University of Virginia Library

ACT III.

DEIANIRA, and her Attendants, round an Altar in the Temple.

ODE.

DEIANIRA
speaks.
To thee, thus round the altar's base,
Lost Deianira, and her suppliant train,
Sigh their sad souls! oh, must they sigh in vain!
Avenge, avenge thy royal race!

Enter ACAMAS.
ACAMAS.
Forgive th'intrusion, royal dame, if thou
Art Deianira, as this suppliant train
Bespeaks thee; and those strains, that thro' the dome
Swell'd to Alcides' praise; but, more than all,
The features of that venerable face,
From whence Macaria drew her virgin charms.
If thou art she, may Acamas intreat
An audience with thy daughter?

DEIANIRA.
Godlike youth!
(For godlike ever, Acamas will seem,
In Deianira's eyes) unknown to me
My daughter went to supplicate the king;
Grant heaven! she finds in him the noble friend
She found in his brave brother!

ACAMAS.
I am her friend;
Yes, 'tis the boast of Acamas, his glory,
To be Macaria's friend. Oh, Deianira!
Thou hear'st a soldier—my soul is in my tongue;
I love thy daughter:—not the wonders only
Of her fair form; yet, oh!—but that high honour,
The stamp of her great sire; and every virtue,
More virtuous made by filial piety,
Have fix'd my love. To her I dedicate
My life; and, on this sword, avow myself
The champion of her wrongs, and Deianira's.

DEIANIRA.
She has been ever good, and heaven rewards
Her virtue, in the generous prince it raises
For her, and my protector. Hapless Hyllus!
He scarce hath been so fortunate. Where now,
Friendless and comfortless, wanders my son?

ACAMAS.
Hither I came, resolv'd on secrecy;
But, oh! that anxious tenderness, that sigh,
Heaved from the bottom of a mother's breast,
Unfix my purpose. Know then, Hyllus lives;
And, more to move thy wonder, he lives here,
A soldier in th'Athenian camp, disguised
From every eye but mine: to me, this moment,
The secret he entrusted.

DEIANIRA.
Quickly bear me,
Oh bear me to my boy—

ACAMAS.
A little longer
Be mistress of yourself; this transport check
A little longer; till occasion calls
The gallant youth. By Demophon's command
The priests prepare a sacrifice; that finished,
Hither will I conduct him. The meanwhile
Safe let the secret in your bosom sleep,
And trust the rest to Acamas.

DEIANIRA.
Oh, born
To counteract the cruelty of fate,
And make life worth a wish! in thee I'll trust;
My son shall be thy soldier.

ACAMAS.
He and I
Will make Eurystheus shrink beneath our swords.
The troops of Argos too, tho' now compelled
To rise 'gainst Hyllus in rebellious arms,
Will drop their weapons, when their wondering eyes
View their own hero, in th'Athenian ranks,
Gaunt with revenge, and terrible in wrongs,
Like a young son of Mars!

Enter HYLLUS, like a Soldier.
HYLLUS.
The troops, my lord—
Hah, Deianira here?—my honour'd mother!

DEIANIRA.
Dear to thy mother's heart!—oh let me thus,
And thus enfold my Hyllus! how at sight
Of my loved boy the sun of heaven resumes
Its wonted glory! this is life indeed!
This to a mother's winterly old age
Restores a youthful spring!—tell, tell me all;
Where, where hast thou been wandering? how cam'st hither,
Oh too adventurous! to these longing arms?

HYLLUS.
Thou shalt hear all: to thy impatient ears
My heart I'll open; tell thee, thro' what perils
I reach'd th'Athenian camp; with Acamas
To make one last bold effort—but time flies;
And dangerous is delay.—I now am here
To tell thee, prince, Eurystheus' troops are on
Full march to Athens.—Shall we give them battle?
Blow loud the blast of war! let, let it rouze
The spirit of its god within my breast!
I burn for vengeance!

ACAMAS.
Vengeance thou shalt have.
But now, young soldier, temper this rash fire,
Whose blaze may else betray thee: recollect
A mother and a sister.

HYLLUS.
Dearer both
Than his own life to Hyllus!

DEIANIRA.
Yet thou hast not
Beheld thy sister?

