Were mild enough to weep.

[The King, going out, meets DEMETRIUS in mourning, introduced by ANTIGONUS. He starts back, and drops on DYMAS. Recovering, speaks.]

King. This, Fate, is thy tenth wave, and quite o'erwhelms me:

It less had shocked me, had I met his ghost.
This is a plot to sentence me to death.
What hast thou done, my mortal foe! thrown
bars
[To ANTIGONUS.
Athwart my glory? But thy scheme shall fail.
As rushing torrents sweep the obstructed mound,
So Philip meets this mountain in his way,
Yet keeps his purpose still.

[PERSEUS and PERICLES whisper aside. Peri. I can't but fear it.

Per. I grant the danger great, yet don't despair.

Jove is against thee, Perseus on thy side.

Ant. The prince, dread sir, low on his bended knee

King. This way, Antigonus. Dost mark his
bloom?

Grace in his aspect, grandeur in his mien !
Ant. I do.

King. 'Tis false; take a king's word. He's
dead.

That darling of my soul would stab me sleeping. How dar st thou start? Art thou the traitor's father?

If thou art pale, what is enough for me?
How his grave yawns! Oh, that it were my own!

Ant. Mourn not the guilty.

King. No, he's innocent:

Death pays his debt to justice, and that done,
I grant him still my son; as such I love him:
Yes, and will clasp him to my breast, while yet
His clay is warm, nor moulders at my touch.
Per. A curse on that embrace! [Aside.
Dym. Nay, worse; he weeps.
King. Poor boy, be not deceived by my com-
passion;

My tears are cruel, and I groan thy death.
Dem. And am I then to die? If death's de-

creed,

Stab me yourself, nor give me to the knife
Of midnight ruffians, that have forged my crimes.
For you I beg, for you I pour my tears;
You are deceived, dishonoured; I am only slain.
Oh, father!-

King. Father! there's no father here. Forbear to wound me with that tender name, Nor raise all nature up in arms against me!

Dem. My father! guardian! friend! nay, deity! What less than gods give being, life, and death? My dying mother

King. Hold thy peace, I charge thee.

Dem. Pressing your hand, and bathing it with tears,

Bequeathed your tenderness for her to me;
And low on earth my legacy I claim,
Clasping your knees, though banished from your
breast.

King. My knees! Would that were all! he grasps my heart! Perseus, canst thou stand by, and see me ruined? [Reaching his hand to PERSEUS. Per, Loose, loose thy hold. It is my father

too.

King. Yes, Macedon, and thine, and I'll preserve thee.

Dem. Who once before preserved it from the Thracian?

And who, at Thrasymene, turned the lifted bolt From Philip's hoary brow?

King. I'll hear no more.

O Perseus! Dymas! Pericles! assist me,
Unbind me, disenchant me, break this charm
Of nature, that accomplice with my foes;
Rend me, O rend me, from the friend of Rome !

Per. Nay, then, howe'er reluctant, aid I must.
The friend of Rome! That severs you for ever,
Though most incorporate and strongly knit,
As lightning rends the knotted oak asunder.

Dem. In spite of lightning I renew the tie; And stubborn is the grasp of dying men. Who's he that shall divide me from myself? [DEMETRIUS is forced from the king's knees,

on which, starting up, he flings his arms
round his father.]

Still of a piece with him, from whom I grew,
I'll bleed on my asylum, dart my soul

In this embrace, and thus my treason crown.
King. Who love yourselves, or Macedon, or

me,

From the cursed eagle's talons wrench my crown,

done, And the blood gushes after it.

[Forced asunder. I faint!

Dym. Support the king!

Per. While treason licks the dust.

Though through a bosom dearer than his own. Think'st thou my tender heart can hate a brother?

The gods and Perseus war with nought but guilt.

Dym. A field well fought.

Per. And justice has prevailed.

King. O, that the traitor could conceal the

son!

Farewell, once best beloved! still more deplored!

He, he, who dooms thee, bleeds upon thy tomb. [Exit. Dem. Prostrate on thee, my mother earth, be thou

Kinder than brother, or than father; open,
And save me in thy bosom from my-friends;
Friends, sworn to wash their hands in guiltless
tears,

And quench infernal thirst in kindred blood;
As if relation severed human hearts,

Or that destruction were the child of love!
Per. Farewell, young traitor: if they ask be-
low,

Who sent thee beardless down, say, honest Perseus;

Whom reason sways, not instinct; who can strike

To your Erixene? She chides my stay. [Exit.
Ďem. Without that token of a brother's love
He could not part; my death was not enough.
I came for mercy, and I find it here;
And death is mercy, since my love is lost.
Alas! my father too! my heart aches for him.
And Perseus-fain would I forgive even thee:
But Philip's sufferings cry too loud against it.
Blind author, and sure mourner of my death!
Father most dear !-What pangs hast thou to
come?

