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• The Works of Voltaire: the Dramatic Works of Voltaire Vol. Ix— Part I
• Alzire
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Orestes
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• SÉmiramis
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Catiline
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Pandora
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• The Dramatic Works of Voltaire Vol. Ix—part Ii
• The Scotch Woman
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Nanine
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• The Prude
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• The Tatler
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.

ACT II.

SCENE I.

zamor, americans.

zamor.

• My noble friends, and fellow-sufferers,
• Whom dangers strengthen, and misfortunes make
• But more illustrious, shall we ne’er obtain
• Our sweet revenge, or honorable death?
• Still must we live unable or to serve
• Alzire, or our country; shall we never
• Find out the hated Guzman, and destroy
• That fell destroyer? O my country’s gods,
• Powerless and vain, ye gave up this fair land
• Of liberty to hostile deities;
• And tamely suffered a few wandering Spaniards
• To spoil your altars, lay your temples waste,
• And desolate our empire; I have lost
• A kingdom and Alzire; all is gone
• But shame, and sorrow, and resentment, those
• I carried with me to the burning sands
• And gloomy deserts; there I cherished long
• The secret hopes of vengeance: you, my friends
• Revived your drooping Zamor, and inspired
• His soul with flattering thoughts of better days:
• Deep in the forest’s shade we left a band
• Of chosen spirits, resolute and bold,
• And hither came, impatient to observe
• The walls upraised by our tremendous foe.
• They watched, and seized us: in a dungeon long
• Confined, at length our tyrant masters grant us
• Leave to walk forth, and breathe the wholesome air,
• Yet will not deign to let us know our fate:
• Can none inform me where we are, who dwells
• Within this seat of sorrow? where’s Alzire,
• Where’s Montezuma, lives he, is he free,
• Or a vile slave like Zamor? say, my friends,
• And partners in affliction, know ye not?

an american.

• Like you, my lord, in chains, and hither led
• By secret paths, we’re ignorant of all:
• Great Cacique, worthy of a better fate,
• If ’tis decreed that thou must fall, at least
• Thou shalt find friends prepared to perish with thee,
• And own them not unworthy of their master.

zamor.

• After a glorious victory, my friends,
• A glorious death is most to be desired;
• But O, to die in vile obscurity,
• To perish thus in ignominious bondage,
• To leave our bleeding country thus enslaved
• By European robbers, those assassins
• Whose thirst for blood and gold, these proud usurpers,
• Who would extort by every cruel art
• Of punishment those riches which we hold
• More cheap, more worthless than themselves, to leave
• My loved Alzire, Zamor’s dearer half,
• To their licentious fury, O my friends,
• ’Tis worse than death: I tremble at the thought.

SCENE II.

alvarez, zamor, americans.

alvarez.

• Live, and be free.

zamor.

• Good heavens, what do I hear?
• O unexpected sound! what God art thou
• In human shape? a Spaniard, and forgive!
• It cannot be: art thou the ruler here?

alvarez.

• No, captive; I am only the protector
• Of innocence oppressed.

zamor.

• Thou good old man,
• What is thy office here?

alvarez.

• To aid the wretched.

zamor.

• What could inspire thee with a thought so noble?

alvarez.

• My gratitude, religion, and my God.

zamor.

• God and religion! what! these cruel tyrants,
• These ruffians, that still bathed in human blood
• Depopulate earth, and change the smiling face
• Of nature to a dreary desert, they
• Who worship avarice alone! their God
• Cannot be thine!

alvarez.

• It is the same, my son,
• But they offend him, they disgrace his name,
• And are indeed more guilty; they abuse
• Their new-got power: thou knowest their crime, but know
• My duty too: twice hath the travelling sun
• Enlightened in his course our world and yours
• Since a brave Indian, who he was I know not,
• Stepped from amidst his fellow-savages,
• And saved me from their fury; from that moment
• I felt your sorrows, pitied your misfortunes,
• And held you as my brethren and my friends;
• Could I but meet my kind deliverer,
• That gallant stranger, I should die in peace.

zamor.

• His age, his features, his transcendent virtue,
• All, all conspire to say it is Alvarez:
• Behold, and mark us well, canst thou distinguish
• The hand that saved thee?

alvarez.

• Gracious heaven! come near.
• O Providence! it is, it must be he,
• The wished-for object of my gratitude;
• He whom these eyes, grown dim with age, have sought
• So long in vain; my son, my benefactor,
• What shall I do to serve thee? thou shalt live
• With old Alvarez; he shall be thy father,
• Thy guardian and protector here: kind heaven
• In gracious pity hath prolonged my days,
• That I might pay the debt I owe to thee.

zamor.

• O if thy barbarous nation had possessed
• But half the virtues that adorn Alvarez,
• Our willing world had bowed submissive down
• Before them; but their souls are not like thine,
• For they delight in blood, whilst nature’s self
• Abhorring shudders at their cruelty;
• Death were more welcome far than life with them:
• Urge me not therefore, good Alvarez, all
• I wish to know is this, have they destroyed
• My noble friend, the wretched Montezuma?
• Where’s my Alzire’s father? O my lord,
• Forgive these tears, the memory of past griefs
• Sits heavy on me.

alvarez.

