The Bride of Messina, and On the Use of the Chorus in Tragedy

Friedrich Schiller

The Bride of Messina / A Tragedy

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

ISABELLA, Princess of Messina.

DON MANUEL | her Sons.

DON CAESAR |

BEATRICE.

DIEGO, an ancient Servant.

MESSENGERS.

THE ELDERS OF MESSINA, mute.

THE CHORUS, consisting of the Followers of the two Princes.

SCENE I

A spacious hall, supported on columns, with entrances on both sides;

at the back of the stage a large folding-door leading to a chapel.

DONNA ISABELLA in mourning; the ELDERS OF MESSINA.

ISABELLA   Forth from my silent chamber's deep recesses,   Gray Fathers of the State, unwillingly   I come; and, shrinking from your gaze, uplift   The veil that shades my widowed brows: the light   And glory of my days is fled forever!   And best in solitude and kindred gloom   To hide these sable weeds, this grief-worn frame,   Beseems the mourner's heart. A mighty voice   Inexorable – duty's stern command,   Calls me to light again.                Not twice the moon   Has filled her orb since to the tomb ye bore   My princely spouse, your city's lord, whose arm   Against a world of envious foes around   Hurled fierce defiance! Still his spirit lives   In his heroic sons, their country's pride:   Ye marked how sweetly from their childhood's bloom   They grew in joyous promise to the years   Of manhood's strength; yet in their secret hearts,   From some mysterious root accursed, upsprung   Unmitigable, deadly hate, that spurned   All kindred ties, all youthful, fond affections,   Still ripening with their thoughtful age; not mine   The sweet accord of family bliss; though each   Awoke a mother's rapture; each alike   Smiled at my nourishing breast! for me alone   Yet lives one mutual thought, of children's love;   In these tempestuous souls discovered else   By mortal strife and thirst of fierce revenge.   While yet their father reigned, his stern control   Tamed their hot spirits, and with iron yoke   To awful justice bowed their stubborn will:   Obedient to his voice, to outward seeming   They calmed their wrathful mood, nor in array   Ere met, of hostile arms; yet unappeased   Sat brooding malice in their bosoms' depths;   They little reek of hidden springs whose power   Can quell the torrent's fury: scarce their sire   In death had closed his eyes, when, as the spark   That long in smouldering embers sullen lay,   Shoots forth a towering flame; so unconfined   Burst the wild storm of brothers' hate triumphant   O'er nature's holiest bands. Ye saw, my friends,   Your country's bleeding wounds, when princely strife   Woke discord's maddening fires, and ranged her sons   In mutual deadly conflict; all around   Was heard the clash of arms, the din of carnage,   And e'en these halls were stained with kindred gore.   Torn was the state with civil rage, this heart   With pangs that mothers feel; alas, unmindful   Of aught but public woes, and pitiless   You sought my widow's chamber – there with taunts   And fierce reproaches for your country's ills   From that polluted spring of brother's hate   Derived, invoked a parent's warning voice,   And threatening told of people's discontent   And princes' crimes! "Ill-fated land! now wasted   By thy unnatural sons, ere long the prey   Of foeman's sword! Oh, haste," you cried, "and end   This strife! bring peace again, or soon Messina   Shall bow to other lords." Your stern decree   Prevailed; this heart, with all a mother's anguish   O'erlabored, owned the weight of public cares.   I flew, and at my children's feet, distracted,   A suppliant lay; till to my prayers and tears   The voice of nature answered in their breasts!   Here in the palace of their sires, unarmed,   In peaceful guise Messina shall behold   The long inveterate foes; this is the day!   E'en now I wait the messenger that brings   The tidings of my sons' approach: be ready   To give your princes joyful welcome home   With reverence such as vassals may beseem.   Bethink ye to fulfil your subject duties,   And leave to better wisdom weightier cares.   Dire was their strife to them, and to the State   Fruitful of ills; yet, in this happy bond   Of peace united, know that they are mighty   To stand against a world in arms, nor less   Enforce their sovereign will against yourselves.

[The ELDERS retire in silence; she beckons to an old attendant, who remains.

