Robert Browning - Delphi Poets Series

by Robert Browning

  “While one, while mine...

  ”Bacchus! I think there lies

  “More than one corpse there” (and he paced the room)

  “ — Another cinder somewhere: ‘t was my doom

  “Beside, my doom! If Adelaide is dead,

  “I live the same, this Azzo lives instead

  “Of that to me, and we pull, any how,

  “Este into a heap: the matter ‘s now

  “At the true juncture slipping us so oft.

  “Ay, Heinrich died and Otho, please you, doffed

  “His crown at such a juncture! Still, if hold

  “Our Friedrich’s purpose, if this chain enfold

  “The neck of... who but this same Ecelin

  “That must recoil when the best days begin!

  “Recoil? that ‘s nought; if the recoiler leaves

  “His name for me to fight with, no one grieves:

  “But he must interfere, forsooth, unlock

  “His cloister to become my stumbling-block

  “Just as of old! Ay, ay, there ‘t is again —

  “The land’s inevitable Head — explain

  “The reverences that subject us! Count

  “These Ecelins now! Not to say as fount,

  “Originating power of thought, — from twelve

  “That drop i’ the trenches they joined hands to delve,

  “Six shall surpass him, but... why men must twine

  “Somehow with something! Ecelin ‘s a fine

  “Clear name! ‘Twere simpler, doubtless, twine with me

  “At once: our cloistered friend’s capacity

  “Was of a sort! I had to share myself

  “In fifty portions, like an o’ertasked elf

  “That ‘s forced illume in fifty points the vast

  “Rare vapour he ‘s environed by. At last

  “My strengths, though sorely frittered, e’en converge

  “And crown... no, Bacchus, they have yet to urge

  “The man be crowned!

  ”That aloe, an he durst,

  “Would climb! Just such a bloated sprawler first

  “I noted in Messina’s castle-court

  “The day I came, when Heinrich asked in sport

  “If I would pledge my faith to win him back

  “His right in Lombardy: ‘for, once bid pack

  “Marauders,’ he continued, `in my stead

  “‘You rule, Taurello!’ and upon this head

  `Laid the silk glove of Constance — I see her

  “Too, mantled head to foot in miniver,

  “Retrude following!

  “I am absolved

  “From further toil: the empery devolved

  “On me, ‘t was Tito’s word: I have to lay

  “For once my plan, pursue my plan my way,

  “Prompt nobody, and render an account

  “Taurello to Taurello! Nay, I mount

  “To Friedrich: he conceives the post I kept,

  “ — Who did true service, able or inept,

  “Who ‘s worthy guerdon, Ecelin or I.

  “Me guerdoned, counsel follows: would he vie

  “With the Pope really? Azzo, Boniface

  “Compose a right-arm Hohenstauffen’s race

  “Must break ere govern Lombardy. I point

  “How easy ‘t were to twist, once out of joint,

  “The socket from the bone: my Azzo’s stare

  “Meanwhile! for I, this idle strap to wear,

  “Shall — fret myself abundantly, what end

  “To serve? There ‘s left me twenty years to spend

  “ — How better than my old way? Had I one

  “Who laboured overthrow my work — a son

  “Hatching with Azzo superb treachery,

  “To root my pines up and then poison me,

  “Suppose — ’t were worth while frustrate that! Beside,

  “Another life’s ordained me: the world’s tide

  “Rolls, and what hope of parting from the press

  “Of waves, a single wave though weariness

  “Gently lifted aside, laid upon shore?

  “My life must be lived out in foam and roar,

  “No question. Fifty years the province held

  “Taurello; troubles raised, and troubles quelled,

  “He in the midst — who leaves this quaint stone place,

  “These trees a year or two, then not a trace

  “Of him! How obtain hold, fetter men’s tongues

  “Like this poor minstrel with the foolish songs —

  “To which, despite our bustle, he is linked?

  “ — Flowers one may teaze, that never grow extinct.

  “Ay, that patch, surely, green as ever, where

  “I set Her Moorish lentisk, by the stair,

  “To overawe the aloes; and we trod

  “Those flowers, how call you such? — into the sod;

  “A stately foreigner — a world of pain

  “To make it thrive, arrest rough winds — all vain!

  “It would decline; these would not be destroyed:

  “And now, where is it? where can you avoid

  “The flowers? I frighten children twenty years

  “Longer! — which way, too, Ecelin appears

  “To thwart me, for his son’s besotted youth

  “Gives promise of the proper tiger — tooth:

  “They feel it at Vicenza! Fate, fate, fate,

  “My fine Taurello! Go you, promulgate

  “Friedrich’s decree, and here ‘s shall aggrandise

  “Young Ecelin — your Prefect’s badge! a prize

  “Too precious, certainly.

  ”How now? Compete

  “With my old comrade? shuffle from their seat

  “His children? Paltry dealing! Do n’t I know

  “Ecelin? now, I think, and years ago!

  “What ‘s changed — the weakness? did not I compound

  “For that, and undertake to keep him sound

  “Despite it? Here ‘s Taurello hankering

  “After a boy’s preferment — this plaything

  “To carry, Bacchus!” And he laughed.

