Perseus the Deliverer

Scene I

The countryside, high ground near the city of Cepheus. A crowd of Syrians, men and women, running in terror, among them Chabrias, Megas, Baltis, Pasithea, Morus, Gardas, Syrax.

 

BALTIS (stopping and sinking down on her knees)

Ah, whither can we run where the offended

Poseidon shall not reach us?

 

CHABRIAS

Stop, countrymen;

Let's all die here together.

 

OTHERS

Let's stop and die.

 

MEGAS

Run, run! Poseidon's monsters howl behind.

 

PASITHEA

O day of horror and of punishment!

 

SYRAX

Let us stay here; it is high ground, perhaps

The monster will not reach us.

 

Damoetes enters.

 

DAMOETES

I have seen the terror near, and yet I live.

It vomits fire for half a league.

 

SYRAX

It is

As long as a sea-jutting promontory.

 

DAMOETES

It has six monstrous legs.

 

SYRAX

Eight, eight; I saw it.

 

MEGAS

Chabrias, it caught thy strong son by the foot,

And dashed his head against a stone, that all

The brains were scattered.

 

CHABRIAS

Alas, my son! I will

Go back and join you in the monster's jaws.

 

He is stopped by the others.

 

DAMOETES

It seized thy daughter, O Pasithea,

And tore her limbs apart, which it devoured

While yet the trunk lay screaming under its foot.

 

PASITHEA

Oh God!

 

She swoons.

 

ALL

Lift her up, lift her up. Alas!

 

MEGAS

These sorrows may be ours.

 

BALTIS

Ah Heaven, my son!

I did not wake him when this news of horror

Plucked me from sleep.

 

GARDAS

My wife and little daughter

Are in my cottage where perhaps the monster

Vomits his fiery breath against the door.

I will go back.

 

MORUS

Let us go back, Damoetes.

 

DAMOETES

I'll not go back for twenty thousand wives

And children. Life is sweet.

 

MANY VOICES

Let us not go.

 

They stop Gardas.

 

MEGAS

What noise is that?

 

BALTIS

Run, run, 'tis some new horror.

 

All are beginning to run. Therops enters.

 

THEROPS

Where will you run? Poseidon's wrath is near you

And over you and behind you and before you.

His monsters from the ooze ravage howling

Along our shores, and the indignant sea

Swelled to unnatural tumultuous mountains

Is climbing up the cliffs with spume and turmoil.

 

DAMOETES

O let us run a hundred leagues and live.

 

THEROPS

Before you is another death. Last night

The Assyrians at three points came breaking in

Across the border and the frontier forces

Are slain. They torture, burn and violate:

Young girls and matrons, men and boys are butchered.

Salvation is not in your front and flight

Casts you from angry gods to men more ruthless.

I wonder not that you are silent, stunned

With fear: but will you listen, countrymen,

And I will show you a cure for these fierce evils.

 

VOICES

Oh tell us, tell us, you shall be our king.

 

MEGAS

We'll set thy image by the great Poseidon's

And worship it.

 

THEROPS

What is the unexampled cause of wrath

Which whelms you with these horrors? Is't not the bold

Presumptuous line of Cepheus? Is't not your kings

Whose pride, swollen by your love and homage, Syrians,

Insults the gods, rescues Poseidon's victims

And with a sacrilegious levity

Exposes all your lives to death and woe?

There is the fount of all your misery, Syrians,

For this the horror eats you up,—your kings.

 

CRIES

Away with them! throw them into the sea—let Poseidon swallow them!

 

THEROPS

But most I blame the fell Chaldean woman

Who rules you. What is this Cepheus but a puppet

Dressed up in royal seemings, pushed forth and danced

At her caprice? Unhappy is the land

That women rule, that country more unhappy

That is to heartless foreigners a prey.

But thou, O ill-starred Syria, two worst evils

Hast harboured in a single wickedness.

What cares the light Chaldean for your gods,

Your lives, your sons, your daughters? She lives at ease

Upon the revenues of your hard toil,

Depending on favourites, yes, on paramours,—

For why have women favourites but to ease

Their sensual longings?—and insults your deities.

Do you not think she rescued the Chaldeans

Because they were her countrymen, and used

Her daughter, young Andromeda, for tool

That her fair childish beauty might disarm

Wrath and suspicion? then, the crime unearthed,

Braved all and set her fierce Chaldeans' swords

Against the good priest Polydaon's heart,—

You did not hear that?—the good Polydaon

Who serves Poseidon with such zeal! Therefore

The god is angry: your wives, sisters, daughters

Must suffer for Chaldean Cassiopea.

 

CRIES

Let us seize her and kill, kill, kill, kill her!

 

DAMOETES

Burn her!

 

MORUS

Roast her!

 

MEGAS

Tear her into a million fragments.

 

CHABRIAS

But are they not our kings? We must obey them.

 

THEROPS

Wherefore must we obey them? Kings are men,

And they are set above their fellow-mortals

To serve us, friends,—not, surely, for our hurt!

