Joannes Nomsz: Anthonius Hambroek. Amsterdam, 1775.
Translated into English by drs. I. Grunnill and dr. A.J.E. Harmsen.
Original edition: Amsterdam 1775.
Red. dr. A.J.E. Harmsen, Universiteit Leiden.
Ceneton067180 - Ursicula

[fol. *1r]

ANTHONIUS HAMBROEK, OR THE SIEGE OF FORMOSA, TRAGEDY by Joannes Nomsz. AMSTERDAM, for Izaak Duim, on the Cingel, between the Warmoesgracht an the Drie-Koningstraat. 1775. With Privilege.

---

[fol. *1v: blanco]
[fol. *2r]

PREFACE.

This play has the advantage of being based on a well-documented history. If any Christian hero has excelled through an illustrious act, it is the minister ANTHONIUS HAMBROEK; an act of which, apart from the well-known case of REGULUS, there may be no other example to be found in any history. In the treatment of my subject I have mainly conformed myself to what SCHOUTEN tells us about it in his East Indian voyages. I shall put down here what happened to the honest HAMBROEK in some detail; making certain that the surprises in my play will not be spoiled by it. It was in the previous century that the Chinese pirate COXINGA, took by surprise the flourishing island of Formosa, which is situated off the coast of the Chinese empire. He landed so unexpectedly, that he captured the minister HAMBROEK, his wife, son and daughter, as well as many other eminent Christians, because these unfortunate ones did not manage to save themselves within the main stronghold Zeelandia. The Dutch attacked the quickly-erected strongholds of the assaulter; but had to rush headlong back into the stronghold Zeelandia, almost in the same way as I have represented it in my play, after the brave commander PETEL, [fol. *2v] who had gone out too far, had been killed with most of his men. The death of this hero’s son happened in almost the same way as I have FREDRIK describe it in act two. The Chinese general COXINGA, annoyed at the unexpected opposition, decided to take another road than that of weapons, to capture Zeelandia. He sent the grey-haired HAMBROEK to the commander in chief of the Dutch, FREDRIK CAJET, with orders to claim the fortress, under the threat of killing HAMBROEK, if the commander continued to defend himself. To which he added that he would have the wife and children of that minister hacked to pieces, if HAMBROEK did not return to the Chinese army within the time he set him. This message put the brave CAJET in a very difficult position: HAMBROEK was his best friend, and two children of that minister were inside Zeelandia. Friendship spoke in the heart of the commander, and HAMBROEK’s children did not fail to urge him to surrender the fortress, through begging and groaning. CAJET was not disinclined to do so; but, since he had supplies of everything to last a long time, he found himself troubled because he would have to account for himself before the council of Java, from whom he could expect support and relief. According to some reports he nevertheless proposed the surrender to his friend HAMBROEK, as the only means of saving him; [fol. *3r] but this magnanimous man rejected that proposal with extreme indignation, and encouraged CAJET and the garrison to a stubborn resistance. And neither the proposal by CAJET and the other commanders, nor the tears of his children saved in the fortress Zeelandia, could move the noble hero to keep his life at the loss of the fortress. He finally departed for the enemy’s army, after having said a sorrowful goodbye to his friends, and after he had seen his two unhappy children succumb at his feet from sadness and despair. As soon as he had returned to the enemy’s army, he was decapitated before the eyes of his wife and children; covering his executioners with eternal shame. Everything concerning this infamous act, and other occurrences of the famous Formosan siege, may be read at more length in Schouten, Valentyn and others.         I have allowed myself some poetic licence in the treatment of this touching subject; but I have also striven always to stay as close to the history as was possible to me. Should the behaviour of the noble Christian minister make but one enemy of Christianity successfully see how far true Christianity can bring man, and from what noble principles the true Christian performs great deeds; should my Play persuade people in general that the triumph [fol. *3v] of our reasonable and loveable Religion truly consists of encouraging and consoling people in the most oppressing disasters of life: I would consider myself richly rewarded for my labour.         I know by now that, in our days, I would have more readers and admirers for my play, if I had used my work to make the Christians’ minister ridiculous, and to make the Christian revelation seem, if not despicable, at least implausible to sensible people; but what readers and what admirers! Undoubtedly it becomes no one to seek the approval and acclaim of people who put their pride in making everything despicable that most deserves the respect of mortals, and make themselves the object of justified ridicule and loathing. No worldly acclaim can outweigh the noble pleasure that a good intention, and a good deed done for the common good, affords the soul. The grand duke of Luxembourg affirmed on his deathbed that the memory of having offered a mug of cold water to an unfortunate to revive him, gratified him more than the memory of all his victories. See there an example worthy of being constantly present in our mind in the hours of prosperity! What do glory, great deeds, ingenious inventions, reason and external proprieties avail us, if the source of our actions is not noble, the heart not pure, and our conscience not satisfied with us! [fol. *4r]         Furthermore I owe some thanks to several distinguished people, who have encouraged me in the treatment of this virtuous and moving subject. And the unusual eagerness with which my other plays, (both those that have been shown in the Theatres of our country, and those that have never been performed on a Stage), have been received, and still are received, has been no small encouragement to me to further expend my slight skills, in spite of all envy, for the benefit of my fellow men.         I finish with the words of that great master of the Dramatic Art, the incomparable RACINE: ’It would be desirable if our Plays were as succinct, sensible, moral and improving as those of most of the poets of antiquity. If our Plays were as full of instructive teachings; we could possibly remove the aversion which several honourable Theologians and other people worthy of every respect because of their piety, harbour against the Stage, and reconcile them with the Theatre and Dramatic Poetry. At least we would make them judge these things more favourably, if the Playwrights of our time would apply themselves more to teaching and improving the readers and spectators of their plays than to amusing them; and therefore would comply more with the true objective of Dramatic Poetry.’

[fol. *4v]

---

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.

ANTHONIUS HAMBROEK,	minister on Formosa.
FREDRIK CAJÉT,	commander in chief in the stronghold Zeelandia.
FREDRIK CAJET DE JONGE,	his son.
CORNELIA HAMBROEK,	daughter of the minister; wife to Fredrik.
XAMTI,	emissary of the Chinese general Coxinga.
VAN DEN BROEK,	a captain, friend to Fredrik.
ELIZABETH,	friend to Cornelia.

The SCENE is inside the castle ZEELANDIA, on the island of FORMOSA.

[p. 1]

ANTHONIUS HAMBROEK, OR THE SIEGE OF FORMOSA, TRAGEDY. ACT ONE. SCENE ONE. CORNELIA, ELIZABETH.

CORNELIA, with a despondent demeanour, sitting in an armchair.

Friend, desist: your comfort can only be useless;
In vain one consoles a heart that has everything to fear.

ELIZABETH.

Maybe you fear too much.

CORNELIA, rising.

                                          Too much? ah! what a thing to say!
How can one fear too much for the lives of a father and a husband?
(5) Do you realise the gruesome fate of my beloved mother?
Do you think of my sister’s woe, and the sorrow of my brother?
[p. 2]

ELIZABETH.

Like you I think of the fate of your beloved family;
But why expect the worst for them beforehand?
I admit we have been wretchedly surprised by a sudden raid.
(10) The raging Chinaman has overrun everything
Around these ramparts, has shown his cruel nature,
And may have destroyed the place where your whole family lives;
But possibly those for whom you fear,
Have fled the danger in time, and are still alive.
(15) There is good reason to hope, my friend.

CORNELIA.

It is poor comfort that is based on mere doubt!
Oh Fredrik, my husband! who went so bravely
To stem the violence of China’s force of arms...
I may well be calling in vain!... my blood runs cold!

ELIZABETH.

(20) His profession is full of danger, he is a warrior.
Did you not know, when marriage to him was proposed to you,
That a warrior must venture his life in times of emergency?
And that, because honour always goes by his side,
Death, full of threat, does so too?

CORNELIA.

(25) Who, when marrying one’s dearly beloved,
Thinks of what the future will hold during the union?
When Fredrik offered me his hand in marriage,
I saw glory by his side, and did not think of death;
But now Formosa trembles before China’s rod of war,
(30) Now my husband has gone to punish the enemy’s rage;
[p. 3]
Now, trembling at the knowledge of the danger he is in;
All I think of is how death goes at his side.

ELIZABETH.

Let him do his duty and defend Zeelandia...
If Heaven spares him, what can hurt him?
(35) And should Heaven have singled him out in the struggle,
Prove yourself to be the wife of a soldier, and the daughter of a minister.

CORNELIA.

As a soldier’s wife and a minister’s daughter I will prove,
That courage and Christianity live in this breast.
She who mourns a husband in no sense dishonours her courage,
(40) And Christianity does not forbid a noble flood of tears.
I honour Heaven’s will, even if it dooms me to mourn.

ELIZABETH, embracing her.

That speech becomes you as Hambroek’s offspring,
That Christian so full of virtue, that minister full of sense...

CORNELIA.

Ah! that memory rends my vitals!
(45) However much my father’s glory used to please me,
However much I liked to hear his virtues praised,
Hearing his praise cruelly shows me, in my adversity,
What a precious treasure I lack in him.
Oh dearly beloved family, valued object of my complaints!
(50) What do you suffer now? Or what suffering awaits you?...
How awful is my fate! I see that even Heaven
Leaves me no choice of wishes, in my miserable state:
As soon as I wish for my parents’ lives,
The thought of them being enslaved makes me shudder...
[p. 4]
(55) My parents! If you must end your lives as slaves,
Then a quick death, oh sorrow! would be your dearest wish.
My blood runs cold!

ELIZABETH.

                                  If our people can chase the enemy away,
Which is possible,... You have something to hope for in your fear:
You know our fighting men; they may well wrest your family,
(60) In the heat of battle, from the enemy’s cruel clasp.
You know your husband... Friend! Trust in his courage,
Together with all his father’s experience.

CORNELIA.

It is exactly that courage that feeds my fear.
How little you know my husband’s heart!
(65) He dearly loves my father; and to find him,
He will heed no danger, however terrible;
And if courage is accompanied by despair,
What dangers will the brave man face?
Wherever I turn my eyes, I see, on all sides,
(70) Nothing but danger and woe for all my kin.
        But ah! the noise of battle comes closer, I think,
My Fredrik lies slain! my heart predicts it to me!
Oh Heaven, Heaven! help!... my strength fails me...
Banish despair from this heart, let Religion speak there!

ELIZABETH.

(75) Someone is coming. It’s Van den Broek, who, in your Fredrik’s wake...

CORNELIA.

My heart longs for his presence ... but fears it too!

---

[p. 5]

SCENE TWO. CORNELIA, VAN DEN BROEK, ELIZABETH.

CORNELIA.

Sir... but ah! your fear tells me well enough
How you and your men fared, and what will soon pierce my heart!

VAN DEN BROEK.

Madam! Ah! If only I could bring you another message!

CORNELIA.

(80) Ah! speak: has my husband been slaughtered in the misery of war?
Pay no heed to my fear; trembling comes naturally to me already.

VAN DEN BROEK.

When I left your husband with the men he was still alive...

CORNELIA, in transports,

Thanks be to Heaven! my prayer for Fredrik has been answered!
Teach, teach me to pray for my parents!... Ah! continue,
(85) Faithful friend! why does my Fredrik not come himself?
Has he, have you heard nothing from my parents?
Ah! speak; explain quickly; satisfy my impatience.

VAN DEN BROEK.

My friend, your husband, filled with anger and grief,
Now our Dutch soldiery is beaten back,
(90) Is guarding this stronghold and the fighting men.
I left him on the ramparts, while his father’s hand
Stems the Chinese soldiers, subduing them on all sides.
They wanted to attack us on the flank before the ramparts.
To invade these walls while mixed up with our men:
[p. 6]
(95) But none of us fear that this will succeed.
Your brave husband, encamped upon the ramparts,
Can fight off the men who want to take us by surprise on our flank.
        How I wish I could give you good news
Of them, whose dark fate cuts up your tender heart;
(100) Of them to whom you owe your virtue and your life!

CORNELIA.

How! Not the least bit of news!...

VAN DEN BROEK.

