VARDANES.
Thanks, gentle friend; Heav"ns! what a night is this!
LYSIAS.
"Tis fill"d with terror; Some dread event beneath this horror lurks, Ordain"d by fate"s irrevocable doom; Perhaps Arsaces" fall--and angry heav"n Speaks it, in thunder, to the trembling world.
VARDANES.
Terror indeed! it seems as sick"ning Nature Had giv"n her order up to gen"ral ruin; The Heav"ns appear as one continu"d flame, Earth with her terror shakes, dim night retires, And the red lightning gives a dreadful day, While in the thunder"s voice each sound is lost; Fear sinks the panting heart in ev"ry bosom, E"en the pale dead, affrighted at the horror, As tho" unsafe, start from their marble goals, And howling thro" the streets are seeking shelter.
LYSIAS.
I saw a flash stream thro" the angry clouds, And bend its course to where a stately pine Behind the garden stood, quickly it seiz"d, And wrapt it in a fiery fold, the trunk Was shiver"d into atoms, and the branches Off were lopt, and wildly scatter"d round.
VARDANES.
Why rage the elements, they are not curs"d Like me? Evanthe frowns not angry on them, The wind may play upon her beauteous bosom Nor fear her chiding, light can bless her sense, And in the floating mirror she beholds Those beauties which can fetter all mankind.
Earth gives her joy, she plucks the fragrant rose, Pleas"d takes its sweets, and gazes on its bloom.
LYSIAS.
My Lord, forget her, tear her from your breast.
Who, like the Phoenix gazes on the sun, And strives to soar up to the glorious blaze, Should never leave Ambition"s brightest object, To turn, and view the beauties of a flow"r.
VARDANES.
O, Lysias, chide no more, for I have done.
Yes, I"ll forget this proud disdainful beauty; Hence, with vain love--Ambition, now, alone, Shall guide my actions, since mankind delights To give me pain, I"ll study mischief too, And shake the earth, e"en like this raging tempest.
LYSIAS.
A night like this, so dreadful to behold, Since my remembrance"s birth, I never saw.
VARDANES.
E"en such a night, dreadful as this, they say, My teeming Mother gave me to the world.
Whence by those sages who, in knowledge rich, Can pry into futurity, and tell What distant ages will produce of wonder, My days were deem"d to be a hurricane; My early life prov"d their prediction false; Beneath a sky serene my voyage began, But, to this long uninterrupted calm, Storms shall succeed.
LYSIAS.
Then haste, to raise the tempest; My soul disdains this one eternal round, Where each succeeding day is like the former.
Trust me, my n.o.ble Prince, here is a heart Steady and firm to all your purposes, And here"s a hand that knows to execute Whate"er designs thy daring breast can form, Nor ever shake with fear.
VARDANES.
And I will use it, Come to my bosom, let me place thee here, How happy am I clasping so much virtue!
Now, by the light, it is my firm belief, One mighty soul in common swells our bosoms, Such sameness can"t be match"d in diff"rent beings.
LYSIAS.
Your confidence, my Lord, much honours me, And when I act unworthy of your love May I be hooted from Society, As tho" disgraceful to the human kind, And driv"n to herd among the savage race.
VARDANES.
Believe me, Lysias, I do not know A single thought which tends toward suspicion, For well I know thy worth, when I affront it, By the least doubt, may I be ever curs"d With faithless friends, and by his dagger fall Whom my deluded wishes most would favour.
LYSIAS.
Then let"s no longer trifle time away, I"m all impatience till I see thy brows Bright in the glories of a diadem; My soul is fill"d with anguish when I think That by weak Princes worn, "tis thus disgrac"d.
Haste, mount the throne, and, like the morning Sun, Chace with your piercing beams those mists away, Which dim the glory of the Parthian state: Each honest heart desires it, numbers there are Ready to join you, and support your cause, Against th" opposing faction.
VARDANES.
Sure some G.o.d, Bid you thus call me to my dawning honours, And joyful I obey the pleasing summons.
Now by the pow"rs of heav"n, of earth and h.e.l.l, Most solemnly I swear, I will not know That quietude which I was wont to know, "Til I have climb"d the height of all my wishes, Or fell, from glory, to the silent grave.
LYSIAS.
n.o.bly resolv"d, and spoken like Vardanes, There shone my Prince in his superior l.u.s.tre.
VARDANES.
But, then, Arsaces, he"s a fatal bar-- O! could I brush this busy insect from me, Which envious strives to rob me of my bloom, Then might I, like some fragrant op"ning flow"r, Spread all my beauties in the face of day.
Ye G.o.ds! why did ye give me such a soul (A soul, which ev"ry way is form"d for Empire), And d.a.m.n me with a younger Brother"s right?
The diadem would set as well on mine, As on the brows of any lordly He; Nor is this hand weak to enforce command.
And shall I steal into my grave, and give My name up to oblivion, to be thrown Among the common rubbish of the times?
No: Perish first, this happy hated Brother.
LYSIAS.
I always wear a dagger, for your service, I need not speak the rest-- When humbly I intreated of your Brother T" attend him as Lieutenant in this war, Frowning contempt, he haughtily reply"d, He entertain"d not Traitors in his service.
True, I betray"d Orodes, but with cause, He struck me, like a sorry abject slave, And still withheld from giving what he"d promis"d.
Fear not Arsaces, believe me, he shall Soon his Quietus have--But, see, he comes,-- What can this mean? Why at this lonely hour, And unattended?--Ha! "tis opportune-- I"ll in, and stab him now. I heed not what The danger is, so I but have revenge, Then heap perdition on me.
VARDANES.
Hold, awhile-- "Twould be better could we undermine him, And make him fall by Artaba.n.u.s" doom.
LYSIAS.
Well, be it so--
VARDANES.
But let us now retire, We must not be observ"d together here.