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Act II
The Palace in Antioch.
A hall in the Palace. Cleone, Phayllus.
PHAYLLUS Worry the conscience of the Queen to death Like the good bitch thou art. If this goes well, I may sit unobserved on Syria’s throne.
CLEONE Do not forget me.
PHAYLLUS Do not forget thyself, Then how shall I forget thee?
CLEONE I shall remember.
PHAYLLUS If for a game you were the queen, Cleone, And I your minister, how would you start Your play of reigning?
CLEONE I would have many perfect tortures made To hurt the Parthian with, for every nerve
Page – 219 A torture. I would lie in flowers the while Drinking sweet Cyprian wine and hear her moan.
PHAYLLUS I do not like your thought; have better ones.
CLEONE Shall I not satisfy my love, my hate? Then just as well I might not reign at all.
PHAYLLUS O hatred, love and wrath, you instruments By which we are driven! Cleone, the gods use these For their own purposes, not we for ours. CLEONE I’ll do my will, Phayllus; you do yours.
PHAYLLUS Our kingdom being won! It is not, yet. (turning away) She’s too violent for my calmer ends; Lust drives her, not ambition. I wait on you, You gods who choose. If Fate intends my rise, She will provide the instruments and cause. Timocles enters from the inner palace. TIMOCLES I think I am afraid to speak to her. I never felt so with the Egyptian girls In Thebes or Alexandria. Are you not Phayllus?
PHAYLLUS You remember faces well And have the trick for names, the monarch’s trick.
Page – 220 TIMOCLES Antiochus, all say, will be the king.
PHAYLLUS But I say otherwise and what I say Has a strange gift of happening.
TIMOCLES You’re my friend!
PHAYLLUS My own and therefore yours.
TIMOCLES This is your sister?
PHAYLLUS Cleone.
TIMOCLES A name that in its sound agrees With Syria’s roses. Are you too my friend, Cleone?
CLEONE Your subject, prince.
TIMOCLES And why not both?
CLEONE To serve is better.
TIMOCLES Shall I try your will? (embracing her) Thou art warm fire against the lips, thou rose Cleone.
Page – 221 CLEONE May I test in turn?
TIMOCLES Oh, do!
CLEONE A rose examines by her thorns, — as thus. She strikes him lightly on the cheek and goes out.
TIMOCLES (looking uncertainly at Phayllus who is stroking his chin) It was a courtesy, — our Egyptian way.
PHAYLLUS Hers was the Syrian. Do not excuse yourself; I am her brother.
TIMOCLES ((turns as if to go, hesitates, then comes back) Oh, have you met, Phayllus, A Parthian lady here named Rodogune?
PHAYLLUS Blows the wind east? But if it brings me good, Let it blow where it will. I know the child. She’s fair. You’ld have her?
TIMOCLES Fie on you, Phayllus!
PHAYLLUS Prince, I have a plain tongue which, when I hunger, Owns that there is a belly. Speak in your language! I understand men’s phrases though I use them not.
TIMOCLES Think not that evil! She is not like those, The common flowers which have a fair outside
Page – 222 Of beauty, but the common hand can pluck. We wear such lightly, smell and throw away. She is not like them.
PHAYLLUS No? Yet were they all Born from one mother Nature. What if she wears The quick barbarian’s robe called modesty? There is a woman always in the end Behind that shimmering. Pluck the robe, ’twill fall; Then is she Nature’s still.
TIMOCLES I have seen her eyes; they are a liquid purity.
PHAYLLUS And yet a fish swims there which men call love, But truth names lust or passion. Fear not, prince; The fish will rise to such an angler’s cast.
TIMOCLES Mistake me not, nor her. These things are done, But not with such as she; she is heaven-pure And must like heaven be by worship won.
PHAYLLUS What is it then that you desire of her Or ask of me? I can do always much.
TIMOCLES O nothing else but this, only to kneel, Look up at her and touch the little hand That fluttered like a moonlit butterfly Above my mother’s hair. If she consenting smiled A little, I might even dare so much.
Page – 223 PHAYLLUS Why, she’s your slave-girl!
