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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 V.

SCENE I.

antigones, hermas.

hermas.

• [In the porch.
• Vengeance is vain, compassion now should speak,
• A hapless rival is not worth your hate.
• Fly from this dire abode; Olympia, sir,
• Is lost both to Cassander and yourself.

antigones.

• Is then Statira dead?—

hermas.

• —Cassander’s fate
• Has made him fatal to the conqueror’s race.
• Statira sinking with a load of woe,
• Expires with horror in her daughter’s arms.
• Tender Olympia stretched upon the corpse,
• Seems scarcely to retain the breath of life.
• The priests and priestesses dissolved in tears,
• Increase their griefs by mixing them with hers.
• With cries and groans the temple’s vaults resound,
• A funeral pile’s prepared, and all the pomp
• With which man’s vanity adorns the dead.
• ’Tis said Olympia in this solitude
• Will dwell where once her mother lived retired;
• And that renouncing marriage and the world,
• She’ll dedicate to heaven her future life,
• And that she’ll in eternal silence weep
• Her family, her mother, and her birth.

antigones.

• No, no, her duty’s law she must obey,
• My right to her admits of no dispute.
• Statira gives her to me, and her will
• When at the point of death’s a law divine.
• Frantic Cassander and his fatal love
• Statira’s daughter must with horror fill.

hermas.

• Sir, can you think it?

antigones.

• She herself declares
• That her sad heart disclaims this barbarous man.
• Should he persist in his audacious love.
• He shall with life for his presumption pay.

hermas.

• Would you mix blood with tears, and with the flames
• Of the sad pile where burns the royal corpse?
• Your awe-struck soldiers will with horror start
• From such an object, they’ll not follow you.

antigones.

• No, I will not disturb the funeral rites;
• This I have sworn; Cassander will revere them,
• Awhile Olympia shall my rage suspend,
• But when the funeral’s o’er I’ll give it scope.
• [The temple opens.

SCENE II.

antigones, hermas, the hierophants, the priests.

[Advancing slowly] olympia [in mourning, and supported by the priestesses.]

hermas.

• Olympia scarce alive, is this way led.
• I see the pontiff of the sacred shrine,
• Who following bathes her tracks with floods of tears.
• The priestesses support her in their arms.

antigones.

• I own these objects in the hardest heart
• Would raise emotion. Madam, give me leave
• [To Olympia
• To mix with yours my sorrows, and to swear
• That I’ll avenge the wrongs you have sustained.
• The wretch by whom you twice a mother lost,
• A hope presumptuous madly entertains,
• But know his punishment is not far off.
• To your afflictions add not trembling fear:
• But all his rash attempts defy secure.

olympia.

• Ah! speak not now of vengeance and of blood,
• Statira’s dead, I’m dead to human kind.

antigones.

• Her loss I mourn, and I pity you,
• Her sacred will I justly might allege,
• Dear to my hopes, and by yourself revered;
• But I know what is in this juncture due,
• Both to her shade, her daughter, and your grief.
• Madam, consult yourself, her will obey.
• [Exit with Hermas.

SCENE III.

olympia, the hierophants, priests, priestesses.

olympia.

• You who alone compassionate my woes,
• Priest of a God of mildness and of peace,
• Can I not forever dedicate my woe
• To this sad shrine bathed with my mother’s tears?
• Sure, sir, you cannot have so hard a heart
• To shut this place of refuge from my grief?
• ’Tis all that’s claimed by one of royal race,
• Do not refuse this poor inheritance.

the hierophants.

• I mourn your fate, but how can I assist you?
• Your mother dying has your husband named
• You yourself heard her her last will declare,
• Whilst with our hands we closed her dying eyes.
• And if you will not her commands obey,
• Cassander still may claim you as his right.

olympia.

• ’Tis true, I to my dying mother swore
• Ne’er to receive Cassander’s bloody hand,
• My oath I’ll keep.—

the hierophants.

• —You freedom still enjoy,
• The gods alone can of your hand dispose.
• Things soon will change; you now, Olympia, may
• Determine and dispose your future life.
• Indeed it fits not that the self-same day
• Should light the funeral pile and hymen’s torch.
• Such marriage would be shocking, but a word
• Suffices, and that word I want to hear.
• In this extremity your heart should know
• What to your royal race is justly due.

olympia.

• Sir, I have told you any nuptial tie
• Is hateful to my heart, and should be to yours.
• A mother’s injured shade I’ll not betray:
• A husband I forsake, that should suffice.
• Both from the throne and marriage let me fly.

the hierophants.

