-60_Rodogune-Act Five-Scene-4.htm

A guard-room in the palace.
Antiochus, alone.

ANTIOCHUS

What were Death then but wider life than earth
Can give us in her clayey limits bound ?
Darkness perhaps! There must be light behind.

As he speaks, Phayllus enters.
Who is it?

PHAYLLUS

Phayllus and thy conqueror.

ANTIOCHUS

In some strange warfare then!

PHAYLLUS

I came to see

Before thy end the greatness that thou wert;

For thou wert great as mortals measure. Thou hast
An hour to live.

ANTIOCHUS

Shorter were better.

PHAYLLUS

An hour!
It is strange. The beautiful strong Antiochus
In one brief hour and by a little stroke
Shall be mere rotten carrion for the flies
To buzz about.

ANTIOCHUS

Thinkest thou so, Phayllus ?

Page – 453

PHAYLLUS

I know it, and in thy fall, because thou wert great,

I feel my greatness who am thy o’erthrower.

I long to probe the mightiness thou art

And know the thoughts that fill thee at this hour,

For it must’ come to me some day. The things

We are, do and are done to! Let it be.

Dost thou not ask to kiss thy wife ? She’ld come,

Though she must leave thy brother’s bed for it.

ANTIOCHUS

What a poor lie, Phayllus, for the great man
Thou think’st thyself!

PHAYLLUS

Thou know’st not then for her
Thou diest, that his hungry arms may clasp
Her warm sweet body thou hast loved to kiss ?

ANTIOCHUS

So didst thou work it ? Thou art a rare study,
Thou Graeco-Syrian.

PHAYLLUS

I am what my clay
Has made me. It does not hurt thee then to know
That while thou art dying, they are hard at work
Even now before thy kingly corpse is cold ?

ANTIOCHUS

What a blind owl thou art that see’st the sun
And think’st it darkness! Hence! I weary of thee.
Thou art too shallow after all. Outside
Is it the dawn?

PHAYLLUS

The dawn. Thou wak’st too early

Page – 454

For one who shall not sleep again.

ANTIOCHUS

Yes, sleep
I have done with; now for an immortal waking.

PHAYLLUS

That dream of fools! Thou art another man
Than any I have seen and to my eyes
Thou seem’st a grandiose lack-wit. Yet in defeat
I could not move thee. I have limits then ?

ANTIOCHUS

Yes, didst thou think thyself a god in evil
And souls of men thy subjects ? Leave me, send
Thy executioner. Let him be quick.
I wait!

Phayllus goes.

I fear he still will loiter. Waiting
Was ever tedious to me: I will sleep.

He lies down, after a pause.
Is this that other country? Theramenes
Before me smiling with his twenty wounds
And Mentho with the breasts that suckled me!
Who are these crowding after me so fast ?
My mother follows me and cousin Eunice
Treads in her footsteps. Thou too, Timocles ?
Thoas, Leosthenes and Philoctetes,
Good friends, will you stay long ? The world grows empty.
Why, all that’s great in Syria staggers after me
Into blind Hades; I am royally
Attended.

Theras enters.

THERAS

Phayllus’ will compels me to it,
Or else I do not like the thing I do.

Page – 455

ANTIOCHUS

Who is it? Thou art the instrument. Strike in.
Keep me not waiting. I ever loved proud swiftness
And thorough spirits.

THERAS

I must strike suddenly or never strike.

He strikes.

ANTIOCHUS

I pass the barrier.

THERAS

Will not this blood stop flowing?

ANTIOCHUS

The blood? Let the gods have it; ’tis their portion.

THERAS

A red libation, O thou royal sacrifice!

I have done evil. Will sly Phayllus help me?

He was a trickster ever. I have done evil.

ANTIOCHUS

Tell Parthian Rodogune I wait for her
Behind Death’s barrier.

THERAS

The world’s too still. Will he not speak again

Upon this other side of nothingness ?

O sounds, sounds, sounds! The sentries change, I think.

I’ll draw thy curtains, O thou mighty sleeper. – .