TIMOCLES I shall kneel to her Some day and feel her hand upon my brow.
PHAYLLUS What animal this is, I hardly know, But know it is the animal for me: My genius tells me. Prince, I need a bribe Before I’ll stir in this.
TIMOCLES What bribe, Phayllus?
PHAYLLUS A name, — your friend.
TIMOCLES O more than merely friend! Bring me into the temple dim and pure Whence my own hopes and fears now bar me out, Then I am yours, Phayllus, you myself For all things.
PHAYLLUS Remember me when you have any need. He goes out. TIMOCLES I have a friend! He is the very first Who was not conquered by Antiochus. How has this love like lightning leaped at me!
Page – 224 The same. Eunice, Rodogune.
RODOGUNE Heaven had a purpose in my servitude! I will believe it.
EUNICE One sees not now such men. What a calm royalty his glances wield! We are their subjects. And he treads the earth As if it were already his.
RODOGUNE All must be. I have lived a slave, yet always held myself A nobler spirit than my Grecian lords; But when he spoke, O, when he looked at me, I felt indeed the touch of servitude And this time loved it.
EUNICE O, you too, Rodogune!
RODOGUNE I too! What do you mean? Are you, Eunice —
EUNICE I mean, our thorny rose Cleone too Has fallen in love with pretty Timocles.
Page – 225 RODOGUNE You slanderer! But I thought a nearer thing That ran like terror through my heart.
EUNICE And so You love him?
RODOGUNE What have I said, Eunice? what have I said? I did not say it.
EUNICE You did not say it, no! You lovely fool, hide love with blushes then And lower over your liquid love-filled eyes Their frightened lashes! Quake, my antelope! I’ll have revenge at least. O sweet, sweet heart, My delicate Parthian! I shall never have Another love, but only Rodogune, My beautiful barbarian Rodogune With the tall dainty grace and the large eyes And vague faint pallor just like twilit ivory.
RODOGUNE My own Eunice! They embrace. Phayllus enters.
PHAYLLUS ((stroking his chin) I always hated waste.
EUNICE Your steps too steal, Phayllus?
PHAYLLUS I have a message.
Page – 226 EUNICE I do not like the envoy. Find another And I will hear it.
PHAYLLUS Come, you put me out.
EUNICE Of your accounts? They say there is too much You have put out already for your credit.
PHAYLLUS You’re called. The Queen’s in haste, Cleone said. Eunice goes. Parthian, will you be Syria’s queen or no? I startle you. The royal Timocles By your beauty strives ensnared. Don not your mask Of modesty, keep that for Timocles. I offer you a treaty. By my help You can advance your foot to Syria’s throne: His bed’s the staircase and you shall ascend, Nor will I rest till you are seated there. Come, have I helped you? Shall we be allies?
RODOGUNE You speak a language that I will not hear.
PHAYLLUS Oh, language! you’re for language, all of you. Are you not Parthia’s daughter? do you not wish To sit upon a throne?
RODOGUNE Not by your help, Nor as the bride of Syrian Timocles. What are these things you speak?
Page – 227 PHAYLLUS Weigh not my speech, But only my sincerity. I have a tongue Displeasing to all women. Heed not that! My heart is good, my meaning better still.
RODOGUNE Perhaps! But know I yearn not for a throne. And if I did, Antiochus is king And not this younger radiance.
PHAYLLUS That’s your reason? You are deceived. Besides he loves you not Nor ever will put on a female yoke. Prefer this woman’s clay, this Timocles And by my help you shall have empire, joy, All the heart needs, the pleasures bodies use.
RODOGUNE I need no empire save my high-throned heart, I seek no power save that of sceptred love, I ask no help beyond what Ormuzd gives. Enough. I thank you.
PHAYLLUS You’re subtler than these Greeks. Must he then pine? Shall he not plead his cause?
RODOGUNE I would not have him waste his heart in pain If what you say is true. Let him then know This cannot be.
PHAYLLUS He will not take from me An answer you yourself alone can give.
Page – 228 I think you parry to be more attacked.
RODOGUNE Think what you will, but leave me.
PHAYLLUS If you mean that, The way to show it is to let him come. You feign and do not mean this, or else you would Deny him to his face.
