 | The World At Auction |  |
lxxxiv
ACT IV.
(The same Hall of the Regia, little more that two months later. Didius is pacing restlessly.)DIDIUS.
I cannot sleep. I hate this solitude
Of dawn: I must have audience. . . . Didia Clara,
She was the first to come—for gifts, for gifts,
Those early morning gifts! Would she were dead;
Then I could build a temple over her.
I can do nothing . . . for I love her foe;
I will not have him slain. . . . It may be hours
Before the file of formal visitors
From army and from Senate. O the ghosts!
If I could doze a little.
(Enter Marcia.)
Marcia here?
A friend.—What tidings?
MARCIA.
It is not yet dawn.
O Emperor, you must sleep.
DIDIUS.
You have not slept.
MARCIA.
I have been with Eclectus, with the stars.
DIDIUS.
The stars are for us?
MARCIA.
They burn bright on Rome.
Be comforted. But you must rest a little
Again before the dawn.
DIDIUS.
You think I may?
MARCIA.
Nothing remains to do. This sleep you crave
Is the gods' instant gift.
lxxxv
You will not watch?
Not longer? Rome is safe.
MARCIA.
I shall go forth
With praise and votive offering . . . to my God.
(Exit.)
(Didius stretches himself on a couch.)
DIDIUS.
How steadily she soothes me! For nine weeks
I have been here, a prisoner and a guest;
Even these purple curtains in my hands
Have never seemed my own: I noted them
Admiringly, as something of a host's
That I must take the pattern of. Nine weeks,
In comfortless seclusion, I have felt
Rome's awful silence of hostility.
'Twas not by signs in every sacrifice,
Nor by the flight of inauspicious birds
Across the sky, nor by the balefulness
That haunts this palace of slain Pertinax,
No, not by these I was tormented most:
But by death's very presence in the streets,
As if I were alone upon my way
With pestilence all round me. It was Rome
I trembled at . . . as if my proper shadow
Contorted threw strange shapes before my feet.
Rome, I had bought her, and the oracles
Were dumb, the streets were deathlike. But at last
The stars themselves show favour to my rule,
And Marcia says nothing remains to do,
My empire is securely mine. How vile
The colour of this broidery—Commodus
Had but a vulgar pride! I shall embellish
These halls, divinely filling in my dreams . . .
lxxxvi
(He closes his eyes.)
Are those the columns
Of the new atrium? Do they stretch so far?
No matter!—We must drag them up the steep
Whatever be the labour! I must try
To set them in their stations and to count . . .
Innumerous, strange statues . . .
(He sleeps.)
(After a few moments, enter Eclectus.)
ECLECTUS.
He is doomed,
Severus near the gates, the people cold.
Pity to wake him! Yet a Chamberlain
Must do his office. (Rousing Didius.)
It is morning, Sire.
DIDIUS.
How gaunt your visage! You were with the stars—
ECLECTUS.
The stars are faded; we have done with fate
Soon as the daylight springs; each mortal then
Is left to stumble on his way.
DIDIUS.
The city
Is in the gods' protection.
ECLECTUS.
While Severus
Gathers his host more thickly on the verge.
O Emperor, you must combat destiny
As best you can. The Præfect craves admission.
DIDIUS.
Summon the Præfect.
(Exit Eclectus.)
I will take my toga,
lxxxvii
(Didius wraps his toga about him, and looks out over the city.)
How still it is, and in the dawn how white
And clear! It cannot be an enemy
Is marching to the gates. There is a stir
About the clouds to northward, but the birds
Fly easily, and do not congregate
Or cry as they are wont before a storm.
I have not looked down on my Rome before
Like this at daybreak, have not seen her laid
Tempting and iridescent at my feet,
With the sun's finger on the Capitol,
Gilding the roofs. I would pay more for her,
For all this majesty, pay—but to whom?
Jupiter Governour!
(Enter Lætus introduced by Eclectus, who retires.)
LÆTUS.
I bring you tidings
Disastrous to your peace: the enemy
Has crossed the Milvian bridge.
DIDIUS.
The walls are manned?
LÆTUS.
With sailors from Misenum: but they roll
Through unaccustomed martial exercise,
As if they fought in dreams.
DIDIUS.
My elephants—
LÆTUS.