  Remark

  Why schemes wherein cold-blooded men embark

  Prosper, when your enthusiastic sort

  Fail: while these last are ever stopping short —

  (So much they should — so little they can do!)

  The careless tribe see nothing to pursue

  If they desist; meantime their scheme succeeds.

  Thoughts were caprices in the course of deeds

  Methodic with Taurello; so, he turned, —

  Enough amused by fancies fairly earned

  Of Este’s horror-struck submitted neck,

  And Richard, the cowed braggart, at his beck, —

  To his own petty but immediate doubt

  If he could pacify the League without

  Conceding Richard; just to this was brought

  That interval of vain discursive thought!

  As, shall I say, some Ethiop, past pursuit

  Of all enslavers, dips a shackled foot

  Burnt to the blood, into the drowsy black

  Enormous watercourse which guides him back

  To his own tribe again, where he is king;

  And laughs because he guesses, numbering

  The yellower poison-wattles on the pouch

  Of the first lizard wrested from its couch

  Under the slime (whose skin, the while, he strips

  To cure his nostril with, and festered lips,

  And eyeballs bloodshot through the desert-blast)

  That he has reached its boundary, at last

  May breathe; — thinks o’er enchantments of the South

  Sovereign to plague his enemies, their mouth,

  Eyes, nails, and hair; but, these enchantments tried

  In fancy, puts them soberly aside

  For truth, projects a cool retur
n with friends,

  The likelihood of winning mere amends

  Ere long; thinks that, takes comfort silently,

  Then, from the river’s brink, his wrongs and he,

  Hugging revenge close to their hearts, are soon

  Off-striding for the Mountains of the Moon.

  Midnight: the watcher nodded on his spear,

  Since clouds dispersing left a passage clear

  For any meagre and discoloured moon

  To venture forth; and such was peering soon

  Above the harassed city — her close lanes

  Closer, not half so tapering her fanes,

  As though she shrunk into herself to keep

  What little life was saved, more safely. Heap

  By heap the watch-fires mouldered, and beside

  The blackest spoke Sordello and replied

  Palma with none to listen. “‘T is your cause:

  “What makes a Ghibellin? There should be laws —

  “(Remember how my youth escaped! I trust

  “To you for manhood, Palma! tell me just

  “As any child) — there must be laws at work

  “Explaining this. Assure me, good may lurk

  “Under the bad, — my multitude has part

  “In your designs, their welfare is at heart

  “With Salinguerra, to their interest

  “Refer the deeds he dwelt on, — so divest

  “Our conference of much that scared me. Why

  “Affect that heartless tone to Tito? I

  “Esteemed myself, yes, in my inmost mind

  “This morn, a recreant to my race — mankind

  “O’erlooked till now: why boast my spirit’s force,

  “ — Such force denied its object? why divorce

  “These, then admire my spirit’s flight the same

  “As though it bore up, helped some half-orbed flame

  “Else quenched in the dead void, to living space?

  “That orb cast off to chaos and disgrace,

  “Why vaunt so much my unencumbered dance,

  “Making a feat’s facilities enhance

  “Its marvel? But I front Taurello, one

  “Of happier fate, and all I should have done,

  “He does; the people’s good being paramount

  “With him, their progress may perhaps account

  “For his abiding still; whereas you heard

  “The talk with Tito — the excuse preferred

  “For burning those five hostages, — and broached

  “By way of blind, as you and I approached,

  “I do believe.”

  She spoke: then he, “My thought

  “Plainlier expressed! All to your profit — nought

  “Meantime of these, of conquests to achieve

  “For them, of wretchedness he might relieve

  “While profiting your party. Azzo, too,

  “Supports a cause: what cause? Do Guelfs pursue

  “Their ends by means like yours, or better?”

  When

  The Guelfs were proved alike, men weighed with men,

  And deed with deed, blaze, blood, with blood and blaze,

  Morn broke: “Once more, Sordello, meet its gaze

  “Proudly — the people’s charge against thee fails

  “In every point, while either party quails!

  “These are the busy ones: be silent thou!

  “Two parties take the world up, and allow

  “No third, yet have one principle, subsist

  “By the same injustice; whoso shall enlist

  “With either, ranks with man’s inveterate foes.

  “So there is one less quarrel to compose:

  “The Guelf, the Ghibellin may be to curse —

  “I have done nothing, but both sides do worse

  “Than nothing. Nay, to me, forgotten, reft

  “Of insight, lapped by trees and flowers, was left

  “The notion of a service — ha? What lured

  “Me here, what mighty aim was I assured

  “Must move Taurello? What if there remained

  “A cause, intact, distinct from these, ordained

  “For me, its true discoverer?”

  Some one pressed

  Before them here, a watcher, to suggest

  The subject for a ballad: “They must know

  “The tale of the dead worthy, long ago

  “Consul of Rome — that ‘s long ago for us,

  “Minstrels and bowmen, idly squabbling thus

  `In the world’s corner — but too late no doubt,

  “For the brave time he sought to bring about.

