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 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow ACT V. - The Works of Voltaire, Vol. IX The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Alzire, Orestes, Sémiramis, Catiline, Pandora) and Part II (The Scotch Woman, Nanine, The Prude, The Tatler).

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ACT V. - Voltaire, The Works of Voltaire, Vol. IX The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Alzire, Orestes, Sémiramis, Catiline, Pandora) and Part II (The Scotch Woman, Nanine, The Prude, The Tatler). [1901]

Edition used:

From The Works of Voltaire, A Contemporary Version, (New York: E.R. DuMont, 1901), A Critique and Biography by John Morley, notes by Tobias Smollett, trans. William F. Fleming. Vol. IX The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Alzire, Orestes, Sémiramis, Catiline, Pandora) and Part II (The Scotch Woman, Nanine, The Prude, The Tatler).

Part of: The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version, in 21 vols.

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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.

sémiramis, otanes.

otanes.

  • O ’twas some god that smiled propitious on thee,
  • Who thus prevented these abhorred nuptials;
  • Whilst nature shuddered at the approaching danger,
  • Gave thee a son, and saved thee thus from incest.
  • The oracles of Ammon, and the voice
  • From hell, the shades of Ninus, all declared
  • The day appointed for thy second marriage
  • Should end thy sorrows, but they never said
  • That marriage e’er should be accomplished: No:
  • The nuptials were prepared: thou hast fulfilled
  • Thy destiny: thy son reveres thee still:
  • Mild is the justice of offended heaven,
  • Which only asks a private sacrifice:
  • This day Sémiramis shall still be happy.

sémiramis.

  • Alas! there is no happiness for me,
  • Otanes: Ninias smiles indeed upon me:
  • A mother’s sorrows for a time will plead
  • More strongly with him than the blood of Ninus,
  • And my past crimes; but soon his tenderness
  • And filial love may change perhaps to wrath
  • And fierce resentment for a murdered father.

otanes.

  • What fearest thou from a son? what dire presage—

sémiramis.

  • Fear is the natural punishment of guilt,
  • And still attends it: this detested Assur,
  • Has he attempted aught, say, does he know
  • What passed of late, and who Arsaces is?

otanes.

  • The dreadful secret still remains unknown;
  • The shade of Ninus is by all revered;
  • But how to comprehend the oracle
  • They know not; how they must avenge his ashes;
  • How serve his son—the minds of men are struck
  • With wild astonishment, in silence now
  • They wait the hour when the self-opened tomb
  • Shall banish all their fears, and make them happy.
  • Meantime the soldiers are in arms, the people
  • Crowd to the altars; wretched Azema,
  • Trembling and pale, with terror in her looks,
  • Walks round the tomb, and lifts her hands to heaven;
  • Whilst Ninias stands astonished in the temple,
  • Prepared to strike his victim yet unknown:
  • The gloomy Assur meditates revenge,
  • Unites the remnants of his scattered party,
  • And forms some dark design.

sémiramis.

  • I have kept fair
  • Too long already with him: seize the traitor,
  • Otanes, bear him to my son in chains;
  • Ninias shall soon appease eternal justice,
  • At least with Assur’s blood, my vile accomplice.
  • Ninus, thou seest I am a mother still;
  • Thou seest my heart, O take it, take it all,
  • And may it rise a grateful sacrifice!
  • Ha! who approaches with such hasty steps?
  • How everything appals my fluttering soul!

SCENE II.

sémiramis, azema, otanes.

azema.

  • O Queen, forgive me if I come uncalled;
  • But terrors worse than death have forced me thus
  • To clasp thy knees, and beg thy royal mercy—

sémiramis.

  • What wouldst thou, princéss? speak.

azema.

  • To snatch a hero
  • From instant danger, stop a traitor’s hand,
  • And save Arsaces.

sémiramis.

  • Ha! what hand? Arsaces!

azema.

  • He is thy husband, Azema’s betrayed,
  • He lives for you alone; no matter—

sémiramis.

  • He
  • My husband! gods!

azema.

  • The sacred tie that binds you—

sémiramis.

  • The tie is dreadful, impious, and abhorred:
  • Arsaces is—but speak, go on; I tremble:
  • What dangers? haste, and tell me.

azema.

