RUTH. What?
HAGEN. [Louder.] Get down on your knees! [PLIMPTON sinks in horror. PRINCE HAGEN turns Upon RUTHERFORD.] Down!
RUTH. [Sinking.] Mercy!
HAGEN. [As they kneel before him, his anger vanishes; he steps back.] There! [Waving his hand.] You asked me what I wanted? I wanted this. .. to see you there... upon your knees! [To spectators, who appear right and left.] Behold!
RUTH. Oh! [Starts to rise.]
HAGEN. [Savagely.] Stay where you are!... To see you on your knees! To hear you crying for mercy, which you will not get! You pious plunderers! Devourers of the people! Assassins of women and helpless children! Who made the rules of this game... you or I? Who cast the halo of righteousness about it... who sanctified it by the laws of God and man? Property! Property was holy! Property must rule! You carved it into your constitutions... you taught it in your newspapers, you preached it from your pulpits! You screwed down wages, you screwed up prices... it must be right, because it paid! Money was the test... money was the end! You were business men! Practical men! Don't you know the phrases? Money talks! Business is business! The gold standard... ha, ha, ha! The gold standard! Now someone has come who has more gold than you. You were masters... now I am the master! And what you have done to the people I will do to you! You shall drink the cup that you have poured out for them... you shall drink it to the dregs!
PLIM. [Starting to rise.] Monster!
HAGEN. Stay where you are! Cringe and grovel and whine! [Draws a Nibelung whip from under his coat.] I will put the lash upon your backs! I will strip your shams from you... I will see you as you are! I will take away your wealth, that you have wrung from others! Before I get through with you you shall sweat with the toilers in the trenches! For I am the master now! I have the gold! I own the property! The world is mine! You were lords and barons... you ruled in your little principalities! But I shall rule everywhere... everything... all civilization! I shall be king! King! [With exultant gesture.] Make way for the king! Make way for the king!
CURTAIN [ [!-- H2 anchor --] ]