sword he knew
     Should wound him, down upon his bosom drew,
     That might well handled, well have wrought; or, kept
     Undrawn, have harmless in the scabbard slept. 
     But Fate shall not by human force be broke,
     Nor foil’d by human feint; the Secret learn’d
     Against the scholar by that master turn’d
     Who to himself reserves the master-stroke. 
     Witness whereof this venerable Age,
     Thrice crown’d as Sire, and Sovereign, and Sage,
     Down to the very dust dishonour’d by
     The very means he tempted to defy
     The irresistible.  And shall not I,
     Till now the mere dumb instrument that wrought
     The battle Fate has with my father fought,
     Now the mere mouth-piece of its victory
     Oh, shall not I, the champions’ sword laid down,
     Be yet more shamed to wear the teacher’s gown,
     And, blushing at the part I had to play,
     Down where that honour’d head I was to lay
     By this more just submission of my own,
     The treason Fate has forced on me atone?

     King. 
     Oh, Segismund, in whom I see indeed,
     Out of the ashes of my self-extinction
     A better self revive; if not beneath
     Your feet, beneath your better wisdom bow’d,
     The Sovereignty of Poland I resign,
     With this its golden symbol; which if thus
     Saved with its silver head inviolate,
     Shall nevermore be subject to decline;
     But when the head that it alights on now
     Falls honour’d by the very foe that must,
     As all things mortal, lay it in the dust,
     Shall star-like shift to his successor’s brow.

     (Shouts, trumpets, etc.  God save King Segismund!)

     Seg. 
     For what remains—­
     As for my own, so for my people’s peace,
     Astolfo’s and Estrella’s plighted hands
     I disunite, and taking hers to mine,
     His to one yet more dearly his resign.

     (Shouts, etc.  God save Estrella, Queen of Poland!)

     Seg (to Clotaldo). 
     You
     That with unflinching duty to your King,
     Till countermanded by the mightier Power,
     Have held your Prince a captive in the tower,
     Henceforth as strictly guard him on the throne
     No less my people’s keeper than my own. 
     You stare upon me all, amazed to hear
     The word of civil justice from such lips
     As never yet seem’d tuned to such discourse. 
     But listen—­In that same enchanted tower,
     Not long ago I learn’d it from a dream
     Expounded by this ancient prophet here;
     And which he told me, should it come again,
     How I should bear myself beneath it; not
     As then with angry passion all on fire,
     Arguing and making a distemper’d soul;
     But ev’n with justice, mercy, self-control,