SCENE II.
The Hall as before.—Sudden brightness.
ZEUS in the shape of a youth.—MERCURY in the distance.
ZEUS.
Thou son of Maia!
MERCURY. (Kneeling, with his head bowed reverentially.)
Zeus!
ZEUS. Up! Hasten! Turn
Thy pinions' flight toward far Scamander's bank!
A shepherd there is weeping o'er the grave
Of his loved shepherdess. No one shall weep
When Zeus is loving: Call the dead to life!
MERCURY. (Rising.)
Let but thy head a nod almighty give,
And in an instant I am there,—am back
In the same instant—
ZEUS. Stay! As I o'er Argos
Was flying, from my temples curling rose
The sacrificial smoke: it gave me joy
That thus the people worship me—so fly
To Ceres, to my sister,—thus speaks Zeus:
"Ten-thousandfold for fifty years to come
Let her reward the Argive husbandmen!"—
MERCURY.
With trembling haste I execute thy wrath,—
With joyous speed thy messages of grace,
Father of all! For to the deities
'Tis bliss to make man happy; to destroy him
Is anguish to the gods. Thy will be done!
Where shall I pour into thine ears their thanks,—
Below in dust, or at thy throne on high?
ZEUS.
Here at my throne on earth—within the palace,
Of Semele! Away! [Exit Mercury.
Does she not come,
As is her wont, Olympus' mighty king
To clasp against her rapture-swelling breast?
Why hastens not my Semele to meet me?
A vacant, deathlike, fearful silence reigns
On every side around the lonely palace,
So wont to ring with wild bacchantic shouts—
No breath is stirring—on Cithaeron's height
Exulting Juno stands. Will Semele
Never again make haste to meet her Zeus?
(A pause, after which he continues.)
Ha! Can yon impious one perchance have dared
To set her foot in my love's sanctuary?—
Saturnia—Mount Cithaeron—her rejoicings
Fearful foreboding!—Semele—yet peace!—
Take courage!—I'm thy Zeus! the scattered heavens
Shall learn, my Semele, that I'm thy Zeus!
Where is the breath of air that dares presume
Roughly to blow on her whom Zeus calls His?
I scoff at all her malice.—Where art thou,
O Semele? I long have pined to rest
My world-tormented head upon thy breast,—
To lull my wearied senses to repose
From the wild storm of earthly joys and woes,—
To dream away the emblems of my might,
My reins, my tiller, and my chariot bright,
And live for naught beyond the joys of love!
Oh heavenly inspiration, that can move
Even the Gods divine! What is the blood
Of mighty Uranus—what all the flood
Of nectar and ambrosia—what the throne
Of high Olympus—what the power I own,
The golden sceptre of the starry skies—
What the omnipotence that never dies,
What might eternal, immortality—
What e'en a god, oh love, if reft of thee?
The shepherd who, beside the murmuring brooks,
Leans on his true love's breast, nor cares to look
After his straying lambs, in that sweet hour
Envies me not my thunderbolt of power!
She comes—she hastens nigh! Pearl of my works,
Woman! the artist who created thee
Should be adored. 'Twas I—myself I worship
Zeus worships Zeus, for Zeus created thee.
Ha! Who will now, in all the being-realm,
Condemn me? How unseen, yes, how despised
Dwindle away my worlds, my constellations
So ray-diffusing, all my dancing systems,
What wise men call the music of my spheres!—
How dead are all when weighed against a soul!
(Semele approaches, without looking up.)
My pride! my throne on earth! Oh Semele!
(He rushes towards her; she seeks to fly.)
Thou flyest?—art mute?—Ha! Semele! thou flyest?
SEMELE. (Repulsing him.)
Away!
ZEUS. (After a pause of astonishment.)
Is Jupiter asleep? Will Nature
Rush to her fall?—Can Semele speak thus?
What, not an answer? Eagerly mine arms
Toward thee are stretched—my bosom never throbbed
Responsive to Agenor's daughter,—never
Throbbed against Leda's breast,—my lips ne'er burned
For the sweet kiss of prisoned Danae,
As now—
SEMELE. Peace, traitor! Peace!
ZEUS. (With displeasure, but tenderly.) My Semele!
SEMELE.
Out of my sight!
ZEUS. (Looking at her with majesty.)
Know, I am Zeus!
SEMELE. Thou Zeus?
Tremble, Salmoneus, for he fearfully
Will soon demand again the stolen charms
That thou hast robbed him of—thou art not Zeus!
ZEUS. (With dignity.)
The mighty universe around me whirls,
And calls me so—
SEMELE. Ha! Fearful blasphemy!
ZEUS. (More gently.)
How, my divine one? Wherefore such a tone?
What reptile dares to steal thine heart from me?
SEMELE.
My heart was vowed to him whose ape thou art!
Men ofttimes come beneath a godlike form
To snare a woman. Hence! thou art not Zeus!
ZEUS.
Thou doubtest? What! Can Semele still doubt
My godhead?
SEMELE. (Mournfully.)
Would that thou wert Zeus! No son
Of morrow-nothingness shall touch this mouth;
This heart is vowed to Zeus! Would thou wert he!
ZEUS. Thou weepest? Zeus is here,—weeps Semele?
(Falling down before her.)
Speak! But command! and then shall slavish nature
Lie trembling at the feet of Cadmus' daughter!
Command! and streams shall instantly make halt—
And Helicon, and Caucasus, and Cynthus,
And Athos, Mycale, and Rhodope, and Pindus,
Shall burst their bonds when I order it so,
And kiss the valleys and plains below,
And dance in the breeze like flakes of snow.
