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Subject Area: Literature
Debate: Cato and Caesar

ACT IV. - 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 IV.

SCENE I.

genghis.

  • [A troop of Tartar soldiers.
  • Are these my promised joys? is this the fruit
  • Of all my labors? where’s the liberty,
  • The rest I hoped for? I but feel the weight
  • Without the joys of power: I want Idame,
  • And, instead of her, a crowd of busy slaves
  • Are ever thronging round me.
  • [To his attendants.
  • Hence, away,
  • And guard the city walls; these proud Koreans
  • May think to find us unprepared; already,
  • It seems, they have proclaimed their orphan king;
  • But I’ll be duped no longer; he shall die.
  • I am distracted with a thousand cares,
  • Dangers, and plots, and foes on every side;
  • Intruding rivals, and a wayward people,
  • Oppress me: when I was a poor unknown
  • I was more happy.

SCENE II.

octar, genghis.

genghis.

  • Well, my friend, you’ve seen
  • This proud presumptuous Mandarin: what says he?

octar.

  • He is inflexible; nor threats alarm
  • Nor promises allure him; still he talks
  • Of duty and of virtue, as if we
  • Were vanquished slaves, and he the conqueror.
  • I blush to think how we demeaned ourselves,
  • By talking to a wretch, whom by a word
  • We might destroy: let the ungrateful pair
  • Perish together; mutual is their crime,
  • And mutual be their punishment.

genghis.

  • ’Tis strange,
  • That sentiments like these, to us unknown,
  • Should rise in mortal breasts: without a groan,
  • A murmur, or complaint, a father breaks
  • The ties of nature, and would sacrifice
  • His child to please the manes of his sovereign,
  • And the fond wife would die to save her lord.
  • The more I see, the more must I admire
  • This wondrous people, great in arts and arms,
  • In learning and in manners great; their kings
  • On wisdom’s basis founded all their power;
  • They gave the nations law, by virtue reigned,
  • And governed without conquest; naught hath heaven
  • Bestowed on us but force; our only art
  • Is cruel war; our business to destroy.
  • What have I gained by all my victories,
  • By all my guilty laurels stained with blood?
  • The tears, the sighs, the curses of mankind.
  • Perhaps, my friend, there is a nobler fame,
  • And worthier of our search: my heart in secret
  • Is jealous of their virtues; I would wish,
  • All conqueror as I am, to imitate
  • The vanquished.

octar.

  • Can you then admire their weakness?
  • What are their boasted arts, the puny offspring
  • Of luxury and vice, that cannot save them
  • From slavery and death? the strong and brave
  • Are born to rule, the feeble to obey:
  • Labor and courage conquer all; but you
  • Tamely submit, a voluntary slave:
  • And must the brave companions of your toil
  • Behold their honor stained, their glory lost,
  • Their king dependent on a woman’s smile?
  • Their honest hearts with indignation glow;
  • By me they speak, by me reproach thee, Genghis:
  • Excuse a friend, a fellow soldier, grown
  • Old in thy service; one who cannot bear
  • This amorous sickness of the soul, and longs
  • To guide thy footsteps to the paths of glory.

genghis.

  • Go, fetch Idame.

octar.

  • What, my lord—

genghis.

  • Obey:
  • Nor dare to murmur; ’tis a subject’s part
  • To reverence even the weakness of his master.

SCENE III.

genghis.

  • [Alone.
  • ’Tis not in mortals to resist their fate;
  • She must be mine; what’s victory without her?
  • I have made thousands wretched, and am now
  • Myself unhappy: ’midst the venal crowd
  • Of slaves that court my favor, is there one
  • That can relieve the anguish of my soul,
  • Or fill my heart with real bliss? I wanted
  • Some happy error, some delusive joy,
  • To mitigate the sorrows of a king,
  • And lessen the oppressive weight of empire;
  • But Octar, who should heal, hath probed my wounds
  • Too deeply; I have none but monsters round me,
  • Blood-thirsty slaves, unfeeling, merciless,
  • And cruel, disciplined to blood and slaughter:
  • O for a few soft hours of gentle love
  • To brighten this dark scene! they shall not judge,
  • Shall not arraign the conduct of their king:
  • Where is Idame?—ha! she comes.

