Demetrius. Friedrich von Schiller

with the primate's.

SEVERAL VOICES

                           So does mine.

SEVERAL PALATINES

         And mine!

ODOWALSKY

               And mine.

DEPUTIES

                    And all!

SAPIEHA

                         My gracious sirs!

         Weigh well ere you decide! Be not so hasty!

         It is not meet the council of the realm

         Be hurried on to —

ODOWALSKY

                   There is nothing here

         For us to weigh; all has been fully weighed.

         The proofs demonstrate incontestably.

         This is not Moscow, sirs! No despot here

         Keeps our free souls in manacles. Here truth

         May walk by day or night with brow erect.

         I will not think, my lords, in Cracow here,

         Here in the very Diet of the Poles,

         That Moscow's Czar should have obsequious slaves.

DEMETRIUS

         Oh, take my thanks, ye reverend senators!

         That ye have lent your credence to these proofs;

         And if I be indeed the man whom I

         Protest myself, oh, then, endure not this

         Audacious robber should usurp my seat,

         Or longer desecrate that sceptre which

         To me, as the true Czarowitsch, belongs.

         Yes, justice lies with me, – you have the power.

         'Tis the most dear concern of every state

         And throne, that right should everywhere prevail,

         And all men in the world possess their own.

         For there, where justice holds uncumbered sway,

         There each enjoys his heritage secure,

         And over every house and every throne

         Law, truth, and order keep their angel watch.

         It is the key-stone of the world's wide arch,

         The one sustaining and sustained by all,

         Which, if it fail, brings all in ruin down.

      (Answers of SENATORS giving assent to DEMETRIUS.)

DEMETRIUS

         Oh, look on me, renowned Sigismund!

         Great king, on thine own bosom turn thine eyes.

         And in my destiny behold thine own.

         Thou, too, hast known the rude assaults of fate;

         Within a prison camest thou to the world;

         Thy earliest glances fell on dungeon walls.

         Thou, too, hadst need of friends to set thee free,

         And raise thee from a prison to a throne.

         These didst thou find. That noble kindness thou

         Didst reap from them, oh, testify to me.

         And you, ye grave and honored councillors,

         Most reverend bishops, pillars of the church,

         Ye palatines and castellans of fame,

         The moment has arrived, by one high deed,

         To reconcile two nations long estranged.

         Yours be the glorious boast, that Poland's power

         Hath given the Muscovites their Czar, and in

         The neighbor who oppressed you as a foe

         Secure an ever-grateful friend. And you,

         The deputies of the august republic,

         Saddle your steeds of fire! Leap to your seats!

         To you expand high fortune's golden gates;

         I will divide the foeman's spoil with you.

         Moscow is rich in plunder; measureless

         In gold and gems, the treasures of the Czar;

         I can give royal guerdons to my friends,

         And I will give them, too. When I, as Czar,

         Set foot within the Kremlin, then, I swear,

         The poorest of you all, that follows me,

         Shall robe himself in velvet and in sables;

         With costly pearls his housings shall he deck,

         And silver be the metal of least worth,

         That he shall shoe his horses' hoofs withal.

      [Great commotion among the DEPUTIES. KORELA, Hetman of the Cossacks, declares himself ready to put himself at the head of an army.

ODOWALSKY

         How! shall we leave the Cossack to despoil us

         At once of glory and of booty both?

         We've made a truce with Tartar and with Turk,

         And from the Swedish power have naught to fear.

         Our martial spirit has been wasting long

         In slothful peace; our swords are red with rust.

         Up! and invade the kingdom of the Czar,

         And win a grateful and true-hearted friend,

         Whilst we augment our country's might and glory.

MANY DEPUTIES

         War! War with Moscow!

OTHERS

                     Be it so resolved!

         On to the votes at once!

SAPIEHA (rises)

                      Grand marshal, please

         To order silence! I desire to speak.

A CROWD OF VOICES

         War! War with Moscow!

SAPIEHA

                     Nay, I will be heard.

         Ho, marshal, do your duty!

      [Great tumult within and outside the hall.

GRAND MARSHAL

                       'Tis, you see,