University of Virginia Library

ACT V.

SCENE I.

The Enchantress veiled from the palace, Melampus from the grove.
ENCHANTRESS,
giving his spear.
This staff was thine. Receive it back from me.

MELAMPUS.
Thou tremblest. I, confounded by this gift,
Which arms my hand against thee, tremble too.
(They both continue motionless and silent; after a pause, Melampus proceeds:)
How awful is her silence! Thou no longer
Behold'st a foe. Still motionless and mute!
Then I will speak. My bosom shall discharge
Its load. I must.—O enterprise, which more
Than all my former labours shakes my frame!
Her structure totters.—O majestic form!
My restless, prying anguish must inquire,
If underneath that curtain thou dost veil
A face—

ENCHANTRESS.
Support me, Jason!

MELAMPUS.
On my name
She calls—She faints—Mysterious shade! away.
O earth and heaven! My wife! My injur'd wife!
Who shall support me now! Madauces, aid me.

SCENE II.

Enchantress, Melampus, and Madauces.
MADAUCES,
running to the ENCHANTRESS.
It is my royal mistress, thy Medea.

MELAMPUS.
May not this prove illusion still, Madauces?
The last dire effort of defeated magic
At once to burst my agonizing heart?
Yet, here to die, contemplating those features,
Were more than I could ask th' offended gods.

MADAUCES.
No, it is she. That weapon she restor'd
Ere now had giv'n illusion to the winds.
These are the lineaments divine, revealing
The Sun's descendant. Rouse thee; be a man;
Nor fear her wisdom will reproach thee now,
Or fix its radiant eye on aught but joy.
With equal fervour clasp her to thy heart,
Nor with the tardy coldness of dejection
Debase the gen'rous flame.

The ENCHANTRESS, reviving, fixes her eyes on MELAMPUS; then rushes into his arms.
My love! My lord!
O thou most comely in relumin'd virtue!
O beauteous image in the sight of heaven,
Come to my arms! Be there secure to find
What “may dispel the sorcery of anguish,
“And disenchant the bosom from despair,
“That black magician in the mind.” O Jason!
Now shall indeed these pure abodes unclose
Their blissful treasures; these harmonious choirs
For thee alone Elysian music chaunt;
Thee to refreshing banks these fountains call
To cheer thy virtuous labours.

MELAMPUS.
Let me fall
Before thy feet in penitential fervour,
And celebrate to smiling heav'n the bounty
Of thy forgiving love. O labours past!
Ye seas and deserts! Shapeless crags and rocks,
Which, fasting, sleepless, hopeless I have travers'd,
How is your awful retrospect transform'd
To glowing pictures of ecstatic joy!
My wife—Medea!—Is my soul secure
This is not still enchantment?—Doth Medea
Once more embrace her Jason?

ENCHANTRESS.
Oh! my heart
Will flow in doating fondness, till the gods
In envy dash these more than mortal raptures!

MELAMPUS.
What can allay them? This unweary'd arm,
Which through ten thousand hazards hath regain'd
These joys at last, now govern'd by thy wisdom,
Shall awe ill fortune, and protect the blessing.

MADAUCES.
There spoke a manly ardour, which became
The mouth of Jason to Æetes' daughter.

ENCHANTRESS.
O thou most learn'd and faithful of my Colchians,
Who heretofore accompany'd my wand'rings,
My counsellor and friend! thy love to me,
And thy continu'd kindness to my Jason,
How shall I e'er compensate, when, alas!
Too soon thy counsels we may want again?
Still on a precipice we stand, Madauces.

MELAMPUS.
A precipice!

MADAUCES.
Proceed, my honour'd mistress.

ENCHANTRESS.
Oh! hear. Both hear, and weigh your answers well.
When I left Corinth, to Æetes' sister
My dragon-yoke convey'd me. On her isle
In solemn consult was a year consum'd
To weave these spells, propos'd by rigid Circe,
Approv'd by Juno, by the Sun, my grandsire;
And there obdurate Demogorgon lent
Each baleful engine of capricious magic
To prove the worth of Jason, or destroy.
[To Madauces.
These goddesses have watch'd him from the hour
He too embark'd from Corinth to replace
Phæacia's virgins, and my friendly train
Of ancient Colchians, in their native homes,
E'en till these wilds of Caucasus he reach'd.

