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• The Works of Voltaire: the Dramatic Works of Voltaire Vol. Viii— Part I
• MÉrope
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• A Letter to the Marquis Scipio Maffei, Author of the Italian Mérope, and Many Other Celebrated Performances.
• A Letter From M. De La Lindelle to M. De Voltaire.
• The Answer of M. De Voltaire to M. De La Lindelle.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Olympia
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• The Orphan of China
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• To the Most Noble Duke of Richelieu, Marshal and Peer of France, First Gentleman of the Chamber to His Majesty, Governor of Languedoc, and Member of the Academy of Sciences.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Brutus
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• The Dramatic Works of Voltaire Vol. Viii— Part Ii
• Mahomet.
• To His Majesty the King of Prussia.
• A Letter From M. De Voltaire to Pope Benedict XIV.
• The Answer of Pope Benedict XIV. To M. De Voltaire. Benedictus P. P. Dilecto Filio Salutem & Apostolicam Benedictionem.
• A Letter of Thanks From M. De Voltaire to the Pope.
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act Ii
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Amelia
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Œdipus
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Mariamne
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Socrates
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.

ACT I.

SCENE I.

ismenia, mérope.

ismenia.

• Let not, great queen, thy soul forever dwell
• On images of horror and despair;
• The storm is past, and brighter days succeed:
• Long hast thou tasted heaven’s severest wrath,
• Enjoy its bounties now: the gods, thou seest,
• Have blessed our land with victory and peace;
• And proud Messene, after fifteen years
• Of foul division and intestine wars,
• Now from her ruins lifts her towering front,
• Superior to misfortune: now no more
• Shalt thou behold her angry chiefs support
• Their jarring interests, and in guilt alone
• United, spread destruction, blood and slaughter,
• O’er half thy kingdom, and dispute the throne
• Of good Cresphontes: but the ministers
• Of heaven, the guardians of our sacred laws,
• The rulers, and the people, soon shall meet,
• Free in their choice, to fix the power supreme:
• If virtue gives the diadem, ’tis thine:
• Thine by irrevocable right: to thee,
• The widow of Cresphontes, from our kings
• Descended, must devolve Messene’s throne:
• Thou, whom misfortunes and firm constancy
• Have made but more illustrious, and more dear;
• Thou, to whom every heart in secret tied—

mérope.

• No news of Narbas! shall I never see
• My child again?

ismenia.

• Despair not, madam: slaves
• Have been despatched on every side; the paths
• Of Elis all are open to their search:
• Doubtless the object of your fears is placed
• In faithful hands, who will restore to you
• Their sacred trust.

mérope.

• Immortal gods! who see
• My bitter griefs, will ye restore my son?
• Is my Ægisthus living? have you saved
• My wretched infant? O preserve him still,
• And shield him from the cruel murderer’s hand!
• He is your son, the pure, the spotless blood
• Of your Alcides. Will you not protect
• The dear, dear image of the best of men,
• The best of kings, whose ashes I adore?

ismenia.

• But wherefore must this tender passion turn
• Thy soul aside from every other purpose?

mérope.

• I am a mother: canst thou wonder yet?

ismenia.

• A mother’s fondness should not thus efface
• The duty of a queen, your character,
• And noble rank; though in his infant years
• You loved this son, yet little have you seen
• Or known of him.

mérope.

• Not seen him, my Ismenia?
• O he is always present to my heart,
• Time has no power to loose such bonds as these;
• His danger still awakens all my fears,
• And doubles my affection: once I’ve heard
• From Narbas, and but once these four years past,
• And that alas! but made me more unhappy.
• “Ægisthus,” then he told me, “well deserves
• A better fate; he’s worthy of his mother.
• And of the gods, his great progenitors:
• Exposed to every ill, his virtue braves,
• And will surmount them: hope for everything
• From him, but be aware of Poliphontes.”

ismenia.

• Prevent him then, and take the reins of empire
• In your own hands.

mérope.

