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Subject Area: Literature
Debate: Cato and Caesar

ACT III. - Voltaire, The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VIII The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Mérope, Olympia, The Orphan of China, Brutus) and Part II (Mahomet, Amelia, Oedipus, Mariamne, Socrates). [1901]

Edition used:

The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version. A Critique and Biography by John Morley, notes by Tobias Smollett, trans. William F. Fleming (New York: E.R. DuMont, 1901). In 21 vols. Vol. VIII The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Mérope, Olympia, The Orphan of China, Brutus) and Part II (Mahomet, Amelia, Oedipus, Mariamne, Socrates).

Part of: The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version, in 21 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


ACT III.

SCENE I.

narbas.

  • O grief! O horror! O the weight of age!
  • The youthful hero’s warm imprudent ardor
  • Was not to be restrained; his courage burst
  • The inglorious chains of vile obscurity,
  • And he is lost to me, perhaps forever.
  • How shall I dare to see my royal mistress!
  • Unhappy Narbas! hither art thou come
  • Without Ægisthus; Poliphontes reigns,
  • That subtle, proud artificer of fraud,
  • That savage murderer, who pursued us still
  • From clime to clime, and laid the snares of death
  • On every side, fixed on the sacred throne,
  • Which by his crimes so oft he hath profaned,
  • The proud usurper sits, and smiles secure:
  • Hide me, ye gods, from his all-piercing eye,
  • And save Ægisthus from the tyrant’s sword:
  • O guide me, heaven, to his unhappy mother,
  • And let me perish at her feet! Once more
  • I see the palace, where the best of kings
  • Was basely slain, and his defenceless child
  • Saved in these arms; and after fifteen years
  • Shall I return to fill a mother’s heart
  • With anguish? Who will lead me to the queen?
  • No friend appears to guide me: but behold,
  • Near yonder tomb I see a weeping crowd,
  • And hear their loud laments! Within these walls
  • Forever dwells some persecuting god.

SCENE II.

narbas, ismenia.

[At the farther end of the stage several of the queen’s attendants, near the tomb of Cresphontes.

ismenia.

  • What bold intruder presses thus unknown
  • To the queen’s presence, and disturbs the peace
  • Of her retirement? comes he from the tyrant,
  • A spy upon our griefs, to count the tears
  • Of the afflicted?

narbas.

  • Whosoe’er thou art,
  • Excuse the boldness of a poor old man;
  • Forgive the intrusion; I would see the queen,
  • Perhaps may serve her.

ismenia.

  • What a time is this
  • Which thou hast chosen to interrupt her griefs!
  • Respect a mother’s bitter sorrows; hence,
  • Unhappy stranger, nor offend her sight.

narbas.

  • O, in the name of the avenging gods,
  • Have pity on my age, my misfortunes:
  • I am no stranger here: O, if you serve
  • And love the queen, forgive the tears that long
  • Have flowed for her, and trust a heart that feels
  • For Mérope as deeply as thy own.
  • What tomb is that where you so late did join
  • Your griefs?

ismenia.

  • The tomb of an illustrious hero,
  • A wretched father, and a hapless king,
  • The tomb of great Cresphontes.

narbas.

  • [Going towards the tomb My loved master!
  • Ye honored ashes!

ismenia.

  • But Cresphontes’ wife
  • Is more to be lamented still.

narbas.

  • What worse
  • Could happen to her?

ismenia.

  • A most dreadful stroke;
  • Her son is slain.

narbas.

  • Her son! Ægisthus! gods!
  • And is Ægisthus dead?

ismenia.

  • All know it here
  • Too well

narbas.

  • Her son?

ismenia.

  • A barbarous assassin
  • Did slay him at Messene’s gates.

narbas.

  • O death,
  • I did foretell thee: horror and despair!
  • Is the queen sure, and art thou not deceived?

ismenia.

  • O ’tis too plain; we have undoubted proofs;
  • It must be so: he is no more.

narbas.

  • Is this
  • The fruit of all my care?

ismenia.

