SCENE iv PART SECOND
SEMICHORUS I
It boils in a boisterous thrill
Through the 'mart, Unconscious well-nigh as the Will
Of its part:
Would it wholly might be so, and feel not the forthcoming smart!
SEMICHORUS II
In conclaves no voice of reflection
Is heard, King, Councillors, grudge circumspection
A word,
And victory is visioned, and seemings as facts are averred.
CHORUS
Yea, the soul of a nation distrest
Is aflame, And heaving with eager unrest
In its aim At supreme desperations to blazon the national name !
Midnight strikes, lights are extinguished one by one, and the scene disappears.
SCENE IV
THE FIELD OF JENA
Day has just dawned through a grey October haze. The French, with their backs to the nebulous light, loom out and show themselves to be already under arms; LANNES holding the centre, NEY the right, SOULT the extreme right, and AUGEREATJ the left The Imperial Guard and MURAT'S cavalry are drawn up on the Land-grafenberg, behind the centre of the French position. In a valley stretching along to the rear of this height flows northward towards the Elbe the little river Saale, on which the town of Jena stands.
On the irregular plateaux in front of the French lines, and almost
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