SCENE I.
A WOOD; AT THE EXTREMITY A GROTTO.
CYPRIAN.
CYPRIAN. Ungrateful beauty mine,
At length the day, the happy day doth shine --
My hope's remotest range,
The limits of my love and of thy change,
Since I to-day will gain
At last my triumph over thy disdain.
This lofty mountain nigh,
Raised to the star-lit palace of the sky,
And this dark cavern's gloom,
Of two that live, so long the dismal tomb,
Are the rough school wherein
From magic art its mystic lore I win,
And such perfection reach
That I can now my mighty master teach.
Seeing, that on this day, since I came here
The sun completes its course from sphere to sphere,
I from my prison cell come forth to view
What in the light I now have power to do.
Ye skies of cloudless day
List to my magic spell-words and obey;
Swift zephyrs that rejoice
In heaven's warm light, stand still and hear my voice;
Stupendous mountain rock
Shake at my words as at an earthquake shock;
Ye trees in rough bark drest
Be frightened at the groanings of my breast;
Ye flowers so fair and frail
Faint at the echoing terror of my wail;
Ye sweet melodious birds
Hush all your songs before my awful words;
Ye cruel beasts of prey
See the first fruits of my long toil to-day;
For blinded, dazzled, dazed,
Confused, disturbed, astonished and amazed,
Ye skies and zephyrs, rocks, and trees, and flowers,
And birds, and beasts, behold my magic powers,
And thus to all make plain
Cyprian's infernal study is not vain.
* * * * *
SCENE II.
The Demon and CYPRIAN.
DEMON. Cyprian!
CYPRIAN. Wise friend and master still!
DEMON. Why, how is this, that using your free-will
More than my precept meant,
Say for what end, what object, what intent,
Through ignorance or boldness can it be,
You thus come forth the sun's bright face to see?
CYPRIAN. Seeing that now my spell
Can fill with fear, with horror even hell,
Since I, with so much care
Have studied magic and its depths laid bare,
So that yourself can scarcely tell
Whether 'tis I or you that most excel,
Seeing that now there is no place or part
That I with study, diligence and art,
have not attained,
Since necromancy's secret I have gained,
That art whose lines of gloom
Can ope to me the dark funereal tomb,
And bring before mine eyes
Each corpse that in it lies,
Regaining them, as 'twere by a new birth
From the hard avarice of the grasping earth.
The pale ghosts, one and all,
Rise and respond my call;--
And seeing that at length the sun
My goal of life had won,
Since from its innate force
Swift-speeding on its course,
Climbing the heavens each day,
It turns as 'twere reluctantly away,
And with a natural fear
Completes to-day the lifetime of a year,
I wish to attain the scope
To last of all my dreams, of all my hope.
To-day the rare, the beautiful, the divine
Justina will be mine,
Here summoned by my charms,
Here lured by love she'll come unto my arms,
For you from me no longer can require
Postponement of my hope's, my heart's desire.
DEMON. Nor do I wish to do it, no,
Since thus so earnestly you wish it so.
Now trace upon the ground
Mute mystic symbols, and the deep profound
Of air, with powerful incantations move
Obedient to your hope and to your love.
CYPRIAN. For that I will retire;
You soon shall see the heaven and earth admire.
[Exit.
DEMON. I give you leave to go,
Because our science being the same, I know
That the abyss of hell
Obedient to your spell
Will yield through me, this way,
The fair Justina to your arms to-day:
For, though my mighty power
Cannot enslave free-will even for an hour,
It may present
The outward show of rapture and content,
Suggesting thoughts impure:--
If force I cannot use, at least I lure.
* * * * *
SCENE III.
CLARIN and The Demon.
CLARIN. Ungrateful fair, who still my heart doth hold,
Not burning Libya sure, but Livia cold,
The time is come to show
Whether in love you have been true or no,
Whether, since I within this cave was placed,
Not chased by me you have yourself been chaste;
For I have studied here
At second hand some magic for a year,
Just to find out (alack! I can't but wince)
Whether with Moscon you have wronged me since:--
Ye watery skies (some people call them pure)
List to my conjurations I conjure,
Mountains . . . .
DEMON. How, Clarin?
CLARIN. Oh! my master wise!
By the concomitance of my hands and eyes,
I've learned some magic, and would know by it
If Livia, that ungrateful little chit,
Has played me false since I have been away,
Embracing that rogue Moscon on my day.
DEMON. Have done with these buffooneries: leave me, go.
And 'mid these intricate rocks whose paths you know,
Assist your master, who will let you see
(If you would witness such a prodigy)
The end of all his woe.
I wish to be alone.
CLARIN. And I not so.
I now perceive
Why to use magic I have not your leave,
The fault was mine, neglecting to attest
My bond, and sign it with the blood of my breast.--
[He takes out a soiled pocket-handkerchief.
Upon this linen handkerchief
(None cleaner he can have who cries for grief)
I'll sign it now, the method I propose
Is but to give myself a box on the nose,
For there is little harm
Whether the blood is drawn from nose or arm.
[He writes with his finger on the handkerchief, after having drawn some blood.
I, the great Clarin, say, if I can level
Pert Livia's cruel pride, whom I give to the devil . . . .
DEMON. Leave me, I say again,
Go seek your master and with him remain.
CLARIN. Yes, I will do so, don't get angry though.
The reason you reject my bond I know:
'Tis this, because you see,
Do what I will that you are sure of me.
* * * * *
SCENE IV.
The Demon.
DEMON. Abyss of hell prepare!
