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111ἅπανθ᾽ ὁ μακρὸς κἀναρίθμητος χρόνος φύει τ᾽ ἄδηλα καὶ φανέντα κρύπτεται: κοὐκ ἔστ᾽ ἄελπτον οὐδέν, ἀλλ᾽ ἁλίσκεται χὠ δεινὸς ὅρκος χαἰ περισκελει̂ς φρένες. Sophocles: Ajax 646In the Name of Time. A Tragedy
Michael Field
2πολλά βροτοίς έστιν έδουσιν γνώναι. πρίν ιδείν δ ', ουδείς μάντις των μελλόντων, ό τι πράξει. *In the Name of Time [Winter's Tale IV Cho. ] *3ἅπανθ᾽ ὁ μακρὸς κἀναρίθμητος χρόνος φύει τ᾽ ἄδηλα καὶ φανέντα κρύπτεται: κοὐκ ἔστ᾽ ἄελπτον οὐδέν, ἀλλ᾽ ἁλίσκεται χὠ δεινὸς ὅρκος χαἰ περισκελει̂ς φρένες. Sophocles -- Ajax 646*
224

PersonsPersons

5

Act I*

3IOnward. 161.

Act I Scene 1Scene

June 25. 1895 - August -Paris. A Hall in the Royal Palace.
Carloman is pacing backward + forward: he pauses by a crucifix set up at the further end of the hall.
Carloman*
He said wwWho laid His life down on the cross,,⟨:⟩
*
So will I be a King. I will possess in sooth
The great Rrreality. I war ++and  govern,
I can strike hard asaslike⟨as⟩  Charles the Hammerer;
*
Men say I have my father's qualities,
And in the brief months of my sovereignty
The infidelin fidelin fidel  has recognised my blood:
Have made the throne phantasmal. I have felt
In Zacharias*,,,  the great Pope,,,  a forceforcepowerforce
That spreads,,,  like spring across the world. No more
Will I be petty marshalmarshallmarshall  to a crew
That hack + murder, while the royal faces
Of wandering mMmartyrs scintillate + thrill.
There is a glorious bBbetterness at work.
Amid the highways + the solitudes;
I would be with it -- in obscurity,
4IINo matter! -- with the rrsriveriver* as it shapes
Its cistern in the hills, or where the wind
First draws its silver volumes to a voice:
Behind, at the beginning, from within!
2⟨How shall I face him⟩3
A cry, a prayerprayerpang-- what shall respond to it,72.
Who help me? I have fiery thoughts of God;;,
I would attempt HhHHim; i; i. In the wilderness
*
May beMay beMaybe  He will unbosom.
*
AttendantAttendantServant
Consul,  the AaArchbishop
Of Mentz would see you..
*
Carloman
My spirit leaps within me to be born,
Beholding you.
4⟨W. /⟩5
Boniface
My son, the Holy Father
Receives you joyously.
Living, unscathed, to give Him everything
One has, to pour one's soul into His lap,
To let Him play upon one as the wind,
To feel His alternations...!
Boniface
Carloman,
Your childlike transport shall be surely blest;blest;blessed:
Yet in the convent there are bitter hours
Boniface
The holy  brethren chauntchauntchant  in unison
About the cloisterFor hours within the chapel; there is buzz
About the cloister like a hive of bees,..
*
There have been hermits! Might I live alone,
I could breathe unrepiningly the while
It pleased God to keep silence. I would tame
Some wistful, kingly beast to roam with me,
And we would wait HHhHis pleasure. Boniface,
6x Ere you renounced it. C. Scanned the heir of Clovis Drawn like a senseless idol in his car. You judge unworthily. God bade me come Up highe, to Him on a battlefield Where I was victor. it was in the night; I moved about among my sleeping men I heard them shout for triumph in their dreams, It was enough. Yes, all is vanity The pride of life, of youth, even life itself There is no vanity in life, life utters (with sudden passion) W. 7
And travelled,-- for His sake a wayfarer,--
Boniface
Carloman
Great nobles of the East, + all my service*
Boniface
Thou speakest truth, my son;, --;  there are some souls
Loved of the Lord as Paul in Araby
*
With whom one must not meddle.,.  In good time
You will exalt the Church::;  meanwhile your brother
Who has a tighter grip of circumstance
Than you —
He is short-sighted, politic,
External in his bent. I lead the charge
In battle, I forsee the combinations
Of foreign forces::;  he is good at siegesiege,sierge,
And all the hectoring process of delay;..
He is not like my father. That great fight
At Tours----!  I feel the onslaught in my blood;
*
It never can run sluggish
Boniface
Had you seen
The heir of Clovis  King Chilperic's* wreatheéed waggon in the streets!
You should have looked a last time on the world,
Ere you renounced it. All is vanity
Carloman*
Drawn like a senseless idol in his car!
*
Boniface*
Carloman
There is no vanity in life,;;  life utters
Unsparing truth to us,;, --  there is no marklineline
Or recordof her  in our bodiesyy  of hernewher  printing
What makes thethisthe  show out in the streets so vile
Is that it blazons forth the lie that youthhonouryouth,youth,
A show of death whencer ncere  life should radiate
Is vanity. A;A⟨a⟩. A. And if I now fling off
The honourable titles of my state,,
Consul,,  + Patriarch, it is not because
I have not nobly borne them: by my sword
The ccChurch hasthss  been defended, + the corn
*
That bows in shocks about your monasteries,
Bows down above the battlefieldsbattlefieldsbattle fields  I won.
Boniface
(aside)  A sweep of piety
CarlomanFrom Boniface. || Wilt thou find martyrdom10 A sweep of piety Beyond my censure. C. Boniface you have The liefe of martydom — Yes, I must flush You have — O were I worthy_ B My beloved I pray God take no care about my death So He will guid you to Him, when your hour Shall come — I have no vision of your endNot wantedBut do not cloud for that. Were repented All would be well — the thing you call my soul Flees like a sly girl who escapes pursuit From but oh the burthen To justify to Pepin my intent, To speak of it! the thing you call my soul Flees! º*11The path of life choosing to be a monk,
Boniface
Carloman9
dr. f. p. [?]
In Pepin's eyes. He will not understand
Boniface
My son, confession
Is just the pain of seeing a torch stagger
th' uncomprehending confines of the dark.
Speak out to Pepin.
Carloman
Yes, but not today,
When straight from the procession of that cursed
Do-nothing Chilperic
Boniface
Set your purpose forth
At once, +let him freely misconceive.
Take your shame meekly. Do not let your eyes
Grow wild +hostile.
10VII. I have a burthen,I have a burthen,Now's must face my brother. Would he come
Boniface
Carloman
Boniface
Let;LetSet  your purpose forth.
At once, + let him freely misconceive.:
Carloman
Boniface
Take your shame meekly. Do not letyouryr.your  eyes
Grow wild + hostile.!
Pepin
Woden, what a sceneceneight!
*
Will rid us of the calf. We pull together
*
In right food sortpartpart, fraternal, taking pride
Each in the other's excellence;;:  ere long
The Pope will pour his oil upon our heads
*
To nourish our short curls.
Carloman
He has the power
11VIIIOf making kings??
14
Wait till he seek us. Frankland is his hope
Against the Lombards. wait. and by + my e[?]
That something that we lack to give our strength
Supremacy --
15
Pepin
Liutbrand,  the Lombard winced
*
Before him, + resigned the exarchite
*
And he who can unimpoverish maymaycanmay  endow.