University of Virginia Library

ACT THE FIFTH.

SCENE THE FIRST.

Polyphontes, Soldiers.
Polyp.
Merope yields at last.—Adrastes, go,
And spread the tidings of my nuptial rites;
And now, as far as the amplitude permits,
Of this my royal threshold, yield admission
To all the most distinguished citizens.
At the same time convey to Merope
Swift intimation, that I here await her
Ready with all her wishes to comply.

SCENE THE SECOND.

Polyphontes.
Polyp.
Fortune, propitious hitherto to me,
Begins to wear at once a frowning aspect.
Can it be true? That, that Cresphontes, thus,
Who has so long successfully evaded
My persevering and sagacious search,
Should now, when I the least expected it,
Appear before my eyes? And when to death
I justly sentence him, a strange concurrence
Of perplexed and inextricable chances,
E'en my own ill-advised and feigned compassion,
At once condemn, betray, and rescue him.
If my career began with artifice,
So in its progress I must use address;
Till the fit time for arbitrary sway
Returns. Messene murmurs: hence must I
Affect more frankness and security
Towards her in all my conduct. Merope
Only consents to these abhorred nuptials,
Because she is a mother; and perchance
From hence she afterwards expects my ruin ...
But I'll anticipate her stratagems.
As much as to herself, these rites to me,
Are odious: but I thence expect to reap
Greater and earlier advantages.
Amid the marriage-bed's security,
A common table, and a common dwelling,
A thousand, thousand means at every moment
May be contrived to perpetrate the deed
That now I cannot consummate, nor leave,
Without great risk, in after times, half done.—

SCENE THE THIRD.

Merope, Ægisthus, Polydore, Polyphontes, Soldiers, People, Priests, Victims.
Polyp.
—Oh queen, approach; thus first I give to thee
Thy ancient epithet. At last thou yieldest:
Oh! may the day be most propitious!
Thou seest a festive pomp by me prepared
To give due splendour to the solemn act,
As far as brevity of time permitted.
That every prejudice is laid aside,
Severing our mutual interests, I wish
The nobles, and the people, priests, and gods,
To witness; that to each one is restored
His ancient privileges; and that thus
A lofty compensation I award
For every outrage suffered in my cause.

Me.
—But, those, that stand around us, from thy mouth
Have heard perchance, that I'm a mother yet?
And at what price the life of this my son
To me thou yieldest? ...

Polyp.
Erewhile, in thy name,
This old man spake to me another language.
What? Art thou changed already? Yet, if thou
Desirest to communicate thy thoughts
To this august assembly, likewise I
Wish it to share in mine. I do not shrink
From making free confession of my schemes.
Then let Messene hear me.—Here I came
A conqueror: to this throne, with this my sword,
Where yet my ancestors invited me,
I cleared myself a path. Your king subdued
Before the victor fell. I, perhaps too fierce
In that emergency, suffered his sons
To lose their innocent lives: atrocious fruit,
But one by custom sanctioned, of success.
The throne I gain'd, that throne I still retain;
But what a leader, father, judge, and king,
To all of you I since have proved myself,
Ye all can testify. Within my palace
Merope lived in full security;
And further, as the consort of a king,
Honoured, caressed, and idolized she lived.
Yet, well I knew, that to my detriment,
For impious vengeance, she preserved a son.
Behold this youth whom she proclaims her son;
Behold him; see with what design he comes.

Me.
Behold him, yes: this is Alcides' blood
Degraded thus ... Ah traitor! who reduced him
To this disgraceful state?

Pol.
Oh son, restrain
Thy just resentment ...

Polyp.
Yes, surely it is I
Who hither drag him in the character
Of a perfidious murderer. I that soiled
His impious hands with inoffensive blood.
Your lofty champion, your young hero, see!
Most incontestibly he's proved himself
The worthy progeny of Hercules,
Who now approached clandestinely to slay me:
And with another barbarous homicide
Meanwhile his inexpert right-hand accomplished
In bloody violence: and lurk'd disguised,
In generous ambush, waiting for the hour,
When he might find a passage to my breast.
Thus, in what character he comes, ye learn;
And fraud, or artifice, or accident,
Reveals him thus to you. 'Tis in my power
To inflict on him the punishment he merits:
But my desires for peace are too sincere:
From me has Merope implored his life;
I yield it to her; solely on condition
That she refuse me not her hand in marriage,
And thus at length all broils betwixt us cease.
Nor this suffices: if this be her offspring,
Since other sons I have not, him I chuse
My successor.—What ought I to do more?—
Ought I indeed to do so much as this?—
—And you, Messenians, heretofore accustomed
To the dominion of a hoary warrior,
Would you swear fealty to a beardless youth,
Nursed in obscurity, to himself unknown,
Who hitherto no presage of himself,
Or one that is discouraging, hath given;
Who ignorant of the arts of government ...

Ægis.
Ignorant? I am, 'tis true, of arts like thine;
I am not, no, of those Alcides practised:
And shall give proofs of this ...

Pol.
Ah! hold thy peace:
Why thus exasperate him? Thou seest it;
Too numerous are his satellites: each man,
From terror, here is mute.

Polyp.
No, ye are mute,
Messenians, by profound amazement stricken
At my incautious lenity. My words,
I clearly see, have thoroughly convinced you:
And furthermore improvident I seem,
Now that to these I wholly trust myself;
And since their hearts already have been made
To me so manifest. 'Tis true; but yet
I wish, whate'er the cost, to make to them
A memorable and sublime atonement
For my past victory.—Now, Merope,
On thy decision I depend: erewhile
I gain'd thy suffrage; wouldst thou now retract it?

