 | The tragedy of Sophonisba |  |
SCENE IX.
Sophonisba, Phoenissa, Masinissa, Lælius, Narva.Masinissa.
Has Sophonisba drank this cursed bowl?
Oh horror! horror! what a sight is here!
Sophonisba.
Had I not drank, Masinissa, then,
I had deserv'd it.
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Exquisite distress!
Oh bitter, bitter fate! And this last hope
Compleats my woe.
Sophonisba.
When will these ears be deaf,
To misery's complaint? These eyes be blind,
To mischief wrought by Rome?
Masinissa.
Too soon! too soon!—
Ah why so hasty? But a little while,
Hadst thou delay'd this horrid draught; I then
Had been as happy, as I now am wretched!
Sophonisba.
What means this talk of hope? of coward waiting?
Masinissa.
What have I done? Oh heavens! I cannot think
Without distraction, hell, and burning anguish,
On my rash deed!—But, while I talk, she dies!
And how? what? where am I then?—Say, canst thou
Forgive me, Sophonisba?
Sophonisba.
Yes, and more,
More than forgive thee, thank thee, Masinissa.
Hadst thou been weak, and dally'd with my freedom,
Till by proud Rome enslav'd; that injury
I never had forgiven.
Masinissa.
I came with life!
Lælius and I from Scipio hasted hither;
But Death was here before us—this vile poison!
Sophonisba.
With life!—There was some merit in the poison;
But this destroys it all.—And couldst thou think
Me mean enough to take it?—Oh! Phœnissa,
This mortal toil is almost at an end.—
Receive my parting soul.
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Alas, my queen!
Masinissa.
Dies! dies! and scorns me!—Mercy! Sophonisba!
Grant one forgiving look, while yet thou canst;
Or death it self, the grave cannot relieve me:
But with the furies join'd, my frantic ghost
Will howl for ever.—Quivering! and pale!
Have I done this?
Sophonisba.
Come nearer, Masinissa.—
Out! stubborn nature!—
Masinissa.
Misery! these pangs
To me transfer'd were ease.—A moment only!
An agonizing moment! while I have
An age of things to say!
Sophonisba.
We, but for Rome,
Might have been happy.—Rouze thee now, my soul!
The cold deliverer comes.—Be mild to Syphax!—
In my surviving friend behold me still!—
Farewell!—'Tis done.—O never, never, Carthage,
Shall I behold thee more!
(Dies.)
Masinissa.
Dead! dead! oh dead!
Is there no death for me?
(Snatches Lælius's sword to stab himself.)
Lælius.
Hold, Masinissa!
Masinissa.
And wouldst thou make a coward of me, Lælius?
Have me survive that murder'd excellence?
Have me survive that murder'd excellence?
Did she not stir? Ha! Who has shock'd my brain!
It whirls, it blazes.—Was it thou, old man?
It whirls, it blazes.—Was it thou, old man?
Narva.
Alas! alas!—good Masinissa, softly!
Let me conduct thee to thy couch.
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The grave
Were welcome.—But ye cannot make me live!
Oppress'd with life!—Off!—crowd not thus around me!
For I will hear, see, think no more!—Thou sun,
Keep up thy hated beams! And all I want
Of thee, kind earth, is an immediate grave!
Were welcome.—But ye cannot make me live!
Oppress'd with life!—Off!—crowd not thus around me!
For I will hear, see, think no more!—Thou sun,
Keep up thy hated beams! And all I want
Of thee, kind earth, is an immediate grave!
Ay, there she lyes!—Why to that pallid sweetness
Can not I, Nature! lay my lips, and die!
Can not I, Nature! lay my lips, and die!
(Throws himself beside her.)
Lælius.
See there the ruins of the noble mind,
When from calm reason passion tears the sway.
What pity she should perish!—Cruel war,
'Tis not the least misfortune in thy train,
That oft by thee the brave destroy the brave.
She had a Roman soul; for every one
Who loves, like her, his country is a Roman.
Whether on Afric's sandy plains he glows,
Or lives untam'd among Ripbœan snows;
If parent-liberty the breast inflame,
The gloomy Libyan then deserves that name:
And, warm with freedom, under frozen skies,
In farthest Britain Romans yet may rise.
| The tragedy of Sophonisba | |