University of Virginia Library

ACT V.

The Temple of the Sun. Enter Alth. disguis'd, with Cassiope and Mer.
Alth.
Give me a full account of all, that past.

Cass.
Soon as your Gifts and Children reach'd the Presence,
Your Friends, that felt your Sorrows, were o'rejoy'd,
That Phaeton, and you were reconcil'd.

Alth.
On to Lybia.—of her I'd only hear.

Cass.
Unmark'd by her (for she was fondly toying
With her new Lord, her Eyes fast fixt on his,
And darting wanton Wishes to his Soul)
We came up to her.—Seeing us she started.
Sprung from his Arms, and turn'd away her Face,
As if the Gorgon sight wou'd make her Stone.

Alth.
Gods! Gods! how I despise her petty Malice.
That reach'd my tender in offensive Children.
Yet she might fear them well; they brought her Death.

Mer.
Averse she held her angry Eyes a while.
Till Phaeton thus mildly checkd her scorn.
Receive my Friends with a more gentle Brow,
Think these a valu'd Portion of your Husband.
Receive their precious Gifts, and beg your Father
For my sake to remit my Childrens Exile.
Soon as her greedy Eyes had spy'd the Presents;
The dazling Crown and Robe of heav'nly Make.
She cou'd deny him nothing, All was granted.
Upon her downy Hair he set the Crown,
And on her Shoulders fixt the flowing Mantle.

Alth.
O! height! O! Masterpiece of dear Revenge!
To make my perjur'd Husband put 'em on,
And with officious Hands ensure her Ruin!

Cass.
Proud of the glittering Load, with haughty steps
She traverses the Room; and in the Glass,
With self-pleas'd Eyes, surveys her shining Form.

Alth.
So the fond Victim to the Altar doom'd,
Bounds o're the Earth exalted with its Trappings,
Its sacred Wreaths, and holy Pomp of Death,
Unknowing that these usher its Fate,
So Lybia too.—For all those glittering Presents
Great Juno gave me, and she bid me send 'em
To my most hated Foe for sure Revenge
Here in the Temple of the Sun I'll wait
To see my guilty Sacrifices fall.
Thus veil'd secure, within this hostile Roof.

Enter Priests of the Sun, &c. and move gravely down, one each side the Stage.
Cass.
The holy Priests already are advanc'd,
And see the Court, and Bride and Bridegroom come.

(They all Enter.
Alth.
With guilty Joy they come, but shall return
VVith an avenging Grief. I know the poison
Must have effect before the Rites are done.

The Bridegroom places himself on one side the Altar, the Bride on the other, and the rest in their order, then the Music begins; during which, Althea often looks on Phaeton.
1st Priest.
O! sacrid Isis! and Apollo hear!
O! bright Divinities give ear,
And showr your blessings on this Royal Pair.

Repeat in a Chorus.
2d Priest.
Look down bright God of day, look down,
On this fair Virgin, and thy Son.
Ease their Pain:
Increase their pleasure,
In soft Chains ensure their Treasure.
Give 'em joys, ah! give 'em blisses,
Melting as their warmest wishes!

Chorus.
O! sacred Phœbus hear,
And showr your blessings on this on this happy pair.

1st Priest.
Isis, by the pains Love cost you,
By the storms in which it tost you,
By the awful charms of Jove,
By the Transports of his Love.

Chorus.
O! sacred Isis and Apollo hear,
O! bright Divinities, give ear,
And shour your Blessings on this Royal pair.

After the Music, two Priests lead Lybia up to the Altar, where she kneels down on a Cushion, and offers Incence, as she is leading up, Althea speaks.
Alth.
Why beats my Heart thus? what does love return?
Why shou'd such tender thoughts besiege my Breast
Ev'n in the Act, in which he wrongs me most?
Oh! cou'd he yet repent, I coud forgive him:
For he has got a Friend within my Bosome,
Pleads for him with prevailing Eloquence.
Methinks too midst this outward formal Joy,
There sits a sort of sorrow on his Brow.
That flatters me, that I am yet within.
Ill try him—
And if he yet persists—then let him dye.
Goes up to him and pulls him aside.
My Lord!
While your fair Bride her Sacrifice performs
Permit me speak with you.