Have not been trained for war. The Romans laugh
Like Momus' self to see the restive masses
Turn on their riders. Jove, I almost laughed,
The creatures have an incivility
So huge!
lxxxviii
Nay, Lætus, I have confidence;
For though the rebel has his legions, I
Have my Prætorians, every man a Mars,
He moves in such a light from his array.
If sailors man the walls, yet you command
Rome's finest troops. Why should you damp me thus?
LÆTUS.
The Guards, indifferent to your call to arms,
Gape as they fasten on their jewelled weapons,
And kick the slaves who draw the buckles tight
Of greave or cuirass. Do not blame the man
Who works for you without one instrument
Sharp for the work you give him.
DIDIUS.
But my wealth!
Urge your faint legion with more promises,
Go, vaunt my wide possessions. If I bought
The universe, gods, I can buy my fate:
Gold was sufficient, gold will now suffice.
It moves even Heaven itself; the smoking shrines
Shall be unstinted; statues all of gold,
The head one solid lump, shall fire the temples
With living glory. Fetch the Pontifex,
Summon the priest of Jupiter.
LÆTUS.
Religion
To heat your bath—ah well!
(Turning to go.)
He is a fool.
DIDIUS.
Ye gods, removed above all mortal men,
Severed by your great office from the crowd,
Receive my many gifts and side with me,
lxxxix
(Lætus has paused at the door and raised his sword in the sheath: he suddenly drops it and retires. Didius starts at the sound and shivers involuntarily.)
Fate, I'll give anything . . . your price, your price!
Blood, treasure—oh, what more? I have the world,
And all you ask is yours.
(From the other side enter Cornelius.)
Cornelius here!
What is the purport of this haste?
CORNELIUS.
Revenge.
I hoped to be your son-in-law, but when
You heard my uncle suddenly had died,
Leaving his riches to his cupbearer,
You forfeited your promise—and I starved.
Now you are fronting ruin. I have crept
About the city, hearing every voice:
No soul within it loves you.
DIDIUS.
True, true, true!
But, far beyond the people, I exist
As Emperor of the world. My Guards are faithful
CORNELIUS.
With loyalty that apprehends your fall
Will be their hour of punishment. One word
Of kindness from Severus, they desert,
And raise him on their shoulders.
DIDIUS.
Oh, what help?
The danger thrills me.
CORNELIUS.
I alone can aid.
xc
Then, by the love you bore my child . . .
CORNELIUS.
But stay!
I claim her as reward.
DIDIUS.
She would consent.
The world is nothing when I offer it;
But I have seen her sweep along the streets.
'Twas Isis on a progress.
CORNELIUS.
You divine
Our simple course is to anticipate
Severus clemency. . . . If we would keep
Your soldiers from corruption, he must die.
DIDIUS.
Assassination! That is infamous!
CORNELIUS.
But for what end?—the safety of the State:
One blow, a traitor to the empire falls.
DIDIUS.
If Fate demand a victim . . . yet my will
Was ever clean of bloodshed.
CORNELIUS.
Recollect
The wavering legion.
DIDIUS.
Recollect . . .
(Enter Clara.)
My child,
My Empress every inch, you visit me! . . .
Your faithful lover seeks to save us.
CLARA.
How?
There is but one clear way—Severus dies.
xci
We ever thought alike: the deed is done.
CLARA.
Go, husband; all that you preserve is yours.
Strike home, Cornelius.
CORNELIUS.
Love, I strike for you.
(Exit.)
DIDIUS.
My full-lipped Beauty, no more separation!
My child, my child, you come to me? One kiss!
CLARA.
I kiss you as we kiss the dead, forgetting
The wrongs they did to us with cruel heart:
And truly, father, you will soon be dead
Unless you will take counsel from my lips.
Each night I see you murdered in my dreams,
And, waking, see the murderers gather round.
Your fickle legion!—Have you once considered
Who is their Præfect?
DIDIUS.
Lætus.
CLARA.
Yes, the man
Fame counts a double regicide.
DIDIUS.
Great Gods,
He murdered Commodus.
CLARA.
Then Pertinax;
And now to win forgiveness of your foe
He would not hesitate to murder—
DIDIUS.
Hush!
I see it all, the monstrous wickedness.
xcii
O child, you save me!
CLARA.
