And a fair crown is faith, as thou knowest, my father; Fails the world, yet that faileth not; love hath begot it, Sweet life and contentment at last springeth from it; No helping these need whose hearts still are with me, Nay, rather they handle the gold rod of my kingdom. MASTER OLIVER Yet if thou leadest forth once more as aforetime In faith of great deeds will I follow thee, Pharamond, And thy latter end yet shall be counted more glorious Than thy glorious beginning; and great shall my gain be If e'en I must die ere the day of thy triumph. KING PHARAMOND Dear is thy heart mid the best and the brightest, Yet not against these my famed blade will I bare. MASTER OLIVER Nay, what hast thou heard of their babble and baseness? KING PHARAMOND Full enough, friend--content thee, my lips shall not speak it, The same hour wherein they have said that I love thee. Suffice it, folk need me no more: the deliverance, Dear bought in the days past, their hearts have forgotten, But faintly their dim eyes a feared face remember, Their dull ears remember a stern voice they hated. What then, shall I waken their fear and their hatred, And then wait till fresh terror their memory awaketh, With the semblance of love that they have not to give me? Nay, nay, they are safe from my help and my justice, And I--I am freed, and fresh waxeth my manhood. MASTER OLIVER It may not be otherwise since thou wilt have it, Yet I say it again, if thou shake out thy banner, Some brave men will be borne unto earth peradventure, Many dastards go trembling to meet their due doom, And then shall come fair days and glory upon me And on all men on earth for thy fame, O King Pharamond. KING PHARAMOND