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 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow ACT V. - 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).

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Subject Area: Literature
Debate: Cato and Caesar

ACT V. - 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 V.

SCENE I.

mariamne, eliza,Guards.

mariamne.

  • Soldiers, retire, and leave your queen at least
  • The mournful privilege to weep alone.
  • [The guards retire to a corner of the stage.
  • Just heaven! is this at last my wretched fate?
  • My noble blood, my title to a throne,
  • All that could promise years of happiness,
  • And days of pleasure, turned to deadly poison,
  • Have filled my cup with bitterness and woe.
  • O birth! O youth! and thou destructive beauty,
  • Whose dangerous lustre but enflamed my pride,
  • Flattering delusion! unsubstantial shade
  • Of fancied bliss, O how hast thou deceived me!
  • Beneath my fatal throne forever lurked
  • Anguish and care, digging the grave that now
  • Gapes to receive the dying Mariamne.
  • In Jordan’s flood I saw my brother perish,
  • My father massacred by bloody Herod,
  • Who now has doomed to death a guiltless wife:
  • My virtue still remained, and that the tongue
  • Of slander strives to wound: thou power supreme!
  • Whose chastisements severe are but the proofs
  • Of innocence, I ask not for thy aid,
  • Nor for thy vengeance; my great ancestors
  • Taught me to look on death unmerited
  • Without a fear: take then my guiltless blood,
  • But O! defend my fame: command the tyrant
  • To spare my memory; let not clamorous falsehood
  • Insult my ashes: virtue is avenged
  • When she’s respected. But what new alarm,
  • What dreadful shrieks are these? the palace rings
  • With loud confusion, and the din of arms:
  • I am perhaps the cause, they fight for me:
  • They force the doors: ha! what do I see?

SCENE II.

mariamne, varus, eliza, albinus,Soldiers.

varus.

  • Away:
  • Hence ruffians; you who hold your queen in bondage,
  • Vile Hebrews, hence:—you, Romans, do your office.
  • [Herod’s guards go off, chained by Varus’s soldiers.
  • Now, Mariamne, thou art free; thou seest
  • The tyrant could not bar my entrance here:
  • Mazael lies bathed in his perfidious blood;
  • At least my arm hath half avenged the cause
  • Of injured majesty: haste, Mariamne,
  • Seize the propitious moment, and secure
  • A shelter from the storm: let us begone.

mariamne.

  • My lord, I cannot now accept thy bounty;
  • After the vile reproach which Herod cast
  • On my fair fame, I should indeed deserve it,
  • Were I imprudent to receive the aid
  • Thou profferest: I have much more cause to dread
  • Thy kindness now than his barbarity;
  • ’Twould be disgraceful thus to owe my life
  • To Varus; honor says even this is guilt,
  • And death alone can expiate my offence.

varus.

  • What wouldst thou do? alas! unhappy princess,
  • A moment may destroy thee: the time presses;
  • Still we’re in arms, and Herod may succeed:
  • Dost thou not fear his rage and his despair?

mariamne.

  • No: I fear naught but shame; and know my duty.

varus.

  • Am I then doomed forever to offend you?
  • But I will do the work of vengeance for thee,
  • Spite of thyself; once more I’ll to the field;
  • And, if the tyrant comes across me there,
  • This arm—

mariamne.

  • Stop, Varus; I detest a triumph
  • So dearly bought: know, sir, the life of Herod
  • Demands my care: his rights—

varus.

  • Are forfeited
  • By his ingratitude.

mariamne.

  • The sacred tie—

varus.

  • Is broken.

mariamne.

  • Duty hath united us.

varus.

  • But guilt divorces; therefore do not stay me,
  • Revenge thyself, and save so many virtues.

mariamne.

  • Thou wouldst disgrace them.

varus.

  • He would take thy life.

mariamne.

  • Yet his is sacred still to Mariamne.

varus.

  • He killed thy father.

mariamne.

  • Varus, I know well
  • What Herod did, and what I ought to do.
  • Patient, I’ll wait the fury of the storm,
  • Nor by his crimes would justify my own.

varus.

  • O noble, brave, unconquerable heart!
  • Ye gods, how many virtues have conspired
  • To swell this tyrant’s guilt! O Mariamne!
  • The more thou shalt disclaim my proffered service,
  • The more am I resolved to disobey thee.
  • Thy honor disapproves what mine commands;
  • But naught shall stop me, naught intimidate:
  • I go to search the tyrant, and repair
  • The hours I’ve lost in not avenging thee.

mariamne.