               Diego!DIEGO                   Honored mistress!ISABELLA   Old faithful servant, then true heart, come near me;   Sharer of all a mother's woes, be thine   The sweet communion of her joys: my treasure   Shrined in thy heart, my dear and holy secret   Shall pierce the envious veil, and shine triumphant   To cheerful day; too long by harsh decrees,   Silent and overpowered, affection yet   Shall utterance find in Nature's tones of rapture!   And this imprisoned heart leap to the embrace   Of all it holds most dear, returned to glad   My desolate halls;             So bend thy aged steps   To the old cloistered sanctuary that guards   The darling of my soul, whose innocence   To thy true love (sweet pledge of happier days)!   Trusting I gave, and asked from fortune's storm   A resting place and shrine. Oh, in this hour   Of bliss; the dear reward of all thy cares.   Give to my longing arms my child again!

[Trumpets are heard in the distance.

   Haste! be thy footsteps winged with joy – I hear   The trumpet's blast, that tells in warlike accents   My sons are near:

[Exit DIEGO. Music is heard in an opposite direction, and becomes gradually louder.

             Messina is awake!   Hark! how the stream of tongues hoarse murmuring   Rolls on the breeze, – 'tis they! my mother's heart   Feels their approach, and beats with mighty throes   Responsive to the loud, resounding march!   They come! they come! my children! oh, my children!

[Exit.

The CHORUS enters.

(It consists of two semi-choruses which enter at the same time from opposite sides, and after marching round the stage range themselves in rows, each on the side by which it entered. One semi-chorus consists of young knights, the other of older ones, each has its peculiar costume and ensigns. When the two choruses stand opposite to each other, the march ceases, and the two leaders speak.)

[The first chorus consists of Cajetan, Berengar, Manfred, Tristan, and eight followers of Don Manuel. The second of Bohemund, Roger, Hippolyte, and nine others of the party of Don Caesar.

First Chorus (CAJETAN)      I greet ye, glittering halls       Of olden time      Cradle of kings! Hail! lordly roof,       In pillared majesty sublime!         Sheathed be the sword!       In chains before the portal lies      The fiend with tresses snake-entwined,       Fell Discord! Gently treat the inviolate floor!         Peace to this royal dome!       Thus by the Furies' brood we swore,      And all the dark, avenging Deities!Second Chorus (BOHEMUND)      I rage! I burn! and scarce refrain       To lift the glittering steel on high,      For, lo! the Gorgon-visaged train       Of the detested foeman nigh:      Shall I my swelling heart control?       To parley deign – or still in mortal strife      The tumult of my soul?      Dire sister, guardian of the spot, to thee      Awe-struck I bend the knee,      Nor dare with arms profane thy deep tranquillity!First Chorus (CAJETAN)       Welcome the peaceful strain!      Together we adore the guardian power      Of these august abodes!       Sacred the hour      To kindred brotherly ties      And reverend, holy sympathies; —      Our hearts the genial charm shall own,      And melt awhile at friendship's soothing tone: —       But when in yonder plain      We meet – then peace away!      Come gleaming arms, and battle's deadly fray!The whole Chorus      But when in yonder plain      We meet – then peace away!      Come gleaming arms, and battle's deadly fray!First Chorus (BERENGAR)      I hate thee not – nor call thee foe,      My brother! this our native earth,      The land that gave our fathers birth: —      Of chief's behest the slave decreed,      The vassal draws the sword at need,      For chieftain's rage we strike the blow,      For stranger lords our kindred blood must flow.Second Chorus (BOHEMUND)      Hate fires their souls – we ask not why; —      At honor's call to fight and die,      Boast of the true and brave!      Unworthy of a soldier's name      Who burns not for his chieftain's fame!The whole Chorus      Unworthy of a soldier's name      Who burns not for his chieftain's fame!One of the Chorus (BERENGAR)      Thus spoke within my bosom's core       The thought – as hitherward I strayed;      And pensive 'mid the waving store,       I mused, of autumn's yellow glade: —      These gifts of nature's bounteous reign, —      The teeming earth, and golden grain,      Yon elms, among whose leaves entwine      The tendrils of the clustering vine; —      Gay children of our sunny clime, —      Region of spring's eternal prime!      Each charm should woo to love and joy,      No cares the dream of bliss annoy,      And pleasure through life's summer day      Speed every laughing hour away.      We rage in blood, – oh, dire disgrace!      For this usurping, alien race;      From some far distant land they came,      Beyond the sun's departing flame.      And owned upon our friendly shore      The welcome of our sires of yore.      Alas! their sons in thraldom pine,      The vassals of this stranger line.A second (MANFRED)      Yes! pleased, on our land, from his azure way,      The sun ever smiles with unclouded ray.      But never, fair isle, shall thy sons repose      'Mid the sweets which the faithless waves enclose.      On their bosom they wafted the corsair bold,      With his dreaded barks to our coast of old.      For thee was thy dower of beauty vain,      'Twas the treasure that lured the spoiler's train.      Oh, ne'er from these smiling vales shall rise      A sword for our vanquished liberties;      'Tis not where the laughing Ceres reigns,      And the jocund lord of the flowery plains: —      Where the iron lies hid in the mountain cave,      Is the cradle of empire – the home of the brave!