SCENE IV.

genghis, idame.

idame.

  • My lord,
  • ’Tis cruel to insult a friendless woman,
  • And add fresh weight to her calamities.

genghis.

  • Be not alarmed; your husband yet may live;
  • My vengeance is suspended for a while,
  • And for thy sake I will be merciful:
  • Perhaps it was decreed by heaven Idame
  • Should be reserved to captivate her master,
  • To bend the stubborn fierceness of his nature,
  • And soften his rude heart: you understand me;
  • My laws permit divorce: embrace the offer,
  • And make the sovereign of the world your own.
  • I know you love me not, but think what joys
  • Surround a throne; think how thy country’s good,
  • Her welfare, and her happiness depend
  • On thy resolve: I know it moves thy wonder
  • To see a haughty conqueror at thy feet:
  • Forget my power, forget my cruelty,
  • Weigh your own interest well, and speak my fate.

idame.

  • I am indeed surprised, and so perhaps
  • Will Genghis be when I shall answer him:
  • There was a time, my lord, you well remember,
  • When he who holds the subject world in awe,
  • This terror of the nations, was no more
  • Than a poor soldier, friendless and unknown;
  • He offered me the pure unspotted heart
  • Of Temugin, and I with pleasure then
  • Would have received it.

genghis.

  • Ha! couldst thou have loved me?

idame.

  • Perhaps I might; but those to whom I owe
  • My first obedience doomed me to another:
  • Thou knowest the power of parents o’er their children;
  • They are the image of that God we serve,
  • And next to them should be obeyed: this empire
  • Was founded on paternal right, on justice,
  • Honor, and public faith, and holy marriage;
  • And if it be the sacred will of heaven
  • That it must fall a sacrifice to thee,
  • And thy successful crimes, the enlivening spirit
  • That long supported it shall never perish:
  • Your fate has changed; Idame’s never can.

genghis.

  • Couldst thou have loved me then?

idame.

  • I could, my lord,
  • And therefore never must hereafter think
  • On Genghis; I am bound in sacred bonds
  • To Zamti; nay, I’ll tell thee more; I love him,
  • Prefer him to the splendor of a throne,
  • And all the honors thou canst lavish on me:
  • Think not it soothes my vanity to spurn
  • A conqueror, all I wish is to fulfil
  • My duty, and do justice to myself:
  • Bestow your favors on some grateful heart,
  • Worthier than mine, that will with joy receive them:
  • May I implore you to conceal from Zamti
  • These proffered terms? ’twould wound his soul to think
  • My truth to him had ever thus been questioned.

genghis.

  • He knows what I expect, and will obey
  • If he desires to live.

idame.

  • He never will:
  • Though cruel torments should extort from him
  • A feigned submission, my firm constancy
  • Would soon recall him to the paths of duty,
  • Of honor, truth, and virtue.

genghis.

  • Can it be,
  • When this ungenerous husband would have given
  • Thy son to death?

idame.

  • He did: he loved his country:
  • It was a noble crime, and I forgive him:
  • He acted like a hero, and Idame
  • Like the fond mother: even if I had hated
  • I would not have been false to him.

genghis.

  • Amazing!
  • Resistance but inflames my passion for thee,
  • And the more injured, I but love thee more:
  • Yet know, I have a soul that’s capable
  • Of rage as well as tenderness.

idame.

  • I know
  • Thou art the master here, and life or death
  • Depend on thee: but tremble at the laws.

genghis.