                                                      Where should I get it?
You know how unexpectedly the enemy was spied;
You know how quickly our men rushed from this place,
To stem the storm of China’s force of arms.
(105) Cajet, our commander, calm in the midst of battle,
Was the first to hurry to the enemy, full of anger,
Where the fire of his countenance forced itself into the heart of the troops,
And forced even the weakest man to heroic deeds.
He called out to your Fredrik: my son! keep fighting bravely:
(110) Let us liberate the father of your wife;
Let our people bring him and his beloved family,
To safety in the fortress Zeelandia.
Fly to his house to aid them! But, ah! it was too late:
The enemy, bathing in Christian blood on all sides,
(115) Had taken over your father’s estate before our arrival;
Worse! Ah! friend, it was already in ruins,
Because everything that could not flee was murdered!
Not fearing the superior forces of the enemy’s men,
[p. 7]
In orderly ranks we fired from all sides
(120) On the plundering rabble, who burned to rob and destroy,
And forced back that raging crowd for a while.
Then your hero proved his love for your family:
He used the time that China’s soldiers fell back;
He sent a small band into the surrounding land,
(125) To discover any news of your family, if at all possible,
And tried to spur the men on with promise of a reward.
You know how well soldiers respond to this.
“He who knows anything about Hambroek, gains a captain’s place!”
He calls out loudly. As soon as the men hear him,
(130) They fearlessly venture into the surrounding countryside;
While our commander fights the enemy’s rage on the battlefield,
With success, and to his glory sets them limits.
Meanwhile our men tried to find the bodies of your relatives
In the smoking rubble of their ruined home;
(135) But ah! while they search diligently,
Cajet finally succumbs to the superior force of the enemy!
Because of his defeat and flight we ceased our work!
All that remains us is to guard these ramparts!
This stronghold is our only salvation! The enemy, highly pleased
(140) With our defeat, brings in fresh troops.
Your Fredrik sent me here...

CORNELIA.

                                            My father! O my father!
My mother! My family!... Who can be hurt more by your suffering!
[p. 8]

VAN DEN BROEK.

Your fate, oppressed lady! Deserves to be lamented;
But in your sorrow arm yourself with resignation.
(145) Remember now what your father used to tell us.
His teachings must always please a virtuous mind:
For woe to the worldly man, who, with a level head,
Hears his duty every day, and never does it;
Heaven will repay with double sorrow,
(150) The man who contemplates his duty only while he hears it;
Rightly he demands from us, that once we know our duty,
We shall remember it as long as we walk on the earth.
That is what your father teaches Christians;
A lesson he always illustrated in his life!
(155) He taught us that man, whatever delusion blinds him,
When in distress will only find certain consolation in his Religion.
You know adversity made him leave Europe,
And yet he never voiced the least complaint;
He honoured Heaven’s will. All that is left for you,
(160) Is to be equal to him, in the midst of sorrow.

CORNELIA.

My friend, I know my duty; I shall heed his lesson;
But, ah! you are a son too; if my fate were yours;
If you had to fear that a barbarian hand
Had put his steel into the heart of your grey-haired father;
(165) Or, which is rightfully more fearful to a child’s heart,
That he should languish forever in a slave’s fetters;
Would you, at such a horrendous, painful image,
[p. 9]
Be resigned, and be less a son than a Christian?

VAN DEN BROEK.

This filial heart would truly break from grief;
(170) But as I am a Christian, it would beg for comfort from Heaven’s grace;
And it would be content, while weeping over my sorrow,
With everything ever benign Heaven did for me.

CORNELIA.

Ah! rather beg God’s grace, that its favour will never allow,
That your filial love should be tested in such a way.
(175) However much this heart reveres duty and Religion,
I am a daughter, and blood calls to me no less!

VAN DEN BROEK.

I behold our commander, Cajet, your Fredrik’s father.
He may know, through his son, some news of your family...

CORNELIA.

His sadness tells me enough!

---

SCENE THREE. CORNELIA, CAJET, VAN DEN BROEK, ELIZABETH.

CORNELIA, embracing Cajet.

                                        My father... ah! that word,
(180) So pleasant to my tender heart before,
At this horrible moment pierces, o sorrow! My vitals...
Alas! Sir! alas!... my most tenderly beloved relatives!...

She falls into Elizabeth’s arms.

[p. 10]

CAJET, tenderly.

My child, your sorrow is great; I feel the weight of it;
But think of your courage, or rather of your duty.
(185) However much fate has beaten down your courage,
Learn, as fits a Christian, to bear your sorrow with resignation.
The only thing that can comfort us on this earth, in every misery,
Is hope for help from Him who sends comfort in misfortune.
He, whose wisdom compasses everything, always acts from wise reasons,
(190) It is not fit for mortals to question His decisions.
Commend our fate to him. Whatever disasters rage around us,
Let us, putting our trust in Him, act according to our duty.
As a soldier and a Christian I fulfilled my duties:
I have done for your kin all I could do.
(195) I did battle on the rubble of your father’s farm... Ah! my child!...
Hambroek’s daughter can ask no more of Hambroek’s friend!

CORNELIA.

I see that you want to give me no new reason for sorrow.

After some pause.

You remain silent! This is driving the dagger through my heart.
How awful is our fate, when even pity
(200) From those who love us most, is abhorrent to the heart!
Sir, I beg you, speak: your heart carries a secret burden...
You know more than you say... torture my heart no longer.
If you have any pity for my miserable state,
I beg you not to leave me in uncertainty.
(205) Speak; is my father dead? Do not spare my trembling;
Did he lose his life in the burning of his estate, or through the steel of his enemy?
[p. 11]

CAJET.

So you want me to hurt you myself with the most grievous sorrow!

CORNELIA.

For the last time, my father! speak. Your silence distresses my heart.

CAJET, with emotion.

Your honoured father... lives!

CORNELIA, worried.

                                        He lives?...

CAJET, in tears.

                                                        He is a prisoner!

CORNELIA.

(210) A prisoner!... Heaven! That cruel shackles should confine him!
Throwing herself into Cajet’s arms in utter despair.
My father, in whose arms I weep for a father...
Do you have any means to set him free?

CAJET.

                                                                    No.
The enemy’s army is commanded by Coxinga;
His disposition is well-known!... They say of this villain,
(215) That he, to make his men fight desperately,
Has sworn that he who falls into our hands,
Will remain forever in the power of the Christians,
And so as not to drive them to mutiny through this,
The tyrant swore that none of us, whoever he might be,
(220) Who became his prisoner, would ever be free from slavery.
A soldier who managed to escape the enemy through cunning,
Made the bravest heroes sigh at this cruel news.
The rest of your family... Ah! we still seek them everywhere!
[p. 12]

CORNELIA.

My grey-haired father a slave to the raging heathens!
(225) My mother maybe murdered, or imprisoned next to him!...
If only I were killed in his stead, or if their shackles might confine me!
Never again in their arms, in joy or pain...

In a lively manner.

I will behold him again hereafter, where nothing will part us!

CAJET.

That hope delights my heart; that hope becomes a Christian!
(230) Those who frivolously deny this noble hope,
That our spirit, liberated from subjugation by the body,
Will enjoy, in measure to its virtue,
A serene happiness in a better realm than this earthly one,
Are cruel people, who make us extremely miserable here.
(235) I value your piety, I laud your noble mind;
But why, my child, fear the worst before you have to?
Though we can hope nothing for Hambroek now,
Time may still allow us hope for him.
However much fear may now rule our hearts,
(240) A soldier always hopes, as long as he draws breath.

CORNELIA.

What can you, as a soldier, expect from time for me,
When to my misfortune everything seems to run together?
Ah! please tell me on what grounds you hope;
What can I hope for for my worthy father?

CAJET.

                                                                    Much!
[p. 13]
(245) They say, and this message does not seem a lie,
That there are supposed to be many Christians in the enemy’s army,
Who have been assigned to the general as counsels of war
By a certain Christian prince, who envies us this land;
For so extreme is the malice in the hearts of Christian princes,
(250) That they even use those who ever thirst for Christian blood,
To the ruin of their fellow Christian,
Who in their eyes seems too rich or too great.
Most rulers are vicious, or ignorant;
Arrogance or malice often chains their hearts.
(255) This wandering Christian horde, that goes from country to country,
And sells its services to barbarians for gain,
Is a common sight, my child! At Christian courts.
Your father’s imprisonment will be very good for them;
A hostage as famous as minister Hambroek,
(260) Is useful to Coxinga, in this situation:
They can easily explain to the pirate,
That he should not sharpen his sabre for Hambroek’s death.
Every warrior knows the strength of these ramparts;
They know that hunger will not easily constrain us here;
(265) In seven months time we need not fear
That we will lack arms or food here;
Or fighting men. So, according to every expectation,
The siege will be long and deadly to the enemy.
The council on the coast of Java, when they learn of our misery,
(270) Will furthermore quickly send aid to these walls.
If proud Coxinga, pressed down by adversity,
[p. 14]
Will finally have to leave the ramparts he now menaces,
Could not your father be a hostage for him,
When the pirate demands safe retreat?
(275) The infamous Christian horde, that accompanies the enemy’s army,
Has certainly proposed this to the enemy;
For why else would precisely your father’s head be spared,
When everyone was killed, in spite of their sex and years?

CORNELIA.

How those words delight my heart! You have reason to hope.
(280) Ah! If only the enemy already found himself forced,
To return my father’s liberty for a free passage!...

CAJET.

Let it be enough for us for now to live in that hope.
The fate of the rest of your kin, of your beloved family,
We may yet discover before the end of the night,
(285) I have at least sent out spies for that purpose.
But since the sun is already setting, and we rightly need to fear
The enemy’s cunning wiles and raging audacity
Most during the dark, everything needs to be thought out,
To oppose cunning with cunning, and courage with courage.
(290) I have torn myself away from my men, only to give you comfort:
I have done my duty by you; now permit me

To Van den Broek:

Faithful friend! I intend, to avert the misery of war,
To send a ship to Batavia tonight.
(295) The letter which informs the council of the state of affairs,
[p. 15]
Has already been secretly drafted, at my orders:
They await me in my quarters; it is time I sign the letter.
One ship might easily break through the enemy’s fleet;
More so since there is a storm, and the enemy’s ships
(300) Cannot maintain their formation, while beset by storm and night;
His fleet has already been scattered, by the raging violence of the winds.
                        To Cornelia:
If you should find yourself betrayed by my hope,
My daughter!... Be consoled: show, in your extreme distress...
That you are a Christian, and sprang from a minister.

---

SCENE FOUR. CORNELIA, ELIZABETH.

CORNELIA.

(305) Friend, don’t leave me... My father! Oh my mother!
Beloved sister... ah! pitiable brother...
Grant, Heaven! that this now inconsolable heart
Will experience the comfort that Religion affords to the heart that loves you!

End of act one.

[p. 16]

ACT TWO. SCENE ONE. CORNELIA, alone.

Witness of my sorrow, oh most horrible of all nights!
(310) So this heart cannot even expect rest from your silence!
Alas! Your darkness, that usually accompanies rest,
Does not cover from my sight the grief that afflicts me;
And ah! however beautifully the sun may rise after your departure,
A dark cloud of disaster will make my blood run cold!
(315) My father floats before my stunned sight in shackles,
Since all my courage over the fate of the rest of my family is overborne;
My husband, once more prey to the enemy’s blows,
Impelled to once again support a sortie...
How cruelly, o tenderly beloved husband! does fate
(320) Consign my heart to endless woe, your head to the predatory steel!
Ah! did Heaven then unite us, my Fredrik!
To have us weep for each other at the end?
How my father’s woe touches your magnanimous heart!...
But, since Heaven wills it, we shall bear our grief.
(325) Whatever the Omniscient One does, his decision be praised,
Though he may possibly turn me into an orphan and a widow soon!

---

[p. 17]

SCENE TWO. CORNELIA, ELIZABETH.

CORNELIA, impatiently.

Friend, my Fredrik... Speak: have you heard anything from him?

ELIZABETH.

