Transcribed 1899 Chatto & Windus edition ,
QUEEN OF THE LOMBARDS
A TRAGEDY
BY
ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE
LONDON
CHATTO & WINDUS
1899
Albovine, King of theLombards.
almachildes, a young Lombardwarrior.
Narsetes, an old leader andcounsellor.
Rosamund, Queen of theLombards.
Hildegard, a noble Lombardmaiden.
Scene,VERONA.
Time, June 573
A hall in the Palace: acurtain drawn midway across it.
Enter Albovine and Narsetes.
ALBOVINE.
This is no matter of the wars: in war
Thy king, old friend, is less than king of thine,
And comrade less than follower. Hast thou loved
Ever—loved woman, not as chance may love,
But as thou hast loved thy sword or friend—or me?
Thou hast shewn me love more stout of heart than death.
Death quailed before thee when thou gav’st me life,
Borne down in battle.
NARSETES.
Woman? As I love
Flowers in their season. A rose is but a rose.
ALBOVINE.
Dost thou know rose from thistle orbindweed? Man,
Speak as our north wind speaks, if harsh and hard—
Truth.
NARSETES.
White I know from red, and dark from bright,
And milk from blood in hawthorn-flowers: but not
Woman from woman.
ALBOVINE.
How should God our Lord,
Except his eye see further than his world?
For women ever make themselves anew,
Meseems, to match and mock the maker. Friend,
If ever I were friend of thine in fight,
Speak, and I bid thee not speak truth: I know
Thy tongue knows nought but truth or silence.
NARSETES.
Is it
A king’s or friend’s part, king, to bid his friend
Speak what he knows not? Speak then thou, that I
May find thy will and answer it.
ALBOVINE.
I am fain
And loth to tell thee how it wrings my heart
That now this hard-eyed heavy southern sun
Hath wrought its will upon us all a year
And yet I know not if my wife be mine.
NARSETES.
Thy meanest man at arms had known ere dawn
Blinked on his bridal birthday.
ALBOVINE.
Did I bid thee
Mock, and forget me for thy friend—I say not,
King? Is thy heart so light and lean a thing,
So loose in faith and faint in love? I bade thee
Stand to me, help me, hold my hand in thine
And give my heart ba