Phae.
Some other Time.

Alth.
It does concern your Happiness, and Life.

Phae.
Come to me then, soon as the Rites are over.

Alth.
'Twill be too late.

Phae.
No matter—then I'll dye.
No Fears shall interrupt my present Joy.

Alth.
Gods! how he's transported!—one moment, Sir,
Or midst your Joys you perish.

Phae.
Prithee leave me.

Alth.
I wish I cou'd! but—you must hear me speak.

Pha.
If I must hear you, I pray you be most brief.
For I've no time to trifle.

Alth.
This way a little.

Seems to discourse him.
The Princess sinks down on her cushion before the Altar.
Priest.
The Princess, help, the Princess faints away!

The Company gets about her, but Phaeton is stopt by Althea.
Alth.
You must not thither, for your Fate lies there.
Or if a Womans Death you long to see,
Turn! oh! turn your barbarous Eyes on me!
Unveils herself.
See your Althea perish at your feet!
Does no Remorse? no pity touch you yet?

Pha.
Althea ha! what means this fond relapse?

Alth.
Is then Althea quite forgot? forsaken,
Cast off for ever? here at least remember,
Before the Gods within their Roofs, your Vows.

[Merops in the crowd.]
Ha! she grows paler, see a sudden shiv'ring
Has seiz'd on all her Limbs. Oh! bear her quickly
Back to her Apartment. O! fatal Nuptials!

All go off with the Princess.
Phae.
Let go my Arm—my Princess is not well.

Alth.
Your Wife is worse, your Benefactress worse.

Phae.
Her sudden Ill has discompos'd me so,
I am unfit to reason with you now.

Alth.
So griev'd for her! so unconcern'd for me!
Gods! sure you owe me more, than foolish Lybia!

Phae.
Some other time will better suit your Madness;
Now Love and Honour call me to my Princess.

Alth.
Ha! Love and Honor! thou, alas! hast neither.
What, Love and Honor call you from your Wife?
From your Preserver? from the Wretch you've made so?

Phae.
Grief fills my Soul so, there's no Room for Anger,
Or I shou'd chide th'impertinence away.

Alth.
False Wretch! beware, beware how you provoke me;
A Qualm of Pity stopp'd thee from thy Ruin—
But have a Care.—

Phae.
Then let your Cruelty strait send me to it,
If with my sickning Princess I shall find it.

Alth.
Fond Man, here's Life, there certain Death attends thee.

Phae.
Let me but go, I'll face that certain Death.

Alth.
Hell! and Furies! how he slights my Love!
Is Death with her better than Life with me?

Phae.
Since you will force the Secret from me—'tis.

Alth.
Enough! enough! thou Ill without a Name!
Yes, false betrayer, yes, ingrateful Wretch,
You shall go to her—but you first shall hear
The Noble Vengeance, that you have assisted.

Phae.
starting.
Ha! Vengeance saist thou? and by me assisted

Alth.
I did not wrong thee in thy darling Office,
For Death, and Ruin are the just Returns
You're us'd to make for Tenderness and Love.

Phae.
Ha! Death, and Ruin! Oh! my boding Heart!

Alth.
When with the Crown and Robe you deck'd your Bride,
You drest the Victim of my injur'd Love.
You fix'd ten thousand Poisons on her Head,
And cloath'd her in inevitable Fate.
Ev'n now she breathes her last; now gasps for Breath,
Go reap the Fruit of Perjury in Death.
Clasp to thy fickle Breast her dying Charms,
And hug th'Infection in thy faithless Arms.

