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Artaxerxes

Hoole, John (1727-1803)
  
ARTAXERXES.
  
[castlist]
  
[section]

collapse section1. 
ACT I.
 1. 
SCENE I.
 2. 
SCENE II.
 3. 
SCENE III.
 4. 
SCENE IV.
 5. 
SCENE V.
 6. 
SCENE VI.
 7. 
SCENE VII.
 8. 
SCENE VIII.
 9. 
SCENE IX.
 10. 
SCENE X.
 11. 
SCENE XI.
 12. 
SCENE XII.
 13. 
SCENE XIII.
 14. 
SCENE XIV.
 15. 
SCENE XV.
 16. 
SCENE XVI.
 17. 
SCENE XVII.
 18. 
SCENE XVIII.
collapse section2. 
ACT II.
 1. 
SCENE I.
 2. 
SCENE II.
 3. 
SCENE III.
 4. 
SCENE IV.
 5. 
SCENE V.
 6. 
SCENE VI.
 7. 
SCENE VII.
 8. 
SCENE VIII.
 9. 
SCENE IX.
 10. 
SCENE X.
 11. 
SCENE XI.
 12. 
SCENE XII.
 13. 
SCENE XIII.
 14. 
SCENE XIV.
 15. 
SCENE XV.
 16. 
SCENE XVI.
collapse section3. 
ACT III.
 1. 
SCENE I.
 2. 
SCENE II.
 3. 
SCENE III.
 4. 
SCENE IV.
 5. 
SCENE V.
 6. 
SCENE VI.
 7. 
SCENE VII.
 8. 
SCENE VIII.
 9. 
SCENE IX.
 10. 
SCENE X.
 11. 
SCENE XI.
 12. 
SCENE XII.
 13. 
SCENE XIII.
 14. 
[scene]

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SCENE I.

A royal apartment.
Artaxerxes, Artaban.
Artax.
Guards, from the prison lead Arbaces hither.
[speaking as he enters.
Thou hast thy full request, and would to Heaven
This meeting might preserve him!

Artab.
Think not, sir,
That what I ask springs from paternal fondness,
Or ill-tim'd hopes to find him innocent;
His guilt is too apparent; he must die.
Your safety only urges me to see him;
As yet the motive of his crime is secret,
The accomplices unknown: I would explore
Each dark device of treason.

Artax.
Artaban,
How does thy fortitude excite my envy!
I tremble at the danger of a friend;
Thou keep'st thy temper while thy son's condemn'd.

Artab.
How dearly does it cost my heart to assume
These looks of firmness, when my bosom owns
The voice of struggling nature! I too feel
The tender weakness common to a parent:
But midst the conflict duty still prevails:
32

No longer he's my son, whose impious crime
Has fill'd his father's aged cheeks with shame:
I was a subject, ere I was a parent.

Artax.
Thy virtue, friend, speaks strongly for Arbaces:
I owe thee more the less thou plead'st his cause.
Shall I be thus ungrateful to thy worth,
Without remorse in him to punish thee?
No, Artaban, let us contrive to save him:
Find some pretence that I may doubt his crime;
Let me entreat thee join thy cares with mine.

Artab.
What can I do when every thing condemns him?
You see, Arbaces, conscious of his guilt,
Makes no defence.

Artax.
But yet those lips that ne'er
Were wont to lie, declared his innocence.
Can nature change at once? Ah, no! perhaps
Some cause, to us unknown, compels his silence.
Speak to him, Artaban; he to a father
May open all he from his judge conceals.
I will retire apart, that thou with freedom
May'st urge the converse with him; watch him nearly,
Examine all his thoughts; find, if thou canst,
Some shadow of defence; preserve thy son,
Thy sovereign's peace, the honour of his throne;
Deceive me, if thou wilt, and I'll forgive thee.
33

Give me my dearest friend once more,
My friend in life approv'd;
His virtue once again restore,
That virtue which I lov'd.
Companions from our infant state,
Thou know'st in every change of fate,
We kept the friendly chain:
With him I parted every care,
With him did every pleasure share,
And soften'd every pain.

[Exit.
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