Friedrich Schiller

“ KING. You will do so; you never will forget For what you are the noble Waywode's debtor; Who, for your wishes, perils his sure wealth, And, for your hopes, a child his heart adores, A friend so rare is to be rarely prized! Then when your hopes are crowned forget not ever The steps by which you mounted to the throne, Nor with your garments let your heart be changed! Think, that in Poland first you knew yourself, That this land gave you birth a second time. DEMETRIUS. I have been nurtured in adversity; And learned to reverence the beauteous bond Which links mankind with sympathies of love. ”

“ My liege, Art thou so weak? Ye know not—will not know, Ye are the puppets of the wily Waywode Of Sendomir, who reared this spurious Czar, Whose measureless ambition, while we speak, Clutches in thought the spoils of Moscow's wealth. Is't left for me to tell you that even now The league is made and sworn betwixt the twain,— The pledge the Waywode's youngest daughter's hand? And shall our great republic blindly rush Into the perils of an unjust war, To aggrandize the Waywode, and to crown His daughter as the empress of the Czar? There's not a man he has not bribed and bought. ”

“ MARINA. No man is grateful. Once his throne is sure, He'll not be slow to cast our bonds aside. The Russian hates the Pole—must hate him ever; No bond of amity can link their hearts. Enter OPALINSKY, BIELSKY, and several Polish noblemen. OPALINSKY. Fair patron, get us gold, and we march with you, This lengthened Diet has consumed our all. Let us have gold, we'll make thee Russia's queen. MARINA. The Bishop of Kaminieck and Culm Lends money on the pawn of land and serfs. Sell, barter, pledge the hamlets of your boors, Turn all to silver, horses, means of war! War is the best of chapmen. ”

“ Please it but you, my liege, the angry stream That raved against your sovereignty may turn Its wrath on Moscow, leaving you unscathed. KING. The best of weapons Russia's self will give thee; Thy surest buckler is the people's heart. By Russia only Russia will be vanquished. Even as the Diet heard thee speak to-day, Speak thou at Moscow to thy subjects, prince. So chain their hearts, and thou wilt be their king. In Sweden I by right of birth ascended The throne of my inheritance in peace; Yet did I lose the kingdom of my sires Because my people's hearts were not with me. ”

“ Exeunt omnes but MARINA. Enter MEISCHEK. MARINA. Wherefore so sad, when fortune smiles on us, When every step thrives to our utmost wish, And all around are arming in our cause? MEISCHEK. 'Tis even because of this, my child! All, all Is staked upon the cast. Thy father's means Are in these warlike preparations swamped. I have much cause to ponder seriously; Fortune is false, uncertain the result. Mad, venturous girl, what hast thou brought me to? What a weak father have I been, that I Did not withstand thy importunities! I am the richest Waywode of the empire, The next in honor to the king. ”

“ DEMETRIUS. The past, with all its sorrows, is forgot; Here on your breast I feel new life begin. KING. I love not many words; yet what a king May offer, who has vassals richer far Than his poor self, that do I offer you. You have been witness of an untoward scene, But deem not ill of Poland's realm because A tempest jars the vessel of the state. MEISCHEK. When winds are wild the steersman backs his helm, And makes for port with all the speed he may. KING. The Diet is dissolved. Although I wished, I could not break the treaty with the Czar. But you have powerful friends ”

“ Dumb show of MARFA, to indicate her internal emotion.
DEMETRIUS. Make thy resolve! Let that which nature will not prompt be the free act of thy will! I ask no hypocrisy—no falsehood, from thee; I ask genuine feelings. Do not seem to be my mother, but be so. Throw the past from thee—grasp the present with thy whole heart! If I am not thy son yet I am the Czar—I have power and success upon my side. He who lies in his grave is dust; he has no heart to love thee, no eye to smile upon thee. Turn to the living. ”

“ A teeming harvest clothes the fruitful soil. DEMETRIUS. The view is lost in limitless expanse. RAZIN. Yet is this but a small beginning, sire, Of Russia's mighty empire. For it spreads Towards the east to confines unexplored, And on the north has ne'er a boundary, Save the productive energy of earth. Behold, our Czar is quite absorbed in thought. DEMETRIUS. On these fair meads dwell peace, unbroken peace, And with war's terrible array I come To scatter havoc, like a listed foe! ODOWALSKY. Hereafter 'twill be time to think of that. DEMETRIUS. Thou feelest as a Pole, I am Moscow's son. ”

