University of Virginia Library

ACT IV.

The Scene the Queens Bed-Chamber.
The Queen Seated, Tamar and Dina stand on each hand of her.
Tam.
'Twas Mariana's sad and fatal Chance,
To meet the Body as they bore it thence:
As soon as she beheld her Brother dead,
From her fair Face the bright Vermilion fled;
And in an instant in her Charming Eyes,
We saw a Cloud blacker than Night arise:
Her Limbs seem'd by their trembling to declare,
Her Sorrow was too great a weight to bear.
Then on his bloody Corps her Self she threw,
Whilst from her Breast extorted Curses flew.

Din.
She his pale Cheeks a thousand times did kiss,
Till her red Lips infected were with his:
And to the Wound which through his Breast had made
A passage to his Heart, her Heart she laid;
In hope, which was the end she did pursue,
By the like Sympathy, 'twould kill her too.
Then with a look in which Death Printed was,
Through her cold Lips these moving words did pass:
Herod, Thy Steel my Friendships Truth has Crown'd,
Since to kill both, thou didst but give one Wound:
Then in a Groan she gave her Sorrows vent,
A Groan so vast, her Breath at once it spent;
Which to her Soul to Heaven a passage gave,
The only brighter dwelling it could have.

Din.
To such a Death our stock of Tears was due,
And Sorrow after so contagious grew;
As those who bore them to one Grave to rest,
Seem'd by their Looks of more than Life divest.

Queen.
She in that Fate which you deplore is blest,
Her storms of Life are past, and she at Rest;
And to her Death this envy'd Praise is due,
She taught such Friendship as the World ne'er knew.
Yet for my Loss in her these Tears I owe,
And truer Tears no Friend did e'er bestow.
[The Queen weeps.
Leave me; for my Disorders such are grown,
As I am only fit to be alone.

[Tamar and Dina go out.
[The Queen having mus'd a while, Antip. discovers himself, the Queen starts, steps back, and stands amaz'd.
Queen.
Ha! Antipater.

Ant.
Yes, Madam, it is he.

Queen.
At such a guilty hour to visit me!
Prince, 'tis your first offence, but 'tis too vast—

Ant.
I come to beg that it may be my last.
Since without seeing you I cannot live,
And since that leave your Virtue will not give;
Thus prostrate, Madam, at your Feet I lye,
[Kneeling.
And humbly beg, you'll give me leave to dye.

Queen.
What brought you hither, and who hid you there?

Ant.
The highest Love, and most undone Despair.

Queen.
Ah Prince! What is it that you now have done?

Ant.
That which I had, nor Power, nor Will to shun:
But as I paid what to my Flame is due;
So, Madam, I will be as just to you.
Justice would lose her Name could she deny,
That who offends you, merits not to dye.
And since my Love into this Crime has run,
This hand shall punish what my Love has done.

[He rises, draws his Sword, turns the Hilt to the ground, and when he is going to cast himself upon the Point, she snatches up the Sword by the Hilt.
Queen.
Oh Heavens! What was it that you meant to do?

Ant.
To end my Torments, and be just to you.

Queen.
Though I your guilty visit much deplore,
To kill your Self, I should lament much more.

Ant.
You cannot to my Death such Sorrows give
As I shall feel, if doom'd by you to live.

Queen.
How ill those words do with your Love agree,
Is Life a Curse, while you can live with me?
Oh Antipater, this is too severe,
I have my share in all those griefs you bear.
And nothing can, alas! my Sorrows heal,
Unless kind Heaven would Judah's Laws repeal.
Which were a Sin to wish, or to implore.

Ant.
Then, Madam, let's resolve to live no more:
If th'other Life be what is taught us here,
Such Loves as ours must needs be happy there.

Queen.
Those who the Blessings of that Life would win,
Must not leave this by any Act of Sin.
Did not the dread of that our Journey stay,
I would not hinder you, but lead the way.

[Tamar comes in hastily.
Tam.
Madam, forgive the rudeness of my fear.
—Oh Heavens!—the Prince—alas! how came he here?
Herod with Abner through the Gallery comes,
And all his Guards have seiz'd the Passage-Rooms:
Sure he has learnt Antipater's here.

[Ant. draws his Sword.
Ant.
Now, Madam, Fate does on my side appear,
For Herod, or else you, and I, must fall,
Our Safeties for my ready Arm do call.
And to that Sword no Sin ascrib'd can be,
Who takes his Life, that first took you from me.
Hee'll think you guilty if he 'scape the blow.

Queen.
I'd rather be thought guilty than be so.

Ant.
Presumptions on his side will seem too strong.

Queen.
'Tis Juster yet to bear than do the wrong.

Tam.
Madam, You should resolve, the King's at hand.

