 | Poems, dramatic and miscellaneous |  |
SCENE V.
Gaudentiussolus—in disguise—just returned to the city, where he was shewn the murdered body of Ætius.
Was this the dowry of the fair Eudocia,
The mangled body of my much lov'd sire
Presented by her father's guilty hand?
Just gods avenge—the trait'rous deed avenge!
What is the faith—or what the gratitude,
Or what the sacred promise of an emperor!
As cruelty portrays an abject mind,
Servility precedes the fall of states
In this declension of the Roman world,
While tyrants dip the scymitar in blood,
And sport on human misery at large,
Shall I sit down with folded arms and see
A monster gorging on a parent's blood;
Or unaveng'd behold a father die
By Valentinian's base ungrateful hand!
Yet he, alas! is my Eudocia's sire:
But glory, fame, ambition and revenge
Bid me erase this passion from my heart,
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Recover Rome and reinstate her power,
And bring her back to glory, wealth and fame.
But hah!—Eudocia, pensive and alone;
[Seeing Eudocia at a distance.
Shall I advance, or banish her forever?
[While he hesitates, Eudocia slowly crosses the stage without observing him.]
One tear dissolves the firmness of my soul,
Unmans the mind, and melts the warrior down;
Dashes his hope, and weakens his resolve;
'Tis ruin to retire—death to speak.
Chaste as Diana in each graceful move,
While Venus lights the features of her face
And gives her son the torch to fire my soul;
Yet honour, conscience, virtue and the world
Forbid a union with his bloody house;
My father's murderer—the gods forbid!
Yet she's all innocence—and virtue's soul
Shines forth conspicuous in her heavenly form:
I haste from her as from the hand of death.
[Exeunt different ways.
| Poems, dramatic and miscellaneous | |