University of Virginia Library

SCENE V.

Cleonice, Alcestes.
Cleo.
Alcestes, O! how different is the task
To form resolves and to complete our purpose!
Remote from thee, I deem'd the conquest easy,
And love to glory seem'd to yield the prize:
Yet when I find myself of thee depriv'd,
My heart enfeebled loses all its firmness;
And glory, O ye powers! submits to love.

Alc.
What would'st thou therefore tell me?

Cleo.
That without thee
I cannot live; that since my stars forbid me,
To enjoy at once Alcestes and the crown,
The crown be left, and not Alcestes lost.

Alc.
What dost thou mean?

Cleo.
No longer on these shores
fits us to remain: with thee I'll fly
To breathe in other climes a happier air.

Alc.
Ha! fly with me! but where?—No, Cleonice;
Had I the deeds of ancestors to trace;
O! could I boast of subjects and a throne,
I might perhaps be led to accept the proofs
Thy generous love would give: but all the kingdom
And subjects niggard fate to me affords,
Are some few flocks, and a poor simple cottage.

Cleo.
Yet in that cottage shall I feel the peace
Which in a stately palace, far from thee,
My breast must never find. No guards indeed
Will watch me whilst I sleep; but in return
Jealous suspicions never will disturb
My calm unbroken rest: though precious viands,
In costly gold, deck not our homely board,
Yet from the bending boughs my hand shall pluck
The ripen'd fruit, where lurks no deadly juice
To chill my veins with unexpected death.
I'll wander o'er the hills and meads, but still
Alcestes at my side: my feet shall trace
The forest gloom, but still Alcestes with me:
Each sun that sets shall leave me with Alcestes;
And when again he rises in the east
To gild the morn, shall find me still with thee.

Alc.
O! Cleonice most ador'd! amidst
These scenes of happiness, the pleasing dreams
Of one whose soul o'erflows with love's excess,
I read the goodness of thy generous heart:
Yet these, alas! are only vain illusions
Sprung from the warmth of passion—

Cleo.
Vain illusions!
Dost thou believe me then incapable
To quit the throne?

Alc.
And can you think that ever
Alcestes will permit it?—No, my queen,
You should have then conceal'd your virtues more,
And made me less enamour'd of your glory.
Great souls were never form'd to live retir'd
In calm inactive rest. Shall I defraud
All Asia of the long-expected peace,
Which, in the tumults of our troubled state,
Your constancy and wisdom must bestow?
Let us not, Cleonice, lose the fruit
Of all our tears and anguish: thy example
Taught me this pure affection—Yes, my life,
Who would not suffer in so bright a cause?
The story of our loves remotest times
Shall learn, and with our loves our fortitude.
If we're deny'd to lead our days together
In mutual happiness, at least our names
Shall live conjoin'd, and share one common glory.

Cleo.
And wherefore is not here all Asia met,
That, hearing thee, they might excuse the passion
Which once in Cleonice they condemn'd?
But now I falter'd; thou, my dear Alcestes,
Hast strengthen'd my resolves, and from thy words
The virtue they excite receives more charms.
Go then—but first in me behold th' effects
Of fortitude like thine: yes, thou shalt see
How I can imitate thy great example.
Come, let us to the palace; there, Alcestes,
Shalt thou be told the consort I will choose:
Thou shalt be present at the royal nuptials.

Alc.
It must not be—you put my constancy
To too severe a proof.

Cleo.
No—let us try
To emulate each other in our sufferings.

Alc.
O Heaven! thou little know'st what cruel anguish
The constant lover feels, who pines with envy
To see another blest in the possession
Of what himself must never hope to enjoy.

Cleo.

[Exit.