Thyself the region of thine own despair.--
From out each dungeon's dark recess
Let loose the spirits of voluptuousness,
To rain and o'erthrow
Justina's virgin fabric pure as snow.
A thousand filthy phantoms with thee brought
So people her chaste thought
That all her maiden fancies may be filled
With their deceits; let sweetest notes be trilled
From every tuneful grove,
And all, birds, plants, and flowers, provoke to love.
Let nothing meet her eyes
But spoils of love's delicious victories,
Let nothing meet her ears
But languid sighs that listening passion hears:
That thus unguarded by the faith, and weak,
She here may Cyprian seek
Invoked by his strong spell,
And by my blinding spirit lured as well.
Begin, in silence I will here remain
Unseen, that you may now begin the strain.
[Exit.
* * * * *
SCENE V.
JUSTINA; music within. [They sing within.]
A VOICE. What is the glory far above,
All else that life can give?
CHORUS OF VARIOUS VOICES. Love love.
A VOICE. No creature lives on which love's flame
Has not impressed its burning seal,
The man feels more who love doth feel
Than when Life's breath first warmed his frame.
Love owns one universal claim,--
To Love, it only needs To Be,--
Whether a bird, a flower, a tree:
Then the chief glory, far above
All else in life must be . . . .
CHORUS [within]. Love, love.
JUSTINA [alarmed and restless]. Fancy, flatter that thou art,
Though thou should'st be sad to-day,
When did I to thee impart,
In this strange and sudden way,
Licence to afflict my heart?
What thus makes my pulses move?
What strange fire is this I prove
Which each moment doth increase?
Ah! this pain that ends my peace,
This sweet unrest, ah, what?
CHORUS. Love, love.
JUSTINA [more composed]. 'Tis that enamoured nightingale
Who thus gives me the reply:--
To his partner in the vale
Listening on a bough hard by
Warbling thus his tuneful wail.
Cease, sweet nightingale, nor show
By thy softly witching strain
Trilling forth thy bliss and woe,
How a man might feel love's pain,
When a bird can feel his so.
No: it was that wanton vine
That in fond pursuit has sought
The tall tree it doth entwine,
Till the green weight it hath brought
Makes the noble trunk decline.
Green entwining boughs that hold
What you love in your embrace,
Make my fancy not too bold:--
Ah, if boughs thus interlace,
How would clasping arms infold!--
And if not the vine, 'twill be
That bright sunflower which we see
Turning with its tearful eyes
To its sun-god in the skies,
Whatsoe'er his movements be.
Flower thy watch no longer keep,
Drooping leaflets fold in sleep,
For the fond thought reappears,
Ah, if leaves can shed such tears,
What are those that eyes can weep!
Cease then, lyrist of the grove,
Leafy vine, unclasp thy arms,
Fickle flower, no longer move,
And declare, these poisoned charms
That you use, what yields?
CHORUS [within]. Love, love.
JUSTINA. Love! it cannot be. Its chain
Have I ever worn for man?
No, the fond deceit is vain.
All received a like disdain,
Lelius, Florus, Cyprian.
Lelius did I not despise?
Florus did I not detest?
Cyprian, the good and wise,
[She pauses at Cyprian's name and resumes for a time her unquiet manner.
Spurn with such a haughty breast,
That he vanished from my eyes,
As if frightened by their ire?--
Where he went I do not know.
But save this, the faintest fire
Love e'er lit, ne'er dared to glow
In the depths of my desire.
Yes, for since I said that he
Should submit without appeal
Never more my face to see,
Ah, I know and what I feel!--
[She grows calmer.
Pity it must surely be,
That a man so widely known
Should through love of me be lost,
When he pays at such a cost
For the preference he has shown.
[She becomes troubled again.
Were it pity though, 'tis true,
The same pity I should give
Lelius and to Florus too,
Who in separate dungeons live,
Ah! for daring me to woo.
[She grows calmer.
But my thoughts, ye mutinous crew,
If my pity is enough
It should not be clogged by you.
Still your promptings press me so,
That I feel in my despair,
Where he is, if I could know,
I to seek him now would go.
* * * * *
SCENE VI.
The Demon and JUSTINA.
DEMON. Come, and I will tell thee where.
JUSTINA. Who art thou who has procured
Entrance to this lone retreat,
Though the entrance is secured?
Or, my senses being obscured,
Art thou but delusion's cheat?
DEMON. No, not so; but having known
How this passion pressed thee so,
I have sought thee here alone,
Having promised thee to show
Whither Cyprian has flown.
JUSTINA. Then thou'lt reach not thy intent;
For this passion, this strange pain,
Which my thought doth so torment,
Though my fancy it may gain,
It will never my consent.
DEMON. But in thought to enter in
Shows that half the deed is done;
Since accomplished is the sin:--
Stop not halfway, ere is won
What the wish desired to win.
JUSTINA. Even in this desponding hour,
Though to think may taint the flower,
Thy suggestion comes to nought,--
In my power is not my thought
But my act is in my power.
I can follow to the brink,
Free to pause or to pursue,
Move my foot, or backward shrink,
For it is one thing to do,
And another thing to think.
DEMON. If a stronger power than thine,
Drawn from a profounder source,
With thine own desires combine,
How resist the double force
Which with force thy steps incline?
JUSTINA. I will trust a safer spell:--
My free will suffices me.
DEMON. But my power will it excel.
JUSTINA. Then the will no more were free
If a force could it compel.
DEMON. Come where every bliss thou'lt meet.
[Attempts to draw her with him, but cannot move her.
