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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 II.

SCENE I.

the hierophants, the priests, and the priestesses.

the hierophants.

• What in these sacred days, this shrine august,
• When God consoles the just, and sins forgives,
• Shall one of all the priestesses presume
• To interrupt the rites, and disobey?
• Must Arzane from duty be exempt?

one of the priestesses.

• Arzane bent on silence in retreat,
• Bathes with her tears the statues of the gods;
• She hides herself, my lord, from every eye;
• A prey to grief, and weakened by her woes,
• And wishes death may end her misery.

the hierophants.

• Her woes we pity, but she must obey;
• Let her a moment at the rites attend.
• Since she has lain concealed in her retreat,
• First on this day her presence is required.
• Bid her approach, the sacred will of heaven
• [The inferior priestess goes in quest of Arzane.]
• Calls to the altar, and won’t brook delay.
• Adorned by her with wreaths of gayest flowers,
• Olympia must before the gods be led.
• Initiated in our sacred rites,
• Cassander must be purified by her;
• Our mysteries soon must be complete, and all
• The orders of the gods must be obeyed;
• They never vary, are forever fixed,
• Nor like the changeful laws of humankind.

SCENE II.

the hierophants, the priests and priestesses, statira.

the hierophants.

• [To Statira.
• You must not duty’s sacred call neglect,
• Nor your most holy ministry decline.
• Since in this blest asylum first you made
• The vow, which never more can be recalled;
• Upon this day first by the gods you’re chosen
• Their laws to Asia’s victors to declare.
• Be worthy of the god you represent.

statira.

• [Covered with a veil which does not conceal her features.]
• Oh heavens, why after fifteen years that here,
• Within deep solitudes and silent walls,
• Remote from mankind, fate has buried me;
• Why do you force me from obscurity?
• Why do you bring me to the light and woe?
• [To the Hierophants.
• My lord, when to this temple I repaired,
• ’Twas but to weep, and die in secret here.
• You know that was my purpose—

the hierophants.

• —Other laws
• The will of heaven prescribes you on this day,
• And since at nuptials now you first preside,
• Your name, your rank no longer must be hid.
• You must declare them—

statira.

• —Sir, what matter these?
• The blood of beggars and the blood of kings,
• Are they not equal in the sight of heaven?
• By heaven we’re better known than by ourselves,
• Great names might formerly have dazzled me;
• They’re all forgotten in the silent tomb,
• Let them be ever blotted from my mind.

the hierophants.

• Vain glory and ambition we renounce.
• In this point we’re agreed, but still the gods
• Exact a full confession of the truth.
• Say all, you shudder—

statira.

• —So you will yourself.
• [To the Priests and Priestesses.
• You, who on heaven’s high majesty attend,
• Who share my fate, whose lives are passed in prayer,
• Religiously my secret ever keep.

the hierophants.

• We swear it solemnly.

statira.

• —Ere I proceed,
• Say, is Cassander, that blood-thirsty man,
• Admitted to your sacred mysteries?

the hierophants.

• Madam, he is—

statira.

• —Are then his crimes atoned?

the hierophants.

• Of mercy every mortal stands in need.
• If innocence alone could heaven approach,
• Who in this temple would the gods adore?
• All human virtue from repentance springs.
• Such is the eternal order of the gods.
• Mortals are guilty, but heaven pardons all.

statira.

• If you then knew the barbarous, horrid deeds
• Which make him sue for grace and vengeance dread,
• If you knew that by him his master fell,
• A master dear to heaven, and if you knew
• What blood he shed within these flaming walls,
• When even in dying Alexander’s eyes,
• He gored the bosom of his weeping queen,
• And threw her dying on her husband’s corpse,
• You’ll still be more surprised when I’ve revealed
• Secrets as yet unknown to human kind.
• That wife who once on glory’s summit sat,
• Whose memory bleeding Persia honors still,
• Darius’ daughter, Alexander’s wife,
• She’s here before you, ask her nothing more.
• [The priests and priestesses lift up their hands and bend their bodies.]

the hierophants.

