I do not beg, Napoleon.
I come to ask you keep your sacred oath,
But do not make a beggar of me, sir,
Who was a princess in my cradle.

Lou. Nay,
Royal Carlotta, if beggar here must be,
See one in us who sue your gentle patience.
While strength was ours to give we gave it you,
But now is France grown needy of her troops,
With Europe surging to a conflict round her.

Car. My lord--

Lou. America turns baying on us.
Should we make war on one who twice o'ercame
Our island neighbors when she was but child
To what she now is grown?

Prus. Your majesty,
'T would be a folly for a clown, not king.

Car. America? Easier to stop her now
Than it will be when she wears Mexico
Like sword at her right side. Austria, Prussia,
Strike you no more at neighbor throats, but come
And win a fight for God. Napoleon, come!
There lies a world that's worth the price of war.
Whose swelling breasts pour milk of paradise,
Whose marble mountains wait the carver's hand,
Whose valley arms ne'er tire with Ceres' load,
Whose crownless head awaits the diadem
That but divine, ancestral dignity
May fix imperishably upon it! A bride
For blessed Rome! And will you give her up
To ravishers? To enemies of the Church?
To unclean hands ne'er dipped in holy chrism?

Aus. The time's not ripe for our united swords
To ransom her.

Car. The time is always ripe
For a good deed. Napoleon, you will come!
And though you fail, failure will be majestic.
Withdraw like frightened schoolboy and you make
Your throne a penance stool whereon you sit
For laughter of the nations. But come, and though
You fail, when time has brought America
To her full, greedy strength, these scornful kings
Will then unite in desperate endeavor
To give your great conception form and face,
And at your tomb they'll lift their shaken crowns
And beg a pardon from your heart of dust!

Prus. (Aside) He'll yield to her!... Most noble lady, we--

Car. I speak, sir, to Napoleon.