He has gone to fight for the second time, full of courage,
He went secretly out of the ramparts, along the newly built part:
(330)Van Ypren and Petel have gone outside with him.
Petel’s youngest son has been captured or killed,
That’s what our fighting men think; at least he has gone missing.
This makes the father’s heart burn in fierce rage.
They think that Coxinga will assault the bulwark,
(335) That as well as this strong castle covers the harbour’s exit,
From which position our ships’ guns cause his army many disasters.
Petel has proposed to your Fredrik, so they say,
To make an audacious attack on the army from that side;
He wants to satisfy his desire for revenge in the enemy’s blood,
(340) Through avenging steel, to reconcile his son’s blood;
And Fredrik, to whom revenge is no less attractive,
Tries to avenge you and your kin in heathen blood.

CORNELIA.

You have, oh Heaven! protected my Fredrik’s head once,
While murder raged, and heard my prayer;
(345) Hear my prayers a second time, in the misery of war:
Let Fredrik come back safe once more!
[p. 18]

ELIZABETH.

If your husband can capture the position he is attacking,
As we hope, from China’s cursed band,
It will surely be difficult for cruel Coxinga,
(350) To mount a general assault on these ramparts.
If Fredrik surprises the enemy and forces him to retreat,
On the side where he is now attacking the army,
Then the enemy’s fighting men, however many, cannot even hope,
That this siege will end fortunately for them;
(355) At least it will be for him, in all probability,
Cruel and time-consuming, if he pushes hard.
Chased from the sea, he must immediately
Send his hordes right against the strongest part of this fortress;
Where an unconquerable elevation, unscalable ramparts,
(360) Will make even his most audacious plan highly perilous.

CORNELIA.

If my husband were to succeed!... Alas! I must fear,
That he will be unfortunate in his design!
The enemy will defend such an important position
With force, and only leave it when coerced,
(365) And, if we can only approach his army from this side,
He will make entry lethal for our men.
The siege will be fruitless, whatever idea blinds him,
If he does not conquer the seaward strongholds;
He must, if he wants to attack us here with success,
(370) First wrest the fortress Middelburg from us, before anything.
[p. 19]
So it is highly probable that his fighting men, to our cost,
Will defend their position to the utmost in front of this stronghold;
And Fredrik will certainly, to chase them from thence,
Blinded by anger and revenge, only wager his head in vain!

ELIZABETH.

(375) He has night on his side... They have already clashed...

CORNELIA.

I think I hear the guns!... Ah! Could I go there,
And defend my husband’s head, as much as I could;
To succumb next to him, or return together with him!

ELIZABETH.

I think the large guns and the noise of battle fade.

CORNELIA.

(380) My fear increases more and more!... How oppressed my heart is.
They come.

---

SCENE THREE. CORNELIA, FREDRIK, ELIZABETH.

CORNELIA, embracing her husband with rapture.

                O My husband!

FREDRIK, supporting her in his arms.

                                        Adorable wife!

CORNELIA.

My Fredrik!...

FREDRIK, with emotion.

                I hope my arrival will not increase your sorrow!
[p. 20]

CORNELIA.

How! While you live!...
Tearing herself from his arms with passion, and falling back from him several paces.
                        But, ah! what message do you bring me?

FREDRIK.

I feel no less for the fate of your kin, alas! than you...
(385) I know that Fredrik’s sorrow makes Cornelia grieve!
Ah! That fate should so cruelly rend your noble heart!
Do I have to see you doomed to endless grief?...
Do not assault Fredrik’s heart with your weeping!
Now I can hardly foster any hope for your family,
(390) Let my hope consists of at least avenging your family;
Strengthen my courage to this purpose. Anger, vengeance, regret,
Your distress, and the suffering of your kin, each in turn sparked
My zeal, when we saw the men who attacked us.
If I am to avenge us, allow me to keep my courage.
(395) Our country’s enemy has tested, in this latest battle,
What Dutchmen, spurred on by Fredrik’s courage, can do.

CORNELIA.

If you saw our men fight the enemy with success,
Do you not expect any result for my father’s suffering from your victory?
If you beat the enemy, he will, in all probability...

FREDRIK.

(400) Do not expect anything from attackers who are such monsters.
Ah! hearken how cruel they are; it would be fruitless not to tell you
What you must soon learn from others.
        The enemy, convinced of how useful it will be to him
[p. 21]
To assault as soon as possible through cunning or force,
(405) The fortress Middelburg, in this condition,
Before it is strengthened further to shelter these ramparts,
Just now captured the elevations, from which vantage point he can profitably
Barrage the stronghold with the force of cannons.
My brave friend Petel came to beg me emphatically,
(410) To allow him to revenge the death or slavery of his son;
And bravely proposed to me, to constrain the enemy’s forces of war,
Who were stationed on the elevations, under cover of night,
To vacate the elevations again on that side.
I concurred with his plan, and wasted no time.
(415) The men rushed from these ramparts, and arriving at the place
They were to attack, the zeal of the soldiers
For me, Petel and those in whom they trusted,
Was so great, that none of us could hold back that zeal.
Unexpectedly they seized, more by audacity than by planning,
(420) Two of those elevations, and killed the enemy’s guard.
Petel fought like a lion: everyone who dared to threaten him,
Was cut down victoriously by his avenging steel,
While the raging warriors vengefully cut down,
Anyone in Chinese dress they could see by the torchlight.
(425) Meanwhile another group, in a hail of bullets and shrapnel,
Levelled the enemy’s fortifications, and spiked his guns.
Then our men took up the post. In the meantime I considered it wise,
To attack the enemy’s third elevation as soon as possible;
When a horrible wailing interrupted that audacious plan,
(430) An awful cry that pierced everyone’s heart!
[p. 22]
The enemy maddened by spite over being taken by surprise,
And his strongholds being attacked successfully,
Decide to leave behind a spectacle, before his flight,
That would engender fear in Dutch soldiers;
(435) And at the sight of which the heart, oppressed by mourning,
Would at once lose the desire for further victory.
The cruel ruse succeeded. Oh disaster! Our eyes saw,
By the light of torches, the Christian people who had fallen into the traps
Of the enemy, in the hour of the surprise attack,
(440) Abused, or killed by the enemy’s dagger or blade.
We found some with their hands cut off;
Another wailed most horribly because his limbs had been broken;
We found some in such a pitiable state,
That honour and humanity prohibit mention of it.
(445) My good friend Petel found his son as well,
With his arms chopped off, and tied around his neck,
The legs under his corpse were broken; ah! what sorrow
For that compassionate, for that paternal heart!
Revenge, Heaven! he cried out, and raised his hands;
(450) My people, stay faithful to me, punish our tyrants!
Immediately he flies from my side, accompanied by a few men,
Furiously pursuing the pirates; but he is slain;
The same fate, alas! overtook all his men together.

CORNELIA, raising her hands to heaven.

These then, oh Heaven! are the masters of my father!...
(455) How this heart is torn asunder!
[p. 23]

FREDRIK.

                                                            Oh my Cornelia!

CORNELIA.

Nevertheless your father hopes...

FREDRIK.

                                                      For Coxinga’s favour?
Favour from that barbarian, who when banished from his country
For gruesome misdeeds, was elevated to general
By people who, even in their own country, together with him,
(460) Have made themselves infamous, through pillage, murder and burning;
Who, having escaped the executioner just in time, together with him,
Have adopted him as their captain for base reasons;
Who live, wandering over the sea, banished from every place;
Who only search for plunder, who have no other shelter,
(465) (From which they have to instil fear and loathing into everyone,)
Than a tremendous number of floating war tents!

CORNELIA.

If he is only a pirate, who only deceitfully
Landed here in China’s name, your wife still hopes.
If cruel Coxinga was banished from China,
(470) Let us then send word to China’s emperor directly,
That an exile, a guilty subject, here
In the country of his friends has dared to erect his tents.
If he captures this stronghold, China’s prince needs fear,
That this pirates’ nest will be very dangerous to him.

FREDRIK.

(475) You flatter yourself without grounds: you do not know the circumstances
[p. 24]
Of China’s overlord, and of his realm.
That recently elevated prince does still every day wage war
In his new lands with his rebellious subjects;
For, though the capital accepted him at the head of his army,
(480) And recognises him as sovereign, he is a stranger.
There are still many powerful men who contest him his rank,
Who, though they squander their men and fortune fruitlessly,
To wrest the high authority from him with force,
Afford him enough labour every day on the battlefield.
(485) Necessity, that obliges him to think of himself,
Prevents him from helping anyone outside the country.
We should not expect anything from China’s prince;
Put your trust, if you require hope, only in Java’s council.
A vessel has undertaken the voyage to Java,
(490) And has, so they say, escaped the enemy’s fleet.
Don’t think either, that the monarch of China’s empire,
If he had the power, would ever fight for the Dutch claim.
The cunning commander of those who cruelly oppress us,
Cunningly serves, in his own interest, the interests of his emperor:
(495) He knows that China’s sovereign, however fiercely people fight him,
Must triumph and reign, in time;
And that this emperor, once he has established his power over the country,
Will never condone his audacious piracy without punishment.
He also knows that the people on China’s coast
(500) Observe our dominion of this land with anger and resentment.
He has deserved death, so he will push very hard,
To wrest this land from us, for the benefit of China’s sovereign:
[p. 25]
With the object of, if he vanquishes us for that monarch,
Changing his wrathful overlord into his friend.

CORNELIA.

(505) My father, how much you have to fear from that barbarian!

FREDRIK.

Nothing but what will be abhorrent to you and me,
But, though Heaven chastises us in his wrath,
My companion in adversity! Show that you are my wife.
Show, through virtue and courage, that you are above fate.
(510) If you dull my courage, will not all the men tremble?
They mourn your father’s fate; and it pleases me,
That their fondness for him incites their courage to revenge.
I profit from it... I see my father coming.

---

SCENE FOUR. FREDRIK, CORNELIA, CAJET, ELIZABETH.

CAJET.

My daughter! I have just heard some good news for you:
(515) Your mother, brother and your sister have been spared.

CORNELIA.

What are you telling me, sir?

CAJET.

                                            They are strongly guarded,
Are treated well, and you may trust with certainty,
That you will one day behold them at liberty again.
To Fredrik.
And you my brave son! Who have this night proved
(520) Your courage so gloriously, you bathed in the enemy’s blood,
[p. 26]
And made his redoubtable forces retreat from Middelburg,
Let this embrace show you the gratitude of your country.
It is less your father who shows you his thanks,
Than the Eastern Company, which rewards faithfulness with honour.
(525) But if as a son you wish to please your father in the end,
Banish bitter sadness from your heart.
Following my example, take part in your wife’s suffering;
But show too, after my example, that you are a warrior.
Show less sorrow than courage when leading the banners of war.

To Cornelia.

(530) Do not rob your husband of his warlike virtue through tears.

FREDRIK.

My father, however the council, through you, recognises my service...
I will do what I am bound to do as a warrior.
However my wife’s woe may act upon this heart,
It will strengthen my yearning heart against her tears.
(535) Yes, The Netherlands’ warlike men hasten, when their liberty is at stake,
From the arms of love to the bloody battlefield.
But might I, who think with reason to fear for Hambroek.
Be as full of hope as you for the fate of that minister’s life!
From whom did you hear that his family is safe?
(540) Who told you that they are treated well?

CAJET.

                                                                          A brave Formosan;
A warrior, who, in hope of reaping a rich reward,
Risked his life; cunningly allowed himself to be captured;
[p. 27]
And who, aiming to avert danger to his life,
Pretended to be a defector, and was taken to the army:
(545) For he who wishes to defect from here to the enemy’s army,
Cannot only expect survival, but even a reward.
And this spy has, in the thick of battle,
Taken his leave from his new masters through flight..

CORNELIA.

My parents, ah! you live...

FREDRIK.

                                          The enemy may spare them,
(550) However, I expect nothing for them from the commander of the murderers.
A cruel man is always cruel; mistrust even his control;
If he spares an enemy, he does it from self interest.
Expect that he, disappointed in his expectations,
Will avenge his self control through the most horrifying slaughter.

CAJET.

