No More Learning

Elvire
Compose yourself, here comes the Infanta.


Act IV Scene II (The Infanta, Chimene, Leonor, Elvire)

Infanta
I come not to console you now; be clear,
Rather I come to mingle sigh with tear.

Chimene
You should rather take part in all this joy,
Blessing the grace the Heavens employ,
Madame, no one but me deserves to suffer.
Rodrigue has saved us all from great danger,
And kept the people safe, the nearest way,
Leaving me alone to weep, on this day:
He's saved the city: he has served his king;
Only to me his blade's a fatal thing.

Infanta
Chimene, it's true he's performed miracles.

Chimene
I've heard the painful news of these marvels.
And heard him proclaimed loudly everywhere,
As brave soldier, and unlucky lover.

Infanta
Why should this public notice so pain you?
This young Mars, they praise, once pleased you;
Possessed your soul; was subject to your law;
Praise his valour: honour your choice the more.

Chimene
Others can praise him with a true intent,
Praise of him to me is but more torment.
His greatness only adds to my sorrow,
Seeing his worth I see what I forgo.
Ah! Cruel vexation to a loving spirit!
I love the more, the more I know his merit:
Yet my duty ever is the stronger,
I'll seek his death though he is my lover.

Infanta
Yesterday, duty brought you great esteem;
Noble that struggle which you waged did seem,
So worthy of great hearts: our courtiers
Admired your courage, pitying the lovers.
Yet will you take a faithful friend's advice?

Chimene
Not to obey you would appear a vice.

Infanta
What was right then is not so today.
Rodrigue is now our sole support, I say,
Our hope, the man the people all adore,
Pillar of Castile, terror of the Moor.
Even the King agrees, the truth is plain,
That in Rodrigue your father lives again;
If you'd have me explain it in a breath,
You pursue public ruin through his death.
What? To avenge a father are we free
To deliver our country to the enemy?
Is your cause against us legitimate?
Are we part of his crime, to share his fate?
After all you are not obliged to marry
Him whom a father forces you to harry:
I'll help you quench your desire, this strife,
Erase your love, but leave us yet his life.

Chimene
Oh! I am not worthy of such kindness;
This duty that embitters is limitless.
Though I still feel love for the conqueror,
Though the King may flatter, crowds adore,
Though he's among others born to quarrel,
Beneath my cypress I'll go scorn his laurel.

Infanta
It is noble, to avenge a father,
Attacking, out of duty, one so dear;
But it's a deed of a higher order
To put the public good before a father.
Believe me, it's enough to quench your fires:
He's punished who loses what he desires.
Let the good of the country be your law:
Besides can the King now grant you more?