ZEUS. (After a pause of astonishment.) Is Jupiter asleep? Will Nature Rush to her fall?--Can Semele speak thus?
What, not an answer? Eagerly mine arms Toward thee are stretched--my bosom never throbbed Responsive to Agenor"s daughter,--never Throbbed against Leda"s breast,--my lips ne"er burned For the sweet kiss of prisoned Danae, As now--
SEMELE. Peace, traitor! Peace!
ZEUS. (With displeasure, but tenderly.) My Semele!
SEMELE.
Out of my sight!
ZEUS. (Looking at her with majesty.) Know, I am Zeus!
SEMELE. Thou Zeus?
Tremble, Salmoneus, for he fearfully Will soon demand again the stolen charms That thou hast robbed him of--thou art not Zeus!
ZEUS. (With dignity.) The mighty universe around me whirls, And calls me so--
SEMELE. Ha! Fearful blasphemy!
ZEUS. (More gently.) How, my divine one? Wherefore such a tone?
What reptile dares to steal thine heart from me?
SEMELE.
My heart was vowed to him whose ape thou art!
Men ofttimes come beneath a G.o.dlike form To snare a woman. Hence! thou art not Zeus!
ZEUS.
Thou doubtest? What! Can Semele still doubt My G.o.dhead?
SEMELE. (Mournfully.) Would that thou wert Zeus! No son Of morrow-nothingness shall touch this mouth; This heart is vowed to Zeus! Would thou wert he!
ZEUS. Thou weepest? Zeus is here,--weeps Semele?
(Falling down before her.) Speak! But command! and then shall slavish nature Lie trembling at the feet of Cadmus" daughter!
Command! and streams shall instantly make halt-- And Helicon, and Caucasus, and Cynthus, And Athos, Mycale, and Rhodope, and Pindus, Shall burst their bonds when I order it so, And kiss the valleys and plains below, And dance in the breeze like flakes of snow.
Command! and the winds from the east and the north, And the fierce tornado shall sally forth, While Poseidon"s trident their power shall own, When they shake to its base his watery throne; The billows in angry fury shall rise, And every sea-mark and dam despise; The lightning shall gleam through the firmament black While the poles of earth and of heaven shall crack, The ocean the heights of Olympus explore, From thousandfold jaws with wild deafening roar The thunder shall howl, while with mad jubilee The hurricane fierce sings in triumph to thee.
Command--
SEMELE, I"m but a woman, a frail woman How can the potter bend before his pot?
How can the artist kneel before his statue?
ZEUS.
Pygmalion bowed before his masterpiece-- And Zeus now worships his own Semele!
SEMELE. (Weeping bitterly.) Arise--arise! Alas for us poor maidens!
Zeus has my heart, G.o.ds only can I love, The G.o.ds deride me, Zeus despises me!
ZEUS. Zeus who is now before thy feet--
SEMELE. Arise!
Zeus reigns on high, above the thunderbolts, And, clasped in Juno"s arms, a reptile scorns.
ZEUS. (Hastily.) Ha! Semele and Juno!--which the reptile!
SEMELE.
How blessed beyond all utterance would be Cadmus" daughter--wert thou Zeus! Alas!
Thou art not Zeus!
ZEUS. (Arises.) I am!
(He extends his hand, and a rainbow fills the hall; music accompanies its appearance.) Knowest thou me now?
SEMELE.
Strong is that mortal"s arm whom G.o.ds protect,-- Saturnius loves thee--none can I e"er love But deities--
ZEUS. What! art thou doubting still Whether my might is lent me by the G.o.ds And not G.o.d-born? The G.o.ds, my Semele, In charity oft lend their strength to man; Ne"er do the deities their terrors lend-- Death and destruction is the G.o.dhead"s seal-- Bearer of death to thee were Zeus unveiled!
(He extends his hand. Thunder, fire, smoke, and earthquake.
Music accompanies the spell here and subsequently.)
SEMELE.
Withdraw, withdraw thy hand!--Oh, mercy, mercy, For the poor nation! Yes, thou art the child Of great Saturnius--
ZEUS. Ha! thou thoughtless one!
Shall Zeus, to please a woman"s stubbornness, Bid planets whirl, and bid the suns stand still?
Zeus will do so!--oft has a G.o.d"s descendant Ripped up the fire-impregnate womb of rocks, And yet his might"s confined to Tellus" bounds Zeus only can do this!
(He extends his hand--the sun vanishes, and it becomes suddenly night.)
SEMELE. (Falling down before him.) Almighty one!
Couldst thou but love! [Day reappears.
ZEUS. Ha! Cadmus" daughter asks Kronion if Kronion e"er can love!
One word and he throws off divinity-- Is flesh and blood, and dies, and is beloved!
SEMELE.
Would Zeus do that?
ZEUS. Speak, Semele! What more?
Apollo"s self confesses that "tis bliss To be a man "mongst men--a sign from thee, And I"m a man!
SEMELE. (Falling on his neck.) Oh Jupiter, the Epidaurus women Thy Semele a foolish maiden call, Because, though by the Thunderer beloved, She can obtain naught from him--
ZEUS. (Eagerly.) They shall blush, Those Epidaurus women! Ask!--but ask!
And by the dreaded Styx--whose boundless might Binds e"en the G.o.ds like slaves--if Zeus deny thee, Then shall the G.o.ds, e"en in that self-same moment, Hurl me despairing to annihilation!
SEMELE. (Springing up joyfully.) By this I know that thou"rt my Jupiter!
Thou swearest--and the Styx has heard thine oath!
Let me embrace thee, then, in the same guise In which--
ZEUS. (Shrieking with alarm.) Unhappy one! Oh stay! oh stay!
SEMELE. Saturnia--