  “ — Not know Crescentius Nomentanus?” Then

  He cast about for terms to tell him, when

  Sordello disavowed it, how they used

  Whenever their Superior introduced

  A novice to the Brotherhood — (“for I

  “Was just a brown-sleeve brother, merrily

  “Appointed too,” quoth he, “till Innocent

  “Bade me relinquish, to my small content,

  “My wife or my brown sleeves”) — some brother spoke

  Ere nocturns of Crescentius, to revoke

  The edict issued, after his demise,

  Which blotted fame alike and effigies,

  All out except a floating power, a name

  Including, tending to produce the same

  Great act. Rome, dead, forgotten, lived at least

  Within that brain, though to a vulgar priest

  And a vile stranger, — two not worth a slave

  Of Rome’s, Pope John, King Otho, — fortune gave

  The rule there: so, Crescentius, haply dressed

  In white, called Roman Consul for a jest,

  Taking the people at their word, forth stepped

  As upon Brutus’ heel, nor ever kept

  Rome waiting, — stood erect, and from his brain

  Gave Rome out on its ancient place again,

  Ay, bade proceed with Brutus’ Rome, Kings styled

  Themselves mere citizens of, and, beguiled

  Into great thoughts thereby, would choose the gem

  Out of a lapfull, spoil their diadem

  — The Senate’s cypher was so hard to scratch

  He flashes like a phanal, all men catch

  The flame, Rome ‘s just accomplished! when returned

  Otho, with John, the Consul’s step had spurned,

  And Hugo Lord of Este, to redress

  The wrongs of each. Crescentius in the stress

  Of adverse fortune bent. “They crucified

  “Their Consul in the Forum; and abide

  “E’er since such slaves at Rome, that I — (for I

  “Was once a brown-sleeve brother, merrily

  “Appointed) — I had option to keep wife

  “Or keep brown sleeves, and managed in the strife

  “Lose both. A song of Rome!”

  And Rome, indeed,

  Robed at Goito in fantastic weed,

  The Mother-City of his Mantuan days,

  Looked an established point of light whence rays

  Traversed the world; for, all the clustered homes

  Beside of men, seemed bent on being Romes

  In their degree; the question was, how each

  Should most resemble Rome, clean out of reach.

  Nor, of the Two, did either principle

  Struggle to change, but to possess Rome, — still

  Guelf Rome or Ghibellin Rome.

  Let Rome advance!

  Rome, as she struck Sordello’s ignorance —

  How could he doubt one moment? Rome ‘s the Cause!

  Rome of the Pandects, all the world’s new laws —

  Of the Capitol, of Castle Angelo;

  New structures, that inordinately glow,

  Subdued, brought back to harmony, made ripe

  By many a relic of the archetype

  Extan
t for wonder; every upstart church

  That hoped to leave old temples in the lurch,

  Corrected by the Theatre forlorn

  That, — as a mundane shell, its world late born, —

  Lay and o’ershadowed it. These hints combined,

  Rome typifies the scheme to put mankind

  Once more in full possession of their rights.

  “Let us have Rome again! On me it lights

  “To build up Rome — on me, the first and last:

  “For such a future was endured the past!”

  And thus, in the grey twilight, forth he sprung

  To give his thought consistency among

  The very People — let their facts avail

  Finish the dream grown from the archer’s tale.

  SORDELLO BOOK THE FIFTH.

  Is it the same Sordello in the dusk

  As at the dawn? — merely a perished husk

  Now, that arose a power fit to build

  Up Rome again? The proud conception chilled

  So soon? Ay, watch that latest dream of thine

  — A Rome indebted to no Palatine —

  Drop arch by arch, Sordello! Art possessed

  Of thy wish now, rewarded for thy quest

  To-day among Ferrara’s squalid sons?

  Are this and this and this the shining ones

  Meet for the Shining City? Sooth to say,

  Your favoured tenantry pursue their way

  After a fashion! This companion slips

  On the smooth causey, t’ other blinkard trips

  At his mooned sandal. “Leave to lead the brawls

  “Here i’ the atria?” No, friend! He that sprawls

  On aught but a stibadium... what his dues

  Who puts the lustral vase to such an use?

  Oh, huddle up the day’s disasters! March,

  Ye runagates, and drop thou, arch by arch,

  Rome!

  Yet before they quite disband — a whim —

  Study mere shelter, now, for him, and him,

  Nay, even the worst, — just house them! Any cave

  Suffices: throw out earth! A loophole? Brave!

  They ask to feel the sun shine, see the grass

  Grow, hear the larks sing? Dead art thou, alas,

  And I am dead! But here’s our son excels

  At hurdle-weaving any Scythian, fells

  Oak and devises rafters, dreams and shapes

  His dream into a door-post, just escapes

  The mystery of hinges. Lie we both

  Perdue another age. The goodly growth

  Of brick and stone! Our building-pelt was rough,

  But that descendant’s garb suits well enough

  A portico-contriver. Speed the years —

  What ‘s time to us? At last, a city rears

  Itself! nay, enter — what’s the grave to us?

  Lo, our forlorn acquaintance carry thus