MELAMPUS.
Have I not since surmounted ev'ry toil?

ENCHANTRESS.
Ah! while thy strenuous heart is thus triumphant,
E'en while I strain thee to my longing bosom,
Perhaps the keenest struggle is to come.

MELAMPUS.
No, let them bring my spirit to the proof.
I too will struggle with persisting valour;
Not with despondent loathing of the day,
As heretofore, but warm in hope of bliss,
Of conquest, since Medea is the prize.

ENCHANTRESS.
Thou hast perform'd what valour can accomplish.
Our ills, if any, are conceiv'd already,
And must irrevocably rise to birth.
One inadvertent, casual error past,
Since thy approach to this enchanted structure,
From our own grasp may wrest the present bliss.
At once subjected to some will unknown,
To us perhaps inflexible. Madauces,
Thou, recollecting ev'ry word and deed
Since first he enter'd these enchanted purlieus,
Unfold the series of his bold exploit.

MADAUCES.
Then I proclaim your happiness complete.
And I begin, attesting ev'ry pow'r,
E'en Circe, Juno, and thy bright forefather,
That clearest honour and unerring prudence
Have govern'd Jason's mind, his heart, his actions.

ENCHANTRESS
to MELAMPUS.
Then we will yet be happy. Do not droop.
My words might well dismay thee. Rest thy head
On this fond bosom. Thou art pale and sad.
Soon will my love efface that livid hue,
And with renewing freshness spread thy cheek.
Those care-indented furrows shall be fill'd
By joyous health; and youth's returning light
Disperse the gloom which hides thy wonted beauty.

MELAMPUS.
Till thou hast heard our story, and thyself
Hast sat in judgment; harass'd long by care,
And long acquainted with these froward spells,
I droop, I sink in terror on thy bosom.

MADAUCES.
I see Orontes.

ENCHANTRESS.
He the first should know
That his protector is Medea's lord.

SCENE III.

Enchantress, Melampus, Madauces, and Orontes.
ORONTES,
entering.
Death to my sight! O perfidy!

MADAUCES.
What means
The king, so lately rescu'd from perdition?

ORONTES.
To thee, old man, my injur'd love appeals;
That this perfidious by repeated oaths
To me resign'd the fair-one I adore;
And I beheld him now profane her beauties
Within his false embrace.

ENCHANTRESS.
Hath Jason sworn?

MADAUCES.
Not knowing thou wert she Orontes woo'd.

ENCHANTRESS.

MELAMPUS.
Dost thou pronounce that doom?

ENCHANTRESS.
I do—I must.

ORONTES.
My hopes revive.

ENCHANTRESS
to MELAMPUS.
Contest not, search not, hush
Complaint, and leave me.

MELAMPUS.
To ordain my fate
Thou art entitled—To contest thy will,
Were to renew past guilt—Ye pow'rs combin'd
For my destruction, instant let your spells
(I ask no more) erect a tomb for Jason!
My sight is clos'd, my heart already clay—
Madauces, bear me to the fun'ral pile.

ENCHANTRESS.
Speed hence, Madauces—Yet in me confide.

SCENE IV.

Enchantress and Orontes.
ENCHANTRESS.
My cruel part is over. Now, O king,
In supplication I address thy pity.
Me till this hour from benefits alone
Show'r'd on thy throne and subjects, dost thou know.

ORONTES.
Which more endear'd thy beauties to my soul.

ENCHANTRESS.
Forbear that theme, and listen, when I tell thee,
I am Medea, daughter of Æetes,
Thy royal neighbour, whom the Sun begot.
Yon poor forlorn one is my wedded lord:
Three years divided by a fatal chance,
This day we met, on hard conditions met,
Which his unguarded oath to thee hath broken.
That oath if thou release not—

ORONTES.
Love forbid!
Dost thou require me to relinquish thee,
Thee now a royal progeny confess'd,
Thence more deserving of my throne and bed?

ENCHANTRESS.
Yet think again.

ORONTES.
I do, divine Medea:
And were he free from treachery's black stain,
Nor had abus'd a monarch's ear with falsehood—

ENCHANTRESS.
Believe me, he is guiltless.

ORONTES.
If he were,
In competition with a monarch's peace
How can a wand'ring warrior's claim be rank'd?

