|
|
Act V
The sea-shore. Andromeda chained to the cliff.
ANDROMEDA O iron-throated vast unpitying sea, Whose borders touch my feet with their cold kisses As if they loved me! yet from thee my death Will soon arise, and in some monstrous form To tear my heart with horror before my body. I am alone with thee on this wild beach Filled with the echo of thy roaring waters. My fellowmen have cast me out: they have bound me Upon thy rocks to die. These cruel chains Weary the arms they keep held stiffly out Against the rough cold jagged stones. My bosom Hardly contains its thronging sobs; my heart Is torn with misery: for by my act My father and my mother are doomed to death, My dear kind brother, my sweet Iolaus, Will cruelly be slaughtered; by my act A kingdom ends in miserable ruin. I thought to save two fellowmen: I have slain A hundred by their rescue. I have failed In all I did and die accursed and hated. I die alone and miserably, no heart To pity me: only your hostile waves Are listening to my sobs and laughing hoarsely With cruel pleasure. Heaven looks coldly on.
Page – 483 Yet I repent not. O thou dreadful god!
Yes, thou art dreadful and most mighty; perhaps This world will always be a world of blood
And smiling cruelty, thou its fit sovereign. But I have done what my own heart required of me,
And I repent not. Even if after death Eternal pain and punishment await me
And gods and men pursue me with their hate, I have been true to myself and to my heart,
I have been true to the love it bore for men, And I repent not.
She is silent for a while. Alas! is there no pity for me? Is there
No kind bright sword to save me in all this world? Heaven with its cold unpitying azure roofs me,
And the hard savage rocks surround: the deaf And violent Ocean roars about my feet,
And all is stony, all is cold and cruel. Yet I had dreamed of other powers. Where art thou,
O beautiful still face amid the lightnings, Athene? Does a mother leave her child?
And thou, bright stranger, wert thou only a dream? Wilt thou not come down glorious from thy sun,
And cleave my chains, and lift me in thy arms To safety? I will not die! I am too young,
And life was recently so beautiful. It is too hard, too hard a fate to bear.
She is silent, weeping. Cydone enters: she comes
and sits down at Andromeda’s feet. C How beautiful she is, how beautiful! Her tears bathe all her bosom. O cruel Syrians!
ANDROMEDA What gentle touch is on my feet? Who art thou? Page – 484 CYDONE I am Cydone. Iolaus loves me.
ANDROMEDA My brother! lives he yet?
CYDONE He lives, dear sweetness, And sent me to you.
ANDROMEDA (joyfully) It was a cruel lie! He’s free?
CYDONE No, bound and in the temple. Weep not.
ANDROMEDA Alas! And you have left him there alone?
CYDONE The gods are with him, sister. In a few hours We shall be all together and released From these swift perils.
ANDROMEDA Together and released! Oh yes, in death.
CYDONE I bid you hope. O child, How beautiful you are, how beautiful, Iolaus’ sister! This one white slight garment Fluttering about you in the ocean winds, You look like some wind-goddess chained in play By frolic sisters on the wild sea-beaches. I think all this has happened, little sister,
Page – 485 Just that the gods might have for one brief hour
You for a radiant vision of childish beauty Exposed against this wild stupendous background. A You make me smile in spite of all my grief. Did you not bid me hope, Cydone?
CYDONE And now I bid you trust: for you are saved.
ANDROMEDA I am. I feel it now.
CYDONE Your name’s Andromeda?
ANDROMEDA Iolaus calls me so.
CYDONE I think he cheats me. You are Iolaus changed into a girl. Come, I will kiss you dumb for cheating me With changes of yourself. Kisses her. If I could have My Iolaus always chained like this To do my pleasure with, I would so plague him! For he abuses me and calls me shrew, Monster and vixen and names unbearable, Because he’s strong and knows I cannot beat him.
ANDROMEDA The world is changed about me. Page – 486 CYDONE Heaven’s above. Look up and see it.
ANDROMEDA There is a golden cloud Moving towards me.
CYDONE It is Perseus. Sweetheart, I go to Iolaus in the temple, — I mean your other fair boy-self. Kiss me, O sweet girl-Iolaus, and fear nothing. She goes out over the rocks. ANDROMEDA I shall be saved! What is this sudden trouble That lifts the bosom of the tossing deep, Hurling the waves against my knees? Save me! Where art thou gone, Cydone? What huge head Raises itself on the affrighted seas? Where art thou, O my saviour? Come! His eyes Glare up at me from the grey Ocean trough Hideous with brutish longing. Like great sharp rocks His teeth are in a bottomless dim chasm. She closes her eyes in terror. Perseus enters. PERSEUS Look up, O sunny-curled Andromeda! Perseus, the son of Danae, is with thee To whom thou now belongest. Fear no more Sea-monsters nor the iron-souled Poseidon, Nor the more monstrous flinty-hearted rabble Who bound thee here. This huge and grisly enemy That rises from the flood, need not affright thee. Thou art as safe as if thy mother’s arms Contained thee in thy brilliant guarded palace Page – 487 When all was calm, O white Andromeda! Lift up thy eyes’ long curtains: aid the azure With thy regards, O sunshine. Look at me And see thy safety.
A NDROMEDAO thou hast come to me! It was not only a radiant face I dreamed of.
PERSEUS In time to save thee, my Andromeda, Sole jewel of the world. I go to meet Thy enemy, confronting grim Poseidon.
ANDROMEDA O touch me ere you go that I may feel You are real.