Pha.
O! dire Revenge for what was kindly meant thee!
O! barbarous Woman, or fell Tygress rather.
More cruel far, than Scylla, or the Syrens,
Like the Hyæna, and the Crocodile,
With false Laments, and artful Tears you kill—
But may th'avenging Furies soon o'retake thee.
The Gods destroy thee, or the earth devour thee:
Heav'n pierce thee with its Bolts: Hell rack thee with its Tortures

Alth.
In vain you rave; in vain you vent your Curses;
What God, or Dæmon can regard your Pray'rs,
Perjur'd, as you are, by all their Deities?

Pha.
They need not, for thy Guilt will always haunt thee.

Alth.
My Guilt? Why I am wholly innocent!
Thy Crimes provok'd it, and thy Hands perform'd it.

Pha.
My Hands? my Hands too shou'd revenge it.

Alth.
If it be kind, or just thou canst not do it.

Pha.
Thou'rt troublesome to me, and thy Speech is hateful.

Alth.
W' agree in this, for thine is so to me:
Go, go, and bury your expiring Bride.

Pha.
Oh! Honor! Piety! Manhood now assist me!
Assist, thou bright paternal Fire, assist!
Or Rage unmans me: drives me to a Deed,
Will sully all my past, and future Glories.
Pauses.
Woman away—lest all shou'd be too weak
To guard thee from my Rage, my growing Madness.

Alth.
This slighted Out-cast, this abandon'd Wife,
Alone, deserted, had the Pow'r, you find,
To sink the Pride of your injurious Ægypt;
And punish thee, 'midst thy fond security.

Pha.
Woman, I say be gone—be gone! or yet—

Laying his hand upon his Sword.
Enter a Messenger in haste.
Mess.
My Lord,
If you wou'd see the Princess e'r she dye,
You must outstrip the Minutes swiftest haste.

Phae.
Thanks to thy call, I h'd lost my self in Rage;
Almost forgot my Lybia too.—I fly.

Is going.
Alth.
Fly, fly swiftly, to compleat my Vengeance.

Enter Epaphus hastily, meets Phaeton and stops him.
Phae.
Whence is this frightful haste?

Epaph.
I come to you,
But whence, alas! I come, I scarce dare tell you.

Phae.
Speak boldly, for I am prepar'd to hear you.

Epa.
But oh! I bring so sad a Tale, so near
Concerning you, you'll never bear it.
A tale so dreadful, and so full of Horror,
'Twill chill your Blood, and freeze you into Age.

Phae.
Speak on—say Lybia's dead, and yet thou'lt see
I have a Godlike Virtue to support it.

Epa.
You'll need it All, for tis from her I come.
Scarce had she reach'd the door of her Apartment,
When from her Mouth a white, but horrid Foam,
Spread o're her lovely Face, her Eye-balls roll'd,
And wildly whirld about with dire Convulsions.
Silent she lay, or-breathd but piteous Sighs,
And piercing groans, till the first fit was over

Phae.
Gods! how this staggers all my boasted Courage!
Was not her Death enough? but Tortures too?

Alth.
Go on, for all my injur'd Blood it warms.

Epa.
No sooner to herself she came, but saw
The blazing Crown belch out a fiery Deluge,
That prey'd upon her Hair, her Head, her Face;
From whence her Flesh like melting Wax ran down,
Mingl'd with Fire and Blood. Mean while the Robe
With fatal Rage devour'd her fainting Limbs.

Phae.
How did she? nay, how cou'd she bear all this?

Epa.
First starting up, she shook her flaming Hair:
From side to side she toss'd her burning Temples,
To dash the cleaving Gold from off her Head.
In vain, the more she shook, the more it fix'd, and burnt.

Pha.
O! strange! O! miserable Fate!

Epa.
But then o're come by the prevailing Mischief,
Alas! she fell—but too unlike herself!
Gone were the rosie Honours of her Face,
And fled the awful Lustre of her Eye.

Phae.
O hapless Maid! O! wretched Phaeton!

Epa.
All struck till now with the amazing Evil
Forbore to touch her; till th'unhappy Father,
Now starting from his Trance of sudden Woe,
Threw down his aged Body by her, clasp'd,
And kiss'd her—Then burst into these Moans.
O! m' unhappy Daughter! what angry God
Deny'd thy pious hands to close my Eyes,
Ev'n on this shut of Life? O! my poor Girl!
Gods that I might but perish with thee now!
He said no more, secure of being heard.

