The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 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.

arsaces, azema.

azema.

• To thee, Arsaces, this great empire owes
• Its lustre, I my liberty and life.
• When vanquished Scythia, thirsting for revenge,
• From its wild desert rushed indignant forth,
• And bore down all before it; when my father,
• Oppressed by numbers, fell, and left me there
• A hapless slave; then, armed with thunder, thou,
• Piercing their dark retreats, didst break my chains,
• And give me ample vengeance on my foes.
• Thou wert my great deliverer, Arsaces,
• And in return I give thee all my heart;
• I will be thine, and only thine; but O!
• Our fatal passion will destroy us both:
• Thy generous heart, too open and sincere,
• Believed that gallant deeds, and fair renown
• In arms, would gain thee honors in a court;
• And, fearless of success, thou bringest with thee
• A hero’s fierceness and a lover’s heart.
• Assur is incensed: alas! thou dost not know him:
• He is too powerful for us; he rules all
• At Babylon; and much, I fear, abuses
• His fatal influence o’er Sémiramis:
• He is thy great inexorable—rival.

arsaces.

• Ha! does he love thee?

azema.

• No; that savage mind,
• Subtle and dark, a foe to every virtue,
• Insensible to love and every charm
• But those ambition boasts, could never feel
• A real passion for me: but he knows
• That Azema is descended from the race
• Of our Assyrian kings, and soon may claim
• My right of empire here, as next the throne;
• And therefore means to blend his interest here
• With mine, and gain the sceptre for himself:
• But if the youth whom Ninus had decreed,
• Even from my infant years, to be my husband,
• The son of great Sémiramis, and heir
• Of Babylon, were living now, and here
• Would offer me his heart and half his empire,
• By love I swear, and by thy precious self,
• Ninias should sue in vain, and see me quit
• A throne with him for banishment with thee.
• Even Scythia’s bleak inhospitable plains
• Would yield a sweet asylum to our love;
• For they would echo my Arsaces’ name,
• And sound his praise; those barren wilds, where first
• Our passion grew, would be to me a court,
• Nor should I cast a thought on Babylon.
• But much I fear this subtle statesman means
• To carry his resentment further still:
• I’ve searched his soul, and know the blackness of it:
• Or I mistake, or guilt sits lightly on him;
• Already he is jealous of thy glory,
• He fears, and hates thee.

arsaces.

• And I hate him more,
• But fear him not, since Azema is mine:
• Keep thou thy faith, and I despise his anger.
• At least I share with him the royal favor:
• I saw the queen, and her humanity
• Equalled the pride of Assur: when I fell
• Prostrate before her, gently she upraised me,
• And called me the support of Babylon:
• With pride I heard the flattering voice of her
• Whose name contending kings unite to honor:
• The distance ’twixt her royal state and mine
• Was lessened soon by mildest condescension;
• It touched, it melted me; and, after thee,
• To me she seemed, of all the human race,
• Most nearly to resemble the divine.

azema.

• If she protects us, Assur’s threats are vain:
• I heed them not.

arsaces.

• Inspired by thee, I went,
• Fearless and brave, to lay before the feet
• Of my great mistress, that aspiring passion
• Which Assur dreads, and Azema approves;
• When lo, that very moment came a priest
• From Egypt with Ammonian Jove’s decree:
• Trembling she opened quick the awful scroll,
• First fixed her eyes on me, then sudden turned
• Her face aside, and wept: stood fixed in grief
• Like one distraught, then sighed, and vanished from me.
• They tell me, she is fallen into despair,
• And hath of late been dreadfully pursued
• By some avenging god: I pity her:
• ’Tis wonderful that after fifteen years,
• Heaven, that so long defended, should at last
• Oppress her thus: by what hath she offended
• The angry gods, and wherefore are they changed?

azema.

