 | Gycia |  |
SCENE I.
—Outside Lamachus's palace.Megacles, Lysimachus, Courtiers, and Citizens of Cherson.
Meg.
Oh, this has been a happy
day. All has gone admirably. Not a
hitch in all the arrangements.
Precedence kept, rank observed, dresses
all they should be. I do not, I really
do not think, though I say it who
should not, that the Imperial
Chamberlain at Constantinople could have
conducted the matter better.
1st Court.
Nay, that he could not,
good Megacles. Let us hope that
what remains to do will go as smoothly.
Meg.
What remains? Doubtless you
mean the banquet. That is all arranged
long ago under three heads. First, the
order of entering the hall; second, the
order of the seats; third, the order of
going forth.
Lys.
Doubtless the last will arrange
itself. Remember, the only order of
going to be observed is this, that thou
get thyself gone, and all the guests from
Cherson gone, fully half an hour before
midnight.
Meg.
But, my lord, that is
impossible; you ask too much. How long
do you suppose it will take, at a
moderate computation, to get one hundred
men of ill-defined rank out of a room
with a decent regard for Precedence.
Why, I have seen it take an hour at
the Palace, where everybody knew his
place, and here I cannot undertake to
do it under two.
Lys.
My friend, you will get it
done; you will waive ceremony. None
but the Prince and ourselves must
remain within half an hour of midnight,
and the hall must be cleared.
Meg.
Ah, well, my Lord
Lysimachus, the responsibility rests with you;
I will have none of it. It is as much
as my reputation is worth. But if I do
this cannot you let me have a guard
of honour of armed men to stand at
intervals along the hall. I have been
longing for them all day.
Lys.
(angrily.)
Peace, fool! I have
told you before we have no soldiers
here.
[People of Cherson overhearing him.
1st Cit.
Didst hear that old man?
He believes there are soldiers here.
Whence do they come? and why did
the other check him?
Meg.
Well, my Lord Lysimachus,
if not soldiers, men-at-arms, and these
there certainly are, and highly
decorative too.
2nd Cit.
I hate these Bosphorians.
What if the rumour should be true?
Pass the word to the citizens that they
sleep not to-night, but keep their arms
ready for what may come. We are a
match for them, whatever may be their
design. To-morrow we will probe this
matter to its depths.
2nd Court.
Depend upon it, there
is no time to lose if we would forestall
these fellows. But here comes the
procession to the banqueting-hall.
[Citizens going to banquet two and two.
Meg.
(with a gold wand.).
This way,
gentlemen; this way, masters and
mistresses; this way, Respectables!
[Accompanies them to the end of the stage towards the banqueting-hall in the distance. Returns to escort another party. Musicians, etc.
Enter Senators, two and two.
Meg.
(bowing profoundly three times).
Most Illustrious Senators! this way,
your Highnesses; this way.
(To
Melissa)
Fairest and loveliest of
your adorable sex, your slave prostrates
himself before your stainless and beatific
feet (Bowing low and kissing his fingers).
Illustrious Ladies, I pray you to
advance.
Lys.
(with Courtiers standing apart).
A good appetite, my friends. Enjoy
yourselves while you may.
Bard.
We are quite ready, my Lord
Lysimachus. Are you not (with a
sneer)
for the banquet?
Lys.
In good time, in good time.
If they only knew.
[Aside.
Bard.
(overhearing.)
If you knew
all, my friends.
Meg.
(returning).
I pray you, most
Illustrious Senators, to excuse the
absence of a guard of honour.
Bard.
Nay, nay; we are peaceful
people, and have no armed men nearer
than Bosphorus, as my Lord
Lysimachus knows. There are plenty in that
favoured State, no doubt.
(confused).
What does this
insolence mean? I would the hour
were come.
Enter Zetho, with his retinue.
Meg.
Your Gravity, Your Sincerity,
Your Sublime and Wonderful
Magnitude, Your Illustrious and Magnificent
Highness, I prostrate myself before
Your Altitude. Will You deign to
walk this way?
Zetho.
My lord, I am no Cæsar,
but a simple citizen of Cherson, called
by my fellows to preside over the State.
Use not to me these terms, I pray of
you, but lead on quickly.
Meg.
I prostrate myself before Your
Eminence.
Enter Asander and Gycia.
Meg.
(returning).
Noble Prince,
will your Illustrious Consort and
yourself deign to follow me?
Asan.
Nay, good Megacles, will
you and these gentlemen go first, I have
a word to say to the Lady Gycia. We
will be with you before the guests are
seated.
Meg.
I obey, my Lord Asander,
and will await you at the door.
[Megacles, Lysimachus, and the rest, pass on.
Asan.
Gycia, though we have passed from amity
And all our former love, yet would I pray you,
By our sweet years of wedded happiness,
Give ear to me a moment. It may be
That some great shock may come to set our lives
For evermore apart.
