PAUL.Cares—clouded and confused—oppress, obscureIn changeful forms, my eye, my heart, my mind:My soul finds room for every guest save one;Fair hope has flown,—no star can pierce my night:Each tyrant rages 'gainst opposing foeIn deadly fight—yet brings to light no friend:In travail sore hope comes not to the birth—Fear hydra-headed terror still begets;—All fancies grim I see, and straight embrace,At hope I clutch, who still eludes my grasp;Her rainbow hues adored are but a frameThat serve by contrast to make fear more dark.Severus haunts me—oh, I know his love,Yet hopeless love must mate with jealousy,—While Polyeucte, who has won what he has lost,Can meet no rival with an equal eye.The fruit of rivalry is ever hateAnd envy; both must still engender strife:One sees that rival hand has grasped his prize,The other yearns for prize himself has missed.Weak reason naught, when headlong passion reigns,For valour seeks a sword, and love—revenge.One fears to see the prize he gained impaired,The other would that wrested prize regain;While patience, duty, conscience, vail their heads'Fore obstinate defence and fierce attack.Such steeds no charioteer controls—for theyMistake both curb and reign for maddening whip.Ah! what a base, unworthy fear is mine!How ill I read these fair, these noble souls,Whose virtue must all common snares o'erleap!Their gold unstained by dross or mean alloy!As generous foes so will they—must they meet!Yet are they rivals—this the thought that kills!Not even here—at home—is Polyeucte safe,The eagle wings of Rome reach over all.Oh, if my father bow to Roman might,If he repent the choice that he hath made,—At this one thought hope's flame leaps up to die!Or—if new-born—dies ere she see the light.Hope but deceived,—my fear alone I trust,Heaven grant such confidence be false—be vain!(Enter Stratonice.)Nay, let me know the worst! What, girl!—no word?The rites are o'er? What hast thou seen—what heard?They met in amity?—In peace they part?STRAT.Alas! Alas!PAUL.Nay, soothe my aching heart!I would have comfort,—but this face of woe—A quarrel?STRAT.Polyeucte—Nearchus—go—The Christians—PAUL.What of them?STRAT.Ah, how to speak—PAUL.They on my father would their vengeance wreak?STRAT.Oh, fear whate'er thou wilt—that fear too small!PAUL.The Christians rise?STRAT.Oh, would that this were all!Thy dream, Pauline, is true; Polyeucte is——PAUL.Dead?STRAT.Ah, no, he lives—yet every hope is fled;That courage once so high, that noble nameSunk in the mire of everlasting shame!He lives,—who once was lovely in thy sight—As monster foul—his every breath a blight;The foe of Heaven, of Jove, of all our race,His kisses poison, and his love—disgrace!Wretch, coward, miscreant, steeped in infamy,O worse than every name!—a Christian he!PAUL.Nay, that one word's enough! There needed not abuse.STRAT.My words fit well their guilt;—with evil make no truce.PAUL.IfhebeNazarene—he must an outcast be!But insult to my lord is insult unto me!STRAT.Think only that he hails the Cross, the badge of shame.PAUL.My plighted faith, my troth, my duty still the same!STRAT.When twined about thy breast, the hideous serpent slay!Who mocks the Gods on high will his own wife betray!PAUL.If he be false, yet I will still be true,The ties that bind me I will ne'er undo:Let fate—Severus—passion—all combineAgainst him!—I am his, and he is mine.Yes, mine to guide, lead, win, forgive, and save!I seek his honour tho' he court the grave.Let Polyeucte be Christ's slave!—For woe, for weal,He is my lord; the bond I owe I seal;I fear my father,—all his vengeance, dread.STRAT.Fierce burns his rage o'er that devoted head;Yet embers of old love still faintly glow,And through his wrath some weak compassion show;'Gainst Polyeucte biting words alone he speaksBut on Nearchus fullest vengeance wreaks!PAUL.Nearchus lured him on?STRAT.The tempter he;Such friendship leads to death, or infamy.Oh, cursed friend, who, in dear love's despite,Has torn him from thine arms—his neophyte!He dragged him to the front;—baptized, annealed—He fights for Christ!—The secret is revealed.PAUL.Which I would know—and straightway had thy blame!STRAT.Ah! I foresaw not this—their deed of shame!PAUL.Ere dull despair o'ermaster all my fears,Oh, let me gauge the worth of woman's tears!For, if the daughter lose, the wife may gain,—Or Felix may relent, if Polyeucte mock my pain;If both are adamant unto my prayer,Then—then alone—take counsel from despair!How passed the temple sacrifice? Hide naught, my friend, tell all!STRAT.The horror and the sacrilege must I, perforce, recall?To say the words, to think the thoughts, seems blasphemy and shame;Yet will I tell their infamy,—their deed without a name.To silence hushed, the people knelt, and turned them to the East;Then impious Polyeucte and his friend mock sacrifice and priest.They every holy name invoked jeer with unbridled tongue,To laughter vile the incense rose—'tis thus our hymn was sung;Both loud and deep the murmurs rang, and Felix' face grew pale,Then Polyeucte mad defiance hurls, while all the people quail.'Vain are your gods of wood and stone!' his voice was sternand high—'Vain every rite, prayer, sacrifice' so ran his blasphemy.'Your Jupiter is parricide, adulterer, demon, knave,'He cannot listen to your cry, not his to bless or save.'One God—Jehovah—rules alone, supreme o'er earth and heaven,'And ye are His—yes, only His—to Him your prayers be given!'He is our source, our life, our end,—no other god adore,'To Him alone all prayer is due, then serve Him evermore!'Who kneels before a meaner shrine, by devil's power enticed,'Denies his Maker and his King, denies the Saviour Christ.'He is our source, our guide, our end, our prophet, priest andking;'Twas He that nerved Severus' arm,—His praise let Decius sing.'Jehovah rules the battle-field ye call the field of Mars,'He only grants a glorious peace, 'tis He guides all our wars.'He casts the mighty from his seat, He doth the proud abase,—'They only peace and blessing know who love and seek His face.'His sword alone is strong to strike, His shield our only guard.'He will His bleeding saints avenge, He is their sure reward.'In vain to Jove and feeble Mars your full libations pour—'Oh, kneel before the might ye spurn, the God ye mock—adore!'Then Polyeucte the shrine o'erthrows, the holy vessels breaks,Nor wrath of Jove, nor Felix' ire, his fatal purpose shakes.Foredoomed by Fate, the Furies' prey—they rush, they rend,they tear,The vessels all to fragments fly—all prone the offerings fair;And on the front of awful Jove they set their impious feet,And order fair to chaos turn, and thus their work complete.Our hallowed mysteries disturbed, our temple dear profaned,Mad flight and tumult dire let loose, proclaim a God disdained.Thus pallid fear broods over all, presaging wrath to come,While Felix—but I mark his step!