ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

Dien. Vile slave, no more.

drag 'em hence

To die in misery. Impall'd alive,

Melanthon,

Pho. Oh! lead me to her; that exalted virtue [jav❜lin, With firmer nerve shall bid me grasp the The winds shall parch them on the craggy cliff. Shall bid my sword with more than lightSelected from the rest, let one depart A messenger to Greece, to tell the fate Her chosen sons, her first advent'rers, met.

[Exit.
[them

Md. Unhappy men! how shall my care pro

tect

Your forfeit lives? Philotas, thou conduct

ning's swiftness

Blaze in the front of war, and glut its rage
With blows repeated in the tyrant's veins.

[Exeunt. SCENE 11.—A Temple, with a Monument in the middle.

To the deep dungeon's gloom. In that recess, Enter EUPHRASIA, ERIXENE, and other Female
Midst the wild tumult of eventful war,
We may ward off the blow. My friends, fare-
well:

That officer will guide your steps.
[All but PHOCION follow PHILOTAS.
Pho. Disguis'd

Thus in a soldier's garb, he knows me not.

Melanthon!

[Aside.

Mel. Ha!-Those accents!-Phocion here?

Attendants.

Euph. This way, my virgins, this way bend
your steps.

Lo! the sad sepulchre, where, hears'd in death,
The pale remains of my dear mother lie.
There, while the victims at your altar bleed,
And with your prayers the vaulted roof re-
sounds,
There let me pay the tribute of a tear,

Pho. Yes, Phocion here! speak, quickly tell A weeping pilgrim o'er Eudocia's ashes.

me, say,

How fares Euphrasia?

Mel. Euphrasia lives, and fills the anxious

moments

wait

With every virtue. Wherefore venture hither?
Why with rash valour penetrate our gates?
Pho. Could I refrain? Oh! could I tamely
[count
The lazy-pacing hours, while here in Syracuse
Th' event of ling'ring war? with patience
The tyrant keeps all that my heart holds dear?
For her dear sake all danger sinks before me;
For her I burst the barriers of the gate,
Where the deep cavern'd rock affords a pas-

sage.

A hundred chosen Greeks pursu'd my steps:
We forc'd an entrance; the devoted guard
Fell victims to our rage; but in that moment
Down from the walls superior numbers came.
The tyrant led them on. We rush'd upon him,
If we could reach his heart, to end the war.
But heaven thought otherwise. Melanthon,
I fear to ask it, lives Evander still? [say,
Mel. Alas! he lives imprison'd in the rock.
Thou must withdraw thee hence; regain once

more

Timoleon's camp; alarm his slumb'ring rage;
Assail the walls; thou with thy phalanx seek
The subterraneous path; that way at night
The Greeks may enter, and let in destruction
On the astonish'd foe.

Pho. Would'st thou have me

Basely retreat while my Euphrasia trembles
Here on the ridge of peril?

Mel. Yet hear the voice

Of sober age. Should Dionysius' spies
Detect thee here, ruin involves us all :
Thy voice may rouse Timoleon to th' assault,
And bid him storm the works.

Pho. By heaven, I will;

My breath shall wake his rage; this very
night,

When sleep sits heavy on the slumb'ring city,
Then Greece unsheaths her sword, and great

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

In vain the tyrant would appease with sacrifice
Some dread calamity bangs o'er your heads.
Ill omens hover o'er us: at the altar
Th' impending wrath of ill-requited heaven.
The victim dropp'd, ere the diviner seer
Had gor'd his knife. The brazen statues
tremble,

And, from the marble, drops of blood distil.
Erix. Now, ye just gods, if vengeance you
Now find the guilty head.
[prepare,

Re-enter EUPHRASIA, from the Tomb. Euph. Virgins, I thank you-Oh! more lightly now

My heart expands; the pious act is done,
And I have paid my tribute to a parent.
Ah! wherefore does the tyrant bend his way?
Phil. He flies the altar; leaves th' unfinish'd

[blocks in formation]

His wild, disorder'd step-Do you retire.
[To Attendants.