Why should our sons and daughters bleed for them,

Syrians? Is not our blood as dear, as precious,

As human? Why should these kings, these men, go clad

In purple and in velvet while you toil

For little and are hungry and are naked?

 

CRIES

True, true, true!

 

GARDAS

This is a wonderful man, this Therops. He has a brain, countrymen.

 

DAMOETES

A brain! He is no cleverer than you or I, Morus.

 

MORUS

I should think not, Damoetes!

 

DAMOETES

We knew these things long ago and did not need wind-bag Therops to tell us!

 

MORUS

We have talked them over often, Damoetes.

 

MEGAS

We'll have no more kings, countrymen.

 

CRIES

No kings, no kings!

 

GARDAS

Or Therops shall be king.

 

CRIES

Yes, Therops king! Therops king!

 

DAMOETES

Good king Lungs! Oh, let us make him king, Morus,—he will not pass wind in the market-place so often.

 

THEROPS

Poseidon is our king; we are his people.

Gods we must worship; why should we worship men

And set a heavenly crown on mortal weakness?

They have offended against great Poseidon,

They are guilty of a fearful sacrilege.

Let them perish.

 

CRIES

Kill them! let us appease Poseidon.

 

CHABRIAS

Worship Heaven's power but bow before the king.

 

THEROPS

What need have we of kings? What are these kings?

 

CHABRIAS

They are the seed of gods.

 

THEROPS

Then, let them settle

Themselves their quarrel with their Olympian kindred.

Why should we suffer? Let Andromeda

Be exposed and Iolaus sacrificed:

Then shall Poseidon's wrath retire again

Into the continent of his vast billows.

 

CHABRIAS

If it must be so, let it come by award

Of quiet justice.

 

THEROPS

Justice! They are the judges

Who did the crime. Wherefore dost thou defend them?

Thou favourest then Poseidon's enemies?

 

CRIES

Kill him too, kill Chabrias. Poseidon, great Poseidon! we are Poseidon's people.

 

DAMOETES

Let him join his son and by the same road.

 

MORUS

Beat his brains out—to see if he has any. Ho! ho! ho!

 

THEROPS

Let him alone: he is a fool. Here comes

Our zealous good kind priest, our Polydaon.

 

Polydaon enters.

 

CRIES

Polydaon! Polydaon! the good Polydaon! Save us, Polydaon!

 

POLYDAON

Ah, do you call me now to save you? Last night

You did not save me when the foreign swords

Were near my heart.

 

MEGAS

Forgive us and protect.

 

DAMOETES

You, lead us to the palace, be our chief.

 

MORUS

We'll have no kings: lead, you: on to the palace!

 

MEGAS

Poseidon shall be king, thou his vicegerent.

 

GARDAS

Therops at thy right hand!

 

CRIES

Yes, Therops! Therops!

 

POLYDAON

Oh, you are sane now, being let blood by scourgings!

Unhurt had been much better. But Poseidon

Pardons and I will save.

 

CRIES

Polydaon for ever, the good Polydaon, Poseidon's Viceroy!

 

POLYDAON

Swear then to do Poseidon's will.

 

CRIES

We swear!

 

DAMOETES

Command and watch the effect!

 

POLYDAON

Will not the tongue

Of Cassiopea once more change you, people?

 

DAMOETES

We'll cut it out and feed her dogs with it.

 

POLYDAON

Shall Iolaus bleed? Andromeda

Be trailed through the city and upon the rocks,

As the god wills, flung naked to his monsters?

Cepheus and Cassiopea die?

 

CRIES

They shall!

 

MEGAS

Not one of them shall live.

 

POLYDAON

Then come, my children.

 

DAMOETES

But the beast! Will it not tear us on the road?

 

POLYDAON

It will not hurt you who do Poseidon's will.

I am your safeguard; I will march in front.

 

CRIES

To the palace, to the palace! We'll kill the Chaldeans, strangle

Cepheus, tear the Queen to pieces.

 

POLYDAON

In order, in good order, my sweet children.

 

The mob surges out following Polydaon and Therops: only Damoetes, Chabrias, Baltis and Pasithea are left.

 

DAMOETES

Come, Chabrias, we'll have sport.

 

CHABRIAS

My dead son calls me.

 

He goes out in another direction.

 

BALTIS

Pasithea, rise and come: you'll see her killed

Who is the murderess of your daughter.

 

PASITHEA

Let me

Stay here and die.

 

DAMOETES

Lift her up. Come, fool.

 

They go out, leading Pasithea.

 

Scene II

Cydone's Garden.

 

Cydone, Iolaus, Perseus.

 

CYDONE

Perseus, you did not turn him into stone?

 

IOLAUS

You cruelty! must one go petrifying

One's fellows through the world? 'Twould not be decent.

 

CYDONE

He would have been so harmless as a statue!

 

PERSEUS

The morning has broken over Syria and the sun

Mounts royally into his azure kingdom.

I feel a stir within me as if great things

Were now in motion and clear-eyed Athene

Urging me on to high and helpful deeds.

There is a grandiose tumult in the air,

A voice of gods and Titans locked in wrestle.

 

Diomede enters.