PERSEUS Let my kiss, sweet doubting dreamer, Convince thee. Now I dart like a swift hawk Upon my prey and smite betwixt the billows. Watch how I fight for thee. I will come soon To gather thee into my grasp, my prize Of great adventure. He goes out. ANDROMEDA The music of his name Was in my brain just now. What must I call thee? Perseus, the son of Danae! Perseus! Perseus, Athene’s sword! Perseus, my sun-god! O human god of glad Andromeda! Forgive, Athene, my lack of faith. Thou art! How like a sudden eagle he has swooped Upon the terror, that lifts itself alarmed, Swings its huge length along the far-ridged billows Page – 488 And upwards yawns its rage. O great Athene! It belches fiery breath against my Perseus And lashes Ocean in his face. The sea Is tossed upon itself and its huge bottoms Catch chinks of unaccustomed day. But the aegis Of Perseus hurls the flame-commingled flood Back in the dragon’s eyes: it shoots its lightnings Into the horizon like fire-trailing arrows. The world surprised with light gazes dismayed Upon the sea-surrounded war, ringed in With foam and flying tumult. O glorious sight, Too swift and terrible for human eyes! I will pray rather. Virgin, beautiful Athene, virgin-mother of my soul! I cannot lift my hands to thee, they are chained To the wild cliff, but lift my heart instead, Virgin, assist thy hero in the fight. Descend, armipotent maiden, child of Zeus, Shoot from his godlike brain the strength of will That conquers evil: in one victorious stroke Collecting hurl it on the grisly foe. Thou, thou art sword and shield, and thou the force That uses shield and sword, virgin Athene. The tumult ceases and the floods subside. I dare not look. And yet I will. O death, Thou tossest there inertly on the flood, A floating mountain. Perseus comes to me Touching the waves with airy-sandalled feet, Bright and victorious. Perseus returns. PERSEUS The grisly beast is slain that was thy terror, And thou mayst sun the world with smiles again, Andromeda.
Page – 489 A Thou hast delivered me, O Perseus, Perseus, My sovereign!
PERSEUS Girl, I take into my arms My own that I have won and with these kisses Seal to me happy head and smiling eyes, Bright lips and all of thee, thou sunny Syrian. All thy white body is a hero’s guerdon.
ANDROMEDA Perseus!
PERSEUS Sweetly thou tak’st my eager kisses With lovely smiles and glorious blushing cheeks Rejoicing in their shame.
ANDROMEDA I am chained, Perseus, And cannot help myself.
PERSEUS O smile of sweetness! I will unravel these unworthy bonds And rid thee of the cold excuse.
ANDROMEDA My chains? They do not hurt me now, and I would wear them A hundred times for such a happy rescue.
PERSEUS Thou tremblest yet! Page – 490 ANDROMEDA Some sweet and sudden fear O’ertakes me! O what is it? I dare not look Into thy radiant eyes.
PERSEUS Sweet tremors, grow Upon her. Never shall harsher fears again O’ertake you, rosy limbs, in Perseus’ keeping. How fair thou art, my prize Andromeda! O sweet chained body, chained to love not death, That with a happy passiveness endures My touch, once more, once more. And now fall down Clashing into the deep, you senseless irons, That took a place my kisses only merit. Princess of Syria, child of imperial Cepheus, Step forward free.
ANDROMEDA (falling at his feet and embracing them) O Perseus, O my saviour! Wilt thou not also save those dear to me And make this life thou givest worth the giving? My father, mother, brother, all I love, Lie for my fault shuddering beneath the knife.
PERSEUS It was a glorious fault, Andromeda. Tremble not for thy loved ones. Wilt thou trust Thy cherished body in my arms to bear Upward, surprising Heaven with thy beauty? Or wilt thou fear to see the blue wide Ocean Between thy unpropped feet, fathoms below?
ANDROMEDA With you I fear not. Page – 491 P ERSEUSCling to me then, sweet burden, And we will meet our enemies together. He puts his arms round her to lift her and the curtain falls. Page – 492
The Temple of Poseidon.
Polydaon, Therops, Dercetes, Cydone, Damoetes and a great number of Syrians, men and women. Iolaus stands bound, a little to the side: Cepheus and Cassiopea, surrounded by armed men.
P Cepheus and Cassiopea, man and woman, Not sovereigns now, you see what end they have Who war upon the gods.
CASSIOPEA To see thy end My eyes wait only.
POLYDAON Let them see something likelier. Is’t not thy son who wears those cords, and that An altar? What! the eyes are drowned in tears Where fire was once so ready? Where is thy pride, O Cassiopea?
CASSIOPEA There are other gods Than thy Poseidon. They shall punish thee.
POLYDAON If thou knewst who I am, which is most secret, Thou wouldst not utter vain and foolish wishes. When thou art slain, I will reveal myself. Page – 493 C ASSIOPEAThou hast revealed thyself for what thou art Already, a madman and inhuman monster.
CEPHEUS My queen, refrain from words.
DAMOETES Perissus comes.
CASSIOPEA Ah God!
THEROPS Look, the Queen swoons! Oh, look to her! Perissus enters. POLYDAON Yes, raise her up, bring back her senses: now I would not have them clouded. News, Perissus! Thy face is troubled and thy eyes stare wildly.
PERISSUS Stare, do they? They may stare, for they have cause. You too will stare soon, Viceroy Polydaon.
THEROPS What rare thing happened? The heavens were troubled strangely, Although their rifts were blue. What hast thou seen?
PERISSUS I have seen hell and heaven at grips together.
POLYDAON What do I care for hell or heaven? Your news! Did the sea-monster come and eat and go? Page – 494 PERISSUS He came but went not.