(555) Your suspicion goes too far. I think like you, my son:
a cruel man is always cruel, whatever favour he shows;
But Coxinga has much to fear in this siege...
Whether self interest or virtue makes him merciful,
Does it matter to us, if he spares Hambroek,
(560) And keeps him as a hostage in this siege?
And if you look at it in the right way, it is against his own interests
To avenge himself, through murder, on a prisoner
Whose survival after all will never harm his master,
But will even serve him as a surety in adversity.

---

[p. 28]

SCENE FIVE. CAJET, FREDRIK, CORNELIA, VAN DEN BROEK, ELIZABETH.

VAN DEN BROEK.

(565) I fear treachery, sir. The enemy will with certainty
Try to assault these ramparts, before the sun returns.
Van Ypren, who commands famously,
Thinks that the enemy’s council has decided to attack.
He sends me here for aid. But what makes me hesitate most,
(570) Is that the enemy, who silently tries to climb our stronghold,
At the same time that he sends his troops this way,
In the middle of the night! sends emissaries to you here.

CAJET.

Emissaries, in the night! That seems strange to me.

FREDRIK.

He has lost his strong position before Middelburg;
(575) That unexpected blow ignites his impatience.

CORNELIA.

Your victory has filled his heart with mad spite.
My family, you will pay for that triumph in blood!

CAJET.

Think of your duty, my child! Set limits to your despair.

To Van den Broek.

Where is the delegation?

VAN DEN BROEK.

                                        Our men have just, in the darkness,
(580) Conducted these emissaries into a room.
[p. 29]
He who guards the gate has immediately stationed
Two soldiers, with drawn steel, in front of that room;
To make sure that this pirate band will not spy on us in secret.
I ran to you, and did not behold those emissaries.
(585) But if the darkness has not deceived our men,
One of them is a Christian; though unrecognisable...

CAJET.

                                                                                    Let us try,
My son, [to foil] the ruse of the enemy, who is undoubtedly lurking nearby ...

FREDRIK, with liveliness.

What you wish to accomplish needs to be accomplished quickly.
We should not waste time. They could easily have come to deceive us:
(590) The purpose of this cunning delegation is to lull our suspicions.
Whether they come to demand our fortress, or to negotiate a treaty,
Be on your guard: I fear an unexpected attack.

CAJET.

The purpose of this base delegation is merely to delay us.
I’m sure the enemy expects something from our foolish trust;
(595) But whatever success he expects from such tricks,
I will not receive the delegation in the middle of the night.
Let us go, let us disrupt his cunning attack with force,
And after that hear his emissaries in daylight.

CORNELIA.

My father! my husband!... Ah! at least permit me,
(600) That, before you depart, I beg one thing of you:
Maybe I dare to request you something that displeases you!
That Christian will surely know something of my parents;
[p. 30]
Allow me to speak with him. I beg of you.

CAJET.

                                                Very well,
I give you permission.
To Fredrik.
                        Let us go observe the enemy.

CORNELIA, watching Fredrik leave with sad eyes, continues after a short silence:

(605) Though so many circumstances seem to converge to my father’s downfall,
Friend! this yearning heart still dares to hope in adversity.
I do not know what strange impulse came over my trembling heart,
When I heard the Christian emissary mentioned!
Why do I long so much to speak with him?...
(610) What secret pleasure has captured my mind!...
Let the guard bring the Christian to this room immediately.
Meanwhile, Heaven! guard my husband’s head.

End of act two.

[p. 31]

ACT THREE. SCENE ONE. CORNELIA, ELIZABETH.

ELIZABETH.

Curb your impatience and mourning, which make you languish.
The Christian will presently appear before you.
(615) I would have liked to have beheld him myself, and told him your wish;
But I was disappointed in carrying out my plan.
The Dutch soldiers are in service on the ramparts;
We have been left with a Formosan guard,
Mostly country people, rough and surly, their hearts burning with arrogance;
(620) And this one is posted with China’s emissary,
Preventing everyone, whoever they are, from entering his room.
In spite of this the Christian has heard your wish from them.
He is coming directly. So relinquish your impatience.

CORNELIA.

Do not battle a fear, friend! that might be well-founded.
(625) An unhappy heart is easily blinded;
In its sadness it tries to find comfort everywhere;
It wishes to be true what hope shows to faint sight;
And it resembles a man in the water,
Who furiously grabs hold of anything, even the smallest things,
(630) To escape certain death’s arm.
That is my condition! Friend, when I heard
That Coxinga sent us a Christian emissary here,
[p. 32]
Then the hope was soon born in me from filial love,
That I would hear happy news of my parents:
(635) And if I look at it correctly, that hope, to all appearances,
Can be nothing but a single shadow.
What Christian can the country’s tyrant, the source of my misery,
Ever send here to alleviate my sorrows?
It can be none of the Christians that have fallen into his hands:
(640) No tyrant chooses a slave as his emissary.
It will be one of those Christians, I dare not hope different,
Who sell themselves to the heathens out of self interest;
One of those monsters, who, in support of China’s power,
Serve a pirate, who despises humanity.
(645) A beast of that kind will, whatever he tells me...

ELIZABETH.

Someone is coming. It is...

CORNELIA.

                                How this heart is torn asunder!
Desire, shivers, hope, happiness and fear,
Assail me in turn at this moment (*)!

With her head slightly averted, speaking diffidently:

Emissary of Coxinga!... Whoever you are, come closer.

        (*) Hambroek appears at the back of the Stage.

---

[p. 33]

SCENE TWO. HAMBROEK, CORNELIA, ELIZABETH. A Formosan guard.

ELIZABETH, beholding Hambroek.

(650) ô Oh Heaven!...

HAMBROEK, rushing towards his daughter.

                                  Oh my child!

CORNELIA, surprised by his voice, looking at him                   immediately, falls powerless into his                   arms.

                                                        My father!... oh My father!

HAMBROEK.

I am alive, my child, I am alive!... Regain your strength... I return...

ELIZABETH, completely surprised.

Do we deceive ourselves? Is it really you, sir?

HAMBROEK.

It is I... My daughter, ah! How your sorrows grieve me!

CORNELIA, slowly coming to in her father’s arms:

My father!... in your arms I feel my sorrow disappear.
(655) Joy overwhelms my heart! Benign Heaven
Has finally heard my prayer... My worthy father lives!
He returns!... Tell me about my beloved mother:
Does she live, my sister and also my dear brother?
Is it true, did Coxinga spare them, as well as you?

HAMBROEK.

(660) They are alive, yes, my child, and are guarded with courtesy.
[p. 34]

CORNELIA, to Elizabeth.

Go quickly, tell my husband of my father’s return.
To her father.
Through your return his joy will be reborn too.

HAMBROEK.

Stay. Fredrik has certainly already heard of my arrival.
Good Van den Broek saw me as he left here,
(665) And kissed my hand, overtaken with joy.
Your husband will learn of my arrival from him.
He cried, was moved, left me in great haste...

CORNELIA, with liveliness.

That Coxinga sends you is a good omen me!
My husband’s father has in no way deceived me!
(670) His hope was well-founded, however weak it was in Fredrik’s eyes!
Oh joy! Coxinga, that arch tyrant,
Observes greater resistance than he ever expected:
Defeated by the news of his defeated hordes,
He will indeed turn to softer measures!
(675) My tortured heart, let all your fear be gone!
My father must surely be a messenger of peace!
Yes, my husband! your courage will soon bring us peace,
In spite of the enemy’s fury!

HAMBROEK.

                                            Ah! do not flatter yourself with such thoughts.
Whatever courteous reception we receive from the enemy’s army,
(680) Though I am an emissary here, do not trust the tyrant.
If he were in truth inclined toward a treaty,
[p. 35]
Why would he then not have told me the purpose of my mission?
Do not forget, my dearest child! That our tyrant
Rather sends me here as a slave, than as an emissary.

CORNELIA.

(685) If he had sent off a slave as an emissary,
Then he would indeed have senselessly defiled his honour.
Do not expect such a base deed from proud heathens.
My father fears too much, oppressed by our grief!
The heathen Chinaman is basically arrogant:
(690) So far it does not go well for him in the siege;
So he tries to propose a treaty to the Christians.
That he told you nothing about his plans,
Can be ascribed to the haughtiness of a general.
Surely through you he hopes to push through the proposal,
(695) With which his emissary has secretly been entrusted.
Because tonight he saw his men taken by surprise by Fredrik,
He hopes, oppressed by fear, I dare to hope with certainty,
To buy a treaty from us with your freedom.

HAMBROEK.

My daughter! ah! you do not know the nature of cruelty.
(700) No baseness is great enough for a cruel man to stop at,
If he cannot obtain his purpose by force.
The pleasure of beholding me makes you overconfident.
It is natural to man, and therefore not at all strange,
To perceive seeming good fortune as true in distressing circumstances.
(705) It is not difficult for hope to lull us to sleep;
Our ingenuity is never as sharp as when it needs to deceive us,
[p. 36]
Especially in youth, your time of life.
But you, my child! show that you are sensible.
Through Christianity one can surmount more human weakness,
(710) Than foolish haters of Christianity believe.
They call Christians cowards, their consolation nothing but a sham,
While Christianity actually makes people into heroes.
It teaches us in happiness and oppression not to be taken in by pretence;
It gives people courage; but humility is its weapon.
(715) The true Christian even finds joy in adversity,
Because he considers it as a test of virtue;
Yes, however many disasters on all sides instil fear into him,
He thanks, loves and honours the Supreme Being’s will.
That, my dearest child! is the benefit of your faith:
(720) Make use of it now. Cease examining my fate.
Allow me to honour the word I gave to Coxinga.

CORNELIA.

Your word!... what a strange order you have been prescribed!

HAMBROEK.

I will tell you about it in Cajet’s presence.

CORNELIA.

Indulge my impatience.

HAMBROEK.

                                    I shall indulge my duty.

CORNELIA.

(725) You torture my impatience! I beg you, explain further.
Your strange mission... But I behold my Fredrik’s father,
[p. 37]
Cajet, your dearest friend. Now relieve my sorrow.

HAMBROEK.

I shall do what honour, duty and Religion command me.

---

SCENE THREE. HAMBROEK, CAJET, CORNELIA, ELIZABETH. A Formosan guard.

CAJET, embracing Hambroek.

My dearest friend! How! You return! Can I trust my eyes!
(730) I could hardly restrain Fredrik on the ramparts:
All the men, like him, want to behold their minister again.
I had to order each of them strictly to keep his post:
They competed with each other to be the first to greet you within these walls.
But what good fortune, my friend! allows us to encounter you here?

HAMBROEK.

(735) The love of the people is the highest reward to a virtuous heart...
I hope your and their happiness will not merely change into sorrow!

CAJET.

Their happiness would turn into sorrow, and my hope into smoke,
When we behold you honoured as Coxinga’s emissary!

HAMBROEK.

Trust, my friend that the respect a tyrant gives us
(740) Springs from cruel necessity; that it offends his arrogance,
Reproaches him with his weakness, and that I can, sooner or later,
Expect death, as a reward for that counterfeit mercy.

CAJET.

You tear my heart apart! What orders did your tyrant give...
[p. 38]

HAMBROEK.

I do not know; but imagine what they may include
(745) You hope; but you may surmise my orders from all the circumstances,
With which the tyrant ordered me to proceed in this direction.
        When Coxinga learned that China’s forces of war
Had been administered a blow before the bulwark Middelburg,
Because of which he had to banish from his mind,
(750) Every hope to win this post and his decision to storm it,
He assembled his council of war. They told me,
That the general summoned me to his tent,
With Ampzing and Van Kamp, my colleagues and fellow-prisoners.
We entered the tent, filled with the leaders of the army,
(755) From whose faces shone nothing but desire for revenge, spite and murder.
You have, said Coxinga, heard the fury of your people.
They have, through treachery, forced my men from Middelburg;
They have shown more hate than courage, more cunning than force;
I could, at this moment, to appease my people’s blood,
(760) Wreak my anger and vengeance on you and the Christian people;
But Coxinga has chosen another fate for you.
You, Hambroek, will immediately convey my wishes to Cajet.
They are set out in this letter (*). Hand it to Cajet,
In the presence of my emissary.
(765) Give me your word of honour that you will return.
He had me swear my word of honour in a sacred oath.
What can be the content of this barbarous letter,

(*) He shows Cajet a letter; but keeps it in his hands.
[p. 39]
Sprung from a mind ruled by hellish fury!

