University of Virginia Library

SCENE IV.

HEROD, MAZAEL, IDAMAS, ATTENDANTS.
HEROD.
Hah! doth Sohemus too avoid my sight?
Where'er I tread what horrors rise before me!
Heaven, am I always destin'd to inspire
No sentiments but those of hate or terror!
Is every human bosom closed against me?
Odious to Mariamne, to my people,
And even to myself, I wear, alas,
A joyless crown: and only am arrived
To reap the dreadful harvest of afflictions
Which my own hands had sown—O God! O God!

MAZAEL.
Calm these tumultuous passions, I conjure thee,
These groundless transports.

HEROD.
Wretched that I am,
What have I done?

MAZAEL.
Shall Herod weep? That prince
So fortunate, so wise in all his plans,
Parthia's dire scourge, the glorious friend of Rome?
Call these resplendent titles to thy mind
By victory won, by Anthony confirm'd.
Think when Augustus placed thee by his side,
Marching distinguish'd from the croud of kings,
Selected by his choice. Submissive, lo!
Jerusalem reveres thy sacred laws,
By right of conquest thine; and shines once more
Guarded by thee, in all her ancient splendour.
While she her monarch's wish'd return beholds
Fortune's prime favorite. Sure never king
Could boast such happiness in peace or war.

HEROD.
No, all is one vast blank; the spacious earth
Contains not in its ample round for me
A single blessing. Fate hath plunged me down
Into the gulph of misery, and t'augment
Still more the weight of her incumbent horrors,
I know I have deserved them.

IDAMAS.
Might I speak
Unblamed, and to my royal master's ear
Bring honest truth; it is incircling love
Which fixes firm th'august and sacred throne,
Not servile awe; the King, whose influence cheers
The hearts of others, feels the sun-shine pure
Of true delight irradiating his own.
Ah! Who would always struggle with the waves
Of anxious care, when its impoison'd source
Would at his bidding cease at once to flow?
No more, my lord, permit unworthy tongues
With vile insidious calumny to wound
Thy honour and repose; nor flatterers base
Far from thee to exile the faithful few
Who pine in secret, wishing, but in vain
To serve their sovereign; then would Israel soon
Charm'd by thy virtues—

HEROD.
Dost thou really think
That Herod ever can be loved? So changed,
So very different from his former self?

MAZAEL.
E'en to the height of envy all adore
Thy unexampled greatness.

IDAMAS.
One alone,
One heart resists, and that too may be conquered.

HEROD.
I'm a barbarian, and unfit to reign.

IDAMAS.
Thy grief is just; and if for Mariamne—

HEROD.
That name, that fatal name, alas! condemns me.
Thence keen reproach upbraids me, and displays
Before my agonizing soul th'excess
Of cruelty and weakness.

MAZAEL.
In her bosom
Dwells never-yielding hate; she shuns thy sight.

HEROD.
I flew to her's.

MAZAEL.
Indeed!

HEROD.
Can that surprize thee?
Do not these starts of passion, the big tear
Forced from me by remorse, this sudden change,
This vehemence of grief; say, do not all
Plainly demonstrate that I came from her?
Harrass'd with doubts, urged on by hate and love,
I left the insipid croud, the tedious court,
And secretly retired to visit her.
Heavens! What an interview! What dreadful struggles
Of my conflicting thoughts! What tortures dire!
In her indignant eyes was my injustice
Clearly pourtray'd; yet, trembling with alarms,
Her looks wild-straying dared not fall on me.
And tho' I wept, methought I seem'd still more
The object of her terror.

MAZAEL.
All, my lord,
Conspires to prove, that her invenom'd hate
Thy utmost kindness never can disarm.
This dangerous respect enflames her pride.

HEROD.
Hated by Mariamne! Gracious heaven!
I have too well deserved it; yes, reduced
To fortune's worst extreme I must forgive
Her hatred of a wretch so stain'd with guilt.

MAZAEL.
With guilt! Ah, sire, can memory ever fail
To recollect the conduct of the queen
Which justifies thy deeds? Her fierce contempt?
Her insolence of rage? Her dark designs?
Her father's plots against thee? Did she not
Derive her being from thy bitterest foe?
Hircanus with a mind that teem'd with peril
Always betray'd thee. Th'Asmonæan Faction
Was grown to such a height of daring power
That nought but that successful stroke—

HEROD.
No more.
He was her father, and I should have spared him.
But rendered callous by the lust of empire,
My soul was deaf to every other sound.
Sad victims to my barbarous policy
Her kindred fell. By me the father bled,
The daughter was proscribed. I wish'd to hate her;
Too well my conscious heart hath known to load
Her breast with woe; and heaven in its revenge
Hath doom'd me to the fond excess of love.

IDAMAS.
Trust me, when merit claims our warm affection,
It is a virtue, not a weakness in us.
Worthy the bounties heav'n hath lavish'd on thee,
Amid its choicest blessings rank thy love.

HEROD.
Frenzy which I detest! Hircanus! Oh!
Ye sacred manes!

IDAMAS.
Banish from thy thoughts
The fatal recollection,

MAZAEL.
And the queen—
May she too draw th'oblivious veil around her!

HEROD.
O wretched father! More unhappy husband!
These horrors heap'd on horrors, blood on blood,
The murder of her sire, and all the afflictions
Which I have pour'd on her devoted head,
Endear her still the more.—Oh, if her heart—
Her faith—why this delay? Know, Idamas,
Amply will I atone—Go seek, inform her
My soul enslaved, and subject to her will,
Lays at her feet my glory, throne, and life.
Amongst her sons I'll choose a successor.
She hath accused my sister as the cause
Of her calamities. It is enough;
This instant Salome shall quit our court;
A nearer tye demands the sacrifice.
Henceforth shall Mariamne rule alone
With power unbounded.

MAZAEL.
Hah! Will Herod then—

HEROD.
I will—'tis fix'd as fate. My heart beholds her,
Considers her from this auspicious moment
As heaven's most precious gift, which I receive
With reverential gratitude. How strong
The force of love! I feel the conqueror here,
To Mariamne shall I owe my virtue.
Asia hath seen, with shame I must confess it,
A splendid, but a barbarous monarch reign.
Dreaded, admired, respected by my people,
But hated; circled by adoring slaves,
Without a single friend. Too long my heart
Stoop'd to a sister's influence; than myself
More cruel in her sanguinary schemes,
She deluged with my subjects' blood the land,
With added terrors stretch'd my sceptre forth
And crush'd them with its weight. While Mariamne
Felt all their woes, forgot her own distress,
Lost in delightful sympathy for them,
And to her husband's presence brought their tears:
It is determined. I will be more just,
But less severe; and by the public good
Will strive to make her happy; while beneath
A milder sway, the state shall breathe anew.
My soul is altered, in a different mould
By Mariamne form'd. Suspicious fear
Hurled from the throne, my hands shall curb oppression,
And cloathe each subject's cheek in smiles of joy.
I will reign o'er them like a citizen,
And gain all hearts, that I may merit her's.
Go—find her—why this tardiness? nor fail
The agonies of my repentant soul,
And all its wild emotions to describe
With faithful tongue. Tell her that my remorse
Is equal to my rage.—Go—fly—return.
What do I see? My sister! Thou retire.
[To Mazael.
To what vexations is my life condemn'd!