University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

AN ANTICHAMBER IN THE PALACE.
Enter Cassander.
Cass.
Vengeance, lie still, thy cravings shall be sated.
Death roams at large, the furies are unchain'd,
And murder plays her mighty master-piece.
Enter Polyperchon.
Saw you the King? He parted hence this moment.

Poly.
Yes; with disorder'd wildness in his looks,
He rush'd along, till, with a casual glance,
He saw me where I stood: then stopping short,
Draw near, he cry'd—and grasp'd my hand in his,
Where more than fevers rag'd in ev'ry vein.
Oh, Polyperchon! I have lost my queen!
Statira's dead!—and, as he spoke, the tears
Gush'd from his eyes—I more than felt his pains.

Enter Thessalus.
Thess.
Hence, hence, away!

Cass.
Where is he, Thessalus?

Thess.
I left him circled by a crowd of princes.
The poison tears him with that height of horror,
Ev'n I cou'd pity him—he call'd the chiefs;
Embrac'd 'em round—then, starting from amidst 'em,
Cried out, I come—'twas Ammon's voice; I know it—
Father, I come; but, let me, ere I go,
Dispatch the business of a kneeling world.

Poly.
No more; I hear him—we must meet anon.

Cass.
In Saturn's field—there give a loose to rapture,
Enjoy the tempest we ourselves have rais'd,
And triumph in the wreck which crowns our vengeance.

[Exeunt.