Like that poor wretch is thy unhappy doom,
Who, while in sleep his fevered fancy glows,
Draws his keen sword, and sheaths it in his foes;
But, waking, starts upright, in wild surprise,
To feel warm blood glide round him as he lies;
To see his reeking hands in crimson dyed,
And a pale corse extended by his side:
He views with horror what mad dreams have
done,

And sinks, heart-broken, on a murdered son.
[Exeunt.

SCENE I.

King, POSTHUMIUS, &c. meeting.
Post. We, in behalf of our allies, O king!
Called on thee yesterday, to clear thy glory.
No wonder now, that Philip is unjust
To strangers, who has murdered his own son,
King. "Tis false.

Post. No thanks to Philip, that he fled.
King. A traitor is no son.

Post. Heaven's vengeance on me,
If he refused not yesterday thy crown,

Though life and love both bribed him to comply. King. See there! [Gives the letter.

Post. 'Tis not the consul's hand or seal.

King. You're his accomplices.

Post. We're his avengers.

Cloud and torment my reason.
Ant. Sir, recall,

And re-examine those you sent to Rome:
You took their evidence in haste and anger.
Torture, if they refuse, will tell the truth.
King. Go, stop the nuptials, till you hear from
me. [Exeunt King and ANTIGONUS.

SCENE II.

Enter ERIXENE and DELIA, meeting. Del. Madam, the prince, who fled from threatened death,

Attempting his escape to foreign realms,
Was lately taken at the city gates,
So strongly guarded by his father's powers;
And now, confined, expects his final doom.
Erix. Imprisoned, and to die!--And let him
die.

Bid Dymas' daughter weep. I half forgot
His perjured insolence; I'll go and glut

doms!

And blacker still, a traitor to my love.

[Exeunt ERIXENE and DELIA. Scene draws, and shews DEMETRIUS in prison.

Dem. Thou subterranean sepulchre of peace! Thou home of horror! hideous nest of crimes! Guilt's first sad stage in her dark road to hell! Ye thick-barred sunless passages for air, To keep alive the wretch that longs to die!

Ye low-browed arches, through whose sullen

gloom

Resound the ceaseless groans of pale despair!
Ye dreadful shambles, caked with human blood!
Receive a guest from far, far other scenes,
From pompous courts, from shouting victories,
Carousing festivals, harmonious bowers,
And the soft chains of heart-dissolving love.
Oh, how unlike to these! Heart-breaking load
Of shame eternal, ne'er to be knocked off!
Oh welcome death !-no, never but by thee!-
Nor has a foe done this. A friend! a father!-
Oh, that I could have died without their guilt!

Enter ERIXENE, DEMETRIUS gazing at her.
So looked in chaos the first beam of light:
How drives the strong enchantment of her eye
All horror hence!-How die the thoughts of
death!

Eriz. I knew not my own heart. I cannot bear it.

Shame chides me back; for, to insult his woes
Is too severe; and to condole, too kind. [Going.
Dem. Thus I arrest you in the name of mercy,
And dare compel your stay. Is then one look,
One word, one moment, a last moment too,
When I stand tottering on the brink of death,
A cruel ignominious death, too much
For one, that loves like me? A length of years
You may devote to my blest rival's arms;
I ask but one short moment. O permit,
Permit the dying to lay claim to thee!
To thee, thou dear equivalent for life,
Cruel, relentless, marble-hearted maid!

Erir. Demetrius, you persist to do me wrong; For, know, though I behold thee as thou art, Doubly a traitor, to the state and me,

Thy sorrow, thy distress, have touched my bo

som:

I own it is a fault-I pity thee,

Enter Officer.

Offi. My lord, your time is short, and death

waits for you.

Eriz. Death!-I forgive thee from my inmost soul.

Dem. Forgive me? Oh! thou need'st not to forgive,

If imposition had not struck thee blind.
Truth lies in ambush yet, but will start up,
And seize thy trembling soul, when mine is fled.
O, I've a thousand, thousand things to say!

Eris. And I am come a secret to disclose,
That might awake thee, wert thou dead already!
Offi. My lord, your final moment is expired.
Dem. and Erix. One, one short moment more!
Dem. No; death lets fall
The curtain, and divides our love for ever!

[DEMETRIUS is forced out. Eriz. Oh, I've a darker dungeon in my soul, Nor want an executioner to kill me. What revolutions in the human heart Will pity cause! What horrid deeds revenge!

