ALL
Ten thousand years!
Ten thousand years!
[The orchestra plays, FAITHFUL PRINCE bends the knee, prostrates himself three times, stands, and retires to his place. The music ceases, complete silence reigns, the EMPRESS rises.]
SCENE II
THE EMPRESS, THE CROWD
EMPRESS
Enlighten me, Oh, Divine Reason! Spirits of my ancestors, enter into my spirit, strengthen my weakness, embolden my heart!——Will these womanly hands have the power to carry on high this sceptre, which is still too heavy for the frail hands of my little son? At least they shall not tremble! They shall hold it with an unrelaxing grasp, which death alone will have the power to unlock. And you will aid me, all of you, my faithful ones, you will aid me with your advice, with your wisdom and your courage.
The name allotted by the Book of Centuries to the last descendant of the Bright Dynasty is: Perfect Harmony Realised. But alas! it seems a faraway dream, this harmony announced in the ancient days of our history, and longed for with many a prayer by our bruised hearts. Instead of this dream of the future, we have the terrible present with its uncertainty, instability, and war! And that Empire, of which you have proclaimed me sovereign, we must reconquer day by day, tearing it fragment by fragment from the grasp of the ravisher.