• That empire is my son’s:
• Perdition on the cruel step-mother,
• The lover of herself, the savage heart,
• That could enjoy the pleasures of a throne,
• And disinherit her own blood! O no: Ismenia,
• If my Ægisthus lives not, what is empire.
• Or what is life to me! I should renounce them.
• I should have died when my unhappy lord
• Was basely slain, by men and gods betrayed.
• O perfidy! O guilt! O fatal day!
• O death! forever present to my sight!
• Methinks even now I hear the dismal shrieks,
• I hear them cry, “O save the king, his wife,
• His sons;” I see the walls all stained with blood,
• The flaming palace, helpless women crushed
• Beneath the smoking ruins, fear and tumult
• On every side, arms, torches, death, and horror:
• Then, rolled in dust, and bathing in his blood,
• Cresphontes pressed me to his arms, upraised
• His dying eyes, and took his last farewell;
• Whilst his two hapless babes, the tender fruits
• Of our first love, thrown on the bleeding bosom
• Of their dead father, lifted up the hands
• Of innocence, and begged me to protect them
• Against the barbarous murderers: Ægisthus
• Alone escaped: some god defended him.
• O thou who didst protect his infancy
• Watch o’er and guard him, bring him to my eyes;
• O let him from inglorious solitude
• Rise to the rank of his great ancestors!
• I’ve borne his absence long, and groaned in chains
• These fifteen years: now let Ægisthus reign
• Instead of Mérope: for all my pains
• And sorrows past, be that the great reward.

SCENE II.

mérope, ismenia, euricles.

mérope.

• Well! what of Narbas, and my son?

euricles.

• Confused
• I stand before thee; all our cares are vain;
• We’ve searched the banks of Peneus, and the fields
• Of fair Olympia, even to the walls
• Of proud Salmoneus, but no Narbas there
• Is to be found or heard of, not a trace
• Remaining of him.

mérope.

• Narbas is no more,
• And all is lost.

ismenia.

• Whatever thy fears suggest
• Thou still believest; and yet who knows but now,
• Even whilst we speak, the happy Narbas comes
• To crown thy wishes, and restore thy son.

euricles.

• Perhaps his love, tempered with fair discretion,
• Which long concealed Ægisthus from the eyes
• Of men, may hide his purposed journey from thee:
• He dreads the murderer’s hand, and still protects him
• From those who slew Cresphontes: we must strive
• By artful methods to elude the rage
• That cannot be opposed: I have secured
• Their passage hither, and have placed some friends
• Of most approved valor, whose sharp eyes
• Will look abroad, and safe conduct them to thee.

mérope.

• I’ve placed my surest confidence in thee.

euricles.

• But what alas! can all my watchfulness
• And faithful cares avail thee, when the people
• Already meet to rob thee of thy right,
• And place another on Messene’s throne?
• Injustice triumphs, and the shameless crowd,
• In proud contempt of sacred laws, incline
• To Poliphontes.

mérope.

• Am I fallen so low:
• And shall my son return to be a slave?
• To see a subject raised to the high rank
• Of his great ancestors, the blood of Jove
• Debased, degraded, forced to own a master.
• Have I no friend, no kind protector left?
• Ungrateful subjects! have you no regard,
• No reverence for the memory of Cresphontes?
• Have you so soon forgot his glorious deeds,
• His goodness to you?

euricles.

• Still his name is dear,
• Still they regret him, still they weep his fate,
• And pity thine: but power intimidates,
• And makes them dread the wrath of Poliphontes.

mérope.

• Thus, by my people still oppressed, I see
• Justice give way to faction, interest still,
• The arbiter of fate, sells needy virtue
• To powerful guilt; the weak must to the strong
• Forever yield: but let us hence, and strive
• To fire once more their coward hearts to rage
• And fierce resentment, for the injured blood
• Of Hercules: excite the people’s love;
• Flatter their hopes; O tell them, Euricles,
• Their master is returned.

euricles.

• I’ve said too much
• Already; Poliphontes is alarmed:
• He dreads your son; he dreads your very tears:
• Restless ambition, that holds nothing dear
• Or sacred but itself, has filled his soul
• With bitterness and pride: because he drove
• The ruffian slaves from Pylos and Amphrysa,
• And saved Messene from a band of robbers,
• He claims it as his conquest: for himself
• Alone he acts, and would enslave us all:
• He looks towards the crown, and to attain it
• Would throw down every fence, break every law,
• Spill any blood that shall oppose him: they
• Who killed thy husband were not more revengeful,
• More bloody, than the cruel Poliphontes.

mérope.

