Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/291

Scene 1. (Chamber of the Council of the Crusade, Discover Phillip, Henry, Leopold, Conrad, Baldwin, Amaury, Kenneth, Guards, and Attendants.—A flourish of trumpets.)

PHILLIP: Royal and princely colleagues and brothers-in-arms! We have now reached our decision. This scroll contains our ultimatum—our terms to Saladin, the Soldan of Egypt and Syria, and leader of the Saracen armies. If he will have peace and avold further bloodshed and devastation of his country, let him accept these terms of peace, to wit: He shall release all Christians held as prisoners and hostages; secondly, he shall permit free pilgrimages in all the sacred places of the Holy Land; furthermore, he shall allow Christian garrisons in the six principal cities of Palestine; and finally, he shall re-establish the Kingdom of Jerusalem with all the possessions thereunto appertaining. In return wherefor, we, the league of Christian monarchs, shall bind ourselves to a peaceful evacuation of all Asia and Egypt; we shall allow and foster free intercommunication between the domains of the Soldan and the countries of Europe; and finally, we shall guarantee to aid him in maintaining his power for the preservation of peace in Syria and Egypt.—These, in substance, are our terms. If Saladin will have them, the blessings of peace and prosperity shall be his; if he shall, however, not be amenable to the justice and reason of these our claims, we shall maintain them at the point of our swords. For, my brothers, we have taken upon our selves, freely and gladly, a vow and an oath to redeem the sacred places of the homeland of our Saviour from the oppression and tyranny of the misbelieving Moslems. Our oath is registered in Heaven, and its symbol, the Cross, is on our shoulders. The last breath of our lives, and the last drop of our heart’s blood shall be spent to the end that the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church shall be exalted to her rightful place in the land of her birth; that her pride of place shall be re-established in the Holy City of David, the Mother of the Churches; that the pious pilgrims of Christendom shall have free and untrammeled access to those places which have been consecrated by the labors, the tears, and the very blood of our Blessed Redeemer.

CRUSADERS: Deus vult! Deus vult! God wills it! God wills it! Lead us on, King of France! Lead us on to Sion and the Holy Sepulchre!

HENRY: Soldiers of the Cross! I bid you remember that ye have crossed hill and dale, mountain and stream, sea and desert plain to wrest from the wretched hands of the misbelieving Paynim the most beloved treasures of every Christian heart—Bethlehem, where our King was born, Nazareth, where He lived, the Temple, where He prayed, the Holy Mount, where He died for our sins, the Tomb, wherein He was buried.—By the tears of your mothers and wives, by the prayers of your sisters and children, I ask ye, shall Mahommed reign where Christ our King died upon the Holy Rood? Shall Jerusalem remain another Mecca? Shall the Crescent supplant the Cross?

CRUSADERS: No! No! Down with Mahommed! Down with false gods and their prophets! The Cross! The Cross! Lead us on to the Holy City and the Sepulchre.

BALDWIN: Soldiers of the Cross! Your enthusiasm for the cause of our holy religion ascends on angels’ wings to the throne of the Almighty. Be firm, be courageous, preserve unity and accord: and victory from Heaven shall descend upon the banner of the Cross.

PHIL.: Sir Kenneth, thou hast been chosen to carry our terms to the Soldan. Hast thou received Saladin’s pass through his armies?

KEN.: I have, your gracious majesty.

PHIL.: Then fare thee well, noble Knight, and God speed thee!