Friedrich Schiller
The Maid of Orleans (Act 5 Scene 5)
QUEEN ISABEL, with soldiers, appears in the background.

ISABEL (behind the scene)
This is the way toward the English camp!

RAIMOND
Alas! the foe!

[The soldiers advance, and perceiving JOBANNA fall back in terror.]

ISABEL
What now obstructs the march?

SOLDIERS
May God protect us!

ISABEL
                        Do ye see a spirit?
How! Are ye soldiers! Ye are cowards all!
[She presses forward, but starts back on beholding the MAIDEN.
What do I see!]
[She collects herself quickly and approaches her.
Submit thyself! Thou art]
My prisoner!

JOHANNA
                I am.
[RAIMOND flies in despair.]

ISABEL (to the soldiers)
                        Lay her in chains!

[The soldiers timidly approach the MAIDEN;
she extends her arms and is chained.]

Is this the mighty, the terrific one,
Who chased your warriors like a flock of lambs,
Who, powerless now, cannot protect herself?
Doth she work miracles with credulous fools,
And lose her influence when she meets a man?

[To the MAIDEN.]

Why didst thou leave the army? Where's Dunois,
Thy knight and thy protector.

JOHANNA
                        I am banished.

[ISABEL, stepping back astonished.]

ISABEL
What say'st thou? Thou art banished? By the Dauphin?
JOHANNA
Inquire no further! I am in thy power,
Decide my fate.

ISABEL
                Banished, because thou hast
Snatched him from ruin, placed upon his brow
The crown at Rheims, and made him King of France?
Banished! Therein I recognize my son!
—Conduct her to the camp, and let the host
Behold the phantom before whom they trembled!
She a magician? Her sole magic lies
In your delusion and your cowardice!
She is a fool who sacrificed herself
To save her king, and reapeth for her pains
A king's reward. Bear her to Lionel.
The fortune of the French! send him bound;
I'll follow anon.

JOHANNA
                To Lionel?
Slay me at once, ere send me unto him.

ISABEL (to the soldiers)
Obey your orders, soldiers! Bear her hence.
[Exit.]