Demetrius monologue (Act 1) — Demetrius: A Play

Most puissant king! Most worthy and most potent Bishops and palatines, and my good lords, The deputies of the august republic! It gives me pause and wonder to behold Myself, Czar Ivan's son, now stand before The Polish people in their Diet here. Both realms were sundered by a bloody hate, And, whilst my father lived, no peace might be. Yet now hath Heaven so ordered these events, That I, his blood, who with my nurse's milk Imbibed the ancestral hate, appear before you A fugitive, compelled to seek my rights Even here in Poland's heart. Then, ere I speak, Forget magnanimously all rancors past, And that the Czar, whose son I own myself, Rolled war's red billows to your very homes. I stand before you, sirs, a prince despoiled. I ask protection. The oppressed may urge A sacred claim on every noble breast. And who in all earth's circuit shall be just, If not a people great and valiant,--one In plenitude of power so free, it needs To render 'count but to itself alone, And may, unchallenged, lend an open ear And aiding hand to fair humanity.