He draws the curtains, extinguishes the light and
goes out. All is still for a while, then the door opens
again and Eunice and Rodogune enter.

Page – 456

EUNICE

Tread lightly, for he sleeps. The curtain’s drawn.

RODOGUNE

O my Antiochus, on thy hard bed

In the rude camp with horses neighing round

Thou well mightest slumber nor the undistant trumpet

Startling unseal thy war-accustomed ears

From the sweet lethargy of earned repose.

But in the horrible silence of this prison

How canst thou sleep ? It clamours in my brain

More than could any sound, with terror laden

And voices.

EUNICE

I’ll wake him.

RODOGUNE

Do not. He is tired
And you will spoil his rest.

EUNICE

He moves no more

Than the dead might.

RODOGUNE

Speak not of death, Eunice;

We are too near to death to speak of him.

EUNICE

He must be waked. Cousin Antiochus,
You sleep too soundly for a prisoner. Wake!

RODOGUNE

There is some awful presence in this room.

EUNICE

I partly feel it. Wake, wake, Antiochus.

Page – 457

She draws apart the curtain and puts in

her arm, then hastily withdraws it.

O God, what is this dabbles so my hand,
That feels almost like blood ?

(tearing down the curtain)

Antiochus!

She falls half-swooned against the wall. There
is a silence, then noise is heard in the corridors
and the voice of Nicanor at the door.

NICANOR

Guard carefully the doors; let no evasion
Deceive you.

RODOGUNE

Antiochus! Antiochus!
Antiochus!

EUNICE

Call him not; he will wake
And Heaven be angry. O my Rodogune,
Let us too sleep.

RODOGUNE

Antiochus! Antiochus!

Nicanor enters armed with soldiers and light.

NICANOR

Am I in time ? Thou, thou ? How cam’st thou here ?
Who is this woman with the dreadful face?
Can this be Rodogune ? Eunice, speak.
What is this blood upon thy hands and dress ?
Thou dost not speak! Oh, speak!

EUNICE

I am going, I am going to my chamber
To sleep.

Page – 458

NICANOR

Arrest her, guards.

He approaches the bed and recoils.

Awake the house!
Sound the alarm! O palace of Nicanor,
Thou canst stand yet upon thy stony -base
Untroubled! The warlike prince Antiochus
Lies on this bed most treacherously murdered.

Cries and commotion outside.
Speak, wretched girl. What villain’s secret hand
Profaned with death this royal sanctuary?
How cam’st thou here or hast this blood on thee ?

There enter in haste Callicrates, Melitus,
Cleone; afterwards Phayllus and others.

CLEONE (to Nicanor)

Thou couldst not save him then for all my warning ?
In vain didst thou mistrust me!

PHAYLLUS (entering)

It is done. Yet Theras came not! Do I fail!
Fortune, my kindly goddess, help me still
In the storm, I have yet to weather.

NICANOR

Thou hast come!
This is thy work, thou ominous counsellor.

PHAYLLUS

In all the land who dare impugn me, if it be ?

NICANOR

Thou art a villain. Thou shalt die for this.

PHAYLLUS

One day I shall, for this or something else.
But here’s the King.

Page – 459

NICANOR

No more a king for me
Or Syria.

Timocles enters followed by Cleopatra.

MELITUS

The Queen comes cold and white and shuddering.

CLEOPATRA {speaking with an unnatural calmness)

Why do these cries of terror shake the house
Repeating Murder and Antiochus7
Nicanor, lives my son?

NICANOR

Behold, O woman,
The frame you fashioned for Antiochus,
Cast from your love before, now cast from life,
By whose unnatural contrivance, let them say
Who did it.

CLEOPATRA

It is not true, it is not true!
There can be no such horror; O, for this,
For this you gave him back!

TIMOCLES

O gods! Phayllus,
I did not think that he would look like this.

MELITUS

Cover this death. It troubles the good King.

TIMOCLES (recovering himself)

This is a piteous sight, beloved mother;

Would that he lived and wore the Syrian crown
Unquestioned.