Gycia.
Ah yes, Asander—
For evermore apart!
Asan.
And I would fain,
If it must be, that thou shouldst know to-night
That never any woman on the earth
Held me one moment in the toils of love
Except my wife.
Gycia.
What! not Irene's self?
Asan.
Never, I swear by Heaven. She was a woman
In whom a hopeless passion burnt the springs
Of maiden modesty. I never gave her
The solace of a smile.
Gycia.
Dost thou say this?
Is thy soul free from all offence with her,
If thou camest now to judgment?
Asan.
Ay, indeed,
Free as a child's.
Gycia.
Oh, my own love! my dear!
Ah no! too late, too late!
[Embraces him.
Asan.
I ask thee not
Counter assurance, since I know thy truth.
Gycia.
Speaks thou of Theodorus? He loved me
Before I knew thee, but I loved no man
Before I met Asander. When he knelt
That day, it was in pity for my grief,
Thinking thee false, and all his buried love
Burst into passionate words, which on the instant
I as thy wife repelled.
Asan.
Oh, perfect woman!
[They embrace.
O God, it is too late! Come, let us go;
The guests are waiting for us. What can Fate
Devise to vanquish Love.
[Exeunt.
1st Lab.
Well, friend, what kind of
day has it been with you?
2nd Lab.
Oh, a white day, a happy
day! Plenty of food, plenty of wine,
raree shows without end, such
processions as were never seen—the very
model of a democracy; nothing to pay,
and everybody made happy at the
expense of the State. I have lived in
Cherson, man and boy, for fifty years,
and I never saw anything to compare
with it. Here's good luck to Lamachus's
memory, say I, and I should like to
celebrate his lamented decease as often
as his daughter likes.
1st Lab.
Didst know him, citizen?
2nd Lab.
No, not I. He has been
dead these two years. Time he was
forgotten, I should think. They don't
commemorate poor folk with all these
fal-lals and follies.
1st Lab.
Well, citizen, there is one
comfort—the great people don't enjoy
themselves as we do. Did you ever
see such a set of melancholy, frowning,
anxious faces as the grandees carried
with them to-day? And as for the Prince
and the Lady Gycia, I don't believe
they spoke a word the livelong day,
though they walked together. That is
the way with these grandees. When
you and I quarrel with our wives, it is
hammer and tongs for five minutes,
and then kiss and make friends.
2nd Lab.
And fancy being drilled by
that old fool from Bosphorus—“Most
Illustrious, this is your proper place;”
“Respectable sir, get you back there”
(mimics
Megacles)
, and so forth.
1st Lab.
Well, well, it is good to be
content. But I warrant we are the
only two unhappy creatures in
Cherson to-night, who have the ill fortune
to be sober. And such wine too, and
nothing to pay!
2nd Lab.
Never mind, citizen, we
shall be paid in meal or malt, I dare
say, and we are bound to keep sober.
By the way, it is a curiously contrived
bonfire this.
1st Lab.
It will be the crowning
triumph of the whole festival, the
senator said.
2nd Lab.
But who ever heard of a
bonfire on a large scale like this, so
close to an old building? You know
our orders: we are to place lines of
faggots and straw close to the building
on every side, well soaked with oil,
and certain sealed vessels full of a
secret compound in the midst of them.
And just before midnight we are to run
with torches and set light to the whole
bonfire, to amuse the noble guests at
the banquet.
[Irene at a window, overhearing.
1st Lab.
Ah! do you not see? It is
a device of the Senate to startle our
friends from Bosphorus. The faggots
and straw blaze up fiercely round the
wall; then, when all is confusion, the
substance in the sealed vessels escapes
and at once puts out the fire, and the
laugh is with us. Our friends from
Bosphorus know what we can do in
chemistry before now.
2nd Lab.
Faith, a right merry
device! Ha! ha! What a head thou
hast, citizen! Well, we must go on
with our work. Lay the faggots evenly.
Ire.
(at the window above).
Great God! what is this?
We are doomed to die!
Know you my brother, the Lord Theodorus?
I have something urgent I would say to him.
I will write it down, and you shall give it him
When he comes forth from the banquet.
[Disappears.
1st Lab.
Good my lady. Her
brother, too, she calls him. I go bail
it is her lover, and this is an assignation.
Well, well, we poor men must not be
too particular.
2nd Lab.
No, indeed; but let us
get on with our work, or we shall never
finish in time.
Ire.
(reappearing).
Here it is. Give
it him, I pray, when he comes forth.
'Tis a thing of life and death.
1st Lab.
So they all think,
Poor love-sick fools!
Ire.
See, here is gold for you—
'Tis all I have; but he will treble it,
If you fail not.
1st Lab.
Lady, we shall be here,
We must be here. Fear not, we shall not miss him.
| Gycia | |