 | Agis |  |
139
SCENE THE SECOND.
Agis, Agiziade.Agi.
What do I see? My Agis, hast thou ventured
To leave the asylum? Speedily I came
To find thee there ...
Agis.
Whate'er thou wert towards me,
My still beloved consort, why dost thou
Thus bend thy steps towards a wretched husband?
Agi.
Scarce can I speak, oh Agis. ... I return
To thee, with thy embitter'd, alter'd fate.
Thy mournful state, and that alone, had power
To tear me from my father. On the day
That I was forced, oh consort, to abandon
My children, and thyself, that I might not
Suffer my father, in his wretched exile,
To go from us a lonely fugitive,
I felt my heart as if asunder torn:
Nor would'st thou ever have beheld me more,
I now confess to thee, in Sparta's soil,
If to the cruel shafts of adverse fortune
He had remain'd obnoxious. Once more he
Is raised on high; thou, in thy turn, depress'd.
Who, who could now dissever me from thee?
With all my heart do I to thee return:
And I conjure thee, by my unfeign'd love;
(For thine, I know not if I yet possess it;)
By those loved children once to thee so dear;
And further I conjure thee by thy country,
To which thou art so loftily devoted,
To grant at least a respite for the present
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The first of benefits, to this induce thee:
Be pleased to reassume, as heretofore,
In strict conjunction with Leonidas,
Supreme controulment of the Spartan state.
Agis.
Lady, who could that fondness ever blame
Thou bear'st thy father? Thou canst never know him;
This is not thy prerogative: most good,
Most fond, most pious, most accomplish'd, thou,
In these corrupted times, a rare example
Of pristine conjugal and filial love;
Feel'st no solicitude except to be
The generous partner of his destiny
Whom adverse fortunes persecutes the most.
If thou wert ever dear to me, to see thee
To-day return to me when all men fly,
Makes thee to me more dear. From thy great heart
Less I expected not: I only fear'd
That with his happiness intoxicate,
Leonidas perchance might interdict
Thy quitting him for me.
Agi.
Just were thy fears.
Since Sparta as a conqueror received him
Three days have past; three days have also past
That I have combated with him for thee.
Nor, since I could not his consent obtain,
Was I less firm, whate'er the risk might be,
To join thee here. Himself, at length compliant,
A little while ago to thee would send me
A messenger of peace: he, by my lips,
Now proffers it to thee without reserve;
He begs thee and conjures thee, that thou wilt,
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Adopt all means whence Sparta may obtain
Henceforth entire indissoluble peace.
Agis.
Doth he send thee to me? This change, so sudden,
Permits the indulgence of no joyful hope.
What do I say? If in himself he hope not,
Can Agis hope? What more remains for me
To fear, when my poor country every day
Is more enslaved?—more, every day, remote
From her primæval eminence, her great,
Illustrious, and immortalizing virtues?
I had already of my own accord
Abandon'd my retreat: far other motives
Had now induced me to anticipate
The crafty wishes of Leonidas ...
Ah! this will be a memorable day
To Sparta and to me; fatal perchance
To thee, if thou dost love me ... I cannot,
Oh my beloved consort, doubt of this ...
But, if thou hearkenest to my upright words,
Do not thou, worthy of a better father,
I do beseech thee, irritate in vain
His captious soul. Live for thy children's sake;
Against the rage of fierce Leonidas
Be thou to them a shield: those lofty thoughts
Which I have ever shared with thee, and which
Thou feltest so profoundly, fortified
By other lofty ones in thee innate,
Which are the source sublime of filial love,
Do thou in them transfuse, that they may live
The glory of their father and their country.
A thirst for vengeance do I not expire,
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Provided that they one day may arise,
Although in distant times, from sons of mine,
With this my spirit will be satisfied ...
Agi.
My heart thou rendest ... Why thus speak of death?
Agis.
Thou art a Spartan, and the wife of Agis;
Refrain from tears. My blood may serve my country;
My tears cannot serve thee. Ah, dry thine eyes;
Compel me not to weep ...
Agi.
I know full well
The bitter agonies of thy sublime,
Devoted heart; thy upright, generous schemes
Within my breast profoundly are engraved;
And if in their complete accomplishment
The entire and lofty ruin of my father
Were not involved, e'en at the risk of life,
Would'st thou find me first ready to promote them ...
How oft have I lamented o'er that father,
So different to thee! How oft have I
Wept that I was his daughter! Yet, alas!
I was indeed, and am ... and 'twixt you two
I live distracted, and I ought to be
The means of amity betwixt you both,
Or ought to die.
Agis.
If thou in other times,
From other blood hadst been in Sparta born,
Daughter of Sparta, mother of true Spartans
Thou would'st have been. Yet thy not Spartan father
I would not as a crime to thee impute.
Prompted by thy most generous, lofty heart,
But not well disciplined, I heard thy lips
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But not thy country's. Yet why should I wonder,
If thou art more a daughter and a wife
Than citizen? Whate'er thou art, I love thee;
Nor any force, save that of my example,
To thy not Spartan feelings would I use.
Hence I conjure thee by our love, yea, more,
If it be needful, I command, that thou
Should'st manifest to-day that thou art yet
E'en more a mother than a wife or daughter.—
But whence this horrible tumult that approaches?
What crowd is this? what cries? oh heaven! my mother!
And a great multitude of people arm'd
Pursues her steps!
| Agis | |