The scene represents a grove, with the ruins of rocks scattered about it.
PROMETHEUS, PANDORA.
PANDORA.
[Holding a box in her hand.
And wilt thou leave me then? art thou subdued,
Or art thou conqueror?
PROMETHEUS.
Victory is mine:
If yet thou lovest me, love and destiny
Speak for Prometheus.
PANDORA.
Wilt thou leave me then?
PROMETHEUS.
The Titans are subdued: lament their fate:
I must assist them; let us teach mankind
To succor the unhappy.
PANDORA.
Stay a moment:
Behold thy victory: let us open this,
It was the gift of Jove.
PROMETHEUS.
What wouldst thou do?
A rival’s gift is dangerous; ‘tis some snare
The gods have laid.
PANDORA.
Thou canst not think it.
PROMETHEUS.
Hear
What I request of thee, and stay at least
Till I return.
PANDORA.
Thou biddest, and I obey:
I swear by love still to believe Prometheus.
PROMETHEUS.
Wilt thou then promise?
PANDORA.
By thyself I swear:
All are obedient where they love.
PROMETHEUS.
Enough:
I’m satisfied: and now, ye woodland nymphs,
Begin your songs; sing earth restored to bliss;
Let all be gay, for all was made for her.
FIRST NYMPH.
Come, fair Pandora, come and prove
An age of gold, of innocence, and love;
And, like thy parent Nature, be immortal.
SECOND NYMPH.
No longer now shall earth affrighted mourn,
By cruel war her tender bosom torn:
Pleasures now on pleasures flow,
Happiness succeeds to woe:
The flowers their fragrant odors yield;
Who would wither the fair field?
The blest creation teems with mirth and joy,
And nature’s work what tyrant would destroy?
THE CHORUS.
[Repeats.
Come, fair Pandora, come and prove
An age of gold, etc.
FIRST NYMPH.
See! to Pandora Mercury appears,
And ratifies great Nature’s kind decree.
[The nymphs retire: Pandora advances with Nemesis, under the figure of Mercury.]
NEMESIS.
Already I have told thee, base Prometheus
Is jealous of thee, and exerts his power
Like a harsh tyrant.
PANDORA.
O he is my lord,
My king, my god, my lover, and my husband.
NEMESIS.
Why then forbid thee to behold the gift
Of generous heaven?
PANDORA.
His fearful love’s alarmed,
And I would wish to have no will but his.
NEMESIS.
He asks too much, Pandora, nor hath done
What thou deservest: he might have given thee beauties
Which now thou hast not.
PANDORA.
He hath formed my heart
Tender and kind; he charms and he adores me;
What could he more?
NEMESIS.
Thy charms will perish.
PANDORA.
Ha!
Thou makest me tremble.
NEMESIS.
This mysterious box
Will make thy charms immortal; thou wilt be
Forever beauteous, and forever happy:
Thy husband shall be subject to thy power,
And thou shalt reign unrivalled in his love.
PANDORA.
He is my only lord, and I would wish
To be immortal, but for my Prometheus.
NEMESIS.
Fain would I open thy fair eyes, and bless thee
With every good; would make thee please forever.
PANDORA.
But dost thou not abuse my innocence?
And canst thou be so cruel?
NEMESIS.
Who would hurt
Such beauty?
PANDORA.
I should die with grief, if e’er
I disobliged the sovereign of my heart.
NEMESIS.
O in the name of Nature, in the name
Of thy dear husband, listen to my voice!
PANDORA.
That name has conquered, and I will believe thee.
[She opens the box; darkness is spread over the stage, and a voice heard from below.]
Ha! what thick cloud thus o’er my senses spreads
Its fatal darkness? thou deceitful god!
O I am guilty, and I suffer for it.
NEMESIS.
I must away: Jove is revenged, and now
I will return to hell.
[Nemesis vanishes: Pandora faints away on the grass.]
PROMETHEUS.
[Advancing from the farther end of the stage.
O fatal absence! dreadful change! what star
Of evil influence thus deforms the face
Of Nature? where’s my dear Pandora? why
Answers she not to my complaining voice?
O my Pandora! but behold, from hell
Let loose, the monsters rise, and rush upon us.
[Furies and demons running on the stage.
FURIES.
The time is come when we shall reign:
Fear and grief, remorse and pain,
From this great decisive hour,
O’er the world shall spread their power;
Death shall come, a bitter draught,
By the Furies hither brought.
PROMETHEUS.
That cruel guest shall powers infernal bring?
And must the earth lose her eternal spring?
To time, and dire disease, and horrid vice,
Shall mortals fall a helpless sacrifice?
The nymphs lament our fate: Pandora, hear
And answer to my griefs! she comes, but seems
Insensible.
PANDORA.
I am not worthy of thee:
I have destroyed mankind, deceived my husband,
And am alone the guilty cause of all:
Strike: I deserve it.
PROMETHEUS.
Can I punish thee?
PANDORA.
Strike, and deprive me of that wretched life
Thou didst bestow.
CHORUS OF NYMPHS.
Tenderest lover, dry her tears,
She is full of lover’s fears;
She is woman, therefore frail,
Let her beauty then prevail.
PROMETHEUS.
Hast thou then, spite of all thy solemn vows,
Opened the fatal box?
PANDORA.
Some cruel god
Betrayed me: fatal curiosity!
The work was thine: O every evil sprung
From that accursed gift: undone Pandora!
LOVE.
[Descending from heaven.
Love still remains, and every good is thine:
[Scene changes, and represents the palace of love.]
[Love proceeds.
For thee will I resist the power of fate;
I gave to mortals being, and they ne’er
Shall be unhappy whilst they worship me.
PANDORA.
Soul of my soul, thou comforter divine,
O punish Jove; inspire his vengeful heart
With double passion for the blessed Pandora.
PROMETHEUS AND PANDORA.
Heaven shall pierce our hearts in vain
With every grief, and every pain;
With thee no pains torment, no pleasures cloy;
With thee to suffer is but to enjoy.
LOVE.
Lovely hope, on mortals wait;
Come, and gild their wretched state;
All thy flattering joys impart.
Haste, and live in every heart;
Howe’er deceitful thou mayest be,
Thou canst grant felicity,
And make them happy in futurity.
PANDORA.
Fate would make us wretched here,
But hope shall dry up every tear;
In sorrow he shall give us rest,
And make us even in anguish blest:
Love shall preserve us from the paths of vice,
And strew his flowers around the precipice.
End of the Fifth and Last Act.