ENCHANTRESS.
That claim is mine. Thy benefactress sues;
She, who corrected nature, from the womb
Of barren earth fertility upcall'd,
Chas'd from thy borders pestilence and death,
And to thy kingdom provinces united,
Sues to thy justice, gratitude, and honour,
For her sole comfort.

ORONTES.
Thou may'st learn to love,
And must at last prefer the chief of princes.

ENCHANTRESS.
Perdition seize thee, harden'd and ingrate!
Though thou o'erlook'st the services and worth
Of Pherendates, thy victorious captain,
Who with my aiding counsels tam'd thy foes;
Unaw'd by justice, though thy callous heart
Hath dar'd to break the tend'rest ties of faith;
Dost thou presume, thou glitt'ring mote, thou pageant,
Thou, to whose mind the purest lights of heav'n,
Fair truth and wisdom, never gain'd access,
Dar'st thou, gross child of ignorance, aspire
To mix thy darkness with Medea's flame?
Or hope, that she would condescend in love
To a mere monarch, and forsake a hero?

ORONTES.
How art thou chang'd from gentleness to rage,
Still in thy anger lovely and belov'd!

ENCHANTRESS.
True, thou hast known me gentle and benign,
Till in the circle of these magic walls
Thy hateful importunity confin'd me:
Now shalt thou find me terrible, and wielding
A vengeful rod too mighty for thy sceptre.
Not Pherendates, loyal in disgrace,
Embattling all thy myriads to redeem thee,
Could with an empire's force encounter mine.
Their strength should wither, and their banners fall,
At one vibration of this pow'rful wand.

[She waves her wand. The scene changes to a Cavern, terminated by a mouth, which represents an opening to the Infernal Regions.
ORONTES.
Is there no sanctity in kings? No guardian
By Heav'n appointed to protect them?

ENCHANTRESS.
None.
But in all breasts a judge severe is plac'd,
By Heav'n appointed to chastise, or warn.
Him not the sceptre's weight, the leader's staff,
Nor gemm'd tiara, which the nations fear;
Him not the arm'd battalions round a throne,
Nor purpled satraps who in homage stoop,
Can awe to silence, or with flatt'ry sooth.
Kings may refuse his dictates to obey,
But cannot shun his rod.

ORONTES.
Tremendous woman!
Light fled before her! I am plung'd in darkness.

ENCHANTRESS.
Bring the blue fire of Phlegethon, ye fiends;
Make horror visible: your torches wave,
Dipp'd in Tartarean sulphur.

[While she walks up and down waving her wand, the mouth discharges fire, several Demons leap out, some with blazing vases full of fire, others with torches; a Tomb ascending at the same time through the middle of the stage.
ENCHANTRESS
to ORONTES.
King, behold;
This is thy couch, thy table, and thy tomb.
There night by night shall demons lay thy head,
There spread thy rueful banquet to the light
Of this thy only dayspring, this pale flame;
And, when thy thread of misery is spent,
They shall thy silent obsequies perform,
And there deposit thy unwept remains;
Unless thy heart, revisited by honour,
To gratitude be melted, and renew
Long-broken faith. That moment sets thee free.

SCENE V.

ORONTES.
I should surpass what flatt'ry e'er proclaim'd me,
Did I not shudder at this direful sentence.
Ha! Recollection, thy tumultuous throbs
Beat on my heart a summons to remorse;
She comes: I feel her here, with sorrow, shame,
And late repentance, in her ghastly train.
Combining all with these external terrors,
I feel my error, my neglect of merit;
I sink beneath them, and the heavier weight
Of my own black reflections.
[Dance of Fiends.
I feel my broken vows. Fall'n, fall'n Orontes!
A monumental dungeon is thy palace,
Captivity thy state, and fiends thy guard,
Who shake their inextinguishable fires
To keep my fears awake.—Melampus, save me!
Melampus!—Black ingratitude, be dumb;
Dare not profane that name, or hope his succour.
O tomb! my only place of rest, receive me.

SCENE VI.

Orontes, and Cassandane veiled, with the Genius of Caucasus by her side.
Genius
sings, as he enters, to a lute behind the scenes.
Dreary mansion of the dead,
[Trochaics.
Yield to innocence access:
Through thy dust of mould'ring bones
Beauty steps, with me her guard.