  • The wretched queen,
  • Abandoned to despair, will scarce survive him:
  • She lived but for her child, and now the ties
  • Are loosed that bound her to this hated life:
  • But, ere she dies, with her own hand she waits
  • To pierce the murderer’s heart, and be revenged;
  • Ev’n at Cresphontes’ tomb his blood shall flow.
  • Soon will the victim, by the king’s permission,
  • Be hither brought, to perish at her feet:
  • But Mérope is lost in grief, and therefore
  • Would wish to be alone: you must retire.

narbas.

  • If it be so, why should I seek the queen?
  • I will but visit yonder tomb, and die.

SCENE III.

ismenia.

  • [Alone.
  • This old man seems most worthy: how he wept!
  • Whilst the unfeeling slaves around us seem,
  • Like their proud master, but to mock our sorrows:
  • What interest could he have? yet tranquil pity
  • Doth seldom shed so many tears; methought
  • He mourned the lost Ægisthus like a father:
  • He must be sought—but here’s a dreadful sight.

SCENE IV.

mérope, ismenia, euricles, ægisthusin chains, Guards, Sacrificers.

mérope.

  • [Near the tomb.
  • Bring forth that horrid victim to my sight;
  • I must invent some new unheard of torment,
  • That may be equal to his crime; alas!
  • Not to my grief, that were impossible.

ægisthus.

  • Dear have I bought thy momentary kindness,
  • Guardians of innocence, protect me now!

euricles.

  • Before the traitor suffers, let him name
  • His vile accomplices.

mérope.

  • [Coming forward.
  • He must; he shall:
  • Say, monster, what induced thee to a crime
  • So horrible to nature! How had I
  • E’er injured thee?

ægisthus.

  • Now bear me witness, gods,
  • You who avenge the perjuries of men,
  • If e’er my lips knew fraud or base imposture;
  • I told thee naught but simple truth: thy heart,
  • Fierce as it was, relented at my tale,
  • And you stretched forth a kind, protecting hand;
  • So soon is justice weary of her talk?
  • Unwitting I have shed some precious blood:
  • Whose was it, tell me, what new interest sways thee?

mérope.

  • What interest? barbarian!

ægisthus.

  • O’er her cheek
  • A deadly paleness spreads: it wounds my soul
  • To see her thus. O I would spill my blood
  • A thousand times to save her.

mérope.

  • Subtle villain!
  • How artfully dissembled is that grief!
  • He kills me, and yet seems to weep my fate.
  • [She falls back into the arms of Ismenia.

euricles.

  • Madam, avenge yourself, avenge the laws,
  • The cause of nature, and the blood of kings.

ægisthus.

  • Is this the royal justice of a court?
  • Ye praise and flatter first, and then condemn me.
  • Why did I leave my peaceful solitude!
  • O good old man, what will thy sorrows be,
  • And thou, unhappy mother, whose dear voice
  • So oft foretold—

mérope.

  • Barbarian, and hast thou
  • A mother? I had been a mother yet
  • But for thy rage, thou hast destroyed my son.

ægisthus.

  • If I am thus unhappy, if he was
  • Indeed thy son, I ought to suffer for it;
  • But though my hand was guilty, yet my heart
  • Was innocent: heaven knows I would have given
  • This day my life to save or his or thine.

mérope.

  • Didst thou take this armor from him?

ægisthus.

  • No:
  • It is my own.

mérope.

  • What sayest thou?

ægisthus.

  • Yes; I swear
  • By thee, by him, by all thy ancestors,
  • My father gave to me that precious gift.

mérope.

  • Thy father! where? in Elis: how he moves me!
  • What was his name? speak, answer.

ægisthus.

  • Polycletes:
  • I’ve told thee so already.

mérope.

  • O thou rivest
  • My heart: what foolish pity stopped my vengeance?
  • It is too much: assist me, friends, bring here
  • The monster, the perfidious—
  • [Lifting up the dagger.
  • O ye manes
  • Of my dear son, this bloody arm—

narbas.

  • [Entering on a sudden.
  • O gods!
  • What wouldst thou do?

mérope.

  • Who calls?

narbas.

  • Stop: stop—alas!
  • If I but name his mother, he’s undone.

mérope.

