I:2:27 COUN.
Of danger?
I:2:28 ALAR.
That’s delight, when it may lead
To mighty ends. Ah, Florimonde! thou art too pure;
Unsoiled in the rough and miry paths
Of ibis same trampling world; unskilled in heats
Of fierce and emulous spirits. There’s a rapture
In the strife of factions, that a woman’s soul
Can never reach. Men smiled on me to-day
Would gladly dig my grave; and yet I smiled,
And gave them coin as ready as their own,
And not less base.
I:2:29 COUN.
And can there be such men,
And canst thou live with them?
I:2:30 ALAR.
Ay! and they saw
Me ride this morning in my state again;
The people cried ‘Alarcos and Castille!’
The shout will dull their feasts.
I:2:31 COUN.
There was a time
Thou didst look back as on a turbulent dream
On this same life.
I:2:32 ALAR.
I was an exile then.
This stirring Burgos has revived my vein.
Yea, as I glanced from off the Citadel
This very morn, and at my feet outspread
Its amphitheatre of solemn towers
And groves of golden pinnacles, and marked
Turrets of friends and foes; or traced the range,
Spread since my exile, of our city’s walls
Washed by the swift Arlanzon: all around
The flash of lances, blaze of banners, rush
Of hurrying horsemen, and the haughty blast
Of the soul-stirring trumpet, I renounced
My old philosophy, and gazed as gazes
The falcon on his quarry!
I:2:33 COUN.
Jesu grant
The lure will bear no harm!
[A trumpet sounds.]
I:2:34 ALAR.
Whose note is that?
I hear the tramp of horsemen in the court;
We have some guests.
I:2:35 COUN.
Indeed!
[Enter the COUNT OF SIDONIA and the COUNT OF LEON.]
I:2:36 ALAR.
My noble friends,
My Countess greets ye!
I:2:37 SIDO.
And indeed we pay
To her our homage.
I:2:38 LEON.
Proud our city boasts
So fair a presence.
I:2:39 COUN.
Count Alarcos’ friends
Are ever welcome here.
I:2:40 ALAR.
No common wife.
Who welcomes with a smile her husband’s friends.
I:2:41 SIDO.
Indeed a treasure! When I marry, Count,
I’ll claim your counsel.
I:2:42 COUN.
’Tis not then your lot?
I:2:43 SIDO.
Not yet, sweet dame; tho’ sooth to say, full often
I dream such things may be.
I:2:44 COUN.
Your friend is free?
I:2:45 LEON.
And values freedom: with a rosy chain
I still should feel a captive.
I:2:46 SIDO.
Noble Leon
Is proof against the gentle passion, lady,
And will ere long, my rapier for a gage,
Marry a scold.
I:2:47 LEON.
In Burgos now, methinks,
Marriage is scarce the mode. Our princess frowns,
It seems, upon her suitors.
I:2:48 SIDO.
Is it true
The match is off?
I:2:49 LEON.
’Tis said.
I:2:50 COUN.
The match is off
You did not tell me this strange news, Alarcos.
I:2:51 SIDO.
Did he not tell you how—
I:2:52 ALAR.
In truth, good sirs,
My wife and I are somewhat strangers here,
And things that are of moment to the minds
That long have dwelt on them, to us are nought.
[To the Countess.]
There was a sort of scene to-day at Court;
The Princess fainted: we were all dismissed,
Somewhat abruptly; but, in truth, I deem
These rumours have no source but in the tongues
Of curious idlers.
I:2:53 SIDO.
Faith, I hold them true.
Indeed they’re very rife.
I:2:54 LEON.
Poor man, methinks
His is a lot forlorn, at once to lose
A mistress and a crown!
I:2:55 COUN.
Yet both may bring
Sorrow and cares. But little joy, I ween,
Dwells with a royal bride, too apt to claim
The homage she should yield.
I:2:56 SIDO.
I would all wives
Hold with your Countess in this pleasing creed.
I:2:57 ALAR.
She has her way: it is a cunning wench
That knows to wheedle. Burgos still maintains
Its fame for noble fabrics. Since my time
The city’s spread.
I:2:58 SIDO.
Ah! you’re a traveller, Count.
And yet we have not lagged.
I:2:59 COUN.
The Infanta, sirs,
Was it a kind of swoon?
I:2:60 ALAR.
Old Lara lives
Still in his ancient quarter?
I:2:61 LEON.
With the rats