RODOGUNE (flushing angrily) I will; tell him to come.
PHAYLLUS I thought so. Come he shall. Remember me. He goes out. RODOGUNE I did not well to bid him come to me. It is some passing fancy of the blood. I do not hear that he was ever hurt But danced a radiant and inconstant moth Above the Egyptian blossoms. Timocles enters hastily, hesitates, then rushes and throws himself at the feet of Rodogune. TIMOCLES Rodogune! I love thee, princess; thou hast made me mad. I know not what I do nor what I speak. What dreadful god has seized upon my heart? I am not Timocles and not my own, But am a fire and am a raging wind To seize on thee and am a driven leaf. O Rodogune, turn not away from me. Forgive me, O, forgive me. I cannot help it
Page – 229 If thou hast made me love thee. Tremble not, Nor grow so pale and look with panic glances As if a fire had clutched thee by the robe. I am thy menial, thy poor trembling slave And thou canst slay me with a passing frown.
RODOGUNE Touch not my hand! ’tis sacred from thy touch!
TIMOCLES It is most sacred; even the roseate nail Of thee, O thou pale goddess, is a mystery And a strange holiness. Scorched be his hand Who dares with lightest sacrilegious touch Profane thee, O deep-hearted miracle, Unless thy glorious eyes condone the fault By growing tender. O thou wondrous Parthian, Fear not my love; it grows a cloistered worship. See, I can leave thee! see, I can retire. Look once on me, one look is food enough For many twelvemonths. Eunice returns. EUNICE You wrong your mother, cousin. Her moments linger when you are not there; Always she asks for you.
TIMOCLES My mother! You gods, Forbid it, lest I weary of her love. He goes. EUNICE What was this? Speak. Page – 230 RODOGUNE Was Fate not satisfied With my captivity? Waits worse behind? It was a grey and clouded sky before And bleak enough but quiet. Now I see Fresh clouds come stored with thunder toiling up From a black-piled horizon.
EUNICE Tell me all. What said Phayllus to you, the dire knave Who speaks to poison?
RODOGUNE He spoke of love and thrones and Timocles; He spoke as selfish cunning men may speak Who mean some evil they call good.
EUNICE And how Came Timocles behind him?
RODOGUNE Called by him, With such wild passion burning under his lids I never thought to see in human eyes. What are these movements?
EUNICE We move as we must, Not as we choose, whatever we may think. Your beauty is a torch you needs must carry About the world with you. You cannot help it If it burns kingdoms.
RODOGUNE I pray it may not. God who only rulest,
Page – 231 Let not the evil spirit use my love To bring misfortune on Antiochus. Mentho enters. MENTHO Which is the Parthian?
EUNICE She.
MENTHO Antiochus Desires you in his chamber with a bowl Of Lesbian vintage.
EUNICE Does he desire? The gods then choose their hour For intervention. Move, you Parthian piece.
RODOGUNE Send someone else. I cannot go.
EUNICE I think You have forgotten that you are a slave. You are my piece and I will have you move. Move quickly.
RODOGUNE Surely he did not speak my name?
MENTHO Why do you fear, my child? He’s good and noble And kind in speech and gentle to his servants.
RODOGUNE (low, to herself ) It is not him I fear, it is myself.
Page – 232 EUNICE Fear me instead. You shall be cruelly whipped Unless you move this instant.
RODOGUNE Oh, Eunice!
EUNICE Whipped savagely! I’ll sacrifice so much For a shy pawn who will not move? Go, go, And come not back unkissed if you are wise. She pushes Rodogune to the door and she goes, followed by Mentho. His heart’s not free, nor hers, or else I’ld try My hand at reigning. As the gods choose. Through her I may rule Syria.
Page – 233
Antiochus’ chamber. Antiochus, with a map before him.