• Let them flow my son,
• ’Tis the best mark of our humanity:
• The heart that feels not for another’s woe
• Is fit for every crime: thy friend survives,
• And full of years and honors lives with us
• In happiness and peace.

zamor.

• Might I behold him?

alvarez.

• Yes; thou shalt see him soon: may his persuasion
• Induce thee to think better of us all,
• And follow his example!

zamor.

• Can he live
• With Christians, Montezuma live with Christians?

alvarez.

• Have patience, son, and he shall tell thee all,
• Touching our union, and the sacred bonds
• That soon shall bind in cords of amity
• Our world to thine—but I must to my son,
• And let him know my happiness; I leave thee
• But for a moment; fare thee well.

SCENE III.

zamor, americans.

zamor.

• At last
• Heaven seems to smile on Zamor; I have found
• Amongst these vile barbarians one just man,
• Honest and true: Alvarez is a god,
• Sent down from heaven to soften this rude world,
• And bless mankind: he said he had a son,
• That son shall be my brother and my friend,
• If he is worthy of his noble father:
• O glorious hope! shall I again behold
• Great Montezuma after three long years?
• Alzire too, my dear, my loved Alzire,
• Shall I embrace thee, hast thou kept thy faith,
• That first of virtues, to reward thy Zamor?
• The heart oppressed is ever diffident:
• Another old man comes this way: my soul
• It still perplexed.

SCENE IV.

montezuma, zamor, americans.

zamor.

• O noble Montezuma,
• Do I once more embrace thee? see thy Zamor
• Snatched from the jaws of death; he lives to save
• And to defend his prince: behold thy friend,
• Thy soldier, and thy son: O where’s Alzire?
• Be quick, and tell me, let me know her fate,
• My life depends on that.

montezuma.

• Unhappy Cacique,
• With grief sincere we have lamented thee;
• Thy fellow-soldiers to thy memory raised
• The decent tomb, and every honor paid
• Due to thy virtues: but thank heaven! thou livest,
• Henceforth may happier days await thee, Zamor!
• But say, why camest thou hither?

zamor.

• To avenge
• My gods, myself, my father and Alzire.

montezuma.

• What sayst thou?

zamor.

• Call to mind that dreadful day
• When the fierce Spaniard, terrible in arms,
• Rushed through our powerless hosts, o’erthrew our bulwarks,
• And laid our empire waste; his name was Guzman:
• That name, thou well rememberest, was the signal
• Given for destruction; at that name they snatched
• The sweet Alzire, thy loved daughter, from me,
• And bore her to captivity with thee
• And all thy race; destroyed the holy altar,
• Where I had hoped to make Alzire mine,
• Then dragged me to the tyrant: shall I tell thee
• What cruel torments that insatiate monster
• Inflicted on me, to extort confession
• Of hidden gold, the Christian’s deity,
• Which we despise and trample on? half-dead
• They left me and retired: time, Montezuma,
• Can never bury injuries like mine;
• Thou seest me here, prepared for great revenge:
• Some chosen friends, attached to Zamor’s cause,
• By equal wrongs provoked, with equal hate
• Inspired, await me in the neighboring forest,
• Resolved with me to conquer or to die.

montezuma.

• O Zamor, whither would thy headlong passion
• Transport thee? wherefore wouldst thou thus pursue
• That death which seems so willing to avoid thee?
• What can thy friends do for thee? their weak arms,
• Their fish-bone spears, their sabres made of stone,
• Their soldiers naked, and ill-disciplined,
• Against these giants armed with mortal steel,
• And launching their dread thunder bolts against thee?
• Swift as the winds, their fiery coursers bear them
• To certain victory; the world is theirs,
• And we, my Zamor, must submit.

zamor.

• Whilst life
• Shall animate these veins, I never will:
• No, Montezuma: their destructive thunder,
• Their coats of steel, their fiery coursers taught
• Like them to fight, and share their master’s glory,
• This might affright, and terrify a while
• Our gaping savages, but I behold
• This pompous scene unruffled: to subdue
• Our haughty foe one thing alone’s required,
• And that is, not to fear them; novelty,
• That conquers cowards, only has enslaved us:
• Gold, that pernicious native of our soil,
• Draws Europe hither, but defends us not
• Against her; niggard nature has denied us
• A nobler metal, her all-conquering steel,
• And given it to barbarians; but kind heaven,
• In lieu of this indulgence, hath bestowed
• Virtues on us which Europe never knew.
• I come to fight and conquer for Alzire.

montezuma.

• Urge it no more, my Zamor, heaven declares
• Against us, calm thy rage; the times are changed.

zamor.

• Changed, didst thou say, my lord? it cannot be,
• If Montezuma’s heart is still the same,
• If my Alzire’s faithful, if I live
• Still in her memory.—Thou turnest aside
• And weepest.

montezuma.

