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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 V.

SCENE I.

alzire,Guards.

alzire.

• Prepare your tortures, you who call yourselves
• The judges of mankind; why am I left
• In dread suspense, uncertain of my fate?
• To live, or die? if I but mention Zamor
• The guards around me tremble, and look pale,
• His very name affrights them.

SCENE II.

montezuma, alzire.

alzire.

• Ha! my father!

montezuma.

• O my Alzire, what a scene of woe
• Hath thy imprudent fatal passion brought
• Among us! we were pleading for thy Zamor,
• The good Alvarez had well nigh prevailed,
• When on a sudden an armed soldier rushed
• With violence in, and bore down all before him;
• ’Twas Zamor’s self; with fury in his aspect,
• And wild distraction, on he sprang to Guzman,
• Attacked, and plunged the dagger in his breast:
• The blood that issued from your husband’s wound
• Gushed on your father: Zamor then resigned,
• With calm submission at Alvarez’s feet
• Fell humble; “take,” he cried, “this guilty sword,
• Stained with thy Guzman’s blood, I am revenged;
• Now nature calls on thee to do thy duty,
• As I have mine; strike here;” then bared his breast
• To the expected blow: the good Alvarez
• Sunk breathless in my arms; confusion followed
• And cries and horror; Guzman’s friends upraised him,
• Bound up his wounds, and tried by every art
• Of medicine to preserve his life; the people
• Accuse thee as accomplice in the deed,
• And call for justice on thee.

alzire.

• And couldst thou—

montezuma.

• O no; my heart suspects thee not, Alzire,
• Thy soul I know is capable of error,
• But not of guilt: alas! thou didst not see
• The precipice before thee: Guzman dies
• By Zamor’s hand, thy husband by thy lover;
• They will condemn thee to a shameful death,
• But I will try if possible to move
• The council in thy favor.

alzire.

• Do not sue
• For me, my father, of these cruel tyrants,
• Let but Alvarez live, and love me still,
• I ask no more: Guzman’s untimely fate
• I must lament, because ’twas horrible,
• Because, more dreadful still, he had deserved it:
• Zamor avenged his wrongs, I cannot blame
• Nor can I praise him for it; he must die;
• Alzire wishes but to follow him.

alvarez.

• O heaven, assist me in this work of mercy!

SCENE III.

alzire.

• Now end all gracious power, this wretched being!
• Alas! Alzire, the new God thou servest
• Withholds thy hand, and says thou must not finish
• Thy hated life; the deities I left
• Denied me not the privilege to die.
• Is it a crime to hasten on, perhaps
• A few short years, the universal doom
• Appointed for us all? and must we drink
• The bitter cup of sorrow to the dregs?
• In this vile body is there aught so sacred
• That the free spirit should not leave at will
• Its homely mansion? this all-conquering nation,
• Shall they depopulate earth, destroy my race,
• Condemn Alzire, and I not be mistress
• Of my own life? Barbarians! Zamor then
• Must die in tortures.

SCENE IV.

zamorin chains,alzire,Guards.

zamor.

• Yes, it is decreed:
• We both must die; beneath the specious name
• Of justice, the tribunal hath condemned us;
• Guzman yet lives, my erring hand had left
• Its work unfinished; the barbarian lives
• To glut his vengeance with Alzire’s blood,
• To taste a tyrant’s savage joy, and see us
• Perish together—to pronounce our doom
• Alvarez comes: I am the guilty cause;
• Thou diest for me, Alzire.

alzire.

• Then no more,
• For death is welcome if it comes with Zamor:
• O bless the happy hour that shall dissolve
• My ties to Guzman; I may love thee now
• Without a crime, without remorse; receive
• The heart that’s due to thee, and thee alone:
• Yon dreadful scaffold, for our death prepared,
• Shall be the altar of my love; there, Zamor,
• I’ll offer up my faith, and expiate there
• My crime of infidelity—the worst
• Of all our sentence is, that it must come
• From good Alvarez.

zamor.

• See, he’s here; his cheeks
• Are bathed in tears.

alzire.

• Alas! who most deserves
• Compassion? this will be a dreadful parting.

SCENE V.

alzire, zamor, alvarez,Guards.

zamor.

• From you we both expect to hear our fate,
• Pronounce it, we are not afraid to die:
• Zamor deserves it, he has slain thy son,
• The son of good Alvarez, of my friend;
• But what, my lord, has this fair innocent,
• What has Alzire done? thou art not cruel,
• Proud, and revengeful, like thy countrymen,
• Distinguished by thy clemency, we loved
• Alvarez; wilt thou give up the fair title
• Of just and good, and bathe thee in the blood
• Of innocence?

alzire.

• Avenge thyself, avenge
• Thy son; but do not thus condemn the guiltless:
• I am the wife of Guzman, that alone
• Should tell thee, I would save, and not betray him,
• Even though I hated, I respected him,
• And swerved not from my faith, thou knowest I did not:
• Careless of what the slandering multitude
• May think, I rest my character on thee;
• Acquitted by Alvarez, for the rest
• ’Tis equal all: if Zamor dies, Alzire
• Must go with him: I pity thee alone.

alvarez.

• Amazing scene of tenderness and horror!
• That he should be the murderer of my son
• Who was my kind deliverer! O Zamor,
• To thee I owe a life which I abhor;
• It was a fatal gift, and bought too dear:
• I am a father, yet I am a man;
• Spite of a parent’s grief that cries aloud
• For vengeance on thee, gratitude pleads strongly;
• She will be heard:—and thou who wert my daughter,
• Whom yet I call by that dear tender name;
• Think not I joy in the inhuman pleasure
• Of fell revenge; I lose a friend, I lose
• A daughter, and a son: the council dooms thee
• To death, and bids a wretched father pass
• The cruel sentence; I could not refuse
• The dreadful task, and now am come, my children,
• To save you both: it is in Zamor’s power.

zamor.

