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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.

seid, palmira.

palmira.

  • O Seid, keep me not in dread suspense,
  • What is this secret sacrifice? what blood
  • Hath heaven demanded?

seid.

  • The eternal power
  • Deigns to accept my service, calls on me
  • To execute its purposes divine;
  • To him this heart’s devoted, and for him
  • This arm shall rise in vengeance; I am bound
  • To Omar and to Mahomet, have sworn
  • To perish in the glorious cause of heaven:
  • My next and dearest care shall be Palmira.

palmira.

  • Why was not I a witness to thy oath?
  • Had I been with thee, I had been less wretched;
  • But doubts distract me: Omar talks of treason,
  • Of blood that soon must flow; the senate’s rage,
  • And Zopir’s dark intrigues: the flames of war
  • Once more are kindled, and the sword is drawn
  • Heaven only knows when to be sheathed again:
  • So says our prophet, he who cannot lie,
  • Cannot deceive us: O I fear for Seid,
  • Fear all from Zopir.

seid.

  • Can he have a heart
  • So base and so perfidious? but this morning,
  • When as a hostage I appeared before him,
  • I thought him noble, generous, and humane;
  • Some power invincible in secret worked,
  • And won me to him; whether the respect
  • Due to his name, or specious form external
  • Concealed the blackness of his heart I know not;
  • Whether thy presence filled my raptured soul
  • With joy that drove out every painful sense,
  • And would not let me think of aught but thee:
  • Whate’er the cause, methought I was most happy
  • When nearest him: that he should thus seduce
  • My easy heart makes me detest him more;
  • And yet how hard it is to look on those
  • With eyes of hatred whom we wish to love!

palmira.

  • By every bond hath heaven united us,
  • And Seid and Palmira are the same:
  • Were I not bound to thee, and to that faith
  • Which Mahomet inspires, I too had pleaded
  • The cause of Zopir; but religion, love,
  • And nature, all forbid it.

seid.

  • Think no more
  • Of vain remorse, but listen to the voice
  • Of heaven, the God we serve will be propitious:
  • Our holy prophet who protects his children
  • Will bless our faithful love: for thy dear sake
  • I hazard all. Farewell.

SCENE II.

palmira.

  • [Alone.
  • Some dark presage
  • Of future misery hangs o’er me still:
  • That love which made my happiness, this day,
  • So often wished for, is a day of horror:
  • What is this dreadful oath, this solemn compact
  • Which Seid talks of? I’ve a thousand fears
  • Upon me when I think of Zopir: oft
  • As I invoke great Mahomet, I feel
  • A secret dread, and tremble as I worship:
  • O save me, heaven! fearful I obey,
  • And blind I follow: O direct my steps
  • Aright, and deign to wash my tears away!

SCENE III.

mahomet, palmira.

palmira.

  • Propitious heaven hath heard my prayers; he comes,
  • The prophet comes. O gracious Mahomet,
  • My Seid—

mahomet.

  • What of him? thou seemest disturbed;
  • What should Palmira fear when I am with her!

palmira.

  • Have I not cause when Mahomet himself
  • Seems touched with grief?

mahomet.

  • Perhaps it is for thee:
  • Darest thou, imprudent maid, avow a passion
  • Ere I approved it: is the heart I formed
  • Turned rebel to its master, to my laws
  • Unfaithful? O ingratitude!

palmira.

  • My lord,
  • Behold me at your feet, and pity me:
  • Didst thou not once propitious smile upon us,
  • And give thy sanction to our growing love?
  • Thou knowest the virtuous passion that unites us
  • Is but a chain that binds us more to thee.

mahomet.

  • The bonds that folly and imprudence knit
  • Are dangerous; guilt doth sometimes follow close
  • The steps of innocence: our hearts deceive us,
  • And love, with all his store of dear delights,
  • May cost us tears, and dip his shafts in blood.

palmira.

  • Nor would I murmur if it flowed for Seid.

mahomet.

  • Are you indeed so fond?

palmira.