 

DIOMEDE

Ah, prince!

 

She bursts into tears.

 

IOLAUS

Diomede, what calamity?

 

DIOMEDE

Flee, flee from Syria, save thyself.

 

IOLAUS

From Syria!

Am I alone in peril? Then I'll sit

And wait.

 

DIOMEDE

Poseidon's monsters from the deep

Arise to tear us for our sin. The people

In fury, led by Polydaon, march

Upon the palace, crying, "Slay the King,

Butcher the Queen, and let Andromeda

And Iolaus die." O my sweet playmate,

They swear they'll bind her naked to the rocks

Of the sea-beach for the grim monster's jaws

To tear and swallow.

 

IOLAUS

My sword, my sword, Cydone!

 

DIOMEDE

Oh, go not to the fierce and bloody people!

Praxilla stole me out, hiding my face

In her grey mantle: I have outrun the wind

To warn you. Had the wild mob recognised me,

They would have torn me into countless pieces,

And will you venture near whose name they join

With death and cursings? Polydaon leads them.

 

CYDONE

Had he been only stone!

 

IOLAUS

My sword!

 

Cydone gives him the sword.

 

Perseus goes out to the cottage.

 

DIOMEDE

You'll go?

What will you do alone against ten thousand?

 

IOLAUS

To die is always easy. This canaille

I do not fear; it is a coward rabble.

 

DIOMEDE

But terror gives them fierceness: they are dangerous.

 

IOLAUS

Keep Diomede for your service, love,

If I am killed; escape hence with your mother

To Gaza; she has gold: you may begin

A life as fair there. Sometimes remember me.

 

CYDONE

Diomede, will you comfort my dear mother?

Tell her I am quite safe and will be back

By nightfall. Hush! this in your ear, Diomede.

Escape with her under the veil of night,

For I shall not come back. Be you her daughter

And comfort her sad lonely age, Diomede.

 

IOLAUS

What do you mean, Cydone?

 

CYDONE

Are you ready?

Let us be going.

 

IOLAUS

Us, sweet lunatic?

 

CYDONE

Often you've said that you and I are only one,

I shall know now if you mean it.

 

IOLAUS

You shall not give

To the rude mob's ferocious violence

The beautiful body I have kissed so often.

You'll not obey me?

 

CYDONE

No.

 

IOLAUS

Leave this you shall not.

 

CYDONE

I do not know how you will stop me.

 

IOLAUS

Shrew!

You shall be stopped by bonds. Here you'll remain

Tied to a tree-trunk by your wilful wrists

Till all is over.

 

Perseus returns, armed.

 

CYDONE

I'll bring the tree and all and follow you.

 

IOLAUS

Oh, will you, Hercules?

 

PERSEUS

Forbid her not,

My Iolaus; no tress of her shall fall.

I have arisen and all your turbulent Syria

Shall know me for the son of Zeus.

 

IOLAUS

Perseus,

Art thou indeed a god? What wilt thou do,

One against a whole people? What way hast thou?

 

PERSEUS

This is no hour to speak or plan, but to act.

A presence sits within my heart that sees

Each moment's need and finds the road to meet it.

Dread nothing; I am here to help and save.

 

IOLAUS

I had almost forgotten; the might thou hast shown

Is a sufficient warrant.

 

CYDONE

I shall come back,

Diomede.

 

PERSEUS

My grip is firm on Herpe,

Athene's aegis guards my wrist; herself

The strong, omnipotent and tranquil goddess

Governs my motions with her awful will.

Have trust in me. Borne on my bright-winged sandals

Invisibly I will attend your course

On the light breezes.

 

He goes out followed by Iolaus and Cydone.

 

DIOMEDE

I am too tired to follow,

Too daunted with their mad-beast howls. Here let me hide

Awaiting what event this war of gods

May bring to me and my sweet-hearted lady.

O my Andromeda! my little playmate!

 

She goes out towards the cottage weeping.

 

Scene III

A room commanding the outer Court of the Palace.

 

Nebassar, Praxilla.

 

PRAXILLA

I have seen them from the roof; at least ten thousand

March through the streets. Do you not hear their rumour,

A horrid hum as of unnumbered hornets

That slowly nears us?

 

NEBASSAR

If they are so many,

It will be hard to save the princess.

 

PRAXILLA

Save her!

It is too late now to save anyone.

 

NEBASSAR

I fear so.

 

PRAXILLA

But never is too late to die

As loyal servants for the lords whose bread

We have eaten. At least we women of the household

Will show the way to you Chaldeans.

 

NEBASSAR

We are soldiers,

Praxilla, and need no guidance on a road

We daily tread in prospect. I'll bring my guards.

 

He goes out saluting Cassiopea who enters.

 

CASSIOPEA

Swift Diomede must have reached by now, Praxilla.

 

PRAXILLA

I hope so, madam.

 

She goes out to the inner apartments.

 

CASSIOPEA

Then Iolaus

Is safe. My sad heart has at least that comfort.

O my Andromeda, my child Andromeda,

Thou wouldst not let me save thee. Hadst thou too gone,

I would have smiled when their fierce fingers rent me.

