You would plant For all eternity, and yet the seeds You sow around you are the seeds of death! This hopeless task, with nature's laws at strife, Will ne'er survive the spirit of its founder. You labor for ingratitude; in vain, With nature you engage in desperate struggle-- In vain you waste your high and royal life In projects of destruction. Man is greater Than you esteem him. He will burst the chains Of a long slumber, and reclaim once more His just and hallowed rights. With Nero's name, And fell Busiris', will he couple yours; And--ah! you once deserved a better fate. KING. How know you that? MARQUIS. In very truth you did-- Yes, I repeat it--by the Almighty power! Restore us all you have deprived us of, And, generous as strong, let happiness Flow from your horn of plenty--let man's mind Ripen in your vast empire--give us back All you have taken from us--and become, Amidst a thousand kings, a king indeed! [He advances boldly, and fixes on him a look of earnestness and enthusiasm. Oh, that the eloquence of all those myriads, Whose fate depends on this momentous hour, Could hover on my lips, and fan the spark That lights thine eye into a glorious flame! Renounce the mimicry of godlike powers Which level us to nothing. Be, in truth, An image of the Deity himself! Never did mortal man possess so much For purpose so divine. The kings of Europe Pay homage to the name of Spain. Be you The leader of these kings. One pen-stroke now, One motion of your hand, can new create The earth! but grant us liberty of thought. [Casts himself at his feet. KING (surprised, turns away his face, then again looks towards the MARQUIS). Enthusiast most strange! arise; but I---- MARQUIS. Look round on all the glorious face of nature, On freedom it is founded--see how rich, Through freedom it has grown. The great Creator Bestows upon the worm its drop of dew, And gives free-will a triumph in abodes Where lone corruption reigns. See your creation, How small, how poor! The rustling of a leaf Alarms the mighty lord of Christendom. Each virtue makes you quake with fear. While he, Not to disturb fair freedom's blest appearance, Permits the frightful ravages of evil To waste his fair domains. The great Creator We see not--he conceals himself within His own eternal laws. The sceptic sees Their operation, but beholds not Him. "Wherefore a God!" he cries, "the world itself Suffices for itself!" And Christian prayer Ne'er praised him more than doth this blasphemy. KING. And will you undertake to raise up this Exalted standard of weak human nature In my dominions?