 | The Arab |  |
3
Act 1.
Scene Jerusalem.Night: The Entrance of a prison. Augusta enters attended by a Guard and Mutes—bearing torches.
Augusta
Advance your torches to the dungeon's mouth!
Shew the dark Cell that wretched thing inhabits,
That owns the name of Mariamne.—Stand.
I'll not descend the gulph: It yawns so wide,
So frightfully with these it's iron teeth;
And breathes a vapour from its cavern'd lungs
So pestilential, I'll advance no nearer.
Summon the Keeper: Call forth Sameas.—Hark!
(Sameas enters.)
Sams-
Hail, royal Mistress! great Augusta, hail! (Kneels)
Auga-
Stand up and answer.
Sams-
What woud Judah's Queen?
Auga-
I woud behold thy prisoner: I woud see
How gracefully this Heroine wears her Chains,
The World's late wonder, Herod's matchless Queen.
Set her before me; Let me see if still
Those conquering eyes, whose fires extinguish'd mine,
Maintain their lustre. Twice ten tedious years
She triumph'd on my throne: if there be comfort,
If recreation to a wasted Spirit
In a proud rivall's fall, give my revenge
What name thou wilt; it must be nature still.
Sams-
True, nature warrants and thy wrongs demand
Revenge: Tis fitting, and behold! tis full.
Auga-
How else shoud perishable nature stand
A seige of woes so numberless, if dreams
Of dear Revenge, and one one saving spark
Of hope, still glimmering thro' the dismal void,
Those chearing Visitors had not upheld me?
Now if thou art with me, Sameas, if strong cause
And fair occasion urge to Execution,
4
The moment's our's: Need I explain the rest?
Sams-
No, for the deed is done.
Auga-
Say'st thou tis done?
Is Mariamne dead? make my faith sure!
Confirm it with an Oath.
Sams-
Then hear me, Heaven!—
But where's the need?—Here, in this spot she fell.
On this hard stone she knelt and pray'd for pity;
But pray'd in vain; My unrelenting dagger
Silenc'd her suit, and er'e this Morning's Sun
Rose on the world your Rival was no more.
Auga-
May I beleive thee? Thou art young in Office,
Nor hast that practis'd firmness, which can stand
The Shock of pity and the mute perswasion
Of a fair Woman's tears. Where is the Body?
Sams-
Within these prison-walls there is a pit
Dark and of depth unfathom'd, there it lies,
The trunk, on which of late such beauty grew.
There in the mass of common wretchedness
Ambition moulders, and with vulgar dress
Joins its imperial one. Dismiss your Mutes.
Auga-
Strike out your torches, Fellows, and depart.
(exeunt)
Since thou hast stept thus far in blood, proceed:
Wade thro' the crimson tide and snatch at Fortune,
That beckons to thee from across the Surge.
Sams-
What more is to be done?
Auga-
Herodian lives:
The Heir of Empire, Mariamne's Son.
Oh, thou art short, too short in this great matter,
Whilst he survives.—Now, what provokes this haste?
(A Messenger enters)
Messr-
The King upon the sudden is assailed
with raging Agonies.
Auga-
Tis frequent with him.
Some flaw or gust of Choler.
Messr-
Many such
At times your Slave hath noted, never one
So terrible as this.
Auga-
This comes too soon;
5
These Sallies of a mind so prone to passion
May shift to dangerous points. Back to your Charge.
We shall attend the King. Sameas, farewell!
(exit)
Sameas
Guards to your posts! double the Centinels
Upon their watch this Night, and suit your Vigilance
To the Time's just Occasion—
(exeunt Guards)
(Halak enters)
Oh! tis vain
Day after day to press your suit upon me;
This wearisome and vain.
Halak-
Therefore to mercy,
Which you have not, I make no more appeal:
Now hear a different plea—Where is your prudence;
Your wise precaution for a change of times?
I come this instant from the dying King:
No human frame can long abide the shock
Of such fierce Agonies: Have you reflected
What jeopardy you stand in, and where next
Judæa Crown may pass?
Sameas-
I have reflected,
And in such ready preparation stand,
As the Time's danger claims.
Halak-
Your Royal Prisoner
The Queen, whom here in rigid hold you keep,
Hath a brave Son; A youth of princely hopes,
Nurtur'd at Rome. Who bars his right of Empire?
Doth Rome? vain question! Doth the tribe of Judah
Exclude the Seed of David? vainer still.
The Covenant of Heaven is with his House
For endless generations. Hah! that strikes:
I see your reason pauses to reflect
What fate may wait thee, when Herodian reigns.
Sams-
I act not here, as by my own discretion:
But when the Royal Mandate calls for blood,
Repugnant pity dares not interpose,
And blood must answer it.
Halak-
Accursed Office!
Direful Commission! Do not talk of pity,
Let reason hold the Scale. I have liv'd long
In Courts, and by Experience know the Maze
6
Augusta hath been with you; At the portal
I crosst upon your Queen. Need I be told
Her murderous Errand? No: right well she sees
Her power now wavering on the moments point
And whilst she can she strikes: So do not thou:
If not in mercy, yet in prudence pause,
And wait the Time's Event.
Sameas-
Halak, your Zeal
For Mariamne dictates this advice:
And, tho' your age in any other cause
With wisdom's voice might tutor, yet in this
Tis fit I hear you with reserve and caution.
[Can I revive the Dead?]
[Halak-
Hah! is she dead.]
[Oh horrible! have you destroy'd her?]
[Sameas-
Calm your transport.]
[I act by warrant of authority;]
[So do not you who question me—And yet]
sure I might confide in thee;
Yet were I
If you will bury in your breast my Secret
[Safe from the babbling Winds, the Eyes and Ears]
[Of this Jerusalem in which we live;]
If you will swear to me—
Halak-
You know me well;
You know long proof has Sanctified my Honour;
My Faith is not in training, nor can oaths
Add confirmation to my promis'd Truth.