• We hear of naught but dreadful spectres, omens,
• And vengeance from above: the queen of late
• Lets loose the reins of empire: we had cause
• To fear for Babylon, least subtle Assur,
• Who knows her weakness, in this dangerous time,
• Should seize the helm, and bury all in ruin;
• But the queen came, and all was calm again;
• All owned the power of her despotic sway.
• If I have any knowledge of the court,
• The queen hates Assur, but keeps fair with him,
• And watches close; they’re fearful of each other,
• Would quarrel soon, but that some secret cause,
• Some mutual interest, still prevents a rupture:
• I saw her fire indignant at his name;
• The blushes on her cheeks betrayed her thoughts,
• And her heart seemed to glow with deep resentment:
• But sudden changes happen in a court;
• Return, and speak to her.

arsaces.

• I will; but know not
• Whether again I e’er shall gain admittance.

azema.

• Thou hast my vows, my wishes, and my prayers
• For thy success: I glory in my love,
• And in my duty: let Sémiramis
• Rule o’er the vanquished East, I envy her
• Nor fame nor conquest; let the world be hers,
• Arsaces mine: but Assur comes this way.

arsaces.

• The traitor! how I shudder at his presence!
• My soul abhors him.

SCENE II.

assur, arsaces, azema.

assur.

• Your reception, sir,
• I find, was noble, such as kings have oft
• Solicited in vain: you saw the queen
• In secret, did she not reprove a conduct
• Injurious to my honor and her own?
• Did she not tell thee Azema’s designed
• For Assur, not for thee? Long since her hand
• To Ninias given was for the blood of kings
• Alone reserved; and therefore is my right,
• As next to the throne: did she acquaint you, sir,
• Into what fatal snares your pride would lead you,
• That neither fame nor honors will excuse
• Your bold pretensions?

arsaces.

• I well know what’s due
• To your high birth, and to the rank you bear,
• And should have paid it, though you had not thus
• Instructed me; but as a master here
• I own you not: your royal ancestors,
• From Belus sprung, perhaps may give you claim
• To Azema; the welfare of the state,
• Present and future, all, I own, conspire
• To raise your hopes of bliss, and make her yours:
• These are your claims, and I acknowledge them:
• But I have one that’s worth them all: I love her:
• I might have added this, that I avenged
• And saved her, gave new lustre to the throne
• Which she was born to fill, if I had chosen,
• Like thee, to boast of my exploits before her.
• But I must leave thee, to perform her orders.
• Sémiramis and her I shall obey,
• And them alone: a day perhaps may come
• When thou shalt be our master: heaven sometimes
• In anger sends us kings: but thou art deceived,
• At least in one of thy ambitious views,
• If amongst thy subjects thou hast ranked Arsaces.

assur.

• The measure’s full: thou courtest thy own destruction.

SCENE III.

assur, azema.

assur.

• I’ve borne his insolence too long already,
• ’Tis time we enter on a nobler subject,
• And worthier thy attention.

azema.

• Can there be one?
• But speak.

assur.

• Ere long all Asia shall attend
• On our resolves, and low concerns like these
• Must pass unheeded by: a world demands
• Our mutual care: Sémiramis is now
• The shadow of herself, her glory’s past,
• That star which shone with such transcendent lustre,
• Declining now, sends forth a feeble ray;
• The people see and wonder at her fall,
• Whilst every tongue demands a—successor:
• That word sufficeth: you well know my right:
• ’Tis not for love to deal forth sovereign power,
• And point out who shall rule in Babylon;
• Not that my soul, to beauty blind, would make
• A virtue of insensibility;
• But I should blush for thee and for myself,
• To see the welfare of a nation thus
• Dependent on a sigh: thoughts worthier both
• Must guide my fortune, and determine thine:
• Our ancestors the same, we should offend
• Their venerable shades, and lose the world
• By not uniting: I astonish you:
• These are harsh words for tender age like thine;
• But I address me to the kings and heroes
• From whom you sprung, to all those demigods
• Whom here you represent: too long trod down
• Beneath a woman’s feet their ashes lay,
• Their glories she eclipsed, usurped their power,
• And fettered vanquished nations with her laws;
• But she is gone, and thou must now support
• The building she had raised: she had thy beauty,
• And thou must have her courage: let not love
• Or folly wrest the sceptre from thy hand,
• But grasp it close: you will not sacrifice
• To a Sarmatian’s idle passion for you
• The name you ought to honor, and the throne
• You should ascend, of universal empire.

azema.