There are worse offenders,
More to be feared than Lætus, who assemble
About your person, lulling you asleep,
That they may reach the aim of all their wiles,
Your slaughter. Commodus—you know the tale—
Was drugged, cajoled . . . by whom?
DIDIUS.
You make me tremble.
It cannot be . . . and yet she bade me sleep.
O Marcia!
CLARA.
She has soothed you recently
With her still charm?
DIDIUS.
She bade me slumber on.
CLARA.
Then you are doomed, as she doomed Commodus.
DIDIUS.
Marcia, my friend!
CLARA.
She never owned your rule.
DIDIUS.
But Marcia!
CLARA.
And Eclectus and the Præfect,
They all could win forgiveness for old crimes
By new crime, dripping red with blood—with yours.
DIDIUS.
Their blood, my Fate demands it!
xciii
You avenge—
You, not Severus—Rome's dead Emperors,
Good Pertinax and Commodus the loved:
This is the sacrifice the gods demand.
DIDIUS.
O child, most fearful Pythoness, your love
Alone supports me in my misery;
The whole world's faithlessness beside your faith
Is as a ravening sea to one on land.
These cruel murderers, too long protected,
Shall meet their punishment—the Præfect, Marcia,
Eclectus . . .
CLARA.
Add Narcissus and his friend.
DIDIUS.
The athlete? Who beside him?
CLARA.
Pylades.
Narcissus killed the Emperor at the beck
Of Marcia, and Narcissus is the friend,
The bosom-friend of Pylades. I ask
That dancer's life again, not out of vengeance—
Father, to save you: as I crossed the court,
He talked, with heightened colour, furtively
To Marcia, who replied with nod and smile.
You never thought that he was of the band
Said to have murdered Commodus.
DIDIUS.
'Tis false.
CLARA.
Question him straight, and if you find him guilty,
By your great honour as Augustus, promise
That I shall have his life.
xciv
Let him be called.
I promise; but the boy is innocent,
He is not of that faction. You are jealous,
You who come down to shield me, my Delight!
What others traitors would you save me from?
CLARA.
I pray you, as your heiress, mark the doings
Of Abascantus. It is very strange,
I found him with a chisel prizing out
The pearls embedded in the palace-walls;
And as I passed he did not stand aside,
Or cease from chipping.
DIDIUS.
I will see those pearls!
Bid him attend me, tell my parasites
To seize those murderers. . . . Call Pylades.
(Exit Clara.)
What, Abascantus a confederate
With those who would betray! How stripped my life
Is growing, how disgraced!
(Enter Abascantus.)
Well, Abascantus,
Are you so hungry? Must the lustrous walls
Be hacked to pieces? Will you strip my rooms?
Remember how these gleaming avenues
Have re-enforced me. This is merchandise!
Break up the bars of gold, but leave the marbles,
The ivories to my touch. O infamous,
Wrenched from their sockets—these!
ABASCANTUS.
Your favourite gems
To comfort you in exile: for to-night
We bid farewell to Latium.
xcv
Abascantus,
And so you cling to me! Ah, if this harass
Could be arrested!
(Pylades runs in, but, seeing the Emperor engaged with Abascantus, he leans by a column at a distance, blowing soft, little notes on a flute he holds in his hand.)
I am Emperor here,
O'er whom, for what? . . . This flashing amethyst!
And here is that great opal that struck red
Each time I passed it—an unlucky sign,
You said, but still a sign to me, a token,
Something my presence changed! If we could flee,
We two together, since I find you faithful,
And leave this rifled empire to the gods!
Say, my grim Midas . . .
ABASCANTUS.
We must wait on fortune!
Gems are for flight; but drain your treasure-hoard,
Sit easy on your throne, take the cold faces
That strike on you like draughts as checks of strangers,
Mere pressure of the world. If you can bribe
The venal faith of the Prætorian Guards,
And prove my caution premature . . .
(He bows low to the Emperor and moves away, the great sack of jewels on his shoulder.)
DIDIUS.
So swiftly
He disappears! How like a traveller,
A wallet on his back . . . or like a thief.
He shunned my scrutiny; something malign
xcvi
Then, Fortune, I will spit at you—no fear,
Open defiance!
Pylades! What notes
Of bird and wind and streaming water, notes
That catch at me and let their sweetness hurt!