• What have I heard, you gods whom crimes offend,
• How do you strike your images on earth?
• Statira in this temple, give me leave
• Respect profoundest—

statira.

• —Rise, thou reverend priest,
• No longer am I mistress of the world,
• Only respect the anguish of my mind.
• In me of human greatness see the fate.
• What my sire found the moment of his death,
• I found in Babylon when drenched in blood
• Darius, king of kings of throne deprived,
• A fugitive in deserts, quite forlorn,
• By his own treacherous followers was slain,
• A stranger, wretched outcast of the earth,
• Consoled his misery in his dying hour,
• See you that woman to my court a stranger.
• [Showing the inferior priestess.
• Her hand, her hand alone preserved my life.
• ’Twas she that brought me from the slaughtered heap
• Where my base friends had left me to expire;
• She is of Ephesus; my steps she led
• To this asylum on my realm’s confines.
• I saw my spoils by numerous plunderers torn,
• The field strewed o’er with dying and the dead,
• All Alexander’s soldiers raised to kings,
• And public robberies called great exploits.
• The world I hated and its various woes;
• I left it, and lived here interred alive.
• I own I mourn a daughter much beloved,
• Torn from me whilst I weltered in my gore.
• This stranger here is all my family.
• My husband, daughter, and Darius lost,
• Heaven’s my resource alone—

the hierophants.

• —Be heaven your prop.
• From the throne which you lost to heaven you rise,
• God’s temple is your court, be happy there.
• Your grandeur though august was dangerous,
• The throne was terrible, forget it quite
• And look upon it with a pitying eye.

statira.

• This temple, sir, sometimes has calmed my griefs,
• But you may well conceive how much I’m shocked
• At seeing by Cassander the same gods
• Implored whom I’ve invoked against his head.

the hierophants.

• This, I acknowledge, needs must give you pain:
• But our law speaks to you and must be heard.
• You have embraced it.—

statira.

• —Could I ever think
• It would so horrid an injunction lay?
• The torch of my sad days grows pale and dim,
• And these last moments which high heaven bestows
• What purpose serve they?—

the hierophants.

• —You’ll perhaps forgive,
• You have yourself traced out your great career.
• Proceed in it and never look behind.
• Shades when unbound from cumbrous, fleshly chains,
• Taste lasting rest, and are from passion free.
• A new day gives them light, a cloudless day;
• They live for heaven, their lot is like to ours.
• Soon on our hearts a blest retreat bestows
• Oblivion of our enemies and griefs.

statira.

• I’m priestess now, ’tis true, though once a queen,
• My duty’s harsh, oh! with my weakness bear.
• What must I do?—

the hierophants.

• —Olympia on her knees
• Will soon appear before you, then ’tis yours
• To bless the marriage of the illustrious pair.

statira.

• I’ll reconcile her to a life of woe,
• That is the lot of mortals.—

the hierophants.

• —The incense,
• The water for ablution, and the gifts
• Offered up to the gods, your royal hands
• Shall bear, and at their sacred shrine present.

statira.

• For whom should I present them, wretch—must then
• My life be filled with horror to its close?
• In my retreat I thought to ’scape from woe,
• Oh fruitless hope! woe everywhere abounds:
• Let me obey the law which I have made.

the hierophants.

• Farewell, I both lament you and admire.
• Behold, she comes.
• [Exit.

SCENE III.

statira and olympia.

statira.

• [The stage shakes.
• Dark and awful cells,
• You shake, a horrid murmur strikes my ear:
• The temple quakes, must nature then be moved
• When she appears, must all my senses fail,
• And the same trouble and confusion feel?

olympia.

• [Terrified.
• Ah madam!

statira.

• Young, tender victim to the nupital law,
• Approach. These frightful omens crime denote,
• Such charms as yours for virtue’s self seem made.

olympia.