ANTIOCHUS Ecbatana, Susa and Sogdiana, The Aryan country which the Indus bounds, Euphrates’ stream and Tigris’ golden sands, The Oxus and Jaxartes and these mountains Vague and enormous shouldering the moon With all their dim beyond of nations huge; This were an empire! What are Syria, Greece And the blue littoral to Gades? They are Too narrow to contain my soul, too petty To satisfy its hunger and its vastness. O pale, sweet Parthian face with liquid eyes Mid darkest masses and O gracious limbs Obscuring this epitome of earth, You will not let me fix my eyes on Susa. I never yearned for any woman yet. While Timocles with the light Theban dames Amused his careless heart, I walked aside; Parthia and Greece became my mistresses. But now my heart is filled with one pale girl. Exult not, archer. I will quiet thee With sudden and assured possession first, Then keep thee beating an eternal strain. I have loved her through past lives and many ages. The Parthian princess, lovely Rodogune! O name of sweetness! Renowned Phraates’ daughter, A bud of kings, — my glorious prisoner With those beseeching eyes. O high Antiochus,
Page – 234 Who snatched her from among her guardian spears, Thou hast gone past but left this prophecy Of beautiful conquered Persia grown my slave To love me. It is thou, my Rodogune! Rodogune enters. RODOGUNE (with lowered eyes) I have brought the wine.
ANTIOCHUS Thou art the only wine, O Parthian! Wine to flush Olympian souls Is in this glorious flask. Set down the bowl. Lift up instead thy long and liquid eyes; I grudge them to the marble, Rodogune. Thou knowest well why I have sent for thee. Have we not gazed into each other’s eyes And thine confessed their knowledge?
RODOGUNE Prince, I am Thy mother’s slave.
ANTIOCHUS Mine, mine, O Rodogune, For I am Syria.
RODOGUNE Thine.
ANTIOCHUS O, thou hast spoken!
RODOGUNE Touch me not, touch me not, Antiochus! Son of Nicanor, spare me, spare thyself. O me! I know the gods prepare some death;
Page – 235 I am a living misfortune.
ANTIOCHUS Wert thou my fate Of death itself, delightful Rodogune, Not, as thou art, heaven’s pledge of bliss, I’ld not abstain From thy delight, but have my joy of thee The short while it is possible on earth. O, play not with the hours, my Rodogune. Why should brief man defer his joys and wait As if life were eternal? Time does not pause, Death does not tarry.
RODOGUNE Alas!
ANTIOCHUS Thou lingerest yet. Wilt thou deny the beating of our hearts That call to us to bridge these sundering paces? O, then I will command thee as a slave. Thou wouldst not let me draw thee, come thyself Into my arms, O perfect Rodogune, My Parthian captive!
RODOGUNE Antiochus, my king!
ANTIOCHUS So heave against me like a wave for ever. Melt warmly into my bosom like the Spring, O honied breathing tumult!
RODOGUNE O release me!
Page – 236 ANTIOCHUS Thou sudden sorceress, die upon my breast! My arms are cords to bind thee to this stake, Slowly to burn away in crimson fire.
RODOGUNE Release me, O release me!
ANTIOCHUS Not till our lips have joined Eternal wedlock. With this stamp and this And many more I’ll seal thee to myself. Eternal Time’s too short for all the kisses I yearn for from thee, O pale loveliness, Dim mystery! Press thy lips to mine. Obey. Again! and so again and even for ever Chant love, O marvel, let thy lips’ wild music Come faltering from thy heart into my bosom. Rodogune sinks at his feet and embraces his knees. RODOGUNE I am thine, thine, thine, thine for ever. She rises and hides her face in her hands.
ANTIOCHUS (uncovering her face) Beloved, Hide not thy face from love. The gods in heaven Look down on us; let us look up at them With fearless eyes of candid joy and tell them Not Time nor any of their dooms can move us now. The passion of oneness two hearts are this moment Denies the steps of death for ever.
RODOGUNE My heart Stops in me. I can bear no more of bliss.
Page – 237 Oh, leave me now that I may live for thee.
ANTIOCHUS Stay where thou art. Or go, for thou art mine And I can send thee from me when I will And call thee when I will. Go, Rodogune Who yet remain with me. Rodogune leaves the chamber with faltering steps. O Love, thou art Diviner in the enjoying. Can I now Unblinded scan this map? No, she is there; It is her eyes I see and not Ecbatana.
