University of Virginia Library

ACT THE FIFTH.

SCENE THE FIRST.

Scipo, Centurions.
Sci.
Already I know all. Let each of you
Watch as the guardians of the Roman tents
During the approaching night: but I give
An express order to you, that you should
Abstain with care from vexing the Numidians
With obstacles or insults. Go from hence;
Let all things pass in quietness.

SCENE THE SECOND.

Scipio.
Sci.
Thy rage
Thou should'st have wreak'd against my breast alone,
Ungrateful Masinissa; or on me
Its violence, like billows on a rock,
Should have been broken.—But confused he bears
His wavering steps towards me; perchance he knows
The destiny of Syphax ... How I feel
Pity for him!—Ah! come to me; ah come! ...

SCENE THE THIRD.

Scipio, Masinissa, Numidian Soldiers at a distance.
Ma.
Here, oh Guludda, wait for me.—Prepared
I was not for this meeting.

Sci.
What, would'st thou
Avoid me? I am evermore thy Scipio:
Thou now in vain seekest thyself elsewhere;
I only can restore thee to thyself.

Ma.
I was bereft of reason on that day
In which I made with you a guilty traffic
Of life and honour for degrading chains.
But for this step perchance I yet may make
The due atonement; and 'twill be sublime.
Then wilt thou see that I have perfectly
Regain'd my reason.

Sci.
I've already told thee,
Thou may'st, oh Masinissa, yet destroy me:
But while I breathe thou art constrain'd to hear me.

Ma.
Time fails me now for this ...

Sci.
Time fails thee now!
But what dost thou expect? Thy stratagems
Divulged to me are all: clandestinely
Armed and accoutred, thy Numidians stand
Within their tents; thou hast resolved from hence
To rescue Syphax, and with him ...

Ma.
If thou
Already know'st so much; if the base arts
Of a tyrannical spy have so far urged thee,
That thou hast purchased those who would betray me
E'en 'mong my troops, to consummate thy task
Add force to stratagem, since thou canst boast
More soldiers than myself. Thou seest me
Always prepared to die; never to change.

Sci.
Thou wrongest Scipio, and he pardons thee.
Towards thee no other weapon will I use
Than that of truth; with that will I subdue thee.
Thy Sophonisba, who loves thee so much,
(Would'st thou believe it?) she herself erewhile
Fully revealed to me thy stratagems ...

Ma.
What do I hear? Oh heaven! ...

Sci.
I swear to thee,
Oh Masinissa, that I speak the truth.
Erewhile, by his express command, she was
Refused admittance to the tent of Syphax;
Hence, stung to agony by rage and grief,
All thy designs to me did she divulge.
But she divulged in vain: thou hast the power
Still, if thou wilt, to rescue her from hence.
Carthage in thee her champion may possess;
I interdict it not: the injury
On me alone will fall; on me alone,
Who, at one stroke, my fame, my friend shall lose.
But ah! may heaven avert, that finally
Greater calamities o'erwhelm thee not.

Ma.
She! ... Sophonisba! ... For thy sake betray
My interest! ... 'Tis incredible. From whence ...

Sci.
She, far superior to her destiny,
Intends to give thee other proofs of love.
To stern necessity the loftiest yield:
The last and desperate resolve of Syphax
Gives to her noble heart a strong incentive.

Ma.
What meanest thou by these ambiguous words? ...
Of what proof speakest thou? ... Of what resolve
Of Syphax? ...

Sci.
What! dost thou not know it? Scarce
Was Syphax in his tent arrived, than swift
As lightning, on the sword of the centurion,
That as a guard was station'd there, he rush'd;
The hilt he planted on the earth, and fell,
Collecting all his might, upon the blade ...

Ma.
Oh blest, thrice blest is he! Thus is he freed.
From execrable Rome ...

Sci.
With his last breath
He order'd that admission there should be
To Sophonisba forcibly denied.

Ma.
And she ... Ah, now I clearly comprehend
The horror of her state! But oh, too far
Is mine remote from Syphax' destiny!
Conquer'd by thee, by his own hand he fell:
I, not as yet subdued, would be destroyed
By a Roman sword, but by that sword in fight.

Sci.
Ah no! thou oughtest not like them to perish.
Rather than death, and worthier of thyself,
Sublimer fortitude thy life would shew.

Ma.
Live without her! ... I have not power to do it ...
Cannot I rescue her by any means? ...
I will yet see her only once more.