O boy, I am beset on every hand,
Such dangers and such enemies and fears,
Such perturbations . . . but you know what happens,
For you have lived in emperors' company.
PYLADES.
Yes, I have always dwelt in palaces,
And seen how fortune works there.
DIDIUS.
You were present
When Commodus was murdered?
PYLADES.
On the spot.
I saw the lady Marcia leave his room,
Within her hands the empty poison-bowl;
I saw her fall down at Narcissus' feet
And clasp his wrists and urge him with a gesture,
Thus! (He mimics)
Toward the Emperor's chamber, like an arrow,
Narcissus sped . . . A struggle, but no groan,
And then the happy wrestler brought his news,
And told it breathless at fair Marcia's feet.
She smiled on him . . .
DIDIUS.
Enough! I hate these mimes;
I will not hear.
PYLADES.
But the consummate grace,
xcvii
Had plotted to destroy her. Hear the whole!
It was concealed while there was fear of vengeance,
But now . . .
DIDIUS
(fascinated.)
Rehearse the scene!
PYLADES.
A summer eve,
The Emperor at his bath, his sacred chamber
Untenanted, and on his couch a scroll—
Which, lo, a naked Eros, unespied,
Crept toward and handled as a plaything: caught
In the white arms of Marcia at the door,
He held the thing aloft, and then she read
Plain on the linden bark “Let Marcia die,
She disapproves my course; Eclectus too
Opposed my will, and Lætus: let them perish
Together with the slave that yesterday
Heated my bath too hot.”
(He mimics with rhythmic gestures all the time.)
Imperial
Her self-control! She simply kissed the child,
Gave him the bangle from her wrist in lieu
Of the death-warrant, and then turned to me:
“Speed to Eclectus, speed!”
When next I saw her
The bowl was mixed. Medea, oh, her eyes!
DIDIUS.
Faugh, boy! you do not think, you give yourself
With so extreme a passion to your mimes,
This was a murder.
PYLADES.
Emperor, do you care?
cxviii
Less honourable than that high revenge,
That you are sitting where you sit enthroned.
DIDIUS.
Yes, but . . . I did not murder Pertinax;
I tremble at his murder . . . We must punish
These wretched criminals.
(Pylades stands transfixed.)
It is your part
To witness life before you play it to us:
We cannot blame you.
(Clara enters from the doorway.)
CLARA.
Cannot! Keep your promise,
Father, your oath that Marcia shall be slain,
Eclectus, the Egyptian, Lætus, all,
All who have proved their infamy by this
Informer's easy tongue.
(A low cry from Pylades.)
By my command
The prisoners are without. Condemn them.
(Moving toward the door.)
Ho!
Bring in these murderers!
(Enter Clients and Parasites of Didius with Marcia, Eclectus, Lætus, and Narcissus.)
(Clara points to Pylades.)
His life is mine.
PYLADES.
Take it!
(to Didius, who holds him back.)
I did offend her as a woman
May not brook insult: she must be avenged,
Must slay me.
But my friends, the innocent,
Great friends I cling to—as you hope to breathe
xcix
Her husband, Lætus . . . I have been betrayed;
I could not know your favour was withdrawn
From these, long-favoured . . . Oh, I had no thought
But of their . . .
CLARA.
Grace, and the effectiveness
With which they murdered and you acted it.
Can they disown the death of Commodus?
MARCIA.
No, we disown ourselves, disowning that,
For never were we bent to any aim
Substantial as that deed. A frenzied man
In frenzy doomed us—there were lives to save . . .
CLARA.
'Tis well that you confess so brazenly
The deed this dancer has rehearsed in full.
I found him in the act, I saw him hold,
Marcia, the poison-bowl and leer like you
Above the honeyed beverage.
PYLADES.
My friends,
I did not know . . . but what will you believe?
What truth is possible except despair?
My dearest on the earth—belovèd, pardon!
MARCIA.
Poor boy!
ECLECTUS.
So you have struck her down at last,
You venomous Athenian!
MARCIA.
No, Eclectus,
This is not just; for you must surely see
A sore mistake was made.
c
I see the deed,
I see who wrought it.
DIDIUS.
Bear the murderers out!
Two Spectres who have worn my crown condemn
Before the nether judge these sacrilegious,
Secret confederates, who in my presence
Avow the virtue of their punishment.