  • E’er since the day
  • When good Hercides to thy sacred power
  • Consigned us both, unconquerable instinct,
  • Still growing with our years, united us
  • In tender friendship; ’twas the work of heaven
  • That guides our every action, and o’errules
  • The fate of mortals; so thy doctrines teach:
  • God cannot change, nor gracious heaven condemn
  • That love itself inspired: what once was right
  • Is always so; canst thou then blame Palmira?

mahomet.

  • I can, and must; nay, thou wilt tremble more
  • When I reveal the horrid secret to thee.
  • Attend, rash maid, and let me teach thy soul
  • What to avoid, and what to follow: listen
  • To me alone.

palmira.

  • To thee alone Palmira
  • Will listen ever, the obedient slave
  • Of Mahomet; this heart can never lose
  • Its veneration for thy sacred name.

mahomet.

  • That veneration in excess may lead
  • To foul ingratitude.

palmira.

  • When I forget
  • Thy goodness, then may Seid punish me!

mahomet.

  • Seid!

palmira.

  • O why, my lord, that cruel frown,
  • And look severe?

mahomet.

  • Be not alarmed; I meant
  • But to explore the secrets of thy heart,
  • And try if thou wert worthy to be saved:
  • Be confident, and rest on my protection;
  • On your obedience will depend your fate;
  • If ye expect a blessing at my hands,
  • Be careful to deserve it, and whate’er
  • The will of heaven determines touching Seid,
  • Be thou his guide, direct him in the paths
  • Of duty, and religion; let him keep
  • His promise, and be worthy of Palmira.

palmira.

  • O he will keep it; doubt him not, my lord,
  • I’ll answer for his heart as for my own;
  • Seid adores thee, worships Mahomet
  • More than he loves Palmira; thou art all
  • To him, his friend, his father, and his king:
  • I’ll fly, and urge him to his duty.

SCENE IV.

mahomet.

[Alone.

  • Well:
  • Spite of myself I must, it seems, be made
  • A confidant; the simple girl betrayed
  • Her guilty flame, and innocently plunged
  • The dagger in my heart: unhappy race!
  • Father and children, all my foes, all doomed
  • To make me wretched! but ye soon shall prove
  • That dreadful is my hatred—and my love.

SCENE V.

mahomet, omar.

omar.

  • At length the hour is come, to seize Palmira,
  • To conquer Mecca, and to punish Zopir;
  • His death alone can prop our feeble cause,
  • And humble these proud citizens: brave Seid
  • Can best avenge thee; he has free access
  • To Zopir: yonder gloomy passage leads
  • To his abode; there the rebellious chief
  • His idle vows and flattering incense pours
  • Before his fancied deities; there Seid,
  • Full of the law divine by thee inspired,
  • Shall sacrifice the traitor to the God
  • Of Mahomet.

mahomet.

  • He shall: that youth was born
  • For crimes of deepest dye: he shall be first
  • My useful slave, my instrument, and then
  • The victim of my rage; it must be so:
  • My safety, my resentment, and my love,
  • My holy faith, and the decrees of fate
  • Irrevocable, all require it of me:
  • But thinkest thou, Omar, he hath all the warmth
  • Of wild fanaticism?

omar.

  • I know he has,
  • And suits our purpose well; Palmira, too,
  • Will urge him on; religion, love, resentment
  • Will blind his headstrong youth, and hurry him
  • To madness.

mahomet.

  • Hast thou bound him by an oath?

omar.

  • O yes; in all the gloomy pomp of rites
  • Nocturnal, oaths, and altars, we have fixed
  • His superstitious soul, placed in his hand
  • The sacred sword, and fired him with the rage
  • Of fierce enthusiasm—but behold him.

SCENE VI.

mahomet, omar, seid.

mahomet.

  • Child
  • Of heaven, decreed to execute the laws
  • Of an offended God, now hear by me
  • His sacred will: thou must avenge his cause.

seid.