Phae.
Oh! parent God support me or I fall!

Epa.
But oh! the dreadful Contest that ensu'd
Striving at length to raise his tyr'd Body,
He stuck too fast to the invenom'd Robe
Ever to part from his consuming Child.
He rends her Flesh and Bowels if he rises,
And if he stays immediately he dyes.
Few were the weak Efforts the Father made,
But soon his fainting Body by her Corps he laid,
He saw his Daughter in the Flame expire,
Then sunk himself in the same fatal Fire.
And then alas! sad Clymene.—

Phae.
No more.
I charge thee, by thy Friendship, say no more.
But cast a Veil of silence o're the rest.
I've heard too much, too much already—lend your hand.
The Ghastly Image sinks my floating Senses
I bore what man cou'd bear, but Ills like these
O'recome the God within me!

Faints away.
Enter a Messenger.
Mess.
Where, where's the Prince? the Multitude,
Enrag'd at what the Royal House has suffer'd,
Forcing the Palace, with one common Voice.
Devote Althea to immediate Vengeance.

Alth.
No, dull Ægyptian, no, I am not born
To fall by their vile Hands, by base Ægyptians.
This Dagger is my Safe-guard, and this Hand.
Protects me from that Infamy.

Cassi.
O! Madam do not pierce your own dear Bosom!
This awful Temple will repel their Fury,
And gain you Time for a more gentle Fate.

Alth.
Impossible! the Peoples Rage spares nothing.
Has no respect to Altars, or to Gods!—
Besides—Happiness has for ever left me,
And to live wretched, is much worse, than Death.
It is enough I've liv'd to see my Wrongs
Amply revenged: I'll leave no turn to Fortune
To rob me of that Joy, but thus—

Cassi.
O! stop your fatal Hand!

(As she stabs herself they seize her hand, and wrest the Dagger from her, but coud not prevent a slight wound.
Merops.
What have you done?

Alth.
Do you conspire too against my Peace?
'Tis well the Daggers arm'd with double Fate,
I h'd mist my Aim else, now this scratch will do it;
What the Blow can't, the Poison will perform.

Epa.
He breathes, go bear him gently to his Bed,
I'll but appease the people, and attend him.

They bear off Phaeton.
Enter another Messenger.
Mess.
My Lord, the tumult now is grown too fierce
To be repell'd, or ev'n to be withstood.
Like Fire in Stubble driven before the Wind,
They bear down all.
Althea's Lodgings they've destroy'd already,
And tore her Children in ten thousand pieces.
Nor satisfy'd with this they rave for her.
And much I fear, unless she's found, their Fury
Will reach the Prince himself as her Concealer.

Epa.
The Prince; alas! he feels too much already
Of this their common Woe.

Mess.
You they declare,
As Son to their bright Goddess, King of Ægypt.

Epa.
The Crown, I own, is an Illustrious offer,
Yet not to be accepted by a Friend
In a friends wrong, that is unworthy me. I will go to 'em
Appease their fury with the Awe of Isis,
Or fall my self to vindicate my Friend
Fortune does ev'ry day dispose of Crowns,
But Heav'n too seldom gives a faithful Friend.

Ex. cum suis
Alth.
Ha! Merope! what did the fatal Raven Croak?
My Children! my dear Infants torn to pieces?
O! dreadful News! O! cruel Rage! O! cursed Ægypt!

Mer.
Twas so, alas! he said!

Alth.
Dead! are they dead! the pretty Orphans dead!
Their Tongues that us'd to charm me with such Music,
For ever silenc'd? And their sparkling Eyes
Shut up, and clos'd for ever.

(Walks up and down discomposedly.
Cass.
Grieve not too much for
What you can't redress.