[The folding-doors at the back of the stage are thrown open.

DONNA ISABELLA appears between her sons, DON MANUEL and DON CAESAR.

Both Choruses (CAJETAN)      Lift high the notes of praise!       Behold! where lies the awakening sun,      She comes, and from her queenly brow       Shoots glad, inspiring rays.        Mistress, we bend to thee!First Chorus      Fair is the moon amid the starry choir       That twinkle o'er the sky,       Shining in silvery, mild tranquillity; —      The mother with her sons more fair!       See! blooming at her side,      She leads the royal, youthful pair;       With gentle grace, and soft, maternal pride,       Attempering sweet their manly fire.Second Chorus (BERENGAR)      From this fair stem a beauteous tree       With ever-springing boughs shall smile,       And with immortal verdure shade our isle;      Mother of heroes, joy to thee!      Triumphant as the sun thy kingly race       Shall spread from clime to clime,       And give a deathless name to rolling time!ISABELLA (comes forward with her SONS)   Look down! benignant Queen of Heaven, and still,   This proud tumultuous heart, that in my breast   Swells with a mother's tide of ecstasy,   As blazoned in these noble youths, my image   More perfect shows; – Oh, blissful hour! the first   That comprehends the fulness of my joy,   When long-constrained affection dares to pour   In unison of transport from my heart,   Unchecked, a parent's undivided love:   Oh! it was ever one – my sons were twain.   Say – shall I revel in the dreams of bliss,   And give my soul to Nature's dear emotions?   Is this warm pressure of thy brother's hand   A dagger in thy breast?

[To DON MANUEL.

                Or when my eyes   Feed on that brow with love's enraptured gaze,   Is it a wrong to thee?

[To DON CAESAR.

               Trembling, I pause,   Lest e'en affection's breath should wake the fires   Of slumbering hate.

[After regarding both with inquiring looks

              Speak! In your secret hearts   What purpose dwells? Is it the ancient feud   Unreconciled, that in your father's halls   A moment stilled; beyond the castle gates,   Where sits infuriate war, and champs the bit —   Shall rage anew in mortal, bloody conflict?Chorus (BOHEMUND)      Concord or strife – the fate's decree      Is bosomed yet in dark futurity!      What comes, we little heed to know,      Prepared for aught the hour may show!ISABELLA (looking round)   What mean these arms? this warlike, dread array,   That in the palace of your sires portends   Some fearful issue? needs a mother's heart   Outpoured, this rugged witness of her joys?   Say, in these folding arms shall treason hide   The deadly snare? Oh, these rude, pitiless men,   The ministers of your wrath! – trust not the show   Of seeming friendship; treachery in their breasts   Lurks to betray, and long-dissembled hate.   Ye are a race of other lands; your sires   Profaned their soil; and ne'er the invader's yoke   Was easy – never in the vassal's heart   Languished the hope of sweet revenge; – our sway   Not rooted in a people's love, but owns   Allegiance from their fears; with secret joy —   For conquest's ruthless sword, and thraldom's chains   From age to age, they wait the atoning hour   Of princes' downfall; – thus their bards awake   The patriot strain, and thus from sire to son   Rehearsed, the old traditionary tale   Beguiles the winter's night. False is the world,   My sons, and light are all the specious ties   By fancy twined: friendship – deceitful name!   Its gaudy flowers but deck our summer fortune,   To wither at the first rude breath of autumn!   So happy to whom heaven has given a brother;   The friend by nature signed – the true and steadfast!   Nature alone is honest – nature only —   When all we trusted strews the wintry shore —   On her eternal anchor lies at rest,   Nor heeds the tempest's rage.DON MANUEL                   My mother!DON CAESAR                         Hear meISABELLA (taking their hands)   Be noble, and forget the fancied wrongs   Of boyhood's age: more godlike is forgiveness   Than victory, and in your father's grave   Should sleep the ancient hate: – Oh, give your days   Renewed henceforth to peace and holy love!