Hence with them from my sight!
CLARA.
And Pylades—?
(A pause.)
I do not ask his life; no, let him live
To comfort you with mimicry, to turn
All that he sees to use, to represent
Once more his Marcia with the bowl of wine
And honeyed leer . . . Io, for our Pylades!
We cannot spare him.
DIDIUS.
Cannot spare you, boy.
CLARA.
But I have slain my rival; for I knew
The dancer's secret, though I never whispered
A word of knowledge till my hour was come.
Marcia is struck and ruined.
MARCIA.
She is happy. (Taking Eclectus' hand.)
We die together.
DIDIUS.
Strangle them—hence, hence!
PYLADES.
Marcia to die . . . what, Marcia!
(He falls in a swoon.)
ci
(to Clara.)
See your work!
DIDIUS
(to Clara.)
Ay, see it! There is still another sentence,
Another doom. Come to me, nearer—so!
In the full light; I ever wrought my actions
For all to see. Stand there!
I banish you—
Oh, somewhere—to the Roman populace,
To howls and execrations of pursuit.
Go, outcast from my presence, to the streets,
'Tis there one suffers . . . I would blight you, child,
With all the miseries I have borne for you.
Let the sham-Emperor's daughter bear reproach!
But nothing has abashed my fatherhood . . .
There I am reverend, and you lied to me
Of love and filial piety . . . Go forth!
There will be retribution.
CLARA.
There will follow
So much to hurt you, but I hurt the most.
(Exit.)
DIDIUS.
With what a majesty she moves away!
She surely is Augusta—and I wronged her;
They are conspirators, they hem me round
As in a fatal circle.
Parasites,
Old clients, friends—this favour! Bear them off!
LÆTUS.
Would I had slain you; but the twilight boat
Will take us on one passage; we shall pay
Our toll together.
(Exit surrounded.)
cii
(stooping and touching Pylades.)
No: he is not dead.
O Emperor, I have lived by emperors' thrones,
One I served faithfully, and you I never
Have injured in my life; if you would stay
Free from the frenzy mastering royal heads,
Keep this poor lad beside you; when the colour
Is come to his white cheeks again, for comfort
Say that I laid him down, thus, at your feet,
And prayed your favour for him.
(She lightly kisses Pylades' brow, then murmurs to Eclectus.)
Nay, my husband,
No jealousy! You only have my love. (to Didius.)
Farewell, my friend and Emperor. Oh, believe
There is no terror in the grave, you see—
None in this hour it shadows. Come, my lord,
Come, my dark lover, we are with the dead,
With the great mysteries. Life is so vulgar,
Let's leave it to the crowd.
ECLECTUS.
Osiris, judge!
(They are all taken out.)
DIDIUS.
And yet 'tis just,
How just it is to punish murderers,
Secret assassins . . . Is Cornelius sped,
I wonder? I am left without a slave
To carry orders, or I would defer
The execution of these sentences.
(He stands trembling at the door.)
I stand here, I am just a helpless child.
What am I listening for, why do I listen?
ciii
Until it is too late? Fortuna, rule!
Conservatrix—O rudder of the world,
Steer me across this swallowing gulf of sea,
And I will build thee temples of such treasure
Thou wilt not need to play with Oracles.
All men will gather to thy gates and worship
Thy marvellous possessions: Virilis,
Thou one stability to which I cling,
Firm in thine energy, with no remorse
Feebling thine enterprise . . . It is accomplished;
He died the first; I heard a stifled Vale,
And then . . . I prayed more fervently to drown
The gurgling noise. I need not listen more
In horror and suspense and vacillation;
Fortuna liberates.
(Turning back from the door.)
O Vale, Vale!
Thou solemn, awful shade, I promise thee
A funeral: there shall be all respect,
Even to Eclectus with the bloody hand.
Marcia! Oh, this is frenzy! I have heard
Christians sleep soundly in their sealèd tombs,
And do not turn till Minos drop the scales.
This is a fever dancing at my heart,
No apparition; for she died by justice,
She said so, by sheer justice, while her eyes
Coupled my doom with hers. Just for a moment
She armed me with a steadiness to die;
I could have died with her in sight; and then
She bade me comfort Pylades: I will,
If the boy be not dead. How white he looks,
And how accusing in his innocence!