Retire, Philotas; let me here remain,
And give the moments of suspended fate
To pious worship and to filial love.

Phil. Alas! I fear to yield:-awhile I'll
leave thee,

And at the temple's entrance wait thy coming. [Exit.

Euph. Now then, Euphrasia, now thou may'st indulge

The purest ecstacy of soul. Come forth, Thou man of woe, thou man of every virtue.

Enter EVANDER from the Monument.

Evan. And does the grave thus cast ine up again

With a fond father's love to view thee? thus
To mingle rapture in a daughter's arms?
Euph. How fares my father now?
Evan. Thy aid, Euphrasia,

[stream Has given new life. Thou from this vital Deriv'st thy being; with unheard-of duty Thou hast repaid it to thy native source.

Euph. Sprung from Evander, if a little portion

Of all his goodness dwell within my heart,
Thou wilt not wonder. Oh! my father,
How didst thou bear thy long, long sufferings?
Endure their barb'rous rage?
[how

Evan. My foes but did

To this old frame, what nature's hand must do.
I was but going hence by mere decay
To that futurity which Plato taught,
But thou recall'st me; thou!

Euph. Timoleon too

Invites thee back to life.

Evan. And does he still

Urge on the siege?

Euph. His active genius comes To scourge a guilty race.

The Punic fleet Half lost, is swallow'd by the roaring sea. The shatter'd refuse seek the Libyan shore, To bear the news of their defeat to Carthage. Evan. These are thy wonders, heaven! abroad, thy spirit [vanish'd. Moves o'er the deep, and mighty fleets are Euph. Ha!-Hark-what noise is that? It comes this way. [ment. Some busy footstep beats the hollow'd paveOh! Sir, retire-Ye powers!-Philotas!-ha! Enter PHILOTAS.

Phil. For thee, Euphrasia, Dionysius calls. Some new suspicion goads him. At yon gate I stopp'd Calippus, as with eager haste He bent this way to seek thee. Oh! my sovereign,

My king, my injur'd master, will you pardon The wrongs I've done thee?

[Kneels to Evander. Evan. Virtae such as thine, From the fierce trial of tyrannic power Shines forth with added lustre.

[blocks in formation]

Pass but another day, and Dionysius Falls from a throne usurp'd.

Evan. But ere he pays

The forfeit of his crimes, what streams of blood Shall flow in torrents round! Methinks, I might

Prevent this waste of nature-I'll go forth, And to my people show their rightful king. Euph. Banish that thought; forbear; the rash attempt

Were fatal to our hopes; oppress'd, dismay'd, The people look aghast, and, wan with fear, None will espouse your cause.

Evan. Yes, all will dare

To act like men ;-their king, I gave myself
To a whole people. I made no reserve;
My life was theirs; each drop about my heart
Pledg'd to the public cause; devoted to it;
That was my compact; is the subject's less?
If they are all debas'd, and willing slaves,

The young but breathing to grow gray in bondage,

And the old sinking to ignoble graves,
Of such a race no matter who is king.
And yet I will not think it; no! my people
Are brave and gen'rous; I will trust their

valour.

Euph. Yet stay; yet be advis'd.
Phil. As yet, my liege,

No plan is fix'd, and no concerted measure.
Trust to my truth and honour. Witness, gods,
Here in the temple of Olympian Jove
Philotas swears-

Evan. Forbear: the man like thee, Who feels the best emotions of the heart, Truth, reason, justice, honour's fine excitements, [tion. Acts by those laws, and wants no other sancEuph. Again, th' alarm approaches; sure destruction To thee, to all, will follow:-hark! a sound Comes hollow murm'ring through the vaulted aisle.

It gains upon the ear. Withdraw, my father; All's lost if thou art seen.

Phil. And, lo! Calippus

Darts with the lightning's speed across the

aisle.

Evan. Thou at the senate-house convene my friends.

Melanthon, Dion, and their brave associates,
Will show that liberty has leaders still.
Anon I'll meet 'em there: [Exit PHILOTAS.] my
child farewell:

Thou shalt direct me now. [Exit into the Tomb.
Euph. [Coming forward.] How my distract-
ed heart throbs wild with fear!
What brings Calippus ? wherefore? Save me,
heav'n!