—'tis he shall speak the doom.PAUL.How threatening, how dark his mien! How lightning-fraught his eye!Where wrath and grief, revenge and pain, do strive for mastery!(Enter Felix.)FELIX.O insolence undreamed!—Before my very eyes!—Before the people's gaze! It is too much!—he dies!PAUL.O father!—on my knees!(Kneels.)Unsay that word!FELIX.Nearchus' doom I speak,—not his, thy lord.Though all unworthy he to be my son,Yet still he bears the name that he hath won;Nor crime of his nor wrath of mine shall ever moveThy father's heart to hate the man thou crown'st with love!PAUL.Ne'er vainly have I sued for pity from my sire!FELIX.And yet meet food were he for righteous ire!To recount an act so fell my feeble words too weak,But thou has heard the tale my lips refuse to speakFrom her, thy maiden; she hath told thee all.PAUL.Nearchus goaded—planned—and he shall fall!FELIX.So taught by torture of his vilest friend,Shall Polyeucte mark of guilt the certain end,When of the frenzied race he sees the goal,The dread of torture shall subdue his soul!Who mocked the thought of death, when death he views,Will choose an easier mate—and rightly choose.That shadowy guest, that doth his soul entice,Once master, glues all ardour into ice,And that proud heart, which never meekness knew,When face to face with Death—will learn to sue!PAUL.What! Thinkest thou his soul can ever blench?FELIX.Death's mighty flood must every furnace quench!PAUL.It might! It may!—I know such things can be!A Polyeucte changed—debased—forsworn I see!O, changeful Fortune! changeless Polyeucte move,And grant a boon denied by father's love!FELIX.My love too plain—myself too weakly kind,Let him repent and he shall pardon find;Nearchus' sin is his,—and yet the graceHe shall not win, thy Polyeucte may embrace!My duty—to a father's love betrayedHath of thy sire a fond accomplice made;A healing balm I bring for all thy fears,I look for thanks, and lo—thou giv'st me tears!PAUL.I give no thanks—no cause for thanks I find;I know the Christian temper—know their mind,They can blaspheme, but ah, they cannot lie!They know not how to yield—but they can die!FELIX.As bird in hand, he holds his pardon still.PAUL.The bird escapes, when 'tis the owner's will.FELIX.He death escapes—if so he do elect.PAUL.He death embraces—as doth all his sect.Is't thus a father pleads for his own son?FELIX.Who wills his death is by himself undone.PAUL.He cannot see!FELIX.Because he chooses night.Who loves the darkness hateth still the light.PAUL.O, by the Gods—FELIX.Nay, daughter, save thy breath;Spurned—outraged—'tis the Gods demand his death.PAUL.They hear our prayers—FELIX.Nay, then let Polyeucte pray!PAUL.Since Decius gives thee power,—that word unsay!FELIX.He gives me power, Pauline, to do his willAgainst his foes—'gainst all who work him ill.PAUL.Is Polyeucte his foe?FELIX.All Christians rebels are.PAUL.Thy son shall plead more loud than policy or war.For mine is thine; O father, save thine own—FELIX.The son who is a traitor I disown!For treason is a crime without redress,'Gainst which all else sinks into nothingness.PAUL.Too great thy rigour!FELIX.Yet more great his guilt.PAUL.Too true my dream! Must his dear blood be spilt?With Polyeucte, I too—thy child—shall fall!FELIX.The Gods—the Emperor—rule over all.PAUL.O hear our dying supplication—hear!FELIX.Not Jove alone, but Decius I fear:—But why anticipate a doom so sad?Shall this—his blindness—make thy Polyeucte mad?Fresh Christian zeal remains not always new,The sight of death compels a saner view.PAUL.O, if thou lov'st him still, all hope forsake!In one day can he two conversions make?Not this the Christians' mould: they never change;His heart is fixed—past power of man to estrange.This is no poison quaffed all unawares,What martyrs do and dare—that Polyeucte dares;He saw the lure by which he was enticed,He thinks the universe well lost for Christ.I know the breed; I know their courage high,They love the cross,—so, for the cross, they die.We see two stakes of wood, the felon's shame,They see a halo round one matchless Name.To powers of earth, and hell, and torture blind,In death, for Him they love, they rapture find.They joy in agony,—our gain their loss,To die for Christ they count the world but dross:Our rack their crown, our pain their highest pleasure,And in the world's contempt they find their treasure.Their cherished heritage is—martyrdom!FELIX.Let then this heir into his kingdom come! No more!—PAUL.O father!(Enter Albin.)FELIX.Albin, is it done?ALBIN.It is,—Nearchus' frantic race is run!FELIX.And with what eye saw Polyeucte the sight?ALBIN.With envious eye,—as one who sees a lightThat lures him, moth-like, to devouring flame.His heart is fixed, his mind is still the same.PAUL.'Tis as I said—oh, father, yet once moreIf thou hast ever loved me,—I implore!Let filial duty and obedience pleadFor his dear life! To my last prayer give heed!FELIX.Too much thou lovest an unworthy lord!PAUL.Thou gavest him my hand, 'twas at thy wordI gave both love and duty; what I giveI take not back; oh, Polyeucte must live!For his dear sake I quenched another flameMost pure. Is he my lord alone in name?O, by my blind and swift obedience paidTo thy command—be thy hard words unsaid!I gave thee all a daughter had to give,Grant, father, this one prayer—Let Polyeucte live!By thy stern power, which now I only fear,Make thou that power benignant, honoured, dear!Thou gav'st that gift unsought,—that gift restore!I claim it at the giver's hand once more!FELIX.Importunate! Although my heart is soft,It is not wax,—and these entreaties oftRepeated waste thy breath, and vex mine ear,For man is deaf to what he will not hear.I am the master!This let all men know,And if thou force that note thou'lt find 'tis so.Prepare to see thy cursed Christian fool,Do thou caress when I have scourged the mule,—Go! vex no more a loving father's ear,From Polyeucte's self win what thou hold'st so dear.PAUL.In pity!