 | Jason |  |
SCENE III.
Enchantress, Melampus, Madauces, and Orontes.ORONTES,
entering.
Death to my sight! O perfidy!
MADAUCES.
What means
The king, so lately rescu'd from perdition?
ORONTES.
To thee, old man, my injur'd love appeals;
That this perfidious by repeated oaths
To me resign'd the fair-one I adore;
And I beheld him now profane her beauties
Within his false embrace.
ENCHANTRESS.
Hath Jason sworn?
MADAUCES.
Not knowing thou wert she Orontes woo'd.
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This is the fatal inadvertent error!
O goddesses implacable! I hear you.
Again your whisper'd mandates thrill my heart,
Which must perform th'inhuman task enjoin'd.
O goddesses implacable! I hear you.
Again your whisper'd mandates thrill my heart,
Which must perform th'inhuman task enjoin'd.
In mercy yet uproot these pond'rous hills;
Beneath their bases crush this hateful spot:
Unbosom hell, and change th' embow'ring shades
To vaults of sulphur and devouring fire;
Or with the Caspian, from its bottom roll'd,
O'erwhelm your own creation of distress.
Oh, Jason! Jason!—We must part again.
Beneath their bases crush this hateful spot:
Unbosom hell, and change th' embow'ring shades
To vaults of sulphur and devouring fire;
Or with the Caspian, from its bottom roll'd,
O'erwhelm your own creation of distress.
Oh, Jason! Jason!—We must part again.
MELAMPUS.
Dost thou pronounce that doom?
ENCHANTRESS.
I do—I must.
ORONTES.
My hopes revive.
ENCHANTRESS
to MELAMPUS.
Contest not, search not, hush
Complaint, and leave me.
MELAMPUS.
To ordain my fate
Thou art entitled—To contest thy will,
Were to renew past guilt—Ye pow'rs combin'd
For my destruction, instant let your spells
(I ask no more) erect a tomb for Jason!
My sight is clos'd, my heart already clay—
Madauces, bear me to the fun'ral pile.
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Speed hence, Madauces—Yet in me confide.
| Jason | |