  • The laws! they are no more, or in my will
  • Alone are to be found; your laws already
  • Have been too fatal to me; they prevented
  • That happy union which my soul desired,
  • And bound thee to another; but they are void,
  • And stand dissolved by my superior power:
  • Obey me, madam, I have given my orders,
  • And I expect your husband should deliver
  • Into my hands the emperor and Idame:
  • Remember, Zamti’s life depends on you:
  • Let prudence teach you to disarm the wrath
  • Of an offended king, who, blushing, owns
  • His foolish fondness for a worthless woman.

SCENE V.

idame, asseli.

idame.

  • Thou seest my wretched fate; the tyrant leaves me
  • The cruel choice of infamy or death.
  • O, Zamti, I must yield thee to thy fate.

asseli.

  • Rather exert the power which beauty gives thee
  • O’er the proud Scythian, you have found the art
  • To please him.

idame.

  • Would I had not! that, alas!
  • But makes me more unhappy.

asseli.

  • You alone
  • Might soften all the rigor of our fate;
  • For you already his relenting soul
  • Withheld its fierceness; you subdued his rage;
  • Zamti still lives, his rival, and his foe:
  • This bloody conqueror stands in awe of thee,
  • And dare not hurt him: here he first beheld
  • Thy lovely form, here paid his guiltless vows.

idame.

  • No more: it were a crime to think of them.

SCENE VI.

zamti, idame, asseli.

idame.

  • Zamti! what brought thee hither? what kind power
  • Hath thus restored thee to my arms?

zamti.

  • The tyrant
  • Hath given me this short respite; by his orders
  • I came to seek thee.

idame.

  • Hast thou heard, my Zamti,
  • The shameful terms proposed to save thy life,
  • And the dear Orphan’s?

zamti.

  • Mine’s not worth thy care:
  • What is the loss of one unhappy being
  • Amidst the general ruin? O Idame,
  • Remember my first duty is to save
  • My king; whate’er we boast, whate’er we love,
  • To him we owe it all, except our honor,
  • That only good which we can call our own.
  • I have concealed the Orphan ’midst the tombs
  • Of his great ancestors, unless we soon
  • Fly to relieve him, he must perish there.
  • Korea’s generous prince in vain expects him:
  • Etan, our faithful servant, is in chains;
  • Thou art our only hope; preserve the life
  • Of thy dear infant, and thy husband’s honor.

idame.

  • What wouldst thou have me do?

zamti.

  • Forget me, live
  • But for thy country, give up all to that,
  • And that alone; heaven points out the fair path
  • Of glory to thee, and a husband’s death,
  • For Zamti soon must die, shall leave thee free
  • To act as best may serve the common cause:
  • Enslave the Tartar, make him all thy own;
  • And yet to leave thee to that proud usurper
  • Will make the pangs of death more bitter to me:
  • It is a dreadful sacrifice, but duty
  • Spreads sweet content o’er all that she inspires:
  • Idame, be a mother to thy king,
  • And reign; remember, ’tis my last command,
  • Preserve thy sovereign, and be happy.

idame.

  • Stay,
  • Thou knowest me not: thinkest thou I’ll ever purchase
  • Those shameful honors with my Zamti’s blood?
  • O thou art doubly guilty; love and nature
  • Cry out against thee! barbarous to thy son,
  • And still more cruel to thy wife. O Zamti,
  • Heaven points us out a nobler way to death.
  • The tyrant, whether from contempt or love
  • I know not, leaves me at full liberty;
  • I am not watched, or guarded here; I know
  • Each secret path and avenue that leads
  • To the dark tombs where thou hast hid the king;
  • Thither I’ll fly, and to Korea’s chief
  • Bear the rich prize, the nation’s only hope,
  • The royal infant, as a gift from heaven:
  • I know ’twill be in vain, and we must die;
  • But we shall die with glory; we shall leave
  • Behind us names that, worthy of remembrance,
  • shall shine forever in the rolls of time.
  • Now, Zamti, have I followed thy example?

zamti.

  • Thou gracious God, who hast inspired, support her!
  • I blush, my love, at thy superior virtue;
  • Heaven grant thee power to save thy king and country!

End of the Fourth Act.