L'Aiglon
Page 11
The Duke.
And how I used to beat my German nurses.
The Emperor.
And how with Colin you would calmly dig
Enormous holes about my park—
The Duke.
For Crusoe.
The Emperor.
He was Man Friday.
The Duke.
And I used to hide.
I had a gun, three hatchets and a bow.
The Emperor.
Then you stood sentinel before my door.
The Duke.
As a hussar.
The Emperor.
And ladies, coming late,
Found this excuse quite natural:—"Oh, Sire,
We only stopped to kiss the sentinel!"
The Duke.
You loved me then.
The Emperor.
I love you now.
The Duke.
Then prove it!
The Emperor.
My Franz! my grandson!
The Duke.
Is it true the King
Would simply disappear if I appeared?
The Emperor.
Well—
The Duke.
Is it true?
The Emperor.
I—
The Duke.
Don't tell lies!
The Emperor.
Perhaps!
The Duke.
I love you!
The Emperor.
Yes; if you appeared alone,
Without a drum, upon the bridge at Strassburg,
The King would vanish.
The Duke.
I adore you, Grandad!
The Emperor.
I'm stifled!
The Duke.
No.
The Emperor.
I should have held my tongue.
The Duke.
Besides, the climate of Vienna's bad:
I'm ordered Paris—
The Emperor.
Really?
The Duke.
For my cough.
If I'm to spend a season there, of course
I can't stop anywhere but at the Louvre.
The Emperor.
Indeed!
The Duke.
And if you liked—
The Emperor.
They've often begged us
To wink at your escaping—
The Duke.
Wink at once!
The Emperor.
Oh, for all me—
The Duke.
There's no one else.
The Emperor.
I'll think.
The Duke.
Don't think! Don't think those horrid second thoughts!
Consult your feelings only, and your heart,
'Twould be so pretty if an Emperor once
Upset all history to spoil his grandson.
And then it's something, something rather fine,
If you can just remark quite innocently,
You know: "My Grandson, Emperor of the French."
The Emperor.
Certainly.
The Duke.
And you'll say it! Say you'll say it!
The Emperor.
Well—
The Duke.
Speak, Sire!
The Emperor.
Yes, then—Sire!
The Duke.
Ah, Sire!
[They salute each other as equals.]
The Emperor.
Sire!
The Duke.
Sire!
[A door opens.]
The Emperor.
Metternich. Have no fear; I'll—
The Duke.
All is lost!
[Enter Metternich.]
The Emperor.
It is my will this child shall reign.
Metternich.
Delightful.
I'll tell your partisans at once.
The Duke.
I feared.
The Emperor.
What should you fear? Am I not master here?
The Duke.
Whom will you send me as Ambassador?
Metternich.
Delightful.
The Duke.
And you'll visit me in state?
The Emperor.
Yes, very likely; when the chambers rise.
Metternich.
We'll only ask some trifling guarantees.
The Duke.
Ask what you like.
The Emperor.
Well? are you happy?
Metternich.
First
We'll come to terms on trivial points of detail:
Certain seditious groups should be dissolved:
Our neighbors must not harbor thunderbolts.
The Duke.
Dear grandfather!
Metternich.
Ah—then we're very weary
Of hearing of the Heroes of July.
The Duke.
But—
Metternich.
Now the imperialists and radicals
Are linked: we'll cut the link; we cannot favor
The dangerous modern spirit. We'll expel
Lammenais.
The Duke.
But—
Metternich.
And Chateaubriand. Ah—
We'll also put a muzzle on the press.
The Duke.
Oh, there's no hurry.
The Emperor.
Pardon me, there is.
The Duke.
Pardon me, that's attacking freedom.
The Emperor.
Freedom!
Metternich.
Ah—we must have free hand in Italy.
Ah—not so much excitement about Poland.
The Duke.
Ah? And what else?
Metternich.
Well, we shall have to solve
The question of the names. You know, the names
Of battles, Sire, which you—well—did not win:
The Marshals must not wear them.
The Duke.
What is that?
The Emperor.
Perhaps—
Metternich.
Forgive me; but they must not think
They're lords of Austrian places; and you cannot
Approve their way of carrying off to France
Our villages by means of upstart titles.
The Duke.
Grandfather! Grandfather!
The Emperor.
Well—it's evident—
The Duke.
Yet you and I were in each other's arms!
[To Metternich.]
And have you nothing further to demand?
Metternich.
Yes; the suppression of the Tricolor.
The Duke.
Your Excellency wishes me to wash
The banner based in blood and crowned with heaven—
For it was dipped in horrors that bear fruit,
And it was bathed in universal hopes!—
Your Excellency asks me to efface
That gleam of heaven and that stain of blood,
And, having nothing but a blank sheet left,
To make a shroud for Freedom out of that!
The Emperor.
Freedom again!
The Duke.
Upon my father's side
I am related closely, Sire, to Freedom.
Metternich.
Yes, the Duke's grandsire was the eighteenth Brumaire!
The Duke.
Yes, and the Revolution was my granddam!
The Emperor.
Silence!
Metternich.
The Emperor a republican!
