John Dryden - Delphi Poets Series

by John Dryden

  On me, and all the Abencerrages light,

  If, unprovoked, I with your son did fight.

  Abdelm. A band of Zegrys ran within the place,

  Matched with a troop of thirty of our race.

  Your son and Ozmyn the first squadrons led,

  Which, ten by ten, like Parthians, charged and fled.

  The ground was strowed with canes where we did meet,

  Which crackled underneath our coursers’ feet:

  When Tarifa (I saw him ride a part)

  Changed his blunt cane for a steel-pointed dart,

  And, meeting Ozmyn next, —

  Who wanted time for treason to provide, —

  He basely threw it at him, undefied.

  Ozm. [Shewing his arms.] Witness this blood — which when by treason sought,

  That followed, sir, which to myself I ought.

  Zul. His hate to thee was grounded on a grudge,

  Which all our generous Zegrys just did judge:

  Thy villain-blood thou openly didst place

  Above the purple of our kingly race.

  Boab. From equal stems their blood both houses draw,

  They from Morocco, you from Cordova.

  Ham. Their mongrel race is mixed with Christian breed;

  Hence ’tis that they those dogs in prisons feed.

  Abdelm. Our holy prophet wills, that charity

  Should even to birds and beasts extended be:

  None knows what fate is for himself designed;

  The thought of human chance should make us kind.

  Gom. We waste that time we to revenge should give:

  Fall on: let no Abencerrago live. [Advancing before the rest of his party. Almanzor advancing on the other side, and describing a line with his sword.

  Almanz. Upon thy life pass not this middle space;

  Sure death stands guarding the forbidden place.

  Gom. To dare that death, I will approach yet nigher;

  Thus, — wert thou compassed in with circling fire. [They fight.

  Boab. Disarm them both; if they resist you, kill. [Almanzor, in the midst of the guards, kills Gomel, and then is disarmed.

  Almanz. Now you have but the leavings of my will.

  Boab. Kill him! this insolent unknown shall fall,

  And be the victim to atone you all.

  Ozm. If he must die, not one of us will live:

  That life he gave for us, for him we give.

  Boab. It was a traitor’s voice that spoke those words;

  So are you all, who do not sheath your swords.

  Zul. Outrage unpunished, when a prince is by,

  Forfeits to scorn the rights of majesty:

  No subject his protection can expect,

  Who what he owes himself does first neglect.

  Aben. This stranger, sir, is he,

  Who lately in the Vivarambla place

  Did, with so loud applause, your triumphs grace.

  Boab. The word which I have given, I’ll not revoke;

  If he be brave, he’s ready for the stroke.

  Almanz. No man has more contempt than I of breath,

  But whence hast thou the right to give me death?

  Obeyed as sovereign by thy subjects be,

  But know, that I alone am king of me.

  I am as free as nature first made man,

  Ere the base laws of servitude began,

  When wild in woods the noble savage ran.

  Boab. Since, then, no power above your own you know,

  Mankind should use you like a common foe;

  You should be hunted like a beast of prey:

  By your own law I take your life away.

  Almanz. My laws are made but only for my sake;

  No king against himself a law can make.

  If thou pretend’st to be a prince like me,

  Blame not an act, which should thy pattern be.

  I saw the oppressed, and thought it did belong

  To a king’s office to redress the wrong:

  I brought that succour, which thou ought’st to bring,

  And so, in nature, am thy subjects’ king.

  Boab. I do not want your counsel to direct

  Or aid to help me punish or protect.

  Almanz. Thou want’st them both, or better thou would’st know,

  Than to let factions in thy kingdom grow.

  Divided interests, while thou think’st to sway,

  Draw, like two brooks, thy middle stream away:

  For though they band and jar, yet both combine

  To make their greatness by the fall of thine.

  Thus, like a buckler, thou art held in sight,

  While they behind thee with each other fight.

  Boab. Away, and execute him instantly! [To his Guards.

  Almanz. Stand off; I have not leisure yet to die.

  To them, enter Abdalla hastily.

  Abdal. Hold, sir! for heaven’s sake hold!

  Defer this noble stranger’s punishment,

  Or your rash orders you will soon repent.

  Boab. Brother, you know not yet his insolence.

  Abdal. Upon yourself you punish his offence:

  If we treat gallant strangers in this sort,

  Mankind will shun the inhospitable court;

  And who, henceforth, to our defence will come,

  If death must be the brave Almanzor’s doom?

  From Africa I drew him to your aid,

  And for his succour have his life betrayed.

  Boab. Is this the Almanzor whom at Fez you knew,

  When first their swords the Xeriff brothers drew?

  Abdal. This, sir, is he, who for the elder fought,

  And to the juster cause the conquest brought;

  Till the proud Santo, seated on the throne,

  Disdained the service he had done to own:

  Then to the vanquished part his fate he led;

  The vanquished triumphed, and the victor fled.

  Vast is his courage, boundless is his mind,

  Rough as a storm, and humorous as wind:

  Honour’s the only idol of his eyes;

  The charms of beauty like a pest he flies;

  And, raised by valour from a birth unknown,

  Acknowledges no power above his own. [Boabdelin coming to Almanzor.

