Don Carlos

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Title: Don Carlos
A Play
Author: Frederich Schiller
Release Date: October 26, 2006 [EBook #6789]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
0. START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DON
CARLOS ***
Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger
DON CARLOS.
By Frederich Schiller
Translated by R. D. Boylan
DRAMATIS PERSONAE.
PHILIP THE SECOND, King of Spain.
DON CARLOS, Prince, Son
of Philip.
ALEXANDER FARNESE, Prince of Parma.
MARQUIS
DE POSA.
DUKE OF ALVA.
Grandees of Spain:
COUNT LERMA, Colonel of the Body Guard,


DUKE OF FERIA, Knight of the Golden Fleece,
DUKE OF
MEDINA SIDONIA, Admiral,
DON RAIMOND DE TAXIS,
Postmaster-General,
DOMINGO, Confessor to the King.
GRAND INQUISITOR of Spain.

PRIOR of a Carthusian Convent.
PAGE of the Queen.
DON
LOUIS MERCADO, Physician to the Queen.
ELIZABETH DE
VALOIS, Queen of Spain.
INFANTA CLARA FARNESE, a Child
three years of age.
DUCHESS D'OLIVAREZ, Principal Attendant on
the Queen.
Ladies Attendant on the Queen:
MARCHIONESS DE
MONDECAR,
PRINCESS EBOLI,
COUNTESS FUENTES,
Several Ladies, Nobles, Pages, Officers of the Body-Guard,
and mute
Characters.
ACT I.
SCENE I.
The Royal Gardens in Aranjuez.
CARLOS and DOMINGO.
DOMINGO.
Our pleasant sojourn in Aranjuez
Is over now, and yet
your highness quits
These joyous scenes no happier than before.

Our visit hath been fruitless. Oh, my prince,
Break this mysterious
and gloomy silence!
Open your heart to your own father's heart!
A
monarch never can too dearly buy
The peace of his own son--his only
son.
[CARLOS looks on the ground in silence.
Is there one dearest wish
that bounteous Heaven
Hath e'er withheld from her most favored
child?
I stood beside, when in Toledo's walls
The lofty Charles
received his vassals' homage,
When conquered princes thronged to

kiss his hand,
And there at once six mighty kingdoms fell
In fealty
at his feet: I stood and marked
The young, proud blood mount to his
glowing cheek,
I saw his bosom swell with high resolves,
His eye,
all radiant with triumphant pride,
Flash through the assembled throng;
and that same eye
Confessed, "Now am I wholly satisfied!"
[CARLOS turns away.
This silent sorrow, which for eight long
moons
Hath hung its shadows, prince, upon your brow--
The
mystery of the court, the nation's grief--
Hath cost your father many a
sleepless night,
And many a tear of anguish to your mother.
CARLOS (turning hastily round).
My mother! Grant, O heaven, I
may forget
How she became my mother!
DOMINGO.
Gracious prince!
CARLOS (passing his hands thoughtfully over his brow).
Alas! alas!
a fruitful source of woe
Have mothers been to me. My youngest act,

When first these eyes beheld the light of day,
Destroyed a mother.
DOMINGO.
Is it possible
That this reproach disturbs your conscience, prince?
CARLOS.
And my new mother! Hath she not already
Cost me my
father's heart? Scarce loved at best.
My claim to some small favor lay
in this--
I was his only child! 'Tis over! She
Hath blest him with a
daughter--and who knows
What slumbering ills the future hath in
store?
DOMINGO.
You jest, my prince. All Spain adores its queen.
Shall
it be thought that you, of all the world,
Alone should view her with
the eyes of hate--
Gaze on her charms, and yet be coldly wise?
How,

prince? The loveliest lady of her time,
A queen withal, and once your
own betrothed?
No, no, impossible--it cannot be!
Where all men
love, you surely cannot hate.
Carlos could never so belie himself.
I
prithee, prince, take heed she do not learn
That she hath lost her son's
regard. The news
Would pain her deeply.
CARLOS. Ay, sir! think you so?
DOMINGO.
Your highness doubtless will remember how,
At the
late tournament in Saragossa,
A lance's splinter struck our gracious
sire.
The queen, attended by her ladies, sat
High in the centre
gallery of the palace,
And looked upon the fight. A cry arose,
"The
king! he bleeds!" Soon through the general din,
A rising murmur
strikes upon her ear.
"The prince--the prince!" she cries, and forward
rushed,
As though to leap down from the balcony,
When a voice
answered, "No, the king himself!"
"Then send for his physicians!"
she replied,
And straight regained her former self-composure.
[After a short pause.
But you seem wrapped in thought?
CARLOS. In wonder, sir,
That the king's merry confessor should own

So rare a skill in the romancer's art.
[Austerely.
Yet have I heard it said that those
Who watch men's
looks and carry tales about,
Have done more mischief in this world of
ours
Than the assassin's knife, or poisoned bowl.
Your labor, Sir,
hath been but ill-bestowed;
Would you win thanks, go seek them of
the king.
DOMINGO.
This caution, prince, is wise. Be circumspect
With
men--but not with every man alike.
Repel not friends and hypocrites
together;
I mean you well, believe me!
CARLOS. Say you so?
Let not my father mark it, then, or else

Farewell your hopes forever of the purple.

DOMINGO (starts).
CARLOS.
How!
CARLOS. Even so! Hath he