Sappho A Lyrical Drama in Three Acts |
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| 6. | SCENE VI. |
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 | Sappho |  |
SCENE VI.
PHAON enters to them.Ag.
Ah, whence that step! what wretch disturbs our rites?
Lyc.
Gods! does the Lesbian traitor dare insult
Chaste Hymen with his presence?
Ag.
Hence! far hence,
Thou most profane of that inconstant tribe,
Whom Hymen holds accurst.
Dor.
Hence, on thy life,
And dread the god's just vengeance.
Pha.
Well I know,
I merit all his vengeance; death befits
The wretch, who murder'd Sappho.
Dor.
Sappho murder'd?
Lyc.
And by thy impious hand?
Pha.
My hand is guiltless;
Nor is she dead. But know, she flies to Death,
And finds him at Leucate.
Ag.
Dread resolve!
Lyc.
Learn, Doris, learn to what dire deeds despair
Can drive a slighted lover.
357
Was this act
Her own, or did some Deity inspire it?
Pha.
She talk'd of visions from Apollo sent,
Of some strange Naiad, who proclaim'd his mandate;
Yet sure 'twas frenzy all, and caus'd by me:
I therefore murder'd Sappho.
Lyc.
Sure thou didst.
Think, what a victim to thy falsehood falls!
Ag.
She was the very soul of Poesy;
Form'd by Apollo's self: her tuneful frame
Was the rich lyre, whence all his rapture flow'd.
Dor.
Nor more attun'd to Poesy, than Love:
Each note she breath'd was melting, as the voice
Of Venus when she wept Adonis dead.
Pha.
And had I died before her; died while faithful,
Her lays had crown'd me with that shepherd's fame.
Ag.
Go then, disloyal youth, and mourn thy baseness;
Away to chearless solitude.
Pha.
I mean it.
Dor.
Bear not to other nymphs thy soft deceits,
Thy winning gestures, thy delusive smiles.
Lyc.
Nor hope, as here thou didst, to part two hearts,
Which virtue first united.
Ag.
Learn, that beauty,
Were it as bright as gilds Hyperion's cheek,
Save when its bloom inshrines a virtuous heart,
Is only splendid misery.
Pha.
This, and more
I patiently can bear. Mix with reproof
Your sharpest taunts, I'll yet endure them all;
For I deserve them all. Yes, to some cave,
Which never chearing sun-beam pierc'd, I'll fly:
There live forlorn; there unlamented die.
358
Your sharpest taunts, I'll yet endure them all;
For I deserve them all. Yes, to some cave,
Which never chearing sun-beam pierc'd, I'll fly:
There live forlorn; there unlamented die.
Hail, horrors, hail! I come, I come!
Ye caves, o'erhung with savage thorn,
Receive me to your haunts forlorn,
A sad, a silent guest;
Fling round my head your darkest gloom,
And hide me in that living tomb,
Where anguish exiles rest.
Ye caves, o'erhung with savage thorn,
Receive me to your haunts forlorn,
A sad, a silent guest;
Fling round my head your darkest gloom,
And hide me in that living tomb,
Where anguish exiles rest.
[Exit Phaon.
Ag.
Behold his fate, and tremble, ye that dare
To break those chaste and sanctimonious vows,
This deity approves. But see, what light
Sudden and dazzling sparkles from his symbol!
Behold! it moves; it shakes its saffron robe;
In gentle guise it waves its lambent torch;
It speaks.
[The Statue of Hymen during this speech appears animated by degrees, and then utters the following words in accompanying Recitative.
Mortals! to you 'tis given to view,
In bright ideal portraiture, the scene
Now passing at Leucate; mark it well,
And stamp the awful moral on your souls.
| Sappho | |