POLYDAON Was not the maiden seized?
PERISSUS Ay, was she, in a close and mighty grasp.
POLYDAON By the sea-beast?
PERISSUS ‘Tis said we all are animals; Then so was he: but ’twas a glorious beast.
POLYDAON And was she quite devoured?
PERISSUS Why, in a manner, — If kisses eat.
POLYDAON Ha! ha! such soft caresses May all my enemies have. She was not torn? What, was she taken whole and quite engulfed?
PERISSUS Something like that.
POLYDAON You speak with difficult slowness And strangely. Where’s your blithe robustness gone, Perissus?
Page – 495 P Coming, with the beast. He lifted her Mightily from the cliff to heaven.
POLYDAON So, Queen, Nothing is left thee of Andromeda.
PERISSUS Why, something yet, a sweet and handsome piece.
POLYDAON You should have brought it here, my merry butcher, That remnant of her daughter.
PERISSUS It is coming.
POLYDAON Ho, ho! then you shall see your daughter, Queen.
DERCETES This is a horrid and inhuman laughter. Restrain thy humour, priest! My sword’s uneasy.
THEROPS It is a scandal in Poseidon’s temple.
POLYDAON Do you oppose me? (to Therops) Wilt thou resist Poseidon, Misguided mortal?
D ERCETESHe glares and his mouth works. This is a maniac. Does a madman rule us? Page – 496 THEROPS There has been much of violence and mad fierceness, Such as in tumults may be pardoned. Now It is the tranquil hour of victory When decency should reign and mercy too. What do we gain by torturing this poor Queen And most unhappy King?
POLYDAON Hear him, O people! He favours great Poseidon’s enemies. Therops turns traitor.
DAMOETES He rails at the good priest.
CRIES Therops a traitor!
MEGAS Therops, thou favour kings? Thou traitor to Poseidon and his people?
GARDAS I say, hear Therops. He is always right, Our Therops; he has brains.
CRIES Hear Therops, Therops!
THEROPS Let them be punished, but with exile only. I am no traitor. I worked for you, O people, When this false priest was with the King of Tyre Plotting to lay on you a foreign chain.
Page – 498 C Is it so? Is it the truth? Speak, Polydaon.
POLYDAON Must I defend myself? Was it not I Who led you on to victory and turned The wrath of dire Poseidon? If you doubt me, Be then the sacrifice forbidden; let Cepheus And Cassiopea reign; but when the dogs Of grim Poseidon howl again behind you, Call not to me for help. I will not always pardon.
CRIES Polydaon, Polydaon, Poseidon’s mighty Viceroy! Kill Therops! Iolaus upon the altar!
POLYDAON Now you are wise again. Leave this Therops. Bring Iolaus to the altar here. Lay bare his bosom for the knife.
THEROPS Dercetes, Shall this be allowed?
DERCETES We must not dare offend Poseidon. But when it’s over, I’ll break in With all my faithful spears and save the King And Cassiopea. Therops, ‘twould be a nightmare, The rule of that fierce priest and fiercer rabble.
THEROPS With all the better sort I will support thee.
PERISSUS Therops, my crowd-compeller, my eloquent Zeus of the market- place, I know thy heart is big with the sweet passion of Page – 498 repentance, but let it not burst into action yet. Keep thy fleet sharp spears at rest, Dercetes. There are times, my little captain, and there is a season. Watch and wait. The gods are at work and Iolaus shall not die.
POLYDAON We only wait until our mighty wrath Is shown you in the mangled worst offender Against our godhead. Then, O Cassiopea, I’ll watch thy eyes.
PERISSUS Behold her, Polydaon. Perseus and Andromeda enter the temple. CRIES Andromeda! Andromeda! who has unchained her? It is Andromeda!
CEPHEUS It is the spirit of Andromeda.
THEROPS Shadows were ne’er so bright, had never smile So sunny! she is given back to earth: It is the radiant winged Hermes brings her.
DERCETES ‘Tis he who baffled us upon the beach. I see the gods are busy in our Syria. Andromeda runs to Cassiopea and clasps and kisses her knees, the soldiers making way for her. CASSIOPEA (taking Andromeda’s face between her hands) O my sweet child, thou livest! Page – 499 A NDROMEDAMother, mother! I live and see the light and grief is ended.
CASSIOPEA (lifting Andromeda into her arms) I hold thee living on my bosom. What grief Can happen now?
CEPHEUS Andromeda, my daughter!
POLYDAON (awaking from his amazement) Confusion! Butcher, thou hast betrayed me. Seize them! They shall all die upon my mighty altar. Seize them!
PERSEUS (confronting him) Priest of Poseidon and of death, Three days thou gav’st me: it is but the second. I am here. Dost thou require the sacrifice?
POLYDAON Art thou a god? I am a greater, dreadfuller. Tremble and go from me: I need thee not.
PERSEUS Expect thy punishment. Syrians, behold me, The victim snatched from grim Poseidon’s altar. My sword has rescued sweet Andromeda And slain the monster of the deep. You asked For victims? I am here. Whose knife is ready? Let him approach.
THEROPS Who art thou, mighty hero? Declare unto this people thy renown And thy unequalled actions. What high godhead Page – 500 Befriends thee in battle?
