Racine: Phaedra

LIFE A DREAM 247
Nor dream that it was sheer necessity
Made me thus far relax the bond of fate,
And, with far more of terror than of hope
Threaten myself, my people, and the State.
Know that, if old, I yet have vigor left
To wield the sword as well as wear the crown
And if my more immediate issue fail,
Not wanting scions of collateral blood,
Whose wholesome growth shall more than compensate
For all the loss of a distorted stem.
Segismund.—That will I straightway bring to trial—Oh,
After a revelation such as this,
The Last Day shall have little left to show
Of righted wrong and villainy requited
Nay, Judgment now beginning upon earth.
Myself, methinks, in right of all my wrongs,
Appointed heav'n's avenging minister,
Accuser, judge, and executioner,
Sword in hand, cite the guilty—First, as worst.
The usurper of his son's inheritance
Him and his old accomplice, time and crime
Inveterate, and unable to repay
The golden years of life they stole away.
What, does he yet maintain his state, and keep
The throne he should be judged from? Down with him,
That I may trample on the false white head
are my soldiers ?
So long has worn my crown ! Where
Of all my subjects and my vassals here
Not one to do my bidding?
The trumpet
Hark ! A trumpet
[He pauses as the trumpet sounds, and masked soldiers grad-
ually ail in behind the throne.
King [rising before his throne].—Ay, indeed, the trumpet
hiows
A memorable note, to summon those
Who, if forthwith you fall not at the feet
Of him whose head you threaten with the dust,
Forthwith shall draw the curtain of the Past
About you ; and this momentary gleam
Of glory, that you think to hold life-fast,
So coming, so shall vanish, as a dream.