  • O thou, to whom my soul devoted bends
  • In humblest adoration, king, and prophet,
  • Sovereign, acknowledged by the voice of heaven,
  • O’er prostrate nations—I am wholly thine:
  • But O enlighten my dark mind! O say,
  • How can weak man avenge his God?

mahomet.

  • Oft-times
  • Doth he make use of feeble hands like thine
  • To punish impious mortals, and assert
  • His power divine.

seid.

  • Will he, whose perfect image
  • Is seen in Mahomet, thus condescend
  • To honor Seid?

mahomet.

  • Do as he ordains;
  • That is the highest honor man can boast,
  • Blindly to execute his great decree:
  • Be thankful for the choice, and strike the blow:
  • The angel of destruction shall assist,
  • The God of armies shall protect thee.

seid.

  • Speak;
  • What tyrant must be slain? what blood must flow?

mahomet.

  • The murderer’s blood whom Mahomet abhors,
  • Who persecutes our faith, and spurns our God,
  • Who slew my son; the worst of all my foes,
  • The cruel Zopir.

seid.

  • Ha! must Zopir fall?

mahomet.

  • And dost thou pause? presumptuous youth! ’tis impious
  • But to deliberate: far from Mahomet
  • Be all who for themselves shall dare to judge
  • Audacious; those who reason are not oft
  • Prone to believe; thy part is to obey.
  • Have I not told thee what the will of heaven
  • Determines? if it be decreed that Mecca,
  • Spite of her crimes and base idolatry,
  • Shall be the promised temple, the chosen seat
  • Of empire, where I am appointed king,
  • And pontiff, knowest thou why our Mecca boasts
  • These honors? knowest thou holy Abram here
  • Was born, that here his sacred ashes rest?
  • He who, obedient to the voice of God,
  • Stifled the cries of nature, and gave up
  • His darling child: the same all-powerful Being
  • Requires of thee a sacrifice; to thee
  • He calls for blood; and darest thou hesitate
  • When God commands? hence, vile idolater,
  • Unworthy Mussulman, away, and seek
  • Another master; go, and love Palmira;
  • But thou despisest her, and bravest the wrath
  • Of angry heaven; away, forsake thy lord,
  • And serve his deadliest foes.

seid.

  • It is the voice
  • Of God that speaks in Mahomet:—command,
  • And I obey.

mahomet.

  • Strike, then, and by the blood
  • Of Zopir merit life eternal.—Omar,
  • Attend and watch him well.

SCENE VII.

seid.

  • [Alone.
  • To sacrifice
  • A poor, defenceless, weak old man!—no matter:
  • How many victims at the altar fall
  • As helpless! yet their blood in grateful streams
  • Rises to heaven: God hath appointed me;
  • Seid hath sworn, and Seid shall perform
  • His sacred promise:—O assist me now,
  • Illustrious spirits, you who have destroyed
  • The tyrants of the earth, O join your rage
  • To mine, O guide this trembling hand, and thou
  • Exterminating angel who defendest
  • The cause of Mahomet, inspire this heart
  • With all thy fierceness!—ha! what do I see?

SCENE VIII.

zopir, seid.

zopir.

  • Seid, thou seemest disturbed; unhappy youth!
  • Why art thou ranked amongst my foes? my heart
  • Feels for thy woes, and trembles at thy danger;
  • Horrors on horrors crowd on every side;
  • My house may be a shelter from the storm.
  • Accept it, thou art welcome, for thy life
  • Is dear to Zopir.

seid.

  • Gracious heaven! wilt thou
  • Protect me thus? will Zopir guard his foe?
  • What do I hear! O duty, conscience, virtue!
  • O Mahomet, this rives my heart.

zopir.

  • Perhaps
  • Thou art surprised to find that I can pity
  • An enemy, and wish for Seid’s welfare;
  • I am a man like thee; that tie alone
  • Demands at least a sympathetic tear
  • For innocence afflicted: gracious gods,
  • Drive from this earth those base and savage men,
  • Who shed with joy their fellow-creatures’ blood.

seid.

  • O glorious sentiments! and can there be
  • Such virtue in an infidel?

zopir.