Page – 238
The hall in the Palace. Timocles, Phayllus.
TIMOCLES O, all the sweetness and the glory gathered Into one smiling life, the other’s left Barren, unbearable, bleak, desolate, A hell of silence and of emptiness Impossible for mortal souls to imagine, Much less to suffer. My mother does this wrong to me! Why should not we, kind brothers all our lives, — O, how we loved each other there in Egypt! — Divide this prize? Let his be Syria’s crown, — Oh, let him take it! I have Rodogune.
PHAYLLUS He will consent?
TIMOCLES Oh, yes, and with a smile. He is all loftiness and warlike thoughts. My high Antiochus! how could I dream Of taking from him what he’ld wear so well? Let me have love and joy and Rodogune. The sunlight is enough for me.
PHAYLLUS It may be, Yet not enough for both. Look! there he comes Carrying himself as if he were the sun Brilliant alone in heaven. Oh, that to darken! Antiochus enters.
Page – 239 TIMOCLES Brother, it is the kind gods send you here.
ANTIOCHUS Dear Timocles, we meet not all the day. It was not so in Egypt. Tell me now, What were you doing all these busy hours? How many laughing girls of this fair land Have you lured on to love you?
TIMOCLES Have you not heard?
ANTIOCHUS What, Timocles?
TIMOCLES Our mother gives the crown And with the crown apportions Rodogune.
ANTIOCHUS Our royal mother? Are they hers to give? I do not marry by another’s will.
TIMOCLES O brother, no; our hearts at least are ours. You have not marked, I think, Antiochus, This pale sweet Parthian Rodogune?
ANTIOCHUS (smiling) No, brother? I have not marked, you say?
TIMOCLES You are so blind To woman’s beauty. You only woo great deeds And arms imperial. It is well for me You rather chose to wed the grandiose earth.
Page – 240 I am ashamed to tell you, dear Antiochus, I grudged the noble crown that soon will rest So gloriously upon you. Take it, brother, But leave me my dim goddess Rodogune.
ANTIOCHUS Thy goddess! thine!
TIMOCLES It is not possible That you too love her!
ANTIOCHUS What is it to thee whom or what I love? Say that I love her not?
TIMOCLES Then is my offer Just, brotherly, not like this causeless wrath.
ANTIOCHUS Thy wondrous offer! Of two things that are mine To fling me one with “There! I want it not, I’ll take the other”!
TIMOCLES (in a suffocated voice) Has she made thee king?
ANTIOCHUS I need no human voice to make me anything Who am king by birth and nature. Who else should reign In Syria? Thoughtst thou thy light and shallow head Was meant to wear a crown?
TIMOCLES In Egypt you were not like this, Antiochus.
Page – 241 ANTIOCHUS See not the Parthian even in dreams at night! Remember not her name!
TIMOCLES She is my mother’s slave: I’ll ask for her and have her.
ANTIOCHUS Thou shalt have My sword across thy heart-strings first. She is The kingdom’s prize and with the kingdom mine.
TIMOCLES My dream, my goddess with those wondrous eyes! My sweet veiled star cloistered in her own charm! I will not yield her to thee, nor the crown, Not wert thou twenty times my brother.
PHAYLLUS Capital! Delightful! O my fortune! my kind fortune!
TIMOCLES Thou lov’st her not who dar’st to think of her As if she were a prize for any arms, Thy slave, thy chattel.
ANTIOCHUS Speak not another word.
PHAYLLUS More! more! My star, thou risest o’er this storm.
ANTIOCHUS I pardon thee, my brother Timocles; Thy light passions are thy excuse. Henceforth
Page – 242 Offend not. For the Parthian, she is mine And I would keep her though a god desired. Exalt not thy presumptuous eyes henceforth Higher than are her sandals. He goes out. PHAYLLUS This is your brother! Shall he not have the crown?
TIMOCLES Nor her, nor Syria. Rodogune and Eunice enter passing through the hall. Timocles rushes to her. My Rodogune, my star! Thou knowest the trade Which others seek to make of thee. Resist it, Prevent the insult of this cold award! Say that thou lov’st me.