  • My lord—

SCENE III.

mariamne, eliza,Guards.

mariamne.

  • He’s gone, and would not hear me: heaven!
  • Let not more blood be shed; O spare my subjects;
  • Pour all thy wrath on me, and spare even Herod!

SCENE IV.

mariamne, eliza, nabal,Guards.

mariamne.

  • O Nabal, art thou here? what hast thou done
  • With my dear children? where’s my mother?

nabal.

  • Safe:
  • The wrath of Herod reaches not to them:
  • Thou art the only object of his fury,
  • Which kindles at the hateful name of Varus:
  • If he is conquered, Mariamne dies.
  • The barbarous Zares is already sent
  • With secret orders hither; thou mayest guess
  • The purport, therefore now exert thy power:
  • The people love thee; on their loyal zeal
  • Thou mayest rely; the sight of thee will raise
  • Their drooping hearts; let them behold thee: fly,
  • My royal mistress, let us call the priests,
  • All Judah’s sons will rise to guard the race
  • Of their loved kings: at length the hour is come,
  • To conquer or to die: let me entreat thee—

mariamne.

  • True courage lies in knowing how to suffer,
  • And not in stirring up rebellious crowds
  • Against their sovereign: I should blush to think,
  • That, anxious for itself, my fearful heart
  • Had ever formed a wish for his destruction,
  • Or raised my hopes of safety on his death:
  • No: heaven this moment has inspired my breast
  • With rage less guilty, and a nobler purpose:
  • Herod suspects me, he shall know me now;
  • I’ll rush into the battle; strive to part
  • The king and Varus; cast myself before
  • My husband’s feet, and yield him up my life.
  • I fled this morning from that dreadful vengeance
  • Which now I search for: banished by his crimes,
  • His danger has recalled me: honor bids,
  • And I obey: I go to save his life
  • Who thirsts for mine.

nabal.

  • Alas! to what extremes—

mariamne.

  • I’m lost: ’tis Herod.

SCENE V.

herod, mariamne, eliza, nabal, idamas,Guards.

herod.

  • Did they see each other?
  • Now, faithless wretch, thou diest.

mariamne.

  • Do not, my lord,
  • ’Tis the last boon that I shall crave; O do not—

herod.

  • Begone—guards, follow her.
  • [Guards carry off Mariamne.

nabal.

  • Eternal justice!

SCENE VI.

herod, idamas,Guards.

herod.

  • Let me not hear her named: perfidious woman!
  • Well, my brave soldiers, are there yet more foes?

idamas.

  • The Romans are subdued; the Hebrews bend
  • Once more submissive to the yoke; and Varus,
  • Covered with wounds, to thy victorious arm
  • Gives up the field: O thou hast gained this day
  • Eternal glory; but the prætor’s blood,
  • Shed by thy hand, will draw on thee the vengeance
  • Of proud offended Rome: a crime like this—

herod.

  • And now for my revenge on Mariamne.
  • Unworthy of my love I cast her from me,
  • And from this moment shall begin to reign.
  • O! I was blind, that fond destructive passion
  • Was Herod’s only weakness: let her die:
  • Let me forget her charms, and her remembrance
  • Be blotted now forever from my soul.
  • Are all things ready for the execution?

idamas.

  • They are, my lord.

herod.

  • How quickly they obey me!
  • Unhappy Herod! must she perish then?
  • Didst thou say, Idamas, ’twas ready all?

idamas.

  • The guards have seized her person, and too soon
  • Thy vengeance will be satisfied.

herod.

  • She courted
  • Her own destruction, and obliged me to it:
  • But she is gone: I’ll think no more on it: Oh!
  • I could have lived and died with Mariamne:
  • To what hast thou compelled me?

SCENE the last.

herod, idamas, nabal.

herod.

  • Nabal, ha!
  • Whither so fast? just heaven! and in tears!
  • How my soul shakes with dreadful apprehension.

nabal.

  • My lord—

herod.

  • What wouldst thou say?

nabal.

  • My feeble voice
  • Dies on my trembling lips.

herod.

  • O Mariamne!

nabal.

  • Superfluous sorrow!

herod.

  • Ha! ’tis past then, is it?

nabal.

  • She is no more.

herod.

