John Keats (1795-1821)

King Stephen

Act I

Scene 3

The Field of Battle. Enter Stephen unarmed.

STEPHEN. Another sword! And what if I could seize

One from Bellona’s gleaming armoury,

Or choose the fairest of her sheaved spears!

Where are my enemies? Here, close at hand,

Here come the testy brood. O for a sword!

I’m faint—a biting sword! A noble sword!

A hedge-stake—or a ponderous stone to hurl

With brawny vengeance, like the labourer Cain.

Come on! Farewell my kingdom, and all hail

Thou superb, plumb’d, and helmeted renown,

All hail—I would not truck this brilliant day

To rule in Pylos with a Nestor’s beard—

Come on!

Enter De Kaims and Knights, &c.

DE KAIMS. Is’t madness, or a hunger after death,

That makes thee thus unarm’d throw taunts at us?

Yield, Stephen, or my sword’s point dip in

The gloomy current of a traitor’s heart.
STEPHEN. Do it, De Kaims, I will not budge an inch.
DE KAIMS. Yes, of thy madness thou shalt take the meed.
STEPHEN. Darest thou?
DE KAIMS.xxxxxxxxxxxHow dare, against a man disarm’d?
STEPHEN. What weapons has the lion but himself?

Come not near me, De Kaims, for by the price

Of all the glory I have won this day,

Being a king, I will not yield alive

To any but the second man of the realm,

Robert of Glocester.
DE KAIMS.xxxxxxxxxxxxThou shalt vail to me.
STEPHEN. Shall I, when I have sworn against it, sir?

Thou think’st it brave to take a breathing king,

That, on a court-day bow’d to haughty Maud

The awed presence-chamber may be bold

To whisper, there’s the man who took alive

Stephen—me—prisoner. Certes, De Kaims,

The ambition is a noble one.
DE KAIMS.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx’Tis true,

And, Stephen, I must compass it.
STEPHEN.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxNo, no,

Do not tempt me to throttle you on the gorge,

Or with my gauntlet crush your hollow breast,

Just when your knighthood is grown ripe and full

For lordship.
A SOLDIER. Is an honest yeoman’s spear

Of no use at a need? Take that.
STEPHEN.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxAh, dastard!
DE KAIMS. What, you are vulnerable! my prisoner!
STEPHEN. No, not yet. I disclaim it, and demand

Death as a sovereign right unto a king

Who ’sdains to yield to any but his peer,

If not in title, yet in noble deeds,

The Earl of Glocester. Stab to the hilts, De Kaims,

For I will never by mean hands be led

From this so famous field. Do ye hear! Be quick!

Trumpets.
Enter the Earl of Chester and Knights.

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Act I Scene 2

Act I Scene 4