Ah, he begins to sigh, he is alive,
His features soften: he is but a dancer
civ
To give him pleasure—that is all my life
Is narrowed down to—Pylades!
PYLADES.
Where am I?
Quick, where is Marcia?
DIDIUS.
Lad, we all are doomed.
PYLADES.
Where's Marcia?
DIDIUS.
I forgot—she left a message,
She laid you at my feet . . .
PYLADES.
She did not touch me?
DIDIUS.
And kissed your brows and begged me to have pity
And keep you by me. Then . . .
PYLADES.
I know the rest:
She is not breathing any more, her name
Is only for the echoes. So she kissed me,
And laid me at your feet?
DIDIUS.
Asking protection;
Boy, you shall have it.
PYLADES.
But I will not stay,
Not for an instant. Marcia! She stood here,
I left her standing here. Where was her voice
In all that cloudy death? Oh, ominous!
Are the gods buried?—for I wake to find
That there is nothing left to reinstate,
And none I would have love me any more.
cv
And danced the shadows. Marcia! O fierce Hades,
Thou hast her in thy grasp. I will not call;
This is mere acting, this is like a show.
(He turns from Didius, looks out, and breathes in a low voice.)
And—ah, ye secret gods, my soul is gone
Down the great stream with her; we are removed
Together from the crowd. I had before
No sanctuary to my solitude,
I fled I knew not whither. Oh, my hiding,
My fastness in the rocks! I strike the earth,
I offer up my sacrifice, my worship
To him who keeps you locked up from the light.
O hail, Aidoneus, hail, Persephone,
Demetia, all ye darkness-bearing lands,
The shade, the peace!
DIDIUS.
What is it, Pylades?
An apparition? Boy, be merciful.
She said I did it in a great mistake;
I did: persuade her not to visit me.
She knows I am the tool, the instrument
Of—Pylades—my child, this Didia Clara,
Who is so busy marshalling my friends,
My enemies against me.
PYLADES.
I remember.
Oh, you have brought it back again . . . my dancing,
The murder, Marcia. You vile hypocrite!
You made me kill her with my lips and hands,
Kill and betray. Polycrates' own curse
Transmute your fortune into infamy!
For you have made me hateful to myself
As Ajax when he saw his work.
cvi
Oh, hush!
The gods are not against you. Could you see
The sword-wounds in my heart! I tell you, lad,
I never wept like this but once, and then
I was a boy and I had lost my mother:
Now I have lost my only child. The girl
Set all this plot on—for my sake, she said;
It was because she loves you. I could wish
That I had sent you with the rest to die,
For then she would be aimless in the world.
How I have loved her!
PYLADES.
Oh, I breathe again!
This blessèd hatred—and you too shall hate.
I hate, hate, hate her.
DIDIUS.
Softly, I must weep
So long before I come to hate. You twist
Your feet, you tap the stones impatiently:
Boy, there will be no dancing. By that door,
Oh, think a little what I have to meet—
The Pontifex,
The Vestal Virgins, the advancing Guard,
Septimius Severus—and her face.
PYLADES.
I would see that again. If she is humbled,
If all indignity is heaped on her,
And she must play the part as a mere mime
Of fallen princess, fallen majesty,
If she should hear my laugh—
(Enter Manlia with a Messenger, followed by the Pontifex.)
DIDIUS.
Her mother comes
cvii
Who follows? Rome, the Pontifex.
MANLIA.
Alas!
MESSENGER.
The Senate is assembled and proclaims
Severus in your place.
DIDIUS
(to the Pontifex.)
But Jupiter!
I look beyond. There has been intercession.
PONTIFEX.
Severus owns the city, from the temples
His incense rises.
DIDIUS.
Does he own the gods?
PONTIFEX.
He can command my prayers.
DIDIUS.
There are so many
And new religions. I will try them all:
The witch's mirror, human sacrifice,
And secret incantations mixed with blood.
It may be in my madness I have sought
Some spectre-god and not reality.
PONTIFEX
(with a gesture of imprecation.)
Devoted to the Infernal powers, farewell.
(Exit the Pontifex.)
DIDIUS.
Was that a malediction? For a moment
I feel a calmness, a support. If all
We bear should be appointed . . .
MANLIA.
But our child,
Where is our daughter?
cviii
(to Messenger.)
