Demetrius by Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller
page 13 of 71 (18%)
page 13 of 71 (18%)
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I tender fifty, who will give their oaths,--
All Piasts to a man, and free-born Poles Of spotless reputation,--each of whom Is ready to enforce what I have urged. There sits the noble Prince of Sendomir, And at his side the Castellan of Lublin; Let them declare if I have spoke the truth. ARCHBISHOP OF GNESEN. How seem these things to the august Estates? To the enforcement of such numerous proofs Doubt and mistrust, methinks, must needs give way. Long has a creeping rumor filled the world That Dmitri, Ivan's son, is still alive. The Czar himself confirms it by his fears. --Before us stands a youth, in age and mien Even to the very freak that nature played, The lost heir's counterpart, and of a soul Whose noble stamp keeps rank with his high claims. He left a cloister's precincts, urged by strange, Mysterious promptings; and this monk-trained boy Was straight distinguished for his knightly feats. He shows a trinket which the Czarowitsch Once wore, and one that never left his side; A written witness, too, by pious hands, Gives us assurance of his princely birth; And, stronger still, from his unvarnished speech And open brow truth makes his best appeal. Such traits as these deceit doth never don; It masks its subtle soul in vaunting words, |
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