Enter CALIPpus.

Cal. This sullen musing in these drear abodes

[tings, Alarms suspicion: the king knows thy plotThy rooted hatred to the state and him. His sov'reign will commands thee to repair This moment to his presence.

Euph. Ha! what means

The tyrant?-I obey. [Exit CALIppus] And, oh! ye powers,

Ye ministers of heaven! defend my father; Support his drooping age; and when anon Avenging justice shakes her crimson steel, Oh! be the grave at least a place of rest; That from his covert, in the hour of peace, Forth he may come to bless a willing people, And be your own just image here on earth.

ACT IV.

[Exit.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

To plead Timoleon's cause; not mine the office
To justify the strong, the righteous, motives
To urge him to the war: the only scope
My deputation aims at, is to fix

An interval of peace, a pause of horror,
That they, whose bodies on the naked shore
Lie welt ring in their blood, from either host
May meet the last sad rites to nature due,
And decent lie in honourable graves.
Dion. Go tell your leader his pretexts are
[Greece,
Let him, with those that live, embark for
And leave our peaceful plains; the mangled
limbs

vain.

Of those he murder'd, from my tender care
Shall meet due obsequies.

Her. The hero, Sir,

Wages no war with those who bravely die.
Tis for the dead I supplicate; for them
We sue for peace; and to the living too
Timoleon would extend it, but the groans
Of a whole people have unsheath'd his sword.
A single day will pay the funeral rites.
To-morrow's sun may see both armies meet
Without hostility, and all in honour;
You to inter the troops, who bravely fell;
We, on our part, to give an humble sod
To those who gain'd a footing on the isle,
And by their death have conquer'd.

Dion. Be it so;

I grant thy suit: soon as to-morrow's dawn
Illume the world, the rage of wasting war
In vain shall thirst for blood: and now fare-
well.

Some careful officer conduct him forth.
[Exit HERALD.
By heaven the Greek hath offer'd to my sword
An easy prey; a sacrifice to glut [perse.
My great revenge. Away, my friends, dis-
Philotas, waits Euphrasia as we order'd?
Phil. She's here at hand.

Dion. Admit her to our presence.
Rage and despair, a thousand warring pas-
sions,
[heart;
All rise by turns and piecemeal rend my
Yet ev'ry means, all measures must be tried,
To sweep the Grecian spoiler from the land,
And fix the crown unshaken on my brow.

Enter EUPHRASIA.

Dion. Approach, fair mourner, and dispel
thy fears.

Thy grief, thy tender duty to thy father,
Has touch'd me nearly. In his lone retreat,
Respect, attendance, ev'ry lenient care
To sooth affliction, and extend his life,
Evander has commanded.

Euph. Vile dissembler!

Detested homicide! [Aside.] And has thy heart
Felt for the wretched?

Dion. Urgencies of state

Abridg'd his liberty; but to his person
All honour hath been paid.

Euph. The righteous gods

Have mark'd thy ways, and will in time repay
Just retribution.

Dion. If to see thy father,

If here to meet him in a fond embrace,
Will calm thy breast, and dry those beauteous
tears,
[sence.
A moment more shall bring him to your pre-
Euph. Ha! lead him hither! Sir, to move

him now,

Aged, infirm, worn out, with toil and years-
No, let me seek him rather-If soft pity
Has touch'd your heart, oh! send me, send
me, to him.

Dion. Control this wild alarm; with pru-
dent care

Philotas shall conduct him; here I grant
The tender interview.

Euph. Disastrous fate!

Ruins impends!-This will discover all ;
I'll perish first; provoke his utmost rage.

[Aside.
Though much I languish to behold my father,
Yet now it were not fit-the sun goes down;
Night falls apace; soon as returning day-
Dion. This night, this very hour, you both

must meet.

Together you may serve the state and me.
Thou seest the havoc of wide-wasting war;
And more, full well you know, are still to
Thou may'st prevent their fate. [bleed.