HYLLUS.
I beheld Macaria,
(And my heart yearn'd to speak, as I beheld her)
Move tow'rds the palace, with a suppliant train.
Anxious her looks, and pale her languid cheeks:
Th'admiring multitude, as she past on,
Gazed with an eye that pity had suffused
With many a tear. I stopt, with wonder struck.
She enter'd then.—There is no mischief meant—
No plot against her?—by th'immortal spirit
Of great Alcides! I would fire the palace,
And rescue her dear life!

ACAMAS.
With Deianira
Wait my return. Be cautious; Hyllus only
Can betray Hyllus; warned again, beware.
Hyllus is now my soldier.

Exit.
DEIANIRA.
Oh, my son!
I fear thy fortune yet, against Eurystheus,
That bloody tyrant! who, by fire-eyed Mars,
Horribly swears, his rage shall never die,
Never know peace, till on thy neck he plants
His mortal foot, and crushes all our race!

HYLLUS.
His foot on me! more safe might he bestride
The angry surge, when tempests toss the seas.

DEIANIRA.
Oh, moderate thy rage, th'untimely death
Of many a gallant spirit!

HYLLUS.
He dies blest,
Who, dying, slays the villain he detests.

DEIANIRA.
How wildly dost thou start! thy struggling soul
Shoots thro' thine eyes. Oh, with less horror look!
Less fixed to rush on fate! pity thy mother!
She has no son but thee! oh, leave Eurystheus
To Jove's dread bolt.

HYLLUS.
To Jove I offer him
In dreadful sacrifice. Jove smiles well pleased,
When from his heaven the god beholds his altar
Smoke with a tyrant's blood.

DEIANIRA.
My gallant boy!
Alas, too noble!—let me gaze thee o'er;
Let me find where that godlike spirit dwells,
That lifts thee thus aloft. So frowned his sire,
When with undaunted heart his young arm struck
The Cleonæan savage. Looks he not
As some superior power within moved
Each animated grace?

Enter ACAMAS.
ACAMAS.
The king approaches.
At once retire, so please you, to the altar,
The inmost altar.

DEIANIRA.
Lead, my reverend friends.

While Deianira retires, the Train sings,
Vengeance on curst Eurystheus' head!
God of the shrine! let Hyllus tread
Upon his crouching neck: thence mount the throne,
His father's great avenger, and his own!

Exeunt Deianira, &c.
HYLLUS and ACAMAS.
HYLLUS.
Thy looks are troubled! some accursed chance!—
What have they done? what dared?—By heaven, that silence
Casts on the heart of Hyllus more alarm,
Than mortal man e'er gave it!

Enter DEMOPHON.
DEMOPHON.
These are thy exploits!

[to Acamas.
ACAMAS.
Soldier, attend me at the western gate.

Exit Hyllus.
DEMOPHON.
Eurystheus comes upon us!

ACAMAS.
Let him come.
With hastier steps we'll teach him to retire.

DEMOPHON.
Rash, disobedient youth!—dispatch a herald,
Now, presently, with terms of peace.

ACAMAS.
With terms
Of fell defiance rather speed him forth,
And hurl the torch of war.—Oh shame! that men,
Singled to be the substitutes of gods,
Should bear such dastard minds! what treacherous offers
Has the usurper tender'd? take them; seize them.
Go, barter thy humanity for gold.
Sell a sad mother's life, a queen's! and with it
Her royal daughter's!—First, by heaven, thyself,
Thy kingdom first perish! I will rouze
All Athens.—Hah! perhaps my own brave troops—
The fate of Deianira and Macaria,
Tyrant! shall seal thy own!

Exit.
Enter THESTOR and ALCANDER.
ALCANDER.
We marked his menace;
His fiery visage grim with ire; like some
Distemper'd sky before the bursting bolt.

DEMOPHON.
At the least check his lion-heart flies forth,
And knows nor king, nor brother.

THESTOR.
It affronts
The awful silence of the place, and makes
The altars tremble.

DEMOPHON.
What, if the rash youth
Should, in his frenzy, make a desperate onset
With his battalions!—

ALCANDER.
Therefore, without pause,
The willing victim yield. We'll find a means
To counteract him; only yield Macaria,
Thy safety now the sacrifice requires.

