University of Virginia Library

ACT THE FIFTH.

SCENE THE FIRST.

Timoleon, Echilus.
Timol.
Now it is night, why drag me here?

Ech.
Ah! come:
Thy mother thou shalt hear ...

Timol.
What shall I hear,
That I already know not?

Ech.
She would see thee;
To thee great tidings ...

Timol.
And thou darest perchance
With her unite now to deceive me?

Ech.
I?—
What I projected, thou this instant heardest.
But to save thee! And that is now accomplish'd.

Timol.
What sayest thou? Saved from whom? Explain thyself.

Ech.
Pardon, if one thing I concealed from thee.

Timol.
Ah! perhaps thou hast presumed? ...

Ech.
Be not offended.
Words so ambiguous from thy mother's lips
I erewhile heard; such insuppressive fear
For thee I witnessed in her trembling heart;
Her importunities were so excessive
That I should bring thee here, that, at all risks,
I was resolved to do it. On our colleagues
I feared some lofty danger was impending;
This I concealed from thee; I was too sure,
That if I told thee this, on no conditions,
I could detach thee from them.

Timol.
What sayest thou?
Darest thou to make this execrable dwelling
Thy shelter in an universal danger?
Oh! thou beginnest ill ...

Ech.
I will atone
By a more worthy end, I swear to thee,
For such beginning: but, I wished thee saved.

Timol.
Now, what then knowest thou? ...
What is the danger? ...

Ech.
Little with certainty I know; but all
I fear: and the audacious countenance
Of the secure Timophanes to this
Compelled me; and the evasive conscious aspect
Of the irresolute and trembling mother.
Those satellites of his, bribed by our gold,
That undertook to watch his stratagems,
And give us warning of them, are, at once,
Detected, and destroyed. None now remain
In whom we may confide. The place appointed
For our assembling likewise is discovered.

Timol.
—Oh fatal day! ... Oh apprehended day! ...
At last art thou arrived?—We are betrayed,
Assuredly betrayed ... Our fortitude,
Our patriotic constancy, to-day,
Must undergo a stubborn scrutiny.
We never were constrained, as we are now,
To prove the mettle of our ardent spirits;
And what is worse, we never were constrained,
As we are now, to practise artifice.

Ech.
I hastily dispatched to all our colleagues
The tidings, that, except with risk of life,
To-day, we could not meet. I think with pain
That, to a messenger perhaps insecure,
I gave the charge: but brevity of time,
And earnestness to rescue thee the first,
Made me incautious.

Timol.
Every man ere me
Thou should'st have rescued. And what better fate
Could crown my wishes? With my falling country,
I should have fallen: what wish I, but death?
Why save me? ... To what dire vicissitudes
Do I remain?

Ech.
Thou now art placed in safety;
And we should save our country. Let us now
Hear Demariste.

Timol.
—An accomplished tyrant
Already is Timophanes: to thwart
All schemes; to tyrannize o'er every soul;
As he is terrified, to terrify;
All, all, he knows—

Ech.
But yet he knows not how
To foresee all things.

Timol.
Desolate! ...

Ech.
He wills it;
Himself would have it so: of all my pity
He has divested me. Oh heaven! Who knows? ...
Perhaps now our faithful colleagues ...

Timol.
Two of them,
Two of the most courageous, at a distance,
Timœus and Orthagoras, I saw
Coming towards us: but I made to them
A signal to retreat.

Ech.
Thou erredst. Why
Did I not see them also!

Timol.
We suffice,
If we come here to death.

Ech.
We are too many,
If we are forced to an unwilling vengeance;
But, by their means, we might perchance have warned
Our other colleagues.

Timol.
Why hide aught from me?
'Twere best now to depart ...

Ech.
Some one approaches,
Or so it seems to me: hear'st thou?

Timol.
I hear it;
They are a lady's steps: perchance my mother ...

Ech.
'Tis she.

SCENE THE SECOND.

Demariste, Timoleon, Echilus.
Dem.
Ah son! ... oh joy! ... Once more I see thee.
What a distinguished and compassionate kindness,
Echilus, hast thou rendered me! I see
My son once more ... and to thee do I owe it.