• Let not Arsaces be the theme, my lord,
• Of your reproaches, but depend on me
• To vindicate the honor of my race,
• And to defend, whene’er occasion calls,
• The rights of my loved ancestors; I know
• Their worth and virtues, but I know not one
• Amongst the heroes which Assyria boasts
• More great, more virtuous, more beloved, than he,
• Than this Sarmatian, whom you thus disdain.
• Do justice to his merit: for myself,
• When I shall bend to Hymen’s laws, the queen
• Must guide my choice, and at her hands alone
• Will I receive a master: for the crowd,
• The babbling echo of one secret voice,
• I heed it not; nor know I if the people
• Are tired of their obedience to a woman,
• But still I see them bow the knee before her;
• And if they murmur, murmur in the dust:
• The hand of heaven, they say, is raised against her:
• I am a stranger to her guilt, but think
• That heaven would never have made choice of thee
• To tell its high commands, or minister
• Its justice to mankind: Sémiramis
• Is still a queen, and you who lord it here
• Receive from her the laws which you dispense:
• For me, I own her power, and hers alone:
• My glory is to obey, be thine the same.

SCENE IV.

assur, cedar.

assur.

• Obey! I blush to think how long already
• I have obeyed: O insupportable!
• But say, hast thou succeeded, are the seeds
• Of hatred sown in secret through the realm?
• Will they spring up into a fruitful harvest
• Of discord, and rebellion?

cedar.

• All is well:
• The people, long deluded by the arts
• And dazzling glory of Sémiramis,
• At length have lost their idle veneration:
• No longer chained to silence, they demand
• A successor: each lover of his country
• Calls for a master, and looks up to thee.

assur.

• Heart-burning care! and ever-during shame!
• Still must my hopes, my fate depend on her?
• Was it for this that Ninus and his son
• Fell by my hand, that Assur might be still
• Only her first of slaves? So near the throne,
• To languish in illustrious servitude,
• And only be the second of mankind!
• The queen was satisfied with Ninus’ death,
• But I went further, and pursued my blow:
• Ninias, in secret murdered by my order,
• Opened my passage to the throne; but she
• Denied me entrance.—A long time in vain
• I soothed her pride with flattery on her charms;
• Still hoped one day to gain upon her youth
• That happy influence which assiduous care
• And humble adoration seldom fail
• To win o’er artless minds that bend with ease:
• I little knew the firmness of her soul,
• Inflexible, and bold; the world alone
• Could satisfy her pride: she seemed indeed
• Most worthy of it: spite of my resentment,
• I own she was, and yield the praise she merits.
• The reins of empire, that flowed loose before,
• Strongly she held; appeased the murmuring crowd,
• Silenced their plaints, and quashed conspiring rebels;
• Fought like a hero, like a monarch ruled:
• She led her army and her people captive,
• And spite of fame, with more than magic art,
• Chained down the minds of men: the universe
• Astonished stood, and trembled at her feet.
• In short, her beauty, woman’s best support,
• Strengthened the laws which power and valor made;
• And when I strove to raise conspiracies
• My friends stood mute, and only could admire her.
• At length the charm is broke: her power decays;
• Her genius droops; remorse, and idle fears,
• And fond credulity have bound her faith
• To lying oracles, which knavish priests
• Had taught to speak in Egypt’s barren plain:
• She pours her daily incense at their altars,
• And wearies heaven with vows: Sémiramis
• Creeps on a level now with common mortals,
• And condescends to fear: I know her weakness:
• Know, till she falls, Assur can never rise:
• But I have raised the people’s voice against her,
• And she must yield: this blow decides her fate:
• If she consents to give me Azema,
• She is no longer queen; if she refuses,
• The kingdom will revolt: on every side
• The snare is laid, and nothing now can save her.
• Yet, after all, perhaps I am deceived,
• And fortune, so long called for, comes at last
• But to betray me.

cedar.