“ I raised this right hand, that you see, aloft In solemn pledge, within the Kremlin's walls; And fairly hath the Czar maintained his word. What is sworn faith? what compacts, treaties, when A solemn Diet tramples on them all? DEMETRIUS. Prince Leo Sapieha! You concluded A bond of peace, you say, with Moscow's Czar? That did you not; for I, I am that Czar. In me is Moscow's majesty; I am The son of Ivan, and his rightful heir. Would the Poles treat with Russia for a peace, Then must they treat with me! Your compact's null, As being made with one whose's title's null. ”

“ The Czar, With pure, paternal feeling, sends me to thee. Thou hold'st the manes of thy son in honor; Nor wilt permit a bold adventurer To steal his name and title from the tomb, And with audacious hand usurp his rights. Thou wilt proclaim aloud to all the world That thou dost own him for no son of thine. Thou wilt not nurse a bastard's alien blood Upon thy heart, that beats so nobly; never! Thou wilt—and this the Czar expects from thee— Give the vile counterfeit the lie, with all The righteous indignation it deserves. MARFA (who has during the last speech subdued the most violent emotion) . ”

“ The oppressed may urge A sacred claim on every noble breast. And who in all earth's circuit shall be just, If not a people great and valiant,—one In plenitude of power so free, it needs To render 'count but to itself alone, And may, unchallenged, lend an open ear And aiding hand to fair humanity. ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN. You do allege you are Czar Ivan's son; And truly, nor your bearing nor your speech Gainsays the lofty title that you urge, But shows us that you are indeed his son. And you shall find that the republic bears A generous spirit. She has never quailed To Russia in the field! ”

“ No human law o'errides the imperial power; Nothing but nature may command its awe; Nor can thy people own a surer pledge, That thou art gentle, than thy filial love. I say no more. Much yet is to be done, Ere thou mak'st booty of the golden fleece. Expect no easy victory! Czar Boris rules with strong and skilful hand; You take the field against no common man. He that by merit hath achieved the throne, Is not puffed from his seat by popular breath; His deeds do serve to him for ancestors. To your good fortune I commend you now ”

“ MARFA is silent.
DEMETRIUS. The voice of nature is holy and free; I will neither constrain nor belie it. Had thy heart spoken at the first glance then had mine answered it; thou shouldst have found a pious, loving son in me. The claim of duty would have concurred with inclination and heartfelt affection. But if thou dost not feel as a mother for me, then, think as a princess, command thyself as a queen! ”

“ Even to the farthest limits of his realm His care is wakeful and his glance is keen. MARFA. How far his arm can strike I know too well. ARCHBISHOP. He knows the lofty spirit fills thy soul, And therefore feels indignantly the wrong A bold-faced villain dares to offer thee. Learn, then, in Poland, an audacious churl, A renegade, who broke his monkish vows, Laid down his habit, and renounced his God, Doth use the name and title of thy son, Whom death snatched from thee in his infancy. The shameless varlet boasts him of thy blood, And doth affect to be Czar Ivan's son; A Waywode breaks the peace ”

“ What must I do to earn so fair a prize? KING. You come from a strange land, Borne on the weapons of a foreign foe; This first felt wrong thou hast to wash away. Then bear thee like a genuine son of Moscow, With reverence due to all her usages. Keep promise with the Poles, and value them, For thou hast need of friends on thy new throne: The arm that placed thee there can hurl thee down. Esteem them honorably, yet ape them not; Strange customs thrive not in a foreign soil. And, whatsoe'er thou dost, revere thy mother— You'll find a mother—— DEMETRIUS. Oh, my liege! ”

“ Romanow, who came to the army too late, has returned to Moscow to protect Feodor and Axinia. It is all in vain; he is himself thrown into prison. Axinia flies to Marfa, and at her feet implores protection against the Poles. Here Demetrius sees her, and a violent and irresistible passion is kindled in his breast. Axinia detests him.
DEMETRIUS as Czar. A fearful element sustains him, but he does not control it: he is urged on by the force of strange passions. His inward consciousness betokens a general distrust; he has no friend on whom he can rely. ”

