Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Thro' all Damascus, that who will depart,

Must leave the place this instant--Pass, move on.

SCENE II.

[Exit.

The outside of a Nunnery.

Enter EUDOCIA.

Eud. Darkness is fled; and yet the morning light Gives me more fears than did night's deadly gloom. Within, without, all, all are foes- -Oh, Phocyas, Thou art perhaps at rest! would I were too!

[After a Pause. This place has holy charms; rapine and murder Dare not approach it, but are aw'd to distance. I've heard that even these infidels have spar'd Walls sacred to devotion-World, farewell! Here will I hide me, till the friendly grave Opens its arms, and shelters me for ever!

Enter PHOCYAS.

[Exit.

Pho. Did not I hear the murmurs of a voice This way? -a woman's too!-and seem'd complaining? Hark-No-O torture! Whither shall I turn me ? 'Twas here last night we met. Dear, dear Eudocia ! Might I once more――

[Going out, he meets her.

Eud. Who calls the lost. Eudocia ;

Sure 'tis a friendly voice!

Pho. "Tis she

rapture!

Eud. Is't possible-my Phocyas!

[ocr errors]

Pho. My Eudocia !

Do I yet call thee mine?

Eud. Do I yet see thee?

Yet hear thee speak? O how hast thou escap'd From barbarous swords, and men that know not mercy?

Pho. I've borne a thousand deaths since our last

parting.

But wherefore do I talk of death ?-for now,
Methinks, I'm rais'd to life immortal,

And feel I'm blest beyond the power of change;
For thee have triumph'd o'er the fiercest foes,
And turn'd them friends.

Eud. Amazement! Friends!

O'all ye guardian powers !-Say on

-O lead me,

Lead me thro' this dark maze of Providence,
Which thou hast trod, that I may trace thy steps
With silent awe, and worship as I pass.

Pho. Inquire no more-thou shalt know all hereafter

Let me conduct thee hence

Eud. O whither next?

To what far distant home?-But 'tis enough,
That, favour'd thus of Heaven, thou art my guide.
And as we journey on the painful way,

Say, wilt thou then beguile the passing hours,
And open all the wonders of the story?
Where is my father?

Pho. Thou heavenly maid!

Know, I've once more, wrong'd as I am, even sav'd
Thy father's threaten'd life: nay, sav'd Damascus
From blood and slaughter, and from total ruin.
O didst thou know to what deadly gulfs
Of horror and despair I have been driven
This night, ere my perplex'd, bewilder'd, soul
Could find its way!-thou saidst that thou wouldst
chide?

I fear thou wilt: indeed I have done that,
I could have wish'd t' avoid-
So lovely, so belov'd-

Eud. What dost thou mean?

-but for a cause

I'll not indulge a thought that thou couldst do
One act unworthy of thyself, thy honour,

And that firm zeal against these foes of Heaven: Thou couldst not save thy life, by means inglorious. Pho. Alas, thou know'st me not-I'm man, frail

man,

To error born; and who, that's man, is perfect.
To save my life! O no, well was it risk'd

For thee! had it been lost, 'twere not too much,
And thou art safe:-O what wouldst thou have
said,

If I had risk'd my soul to save Eudocia !

Eud. Ha! speak-Oh no, be dumb-it cannot
be !

And yet thy looks are chang'd, thy lips grow pale.
Why dost thou shake?——Alas! I tremble too!
Thou couldst not, hast not sworn to Mahomet ?
Pho. No-I should first have dy'd—nay, given up
thee.

Eud. O Phocyas! was it well to try me thus ?
And yet another deadly fear succeeds!
How came these wretches hither? Who reviv'd
Their fainting arms to unexpected triumph ?

For while thou fought'st, and fought'st the christian

cause,

These batter'd walls were rocks impregnable,
Their towers of adamant. But, O, I fear
Some act of thine-

Pho. No more-I'll tell thee all;

I found the wakeful foe in midnight council,
Resolv'd ere day to make a fresh attack,

Keen for revenge, and hungry after slaughter-
Could my rack'd soul bear that, and think of thee?

F

Nay, think of thee expos'd a helpless prey
To some fierce ruffian's violating arms!
O, had the world been mine in that extreme,
I should have given whole provinces away,
Nay, all-and thought it little for my ransome!
Eud. For this then-Oh, thou hast betray'd the
city!

Distrustful of the righteous powers above,

That still protect the chaste and innocent:
And to avert a feign'd, uncertain danger,
Thou hast brought certain ruin on thy country!
Pho. No, the sword,

Which threaten'd to have fill'd the streets with blood,
I sheath'd in peace; thy father, thou, and all
The citizens are safe, uncaptiv'd, free.

Eud. Safe! free! O no-life, freedom, every
good,

Turns to a curse, if sought by wicked means!
Yet sure it cannot be ! are these the terms
On which we meet?-No, we can never meet
On terms like these; the hand of death itself
Could not have torn us from each other's arms,
Like this dire act!

But, alas!

"Tis thou hast blasted all my joys for ever,

And cut down hope, like a poor, short-lived flower, Never to grow again!

Pho. Cruel Eudocia !

If in my heart's dear anguish I've been forc'd
A while from what I was-— -dost thou reject me?
Think of the cause-

Eud. The cause! there is no cause

Not universal nature could afford

A cause for this. What were dominion, pomp,
The wealth of nations, nay, of all the world,
If weigh'd with faith unspotted, heavenly truth,
Thoughts free from guilt, the empire of the mind,
And all the triumpth of a godlike breast,

Firm and unmov'd in the great cause of virtue ?

Pho. No more- -thou waken'st in my tortur'd

heart

The cruel, conscious, worm, that stings to madness! Oh, I'm undone! I know it, and can bear

To be undone for thee, but not to lose thee.

Eud. Poor wretch !-I pity thee !—but art thou Phocyas,

The man I lov'd?

-I could have dy'd with thee
Ere thou didst this; then we had gone together,
A glorious pair, and soar'd above the stars,
But never, never

Will I be made the curst reward of treason,
To seal thy doom, to bind a hellish league,
And to ensure thy everlasting woe.

Pho. What league ?-'tis ended-I renounce it-

thus

[Kneels.

I bend to Heaven and thee- -O thou divine,
Thou matchless image of all perfect goodness!
Do thou but pity yet the wretched Phocyas,
Heaven will relent, and all may yet be well.
Eud. No- ——we must part.
Then do not think

Thy loss in me is worth one drooping tear:
But if thou wouldst be reconcil'd to Heaven,
First sacrifice to Heaven that fatal passion,
Which caus'd thy fall; forget the lost Eudocia.
Canst thou forget her?-Oh! the killing torture,
To think 'twas love, excess of love, divorc'd us!
Farewell for--still I cannot speak that word,
These tears speak for me- O farewell-
Pho. [Raving.] For ever!

Return, return and speak it; say, for ever!
She's gone--and now she joins the fugitives.
O hear, all gracious Heaven! wilt thou at once
Forgive, and, O, inspire me to some act

[Exit.

This day, that may in part redeem what's past!
Prosper this day, or let it be my last.

[Exit.

« ZurückWeiter »