JUSTINA. Ah! the bliss were bought too dear.
DEMON. It is peace, serene and sweet.
JUSTINA. 'Tis a slavery most severe.
DEMON. Life, 'tis joy.
JUSTINA. 'Tis death, deceit.
DEMON. Thy defence, what can it be,
If my power thus forces thee?
[Drags her with more force.
JUSTINA. In my God it doth consist.
DEMON. By persisting to resist,
[Releases her.
Woman, thou has conquered me.
Thy defence to God is due,
And my counsel is disdained;
Yes, but raging I'll renew
My attempt and have thee feigned,
If I cannot have thee true.
To a spirit I will give
Shape like thine though fugitive,
It will counterfeit thy form,
As with seeming life be warm,
And in it disgraced thou'lt live.
Thus two triumphs at one time
I am sure to win by this,
Be thy virtue so sublime,
Since through an ideal bliss
I will consummate a crime.
[Exit.
* * * * *
SCENE VII.
JUSTINA.
JUSTINA. 'Gainst the clouds that round me lower
I appeal to heaven's high power;
Let this spectre of my fame --
As before the wind the flame --
As before the frost the flower,
Vanish, die . . . . But woe is me!
Who is here to heed my moan?
Was there not a man with me?
Yes. But no: I am alone:
No. But yes: for I could see.
Where so quickly could he fly?
Was he born of my unrest?
Oh! my danger's manifest . . .
Father! friend! Lysander! I
Call . . . .
* * * * *
SCENE VIII.
LYSANDER and LIVIA enter from opposite doors. -- JUSTINA.
LYSANDER. My child?
LIVIA. What means this cry?
JUSTINA. Saw you not a man (ah, me!)
Who but left me instantly?
I can scarce express my thought.
LYSANDER. A man here?
JUSTINA. You saw him not?
LIVIA. No, senora.
JUSTINA. I could see.
LYSANDER. Saw a man here? That is hard,
When the place was locked and barred.
LIVIA [aside]. Moscon sure she must have seen,
Whom I have contrived to screen
In my changer.
LYSANDER. I regard
What you saw but as the play
Of your fancy and your fear.
Melancholy surely may
Have, the man that you saw here,
Formed from atoms of the day.
LIVIA. Yes, I think my master's right.
JUSTINA. No, 'twas no defect of sight,
No illusion: since my heart,--
Ah! too well I feel the smart --
Has been broken by the fright.
Some strange witchery of my will
Must have been effected here.
And with such consummate skill,
That if God had not been near
I might have pursued my ill.
He who at such timely hour
Helped me to resist the power
Of this fearful violence,
Will my humble innocence
Guard, whatever dangers lower.--
Livia, my cloak: whene'er
[Exit LIVIA.
Overwhelming griefs oppress,
I to holy church repair,
Where we secretly confess
The true faith.
[LIVIA returns with the cloak, which she places on JUSTINA.
LIVIA. 'Tis this you wear.
JUSTINA. There perchance I may appease
This strange fire that burns me so.
LYSANDER. I desire with thee to go.
LIVIA [aside]. I will breathe much more at ease
When they're out of the house, I know.
JUSTINA. Since I wholly trust to thee
Heaven, thy hold to me afford.
Save me . . . .
LYSANDER. Come: so it may be.
JUSTINA. Since the cause is thine, O Lord!
Oh, defend Thyself and me!
[Exeunt JUSTINA and LYSANDER.
* * * * *
SCENE IX.
MOSCON and LIVIA.
MOSCON. Have they gone?
LIVIA. They're gone: all right.
MOSCON. Why, I'm almost dead with fright.
LIVIA. Were you of your sense bereft
When but now my room you left
And appeared before her sight?
MOSCON. Left your room? Be seen by her?
Why, I swear it, Livia dear,
Not one moment did I stir.
LIVIA. Who then was it she saw here?
MOSCON. Well, the devil, as I infer.
How know I? But then do not
Take it so to heart, my soul.
LIVIA. Oh! that's not the cause.
[She weeps.
MOSCON. Then what?
LIVIA. Such a question, when the whole
Of a day it was his lot
With me here locked up to stay?
For his comrade far away
Must I not a tear then shed,
Though I take this day instead,
Having wept not yesterday?
Would I have him think of me
As a woman who could be
So forgetful and so frail,
As for half a year to fail
In what we did both agree?
MOSCON. Half a year? It is above
One whole year since he went away.
LIVIA. Quite an error, as I'll prove.
Mind, I cannot count a day
When I Clarin could not love.
This being so, if I to thee
Gave up half the year (ah me!),
I would give a false amount
To place all to his account.
MOSCON. Ah, ungrateful! can it be
When my heart on thee depends
For its peace, that thine attends
To such trifles?
LIVIA. Moscon, yes,
For I find, I must confess,
Short accounts make longest friends.
MOSCON. Such being then thy constancy,
Livia, I must say good-bye,
Till to-morrow. Ah! if he
Is thy two-day fever, I
Hope he's not thy syncope.
LIVIA. Well, my friend, from this you know
I no malice bear.
MOSCON. Just so.
LIVIA. See me then no more to-day,
But to-morrow, sir, you may:
I'll not need to send. Heigho!
[Exeunt.
* * * * *
SCENE X.
A WOOD.
CYPRIAN, as frightened; CLARIN, stealthily after him.
CYPRIAN. Doubtless something must have happened
'Mong the stars; imperial clusters,
Since I find their influences
To my wishes so repugnant.
Up from the profound abysses
Some dark caveat must be uttered,
Which prohibits the obedience
Which they owe me as my subjects.