  Boab. Impute your danger to our ignorance;

  The bravest men are subject most to chance:

  Granada much does to your kindness owe;

  But towns, expecting sieges, cannot show

  More honour, than to invite you to a foe.

  Almanz. I do not doubt but I have been to blame:

  But, to pursue the end for which I came,

  Unite your subjects first; then let us go,

  And pour their common rage upon the foe.

  Boab. [to the Factions.] Lay down your arms, and let me beg you cease

  Your enmities.

  Zul. We will not hear of peace,

  Till we by force have first revenged our slain.

  Abdelm. The action we have done we will maintain.

  Selin. Then let the king depart, and we will try

  Our cause by arms.

  Zul. For us and victory.

  Boab. A king entreats you.

  Almanz. What subjects will precarious kings regard?

  A beggar speaks too softly to be heard:

  Lay down your arms! ’tis I command you now.

  Do it — or, by our prophet’s soul I vow,

  My hands shall right your king on him I seize.

  Now let me see whose look but disobeys.

  All. Long live king Mahomet Boabdelin!

  Almanz. No more; but hushed as midnight silence go:

  He will not have your acclamations now.

  Hence, you unthinking crowd! — [The Common People go off on both parties.

  Empire, thou poor and despicable thing,

  When such as these make or unmake a king!

  Abdal. How much of
virtue lies in one great soul, [Embracing him.

  Whose single force can multitudes controul! [A trumpet within.

  Enter a Messenger.

  Messen. The Duke of Arcos, sir,

  Does with a trumpet from the foe appear.

  Boab. Attend him; he shall have his audience here.

  Enter the Duke of Arcos.

  D. Arcos. The monarchs of Castile and Arragon

  Have sent me to you, to demand this town.

  To which their just and rightful claim is known.

  Boab. Tell Ferdinand, my right to it appears

  By long possession of eight hundred years:

  When first my ancestors from Afric sailed,

  In Rodrique’s death your Gothic title failed.

  D. Arcos. The successors of Rodrique still remain,

  And ever since have held some part of Spain:

  Even in the midst of your victorious powers,

  The Asturias, and all Portugal, were ours.

  You have no right, except you force allow;

  And if yours then was just, so ours is now.

  Boab. ’Tis true from force the noblest title springs;

  I therefore hold from that, which first made kings.

  D. Arcos. Since then by force you prove your title true,

  Ours must be just, because we claim from you.

  When with your father you did jointly reign,

  Invading with your Moors the south of Spain,

  I, who that day the Christians did command,

  Then took, and brought you bound to Ferdinand.

  Boab. I’ll hear no more; defer what you would say;

  In private we’ll discourse some other day.

  D. Arcos. Sir, you shall hear, however you are loth,

  That, like a perjured prince, you broke your oath:

  To gain your freedom you a contract signed,

  By which your crown you to my king resigned,

  From thenceforth as his vassal holding it,

  And paying tribute such as he thought fit;

  Contracting, when your father came to die,

  To lay aside all marks of royalty,

  And at Purchena privately to live,

  Which, in exchange, king Ferdinand did give.

  Boab. The force used on me made that contract void.

  D. Arcos. Why have you then its benefits enjoyed?

  By it you had not only freedom then,

  But, since, had aid of money and of men;

  And, when Granada for your uncle held,

  You were by us restored, and he expelled.

  Since that, in peace we let you reap your grain,

  Recalled our troops, that used to beat your plain;

  And more —

  Almanz. Yes, yes, you did, with wonderous care,

  Against his rebels prosecute the war,

  While he secure in your protection slept;

  For him you took, but for yourself you kept.

  Thus, as some fawning usurer does feed,

  With present sums, the unwary spendthrift’s need,

  You sold your kindness at a boundless rate,

  And then o’erpaid the debt from his estate;

  Which, mouldering piecemeal, in your hands did fall,

  Till now at last you come to swoop it all.

  D. Arcos. The wrong you do my king, I cannot bear;

  Whose kindness you would odiously compare. —

  The estate was his; which yet, since you deny,

  He’s now content, in his own wrong, to buy.

  Almanz. And he shall buy it dear! What his he calls,

  We will not give one stone from out these walls.

  Boab. Take this for answer, then, —

  Whate’er your arms have conquered of my land,

  I will, for peace, resign to Ferdinand. —

  To harder terms my mind I cannot bring;

  But, as I still have lived, will die a king.

  D. Arcos. Since thus you have resolved, henceforth prepare

  For all the last extremities of war:

  My king his hope from heaven’s assistance draws.

  Almanz. The Moors have heaven, and me, to assist their cause. [Exit Arcos.

  Enter Esperanza.

  Esper. Fair Almahide,

  (Who did with weeping eyes these discords see,

  And fears the omen may unlucky be,)

  Prepares a zambra to be danced this night.

  In hope soft pleasures may your minds unite.

  Boab. My mistress gently chides the fault I made:

  But tedious business has my love delayed, —

  Business which dares the joys of kings invade.

  Almanz. First let us sally out, and meet the foe.

  Abdal. Led on by you, we on to triumph go.

