SCENE X.
The KING and the GRAND INQUISITOR. A long silence.
GRAND INQUISITOR.
Say, do I stand before the king?
KING.
You do.
GRAND INQUISITOR.
I never thought it would be so again!
KING.
I now renew the scenes of early youth, When Philip sought his sage instructor"s counsel.
GRAND INQUISITOR.
Your glorious sire, my pupil, Charles the Fifth, Nor sought or needed counsel at my hands.
KING.
So much happier he! I, cardinal, Am guilty of a murder, and no rest----
GRAND INQUISITOR.
What was the reason for this murder?
KING.
"Twas A fraud unparalleled----
GRAND INQUISITOR.
I know it all.
KING.
What do you know? Through whom, and since what time?
GRAND INQUISITOR.
For years--what you have only learned since sunset.
KING (with astonishment).
You know this man then!
GRAND INQUISITOR.
All his life is noted From its commencement to its sudden close, In Santa Casa"s holy registers.
KING.
Yet he enjoyed his liberty!
GRAND INQUISITOR.
The chain With which he struggled, but which held him bound, Though long, was firm, nor easy to be severed.
KING.
He has already been beyond the kingdom.
GRAND INQUISITOR.
Where"er he travelled I was at his side.
KING (walks backwards and forwards in displeasure).
You knew the hands, then, I had fallen into; And yet delayed to warn me!
GRAND INQUISITOR.
This rebuke I pay you back. Why did you not consult us Before you sought the arms of such a man?
You knew him: one sole glance unmasked him to you.
Why did you rob the office of its victim?
Are we thus trifled with! When majesty Can stoop to such concealment, and in secret, Behind our backs, league with our enemies, What must our fate be then? If one be spared What plea can justify the fate of thousands?
KING.
But he, no less, has fallen a sacrifice.
GRAND INQUISITOR.
No; he is murdered--basely, foully murdered.
The blood that should so gloriously have flowed To honor us has stained the a.s.sa.s.sin"s hand.
What claim had you to touch our sacred rights?
He but existed, by our hands to perish.
G.o.d gave him to this age"s exigence, To perish, as a terrible example, And turn high-vaunting reason into shame.
Such was my long-laid plan--behold, destroyed In one brief hour, the toil of many years.
We are defrauded, and your only gain Is b.l.o.o.d.y hands.
KING.
Pa.s.sion impelled me to it.
Forgive me.
GRAND INQUISITOR.
Pa.s.sion! And does royal Philip Thus answer me? Have I alone grown old?
[Shaking his head angrily.
Pa.s.sion! Make conscience free within your realms, If you"re a slave yourself.
KING.
In things like this I"m but a novice. Bear in patience with me.
GRAND INQUISITOR.
No, I"m ill pleased with you--to see you thus Tarnish the bygone glories of your reign.
Where is that Philip, whose unchanging soul, Fixed as the polar star in heaven above, Round its own axis still pursued its course?
Is all the memory of preceding years Forever gone? And did the world become New moulded when you stretched your hand to him?
Was poison no more poison? Did distinction "Twixt good and evil, truth and falsehood, vanish?
What then is resolution? What is firmness?
What is the faith of man, if in one weak, Unguarded hour, the rules of threescore years Dissolve in air, like woman"s fickle favor?