Her faults were mine-her virtues were her own I loved her, and destroy'd her! Witch. It gazed on mine, and wither'd. I have shed Blood, but not hers-and yet her blood was shed; I saw-and could not stanch it. And for thisA being of the race thou dost despise, The order, which thine own would rise above, Mingling with us and ours,-thou dost forego The gifts of our great knowledge, and shrink'st back To recreant mortality-Away! Man. Daughter of Air! I tell thee, since that hour But words are breath-look on me in my sleep, Or watch my watchings-Come and sit by me! My solitude is solitude no more, But peopled with the Furies;-I have gnash'd My teeth in darkness till returning morn, Then cursed myself till sunset ;-I have pray'd For madness as a blessing-'tis denied Must wake the dead, or lay me low with them. Do so--in any shape-in any hourWith any torture-so it be the last. Witch. That is not in my province; but if thou Wilt swear obedience to my will, and do My bidding, it may help thee to thy wishes. Man. I will not swear-Obey! and whom? the spirits Whose presence I command, and be the slave Of those who served me-Never! And pause ere thou rejectest. I have said it. Witch. Enough! Imay retire thensay! Man. Retire! [The WITCH disappears. Man. (alone). We are the fools of time and terror: Days Steal on us, and steal from us; yet we live, Loathing our life, and dreading still to die. In all the days of this detested yoke-This vital weight upon the struggling heart, Which sinks with sorrow, or beats quick with pain, Or joy that ends in agony or faintness- the soul Forbears to pant for death, and yet draws back As from a stream in winter, though the chill Be but a moment's. I have one resource Still in my science-I can call the dead, And ask them what it is we dread to be; The sternest answer can but be the Grave, And that is nothing. If they answer not The buried Prophet answered to the Hag Of Endor; and the Spartan Monarch drew From the Byzantine maid's unsleeping spirit An answer and his destiny-he slew That which he loved, unknowing what he slew, And died unpardon'd-though he call'd in aid The Phyxian Jove, and in Phigalia roused Lay buried in torpor, I broke through his slumbers, I leagued him with numbers-- With the blood of a million he'll answer my care, With a nation's destruction-his flight and despair. Second Voice, without. The ship sail'd on, the ship sail'd fast, But I left not a sail, and I left not a mast; There is not a plank of the hall or the deck, And there is not a wretch to lament o'er his wreck; Save one, whom I held, as he swam, by the hair, And he was a subject well worthy my FIRST DESTINY, answering. The city lies sleeping; The morn, to deplore it, The black plague flew o'er it— Tens of thousands shall perish; But nothing can vanquish This work of a night This wreck of a realm-this deed of my doing For ages I've done, and shall still be renewing! Enter the SECOND and THIRD DESTINIES The Three. Our hands contain the hearts of men, We only give to take again First Des. Welcome!-Where's Nem esis ? Second Des. But what I know not, for my hands were full. At some great work; Third Des. Behold she cometh. Enter NEMESIS. First Des. Say, where hast thou been? My sisters and thyself are slow to-night. Nem. I was detain'd repairing shatter'd thrones, Marrying fools, restoring dynasties, Goading the wise to madness; from the dull Shaping out oracles to rule the world Afresh, for they were waxing out of date, And mortals dared to ponder for themselves, To weigh kings in the balance, and to speak Of freedom, the forbidden fruit.-Away! We have outstay'd the hour-mount we our clouds! SCENE IV [Exeunt. The Hall of Arimanes-Arimanes on his Throne, a Globe of Fire, surrounded by the Spirits. Hymn of the SPIRITS. Hail to our Master!-Prince of Earth and Air! Who walks the clouds and waters-in his hand The sceptre of the elements, which tear Themselves to chaos at his high command! He breatheth-and a tempest shakes the sea; He speaketh--and the clouds reply in thunder; He gazeth-from his glance the sunbeams flee; He moveth-earthquakes rend the world asunder. Beneath his footsteps the volcanoes rise; His shadow in the Pestilence; his path The comets herald through the crackling skies; And planets turn to ashes at his wrath. To him War offers daily sacrifice; To him Death pays his tribute; Life is his, With all its infinite of agonies- First Des. Glory to Arimanes ! on the earth His power increaseth-both my sisters did His bidding, nor did I neglect my duty! Second Des. Glory to Arimanes! we who bow The necks of men, bow down before his throne ! Third Des. Glory to Arimanes! we await His nod! Nem. Sovereign of Sovereigns! we are thine, And all that liveth, more or less, is ours, And most things wholly so; still to increase Our power, increasing thine, demands our care, And we are vigilant. Thy late commands Have been fulfill'd to the utmost. A Spirit. Enter MANFRED. What is here? A mortal-Thou most rash and fatal wretch, Bow down and worship! Second Spirit. I do know the manA Magian of great power, and fearful skill! Third Spirit. Bow down and worship, slave! What, know'st thou not Thine and our Sovereign ?—Tremble, and obey! All the Spirits. Prostrate thyself, and And yet ye see I kneel not. night on the earth, 226 man Is of no common order, as his port As far as is compatible with clay, As clay hath seldom borne; his aspirations Have been beyond the dwellers of the earth, And they have only taught him what we know That knowledge is not happiness, and But an exchange of ignorance for that Nor breath from the worm upwards is Have pierced his heart, and in their Made him a thing which I, who pity not, and without power I could not be amongst ye: but there are Of such, to answer unto what I seek. Man. Thou canst not reply to me, Nem. Great Arimanes, doth thy will The wishes of this mortal? Ari. Yea. Shadow! or Spirit! Whatever thou art, Of the form of thy birth, The heart and the form, Man. But now I see it is no living hue, Which Autumn plants upon the perish'd It is the same! Oh, God! that I should To look upon the same-Astarte !-No. Forgive me or condemn me. Look on me ! the grave hath not changed thee more Than I am changed for thee. Thou lovedst me Too much, as I loved thee: we were not made To torture thus each other, though it were The deadliest sin to love as we have loved. Say that thou loath'st me not-that I do bear This punishment for both-that thou wilt be One of the blessed-and that I shall die; A future like the past. I cannot rest. to me ! What is the hour? Man. Her. All, my lord, are ready: It is well : |
