Eric
ACT Five
Eric’s Palace.
Scene 1
ERIC
Not by love only, but by force and love.
This man must lower his fierceness to the fierce,
He must be beggared of the thing left, his pride,
And know himself for clay, before he will consent
To value my gift. He would not honour nor revere
This unfamiliar movement of my soul
But would contemn and think my seated strength
Had changed to trembling. Strike the audience-bell,
Harald. The master of my stars is he
Who owns no master.Odin, what is this play,
Thou playest with thy world, of fall and rise,
Of death, birth, greatness, ruin? The time may come
When Eric shall not be remembered! Yes,
But there’s a script, there are archives that endure.
Before a throne in some superior world
Bards with undying lips and eyes still young
After the ages sing of all the past
And the immortal Children hear. Somewhere
In this gigantic world of which one grain of dust
Is all our field, Eternal Memory keeps
Our great things and our trivial equally
To whom the peasant’s moans above his dead
Are tragic as a prince’s fall. Some say
Atomic Chance put Eric here, Swegn there,
Aslaug between. O you revealing Gods,
But I have seen myself and know though veiled
The immortality that thinks in me,
That plans and reasons. Masters of Norway, hail!
For all are masters here, not I alone
Who am my country’s brain of unity,
Your oneness. Swegn’s at last in Norway’s hands,
Who shook our fates. And what shall Norway do with Swegn,
One of her mightiest?
GUNTHAR
If his might submits
Then, Eric, let him live. We cannot brook
These discords always.
ERIC
Norway cannot brook.
Therefore he must submit. Bring him within.
We’ll see if this strong iron can be bent,
This crudeness bear the fire. Swegn Olafson,
Hast thou considered yet thy state? hast thou
Submitted to the gods; or must we, Swegn,
Consider now thy sentence?
SWEGN
I have seen
My dire misfortunes, I have seen myself
And know that I am greater. Do thy will,
Since what the son of Yarislaf commands,
The son of Olaf bears!
ERIC
Thou wilt not yield?
SWEGN
My father taught me not the word.
ERIC
Shall I?
Thou hast forgotten, Swegn, thy desperate words.
Or were they meant only for the free snows,
And here retracted?
SWEGN
Son of Yarislaf, they stand.
I claim the cross I would have nailed thee on,
I claim the flayer’s knife.
ERIC
These for thyself.
And for thy wife and sister, Swegn?
SWEGN
Alas!
ERIC
I think thy father taught thee not that word,
But I have taught thee. Since thou lovest yet,—
No man who says that he will stand alone,
Swegn, can afford to love,—thou then art mine
Inevitably. He must be half a god
Who can oppose Thor’s anger, Odin’s will
Nor dream of breaking. Such the gods delight in,
Raising or smiting; such in the gods delight,
Raised up or smitten. But thou wast always man
And canst not now be more. Thou vauntst thy blood,
Thy strength? Thou art much stronger, so thou sayst,
Than thy misfortunes. Art thou stronger, Swegn,
Than theirs? Can all thy haughty pride of race
Or thy heart’s mightiness undo my will
In whose strong hands they lie? Swegn Olafson,
The gods are mightier than thy race and blood,
The gods are mightier than thy arrogant heart.
They will not have one violent man oppose
His egoism, his pride and his desire
Against a country’s fate. Use then thy eyes
And learn thy strength.
At a sign of his hand Aslaug and
Hertha are brought in.
Thou hast no strength,
For thou and these are only Eric’s slaves
Who have been his stubborn hinderers. Therefore Fate,
Whose favourite and brother I have grown,
Turned wroth with you and dragged you all into my grasp.
I will that you should live and yield. These yield,
But thou withstandest wisdom, Fate and love
Allied against thee. Swegn Olafson, submit,
Stand by my side and share thy father’s throne.
SWEGN (after a silence)
Yes, thou art fierce and subtle! Let them pronounce
My duty’s preference if not my heart’s,
To them or Right.
ERIC
O narrow obstinate heart!
Had this been for thy country or a cause
Men worship, then it would indeed have been
A noble blindness, but thou serv’st thy pride,
Swegn, son of Olaf, not the noble cause
Of God or man or country. Look now on these.
I give thee the selection of their fate.
If these remain my slaves, an upstart’s, Swegn,
Who yet are Olaf’s blood and Norway’s pride,
I swear ’tis thou that mak’st them so. Now choose.
(Swegn is silent)
How sayst thou,
Swegn Olafson, shall these be Eric’s thralls?
Wilt thou abide by their pronouncement, Swegn?
Aslaug and Hertha, see your brother and lord,
This mighty captive, royal once, now fallen
And helpless in my hands. I wish to spare
His mightiness, his race, his royal heart;
But he prefers the cross instead, prefers
Your shame—thy brother, Aslaug,—Hertha, he.
Thy spouse consents to utmost shame for both
If from the ages he can buy this word,
“Swegn still was stubborn.” That to him is all.
He who forgot to value Norway’s will,
Forgets to value now your pride, your love.