ORONTES.
Can harmony be here? Sweet voice, which sings
Of innocence and beauty, canst thou breathe
Through tainted bosoms purity of feeling,
And charm the mind's deformity away?
A graceful image penetrates the gloom.
Ah! do not come a phantom of illusion,
Nor, with deceit accumulating woe,
Pollute the promise of thy specious mien.

CASSANDANE.
As thy good genius am I come, O king,
To show thy restless feet the paths of peace.

ORONTES.
Then my good genius thou may'st well be styl'd,
Whoe'er thou art.

CASSANDANE.
To pity frame thy mind;
A gen'rous sense of benefits recall;
The gate of virtue leads alone to peace.

ORONTES.
O Pherendates! I too late acknowledge
Thy toils, thy wounds, thy conquests for Orontes.

CASSANDANE.
Thou didst his daughter of her heart beguile,
Then to another form thy love transfer.

ORONTES.
It is for her the lion hath assail'd me,
Enchantments harass'd, and the demon haunted.

CASSANDANE,
unveiling, and kneeling.
And her thou see'st before her sov'reign's feet.
ORONTES, embracing her, at which the scene changes to the garden, and all the Fiends descend.
My Cassandane! O what pow'r convey'd thee
To quell these horrors, fix my wav'ring soul,
And backward turn my steps, whose errors touch'd
Ingratitude and guilt. Discreetest maid,
More to thy prudence is Orontes bound,
Than to thy father's valour. What could blind me
To leave that soft serenity of beauty,
And court the lightning of Medea's eye?
How cam'st thou hither? But explain hereafter.

The Genius
sings.
How she came, I unfold:
[Cretics.
Faithful love was her guide.
I the ruling genius here,
[Trochaics.
Fly to celebrate thy bliss.

SCENE VII.

Orontes and Cassandane.
ORONTES.
Auspicious voice! I bless thee. Cassandane,
Fly to Melampus—Thou before hast seen him,
And, to diffuse felicity around,
With sweetest fraud deceiv'd him.

CASSANDANE.
Gracious lord,
I was instructed by the good Enchantress;
Nor told my name, too conscious in that period,
That, had Melampus to thy ears divulg'd me,
Thou wouldst have slighted Pherendates' daughter.

ORONTES.
They to the proffer'd blessing had been shut.
Too just reproach! Go, tell Melampus all;
Dwell on the dear narration, till thou gain'st
That matchless hero's pardon for my fault.
I will conduct Medea to his arms.

SCENE VIII.

Orontes
and the Enchantress.
How shall I hail thee! That I now restore
Wrong'd Pherendates, and espouse his daughter,
Do not impute to coward fear, nor hold me
Less than becomes a king.

ENCHANTRESS.
I hold thee greater,
Girt by a council now which gods revere,
By equity, beneficence, and wisdom.
And now convinc'd, thy danger from the lion,
Thy doleful bower, the sternness of Melampus,
My wrath and indignation, wilt thou bless.
Adversity's deep-searching hand was wanting
To weed thy bosom, force its worth to ripeness,
And thy imperial state with virtue crown,
Which shall exalt thee far beyond thy titles.

SCENE IX.

Orontes, the Enchantress, Madauces, and Cassandane led by Melampus.
ORONTES
presenting the Enchantress to MELAMPUS.
Inimitable hero, let this gift
Repair my errors.

MELAMPUS.
Royal friend, my labours
Thou hast o'erpaid.

ENCHANTRESS.

CASSANDANE.
What sudden blaze
Of light!

MADAUCES.
From Circe, Juno, and the Sun.

CASSANDANE.
The Genius too of Caucasus returns.

SCENE X.

Orontes, the Enchantress, Madauces, Cassandane, Melampus, the Sun appearing over the palace; Circe mounted on a winged serpent on one side, Juno in her chariot, drawn by peacocks, on the other; and the Genius advancing from the end of the stage, attended by Dryads, Oreads, Naiads, and Fauns: under them appears a beautiful hill. The Genius of Caucasus descends, and leads the Guardian Intelligences of woods, waters, and mountains. Soft music.
The Genius
sings.
Nymphs of Asia's spicy groves,
Of her fruit-empurpled hills,
Of their flow'ry-border'd streams,
Warbling over beds of gold—
Genii, who the mountains range,
Whence the cedar's spire ascends,
Piercing Asia's radiant sky—
Lift your feet, your voices tune,
Celebrate in dance and song
Her predicted fame and sway.

ENCHANTRESS.