——FELIX.Leave me, leave me here alone!—Say more—my goaded heart will turn to stone;Vex me no more—I will not be denied!Go, save thy madman from his suicide!(Exit Pauline.)How met Nearchus death?ALBIN.The fiend abhorredHe hailed,—embraced: 'For Christ!' his latest word;No sigh, no tear,—he passed without amazeAdown the narrow vale with upward gaze.FELIX.And he—his friend?ALBIN.Is, as I said, unmovedHe looks on death but as a friend beloved,He clasped the scaffold as a guide most sure,And, in his prison, he can still endure.FELIX.Oh, wretched that I am!ALBIN.All pity thee.FELIX.With reason greater than they know. Ah, me!Thought surges upon thought, and has its will,Care, gnawing upon care, my soul must kill;Love—hate—fear—pain: I am of each the prey,I grope for light, but never find the day!Oh, what I suffer thou canst not conceive,Each passion rages, but can ne'er relieve;For I have noble thoughts that die still-born,And I have thoughts so base my soul I scorn.I love the foolish wretch who is my son,I hate the folly which hath all undone;I mourn his death,—yet, if I Polyeucte save,I see of all my hopes the cruel grave!'Gainst Gods and Emperor too sore the strife,For my renown I fear,—fear for my life.I must myself undo to save my son,For, should I spare him, then am I undone!ALBIN.Decius a father is, and must excuseA father's love—oh, he will not refuse!FELIX.His edict is most clear:—'All Christians are my foes.'The higher be their rank the more the evil grows.If birth and state be high, their crime shows more notorious,If he who shield be great, his fall the more inglorious;And if I give Nearchus to the flameYet stoop to shield my own—thrice damned my name!ALBIN.If by thy fiat he cannot escape the grave,Implore of Decius' grace the life thou canst not save.FELIX.So would Severus work my ruin quite—I fear his power, his wrath,—for might is right—If crime with punishment I do not mate.How high soe'er, worth what it may, I fear his hate,For he is man, and feels as man, and IOnce spurned his suit with base indignity.Yes, he at Decius' ear would work may woe,He loves Pauline, thus Polyeucte is his foe:All weapons possible to love and war,And those who let them rust but laggards are.I fear—and fear doth give our vision scope—E'en now he cherisheth a tender hope;He sees his rival prostrate in the dust,So, as a man he hopes—because he must.Can dark despair to love and hope give placeTo save the guilty from deserved disgrace?And were his worth so matchless, so divine,As to forbear all ill to me and mineStill I must own the base, the coward hope,'Gainst which my strength is all too weak to cope,That hope whose phoenix ashes yet enthrallThe wretch who rises but once more to fall;Ambition is my master, iron Fate,I feel, obey, adore thee, while I hate!Polyeucte was once my guard, my pride, my shield,Yet can I, by Severus, weapons wield,Should he my daughter wed, more tried, more true:What wills Severus—that will Decius do.Upheld by him, e'en Fortune I defyAnd yet I shrink!—for them, thrice base were I!ALBIN.Perish the word! It ne'er was made for thee,But wilt thou deal just meed to treachery?FELIX.I go to Polyeucte's cell,—though my poor breathShould there be spent in vain to avert his death;Then, then my fated child her strength shall try.ALBIN.What wilt thou do if both he still defy?FELIX.O, press me not in agony so great!To thee alone I turn—resistless Fate!
POLY.What is thy will?CLEON.Pauline would see my lord.POLY.Ah, how my heart quails at that single word!Thee, Felix, I o'ercame within my cell,Laughed at thy threats if death and torture fell;Yet hast thou still one arm to rouse my fears,The rest I scorn, but dread thy daughter's tears!One only talisman remains; great God, 'tis mine,Sufficient for my every need His strength divine!O thou, dear saint, thy scars all healed, white-robed, inglory crowned,Plead that I too may victory win, thou who hast victory found!Nearchus, who hast clasped in Heaven that dear, that pierced hand,Plead that thy friend, who wrestles here, may safely by thee stand!Ye Guards, one last kind service, I would ask,Well may ye grant it, 'tis an easy task:I do not seek deliverance from these thralls,(Looks at his chains.)I do not care to scale my prison walls,But, since three warriors armed can surely guardOne fettered man in safest watch and ward,Go one, and beg of great Severus' graceThat he would deign to meet me face to face;To him would I a secret now impart,Which much concerns his joy and peace of heart.CLEON.On willing foot, my lord, do I obey.POLY.Severus must this kindly service pay;Ah, lose no time, time now has fleetest wings.CLEON.Full soon to thee thy prayer Severus brings.(Exit Cleon. Guardsmen retire to background.)POLY.The fount is pure, yet bitter waters flow,Sin taints—men poison what was made all fair.They will not choose immortal streams: they goTo seek for pleasure—but find only care:Their pleasure wed to strife—ah, death the gate of life,—Christ's servants, none but they His crown shall wear!So painIs gain:Count not the cost!The world well lost,His Heaven to share!O Pleasure, think not that I sigh for thee,Thy charms, that once enslaved, no more delight;In Christ's dear name I bid the tempter flee,His foes are mine,—unlovely in my sight.The mighty from their seat He hurls beneath His feet,His fan is in His hand, His vengeful sword is bright.Their crownCast down.All hopes most dearThey cherish hereShall end in night.O Decius! Tiger! Pitiless! AthirstWith quenchless rage, for blood of Christ's redeemed—Armenia shall arise, by thee accursed,On her at last has Light of Asia beamed,And our Deliverer from the holy eastShall dash the cup from thy Belshazzar feast!Secure,And pure,Christ's saints shall reign,And, purged by pain,For aye endure!Let Felix sacrifice me to thine ire,Yea, let my rival captivate the soulOf her who now with Decius doth conspireTo chain immortal hope to earthly goal;Let earth-bound men pursue the world's desire,Sense charms not him who doth to Heaven aspire!Hail pain!DisdainAll Earthly love,To seek aboveA holier fire!Oh, Love that passeth knowledge be my stay,And fire my heart to beat alone for thee!Sun of my soul?