P ERSEUSSyrians, I am Perseus, The mighty son of Zeus and Danae. The blood of gods is in my veins, the strength Of gods is in my arm: Athene helps me. Behold her aegis, which if I uncover Will blind you with its lightnings; and this sword Is Herpe, which can pierce the earth and Hades. What I have done, is by Athene’s strength. Borne from Seriphos through pellucid air Upon these winged shoes, in the far west I have traversed unknown lands and nameless continents And seas where never came the plash of human oars. On torrid coasts burned by the desert wind I have seen great Atlas buttressing the sky, His giant head companion of the stars, And changed him into a hill; the northern snows Illimitable I have trod, where Nature Is awed to silence, chilled to rigid whiteness; I have entered caverns dim where death was born: And I have taken from the dim-dwelling Graiae Their wondrous eye that sees the past and future: And I have slain the Gorgon, dire Medusa, Her head that turns the living man to stone Locking into my wallet: last, today, In Syria by the loud Aegean surges I have done this deed that men shall ever speak of. Ascending with winged feet the clamorous air I have cloven Poseidon’s monster whose rock-teeth And fiery mouth swallowed your sons and daughters. Where now has gone the sea-god’s giant stride That filled with heads of foam your fruitful fields? I have dashed back the leaping angry waters; His Ocean-force has yielded to a mortal. Even while I speak, the world has changed around you.
Page – 501 Syrians, the earth is calm, the heavens smile;
A mighty silence listens on the sea. All this I have done, and yet not I, but one greater.
Such is Athene’s might and theirs who serve her. You know me now, O Syrians, and my strength
I have concealed not. Let no man hereafter Complain that I deceived him to his doom.
Speak now. Which of you all demands a victim?
He pauses: there is silence.
What, you have howled and maddened, bound sweet women For slaughter, roared to have the hearts of princes,
And are you silent now? Who is for victims? Who sacrifices Perseus? T Speak! is there A fool so death-devoted?
PERSEUS Claims any man victims?
CRIES There’s none, great Perseus.
PERSEUS Then, I here release Andromeda and Iolaus, Syrians, From the death-doom: to Cepheus give his crown Once more. Does any man gainsay my action? Would any rule in Syria?
CRIES None, mighty Perseus.
PERSEUS Iolaus, sweet friend, my work is finished. He severs his bonds. Page – 502 IOLAUS O mighty father, suffer me for thee To take thy crown from the unworthy soil Where rude hands tumbled it. ‘Twill now sit steady. Dercetes, art thou loyal once again?
DERCETES For ever.
IOLAUS Therops?
THEROPS I have abjured rebellion.
IOLAUS Lead then my royal parents to their home With martial pomp and music. And let the people Cover their foul revolt with meek obedience. One guiltiest head shall pay your forfeit: the rest, Since terror and religious frenzy moved To mutiny, not their sober wills, shall all Be pardoned.
CRIES Iolaus! Iolaus! Long live the Syrian, noble Iolaus!
IOLAUS Andromeda, and thou, my sweet Cydone, Go with them.
CEPHEUS I approve thy sentence, son. Dercetes and his soldiers, Therops and the Syrians leave the temple conducting Cepheus and Cassiopea, Andromeda and Cydone.
Page – 503 IOLAUS Now, Polydaon, —
POLYDAON I have seen all and laughed. Iolaus, and thou, O Argive Perseus, You know not who I am. I have endured Your foolish transient triumph that you might feel My punishments more bitter-terrible. ‘Tis time, ’tis time. I will reveal myself. Your horror-starting eyes shall know me, princes, When I hurl death and Ocean on your heads.
PERSEUS The man is frantic.
IOLAUS Defeat has turned him mad.
PERISSUS I have seen this coming on him for a season and a half. He was a fox at first, but this tumult gave him claws and muscles and he turned tiger. This is the end. What, Polydaon! Good cheer, priest! Roll not thy eyes: I am thy friend Perissus, I am thy old loving schoolmate; are we not now fellow-craftsmen, priest and butcher?
POLYDAON Do you not see? I wave my sapphire locks And earth is quaking. Quake, earth! rise, my great Ocean! Earth, shake my foemen from thy back! clasp, sea, And kiss them dead, thou huge voluptuary. Come barking from your stables, my sweet monsters: With blood-stained fangs and fiery mouths avenge me Mocking their victory. Thou, brother Zeus, Rain curses from thy skies. What, is all silent? I’ll tear thee, Ocean, into watery bits Page – 504 And strip thy oozy basal rocks quite naked If thou obey me not.
IOLAUS (advancing) He must be seized And bound.
PERSEUS Pause. See, he foams and clutches! Polydaon falls to the ground. He Is sentenced.
PERISSUS Polydaon, old crony, grows thy soul too great within thee? dost thou kick the unworthy earth and hit out with thy noble fists at Heaven?
IOLAUS It was a fit; it is over. He lies back white And shaking.
POLYDAON (As he speaks, his utterance is hacked by pauses of silence. He seems unconscious of those around him, his being is withdrawing from the body and he lives only in an inner consciousness and its vision.)