CAJET.

You grieve me more and more; you torture my desire...
(770) I tremble to receive this letter from your hand!
I shudder, as my heart observes your circumstances!
If self defence is treachery to the tyrant,
We cannot expect much good from him;
A virtuous heart will always respect a brave enemy.

CORNELIA.

(775) The more I think, alas! the more my hope evaporates!

HAMBROEK.

Nothing is as cruel to the heart as hope that deceives us.
But...

---

SCENE FOUR HAMBROEK, CAJET, CORNELIA, ELIZABETH, VAN DEN BROEK. A Formosan guard.

VAN DEN BROEK.

            China’s emissary, driven by impatience,
Demands that you will give him an audience immediately, sir.
His arrogance seems incensed that you have made him wait so long.

CAJET.

(780) Base-hearted heathendom shows its anger very quickly.
Let him come.

Van den Broek leaves.

CORNELIA, to Hambroek.

                Ah! This arrival will explain your fate to us.
Oh Heaven! demand my blood, and allow my father to be spared.
[p. 40]

HAMBROEK.

Whatever may be my fate, to which Coxinga aspires,
My daughter! be as great as I expect of you.
(785) Live, to crown our head with honour through virtue and courage,
Or rather to show the power of Christianity.

---

SCENE FIVE. HAMBROEK, CAJET, CORNELIA, XAMTI, ELIZABETH, VAN DEN BROEK. A Formosan guard.

XAMTI (*).

You warriors without courage, you, Christians without virtue,
Who rejoice inordinately over a small victory
And proud of these ramparts, dare to conspire ridiculously,
(790) To go against more than thirty thousand men in a siege,
Men well-supplied with everything, and hardened in war,
With a handful of men; will you not finally learn
From the pain you feel inside over the fate of your friends,
By which fancy you allow your eyes to be blinded?
(795) Does not your dishonourable heart, pierced by their sorrow,
Reproach you with the base possession of a country you have stolen from us?
What drove you from Europe to China’s coast,
To steal a country that nature gave to us?
Is it not from dirty self-interest, the God of Christian people,
(800) Whom you serve very diligently with low treachery and daggers?

(*) As soon as Xamti appears on the Scene, Cajet signals the Formosan guard to leave.
[p. 41]
Rapacious band of pirates...

CAJET.

                                            Cease to deride us further,
We shall show Coxinga the nature of Christians.
Yes, you may be sure, that he will experience
The lack of virtue and courage of Christians before these ramparts.
(805) How the Netherlands subjugated this region under its banners,
Is not to be judged by the Netherlands subjects:
The council that rules us, whatever it does,
Is answerable to Heaven, certainly not to us.
The Christian follows his duty, even if the authorities err.
(810) He faithfully carries out everything they order him to do;
And never considers himself qualified to go against them,
Except when the order is incompatible with his nature.
This stronghold has been entrusted to me, and however you may accuse us,
Defending my post is the first of my duties;
(815) And I, I swear to you, that no enemy will enter within these ramparts,
But over my dead body and the rubble of the walls.

XAMTI.

Your words, (which would indeed do you honour,
If you had to protect your legitimate land from attack,
If you did not defend land that has been illegally wrested from us,
(820) Just by force of war) will be tested.

To Hambroek.

[p. 42]
You, slave of Coxinga, let his orders be heard.

HAMBROEK, in a magnanimous manner, to Cajet, who hesitates slightly.

Accept this letter, my friend! Behold what my fate will be.

CAJET, reads.

        If you do not surrender before evening comes again,
Foolhardy Christian! fear for the head of this prisoner:
        (825) His life will be shortened by you and not by me.
You will directly behold him hanging in front of this wall,
        Or the head chopped from his body. May this captured slave,
Induce you to surrender, if he loves his life,.
        Making your council of war see what we desire from you,
(830) If he breaks his word, and should not return,
        Then his wife and offspring, to punish that faithlessness,
Will satisfy your master’s revenge. His fate depends on you!

CORNELIA, throwing herself at Cajet’s feet in despair..

For Heaven’s sake, sir! do not make me lose hope...

HAMBROEK, rushing between her and Cajet, and raising her to her feet, with liveliness:

What does my daughter prefer that her father chooses?
(835) It concerns my life, it concerns my honour; the time demands haste:
Tell me, what should an honest man value most.

CORNELIA.

If I answered in the vein of what you taught me,
[p. 43]
Then it would be your daughter herself who desired your doom.
Do you expect that much courage for humanity from your teachings?

HAMBROEK.

(840) Crown your father’s teachings by enduring the test.

CORNELIA.

My distress has come to the worst! Whose blood would not run cold!
My father encourages me to condemn him!
To Cajet.
And you, his best friend, who are my father too,
You remain silent in the gruesome woe that slices through my soul!
(845) Whose too stringent virtue need I fear most here?
Whose strictness will be the most unyielding to me?
You, who hurt me with silence, and could save me, sir,
Suffer that the heart of a child, turns toward you, out of duty.
It concerns my father’s honour, it concerns my father’s life,
(850) He is your best friend... You can give us a solution.
Throwing herself at Cajet’s feet.
My father! let your goodwill be my last resort:
I beg, surrender the fortress.

CAJET, raising her to her feet.

                        My child, what do you demand of me!
I admit, I was speechless; who would not lose courage,
When duty impels him to choose the worst, and friendship the easiest?
(855) I feel the cruel battle of friendship and of duty;
Your distress, your distress, my child! Is of no less importance...
Whichever side I choose, what else can I fear,
Than that my choice will be lethal for you or me?
[p. 44]
If I surrender, how will I excuse myself
(860) For that shameful action before the council?
I am a warrior.

CORNELIA.

                But a human being and a friend as well.

CAJET.

Ah! may your virtue heed your father:
Now, more than ever, his words should be sacred to us;
His virtue will decide his fate, and yours and mine.

CORNELIA, falling at her father’s feet.

(865) You, who are my father, do not deny me, in my misery,
The consolation of addressing my complaint to you.
Imagine that, though your daughter speaks to you here,
Her mother, sister and her brother beg through her.
Permit those miserable ones to admonish you through me,
(870) To heed your virtue less than the tears of all of us.
Permit the father of my beloved husband,
That he, for your sake and ours, saves you from death.

HAMBROEK, raising her to her feet.

So I find myself cruelly deceived in my hope in the end!
Cajet heeds his duty less than his misplaced compassion!
(875) It is my daughter herself who renounces her courage here,
Makes herself highly despicable before the enemy’s emissary,
By urging her father to a base action,
The stain of which would remain on his line forever!
Pointing to Cajet.
My daughter, ah! what do you require from that oppressed hero?
(880) What heavy trial do you set him?
[p. 45]
Where the enemy’s sword cannot conquer this fortress, you attempt
Through tears, through groaning to wrest the fortress from him!
You demand that he renounces his duty as a warrior,
Dishonours himself for eternity, and makes himself mortally guilty;
(885) Just to save an old friend from death,
Whose life will be nearly at an end anyway,
Or at least will not be useful for much longer.
Your love is therefore more cruel than the raging of my tyrant.
To Cajet.
You, who are master here, whose friendship has honoured me,
(890) Whose virtue won my friendship, who learned your duties from me,
And carried them out faithfully; is it possible, that you,
Can still doubt what my choice should be here?
How? do you think that your friend would prefer life,
If you would lose your life and honour for his?
(895) I to live with the slur that I betrayed my friend!...
You know me: do not expect such low baseness from me.
If you value my friendship, as in days of yore,
Allow yourself to be swayed by neither tears nor friendship.
Friendship and parentel love, however highly I value them,
(900) Are nothing, if either of them expect something base from me.
I demand it, it is your duty, you shall defend your post.

XAMTI.

Remember, your death will be the reward for returning without success.

HAMBROEK.

I know: I fear no death. Come, let your overlord
[p. 46]
Learn true greatness from his enslaved Christian.

CORNELIA, to Xamti.

(905) Will your barbarian lord then spill this heroic blood?

XAMTI, op Hambroek wyzende.

Rather ask, will that barbarian drive him to that extreme?
Aside, while looking at Hambroek with wonderment.
I am highly surprised by his magnanimity!...
If only Coxinga had put this burden on another/ given these orders to another!

CAJET, to Xamti.

This is the first time in my life that someone has ever
(910) (I do not hide my shudders) seen me tremble in the miseries of war,
Sir. In truth, your commander prefers an unusual road
To bring about our downfall in this siege!
He, who, as it seems, wishes to avoid battle with us in the field,
Makes my friend combat my courage within these ramparts.
(915) I admit that this strange assault has been cleverly thought out:
It is even more effective, because no one expected it.
It concerns either my head or my honour, it concerns my best friend’s life:
Coxinga ought to give me time for such a choice;
But since I need expect nothing from him in adversity,
(920) I hope for one favour from you, you seem an honest man;
In spite of the proud nature common to your countrymen,
My friend’s noble virtue inclines your heart to pity;
A heart that has been touched does not easily disguise itself;
You do not have a cruel nature, bit are strict out of duty.
(925) Leave us alone for one hour, to deliberate everything.
[p. 47]
This is truly a small request, you cannot deny it.
Oblige an enemy, who truly honours your virtues

XAMTI.

Very well! I grant you what you desire from me.
I admit, your friend is a great man: his noble contempt for death,
(930) and love for his friend, exceed my expectation.
However foolishly Christians are depicted to us in my country,
I see that Christianity breeds true heroes too;
And however much your clergy may blind you about us,
You will not find me insensible to virtue.
(935) I think that the multitude of priests, both in your country and mine,
Are greater proponents of damning than of proof.
As for me, I who deal with Christians for the first time,
Am surprised by their conduct, whatever their doctrine may be.
You are mindful of your duty; I see this with pleasure! Allow,
(940) That I, to the glory of my people, fulfil my duty too:
I demand your word of honour, that Hambroek will not flee.

CAJET.

Go. Return to your room. Rest assured, sir,
That we value our lives less than our honour.
Xamti leaves, with Van den Broek. After which Cajet continues to Cornelia:
(945) You may expect your husband in this room.
To allow him to retain his self control; do not assault him with complaints.
Tell him, I beg you, with the utmost carefulness.
Of the fate that the tyrant has imposed upon your father.

To Hambroek.

Let us plan, in my room, in solitude,
[p. 48]
(950) What it behoves you and me to do in this dire situation.

HAMBROEK.

My daughter, though my soul beholds your sorrow with pain,
Do not flatter yourself with my rescue, at the cost of a dear friend.
I will die in the interest of my people, and as a Christian.
Heaven wills it thus: I must give it satisfaction.
(955) Show, as fits a Christian, in spite of disbelief,
How nobly Christian people successfully combat their sorrow.
He leaves, with Cajet.

CORNELIA.

How those words touch my soul! My father’s blood will flow!
I am doomed to rein in my sorrow over this!...
Oh Hambroek! Oh Cajet! oh Fredrik! Coxinga!
(960) All of you grieve my heart!... Heaven! Show me mercy!
She faints in Elizabeth’s arms.

End of act three.

[p. 49]

ACT FOUR. SCENE ONE. CORNELIA, ELIZABETH.

CORNELIA, sitting alone.

My Fredrik!... Ah! your wife, collapsed because of her family’s sorrow,
Longs to see you, and fears to speak to you!
Is this, oh Heaven! The reward for a virtue-loving heart?
Are your trials accompanied by so much sorrow?
(965) My husband’s father must himself doom my father,
Or risks that the council will consider him dishonourable;
I must see my father’s head... I must watch him go to his death,
If I do not wish to see my entire family cut down!...
Oh Heaven! If those who esteem virtue and Religion,
(970) Could not expect a better life after this life,
Then my greatest comfort would, alas! be nothing but a sham!
Then my cruellest punishment would be to be like you!

---

SCENE TWO. CORNELIA, ELIZABETH.