THESTOR.
And heaven again demands it. We once more
Invoked the sacred oracle; once more
The sacred oracle pronounced her doom.
Tempt not the gods too far; be warned of heaven.

ALCANDER.
For if Macaria lives, she lives a brand
To fire thy kingdom. Acamas will wed her;
And war with Argos, an eternal war,
Shall Athens wage.

THESTOR.
A war, with gods averse.
Oh tremble at the thought!

DEMOPHON.
With gods averse!—
How weak is mortal wisdom, mortal might!

THESTOR.
Obedient then to heaven, the victim yield.

ALCANDER.
And lo, as hither brought by heaven's own hand,
To force thee to thy good, Macaria comes.

Enter MACARIA.
MACARIA.
Yet, I behold her not—celestial guardians
Of innocence, watch o'er her! Should her blood,
Oh horrible! be shed for mine—oh king!
Torn with a thousand terrors, from the palace
I've hurried to the temple—let me die
For a loved parent!—hah! while thus thou turn'st
From me, take heed, rash king! thou turn'st from Jove,
Whose voice commands the victim.

DEMOPHON.
Lead along,
Interpreters of heaven; and thou, Macaria,
Wait here awhile. The god must be obeyed.

Exeunt.
MACARIA alone.
MACARIA.
The god must be obey'd—transporting sounds!
And now, at this dread moment, while the priests
Prepare the rites; to thee, tremendous power!
Who sit'st high over all—hah! whence are these
Loud throbs? why rush my spirits thro' my breast?
If innocence shake thus, what ribs of steel
May bide the beating of a guilty heart,
When sounds the mortal summons?—hah, the gates
Unfold; and Deianira quits the temple!

Enter DEIANIRA.
DEIANIRA.
It was her voice—hark, hark! I could not err.

MACARIA.
Heavens!

DEIANIRA.
Thro' the vaulted arch of this lone ile
Plaintive it past along.

MACARIA.
Protect me! save,
Oh save me from a mother's eye, that strikes
All resolution dead.

DEIANIRA.
Art thou return'd,
My life? ah, what delay, this tedious hour,
Has held thee from thy mother's heart, that longs
Thus eagerly to clasp thee?

MACARIA.
Oh, my mother!
Close to thy bosom clasp thy child, who loves,
For ever loves thee!

DEIANIRA.
The loud storm, that late
So thunder'd in our ears, is rolling off;
The troubled air's at rest; and every fear
Flies before chearful hope. I've seen thy brother—
Why dost thou sigh? thou too shalt see him; thou
Shalt soon embrace my boy.—How my heart triumphs
At thy approaching fortune! With what pride,
What exultation, shall Mycenæ welcome
Her favourite virgin! With what envious eyes
Behold the mother of a child like thee!

MACARIA.
Thy virtues, Deianira, merit more
Than such a child can give.

DEIANIRA.
How faintly falls
Each accent from thy tongue; and sure thy eyes
Glance on thy mother with a joyless smile,
That hardly hides a tear?

MACARIA.
With the same eyes,
Still, still do I behold thee; but so used
To weep, involuntary tears will start.

DEIANIRA.
Come, let me kiss them dry. Perish Eurystheus!
Whose cruelties have thus o'erpower'd thy spirits.

MACARIA.
His death will cost his conquerors a dear triumph!

DEIANIRA.
Yet let him die! barbarian! let him perish!
How dear soe'er the purchase.

MACARIA.
Can I hear,
And not forewarn her of th'impending ruin,
Ready to rush upon her?

DEIANIRA.
Said they not
The priests prepare a sacrifice?—the blood
Of that, ye pitying powers! I hope will end
Thine and my sorrows. Are the rites begun?
Soon will the victim bleed?

MACARIA.
Too soon thou'lt think it.

DEIANIRA.
Would heaven! I might be present.

Enter an OFFICER.
DEIANIRA.
Hah, that stranger!
Know'st thou from whence that stranger?

OFFICER.
Royal queen,
With greeting from imperial Demophon
Thy servant comes.

