University of Virginia Library

SCENE THE FOURTH.

Timoleon, Echilus, Timophanes.
Tim.
Ah! grant thou to me,
That first I speak to thee, one word alone.
Thou shalt speak afterwards ...

Timol.
I deemed thou wert
A tyrant, but at least a lofty one;
But base as any other tyrant art thou.
Fool that I was! Is there in all the world
A tyrant of an uncorrupted heart?—
I myself bring, to the sublime assassin
Of each good citizen, one of the best
That still remains: Archidas lives in me:
Thou hast committed unavailing crimes;
Collected Corinth breathes in me; in this
Most free, most noble, energetic soul,
Me, me thou slayest; thou art silent; now
Nothing remains for thee to say to me;
It only now remains for thee to kill me.

Tim.
Now, hear the new professions of a tyrant.—
This my life is thy gift: thou, brother, thou
Preserved'st it for me; resume thy gift:
I am not hedged around by armed guards:
Here is my dagger: plunge it in my breast.
Behold I bear my bosom yet defenceless;
No timid mail is there; secure I stand,
Secure as thou.—Why dost thou now delay?
Quickly strike thou. The hate that in thy breast
Thou cherishest 'gainst tyrants, in my blood
Now vent it all: if thy just hate I merit,
I am no more thy brother.—This my power
No man in all the world can now take from me:
Thou, thou alone, and with impunity,
Canst take my life.

Timol.
No, if thou slayest me not,
Thou ne'er shalt keep that execrable power.
Already art thou wallowing deep in blood;
Wilt thou now halt midway? Proceed, proceed:
Only through this my breast to Corinth's throne
Canst thou ascend: there is no other way.

Tim.
I sit on it already, and thou art
Unhurt. My city, and my force, I know;
And I already have advanced too far
Now to recede. There are none equal here
To me, except thyself. 'Twould be in me
Consummate infamy to make myself
Again e'en less than my inferiors.
Than thee, I may; and if thou wilt, I will.
Trust me, that here, the hydra-headed monster
Of popular freedom, ne'er shall rise again.
To thee the government of one seems guilty:
But, if exemplarily just, that one
By practice might refute thy theories.
That one, be thou; profit by my misdeeds;
Thus Corinth, more than I have taken from her,
In thee will reacquire; and I shall feel
A pride in being second to thyself.

Timol.
Thy words with keener punctures wound my heart,
Than could that dagger, with whose reeking point
Thou hast restored my Archidas to freedom.
Yet slay; slay on: but do not thou presume,
To teach the arts of arbitrary sway,
Or servitude, to one by birth a Grecian.
Successive tyrannies alternately
Have, it is true, disfigured every state
Of this clime sacred to the cause of freedom:
But here has blood been always cleansed by blood;
Nor has the sword of vengeance ever slumbered.

Tim.
And let the traitrous sword come when it may,
And fall upon my breast: but, while I breathe,
Corinth and Greece shall see, that, evermore
The sway of one is not corrupt: shall see,
That a prince raised by bloodshed to the throne,
Can make his people happy with wise laws;
Each man secure; internal peace enjoyed;
His subjects' fear enhancing their obedience;
Strong in himself, the envy of his neighbours.

Timol.
What would'st thou teach us? are not kingly crimes
To all men known? Does not degraded Asia
Exhibit every day their dire effects?
'Tis of that soil a plant: there it takes root;
There less than men it makes men; banished hence
It makes the Grecians like the gods themselves.
We are the loftiest people of the earth.—
What dost thou covet for thyself? To be
A king exempted from the lot of kings?—
Of every good man thou art now the foe,
And wilt be more and more so; of each virtue
The invidious contemner; flattered, feared,
Abhorred; to others an exceeding burthen,
A torment to thyself; unworthy praise
Evermore craving, in thyself convinced
That thou deservest only execrations.
Fears in thy heart; restlessness in thine eye;
Of apprehension, and suspicious thoughts
Eternal prey; an everlasting thirst
For blood and gold, and never satisfied;
Deprived thyself, of what thou takest from others,
Sweet peace of mind; to no one in the world
By blood and friendship joined; of fettered slaves,
The still more fettered lord; the first in rank,
The least in heart of all ... Ah! tremble; tremble:
Such wilt thou be: if such thou'rt not already.

Ech.
Ah! no; the pure divinity of freedom
Never yet breathed into a mortal heart
Words more divine, more warm, more true, more strong.
Already by the fury, that transports him,
Is my full bosom seized. Canst thou resist,
Infatuated man, a portraiture,
At once so accurate, and horrible,
Of the impious life, in which thou'rt plunged?

Tim.
—Ah! perhaps,
Ye speak the truth.—But now there are no words,
Strong howsoe'er they be, that can avail
To wrest me from my purpose. It is past,
For ever past, the time for me to be
A faithful citizen. My master passion,
My sole, immutable, and lofty wish
To reign, is now become my whole of life ...
Brother, I have already told thee so:
Thou canst alone correct me by the sword;
All other means are vain ...

Timol.
And I to thee
Repeat it: thou shalt never have the sceptre,
Except thou kill me first.

Ech.
And me with him.
To that fond friendship which I had for thee,
I feel already in myself succeed
An ardent, strong, atrocious enmity.
Yes, thou shalt find in me an enemy
No less embittered, fierce, implacable,
Than I was once a friend both fond and hearty:
And recollect, that I am not, like him,
To thee a brother.—In the tyrant's presence
I here meanwhile to thee, Timoleon, swear
Eternal fealty of blood. I swear
By thy side, for my country, to confront
The worst extremities: and if at last
Our labours should be vain, I further swear
That I will not survive her one brief moment.

Timol.
Behold, thou mad and criminal aspirant,
If so much be resolved by one that is
Thy bosom friend, and also bound to thee
By ties of blood, what will so many others,
Incensed by thee, perform?

Tim.
Enough, enough;
I fain would have you friends; but fear you not
As my opponents. Now exert yourselves
For her, ye generous champions of your country.