Euph. Oh! give the means,
And I will bless thee for it.

Dion. From a Greek

Torments have wrung the truth. Thy hus-
band, Phocion-

Euph. Oh! say, speak of my Phocion.
Dion. He; 'tis he

Hath kindled up this war; with treach'rous

arts

[traitor Inflam'd the states of Greece, and now the Comes with a foreign aid to wrest my crown. Euph. And does my Phocion share Timoleon's glory?

Dion. With him invests our walls, and bids
Erect her standard here.
[rebellion

Euph. Oh! bless him, gods!
Where'er my hero treads the paths of war,
List on his side; against the hostile jav'lin
Uprear his mighty buckler; to his sword
Lend the fierce whirlwind's rage, that he may
[crown'd,

come

With wreaths of triumph, and with conquests
And a whole nation's voice
Applaud my hero with a love like mine!
Dion. Ungrateful fair! Has not our sov❜reign
will

On thy descendants fix'd Sicilia's crown?
Have I not vow'd protection to your boy?
Euph. From thee the crown! From thee!
Euphrasia's children

Shall on a nobler basis found their rights, Euph. What sudden cause requires Euphra- On their own virtue, and a choice.

sia's presence?

Dion. Misguided woman

people's

Euph. Ask of thee protection! The father's valour shall protect his boy. Dion. Rush not on sure destruction; ere too late [these: Accept our proffer'd grace. The terms are Instant send forth a message to your husband; Bid him draw off his Greeks, unmoor his fleet, And measure back his way. Full well he knows

You and your father are my hostages;
And for his treason both may answer.

Euph. Think'st thou then

[him

So meanly of my Phocion?-Dost thou deem
Poorly wound up to a mere fit of valour,
To melt away in a weak woman's tear?
Oh! thou dost little know him; know'st but
little

Of his exalted soul. With gen'rous ardour
Still will he urge the great, the glorious plan,
And gain the ever honour'd, bright reward
Which fame entwines around the patriot's
brow,

And bids for ever flourish on his tomb,
For nations freed, and tyrants laid in dust.
Dion. By heaven,this night Evander breathes
his last.

Euph. Better for him to sink at once to rest, Than linger thus beneath the gripe of famine, In a vile dungeon, scoop'd with barb'rous skill

Deep in the flinty rock; a monument
Of that fell malice and that black suspicion
That mark'd your father's reign.

Dion. Obdurate woman! obstinate in ill! Here ends all parley. Now your father's doom Is fix'd, irrevocably fix'd.

Euph. Thy doom, perhaps,

May first be fix'd: the doom that ever waits The fell oppressor, from a throne usurp'd Hurl'd headlong down. Think of thy father's At Corinth, Dionysius!

Dion. Ha! this night

[fate

[Erit. [tion.

Evander dies; and thou, detested fair!
Thou shalt behold him, while inventive cruelty
Pursues his wearied life through every nerve.
I scorn all dull delay. This very night
Shall sate my great revenge.
Euph. This night perhaps
Shall whelm thee down, no more to blast crea-
My father, who inhabit'st with the dead,
Now let me seek thee in the lonely tomb,
And tremble there with anxious hope and
fear.

[Exit.

[blocks in formation]

Who's there?-Evander ?-Answer-tell me→ speak

Re-enter PHOCION, from the Tomb.
Pho. What voice is that ?--Melanthon!
Euph. Ha! Those sounds-

Speak of Evander; tell me that he lives,
Or lost Euphrasia dies.

Pho. Heart-swelling transport!
Art thou Euphrasia? 'tis thy Phocion, love;
Thy husband comes.

Euph. Support me; reach thy hand.

Pho. Once more I clasp thee in this fond embrace.

Euph. What miracle has brought thee to me?

[blocks in formation]

Oh! let me thus, thus, strain you to my heart. Euph. Why, my father,

Why thus adventure forth? The strong alarm O'erwhelm'd my spirits.

Evan. I went forth, my child,

When all was dark, and awful silence round,
To throw me prostrate at the altar's foot,
And crave the care of heaven for thee and thine.
Melanthon there-

Enter PHILOTAS.

