University of Virginia Library

ACT. V.

SCENE I.

The Outside of a Temple.
Leonidas, Lysander, Zenocles, and People.
Leon.
The Gods propitious combate on our Side,
The People animated in this Cause,
To break their Yoke, and vindicate their Wrongs.

Eurytion to them, with Gentlemen and Guards.
Eury.
Hither the Chace has led us: The vile herd
Routed, and scatter'd.

Leon.
With the Morning-dawn
They, and their Leaders fall into our Hands.

Eury.
Confounded in the Desert of the Night,
Let 'em brood o're the Terrors of their Guilt,
To wait the coming Vengeance of the Day.

Zen.
The Passes are secur'd.

Lys.
None can escape.

Leon.
Cleombrotus has here immur'd himself
In Neptune's Temple—

Lys.
Garrison'd, and man'd,
In bold Defiance of the Gods themselves.

Cleombrotus and Crites on the Walls.
Cleom.
Who name the Gods, and yet with impious Hands
Come arm'd against their Temple?

Eury.
Monster! thou,
Thou hast polluted it into a Den
Of foulest Villany, of Lust, and Blood.

Cleom.
Do not you make it so, it yet is pure.

Eury.
Art thou there, Crites? hang upon him still,
And weigh him down to sure Perdition.

Cleom.
But who art thou? that I descend to thee:
Leonidas I speak to, once a King.
Thou dost usurp the Shadow of the Night,
To pass thy faded Glory on the State,
And hast surpiz'd a Midnight Victory
O're frighted Citizens, and sleeping Laws;
Which will awake, rouze, and exert their Force,
In the Defence of their insulted King,
To drive thee out again to Banishment.

Leon.
Mistaken Wretch! thy Subjects are no more:
The Laws remain, and gladly live for thee,
Their Tyrant once; they are thy Judges now:
Therefore surrender up thy self to them,
And save us from the Mischief of more Crimes.

Lys.
This is your last Retreat.

Zen.
Which will be forc'd.

Cleom.
Then here I stand my Fortune—

Eury.
Push it on.

Leonidas, &c. coming forwards on the Stage.
Cleom.
Now, Crites, now pursue thy own Advice.
Thou tremblest! ha! thou shouldst have fear'd before,
In time have fear'd, fear'd to have done the ill,
Not fear to suffer for it, being done.

Crit.
If it should not succeed—

Cleom.
Why then thou feel'st
The worst already that can follow it—
Crites retires.
All is at stake, but there is yet a Chance
That promises, and may rise fair for us.

Eury.
While you prepare th'Attack upon the Gate,
And keep 'em busie to defend this Side,
I have my Pioneers at work unseen,
To dig their Graves, and bury 'em in Ruin.

Goes out; Leonidas, and his Party advance to the Gate, in order to break it open.
Leon.
Abandon'd of all Good! the Gods refuse
Their Sanctuary to such Villanies,
And give thee up devoted. Fall on then,
And force the Gate.

Cleom.
Yet hold, Leonidas,
Look up, I have an Offer yet to make—

Leon.
Be quick.

Cleom.
'Tis this—
Euphemia on the Walls.
A Daughter to present to you.

Leon.
My Child! Euphemia!

Cleom.
Draw off your Men:
For the first Violence to force the Gate,
Shall send her to you from the Battlements.

Leon.
I plac'd thee in Diana's sacred Train,
To shelter thee from my tempestuous Fate.

Cleom.
And I remov'd her, by the wise Advice
Of honest Crites, my best Counsellor,
To shelter me from this impending Storm.

Leon.
O! What is all our Foresight? You just Gods!

Cleom.
Nay, no Expostulations with the Gods:
They have declared for us in the Success.
Nor will a thundring Tale of Sacrilege
Beat down these Walls, or gain an Outwork here.
Therefore to cut off Time, you must resolve
To give up all Advantages you've gain'd,
Disperse your Faction, and withdraw your Friends,
And you retire from Sparta instantly,
Or see this Daughter of your Age, so lov'd,
So innocent, first ravish'd by my Slaves,
And murder'd next to close the guilty Scene.

Leon.
O you great Gods! determine for me now.

Cleom.
Do you determine, for the Choice is yours.

Euph.
O my Great Father! 'twere Impiety
Beyond his Crimes, to think the heavenly Powers
Can suffer what he only dares to name.
Pursue your injur'd Cause, your just Revenge,
Nor lose a Moment in the Dread of me.
Therefore again resign me to the Gods,
The tutelary Parents of the Weak,
Who can disarm the Proud in his own Strength.
There is a Hand unseen, a Shield to me.