—oh, flash one purest rayIn that last hour supreme—to comfort me,So life's brief night shall merge in endless day!Come, Death!Last breathShall praise thy name,The same, the same,For aye! For aye!O heavenly fire, most pure, embracing all,Come, shield me from Pauline, else must I fall!I see her, but no more as once I saw—I am encased in armour without flaw:To eyes that gaze alone on heavenly light,Naught else is pure, or dear, or fair, or bright!(Enter Pauline)With what intent, Pauline, hast thou come here?Have I a friend to aid, or foe to fear?Is it Christ's soldier that thou com'st to greet?Or wouldst thou sink my triumph in defeat?If thou wouldst bid me spurn the debt I owe,Not Decius, but Pauline, my deadliest foe!PAUL.All, save thyself, to thee, my love, are friends:Love but thyself, love me,—thy torment ends.Alone thou seal'st thy doom, alone wouldst shedThat blood by all Armenia honoured.Yes, thou art saved, if thou for mercy plead;Demand thy death, and thou are lost indeed.Think of the worth of this self-hated life,And think in pity of Pauline,—thy wife!Think of the people that their prince adores,Think of the honours Felix on thee pours!Oh, I am nothing, nothing unto thee,But, husband, think how dear thou art to me!Think how the path of glory on thee opes,Thou dearest lodestar of a nation's hopes!Shall blood of kings be but the headsman's sport?Is life a toy wherewith thy death to court?POLY.I think of more than this; I know what thou wouldst say.Our life is ours to use, and we that debt must pay.What life is this men love? An idle, empty dream,Where nothing can endure,—where all things only seem.Death ends their every joy which fickle Fortune leaves,They gain a royal throne to learn how pomp deceives;They gather wealth that men may envy their estate,They clear a path by blood, so envy turns to hate.Such vast ambition mine as Caesar never knew,Death bounds it not, for death is but its servant true.Peace that the world ne'er gave, and cannot take away,That peace, Pauline, is mine, mine wholly, mine for aye!Nor time, nor fate, nor chance, nor cruel war,Can touch this peace, or this my kingdom mar.Is this poor life—the creature of a dayFor endless peace too great a price to pay?PAUL.'Out on these Christian dreams!' my reason cries;Whene'er they speak of truth, they utter lies.Thou say'st: 'To win such prize my life is naught!'But is thy life thine own? How was it bought?Our life an heirloom to our country due;What gave thee birth, demands thy service too?Pay, then thy debt to her who has the right!POLY.Ah, for my country I would gladly fight!I know the glory of a hero's name,I feel the thrill,—I recognise the claim.My life I owe to whom I owe my sword—But most to Him who gave it—to the Lord!Oh, if to die for fatherland be sweet,To die for Him—my God—what word is meet?PAUL.Which God?POLY.Hush! hush! Pauline; the God who hearsAnd answers prayers,—gives hopes, assuages fears.Thy gods are deaf and senseless, maimed and weak,Tongues, mouths they have, and yet they cannot speak.The Christians' God alone is mine,—is thine,Jehovah only rules—supreme—divine!PAUL.Adore Him in thy heart, but say no word!POLY.What! Can I call Jove and Jehovah—Lord?PAUL.One moment feign. Ah, let Severus go!Let but my father all his kindness show!POLY.Another Father mine! His love most dearRemoves me from a world begirt with fear.For life's stern race too weak, too frail am I,So, by kind death, He gives me Victory.Pure from the holy font—(His mercies never fail!)He brings His barque to port, when it hath scarce set sail.Couldst thou but understand how poor this earth,Couldst thou but grasp how great this second birth!And yet, why speak of treasure rare concealedFrom one to whom light is yet unrevealed?PAUL.O cruel! I can strangle pain no more!Is this the fruit of all thy heavenly lore?They say thy Christ His enemies did bless,Thou addest insult to my deep distress.How is my soul so dark—which was so fair?—Thou call'dst me 'lovely'—'dear'—'beyond compare!'—Of my bereavement have I said no word,I stilled my grief that I might soothe my lord!They say that love has wings, and all they say is true,For all thy love has flown; yet can I ne'er undoThe vows I made, the troth I plighted binds me still!Thou fain wouldst quit thy wife, and thou shalt have thy will.Oh, but to leave my side with rapture, ecstasy,No jealous Christ can will: why grudge me one poor sigh?This joy, this transport fierce, endeavour to conceal.I do not share thy creed, but I, at least, can feel!Why gloat o'er heavenly gain, crowns, palms, I know not what—Where Polyeucte is blest, but where Pauline is not?Soul, body, spirit, I am thy true wife, to ownThat I am but a bar to happiness unknown!POLY.Alas!PAUL.O! that 'Alas!'—so faint, so tame!Yet, if repentant from thy heart it came,'Twould waken hope, still brief, and banish fears:I wait the birth of thy reluctant tears.POLY.These tears I shed! O, might the Spirit pourThrough them the light, the light that I adore—Then were my only grief all swept away,For thou wouldst join me in the realms of day!Else Heaven itself would have its bitterness,Should I look down to witness thy distress!O God, who lov'st the dust on which Thy breathHath stamped Thine image true—save her from death!The only death that kills, and let my loveFrom Heaven woo her to the realms above!Lord, hear my call! My inmost heart now see,Who lives a Christian life must Christian be!Her nature god-like, stamped from print divine;She must be sealed Thine own, yes, only Thine!Say, must she burn, condemned to depths of hell?