Command! and the winds from the east and the north,
And the fierce tornado shall sally forth,
While Poseidon's trident their power shall own,
When they shake to its base his watery throne;
The billows in angry fury shall rise,
And every sea-mark and dam despise;
The lightning shall gleam through the firmament black
While the poles of earth and of heaven shall crack,
The ocean the heights of Olympus explore,
From thousandfold jaws with wild deafening roar
The thunder shall howl, while with mad jubilee
The hurricane fierce sings in triumph to thee.
Command—
SEMELE, I'm but a woman, a frail woman
How can the potter bend before his pot?
How can the artist kneel before his statue?
ZEUS.
Pygmalion bowed before his masterpiece—
And Zeus now worships his own Semele!
SEMELE. (Weeping bitterly.)
Arise—arise! Alas for us poor maidens!
Zeus has my heart, gods only can I love,
The gods deride me, Zeus despises me!
ZEUS. Zeus who is now before thy feet—
SEMELE. Arise!
Zeus reigns on high, above the thunderbolts,
And, clasped in Juno's arms, a reptile scorns.
ZEUS. (Hastily.)
Ha! Semele and Juno!—which the reptile!
SEMELE.
How blessed beyond all utterance would be
Cadmus' daughter—wert thou Zeus! Alas!
Thou art not Zeus!
ZEUS. (Arises.) I am!
(He extends his hand, and a rainbow fills the hall; music
accompanies its appearance.)
Knowest thou me now?
SEMELE.
Strong is that mortal's arm whom gods protect,—
Saturnius loves thee—none can I e'er love
But deities—
ZEUS. What! art thou doubting still
Whether my might is lent me by the gods
And not god-born? The gods, my Semele,
In charity oft lend their strength to man;
Ne'er do the deities their terrors lend—
Death and destruction is the godhead's seal—
Bearer of death to thee were Zeus unveiled!
(He extends his hand. Thunder, fire, smoke, and earthquake.
Music accompanies the spell here and subsequently.)
SEMELE.
Withdraw, withdraw thy hand!—Oh, mercy, mercy,
For the poor nation! Yes, thou art the child
Of great Saturnius—
ZEUS. Ha! thou thoughtless one!
Shall Zeus, to please a woman's stubbornness,
Bid planets whirl, and bid the suns stand still?
Zeus will do so!—oft has a god's descendant
Ripped up the fire-impregnate womb of rocks,
And yet his might's confined to Tellus' bounds
Zeus only can do this!
(He extends his hand—the sun vanishes, and it becomes
suddenly night.)
SEMELE. (Falling down before him.)
Almighty one!
Couldst thou but love! [Day reappears.
ZEUS. Ha! Cadmus' daughter asks
Kronion if Kronion e'er can love!
One word and he throws off divinity—
Is flesh and blood, and dies, and is beloved!
SEMELE.
Would Zeus do that?
ZEUS. Speak, Semele! What more?
Apollo's self confesses that 'tis bliss
To be a man 'mongst men—a sign from thee,
And I'm a man!
SEMELE. (Falling on his neck.)
Oh Jupiter, the Epidaurus women
Thy Semele a foolish maiden call,
Because, though by the Thunderer beloved,
She can obtain naught from him—
ZEUS. (Eagerly.) They shall blush,
Those Epidaurus women! Ask!—but ask!
And by the dreaded Styx—whose boundless might
Binds e'en the gods like slaves—if Zeus deny thee,
Then shall the gods, e'en in that self-same moment,
Hurl me despairing to annihilation!
SEMELE. (Springing up joyfully.)
By this I know that thou'rt my Jupiter!
Thou swearest—and the Styx has heard thine oath!
Let me embrace thee, then, in the same guise
In which—
ZEUS. (Shrieking with alarm.)
Unhappy one! Oh stay! oh stay!
SEMELE. Saturnia—
ZEUS. (Attempting to stop her mouth.)
Be thou dumb!
SEMELE. Embraces thee.
ZEUS. (Pale, and turning away.)
Too late! The sound escaped!—The Styx!—'Tis death
Thou, Semele, hast gained!
SEMELE. Ha! Loves Zeus thus?
ZEUS.
All heaven I would have given, had I only
Loved thee but less! (Gazing at her with cold
horror.) Thou'rt lost—
SEMELE. Oh, Jupiter!
ZEUS. (Speaking furiously to himself,)
Ah! Now I mark thine exultation, Juno!
Accursed jealousy! This rose must die!
Too fair—alas! too sweet for Acheron!
SEMELE.
Methinks thou'rt niggard of thy majesty!
ZEUS.
Accursed be my majesty, that now
Has blinded thee! Accursed be my greatness,
That must destroy thee! Cursed be I myself
For having built my bliss on crumbling dust!
SEMELE.
These are but empty terrors, Zeus! In truth
I do not dread thy threats!
ZEUS. Deluded child!
Go! take a last farewell forever more
Of all thy friends beloved—naught, naught has power
To save thee, Semele! I am thy Zeus!
Yet that no more—Go—
SEMELE. Jealous one! the Styx!—
Think not that thou'lt be able to escape me. [Exit.
ZEUS.
No! Juno shall not triumph.—She shall tremble—
Aye, and by virtue of the deadly might
That makes the earth and makes the heavens my footstool,
Upon the sharpest rock in Thracia's land
With adamantine chains I'll bind her fast.
But, oh, this oath—
[Mercury appears in the distance.
What means thy hasty flight?
MERCURY.
I bring the fiery, winged, and weeping thanks
Of those whom thou hast blessed—
ZEUS. Again destroy them!
MERCURY. (In amazement.)
Zeus!
ZEUS. None shall now be blessed! She dies—
[The curtain falls.