Human sacrifice
On demon-shrines: it is the last resort—
An offering of young slaves . . . that might prefigure
The thing I dread, avert it; and some parents
Would suffer for my sake.
(Exit Messenger.)
MANLIA.
My dearest husband,
You lose your senses! We should be together
As in a thunder-storm; one family
Beneath the darkened heaven. Where is our child?
(Re-enter Clara.)
Clara, she comes!
CLARA.
Your wretched bolts will snap:
Severus and his host are surging round.
This is the life you give me with your gold,
To be the prey of soldiers . . .
No escape!
And yet I must escape; my youth is crying
For some fidelity, for some resource.
No servant will obey me.
Pylades,
You, you alone can save me from my death;
And after all, let honour go, not life.
Give me that flute. You will not? Pylades,
As I have loved you, Pylades!
MANLIA.
You dancer,
Do as she bids!
DIDIUS.
Why does she want the flute?
(Pylades grasps the instrument as if to break it.)
cix
See! I have stripped off everything, except
This slender robe; see, I have pulled my hair
In locks about me: give me now the flute,
And I will hide behind that screen, and pass
For just a flute-girl—yours. O Pylades,
Forget what I have said, what I have done.
You have more power now than a king. (Kneeling.)
Your flute!
PYLADES
(giving it without looking at her.)
You have appealed as if to sanctuary.
Take my poor reed you have despised, and keep
The life that it can give you. It might happen . . .
But be my flute-girl for a little while,
And the gods change you!
MANLIA.
Is it come to this?
My child a servant—no, a queen disguised,
A lovely woman with that unbound hair.
(Clara hides.)
Well, Didius, we have had success—have bought
The world and tasted what its wares are like,
Drawn out its sweetness, what was choice retained,
And what was wearisome will now forego.
We must not let possessions spoil the ease
We seek for as possessors. Abdicate
The empire, put distraction from your face,
And quietly yield Severus what he asks.
DIDIUS.
Yes, he shall have it. Do we keep a tiger,
Though we have bought with gold his yellow frame,
If he is savage and attempts his cage,
cx
To yield the government of earth and sea
Entirely to Severus. Let him come!
And yet . . . what noise is that?
MANLIA.
Ha, be composed!
All will be well.
DIDIUS.
I do not want to live,
But only to be spared—I mean, delivered
From violent death. I cannot want to live,
Because my child has lied to me, because
She, who was living treasury to my gold,
Has not a place for me amid the splendour
I bought her year by year.
MANLIA.
You ask too much,
The common fault of parents.
Husband dear,
'Tis a strange world at best, and recollect
To-day has been a crisis.
DIDIUS.
I would live
A little longer in a silent place,
With just a dog. . . . Oh, if there were some kindness
That made return to anything I did!
They say the Christians go out to the desert,
They say the foolish people find relief,
And look, to all beholders, as if fed
In those bare, stretching plains. I cannot tell . . .
That was a bolt shot back!
MANLIA.
Your hand.
cxi
No, no!
(Pylades runs to him.)
There!—they are coming. . . . Pylades! My boy,
I will not lean on you; I would not lose
Your life for all the world. Ah, beautiful,
Dearest by far, go from me! On my lips
I have my soul in kissing you. Away!
(He pushes Pylades from him.)
(Enter Septimius Severus, Senators, Tribunes, Officers of the Pannonian Legion and of the Prætorian Guard—behind, Cornelius.)
You come . . .
SEVERUS.
Led on by Fate, who takes my will
For her elected weapon.
DIDIUS.
You desire
My kingdoms: they are yours. I yield them up;
They are not any longer to my taste.
I do not ask copartnership of rule,
That would be . . .
SEVERUS.
Nothing. In my dreams I ride
Lord of a whole, not half. The world is mine.
DIDIUS.
I give it you.
SEVERUS.
I took it for myself,
And now I enter on my universe.
Depart!
DIDIUS
(to Manlia.)
Come home . . . and Clara?
cxii
Noblest lord
Of us as other men, since we withdraw
So peaceably from empire, on my knees
I ask our private fortune may be spared
To nourish me, my husband, and our child.
We leave the world to you; protect our home,
And keep it sacred, by the victor gods!
SEVERUS.
What does this mean? Arrest that fugitive,
That trafficker, and set him face to face
With me whose hands are pure.