—Thy Will be done—Who doest all things well!PAUL.O wretch, what words are these? Thou dost desire——POLY.To snatch thee from a never-ending fire.PAUL.Or else?POLY.O God, I trust to Thy control,Who when we think not, canst illume the soul!The when—the how—is His—here am I dumb,—I wait—I wait—That blessed hour will come!PAUL.Oh, leave illusions! Love me!POLY.Thee I loveFar more than self, but less than God above!PAUL.For love's dear sake, ah, listen to my prayer!POLY.For love's dear sake—await the answerthere!PAUL.To leave me here is naught! Thou wouldst seduce my soul!POLY.Heaven is scarce Heaven for me, if thou reach not the goal.PAUL.O fancy-fooled!POLY.Nay, led by heavenly light!PAUL.Thy faith is blindness!POLY.Faith is more than sight!PAUL.Ah, death, strange rival to a wife's pure love!POLY.This world our rival with the joys above!PAUL.Go, monster! woo thy death! Thou lov'dst me never!POLY.Go, seek the world! and yet I love thee ever!PAUL.Yes, I will go—if absence bring relief—(Enter Severus, Fabian and Guards)Who comes to invade, ah, not to cure my grief?Severus! Who could guess that thou wouldst showRevenge unworthy o'er a prostrate foe?POLY.Unworthy thee the thought, Pauline, for ISeverus called, and he hath heard my cry.My importunity he will excuse,My prayer I know that he will not refuse.Severus—this—the treasure that was mineTo thy most tender care I now resign:To thee, as noblest man that I have known;—Since earthly ties and joys I must disown.The gift is worthy thee,—I know thy worthIs great, but she no equal hath on earth.My life, the bar,—my death the link shall be,—Oh, grudge me not my dear brief ecstasy!Oh, ease the heart that once was hers,—and guideHer doubting footsteps to the Crucified!This my last benison! All else is poor!Await the promised light! Believe! Endure!But words are vain!(Polyeucte signs to Guards to conduct him back to prison. ExeuntPolyeucte and Guards.)SEV.Most vain! No word have ISuch blindness must amaze! must stupefy!Nay, this is frenzy! I cannot conceiveA mind so strange! Mine ears cannot believeThat one who loved thee—yet, who would not loveA face that must the great immortals move?—Blessed by thy heart!—Thy sweetest lips to taste!—Then leave, refuse, spurn—yield with clamorous haste,To yield a girl so dear—so pure—so fair!And of that gift to make thy rival heir—This beggars madness! Or the Christian blissBeyond man's soul to grasp! To spurn thy kiss!—We treasure barter for a just exchange,But to buy pain for thee! Pauline, 'tis strange!Not thus, ye Gods! Severus had been blindTo perfect bliss—had Fortune been more kindThe only heaven for me is in thine eyes,These are my kings, these my divinities!To me—for thee—were death with torture dear;But to renounce thee!PAUL.Nay, I must not hear!Thy words bring back the dear, the bygone days,When I, a maid, might listen to thy praise:Severus, thou must know my inmost heart;I hear the knell bids Polyeucte depart.He dies,—the victim of thine Emperor's laws,And thou, though innocent, art yet the cause.Oh, if thy soul, to thy desires a slave,See hope emerging from my husband's graveThen will I wed with pain—despair embrace,—But wed Severus? Never! 'Twere disgrace!To light fresh torch from that pale, flickering fire—Oh, bliss too monstrous! Thrice abhorred desire!Back, hope! Back, happiness! The mate for meWhen Polyeucte leaves my side—is Constancy!Were this my will, were this, ye Gods, my fate—To shame would memory turn, as love must yield to hate!But generous art thou—most generous be!His pardon will my father grant to thee.He fears thee: more, if Polyeucte's life he take,For thee he slays him—yes, 'tis for thy sake.Christ died for man—let pagan virtue dimHis fame: plead for thy foe! so rival him!No easy boon I ask, there needs a soul most rare;But when the fight is fierce—then is the victory fair.To help a man to be what thou wouldst beIs triumph that belongs alone to thee!Let this suffice thee: she, whom thou hast loved,She, who by thy great love was not unmoved,Of thee, and of no other dares to craveThat thou, Severus, shouldst my husband save!Farewell! of this thy labour gauge the scope:If thou art less than I yet dare to hope,Then tell me not! all else Pauline can bear!(Exit Pauline.)SEV.Where am I, Fabian? Has the crack of doomTurned heaven to hell? made life a living tomb?Nearer and dearer ever—but to go!The prize within my grasp must I o'erthrow?This—Fortune's brimming cup, with poison filled,She bids me drain;—so new-born hope is killed.Before I proffer aught, I am refused;Thus sad, amazed, ashamed, in doubt, abused,I see the ghost I laid, to life revive,The more seductive still the more I strive.Ah! must a woman, sunk in deep despair,Teach me that shame is base, and honour fair?And while I madly shriek, 'O love, be kind!'Pauline, death-stricken, keeps an equal mind!O generous, but stern! Must these dear eyes,Because I love them, o'er love tyrannise?'Tis not enough to lose thee, I must giveMy aid—to make my faithless rival live!'Tis not enough: his death I would not plan,But I must save him! bless where I would ban!FABIAN.Ah, let the whole crew light one funeral pyre;Yes, let the daughter perish with her sire!This curs'd Armenian is one hornet's nest—Crush all, then sail for Rome, ah! this were best!She loves thee not. What canst thou hope to gain?SEV.A glory that shall triumph over pain;'Tis hers, and, by the Gods, it shall be mine!Nor God nor fiend can sully such a shrine!FABIAN.Speak low, for Jove has bolts, and Hell has ears!The dangers of this course arouse my fears.What? Decius implore a Nazarene to save!'Tis death that hath thy heart; thou woo'st a grave.His rage against the sect thou knowest well,His power unbridled—his revenge is fell.To plead for Christians is a task too great,For man or God: thou rushest on thy fate.SEV.Yes, such advice, I know, is much approved,Yet not thus can Severus' soul be moved.To Fate unequal—equal to myself—In duty's path I go. For power and pelfI never swerve where honour leads the way;Come weal, come woe, her call I must obey.Let fate depress an all unequal scale,Let Clothe hold her distaff—I'll not fail!Yet one more word—this to thy private ear—The fables that thou dost of Christians hearAre fables only, coined, I know not why,Distorted are they seen in