Sameas-
Then know this also, Mariamne lives.
Yes, and shall live spite of a thousand mandates,
Till Herod dies and fate decides the Crown.
But if Augusta's long expected Son,
If Prince Abidah, who, as fame reports,
Is journeying from Arabia, shall appear
And mount Judæa's throne, she dies: no more.
Halak-
Yet hear me, Sameas; er'e my Queen shall die
Here in these iron Caves, fell Murder's den,
Grant I implore one parting interview
To an old faithful Servant, one sad look;
T'will be but short, for on my Soul I think
The very sight will kill me.
Sameas-
Thro' these doors,
Save those who here are inmates, none can pass:
But here amongst so many witnesses
7
After decree of death: Come then tomorrow
To Ahab's tower, in the old palace Square,
By dawn of day; there every eye is mine:
There you shall see your Queen.
Halak-
I'll meet thee there
E're morning dawn.
Sameas-
Till then farewell.
Halak-
Remember!
(Exit Sameas.
Tomorrow! Hope yet lives: Before tomorrow
Some hours have still to roll; and if kind Heaven,
That still delights to frustrate Evil plots,
Prosper the interim, my Prince perhaps,
Herodian may arrive. and Herod's heart,
E're yet it cease to beat, may turn to mercy:
Then shall Augusta and her Arab Son
With this her Idumean Crew be driven
Back to their native wretchedness, amidst
Samarian Deserts, whilst the Race of David,
Heaven's own Elect, shall fill Judæa's throne.
(Herodian with Attendants.)
Herodn-
Leave me; depart!—They tell me thou art Halak;
And in thy features, spite of all the change,
That time has wrought, my memory still can trace
An antient valued friend.
Halak-
Uphold me, Heaven!
Am I so blest? Do I behold Herodian?
Herodn-
All that is left of him: Your Courier met me,
As I was journeying thro' the marshy Vale
Of watery Mamaleck.
Halak-
Supreme of Powers!
Accept thy Creature's praises. O my Prince,
Let me embrace thy knees.
(Kneels)
Herodn-
Rise, rise! my heart
Is throbbing with anxiety and terror.
Lives our dear Mother yet?
Halak-
Thy Mother lives.
Herodn-
And this her Habitation—
8
Here she dwells.
Herodn-
Accursed Mansion! do not quite forsake
My heart, O Nature; give not wholly up
A Son to impious parricidal rage,
Angels of Mercy! Yet I'll call him Tyrant,
Not father, but unfeeling barbarous Tyrant,
Monster renounc'd of Heav'n.
Halak-
Turn from the Scene:
Dear Royal Youth and arm thyself with patience.
Herodn-
No, let me enter; let my Eyes behold
These murder-stained Vaults and the sad Souls,
Their miserable tenants; let me hear
The clank of fetters and the piercing yell
Of Wretches writhing on the rack, whose lips,
Quivering with mortal agonies, confess
All that extorting Cruelty prescribes,
To purchase intermission from their pangs.
Halak-
Alas, if you woud ask admittance here,
The walls shall answer to your Suit as soon
As those who guard them; better t'were the Grave
Swallow'd affection and all tender ties
Of love and kindred than those flinty Vaults.
Herodn-
If I cannot redeem my Mother hence,
I will divorce myself from Heavn's fair face,
From light and love and my ador'd Glaphyra,
Here to abide with darkness and despair,
With sighs and groans, that load the wings of Time,
Till he scarce creeps to his slow period Death.
Halak-
Talk not of death, but hasten to your father,
Before he drops into the grave, that yawns
To swallow him and all your hopes of Empire.
Herodn-
Yes I will hasten to him and demand
My portion and inheritance of ruin:
Stranger altho' I be; it hath been told me
How many Seers and holy men inspir'd
Here have consum'd their lamentable lives
For Ages past: Here late the Hermit-Saint,
Who thro' the Wilderness with warning voice
Call'd to repentance, fell beneath the Axe,
That his dissever'd head might grace the revells
Of a lewd capering Minstrel—Let me enter:
For Persecution now is Virtue's test,
And it is infamy to be at large.
Halak-
The moments, Prince, are precious, which we waste
In profitless Complaint. The King yet lives;
9
Yet as your sudden presence at this Crisis
May waken Conscience, that has slept within him;
I counsel you to seize the instant Now
Before your brother, slave-born, base Abidah,
From his Arabian desarts shall arrive,
As shagged Esau from his chace of old,
And claim an elder birthright.
Herodn-
Hah! shall He,
That vagrant Ishmalite aspire to reign,
No, Mine's a Cause that justifies Ambition,
Nay, ev'n Revenge itself. Here in these Cells
A Mother pines imprison'd; there awaits me
A Royal Maid bethroth'd, Glaphyra, rich
In every grace that can adorn a throne—
Halak-
What do I hear? who is this Royal Maid,
And where does she await you?
Herodn-
I have told thee
Her name Glaphyra; Syria's exil'd Monarch,
Seleucus, was her father; Sea and Land
From Rome's far-distant City we have travers'd
With destin'd purpose in my father's Court
To solemnize our Nuptials; On my way
Some two days Journey from Jerusalem
Your fatal tidings met me; for myself
I kept my Course undaunted, nay Revenge
Spurr'd me to double speed; not so Glaphyra:
Her I have left to the experienc'd care
Of old Philotas; underneath whose roof
I harbour'd in the Vale of Mameleck.
Now to the Palace; at our better leisure
You shall hear more.
Halak-
Lead on. I follow thee.
End of the 1s
t. Act.
| The Arab | |