Indicating the surrounding women.
Danaë.
Your house shall be the firmer by your sentence.
She takes the sleeping child in her arms, and mounts the stair quickly.
Several Women.
The child; she has the child.
Laodice. Yes. And then?
Danaë, pausing by a column.
The common run of men make small account
Of high religion; and they are very right.
I saved my lover, and I now receive
This recognition from the Powers who still
Dispose of us: Laodice killed hers,
And she is held deserving of all that honour.
Laodice, pointing at the Fourth Woman.
Thrust her down, you.
Danaë disappears while the Fourth Woman stealthily mounts the stair. Laodice has thrown herself on the divan, with her back to the colonnade.
To-morrow will be soon.
To-morrow I will sit with men in council,
And muster men to leaguer Ephesus.
These fretting hens, these women, burden me—
I know their eyes too well; let them keep hid.
To-morrow I will walk upon the harbour,
And board my ships and see them manned and ready—
No, no, I will not step toward the sea....
Several Women, as Laodice speaks.
Ai! Ai! Is she down? Not yet....
I cannot see.... No one can see.
Second Woman, sobbing in the corner near the stair.
My necklace
Save my dear gems!
Fourth Woman, from the colonnade.
She is not here. She falls.
Laodice.
Is that hoarse dashing how the surge receives her?
Fourth Woman.
It is the old recession of the waves;
The rocks are bare. No movement could be seen;
No pallor could emerge. There is no sound.
Laodice, in a dull voice.
She was as false as all the rest of you;
But she was brave. Remember that she died;
Be cowards still, and so be false and safe.
She had a lulling hand.... Put me to sleep.
Rhodogune goes toward her.
Curtain.