I was Poseidon but this moment. Now he departs from me and leaves me feeble: I have become a dull and puny mortal. (half rising) It was not I but thou who fearedst, god. I would have spoken, but thou wert chilled and stone. What fearedst thou or whom? Wast thou alarmed By the godhead lurking in man’s secret soul Or deity greater than thy own appalled thee?… Forgive, forgive! pass not away from me. Thy power is now my breath and I shall perish Page – 505 If thou withdraw…. He stands beside me still Shaking his gloomy locks and glares at me Saying it was my sin and false ambition Undid him. Was I not fearless as thou bad’st me? Ah, he has gone into invisible Vast silences!… Whose, whose is this bright glory? One stands now in his place and looks at me. Imperious is his calm Olympian brow, The sea’s blue unfathomed depths gaze from his eyes, Wide sea-blue locks crown his majestic shape: A mystic trident arms his tranquil might. As one new-born to himself and to the world He turns from me with the surges in his stride To seek his Ocean empire. Earth bows down Trembling with awe of his unbearable steps, Heaven is the mirror of his purple greatness…. But whose was that dimmer and tremendous image?… A horror of darkness is around me still, But the joy and might have gone out of my breast And left me mortal, a poor human thing With whom death and the fates can do their will…. But his presence yet is with me, near to me…. Was I not something more than earthly man?… (with a cry) It was myself, the shadow, the hostile god! I am abandoned to my evil self. That was the darkness!… But there was something more Insistent, dreadful, other than myself! Whoever thou art, spare me!… I am gone, I am taken. In his tremendous clutch he bears me off Into thick cloud; I see black Hell, the knives Fire-pointed touch my breast. Spare me, Poseidon…. Save me, O brilliant God, forgive and save. He falls back dead. P ERSEUSWho then can save a man from his own self? Page – 506 I OLAUSHe is ended, his own evil has destroyed him.
PERSEUS This man for a few hours became the vessel Of an occult and formidable Force And through his form it did fierce terrible things Unhuman: but his small and gloomy mind And impure dark heart could not contain the Force. It turned in him to madness and demoniac Huge longings. Then the Power withdrew from him Leaving the broken incapable instrument, And all its might was spilt from his body. Better To be a common man mid common men And live an unaspiring mortal life Than call into oneself a Titan strength Too dire and mighty for its human frame, That only afflicts the oppressed astonished world, Then breaks its user.
IOLAUS But best to be Heaven’s child. Only the sons of gods can harbour gods.
PERISSUS Art thou then gone, Polydaon? My monarch of breast-hackers, this was an evil ending. My heart is full of woe for thee, my fellow-butcher.
IOLAUS The gods have punished him for his offences, Ambition and a hideous cruelty Ingenious in mere horror.
PERSEUS Burn him with rites, If that may help his soul by dark Cocytus.
Page – 507 But let us go and end these strange upheavals:
Call Cireas from his hiding for reward, Tyrnaus too, and Smerdas from his prison,
Fair Diomede from Cydone’s house. Humble or high, let all have their deserts
Who partners were or causes of our troubles.
I There’s Phineus will ask reasons.
PERSEUS He shall be satisfied.
PERISSUS He cannot be satisfied, his nose is too long; it will not listen to reason, for it thinks all the reason and policy in the world are shut up in the small brain to which it is a long hooked outlet.
PERSEUS Perissus, come with me: for thou wert kind To my fair sweetness; it shall be remembered.
PERISSUS There was nothing astonishing in that: I am as chock-full with natural kindness as a rabbit is with guts; I have bowels, great Perseus. For am I not Perissus? am I not the butcher? They go out: the curtain falls. Page – 508
The audience-chamber of the Palace.
Cepheus, Cassiopea, Andromeda, Cydone, Praxilla, Medes.
C A sudden ending to our sudden evils Propitious gods have given us, Cassiopea. Pursued by panic the Assyrian flees Abandoning our borders.
CASSIOPEA And I have got My children’s faces back upon my bosom. What gratitude can ever recompense That godlike youth whose swift and glorious rescue Lifted us out of Hell so radiantly?
CYDONE He has taken his payment in one small white coin Mounted with gold; and more he will not ask for.
CASSIOPEA Your name’s Cydone, child? your face is strange. You are not of the slave-girls.
CYDONE O I am! Iolaus’ slave-girl, though he calls me sometimes His queen: but that is only to beguile me.
ANDROMEDA Oh, mother, you must know my sweet Cydone.
Page – 509 I shall think you love me little if you do not
Take her into your bosom: for she alone, When I was lonely with my breaking heart,
Came to me with sweet haste and comforted My soul with kisses, — yes, even when the terror
Was rising from the sea, surrounded me With her light lovely babble, till I felt
Sorrow was not in the same world as she. And but for her I might have died of grief
Ere rescue came.
C What wilt thou ask of me, Even to a crown, Cydone? thou shalt have it.
CYDONE Nothing, unless ’tis leave to stand before you And be for ever Iolaus’ slave-girl Unchidden.
CASSIOPEA Thou shalt be more than that, my daughter.
CYDONE I have two mothers: a double Iolaus I had already. O you girl-Iolaus, You shall not marry Perseus: you are mine now. Oh, if you have learned to blush!
ANDROMEDA (stopping her mouth) Hush, you mad babbler! Or I will smother your wild mouth with mine. Perseus and Iolaus enter. CEPHEUS O welcome, brilliant victor, mighty Perseus! Saviour of Syria, angel of the gods, Page – 510 Kind was the fate that led thee to our shores.
CASSIOPEA (embracing Iolaus) Iolaus, Iolaus, my son! My golden-haired delight they would have murdered! Perseus, hast thou a mother?
PERSEUS One like thee In love, O Queen, though less in royalty.
CASSIOPEA What can I give thee then who hast the world To move in, thy courage and thy radiant beauty, And a tender mother? Yet take my blessing, Perseus, To help thee: for the mightiest strengths are broken And divine favour lasts not long, but blessings Of those thou helpest with thy kindly strength Upon life’s rugged way, can never fail thee.
CEPHEUS And what shall I give, seed of bright Olympus? Wilt thou have half my kingdom, Argive Perseus?