I, a thousand times, with spell-words
Made the winds of heaven to shudder,
I, a thousand times, the bosom
Of the earth with symbols furrowed,
Yet mine eyes have not been gladdened
By the human sun refulgent
That I seek, nor in mine arms
Hold that human heaven.
CLARIN. What wonder?
When a thousand times have I
Scraped the earth as if for nuggets,
When a thousand times the wind
By my screeching was perturbed,
And yet Livia was oblivious.
CYPRIAN. Once again then I am humbled
To invoke her thus. Oh, listen,
Beautiful Justina . . . .
* * * * *
SCENE XI.
A phantom Figure of JUSTINA appears.
The Figure, CYPRIAN, and CLARIN.
FIGURE. Summoned,
As I wander through these mountains,
I obey a call so urgent.
What, then, wouldst thou? what, then, wouldst thou,
Cyprian, with me?
CYPRIAN. Oh, I shudder!
FIGURE. And since now . . . .
CYPRIAN. I am astonished!
FIGURE. I have come . . . .
CYPRIAN. What thus disturbs me?
FIGURE. To this place . . . .
CYPRIAN. What makes me tremble?
FIGURE. Where . . . .
CYPRIAN. Oh! whence this doubt that numbs me?
FIGURE. Love doth call me . . . .
CYPRIAN. Why, this terror?
FIGURE. And the powerful spell thou workest
Thus complied with, to this forest's
Deepest depths I fly to shun thee.
[Exit, covering her face with the cloak.
CYPRIAN. Listen, hear me, stay, Justina!
But why linger spell-bound, stunned here?
I'll pursue her, and this forest,
Whither by my spells conducted
She has flown, will be the leafy
Theatre, the rude-constructed
Bride-bed of the strangest bridal
Heaven e'er witnessed.
[Exit.
* * * * *
SCENE XII.
CLARIN. Stop: Renuncio
Bride like this who smells of smoke
Stronger than a blacksmith's furnace.
But perhaps the incantation,
Being so extremely sudden,
Caught her leaning o'er the lye-tub,
If not cooking tripe for supper.
No. Thus cloaked and in a kitchen!
That excuse won't do: another
Let me try. (I have it now,
For an honourable woman
Never smells then any sweeter,)
She with fright must have been flustered.--
He has overtaken her now,
And from that rude vale uncultured,
Struggling in closed clasping arms,
(For I think when lovers struggle,
Open arms are not the weapon
Even for the lustiest lover,)
To this very spot they come:
I will watch them under cover,
For I wish for once to witness
How young women are abducted.
[Conceals himself.
* * * * *
SCENE XIII.
CYPRIAN embracing the Figure of JUSTINA, which he carries in his arms.
CYPRIAN. Now, O beautiful Justina,
In this sweet and secret covert,
Where no beam of sun can enter,
Nor the breeze of heaven blow roughly,
Now the trophy of thy beauty
Makes my magic toils triumphant,
For here folding thee, no longer
Have I need to fear disturbance.
Fair Justina, thou hast cost me
Even my soul. But in my judgment,
Since the gain has been so glorious,
Not so dear has been the purchase.
Oh! unveil thyself, fair goddess,
Not in the clouds obscure and murky,
Not in vapours hide the sun,
Show its golden rays refulgent.
[He draws aside the cloak and discovers a skeleton.
But, O woe! what's this I see!
Is it a cold corse, mute, pulseless,
That within its arms expects me?
Who, in one brief moment's compass,
Could upon these faded features,
Pallid, motionless, and shrunken,
Have extinguished the bright beauties
Of the blush rose and the purple?
THE SKELETON. Cyprian, such are all the glories
Of the world that you so covet.
[The Skeleton disappears. CLARIN rushes in frightened, and embraces CYPRIAN.
* * * * *
SCENE XIV.
CLARIN and CYPRIAN.
CLARIN. Fear, for any one who wants it,
Wholesale or retail I'll furnish.
CYPRIAN. Stay! funereal shadow, stay!
Now for other ends I urge thee.
CLARIN. I am a funereal body:--
Don't you see it by my bulk here?
CYPRIAN. Ah! who are you?
CLARIN. Who I am, sir,
Or am not, myself doth puzzle.
CYPRIAN. Did you in the air's void spaces,
Or earth's caverns yawning under,
See an icy corse here vanish,
See to dust and ashes turning
All the freshness and the beauty
That it promised in its coming?
CLARIN. Do you take me, sir, for one
Of those pitiful poor lurkers
Men call spies?
CYPRIAN. What could it be?
CLARIN. And not be, in such a hurry.
CYPRIAN. Let us seek it.
CLARIN. Let's not seek it.
CYPRIAN. I must sift this matter further.
CLARIN. I would rather not.
* * * * *
SCENE XV.
The Demon, CYPRIAN, and CLARIN.
DEMON [aside]. Just heavens,
If my nature, in conjunction,
Once possessed both grace and science,
When 'mongst angels I was numbered,
Grace alone is what I've lost,
Science no. Then why unjustly,
If 'tis so, deprive my science
Of its proper power and function?
CYPRIAN. Lucifer, wise master mine.
CLARIN. Pray don't call him: for he'll come here
In another corse, I warrant.
DEMON. Speak, what would you?
CYPRIAN. The annulling,
The redemption of those pledges,
At whose very thought I shudder.
CLARIN. As I don't redeem my pledges,
I'll slip off here through the bushes.
[Exit.
* * * * *
SCENE XVI.
