University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

Masinissa, Sophonisba, Narva, Phoenissa.
Sophonisba.
Behold, victorious prince! the scene revers'd;
And Sophonisba kneeling here; a captive,
O'er whom the Gods, thy Fortune, and thy Virtue,
Have given unquestion'd power of life and death.
If such a one may raise her suppliant voice,
Once music to thy ear; if she may touch
Thy knee, thy purple, and thy victor-hand;
Oh listen, Masinissa! Let thy soul
Intensely listen! While I fervent pray,
And strong adjure thee, by that regal state,
In which with equal pomp we lately shone!
By the Numidian name, our common boast!
And by those houshold gods! who may, I wish,
With better omens take thee to this palace,
Than Syphax hence they sent. As is thy pleasure,
In all beside determine of my fate.
This, this alone I beg. Never, oh never!
Into the cruel, proud, and hated power
Of Romans let me fall. Since angry heaven
Will have it so, that I must be a slave,
And that a galling chain must bind these hands;
It were some little softning in my doom,
To call a kindred son of the same clime,
A native of Numidia, my lord.
But if thou canst not save me from the Romans,
If this sad favour be beyond thy power;
At least to give me death is what thou canst.
Here strike—my naked bosom courts thy sword;
And my last breath shall bless thee, Masinissa.

Masinissa.
Rise, Sophonisba, rise. To see thee thus
Is a revenge I scorn; and all the man
Within me, though much injur'd by thy pride,
And spirit too tempestuous for thy sex,
Yet blushes to behold thus at my feet,
Thus prostrate low, her, for whom kings have kneel'd,
The fairest, but the falsest of her sex.

Sophonisba.
Spare thy reproach.—'Tis cruel thus to lose
In ranckling discord, and ungenerous strife,
The few remaining moments that divide me
From the last evil, bondage—Roman bondage!
Yes, shut thy heart against me. Shut thy heart
Against compassion, every human thought,
Even recollected love: Yet know, rash Youth!
That when thou seest me swell their lofty triumph,
Thou seest thy self in me. This is my day;
To morrow may be thine. But here, assur'd,
Here will I lie on this vile earth, forlorn,
Of hope abandon'd, since despis'd by thee;
These locks all loose and sordid in the dust;
This sullied bosom growing to the ground,
Scorch'd up with anguish, and of every shape
Of misery full: till comes the soldier fierce
From recent blood; and, in thy very eye,
Lays raging his rude sanguinary grasp
On these weak limbs; and clinches them in chains.
Then if no friendly steel, no nectar'd draught
Of deadly poison, can enlarge my soul;
It will indignant burst from a slave's body;
And, join'd to mighty Dido, scorn ye all.

Masinissa.
Oh Sophonisba! 'tis not safe to hear thee;
And I mistook my Heart, to trust it thus.
Hence let me fly.

Sophonisba.
You shall not, Masinissa!
Here will I hold you, tremble here for ever;
Here unremitting grow, till you consent.
And can'st thou think, oh! canst thou think to leave me?
Expos'd, defenceless, wretched, here alone?
A prey to Romans flush'd with blood and conquest?
The subject of their scorn or baser love?
Sure Masinissa cannot; and, tho' chang'd,
Tho' cold as that averted look he wears;
Sure love can ne'er in generous breasts be lost
To that degree, as not from shame and outrage
To save what once they lov'd.

Masinissa.
Enchantment! Madness!
What would'st thou, Sophonisba!—Oh my heart!
My treacherous heart!

Sophonisba.
What would I, Masinissa?
My mean Request sits blushing on my cheek.
To be thy slave, young prince, is what I beg;
Here Sophonisba kneels to be thy slave;
Yet kneels in vain. But thou'rt a slave thy self,
And canst not from the Romans save one woman;
Her, who was once the triumph of thy soul;
E'er they seduc'd it by their lying glory.
Immortal gods! and am I fallen so low?
Scorn'd by a lover? by a slave to Rome?
Nought can be worth this baseness, life, nor empire!
I loath me for it.—On this kinder earth,
Then leave me, leave me, to despair and death!

Masinissa.
What means this conflict with almighty nature?
With the whole warring heart?—Rise, quickly rise,
In all the conquering majesty of charms,
O Sophonisba, rise! while here I swear,
By the tremendous powers that rule mankind!
By heaven and earth, and hell! by love, and glory!
The Romans shall not hurt you—Romans cannot;
For Rome is generous as the gods themselves,
And honours, not insults, a generous foe.
Yet since you dread them, take this sacred pledge,
This hand of surety, by which kings are bound;
By which I hold you mine, and vow to treat you,
With all the rev'rence due to ruin'd state,
With all the softness of remember'd love,
All that can sooth thy fate, and make thee happy.

Sophonisba.
I thank thee, Masinissa! now the same;
The same warm youth, exalted, full of soul;
With whom in happier days I wont to pass
The sighing hour: while, dawning fair in love,
All song and sweetness, life set joyous out;
Ere the black tempest of ambition rose,
And drove us different ways.—Thus dress'd in war,
In nodding plumes, o'ercast with fullen thought,
With purpos'd vengeance dark, I knew thee not;
But now breaks out the beauteous sun anew,
The gay Numidian shines who warm'd me once,
Whose love was glory.—Vain ideas, hence!
—Long since my heart, to nobler passions known,
Has your acquaintance scorn'd.

Masinissa.

Sophonisba.
May Masinissa
Ne'er want the goodness he has shewn to me.