Queen.
Right, Right; Prince 'tis my positive Command,
That you on your Revenge now think no more,
But hide your Self where you were hid before.

Ant.
Hide? and when you into great Danger go.

Queen.
I run more Danger if you do not so.

Ant.
Madam, he comes all Night with you to stay.

Queen.
My Usage soon shall hasten him away.

Ant.
Can the worst Usage which you have design'd,
Drive him from all the Joys of Womankind?

Queen.
Will you then ruin me by your delay?

Ant.
Ah, Since you will Command, I must obey.

[Antip. conceals himself behind the Queen's Bed.
Queen.
Tamar retire, but keep within my Call,
[Tamar goes out.
What Sins of mine can make such Curses fall?

[Herod comes in in his Night-Gown, Abner with a Light before him.
Her.
Since I have sent Sohemus to his Tomb,
Madam, I now am come to sill his Room.
Whoe'er offends me, I'll my Victim make.

Queen.
You might have spar'd him for his Sister's Sake.
Her you Ador'd, your Pity ought to move.

Her.
Revenge a nobler Passion is than Love.
You seem unmov'd that I his Blood have spilt.

Queen.
No, I am mov'd; but 'tis at your new guilt.

Her.
Madam, What you call guilt, I Justice call,
His Crime deserv'd he by my hand should fall.

Queen.
What Provocation could he cast on you,
To make you both Condemn and kill him too?

Her.
Sure you would have me think you do not know.

Queen.
I'm not concern'd whether you do or no.

Her.
You ought to know the Crimes you made him act,
Your fatal Beauties did his Death contract:
Those Secrets I committed to his Trust,
His Love reveal'd to you, or else his Lust.
Abner, retire here, I will stay this Night.

[Abner aside.
Abn.
Just Heaven assist me as my Cause is right.

Her.
Or else your Lover's Death you so resent,
As you for it on me your Spleen would vent.

[Abner having lock'd the door, draws his Sword, and advances towards Herod.
Abn.
Tyrant, prepare thy self, for thou shalt dye.
[Herod starts and turns about towards him.
My Father's Blood for my Revenge doth cry.

Her.
Treason—My Guards—Must I his Victim fall?

Abn.
Thy Guards, by my Command, are out of call.
No Humane Power shall hinder me to pay
The Righteous Debt I owe to Barzillai.

Her.
He was a Traytor, and was false to me.

Abn.
He's more a Traytor that is true to thee.
To Thee, who hast done Crimes t'usurp a Throne,
Which till thou taughtst them, were to Man unknown.
To Thee, who all thy bloody ends to gain,
Hast broke all Bonds both Sacred and Prophane:
That Head thou mad'st thy Murthring Axe invade,
Old Age to all but thee had Reverend made.
His Restless Ghost bids me revenge the Crime,
And right at once the injur'd World and him.

Her.
Never did Man into like madness run,
To kill the Father, and then trust the Son!
This to my Cost should let all Monarchs see,
That they by halves must never Bloody be.

Abn.
Since the short time I gave thee to repent
Of thy old Sins, in teaching new is spent;
To cut thee off no longer I'll deferr,
The Ghost of Barzillai thus greets you, Sir.

[Abner offering to make a thrust at Herod, the Queen interposes.
Queen.
I'll now forget, since he assaults his Life,
All wrongs, and but remember I'm his Wife.
You through my Heart your way to his must force.

Abn.
Ah let not Innocence stop Justice Course.
He kill'd my Father, he Usurp'd your Throne;
Your Wrongs I come to punish, and my Own.
He ows to both of us his hated Life.

Queen.
But I owe him the duty of a Wife.
You of a Subject; Abner, then repent,
Kings faults we should not punish, but lament.
In this brave Act I will your Pattern be.

Her.
Oh Heavens! then she's in earnest kind to me.
O happy danger which to light has brought
A Truth, which I would by my Death have bought:
Desist, young Man, and I'll thy Pardon give;
I owe thee now, what makes me wish to live.

Abn.
Hadst thou no Crime but this, yet thou from me
Dost merit Death, thinking so mean I'd be,
Accept a Pardon from a Tyrant's breath,
Now when I'm to revenge a Father's Death.
Heaven would not me, if I did thee, forgive.

Queen.
Hold—I command you, Abner, let him live.
You to your Queen should your Obedience yield.

Abn.
Ah! You are not my Queen till he is kill'd:
You but a Subject are while he does Reign;
While you are so, I your Commands disdain.
But when my Sword our Debts to him has paid,
Whatever you command shall be obey'd.

Queen.
Can you then think 'cause he usurp'd my due,
That I have therefore lost my Right ore you.
This misbelief involves you in his Crime,
You'll act your Self, what you'd revenge on him.