• To save Alzire? say, what’s to be done?

alvarez.

• Believe in Him who now inspires Alvarez;
• One word will change your fate: the law decrees,
• Whoe’er becomes a Christian meets forgiveness,
• The God of pardon will himself o’ershade
• Thy every crime, and take thee to his mercy;
• Spain will protect and love thee as a brother;
• Alzire shall be safe, ye both shall live;
• I’ll answer for her life as for thy own;
• Zamor, to thee I speak; of thee I ask
• Another life, I owe thee one already;
• A father asks thee only to be happy,
• To be a Christian, and to save Alzire.

alzire.

• What says my love? say, should we purchase life
• So dearly? Shall I quit my gods for Guzman’s,
• And be a traitor? tell me, thou sage tyrant,
• When I was master of thy fate, wouldst thou,
• Had Zamor sued, have quitted thy own gods
• For mine?

alvarez.

• I should have done as now I do,
• Implored the almighty being to enlighten
• A heart like thine, and make thee a true Christian.

zamor.

• O cruel contest! what am I to choose,
• Or life or death, Alzire, or my gods,
• Which must I leave? Alzire, ’tis thy cause,
• Determine it; I think thou wouldst not bring
• Dishonor on thy Zamor.

alzire.

• Hear me then:
• Thou knowest that, to obey a father’s will,
• I gave another what to thee alone
• I had devoted; I embraced his faith,
• And worshipped Montezuma’s God; perhaps
• It was the error of my easy youth,
• And thou wilt blame me for it; but methought
• The law of Christians was the law of truth,
• And therefore only did I make it mine
• But to renounce those gods our heart adores;
• That is no venial error, but a crime
• Of deepest die; it is to give up both,
• The God we worship, and the God we leave;
• ’Tis to be false to heaven, to the world,
• And to ourselves: no, Zamor, if thou diest,
• Die worthy of Alzire; hear the voice
• Of conscience; act as she alone directs thee.

zamor.

• Thou hast determined as I thought thou wouldst,
• Zamor shall die with honor.

alvarez.

• Then ye scorn
• Our proffered mercy: hark! those mournful cries—

SCENE VII.

alvarez, guzman, zamor, americans,soldiers.

zamor.

• O save Alzire; let me perish.

alzire.

• No:
• I will be joined to Guzman, and to thee.

alvarez.

• My son is in the agonies of death;
• O Guzman, hear me.

zamor.

• Look on Zamor, learn
• Of him to die.

guzman.

• [To Zamor.
• Perhaps I may teach thee
• Another lesson: I have owed the world
• A good example long, and now I mean
• To pay the debt.
• [Turning to Alvarez.
• My soul is on the wing,
• And ere she takes her flight but waits to see
• And imitate Alvarez; O my father,
• The mask is off, death has at last unveiled
• The hideous scene, and showed me to myself;
• New light breaks in on my astonished soul:
• O I have been a proud, ungrateful being,
• And trampled on my fellow-creatures: heaven
• Avenges earth: my life can never atone
• For half the blood I’ve shed: prosperity
• Had blinded Guzman, death’s benignant hand
• Restores my sight; I thank the instrument
• Employed by heaven to make me what I am.
• A penitent: I yet am master here;
• And yet can pardon: Zamor, I forgive thee,
• Live and be free; but O remember how
• A Christian acted, how a Christian died.
• [To Montezuma, who kneels to him.
• Thou, Montezuma, and ye hapless victims
• Of my ambition, say my clemency
• Surpassed my guilt, and let your sovereigns know,
• That we were born your conquerors.
• [To Zamor.
• Observe
• The difference, Zamor, ’twixt thy God and mine:
• Thine teach thee to revenge an injury,
• Mine to forgive and pity thee.

alvarez.

• My son,
• Thy virtue’s equal to thy courage.

alzire.

• Heaven!
• How wonderful a change! amazing goodness!

zamor.

• Thou wilt oblige me to repent.

guzman.

• Yes, Zamor,
• I will do more, thou shalt admire and love me:
• Guzman too long hath made Alzire wretched,
• I’ll make her happy; with my dying hand
• I give her to thee, live and hate me not,
• Restore your country’s ruined walls, and bless
• My memory.
• [To Alvarez.
• Alvarez, be once more
• A father to them, let the light of heaven
• Shine forth upon them; Zamor is thy son,
• Let him repair my loss.

zamor.

• Amazed, confounded,
• And motionless I stand; can Christians boast
• Of such exalted virtue? ’twas inspired
• By heaven; the Christian’s law must be divine:
• Friendship, and faith, and constancy I knew
• Already; but this soars above them all:
• I must indeed admire and love thee, Guzman
• [Falls at his feet.

alzire.

• My lord, permit me to embrace thy knees:
• O I could die for Guzman; will you then
• Forgive my weakness?

guzman.

• Yes: I pardon all,
• I cannot see thee weep and not forgive thee.
• Come near, my father, take my last farewell!
• [Dies.

alvarez.

• [To Montezuma.
• I see the hand of God in all our woes,
• And humbly bend myself before that power
• Who wounds to heal, and strikes but to forgive.

End of the Fifth and Last Act.

ORESTES