Silence I have not heart to keep, and see Scorn and derision gird thee round with shame, Not knowing what all thy serfs who mock at thee Know, and make mirth and havoc of thy name.
Does this not move thee?
GUENDOLEN.
How should aught move me Fallen from such tongues as falsehood finds the same -Such tongues as fraud or treasonous hate o'erscurfs With leprous lust--a prince's or a serf's?
CAMBER.
That lust of the evil-speaking tongue which gives Quick breath to deadly lies, and stings to life The rottenness of falsehood, when it lives, Falls dumb, and leaves the lie to bring forth strife.
The liar will say no more--his heart misgives His knaveship--should he sunder man and wife?
Such, sister, in thy sight, it seems, am I.
Yet shalt thou take, to keep or cast it by, The truth of shame I would not have thee hear, -Not might I choose,--but choose I may not.
GUENDOLEN.
Shame And truth? Shame never toward thine heart came near, And all thy life hath hung about thy name.
Nor ever truth drew nigh the lips that fear Whitens, and makes the blood that feeds them tame.
Speak all thou wilt--but even for shame, forsooth, Talk not of shame--and tell me not of truth.
CAMBER.
Then shalt thou hear a lie.Thy loving lord Loves none save thee; his heart's pulse beats in thine;No fairer woman, captive of his sword, Caught ever captive and subdued Locrine:
The god of lies bear witness.At the ford Of Humber blood was never shed like wine:
Our brother Albanact lived, fought, and died, Never: and I that swear it have not lied.
GUENDOLEN.
Fairer?
CAMBER.
They say it: but what are lies to thee?
GUENDOLEN.
Art thou nor man nor woman?
CAMBER.
Nay--I trust -
Man.
GUENDOLEN.
And hast heart to make thy spoil of me?
CAMBER.
Would God I might!
GUENDOLEN.
Thou art made of lies and lust -
Earth's worst is all too good for such to see, And yet thine eyes turn heavenward--as they must, Being man's--if man be such as thou--and soil The light they see.Thou hast made of me thy spoil, Thy scorn, thy profit--yea, my whole soul's plunder Is all thy trophy, thy triumphal prize And harvest reaped of thee; nay, trampled under And rooted up and scattered.Yet the skies That see thy trophies reared are full of thunder, And heaven's high justice loves not lust and lies.
CAMBER.
Ill then should fare thy lord--if heaven be just, And lies be lies, and lawless love be lust.
GUENDOLEN.
Thou liest.I know my lord and thee.Thou liest.
CAMBER.
If he be true and truth be false, I lie.
GUENDOLEN.
Thou art lowest of all men born--while he sits highest.
CAMBER.
Ay--while he sits.How long shall he sit high?
GUENDOLEN.
If I but whisper him of thee, thou diest.
CAMBER.
I fear not, if till then secure am I.
GUENDOLEN.
Secure as fools are hardy live thou still.
CAMBER.
While ill with good is guerdoned, good with ill.
GUENDOLEN.
I have it in my mind to take thine head.
Dost thou not fear to put me thus in fear?
CAMBER.
I fear nor man nor woman, quick nor dead:
And dead in spirit already stand'st thou here.
GUENDOLEN.
Thou darest not swear my lord hath wronged my bed.
Thou darest but smile and mutter, lie and leer.
CAMBER.
I swear no queen bore ever crown on brow Who meeklier bore a heavier wrong than thou.
GUENDOLEN.
From thee will I bear nothing.Get thee hence:
Thine eyes defile me.Get thee from my sight.
CAMBER.
The gods defend thee, soul and spirit and sense, From sense of things thou darest not read aright!
Farewell.[Exit.
GUENDOLEN.
Fare thou not well, and be defence Far from thy soul cast naked forth by night!
Hate rose from hell a liar: love came divine From heaven: yet she that bore thee bore Locrine.
[Exit.
ACT III.
SCENE I.--Troynovant.A Room in the Palace.
Enter LOCRINE and DEBON.
LOCRINE.
Thou knowest not what she knows or dreams of? why Her face is dark and wan, her lip and eye Restless and red as fever? Hast thou kept Faith?
DEBON.
Has my master found my faith a lie Once all these years through? have I strayed or slept Once, when he bade me watch? what proof has leapt At last to light against me?
LOCRINE.
Surely, none.
Weep not.
DEBON.
My lord's grey vassal hath not wept Once, even since darkness covered from the sun The woman's face--the sole sweet wifelike one -Whose memory holds his heart yet fast: but now Tears, were old age not poor in tears, might run Free as the words that bid his stricken brow Burn and bow down to hear them.
LOCRINE.
Hast not thou Held counsel--played the talebearer whose tales Bear plague abroad and poison, knowing not how -Not with my wife nor brother?
DEBON.
Nought avails Falsehood: and truth it is, the king of Wales So plied me, sir, with force of craft and threat -LOCRINE.
That thou, whose faith swerves never, flags nor fails Nor falters, being as stars are loyal, yet Wast found as those that fall from heaven, forget Their station, shoot and shudder down to death Deep as the pit of hell? What snares were set To take thy soul--what mist of treasonous breath Made blind in thee the sense that quickeneth In true men's inward eyesight, when they know And know not how they know the word it saith, The warning word that whispers loud or low -I ask not: be it enough these things are so.
Thou hast played me false.
DEBON.
Nay, now this long time since We have seen the queen's face wan with wrath and woe -Have seen her lip writhe and her eyelid wince To take men's homage--proof that might convince Of grief inexpiable and insatiate shame Her spirit in all men's judgment.
LOCRINE.
But the prince -
My brother, whom thou knowest by proof, not fame, A coward whose heart is all a flickering flame That fain would burn and dares not--whence had he The poison that he gave her? Speak: this came By chance--mishap--most haplessly for thee Who hadst my heart in thine, and madest of me No more than might for folly's sake or fear's Be bared for even such eyes as his to see?
Old friend that wast, I would not see thy tears.
God comfort thy dishonour!
DEBON.
All these years Have I not served thee?
LOCRINE.
Yea.So cheer thee now.
DEBON.
Cheered be the traitor, whom the true man cheers?