• Antigones or else Cassander choose.
• Those armed rivals, jealous as they’re proud,
• Are forced by your decision to abide.
• You with a word confusion may prevent,
• And slaughter which would quickly rage again;
• Were not men filled with reverence and respect
• By all that funeral pomp, that pile, those altars,
• Those duties, and those honors which awhile
• To serious contemplation souls dispose.
• Piety lasts not long amongst the great;
• Their rage I hardly could awhile suspend;
• To-morrow blood will Ephesus o’erflow.
• Princess, decide, and all will be appeased:
• The people ever to the law adhere.
• When you have spoken they’ll support your choice;
• If not, with sword in hand within this shrine,
• Cassander will your plighted faith require;
• What he possessed he has a right to claim,
• Though with just horror he inspires your soul.

olympia.

• Enough, your apprehensions I conceive,
• My soul shall never to complaint give way:
• To fate I yield, you all its rigor know. . . . .
• My choice already in my heart is made:
• I have resolved.—

the hierophants.

• —Then shall Antigones
• Be happy, and your plighted faith receive?

olympia.

• Howe’er that be, this juncture, Sir, ill suits
• With such engagements; you yourself must own
• The fatal day on which a mother died,
• Should quite engross a daughter’s every thought. . .
• Must you not bear her to the funeral pile?

the hierophants.

• ’Tis ours that mournful duty to perform:
• All that remains of her an urn shall hold;
• Her ashes to deposit be your care.

olympia.

• Alas! her guilty daughter caused her death,
• Something that daughter owes her injured shade.

the hierophants.

• All things I’ll now prepare.—

olympia.

• —Say, do your laws
• Permit me to behold her on the pile?
• May I approach the funeral pomp, and shed
• Tears on her body while the flames ascend?

the hierophants.

• It is your duty, we partake your grief.
• You’ve naught to dread, those armed rivals now
• Will not presume your sorrows to disturb.
• Present perfumes, your veils and locks of hair,
• And a libation, offering sad, but pure.
• [The priestesses lay these offerings on the altar.

olympia.

[To the Hierophants.

• This is the only favor I require.
• [To the inferior priestess.
• You who attended her in this abode
• Of death, and shared the horrors of her fate,
• Return and give me notice when the fire
• Is ready to consume those loved remains:
• Since ’tis permitted, let my last farewell
• Her manes satisfy.—

priestess.

• I shall obey.
• [Exit.

olympia.

• [To the Hierophants.
• Go, holy priest, the sacred pile erect,
• Prepare the wreaths of cypress and the urn:
• Bid the two rivals to the pile repair,
• I in their presence will explain myself
• Before my mother’s corpse, and in the sight
• Of holy priestesses, who to my woes
• And to my promises can witness bear,
• My sentiments, my choice shall be declared;
• You must approve them, though perhaps you’ll grieve.

the hierophants.

• You still are mistress of your destiny:
• This day expired, your freedom will be o’er.
• [Exit with the priests.

SCENE IV.

olympia.

[At the front of the stage, the priestesses in a semi-circle at the bottom.]

olympia.

• Oh thou who to my shame dost still enslave
• My heart, which has deliberately made choice;
• Who o’er Statira dead dost triumph still,
• O’er Alexander and their hapless race!
• O’er earth and heaven against thee both conspired.
• Reign, hapless lover, o’er my tortured sense:
• If you still love me, which I scarce can wish,
• Your fatal victory will cost you dear.

SCENE V.

olympia, cassander, the priestesses.

cassander.

• Your wishes to fulfil, I hither come;
• This fatal pile shall with my blood be stained.
• Accept my death; the only hope I’ve left
• Is that your pity, not you vengeance, asks it.

olympia.

• Cassander!

cassander.

• Dearest wife!

olympia.

• Ah, cruel man!

cassander.

• No pardon for this criminal remains,
• The hapless slave of cruel destiny;
• To be a parricide was still my fate:
• Still I am thy husband: Spite of all my crimes,
• My soul Olympia idolizes still.
• Although you hate me, Hymen’s rites respect:
• You have no tie on earth except to me:
• ’Tis death alone can separate our fates;
• I must, in dying, see you and adore.
• [He throws himself at her feet.
• Wreak vengeance on my guilty head, my crimes
• Severely punish, but forsake me not.
• Hymen’s more sacred are than nature’s ties.

olympia.

• Rise, rise, the funeral rites profane no more,
• No more profane the ashes of the dead.
• Whilst on the dreadful pile the flames consume
• My mother’s body, don’t pollute the gifts
• Which here I at the funeral pile present:
• Do not approach, but at a distance hear me.

SCENE VI.

olympia, cassander, antigones and the priestesses.

antigones.