This was not royal, nor like Olaf’s son!
Come, will you speak to him, will you persuade?
Walk there aside awhile; aim at his heart.
Hertha, my subject, Aslaug, thou my thrall,
Save, if he will, this life.
SWEGN
’Tis thus we meet,—
Were not the snows of Norway preferable,
Daughter of Olaf?
ASLAUG
They were high, but cold.
HERTHA
Wilt thou not speak to Hertha, Swegn, my lord?
SWEGN
Hertha, alas, thy crooked scheming brain
That brought us here.
HERTHA
The gods use instruments,
Not ask their counsel. O Swegn, accept the gods
And their decision.
ASLAUG
Must we live always cold?
O brother, cast the snows out of thy heart.
Let there be summer.
HERTHA
Yield, husband, to the sun.
There is no shame in yielding to the gods.
ASLAUG
Nor to a god, although his room be earth
And his body mortal.
SWEGN
There was an Aslaug once
Whose speech had other grandeurs. Can it find
In all its sweet and lofty harmonies
The word or argument that can excuse thy fall,
O not to me, but to that worshipped self
Thou wast, my sister?
ASLAUG
I have no argument except my heart
Nor need excuse for what I glory in.
Brother, were we not always one? ’Tis strange
That I must reason with thee.
SWEGN
O, thou knewest.
Therefore I fell, therefore my strength is gone,
And where a god’s magnificence lived once,
Here, here ’tis empty. O inconstant heart,
Thou wast my Fate, my courage, and at last
Thou hast gone over to my enemy,
Taking my Fate, my courage. I will hear
No words from such. Thou wouldst betray what’s left,
Until not even Swegn is left to Swegn,
But only a coward’s shadow.
HERTHA
Hear me, Swegn.
SWEGN
Ah, Hertha! what hast thou to say to me?
HERTHA
Save me, my lord, from my own punishment,
Forgetting my deserts.
SWEGN
Alas! thy love,
Though great, was never wise, and must it ask
So huge a recompense? Thou hadst myself.
Thou askst my honour.
ASLAUG
Will this persuade thee? I have nothing else.
SWEGN
Thou only and so only couldst prevail.
O thou hast overcome my strength at last.
King, thou hast conquered. Not to thee I yield,
But those I loved are thy allies. From these
Recall thy wrath and on my head pronounce
What doom thou wilt, though yielding is doom enough
For Swegn of Norway.
ERIC
Abjure rebellion then; receive my boons,
Receive my mercy.
SWEGN
Mercy. It is received.
Let all the world hear Olaf’s son abjure
His birth and greatness. I accept—accept!
King Eric’s boons, King Eric’s mercy. O torture!
The spirit of Olaf will no more sit still
Within me. O though thou slaughter these with pangs,
I will not yield. Take, take thy mercy back.
ERIC
I take it back. What wouldst thou in its stead?
SWEGN
Do what thou wilt with these and me. I have done!
ERIC
Thou castst thy die, thou weak and violent man, I will cast mine
And conquer.
SWEGN
I have endured the worst.
ERIC
Not so.
Thou thinkest I will help thee to thy death,
Allowing the blind grave to seal thy eyes
To all that I shall do to these. Learn, Swegn,
I am more cruel! Thou shalt live and see
On these my vengeance. Go, Aslaug, and return
Robed as thou wast upon the night thou knowest
Wearing thy dagger, wearing too thy ring.
SWEGN
What wilt thou do with her? God! what wilt thou do?
O wherefore have I seen and taken back love
Into a heart had shut itself to all
But death and greatness?
ERIC
I will inflict on them
What thou canst not endure to gaze upon—
Or if thou canst, then with that hardness live
For die thou shalt not. I have ways for that.
Thou thoughtst to take thy refuge in a grave
And let these bear thy punishment for thee,
Thy heart being spared. It was no valiant thought,
No worthy escape for Swegn. Aslaug and Hertha,
Remove your outer robes.
SWEGN
What must I see?
ERIC
As dancing-girls these women came to me.
As dancing-girls I keep them. Thou shalt see
Aslaug of Norway at her trade—to dance
Before me and my courtiers. That begins,
There’s more behind, unless thou change thy mood.
SWEGN
Thou knowest how to torture.
ERIC
And to break.
Aslaug reenters.
Thou seest, Swegn. Shall I command the dance?
Shall this be the result of Olaf’s house?
SWEGN
Daughter of Olaf, wilt thou then obey?
ASLAUG
Yes, since thou lov’st me not, my brother Swegn,
Whom else should I obey, save him I love?
If thou hadst loved me still, I should not need.
ERIC
Dance.
SWEGN
No. Stay, Aslaug. Since thou bad’st me love
Thee, not my glory, as indeed I must
To save the house of Olaf from this shame,—
Whose treacherous weakness works for him and thee,—
ERIC
Pause not again—for pause is fatal now.
SWEGN
King, I have yielded, I accept thy boons.