 

Cepheus enters.

 

CEPHEUS

The mob is nearing; all my Syrian guards

Have fled; we cannot hope for safety now.

 

CASSIOPEA

Then what is left but to set rapid fire

To the rafters and prevent on friendly swords

The rabble's outrage?

 

CEPHEUS

Was it for such a fate

Thou camest smiling from an emperor's palace,

O Cassiopea, Cassiopea!

 

CASSIOPEA

For me

Grieve not.

 

CEPHEUS

O Lady, princess of Chaldea,

Pardon me who have brought thee to this doom.

Yet I meant well and thought that I did wisely:

But the gods wrest our careful policies

To their own ends until we stand appalled

Remembering what we meant to do and seeing

What has been done.

 

CASSIOPEA

With no half soul I came

To share thy kingdom and thy joys; entirely

I came, to take the evil also with thee.

 

CEPHEUS

Is there no truth in our high-winging ideals?

My rule was mild as spring, kind as the zephyr:

It tempered justice with benevolence

And offered pardon to the rebel and sinner;

I showed mercy, the rare sign of gods and kings.

In this too difficult world, this too brief life

To serve the gods with virtue seemed the best.

A nation's happiness was my only care:

I made the people's love my throne's sure base

And dreamed the way I chose true, great, divine.

But the heavenly gods have other thoughts than man's;

Their awful aims transcend our human sight.

Another doom than I had hoped they gave.

 

CASSIOPEA

A screened Necessity drives even the gods.

Over human lives it strides to unseen ends;

Our tragic failures are its stepping-stones.

 

CEPHEUS

My father lived calm, just, pitiless, austere,

As a stern god might sway a prostrate world:

Admired and feared, he died a mighty king.

My end is this abominable fate.

 

CASSIOPEA

Another law than mercy's rules the earth.

 

CEPHEUS

If I had listened to thee, O Cassiopea,

Chance might have taken a fairer happier course.

Always thou saidst to me, "The people's love

Is a glimmer on quicksands in a gliding sea:

Today they are with thee, tomorrow turn elsewhere.

Wisdom, strength, policy alone are sure."

I thought I better knew my Syrian folk.

Is this not my well-loved people at my door,

This tiger-hearted mob with bestial growl,

This cry for blood to drink, this roar of hate?

Always thou spok'st to me of the temple's power,

A growing danger menacing the State,

Its ambition's panther crouch and serpent pride

And cruel craft in a priest's sombre face:

I only saw the god and sacred priest.

To priest and god I am thrown a sacrifice.

The golden-mouthed orator of the market-place,

Therops, thou bad'st me fear and quell or win

Gaining his influence to my side. To me

He seemed a voice and nothing but a voice.

Too late I learn that human speech has power

To change men's hearts and turn the stream of Time.

Thy eyes could read in Phineus' scheming brain.

I only thought to buy the strength of Tyre

Offering my daughter as unwilling price.

He has planned my fall and watches my agony.

At every step I have been blind, have failed:

All was my error; all's lost and mine the fault.

 

CASSIOPEA

Blame not thyself; what thou hadst to be, thou wert,

And never yet came help from vain remorse.

It is too late, too late. To die is left;

Fate and the gods concede us nothing more.

 

CEPHEUS

But strength to meet the doom is always ours.

In royal robes and crowned we will show ourselves

To our people and look in the eyes of death and fate.

What is this armoured tramp?

 

The Chaldean guards enter with Nebassar at their head.

 

CAPTAINS

O King, we come

To die with thee, the soldiers of Chaldea;

For all in Syria have abandoned thee.

 

CEPHEUS

I thank you, soldiers.

 

CRIES OUTSIDE

Poseidon, great Poseidon! we are Poseidon's people. In, in, in!

Kill the cuckold Cepheus, tear the harlot Cassiopea.

 

CEPHEUS

Voices of insolent outrage

Proclaim the heartless rabble. On the steps

Of our own palace we'll receive our subjects.

 

CASSIOPEA

This, this becomes thee, monarch.

 

NEBASSAR

Soldiers, form

With serried points before these mighty sovereigns.

 

The mob surges in, Therops and Perissus at their head, Polydaon a little behind, Damoetes, Morus and the rest. Praxilla and others of the household come running in.

 

MOB

On them! on them! Cut the Chaldeans to pieces!

 

THEROPS

Halt, people, halt: let there be no vain bloodshed.

 

CASSIOPEA

Here is a tender-hearted demagogue!

 

THEROPS

Cepheus and Cassiopea, 'tis vain and heinous

To dally with your fate; it will only make you

More criminal before the majesty

Of the offended people.

 

CEPHEUS

Majesty!

 

CASSIOPEA

An unwashed majesty and a wolf-throated!

 

THEROPS

Insolent woman, to thee I speak not. Cepheus,—

 

CEPHEUS

Use humbler terms. I am thy King as yet.

 

THEROPS

The last in Syria. Tell me, wilt thou give up

Thy children to the altar, and thyself

Surrender here with this Chaldean woman

For mercy or judgment to the assembled will

Of Syria?

