You are the Duke Of Austria--I know it. You have slain The Emperor, your uncle, and liege lord. JOHN. He robb'd me of my patrimony. TELL. How! Slain him--your king, your uncle! And the earth Still bears you! And the sun still shines on you! JOHN. Tell, hear me, ere you-- TELL. Reeking with the blood Of him that was your Emperor, your kinsman, Dare you set foot within my spotless house, Dare to a honest man to show your face, And claim the rites of hospitality? JOHN. I hoped to find compassion at your hands. You took, like me, revenge upon your foe! TELL. Unhappy man! Dare you confound the crime Of blood-imbued ambition with the act Forced on a father in mere self-defence? Have you to shield your children's darling heads, To guard your fireside's sanctuary--ward off The last, the direst doom from all you loved? To Heaven I raise my unpolluted hands, To curse your act and you! I have avenged That holy nature which you have profaned. I have no part with you. You murdered, I Have shielded all that was most dear to me. JOHN. You cast me off to comfortless despair! TELL. I shrink with horror while I talk with you. Hence, on the dread career you have begun, Cease to pollute the home of innocence! [JOHN _turns to depart._] JOHN. I cannot and I will not live this life! TELL. And yet my soul bleeds for you. Gracious Heaven, So young, of such a noble line, the grandson Of Rudolph, once my lord and emperor, An outcast--murderer--standing at my door, The poor man's door--a suppliant, in despair! [_Covers his face_.] JOHN. If you have power to weep, oh let my fate Move your compassion--it is horrible! I am--say, rather was--a prince. I might Have been most happy, had I only curb'd The impatience of my passionate desires: But envy gnaw'd my heart--I saw the youth Of mine own cousin Leopold endow'd With honor, and enrich'd with broad domains, The while myself, of equal age with him, In abject slavish nonage was kept back. TELL. Unhappy man, your uncle knew you well, When from you land and subjects he withheld! You, by your mad and desperate act have set A fearful seal upon his wise resolve. Where are the bloody partners of your crime? JOHN. Where'er the avenging furies may have borne them; I have not seen them since the luckless deed. TELL. Know you the Empire's ban is out--that you Are interdicted to your friends, and given An outlaw'd victim to your enemies! JOHN. Therefore I shun all public thoroughfares, And venture not to knock at any door-- I turn my footsteps to the wilds, and through The mountains roam, a terror to myself. From mine own self I shrink with horror back, If in a brook I see my ill-starr'd form. If you have pity or a human heart-- [_Falls down before him_.] TELL. Stand up, stand up! I say. JOHN.