• My sinking courage, oh just gods support!
• Oh you, the confidant of their decrees,
• Deign to direct my innocence and youth.
• I claim your care, my terror dissipate.

statira.

• Alas, mine yours exceeds, embrace me, daughter,
• Do you then know your husband’s history,
• Or do you know your country or your birth?

olympia.

• Of humble birth, I never did expect
• My present rank, to which I have no right.
• Cassander, madam’s king, he deigned in Greece
• To educate me at his father’s court.
• Since I’ve been near his person, I have seen
• In him the greatest of all human kind.
• The husband’s dear, the master is revered;
• Thus have I all my sentiments made known.

statira.

• How easily a youthful heart’s deceived!
• How much I love your candid innocence!
• Cassander, then, has taken charge of you.
• Do you not from some king derive your birth?

olympia.

• Can none love virtue or obey its laws,
• But such as from a kingly race descend?

statira.

• I think not so, guilt dwells too near the throne.

olympia.

• I was a slave, no more.—

statira.

• —I’m much surprised
• Upon your front august, and in your eyes,
• In every noble feature of your face
• We read the virtues of a royal mind.
• Could you be then a slave?

olympia.

• —Antipater
• Seized on my infancy by chance of war.
• All to his son I owe.—

statira.

• —Your first days thus
• Have felt misfortunes, which at length have ceased;
• My woes have been as lasting as my life.
• Say where and when you were by fate involved
• In ills which brought you to captivity?

olympia.

• I’m told a king, the world’s victorious lord
• Was slain, and rivals for his empire strove;
• That whilst it was by fierce contentions torn,
• In Babylon Cassander saved my life,
• When it was threatened by the murderous blade.

statira.

• In days made sad by Alexander’s death,
• Were you then captive of Antipater,
• And did you by Cassander’s favors live?

olympia.

• I never could learn more. Misfortunes past
• Felicity has banished from my thought.

statira.

• Captive at Babylon; eternal powers
• Do you then make of mortals’ woes your sport?
• The time, the place, her age, have in my soul
• At once roused joy, grief, tenderness, and dread.
• Am I not then deceived? Upon her face
• My valiant husband’s image is impressed. . . . .

olympia.

• What say you?—

statira.

• —Heavens! such looks the hero cast,
• When mild and from the bloody field retired!
• He raised my family, which scarce had escaped
• The insatiate fury of the murderous blade!
• When he raised all my fallen family
• To their first rank, and when his hand touched mine!
• Illusion dear! enchanting hope! but vain.
• Can it be possible! List, princess, list,
• Pity the agitation of my soul!
• Have you no memory of a mother left!

olympia.

• Those who have had it in their power to tell
• Of the transactions of my infancy,
• Informed me that I, in those days of slaughter,
• Was even, when in my cradle, made a slave.
• A mother’s fondness ne’er to me was known.
• I know not who I am, from whom I’m sprung.
• Alas, you sigh, you weep; my trickling tears
• I mix with yours, and in them I find charms.
• With faint embrace your languid arms clasp me;
• Your organs fail; you strive to speak, in vain.
• Speak to me.—

statira.

• My utterance fails, I sink, I’m overwhelmed;
• The trouble which I feel will end my days.

SCENE IV.

statira, olympia, the hierophants.

the hierophants.

• Priestess of heaven, and queen of human race,
• Say what new change has happened in your fate?
• What must we do? What art thou now to hear?

statira.

• Misfortunes, but I’m now prepared for all.

the hierophants.

• The greatest good is ever dashed with grief;
• No bliss is pure. Antigones’s rage,
• The troops, the citizens that rise in arms,
• The general voice, by ardent zeal inspired,
• All these things prove the object you behold,
• Like you long buried in obscurity.
• The object which your hands should to Cassander
• This day have given, Olympia—

statira.