DEIANIRA.
Whate'er the errand, Sir,
Welcome to Deianira. In this breast
Here is a heart indebted to thy king,
That delegate from heaven to deal its blessings,
And from the dust lift up affliction's head.
What would his gracious pleasure?

OFFICER.
To conduct
The princess to his presence, I am sent.

DEIANIRA.
Conduct Macaria?—Misconceive me not—
If 'tis his will—yet wherefore—upon what
Occasion sends he? Is she to preside
At the high sacrifice?—Or, may it be!
To solemnize with her his brother's nuptials?
Yet sure a mother would at such an hour
Prove no unwelcome guest?

MACARIA.
For heaven's sake, stir not;
Quit not the temple; let me, let me go,
Safe in this stranger's conduct.

DEIANIRA.
Stay one moment.
Something I had to say—one little moment
Indulge a mother's fondness. Ah, Macaria!
How precious is one moment, when we part
With all that's dearest!—see these foolish tears!
But my fond eyes, when next we meet, shall gaze
With double transport on thee!

MACARIA.
Death hath not
A keener pang!

DEIANIRA.
This one embrace!—and now,
Now, honoured stranger, to thy hands I trust—
What words shall say how much! but on thy brow
There is a virtue claims all trust. Receive,
And to a mother back return the heart
That now forsakes her breast! Oh thou, in whom
My soul delights, farewell!—What, not one look,
Macaria?—not one word?

MACARIA.
Lead, lead me hence!

DEIANIRA.
To me thou dost not speak!

MACARIA.
—Ah, Deianira!

[Exit Macaria with the Officer.
DEIANIRA.
She vanishes!—she's gone!—

Enter IOLAUS.
IOLAUS.
Back to the temple—
Permit me, honoured queen—

DEIANIRA.
Yet went she not
More pensive forth, more seemingly alarmed,
Than such occasion suited. Should Alcander—
Oh, Iolaus! in that traitor's life
Live countless dangers; and a mother's heart
Has fears for every one: scarce would'st thou think
How much th'alacrity of my poor spirits
Sinks with my child's dejection. Let it pass.
Tempestuous was the morning of this day;
How will it close? but yet it soon will close;
And then—thou hear'st not? Why so fearfully
Do thy eyes gaze me o'er? from thy pale cheek
The colour flies—

IOLAUS.
No!

DEIANIRA.
Thy limbs tremble—

IOLAUS.
No!

DEIANIRA.
And that disorder—

Enter HYLLUS.
HYLLUS.
Where, where's Acamas!
—Hah! Deianira here!—

DEIANIRA.
Heaven guard my son!
What means that wild emotion? Speak! before
My apprehensive spirit—

Enter ACAMAS.
HYLLUS.
Oh, Acamas!

ACAMAS.
I know thy fears, and came to check th'alarm.
There is no danger, lady; be composed.
It was Alcander's infamous device;
But the king's undeceived.

DEIANIRA.
Oh, you have banished
A thousand terrors!—

ACAMAS.
Demophon's our friend:
Against Eurystheus he denounces war;
And Acamas, by his command, even now
Marches to meet th'usurper.

DEIANIRA.
Thanks, kind gods!
Protectors of my child!

HYLLUS.
Oh, there is life
In these great tidings!—Hyllus, Hyllus then
Shall march to meet th'usurper!

ACAMAS.
Hyllus shall:
In all his guilty pomp, furious he comes,
T'arrest the rolling thunder of our wrath,
Or sink before it.

DEIANIRA.
Oh, tremendous hour!

HYLLUS.
Farewell! farewell, my mother! hence I go,
At fate's high call.

DEIANIRA.
Go then, my only boy!
Remember what Alcides was, and conquer!
[Exeunt Hyllus and Acamas.
—How all on fire for fame his spirits flashed
As he shot forth! I tremble at his valour!
Alas, his virtues are too terrible!
—But he is gone to battle. Mighty Mars!
Go with him forth! Let thy bright ægis blaze
O'er his young breast!—If he must meet Eurystheus,
Who with the blood of our whole race would fill
The measure of his crimes, oh, may his faulchion
Lay the fell tyrant low!—Let me but live,
God of revenge! to see that glorious day!
Then take me, take me hence! I've lived enough.

[Exit.