Cleom.
Many I have to execute my Will.
Leonidas, again I summon thee.
What I have done, is a convincing Proof
I will do more; that I am resolute
To every Deed, my Safety, or Revenge
Solicits me: And I will make short Work,
Give her my Slaves, and drag her to her Fate.

Leon.
Hold, hold, the Gods dispose of me, and mine.
The Father gives his all to save the Child:
Unstain'd restore her to my trembling Hand,
And I renounce my Pow'r, resign my Crown,
Disband my Friends; or if you would have more,
It shall be done: See, they are going, Sir.
O my kind Friends! a long, a last farewel.
Afford me but Euphemia, that Support
Of my declining Age, and I am gone,
Never, O! never to see Sparta more.

Shouts in the Temple.
Crit.
What Shouts are those?

Cleom.
In thy cold Fit again.

Lys.
The Gods begin to thunder from their Shrines.

Mandrocles above to Cleombrotus.
Cleom.
What is thy News?

Man.
The Temple is surpriz'd.

Crit.
Surpriz'd!

Cleom.
Impossible!

Man.
Eurytion is at the Head of the bold Enterprize,
And is already enter'd.

Cleom.
Enter'd too?

Zen.
Our brave Deliverer!

[Below.]
Crit.
What will become of me?

Cleom.
How got he Entrance?

Man.
Thro' Vaults, and secret Passes under Ground,
Discover'd by the Priests.

Cleom.
I am betray'd.

Man.
They say you are betray'd,
Betray'd by Crites.

Cleom.
How!

Crit.
Betray'd by me!

Man.
For there are Orders given to save his Life.

Cleom.
To save his Life!

Man.
The Priest, who does preside,
Is of his Blood, and show'd your Foes the way,
Upon that Promise.

Cleom.
Thus I make it good—
Seizing Crites by the Throat.
Villain! Betrayer! thou hast brought me here
To the Gulph's Mouth, and dost thou plunge me down?
But thou shalt try the Leap—'tis a just Thought—
If thou hast kindred Devils in the Air
To break thy Fall, the Priest may thank 'em for't.
Seize him, take, hoist him up, break off his Hold,
And toss him headlong from the Temple's Wall.

Crit.
O, save me, save me, kill me by the Sword.

Crites thrown down, they gather about the Body, and drag it off.
Cleom.
Down with him, there he flies, I follow next,
Upward, or downward, 'tis indifferent.

[Exit]
Leon.
Drag off the Carcass, cast it out expos'd,
The Food of Dogs—

Zen.
Vulturs, and Wolves his Grave.

Shouts, and Noise of Fighting in the Temple.
Leon.
Hark, we are call'd.

Lys.
They are engag'd.

Leon.
Be quick.
Fly, fly to the Assistance of our Friends:
Employ your Crows of Iron, Leavers, Beams
Against the Gate—

They attack the Gate.
Zen.
Dig its Foundations up.

Lys.
Spare nothing in your way.

Leon.
With heaving Force,
Wrench the compacted Joints of the strong Pile.
O! for the battering Ram with armed Head
To tumble down all Opposition.

Zen.
Bravely, bravely done.

Lys.
See, it gives way.

Leon.
Another Tug unlocks the griping Hinge.

Lys.
It bursts, it flies.

Leon.
Now follow for the Crown
Of all your Pains.

They force open the Gate, and enter. Shouts again, and noise of Fighting continued, till the Scene draws, and shows the inside of the Temple. Eurytion gives ground to Cleombrotus, and his Party, but is join'd by Leonidas, and his; then they drive Cleombrotus to the Front of the Stage, and take him. Prisoner, his Party fight off the Stage.
Leon.
Pursue, Eurytion, let 'em not have Breath
To rally, but cut off their latest Hope.
Eurytion goes out with his Party.
After this Mercy of Deliverance,
O! never may the Innocent despair!

Lys.
This Beast of Prey, this bloody Wolf at last
Is hamper'd in the Toyl.

Leon.
Bring him along—
Celona kneeling at the Door.
Ha! is it thus, Celona, thou dost greet,
Thus hail thy Father's Safety, and Success?

Celo.
O! for my Father's Safety, and Success,
I kiss the Earth in Adoration
Of the just Gods; dejected, humbled thus,
In this poor suppliant State, they have beheld
Me often on my weary'd Knees for you,
And they have heard my Vows; left me no more
To ask of them: They have preserv'd, preserv'd,
And re-enthron'd you in their Mercy's Seat,
Their great Vicegerent, now a God to me.

Leon.
Thy Father ever, rise, Celona, rise.