Timol.
Whence such excessive joy? Hast thou avail'd
To make the tyrant's stubborn heart relent?
Say with the noble universal joy
Of ancient freedom dost thou welcome me?—
Ah no! for yet I see in thy demeanour
The offensive mummery of regal pride.
In what exultest thou? Ah thoughtless woman! ...

Dem.
That I behold thee, and once more embrace thee.
I feared that thou would'st never more direct
Thy feet to my abode ...

Timol.
It is not thine,
But the abode of sorrow, of imposture;
Or 'tis not her's at least who is my mother.
Perchance thou now hast summoned me to thee
That I may lead thee hence? Oh come; to me
'Twill be a triumph to regain my mother;
'Twill be to me an animating omen
That I shall afterwards regain my country.

Dem.
And dost thou still so cruelly persist,
Oh son? ...

Timol.
Oh mother, dost thou still persist
Thus to contract thy heart? Hast thou aught else
To say to me?

Dem.
I would say to thee; but ...

Timol.
Thou darest not; I see it.—But already
Thou, by thy silence, hast expressed far more
Than I would hear.—And what is this? Thou tremblest? ...
I understand, thou art a queen: thou art
The mother of a tyrant. Nothing now
Remains for me except to answer thee.
Thou art worthy here to dwell, and here to die.
There was no need to summon me for this:
Thou knowest that I am no more thy son.—
Echilus, come; from this infected roof
Let us depart.

Dem.
Ah no! ... Pause yet a little ...
Thou must not quit us.

Timol.
Leave me: I will go,
Nor evermore return to you. Disgrace,
Exile, death, torments, I would rather bear
Than ever see the servitude of Corinth ...
Echilus, let us go ...

Ech.
'Tis Corinth's will
That we should now be here; thou oughtest not
To stir from hence ...

Dem.
Thou canst not do it now.

Timol.
Who hinders me from doing this?

SCENE THE THIRD.

Timophanes, Demariste, Timoleon, Echilus.
Tim.
Perhaps I.—
That force, which brother may with brother use,
I now exert towards thee. Let me embrace thee;
And let me render thanks for thy deliverance
To fate, to heaven, Echilus, and my mother.

Timol.
Thou of fresh massacres hast then been guilty? ...
Ah yes! I see in thy unquiet looks
Recent destruction. Cruel that thou art! ...
—Ill hast thou done to save me.

Tim.
We are all
Now in a place of safety; where no one
Can injure you, nor you can injure me.

Timol.
Reflect, reflect, cannot we yet to thee
Be ministers of good?

Tim.
Yes; by a quick,
And unreserved submission to my power;
Yes; by yourselves being the first to give
Others the example of obeying me.

Ech.
Obeying thee? ...

Timol.
We first? ...

Tim.
Yes: since thou art
Unwilling to divide with me my power.
Perchance if ye had been avowed opponents,
To you I might have yielded. Openly
I dealth with you; this my sincerity
Should have made you sincere ...

Timol.
Thou didst at first
Usurp authority by fraud: this done,
'Twas easy afterwards for thee to be
Audacious in thy insults. Force, with thee
I should at first have used, and never art,
To reconvert thee to a citizen.

Ech.
And did not I with a loud voice of sorrow
Proclaim myself to thee an enemy?
And that, although not girt by satellites,
Although alone, and destitute of power,
We should be fatal to thy usurpation?
And that thou oughtest evermore to guard
Against ourselves? Were we, or are we now,
Less generous than thou?

Tim.
Thou saidedst it;
And now an ample recompense to you
From hence results. From this last massacre
I would exempt you only, and ye are so.
Thus your ingratitude more signally
It pleased me to confound, and not disturb
The joy of my new government.—Feed not
Your flattered spirits with fallacious hopes.
The gloomy shades of night which hitherto
Were wont to veil your criminal assemblies,
Yes, of those shades, these now have been the last
To your insidious friends. In vain to them
Your warning was dispatched; it never reached them;
That very place sacred to traitrous deeds,
Where they clandestinely assembled, is,
To all of them at once, become a tomb.

Timol.
What do I hear?

Ech.
Oh heaven! ...

