University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

MAXIMUS and LEO moving to the Apartment of the Empress.
Maximus.
Hah!—does the empress haughtily reject
My proffer'd vows, and spurn me from her arms?

Leo.
Lost in the tender agonies of woe,
She wept, regardless of thy ardent prayer;
'Till grown outrageous by my urgent suit,
She started wild, as if despair awoke,
And rav'd, and sob'd, and imprecated death:
At last, collected in majestick pride,
She drew a poignard from beneath her robe,
And solemn swore, in most indignant strains,
If you presum'd to speak to her of love,
Its point transfix'd should send her to the grave,
More welcome far than thy abhor'd embrace.

[Scene opens and discovers Edoxia
Enter MAXIMUS and LEO.
Maximus.
I ask thy hand, and claim thee as my queen—
Jointly to govern and reform the state.

Edoxia.
And must an empress bear this bold outrage—
These stings of insult?—Shall a villain's hand
Drag to the altar—sacrifice my fame,
To each black passion that deforms the soul?
Oh! Heaven look down—his bold ambition curse—
Destruction send on him and all his race.

Maximus.
Did lust of empire, or of fame alone.
Thus bid me urge the fair Edoxia's hand—
Ambition, that proud source of human woe,
Thou might'st suspect had push'd my purpose on:
But though the lustre of a crown allures,
And sanction gives to deeds of boldest hue.
Justice alone, and love of virtue warms,
My ardent heart, and animates my arm.

Edoxia.
Durst thou profane the sacred name of virtue?
A sacrilegious murd'rer talk of virtue!
Thou know'st not what it means—an heart like thine
Ne'er felt its sacred warmth—not an idea
Of the heavenly flame could e'er exist
In thy corrupted brain—blown up by lust—
Revenge—ambition—death—
Thy dagger reeking with thy sovereign's blood,
Thou still would'st heighten thy detested crime
And make his wife a partner in thy guilt.

Maximus.
Thou wrong'st me much—to plead my cause
Would wound so chaste an ear;—false to his vows,
And faithless to thy bed, he wrong'd at once
The empress and myself.

Edoxia.
Him, I forgive—
But not the assassin of my injur'd lord;
Oh! let me fly from thee, and from perdition.

Maximus.
My destiny impell'd against my will,
My evil genius and my fate combin'd;
Nor will I now recede and yield a throne.
Thy wisdom, grace, and dignity of soul,
Command respect, and bend me to thy charms;
I ask thy aid to extirpate from Rome
Injustice—vice—with anarchy and crimes.
My gracious princess, sovereign, queen and wife,
Reign still in Rome, and grace the imperial throne.

Edoxia.
Thy perfidy thou think'st is made secure
By plunging Ætius in the general wreck;
His valorous hand would from thine impious grasp
Have pluck'd the sceptre, stained by thy touch:
Yes, if through Rome there was a Roman left.
As brave as Ætius, the diadem
Would of itself drop off,
From thine imperious brow.

Maximus.
Does not the empress know who murder'd Ætius?—
[To Leo.
And that Petronius would avenge his death?

Leo.
The bloody deed had not yet reach'd her ear,
When Valentinian fell.

Edoxia.
It is enough, she knows the miscreant—
The proud usurper of the vacant throne,
Who dares aspire to Valentinian's bed;
But witness, all ye powers of earth and heaven,
Ere my soul bends to sanctify the deed,
Or yields a victim to this bold offence,
The horrid void beneath the Tarpeian rock
Shall first be fed by all the Anician race.

Maximus.
Prepare the rites—Edoxia must be mine—
[To Leo.
Before the wood lark hails the morning dawn,
Or early matins call the virgins forth
To chant their lays—the empress is my bride—
Then time and love shall soften by degrees,
'Till Lethè lends forgetfulness to grief.

[Exit Maximus and Leo
Edoxia.

[Exit.