  • Die, traitor.

narbas.

  • Stop.

ægisthus.

  • [Turning towards Narbas.
  • My father!

mérope.

  • Ha! his father!

ægisthus.

  • [To Narbas.
  • What do I see? and whither wert thou going?
  • Camest thou to be a witness of my death?

narbas.

  • O, madam, go no further: Euricles,
  • Remove the victim, let me speak to thee.

euricles.

  • [Takes away Ægisthus, and shuts up the lower part of the scene.
  • O heaven!

mérope.

  • [Coming forward.
  • Thou makest me tremble: I was going
  • To avenge my son.

narbas.

  • [Kneeling down.
  • To sacrifice—Ægisthus.

mérope.

  • Ægisthus! ha!

narbas.

  • ’Twas he, whom thy rash arm
  • Had well nigh slain; believe me, ’twas Ægisthus.

mérope.

  • And lives he then?

narbas.

  • ’Tis he, it is your son.

mérope.

  • [Fainting in the arms of Ismenia.
  • I die!

ismenia.

  • Good heaven!

narbas.

  • [To Ismenia.
  • Recall her fleeting spirit;
  • This sudden transport of tumultuous joy,
  • Mixed with anxiety and tender fears,
  • May quite o’erpower her.

mérope.

  • [Coming to herself.
  • Narbas, is it you?
  • Or do I dream? is it my son? where is he?
  • Let him come hither.

narbas.

  • No: refrain your love,
  • Restrain your tenderness.
  • [To Ismenia.
  • O keep the secret;
  • The safety of the queen, and of Ægisthus,
  • Depend on that.

mérope.

  • Alas! and must fresh danger
  • Embitter my new joys? O dear Ægisthus,
  • What cruel god still keeps thee from thy mother?
  • Was he restored but to afflict me more?

narbas.

  • You knew him not, and would have slain your son:
  • If his arrival here be once discovered,
  • And you acknowledge him, he’s lost forever.
  • Dissemble, therefore, for thou knowest that guilt
  • Reigns in Messene: thou art watched; be cautious.

SCENE V.

mérope, euricles, narbas, ismenia.

euricles.

  • ’Tis the king’s order, madam, that we seize—

mérope.

  • Whom?

euricles.

  • The young stranger, whom thou had’st condemned
  • To death.

mérope.

  • [With transport.
  • That stranger is my child, my son:
  • They would destroy him, Narbas, let us fly—

narbas.

  • No: stay.

mérope.

  • It is my son; they’ll have him from me,
  • My dear Ægisthus: why is this?

euricles.

  • The king
  • Would question him before he dies.

mérope.

  • Indeed!
  • And knows he then I am his mother?

euricles.

  • No:
  • ’Tis yet a secret to them all.

mérope.

  • We’ll fly
  • To Poliphontes, and implore his aid.

narbas.

  • Fear Poliphontes, and implore the gods.

euricles.

  • Howe’er Ægisthus may alarm the tyrant,
  • Thy promised nupitals make his pardon sure:
  • Bound to each other in eternal bonds,
  • Thy son will soon be his; though jealousy
  • May now subsist, it must be lost in love
  • When he’s your husband.

narbas.

  • He your husband, gods!
  • I’m thunderstruck.

mérope.

  • I will no longer bear
  • Such anguish, let me hence.

narbas.

  • Thou shalt not go:
  • Unhappy mother! thou shalt ne’er submit
  • To these detested nuptials.

euricles.

  • She is forced
  • To wed him, that she may avenge Cresphontes.

narbas.

  • He was his murderer.

mérope.

  • He! that traitor!

narbas.

  • Yes:
  • By Poliphontes thy Ægisthus fell,
  • His father, and his brothers: I beheld
  • The tyrant weltering in Cresphontes’ blood.

mérope.

  • O gods!

narbas.

