A Chamber.
Enter Queen, Cleomena, Honorius.
Qu. Is’t possible, my Brother, you can have
So great a Passion for the publick good,
As willingly to sacrifice your Child to its Repose,
And make her Arms the soft and easy Chains
To link this gallant Stranger to our Interest?
Hon. His Virtue I prefer above a Crown.
Cleo. You shou’d love Virtue as you ought to love it;
Not give it over-measure — But are you sure he will accept it?
Hon. I am not certain, being not come so far;
But I propos’d it, and no doubt he lik’d it.
Cleo. This cannot be his Malice; for he was ever noble,
[Hon. talks to the Queen.
But false or feign’d, I can endure no more on’t:
— By Heaven, this Stranger’s false! false as his Name!
— Semiris found him gazing on her Picture:
— ’Tis so — he loves Olympia!
And when I ask the Name of her he lov’d,
I urg’d it with such softness in my Eyes,
That he in Pity of me swore ’twas I:
— Now can I find how much my Soul’s possest
With Love, since ’tis with Jealousy opprest.
[Goes out.
Qu. How do you like the Trial of Orsames,
Which I intend to make?
Hon. You’ll oblige your People, and do a Mother’s Duty.
Qu. You know ’twas not the Tyrant in my Nature,
That from his Infancy has kept him ignorant Of what he was — but the Decrees of Heaven.
Hon. Madam, ’tis true; and if the Gods be just,
He must be King too, though his Reign be short: You cannot alter those Decrees of Heaven.
Qu. The Gods are Witness how these eighteen Years I have with much Regret conceal’d his Birth.
Hon. You know the last Defeat the Scythians gave us,
Th’ impatient People broke the Castle-gates,
And against all your Powers were ready to have crown’d him;
And shou’d we now be conquer’d, nothing less
Will still the mutinous Army: try him,
Madam,
He may be fit for great Impressions,
Had he but good Examples to dispose him.
Qu. I’ll have it done to night.
Heaven, if it be thy Will, inspire my Son
With Virtue fit to wear his Father’s Crown. [Exeunt.
Scene draws off, discovers Thersander seemingly courting Olympia. Enter Cleomena; sees them, starts, gazes on them, then goes out unseen. The Scene closes and changes to her Apartment. — She enters in a Rage —
Cleo. Perfidious Man! am I abandon’d then? [Rage.
Abandon’d for Olympia! my Slave —
And yet I lov’d him more than I did Heaven — [Soft.
And shall he quit me thus?
Without being punish’d for this Infidelity?
— No, let me be a shame to all my Sex then
— Oh,
Clemanthis! to whom I fondly gave my Liberty,
When first I saw thee sleeping in the Wood.
— But I grow soft, a Passion too unfit
For so much Anger as my Soul’s possess’d with;
’Twas but even now he lov’d me with such Ardor,
And he who promis’d me the Crown of Scythia,
Dar’st thou become unjust, ungrateful Stranger!
Who having rais’d thy Eyes to Cleomena,
Would sacrifice her to another Mistress?
— This Heart, which ought not to’ve been given away,
But by the Services and Blood of Kings,
How hast thou lost it on a false Unknown,
Without being paid for it one single Sigh! —
Enter Thersander; she draws a Dagger; offers to kill
him, but cannot.
Traitor — hast thou the impudence to appear before me,
Or dost thou come to meet thy just Reward?
[Offers to stab him.
— There’s something in his Looks that does preserve him,
Or I’m not truly brave, and dare not kill him.
— Go, treacherous Unknown, whom I’ve preferr’d
Before so many Princes, who in vain
Sue for this credulous Heart which thou’st betray’d.
Ther. Ah! Madam, can you be thus cruel to me,
And not inform me how I have offended?
Cleo. Be gone, I say, if thou would’st save a Life,
Which those that dare do evil fear to lose.
Ther. Those Eyes thus order’d are far worse than Death.
End what you have so well begun,
And kill me;
Yet from another’s Hand
The Blow would he less cruel.
Cleo. Oh,
Impudence!
Still he wou’d cheat my Rage, as he has abus’d my Love;
But,
Monster, though thou art below my Hand,
I’m yet a Princess, and I can command.
By Heaven, I’ll try how much Rage can invent.
Semiris, call Qlympia to me strait;
She shall in Triumph with me stand and smile,
To see thee by some Vassal bleed.
Ther. There needs no other witness of my Death.
But her I have offended;
To you alone I offer up my Life: for dying,
I’ve something to relate may justify your Rage,
Though not deserve your Pity.
Cleo. Hell!
Now I’m confirm’d, he fears that she should see
Him die, lest it should cost her but a Tear;
— Why should I want the Strength?
— But Oh, I cannot.
[Offers to present the Dagger.
But canst thou live, false Man, and see me frown?
Ther. No,
Madam, I can die — thus —
[Offers to fall on his Sword.
Cleo. Stay —
Thou shalt not so much Glory gain:
No, live, and prove wretched enough to know
How very poorly thou hast lost my Heart.
[Ex. raving.
[Ther. gazes after her.
Ther. Must I then live? — I will obey — farewel,
The fairest and unkindest of thy Sex;
If e’er it be thy chance to meet with one
That loves more than Thersander, if thou canst
Treat him worse than thou hast done me —
For oh! how miserable is the Wretch, whose Prayer
Repuls’d, like me, lives only to despair.
[Exit.