  • Well thou knowest,
  • Perhaps this very moment, whilst I ask
  • Thy aid, perhaps—

sémiramis.

  • Well, what?

azema.

  • That demigod
  • Whom we adore, demands the sacrifice
  • Within the dreary labyrinths of the tomb:
  • What are the crimes Arsaces must atone for
  • I know not.

sémiramis.

  • Crimes! just heaven!

azema.

  • But impious Assur
  • Hath sworn to violate that sacred place
  • Which mortals dare not enter.

sémiramis.

  • Ay! indeed!
  • Hath Assur sworn it?

azema.

  • In the dead of night
  • The wily traitor had long since secured
  • A safe retreat, if e’er occasion called,
  • Within the secret windings of the tomb,
  • Where now he means to do the bloody deed,
  • To brave the powers of hell, and wrath of heaven;
  • With sacrilegious hand he would destroy
  • The generous Arsaces.

sémiramis.

  • Heaven! what sayest thou?
  • By what detested means?

azema.

  • Believe a heart
  • By love enlightened, and by love inspired:
  • I know the traitor’s rank envenomed hatred,
  • Marked how the trembling faction by his zeal
  • Revived; I pried into their secret councils,
  • Pretended to unite his cause with mine,
  • And join our interests; I have looked into him,
  • Have wrested from his heart the fatal secret.
  • Boldly he marches on, and hopes to pass
  • Unpunished: well he knows that none dare enter
  • That holy place, not Oroes himself:
  • Thither he’s gone: meantime his slaves report
  • Arsaces is the victim that must die
  • For Babylon, and Ninus in his blood
  • Shall satiate his revenge: the nobles meet,
  • The people murmur; Ninus, Assur, heaven,
  • Are all incensed: I tremble for Arsaces.

sémiramis.

  • My dearest Azema, heaven speaks by thee:
  • It is enough: I see what must be done.
  • Repose thyself with safety on a mother;
  • Daughter, our danger is the same; go thou,
  • Defend thy husband, I will save my son.

azema.

  • O heaven!

sémiramis.

  • I meant to wed him, but the gods
  • In mercy have forbade it: they inspire
  • A hapless mother now—but time is precious;
  • Go: leave me here, and in my name command
  • The nobles, priests, and people, to attend me.
  • [Azema goes into the porch of the temple, and Sémiramis advances toward the tomb.
  • Thou shade of Ninus, lo! I fly to avenge thee;
  • The hour is come when thou didst promise me
  • Admittance to thy tomb; I have obeyed thee,
  • Called by thy voice, behold me here to save
  • My son. Ye guards that wait around my throne
  • Approach: henceforth Arsaces is your king;
  • No more obedient to Sémiramis,
  • Observe his laws, to him the sovereign power
  • I here resign: be you his subject now,
  • And his defenders.
  • [Guards appear, and range themselves on each side at the further part of the stage.
  • Gracious heaven! protect me.
  • [She goes into the tomb.

SCENE III.

azema.

  • [Returning from the porch of the temple to the front of the stage.
  • What can she purpose? O it is too late
  • To save him now; I know not what to think:
  • ’Tis wondrous all; O ’tis a dreadful moment,
  • Arsaces! Ninias! ye immortal powers
  • Who guide our fate, O say, did you restore
  • My loved Arsaces but to snatch him from me?

SCENE IV.

azema, ninias.

azema.

  • Ha! Ninias! can it be? Art thou indeed
  • Great Ninus’ son, my sovereign, and my husband?

ninias.

  • O! thou beholdest me, Azema, ashamed
  • To know myself, sprung from the blood of gods,
  • And shuddering at the thought: O! Azema,
  • Remove my terrors, calm my troubled soul,
  • Strengthen my arm upraised to avenge a father.

azema.

  • Take heed how thou performest that dreadful office.

ninias.

  • He hath commanded, and I must obey.

azema.

  • Ninus would never sacrifice his son:
  • Impossible!

ninias.

  • What says my Azema?

azema.

  • Ne’er shalt thou enter that abhorred place,
  • For know, a traitor lies in wait for thee.

ninias.

  • Who shall withhold or terrify Arsaces?

azema.