Me.
—This universal petrifying silence
But too peremptorily forebodes my doom.—
My son—yes, let my death ensure his life;
This duty dictates.—Oh thou unavenged,
And sorrowing shade of my adored Cresphontes,
Pardon the involuntary breach of faith!
By thee I was a mother; for thy son
To these funereal marriage-rites I come.
Oh son, thou call'st me to a bitter trial ...
But I am recompensed abundantly,
If thou remain'st alive ... Can it be true,
That I am thus by violence constrained? ...
Oh ye, in former times, of this youth's father
The faithful subjects, can ye witness us
Reduced to such extremity? ...

Polyp.
Make haste ...

Me.
Ah! be not thou incensed: a few words more,
And I shall cease to speak.—Hear thou, oh son,
My latest admonitions. Do thou bend
That brow where ineffectual pride sits throned
To the despotic conqueror: I, alas!
Can only now afford thee an example
Of desperate passiveness; and how to bear,
With dumb inflexibility, the worst.
Now only, by preventing his desires,
By silent acquiescence, by attempts
To wear at least humility's exterior,
By never mentioning thy father's name;
Now only by these arts may'st thou perchance
Divest his thoughts from blood. Ere long wilt thou
See me for ever to the tomb consigned:
Do thou meanwhile, though difficult to obey,
Carefully treasure up these my last words.

Ægis.
Oh wretched mother! ...
But can I be persuaded to drag on
A life like this, bought at so vast a price?
To pine in servitude is not to live
To natures such as mine. Do thou live on,
Beloved mother; and permit that I
Die, at least worthy my exalted father.

Polyp.
'Tis past all sufferance, this delay of thine,
Oh Merope. The kingdom, perfect peace,
Thy son, these I restore to thee at once.
Whence are these tears? Hopest thou to excite
My subjects to rebellion? I confide
In their fidelity. E'en if I would,
Each of them now sees clearly that, for thee,
I could do nothing more.—Resolve; on high
O'er the bull's neck the sacred axe impends.
Behold my right hand; thine, oh Merope,
Is now by me expected as the signal,
To immolate the victim to the gods.

Me.
What am I doing? ... Oh despair! ... Oh day! ...
Oh terrible moment! ... Here's my right hand then ...
But, oh! distracted, bloody, menacing,
Cresphontes interposes! ... Where am I? ...
Ah! ... whither shall I fly? ... Messenians, pity ...

Ægis.
Oh rage! and shall I suffer this? ...

Pol.
Be silent! ...
On thee already does the tyrant dart
His rabid eyes ...

Polyp.
No more. Yet once again,
Oh lady, do I offer it to thee:
Behold my right hand.

Me.
Oh distraction! ... Mine ...

Ægis.
Die thou. This is the right hand due to thee.

Pol.
Audacious youth!

Me.
What do I see?

Ægis.
Die thou.

Polyp.
Oh treason! ... Guards ... I die ...

Guards.
He is a traitor;
Slay him.

People.
No! rescue him; he is our king.

Me.
He is my son, I swear to you; your king ...

Ægis.
Far other proofs will I give you of this.
And this my single hatchet shall disperse
Javelins and swords.

Me.
Messenians, ah defend him ...

Pol.
I breathe again ... Behold the tyrant's troops
Already are dispersed ...

Me.
Oh son, return! ...
Ah wretched me! ...

Pol.
Through blood I will pursue him:
Had I my youthful arm! But, for his sake,
I will lay down my life.—Ah! hear me, son:
Return: rush not so rashly forward; ah!
Let me alone perish in thy defence ...

Ægis.
At length we've conquered them. Rejoice, oh mother;
Thou seest the mercenary soldiers fly,
Fly to a man: Adrastes, by my hands,
Lies lifeless; and the citizens in crowds
Flock more and more ...

Me.
He is my son, Messenians!
He is Cresphontes; he is your true king:
Do you not recognize him by his face,
His voice, his looks, his unexampled valour,
And, more than all, by my maternal love? ...

Pol.
And by my oath which now confirms her words?
Oh you, Messenians, by my hoary looks,
By my integrity well known to you,
By the remembrance of that great Cresphontes,
Rather to us a father than a king;
I do conjure you yield implicit faith
To my asseveration. I myself
Rescued him from Messene; brought him up ...

Ægis.
Messenians, there, stretched lifeless on the earth,
(Do you behold him) Polyphontes lies:
I slew him; I alone avail'd to avenge
My father, and my brothers, and my mother,
Myself, and you: if hence I guilty seem
To you, I yield myself to you alone.—
Behold, the axe, which for such deeds sufficed,
I cast it on the earth: behold me now
Wholly defenceless, wholly in your power:
If I have shed the blood of these unjustly,
Be mine in retribution shed by you.

People.
Oh generous, noble youth! In every thing
His father he resembles ...

Me.
And in him
Cresphontes lives again ...

People.
Auspicious day! ...
Thou art our rightful king.

Pol.
And worthy king.
Let me first, humbly prostrate at thy feet,
Offer to thee my reverential homage!
And, citizens, do ye all kneel with me.

People.
To thee we all swear everlasting faith.
Thou wilt be just as thou art valiant:
That lofty aspect cannot be deceitful.

Ægis.
I swear to be so. And if I be not,
May I, as this usurper, lifeless fall.

Pol.
Ah! why on this day do I not expire?
Ne'er should I die more happy.

Me.
Oh, my son,
Come to my breast. But ah! ... from ... too much ... joy ...
I feel myself o'erwhelmed.

Ægis.
Oh, mother! ... She
Sinks lifeless from immoderate emotion.
To some more still apartment let us lead her—
Hither, Messenians, I ere long return,
To unfold to you the mysteries of my fate.—
Thou, my good father, follow me; do thou
Still deem me less thy monarch, than thy son.