University of Virginia Library

ACT V.

SCENE I.

Enter BROMIA, AMPHITRYON continuing in a swoon.
Brom.
I have no means of safety left; my hopes
Lye in my breast extinct and buried; I
Have lost all confidence of heart and spirit;
Since all things seem combin'd, sea, earth and heav'n,
T'oppress and to destroy me.—I am wretched!—
I know not what to do, such prodigies
Have been display'd within!—Ah, woe is me!
I'm sick at heart now,—would I had some water,—
I faint, my head aches,—I don't hear, nor see
Well with my eyes.—Ah me! no woman sure
Was e'er so wretched, an event so strange
Has happen'd to my mistress!—When she found
Herself in labour, she invok'd the Gods:—
Then what a rumbling, grumbling, flashing, clashing,
Straitway ensued! how suddenly, how quick,
How terribly it thunder'd! All that stood
Fell flat down at the noise: and then we heard
Some one, I know not who, with mighty voice
Cry out, “Alcmena, succour is at hand:
“Be not dismay'd: the heav'n's high ruler comes
“To you propitious and to yours. Arise,
“(Says he,) ye who have fallen through the terror
“And dread of me.”—I rose from where I lay,
And such a brightness stream'd through all the house,
Methought it was in flames. Then presently
Alcmena call'd me, which afflicted me
With horror; for I fear'd much more for her
Than for myself: I ran to her in haste,
To know what she might want, and (bless my eyes!)
Saw she had been deliver'd of two boys;
Nor any of us knew, or did suspect,
When she was thus deliver'd.—But what's this?
Who is this old man, stretch'd before our house?
Has he been thunder-stricken? I believe so:
For he is laid out as if dead: I'll go,
And learn who 'tis.— (Advancing to Amph.)
'Tis certainly Amphitryon,
My master.—Hoa, Amphitryon!

Amph.
I am dead.

Brom.
Come, rise, Sir.

Amph.
I'm quite dead.

Brom.
Give me your hand.

Amph.
(recovering.)
Who is it holds me?

Brom.
I, your maid, Sir, Bromia.

Amph.
I tremble every joint, with such amaze
Has Jupiter appall'd me! and I seem,
As though I were just risen from the dead.
But wherefore came you forth?

Brom.
The same dread fear
Fill'd us poor souls with horror. I have seen,
Ah me! such wondrous prodigies within,
I scarce am in my senses.

Amph.
Prithee tell me,
D'ye know me for your master, for Amphitryon?

Brom.
Yes, surely.

Amph.
Look again now.

Brom.
I well know you.

Amph.
She is the only person of our family,
That is not mad.

Brom.
Nay verily they all
Are in their perfect senses.

Amph.
But my wife
By her foul deeds has driv'n me to distraction.

Brom.
But I shall make you change your language, Sir,
And own your wife a chaste one; on which point
I will convince you in few words. Know first,
Alcmena is deliver'd of two boys.

Amph.
How say you, two?

Brom.
Yes, two.

Amph.
The Gods preserve me!

Brom.
Permit me to go on, that you may know,
How all the Gods to you are most propitious
And to your wife.

Amph.
Speak.

Brom.
When your spouse began
To be in labour, and the wonted pangs
Of child-birth came upon her, she invok'd
Th'immortal gods to aid her, with wash'd hands,
And cover'd head; then presently it thunder'd,
And with a crack so loud, we thought at first
The house itself was tumbling, and it shone
As bright throughout, as if it were of gold.

Amph.
Prithee relieve me quickly, since you have
Perplex'd me full enough.—What follow'd after?

Brom.
Mean time, while this was done, not one of us
Or heard your wife once groan, or once complain;
She was deliver'd ev'n without a pang.

Amph.
That joys me, I confess, however little
She merits at my hands.

Brom.
Leave that, and hear
What more I have to say. After delivery
She bade us wash the boys: we set about it:
But he that I wash'd, O how sturdy is he!
So strong and stout withal, not one of us
Could bind him in his swadling-cloaths.

Amph.
'Tis wondrous
What you relate: if your account be true,
I doubt not but Alcmena has been favour'd
With large assistance and support from heaven.

Brom.
You'll say what follows is more wondrous still.
After the boy was in his cradle laid,
Two monstrous serpents with high-lifted crests
Slid down the sky-light: in an instant both
Rear'd up their heads.

Amph.
Ah me!

Brom.
Be not dismay'd.
The serpents cast their eyes around on all,
And, after they had spied the children out,
With quickest motion made towards the cradle,
I, fearing for the boys, and for myself,
Drew back the cradle, stir'd it to and fro,
Backwards and forwards, on one side and t'other:
The more I work'd it, by so much the more
These serpents fierce persued. That other boy,
Soon as he spied the monsters, in an instant
Leaps him from out the cradle, strait darts at them,
And suddenly he seizes upon both,
In each hand grasping one.

Amph.
The tale you tell
Is fraught with many wonders, and the deed
That you relate is all too terrible;
For horror at your words creeps thro' my limbs.—
What happen'd next? Proceed now in your story.

Brom.
The child kill'd both the serpents. During this
A loud voice calls upon your wife—

Amph.
Who calls?

Brom.
Jove, supreme sovereign of Gods and men.
He own'd that he had secretly enjoy'd
Alcmena, that the boy, who slew the serpents,
Was his, the other he declar'd was your's.

Amph.
I now repent me, an' it pleases him,
To share a part with Jove in any good.
Go home, and see the vessels be prepar'd
For sacrifice forthwith, that I may make
My peace with Jove, by offering many victims.
[Bromia goes in.
I'll to the soothsayer Tiresias, and
Consult with him what's fittest to be done:
I'll tell him what has happen'd.—But what's this?—
How dreadfully it thunders!—Mercy on us!

SCENE II.

JUPITER
appears above.
[Thunder and Lightning.]
Be of good cheer, Amphitryon; I am come
To comfort and assist you and your family.
Nothing you have to fear; then let alone
All sooth-sayers and diviners: I'll inform you
Of what is past, and what is yet to come,
Much better than they can, since I am Jove.
Know first of all, I have enjoy'd Alcmena,
Whence she was pregnant by me with a son:
You likewise left her pregnant, when you went
To th'army. At one birth two boys together
She has brought forth: the one, sprung from my loins,
Shall gain immortal glory by his deeds.
Restore Alcmena to your ancient love:
In nothing does she merit your reproaches:
She was compell'd by my resistless power,
To what she did.—I now return to heav'n.

[Jupiter ascends.

SCENE the Last.

AMPHITRYON
alone.
I'll do, as you command; and I beseech you,
That you would keep your promises.—I'll in
Unto my wife, and think no more of old
Tiresias!—Now, Spectators, for the sake
Of highest Jove give us your loud applause.