• I am entangled in some fatal snare
• On every side, danger and guilt surround me:
• This Poliphontes, this ambitious subject,
• Whose crimes—

euricles.

• He’s here: you must dissemble.

SCENE III.

mérope, poliphontes, erox.

poliphontes.

• Madam,
• At length I come to lay my heart before you:
• I’ve served the state, and my successful toils
• Have opened me a passage to the throne:
• The assembled chiefs awhile suspend their choice,
• But soon must fix it, or on Mérope,
• Or Poliphontes: the unhappy feuds
• That laid Messene waste, and filled the land
• With blood and slaughter, all are buried now
• In peaceful harmony, and we alone
• Remain to part the fair inheritance.
• We should support each other’s mutual claim;
• Our common interest, and our common foes,
• Love for our country, reason, duty, all
• Conspire to join us, all unite to say
• The warrior who avenged thy husband, he
• Who saved thy kingdom, may aspire to thee.
• I know these hoary locks, and wrinkled brow,
• Have little charms to please a youthful fair one.
• Thou’rt in the bloom of spring, and mayest despise
• The winter of my days; but statesmen heed not
• Such fond objections: let the royal wreath
• Hide these gray hairs, a sceptre and a queen
• Will recompense my toils: nor think me rash,
• Or vain, you are the daughter of a king,
• I know you are, but your Messene wants
• A master now; therefore remember, madam,
• If you would keep your right, you must—divide it.

mérope.

• Heaven, that afflicts me with its bitterest woes,
• Prepared me not for this, this cruel insult:
• How darest thou ask it? wert thou not the subject
• Of great Cresphontes? thinkest thou I will e’er
• Betray the memory of my dearest lord,
• To share with thee his son’s inheritance,
• Trust to thy hands his kingdom and his mother?
• Thinkest thou the royal wreath was made to bind
• A soldier’s brows?

poliphontes.

• That soldier has a right
• To rule the kingdom which his arm defended.
• What was the first that bore the name of king,
• But a successful soldier? he who serves
• His country well requires not ancestry
• To make him noble: the inglorious blood,
• Which I received from him who gave me life,
• I shed already in my country’s cause,
• It flowed for thee; and, spite of thy proud scorn,
• I must at least be equal to the kings
• I have subdued: but, to be brief with you,
• The throne will soon be mine, and Mérope
• May share it with me, if her pride will deign
• To accept it: I’ve a powerful party, madam.

mérope.

• A party! wretch, to trample on our laws:
• Is there a party which thou darest support
• Against the king’s, against the royal race?
• Is this thy faith, thy solemn vows, thy oath,
• Sworn to Cresphontes, and to me; the love,
• The honor due to his illustrious shade,
• His wretched widow, and his hapless son;
• The gods he sprang from, and the throne they gave?

poliphontes.

• ’Tis doubtful whether yet your son survives;
• But grant that, from the mansions of the dead,
• He should return, and in the face of heaven
• Demand his throne, believe me when I say
• He would demand in vain; Messene wants
• A master worthy of her, one well proved,
• A king who could defend her: he alone
• Should wield the sceptre who can best avenge
• His country’s cause: Ægisthus is a child,
• Yet unexperienced in the ways of men,
• And therefore little will his birth avail him;
• Naught hath he done for us, and naught deserved:
• He cannot purchase at so cheap a rate
• Messene’s throne, the right of power supreme
• Defends no more the gift of nature, here
• From son to son; it is the price of toil,
• Of labor, and of blood; ’tis virtue’s meed,
• Which I shall claim: have you so soon forgot
• The savage sons of Pylos and Amphrysa,
• Those lawless plunderers? Think on your Cresphontes,
• And your defenceless children whom they slew:
• Who saved your country then? Who stopped their fury?
• Who put your foes to flight, and chased them hence?
• Did not this arm avenge that murdered lord
• Whom yet you weep? these, madam, are my rights,
• The rights of valor: this is all my rank,
• This all my title, and let heaven decide it.
• If thy Ægisthus comes, by me perhaps
• He may be taught to live, by me to reign:
• Then shall he see how Poliphontes guides
• The reins of empire. I esteem the blood
• Of great Alcides, but I fear it not;
• I look beyond Alcides’ race, and fain
• Would imitate the god from whom he sprung:
• I would defend the mother, serve the son;
• Be an example to him, and a father.

mérope.

