But to
forswear
mine oath!
Pushkin - Boris Gudonov
How thinkest thou?
BASMANOV. Tomorrow thou shalt know.
PUSHKIN. Resolve.
BASMANOV. Farewell.
PUSHKIN. Ponder it well, Basmanov.
(Exit. )
BASMANOV. He is right.
Everywhere treason ripens; what shall I do?
Wait, that the rebels may deliver me
In bonds to the Otrepiev? Had I not better
Forestall the stormy onset of the flood,
Myself to--ah!
But to forswear mine oath!
Dishonour to deserve from age to age!
The trust of my young sovereign to requite
With horrible betrayal! 'Tis a light thing
For a disgraced exile to meditate
Sedition and conspiracy; but I?
Is it for me, the favourite of my lord? --
But death--but power--the people's miseries. . .
(He ponders. )
Here! Who is there? (Whistles. ) A horse here!
Sound the muster!
PUBLIC SQUARE IN MOSCOW
PUSHKIN enters, surrounded by the people
THE PEOPLE. The tsarevich a boyar hath sent to us.
BASMANOV. Tomorrow thou shalt know.
PUSHKIN. Resolve.
BASMANOV. Farewell.
PUSHKIN. Ponder it well, Basmanov.
(Exit. )
BASMANOV. He is right.
Everywhere treason ripens; what shall I do?
Wait, that the rebels may deliver me
In bonds to the Otrepiev? Had I not better
Forestall the stormy onset of the flood,
Myself to--ah!
But to forswear mine oath!
Dishonour to deserve from age to age!
The trust of my young sovereign to requite
With horrible betrayal! 'Tis a light thing
For a disgraced exile to meditate
Sedition and conspiracy; but I?
Is it for me, the favourite of my lord? --
But death--but power--the people's miseries. . .
(He ponders. )
Here! Who is there? (Whistles. ) A horse here!
Sound the muster!
PUBLIC SQUARE IN MOSCOW
PUSHKIN enters, surrounded by the people
THE PEOPLE. The tsarevich a boyar hath sent to us.