“ She loves, alike, To be a noble foe—a cordial friend. DEMETRIUS. Ivan Wasilowitch, the mighty Czar Of Moscow, took five spouses to his bed, In the long years that spared him to the throne. The first, a lady of the heroic line Of Romanoff, bare him Feodor, who reigned After his father's death. One only son, Dmitri, the last blossom of his strength, And a mere infant when his father died, Was born of Marfa, of Nagori's line. Czar Feodor, a youth, alike effeminate In mind and body, left the reins of power To his chief equerry, Boris Godunow, Who ruled his master with most crafty skill. ”

“ Truly and well, and wilt thou laud my zeal? MARINA. 'Tis, Odowalsky, well we are alone; Matters of weight have we to canvass which 'Tis meet the prince know nothing of. May he Pursue the voice divine that goads him on! If in himself he have belief, the world Will catch the flame, and give him credence too. He must be kept in that vague, shadowing mist, Which is a fruitful mother of great deeds, While we see clear, and act in certainty. ”

“ IWANSKA. Long live the Czar! The mighty prince Dmitri! GLEB. How! What is this! ILIA. What do you mean? TIMOSKA. Who are you? PETRUSCHKA. Join all who're loyal to our princely line! TIMOSKA. What means all this? There a whole village flies Up country to escape the Poles, while you Make for the very point whence these have fled, To join the standard of the country's foe! PETRUSCHKA. What foe? It is no foe that comes; it is The people's friend, the emperor's rightful heir.
The POSADMIK (the village judge) enters to read a manifesto by Demetrius. ”

“ He welcomes every pretext that may serve To light the flames of war within our bounds! MARFA. And were there credulous spirits, even in Moscow, Could by this juggle be so lightly stirred? ARCHBISHOP. Oh, fickle, princess, is the people's heart! They dote on alteration, and expect To reap advantage from a change of rulers. The bold assurance of the falsehood charms; The marvellous finds favor and belief. Therefore the Czar is anxious thou shouldst quell This mad delusion, as thou only canst. A word from thee annihilates the traitor That falsely claims the title of thy son. ”

“ Yes, justice lies with me,—you have the power. 'Tis the most dear concern of every state And throne, that right should everywhere prevail, And all men in the world possess their own. For there, where justice holds uncumbered sway, There each enjoys his heritage secure, And over every house and every throne Law, truth, and order keep their angel watch. ”

“ Let's trust the stream that bears us on its breast, Think not upon the sacrifice thou makest, Think on the prize, the goal that's to be won— When thou shalt see thy daughter robed in state, In regal state, aloft on Moscow's throne, And thy son's sons the rulers of the world! ”

“ And you, ye grave and honored councillors, Most reverend bishops, pillars of the church, Ye palatines and castellans of fame, The moment has arrived, by one high deed, To reconcile two nations long estranged. Yours be the glorious boast, that Poland's power Hath given the Muscovites their Czar, and in The neighbor who oppressed you as a foe Secure an ever-grateful friend. And you, The deputies of the august republic, Saddle your steeds of fire! Leap to your seats! To you expand high fortune's golden gates; I will divide the foeman's spoil with you. Moscow is rich in plunder ”

“ It is not meet the council of the realm Be hurried on to—— ODOWALSKY. There is nothing here For us to weigh; all has been fully weighed. The proofs demonstrate incontestably. This is not Moscow, sirs! No despot here Keeps our free souls in manacles. Here truth May walk by day or night with brow erect. I will not think, my lords, in Cracow here, Here in the very Diet of the Poles, That Moscow's Czar should have obsequious slaves. DEMETRIUS. Oh, take my thanks, ye reverend senators! ”

“ Exeunt some of the officers. Enter DEMETRIUS. DEMETRIUS (starting back) . Ha! what a prospect! ODOWALSKY. Sire, thou see'st thy kingdom Spread out before thee. That is Russian land. RAZIN. Why, e'en this pillar here bears Moscow's arms; Here terminates the empire of the Poles. DEMETRIUS. Is that the Dnieper, rolls its quiet stream Along these meadows? ODOWALSKY. That, sire, is the Desna; See, yonder rise the towers of Tschernizow! RAZIN. Yon gleam you see upon the far horizon Is from the roofs of Sewerisch Novogrod. DEMETRIUS. What a rich prospect! What fair meadow lands! ”