Heir of a starveling Earl, I bow my head
Even to thy mercies. I am Olaf’s son,
Yet yield—that name remember, speak this word—
I shall be faithful to my own disgrace.
O fear not, King, I can be great again.
ERIC
Without conditions hast thou yielded?
SWEGN
No.
Let these be spared all shame—for that I yield.
My honour has a price—and O ’tis small.
ERIC
That’s given. Without terms besides?
SWEGN
One prayer.
Give me a dungeon deep enough, O King,
To hide my face from all these eyes.
ERIC
Swear then,
Whatever prison I assign thee, be it wide
Or narrow, to observe its state, its bounds
And do even there my will.
SWEGN (with a gesture)
That too is sworn!
Let Thor and Odin witness to my oath.
ERIC
Four prisons I assign to Olaf’s son.
Thy palace first in Trondhjem, Olaf’s roof—
This house in Yara, Eric’s court—thy country
To whom thou yieldest, Norway—and at last
My army’s head when I invade the world.
SWEGN (amazed and doubtful)
Thou hast surprised me, Eric, with an oath
And circumvented.
ERIC
Hertha, to thy lord
Return unharmed—thou seest thou wast safe
As in his dearest keeping. Take, Hertha,
Trondhjem with thee and Olaf’s treasures; sit
The second in the land, beneath our throne.
SWEGN
Eric, enough. Have I not yielded? Here
Let thy boons rest.
ERIC
’Tis truth. For my next boon
Is to myself. Look not upon this hand
I clasp in mine, although the fairest hand
That God has made. Observe this ring instead
And recognise it.
GUNTHAR
It is Freya’s ring
On Aslaug’s hand; she who once wears it sits
Thenceforth on Norway’s throne.
ERIC
Possess thy father’s chair
Intended for thee always from the first,
Nor be amazed that in these dancing robes
I seat her here, for they increase its pomp
More than imperial purple. Think not, Swegn,
Thy sister shamed or false who came to me,
Spilling my blood and hers to give thee back thy crown,
A violent and mighty purpose such
As only noble hearts conceive; and only
She yielded to that noble heart at last
Because of Odin’s pressure.
SWEGN
So they came.
Aslaug, thou soughtst my throne, but findst it thine.
I grudge it not to thee—for thy great heart
Deserved it. Eric, thou hast won at last,
Now only.
ERIC
I could not shame thy sister, Swegn,
Save by my wife’s disgrace, and this was none
But only a deceit to prove thy heart
And now thou seest thou couldst not have rebelled
Except by violence to Olaf’s seed
That must again rule Norway.
SWEGN
Eric, for thy boons,
They hurt not now, take what return thou wilt,
For I am thine. Thou hast found out the way
To save from me thy future. It is secured
Even with my heart’s strings.
ERIC
Swegn, I too have boons
To ask of thee.
SWEGN
Let them be difficult then,
If thou wouldst have me grant them.
ERIC
Swegn, excuse and love
Thy comrade Hardicnut, for he intended
A kind betrayal.
SWEGN
This is nothing, King.
His act my heart had come to understand
And it has pardoned.
ERIC
Forgive then Swegn, dearest,
Sigurd, thy foe, as I have pardoned first
My father’s slaughterer. This thing is hard.
SWEGN
He’s pardoned, not forgiven. Let him not come
Too often in my sight.
ERIC
The gods have won.
Let this embrace engulf our ended strife,
Brother of Aslaug.
SWEGN
Husband of my sister,
Thou assum’st our blood and it ennobles thee
To the height of thy great victories—this thy last
And greatest. Thou hast dealt with me as a King,
Then as a brother. Thou adornst thy throne.
ERIC
Rest, brother, from thy hardships, toils and wars
Until I need the sword that matched with mine,
To smite my foemen.
Aslaug, what thinkst thou?
If thou art satisfied, all was well done.
ASLAUG
Thou hast the tyrant in thy nature still,
And so I love thee best, for then I recognise
My conqueror. O what canst thou do but well?
For in thy every act and word I see
The gods compel thee.
ERIC
O thou hast changed me with thy starry eyes,
Daughter of Olaf, and hast made me a man
Where was but height and iron; all my roots
Of action, mercy, greatness, enterprise,
Sit now transplanted to thy breast, O charm,
O noble marvel! From thy bosom my strength
Comes out to me. Mighty indeed is love,
Thou sangst of, Aslaug, once, the golden hoop
Mightier, swifter than the warrior’s sword.
Dost thou remember what thou cam’st to do,
Aslaug, from Gothberg?
ASLAUG (wondering)
Only ten days ago
I came from Gothberg!
She turns with a laugh
and embraces Eric.
ERIC
The gods have spoken since and shown their hand.
They seal our eyes and drive us, but at last
Our souls remember when the act is done,
That it was fated. Aslaug, now for us
The world begins again,—our world, beloved,
Since once more we—who since the stars were formed
Playing the game of games by Odin’s will
Have met and parted—parted, meet again
For ever.