 

CASSIOPEA

A tearing mercy, a howling judgment!

 

POLYDAON

Therops, why do you treat with these? Chaldeans!

And you, Praxilla! women of the household!

Bring out the abominable Andromeda

Who brought the woe on Syria. Why should you vainly

Be ripped and mangled?

 

CRIES OF WOMEN

Bring out Andromeda!

Bring out the harlot's daughter, bring her out!

 

CRIES OF MEN

Andromeda! Andromeda! Andromeda!

Bring out this vile Andromeda to die!

 

Andromeda enters from the inner Palace, followed by slave-girls entreating and detaining her.

 

PRAXILLA (sorrowfully)

Wilt thou be wilful even to the end?

 

CASSIOPEA

Alas, my child!

 

ANDROMEDA

Mother, weep not for me. Perhaps my death

May save you; and 'tis good that I should die,

Not these poor innocent people. Against me

Their unjust god is wroth.

 

CEPHEUS

O my poor sunbeam!

 

ANDROMEDA (advancing and showing herself to the people)

O people who have loved me, you have called me

And I am here.

 

A fierce roar from the mob.

 

THEROPS

How she shrinks back appalled!

 

PRAXILLA

God! What a many-throated howl of demons!

Their eyes glare death. These are not men and Syrians.

The fierce Poseidon has possessed their breasts

And breathed his awful blood-lust into all hearts

Deafening the voice of reason, slaying pity:

Poseidon's rage glares at us through these eyes,

It is his ocean roar that fills our streets.

 

Cries from the mob.

 

BALTIS

Seize her! seize her! the child of wickedness!

 

VOICES OF WOMEN

Throw her to us! throw her to us! We will pick

The veins out of her body one by one.

 

DAMOETES

Throw her to us! We will burn her bit by bit.

 

MORUS

Yes, cook her alive; no, Damoetes? Ho, ho, ho!

 

VOICES OF MEN

She has killed our sons and daughters: kill her, kill her!

 

VOICES OF WOMEN

She is the child of her wicked mother: kill her!

 

MOB

Throw her to us! throw her to us!

 

MEGAS

We'll tear her here, and the furies shall tear her afterwards for ever in Hell.

 

THEROPS

Peace, people! she is not yours, she is Poseidon's.

 

ANDROMEDA

Alas, why do you curse me? I am willing

To die for you. If I had known this morn

The monster's advent, I would have gone and met him

While you yet slept, and saved your poor fair children

Whose pangs have been my own. Had I died first,

I should not then have suffered. O my loved people,

You loved me too: when I went past your homes,

You blessed me always; often your girls and mothers

Would seize and bind me to their eager breasts

With close imprisonment, kiss on their doorways

And with a smiling soft reluctance leave.

O do not curse me now! I can bear all,

But not your curses.

 

PERISSUS

Alack, my pretty lady!

What madness made you do it?

 

POLYDAON

She has rewarded

Your love by bringing death upon you, Syrians,

And now she tries to melt you by her tears.

 

MOB

Kill her, kill her! Cut the Chaldeans to pieces! We will have her!

 

PASITHEA

O do not hurt her! She is like my child

Whom the fierce monster tore.

 

MEGAS

Unnatural mother!

Would you protect her who's cause your child was eaten?

 

PASITHEA

Will killing her give back my child to me?

 

MEGAS

No, it will save the children of more mothers.

 

DAMOETES

Gag up her puling mouth, the white-faced fool!

 

VOICES

Tear, tear Andromeda! Seize her and tear her!

 

WOMEN

Let us only get at her with our teeth and fingers!

 

NEBASSAR

Use swords, Chaldeans.

 

POLYDAON

Order, my children, order!

Chaldean, give us up Andromeda,

And save your King and Queen.

 

NEBASSAR

What, wilt thou spare them?

 

CASSIOPEA

Thou wilt not give my child to him, Nebassar?

Thou dar'st not!

 

NEBASSAR

Queen, 'tis better one should die

For all.

 

POLYDAON

I swear to thee, I will protect them.

 

CASSIOPEA

Trust not his oaths, his false and murderous oaths.

 

NEBASSAR

He is a priest: if we believe him, nothing

We lose, something may gain.

 

MEGAS

What wilt thou do?

The people do not like it. See, they mutter.

 

POLYDAON

Let me have first their daughter in my grip,

Be sure of the god's dearest victim. People,

I am Poseidon's priest and your true friend.

Leave all to me.

 

CRIES

Leave all to Polydaon! the good priest knows what he is doing.

 

POLYDAON

Soldier, give up the Princess.

 

NEBASSAR

Shall she be only given to Poseidon?

Will you protect her from worse outrage?

 

POLYDAON

I will.

 

PRAXILLA

Look! what a hideous triumph lights the eyes

Of that fierce man. He glares at her with greed

Like a wild beast of prey, and on his mouth

There is a cruel unclean foam. Nebassar,

O do not give her.

 

NEBASSAR

If there were any help!

Go forth, O princess, O Andromeda.

 

CASSIOPEA

My child! my child!

