Transcribed 1899 Chatto & Windus edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org ROSAMUND, QUEEN OF THE LOMBARDS A TRAGEDY * * * * * BY ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE * * * * * LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1899 * * * * * PERSONS REPRESENTED ALBOVINE, _King of the Lombards_. ALMACHILDES, _a young Lombard warrior_. NARSETES, _an old leader and counsellor_. * * * * * ROSAMUND, _Queen of the Lombards_. HILDEGARD, _a noble Lombard maiden_. SCENE, VERONA. _Time_, June 573 ACT I. _A hall in the Palace_: _a curtain 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 or bindweed? 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.