Exit.

SCENE III.

Enter ANTIGONUS, with Attendants.

Ant. How distant virtue dwells from mortal man!

Was't not that each man calls for others' virtue,
Her very name on earth would be forgot,
And leave the tongue, as it has left the heart!
Was ever such a laboured plan of guilt?
Take the king's mandate, to the prison fly,
Throw wide the gates, and let Demetrius know
The full detail!

Enter ERIXENE

The princess! ha! begone! [To the Attendants.
While I stir up an equal transport here.
Princess, I see your griefs, and judge the cause;
But I bring news might raise you from your

grave,

Or call you down from Heaven to hear with joy!
Just gods! the virtuous will at last prevail.
On motives, here too tedious to relate,
I begged the king to re-examine those,
Who came from Rome. The king approved my
counsel.

Surprised, and conscious, in their charge they faultered,

And threatened tortures soon discovered all:
That Perseus bribed them to their perjuries;
That Quintius' letter was a forgery;
That prince Demetrius' intercourse with Rome
Was innocent of treason to the state.

Erix. Oh, my swoln heart! What will the
gods do with me?

Ant. And to confirm this most surprising news, Dymas, who, striving to suppress a tumult, The rumour of Demetrius' flight had raised, Was wounded sore, with his last breath confessed, The prince refused his daughter; which affront Inflamed the statesman to his prince's ruin. [Swoons.

Erix. Did he refuse her?
Ant. Quite o'ercome with joy,
Transported out of life.-The gods restore her!
Erix. Ah! why recall me? This is a new kind
Of murder, most severe, that dooms to life!
Ant. Fair princess, you confound me!
Erix. Am I fair?

Am I a princess? Love and empire mine?
Gay, gorgeous visions dancing in my sight!-
No, here I stand a naked, shipwrecked wretch,
Cold, trembling, pale, spent, helpless, hopeless,
maid;

Cast on a shore as cruel as the waves,
O'erhung with rugged rocks, too steep to climb;
The mountain billows loud, come foaming in
Tremendous, and confound, ere they devour!
Ant. Madam, the king absolves you from your

Vow.

Erir. For me it matters not; but, oh! the prince

When he had shot the gulph of his despair,
Emerging into all the light of Heaven;
His heart high-beating with well-grounded hope;
Then to make shipwreck of his happiness,

Like a poor wretch that has escaped the storm,
And swam to what he deems an happy isle,
When, lo! the savage natives drink his blood!
Ah! why is vengeance sweet to woman's pride,
As rapture to her lover? It has undone me!
Del. Madam, he comes.
Erir. Leave us, Antigonus.

Ant. What dreadful secret's this?-But I'll obey,

Invoke the gods, and leave the rest to fate.

[Exit.

Erix. How terribly triumphant comes the wretch !

He comes, like flowers ambrosial, early born,
To meet the blast, and perish in the storm!

Enter DEMETRIUS.

Dem. After an age of absence in one hour,
Have I then found thee, thou celestial maid!
Like a fair Venus in a stormy sea,

Or a bright goddess, through the shades of night,
Dropt from the stars to these blest arms again?
How exquisite is pleasure after pain!
Why throbs my heart so turbulently strong,
Pained at thy presence, through redundant joy,
Like a poor miser, beggared by his store?

Erix. Demetrius, joy and sorrow dwell too'

near.

Dem. Talk not of sorrow, lest the gods resent, As underprized, so loud a call to joy. I live, I love, am loved, I have her here! Rapture in present, and, in prospect, more! No rival, no destroyer, no despair! For jealousies, for partings, groans, and death, A train of joys, the gods alone can name! When Heaven descends in blessings so profuse, So sudden, so surpassing hope's extreme, Like the sun bursting from the midnight gloom, 'Tis impious to be niggards in delight; Joy becomes duty; Heaven calls for some ex

I tremble on the brink; yet must plunge in!
Know, my Demetrius, joys are for the gods;
Man's common course of nature is distress:
His joys are prodigies; and, like them too,
Portend approaching ill. The wise man starts,
And trembles at the perils of a bliss.

To hope, how bold! how daring to be fond,
When, what our fondness grasps, is not immortal!
I will presume on thy known, steady virtue,
And treat thee like a man; I will, Demetrius,
Nor longer in my bosom hide a brand,
That burns unseen, and drinks my vital blood.
Dem. What mystery?

Erir. The blackest !

Dem. What?-I'll have it, though it blast me! Erix. Thus, then, in thunder-I am Perseus' wife!