 

ANDROMEDA

Give me one kiss, my mother.

We shall yet meet, I think. My royal father,

Andromeda farewells you, whom you loved

And called your sunbeam. But the night receives me.

 

CEPHEUS

Alas!

 

DAMOETES

How long will these farewells endure?

They are not needed: you shall meet presently

If Death's angels can collect your tattered pieces.

 

CASSIOPEA

O savage Syrians, let my curses brood

Upon your land, an anguished mother's curse.

May the Assyrian come and flay you living,

Impale your sons, rip up your ravished daughters

Before your agonising eyes and make you feel,

Who drag my child from me to butcher her,

The horror that you do. I curse you, Syrians.

 

ANDROMEDA

Hush, mother, mother! what they demand is just.

 

 

NEBASSAR

Lead back the King and Queen into the Palace,

Women. We too will from this sad surrender

Remove our eyes.

 

CASSIOPEA

I will not go. Let them tear her

Before me: then surely Heaven will avenge me.

 

CEPHEUS

Come, Cassiopea, come: our death's delayed

By a few minutes. I will not see her slain.

 

Cepheus and Praxilla go in, forcibly leading Cassiopea; they are followed by the slave-girls and then by Nebassar and the Chaldeans: Andromeda is left alone on the steps.

 

CRIES (of the mob surging forward)

Drag her, kill her, she is ours.

 

POLYDAON

Therops and thou, Perissus, stand in front

And keep the people off, or they will tear her,

Defraud Poseidon.

 

PERISSUS

Cheer up, my princess, come!

You shall be cleanly killed.

 

THEROPS

People of Syria,

Rob not Poseidon of his own! 'tis not the way

To turn his anger.

 

VOICES

Right, right! leave her to Poseidon: out with her to the sea-monster.

 

GARDAS

Therops is always right.

 

DAMOETES

We will have her first: we will dress his banquet for him: none shall say us nay.

 

MORUS

Good; we will show Poseidon some excellent cookery. Ho, ho, ho!

 

MEGAS

No, no, no! To the rocks with her! Strip her, the fine dainty princess, and hang her up in chains on the cliff-face.

 

A WOMAN

Strip her! Off with her broidered robe and her silken tunic! Why should she wear such, when my daughter carries only coarse woollen?

 

A WOMAN (shaking her fist)

Curse the white child's face of thee: it has ruined Syria. Die, dog's daughter.

 

DAMOETES

Is she to die only once who has killed so many of us? I say, tie her to one of these pillars and flog her till she drops.

 

MORUS

That's right, skin her with whips: peel her for the monster, ho, ho, ho!

 

BALTIS

Leave her: Hell's tortures shall make the account even.

 

POLYDAON

In order, children: let all be done in order.

 

THEROPS

She droops like a bruised flower beneath their curses,

And the tears lace her poor pale cheeks like frost

Glittering on snowdrops. I am sorry now

I had a hand in this.

 

ANDROMEDA

You two have faces

Less cruel than the others. I am willing

To die,—oh, who would live to be so hated?

But do not let them shame or torture me.

 

PERISSUS

Off! off! thick-brained dogs, loud-lunged asses! What do you do, yelping and braying here? Will you give a maimed meal to Poseidon's man-hound? Do you know me not? Have you never heard of Perissus, never seen Perissus the butcher? I guard Poseidon's meat, and whoever touches a morsel of it, I will make meat of him with my cleaver. I am Perissus, I am the butcher.

 

VOICES

It is Perissus, the good and wealthy butcher. He is right. To the rocks with her!

 

VOICES OF WOMEN

Bind her first: we will see her bound!

 

PERISSUS

In all that is rational, I will indulge you.

Where is a cord?

 

CRIES

A cord, who has a cord?

 

DAMOETES

Here is one, Perissus. 'Tis rough and strong and sure.

 

PERISSUS

Come, wear your bracelets.

 

ANDROMEDA

O bind me not so hard!

You cut my wrists.

 

She weeps.

 

PERISSUS

You are too soft and tender.

There, dry your eyes,—but that, poor slip, you cannot.

See, I have tied you very lightly: say not

That this too hurts.

 

ANDROMEDA

I thank you; you are kind.

 

PERISSUS

Kind! Why should I not be kind? Because I am a butcher must I have no bowels? Courage, little Princess: none shall hurt thee but thy sea- monster and he, I am sure, will crunch thy little bones very tenderly. Never had man-eater such sweet bones to crunch. Alack! but where is the remedy?

 

POLYDAON

Now take her to the beach and chain her there

Upon the rocks to bear her punishment.

Perissus, lead her forth! We'll follow you.

 

CRIES

Not I! not I!

 

DAMOETES

You'ld kill us, Polydaon?

Poseidon's anger walks by the sea-beaches.

 

POLYDAON

The fierce sea-dragon will not hurt you, friends,

Who bring a victim to Poseidon's altar

Of the rude solemn beaches. I'll protect you.

 

CRIES

We'll go with Polydaon! with the good Polydaon!

 

POLYDAON

Perissus, go before. We'll quickly come.

