King monologue (Act 5) — Don Carlos: A Play

'Tis possible he may miscalculate. I'm still myself. Thanks, Nature, for thy gifts; I feel within my frame the strength of youth; I'll turn their schemes to mockery. His virtue Shall be an empty dream--his death, a fool's. His fall shall crush his friend and age together. We'll test it now--how they can do without me. The world is still for one short evening mine, And this same evening will I so employ, That no reformer yet to cone shall reap Another harvest, in the waste I'll leave, For ten long generations after me. He would have offered me a sacrifice To his new deity--humanity! So on humanity I'll take revenge. And with his puppet I'll at once commence. [To the DUKE ALVA. What you have now to tell me of the prince, Repeat. What tidings do these letters bring?