• If the queen is forced
• To name a successor, and yields the princess
• To Assur’s bed, what can he have to fear,
• When the divided branch of Asia’s kings
• Shall be united? all conspires to pave
• Your way to empire.

assur.

• Azema is safe;
• She must be mine; but wherefore send so far
• For this Arsaces? she supports him too;
• And when I would chastise his insolence,
• Her interposing hand prevents me still:
• A minister without the power, a prince
• Without a subject, girt around with honors,
• And yet a poor dependent, what is Assur?
• All, all unite to persecute me now:
• A peevish mistress, and a haughty rival,
• Consulted priests that teach their gods to speak
• Against me; with Sémiramis, who strives
• To free herself, yet trembles at my presence:
• But we shall see how far this proud ingrate
• Will urge an angry rebel who defies her.

SCENE V.

assur, otanes, cedar.

otanes.

• My lord, the queen commands you to attend her
• In secret, and alone.

assur.

• I shall obey
• Her sacred orders, and with care perform
• My sovereign’s will.

SCENE VI.

assur, cedar.

assur.

• Whence springs this sudden change?
• These three months past she has avoided me,
• Even as the object of her hatred: oft
• When she beheld me she would cast her eyes
• Down on the earth, as if she loathed the sight:
• Whene’er we met, ’twas in a gaping crowd
• Of hearers; when she spoke, her sighs and tears
• Would interrupt our converse, or perchance
• Silence was all the answer she would give me.
• What can she want? What can she say to me?
• But here she comes: ’tis she—wait you within.
• [To Cedar.

SCENE VII.

sémiramis, assur.

sémiramis.

• My lord, I come to ease a troubled heart
• Of its long hidden woes, and pour it all
• Before you: I have ruled o’er Asia long,
• And not ingloriously: Babylon perhaps
• May pay this tribute to my memory,
• And say Sémiramis deserved to rank
• Among the greatest of her kings: thy hands
• Have helped me to support the weight of empire;
• With absolute dominion have I ruled,
• Adored by all, and crowned with victory
• On every side: intoxicated long
• With flattery’s pleasing incense, I forgot
• The crimes that raised me to this envied state;
• Forgot the justice of high heaven: it comes;
• It speaks to me: Sémiramis must yield:
• This noble structure, which I fondly thought
• Superior to the injuries of time,
• Is tottering now, and shakes from its foundation;
• Means must be found to strengthen and support it.

assur.

• The work is yours, and you must finish it:
• Foresee the attacks of time, and stop his rapine:
• Who shall obscure the lustre of thy days,
• Or wherefore fearest thou heaven whilst earth obeys thee?

sémiramis.

• Yonder the ashes of my husband lie;
• Canst thou look there, and wonder at my fears?

assur.

• I cannot bear to hear the noisy crowd
• Still talk of Ninus: wherefore should remembrance
• Call back the thoughts of that inglorious reign?
• Can they believe, that, after fifteen years,
• His angry spirit still calls out for justice?
• Ere now he would have taken due vengeance on us,
• Had he the power: why from the peaceful realms
• Of dark oblivion wouldst thou call the dead,
• Or search for truth in lying oracles?
• I am astonished too, but ’tis at thee,
• And thy vain fears: to make the gods propitious,
• We must be resolute: this idle phantom,
• At once the child and parent of your fears,
• Why should it thus alarm you? Prodigies
• Never appear to those who dread them not:
• Baits to allure the unthinking multitude,
• By knaves invented, and by fools believed;
• The great despise them: but if nobler views
• Inspire thy soul to immortalize the blood
• Of Belus, if the beauteous Azema
• Claims her high rank.—

sémiramis.