Tim.
And these are they,
Your traitrous letters to Mycenæ sent;
Behold already they return: and he,
To whom they were addressed, is also slain.
Would'st thou have more? those two conspirators
Who, clad in arms, wandered around my threshold,
Timœus and Orthagoras, have found,
Also, a death deserved.—Would'st thou have more,
Survey around thee, and thou wilt behold
Obedience, blood, and terror; nought besides.
Why dost thou longer now delay to yield
Thyself to me? What canst thou do to me,
If thou wilt not yield? I have well convinced you
That ye are now my sole remaining foes;
That I have rendered you to every one,
Not less than to myself, contemptible.

Timol.
Thou never should'st have spared our lives alone.
This I again would thunder in thy ears:
Thou hast done nothing if thou slay'st not us.

Ech.
Hope never to recover us as friends.
Nor flattery, nor time, nor force can do it ...

Timol.
Nor can my mother, as I see her now
Stand silently, and full of pride and shame.

Ech.
Hold us not in contempt. First against me
Let the executioner direct thine axe.
Thou hast not yet drunken of kindred blood:
Taste it; the trial will be grateful to thee:—
Nor any other blood remains, for thee
More indispensable to spill, than mine.

Timol.
Slay me the first of all. In sparing me
Thou dost but offer me an added insult.
Thou hast snatched from me each most sacred thing:
I am, with everlasting infamy,
By thy means laden: why delay? destroy me.

Tim.
No, on your obstinate hearts I will inflict
Severer punishment: upon the throne
Beholding me; and thence obeying me.

Timol.
—Hast thou resolved then not to take our lives?

Tim.
I have resolved to hold you in contempt.

Timol.
Art thou resolved to reign?

Tim.
I reign already.

Timol.
Ah wretched me! ... Such is thy will ... At least
Let me not see it.

Ech.
Die then, tyrant, die.

Dem.
Oh heaven! ah son! ...

Tim.
Ah traitor! ... I ... expire ...

Timol.
Give me that sword: my country now is safe.

Ech.
Ah! for thy country live.

Dem.
Secure him, guards ...
Run ... to the traitor ...

Tim.
Mother, no.

Timol.
Give me
That sword; ... In me ...

Ech.
No, never ...

Tim.
Guards, retire;
'Tis my command: ... Let no more blood be shed.

Dem.
Echilus dies ...

Tim.
Let no one be the victim ...
Expressly I forbid it ... Hence: I will it.

Dem.
And thou; oh cruel, and unnatural brother ...
But thou, oh heaven! thou weepest?

Tim.
I would have
The throne or death: but yet, at the same time,
I wished to save thee, brother ... By thy hand,
Which rescued once my life, I should have died:
Death so inflicted would have been to me
Less painful ...

Ech.
He, not I, was born thy brother:
To him the signal rightfully belonged;
To me belonged the blow.

Dem.
Oh parricides! ...
Ye; that he would not slay ...

Tim.
Do not, oh mother,
Longer upbraid him thus. In him already
Affliction is excessive; from his eyes
The tears, in torrents, gush.—I pardon thee,
Oh brother; do thou pardon me. I die
The admirer of thy excellence ... If I
Had not attempted ... to enslave ... my country; ...
I had attempted to deliver her:
'Tis the most glorious ... of glorious deeds ...
Yet I see clearly that a frantic love
Of glory did not prompt thee to this act;
The purest feelings of a citizen
Impelled thee thus to sacrifice thy brother ...
To thy protection I commit my mother ...
And do thou ... mother ... recognize in him
A real son; ... a being ... more than mortal.—

Timol.
He dies! Alas! ... Thou, mother, didst by force
Constrain me to come hither ... Oh, my brother,
Soon will I follow thee.

Ech.
Ah! ...

Dem.
Son! ...

Timol.
For what
Do I now live? For weeping, ... for remorse ...
The avenging furies in my burning breast
I feel already ... I shall never more
Enjoy a peaceful thought ...

Ech.
Listen to me:
Thou should'st not now refuse the first assistance
To thy sick country ...

Timol.
I would hide myself
From every human eye; and shun for ever
The insufferable light of day ... I ought
To die of sorrow, if not by the sword.—

Dem.
Ah wretched me! ... Oh heaven! ... What can I do? ...
One son is gone for ever ... and the other
Scarcely remains to me ...

Timol.
Oh mother! ...

Ech.
Come,
Let us withdraw from this heart-rending sight.—
Timoleon, thou should'st now convince the world,
That thou didst slay the tyrant, not thy brother.