CORNELIA, rising and walking towards Eli- zabeth with fury.

Oh My friend!...

ELIZABETH.

                            Calm down. Your husband will come.
Remember, madam! You must consider this well:
(975) So that Fredrik hears your father’s fate from your mouth,
[p. 50]
But that his pity does not turn to despair.
In Heaven’s name, friend! I beg you to contain yourself;
So that your sorrow does not dig us a new pit.
If Heaven’s supreme power decided your father’s downfall,
(980) Save, if it is possible, your brave husband.
His fury, which has been heightened by your sorrow,
Can hardly be held back by Cajet.
Do not hurt him unexpectedly, be brave and careful.
At this hour especially distrust his magnanimity;
(985) Which, driven too far by fury in a youthful heart,
Might easily impel him to surrender himself to the enemy for Hambroek’s sake

CORNELIA.

You tear my heart asunder!

ELIZABETH.

                                          A horrible disaster has indeed overcome you!
Your father, your husband, his father are in dire straits,
Your mother is in danger; whatever road one chooses,
(990) Fate has decided that you will lose one of them,
Since you will now have to miss one of them without fail...

CORNELIA.

Do not remind me of a choice that makes your own blood run cold.
However, whatever cloud of disaster has surrounded my senses,
One single ray of hope suddenly appears before my eyes:
(995) My husband’s father is a politician,
From whose acute mind one may expect much.
He has asked for time to consider: maybe he will think of something,
To cleverly win time in this great danger;
Maybe he can come to an agreement with Coxinga...
[p. 51]
(1000) A mind sharpened by adversity is always inventive.

After a moment’s thought.

But whatever hope, friend, may possess this heart,
My Fredrik still has to know the tyrant’s demand.
My husband’s father, how bravely, demands of me,
That I be the bearer of the message to my husband;
(1005) He hopes that connubial love will curb an anger,
From which we can indeed expect the worst.
But how many horrible things reveal themselves in this order/burden!
Fredrik’s joy will surely be ecstatic,
Over Hambroek’s return; imagine furthermore
(1010) That he will expect many good things from this arrival;
And that he will more than ever put his pride,
In defending the heavily assaulted ramparts to the utmost.
How his joy and hope will change into sorrow and regret!

ELIZABETH.

It is certain that regret will consume his breast:
(1015) But... Someone approaches us... Your husband appears.

CORNELIA.

What trembling comes over me!... ah! all my courage disappears!

---

SCENE THREE. CORNELIA, FREDRIK, ELIZABETH.

FREDRIK.

It is true then, my love! your father has been dismissed?
Does it please Coxinga to propose something good to us through him?
[p. 52]
My heart finally feels hope! Does the proud tyrant
(1020) then elect your father as his emissary?
Thanks to my victory, attained before these ramparts!
One can clearly see the fear of China’s multitude of warriors:
We expected from their anger a furious assault
Upon my conquered fortification, at the end of the night;
(1025) But the army keeps quiet, far from attacking us.
Van Ypren is a famous guard; and covers these ramparts,
In my absence, if the army should plan something.
Where is your father? suffer that I go speak to him.
So that he can tell me himself what made him come here.
(1030) My heart, overtaken by gladness on his arrival,
Desires to deposit in his arms the fruits of victory,
Garnered by my arm... You tremble!

CORNELIA, throwing herself into his arms with emotion.

                                                            Oh my husband!...

FREDRIK.

Why this flood of tears? What makes you tremble secretly?
While fate allows my heart for the first time to live on hope,
(1035) My wife, who has always encouraged hope,
Assaults my newly blossoming hope with a flood of tears!

CORNELIA.

Hope gladdens your heart!... as it did mine...
“I tremble!”... that your hope, will disappear with my joy!

FREDRIK.

You strike fear into my heart! Please explain yourself freely...
[p. 53]

CORNELIA.

(1040) I tremble... but predominantly for you!

FREDRIK.

How now! You tremble for me?...
But why waste time? Let me speak to your father.

CORNELIA.

Your father has retired into that room with him;
It is he who denies you entrance through me.

FREDRIK.

What! This scorn happens to me, to me!

CORNELIA.

(1045) Ah! If only this ban served to scorn Fredrik’s virtue,
His wife would show herself more sensitive than he.
People would see me die for my husband’s honour.

FREDRIK.

You stab a dagger into my heart! Why this obscure language?
What horrible secret are you attempting to keep from your husband?
(1050) Do not try my impatience!
You know me: in spite of the guard, if you waste time...

CORNELIA.

Very well! If I tell you what you wish to know,
Would you give your wife your word of honour,
(And will she be able to trust freely in this,)
(1055) That you will undertake nothing, in spite of your impatience,
Than what you will first plan with her beforehand?
I know your noble heart, but fear your temper with reason:
You know your wife, and know, since longer than today,
That her heart loves honour and could demand nothing from you
[p. 54]
(1060) Which would be in contradiction with the duties of any honest man.

FREDRIK.

Very well! I give my word. Speak up! “What makes me tremble!”

CORNELIA, fearfully.

The enemy demands the ramparts, or... Hambroek’s dear life!

FREDRIK, falling into the armchair.

We are done for!... My wife!

CORNELIA.

                        Ah! my husband

FREDRIK.

Heaven! Is this the fruit of my victory?
(1065) What a horrible demand! Alas! My gruesome triumph
Oh my wife! changes our fate so cruelly!
I have done my duty for this threatened wall,
This provokes the tyrant! My victory costs you dearly!
Blame the fate that awaits Hambroek on your husband...
Rising angrily.
(1070) But do not hold me back: I must exercise my duty.
He wants to leave.

CORNELIA, holding him back.

Ah! stay. In Heaven’s name! Alas! my husband,
What are you going to do?

FREDRIK.

                                Wrest your father’s head from death.

CORNELIA.

Ah! Is it not enough to fear for father’s head?
Must your despair be lethal to your wife too?
(1075) Remember your word of honour: do not leave my side.
[p. 55]

FREDRIK.

I shall do what honour, and duty and friendship oblige me to do.

CORNELIA.

You will not leave your wife at this moment...
One single ray of hope still remains with me.
As long as one can hope, despair is excessive.

FREDRIK.

(1080) He acts most excessively who flatters himself with nothing.
Expect nothing from the tyrant, fear everything from his anger.
Allow that your husband protects your father’s head.
You hope, where fate opposes us most cruelly!
What flatters you in this extremity?

CORNELIA.

        Your father’s sharp mind.
(1085) When he had heard the tyrant’s demand,
He obtained leave from the enemy’s emissary, through cunning,
To think of ways and means, through an hour’s reflection...
Control yourself, allow him to use that hour:
Maybe his ingenuity will invent something to cunningly win time...
(1090) Please banish, as long as possible, despair from your mind.
Do not make your wife’s sorrow even greater through anger.

FREDRIK.

Your excessive hope occasions me the greatest sorrow.
Whatever my father may do, more time will not benefit us.
Do not ever expect that Coxinga will relinquish his plan.
(1095) His demand is tailored all too well to our downfall,
To ever hope that he will change it.
The tyrant has found the way to strike us with fear;
[p. 56]
He will realise our oppressive sorrow only too well.
He will profit by it,... Ah! Whatever we may try,
(1100) His demand will always remain his demand, which he will never abandon.
Do not go against my plan... I behold our fathers coming.
How this heart is overtaken by regret and pity!
Your father’s piteous fate, your suffering, your tears...

CORNELIA.

How many miserable people does fate bring together here!

---

SCENE FOUR. HAMBROEK, CAJET, FREDRIK, CORNELIA, ELIZABETH.

FREDRIK, embracing Hambroek.

(1105) Sir, my wife has made known to me the tyrant’s demand...
Ah! that I should welcome her father in this manner!
You have been allowed time, I know, to consider;
But I know what our reputation can expect from your choice.
I know your strict virtue, your friendship for my father,
(1110) Your devotion to your duty, and the Dutch people together.
I know what each of these demands of your exalted heart...
Each one of these strikes my soul with bitter sorrow too!
You will surely, sir, heed the claims of all of them:
Ah! allow your son not to stifle their claims either.
(1115) My arm has whetted the enemy’s sword at your neck...
Allow me one attempt, that might save you.

HAMBROEK.

What attempt!... Ah! my son, what ways do you see
[p. 57]
Along which I could escape the enemy’s rancour with honour?
Flight? Remember, my child! that the tyrant would never
(1120) Place me in your power if he had no security:
And who is my pledge? My wife and dear children;
Even if I preferred flight, their circumstances would prevent me.
I do not think that you would ever expect from me the cruelty,
That I would save myself at the cost of my family.
(1125) But even if the tyrant could not hurt my relatives,
Believe me, I would still return to his army;
No less than now would I do what honour and duty command:
I swore I would return; I will not break my oath.
If you wish to heed your duty, your love and friendship,
(1130) Then defend these ramparts even more audaciously than before.
Heaven demands my blood, and it is entitled to do so.
It is my greatest comfort that I fulfil my duty;
Fulfil yours too: make the enemy’s army tremble,
And make no further proposals to save my life.

CORNELIA, to Cajet.

(1135) I am beside myself! Ah! sir, has your acute mind...

CAJET.

Your father, ah! my child, dismisses everything out of hand.
No proposition, no treaty... I beg you, hold on to your courage.
Do not drive us to the limits of catastrophe by groaning.
Since nothing can liberate your father’s head from the sword,
(1140) Do not deprive us of our courage, to the benefit of his tyrant.
You behold half of my courage collapsed, over the fate of my friend,
[p. 58]
Ah! leave me the other half, to avenge him at least .
If fate oppresses you terribly, it oppresses me quite as cruelly:
I, I must be the cause of the sorrow of all of you!
(1145) I pity your horrible fate, beholding your bitter sorrow;
But I pity you less because you did not deserve it:
This serves to comfort me too; but...

---

SCENE FIVE. HAMBROEK, CAJET, FREDRIK, CORNELIA, ELIZABETH, VAN DEN BROEK.

VAN DEN BROEK.

                                The enemy’s emissary
Demands your captured friend back from your hands;
And the soldiers, sir, overcome by impatience,
(1150) Desire to know the reason for their minister’s arrival.

CAJET.

Let the emissary enter.

Van den Broek leaves, after which Cajet continues, addressing Hambroek:

                        Behold a new danger;
If the men, who love you, become aware of your situation,
What will be the result of that love, of their terror!

HAMBROEK.

Take courage, my friend! When the men see that you fulfil your duty,
(1155) And that you heed its voice above the voice of friendship,
They will be driven even stronger to their duty in battle.
[p. 59]
I admit, the soldiers, driven by their fondness for me,
Will tremble when they hear of my terrible fate:
They may rise in mutiny; but when you, as a warrior, show,
(1160) That you, for the safety of the ramparts, do not spare your best friend,
You will stop their protests: everyone will obey.

---

SCENE SIX. HAMBROEK, CAJET, FREDRIK, CORNELIA, XAMTI, ELIZABETH, VAN DEN BROEK

XAMTI.

We see that the sun has already risen above the eastern horizon:
It is time, sir, that I leave these ramparts,
And reveal your last decision to the leader of my army.
(1165) Speak up! Do you wish to lose these ramparts, or your friend?
I have allowed you time to consider.

CAJET.

                                        I will let my friend choose.
Friendship and duty... It makes my blood run cold!
Both demand more than I can accomplish.

XAMTI.

How! Is it your duty, sir, to endanger your friend’s head,
(1170) When his death will only slow your downfall slightly?
The first thing he will set foot on outside these ramparts is a scaffold.

CORNELIA.

Oh Heaven! Heaven! Help!... Is this my father’s fate!
Oh my husband! Your wife!
[p. 60]

FREDRIK.

