 | Agis |  |
SCENE THE FIRST.
Leonidas, Anpharus.An.
Behold, Leonidas, thou once more sittest
Upon thy royal throne. Entirely, Sparta,
Or of her citizens the better part,
Those who are really and maturely wise,
The lovers of the public weal, have turn'd
Their eyes to thee, expecting, by thy means,
To gain a respite from their long distress.
Le.
Yet thence I do not deem, while Agis lives,
That I am king of Sparta. He not only
Lives, but reigns also in the hearts of many.
This temple is to him a place of refuge,
128
With a tumultuary audacious throng,
Who yet desire him for their king, and cry
For him once more my partner on the throne.
An.
And fearest thou to be o'ercome by him?
I swear, and all the other ephori
Swear likewise, Agis never shall be king.
But art is rather needful now than force ...
Le.
Lately had he such influence acquired,
That he had dared, with his contrivances,
And with his new and ill-imagined laws,
To overturn all Spartan institutes
By open force, and from the throne to drive
Me into exile: ought I, in that throne,
Reseated by my faithful Spartans, now
To avenge myself on him by hidden schemes?
An.
Thou art compell'd to stoop to stratagems:
He is thy son-in-law. The day that thou
In cruel banishment, alone, abandon'd,
Robb'd of thy royal crown, from Sparta wentest,
He shew'd thee kindness. To the fierce assassin,
That in pursuit of thee, to spill thy blood,
Agesilaus sent, with open force
Agis opposed himself, and led thee safe
(Thou must remember) to Tegæa's confines:
In this one act alone he did not seem
The son of Agesistrata, in this
Openly adverse to her guilty brother.
Thou only now canst prosecute thy vengeance
By feign'd concernment for the public good.
Le.
An infamous gift he made me of my life
The day that he expell'd me from the throne;
And as the injury most exquisite,
129
A foe no longer to be fear'd! To-day
Will I in this entirely undeceive him.
That he's my son-in-law, doubles in me
My hatred towards him. Son-in-law to me?
Ah! what was my mistake t'have given to him
A lady so dissimilar in marriage?
No reparation but his death remains.
Beloved Agiziade, mine only daughter,
Thou my companion, my solace thou
Wert to me in my dreary exile. She
Abandon'd her beloved spouse, since he
Was hostile to her father; she esteem'd
The ties of nature more imperative
Than those of love: and she would rather drag
A wretched wandering life with me, than share
The throne with my unworthy adversary.
An.
Yet in proportion as thy rage is just,
Suppress its workings, if thou would'st indulge it.
Not less than thee I hate the haughty Agis;
And his parade of antiquated virtues,
Feign'd to reflect on us. It is a folly
No less ambitious than malevolent,
To seek to rivet Sparta with those chains
That erst Lycurgus framed: yet his design
Has no less scope than this; hence had his rule
Reduced our city to extremity:
And yet distracted, languishing she lies,
In tumults, and perplexities involved.
But all things change with time. Those factious traitors,
The ephori, Agesilaus' slaves,
And more to him devoted than to Agis,
130
And Sparta now in us alone is centred.
But the flagitious, discontented people,
Always desirous of new men and measures,
Yet, as a means to their pernicious views,
Their suffrage give to Agis. Ill can we
Restrain them by mere force; it is not safe
In a new government to use coercion.
The people may, with less of peril, be
Deluded than compell'd. Leave thou to me
This enterprise, in which, not less than thine,
My heart an interest takes. But here, behold
Comes Agesistrata. This lady makes
Fresh progress in th'affections of the Spartans
From day to day: she also should be fear'd.
| Agis | |