• Unhappy Zamor!

zamor.

• Am I not
• Thy son? our tyrants have not altered thee?
• They cannot, sure they cannot have corrupted
• An old man’s heart, and made it false as theirs?

montezuma.

• I am not guilty, Zamor, nor are all
• These conquerors tyrants; some were sent by heaven
• To guide our footsteps in the paths of truth,
• To teach us arts unknown, immortal secrets,
• The knowledge of mankind, the arts, my son,
• To speak, to think, to live, and to be happy.

zamor.

• O horrid! canst thou praise these ruffians, whilst
• Thy daughter, thy Alzire, is their slave?

montezuma.

• Zamor, Alzire’s free.

zamor.

• Ha! Montezuma,
• Alzire free? forgive me, but remember,
• She’s mine, my lord, by every solemn tie;
• You promised me, before the gods you promised,
• To give her to me; they received our vows;
• She is not perjured?

montezuma.

• Call not on those gods,
• For they are vain, and fancied idols all;
• I have abjured them, and henceforth must worship
• That power supreme which hath subdued them.

zamor.

• Ha!
• The law of thy forefathers, thy religion,
• Is that deserted?

montezuma.

• I have found its weakness,
• And left its vain chimeras: may the God
• Of Gods convert thee, and inspire with truth
• Thy unenlightened soul! unhappy Zamor,
• Soon mayest thou know that Europe thou condemnest,
• Her virtues, and her faith!

zamor.

• What mighty virtues
• Has she to boast? thou art indeed a slave
• If thou hast lost thy gods, thy faith, thy honor,
• And broke thy sacred word: Alzire too,
• Has she betrayed me? O take heed!

montezuma.

• My heart
• Reproaches me for nothing: fare thee well!
• I bless my own good fate, and weep for thine.

zamor.

• If thou art false, thou hast cause to weep indeed:
• Pity the torments which I feel for thee,
• And for thy guilt; pity a heart distracted
• By love and vengeance; let me find out Guzman
• Let me behold Alzire, let me fall
• Beneath her feet; O do not hide her from me:
• Conduct me, urge me not thus to despair,
• Put on a human heart, let thy lost virtue—

SCENE V.

montezuma, zamor,Guards.

guard.

• [To Montezuma.
• The ceremony waits, my lord.

montezuma.

• I come.

zamor.

• Thou wilt not leave me? tell me, Montezuma,
• What ceremony’s this.

montezuma.

• No more: away,
• And leave this fatal place.

zamor.

• Though heaven itself
• Forbade me, I would follow thee.

montezuma.

• Forgive
• My rude denial, Zamor, but you must not,
• I say you must not—guards, prevent him—pagans
• Must not profane our Christian altars; I
• Command not here, but Guzman speaks by me:
• You must obey: farewell.

SCENE VI.

zamor, americans.

zamor.

• What do I hear?
• Guzman? O shameful treason! Montezuma
• The slave of Guzman! where is virtue fled?
• Alzire too, is my Alzire guilty?
• Has she too drank corruption’s poisonous bowl
• From these vile Christians?—that destroyer Guzman
• Rules here, it seems; what’s to be done?

first american.

• Permit me
• To counsel you, my lord; the good old man
• Who saved thee with his son will soon return,
• He can deny you nothing; ask of him
• Safe conduct to the city gates; that done,
• We may return and join our noble friends
• Against the foe: I doubt not of success:
• We will not spare a man of them except
• Alvarez, and his son: I’ve marked, my lord,
• With most observant eye, their fosses, ramparts,
• And brazen thunders, European arts
• That fright not me: alas! our countrymen
• Forge their own shameful chains, and tamely bend
• Beneath these sons of pride; but soon, my lord,
• When they shall see their great avenger here,
• Then will they rise indignant, and destroy
• This ignominious work of slavery:
• Yes; on the bleeding bodies of our foes
• We’ll make a path to glory; on the heads
• Of these vile Christians turn the fiery tempest,
• And with their own destructive instruments
• Of murder shake this all-usurping power,
• Founded by pride on ignorance and fear.

zamor.

• O how I joy, ye great unfortunate,
• To find your kindred breasts thus nobly beat
• With sympathetic fury! let us punish
• The haughty Guzman, let his blood atone
• For our lost country’s: O thou deity
• Of injured mortals, sweet revenge, O come,
• Assist thy servants, let but Guzman perish
• And we are satisfied! but O my friends,
• We talk of vengeance, yet are captives still,
• Still groan beneath the yoke of shameful bondage:
• Deserted by Alvarez, and betrayed
• By Montezuma, all I love perhaps
• Is in the power of him whom most I hate,
• The only comfort left me is—to doubt.
• But hark! what noise is that? the torches flame
• On every side, and yield a double day:
• This barbarous people’s brazen thunder speaks
• Some horrid rites, or pompous sacrifice
• Preparing: look around, and see if Zamor
• Shall save his much-loved friends, or perish with them.

End of the Second Act.