PERSEUS Thy kingdom falls by right to Iolaus In whom I shall enjoy it. One gift thou hadst I might have coveted, but she is mine, O monarch: I have taken her from death For my possession.
CEPHEUS My sunny Andromeda! But there’s the Tyrian: yet he gave her up To death and cannot now reclaim her.
Page – 511 I Father, The Babylonian merchants wait, and Cireas: The people’s leaders and thy army’s captains Are eager to renew an interrupted Obedience.
CEPHEUS Admit them all to me: go, Medes. As Medes goes out, Diomede enters. ANDROMEDA Diomede! playmate! you too have come quite safe Out of the storm. I thought we both must founder.
DIOMEDE Oh, yes, and now you’ll marry Perseus, leave me No other playmate than Praxilla’s whippings To keep me lively!
ANDROMEDA Therefore ’tis you look So discontent and sullen? Clear your face, I’ll drag you to the world’s far end with me, And take in my own hands Praxilla’s duty. Will that please you?
DIOMEDE As if your little hand could hurt! I’m off, Praxilla, to pick scarlet berries In Argolis and hear the seabirds’ cries And Ocean singing to the Cyclades. I’ll buy you brand new leather for a relic To whip the memory of me with sometimes, Praxilla. Page – 512 PRAXILLA You shall taste it then before you go. You’ll make a fine fair couple of wilfulnesses. I pity Perseus.
ANDROMEDA You are well rid of us, My poor Praxilla.
PRAXILLA Princess, little Princess, My hands will be lighter, but my heart too heavy. Therops and Dercetes enter with the Captains of the army, Cireas, Tyrnaus and Smerdas. ALL Hail, you restored high royalties of Syria.
THEROPS O King, accept us, be the past forgotten.
CEPHEUS It is forgotten, Therops. Welcome, Dercetes. Thy friend Nebassar is asleep. He has done His service for the day and taken payment.
CASSIOPEA His blood is a deep stain on Syria’s bosom.
DERCETES On us the stain lies, Queen: but we will drown it In native streams, when we go forth to scourge The Assyrian in his home.
THEROPS Death for one’s King Only less noble is than for one’s country.
Page – 513 This foreign soldier taught us that home lesson. C Therops, there are kings still in Syria?
THEROPS Great Queen, Remember not my sins.
CASSIOPEA They are buried deep, Thy bold rebellion, — even thy cruel slanders, If only thou wilt serve me as my friend True to thy people in me. Will this be hard for thee?
THEROPS O noble lady, you pay wrongs with favours! I am yours for ever, I and all this people.
CIREAS (to Diomede) This it is to be an orator! We shall hear him haranguing the people next market-day on fidelity to princes and the divine right of queens to have favourites.
IOLAUS Cireas, old bribe-taker, art thou living? Did Poseidon forget thee?
CIREAS I pray you, Prince, remind me not of past foolishness. I have grown pious. I will never speak ill again of authorities and divinities.
IOLAUS Thou art grown ascetic? thou carest no longer then for gold? I am glad, for my purse will be spared a very heavy lightening.
Page – 514 CIREAS Prince, I will not suffer my young piety to make you break old promises; for if it is perilous to sin, it is worse to be the cause of sin in others.
IOLAUS Thou shalt have gold and farms. I will absolve Andromeda’s promise and my own.
CIREAS Great Plutus! O happy Cireas!
IOLAUS Merchant Tyrnaus, art thou for Chaldea?
TYRNAUS When I have seen these troubles’ joyous end And your sweet princess, my young rescuer, Happily wedded.
IOLAUS I will give thee a ship And merchandise enough to fill thy losses.
PERSEUS And prayers with them, O excellent Chaldean. The world has need of men like thee.
SMERDAS (aside) I quake. What will they say to me? I shall be tortured And crucified. But she with her smile will save me.
IOLAUS Smerdas, thou unclean treacherous coward soul!
Page – 515 S Alas, I was compelled by threats of torture.
IOLAUS And tempted too with gold. Thy punishment Shall hit thee in thy nature. Farmer Cireas!
CIREAS Prince Plutus!
IOLAUS Take thou this man for slave. He’s strong. Work him upon thy fields and thy plantations.
SMERDAS O this is worst of all.
IOLAUS Not worse than thy desert. For gold thou lustest? earn it for another. Thou’lt save thy life? it is a freedman’s chattel.
SMERDAS O speak for me, lady Andromeda!
ANDROMEDA Dear Iolaus, —
CEPHEUS My child, thou art all pity; But justice has her seat, and her fine balance Disturbed too often spoils an unripe world With ill-timed mercy. Thy brother speaks my will.
IOLAUS Thou hast increased thy crime by pleading to her Whom thou betrayedst to her death. Art thou Page – 516 Quite shameless? Hold thy peace!
ANDROMEDA Grieve not too much. Cireas will be kind to thee; wilt thou not, Cireas?
CIREAS At thy command I will be even that And even to him. Noise outside. CEPHEUS What other dangerous clamour Is at our gates? Perissus enters, brandishing his cleaver. PERISSUS Pull out that sharp skewer of thine, comrade Perseus, or let me handle my cleaver.
CEPHEUS Thou art angry, butcher? Who has disturbed thy noble serenity?
PERISSUS King Cepheus, shall I not be angry? Art thou not again our majesty of Syria? And shall our majesty be insulted with noses? Shall it be prodded by a proboscis? Perseus, thou hast slaughtered yonder palaeozoic ichthyosaurus; wilt thou suffer me to chop this neozoan?
PERSEUS Calmly, precisely and not so polysyllabically, my good Perissus. Tell the King what is this clamour.
