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!