• Your virtue cannot still decline a choice:
• Her will Statira at her death explained:
• This day of terror filled my soul with awe,
• And I the dead respected; else this arm,
• This vengeful arm had plunged the shrine in blood:
• And, in obedience to your orders, now
• I come as to my rival’s judge and mine:
• From apprehensions free, pronounce our doom.
• I hope you will a just distinction make
• Between the man by whom your mother bled,
• And him who strove her murder to avenge.
• Nature has sacred rites; Statira, placed
• By Alexander, looks on you from heaven.
• Within this darksome shrine you’re buried now,
• But heaven and earth attentive mark your deeds:
• Between us two Olympia must decide.

olympia.

• I shall, but you must treat me with respect.
• You see these preparations and these gifts,
• Which to the infernal gods I must present;
• And you, like furious rivals, choose this time,
• Midst tombs, to talk of marriage and of love!
• You soldiers of the potent king, my sire,
• Who, by his death, are kings become yourselves,
• If I am dear to you, I charge you swear
• You’ll not oppose my duties or my choice.

cassander.

• I swear it solemnly, and you shall find
• That I respect you as I scorn that traitor.

antigones.

• I swear it too, for sure I am, your heart
• Must from my barbarous rival shocked recoil.
• Declare yourself.—

olympia.

• Think then what e’er befalls,
• That Alexander’s present, that he hears us.

antigones.

• Decide before him.—

cassander.

• —I your pleasure wait.

olympia.

• Then know the heart which thus you persecute,
• And judge what resolution I should take.
• Whatever choice I make, must fatal prove;
• The grief that racks my soul too well you know,
• Know likewise that I have deserved it all.
• My parents I betrayed, who might have known
• I caused the death of her who gave me birth:
• I found a mother in this dire abode,
• I quickly lost her, in these arms she died.
• To her sad daughter, dying thus she spoke,
• “Marry Antigones, I die content.”
• Then she was seized with agonies, and I
• Her death to hasten, her desire opposed.

antigones.

• Thus do you brave me and insult my love,
• Your mother injure, nature’s laws betray.

olympia.

• Her shade I injure not, nor injure you;
• I justice do to all and to myself. . . . .
• Cassander, first to you my faith I gave:
• Think you the gods our union could approve?
• Decide this point yourself: you know your crimes,
• I will not now reproach you with your guilt.
• Repair it when you can.—

cassander.

• —I can’t appease you!
• I can’t assuage the horror I inspire,
• My heart you soon shall know: your promise keep.
• [The temple opens, and the pile is seen in flames.

SCENE the Last.†

olympia, cassander, antigones, the hierophants, priests, priestesses.

the inferior priestess.

Princess, ’tis time.—

olympia.

[To Cassander.

• Behold you flaming pile.
• Now mourn, Cassander, your unhappy fate.
• Those royal ashes and that pile remark;
• Remember Alexander and my chains!
• Behold his widow! Tell me how to act.

cassander.

• Exterminate me.—

olympia.

• —You pronounce your doom. . . . .
• To mine bear witness. Oh thou sacred shade,
• [She mounts the steps before the altar, which is near the funeral pile. The priestesses present her the offerings.]
• Shade of my mother! I this duty pay
• To thee, who justly may be still incensed;
• Perhaps these gifts your manes may appease,
• They may prove worthy of my sire and you.
• [To Cassander.
• Thou husband of Olympia, who by fate
• Wert ne’er intended for her; who preserved
• My life, by whom I both my parents lost;
• Thou who so loved me, and for whom my soul
• Felt all the weakness of a tender love;
• Thou thinkest my guilty passion from my breast
• Is banished; know that I adore thee still,
• And will upon myself that guilt revenge.
• Oh ever-honored ashes of Statira,
• The body of Olympia now receive!
• [She stabs herself, and throws herself into the pile.
• All present cry out,
• Oh heavens!

cassander.

• [Running to the pile.
• Olympia!

priests.

• Heavens!

antigones.

• [Running also to the pile.
• Oh, frenzy strange!

cassander.

• She’s now no more, our efforts all are vain.
• [Returning to the porch.
• Gods, are you satisfied? My hands accursed,
• A royal pair have of their lives deprived.
• Still dost thou envy me, Antigones?
• Canst thou, unmoved, this shocking death behold,
• And thinkest thou still Cassander’s fate is blessed?
• If my felicity provokes thy rage,
• Share it, this dagger take and do like me.
• [Stabs himself.

the hierophants.

• Oh, holy shrine! Just, but vindictive gods,
• In courts profane were e’er such horrors seen!

antigones.

• Thus Alexander and his family,
• Successors, assassins, are all destroyed!
• Gods! since the world must ever feel your rage,
• Why into being did you mortals call?
• What were Statira’s or Olympia’s crimes?
• To what am I reserved in future times!

End of Fifth and last Act.

THE ORPHAN OF CHINA

[† ] The Hierophants, the priests and the priestesses, all show their astonishment and consternation.