[She recedes one or two steps, as if to give them space to approach each other. Both fix their eyes on the ground without regarding one another.

ISABELLA (after awaiting for some time, with suppressed emotion, a demonstration on the part of her sons)   I can no more; my prayers – my tears are vain: —   'Tis well! obey the demon in your hearts!   Fulfil your dread intent, and stain with blood   The holy altars of your household gods; —   These halls that gave you birth, the stage where murder   Shall hold his festival of mutual carnage   Beneath a mother's eye! – then, foot to foot,   Close, like the Theban pair, with maddening gripe,   And fold each other in a last embrace!   Each press with vengeful thrust the dagger home,   And "Victory!" be your shriek of death: – nor then   Shall discord rest appeased; the very flame   That lights your funeral pyre shall tower dissevered   In ruddy columns to the skies, and tell   With horrid image – "thus they lived and died!"

[She goes away; the BROTHERS stand as before.

Chorus (CAJETAN)      How have her words with soft control      Resistless calmed the tempest of my soul!       No guilt of kindred blood be mine!      Thus with uplifted hands I prey;      Think, brothers, on the awful day,       And tremble at the wrath divine!DON CAESAR (without taking his eyes from the ground)   Thou art my elder – speak – without dishonor   I yield to thee.DON MANUEL            One gracious word, an instant,   My tongue is rival in the strife of love!DON CAESAR   I am the guiltier – weaker —DON MANUEL                  Say not so!   Who doubts thy noble heart, knows thee not well;   The words were prouder, if thy soul were mean.DON CAESAR   It burns indignant at the thought of wrong —   But thou – methinks – in passion's fiercest mood,   'Twas aught but scorn that harbored in thy breast.DON MANUEL   Oh! had I known thy spirit thus to peace   Inclined, what thousand griefs had never torn   A mother's heart!DON CAESAR             I find thee just and true:   Men spoke thee proud of soul.DON MANUEL                   The curse of greatness!   Ears ever open to the babbler's tale.DON CAESAR   Thou art too proud to meanness – I to falsehood!DON MANUEL   We are deceived, betrayed!DON CAESAR                 The sport of frenzy!DON MANUEL   And said my mother true, false is the world?DON CAESAR   Believe her, false as air.DON MANUEL                 Give me thy hand!DON CAESAR   And thine be ever next my heart!

[They stand clasping each other's hands, and regard each other in silence.

DON MANUEL                    I gaze   Upon thy brow, and still behold my mother   In some dear lineament.DON CAESAR                Her image looks   From thine, and wondrous in my bosom wakes   Affection's springs.DON MANUEL              And is it thou? – that smile   Benignant on thy face? – thy lips that charm   With gracious sounds of love and dear forgiveness?DON CAESAR   Is this my brother, this the hated foe?   His mien all gentleness and truth, his voice,   Whose soft prevailing accents breathe of friendship!

[After a pause.

DON MANUEL   Shall aught divide us?DON CAESAR               We are one forever!

[They rush into each other's arms.

First CHORUS (to the Second)      Why stand we thus, and coldly gaze,       While Nature's holy transports burn?      No dear embrace of happier days       The pledge – that discord never shall return!      Brothers are they by kindred band;      We own the ties of home and native land.

[Both CHORUSES embrace.

A MESSENGER enters.