• O, sir, no more of your affected cares;
• Your generous offers, meant but to insult
• My hapless son; if you would wish to tread
• In great Alcides’ steps, reserve the crown
• For his descendant: know, that demi-god
• Was the avenger of wronged innocence;
• No ravisher, no tyrant; take thou care,
• And with his valor imitate his justice;
• Protect the guiltless, and defend your king,
• Else shalt thou prove a worthless successor.
• If thou wouldst gain the mother, seek the son;
• Go, bring him to me; bring your master here,
• And then perhaps I may descend to you:
• But I will never be the vile accomplice,
• Or the reward, of guilt like thine.

SCENE IV.

poliphontes, erox.

erox.

• My lord,
• Did you expect to move her? Does the throne
• Depend on her capricious will? Must she
• Conduct you to it?

poliphontes.

• ’Twixt that throne and me,
• Erox, I see a dreadful precipice
• I must o’erleap, or perish: Mérope
• Expects Ægisthus; and the fickle crowd,
• If he returns, perhaps may bend towards him.
• In vain his father’s and his brothers’ blood,
• Have opened wide my passage to the throne;
• In vain hath fortune cast her friendly veil
• O’er all my crimes; in vain have I oppressed
• The blood of kings, whilst the deluded people
• Adored me as their friend, if yet there lives
• A hateful offspring of Alcides’ race:
• If this lamented son should e’er again
• Behold Messene, fifteen years of toil
• At once are lost, and all my hopes o’erthrown;
• All the fond prejudice of birth and blood
• Will soon revive the memory of Cresphontes,
• A hundred kings for his proud ancestors,
• The boasted honor of a race divine,
• A mother’s tears, her sorrows, her despair,
• All will conspire to shake my feeble power:
• Ægisthus is a foe I must subdue:
• I would have crushed the serpent in his shell,
• But that the diligent and subtle Narbas
• Conveyed him hence, e’er since that time concealed
• In some far distant land, he hath escaped
• My narrowest search, and baffled all my care:
• I stopped his couriers, broke the intelligence
• ’Twixt him and Mérope; but fortune oft
• Deserts us: from the silence of oblivion
• Sometimes a secret may spring forth; and heaven,
• By slow and solemn steps, may bring down vengeance.

erox.

• Depend, undaunted, on thy prosperous fate;
• Prudence, thy guardian god, shall still protect thee:
• Thy orders are obeyed; the soldiers watch
• Each avenue of Elis and Messene:
• If Narbas brings Ægisthus here, they both
• Must die.

poliphontes.

• But say, canst thou depend on those
• Whom thou hast placed to intercept them?

erox.

• Yes:
• None of them know whose blood is to be shed,
• Or the king’s name whom they must sacrifice.
• Narbas is painted to them as a traitor,
• A guilty vagabond, that seeks some place
• Of refuge; and the other, as a slave,
• A murderer, to be yielded up to justice.

poliphontes.

• It must be so: this crime and I have done;
• And yet, when I have rid me of the son,
• I must possess the mother: ’twill be useful:
• I shall not then be branded with the name
• Of a usurper; she will bring with her
• A noble portion in the people’s love:
• I know their hearts are not inclined to me;
• With fears dejected, or inflamed with hope,
• Still in extremes, the giddy multitude
• Tumultuous rove, and interest only binds them,
• That makes them mine. Erox, thy fate depends
• On my success; thou art my best support:
• Go, and unite them; bribe the sordid wretch
• With gold to serve me, let the subtle courtier
• Expect my favors; raise the coward soul,
• Inspire the valiant, and caress the bold;
• Persuade and promise, threaten and implore:
• Thus far this sword hath brought me on my way;
• But what by courage was begun, by art
• We must complete; that many-headed monster,
• The people, must be soothed by flattery’s power:
• I’m feared already, but I would be loved.

End of the First Act.