We come; and learn as Time's disordered dear sands run That Castlereagh's diplomacy has wiled, waxed, won. The beacons flash the fevered news to eyes keen bent That Austria's formal words of war are shaped, sealed, sent. SEMICHORUS II So; Poland's three despoilers primed by Bull's gross pay To stem Napoleon's might, he waits the weird dark day; His proffered peace declined with scorn, in fell force then They front him, with yet ten-score thousand more massed men. [At the back of the room CAULAINCOURT, DUKE OF VICENZA, and JOUANNE, one of Napoleon's confidential secretaries, are unpacking and laying out the Emperor's maps and papers. In the foreground BERTHIER, MURAT, LAURISTON, and several officers of Napoleon's suite, are holding a desultory conversation while they await his entry. Their countenances are overcast.] MURAT At least, the scheme of marching on Berlin Is now abandoned. LAURISTON Not without high words: He yielded and gave order prompt for Leipzig But coldness and reserve have marked his mood Towards us ever since. BERTHIER The march hereto He has looked on as a retrogressive one, And that, he ever holds, is courting woe. To counsel it was doubtless full of risk, And heaped us with responsibilities; --Yet 'twas your missive, sire, that settled it [to MURAT]. How stirred he was! “To Leipzig, or Berlin?” He kept repeating, as he drew and drew Fantastic figures on the foolscap sheet,-- “The one spells ruin--t'other spells success, And which is which?” MURAT [stiffly] What better could I do? So far were the Allies from sheering off As he supposed, that they had moved in march Full fanfare hither! I was duty-bound To let him know. LAURISTON Assuming victory here, If he should let the advantage slip him by As on the Dresden day, he wrecks us all! 'Twas damnable--to ride back from the fight Inside a coach, as though we had not won! CAULAINCOURT [from the back] The Emperor was ill: I have ground for knowing. [NAPOLEON enters.] NAPOLEON [buoyantly] Comrades, the outlook promises us well! MURAT [dryly] Right glad are we you tongue such tidings, sire. To us the stars have visaged differently; To wit: we muster outside Leipzig here Levies one hundred and ninety thousand strong. The enemy has mustered, OUTSIDE US, Three hundred and fifty thousand--if not more. NAPOLEON All that is needful is to conquer them! We are concentred here: they lie a-spread, Which shrinks them to two-hundred-thousand power:-- Though that the urgency of victory Is absolute, I admit. MURAT Yea; otherwise The issue will be worse than Moscow, sire! [MARMONT, DUKE OF RAGUSA [Wellington's adversary in Spain], is announced, and enters.] NAPOLEON Ah, Marmont; bring you in particulars?