Alth.
Yet the great Gods, that suffer'd all this Evil,
Might have some mighty End, and Purpose in it.
To prevent Ills hid in the Womb of Time.
They took them innocent from this bad World,
As yet incapable of Guilt, or Grief.
For had they liv'd, perhaps they might have prov'd
False as their Father, or like me unhappy.

Mer.
Then grieve no more, for what the Gods have doom'd

Alth.
But thus to dye! thus to be torn to pieces!
Their Limbs dissever'd, their dear little Arms
That have so often twisted round my Neck,
Their balmy Lips, that have so often kiss'd me,
Mangl'd and torn to pieces by vile Slaves!
By barbarous, curs'd Ægyptians! O! pain!
O! Torture! greater far than Lybia bore!
She faints away into their Arms.
This cannot, must not be!—Oh!

Cass.
Oh! Merope! our wretched Lady's dead!

Mer.
No—Life still struggles with grim Death within her:
Her Heart with furious, and thick beating Throbs
Bounces against her Breast.
Bend her more forward—So she revives.

Alth.
Stand off, and give me way, that I may fly
Swifter than thought, to stop the murdering Hand
Of Destiny.—Gods! Gods! I'm come too late!
The Deed is done, their tender Threads are cut!
Oh! for the pow'r of strong Thessalian Charms!
To mock her Envy, and reverse their Doom!
All will not do—they are for ever lost!

Mer.
Alas! she raves, her Look and Motion's wild!

Cass.
Alas! my Heart bleeds at the piteous sight!

Alth.
Hist—in your Ear. I've found the secret out.
Drawing 'em to her.
—Softly we'll creep to the black horrid Scene
Of Infants Blood, and steal the precious Pieces;
Gather them all, and carry 'em to the Gods
To solder them together—the Gods can do it.

Cass.
What can we do to give her some Relief?

Merops.
Oh! 'tis not to be done—Despair, and Poison
Unite their Force to disappoint ous Wishes.

Alth.
Ha! th'unequal Gods deny the Boon!
Again disperse and scatter the dear Reliques,
I with such Pain, and Hazard have collected.
Pauses, and looks upward.
'Tis Guilt, not Innocence is now their Care,
For perjur'd Phaeton is born aloft,
And grows familiar with the partial Gods.

Mer.
O! ye just Gods! remit her raging Grief!

Cass.
Oh! that I cou'd, by sharing it, abate it.

Alth.
Ha! now he's leapt into his Fathers Seat!
He h's seiz'd the fiery Chariot of the Sun.
But see the Steeds despise his feeble Rein,
And swiftly whirl him ore the Azure Plain.
pauses, looking fix'dly upward.
The Chariot burns! th'Heav'ns blaze, th'Earths on Fire!
See Athos, Ida, Taurus, Oeta Flame!
Hills and Valleys burn! Fountains and Streams dry up
Stars, Earth, and Air are swallow'd up in Fire—
Ambition falls, see now he tumbles down!
The Precipice of Heav'n!—Oh! shield us Jove!
For now he comes directly on our Heads.
Breaks from them that endeavour to hold her, tears off her Head-Cloaths, &c. and her hair tumbles about her Shoulders.
Tear, tear, tear off these Flaming Tresses,
These burning Garments, this catching Fuel!
Haste, haste into the Flood, or we consume!
Throws herself down.
So so, hark! hark! that Thunderclap has sav'd us!
See he's faln, he's motionless, he's dead!
Ha! how freezing cold he's grown already!
I've caught the shudd'ring Fit, it chills my Heart!
Oh!

Dyes.
Re-enter Epaphus.
Epa.
Here let the People wait till we return,
Speaks entring.
Too far already has these Fury bore 'em
Ægyptians! Countrymen! see where she lies!
And let your Anger terminate with Death
But learn ye All from this too fatal Day
That Jove o're Kings maintains an awful Sway.
All things are order'd by the Pow'rs above.
Against whose Will our Counsels fruitless prove.
In sad Events our wisest hopes we lose;
And what we can't expect the Gods produce.

Exeunt Omnes