(Didius is arrested.)
You would escape,
You who have done this insult to the earth,
And prostituted Rome? (To his Officers.)
Strip off that band
His forehead makes ridiculous.
Advance
The officers of the Prætorian Guard:
They and their tool shall meet again.
(To the Prætorians.)
You murdered
That venerable man, that noble prince
Whose life it was your duty to defend;
You insolently sold at public mart
His glorious empire to a rich poltroon.
Your sin is not the sin of men, it is
A despicable, abject, mawkish sin,
That shall not have a stately punishment.
You are no longer soldiers and no more
Inhabitants of Rome. Remove their arms,
And banish them in nakedness as far
As twelve miles from the city. (To Didius.)
As for you,
cxiii
Gold is the source of life's validity,
One end awaits you.
Take him to the room
Within the baths where Pertinax was dragged,
And let him be beheaded.
MANLIA.
Ah, my lord,
A woman and a wife—you too are married,
Your wife can boast a regal horoscope—
SEVERUS.
Peace! This is not a time for women's reasons
To pester virtue.
DIDIUS.
Prison—anything
But send me from the world! I saw the trunk
Of Pertinax, I saw it . . . do you hear?
Saw it . . . I did not murder Pertinax.
I am not false and I have done no harm;
I have but squandered all my substance. Spare me
To die as you might hope that you will die,
Not . . . There I first saw headless Pertinax.
All I possess to keep my head!
SEVERUS.
I struck
The blow that severed it some moments back;
My words are deeds.
DIDIUS.
But, man, I did no harm.
I bought the world. O justice!
SEVERUS.
And your head
Will pay for it: complete the bargain now.
(With a deep groan, he is dragged out.)
cxiv
To any Roman. Had I heard your prayer,
I should no more be worthy to create
The Empire of my omens here in Rome.
I have no wish to injure you. The body
Of your late husband is your own, to lay
In any sepulchre with any honour
Your inclination prompts. You bent your knees
To ask of me your private property;
It shall not be sequestered from your use,
Yours and your children's. You are comely still,
And may forget bereavement of your husband
And empire with the years.
MANLIA.
(weeping.)
O noble bounty!
I will not speak of all that I have lost;
For in this curious world we must not turn
A single look on anything too deep
In any joy or sorrow: we are mortal,
And much the gods inflict on us should be
As mortal as our weakness, and should die
Save to our silence. Gracious conqueror
You will restore us guarded to our house,
Me and my daughter?
SEVERUS.
Is your daughter here?
(Clara comes forward, her hair roughly coiled.)
CLARA.
Crushed down beneath your great success, I feared
You might be cruel-hearted, and revenge
My father's folly on his child: I hid,
I made myself a flute-girl, put away
My ornaments, my rank; and I have tasted
cxv
This flute is but a bar of torturing iron,
And this short robe immodest, till I blush
A fire of raging consciousness—forgive
That you behold me thus! Nay, mother, lend
Your cloak to cover me.
Great Emperor, hail!
We live through your capacious mercy; heaven
Grant you rich days and prosper you! (To Pylades.)
The flute!
Here, take your wretched instrument. Preserve me
From ever piping to you!
(As she returns it, he starts as if from a dream: he has seen nothing, heard nothing since Didius was borne away.)
SEVERUS.
Who is this?
CLARA.
A celebrated dancer who amuses
The wealthy at their feasts: your client.
SEVERUS.
Then
His art must use its grace in serving me.
You have fine limbs and speaking hands.
PYLADES.
Ah, yes,
A master trained me, and the gods confide
Their legends to my limbs: there is no gift
Like mine, there cannot be.
SEVERUS.
Devoutly said!
To-morrow night there is high festival;
You will be welcome. (To a Tribune.)
Guard these ladies home.
cxvi
(advancing, with a deep obeisance to Severus.)
I thank you, noble Emperor, for protection
Of an unhappy house. By courtesy
I am this lady's son; may I attend?
SEVERUS.
You gave my entry zealous welcome: go.
(Clara presents her hand to Cornelius; they leave, followed by Manlia and a Tribune.)
I must receive the Senate.
(Exit with his followers.)
PYLADES.
(as they go out.)
And I dance
To-morrow in the Regia; so I live:
The world is mine whoever comes and goes.
| The World At Auction | |