THE OPEN SEA

By EDGAR LEE MASTERS New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1921 All rights reserved PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Copyright, 1921, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1921. Press of J. J. Little & Ives Company New York, U. S. A.

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CONTENTS

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THE OPEN SEA

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PART ONE THE OPEN SEA

BRUTUS BRUTUS AND ANTONY (Lucilius Talks at a Feast Given to Aristocrates in Rome.) B. C. 20

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THE OPEN SEA

BRUTUS

BRUTUS AND ANTONY

Part I

(Lucilius Talks at a Feast Given to Aristocrates in Rome)

B.C. 20

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AT THE MERMAID TAVERN (April 10th, 1613)

(Lionard Digges is speaking)

{31}

CHARLOTTE CORDAY (The Revolutionary Tribunal; July 17th, 1793)

(Danton and Robespierre leave the room together.)

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A MAN CHILD IS BORN (February 12th, 1809. Log Hut near Hodgenville, Ky.) (A neighbor woman is talking)

{52}

RICHARD BOOTH TO HIS SON JUNIUS BRUTUS (London, December 13th, 1813.)

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A MAN CHILD IS BORN (July 14th, 1839. The Farm.) (Mrs. Booth is speaking.)

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SQUIRE BOWLING GREEN (Rutledge’s Tavern, New Salem, July 14th, 1839.)

{63}

LINCOLN SPEAKING IN CONGRESS (January 12th, 1848.)

“Any people anywhere being inclined and having the power have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a sacred right. A right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can, may revolutionize, and may make their own of so much of the territory as they inhabit. More than this, a majority of any portion of such people may revolutionize, putting down a minority, intermingled with, or near about them, who may oppose their movement. Such minority was precisely the case of the Tories of our own revolution. It is a quality of revolutions not to go by old lines, or old laws, but to break up both and make new ones.”{64}

JOHN WILKES BOOTH AT THE FARM (January 12th, 1848.)

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JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH (On a steamboat bound for Cincinnati from New Orleans, November 30th, 1852.)

(He dies.){71}

A CERTAIN POET ON THE DEBATES (At Alton, Illinois, October 15th, 1858.) (Arguing with a group at the hotel.)

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PART II

THE DECISION (April 14th, 1861.)

Lincoln is sitting absorbed in thought in an office of the executive mansion, where he has been in consultation with his cabinet. A telegraph instrument has ceased to click, but the wires are droning. Lincoln suddenly falls into a sleep, at once profound and trance-like. In the vision members of his cabinet and secretaries move in and out of the room.

The vision grows confused. Lincoln seems to himself to attempt to arise from the chair but is unable{87} to do so. The scene whirls about like drifting mist, struck by a sudden current of air, in which there are lights and faces. Voices are mingled together indistinguishably and then fade away. There is a silence. Out of the confusion two figures emerge, one bright, the other shadowy. Both are images of Lincoln. They become seated in a boat which is moving with great rapidity. The only sound is the droning of the telegraph.

(He knocks on the cliff. The vision grows cloudy.)

(They leave the heights and descend, approaching a mysterious place where heaven and earth are connected by gates.)

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(They pass through the gates into a meadow.)

(Voices from the thrones.)

(Many souls are crowded into the meadow. A figure takes from the lap of Lachesis lots and scatters them.)

(The Furies enter.)

(The two phantoms become one.)

(The Image Passes.)

(A sound of cannon. Lincoln awakes. The Secretary of War enters.)

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PART III

LINCOLN MAKES A MEMORANDUM

(November 23rd, 1864.)

“The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present Civil War it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party; and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adoption to effect his purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true; that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power on the minds of the now contestants he could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And having begun he could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.”{118}

WINTER GARDEN THEATRE

(New York, November 23rd, 1864.) John Wilkes Booth is speaking behind the scenes to his brother.

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THE SPARROW HAWK IN THE RAIN

(Alexander Stephens hears news.)

(Liberty Hall, April 9th, 1865.)

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ADELAIDE AND JOHN WILKES BOOTH (At the National Hall, Washington, April 9, 1865.)

(He goes out.){140}

BRUTUS LIVES AGAIN IN BOOTH (Ford’s Theatre, Good Friday, April 14th, 1865.)

The orchestra starts up; the audience sings:

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Scene II. The White House.

(He goes out.)

(They go out.)

Scene III. The entrance of Ford’s Theatre.

(Passing the doorkeeper without a ticket.)

(He goes into the theatre.)

Scene IV. Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln Driving to the Theatre.

(They drive on.)

Scene V. The stage of Ford’s Theatre.

(Laura Keene as “Florence Trenchard”; John Dyatt as “Dundreary” in dialogue in Tom Taylor’s “American Cousin.”)

(Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln and party enter the box.)

(Making a profound courtesy to Lincoln.)

(The audience breaks into great applause. The band plays “Hail to the Chief.” Lincoln bows to the audience.)

Scene VI. Back of the stage.

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Scene VII. The Presidential Box.

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Scene VIII. Dress Circle.

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Scene IX. In the passageway leading to the Presidential box.

Scene X. The Presidential box.

Scene XI. Booth at the door of the Presidential box aiming a pistol.

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Scene XII. On the stage.

(He rushes off. Great confusion.){151}

BOOTH’S PHILIPPI (Garrett’s Tobacco House, Bowling Green, Virginia, April 26th, 1865. Booth and Harrold.)

SCENE I

(He prays.){154}

Scene II. (At the Garrett House.)

(Lieutenant Baker, and a squad, including Boston Corbett.)

Scene III. (Inside the Tobacco House.)

Scene IV. (At the Garrett House.)

Scene V. (Inside the Tobacco House.)

Scene VI. (Boston Corbett looking through a crack in the Tobacco House at Booth amid the flames.)

(He points a carbine through a crack and fires at Booth. Booth leaps and falls. The soldiers go in and bring him out on the lawn.)

Scene VII. (On the lawn.)

(He dies.){160}

THE BURIAL OF BOSTON CORBETT

(One warden to another.)

(Asylum for the insane, Kansas, 1885.)

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THE NEW APOCRYPHA

BUSINESS REVERSES

(Mark, Chapter VI.)

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THE FIG TREE (Matthew, Chapter XXI.)

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TRIBUTE MONEY (Matthew, Chapter XXII: 24-27.)

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THE GREAT MERGER (Exodus, Chapter XX.)

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AT DECAPOLIS (Mark, Chapter V.)

1 THE ACCUSATION

2 JESUS BEFORE MAGISTRATE AHAZ

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THE SINGLE STANDARD (St. John, Chapter VIII.)

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FIRST ENTRANTS (St. Matthew, Chapter XXII: 31.)

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JOHN IN PRISON (St. Luke, Chapter XVI. St. Matthew, Chapter XI.)

ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA

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THE TWO MALEFACTORS

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BERENICE

(Paul is brought in.)

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NEBUCHADNEZZAR: OR EATING GRASS

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HIP LUNG ON YUAN CHANG

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ULYSSES

THE PARTY

CELSUS AT HADRIAN’S VILLA

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INVOCATION TO THE GODS

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

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PENTHEUS IN THESE STATES

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

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COMPARATIVE CRIMINALS

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THE GREAT RACE PASSES

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DEMOS THE DESPOT

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A REPUBLIC

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THE INN

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MONODY ON THE DEATH OF WILLIAM MARION REEDY

I

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II

III

IV

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GOD AND MY COUNTRY

THE DUNES OF INDIANA

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NATURE

THE END