  • I saw him glorying in his crimes;
  • Saw him admit the foe, and through the palace
  • Spread fire and slaughter; yet appeared to those
  • Who knew him not, the avenger of that king
  • Whom he had slain: I pierced the savage crowd,
  • And in my feeble arms upraised your son,
  • And bore him thence; the pitying gods protected
  • His helpless innocence: these fifteen years,
  • From place to place I led him, changed my name
  • To Polycletes, hid him from the foe,
  • And now at last it seems have brought him hither,
  • To see a tyrant on Messene’s throne,
  • And Mérope the wife of Poliphontes.

mérope.

  • Thy tale has harrowed up my soul.

euricles.

  • He comes:
  • ’Tis Poliphontes.

mérope.

  • Is it possible?
  • Away, good Narbas, hide thee from his rage.

narbas.

  • Now, if Ægisthus e’er was dear to thee,
  • Dissemble with the tyrant.

euricles.

  • We must hide
  • This secret in the bottom of our hearts,
  • A word may ruin all.

mérope.

  • [To Euricles.
  • Go thou and guard
  • That precious treasure well.

euricles.

  • O doubt it not.

mérope.

  • My hopes depend on thee: he is my son
  • Remember, and thy king.—The monster comes.

SCENE VI.

mérope, poliphontes, erox, ismenia,Attendants.

poliphontes.

  • The altar is prepared, the throne awaits you,
  • Our interests soon will with our hearts be joined:
  • As king, and husband, ’tis my duty now
  • Both to defend and to avenge you, madam:
  • Two of the traitors I have seized already,
  • Who shall repay the murder with their blood:
  • But, spite of all my care, the tardy vengeance
  • Hath seconded but ill my purposes:
  • You told me you would wish yourself to slay
  • The murderer, and I gave him to your justice.

mérope.

  • O that I might be my own great avenger!

poliphontes.

  • ’Tis a king’s duty, and shall be my care.

mérope.

  • Thine, saidst thou?

poliphontes.

  • Wherefore is the sacrifice
  • Delayed? dost thou no longer love thy son?

mérope.

  • May all his foes meet with their due reward!
  • But if this murderer has accomplices,
  • By him perhaps I may hereafter learn
  • Who killed my dear Cresphontes: they who slew
  • The father would forever persecute
  • The mother and the son: O if I e’er—

poliphontes.

  • I too could wish to be informed of that,
  • And therefore I have taken him to my care.

mérope.

  • To thine?

poliphontes.

  • Yes, madam, and I hope to draw
  • The secret from him.

mérope.

  • But you must not keep
  • This murderer: I must have him; nay, you promised,
  • You know you did—
  • [Aside.
  • O cruel fate! my son!
  • What art thou doomed to?
  • [To Poliphontes.
  • Pity me, my lord!

poliphontes.

  • Whence is this sudden transport? he shall die.

mérope.

  • Who? he?

poliphontes.

  • His death shall satisfy thy soul.

mérope.

  • Ay: but I want to see, to speak to him.

poliphontes.

  • These starts of passion, and these sudden transports
  • Of rage and tenderness, that face of horror,
  • Might give me cause perhaps of just suspicion;
  • And, to be plain with you, some strange disgust,
  • Some groundless fears, some new alarm, hath raised
  • This tempest in your soul; what have you heard
  • From that old man who went so lately hence?
  • Why doth he shun me? what am I to think?
  • Who is he?

mérope.

  • O my lord! so lately crowned
  • Do fears and jealousies already wait
  • Around your throne?

poliphontes.

  • Why wilt not thou partake it?
  • Then should I bid adieu to all my fears:
  • The altar waits, prepared for Mérope
  • And Poliphontes.

mérope.

  • Thou hast gained the throne,
  • The gods have given it thee, and now thou wantest
  • Cresphontes’ wife to make his kingdom sure.
  • This crime alone—

ismenia.

  • O stop—

mérope.

  • My lord, forgive me;
  • I am a wretched mother; I have lost
  • My all; the gods, the cruel gods have robbed me
  • Of every bliss: O give me, give me back
  • The murderer of my son!

poliphontes.

  • This hand shall shed
  • The traitor’s blood: come, madam, follow me.

mérope.

  • O gracious heaven! in pity to my woes,
  • Preserve a mother, and conceal her weakness!

End of the Third Act.