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SCENE III.--_The summit of the Jungfrau Mountain._
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron · about 9 minutes
SCENE III.--The summit of the Jungfrau Mountain.
_Enter_ FIRST DESTINY.
The Moon is rising broad, and round, and bright;
And here on snows, where never human foot[139]
Of common mortal trod, we nightly tread,
And leave no traces: o'er the savage sea,
The glassy ocean of the mountain ice,
We skim its rugged breakers, which put on
The aspect of a tumbling tempest's foam,
Frozen in a moment[140]--a dead Whirlpool's image:
And this most steep fantastic pinnacle,
The fretwork of some earthquake--where the clouds 10
Pause to repose themselves in passing by--
Is sacred to our revels, or our vigils;
Here do I wait my sisters, on our way
To the Hall of Arimanes--for to-night
Is our great festival[141]--'tis strange they come not.
_A Voice without, singing._
The Captive Usurper,
Hurled down from the throne,
Lay buried in torpor,
Forgotten and lone;
I broke through his slumbers, 20
I shivered his chain,
I leagued him with numbers--
He's Tyrant again!
With the blood of a million he'll answer my care,
With a Nation's destruction--his flight and despair![142]
_Second Voice, without._
The Ship sailed on, the Ship sailed fast,
But I left not a sail, and I left not a mast;
There is not a plank of the hull or the deck,
And there is not a wretch to lament o'er his wreck;
Save one, whom I held, as he swam, by the hair, 30
And he was a subject well worthy my care;
A traitor on land, and a pirate at sea--[143]
But I saved him to wreak further havoc for me!
FIRST DESTINY, _answering._
The City lies sleeping;
The morn, to deplore it,
May dawn on it weeping:
Sullenly, slowly,
The black plague flew o'er it--
Thousands lie lowly;
Tens of thousands shall perish; 40
The living shall fly from
The sick they should cherish;
But nothing can vanquish
The touch that they die from.
Sorrow and anguish,
And evil and dread,
Envelope a nation;
The blest are the dead,
Who see not the sight
Of their own desolation; 50
This work of a night--
This wreck of a realm--this deed of my doing--
For ages I've done, and shall still be renewing!
_Enter the_ SECOND _and_ THIRD DESTINIES.
_The Three._
Our hands contain the hearts of men,
Our footsteps are their graves;
We only give to take again
The Spirits of our slaves!
_First Des_. Welcome!--Where's Nemesis?
_Second Des_. At some great work;
But what I know not, for my hands were full.
_Third Des_. Behold she cometh.
_Enter_ NEMESIS.
_First Des_. Say, where hast thou been? 60
My Sisters and thyself are slow to-night.
_Nem_. I was detained repairing shattered thrones--
Marrying fools, restoring dynasties--
Avenging men upon their enemies,
And making them repent their own revenge;
Goading the wise to madness; from the dull
Shaping out oracles to rule the world
Afresh--for they were waxing out of date,
And mortals dared to ponder for themselves,
To weigh kings in the balance--and to speak 70
Of Freedom, the forbidden fruit.--Away!
We have outstayed the hour--mount we our clouds!
[_Exeunt._
SCENE IV.--_The Hall of Arimanes._[144]--_Arimanes on his Throne,
a Globe of Fire,[145] surrounded by the Spirits._
_Hymn of the_ SPIRITS.
Hail to our Master!--Prince of Earth and Air!
Who walks the clouds and waters--in his hand
The sceptre of the Elements, which tear
Themselves to chaos at his high command!
He breatheth--and a tempest shakes the sea;
He speaketh--and the clouds reply in thunder;
He gazeth--from his glance the sunbeams flee;
He moveth--Earthquakes rend the world asunder.
Beneath his footsteps the Volcanoes rise;
His shadow is the Pestilence: his path 10
The comets herald through the crackling skies;[bb]
And Planets turn to ashes at his wrath.
To him War offers daily sacrifice;
To him Death pays his tribute; Life is his,
With all its Infinite of agonies--
And his the Spirit of whatever is!
_Enter the_ DESTINIES _and_ NEMESIS.
_First Des_. Glory to Arimanes! on the earth
His power increaseth--both my sisters did
His bidding, nor did I neglect my duty!
_Second Des_. Glory to Arimanes! we who bow 20
The necks of men, bow down before his throne!
_Third Des_. Glory to Arimanes! we await
His nod!
_Nem_. Sovereign of Sovereigns! we are thine,
And all that liveth, more or less, is ours,
And most things wholly so; still to increase
Our power, increasing thine, demands our care,
And we are vigilant. Thy late commands
Have been fulfilled to the utmost.
_Enter_ MANFRED.
_A Spirit_. What is here?
A mortal!--Thou most rash and fatal wretch,
Bow down and worship!
_Second Spirit_. I do know the man-- 30
A Magian of great power, and fearful skill!
_Third Spirit_. Bow down and worship, slave!--What, know'st thou not
Thine and our Sovereign?--Tremble, and obey!
_All the Spirits_. Prostrate thyself, and thy condemnéd clay,
Child of the Earth! or dread the worst.
_Man_. I know it;
And yet ye see I kneel not.
_Fourth Spirit_. 'Twill be taught thee.
_Man_. 'Tis taught already;--many a night on the earth,
On the bare ground, have I bowed down my face,
And strewed my head with ashes; I have known
The fulness of humiliation--for 40
I sunk before my vain despair, and knelt
To my own desolation.
_Fifth Spirit_. Dost thou dare
Refuse to Arimanes on his throne
What the whole earth accords, beholding not
The terror of his Glory?--Crouch! I say.