PERISSUS My monarch, Phineus of Tyre has brought his long-nosed royalty to thy gates and poke it he will into thy kingly presence.
Page – 517 His blusterings, King, have flustered my calm great heart within
me. C Comes he alone?
PERISSUS Damoetes and some scores more hang on to his long tail of hook-nosed Tyrians; but they are all rabble and proletariate, not a citizen butcher in the whole picking. They brandish skewers; they threaten to poke me with their dainty iron spits, — me, Perissus, me, the butcher!
CEPHEUS Phineus in arms! This is the after-swell Of tempest.
PERSEUS Let the Phoenician enter, comrade. Perissus goes out. Look not so blank. This man with all his crew Shall be my easy care.
Phineus enters the hall with a great company, Tyrians with drawn swords, Damoetes, Morus and others; after them Perissus. CEPHEUS Welcome, Tyre.
CASSIOPEA Thou breakest armed into our presence, Phineus. Had they been earlier there, these naked swords Would have been welcome.
PHINEUS I am not here for welcome, Lady. King Cepheus, wilt thou yield me right, Page – 518 Or shall I take it with my sword?
CEPHEUS Phineus, I never have withheld even from the meanest The least thing he could call his right.
PHINEUS Thou hast not? Who gives then to a wandering Greek my bride, Thy perfect daughter?
CASSIOPEA She was in some peril, When thou wert absent, Tyre.
PHINEUS A vain young man, A brilliant sworder wandering for a name, Who calls himself the son of Danae, And who his father was, the midnight knows. This is the lord thou giv’st Andromeda, Scorning the mighty King of ancient Tyre.
CEPHEUS He saved her from the death to which we left her, And she was his, — his wife, if so he chose, Or, conquered by the sword from grim Poseidon, His then to take her as he would from that moment.
PHINEUS Do his deeds or thy neglect annul thy promise?
IOLAUS King Phineus, wilt thou take up and lay down At pleasure? Who leaves a jewel in the mud, Shall he complain because another took it?
Page – 519 P And she was never his; she hated him.
PHINEUS I’ll hear no reasons, but with strong force have her, Though it be to lift her o’er the dearest blood Of all her kin. Tyrians! Andromeda takes refuge with Perseus. Abandon, princess, The stripling bosom where thou tak’st thy refuge. Thou hast mistook thy home, Andromeda.
IOLAUS ‘Tis thou mistakest, Phineus, thinking her A bride who, touched, shall be thy doom. Get hence Unhurt.
PHINEUS Prince Iolaus, the sword that cut Thy contract to Poseidon, cuts not mine, — Which if you void, thou and thy father pay for it.
PERSEUS Phineus of Tyre, it may be thou art wronged, But ’tis not at his hands whom thou impugnest. Her father gave her not to me.
PHINEUS Her mother then? She is the man, I think, in Syria’s household.
PERSEUS Her too I asked not.
PHINEUS Thou wooedst then the maid? It shall not help thee though a thousand times Page – 520 She kissed thee yes. Pretty Andromeda, Wilt thou have for thy lord this vagabond, Wander with him as beggars land and sea? Despite thyself I’ll save thee from that fate Unworthy of thy beauty and thy sweetness, And make thee Queen in Tyre. Minion of Argos, Learn, ere thou grasp at other’s goods, to ask The owner, not the owned.
PERSEUS I did not ask her.
PHINEUS Then by what right, presumptuous, hast thou her? Or wherefore lies she thus within thy arm?
PERSEUS Say, by what right, King Phineus, thou wouldst take her, Herself and all refusing?
PHINEUS By my precontract.
PERSEUS Thou gavest her to Death, that contract’s broken. Or if thou seekest to revoke thy gift, Foregather then with Death and ask him for her. The way to him is easy.
PHINEUS Then by my sword, Not asking her or any, because I am a king, I’ll take her.
PERSEUS If the sword is the sole judge, Then by my own sword I have taken her, Tyrian,
Page – 521 Not asking her or any, who am king
O’er her, her sovereign. This soft gold is mine And mine these banks of silver; this rich country
Is my possession and owes to my strong taking All her sweet revenues in honey. Phineus,
I wonder not that thou dost covet her Whom the whole world might want. Wrest her from me,
Phoenician; to her father she belongs not. (opening his wallet)
King Phineus, art thou ready? Yet look once more On the blue sky and this green earth of Syria. P Young man, thou hast done deeds I’ll not belittle. Yet was it only a sea-beast and a rabble Whom thou hast tamed; I am a prince and warrior. Wilt thou fright me with thy aegis?
PERSEUS Not fright, but end thee; For thou hast spoken words deserving death. Come forth into the open, this is no place For battle. Marshal thy warlike crew against me, And let thy Syrian mob-men help with shouts: Stand in their front to lead them; I alone Will meet their serried charge, Dercetes merely Watching us.
PHINEUS Thou art frantic with past triumphs: Argive, desist. I would not rob thy mother Of her sole joy, howe’er she came by thee. The gods may punish her sweet midnight fault, To whom her dainty trickery imputes it.
PERSEUS Come now, lest here I slay thee. Page – 522 PHINEUS Thou art in love With death: but I am pitiful, young Perseus; Thou shalt not die. My men shall take thee living And pedlars hawk thee for a slave in Tyre, Where thou shalt see sometimes far off Andromeda, A Queen of nations.