  • Thou art the victim to be offered there:
  • With sacrilegious steps the impious Assur
  • Profanes the sacred tomb, and rashly dares
  • To violate its privilege divine:
  • He waits thee there.

ninias.

  • Good heaven! then all is plain;
  • I’m satisfied: the victim is prepared;
  • My father, poisoned by the wicked Assur,
  • Demands the traitor’s blood: instructed thus
  • By Oroes, and conducted by the gods,
  • Armed by the hand of Ninus’ self, I go
  • To punish the assassin: thither led
  • By heaven’s eternal justice, my weak hand
  • Is but the instrument of power divine:
  • The gods do all, and my astonished soul
  • Yields to that voice which must decree my fate:
  • Spite of ourselves, our ways are noted down,
  • Marked, and determined: prodigies are spread
  • Around the throne, and spirits called from hell
  • To wander here: but fearless I obey.
  • Believe, and trust in heaven.

azema.

  • Whate’er the gods
  • Have done but fills my soul with sad dismay:
  • Ninus was loved by them; yet Ninus perished.

ninias.

  • But now they will avenge him: cease thy plaints.

azema.

  • Oft have they chose the purest victim, oft
  • Have shed the blood of innocence.

ninias.

  • No more;
  • They will defend whom thus they have united:
  • They by a father’s voice exhorted us,
  • Gave me a throne, a mother, and a wife.
  • Soon shalt thou see me sprinkled with the blood
  • Of the vile murderer; from the tomb those gods
  • Shall lead me to the altar; I obey;
  • It is enough: the rest be left to heaven.

SCENE V.

azema.

  • [Alone.
  • O guard his footsteps in this fatal tomb!
  • Ye powers inscrutable, whose blood must flow
  • This day? I tremble for the event, and dread
  • The hand of Assur, long inured to slaughter;
  • Even on his father’s ashes may he shed
  • The blood of Ninias: O may the dark womb
  • Of hell receive and swallow up his rage!
  • Ye lightnings blast him! O illustrious shade
  • Of Ninus, wherefore wouldst thou not permit
  • A wretched wife to go with her dear lord?
  • O guide, support him in this place of darkness!
  • Did I not hear the voice of Ninias mixed
  • With deadly groans? O would this sacred tomb,
  • Which I profane, but open to my wishes
  • The gate of death!—I will descend:—I go—
  • Hark! the earth shakes, and dreadful lightnings flash
  • Athwart the skies: fear, hope, despair—he comes.

SCENE VI.

ninias,a bloody sword in his hand,azema.

ninias.

  • O heaven! Where am I?

azema.

  • O! my lord, you’re pale,
  • And bloody, frozen with horror.

ninias.

  • ’Tis the blood
  • Of the vile parricide: I wandered down
  • Even to the bottom of the tomb; my father
  • Still led me onward through its winding paths,
  • He walked before, and pointed out the place
  • Of my revenge: there, by the imperfect light
  • That glimmered through the dreary vault, I saw,
  • Or thought I saw, upraised the murderer’s sword:
  • Methought he trembled; guilt is ever fearful:
  • Twice did I plunge my sword into his heart,
  • And with my bloody arm, which rage had strengthened,
  • Had dragged him in the dust towards the place
  • Whence the dim rays of light appeared: and yet
  • I own to thee, his deep heart-rending sighs,
  • The mournful sounds, imperfect as they were,
  • That reached my ears, his humble vows to heaven,
  • With that repentance which in his last hour
  • Seemed to possess his soul, the hallowed place,
  • The voice of pity, which, revenge once o’er,
  • Calls loudly on us, with I know not what
  • Of dark mysterious terror, shook my soul,
  • And made me leave the bleeding victim there.
  • What can this trouble, this strange horror mean
  • That dwells upon me, Azema? My heart
  • Is pure, ye gods, my hands are innocent,
  • Stained only with the blood you bid me shed;
  • I’ve served the cause of heaven, and yet am wretched.

azema.

  • The dead are satisfied, and nature too:
  • Come let us quit this horrid place, and seek
  • Thy mother, she shall calm thy troubled mind:
  • Since Assur is no more—

SCENE VII.

ninias, azema, assur.