 

PERISSUS

Make way there or I'll make it with my cleaver.

Heart, little Princess! None shall touch thee. Heart!

 

Perissus and others make their way out with Andromeda.

 

POLYDAON

Hem, people, hem the Palace in with myriads:

We'll pluck out Cepheus and proud Cassiopea.

 

CRIES

Kill Cepheus the cuckold, the tyrant! Tear the harlot Cassiopea.

 

THEROPS

Is this thy sacred oath? Had not Nebassar

Thy compact, priest?

 

POLYDAON

I swore not by Poseidon.

Wilt thou oppose me?

 

THEROPS

Thy perjury too much

Favours my private wishes. Yet would I not

Be thou with such a falsehood on my conscience.

 

POLYDAON

Why, Therops, be thyself and thou shalt yet

Be something great in Syria.

 

DAMOETES

Where's Iolaus?

Shall he not also die?

 

POLYDAON

Too long forgotten!

O that I should forget my dearest hatred!

By this he has concealed himself or fled

And I am baulked of what I chiefly cherished.

 

THEROPS

Oh, do them justice! the great house of Syria

Were never cowards. The prince has been o'erwhelmed

On his way hither with rash sword to rescue:

So Aligattas tells, who came behind us.

He's taken to the temple.

 

POLYDAON

Heard you?

 

MOB

Hurrah!

 

BALTIS

But what's the matter now with our good priest?

His veins are all out and his face is blood-red!

 

DAMOETES

This joy is too great for him.

 

POLYDAON

I am a god,

A god of blood and roaring victory.

Oh, blood in rivers! His heart out of his breast,

And his mother there to see it! and I to laugh

At her, to laugh!

 

THEROPS

This is not sanity.

 

POLYDAON (controlling himself with a great effort)

The sacrilegious house is blotted out

Of Cepheus. Let not one head outlive their ending!

Andromeda appoints the way to Hades

Who was in crime the boldest, then her brother

Yells on the altar: last Cepheus and his Queen—

 

CRIES

Tear her! let the Chaldean harlot die.

 

POLYDAON

She shall be torn! but not till she has seen

The remnants of the thing that was her daughter:

Not till her sweet boy's heart has been plucked out

Under her staring eyes from his red bosom.

Till then she shall not die. But afterwards

Strew with her fragments every street of the city.

 

CRIES

Hear, hear Poseidon's Viceroy, good Polydaon!

 

MEGAS

In! in! cut off their few and foreign swordsmen.

 

CRIES

In! in! let not a single Chaldean live.

 

The mob rushes into the Palace; only Therops and Polydaon remain.

 

POLYDAON

Go, Therops, take good care of Cassiopea,

Or she will die too mercifully soon.

 

THEROPS (aside)

How shall we bear this grim and cruel beast

For monarch, when all's done? He is not human.

 

He goes into the Palace.

 

POLYDAON

I have set Poseidon's rage in human hearts;

His black and awful Influence flows from me.

Thou art a mighty god, Poseidon, yet

And mightily thou hast avenged thyself.

The drama's nearly over. Now to ring out

The royal characters amid fierce howlings

And splendid, pitiless, crimson massacre,—

A great finale! Then, then I shall be King.

 

(As he speaks, he gesticulates more wildly and his madness gains upon him.)

 

Thou luckless Phineus, wherefore didst thou leave

So fortunate a man for thy ally?

The world shall long recall King Polydaon.

I will paint Syria gloriously with blood.

Hundreds shall daily die to incarnadine

The streets of my city and my palace floors,

For I would walk in redness. I'll plant my gardens

With heads instead of lilacs. Hecatombs

Of men shall groan their hearts out for my pleasure

In crimson rivers. I'll not wait for shipwrecks.

Assyrian captives and my Syrian subjects,

Nobles and slaves, men, matrons, boys and virgins

At matins and at vespers shall be slain

To me in my magnificent high temple

Beside my thunderous Ocean. I will possess

Women each night, who the next day shall die,

Encrimsoned richly for the eyes' delight.

My heart throngs out in words! What moves within me?

I am athirst, magnificently athirst,

And for a red and godlike wine. Whence came

The thirst on me? It was not here before.

'Tis thou, 'tis thou, O grand and grim Poseidon,

Hast made thy scarlet session in my soul

And growest myself. I am not Polydaon,

I am a god, a mighty dreadful god,

The multitudinous mover in the sea,

The shaker of the earth: I am Poseidon

And I will walk in three tremendous paces

Climbing the mountains with my clamorous waters

And see my dogs eat up Andromeda,

My enemy, and laugh in my loud billows.

The clamour of battle roars within the Palace!

I have created it, I am Poseidon.

Sitst thou, my elder brother, charioted

In clouds? Look down, O brother Zeus, and see

My actions! they merit thy immortal gaze.

 

He goes into the Palace.

 

Scene IV

On the road to the sea-shore.

 

Phineus and his Tyrians.

 

PHINEUS

A mightier power confounds our policies.

Is't Heaven? is't Fate? What's left me, I will take.

'Tis best to rescue young Andromeda

From the wild mob and bear her home to Tyre.