Page – 460

CLEOPATRA

Timocles ? I will not credit
What yet a horror in my blood believes.
The eyes of all men charge you with this act;

Deny it!

TIMOCLES

Mother!

CLEOPATRA

Deny it!

TIMOCLES

Alas, mother!

CLEOPATRA

Deny it!

TIMOCLES

O mother, what shall I deny?
It had to be. Blame only the dire gods
And bronze Necessity.

CLEOPATRA

Call me not mother!
I have no children. I am punished, gods,
Who dared outlive my great unhappy husband
For this!

She rushes out.

NICANOR

Is this thy end, O great Seleucus?
What Fury rules thy house ? The Queen is gone
With desperate eyes. Who next?

There enter in haste Philoctetes, Thoas, Leosthenes
and others of Antiochus’ party.

Page – 461

PHILOCTETES

It is true then,
It is most true! O high Antiochus,
How are thy royal vast imaginations
All spilt into a meagre stream of blood!
And yet thy eye§ seem to gaze royally >
Into death’s vaster realms as if they viewed
More conquests there and mightier monarchies.
When we were boys and slumber came with noon,
Often you’ld lay your head upon my knee
Even thus. O little friend Antiochus,
We are again in hundred-gated Thebes
And life is all before us.

THOAS

O insupportable!
Thou styled by men a king, no king of mine,
Acquit thyself of this too kindred blood.
No murderer sits in great Seleucus’ chair
Longer than takes the movement of my sword
Out of its scabbard. I live to ask this question.

LEOSTHENES

Nor think thy royal title nor thy guards
Shall fence thy life, thou crowned fratricide,
Nor many ranks of triple-plated iron
Shut out swift vengeance.

PHILOCTETES

His eyes look up and seem to smile at me.

NICANOR

Thoas, thy anger ranges far too wide.
Respect the blood of kings, Leosthenes.

THOAS

See dabbled on this couch the blood of kings

Page – 462

Thus by a kindred blood respected.

TIMOCLES

The hearts
Of kings are not their own, nor yet their acts.
This was an execution, not a murder.
In better time and place you shall have proofs:

Phayllus knows it all. Be satisfied.

Lift up this royal dead. All hatred now

Forgotten, I will royally inter

His ashes guarding still his diadem

And sword and armour. All that most he loved

Shall go with him into the silent world.

RODOGUNE

I come.

TIMOCLES

The voice of Rodogune! That woman’s form
The shadowy anguished robe concealed! She here
Beside my brother!

NICANOR

We had forgotten how piteous was this scene.
O you who loved the dead, forbear a while;

All shall be sternly judged.

TIMOCLES

O Rodogune,
The dead demands thy grief, since he too loved thee,
But not in this red chamber pay thy debt,
Not in this square of horror. In thy calm room
Gently bedew his memory with tears
And I will help them with my own. Me too
He loved once.

Page – 463

LEOSTHENES

Shall our swords yet sleep ? He wooes
His brother’s wife beside his brother’s corpse
Whom he has murdered.

THOAS

Yet, Leosthenes.
For Heaven has borne enough from him. At last
The gods lift up their secret thunderbolts
Above us.

NICANOR

She totters and can hardly move.
Assist her or she falls.

PHILOCTETES (raising his head)

O Rodogune,
What wilt thou with my dead ?

PHAYLLUS

Shall it be allowed?

TIMOCLES

I do not grudge this corpse her sad farewell.
O Rodogune, embrace the unresponsive dead;

But afterwards remember life and love
Are still on earth.

THOAS

Afterwards, Timocles.
Give death a moment.

There is a silence while Rodogune bends
swaying over the dead Antiochus.

TIMOCLES

O my Rodogune,
Leave now the dead man’s side whose debt is paid.

Page – 464

Return to life, to love.

RODOGUNE (stretching out her arms)

My king! My king!
Leave me not, leave .me not! I am behind thee.

She falls dead at the feet of Antiochus.

EUNICE

O take me also!

She rushes to Rodogune and throws
herself on the dead bodies.

NICANOR

Raise the princess up;

She has swooned.

THOAS

Her heart has failed her: she is dead.