  • Ha! dead! great God!

nabal.

  • My lord,
  • Permit me, ’tis a debt I owe to thee,
  • Due to her memory, to her virtues due,
  • To show thee what a treasure thou hast lost,
  • The worth of that dear blood which thou hast shed:
  • Know, Herod, she was never faithless to thee;
  • But, even whilst Varus fought for her, refused
  • His offered hand, slighted his ardent vows,
  • And hazarded her life to succor thee.

herod.

  • What do I hear? O wretched Herod! Nabal,
  • What has thou told me?

nabal.

  • In that very moment,
  • Even when her generous heart inspired her last
  • And noblest act, thy cruel orders came,
  • And she was led to death: thy barbarous sister
  • Urged on her fate.

herod.

  • Inhuman Salome;
  • Why did my justice spare that cruel monster?
  • What punishments must be reserved for thee!
  • But let thy blood and mine—Nabal, go on,
  • And kill me with the melancholy tale.

nabal.

  • How shall I speak the rest! the guard, thou knowest,
  • By thee directed, led her hence: she followed
  • Without a murmur or reproach of thee;
  • Without affected pride, or real fear;
  • On her fair front sat graceful majesty,
  • Tempered with softness; modest innocence
  • And heart-felt virtue sparkled in her eyes;
  • Her sorrows gave new lustre to her charms;
  • Priests, Hebrews, all, with tears and shrieks besought her:
  • The soldiers called for death, and wept the fate
  • Of Mariamne—and of Herod too;
  • For deep, they cried aloud, would be thy grief,
  • And horror and remorse attend thee ever.
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herod.

  • How every word strikes to my heart!

nabal.

  • She felt
  • For their distress, and as she passed along,
  • Spake comfort to them. To the fatal scaffold
  • At length she came; there lifted up her hands,
  • Loaded with shameful chains, and thus she spake:
  • “Farewell, unhappy king; Herod, farewell!
  • Thy dying Mariamne weeps for thee,
  • And thee alone; may this be thy last act
  • Of foul injustice! may thy reign henceforth
  • Be happy! Take my people to thy care;
  • Protect my children; love and cherish them;
  • And I shall die content.” She spake, and bent
  • Her beauteous body to the axe; I saw,
  • And wept her fall.

herod.

  • Then Mariamne’s dead;
  • And Herod lives: thou dear, and honored shade!
  • Ye poor remains of all that once was fair
  • And good, and virtuous, to the silent grave
  • Soon will I follow thee—Ye shall not stop me,
  • Perfidious subjects: from my murderous hand,
  • Why will ye wrest my sword? O Mariamne!
  • Come now, and be avenged: tear forth this heart
  • That bleeds for thee. I faint, I die.
  • [He faints.

nabal.

  • His senses
  • Are lost; his grief o’erpowers him.

herod.

  • What thick clouds
  • O’erspread my troubled soul! deep melancholy
  • Weighs down my senses; why am I abandoned,
  • Left to my sorrows thus? No sister here;
  • No Mariamne! How you stand and weep
  • At distance from me! Dare you not approach me!
  • All Judah flies before her wretched king.
  • What have I done? why am I thus abhorred?
  • Who will relieve me? who will soothe my grief?
  • Fetch Mariamne to me.

nabal.

  • Mariamne,
  • My lord!

herod.

  • Ay, bring her; for I know the sight
  • Of her will calm at once my agony:
  • When Mariamne’s with me, my blessed hours
  • Are all serene, and life glides sweetly on:
  • Methinks her very name hath healed my woes,
  • And lessened my affliction: let her come.

nabal.

  • My lord—

herod.

  • I’ll see her.

nabal.

  • Sir, have you forgot
  • That Mariamne’s dead?

herod.

  • What sayest thou?

nabal.

  • Grief
  • Transports him; his mind’s hurt; he’s not himself.

herod.

  • Ha! Mariamne dead! destructive reason,
  • Why comest thou now to tell me this sad truth?
  • Down with these hateful walls, this fatal palace,
  • Stained with her blood, and let its ruins hide
  • The accursed place where Mariamne perished!
  • Is she then dead, and I her murderer!
  • Punish this parricide, this horrid monster:
  • Tear him in pieces, you who weep her loss,
  • My subjects; and thou, heaven, who hast her now,
  • Send down thy vengeful lightnings, and destroy me.

End of the Fifth and Last Act.

SOCRATES