Second CHORUS to DON CAESAR (BOHEMUND)   Rejoice, my prince, thy messenger returns   And mark that beaming smile! the harbinger   Of happy tidings.MESSENGER             Health to me, and health   To this delivered state! Oh sight of bliss,   That lights mine eyes with rapture! I behold   Their hands in sweet accord entwined; the sons   Of my departed lord, the princely pair   Dissevered late by conflict's hottest rage.DON CAESAR   Yes, from the flames of hate, a new-born Phoenix,   Our love aspires!MESSENGER             I bring another joy;   My staff is green with flourishing shoots.   DON CAESAR (taking him aside).                         Oh, tell me   Thy gladsome message.MESSENGER               All is happiness   On this auspicious day; long sought, the lost one   Is found.DON CAESAR         Discovered! Oh, where is she? Speak!MESSENGER   Within Messina's walls she lies concealed.DON MANUEL (turning to the First SEMI-CHORUS)   A ruddy glow mounts in my brother's cheek,   And pleasure dances in his sparkling eye;   Whate'er the spring, with sympathy of love   My inmost heart partakes his joy.DON CAESAR (to the MESSENGER)                     Come, lead me;   Farewell, Don Manuel; to meet again   Enfolded in a mother's arms! I fly   To cares of utmost need.

[He is about to depart.

DON MANUEL                Make no delay;   And happiness attend thee!DON CAESAR (after a pause of reflection, he returns)                 How thy looks   Awake my soul to transport! Yes, my brother,   We shall be friends indeed! This hour is bright   With glad presage of ever-springing love,   That in the enlivening beam shall flourish fair,   Sweet recompense of wasted years!DON MANUEL                     The blossom   Betokens goodly fruit.DON CAESAR               I tear myself   Reluctant from thy arms, but think not less   If thus I break this festal hour – my heart   Thrills with a holy joy.DON MANUEL (with manifest absence of mind)                Obey the moment!   Our lives belong to love.DON CESAR                 What calls me hence —DON MANUEL   Enough! thou leav'st thy heart.DON CAESAR                    No envious secret   Shall part us long; soon the last darkening fold   Shall vanish from my breast.

[Turning to the CHORUS.

                  Attend! Forever   Stilled is our strife; he is my deadliest foe,   Detested as the gates of hell, who dares   To blow the fires of discord; none may hope   To win my love, that with malicious tales   Encroach upon a brother's ear, and point   With busy zeal of false, officious friendship.   The dart of some rash, angry word, escaped   From passion's heat; it wounds not from the lips,   But, swallowed by suspicion's greedy ear,   Like a rank, poisonous weed, embittered creeps,   And hangs about her with a thousand shoots,   Perplexing nature's ties.

[He embraces his brother again, and goes away accompanied by the Second CHORUS.