[Assur appears at a distance with Otanes, surrounded by guards.

azema.

  • O heaven! he’s there.

ninias.

  • Assur!

azema.

  • O haste, ye ministers of heaven,
  • Ye servants of the king, defend your master.

SCENE VIII.

oroes,the high priest, with the magi and people assembled,otanes, ninias, azema, mitranes, assur.

[Disarmed.

otanes.

  • They need not: by the queen’s command I’ve seized
  • The traitor, who attempted to profane
  • Yon sacred monument, and enter there:
  • I shall deliver him to thee.

ninias.

  • Alas!
  • What victim then hath Ninias sacrificed?

oroes.

  • Heaven is appeased, and vengeance now complete.
  • Behold, ye people, your king’s murderer.
  • [Pointing to Assur.
  • Behold, ye people, your king’s successor.
  • [Pointing to Ninias.
  • ’Tis Ninias, Babylon’s lost prince, restored:
  • He is your sovereign, know him, and obey.

assur.

  • Thou Ninias!

oroes.

  • Ay; ’tis he: the guardian god,
  • Who saved him from thy rage, hath brought him hither;
  • That god whose vengeance hath o’erthrown thee.

assur.

  • Ha! did Sémiramis then give thee life?

ninias.

  • She did, and power withal to punish thee:
  • Guards take him hence, and rid me of a monster.
  • He was not worthy of my sword; to fall
  • By Ninias’ hand had been a death too glorious.
  • The victim hath escaped me; let him die,
  • Even as he lived, with infamy: away.

assur.

  • It is my heaviest punishment to see
  • Ninias my sovereign: but ’tis pleasure still
  • To leave thee more unhappy than myself;
  • [Sémiramis appears at the foot of the tomb, wounded, and almost dead, one of the magi supporting her.
  • Look yonder, and behold what thou hast done.
  • [Pointing to Sémiramis.

ninias.

  • Whom have I slain?

azema.

  • Fly, my dear Ninias, fly
  • This fatal place.

mitranes.

  • What hast thou done?

oroes.

  • [Placing himself between Ninias and the tomb.
  • Away;
  • And cleanse those bloody hands: give me the sword,
  • That fatal instrument of wrath divine.

ninias.

  • No: let me plunge it to my heart.
  • [He attempts to destroy himself, the guards interpose.

oroes.

  • Disarm him.

sémiramis.

  • [Brought forward and seated on a sofa.
  • Revenge me, O my son; some base assassin
  • Has slain thy mother.

ninias.

  • O unhappy hour;
  • Unheard of guilt! for know, that base assassin,
  • That monster was—thy son: this hand hath pierced
  • The breast that nourished and supported me:
  • But soon thou shalt have vengeance, Ninias soon
  • Shall follow thee.

sémiramis.

  • I went into the tomb
  • To save thee, Ninias; thy unhappy mother—
  • But from thy hands, I have received the fate
  • I merited.

ninias.

  • This last, this fatal stroke,
  • Sinks deep into my soul: but here I call
  • Those gods to witness who conducted me,
  • Those who misled my steps—

sémiramis.

  • No more, my son:
  • Freely I pardon thee, and only make
  • This last request, that those dear hands may close
  • My dying eyes.
  • [He kneels.
  • A mother begs it of thee:
  • Thy heart I know was stranger to the deed:
  • O would that I had been as innocent
  • When Ninus died! but I have suffered for it.
  • Henceforth let mortals know, that there are crimes
  • Offended heaven never can forgive.
  • O Ninias, Azema, let your blessed union
  • Blot out my crimes; come near your dying mother;
  • Give me your hands; long may ye live and reign
  • In happiness! that hope still gives me comfort,
  • And mingles joy even with the pangs of death.
  • It comes, I feel it. O! my children, think
  • On your Sémiramis, O do not hate
  • My memory,—O my son, my son—’tis past.

oroes.

  • Her eyes are sunk in darkness: help the king
  • And guard his life. Learn from her sad example,
  • That heaven is witness to our secret crimes:
  • The higher is the criminal, remember,
  • The gods inflict the greater punishment;
  • Kings, tremble on your thrones, and fear their justice.

End of the Fifth and Last Act.

CATILINE