Sci.
Ah!
Assuredly her converse may avail,
More than I can avail, to re-excite
Its noble impulses within thy breast.—
Behold her; 'tis her wish to plant herself
Near to my tent. Before the eyes of Rome,
And in the presence of all Africa,
She wishes to fulfil each cruel duty.
Hear her; with her I leave thee: Scipio
In both of you confides; thou canst not bear
Her to surpass thee in sublimity.

SCENE THE FOURTH.

Sophonisba, Scipio, Masinissa.
So.
Ah! pause, oh Scipio. I repair'd to thee;
And me dost thou avoid?

Sci.
A sacred duty
Enjoins that I prepare for the dead king
A splendid funeral pile ...

So.
Hither at least,
I pray thee, soon return. This will henceforth
Be my perpetual dwelling place; and here
I swear to wait for thee.

SCENE THE FIFTH.

Sophonisba, Masinissa.
Ma.
Perfidious lady!
And dost thou also to inhuman pride
Add treachery?

So.
Treachery!

Ma.
Treachery, yes; while I
Prepare to save you, or to die for you,
Thyself revealest my design to Scipio.

So.
—Syphax allowed me not to die with him.

Ma.
He wish'd thee safe with me.

So.
Already he
His freedom had regain'd; that which I seek,
And shall obtain.—I cannot, if my fame
I would not forfeit, from the Roman camp
Withdraw myself with thee. With a true love
Too much thou lovest and hast loved me,
That I should save myself at such a risk:
I am too worthy of thy tenderness,
E'er to allow thee to do this. I have,
In making manifest thy purposes,
Taken nought from thee but the fatal power
My honour and thy glory to betray.

Ma.
Thou art deceived; nought hast thou taken from me.
Yet I may all achieve: rivers of blood
I yet may shed: all mine I will pour out
Ere I leave thee a slave! ...

So.
Am I a slave?
Such dost thou now account me?

Ma.
In the power
Of Rome art thou.

So.
Of Rome! As yet I am
In my own power; or in thy power, if thou
Feel'st for me yet the pity of a king.

Ma.
Thou mak'st me tremble ... on thy countenance
I see a horrible security,
The harbinger of voluntary death ...
But I would lead thee ...

So.
All, all will be vain:
There is no force on earth that can avail
To counteract my will, which is in me
The child of duty. Indispensable,
Immutable, impending, is my death,
And 'twill, I hope, be free; although I am
Of all things destitute; although I left
In Cirta, inadvertently, the last,
The only friend of subjugated kings,
My faithful poison; from my lover's lips
Although I heard a sacred solemn oath,
That he would wrest me from the hands of Rome; ...
An oath committed to the vagrant winds.
Amid these haughty eagles yet a queen,
Daughter of Asdrubal, no less secure,
No less collected in myself I stand
Than if in Carthage, or within my palace.—
But thou, thou speakest not. ... Distracted looks,
Swimming with tears, thou fixest on the ground. ...
Ah! trust me, my affliction equals thine ...

Ma.
The effect of each is different: destitute
Of courage, weaker than the weakest woman,
Trembling I stand; while thou ...

So.
The state of each
May be dissimilar: not so our hearts ...
Believe my words: although I do not weep,
I feel my bosom rack'd with agony:
I am a woman; nor make I parade
Of virile courage: but there doth remain
No path for me to take save that of death.
If I had loved thee less, I might perchance
Have been the partner of thy flight to Carthage;
And, at the price of my renown, have gain'd
A short-lived vengeance, with thy troops, o'er Rome:
But I would not expose thee, for my sake,
To an unprofitable risk. The fall
Of Carthage is inevitable now:
Ill can a corrupt and discordant city
Cope with united and harmonious Rome.
I should have lived too long if I had seen,
On my account, my country overwhelm'd,
And thee with it hurl'd headlong to destruction.
Faithful remain to Rome; continue still
A grateful friend to mighty Scipio.
To raise thee to great power, to give thy virtues
An ample scope for action, all this now
My death can do, and nothing but my death.
Thy good, e'en more than mine, to this compels me ...

Ma.
Dost count me then so vile as to expect
That I should struggle to survive thy death?

