University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

JOCASTA, EGINA.
EGINA.
Ah! how I pity thee!

JOCASTA.
Alas!
I envy those who in this fatal place
Have reach'd the goal of life. Oh! what condition,
What torment, for a pure and guiltless mind!

EGINA.
'Tis most undoubted misery. Thy fate
Is full of terror. Their erroneous zeal
Blindly enkindled, soon with clamorous shouts
Th'assembled people will require their victim.
I dare not to accuse him: but for thee,
What matchless horror, should'st thou find in him
Th'assassin of thy husband!

JOCASTA.
Durst they offer
To both an equal insult!—Villainy,
And baseness to reside with him!—Egina,
Forced as he was to break each tender tie,
To hear him thus accused, completes the sum
Of my misfortunes.—No.—At these suspicions
My conscious pride takes fire. He who could touch
This soul with passion, cannot but be virtuous.

EGINA.
A love so constant—

JOCASTA.
Think not that my heart
Hath nursed the ardour of this fatal flame;
I warr'd against it with determined strength.
But, dear Egina, to what height soe'er
The noble soul may climb, by virtue guided,
It will not, cannot, veil its secret movements,
Nature's unconquerable progeny:
Within the bosom's complicated folds
They lurk, thence rush, and seize us by surprise.
Up-springing from their ashes, blaze the fires
We thought extinguish'd. Purity severe
In the unequal conflict strives in vain;
She may resist the passions, not destroy them.

EGINA.
A grief so just, not Virtue can condemn;
And from such thoughts—

JOCASTA.
What miseries do I suffer!
Thou, dear Egina, know'st my inmost heart,
And all its anguish. Twice these eyes have seen
The lighted torch of Hymen; bending twice
Beneath th'oppressive fates, my lot of slavery,
Or rather punishment, have I exchanged.
Whilst he, of all mankind, whose tender impulse
My soul confess'd, was from my aching sight
Torn, torn forever. Pardon, mighty gods!
Memory's fond sad reflection; it explores
The melancholy traces of a fire
Which I have conquer'd. Thou beheldst, Egina,
With what reciprocal delight our souls
Inbibed the tender passion, Thou beheldst
Each tie no sooner fasten'd than dissolved.
My sovereign loved me, and obtain'd my hand,
Spite of myself; my brow, on which sate heavy
Self-loathing Care, then wore a diadem.
By wedlock's laws compell'd, it was but just
That I should strive to banish from my mind
My love and former vows. Bound to my duty,
And that alone, I check'd my secret feelings,
And stifled their revolt; disguised my grief,
Fed on my tears, nor even to myself
Dared own the hidden cause of my distress.

EGINA.
How then couldst thou resolve again to prove
The fatal yoke of Hymen?

JOCASTA.
Ah, Egina!

EGINA.
May I unblamed each private thought disclose?

JOCASTA.
Thy speech is free.

EGINA.
Then may I not affirm
That OEdipus inspired thee with affection?
At least the struggle was not violent;
And as a recompence thy heart was given
To him who saved thy country.

JOCASTA.
Gracious gods!

EGINA.
Was he more bless'd than Laius? Did thy soul
Retain no trace of absent Philoctetes?
Or was it, say, divided in its choice
Between the heroes?

JOCASTA.
A relentless monster
Then desolated Thebes: on its deliverer
My plighted faith I promised to bestow;
He who subdued the Sphinx was worthy of me.

EGINA.
You loved him then?

JOCASTA.
Some partiality
I felt for OEdipus: but, Oh! these feelings
How distant from that amiable defect!
This was not a tumultuous fire, Egina,
The wildly-vivid offspring of my senses
Smit with enchantment; not that burning flame
Did I experience, which within my breast
By Philoctetes only had been kindled,
Which shed delicious poison on my soul,
And seduced reason by its fatal charms.
Friendship sincere I felt for OEdipus,
And, being virtuous, I esteem'd his virtue.
My heart with pleasure saw him mount the throne
Of Thebes, which his protecting power had saved.
But when at last I dragg'd my tardy feet
Behind him to the altar; Oh, Egina!
Struck with amazement dire, my troubled soul
Unusual tumults felt, the cause unknown;
At length, with horror I beheld myself
Devoted to his arms. A dreadful omen
This marriage consummated. I beheld
At dead midnight, near OEdipus and me,
Th'infernal regions; its eternal gulph
Open'd before my feet; the bloody shade
Of my first lord stood in the drear abyss,
With pale and threatening aspect. To my son
Whom erst I bore, his own unhappy offspring,
He pointed stern; that son whom to our gods
My pious zeal, and cruelty unjust,
Offer'd a secret sacrifice. Both seem'd
Commanding me to follow them; both seem'd
To drag me down to Tartarus profound.
Lost in a whirl of thought, my anxious soul
Still to itself presents, and still broods o'er
This horrid vision. Philoctetes holds
E'en now, too firm possession of my heart,
And adds new terror to my fatal woes.

EGINA.
Hark! He approaches. I behold him near.

JOCASTA.
'Tis he—I tremble. Let us shun his presence.