CYPRIAN and The Demon.
CYPRIAN. Scarcely o'er earth's wounded bosom
Had I the true spell-word uttered,
When in the ensuing action,
She, of all my dreams the subject,
My adored, divine Justina . . . .
But why take the useless trouble,
That to tell you know already?
I embraced her, would unmuffle
Her fair face, when (woe is me!)
In her beauty I discovered
A gaunt skeleton, a statue,
A pale image, a sepulchral
Show of death, which in these measured
Words thus spoke (even yet I shudder),
"Cyprian, such are all the glories
Of the world that you so covet."--
To assert, that on thy magic
As expressed by me, the burden
Of the fault should lie, is vain,
For I, point by point, so worked it,
That of all its silent symbols
There was not a line but somewhere
Had its place, of all its spell-words
Not one word that was not uttered.
Then, 'tis plain thou has deceived me,
For though acting as instructed,
I but found an empty phantom
Where I sought a blissful substance.
DEMON. Cyprian, this defect from thee,
Nor from me, in truth, resulted:
Not from thee, because the magic
Thou didst exercise with subtle
Thought and skill; and not from me,
For I could not teach thee further.
From a higher cause, believe me,
Came this injury thou hast suffered.
But be not cast down: for I,
Who in tranquil rest would lull thee,
Will to thee unite Justina,
By a different way and juster.
CYPRIAN. That is not my intention now.
For this strange event has struck me
With such terror and confusion,
That thy ways I do not covet.
And since thou has not complied with
The conditions, the assumptions
Of my love, I only ask thee,
Now that from thy face I'm rushing,
As the contract is annulled,
That my bond thou shouldst return me.
DEMON. What I promised was to teach thee,
By a course of secret study,
How to draw to thee Justina
By the potent power impulsive
Of thy words: and since the wind
Here Justina hath conducted,
I have then fulfilled my contract,
I have kept my plighted word then.
CYPRIAN. What was offered to my love
Was that I should surely pluck here
The sweet fruit whose seeds my hope
Had to these wild wastes entrusted.
DEMON. Cyprian, I was only bound
Her to bring here.
CYPRIAN. A mere shuffle:
To my arms you swore to give her.
DEMON. In thy arms I saw her struggle.
CYPRIAN. 'Twas a phantom.
DEMON. 'Twas a portent.
CYPRIAN. Worked by whom?
DEMON. By one who worked it
To protect her.
CYPRIAN. Who was he?
DEMON [trembling]. I don't wish the name to utter.
CYPRIAN. I will turn my magic science
'Gainst thyself. By its compulsion
Speak, inform me who he is.
DEMON. Well, a god who takes this trouble
For Justina.
CYPRIAN. What's one God,
When of gods there's such a number?
DEMON. All their power in Him is centred.
CYPRIAN. Then One only, sole and sovereign,
Must He be, whose single will
Their united wills outworketh.
DEMON. I know nothing, I know nothing.
CYPRIAN. I renounce then with my utmost
Power the pact that I made with thee;
What compelled Him (this I urge thee
In that God's great name) to guard her?
DEMON [after having struggled ineffectually not to say it]. To
preserve her pure, unsullied.
CYPRIAN. Then He is the sovereign goodness
Since a wrong He will not suffer.
But if she remained here hidden
Say what loss would have resulted?
DEMON. Loss of honour, if the secret
Leaked out to the gossiping vulgar.
CYPRIAN. Then that God must be all sight,
Since he could foresee these trouble.
But, why could not thy enchantment
Be as potent and consummate?
DEMON. Ah! His power is ampler, fuller.
CYPRIAN. Then that God must be all hands,
Since whate'er He wills He worketh.
Tell me then who is that God,
Whom to-day I have discovered
The supreme of good to be,
The Creator, the Annuller,
The Omniscient, the All-seeing,
Whom I've sought for years unnumbered?
DEMON. Him I know not.
CYPRIAN. Speak, who is He?
DEMON. As I speak it, how I shudder!
He -- He is the God of the Christians.
CYPRIAN. Say what moved Him to obstruct me
In my wish?
DEMON. Her Christian faith.
CYPRIAN. Does He guard so those who love Him?
DEMON. Yes; but now too late, too late,
Dost thou hope to gain His succour,
Since, in being my slave, thou canst not
Claim the privilege of His subject.
CYPRIAN. I thy slave?
DEMON. In my possession
Is thy signature.
CYPRIAN. I'll struggle
To regain it from thee, since
'Twas conditional at the utmost.
I don't doubt I will get it.
DEMON. How?
CYPRIAN. In this way.
[He draws his sword, strikes at The Demon, but cannot touch him.
DEMON. Although the lunges
Of thy naked sword against me
Are well aimed, thou hast not struck me,
Fierce as were thy blows. And now,
Even in more despair to plunge thee,
I would have thee learn at least
That the Devil is thy instructor.
CYPRIAN. What do you say?
DEMON. That I am he.
CYPRIAN. Oh! to hear thee how I shudder!--
DEMON. Not alone a slave art thou,
But MY slave; be that thy comfort.
CYPRIAN. I the slave of the Devil! I
Own a master so unworthy?
DEMON. Yes; for since thy soul thou gav'st me,
Thenceforth it to me was subject.
CYPRIAN. Is there then no gleam of hope,
No appeal, no aid, no succour,
By which I so great a crime
Can blot out?
DEMON. No.
CYPRIAN. Why doubt further?
Let not this sharp sword rest idly
In my hand, but swiftly cutting
Through my breast, become the willing
Instrument of mine own murder.