Chorus (CAJETAN)                 Wondering, my prince,   I gaze, for in thy looks some mystery   Strange-seeming shows: scarce with abstracted mien   And cold thou answered'st, when with earnest heart   Thy brother poured the strain of dear affection.   As in a dream thou stand'st, and lost in thought,   As though – dissevered from its earthly frame —   Thy spirit roved afar. Not thine the breast   That deaf to nature's voice, ne'er owned the throbs   Of kindred love: – nay more – like one entranced   In bliss, thou look'st around, and smiles of rapture   Play on thy cheek.DON MANUEL             How shall my lips declare   The transports of my swelling heart? My brother   Revels in glad surprise, and from his breast   Instinct with strange new-felt emotions, pours   The tide of joy; but mine – no hate came with me,   Forgot the very spring of mutual strife!   High o'er this earthly sphere, on rapture's wings,   My spirit floats; and in the azure sea,   Above – beneath – no track of envious night   Disturbs the deep serene! I view these halls,   And picture to my thoughts the timid joy   Of my sweet bride, as through the palace gates,   In pride of queenly state, I lead her home.   She loved alone the loving one, the stranger,   And little deems that on her beauteous brow   Messina's prince shall 'twine the nuptial wreath.   How sweet, with unexpected pomp of greatness,   To glad the darling of my soul! too long   I brook this dull delay of crowning bliss!   Her beauty's self, that asks no borrowed charm,   Shall shine refulgent, like the diamond's blaze   That wins new lustre from the circling gold!Chorus (CAJETAN)   Long have I marked thee, prince, with curious eye,   Foreboding of some mystery deep enshrined   Within thy laboring breast. This day, impatient,   Thy lips have burst the seal; and unconstrained   Confess a lover's joy; – the gladdening chase,   The Olympian coursers, and the falcon's flight   Can charm no more: – soon as the sun declines   Beneath the ruddy west, thou hiest thee quick   To some sequestered path, of mortal eye   Unseen – not one of all our faithful train   Companion of thy solitary way.   Say, why so long concealed the blissful flame?   Stranger to fear – ill-brooked thy princely heart   One thought unuttered.DON MANUEL               Ever on the wing   Is mortal joy; – with silence best we guard   The fickle good; – but now, so near the goal   Of all my cherished hopes, I dare to speak.   To-morrow's sun shall see her mine! no power   Of hell can make us twain! With timid stealth   No longer will I creep at dusky eve,   To taste the golden fruits of Cupid's tree,   And snatch a fearful, fleeting bliss: to-day   With bright to-morrow shall be one! So smooth   As runs the limpid brook, or silvery sand   That marks the flight of time, our lives shall flow   In continuity of joy!Chorus (CAJETAN)               Already   Our hearts, my prince, with silent vows have blessed   Thy happy love; and now from every tongue,   For her – the royal, beauteous bride – should sound   The glad acclaim; so tell what nook unseen,   What deep umbrageous solitude, enshrines   The charmer of thy heart? With magic spells   Almost I deem she mocks our gaze, for oft   In eager chase we scour each rustic path   And forest dell; yet not a trace betrayed   The lover's haunts, ne'er were the footsteps marked   Of this mysterious fair.DON MANUEL                The spell is broke!   And all shall be revealed: now list my tale: —   'Tis five months flown, – my father yet controlled   The land, and bowed our necks with iron sway;   Little I knew but the wild joys of arms,   And mimic warfare of the chase; —                     One day, —   Long had we tracked the boar with zealous toil   On yonder woody ridge: – it chanced, pursuing   A snow-white hind, far from your train I roved   Amid the forest maze; – the timid beast,   Along the windings of the narrow vale,   Through rocky cleft and thick-entangled brake,   Flew onward, scarce a moment lost, nor distant   Beyond a javelin's throw; nearer I came not,   Nor took an aim; when through a garden's gate,   Sudden she vanished: – from my horse quick springing,   I followed: – lo! the poor scared creature lay   Stretched at the feet of a young, beauteous nun,   That strove with fond caress of her fair hands   To still its throbbing heart: wondering, I gazed;   And motionless – my spear, in act to strike,   High poised – while she, with her large piteous eyes   For mercy sued – and thus we stood in silence   Regarding one another.               