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. 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 [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 That officer will guide your steps. 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 Lo! the sad sepulchre, where, hears'd in death, 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? sage. A hundred chosen Greeks pursu'd my steps: more Timoleon's camp; alarm his slumb'ring rage; Pho. Would'st thou have me Basely retreat while my Euphrasia trembles Mel. Yet hear the voice Of sober age. Should Dionysius' spies Pho. By heaven, I will; My breath shall wake his rage; this very When sleep sits heavy on the slumb'ring city, In vain the tyrant would appease with sacrifice And, from the marble, drops of blood distil. Re-enter EUPHRASIA, from the Tomb. Euph. Virgins, I thank you-Oh! more lightly now My heart expands; the pious act is done, His wild, disorder'd step-Do you retire. Retire, Philotas; let me here remain, Phil. Alas! I fear to yield:-awhile I'll 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 [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, Evan. My foes but did To this old frame, what nature's hand must do. 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. 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 The young but breathing to grow gray in bondage, And the old sinking to ignoble graves, valour. Euph. Yet stay; yet be advis'd. No plan is fix'd, and no concerted measure. 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, Thou shalt direct me now. [Exit into the Tomb. 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. To plead Timoleon's cause; not mine the office An interval of peace, a pause of horror, vain. Of those he murder'd, from my tender care Her. The hero, Sir, Wages no war with those who bravely die. Dion. Be it so; I grant thy suit: soon as to-morrow's dawn Some careful officer conduct him forth. Dion. Admit her to our presence. Enter EUPHRASIA. Dion. Approach, fair mourner, and dispel Thy grief, thy tender duty to thy father, Euph. Vile dissembler! Detested homicide! [Aside.] And has thy heart Dion. Urgencies of state Abridg'd his liberty; but to his person Euph. The righteous gods Have mark'd thy ways, and will in time repay Dion. If to see thy father, If here to meet him in a fond embrace, him now, Aged, infirm, worn out, with toil and years- Dion. Control this wild alarm; with pru- Philotas shall conduct him; here I grant Euph. Disastrous fate! Ruins impends!-This will discover all ; [Aside. must meet. Together you may serve the state and me. Euph. Oh! give the means, Dion. From a Greek Torments have wrung the truth. Thy hus- Euph. Oh! say, speak of my Phocion. 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 Euph. Oh! bless him, gods! come With wreaths of triumph, and with conquests On thy descendants fix'd Sicilia's crown? 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; Euph. Think'st thou then [him So meanly of my Phocion?-Dost thou deem Of his exalted soul. With gen'rous ardour And bids for ever flourish on his tomb, 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 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! [Exit. Who's there?-Evander ?-Answer-tell me→ speak Re-enter PHOCION, from the Tomb. Speak of Evander; tell me that he lives, Pho. Heart-swelling transport! Euph. Support me; reach thy hand. Pho. Once more I clasp thee in this fond embrace. Euph. What miracle has brought thee to me? 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, 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. I'll perish rather. His policy has granted 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. Th' attempt would hazard all. We will remain, safe in the cave of death; 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, Pho. Farewell; the midnight hour shall give you freedom. [Exit with MELANTHON and PHILOTAS. Euph. Ye guardian deities, watch all his ACT V... SCENE I. [Exeunt. My orders issued? Cal. All. Dion. The troops retir'd To gain recruited vigour from repose? Let each brave officer, of chosen valour, Meet at the citadel. An hour at furthest Evander dies this night: Euphrasia too In him the seed of future kings were crush'd, Enter EUPHRASIA. Dion. Once more approach and hear me; 'tis not now A time to waste in the vain war of words. Euph. If yet there's wanting A crime to fill the measure of thy guilt, Dion. Woman, beware: Philotas is at hand, [arts, Euph. Ha!-What new event! And is Philotas false?-Has he betray'd him? [Aside, Dion. What, ho! Philotas. Enter PHILOTAS. |