                                Ah! beloved wife,
Let not your groaning make our woe even worse in this hour!
(1175) You see where fate has finally brought us.
My father has observed the duties of an honest man:
His oath, his honour, his duty, it cannot be disguised,
Each of these urges most strongly that he should doom his friend;
Friendship however, tears the strongest at his vitals.
(1180) He places your father’s fate in your father’s own hand;
And this hero too clearly shows us, through his magnanimous silence,
What his heart prefers.
Ah! The virtue of each father is lethal to the other!
Saving your father puts mine in danger:
(1185) Since fate now directs us to lose one of them,
And since your father wishes to die for my father’s salvation,
Virtue tells us no less clearly, in so much adversity,
My wife, what you, what I must choose:
Fate allows you and me no other choice.
To Xamti.
(1190) Sir, I have considered your master’s demand.
You seem a reasonable man: I beg, consider with me,
How absurd your master’s order is.
He demands from my father what he can never give,
Except at the loss of his goods, his reputation and his life;
(1195) And if my father refuses to comply with this,
Brave Coxinga threatens to kill a grey old man,
Who cannot hurt him, and has never offended him.
[p. 61]
So it is one hand full of blood that will satisfy Coxinga;
He shows his character: well! If one hand full of blood,
(1200) (He will never obtain this fortress!) must satisfy his anger,
Let him make a better choice, more worthy of a general.
A more useful sacrifice stands ready to his service;
A sacrifice, that as long as it will draw breath,
Will serve as an impediment to his winning these ramparts.
(1205) Let him spare this grey hero... He can avenge himself on me!

CORNELIA.

Oh Heaven! That blow is all my distress lacks!
That reckless spirit... Oh my Fredrik! Ah! how expensive...
What a proposition for love!

CAJET.

                                And also for parental love!

HAMBROEK.

I am deeply touched! Whose breast would not tremble!
(1210) What a proposition! Fredrik, how!... You, Christian! do you know life?
Do you know your Religion? Do you know yourself at this time?
Who gave you life? To whom is it that you owe it?
If you knew all of this, you would certainly guard against
Reaching for a doom-worthy honour through false greatness.
(1215) The most incomparable thing that Heaven gives us
Is life: only He who has bestowed it on us,
Reserves to Himself the right to, at His discretion,
Demand that incomparable pledge back from us.
The fool or villain, who does not know or heed duty,
[p. 62]
(1220) Wagers his life, charmed by a semblance of honour:
The truly brave man, the Christian, knows life,
Will never recklessly put himself in danger;
And, led by his duty, in prosperity and adversity,
He lives if he can, and dies if he must.
(1225) If Heaven wanted to spare my life,
Never think that I would hurl myself into danger;
No! Hambroek merely obeys the dictates of duty.
Heaven demands my blood, it does not demand yours:
Its will is that you live, my son! And it behoves both of us
(1230) To follow the road where its will will lead us,
In full certainty, that, however painful it may be for us,
It will perfectly reward that obedience in the future.
Live for your country and your wife: I am at peace with my death.
To Xamti.
You see how far temper has driven him off track,
(1235) Sir! Your commander may take out his vengeance on me.
I must fulfil my duty, let yours be sacred to you.

CORNELIA, to Xamti.

Sir, I find you no stranger to pity.
Realise how much sorrow this breast has to contend with.
I think, that your people, with whatever doctrine they are inculcated,
(1240) Know the voice of connubial and filial love.
You behold me grievously beset by both:
My father will, alas, set foot on a death scaffold,
My husband’s father, and even my husband,
Compelled by their duty, sentence him to death!
[p. 63]
(1245) The last offers himself up for the enemy’s displeasure...
What circumstances for a child! What circumstances for a wife!
In Heaven’s name, sir! Hear my groans.
They tell me you are a friend of your general’s;
You have, so they say, great influence over him,
(1250) And the people, that love you, adore you, so they say:
Would it not be possible for you to try, for my sake,
In my bitter sorrow, your friendship on the general’s heart?
If you could ignite the humanity in his character...
Everything I own in this country would be yours.
(1255) Behold me at your feet!

XAMTI, raising her to her feet:

                                Ah, your suffering costs me dearly!...
How many magnanimous people surround me at this hour!
These are the Christians whom my priests mock!
I cannot possibly set limits to my delight!
Ah! if your fate were in my hands!... But I know in this disaster
(1260) Of one remedy, that will at least alleviate your fate,
Your collective virtue conquers me!

To Hambroek.

                                        I shall reveal something to you,
To withdraw yourself from the death scaffold and the general’s vengeance.

CORNELIA.

Can it be possible, sir! Ah speak: through which policy...

CAJET.

What remedy, how! Sir...
[p. 64]

FREDRIK.

                                What magnanimity!

CAJET.

(1265) In what manner can we escape your anger, sir?

XAMTI.

By speaking to my prisoner alone here for a while.
He will undoubtedly agree with what I shall propose.

HAMBROEK.

If it is consistent with my duty and Religion.
It is in no way my duty to go to my death,
(1270) As long as I have any hope of a solution.
Please tell me what road you know to my salvation.

CAJET.

Why not confide your proposal to both of us together?

XAMTI.

My proposal will become clear soon enough.
Just let your family leave here immediately.

CAJET.

(1275) Very well, sir! We will leave. Whatever your proposal will be,
Your generosity is vengeance enough for me:
I see that in your heart you damn your master’s gruesome attempt.

CORNELIA.

Oh Heaven! finally show compassion with our fate!
My father... ah!...

She leaves, with Cajet, meanwhile FREDRIK, continues in tears.

                        Can it be, heed her tears...
(1280) Oh you, who are prepared to die... Imagine her suffering!
[p. 65]

HAMBROEK, as Fredrik leaves.

Her suffering grieves me more than I can express to you.
Go, teach her, in my footsteps, to bow before Heaven’s order.

---

SCENE SEVEN. HAMBROEK, XAMTI.

XAMTI.

Your soul is truly great! I esteem a man of courage!
It is true, I have been brought up to war from a young age,
(1285) And through fate attached to Coxinga’s interests;
Nevertheless nature gave me a noble heart.
However far Religion divides us from each other,
I cannot bear to see injustice, I love fairness.
The differences in doctrine do not allow mortals
(1290) The right not to aid each other in adversity,
Even less do they allow us not to wrest
Such a brave man from a disgraceful fate, if we can.
You were done an injustice: your people were described to me
As scoundrels, as riffraff undeserving of life,
(1295) As robbers of this land, and friends to treachery:
Filled with this prejudice, I have hated your people.
They deceive us in our country about your people!
My leader abuses his power in the most disgraceful manner:
He demands from his enemy what he cannot give,
(1300) And basely threatens the head of a man who cannot defend himself.
To escape your perdition you cannot choose flight,
[p. 66]
Or you allow that your wife and offspring lose their heads in your stead;
This would be cowardice, unworthy of such a decent man;
Your flight would cost me my head too. Since you will now have to bend
(1305) Before my master’s sword on the scaffold, to the detriment of your tribe,
I know one way to wrest you from the executioner’s sword,
And it will not be lethal to your captive people,
Or to me. Accept it audaciously!

HAMBROEK.

                                        But what?

XAMTI, taking a poker from his belt.

                                                                Accept this dagger.
Take it! Plunge it in your heart! You must lose your life anyway:
(1310) It is greater to die by your own hand than by that of an executioner.
The frightened man bends before fate, goes trembling to his punishment;
The great man lives free, depends on himself!
Plunge it in! I promise to spare your wife and offspring;
Do not fear for them, or me. I will save them and myself.
(1315) I will ascribe your suicide to a madness,
That could not be prevented.

HAMBROEK.

        How! Xamti, do you know me?...
You are to lie! I, out of fear for the enemy’s sword, am to take my own life!

XAMTI.

But you will have to kneel on the scaffold before the gruesome murderous sword;
[p. 67]
Since you have to die now, choose, in extremity,
(1320) A decent death rather than a shameful one.
Prevent your dishonour, make yourself your own sacrifice .

HAMBROEK.

Our vices alone are the mother of our shame.

XAMTI.

If you follow my proposition, you will spare your family
The sorrow of seeing you being killed.

HAMBROEK.

(1325) It would be a greater sorrow to my family,
If it ever saw me soil my honour by suicide.

XAMTI.

It is glorious to flee a gruesome fate with audacity.

HAMBROEK.

The Christian seeks no glory in what his duty forbids.

XAMTI.

In your place I would not be so delicate,
(1330) But follow the example of the proud Japanese;
Who, when doomed to die, in spite of the judge’s revenge,
Kill themselves with pleasure, in front of everybody.

HAMBROEK.

He who knows no other guide than the weak light of reason,
Will gladly lapse into excess, and that is not surprising:
(1335) The man who is led by a higher light than the light of reason,
Sees a clearer distinction between the true and the false.
The light that shines on me, is hidden from your eyes;
You deserve my pity, it pains me to see you wander.
[p. 68]
You consider it glory, when you wrench yourself away from the light,
(1340) To escape fate in one stroke, if it presses you to harshly:
My Religion teaches man to combat fate with glory,
Not to flee it, but to be a hero in suffering.
Who of us is then the greatest! You, who fearful of fate,
Kill yourself madly, and cowardly flee your fate;
(1345) Or I, who possess the courage to await everything
With which fate threatens me, and therefore dare to despise fate?
Your system not only contradicts the light of reason,
And brings you disgrace, but it is also contrary to your duty:
Because if you received your life from Heaven’s hand,
(1350) You cannot possibly allow it to depend on your own hand;
Or you, whatever illusion, whatever sham honour seduces you,
Will audaciously interfere with Heaven’s prerogative; an act full of horror!
This fits the scoundrel, or the fool, who knows neither duties nor reason.
Let us not interfere with the prerogative of the wise Deity.
(1355) My life and death are at his disposal! You, follow me, come!

XAMTI, staring after him in the greatest delight.

What a hero!... He almost forces me to become a Christian!

End of act four.

[p. 69]

ACT FIVE. SCENE ONE. CORNELIA, alone.

I do not find my father! He has gone from here!
What voice says to my heart: “You will speak to him for the last time!”
For the last time! for the last time!... those words cut through my vitals!...
(1360) But no! I still cherish hope for China’s emissary.
His pity, for my fate grown to such an extent...
What terror assaults my heart! What can his plan be?
Why does he hide it? Why disguise from us
What remedy could save my dear father?
(1365) Who of us would not be pleased with it, if it were certain?
Ah! what foul voice whispers to my soul?
Filial love...

---

SCENE TWO. CORNELIA, ELIZABETH.

CORNELIA, with liveliness.

Oh My friend! whose loyalty obliges me dearly,
What drives you to such speed?

ELIZABETH.

                                        An important incident.
The men know of your father’s fate, everywhere they are rising in mutiny,
[p. 70]
(1370) And they threaten Cajet, to unlock the gate for the enemy’s army.
A crowd of soldiers shout at the top of their voices: “Let Hambroek live;
Let us force our commander to surrender himself!”

CORNELIA, pleased.

Thank Heaven!... Ah! friend, when these mutineers
Force Cajet to surrender this fortress,
(1375) Then he will be exonerated before Java’s High Council;
His warlike virtue will not profit him if his men desert him.
My father, I will see you returned to us in the end!
My mother! My family! You will then live with him!
Oh Xamti! I did not expect very much from you;
(1380) Your ruse serves Hambroek, us and also your commander.
This is your fate, oh virtue! Even amongst barbarians you find
Your admirers, avengers and protectors in danger.
Yes, Xamti has surely designed this mutiny.

ELIZABETH.

What will it profit if you encourage that feeling in yourself?
(1385) Do you consider this correctly, madam? I do not wish to contradict,
That Xamti managed to incite the men to mutiny:
I concur, that the emissary, sympathetic towards your sorrow,
Secretly made your father’s fate known to the men;
Will your father ever agree with a mutiny like a coward?
(1390) Will not his virtue rather block the development of the mutiny?
You know him: I beg you friend! Do not flatter yourself fruitlessly:
Has he not shown, that his duty leads him in everything?
Do you trust, that he will ever, driven by fear of death,
Plan a mutiny, to save his life?
(1395) Could he do anything his duty prohibits him?

CORNELIA.