How long the pause   I know not – time itself forgot; – it seemed   Eternity of bliss: her glance of sweetness   Flew to my soul; and quick the subtle flame   Pervaded all my heart: —                But what I spoke,   And how this blessed creature answered, none   May ask; it floats upon my thought, a dream   Of childhood's happy dawn! Soon as my sense   Returned, I felt her bosom throb responsive   To mine, – then fell melodious on my ear   The sound, as of a convent bell, that called   To vesper song; and, like some shadowy vision   That melts in air, she flitted from my sight,   And was beheld no more.Chorus (CAJETAN)                Thy story thrills   My breast with pious awe! Prince, thou hast robbed   The sanctuary, and for the bride of heaven   Burned with unholy passion! Oh, remember   The cloister's sacred vows!DON MANUEL                  Thenceforth one path   My footsteps wooed; the fickle train was still   Of young desires – new felt my being's aim,   My soul revealed! and as the pilgrim turns   His wistful gaze, where, from the orient sky,   With gracious lustre beams Redemption's star; —   So to that brightest point of heaven, her presence,   My hopes and longings centred all. No sun   Sank in the western waves, but smiled farewell   To two united lovers: – thus in stillness   Our hearts were twined, – the all-seeing air above us   Alone the faithful witness of our joys!   Oh, golden hours! Oh, happy days! nor Heaven   Indignant viewed our bliss; – no vows enchained   Her spotless soul; naught but the link which bound it   Eternally to mine!Chorus (CAJETAN)             Those hallowed walls,   Perchance the calm retreat of tender youth,   No living grave?DON MANUEL            In infant innocence   Consigned a holy pledge, ne'er has she left   Her cloistered home.Chorus (CAJETAN)              But what her royal line?   The noble only spring from noble stem.DON MANUEL   A secret to herself, – she ne'er has learned   Her name or fatherland.Chorus (CAJETAN)                And not a trace   Guides to her being's undiscovered springs?DON MANUEL   An old domestic, the sole messenger   Sent by her unknown mother, oft bespeaks her   Of kingly race.Chorus (CAJETAN)            And hast thou won naught else   From her garrulous age?DON MANUEL                Too much I feared to peril   My secret bliss!Chorus (CAJETAN)            What were his words? What tidings   He bore – perchance thou know'st.DON MANUEL                    Oft he has cheered her   With promise of a happier time, when all   Shall be revealed.Chorus (CAJETAN)             Oh, say – betokens aught   The time is near?DON MANUEL             Not distant far the day   That to the arms of kindred love once more   Shall give the long forsaken, orphaned maid —   Thus with mysterious words the aged man   Has shadowed oft what most I dread – for awe   Of change disturbs the soul supremely blest:   Nay, more; but yesterday his message spoke   The end of all my joys – this very dawn,   He told, should smile auspicious on her fate,   And light to other scenes – no precious hour   Delayed my quick resolves – by night I bore her   In secret to Messina.Chorus (CAJETAN)               Rash the deed   Of sacrilegious spoil! forgive, my prince,   The bold rebuke; thus to unthinking youth   Old age may speak in friendship's warning voice.DON MANUEL   Hard by the convent of the Carmelites,   In a sequestered garden's tranquil bound,   And safe from curious eyes, I left her, – hastening   To meet my brother: trembling there she counts   The slow-paced hours, nor deems how soon triumphant   In queenly state, high on the throne of fame,   Messina shall behold my timid bride.   For next, encompassed by your knightly train,   With pomp of greatness in the festal show,   Her lover's form shall meet her wondering gaze!   Thus will I lead her to my mother; thus —   While countless thousands on her passage wait   Amid the loud acclaim – the royal bride   Shall reach my palace gates!Chorus (CAJETAN)                  Command us, prince,   We live but to obey!DON MANUEL              I tore myself   Reluctant from her arms; my every thought   Shall still be hers: so come along, my friends,   To where the turbaned merchant spreads his store   Of fabrics golden wrought with curious art;   And all the gathered wealth of eastern climes.   First choose the well-formed sandals – meet to guard   And grace her delicate feet; then for her robe   The tissue, pure as Etna's snow that lies   Nearest the sun-light as the wreathy mist   At summer dawn – so playful let it float   About her airy limbs. A girdle next,   Purple with gold embroidered o'er, to bind   With witching grace the tunic that confines   Her bosom's swelling charms: of silk the mantle,   Gorgeous with like empurpled hues, and fixed   With clasp of gold – remember, too, the bracelets   To gird her beauteous arms; nor leave the treasure   Of ocean's pearly deeps and coral caves.   About her locks entwine a diadem   Of purest gems – the ruby's fiery glow   Commingling with the emerald's green. A veil,   From her tiara pendent to her feet,   Like a bright fleecy cloud shall circle round   Her slender form; and let a myrtle wreath   Crown the enchanting whole!Chorus (CAJETAN)                  We haste, my prince.   Amid the Bazar's glittering rows, to cull   Each rich adornment.DON MANUEL              From my stables lead   A palfrey, milk-white as the steeds that draw   The chariot of the sun; purple the housings,   The bridle sparkling o'er with precious gems,   For it shall bear my queen! Yourselves be ready   With trumpet's cheerful clang, in martial train   To lead your mistress home: let two attend me,   The rest await my quick return; and each   Guard well my secret purpose.

[He goes away accompanied by two of the CHORUS.