Decius' eye.They practice the black art,—so all men say.I sought to learn the laws that they obey,And to discover what the secret guiltThe which to expiate their blood is spilt.Yet priests of Cybele dark rites pursueAt Rome—untrammelled—this is nothing new:To thousand gods men build, unchecked, their fanes,The Christians' God alone our state disdains.Each foul Egyptian beast his temple rears,Caligula a god to Roman ears—Tiberius is enshrined—a Nero deified—To Christ—to Christ alone—a temple is denied!Such metamorphoses confuse the mindAs gods in cats, and saints in fiends we find;As Ruler absolute Jehovah stands,Alone o'er heaven and earth and hell commands,While pagan gods each 'gainst the other strive,And ne'er one queen is found o'er all the hive,Now—(strike me dead, Jove's tarrying thunderbolt!)So many masters must provoke revolt.And ah! where Christians live—there life is pure,Vice dies untended, virtues all endure.We give these men to rack, and cord, and flame,While they forgive us—in their Pardoner's name.They no sedition raise, they ne'er rebel,Rome makes them soldiers, and they serve her well.They rage in battle, faithful ward they keep,They fight like lions, but they die like sheep.They serve the State: Rome's servant must defendThose who to might of Rome such succour lend.Pauline, I will obey, whate'er befall;The man who loseth honour loseth all.
FELIX.Caught in Severus' net thy Felix see!He hates and holds me—oh, the misery!ALBIN.I see a generous man, who cries, 'Forgive,Let Pauline smile once more—let Polyeucte live!'FELIX.His soul thou canst not read—tho' noble heart he feigns.The father he abhors,—the daughter he disdains!What Polyeucte won he sought: his suit denied,Severus sues no more,—I know his pride.His words, his prayers, his threats for Polyeucte plead,Histonguesays, 'Listen, or be lost indeed!'Unskilled the fowler who his snare reveals:If at the bait I snatch—my doom is sealed:Too plain, too coarse, this web for any fly—Shall I this spider hail in my fatuity?His wrath is wrath arranged, his generous fire is nursed,That I, at Decius' hand, may meet the doom accurst,If I should pardon grant—that grace my crime would be,For he the spoil would reap of my credulity.No simpleton am I, each promise to believe,Words—oaths—are but the tools wherewith all men deceive;Too oft escaped am I to be so lightly caught;I know that words are wind. I know that wind is naught.The trapper shall be trapped,—the biter shall be bit,Unravelled is the web that he, poor fool, hath knit!ALBIN.Jove! What a plague to thee is this mistrust!FELIX.Nay, those at court must fence; their weapons never rust,If once thou yield the clue to thread the maze,The sequence is most plain—the man betrayed betrays;Severus, and his gifts, alike I fear!If Polyeucte still to reason close his ear,Severus' love is hate—his peace is strife—First law of nature this, 'Preserve thy life!'ALBIN.Ah, let Pauline at least thy grace obtain!FELIX.If Decius grace withhold, my pardon vain!And—far from saving this rebellious son—Behold us all alike entrapped, undone!ALBIN.Severus' promise——FELIX.He can never keep!For Decius' rage and hatred never sleep:If for that sect abhorred Severus plead,He trebles loss—so are we lost indeed!One only way is ours,—that way I try:(To Guards)Bring Polyeucte and if he still defy,Self-doomed, insensate, this my proffered grace,He shall the death he wooes forthwith embrace!ALBIN.Ah, this is stern!FELIX.'Tis stern, 'tis just—as fate;When justice drags a halting foot, too late,She is not justice—for the vengeful mob(Whose hearts for Polyeucte ne'er cease to throb),Usurps her place, and, spurning curb and rein,The felon crowns, and all our work is vain.My sceptre trembles, and all insecureTotters my crown,—a prey for every boor.Then, swift, Severus hears the welcome news,The jaundiced mind of Decius to abuse.Shall I, the rabble's lord, obey the rabble's will?ALBIN.Who ill in all around foresees,—but doubles ill.Each prop thou hast is but a sword to pierce;If Polyeucte hold their heart, the people fierceWill gather fiercer courage from despair.FELIX.Death settles all; they'll find no helper there,And if—without a head—the body should rebel,Convulsive throes I mock, and nerveless fury quell.Whate'er ensues the Emperor must approve,I shall have done my part, and win his love.Here comes the man(Enter Polyeucte and Soldiers)I still must try to save;If he repent—'tis well! If not—the grave!(To Polyeucte)Is life still hateful? Doth death still allure?Is earth still naught? Do heavenly joys endure?Doth Christ still counsel thee to hate thy wife;—To sheathe thy sword,—to cast away thy life?POLY.I never hated life, or wooed a grave,To life I am a servant—not a slave.Here service free I give upon this earth below,—For higher service changed when to His Home I go.Eternal life is this: to tread the path He trod;To Him your body yield! Then trust your soul to God!FELIX.Yes, trust to an abyss of depth unknown!POLY.No, trust to Holy Cross! That Cross my own!FELIX.The steep ascent, my son, I too would climb,Yes, I would Christian be,—but—give me time,—By Jove! I'll tread thy path! This my desire.Else at thy hand the judge may me require!POLY.Nay, laugh not, Felix! He thy Judge will be,No refuge there for impious blasphemy!Nor kings nor clowns can 'scape His righteous ire,His slaughtered Saints of thee will He require!FELIX.I'll slay no more;—by Hercules I swear!So I a Christian crown perchance may wear;I will protect the flock!POLY.Nay, rather beA goad, a scourge, for their felicity!Let suffering purify each Christian soul,Cross, rack, and flame but lead them to their goal;What here they lose—in Heaven an hundredfold they find.Be cruel,—persecute!—and so alone be kind!My words thou canst not read; thine eyes are blinded here,Wait the unveilingThere! Then understand and fear!FELIX.Nay, nay, in truth I would a Christian be!POLY.In thy hard heart alone a bar I see.FELIX (whispering).This Roman knight——POLY (aloud).Severus, thou wouldst say.FELIX.Once let him sail, I will no more delay,For this I anger feign;—let him depart!POLY.'Tis thus thou wouldst reveal a Christian heart?To idols dumb—to Pagans blind, thy sugared poison bear,Christ's servants quaff another cup, sure refuge from despair.FELIX.What is this deadly draught that thou wouldst drain?I'll drink thy wine.