• Assur, on that I came
• To speak with thee: our Babylon demands,
• For such is Ammon’s will, a successor:
• Heaven and my people will be satisfied
• When I shall take a partner to my throne:
• Thou knowest, my pride could never condescend
• To a divided sway; ’twas my resolve
• To rule alone, while the impatient world
• Urged me in vain; and when the people’s voice,
• Which now is echoed by the voice of heaven,
• Still presses me, in the bloom of youth, to give
• A sovereign to mankind, I still refused:
• If I had yielded then to any claim,
• It had been thine; you had a right to hope,
• And to expect it; but you knew too well,
• How much Sémiramis abhorred a master.
• Without submitting to a tie so fatal,
• I made thee then the second of mankind,
• And only not my equal; ’twas enough,
• I thought, to satisfy even thy ambition.
• At length the gods make known their will divine,
• And I obey them: hear the oracle:
• “All shall again be well at Babylon,
• When Hymen’s torch a second time shall blaze
• Propitious; then shalt thou, O cruel wife,
• And wretched mother, then shall thou appease
• The shade of Ninus.” Thus the voice of heaven
• Declares its sacred will: I know thy arts;
• Know, thou hast formed a party in the state,
• And mean to oppose me with the royal blood
• From whence you sprung: from thee and Azema
• My successor, it seems, must rise; I know
• You look that way, and she perhaps aspires
• To equal honors; but, observe me well:
• I shall not suffer your united claims
• To rob me of my right: remember, sir,
• You know my will; ’tis constant, and as fate
• Irrevocable: thinkest thou now the God
• Whose arm is lifted o’er me hath deprived
• My soul of all its wonted strength and spirit,
• Or dost thou still behold Sémiramis,
• Who can support the honor of her throne?
• Know, Babylon ere long shall at my hands
• Receive a master: whether the high choice
• Shall fall on thee, or be another’s lot,
• I’ll take a sovereign as a sovereign ought:
• Bring me the magi and the princess here
• To join their voices with Sémiramis.
• To give away my freedom and my empire
• Is the first, greatest act of royal power,
• And therefore let it be performed with awe
• And silence due to my authority.
• Heaven hath appointed this great day to show
• Its mercy to me, and the gods at length
• Remit their anger; nothing can disarm it
• But my repentance; ’tis the only virtue:
• Trust me, it is, howe’er you may despise it,
• Remaining for the guilty: weak, I know,
• And fearful thou esteemest me; but henceforth
• Remember, Assur, guilt alone is weakness:
• Think not that fear can e’er disgrace a throne,
• It has done good to kings, and might to thee;
• I tell thee, statesman, to obey the gods,
• And tremble at their power, is no abasement.

SCENE VIII.

assur.

• [Alone.
• Astonishment! such language, such designs!
• Or is it artifice, or weakness in her,
• Or cowardice or courage? Does she mean,
• By yielding thus, to prop her tottering power,
• And by our union to defeat my purpose?
• I must not think, it seems, of Azema,
• Because, perhaps, I’m destined for herself.
• It must be so. What all my cares in vain
• Solicited, my flattery of her charms,
• My deep intrigues, and our united crimes,
• With all her fears, could never gain, at length
• An idle dream, and a dark oracle
• From Egypt have performed. What power unknown
• Decrees the fate of mortals? Great events
• Hang on the slenderest thread: still I am doubtful:
• I’ll see Sémiramis again; she seemed
• Too much in haste; such sudden resolutions
• Betray an overanxious mind, and those
• Who change with ease are either weak, or wicked.

End of the Second Act.