  • Thou knowest
  • But little of that virtue, thus to stand
  • Astonished at it! O mistaken youth,
  • In what a maze of errors art thou lost!
  • Bound by a tyrant’s savage laws, thou thinkest
  • Virtue resides in Mussulmans alone;
  • Thy master rules thee with a rod of iron,
  • And shackles thy free soul in shameful bonds;
  • Zopir thou hatest, alas! thou knowest him not:
  • I pardon thee because thou art the slave
  • Of Mahomet; but how canst thou believe
  • A God who teaches hatred, and delights
  • In discord?

seid.

  • O I never can obey him!
  • I know, and feel I cannot hate thee, Zopir.

zopir.

  • Alas! the more I talk to him, the more
  • He gains upon me; his ingenuous look,
  • His youth, his candor, all conspire to charm me;
  • How could a follower of this vile impostor
  • Thus win my heart! who gave thee birth? what art thou?

seid.

  • A wretched orphan; all I have on earth
  • Is a kind master, whom I never yet
  • Have disobeyed; howe’er my love for thee
  • May tempt me to betray him.

zopir.

  • Knowest thou not
  • Thy parents then?

seid.

  • His camp was the first object
  • My eyes beheld; his temple is my country;
  • I know no other; and amidst the crowd
  • Of yearly tributes to our holy prophet,
  • None e’er was treated with more tenderness
  • Than Seid was.

zopir.

  • I love his gratitude:
  • Thy kind return for benefits received
  • Merits my praise:—O why did heaven employ
  • The hand of Mahomet in such an office?
  • He was thy father, and Palmira’s, too;
  • Why dost thou sigh? why dost thou tremble thus?
  • Why turn thee from me? sure some dreadful thought
  • Hangs on thy mind.

seid.

  • It must be so: the times
  • Are full of terror.

zopir.

  • If thou feelest remorse
  • Thy heart is guiltless; murder is abroad,
  • Let me preserve thy life.

seid.

  • O gracious heaven!
  • And can I have a thought of taking thine?
  • Palmira! O my oath! O God of vengeance!

zopir.

  • For the last time remember I entreat thee
  • To follow me; away, thy fate depends
  • Upon this moment.

SCENE IX.

zopir, seid, omar.

omar.

  • [Entering hastily.
  • Traitor, Mahomet
  • Expects thee.

seid.

  • O I know not where or what
  • I am; destruction, ruin and despair
  • On every side await me: whither now
  • Shall wretched Seid fly?

omar.

  • To him whom God
  • Hath chosen, thy injured king, and master.

seid.

  • Yes:
  • And there abjure the dreadful oath I made.

SCENE X.

zopir.

  • [Alone.
  • The desperate youth is gone—I know not why,
  • But my heart beats for his distress; his looks,
  • His pity, his remorse, his every action
  • Affect me deeply: I must follow him.

SCENE XI.

zopir, phanor.

phanor.

  • This letter, sir, was by an Arab given
  • In secret to me.

zopir.

  • From Hercides! gods,
  • What do I read? will heaven in tenderest pity
  • At length repay me for a life of sorrows?
  • Hercides begs to see me—he who snatched
  • From this fond bosom my two helpless children;
  • They yet are living, so this paper tells me,
  • Slaves to the tyrant—Seid and Palmira
  • Are orphans both, and know not whence they sprang,
  • Perhaps my children—O delusive hope,
  • Why wilt thou flatter me? it cannot be;
  • Fain would I credit thee, thou sweet deceiver:
  • I fly to meet and to embrace my children;
  • Yes; I will see Hercides: let him come
  • At midnight to me, to this holy altar,
  • Where I so often have invoked the gods,
  • At last, perhaps, propitious to my vows:
  • O ye immortal powers, restore my children,
  • Give back to virtue’s paths two generous hearts
  • Corrupted by an impious, vile usurper!
  • If Seid and Palmira are not mine,
  • If such is my hard fate, I will adopt
  • The noble pair, and be their father still.

End of the Third Act.