—Till then, from death refrain!POLY.To swine no more my holy pearls I cast,Faith,—faith—not reason, shall see light at last;Soon—when I see my God—yes, face to face,I will implore that Felix may find grace.FELIX.O dearest son, thy loss were death to me!POLY.This loss can be repaired—the remedyFind in Severus; he will take my place;By Decius honoured he will not disgraceThy house: my death will an advantage winFor thee, for her, for me.—The work begin!FELIX.Such my reward! Yes, insult is the childOf injury. The grace I grant, reviled,Shall turn to swift revenge. The gods defiedMay do their will and speed the suicide!POLY.I thought the gods were dead, but they reviveWith human passion; Felix, do not striveAgainst thy nature; lay aside thy ruth;Who loves a lie can never follow truth.FELIX.I humoured madness, but the mood is o'er,I am myself again; I did implore,—'Twas vain; the dark abyss that yawns for theeMay hold thee now, tomb to thy constancy.The hope I cherished—fondled—now is flownSeverus will be king, and I o'erthrown;—Shall I the gods by incense pacify?Or by thy death? for thou, at last, must die!POLY.Incense might but incense; I cannot tell:(Enter Pauline)Pauline!PAUL.That word broke from thee like a knell;Who seeks my doom to-day? Thou—or my sire?Who fires the brand? Who lights the funeral pyre?My father should, by nature, be my friend,And lover's heart to love an ear should lend.Who here is mine ally, and who my foe?Who has a heart to feel?—this would I know.FELIX.Nay, to thy lord appeal.(Pauline turns to Polyeucte)POLY.Severus wed!PAUL.Ah, this is outrage! Rather strike me dead!POLY.Oh, dearer than myself to me thy weal!My love would never wound, it seeks to heal.I see thee wrestle with thy deep distressAlone—unless Severus bring redress;His merit, that once gained thy maiden heart,Hath still that worth when I from thee must part,Once loved—and loving still—his honour grows.PAUL.Thy wife's true heart another treatment owes:O base reproach! For this I crushed for theeMy former love: that I disdained might be?This my reward for dearest victory won,—I did that love undo—to be myself undone!Resolve, faith, abnegation, all were vain,For thy return is outrage heaped on pain.Oh, sunk in tomb of shame, most vile, most mean,Come back to life—to honour—to Pauline!(Holds out her arms.)To learn from her that loyalty and faithReligion are:—and all beside but death!Once more Alcestis wrestles with the tomb,Arise, arise from thy enthralling doom!And if my invocation feeble be,Regard the tears—the sighs,—shed—breathed for thee!Love is too weak a word—I thee adore!POLY.Once have I said—yet now I say once more—'Live with Severus, or—with Polyeucte die!'Thy tears are mine, and thy pure constancyI share: But—I am soldier of the Cross!Take up thine own, and count all gain but loss!Pauline—no more!(To FELIX.)Thy slumbering wrath rewake!Thy fates and furies wait! Their vengeance slake!PAUL.His life is saved! These fetters all undo!—For justice never yet a madman slew;And he is mad,—but, father, thou art sane,And thou, his father, must his friend remain.A father cannot less than father be,Oh, be to him what thou hast been to me!But cast upon thy child a kinder eye,—Slay him?—Then know that I am doomed to die!But even if justly done to death were he,The sentence wrong that, with him, slayeth me.For double death would double wrong present,And slay the guilty with the innocent.'Twas thou didst link us closely hand in hand,'To live in bliss together' thy command.Oh, shall the will that both our lives did blessDoom both these lives to death—to nothingness?When lips are sealed to lips, and heart to heart,'Tis tyranny, not law, such love to part.Oh, not a tyrant, but a father be,Forgive,—give back—restore my love to me!FELIX.Dear child, thy father is thy father still,Nothing hath parted us, and nothing will.My heart is tender, and it beats for thee:Against this madman let us joined be.O wretched man, hast thou no eyes to see, no heart to feel?Thy guilt, thy crime, I would efface, thy pardon I would seal,Forthee my daughter cannot die—say, must she diewiththee?A victim to the only sin which ne'er can pardoned be.O sight most strange! Here at thy knees as suppliant I sue!(Felix kneels.)The evil that thyself hast wrought—that ill thyself undo!POLY.Arise, old man, from knees unused to bend,Or to another ear petition send!This artifice befits nor me nor thee,To beg of one twice threatened!—Mockery!First, by thy hand Nearchus felt the flame,Then love, forsooth, thy plea—(profaned name!)The path of Christian neophyte hast thou trod,And, in God's name, hast mocked Almighty God!Earth, heaven, and hell in turn have been thy tool,And him thou hast traduced thou wouldst befool!Go,—bully-flatterer—liar!—Every partThou playest, while delay doth break my heart!Enough of dallying! While thou dost dissolveThy feeble soul in doubt, hear my resolve:The God who made me—Him will I adore;He holds my plighted faith,—and evermoreHe works salvation for his ransomed race—Who gave His Son to death that we might life embrace;And this—Christ's sacrifice—continued day by day,The Christ reveals and pleads—The Life—The Truth—The Way!No more His mysteries to self-stopped earsWill I disclose—(he heedeth not nor hears.)(Pointing to Felix.)Pray then to these thy gods of wood and stone,To gods who every deed of crime enthrone,Who boast their malice, and their foul incest,Vaunt theft and murder—all that we detest.This, their example,—Pagan—follow thou!To Pluto bend, to Aphrodite bow!For this I broke their altars, rased their shrine,—Yea, for those crimes that thou dost call divine!And what I did, that would I do once moreBefore Severus—Decius,—nay, beforeThe eyes of all men;—so would I proclaimOne God alone adored,—one Holiest Name!FELIX.At last my bounties yield to wrath most stern, most just.Die! or the gods adore!POLY.A Christian I!FELIX.Thou mustAdore the gods I say! Adore, or die!POLY.I am a Christian.FELIX.This is thy reply?Ye Guards, do my behest—prepare the knife!PAUL.Where goes he?FELIX.To his death!POLY.Ah, no to life!