So.
I wish thee to excel me: and to prove
Thy brighter excellence thou should'st survive;
And in the name of thy renown do I
Enjoin thee to do this. To thee would death
Be a disgrace; for to it love alone
Could prompt thee: life were a disgrace to me,
Since love alone could force me to endure it.
My death, thou know'st, is indispensable;
To me thou swaredst it; and such a gift
Would yet be grateful to me from thy hands:
Not by refusing it canst thou avert
My settled purpose. In this very place,
Before the camp, immoveable and mute,
Yet three more days, which I shall add to this,
In which I have not slaked my burning thirst
E'en with a draught of water, will give me
Entire ascendency o'er Rome. But ah!
Is there compassion in thee, thus to leave me
To a protracted agonizing death,
When thou hadst promised to procure me one
Both brief and dignified ... Fool that I was!
Trusting in thee alone, I hither came ...

Ma.
Thou on our death hast then resolved? ...

So.
On mine.
If madly thou, against my express will,
Turnest thy arms against thyself, now hear
A furious threat, and if thou dare, defy it;
I will be dragg'd a living slave to Rome,
And will ascribe to thee my infamy ...
Ere the return of Scipio, I conjure thee,
Restore me, thou, to perfect liberty;
If thou art not forsworn.

Ma.
What dost thou ask? ...
Oh Heaven! ... I cannot arm thee with my sword ...
Thy dubious aim ...

So.
The sword requires, 'tis true,
A hand accustomed to its management.
A bowl of speedy and effective poison
Were more adapted to my female courage.
I see not far from hence thy faithful son
Guludda; for thy sake he always bears it;
Call him; I am resolved.

Ma.
Oh day of woe!—
Give me that bowl, Guludda.—Now go thou
Wait for me at my tent.—And is this then,
Is this at once the first and latest pledge
Of my unbounded love, which thou would'st wrest
By force from me? ... Too certainly I see
That thou on no terms will consent to live;
And to a long and agonizing death
I cannot leave thee.—I will not shed tears, ...
Because thou weepest not: behold, to thee
The deadly potion I present myself
With tearless eyes ... but only on condition,
That in its contents I shall have my share ...

So.
Yes, thou shalt have it, as thou meritest.
Now of my lofty love at length thou'rt worthy.
Give me the bowl.

Ma.
Oh Heaven! ... Hand and heart
I tremble ...

So.
Why delay? Ere Scipio comes
The deed must be accomplish'd ...

Ma.
Take the bowl.
Alas! What have I done? Oh agony! ...

So.
I've quaff'd it to the dregs: I see already
Scipio returns.

Ma.
Dost thou deceive me thus?
I have a sword remaining yet; and I
Will follow thee.

SCENE THE SIXTH.

Scipio, Masinissa, Sophonisba.
Sci.
Ah no! While I have breath ...

Ma.
Ah traitor! In thy bosom I will then
Take vengeance for that immolated lady.

Sci.
Behold my breast defenceless: I will loose,
That I may be thy victim, thy right-hand;
Except for this, in vain thou wishest it.

So.
Oh Masinissa, if thou dar'st, I hate thee ...

Sci.
Me, me alone, thy hand may immolate;
But, while I live, thou shalt not turn thy sword
Against thy own breast.

Ma.
—I am once more myself.—
Scipio, of all hast thou bereft me now,
E'en to my sense of honour.

So.
Thankless man! ...
Canst thou calumniate Scipio? He grants me,
As he has granted Syphax, a free death;
While perhaps he might have interdicted it:
By dint of force he wrests thee from the shame
Of an effeminate opprobrious death:
And darest thou, ungrateful, darest thou
Calumniate Scipio? Yield, ah yield to him!
He is at once thy brother, father, friend.

Ma.
Now leave me: thou in vain dost check my rage.
Death ... death ... I yet ...

So.
Ah Scipio ... leave him not:
Out of my sight elsewhere drag him by force:
He was born great, and thy sublime example
To greatness may restore him: from the world,
From Rome, conceal his weakness ... I ... already ...
Feel my tongue palsied ... and my blood congeal'd ...
To him I give not ... not to rend his heart ...
The last farewell.—Ah drag him hence ... I pray thee;
And me ... leave me to die, ... as ought to die
Asdrubal's daughter ... in the ... Roman camp.

Ma.
Ah! ... By despair ... by grief ... I am bereft
Of all my strength ... I scarce can breathe ... much less
Inflict ... a blow ...

Sci.
Come; I will use towards thee
The violence of a friend. I will not leave thee ...
Nor ever shall thy grief destroy thy life,
If with thyself thou do not slay thy Scipio.