The Maid of Orleans. Friedrich von Schiller

Of Rochepierre, commander of the town,

         Hath made a compact with the enemy,

         According to old custom, to yield up,

         On the twelfth day, the city to the foe,

         Unless, meanwhile, before the town appear

         A host of magnitude to raise the siege.

[DUNOIS manifests the strongest indignation.CHARLES

         The interval is brief.

SENATOR

                     We hither come,

         Attended by a hostile retinue,

         To implore thee, sire, to pity thy poor town,

         And to send succor ere the appointed day,

         When, if still unrelieved, she must surrender.

DUNOIS

         And could Saintrailles consent to give his voice

         To such a shameful compact?

SENATOR

                        Never, sir!

         Long as the hero lived, none dared to breathe

         A single word of treaty or surrender.

DUNOIS

         He then is dead?

SENATOR

                  The noble hero fell,

         His monarch's cause defending on our walls.

CHARLES

         What! Saintrailles dead! Oh, in that single man

         A host is foundered!

[A Knight enters and speaks apart with DUNOIS, who starts with surprise.DUNOIS

                    That too!

CHARLES

                          Well? What is it?

DUNOIS

         Count Douglass sendeth here. The Scottish troops

         Revolt, and threaten to retire at once.

         Unless their full arrears are paid to-day.

CHARLES

         Duchatel!

DUCHATEL (shrugs his shoulders)

              Sire! I know not what to counsel.

CHARLES

         Pledge, promise all, even unto half my realm.

DUCHATEL

         'Tis vain! They have been fed with hope too often.

CHARLES

         They are the finest troops of all my hosts!

         They must not now, not now abandon me!

SENATOR (throwing himself at the KING'S feet)

         Oh, king, assist us! Think of our distress!

CHARLES (in despair)

         How! Can I summon armies from the earth?

         Or grow a cornfield on my open palm?

         Rend me in pieces! Pluck my bleeding heart

         Forth from my breast, and coin it 'stead of gold!

         I've blood for you, but neither gold nor troops.

[He sees SOREL approach, and hastens towards her with outstretched arms.

      SCENE IV

      The same. AGNES SOREL, a casket in her hand.

CHARLES

         My Agnes! Oh, my love! My dearest life!

         Thou comest here to snatch me from despair!

         Refuge I take within thy loving arms!

         Possessing thee I feel that nothing is lost.

SOREL

         My king, beloved!

[looking round with an anxious, inquiring gaze.

      Dunois! Say, is it true,

         Duchatel?

DUCHATEL

               'Tis, alas!

SOREL

                     So great the need?

         No treasure left? The soldiers will disband?

DUCHATEL

         Alas! It is too true!

SOREL (giving him the casket)

                     Here-here is gold,

         Here too are jewels! Melt my silver down!

         Sell, pledge my castles – on my fair domains

         In Provence – treasure raise, turn all to gold,

         Appease the troops! No time to be lost!

[She urges him to depart.CHARLES

         Well now, Dunois! Duchatel! Do ye still

         Account me poor, when I possess the crown

         Of womankind? She's nobly born as I;

         The royal blood of Valois not more pure;

         The most exalted throne she would adorn —

         Yet she rejects it with disdain, and claims

         No other title than to be my love.

         No gift more costly will she e'er receive

         Than early flower in winter, or rare fruit!

         No sacrifice on my part she permits,

         Yet sacrificeth all she had to me!

         With generous spirit she doth venture all

         Her wealth and fortune in my sinking bark.

DUNOIS

         Ay, she is mad indeed, my king, as thou;

         She throws her all into a burning house,

         And draweth water in the leaky vessel

         Of the Danaides. Thee she will not save,

         And in thy ruin but involve herself.

SOREL

         Believe him not! Full many a time he hath

         Perilled his life for thee, and now, forsooth,

         Chafeth because I risk my worthless gold!

         How? Have I freely sacrificed to thee

         What is esteemed far more than gold and pearls,

         And shall I now hold back the gifts of fortune?

         Oh, come! Let my example challenge thee

         To noble self-denial! Let's at once

         Cast off the needless ornaments of life!

         Thy courtiers metamorphose into soldiers;

         Thy gold transmute to iron; all thou hast,

         With resolute daring, venture for thy crown!

         Peril and want we will participate!