TIMOCLES

Rise up, my Rodogune.

THOAS

She is dead, Timocles;

She is safe from thee. Thou goest not alone,
My King, into the darkness.

CLEONE

Look to the King!

TIMOCLES (speaking with difficulty)

Lives she?

MELITUS

No, she is dead. King Timocles.

Page – 465

CLEONE

Brother, the King!

Timocles has been tearing at the robe round
his neck. Phayllus, Melitus and others crowd

round to support him as he falls.

NICANOR

It is a fit at worst
Which anger and despair have forced him to.

PHAYLLUS

It is not death? I live then.

NICANOR

Death, thou intriguer!
Art thou not Death who with thy wicked promptings
And poisonous whispers worked to dangerous rage
The kindly moods of Timocles ? Seize him,
He shall atone this murder.

PHAYLLUS

You build too soon
Your throne upon these prostrate bodies. Your King
Lives still, Nicanor.

NICANOR

Not to save thee from death,
Nor any murderer. Drag him hence.

CLEONE

The King revives.

Save thyself, brother.

LEOSTHENES

Ten kings should not avail
To save him.

Page – 466

NICANOR

Drag hence that subtle Satan.

TIMOCLES

I live

And I remember!

CLEONE

Sleepest thou, Phayllus?

PHAYLLUS

My King, they drag me hence to murder me.

TIMOCLES {vaguely at first)

Who art thou? Thou abhorred and crooked devil,

Thou art the cause that she is lost to me.

Slay him! And that shrewd-lipped, rose-tainted harlot,

Let her be banished somewhere from men’s sight

Where she can be forgotten. O brother, brother,

I have sent thee into the darkling shades,

Myself am barred the way.

PHAYLLUS

What I have done,
I did for this poor king and thankless man.
But there’s no use in talking. I am ready.

TIMOCLES (half-rising, furiously)

Slay him with tortures! Let him feel his death
As he has made me feel my living.

NICANOR

Take him
And see this sentence ruthlessly performed
Upon this frame of evil. May the gods
In their just wrath with this be satisfied.

Page – 467

PHAYLLUS

And yet I loved thee, Timocles.

He is taken out, guarded.

NICANOR

Daughter,

Eunice, rise.

EUNICE

I did not know till now
Life was so difficult a thing to leave.
Her going was so easy!

NICANOR

Ah, girl, this tragic drama owns in part

Thy authorship! Henceforth be wise and humble.

To her chamber lead her.

EUNICE

Do with me what you will.
My heart has gone to journey with my dead.
O father, for a few days bear with me;

I do not think that I shall long displease you
Hereafter.

She goes, attended by Melitus.

NICANOR

Follow her, Callicrates,
And let no dangerous edge or lethal drink
Be near to her despair.

Callicrates follows.

THOAS

This cannot keep us
From those we loved.

Page – 468

NICANOR

Syrians, what yet remains
Of this storm-visited, bolt-shattered house
Let us rebuild, joining our strength to save
The threatened kingdom. For when this deed is known,
The Parthian lion leaps raging for blood ^
And Ptolemy’s dangerous grief for the boy he cherished
Darkens on us from Egypt. Syria beset
And we all broken!

TIMOCLES

Something has snapped in me
Physicians cannot bind. Thou, Prince Nicanor,
Art from the royal blood of Syria sprung
And in thy line Seleucus may descend
Untainted from his source. Brother, brother,
We did not dream that all would end like this,
When in the dawn or set we roamed at will
Playing together in Egyptian gardens,
Or in the orchards of great Ptolemy
Walked with our arms around each other’s necks
Twin-hearted. But now unto eternity
We are divided. I must live for ever
Unfriended, solitary in the shades;

But thou and she will lie at ease inarmed
Deep in the quiet happy asphodel
And hear the murmur of Elysian winds
While I walk lonely.

PHILOCTETES

We too without thee now
Breath-haunted corpses move, Antiochus.
Thou goest attended to a quiet air;

Doomed still to live we for a while remain
Expecting what the gods have yet in store.

Curtain

Page – 469