RODOGUNE Prince, I pity thee, But cannot love. She passes out. EUNICE My cousin Timocles, All flowers are not for your plucking. Roses Enough that crave to satisfy your want, Are grown in Syria; take them. Here be wise; Touch not my Parthian blossom. She passes out. TIMOCLES How am I smitten as with a thunderbolt!
Page – 243 PHAYLLUS Will you be dashed by this? They make her think Antiochus will reign in Syria.
TIMOCLES No, She loves him.
PHAYLLUS Is love so quickly born? Oh, then, It will as quickly die. Eunice works here To thwart you; she is for Antiochus.
TIMOCLES All, all are for Antiochus, the crown, And Syria and men’s homage, women’s hearts And life and sweetness and my love.
PHAYLLUS Young prince, Be more a man. Besiege the girl with gifts And graces; woo her like a queen or force her Like what she is, a slave. Be strong, be sudden, Forestalling this proud brother.
TIMOCLES I would not wrong her pure and shrouded soul Though all the gods in heaven should give me leave.
PHAYLLUS The graceful, handsome fool! Then from your mother Demand her as a gift.
TIMOCLES (going) My soul once more Is hunted by the tempest.
Page – 244
Cleopatra’s chamber. Cleopatra, Cleone.
CLEOPATRA I am resolved; but Mentho the Egyptian knows The true precedence of the twins. Send her to me. Cleone goes out. O you, high-seated cold divinities, You sleep sometimes, they say you sleep. Sleep now! I only loosen what your careless wills Have tangled. Mentho enters. Mentho, sit by me. Mentho, You have not breathed our secret? Keep it, Mentho, Dead in your bosom, buy a queen for slave.
MENTHO Dead! Can truth die?
CLEOPATRA Ah, Mentho, truth! But truth Is often terrible. Justice! but was ever Justice yet seen upon the earth? Man lives Because he is not just and real right Dwells not with law and custom but for him It grows by whose arriving our brief happiness Is best assured and grief prohibited For a while to mortals.
MENTHO This is the thing I feared.
Page – 245 O wickedness! Well, Queen, I understand.
CLEOPATRA Not less than you I love Antiochus; But Timocles seeks Parthian Rodogune. O, if these brother-loves should turn to hate And slay us all! Then rather let thy nursling stand, — Will he not rule whoever fills the throne? — Approved of heaven and earth, indeed a king, Protector of the weaker Timocles, His right hand in his wars, his pillar, guard And sword of action, grand in loyalty, Kingly in great subjection, famed for love. Then there shall be no grief for anyone And everything consent to our desires.
MENTHO Queen Cleopatra, shall I speak? shall I Forget respect? The god demands my voice. I tell thee then that thy rash brain has hatched A wickedness beyond all parallel, A cold, unmotherly and cruel plot Thou striv’st in vain to alter with thy words. O nature self-deceived! O blinded heart! It is the husband of thy boasted love, Woman, thou wrongest in thy son.
CLEOPATRA Alas, Mentho, my nurse, thou knowest not the cause.
MENTHO I do not need to know. Art thou Olympian Zeus? Has he given thee his sceptre and his charge To guide the tangled world? Wilt thou upset His rulings? wilt thou improve his providence? Are thy light woman’s brain and shallow love
Page – 246 A better guide than his all-seeing eye? O wondrous arrogance of finite men Who would know better than omniscient God! Beware his thunders and observe his will. What he has made, strive not to unmake, but shun The tragical responsibility Of such dire error. If from thy act spring death And horror, are thy human shoulders fit To bear that heavy load? Observe his will, Do right and leave the rest to God above.
CLEOPATRA Thy words have moved me.
MENTHO Let thy husband move thee. How wilt thou meet him in the solemn shades? Will he not turn his royal face from thee Saying, “Murderess of my children, come not near me!”
CLEOPATRA O Mentho, curse me not. My husband’s eyes Shall meet me with a smile. Mentho, my nurse, You will not tell this to Antiochus?
MENTHO I am not mad nor wicked. Remain fixed In this resolve. Dream not that happiness Can spring from wicked roots. God overrules And Right denied is mighty.
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