Part 355 (1/2)

RAZIN.

Why, e'en this pillar here bears Moscow's arms; Here terminates the empire of the Poles.

DEMETRIUS.

Is that the Dnieper, rolls its quiet stream Along these meadows?

ODOWALSKY.

That, sire, is the Desna; See, yonder rise the towers of Tschernizow!

RAZIN.

Yon gleam you see upon the far horizon Is from the roofs of Sewerisch Novogrod.

DEMETRIUS.

What a rich prospect! What fair meadow lands!

ODOWALSKY.

The spring has decked them with her trim array; A teeming harvest clothes the fruitful soil.

DEMETRIUS.

The view is lost in limitless expanse.

RAZIN.

Yet is this but a small beginning, sire, Of Russia's mighty empire. For it spreads Towards the east to confines unexplored, And on the north has ne'er a boundary, Save the productive energy of earth.

Behold, our Czar is quite absorbed in thought.

DEMETRIUS.

On these fair meads dwell peace, unbroken peace, And with war's terrible array I come To scatter havoc, like a listed foe!

ODOWALSKY.

Hereafter 'twill be time to think of that.

DEMETRIUS.

Thou feelest as a Pole, I am Moscow's son.

It is the land to which I owe my life; Forgive me, thou dear soil, land of my home, Thou sacred boundary-pillar, which I clasp, Whereon my sire his broad-spread eagle graved, That I, thy son, with foreign foemen's arms, Invade the tranquil temple of thy peace.

'Tis to reclaim my heritage I come, And the proud name that has been stolen from me.

Here the Varegers, my forefathers, ruled, In lengthened line, for thirty generations; I am the last of all their lineage, s.n.a.t.c.hed From murder by G.o.d's special providence.

SCENE III.

A Russian village. An open square before a church.

The tocsin is heard. GLEB, ILIA, and TIMOSKA rush in, armed with hatchets.

GLEB (entering from a house).

Why are they running?

ILIA (entering from another house).