Her.
If in my hand he but a Sword did see,
Your Mediations soon should needless be.
That Death he means for me on him I'd fling,
No Subject can in Fight resist his King.

Abn.
Tyrant, not King; know, guilt is such a Charm,
As would a stronger hand than thine disarm.

Her.
'Twere brave wouldst thou but try what thou dost say.

Abn.
I would, if'twould not my Revenge delay.

Queen.
Since my Command so useless now appears,
I'll try if I can move you by my Tears.

[The Queen weeps.
Abn.
Ah would the Ghosts of all your Murther'd Line,
Stalk'd in your Sight as Barzillai's in mine.
The Ghastly Visions could not be withstood,
You weep but Tears of Water, they of Blood.

Her.
To lose my Life more fit for me appears,
Than to preserve it, Madam, by your Tears.
[Putting away the Queen.
Such precious Showrs a Traytor should not have,
Reserve them, Madam, to adorn my Grave.
I would with Pleasure have my Life resign'd,
But to have thought you, what I find you, kind.
Now nothing grieves me in my Fate but this,
That it is sent by hands so vile as his.

Abn.
Since by my hand to dy does grieve thee so,
The knowing it shall hasten on the blow.

[Herod the second time holds the Queen from him with one hand, and puts by Abner's thrust with the other, yet still she interposes her Self.
[Antip. while this is doing looks from behind the Bed, as Tamar looks in at the door.
Tam.
The Queens high Vertue does my Soul amaze,
Since She's in Danger, I the Court will raise.

[She runs out.
Ant.
How Love and Duty does my Breast divide.

Abn.
Heaven to thy Heart at last my hand will guide.
[Abner making a furious thrust at Herod, the Queen puts it by, and he wounds her in the Arm, at which he stops and says.
Oh Madam, Pardon th'unintended Guilt.

Queen.
I will, if nothing but my Blood be spilt.

Her.
How dar'st thou think that Heaven thy hand would steer,
Since Sacrilegiously it wounded her.

Abn.
Against my will Heaven did this Crime decree,
To punish her so long defending Thee.
I'll kill him yet though th'Altar he embrac'd.

Queen.
And I'll defend him while my Life does last.

[Antip. runs from behind the Bed, draws his Sword, and advancing says:
Ant.
To save her! her Orders disobey,
[Abner renews his Assault, the Queen and Herod put by his thrust.
Hold, Abner, Hold, and turn thy Sword this way:
Since the Queens Sacred Blood by thee is spilt,
Not to Revenge it were as black a Guilt.

Abn.
Ha! Antipater; how am I amaz'd,
Hell has the dead to help the Tyrant rais'd.

Ant.
No, 'tis by Heaven that I preserv'd have been,
That in thy Blood, I might revenge the Queen.
Yet I must grieve I can but strike thee dead,
For all the Tears, and Blood, thou mad'st her shed.

[Herod gazes at Antip. and looks like a man astonish'd.
Abn.
Sure Antipater once his Head had lost,
Herod has conjur'd, and has rais'd his Ghost.

Ant.
That I'm no Ghost thy Death shall soon make known.

Abn.
Art thou no Ghost? Why then I'll make thee one.
That which the Tyrant to my House has done,
Calls me to kill the Father and the Son.

[They fight, Abner falls, mortally wounded.
Ant.
That Death which thou deserv'dst thou now hast got.

Abn.
I merit it, because I kill'd him not.
Th'Attempt was noble, though it did not thrive,
'Tis well—I do not—the disgrace—outlive.

[He dies.
Antipater
to the Queen.
Accept this little Service I have done,
And let me now proceed as I begun,
A thousand Storms the Tyrants brows display,
Which his Death only, Madam, can allay.

Queen.
Prince, you were order'd, where you were, to stay.

Ant.
Your danger, Madam, made me disobey.

Queen.
How many ills on your Discovery wait?

Ant.
By acting his let us prevent our Fate.
'Tis Heaven has sent us this propitious time.

Queen.
I will not owe Our Safeties to a Crime.
His Kindness I command you to implore,
If this you Disobey, ne'er see me more.

Ant.
Madam, I'm All Obedience, you shall see,
When to obey is but to ruin me.

[Antipater Bows to Herod, and lays his Sword at his Feet.
Her.
Is this a Dream which does my Eyes abuse,
If they see right, would I had lost their use:
How is my Reason by my Passions tost,
Tell me; Art thou my Son—or else—his Ghost?

[Enter hastily Solome, Pheroras, Phaltiel, Tamar, Asdrubal, and some of the Guards, All the men with their Swords drawn, who seeing Abner dead, and Antipater alive, stand on a sudden as People astonished.
Ant.
I am that Son you thought was in his Grave,
Rescu'd by Heaven that I your Life might save.