_Man_. Bid _him_ bow down to that which is above him,
The overruling Infinite--the Maker
Who made him not for worship--let him kneel,
And we will kneel together.
_The Spirits_. Crush the worm!
Tear him in pieces!--
_First Des_. Hence! Avaunt!--he's mine. 50
Prince of the Powers invisible! This man
Is of no common order, as his port
And presence here denote: his sufferings
Have been of an immortal nature--like
Our own; his knowledge, and his powers and will,
As far as is compatible with clay,
Which clogs the ethereal essence, have been such
As clay hath seldom borne; his aspirations
Have been beyond the dwellers of the earth,
And they have only taught him what we know-- 60
That knowledge is not happiness, and science[146]
But an exchange of ignorance for that
Which is another kind of ignorance.
This is not all--the passions, attributes
Of Earth and Heaven, from which no power, nor being,
Nor breath from the worm upwards is exempt,
Have pierced his heart; and in their consequence
Made him a thing--which--I who pity not,
Yet pardon those who pity. He is mine--
And thine it may be; be it so, or not-- 70
No other Spirit in this region hath
A soul like his--or power upon his soul.
_Nem_. What doth he here then?
_First Des_. Let _him_ answer that.
_Man_. Ye know what I have known; and without power
I could not be amongst ye: but there are
Powers deeper still beyond--I come in quest
Of such, to answer unto what I seek.
_Nem_. What would'st thou?
_Man_. _Thou_ canst not reply to me.
Call up the dead--my question is for them.
_Nem_. Great Arimanes, doth thy will avouch 80
The wishes of this mortal?
_Ari_. Yea.
_Nem_. Whom wouldst thou
Uncharnel?
_Man_. One without a tomb--call up
Astarte.[147]
NEMESIS.
Shadow! or Spirit!
Whatever thou art,
Which still doth inherit[bc]
The whole or a part
Of the form of thy birth,
Of the mould of thy clay,
Which returned to the earth, 90
Re-appear to the day!
Bear what thou borest,
The heart and the form,
And the aspect thou worest
Redeem from the worm.
Appear!--Appear!--Appear!
Who sent thee there requires thee here!
[_The Phantom of_ ASTARTE _rises and stands in the midst_.
_Man_. Can this be death? there's bloom upon her cheek;
But now I see it is no living hue,
But a strange hectic--like the unnatural red 100
Which Autumn plants upon the perished leaf.[148]
It is the same! Oh, God! that I should dread
To look upon the same--Astarte!--No,
I cannot speak to her--but bid her speak--
Forgive me or condemn me.
NEMESIS.
By the Power which hath broken
The grave which enthralled thee,
Speak to him who hath spoken.
Or those who have called thee!
_Man_. She is silent,
And in that silence I am more than answered. 110
_Nem_. My power extends no further. Prince of Air!
It rests with thee alone--command her voice.
_Ari_. Spirit--obey this sceptre!
_Nem_. Silent still!
She is not of our order, but belongs
To the other powers. Mortal! thy quest is vain,
And we are baffled also.
_Man_. Hear me, hear me--
Astarte! my belovéd! speak to me:
I have so much endured--so much endure--
Look on me! the grave hath not changed thee more
Than I am changed for thee. Thou lovedst me 120
Too much, as I loved thee: we were not made
To torture thus each other--though it were
The deadliest sin to love as we have loved.
Say that thou loath'st me not--that I do bear
This punishment for both--that thou wilt be
One of the blesséd--and that I shall die;
For hitherto all hateful things conspire
To bind me in existence--in a life
Which makes me shrink from Immortality--
A future like the past. I cannot rest. 130
I know not what I ask, nor what I seek:
I feel but what thou art, and what I am;
And I would hear yet once before I perish
The voice which was my music--Speak to me!
For I have called on thee in the still night,
Startled the slumbering birds from the hushed boughs,
And woke the mountain wolves, and made the caves
Acquainted with thy vainly echoed name,
Which answered me--many things answered me--
Spirits and men--but thou wert silent all. 140
Yet speak to me! I have outwatched the stars,
And gazed o'er heaven in vain in search of thee.
Speak to me! I have wandered o'er the earth,
And never found thy likeness--Speak to me!
Look on the fiends around--they feel for me:
I fear them not, and feel for thee alone.
Speak to me! though it be in wrath;--but say--
I reck not what--but let me hear thee once--
This once--once more!
_Phantom of Astarte_. Manfred!
_Man_. Say on, say on--
I live but in the sound--it is thy voice! 150
_Phan_. Manfred! To-morrow ends thine earthly ills.
Farewell!
_Man_. Yet one word more--am I forgiven?
_Phan_. Farewell!
_Man_. Say, shall we meet again?
_Phan_. Farewell!
_Man_. One word for mercy! Say thou lovest me.
_Phan_. Manfred!
[_The Spirit of_ ASTARTE _disappears_.
_Nem_. She's gone, and will not be recalled:
Her words will be fulfilled. Return to the earth.
_A Spirit_. He is convulsed--This is to be a mortal,
And seek the things beyond mortality.
_Another Spirit_. Yet, see, he mastereth himself, and makes
His torture tributary to his will.[149] 160
Had he been one of us, he would have made
An awful Spirit.
_Nem_. Hast thou further question
Of our great Sovereign, or his worshippers?
_Man_. None.
_Nem_. Then for a time farewell.
_Man_. We meet then! Where? On the earth?--
Even as thou wilt: and for the grace accorded
I now depart a debtor. Fare ye well!
[_Exit_ MANFRED.
(_Scene closes_.)
ACT III.