But what say I? He who could
Snatch Justina from thy clutches,
Can He not, too, rescue me?
DEMON. No. By choice thou wert a culprit,
And He does not favour crimes,
Virtues only.
CYPRIAN. If the summit
Of all power He be, to pardon
Is as easy as to punish.
DEMON. He rewardeth by His power,
He chastiseth from His justice.
CYPRIAN. One who yields He'll not chastise.
I am one, since I am humbled.
DEMON. Thou art mine, my slave: no master
Canst thou have but me.
CYPRIAN. I trust not.
DEMON. How, when still in my possession
Is that bond of thine, that bloody
Scroll inscribed by thine own hand?
CYPRIAN. He who is supreme and sovereign,
And depends not on another,
Will yet bear me through triumphant.
DEMON. In what way?
CYPRIAN. He is all sight,
And will see the fitting juncture.
DEMON. It I hold.
CYPRIAN. He is all hands,
And will burst my bonds asunder.
DEMON. Ere that comes I'll see thee dead:
Thus my clasping arms shall crush thee.
[They struggle together.
CYPRIAN. Thou great God, the Christians' God,
Oh, assist me in this struggle!
DEMON [flinging CYPRIAN from his arms]. It is He who has saved thy life.
CYPRIAN. More He'll do since I seek Him humbly.
[Exeunt.
* * * * *
SCENE XVII.
HALL IN THE PALACE OF THE GOVERNOR.
The Governor, FABIUS, and Soldiers.
GOVERNOR. How then was the capture made?
FABIUS. In their church, as we suspected,
We discovered them collected,
Where before their God they prayed.
With an armed guard I traced them
To this secret sacred hall,
Made them prisoners one and all,
And in different prisons placed them.
But, your patience not to tire,
The chief point I may declare,--
Captured is Justina fair,
And Lysander her old sire.
GOVERNOR. If for gold, a fair pretence,
If for rank, you would not miss,
Wherefore bring me news like this
And not claim your recompense?
FABIUS. If you deign to value thus
My poor service you may pay it.
GOVERNOR. How?
FABIUS. With great respect I say it,
Florus free, and Lelius.
GOVERNOR. Though I seemed austere and cold,
Them chastising without pity
To strike terror through the city,
Yet if the whole truth were told,
Then the cause were plain why they
Have been prisoned a whole year.
It is this, a father's fear
Lelius would preserve this way.
Florus was his rival, he
Had a host of powerful friends,
Each was jealous, and his ends
Would attain whate'er might be.
I was fearful a collision
Would ensue if they should meet,
So I thought it more discreet
Not to come to a decision.
So with this intent I sought
Some pretext, Justina's face
To expel from out this place,
But I could discover nought.
But since this event to-day,
With her damaged character,
Gives a right to banish her,
Nay, to take her life away,
Let them be released. No fear
Need you have about their fate;
Go, and Lelius liberate,
Go, and Florus bring me here.
FABIUS. Myriad times I kiss thy feet
For a favour so immense.
[Exit.
* * * * *
SCENE XVIII.
The Governor and Soldiers.
GOVERNOR. And since now this fair pretence,
This hypocritical deceit,
In my power at last doth lie,
Wherefore my revenge postpone
For the sorrows I have known
Through her fault? Yes, she shall die
By the bloody headsman's hand.
[To a Soldier.
Bring her hither in my name.
Let her punishment and shame
Be a terror to the land.
Let the palace she thought sweet
But her scaffold scene present.
[Exit the Soldier with others.
* * * * *
SCENE XIX.
FABIUS, LELIUS, and FLORUS. -- THE SAME.
FABIUS. Sir, the two for whom you sent
Here are kneeling at your feet.
LELIUS. I, whose wish it is to be
Welcomed as thy son this time,
With no consciousness of crime
Do not see a judge in thee,
I an angry sire may see
With a son's respectful fear
And obedience.
FLORUS. Being here, I infer that it must be
(Though no guilt can I discern)
Thy chastising hand to feel.
See. Submissive here I kneel.
GOVERNOR. Lelius, Florus, I was stern,
Justly stern against ye two,
For as judge or father I
Could not unchastised pass by
Your offence. But then I knew
That in noble hearts the feeling
Of resentment does not last,
And as now the cause is past,
I resolved, to both appealing,
Friends to make of you once more.
So to consecrate the tie
Now embrace in amity.
LELIUS. I am glad that, as of yore,
Florus is my friend to-day.
FLORUS. That thou'rt mine this act may show.
Here's my hand.
GOVERNOR. This being so,
You are free to go or stay:--
When I tell you of the sad
Fall of her you once admired,
Northing further is required.
* * * * *
SCENE XX.
The Demon, a crowd of People. -- THE SAME.
DEMON [within]. Ware! beware! He's mad! he's mad!
GOVERNOR. What is this?
LELIUS. I'll go and see.
[He goes to the door, and after a pause returns.
GOVERNOR. In this palace hall these cries,
From what cause can they arise?
FLORUS. Something serious it must be.
LELIUS. This confusion is occasioned
(Hear a singular adventure),
Sir, by Cyprian, who being absent
Many days again has entered
Antioch completely mad.
FLORUS. It was doubtless the fine essence
Of his mind that thus has brought him
To this lamentable ending.
PEOPLE [within]. Ware the madman! ware the madman!
* * * * *
SCENE XXI.
CYPRIAN, half naked; People. -- THE SAME.
CYPRIAN. Never was I more collected;
It is you yourselves are mad.
GOVERNOR. Cyprian, what is all this ferment?
