"Tis good for earth"s frail children to implore them.
The G.o.ds are found where thou art--Semele!
What wouldst thou ask?
SEMELE. Malicious heart! But say What brings thee to this spot from Epidaurus?
"Tis not because the G.o.ds delight to dwell near Semele?
JUNO. By Jupiter, naught else!-- What fire was that which mounted to thy cheeks When I p.r.o.nounced the name of Jupiter?
Naught else, my daughter! Fearfully the plague At Epidaurus rages; every blast Is deadly poison, every breath destroys; The son his mother burns, his bride the bridegroom; The funeral piles rear up their flaming heads, Converting even midnight to bright day, While howls of anguish ceaseless rend the air; Full to overflowing is the cup of woe!-- In anger, Zeus looks down on our poor nation; In vain the victim"s blood is shed, in vain Before the altar bows the priest his knee; Deaf is his ear to all our supplications-- Therefore my sorrow-stricken country now Has sent me here to Cadmus" regal daughter, In hopes that I may move her to avert His anger from us--"Beroe, the nurse, Has influence," thus they said, "with Semele, And Semele with Zeus"--I know no more, And understand still less what means the saying, That Semele such influence has with Zeus.
SEMELE. (Eagerly and thoughtlessly.) The plague shall cease to-morrow! Tell them so Zeus loves me! Say so! It shall cease to-day!
JUNO. (Starting up in astonishment.) Ha! Is it true what fame with thousand tongues Has spread abroad from Ida to Mount Haemus?
Zeus loves thee? Zeus salutes thee in the glory Wherein the denizens of heaven regard him, When in Saturnia"s arms he sinks to rest?
Let, O ye G.o.ds, my gray hairs now descend To Orcus" shades, for I have lived enough!
In G.o.dlike splendor Kronos" mighty son Comes down to her,--to her, who on this breast Once suckled--yes! to her--
SEMELE. Oh, Beroe!
In youthful form he came, in lovelier guise Than they who from Aurora"s lap arise; Fairer than Hesper, breathing incense dim,-- In floods of ether steeped appeared each limb; He moved with graceful and majestic motion, Like silvery billows heaving o"er the ocean, Or as Hyperion, whose bright shoulders ever His bow and arrow bear, and clanging quiver; His robe of light behind him gracefully Danced in the breeze, his voice breathed melody, Like crystal streams with silvery murmur falling, More ravishing than Orpheus" strains enthralling.
JUNO.
My daughter! Inspiration spurs thee on, Raising thy heart to flights of Helicon!
If thus in strains of Delphic ecstasy Ascends the short-lived blissful memory Of his bright charms,--Oh, how divine must be His own sweet voice,--his look how heavenly!
But why of that great attribute Kronion joys in most, be mute,-- The majesty that hurls the thunder, And tears the fleeting clouds asunder?
Wilt thou say naught of that alone?
Prometheus and Deucalion May lend the fairest charms of love, But none can wield the bolt save Jove!
The thunderbolt it is alone Which he before thy feet laid down That proves thy right to beauty"s crown.
SEMELE.
What sayest thou? What are thunder-bolts to me?
JUNO. (Smiling.) Ah, Semele! A jest becomes thee well!
SEMELE.
Deucalion has no offspring so divine As is my Zeus--of thunder naught I know.
JUNO.
Mere envy! Fie!
SEMELE. No, Beroe! By Zeus!
JUNO.
Thou swearest?
SEMELE. By Zeus! by mine own Zeus!
JUNO. (Shrieking.) Thou swearest?
Unhappy one!
SEMELE. (In alarm.) What meanest thou, Beroe?
JUNO.
Repeat the word that dooms thee to become the wretchedest of all on earth"s wide face!-- Alas, lost creature! "Twas not Zeus!
SEMELE. Not Zeus?
Oh, fearful thought!
JUNO. A cunning traitor "twas From Attica, who "neath a G.o.dlike form, Robbed thee of honor, shame, and innocence!-- [SEMELE sinks to the ground.
Well mayest thou fall! Ne"er mayest thou rise again!
May endless night enshroud thine eyes in darkness, May endless silence round thine ears encamp!
Remain forever here a lifeless ma.s.s!
Oh, infamy! Enough to hurl chaste day Back into Hecate"s gloomy arms once more!
Ye G.o.ds! And is it thus that Beroe Finds Cadmus" daughter, after sixteen years Of bitter separation! Full of joy I came from Epidaurus; but with shame To Epidaurus must retrace my steps.-- Despair I take with me. Alas, my people!
E"en to the second Deluge now the plague May rage at will, may pile mount Oeta high With corpses upon corpses, and may turn All Greece into one mighty charnel-house, Ere Semele can bend the angry G.o.ds.
I, thou, and Greece, and all, have been betrayed!
SEMELE. (Trembling as she rises, and extending an arm towards her.) Oh, Beroe!
JUNO. Take courage, my dear heart!
Perchance "tis Zeus! although it scarce can be!
Perchance "tis really Zeus! This we must learn!
He must disclose himself to thee, or thou Must fly his sight forever, and devote The monster to the death-revenge of Thebes.
Look up, dear daughter--look upon the face Of thine own Beroe, who looks on thee With sympathizing eyes--my Semele, Were it not well to try him?
SEMELE. No, by heaven!
I should not find him then--
JUNO. What! Wilt thou be Perchance less wretched, if thou pinest on In mournful doubt?--and if "tis really he,--
SEMELE. (Hiding her face in Juno"s lap.) Ah! "tis not he!
JUNO. And if he came to thee Arrayed in all the majesty wherein Olympus sees him? Semele! What then?
Wouldst thou repent thee then of having tried him?
SEMELE. (Springing up.) Ha! be it so! He must unveil himself!
JUNO. (Hastily.) Thou must not let him sink into thine arms.
Till he unveils himself--so hearken, child, To what thy faithful nurse now counsels thee,-- To what affection whispers in mine ear, And will accomplish!--Say! will he soon come?
SEMELE.
Before Hyperion sinks in Thetis" bed, He promised to appear.
JUNO. (Forgetting herself hastily.) Is"t so, indeed?
He promised? Ha! To-day? (Recovering herself.) Let him approach, And when he would attempt, inflamed with love, To clasp his arms around thee, then do thou,-- Observe me well,--as if by lightning struck, Start back in haste. Ha! picture his surprise!
Leave him not long in wonderment, my child; Continue to repulse him with a look As cold as ice--more wildly, with more ardor He"ll press thee then--the coyness of the fair Is but a dam, that for awhile keeps back The torrent, only to increase the flood With greater fury. Then begin to weep "Gainst giants he might stand,--look calmly on When Typheus, hundred-armed, in fury hurled Mount Ossa and Olympus "gainst his throne: But Zeus is soon subdued by beauty"s tears.
Thou smilest?--Be it so! Is, then, the scholar Wiser, perchance, than she who teaches her?-- Then thou must pray the G.o.d one little, little Most innocent request to grant to thee-- One that may seal his love and G.o.dhead too.
He"ll swear by Styx. The Styx he must obey!
That oath he dares not break! Then speak these words: "Thou shalt not touch this body, till thou comest To Cadmus" daughter clothed in all the might Wherein thou art embraced by Kronos" daughter!"
Be not thou terrified, my Semele, If he, in order to escape thy wish, As bugbears paints the horrors of his presence-- Describes the flames that round about him roar, The thunder round him rolling when he comes: These, Semele, are naught but empty fears-- The G.o.ds dislike to show to us frail mortals These the most glorious of their attributes; Be thou but obstinate in thy request, And Juno"s self will gaze on thee with envy.