Her.
Who from my Doom did save thy guilty Head?
And who conceal'd thee now behind her Bed?
All thy Dissembling's vain;—It was—my Wife.

Ant.
'Twas your good Genius to preserve your Life.

Her.
To find thee here, and to be sav'd by thee,
Makes Life a worser Doom than Death could be.

[Herod muses awhile.
[The Queen speaks to Tamar privately.
Queen.
Run, run, seek Samias out and bid him fly,
Till we have learnt the Prince's Destiny.

Tam.
Permit me first, Madam, to dress your Wound.

Queen.
'Tis but a scratch, and 'tis already bound.

[Tamar goes out.
Herod.
Never was Man with such misfortune Crost,
[Lifting up his hands.
I am preserv'd to see my Honour Lost.
Fool that I was to think that Son, that Wife,
For any other end, would save my Life.

Ant.
Whoe'er a doubt of the Queens Vertue shows,
Sins worse in that, than he can think she does.
Is this all the Return to her you give,
Who made you by her Blood and Kindness live?
Can you suspect who did so much for you,
To her own Fame, and yours, can prove untrue?

Queen.
Ah Prince, why do you thus mispend your Breath,
'Tis a much milder Fate to suffer Death:
Than live to see him our bright Vertues blot,
Since Merit cannot change him, words will not.
In his ungrateful guilt still let him lye,
But let us in our Innocency dye.

Pher.
How can you think, Sir, that your Son and Wife,
Had they your Honour wrong'd, would save your Life?
And that their Innocence might more be shown,
They for your Safety did expose their own.

Solo.
Brother, 'twere sit you these great Doubts would clear,
What brought him hither, who conceal'd him here?
But 'tis the Queen must Answer them, not you.

Queen.
She does despise your Arts and Malice too.

Solo.
Madam, I wish your Actions may not show,
That you as much despise your Honour too.

Ant.
Kill her for what she said, or else kill me,
For tamely hearing such a Blasphemy.

Her.
What does my Wife but touch, I find wounds you.

Ant.
She had been mine, had you not took my due;
Which I'd Revenge, but that the Queen does tye
My Arm; and therefore I but seek to dye.

[Herod snatches up the Sword which Antipater had laid at his Feet.
Her.
O Heavens, what is it that I live to hear?
Th'affront I merit, if th'affront I bear:
Thy Death is from my hand too justly due,
Both for thy old Offences and thy new.

[He runs at Antipater, who opens his Arms to receive the thrust, Pheroras seizes on Herod's hand, and at the same time the Queen offers to interpose.
Pher.
O hold; though I condemn what he has done,
Yet let not, Sir, your Passion kill your Son.
The Justice of your Laws that Right will do,
Which all will blame, if 'tis impos'd by you.

Her.
Justice and Laws—They're too Pedantick things,
To act the vengeance of offended Kings.
Since thou my hand in paying mine has staid,
Guards, let him be to Massada convey'd.
On your Lives instantly convey him hence,
Justice, and Laws, in time, may bring him thence.

[Pheroras delivers himself up to the Guards.
Pher.
To Prison, nay to Death, I'll rather go,
Than see those Crimes, which here you mean to do.

Her.
Away with him.

[Pher. and some of the Guards go out.
[Ant. kneels, opening his Arms.
Ant.
Now act what you design'd,
'Tis in that only, I shall think you kind.

Her.
Dost thou first wrong me, then outbrave me so?

[Herod runs at Ant. The Queen puts her self between Herod and Antipater.
Queen.
If you will kill him, you shall kill me too.

Her.
Ha; will She of her Crimes convince me more?

Queen.
Honour does now, what Duty did before.

Her.

[Phaltiel seizes on Ant.
Phalt.
What you have order'd I'll exactly do.

Ant.
'Tis time to dy, when you'll my Jaylor be.

Phalt.
whispers to Antip.
I play this part, to save both you, and me.

Antip.
whispers to Phalt.
No more—admire not, I suspected thee.
For the Queens Sufferings have distracted me.

[Phalt. leads out Ant. with some of the Guards, when he comes to the door, he turns about, and bowing to the Queen says:
Ant.
Madam, until we meet in Heaven, Farewel.

[The Queen bows to him and weeps.
Her.
You ne'er shall meet again, unless in Hell.
Ye Sacred Powers above whom I adore,
[Lifting up his Eyes and Hands.
This only Blessing I from you implore;
Teach me on them so well my Self to right,
That to express Revenge in all its height;
Men shall, in future times, need but to say,
That it has been perform'd, in Herod's way.

[They all go out, Asdrubal leading the Queen within the Scenes.