Becket and other playsTennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron
General
Becket and other plays
Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron
Drama; Thomas, à Becket, Saint, 1118?-1170 -- Drama
ANTONIUS (_stopping_).
A moment! If you track this Sinnatus
In any treason, I give you here an order
[_Produces a paper_.
To seize upon him. Let me sign it. (_Signs it_.) There
'Antonius leader of the Roman Legion.'
[_Hands the paper to_ SYNORIX. _Goes up pathway and exit_.
SYNORIX.
Woman again!--but I am wiser now.
No rushing on the game--the net,--the net.
[_Shouts of_ 'Sinnatus! Sinnatus!' _Then horn. Looking off
stage_.]
He comes, a rough, bluff, simple-looking fellow.
If we may judge the kernel by the husk,
Not one to keep a woman's fealty when
Assailed by Craft and Love. I'll join with him:
I may reap something from him--come upon _her_
Again, perhaps, to-day--_her_. Who are with him?
I see no face that knows me. Shall I risk it?
I am a Roman now, they dare not touch me.
I will.
_Enter_ SINNATUS, HUNTSMEN _and hounds_.
Fair Sir, a happy day to you!
You reck but little of the Roman here,
While you can take your pastime in the woods.
SlNNATUS.
Ay, ay, why not? What would you with me, man?
SYNORIX.
I am a life-long lover of the chase,
And tho' a stranger fain would be allow'd
To join the hunt.
SlNNATUS.
Your name?
SYNORIX.
Strato, my name.
SlNNATUS.
No Roman name?
SYNORIX.
A Greek, my lord; you know
That we Galatians are both Greek and Gaul.
[_Shouts and horns in the distance
SINNATUS.
Hillo, the stag! (_To_ SYNORIX.) What, you are all unfurnish'd?
Give him a bow and arrows--follow--follow.
[_Exit, followed by Huntsmen_.
SYNORIX.
Slowly but surely--till I see my way.
It is the one step in the dark beyond
Our expectation, that amazes us.
[_Distant shouts and horns_.
Hillo! Hillo!
[_Exit_ SYNORIX. _Shouts and horns_.
SCENE II.--_A Room in the Tetrarch's House_.
Frescoed figures on the walls. Evening. Moonlight outside. A couch
with cushions on it. A small table with flagon of wine, cups, plate of
grapes, etc., also the cup of Scene I. A chair with drapery on it.
CAMMA _enters, and opens' curtains of window_.
CAMMA.
No Sinnatus yet--and there the rising moon.
[_Takes up a cithern and sits on couch. Plays and sings_.
'Moon on the field and the foam,
Moon on the waste and the wold,
Moon bring him home, bring him home
Safe from the dark and the cold,
Home, sweet moon, bring him home,
Home with the flock to the fold--
Safe from the wolf'----
(_Listening_.) Is he coming? I thought I heard
A footstep. No not yet. They say that Rome
Sprang from a wolf. I fear my dear lord mixt
With some conspiracy against the wolf.
This mountain shepherd never dream'd of Rome.
(_Sings_.) 'Safe from the wolf to the fold'----
And that great break of precipice that runs
Thro' all the wood, where twenty years ago
Huntsman, and hound, and deer were all neck-broken!
Nay, here he comes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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