What does not the will to live do in mortal danger?
Would it be so impossible, for him to be weak just once?
Could he not fear dying for a moment?
Can he not feel sympathy for his offspring and wife?
(1400) Great men are not always that great:
Whatever bold or noble action we see them perform,
They are people, and, however proud, will remain people.
My father may, out of sympathy for his wife and offspring,
Who after his death will be altogether bereft of comfort,
(1405) Participate in Xamti’s bold design, freed from dishonour...
I dare not still gratify my heart with hope without grounds!
The salvation of a friend, himself and his family,
Will undoubtedly speak with force to a great heart.
It is true, a secret fear, I cannot renounce it,
(1410) Sometimes combats my hope... I see my husband drawing near.

---

SCENE THREE. FREDRIK, CORNELIA, ELIZABETH.

FREDRIK.

My wife, ah! it is finished! All our hope has gone:
Your father has stopped the fighting men’s temper,
[p. 72]
Has incited their zeal to defend themselves more than ever,
And has made every soldier return to his post.

CORNELIA.

(1415) What do you say, Fredrik? How!...

FREDRIK.

                        In our sight they have,
Not far from the outermost buildings, built a scaffold.
The enemy’s advance guard called: “Cowardly bands of war!
As soon as you send our slave back here unsuccessfully,
You will immediately see his dishonourable Christian blood
(1420) Be shed on yonder scaffold. Show your courage, if you dare!”
That frightful language flew quickly along the ramparts,
And made the soldiers drop both steel and courage.
Each one surmised your father’s orders, each one guessed your father’s fate.
We did indeed see the gruesome death scaffold,
(1425) Surrounded by a crowd of soldiers in armour.
Soon our fighting men grumbled, and refused to fight,
While they damned my father, me and the commanders,
And called the defence of the country a wild cruelty.
They cried, as if mad: “Let grey-haired Hambroek live!
(1430) And let the council of war soon surrender the fortress!
Let us block the plan of the proud council of war.”
In vain we contradicted the mutinying soldier:
They cursed us, threatened and swore to unlock the gate immediately.
Your father, hearing this, stepped outside undaunted.
(1435) He approached, and heard in what harsh tones
[p. 73]
The mutinying men threatened us; he shared in our derision.
He gestured; the mutineer fell silent, in the hope that he would speak.
My brothers! he calls out, you have proved your love to me;
But do you think that it flatters us when you harm your honour?
(1440) Do you consider yourself worth mine when you commit perjury?
Then your love grieves me more than the enemy’s cruel rage!
How! Do you demand to be prey to the enemy’s staff of war,
To wrest me, whose head he threatens, from my downfall!
Soldiers! Tell me who will be your guarantee
(1445) That, if you surrender, the enemy will spare me?
Do you blindly trust the word of heathen barbarians?
Does the Dutch people, that has always pleased me, betray
Its wisdom, courage and virtue, for the benefit of the heathens!
No death, however cruel it be, can create so much horror
(1450) As the honour, my people! Of having to survive you!
My children! If my love is truly dear to you,
Return to your duty; bring me no sadness!
Those words, spoken with affability and noble earnestness,
Have once more ignited courage in our unwilling people.
(1455) They snatched up their arms, with tears in their eyes,
And consider themselves bound only to revenge Hambroek.
They were ashamed, and swore to punish the tyrant.

CORNELIA.

My father, does your virtue bring me nothing but sorrow!
[p. 74]
You, who scorn the help of people who love you,
(1460) Will undoubtedly reject the help and counsel of everyone here!
What road to comfort shall I choose in my father’s fate!

FREDRIK.

His virtue be all your comfort, now you have to lose him!
It is fair, that my arrival prepares you for that heavy blow,
That cannot be avoided...

---

SCENE FOUR. CAJET, FREDRIK, CORNELIA, ELIZABETH.

CORNELIA, seeing Cajet, walks into his arms.

                                My dear father... Ah!
(1465) Your sadness tells me enough! Dare I ask you tremblingly
What China’s emissary... But, ah! you are cast down!
Where is my father? Speak. Has he gone from here?
Ah! announce to me, in one word, life or death.
Do not fear my sadness, however extreme it is.

CAJET.

(1470) Your father is still here, but it will not be for much longer.
That matchless hero, who scorns all help
Who does combat with his duties, and resists his salvation impressively,
And, now his duty commands it, wishes to act as a prey to vengeance,
Himself presses the emissary to leave these ramparts.

CORNELIA.

(1475) The proposal of the emissary...

CAJET.

                                        Served to escape, in this extremity,
[p. 75]
The sword of an executioner; but, ah! in no way death.
A proposal that every Christian should rightly reject,
You can easily surmise... Ah, it fairly makes my blood run cold!
Demand no more of me, my child! Your father exhorted me
(1480) To allow him, as a last service, one request:
He demands from us, that we should solemnly prepare you,
To see him once more... to part forever!

CORNELIA, desperately.

To part forever! forever! forever!... oh No!...
Barbarians! Tear this heart apart ruthlessly
(1485) To see you once more! Only once more!... oh My father!
I will die beside you! Death already approaches me!
She throws herself into the armchair with her hands before her eyes.

CAJET.

Where is your virtue, my child? Let your Religion assuage your pain.

CORNELIA, in tears.

No, the grave... The grave alone will be the end of sorrows.

CAJET.

Is this your father’s precept, always prescribed to you...

CORNELIA.

(1490) Do not mention my father to me,... that word will kill me.
Is this the reward of virtue, oh Heaven! Is this my portion!

FREDRIK.

Oh Heaven! strengthen my courage in the approaching tragic scene!
He comes.
[p. 76]

CAJET.

                Your father himself...

CORNELIA.

                                        I would then speak to him for the last time!
For the last time!... I feel my blood drawing back to my shivering heart!
(1495) How great the cost of your father’s duty is to me, my husband!

---

SCENE FIVE. HAMBROEK, CAJET, FREDRIK, CORNELIA, VAN DEN BROEK, ELIZABETH.

HAMBROEK, on entering.

Everyone is crying! What a storm for friendship and paternal love.
        Embracing Cornelia.
My daughter!

CORNELIA.

                Father, ah! Heaven, highly enraged...

HAMBROEK.

Let us, my dear child! follow Heaven’s wishes!
He who guides our fate laughs at our plans.
(1500) He chooses a terrible road for me, I admit it!
But let us satisfy Him; let us keep a respectful silence:
Obedience to Him will obtain the most wonderful reward.
Everything he wishes, my child! is not without reason,
Though our weak sight cannot see that reason correctly here.
(1505) Luckily this heart has prayed successfully,
To go towards death comforted, full of hope in Him!
[p. 77]
Luckily paternal love, vanquished by your sorrow,
Speaks less strongly than Religion in the paternal heart!
Finally, since wife and offspring and best friend must lose me,
(1510) Luckily I still find that comfort in my dying,
That I, who after all owe death to nature once,
Thoroughly know the powers of our doctrine in dying!
How beautiful is my Religion! How loveable its fruit!
It makes me unconquerable for fate and fear of death!
(1515) It allows me, sympathetic in my soul with your sorrow,
To resist the storms of paternal love and friendship!
Oh! if only the strength that affords me this grand triumph,
Allowed you all, in my wake, to dominate your sorrow!
Oh! if I could see here, to comfort me while death approaches,
(1520) Heroes equal to me, truly great through Religion!

CORNELIA.

Ah! if your terrifying fate could not wring tears from us,
Your greatness in death would force us to tears!
But do not condemn our crying over your horrible fate...
Only a short while from the grave! only a short step from the scaffold!...
(1525) It is natural, o yes! that your daughter is shocked!
Religion touches this heart no less than yours;
But I am not strong enough, thinking about your downfall...

HAMBROEK.

Ah! beg for strength from Him who will hear you,
[p. 78]
The Good Father of mankind will surely hear
(1530) Those who pray for what is proper;
And He never rejects us, believe it freely, my child!
Unless he considers our prayer detrimental to ourselves.
But finally, the terrible hour of parting has come.
I will die for my people, and will go in glory.
(1535) Always keep your eye on your duty! Bear this adversity;
Remind the people of my loyalty, and strengthen their courage for war.
And ah! should fate return your dear mother to you after this,
Comfort her, and your sister and your brother with her.
Dry their tears, and kiss them all for me.
(1540) Receive my blessing... Let this kiss be the last!

CORNELIA.

My father... eternity... I feel that my strength has failed!

She sinks into Elizabeth’s arms who takes her to an armchair.

HAMBROEK, to Cajet.

My best friend, farewell! Your love has been proved to me.
Restrain your tears... You move me!... Serve your country...
If fate liberates my wife, I put her under your protection:
(1545) Protect her in my place. Be the guardian
Of that oppressed mother,  (my heart fails me!) with her orphans,
This is my last request. Embrace me. Live! Show...

CAJET, crying.

Stop. Your leave-taking kills me...
[p. 79]
        Turning around with his hands before his eyes.
                                I can bear no more!

HAMBROEK, to Fredrik.

                                                        My son!
Turn your face away from me; behold your wife:
(1550) Do not let your sadness make hers greater.
Comfort her... Live for her. Be a Christian, and a hero too.

FREDRIK, in Hambroek’s arms.

Your fate has been placed in your own hands more than once,
And yet...

HAMBROEK.

                You performed all you had to perform,
And more... Far be it from me, my son! That I should accuse you.
(1555) Your father...
        Looking at his swooning daughter.
                        But what use a longer torture!
I am going to do my duty. Let everyone restrain his sorrow.
Farewell for ever, my friend! Farewell for ever my children!

---

SCENE SIX. CAJET, FREDRIK, CORNELIA, in a faint, ELIZABETH. [VAN DEN BROEK.]

FREDRIK, after a short silence.

So nothing could then prevent the proud decision of that great soul!
My father, anger, and sorrow and revenge, over his death...
(1560) I am torn by love for him and for] my wife!
[p. 80]
        Looking at Cornelia with sad eyes.
This spectacle... Coxinga! Barbarian! My revenge, burning...

CAJET.

Our people restrained by him must restrict our temper.
We need to be constant. Never have warriors
Seen themselves hemmed in more strongly than we, my son.
(1565) I beg you not to provoke the tyrant: we must avoid his anger.
This is no time for heroic courage in fighting, but in suffering.
We must cunningly gain time, until a strong fleet
Will come here from Java, cause the brute distress,
And oblige him, in order to sail from this coast in safety,
(1570) To spare our Christian people as hostages.
He who has assaulted us through Hambroek, may, if baited,
Assault our hearts again through Hambroek’s son.
Let us not lose our temper, but defend ourselves calmly;
Resist the tyrant, but by no means defy him.
(1575) We will try to assist your sad wife, if possible.

CORNELIA, coming to slowly.

My father... He is gone! He has gone to his death!
To his death!... on a scaffold! before my mother’s eyes!
How my sister groans already! how my brother laments already!
My father on the scaffold, where the sword already rages over him!...
[p. 81]

Desperately, to Cajet and Fredrik.

(1580) Barbarians, who doom him!... no, heroes! who have to...
Forgive my desperation!... What phantom approaches me?
There I see the murder scene! There approaches, there is my father!
There he kneels; I see the sword!... Mercy, Coxinga!
Come, let your executioner sever this head from its body immediately!
(1585) Liberate me from surviving my father’s murder!
What do I see, Heaven! Ah! I see my mother trembling:
She must witness the murder!... oh Woe! it is done:
There the head falls in the sand! it still looks at my mother!
It still opens wide its ears to catch her groans;
(1590) The mouth still tries to make her and me gain comfort!
        Seeing Van den Broek, who approaches her in tears.
See there another barbarian, who robs me of the light...

VAN DEN BROEK.

I saw from this wall, alas!... Your father’s head...
Forgive me... Fate, madam, shows you its displeasure!

CORNELIA, falling to the ground.

Revenge, Heaven! for his blood!... and mine!

FREDRIK, wishing to throw himself beside her.

                                                                      Ah! beloved wife!

CAJET.

(1595) “Oh Heaven! help me!”
[p. 82]

Holding Fredrik back, grabbing his hand emphatically, and drawing him back slightly from Cornelia.

                                                  Remember that you are a warrior...
Expect her and our consolation from Religion, and from time.

THE END.

1774.

• Anthonius Hambroek, treurspel
  
• Ceneton
  
• Voorkeurenpagina Opleiding Nederlands