 | The tragedy of Sophonisba |  |
SCENE VII.
Sophonisba, Phoenissa; and to them a Slave, with a letter and poison from Masinissa.Slave
kneeling.
This, Madam, from the King, and this.
Sophonisba.
Ha!—Stay.
(Reads the Letter.)
Rejoice, Phœnissa! Give me joy, my friend!
For here is liberty! My fears are air!
The hand of Rome can never touch me more!
Hail! perfect freedom, hail!
Phoenissa.
How? what? my queen!
Ah what is this?
(Pointing to the poison.)
Sophonisba.
The first of blessings, death.
Phoenissa.
Alas! alas! can I rejoice in that?
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Shift not thy colour at the sound of death;
For death appears not in a dreary light,
Seem not a blank to me; a losing all
Those fond sensations, those enchanting dreams,
Which cheat a toiling world from day to day,
And form the whole of happiness they know.
It is to me perfection, glory, triumph.
Nay fondly would I chuse it, tho' persuaded
It were a long dark night without a morning,
To bondage far prefer it! since it is
Deliverance from a world where Romans rule,
Where violence prevails—And timely too—
Before my country falls; before I feel
As many stripes, as many chains, and deaths,
As there are lives in Carthage.—Glorious charter!
By which I hold immortal life and freedom,
Come, let me read thee once again.—And then,
To thy great purpose.
(Reads the letter aloud.)
For death appears not in a dreary light,
Seem not a blank to me; a losing all
Those fond sensations, those enchanting dreams,
Which cheat a toiling world from day to day,
And form the whole of happiness they know.
It is to me perfection, glory, triumph.
Nay fondly would I chuse it, tho' persuaded
It were a long dark night without a morning,
To bondage far prefer it! since it is
Deliverance from a world where Romans rule,
Where violence prevails—And timely too—
Before my country falls; before I feel
As many stripes, as many chains, and deaths,
As there are lives in Carthage.—Glorious charter!
By which I hold immortal life and freedom,
Come, let me read thee once again.—And then,
To thy great purpose.
Masinissa to his Queen.
The Gods know with what pleasure I would have
kept my faith to Sophonisba in another manner. But
since this fatal bowl can alone deliver thee from the
Romans: call to mind thy father, thy country, that
thou hast been the wife of two kings; and act up to
the dictates of thy own heart. I will not long survive
thee.
Oh, 'tis wondrous well!
Ye Gods of death! who rule the Stygian gloom,
Ye who have greatly dy'd! I come! I come!
I die contented, since I die a queen;
By Rome untouch'd, unsullied by their power;
So much their terror that I must not live.
Ye Gods of death! who rule the Stygian gloom,
Ye who have greatly dy'd! I come! I come!
I die contented, since I die a queen;
By Rome untouch'd, unsullied by their power;
So much their terror that I must not live.
And thou, go tell the king, if this is all
The nuptial present he can send his bride,
I thank him for it—But that death had worn
An easier face before I trusted him.
His poison, tell him too, he might have spar'd,
These times may want it for himself; and I
Live not of such a cordial unprovided.
Add, hither had he come, I could have taught
Him how to die.—I linger not, remember,
I stand not shivering on the brink of life;
And, but these votive drops, which grateful thus
(Taking them from the poison)
To Jove the high Deliverer I shed,
Assure him that I drank it, drank it all,
With an unalter'd smile—Away.
The nuptial present he can send his bride,
I thank him for it—But that death had worn
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His poison, tell him too, he might have spar'd,
These times may want it for himself; and I
Live not of such a cordial unprovided.
Add, hither had he come, I could have taught
Him how to die.—I linger not, remember,
I stand not shivering on the brink of life;
And, but these votive drops, which grateful thus
(Taking them from the poison)
To Jove the high Deliverer I shed,
Assure him that I drank it, drank it all,
With an unalter'd smile—Away.
(Drinks.)
| The tragedy of Sophonisba | |