Celo.
'Tis to that Father then I do appeal,
Not to the Judge: O! I give up my Cause,
Condemn'd, and sentenc'd; and I wonnot move
A Word in the Defence of that bad Man,
A Burthen to the Earth with all his Crimes.
But O! remember, Sir, I am his Wife—

Leon.
Forget him, most unworthy of thy Care.

Celo.
Instructed in that Duty, taught by you,
Ty'd to his Fortune, wedded to his Fate,
To bear a Part in all his Weal, or Woe:
O! therefore, if you would defend my Fame,
My Virtue, which your Precepts first inspir'd,
Let me not leave him in Extremity:
If you wou'd save your sinking Daughter's Peace,
Bestow her Husband's Life, grant it to me;
Forfeited, dead already to the Laws,
Sparta renounces him: Then drive him out
To reprobated Exile round the World,
A Cative, Vagabond, abhor'd, accurs'd,
Most miserable in a hated Life.
I ask but for a change of Punishment,
More exquisite, and sharp: Revenge itself
Should grant me that. O! only spare these Eyes
The murd'ring Object of a Husband's Death.

Leon.
Defend me, shield me. See Thelamia comes—
Thelamia enters on the other side, veil'd, with a Bowl in her Hand, as drank off.
To tear me from thee—
[Goes to her.]
O! that Posture pleads
More than a thousand Tongues: This fatal Bowl
Is drein'd, and empty'd of its Poison now;
A cordial Draught, and thou art happy, Child;
The Gaul of Bitterness is left for me.
'Tis with the sharpest Conflict of my Soul
My Bowels are distracted in the Love
Of my unhappy Children.

Eurytion enters.
Eury.
Your Enemies are prostrate at your Feet;
And Mercy may become the Conqueror:
But Vengeance is the injur'd Husband's Right,
Thus with strong Hand I seize, and make it mine.

[Stabs Cleombrotus.]
Celo.
He's gone.

Leon.
His Crimes be bury'd in his Death.

Thel.
The Voice of Vengeance in my dying Ear
Is sweeter than the Songs of happy Life.

Eury.
Talk not of dying.

Thel.
O! I only liv'd
To hear I am reveng'd, reveng'd by you.

Eury.
Look up, and feed thy famish'd Eyes with Blood.

Leon.
Remove the fatal Object from our Sight.

Celo.
And me for ever from a hated World.

The Body carry'd off.
Thel.
Yes, once again I lift my faded Eyes
For a last Look of my Eurytion,
To feed 'em at the Fountain of thy Light,
And fill me with thy Image, then to close 'em
In lasting Night.

Eury.
Thou art going.

Thel.
Lead me hence
From this infected Air My Spirit shrinks,
And cannot mount in the same Sky with him.
Let me not fall an Outcast of thy House,
Nor in my Ruin lose the Name of Wife;
Preserve Thelamia in thy Memory,
Who liv'd for thee, and for thy Loss could die.

Eurytion leads her off.
Leon.
The Dead are past our Care.

Celo.
Past all their Care.

Leon.
Be comforted, Celona.

Celo.
I was born
To be unhappy, and I have my Lot,
This is the Portion was reserv'd for me,
Unhappy in the dearest Names of Love,
A Wife, and Daughter, and I am past the Care,
The miserable Care of Comfort now.
Yet I will bear this wretched load of Life,
But far remov'd, and shut out from the World,
No more to be remember'd in my Wrongs.

Leon.
Thou wilt not leave thy Father?

Celo.
I am gone already, Sir.

Leon.
Forsake his hopeless Age?

Celona goes to Euphemia, brings her forward to Leonidas.
Celo.
The Gods are present to you, and have sent
This Blessing yet in store to raise your Hopes.

Leon.
My Child! I had forgot thee in the Crowd
Of busy Fate. O! do I hold thee safe!
The Gods have been thy Guard, and my Support.

Celo.
And be they ever so. The Winter's Rage,
That tore your Branches from the bleeding Trunk,
Is now succeeded by the healing Spring,
To stanch its Wounds, and make it sprout anew.
Receive her, as that welcome Spring of Life,
Pregnant of future Blessings for the World,
To rise in Comforts on a Father's Age.
Her teeming Virtues shall enrich this Land,
With the most worthy Progeny of Kings,
A long Posterity of happy Times.
Euphemia is the Promise of the Year,
A golden Harvest rising to your Hopes:
O! be that Promise every Year renew'd,
And in its circling Plenty be fulfill'd!
So shall her gentle Influence cheer Mankind,
And ripen this into an Age of Gold.
Saturnian Days may then again return,
And e'en Celona's Griefs forget to mourn.

Leon.
The guilty Wretch so does the Thunder tear
The Innocent, involv'd by being near,
Are blasted, and the spreading Ruin share.