University of Virginia Library

ACT THE FIFTH.

SCENE THE FIRST.

Inside of the Prison of Sparta. Agis.
Agis.
I hear tremendous howlings, and a loud
Tumultuary uproar round my prison.—
Ye Deities of Sparta save my country!—
It grieves me that I did not keep a sword,
Whence, with my hands, I might at once extinguish
My own and Sparta's troubles at a blow.
Those whom Leonidas will send to slay me,
Cannot delay much longer.—Much-loved children ...
My mother, ... my beloved spouse, ... farewell ...
No more shall I behold you! ... I bequeathe
To you, tender remembrance of myself ...
But for my mother's destiny I tremble:
She's in the tyrant's power ... What do I hear?
Who comes? The prison opens! ... Who is this? ...
My consort? ...

SCENE THE SECOND.

Agis, Agiziade.
Agi.
I am with thee, much-loved Agis ...
I from the palace of my father fled,
Where I, as in a prison, was immured.—
The people cleared for me the path that led
To this foul dungeon; and the very guards
Had not the heart my entrance to forbid.—
At length I am with thee ... Oh spouse, I come,
If it be possible, to rescue thee,
Or with thee to expire.

Agis.
Beloved wife! ...
My heart thou rendest ... How much joy ... and pain ...
Thy presence brings me ... To preserve my life,
(For by the death of many citizens
I, if I would, might do it) thy true love
Alone could influence me. But thou know'st well
I ought not to prefer thee to my country,
Nor would'st thou that I did it. Leave me then
To die; preserve thy own life; and defend
Those precious pledges of our love, our children ...

Agi.
Vainly should I attempt to rescue them
From the fierce hatred of Leonidas:
Unnatural father! in his prosperous state
I know him now without disguise; erewhile
In his adversity I was deceived.
No weapons now remain to me but tears;
These he despises: Sparta, with her arms,
Or nothing else, our children can preserve
From his atrocious rage.—But thou, at least,
Should'st prove thyself a father, and defend
Thy own life for thy offspring ...

Agis.
Oh my wife!
In these last moments what a terrible conflict
Dost thou not raise within me? Thou know'st well
I love my children; but their death is yet
Uncertain; and 'tis certain that in streams
The blood of Sparta's citizens would flow
If I attempted force. And these and those
Are both my children; but the people are
His dearest children in a just king's sight.—
O lady, if thou darest to survive me,
Thou canst defend them better than myself!
That courage, tender and sublime at once,
Which made thee the companion of thy father;
That courage which induced thee to become
The faithful friend of my adversity;
That will suffice to be a guide to thee
To avert destruction from their innocent lives.
Guilty and fierce as is Leonidas,
He is thy father: if thy little ones
Thou claspest in thy arms; if thy pure breast
Become a refuge to their innocence,
He cannot have the heart to murder them.
Ah! run from hence, fly to thy tottering babes,
As their defender watch; for them live on,
Or only die with them; for if they perish,
Nothing compels thee then to drag on life.

Agi.
Alas! ... what shall I do? ... If I should leave thee ...
My barbarous father would by force keep me
In life; ... and what a life! ... Widow'd from thee ...
But even if he let our children live, ...
Their throne would then be taken from them ... Ah!
I will expire with thee ...

Agis.
Oh lady, hear me, and be pacified ...
Would'st thou be less heroic as a mother,
Than as a daughter? Thou fear'dst not my wrath,
The day that thou accompani'dst thy father:
Thy children didst thou for his sake desert,
And thy beloved consort: would'st thou now,
When thou dost leave him for thy children's sake,
Tremble at that same father? Thou with them
May'st fly from hence: thou hast t'oppose to him
Efficient weapons, thy own innocence:
Lastly, thou hast a thousand means to try,
Ere thou resolve on death. Ah! I conjure thee,
Beloved consort, try them; once again
Resume thy lofty heart; nor weaken mine
With female lamentations. Wouldest thou
That I expired in tears? Ah, no!—If thou
Art worthy Agis, do not thou force me
To make that Agis of himself unworthy.

Agi.
Say, was paternal fondness ever deem'd
Unworthy of a father, to prefer
His children to himself? ...

Agis.
Before our children
Our country must be loved. For a long time
My blood have I deem'd consecrate to her;
Thine, if it needful be, should'st thou devote
To our beloved children: but thou givest,
If thou for their sakes dost consent to live,
To them, and to myself, a higher proof
Of thy regard. Thy tears may yet do much;
More than thou dost imagine: in the people
Will they, if in Leonidas they do not,
Excite compassion; and to them to save,
E'en without loss of blood, my little ones,
Will be most easy. Finally, reflect,
That Agis wholly dies not while thou livest.
I, in a vulgar woman, should admire,
As proof at once of passionate regard
And sublime heroism, the fixed will
Not to survive her husband; but I hope,
Nay I demand from thee, and thou the wife
Of Agis, by that union with myself,
Art pledged, intrepidly, to more than death,—
A life of sorrow for thy children's sake ...
Weeping I ask it of thee; may these tears
Sink in thy heart ... Ah! for thyself alone,
And for our children, hast thou seen at length
Thy Agis weep.

Agi.
Irrevocably then
Hast thou decreed to die? ...

Agis.
Thou canst not doubt
My innocence.—Receive my last embrace;
And take it, in my name, to our dear children.
Tell them, that for my country's sake I die;
Tell them that if, as adults, to my throne
They e'er should come, they, for their father's death,
No other vengeance ever must inflict,
Than, imitating him, to renovate
The sublime institutes of great Lycurgus:
And, if in this, as I have done, should they
Encounter adverse fates, bid them, like me,
In this immortalizing enterprize,
As men of valour sacrifice their lives.