Utopia!—Play the Marseillaise in A
On trumpets, while the sentimental flute
Sighs "God preserve the Empire" in E flat.
The Duke.
The two go very well together, sir,
And make a tune that frightens Kings away!
&nb
sp; The Emperor.
This to my face? How dare you, sir? How dare you?
The Duke.
Ah, now I know what is expected of me!
The Emperor.
What does it mean? What is the matter with him?
The Duke.
I am to be an Austrian Archduke
On a French throne!
The Emperor.
What has he read or seen?
The Duke.
I have seen egg-cups, handkerchiefs, and pipes!
The Emperor.
He's mad! The words he utters are a madman's!
The Duke.
Mad to have thought you'd help me to my own.
Metternich.
'Tis you alone obstruct your going home.
The Duke.
Yes, in a gig instead of on a gun!
The Emperor.
You shall not go at all!
The Duke.
A cage?
The Emperor.
We'll see!
The Duke.
For all your cages I am still the Eaglet!
The Emperor.
The eagle on my flag has many eaglets:
You're one of them: that's all.
The Duke.
Oh, gloomy eagle!
Sad, double-headed fowl, with heavy eye:
Eagle of Austria, cruel bird of night!
A glorious eagle of the dawn has passed
Athwart thine eyrie, and with ruffled feathers,
Raging and terror-stricken, thou beholdest
One of thine eaglets sprouting golden plumage!
The Emperor.
My heart was softening: I regret my tears.
These books and weapons shall be taken from you.
Dietrichstein!
Metternich.
He is not in the palace.
The Emperor.
Poor, morbid child, we will suppress whatever
Too much reminds you who your father was.
The Duke.
Then you must root up every violet,
Drive every single bee out of your park!
The Emperor.
Change all the servants!
Metternich.
I'll dismiss them all:
Otto, Fritz, Hermann, Albrecht—
The Duke.
Close the shutters,
Lest yonder star remind me of my father's.
The Emperor.
And as for Dietrichstein, I'll sign at once
New regulations—
[To Metternich.]
Write.
Metternich.
Where is the ink?
The Duke.
My inkstand's on the table; you may use it.
Metternich.
Where? I see nothing!
The Duke.
The Minerva's head,
In bronze and marble.
Metternich.
Still I cannot see it.
The Duke.
Then take the other, made of burnished gold,
On yonder console—
Metternich.
Where?
The Emperor.
What inkstands?
The Duke.
Sire,
Those which my father left me.
The Emperor.
What do you mean?
The Duke.
Yes! in his testament! And there, the pistols,
Four pistols of Versailles. Take them away.
The Emperor.
[Bringing his fist down on the table.]
What's this?
The Duke.
You must not hit the table, Sire!
Now you've knocked down the sword he wore as Consul!
The Emperor.
These things you speak of—
The Duke.
Are before my eyes!
"They are to be surrendered to my son
When he has reached sixteen." Despite the crime
Which holds them back, they're mine: I have their soul!
The soul of every cross, of every jewel,
And all is here: the three mahogany caskets,
And all the snuff-boxes, and all the spurs,
The golden garter-buckles and the gorgets,
I've all! The iron sword, the enamelled sword,
The sword in which a never-setting sun
Has left its fires imprisoned, so that none
May dare to draw it lest the sun leap forth;
I have the sword-belts also, all the six!
The Emperor.
Silence!
The Duke.
"To be surrendered to my son
When he has reached sixteen." Oh, Father, sleep.
For I have all; even your uniforms.
Oh, yes! To you my uniform looks white—
Well, it's not true—it's false—I am pretending!
Father, behold, it's blue and red, behold!
Colonel? Not so! Lieutenant in your Guard!
By the device your soldiers bore I know it,
Father, who gave me victories for sisters!
'Twas not in vain you wished me to possess
The alarm-clock of King Frederick of Prussia,
Which you magnificently stole from Potsdam,
For here it is! 'Tis ticking in my brain!
It is the clock which wakes me every morning,
Drives me exhausted by my midnight toil
Back to my narrow table, to my toil,
To be more fit by night-fall for the throne!
The Emperor.
The throne! the throne! Oh, never hope again
That you may reign in France, you—Upstart's son,
Because our nobler blood has made you look
Rather more kingly than your father was.
The Duke.
Forgive me, but at Dresden, you remember,
You all appeared like lackeys of my father.
The Emperor.
A common soldier!
The Duke.
He had but to ask
And Emperors gave their daughters to this soldier.
The Emperor.
Perhaps. I cannot say. Mine is a widow.
The Duke.
Pity I'm here as living evidence!
The Emperor.
Have you forgotten how we loved each other?
The Duke.
No! No! My birth is proof that you were beaten!
No! you can only hate me; for I am
Wagram personified before your eyes!
The Emperor.
Out of my sight! Begone!
[Exit the Duke.]
The child I loved!
Metternich.
Well, Sire, is he to have an empire?
The Emperor.
Never!
Metternich.
Do you perceive what I have saved you from?
The Emperor.
Ah! did you hear the monstrous things he said?
Metternich.
We must subdue him.