CYPRIAN. Governor of Antioch,
Viceroy of great Caesar Decius,
Florus, Lelius, my young friends,
Whom I valued and respected,
Proud nobility, great people,
To my words be all attentive:
I am Cyprian, I am he
Once so studious, and so learned,
I the wonder of the schools,
Of the sciences the centre.
What I gained from all my studies
Was one doubt, a doubt that never
Left my wildered mind a moment,
Ever troubling and perplexing.
I Justina saw, and seeing,
To her charms my soul surrendered,
And for soft voluptuous Venus
Left the wise and learn'd Minerva.
Baffled by Justina's virtue,
I, pursuing though rejected,
And from one extreme to another
Passing on as passion led me,
To my guest, who from the sea
Found my feet a port of shelter,
For Justina pledged my soul,
Since at once he charmed my senses
And my intellect, by giving
Love its hopes, and thought its treasures.
From that hour, as his disciple
Lived I in these lonely deserts,
And to his laborious teaching
I am for a power indebted,
By which I can move even mountains
And in different places set them:
Yet although these mighty wonders
I can do to-day, I'm helpless
By the voice of my desire
To draw towards me one fair vestal.
And the cause why I am powerless
To subdue that beauteous virgin
Is that by a God she's guarded,
Whom, now knowing by His blessed
Grace bestowed, I come to acknowledge
As the Infinite, the Eternal.
Yes, the great God of the Christians
I now openly confess here.
And though true it is I am
Still of hell the slave and servant,
Having with my very blood
Signed a certain secret cedule,
Yet my blood that blood may blot out
In the martyrdom I'm expecting.
If you are a judge, if Christians
You pursue with bloody vengeance,
I am one: for in these mountains
A grave venerable elder
The first sacrament conferring
With its sacred sign impressed me.
This being so, why wait? Your orders
Give unto the bloody headsman,
Tell him here to strike this neck
And from it my head dissever.
Try my firmness as you will,
For I, resolute and determined,
Will endure a thousand deaths
Since this truth at last I've learned,
That without the great God, whom
Now I seek, adore, and reverence,
Human glories are but ashes,
Dust, smoke, wind, delusive, empty.
[He falls as if in a swoon, with his face to the ground.
GOVERNOR. So absorbed, so lost in wonder,
Cyprian, has thy daring left me,
That considering modes of torture
I have yet not one selected.
Rise. Bestir thee.
[Spurns him with his foot.
FLORUS. As a statue
Formed of ice he lies extended
* * * * *
SCENE XXII.
Soldiers, JUSTINA. -- THE SAME.
A SOLDIER. Here, your Highness, is Justina.
GOVERNOR [aside]. I must go, her face unnerves me.--
With this living corse here lying
[Aside to his retinue.
Let us leave her for the present.
For the two being here confined,
It may alter their intentions,
Seeing that they are condemned
Both to die: if not, 'tis certain,
That unless they adore our gods
Frightful torments soon shall end them.
LELIUS [aside]. I remain 'twixt love and fear
Quite bewildered and suspended.
FLORUS [aside]. So affected have I been,
I scarce know what most affects me.
[Exeunt all, except JUSTINA.
* * * * *
SCENE XXIII.
JUSTINA; CYPRIAN, insensible on the ground.
JUSTINA. What! without a word you leave me?
When I come here, calm, contented,
Even to die. Ah! wishing death,
Am I then of death prevented?--
[She perceives CYPRIAN.
But my punishment is, doubtless,
Thus locked up to face the terrors
Of a slow and lingering death,
With the body of this wretch here
Left alone, my sole companion
Being a corse. O thou, re-entered
Into thy original earth,
Happy wert thou, if thy sentence
Was passed on thee for the faith
I adore!
CYPRIAN [recovering consciousness]. O proud avenger
Of your gods, why wait, the thread
Of my life to cut? . . .
[He perceives JUSTINA, and rises.
Heaven bless me!--
[Aside.
Can I trust my eyes? Justina!
JUSTINA [aside]. Cyprian, do I see? O Heaven!
CYPRIAN [aside]. No, it is not she, my thought
Fills the void air with her presence.
JUSTINA [aside]. No, it is not he, the wind
Forms this phantom to divert me.
CYPRIAN. Shadow of my fantasy . . .
JUSTINA. Of my wish, delusive spectre . . .
CYPRIAN. Terror of my startled senses . . .
JUSTINA. Horror of my heart's dejection . . .
CYPRIAN. What, then, wouldst thou?
JUSTINA. What, then, wouldst thou?
CYPRIAN. I invoked thee not. What errand
Has thou come on?
JUSTINA. Why thus seek me?
I to thee no thought directed.
CYPRIAN. Ah! I sought thee not, Justina.
JUSTINA. Nor here at thy call I entered.
CYPRIAN. Then why here?
JUSTINA. I am a prisoner.--
Thou?
CYPRIAN. I, too, have been arrested.
But, Justina, say what crime
Could thy virtue have effected?
JUSTINA. It is not for any crime,
It is from their deep resentment,
Their abhorrence of Christ's faith,
Whom I as my God confess here.
CYPRIAN. Thou dost owe Him that, Justina,
For thy God was thy defender,
He watched o'er thee in His goodness.
Get my prayers to Him accepted.
JUSTINA. Pray with faith, and He will listen.
CYPRIAN. Then with that I will address Him.
Though a fear, that's not despair,
Makes me for my great sins tremble.
JUSTINA. Oh! have confidence.
CYPRIAN. My crimes are
So immense.
