Read Delphi Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (Illustrated) for Free Online Page B
Authors: Oscar Wilde
bloody crescent seemed to shake above our eagles.
Czar ( somewhat moved ). Those men are dead. What have I to do with them?
Czare. Nothing! The dead are safe; youcannot harm them now. They sleep their last long sleep. Some in Turkish waters, others by the windswept heights of Norway and the Dane! But these, the living, our brothers, what have you done for them? They asked you for bread, you gave them a stone. They sought for freedom, you scourged them with scorpions. You have sown the seeds of this revolution yourself! —
Prince Paul. And are we not cutting down the harvest?
Czare. Oh, my brothers! better far that ye had died in the iron hail and screaming shell of battle than to come back to such a doom asthis! The beasts of the forests have their lairs, and the wild beasts their caverns, but the people of Russia, conquerors of the world, have not where to lay their heads.
Prince Paul. They have the headsman’s block.
Czare. The headsman’s block! Ay! you have killed their souls at your pleasure, you would kill their bodies now.
Czar. Insolent boy! Have you forgotten who is Emperor of Russia?
Czare. No! The people reign now, by the grace of God.You should have been their shepherd; you have fled away like the hireling, and let the wolves in upon them.
Czar. Take him away! Take him away, Prince Paul!
Czare. God hath given this people tongues to speak with; you would cut them out that they may be dumb in their agony, silent in their torture! But God hath given them hands to smite with, and they shall smite! Ay! from the sick and labouring womb of this unhappy land some revolution, like a bloody child, shallrise up and slay you.
Czar ( leaping up ). Devil! Assassin! Why do you beard me thus to my face?
Czare. Because Iam a Nihilist! ( The ministers start to their feet; there is dead silence for a few minutes. )
Czar. A Nihilist! a Nihilist! Scorpion whom I have nurtured, traitor whom I have fondled, is this your bloody secret? Prince Paul Maraloffski, Marechale of the Russian Empire, arrest the Czarevitch!
Ministers. Arrest the Czarevitch!
Czar. A Nihilist! If you have sown with them, you shall reap with them! If you have talked with them, you shall rot with them! If you have lived with them, with them you shall die!
Prince Petro. Die!
Czar. A plague on all sons, I say! There should be no more marriages in Russia when one can breed such vipers as you are! Arrest the Czarevitch, I say!
Prince Paul. Czarevitch! by order of the Emperor, I demand your sword. ( Czarevitch gives up sword; Prince Paul places it on the table. ) Foolish boy! you are not made for a conspirator; you have not learned to hold your tongue. Heroics are out of place in a palace.
Czar ( sinks into his chair with his eyes fixed on the Czarevitch ). O God!
Czare. If I am to die for the people, I am ready; one Nihilist more or less in Russia, what does that matter?
Prince Paul ( aside ). A good deal I should say to the one Nihilist.
Czare. The mighty brotherhood to which I belong has a thousand such as I am, ten thousand better still! ( The Czar starts in his seat. ) The star of freedom is risen already, and far off I hear the mighty wave democracy break on these cursed shores.
Prince Paul ( to Prince Petrovitch ). In that case you and I had better learn how to swim.
Czare. Father, Emperor, Imperial Master, I plead not for my own life, but for the lives of my brothers, the people.
Prince Paul ( bitterly ). Your brothers, the people, Prince, are not content with their own lives, they always want to take their neighbour’s too.
Czar ( standing up ). I am sick of being afraid. I have done with terror now. From this day I proclaim war against the people — war to their annihilation. As they have dealt with me, so shall I deal with them. I shall grind them to powder, and strew their dust upon the air. There shall be a spy in every man’s
Czar ( somewhat moved ). Those men are dead. What have I to do with them?
Czare. Nothing! The dead are safe; youcannot harm them now. They sleep their last long sleep. Some in Turkish waters, others by the windswept heights of Norway and the Dane! But these, the living, our brothers, what have you done for them? They asked you for bread, you gave them a stone. They sought for freedom, you scourged them with scorpions. You have sown the seeds of this revolution yourself! —
Prince Paul. And are we not cutting down the harvest?
Czare. Oh, my brothers! better far that ye had died in the iron hail and screaming shell of battle than to come back to such a doom asthis! The beasts of the forests have their lairs, and the wild beasts their caverns, but the people of Russia, conquerors of the world, have not where to lay their heads.
Prince Paul. They have the headsman’s block.
Czare. The headsman’s block! Ay! you have killed their souls at your pleasure, you would kill their bodies now.
Czar. Insolent boy! Have you forgotten who is Emperor of Russia?
Czare. No! The people reign now, by the grace of God.You should have been their shepherd; you have fled away like the hireling, and let the wolves in upon them.
Czar. Take him away! Take him away, Prince Paul!
Czare. God hath given this people tongues to speak with; you would cut them out that they may be dumb in their agony, silent in their torture! But God hath given them hands to smite with, and they shall smite! Ay! from the sick and labouring womb of this unhappy land some revolution, like a bloody child, shallrise up and slay you.
Czar ( leaping up ). Devil! Assassin! Why do you beard me thus to my face?
Czare. Because Iam a Nihilist! ( The ministers start to their feet; there is dead silence for a few minutes. )
Czar. A Nihilist! a Nihilist! Scorpion whom I have nurtured, traitor whom I have fondled, is this your bloody secret? Prince Paul Maraloffski, Marechale of the Russian Empire, arrest the Czarevitch!
Ministers. Arrest the Czarevitch!
Czar. A Nihilist! If you have sown with them, you shall reap with them! If you have talked with them, you shall rot with them! If you have lived with them, with them you shall die!
Prince Petro. Die!
Czar. A plague on all sons, I say! There should be no more marriages in Russia when one can breed such vipers as you are! Arrest the Czarevitch, I say!
Prince Paul. Czarevitch! by order of the Emperor, I demand your sword. ( Czarevitch gives up sword; Prince Paul places it on the table. ) Foolish boy! you are not made for a conspirator; you have not learned to hold your tongue. Heroics are out of place in a palace.
Czar ( sinks into his chair with his eyes fixed on the Czarevitch ). O God!
Czare. If I am to die for the people, I am ready; one Nihilist more or less in Russia, what does that matter?
Prince Paul ( aside ). A good deal I should say to the one Nihilist.
Czare. The mighty brotherhood to which I belong has a thousand such as I am, ten thousand better still! ( The Czar starts in his seat. ) The star of freedom is risen already, and far off I hear the mighty wave democracy break on these cursed shores.
Prince Paul ( to Prince Petrovitch ). In that case you and I had better learn how to swim.
Czare. Father, Emperor, Imperial Master, I plead not for my own life, but for the lives of my brothers, the people.
Prince Paul ( bitterly ). Your brothers, the people, Prince, are not content with their own lives, they always want to take their neighbour’s too.
Czar ( standing up ). I am sick of being afraid. I have done with terror now. From this day I proclaim war against the people — war to their annihilation. As they have dealt with me, so shall I deal with them. I shall grind them to powder, and strew their dust upon the air. There shall be a spy in every man’s
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