Part 2 / Act 5 — Scene IV.—Before the Gates of Palermo.

Sicilians flying tumultuously towards the Gates. Voices, (without.) Montjoy! Montjoy! St Denis for Anjou! Provençals, on! Sicilians. Fly, fly, or all is lost! Raimond appears in the gateway armed, and carrying a banner. Raim. Back, back, I say! ye men of Sicily! All is not lost! Oh! shame! A few brave hearts In such a cause, ere now, have set their breasts Against the rush of thousands, and sustain’d, And made the shock recoil. Ay, man, free man, Still to be call’d so, hath achieved such deeds As heaven and earth have marvell’d at; and souls, Whose spark yet slumbers with the days to come, Shall burn to hear, transmitting brightly thus Freedom from race to race! Back! or prepare Amidst your hearths, your bowers, your very shrines, To bleed and die in vain! Turn!—follow me! “Conradin, Conradin!”—for Sicily His spirit fights! Remember “Conradin!” [They begin to rally round him. Ay, this is well!—Now, follow me, and charge! [The Provençals rush in, but are repulsed by the Sicilians.—Exeunt.