SCENE ni PART SECOND
NAPOLEON
Of Mass6na ?
BERTHIER
Vea. He retreats for prudence' sake, it seems, Before Lord Wellington. Dispatches soon Must reach your Majesty, explaining all.
NAPOLEON
Ever retreating! Why declines he so
From all his olden prowess ? Why, again,
Did he give battle at Busaco lately,
When Lisbon could be marched on without strain ?
Why has he dallied by the Tagus bank
And shunned the obvious course ? I gave him Ney,
Soult, and Junot, and eighty thousand men,
And he does nothing. Really it might seem
As though we meant to let this Wellington
Be even with us there!
BERTHIER
His mighty forts
At Torres Wdras hamper Mass&ia, And quite preclude advance.
NAPOLEON
O well—no matter :
Why should I linger on these haps of war Now that I have a son!
Exeunt NAPOLEON by one door and by another the PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, CAMBACER&S, LEBRUN, BERTHIER, and officials.
CHORUS OF IRONIC SPIRITS (aerial music)
The Will Itself is slave to him, 373