Phil. Inevitable ruin hovers o'er you: The tyrant's fury mounts into a blaze; Unsated yet with blood, he calls aloud For thee, Evander; thee his rage hath order'd This moment to his presence.

Evan. Lead me to him:

His presence hath no terror for Evander.
Euph. Horror! it must not be.
Phil. No; never, never:

I'll perish rather. His policy has granted
A day's suspense from arms; yet even now
His troops prepare, in the dead midnight hour,
With base surprise, to storm Timoleon's camp.
Evun. And doth he grant a false insidious

truce,

To turn the hour of peace to blood and horror?

Eash. I know the monster well: when spe- | For all the wondrous goodness lavish'd on us.

cious seeming

Becalms his looks, the rankling heart within Teems with destruction;

Mountains burl'd up in air, and moulten rocks, And all the land with desolation cover'd.

Mel. Now, Phocion, now on thee our hope depends.

Fly to Timoleon; I can grant a passport: Rouse him to vengeance; on the tyrant turn His own insidious arts, or all is lost.

Pho. Evander, thou; and thou, my best Euphrasia,

Both shall attend my flight.
Mel. It were in vain:

Th' attempt would hazard all.
Euph. Together here

We will remain, safe in the cave of death;
And wait our freedom from thy conqu'ring

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

Mel. And when th' assault begins, my

faithful cohorts

Shall form their ranks around this sacred dome. Pho. And my poor captive friends, my brave companions

Taken in battle, wilt thou guard their lives? Phil. Trust to my care: no danger shall assail them.

Pho. By heaven, the glorious expectation swells

This panting bosom! Yes, Euphrasia, yes; Awhile I leave you to the care of heaven. Fell Dionysius, tremble! ere the dawn Timoleon thunders at your gates; the rage, The pent-up rage, of twenty thousand Greeks, Shall burst at once; and the tumultuous roar Alarm th' astonish'd world.

Eran. Yet, ere thou go'st, young man, Attend my words: though guilt may oft provoke,

As now it does, just vengeance on its head,
In mercy punish it. The rage of slaughter
Can add no trophy to the victor's triumph;
Conquest is proud, inexorable, fierce;
It is humanity ennobles all.

Pho. Farewell; the midnight hour shall give you freedom.

[Exit with MELANTHON and PHILOTAS. Euph. Ye guardian deities, watch all his

[blocks in formation]

ACT V...

SCENE I.

[Exeunt.

[blocks in formation]

My orders issued?

Cal. All.

Dion. The troops retir'd

To gain recruited vigour from repose?
Cal. The city round lies hush'd in sleep.
Dion. Anon,

Let each brave officer, of chosen valour,

Meet at the citadel. An hour at furthest
Before the dawn, 'tis fixed to storm their camp;
Fly to thy post, and bid Euphrasia enter.
Haste, Calippus,
[Exit CAL

Evander dies this night: Euphrasia too
Shall be dispos'd of. Curse on Phocion's fraud,
That from my power withdrew their infant
boy.

In him the seed of future kings were crush'd,
And the whole hated line at once extinguish'd.

Enter EUPHRASIA.

Dion. Once more approach and hear me; 'tis not now

A time to waste in the vain war of words.
A crisis big with horror is at hand.
I meant to spare the stream of blood, that soon
Shall deluge yonder plains. My fair proposals
Thy haughty spirit has with scorn rejected.
And now, by heaven! here in thy very sight,
Evander breathes his last.

Euph. If yet there's wanting

A crime to fill the measure of thy guilt,
Add that black murder to the dreadful list;
With that complete the horrors of thy reign.

Dion. Woman, beware: Philotas is at hand,
And to our presence leads Evander. All
Thy dark complottings, and thy treach'rous
Have prov'd abortive.

[arts,

Euph. Ha!-What new event! And is Philotas false?-Has he betray'd him? [Aside,

Dion. What, ho! Philotas.

Enter PHILOTAS.

[blocks in formation]
« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »