign in Spain was in the year B.C. -151, when he acted as "legatus" to the Consul Lucius Licinius -Lucullus, who was then engaged in the conquest of the Celtiberians. -He greatly distinguished himself at the siege of Intercacia, where -he was the first to scale the battlements, and received for his -exploit a mural crown. He also displayed his personal courage in -fighting single-handed and slaying a mighty Spanish giant, who -used to insult and defy the whole Roman camp. He was then about -thirty-four years of age. In the year B.C. 147 he was elected -Consul and sent to Africa, where he fulfilled the stern mandate of -the Senate: "Delenda est Carthago!" and became the most renowned -warrior of his age. In the year B.C. 134, when affairs in Spain -were at the lowest ebb, and the Numantines had thoroughly cowed the -Romans, Scipio was again made Consul, and sent to do what no one -else was thought competent to do--to bring the siege of Numantia -to a final end. The result is well-known, and details may be found -in the pages of Floras, Appian, Plutarch, and Livy. A very graphic -summary of these is given in the third book of Mariana's _Historia -de España_. The vivid picture presented in this tragedy of -Cervantes may suffice, however, for the present generation. Though -Scipio is therein represented simply as the chief minister of -Fate, yet his personality stands boldly out; and his character as -accomplished scholar, stern disciplinarian, and cautious tactician, -is very skilfully pourtrayed. His stirring address to the soldiers -is a perfect epitome of his whole military creed. The fall of -Numantia was the sensation of the day throughout the empire, and -the last great military feat of Scipio. It settled the fate of -Spain for many a long year. Scipio entered Rome in triumph, and the -Senate added to his other titles that of "Numantinus." - - -NOTE 2, PAGE 1. - -_Jugurtha._ This notorious Numidian prince, the illegitimate son -of Manastabal, grandson of Masanissa, and the nephew of Mecipsa, -king of Numidia, was sent by his uncle to give succour to Scipio -during the siege of Numantia. He arrived there with a train of -ten elephants, and a goodly array of horse and foot. His uncle's -secret design, however, was to get rid of him, as a dangerous rival -to his own sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, in the succession to the -crown. This, however, was not to be. Jugurtha not only survived -the campaign, but so distinguished himself, that he became a prime -favourite of Scipio, and returned to his native country with -added lustre to his name, and stores of military experience. His -after-career, adventurous, reckless, and unfortunate, which led him -at last to the Mamertine prisons in Rome, does not concern us. It -is to be found, as every schoolboy knows, in the brilliant pages of -Sallustius, _De bello Jugurthino_. - - -NOTE 3, PAGE 2. - -_Caius Marius._ This man, whom Cervantes represents as a bluff, -quick-witted, daring soldier, was the celebrated Caius Marius, a -plebeian by birth, and the cruel scourge of the patricians in after -times. He was only twenty-three years of age at the date of the -siege, and was still in the ranks. His peculiar military qualities -gained him the good-will of Scipio, who used often to invite him -to his table. On one occasion, when the question was asked where a -similar general to Scipio could be found when he was gone, Scipio -placed his hand on the shoulder of Marius and said smilingly, -"There, perhaps!" The glory and experience he gained under Scipio's -auspices were the foundation of his future fortunes. Strange to -say, when twenty years afterwards he rode in triumphal procession -through the streets of Rome on account of his victories in Africa, -the principal captive who graced his triumph was his old Numantian -comrade, Jugurtha, in chains. The prince and the peasant had met -again, but under what altered circumstances! - - -NOTE 4, PAGE 6. - -_Full sixteen years and more._ According to the Latin historians, -the war with Numantia lasted fourteen years, and the close siege -under Scipio, a year and three months. The ruins of Numantia are -still to be seen at Puente de Garray, near the source of the Duero, -about five miles from Soria, an ancient town of Old Castile. The -present remains, however, are principally imperial, and prove -that the town must afterwards have been rebuilt. Numantia was a -stronghold by nature. It was situated on a little hill precipitous -on three sides, and on the fourth, looking towards the north, -sloping down to a spacious plain, covered with thick forests and -fertile fields, watered by the Tera, a tributary of the Duero. From -its commanding position in the centre of northern Spain, it served -as a bulwark to check the advance of the Roman legions, and also as -a city of refuge for the oppressed tribes. According to Cervantes -its warriors amounted only to three thousand:-- - - "Can three thousand stand the shock - Of the eighty thousand there?" - -Some historians estimate the number at eight thousand, and even -this seems too small for the grandeur of their achievements. On -one occasion (three years before the advent of Scipio) when the -Consul, Caius Hostilius Mancinus, raised the siege in despair, -and attempted to escape through the defiles of the mountain by -night, the Numantines sallied forth in force, slaughtered 20,000 -of the Roman troops, and allowed the rest to capitulate, under -condition of signing a perpetual peace with Numantia, and retiring -to Rome. The Roman Senate repudiated the transaction, and sent back -the disgraced Consul to submit to the mercy of the Numantines. -Thereafter it was found necessary to concentrate the whole military -talent of Rome on the reduction of this proud city. The siege of -Numantia, like that of Saguntum, displayed in a marvellous way the -tenacity, vigour, and reckless heroism of the aboriginal tribes of -Spain. It was, therefore, with a pardonable pride that Cervantes, -intent on rousing the patriotic feeling of his countrymen, -addressed them as:-- - - "Los hijos de la fuerte España, - Hijos de tales padres herederos." - - -NOTE 5, PAGE 20. - -_Thou gentle Douro._ This passage in the original is admired for -its exquisite sweetness. We give it as a specimen of the melodious -octaves of Cervantes:-- - - "Duero gentil, que con torcidas vueltas - Humedeces gran parte de mi seno, - Ansi en tus aguas siempre veas envueltas - Arenas de oro qual el Tajo ameno, - Y ansi las ninfas fugitivas sueltas, - De que está el verde prado y bosque lleno, - Vengan humildes á tus aguas claras - Y en prestarte favor no sean avaras: - - "Que prestes á mis asperos lamentos - Atento oido, ó que á escucharlas vengas, - Y aunque dexes un rato tus contentos, - Suplicote que en nada te detengas: - Si tu con tus continuos crecimientos - Destos fieros Romanes no me vengas, - Cerrado veo ya qualquier camino - A la salud del pueblo Numantino." - -This famous river (the _Durius_ of the Romans) we prefer calling, -in Portuguese fashion, the Douro, as being a name more familiar to -English ears, and more amenable, too, to the laws of rhythm. - - -NOTE 6, PAGE 22. - -_And, forcing way into the Vatican._ The event here alluded to is -the fearful sack of Rome, in 1527, perpetrated by a portion of the -army of Charles V. under the command of the Constable de Bourbon, -when the Pope took refuge, and was besieged, in the castle of St. -Angelo. The "Pilot of the Sacred Bark" was Clement VII. - - -NOTE 7, PAGE 23. - -_The great Albano he._ This is a poetical name for Fernando Alvarez -de Toledo, the Duke of Alva, who was famous for many things and -infamous for more. The exploit referred to is the siege of Rome -by Alva, after the battle of St. Quentin, 1557, when the French, -who were allies of Pope Paul IV. against the Spaniards, had to -leave Italy to save their own capital and country. In the time -of Cervantes, no doubt, this siege was looked upon with pride as -a "brandishing of the Spanish knife above the Roman neck," but -in the light of history we see nothing more than a mock siege, a -mock defence, and a mock withdrawal. Alva's hands were thoroughly -fettered by his devout master, Philip II., who feared to humiliate -the Pope too much, lest he should lose his title of "Most Catholic -Majesty." This event is narrated with sarcastic brevity by Motley -in the third book of his "History of the Netherlands." - - -NOTE 8, PAGE 23. - -_The second Philip, second yet to none._ No doubt Philip II., at -this period, had more power in his hand than had ever been held -by a purely Spanish king. Motley, in his characteristic way, thus -sums up his many titles: "He was king of all the Spanish kingdoms, -and of both the Sicilies. He was titular king of England, France, -and Jerusalem. He was 'Absolute Dominator' in Asia, Africa, -and America. He was Duke of Milan, and both the Burgundies, -and Hereditary Sovereign of the Seventeen Netherlands." To all -this mighty inheritance he himself added the crown of Portugal. -Cervantes took a part, maimed as he was, in this conquest, and -it is, therefore, with legitimate pride that he speaks of the -"Lusitanian banner that had been knit anew to the stately robes of -Castile." Sixty years, however, sufficed to tear it asunder again. -What Cervantes thought of Philip as a man and a ruler we can only -conjecture. Twelve years after, in 1598, when the life of this -monster of cruel bigotry had come to an end, and pompous funeral -rites were everywhere being celebrated, we find Cervantes standing -in the cathedral of Seville gazing on the astounding catafalque -raised in honour of the deceased, and reciting with a roguish air -that famous sonnet of his, beginning, "_I vow to God this grandeur -stuns my brain!_" This sonnet, which Cervantes prized as the prime -honour of his writings (_honra principal de mis escritos_), and -which his countrymen regard as a model of exquisite raillery, was -certainly not intended to do honour to the dead. Philip was no -friend of poets, players, or outspoken thinkers, and literature -breathed again when he expired. For a translation of the sonnet, -see Gibson's translation of the "Journey to Parnassus," p. 375. - - -NOTE 9, PAGE 51. - -_The Body._ Ticknor, who is certainly not over-lavish at any -time in his praise of Cervantes, declares that the incantations -of Marquino surpass in dignity those of the Faustus of Marlowe, -who was a contemporary of Cervantes. He also affirms, that not -even Shakespeare, when he presents on the stage the armed head -raised up, under constraint, to reply to the criminal enquiries of -Macbeth, excites so much our sympathy and horror as does Cervantes -with that tormented spirit, which returns to life only to suffer a -second time the pangs of dissolution and death. We give here the -original of the speech of the resuscitated corpse, which Bouterwek -describes as terrific:-- - -EL CUERPO. - - Cese la furia del rigor violento - Tuyo, Marquino; baste, triste, baste - La que yo paso en la region escura, - Sin que tu crezcas mas mi desventura. - Engañaste si piensas que recibo - Contento de volver á esta penosa, - Misera y corta vida que ahora vivo, - Que ya me va faltando presurosa; - Antes me causas un dolor esquivo, - Pues otra vez la muerte rigurosa - Triunfará de mi vida y de mi alma - Mi enemigo tendrá doblada palma. - El cual, con otros del escuro bando - De los que son sujetos á aguardarte, - Está con rabia en torno aqui esperando - A que acabe, Marquino, de informarte - Del lamentable fin, del mal nefando - Que de Numancia puedo asegurarte, - La cual acabará a las mismas manos - De los que son á ella mas cercanos. - -Throughout this scene, the pompous solemnity of the regular priests -and the mock-heroic fury of Marquino are cleverly contrasted. -Cervantes, who from his readings was familiar with all sorts of -wizards and enchanters, makes Marquino a kind of old-world Merlin, -kept, however, under necessary tragic restraint. The time had not -yet come for the humours of "Don Quixote." - - -NOTE 10, PAGE 65. - -_Sons of mothers, sad in lot._ This spirited speech of one of the -Numantine wives has the true Spartan ring in it, of which our -translation is but a feeble echo. We give the most effective part -of it in the original:-- - - Hijos destas tristes madres, - Qué es esto? Como no hablais? - Y con lagrimas rogais - Que no os dexen vuestros padres? - Basta, que la hambre insana - Os acabe con dolor, - Sin esperar el rigor - De la aspereza Romana. - Decildes que os engendraron - Libres, y libres nacistes, - Y que vuestras madres tristes - Tambien libres os criaron. - Decildes que pues la suerte - Nuestra va tan de caida, - Que como os dieron la vida, - Ansi mismo os den la muerte. - O muros desta ciudad, - Si podeis hablad, decid, - Y mil veces repetid: - Numantinos, libertad! - - -NOTE 11, PAGE 69. - -_Cause that these wretched Romans._ The _morale_ of the tragedy -as a whole is so perfect, and the character of Theogenes, as -represented, is so noble and chivalrous, that this savage decree of -his seems strange and out of keeping. There are, it is true, more -brutal things presented in "Titus Andronicus," but that is hardly a -model of tragic dignity and decorum. The Latin historians tell us -that when the crisis arrived the Numantine citizens ate raw flesh, -and drugged themselves with a liquor called _Celia_, to madden -themselves for the unnatural slaughter; but, artistically speaking, -there was no necessity to give such things prominence especially in -the mouth of Theogenes. - - -NOTE 12, PAGE 70. - -_Morandro._ Bouterwek says: "The transition into light -_redondillas_, for the purpose of interweaving with the serious -business of the fable the loves of a young Numantine, named -Morandro, and his mistress, is certainly a fault in the composition -of the tragedy. But to this fault we are indebted for some of the -finest scenes in the drama." We agree with the latter assertion, -but not with the former. Neither Nature nor Art forbids the -combination; and if love was to be introduced at all into such a -play, the redondilla measure, on the Spanish stage at least, was -_de rigeur_. It seems to us that the little ray of sunshine let -into the surrounding gloom, and then suddenly extinguished, gives -a deeper intensity to the supervening darkness. These love-scenes, -moreover, if such they may be called, for they are very saddening, -lead up to some of the most tragic scenes of the drama. Ticknor -has rendered the whole scene with much spirit, but not in the -metre, nor with the simplicity, of the original. We give two short -extracts. The first contains the opening stanzas:-- - -MORANDRO. - - No vayas tan de corrida, - Lira; déjame gozar - Del bien que me puede dar - En la muerte alegre vida; - Deja que miren mis ojos - Un rato tu hermosura - Pues tanto mi desventura - Se entretiene en mis enojos. - O dulce Lira, que sueñas - Contino en mi fantasía - Con tan suave harmonía - Que vuelve en gloria mis penas! - Qué tienes? Qué estás pensando, - Gloria de mi pensamiento? - -The second extract is the parting scene, which is justly praised -for its pathetic tenderness:-- - -LIRA. - - Morandro, mi dulce amigo, - No vayas; que se me antoja - Que de tu sangre veo roja - La espada del enemigo. - No hagas esta jornada, - Morandro, bien de mi vida, - Que si es mala la salida - Es muy peor la tornada. - Si quiero aplacar tu brio, - Por testigo pongo al cielo, - Que de mi daño recelo - Y no del provecho mio. - Mas si acaso, amado amigo, - Prosigues esta contienda, - Lleva este abrazo por prenda - De que me llevas contigo. - - -NOTE 13, PAGE 109. - -_I saw within the middle of the square._ This fine description -of the end of Theogenes, as seen and described by Marius, may -fitly wind up our extracts from the original. It is written in -very vigorous Tercets, a form of verse in which Cervantes was more -expert than in any other:-- - - En medio de la plaza levantado - Está un ardiente fuego temeroso, - De sus cuerpos y haciendas sustentado. - A tiempo llegué á verle, que el furioso - Teogenes, valiente Numantino, - De fenecer su vida deseoso, - Maldiciendo su corto amargo signo, - En medio se arrojaba de la llama - Lleno de temerario desatino. - Y al arrojarse dijo: O clara fama, - Ocupa aqui tus lenguas y tus ojos - En esta hazaña que a cantar te llama! - Venid, Romanos, ya por los despojos - Deste ciudad en polvo y humo envueltos, - Y sus floras y frutos en abrojos! - - -NOTE 14, PAGE 112. - -_Viriato._ It is a touch of genius, on Cervantes' part, to give -this youth, who concentrates at last in his own person all the -heroism of his nation, the name of the illustrious Lusitanian hero, -Viriatus, the William Wallace of his age and country, who for more -than a decade was the terror of the Romans and the pride of his -nation, and who, like the Scottish hero, was at last done to death -by treachery. - - -END OF THE NOTES. - - -CHISWICK PRESS:--C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE. - - - - - TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE - - Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. - - Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been - corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within - the text and consultation of external sources. - - Footnotes are collected in a 'NOTES' section at the end of the play, - as in the original book. - - Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, - and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. For example, - good-will, good will; pourtrayed; energetical; fulness; leal. - - Pg 23, 'vicegerent' replaced by 'viceregent'. - Pg 94, 'stern hehest' replaced by 'stern behest'. - Pg 95, 'who am the the great' replaced by 'who am the great'. - Pg 111, 'go straighway' replaced by 'go straightway'. - Pg 121, 'continos creciementos' replaced by 'continuos crecimientos'. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Numantia, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NUMANTIA *** - -***** This file should be named 53041-0.txt or 53041-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/0/4/53041/ - -Produced by Josep Cols Canals, John Campbell and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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