• —What means this!

the hierophants.

• Is daughter of the late victorious king.

statira.

• [Running to embrace Olympia.
• My torn heart had told me this before.
• My child! my daughter! dear, but fatal names;
• Do I then press you in a close embrace,
• When by your marriage thus you wound my soul!

olympia.

• Does then to be my mother make you grieve?

statira.

• No, I thank heaven, whose anger long I felt,
• Nature pleads loudly, joy pours on my soul;
• But heaven deprives me of the promised bliss.
• You are to wed Cassander.—

olympia.

• If from you
• Olympia is descended, if the love
• A parent bears a child inspires your heart,
• Cassander surely never could offend.

the hierophants.

• You are descended from her, doubt it not;
• Cassander owns and will attest the truth.
• With him united, may you both find means
• To make two hostile races live in peace.

olympia.

• Is he your foe then, am I so accursed?

statira.

• The villain poisoned your victorious sire;
• He plunged his dagger in your mother’s breast,
• Even in her breast whose hapless womb first bore you;
• He plunged the steel which oft had princes pierced:
• Even to this temple he pursues my steps;
• The gods he braves, pretending to appease:
• He tears you from your weeping mother’s arms,
• And can you ask me why I hate this man?

olympia.

• Does then the conqueror’s family survive?
• Are you his widow; is he then my sire?
• Have I my mother’s assassin espoused?
• Am I become an object of your wrath,
• And is this marriage then a horrid crime?

the hierophants.

• Hope in the gods—

olympia.

• Ah, if their ruthless hate
• To my soul’s wishes can no hopes afford;
• Opening my eyes a pit they opened before me.
• Knowing myself too well I know my fate.
• My great misfortune is to know my birth,
• Before the altar where you joined our hands
• I should have fallen, and at your feet expired.

SCENE V.

statira, olympia, the hierophants,and a priest.

the priest.

• The temple’s threatened, all our mysteries
• Quickly will be profaned by impious hands;
• The two contending kings dispute the right
• There to command where gods alone should sway.
• Groans heard within these vaults foreboded this,
• In sign of this the ground shook under us.
• The gods denounce some change to mortal man,
• The earth offends them; they must be appeased.
• The furious people whom fell discord fires
• Run headlong to this temple’s sacred porch;
• Two rival factions Ephesus divide.
• Like other nations we shall be at strife;
• Morals, peace, sanctity, shall all give way;
• Kings shall prevail and we shall have a Lord.

the hierophants.

• Ah may they bear from Ephesus their crimes,
• And leave one place of refuge to the earth:
• Oh royal mother sprung from royal race,
• Olympia, shall I say Cassander’s wife?
• Before these altars you’ll protection find.
• To daring kings I shall present myself.
• I know how much respect is due to crowns,
• But more by far is due to Heaven that gives them.
• Let them keep fair with Heaven if they would reign:
• We have not arms or soldiers, it is true,
• Our power we only from our laws derive.
• God’s my support, his temple’s my defence,
• Should tyranny once dare to make approach.
• My bloody corpse awhile shall bar its way.
• [The Hierophants go out with the inferior priest.

SCENE VI.

statira, olympia.

statira.

• Oh fate! oh God of altars and of thrones!
• Oppose Cassander, shield Antigones
• I must, my daughter, in my close of life
• Aid only from my enemies expect,
• And look for vengeance in my misery
• From the usurpers of your father’s throne;
• From my own subjects who with jealous rage
• Contend for states of which I was possessed!
• They’re now my masters; once they were my slaves.
• Oh noble race of Cyrus the renowned,
• How from thy ancient glory art thou fallen!
• So vain is greatness, thou art known no more.

olympia.

• Mother, I follow you, in this sad day
• Render me worthy of your glorious name;
• To do my duty’s all I hope for now.

statira.

• Sprung from a king who over kings has reigned,
• Do that and equal glory thou hast gained.

End of the Second Act.