PERSEUS Thou compassionate man! But I will give thee, hero, marvellous death And stone for monument, which thou deservest; For thou wert a great King and famous warrior, When still thou wert living. Forth and fight with me! Afterwards if thou canst, come for Andromeda; None shall oppose thy seizure. Behind me, captain, So that the rabble here may not be tempted To any treacherous stroke. Phineus goes out with the Tyrians, Damoetes and the Syrian favourers of Phineus, followed by Perseus and Dercetes. Cireas behind them at a distance. CEPHEUS Sunbeam, I am afraid.
ANDROMEDA I am not, father.
CEPHEUS Alone against so many!
IOLAUS Shall I go, father, And stand by him?
CEPHEUS He might be angry. Hark!
Page – 523 The voice of Phineus. I He cries some confident order.
CEPHEUS The Tyrians shout for onset; he is doomed. There is a moment’s pause, all listening, painfully. IOLAUS The shouts are stilled; there is a sudden hush.
CEPHEUS What can it mean? This silence is appalling. Dercetes returns. What news? Thou treadest like one sleeping, captain.
DERCETES O King, thy royal court is full of monuments.
CEPHEUS What meanest thou? What happened? Where is Perseus?
DERCETES King Phineus called to his men to take alive The Greek; but as they charged, great Perseus cried, “Close eyes, Dercetes, if thou car’st to live,” And I obeyed, yet saw that he had taken A snaky something from the wallet’s mouth He carries on his baldric. Blind I waited And heard the loud approaching charge. Then suddenly The rapid footsteps ceased, the cries fell dumb And a great silence reigned. Astonishment For two brief moments only held me close; But when I lifted my sealed lids, the court Was full of those swift charging warriors stiffened To stone or stiffening, in the very posture Page – 524 Of onset, sword uplifted, shield advanced, Knee crooked, foot carried forward to the pace, An animated silence, life in stone. Only the godlike victor lived, a smile Upon his lips, closing his wallet’s mouth. Then I, appalled, came from that place in silence.
CEPHEUS Soldier, he is a god, or else the gods Walk close to him. I hear his footsteps coming. Perseus returns, followed by Cireas. Hail, Perseus!
PERSEUS King, the Tyrians all are dead, Nor needst thou build them pyres nor dig them graves. If any hereafter ask what perfect sculptor Chiselled these forms in Syria’s royal court, Say then, “Athene, child armipotent Of the Olympian, hewed by Perseus’ hand In one divine and careless stroke these statues To her give glory.”
CEPHEUS O thou dreadful victor! I know not what to say nor how to praise thee.
PERSEUS Say nothing, King; in silence praise the Gods. Let this not trouble you, my friends. Proceed As if no interruption had disturbed you.
CIREAS O Zeus, I thought thou couldst juggle only with feathers and phosphorus, but I see thou canst give wrinkles in magic to Babylon and the Medes. (shaking himself ) Ugh! this was a stony conjuring. I cannot feel sure yet that I am not myself a statue.
Page – 526 PERISSUS (who has gone out and returned) What hast thou done, comrade Perseus? Thou hast immortalised his long nose to all time in stone! This is a woeful thing for posterity; thou hadst no right to leave behind thee for its dismay such a fossil.
CEPHEUS What now is left but to prepare the nuptials Of sweet young sunny-eyed Andromeda With mighty Perseus?
PERSEUS King, let it be soon That I may go to my blue-ringed Seriphos, Where my mother waits and more deeds call to me.
CASSIOPEA Yet if thy heart consents, then three months give us, O Perseus, of thyself and our sweet child, And then abandon.
PERSEUS They are given.
ANDROMEDA Perseus, You give and never ask; let me for you Ask something.
PERSEUS Ask, Andromeda, and have.
ANDROMEDA Then this I ask that thy great deeds may leave Their golden trace on Syria. Let the dire cult For ever cease and victims bleed no more On its dark altar. Instead, Athene’s name Page – 526 Spread over all the land and in men’s hearts. Then shall a calm and mighty Will prevail And broader minds and kindlier manners reign And men grow human, mild and merciful.
PERSEUS King Cepheus, thou hast heard; shall this be done?
CEPHEUS Hero, thou cam’st to change our world for us. Pronounce; I give assent.
PERSEUS Then let the shrine That looked out from earth’s breast into the sunlight, Be cleansed of its red memory of blood, And the dread Form that lived within its precincts Transfigure into a bright compassionate God Whose strength shall aid men tossed upon the seas, Give succour to the shipwrecked mariner. A noble centre of a people’s worship, To Zeus and great Athene build a temple Between your sky-topped hills and Ocean’s vasts: Her might shall guard your lives and save your land. In your human image of her deity A light of reason and calm celestial force And a wise tranquil government of life, Order and beauty and harmonious thoughts And, ruling the waves of impulse, high-throned will Incorporate in marble, the carved and white Ideal of a young uplifted race. For these are her gifts to those who worship her. Adore and what you adore attempt to be.
CEPHEUS Will the fiercer Grandeur that was here permit?
Page – 527 P Fear not Poseidon; the strong god is free. He has withdrawn from his own darkness and is now His new great self at an Olympian height.
CASSIOPEA How can the immortal gods and Nature change?
PERSEUS All alters in a world that is the same. Man most must change who is a soul of Time; His gods too change and live in larger light.
CEPHEUS Then man too may arise to greater heights, His being draw nearer to the gods?
PERSEUS Perhaps. But the blind nether forces still have power And the ascent is slow and long is Time. Yet shall Truth grow and harmony increase: The day shall come when men feel close and one. Meanwhile one forward step is something gained, Since little by little earth must open to heaven Till her dim soul awakes into the Light.
Page – 528 |