Agi.
I cannot speak ... Must I abandon thee? ...

Agis.
A faithful counsellor, in my worthy mother,
Wilt thou possess, if still her life be spared!—
Now go; ah leave me; go.—A wife, a queen,
A mother, Spartan, and a citizen
Art thou; these lofty characters support.

Agi.
Oh heaven! ... Eternally ...

Agis.
Cease, cease, I pray thee.

Agi.
My tottering feet scarcely support my frame.

Agis.
Ah come! when once thou hast departed hence,
Thou soon wilt find protection and support.

Agi.
Oh misery! ... The iron gate unfolds ...

Agis.
Guards, I consign to you your monarch's daughter.

Agi.
Agis ... Ah cruel! ... I will never quit him ... Agis! ... farewell ... farewell ...

SCENE THE THIRD.

Agis.
Agis.
Ah wretched me! ...
How many deaths must I in one endure? ...
That grief which husbands and which fathers feel,
What grief can ever equal?—Sparta, Sparta,
How much thou costest me! ... Leonidas
Is yet a father: in my heart I feel
A grateful presage that he will consign
My children to his daughter.—Cease my tears.—
My death is now approaching. As a Spartan,
And as an innocent king, I ought to die ...
Oh death, how tardy are thy steps!—But yet,
Behold, again I hear my prison gate
Grate on its hinges? ... And I also hear
The shouts redoubled round these walls! ... What now
Can this portend? ... Whom do I see? ...

SCENE THE FOURTH.

Agesistrata, Agis.
Agis.
... Oh heavens! ...
Oh mother! ...

Ages.
Son, in this thy hour of need,
To thee thy mother never could be wanting.
A liberty, that's worthy of ourselves,
I bring thee.—In a far different shape
To thee I would have yielded it; but when
There was a time for this, thou didst thyself
Divest me of all means t'accomplish it.

Agis.
What would'st thou with these Spartan cries obtain? ...

Ages.
In vain doth Sparta cry. The treacherous tyrant
The place hath so well guarded with his soldiers,
That our adherents nothing can perform:
In vain do they attempt to force their ranks;
Inert, abash'd, disgraced, discomfited,
They are repell'd. Among our impious foes
Forward I darted; from behind I heard
Fierce voices in my favour, which exclaim'd,
“Miscreants! dare you to interdict approach
“To Agis' mother?” ... Anpharus then saw me;
Made them give way to me, and here I'm driven.

Agis.
Perfidious! He would also make thee captive.
Ah, mother! To what useless risk for me! ...

Ages.
Risk! dost thou say? Beside my son, I come
To certain death. Behold, in proof of this,
The gift I bring.

Agis.
A sword!—Oh genuine mother!—
My breast did not contain another wish
Than to possess a sword to rescue Sparta,
And to withdraw myself from death-wounds, given
By an ignoble hand: and thou, oh joy!
Bringest one to me!—Give it me ...

Ages.
Chuse thou:
There are two swords; mine is the one thou leavest.

Agis.
Oh heaven! ... and wilt thou? ...

Ages.
Dost thou then account me
Mother of Agis, or a vulgar woman?
Few years at best remain for me to live:
Sparta, which thou in vain dost hope to save,
Already is enthrall'd: if she remain,
Thy mother is Leonidas's slave.
Now speak; I hear thee: darest thou council me
On such conditions to consent to live?

Agis.
What can I say? I am a son.—Oh mother,
Suffer me first to die: although enslaved,
Sparta is not extinct; hence other hands
May liberate her yet. Perchance my blood
To freedom may restore her: but if I,
Abject, in order not to shed my own,
Had let the citizens in my defence
Lavish their blood, Sparta had been no more.

Ages.
Sparta too certainly expires with thee.—
And wouldest thou that I, a Spartan mother,
Survive my son and country?—Son, embrace me.

Agis.
Oh mother! ... Thou surpassest even me
In dignity of soul.—Now give to me,
And take the last embrace. I dare not weep
In thus embracing thee; for in thine eyes
I see thy tears by fortitude restrain'd.

Ages.
My Agis, ... thou indeed art worthy Sparta ...
And I of thee am worthy.—Once again
Let me embrace thee ... Whence this deafening noise?

SCENE THE FIFTH.

Leonidas, Anpharus, Soldiers with drawn swords. Agis, Agesistrata.
Le.
At length we are victorious.

Ages.
What's your purpose?

Agis.
Ah! do not leave my side.

An.
Soldiers, your swords
At Agis first, then at his mother, aim.

Agis.
Like me, conceal thy weapon for awhile;
Let us await their coming, and be silent.

An.
Who now restrains you? Why delay ye thus?
Tear them asunder instantly by force.

Agis.
Which of you, which, would dare lay hands on us?—
Royal Leonidas, dost thou behold?
Even thy own bribed soldiers, stupified,
Immoveable, in Agis' presence stand.—
But I will soon deliver thee from fear.
One thing alone do I demand of thee.

Le.
It is ...

Agis.
That thou attentively would'st watch
Thy daughter, that she imitate me not.

Le.
Is then her love for thee so strong?

Agis.
More strong
Than thy abhorrence.—But she loves thee too,
And hath given proof of it; and, finally,
Thou art her father: my last words are these; —
I die—May Sparta ... only ... profit by it ...

An.
He has a sword!

Ages.
Two swords I brought. —Oh son!
I follow thee; and fall ... upon thee ... dead.

Le.
I am struck dumb with terror and with wonder ...
Ah, what will Sparta say? ...

An.
Their lifeless bodies
Should from the people be conceal'd ...

Le.
Ah, never!
From our own eyes we never can conceal them.