Life Is a Dream

ROSAURA. Noble-hearted Sigismund! Thou whose hidden light heroic Issues from its night of shadows To the great deeds of its morning; And as heaven's sublimest planet From the wh...

BASILIUS. Children, that dear word displacing Colder names, my arms here bless; And be sure, since you assented To my plan, my love's excess Will leave neither discontented, Or...

ROSAURA. Is not that glimmer there afar -- That dying exhalation -- that pale star -- A tiny taper, which, with trembling blaze Flickering 'twixt struggling flames and dying ray...

BASILIUS. To try, Clotaldo, One sole remedy that surviveth. [To SIGISMUND. If 'tis me thou'rt seeking, Prince, At thy feet behold me lying. [Kneeling. Let thy carpet be these ha...

CLOTALDO. It was done, sire, in this manner. With the tranquillising draught, Which was made, as you commanded, Of confections duly mixed With some herbs, whose juice extracted...

ROSAURA. Though the trumpets from afar Echo in thy valorous breast, Hear me, list to my request, For I know that all is war. Well thou knowest that I came Poor to Poland, sad, d...

ROSAURA. Since I now have seen how pride Can offend thee, I were hardened Sure in folly not here humbly At thy feet for life to ask thee; Then to me extend thy pity, Since it we...

SIGISMUND. Help me, Heaven, what's this I see! Help me, Heaven, what's this I view! Things I scarce believe are true, But, if true, which fright not me. I in palaces of state? I...

ROSAURA. Thy favour, sir, I prize; To thee the silence of my speech replies; For when the reason's dull, the mind depressed, He best doth speak who keeps his silence best.

FIRST SOLDIER. Great and brave Prince Sigismund (For thy bearing doth convince us Thou art he, although on faith We proclaim thee as our prince here). King Basilius, thy father,...

BASILIUS. Prince, my grief, indeed is great, Coming here when I had thought That admonished thou wert taught To o'ercome the stars and fate, Still to see such rage abide In the...

SIGISMUND. [Speaking in his sleep.] Perfect Prince is he whose heat Smites the tyrant where he stands, Yes, Clotaldo dies by my hands, Yes, my sire shall kiss my feet.

CLOTALDO [aside]. Heaven has sent a happier fate; Since I need not now admit it, I'll not say he is my son.-- Strangers who have wandered hither, You are free.

ASTOLFO. Struck at once with admiration At thy starry eyes outshining, Mingle many a salutation, Drums and trumpet-notes combining, Founts and birds in alternation; Wondering he...

ROSAURA. Wild hippogriff swift speeding, Thou that dost run, the winged winds exceeding, Bolt which no flash illumes, Fish without scales, bird without shifting plumes, And brut...

ROSAURA [aside.] To wait upon Estrella I come here, And lest I meet Astolfo tremble with much fear; Clotaldo's wishes are The Duke should know me not, and from afar See me, if s...

BASILIUS. 'Tis decreed Those are loyal who succeed, Rebels those who lose the day. Let us then, Clotaldo, flee, Since the victory he hath won, From a proud and cruel son.

ESTRELLA. Welcome may your Highness be, Welcomed oft to this thy throne, Which long longing for its own Finds at length its joy in thee; Where, in spite of bygone fears, May you...

CLOTALDO [aside to the Soldiers]. Keep your faces all well covered, For it is a vital matter That we should be known by no one, While I question these two stragglers.

ROSAURA. I Rosaura? Oh, your Highness Is deceived by some resemblance Doubtless to some other lady; I'm Astrea, one who merits Not the glory of producing An emotion so excessive.

ROSAURA. Would I knew it not! O help me Now, kind heaven! for who could be So prudential, so collected, As to know how best to act In so painful a dilemma? Is there in the world...

CLARIN [aside]. Four good blows are all it cost me To come here, inflicted smartly By a red-robed halberdier, With a beard to match his jacket, At that price I see the show, For...

ASTOLFO. Then that portrait from my breast Shall be taken, that thy perfect Beauty there may reign instead. For where bright Estrella enters Shadow cannot be, or star Where the...

CLARIN. In a strange enchanted tower, I, for what I know, am prisoned;* How would ignorance be punished, If for knowledge they would kill me? What a thing to die of hunger, For...

FIRST SOLDIER. Thou art our own Prince, and we Will not have, and won't admit of, Any but our natural Prince; We no foreign Prince here wish for. Let us kneel and kiss thy feet.

ROSAURA [aside]. Love befriend me; Give me wit enough my portrait To regain: -- If thou would'st learn then [To ESTRELLA.] What the matter is, my lady, I will tell thee.

SIGISMUND. My father, Rise, I pray, from that position, Since to you, my guide and polestar, Are my future acts committed; All my past life owes you much For your careful superv...

BASILIUS. Who can expect, Astolfo, to restrain An untamed steed that wildly turns to flee? Who can the current of a stream detain, That swollen with pride sweeps down to seek th...

SIGISMUND. If Rome could see me on this day Amid the triumphs of its early sway, Oh, with what strange delight It would have seen so singular a sight, Its mighty armies led By o...

SIGISMUND. That is true: then let's restrain This wild rage, this fierce condition Of the mind, this proud ambition, Should we ever dream again: And we'll do so, since 'tis plai...

ASTOLFO. Ah, how rarely fate doth lie When it some misfortune threatens!* Dubious when 'tis good that's promised, When 'tis evil, ah, too certain!-- What a good astrologer Would...

ASTOLFO. Thousand tunes be blest the day, Prince, that gives thee to our sight, Sun of Poland, whose glad light Makes this whole horizon gay, As when from the rosy fountains Of...

CLARIN. Never from that sleep profound Wake, O Sigismund, or rise, To behold with wondering eyes All thy glorious life o'erthrown, Like a shadow that hath flown, Like a bright b...

CLOTALDO. Although coming to your feet Shows how freely I'm admitted, Still, your majesty, this once, Fate as mournful as malicious Takes from privilege its due right, And from...

SIGISMUND. Who dares To ask of me do I respect white hairs? Your own some day My feet may trample in the public way, For I have not as yet revenged my wrong, Your treatment so u...

CLOTALDO. The crowd, whom frenzy and blind impulse drive, Into the tower resistless burst their way, Released the Prince, who seeing thus revive The honour he had tasted for one...

CLARIN. Only four stout walls between In an old enchanted tower; Death was on the cards for me, But amid the sudden strife Ere the last trump came, my life Won the trick and I g...

ESTRELLA. Give me now the other portrait; For -- although perhaps I never May again address or see you -- I desire not, no, to let it In your hands remain, if only For my folly...

CLARIN. Live, long live the two, I say! Me it matters not a pin, Which doth lose or which doth win, If I can keep out of the way!-- So aside here I will go, Acting like a pruden...

ESTRELLA. If, mighty lord, thy presence, which it braves, The tumult of the crowd cannot defeat -- The frenzy of the multitude that raves In hostile bands through every square a...