  Boab. Then with the day let war and tumult cease;

  The night be sacred to our love and peace:

  ’Tis just some joys on weary kings should wait;

  ’Tis all we gain by being slaves to state. [Exeunt.

  ACT II.

  SCENE I.

  Enter Abdalla, Abdelmelech, Ozmyn, Zulema, and Hamet, as returning from the sally.

  Abdal. This happy day does to Granada bring

  A lasting peace, and triumphs to the king! —

  The two fierce factions will no longer jar,

  Since they have now been brothers in the war.

  Those who, apart, in emulation fought,

  The common danger to one body brought;

  And, to his cost, the proud Castilian finds

  Our Moorish courage in united minds.

  Abdelm. Since to each others aid our lives we owe,

  Lose we the name of faction, and of foe;

  Which I to Zulema can bear no more,

  Since Lyndaraxa’s beauty I adore.

  Zul. I am obliged to Lyndaraxa’s charms,

  Which gain the conquest I should lose by arms;

  And wish my sister may continue fair,

  That I may keep a good,

  Of whose possession I should else despair.

  Ozm. While we indulge our common happiness,

  He is forgot, by whom we all possess;

  The brave Almanzor, to whose arms we owe

  All that we did, and all that we shall do;

  Who, like a tempest, that out-rides the wind,

  Made a just battle ere the bodies joined.

  Abdelm. His victories we scarce could keep in view,

  Or polish them so fast as he rough-drew.

  Abdal. Fate, after him, below with pain did move,

  And victory could scarce keep pace above:

  Death did at length so many slain forget,

  And lost the tale, and took them by the great.

  Enter Almanzor, with the Duke of Arcos, prisoner.

  Hamet. See, here he comes,

  And leads in triumph him, who did command

  The vanquished army of king Ferdinand.

  Almanz. [To the Duke.]

  Thus far your master’s arms a fortune find

  Below the swelled ambition of his mind;

  And Alha shuts a misbeliever’s reign

  From out the best and goodliest part of Spain.

  Let Ferdinand Calabrian conquests make,

  And from the French contested Milan take;

  Let him new worlds discover to the old,

  And break up shining mountains, big with gold;

  Yet he shall find this small domestic foe,

  Still sharp and pointed, to his bosom grow.

  D. Arcos. Of small advantages too much you boast;

  You beat the out-guards of my master’s host:

  This little loss, in our vast body, shows

  So small, that half have never heard the news.

  Fame’s out of breath, ere she can fly so far,

  To tell them all, that you have e’er made war.

  Almanz. It pleases me your army is so great;

  For now I know there’s more
to conquer yet.

  By heaven! I’ll see what troops you have behind:

  I’ll face this storm, that thickens in the wind;

  And, with bent forehead, full against it go,

  ‘Till I have found the last and utmost foe.

  D. Arcos. Believe, you shall not long attend in vain:

  To-morrow’s dawn shall cover all the plain;

  Bright arms shall flash upon you from afar,

  A wood of lances, and a moving war.

  But I, unhappy, in my bonds, must yet

  Be only pleased to hear of your defeat,

  And with a slave’s inglorious ease remain,

  ‘Till conquering Ferdinand has broke my chain.

  Almanz. Vain man, thy hopes of Ferdinand are weak!

  I hold thy chain too fast for him to break.

  But, since thou threaten’st us, I’ll set thee free,

  That I again may fight, and conquer thee.

  D. Arcos. Old as I am, I take thee at thy word,

  And will to-morrow thank thee with my sword.

  Almanz. I’ll go, and instantly acquaint the king,

  And sudden orders for thy freedom bring.

  Thou canst not be so pleased at liberty,

  As I shall be to find thou darest be free. [Exeunt Almanzor, Arcos, and the rest, excepting only Abdalla and Zulema.

  Abdal. Of all those Christians who infest this town,

  This duke of Arcos is of most renown.

  Zul. Oft have I heard, that, in your father’s reign,

  His bold adventurers beat the neighbouring plain;

  Then under Ponce Leon’s name he fought,

  And from our triumphs many prizes brought;

  Till in disgrace from Spain at length he went,

  And since continued long in banishment.

  Abdal. But, see, your beauteous sister does appear.

  Enter Lyndaraxa.

  Zul. By my desire she came to find me here. [Zulema and Lyndaraxa whisper; then Zul. goes out, and Lyndar. is going after.

  Abdal. Why, fairest Lyndaraxa, do you fly [Staying her.

  A prince, who at your feet is proud to die?

  Lyndar. Sir, I should blush to own so rude a thing, [Staying.

  As ’tis to shun the brother of my king.

  Abdal. In my hard fortune, I some ease should find,

  Did your disdain extend to all mankind.

  But give me leave to grieve, and to complain,

  That you give others what I beg in vain.

  Lyndar. Take my esteem, if you on that can live;

  For, frankly, sir, ’tis all I have to give:

  If from my heart you ask or hope for more,

  I grieve the place is taken up before.

  Abdal. My rival merits you. —

  To Abdelmelech I will justice do;

  For he wants worth, who dares not praise a foe.

  Lyndar. That for his virtue, sir, you make defence,