[DEMETRIUS staggers-And falls after a pause

Dem. In thunder!-No; that had not struck

so deep!

What tempest e'er discharged so fierce a fire?
Calm and deliberate anguish feeds upon me;
Each thought sent out for help brings in new
woe!

Where shall I turn? Where fly? To whom but
thee,
[Kneeling.
Tremendous Jove! whom mortals will not know
From blessing, but compel to be severe !
I feel thy vengeance, and adore thy power;
I see my failings, and absolve thy rage.
But, oh! I must perceive the load that's on me;
I can't but tremble underneath the stroke.
Aid me to bear!-But since it can't be borne,
Oh, let thy mercy burst in flames upon me!
Thy triple bolt is healing balm to this;
This pain unfelt, unfancied by the wretch,
The groaning wretch, that on the wheel expires!
Erix. Why did I tell thee?
Dem. Why commit a deed,

Too shocking to be told? What fumes of hell Flew to thy brain? What fiend the crime inspired!

Erir. Perseus, last night, as soon as thou wast fled,

At that dead hour, when good men are at rest,
When every crime and horror is abroad,
Graves yawn, fiends yell, wolves howl, and ravens

scream;

Than ravens, wolves, or fiends, more fatal far,
To me he came, and threw him at my feet,
And wept, and swore unless I gave consent
To call a priest that moment, all was ruined;
That the next day Demetrius and his powers
Might conquer, he lose me, and I my crown,
Conferred by Philip but on Perseus' wife.
I started, trembled, fainted: he invades
My half-recovered strength, bribed priests con-
spire,

All urge my vow, all seize my ravished hand,
Invoke the gods, run o'er the hasty rite,
While each ill omen of the sky flew o'er us,
And furies howled our nuptial song below.-
Canst thou forgive?

Dem. By all the flames of love,
And torments of despair, I never can!

The furies toss their torches from thy hand,
And all their adders hiss around thy head!
I'll see thy face no more.

Eris. Thy rage is just.
Yet stay and hear me !

[Going.

Erir. Stamp till the centre shakes, So black a dæmon shalt thou never raise ! Perseus! Canst thou abhor him more than I? Hell has its furies, Perseus has his love, And, oh! Demetrius his eternal hate!

Dem. Eternal! Yes, eternal and eternal; As deep and everlasting as my pain!

Erir. Some god descend, and sooth his soul to peace!

Dem. Talk'st thou of peace? what peace hast thou bestowed?

A brain distracted, and a broken heart.
Talk'st thou of peace? Hark, hark, thy husband
calls,

His father's rebel! Brother's murderer !
Nature's abhorrence, and-thy lawful lord!
Fly, my kind patroness, and in his bosom
Consult my peace.

Erir. I never shall be there.
My lord! my life!

[As he is going, she lays hold of his robe. · Erir. I dare-and more, dare seize, And fix him here; no doubt, to thy surprise: I'm blemished, not abandoned; honour still Is sacred in my sight. Thou call'st it incest: 'Tis innocence, 'tis virtue; if there's virtue In fixed, inviolable strength of love. For know, the moment the dark deed was done, The moment madness made me Perseus' wife, I seized this friend, and lodged him in my bosom, [Shewing a dagger.

Firmly resolved I never would be more:
And now I fling me at thy feet, imploring
Thy steadier hand to guide him to my heart.
Who wed in vengeance, wed not but to die.

Dem. Has Perseus, then, an hymeneal claim? And no divorce, but death?-And death from me, Who should defend thee from the world in arms! O thou still excellent! still most beloved!

Erix. Life is the foe, that parts us; death, a friend,

All knots dissolving, joins us; and for ever.
Why so disordered? wherefore shakes thy frame?
Look on me; do I tremble? am I pale?
When I let loose a sigh, I'll pardon thine.
Take my example, and be bravely wretched.
True grandeur rises from surmounted ills;
The wretched only can be truly great.
If not in kindness, yet, in vengeance, strike!
'Tis not Erixene, 'tis Perseus' wife.
Thou❜lt not resign me?

Dem. Not to Jove.
Erix. Then strike!
Dem. How can I strike?

[Gazing on her with astonishment.
Stab at the face of Heaven?
How can I strike? Yet how can I forbear?
I feel a thousand deaths debating one.
A deity stands guard on every charm,
And strikes at me.

Erix. As will thy brother soon;
He's now in arms, and may be here this hour.
Nothing so cruel as too soft a soul;

This is strange tenderness, that breaks my heart;
Strange tenderness, that dooms to double death-
To Perseus.

Dem. True-but how to shun that horror! By wounding thee, whom savage pards would