The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Chapter 503 : ESTHER. Nay, we are not so poor That we should stretch our hands for others' good

ESTHER. Nay, we are not so poor That we should stretch our hands for others' goods!

MANRIQUE (_going toward the side door_).

And, too, in yonder chamber let us look, If nothing missing, or perhaps if greed With impudence itself as here, has joined.

GARCERAN (_barring the way_).

Here, father, call I halt!

MANRIQUE. Know'st thou me not?

GARCERAN. Yes, and myself as well. But there be duties Which even a father's rights do not outweigh.

MANRIQUE. Look in my eye! He cannot bear to do it!

Two sons I lose on this unhappy day.

(_To the _QUEEN.)

Will you not go?

QUEEN. I would, but cannot. Yes, I surely can, by Heaven, for I must.

(_To_ GARCERAN.)

Although your office an unknightly one, I thank you that you do it faithfully; 'Twere death to see--but I can go and suffer-- If you should meet your master ere the eve, Say, to Toledo I returned--alone.

[_The QUEEN and her suite go out._]

GARCERAN. Woe worth the chance that chose this day of all, To bring me home--from war to worse than war!

RACHEL (_to_ ESTHER, _who is busied with her_).

And had my life been forfeit, I'd have stayed.

ESTHER (_to_ GARCERAN).

I pray you now to bring us quickly home.

GARCERAN. First, let me ask the King his royal will.

(_Knocking at the side door._)

Sire! What? No sign of life within? Perchance An accident? Whate'er it be--I'll ope!

[_The_ KING _steps out and remains standing in the foreground as the others withdraw to the back of the stage._]

KING. So honor and repute in this our world Are not an even path on which the pace, Simple and forward, shows the tendency, The goal, our worth. They're like a juggler's rope, On which a misstep plunges from the heights, And every stumbling makes a b.u.t.t for jest.

Must I, but yesterday all virtues' model, Today shun every slave's inquiring glance?

Begone then, eager wish to please the mob, Henceforth determine we ourselves our path!

(_Turning to the others._)

What, you still here?

GARCERAN. We wait your high command.

KING. If you had only always waited it, And had remained upon the boundary!

Examples are contagious, Garceran.

GARCERAN. A righteous prince will punish every fault, His own as well as others'; but, immune, He's p.r.o.ne to vent his wrath on others' heads.

KING. Not such a one am I, my friend. Be calm!

We are as ever much inclined to thee; And now, take these away, forever, too.

What's whim in others, is, in princes, sin.

(_As he sees _RACHEL _approaching._)

Let be! But first this picture lay aside, And put it in the place from whence you took 't.

It is my will! Delay not!

RACHEL (_to_ ESTHER).

Come thou, too.

(_As both approach the side door_).

Hast thou, as is thy wont, my picture on?

ESTHER. What wilt

RACHEL. My will--and should the worst betide--

[_They go to the side door._]

KING. Then to the border, straight I'll follow thee; And there we'll wash in Moorish blood away The equal shame that we have shared this day, That we may bear once more the gaze of men.

[_The girls return._]

RACHEL. I did it.

KING. Now away, without farewell!

ESTHER. Our thanks to thee, O Sire!

RACHEL. Not mine, I say.

KING. So be it; thankless go!

RACHEL. I'll save it up.