No More Learning

The re-gained their ships, they cut the cables,
Their dreadful cries rose high above the gables,
They retreated then, without considering
The action their kings were undertaking.
Their terror was too great to think of duty;
The tide that brought them on now helped them flee;
Yet their kings were still engaged in battle,
Handfuls of their men, pierced by our metal,
Disputed valiantly, sold their lives dearly.
In vain I begged them to surrender to me:
Scimitars in hand they would not listen;
But seeing their men fall all around them,
And that they were fighting on unshielded,
They sought our chief: answering, they yielded,
I sent them to you, with due compliments;
The war then ceased through lack of combatants.
It was in this manner, in your service. . .


Act IV Scene IV (The King, Diegue, Arias, Rodrigue, Alonso, Sanche)

Alonso
Sire, Chimene is here, demanding justice.

King
Sad news, and an obsessive sense of duty!

(To Rodrigue)

Go, I will not pressure her unfairly.
In place of thanks, I'll drive you from this place:
But, ere you go, accept your King's embrace.

(Exit Rodrigue)

Diegue
Chimene pursues him, yet she would save him.

King
I'll test her now, since they say she loves him.
Adopt a sad expression.


Act IV Scene V (The King, Diegue, Arias, Alonso, Sanche, Chimene, Elvire)

King
Be content
Chimene, victory answers your intent:
Though Rodrigue overcame our enemies
He died before our eyes from wounds received.
Offer thanks to Heaven who has avenged you.
(To Don Diegue)

See how her face abruptly changes hue.

Diegue
Yes, see, she's fainting, and from perfect love,
In this swoon, Sire, see how her passions move.
Her grief betrays the secret of her soul,
And we may no longer doubt the tale that's told.

Chimene
What! Rodrigue is dead?

King
No, no, he lives,
And bears you yet his unchanging love:
Quiet this sorrow borne of your distress.

Chimene
Sire, one faints from joy as well as sadness:
Excess of happiness may bring on weakness,
Surprise the soul, and overcome the senses.

King
You wish us to believe the impossible?
Chimene, your grief was only too visible.

Chimene
Sire, make this the culmination to my woe
And call it grief then, if you wish it so.
A deep displeasure overcame my feelings;
His death destroyed the object I was seeking.
If he had died of wounds for his country
Vengeance was thwarted, and my plans awry:
So fine an end would only injure me
Who ask his death, but not a death in glory,
No great acclaim to raise him up on high,
On a scaffold, not in honour, he must die;
For my father not his country, diminished,
Let his name be sullied, memory tarnished.
To die for one's country is no sad fate;
Such a death sets one among the great.
I love his victory: for that's no sin.
The State, secure now, returns my victim.
Noble, then, famous among warriors,
A leader crowned with laurel not with flowers,
To say it in a word, I find him, his blade,
Worthy of sacrifice to my father's shade.