She, when the roar is over, will be left

My claim to Syria's prostrate throne, which force,

If not diplomacy shall re-erect

And Tyre become the Syrian capital.

I hear the trampling of the rascal mob.

 

CRIES OUTSIDE

Drag her more quickly! To the rocks! to the rocks!

Glory to great Poseidon!

 

PHINEUS

Tyrians, be ready.

 

Perissus and a number of Syrians enter leading Andromeda bound.

 

SYRIANS

To the rocks with her, to the rocks! bind her on the rocks.

 

PHINEUS

Pause, rabble! Yield your prey to Tyrian Phineus.

Lift up thy lovely head, Andromeda!

For thou art saved.

 

PERISSUS

Who art thou with thy nose and thy fellows and thy spits?

 

PHINEUS

Knowst thou me not? I am the royal Phineus.

Yield up the Princess, fair Andromeda.

 

PERISSUS

Art thou the royal Phineus and is this long nose thy sceptre? I am Perissus, the butcher. Stand aside, royal Phineus, or I will chop thee royally with my cleaver.

 

ANDROMEDA

What wilt thou with me, King of Tyre?

 

PHINEUS

Sweet rose,

I come to save thee. I will carry thee,

My bride, far from these savage Syrian tumults

To reign in loyal Tyre. Thou art safe.

 

ANDROMEDA (sorrowfully)

Safe!

My father and my mother are not safe

Nor Iolaus: nor is Syria safe.

Will you protect my people, when the god,

Not finding me, his preferable victim,

Works his fierce will on these?

 

PHINEUS

Thou car'st for them?

They have o'erwhelmed thee with foul insult, bound thee,

Threatened thy lovely limbs with rascal outrage

And dragged to murder!

 

ANDROMEDA

But they are my people.

Perissus, lead me on. I will not go with him.

 

PHINEUS

Thou strange and beautiful and marvellous child,

Wilt thou or wilt thou not, by force I'll have thee.

Golden enchantment! thou art too rare a thing

For others to possess. Run, rascal rabble!

On, Tyrians!

 

PERISSUS

Cleavers and axes to their spits!

 

ANDROMEDA

King Phineus, pause! I swear I will prefer

Death's grim embrace rather than be thy wife

Abandoning my people. 'Tis a dead body

Thou wilt rescue.

 

PHINEUS

Is thy resolve unshakable?

 

ANDROMEDA

It is.

 

PHINEUS

Die then! To Death alone I yield thee.

 

He goes out with his Tyrians.

 

PERISSUS

So then thou art off, royal Phineus! so thou hast evaporated, bold god of the Hittites! Thou hast saved thy royal nose from my cleaver.

 

SYRIANS

On to the rocks! Glory to great Poseidon.

 

They go leading Andromeda.

 

Scene V

The sea-shore.

 

Andromeda, dishevelled, bare-armed and unsandalled, stripped of all but a single light robe, stands on a wide low ledge under a rock jutting out from the cliff with the sea washing below her feet. She is chained to the rock behind her by her wrists and ankles, her arms stretched at full length against its side. Polydaon, Perissus, Damoetes and a number of Syrians stand near on the great rocky platform projecting from the cliff of which the ledge is the extremity.

 

POLYDAON

There meditate affronts to dire Poseidon.

Rescue thyself, thou rescuer of victims!

I am sorry that thy marriage, sweet Andromeda,

So poorly is attended. I could have wished

To have all Syria gazing at thy nuptials

With thy rare Ocean bridegroom! Thy mother most

Should have been here to see her lovely princess

So meetly robed for bridal, with these ornaments

Upon her pretty hands and feet. She has

Affairs too pressing. We do some surgery

Upon thy brother Iolaus' heart

To draw the bad blood out and make it holy,

And she must watch the skilful operation.

Do not weep, fair one. Soon, be confident,

They'll meet thee in that wide house where all are going.

Think of these things until thy lover comes.

Farewell.

 

PERISSUS

Art thou mad, priest Polydaon? How thou grinnest and drawest back thy black lips from thy white teeth in thy rapture! Hast thou gone clean mad, my skilful carver of hearts! art thou beside thyself, my ancient schoolmate and crony?

 

SYRIANS

To the temple! To the temple!

 

POLYDAON

Let one remain above the cliff

And watch the monster's advent and his going.

Till I have news of dead Andromeda

The sacrifice cannot begin. Who stays?

 

DAMOETES

Not I!

 

ALL

Nor I! nor I! nor I!

 

DAMOETES

As well stay here with the girl and be torn with her!

 

PERISSUS

Do you quake, my brave shouters? must you curl your tails in between your manly legs? I will stay, priest, who fear neither dog nor dragon. I am Perissus, I am the butcher.

 

POLYDAON

I'll not forget thy service, good Perissus.

 

PERISSUS

Will you then make me butcher-in-chief to your viceroy in Damascus and shall I cut my joints under the patronage of King Polydaon? To the temple, Syrian heroes! I will go and cross my legs on the cliff-top.

 

They go. Andromeda is left alone.

 

Curtain