JUSTINA. But more immense are
His great mercies.
CYPRIAN. Then, will He
Pardon have on me?
JUSTINA. 'Tis certain.
CYPRIAN. How, if my soul surrendered
To the Demon's self, as purchase
Of thy beauty?
JUSTINA. Oh, there are not
Stars as many in the heavens,
Sands as many on the shore,
Sparks within the fire as many,
Motes as many in the beam,
On the winds so many feathers,
As the sins He can forgive.
CYPRIAN. I believe it, and am ready
Now a thousand lives to give Him.--
But I hear some people enter.
* * * * *
SCENE XXIV.
FABIUS, leading in MOSCON, CLARIN, and LIVIA, as prisoners; CYPRIAN
and JUSTINA.
FABIUS. With your master and your mistress
Here remain confined together.
[Exit.
LIVIA. If THEY fancy to be Christians,
What have WE done to offend them?
MOSCON. Much: 'tis crime enough for us
That we happen to be servants.
CLARIN. Flying peril in the mountain,
I find here a greater peril.
* * * * *
SCENE XXV.
A Servant. -- THE SAME.
SERVANT. The Lord Governor Aurelius
Summons Cyprian to his presence,
And Justina.
JUSTINA. Ah! how happy,
If 'tis for the wished-for ending.
Do not, Cyprian, be disheartened.
CYPRIAN. Faith, zeal, courage, all possess me:
For if life must be the ransom
Of my slavery to the devil,
He who gave his soul for thee,
Will he not give God his person?
JUSTINA. I once said that I could love thee
But in death, and since together,
Cyprian, we now must die,
What I promised I present thee.
[They are led out by the Servant.
* * * * *
SCENE XXVI.
MOSCON, LIVIA, and CLARIN.
MOSCON. How contentedly to die
They go forth.
LIVIA. Much more contented
Are we three to remain alive.
CLARIN. Not much more; for we must settle
Our account now, though I own
The occasion might be better,
And the place too, still 'twere wrong
To neglect the time that's present.
MOSCON. What account pray?
CLARIN. I have been
Absent.
LIVIA. Speak.
CLARIN. The whole of a twelvemonth,
When without my intermission
Moscon in possession held thee.
Now my quota in the business,
If we both have equal measure,
Is that I must have my year.
LIVIA. Can it be that I'm suspected
Of thus wronging thee so basely?
Why, I wept whole days together
When it was the day for weeping.
MOSCON. Yes, for I myself was present:
Every day that was not mine
She thy friendship quite respected.
CLARIN. That's a bounce; for not a tear,
When this day her house I entered,
Did she shed, and there I found thee
Sitting with her quite contented.
LIVIA. But this day is not a fast.
CLARIN. Yes, it is; for I remember
That the day I went away
Was my day.
LIVIA. Oh! that's an error.
MOSCON. Yes, I see how that arises,
This year is a year bissextile,
And our days are now the same.
CLARIN. Well, I'm satisfied, 'tis better
That a man should not too deeply
Pry into such things. -- Good heavens!--
[The sound of a great tempest is heard.
* * * * *
SCENE XXVII.
The Governor, a crowd of People; then FABIUS, LELIUS, and FLORUS, all
astonished; afterwards The Demon.
LIVIA. Sure the house is tumbling down.
MOSCON. How terrific! what a tempest!
GOVERNOR. Doubtless in disastrous ruin
Topple down the walls of heaven
[The tempest is renewed, and enter FABIUS, LELIUS, and FLORUS.
FABIUS. Scarcely on the public scaffold
Had the headsman's hand dissevered
Cyprian and Justina's necks,
When the earth, even to its centre,
Seemed to tremble.
LELIUS. And a cloud,
From whose burning womb extended
The wild lightnings, the loud thunders,
Awful embryos were projected,
Fell upon us.
FLORUS. From which issued
A most horrid, most repelling
Shape, who on the scaly shells
Of a mailed and mighty serpent,
O'er the scaffold made a sign
Motioning silence and attention.
[The Scene opens, and a scaffold with the heads and bodies of JUSTINA
and CYPRIAN is seen. Over it in the air, upon a winged serpent, is
The Demon.
DEMON. Hear, O mortals, hear what I,
By the orders of high Heaven,
For Justina's exculpation,
Must declare to all here present.
I it was, who to dishonour
Her pure fame, in form dissembled
For the purpose, scaled her house,
And her very chamber entered.
And in order that her fame
Should not by that fraud be lessened,
I come here her injured honour
To exhibit pure and perfect.
Cyprian, who with her lieth
On a happy bier at rest there,
Was my slave. But he effacing,
With the blood his neck outsheddeth,
The red signature, the linen
Is now spotless and unblemished.
And the two, in spite of me,
Having to the spheres ascended
Of the sacred throne of God,
Live there in a world far better.--
This, then, is the truth, which I
Tell, because God makes me tell it,
Much against my will, my practice
Not being great as a truth-teller.
[He falls swiftly, and sinks into the earth.
LIVIA. Oh! what horror!
FLORUS. What confusion!
LIVIA. What a prodigy!
MOSCON. What terror!
GOVERNOR. These are all but the enchantments
Which this sorcerer effected
At his death.
FLORUS. I am in doubt
To believe them or reject them.
LELIUS. The mere thought of them confounds me.
CLARIN. If magician, it is certain,
As I hold, he must have been
The magician then of heaven.
MOSCON. Leaving our partitioned love
In a rather odd dilemma,
For "The Wonderful Magician"
Ask the pardon of its errors.