(To Pauline.)Remember me! Farewell, Pauline, farewell!PAUL.Nay, I will follow thee—to heaven or hell!FELIX.Begone! For all our ills this one redress!(Exeunt Pauline, Polyeucte and Guards.)(Enter Albin)O task ungrateful to my gentle mind!Well did he say, 'Be cruel to be kind!'The people I defy, ah, let them rage!Severus may in war of words engage.Yes, I have saved myself—I meanthe State,To wilful man there comes relentless fate;My conscience pure of all reproach,—for IHave lied and stormed to shake his constancy.To give his hot young blood due time to coolI played the coward—nay, I played the fool!Why did he thus assail the gods and meWith insult, and with horrid blasphemy?But interest helped me, and resentment too.Else had I found my duty hard to do!ALBIN.Soon mayst thou this thy dear-bought victory rue,For thou hast done what thou canst ne'er undo!Unworthy deed for Roman knight! ah, me!(Aside.)I would that I could add, 'unworthythee!'FELIX.Manlius and Brutus both a son have slain,And neither did thereby his glory stain;The part that is diseased—that part we bleed,So is the State from knaves and caitiffs freed.ALBIN.Revenge and pressing peril thee unman,Else—couldst thou bless a deed all men must ban?When she, thy widowed daughter, comes—the airOf heaven will echo to her deep despair!FELIX.Thou dost remind me she with Polyeucte went—I know not with what mind, with what intent:But her despair awakes my fond alarm,Go, Albin, go, and guard my child from harm!She might the execution of the lawImpede: I would not that his death she saw.Try to console her—Go! what dost thou fear?(Enter Pauline)ALBIN.I need not go, for ah—Pauline is here!PAUL.Tyrant, why leave thy butchery half done?Come, slay thy daughter, thou hast slain thy son!For, hear!—His villainy—or worth—is mine!Why stay thy hand while I my neck incline?Thy sword in me shall find a kindred food,I too am new baptized, baptized in blood!These drops that fell from off the murderous knife,Have made the martyr's widow a true wife.I see!—I feel!—I know! My darkest nightIs o'er—to break in purest heavenly light.I too, at last, am Christ's: that word says all,Those hands were pierced for me—I hear His call:Death—lovely death—thy beckoning hand I hail!Oh, help my passage, or thy schemes may fail!Dread Decius! Fear Severus! Fear thy fall!Oh, speed me to my lord—my love—my all!My husband calls me to his happier land—See!—there Nearchus at his side doth stand!Lead me to these—the gods by thee confest,Some shrines spared Polyeucte, I will break the rest!There, there the gods thou fearest I will brave,Oh, bare thy knife!—no other gift I crave.Thouhast my master been: another LordClaims my obedience now; yes, raise thy sword!Revolt is holy when for Christ we fight,—My day has dawned, the day that knows no night!Once more I cry—'Christ only has my heart!'Thy bliss and mine secure! Let me depart!Keep thou thy kingdom! Safe its treasure hold!My kingdom there—with Christ—within the fold!(Enter Severus)SEV.Unnatural sire, whose craft leads to the grave,The slaves of fear themselves alone enslave.Yes, Polyeucte is slain, and slain by thee,—A sacrifice to greed and treachery.I offered rescue from the opening tomb,Base doubts enthralled thee, didst seal his doom;I prayed, I threatened, thou wouldst not believe,Deceiver thou, so must all men deceive.Thou thoughtst me coward, liar—thou shalt seeAll oaths Severus swears fulfilled shall be.Poor moth! I might have saved thee—nay, I planned to save,Thy perfidy the torch that marks thee for the grave.Drench earth in blood,—for Jove pour forth malignant zeal,The strokes that thou hast dealt redoubled shalt thou feel!I go: the storm shall break o'er this devoted land,From Jove the bolt?—maybe—but I direct his hand.FELIX.Why lags that hand? A willing victim I,I choose to suffer for my perfidy;My doubts, my fears unworthy, all I own,I have offended—let my death atone.Take thou my honours, their poor lustre thine,I kneel before another, nobler shrine.The Power that moved me, groping through the nightOf wrong and darkness, wafts me to The Light!I slew thee, Polyeucte, but thy pardoning handShall guide thy murderer to the better land!He prays for me, and by his sacrifice,New-born upon his ashes I arise.(To Pauline.)Raised by his death from out the grave of sin,Thou tread'st the path thy father shall begin;By me his martyr-crown, as all my blissBy him. His Christ is mine, and I am his;O, blessed Christian vengeance! All my lossIs turned to gain by the redeeming Cross!Now, Pauline, am I thine, a Christian I,That Death gives life by which alike we die!(To Severus.)Then slay us both! Behold a willing prey!PAUL.(To Felix.)Yes, mine for ever now! Hail, glorious day,That sees earth's loss transformed to endless gain!FELIX.The gain, the glory, Christ's! By Him we reign.SEV.Now am I dumb, some miracle is here;Their courage and their faith must I revere;We slay them; yet, like Cadmus' seed, new-bornThey sprout afresh, and laugh our scythe to scorn.We give them cord and flame, they torture hail;Friends fail them, but themselves they never fail.We mow them down, fresh nurslings to unbare,What moves the seed lies hid, butit is there.They bless the world, though by the world accurst,Their shield am I—let Decius do his worst.I yet may own their power, though now my willThat each to his own gods be faithful still,Let each still search for truth, and truth adore.(To Felix).A Christian thou? Then fear my wrath no more,Thy sect I cherish; this their awful cultSeverus will protect, but ne'er insult.Keep thou thy power from Roman sword secure,So long as loyalty with faith endure;I swear it: ay, the Emperor shall learnThe guiltless from the traitor to discern;His persecution baseless as his fear.FELIX.Severus—thou who hast the hearing ear,—Freeman of Rome—God's Spirit grant thee graceTo be Christ's Freeman, and behold His face:To these—Christ's martyrs—earth's last rites be given,Earth, guard their ashes as a trust for Heaven!Earth hides their dust. When envious time is o'er,That dust shall wake to life for evermore!