Close, as we might unseen, we watch’d his steps:
His hair disorder’d, and his gait unequal,
Betray’d the wild emotions of his mind.
Sudden he stops, and inward turns his eyes,
Absorb’d in thought; then, starting from his trance,
Constrains a sullen smile, and shoots away.
With him Abdalla we beheld —
MUSTAPHA.
Abdalla!
MAHOMET.
He wears, of late, resentment on his brow,
Deny’d the government of Servia’s province.
CARAZA.
We mark’d him storming in excess of fury,
And heard, within the thicket that conceal’d us,
An undistinguish’d sound of threat’ning rage.
MUSTAPHA.
How guilt, once harbour’d in the conscious breast,
Intimidates the brave, degrades the great;
See Cali, dread of kings, and pride of armies,
By treason levell’d with the dregs of men!
Ere guilty fear depress’d the hoary chief,
An angry murmur, a rebellious frown,
Had stretch’d the fiery boaster in the grave.
MAHOMET.
Shall monarchs fear to draw the sword of justice,
Aw’d by the crowd, and by their slaves restrain’d?
Seize him this night, and, through the private passage,
Convey him to the prison’s inmost depths,
Reserv’d to all the pangs of tedious death.
[Exeunt Mahomet and Mustapha.
SCENE IX.
HASAN, CARAZA.
HASAN.
Shall then the Greeks, unpunish’d and conceal’d,
Contrive, perhaps, the ruin of our empire;
League with our chiefs, and propagate sedition?
CARAZA.
Whate’er their scheme, the bassa’s death defeats it,
And gratitude’s strong ties restrain my tongue.
HASAN.
What ties to slaves? what gratitude to foes?
CARAZA.
In that black day, when slaughter’d thousands fell
Around these fatal walls, the tide of war
Bore me victorious onward, where Demetrius
Tore, unresisted, from the giant hand
Of stern Sebalias, the triumphant crescent,
And dash’d the might of Asam from the ramparts.
There I became, nor blush to make it known,
The captive of his sword. The coward Greeks,
Enrag’d by wrongs, exulting with success,
Doom’d me to die with all the Turkish captains;
But brave Demetrius scorn’d the mean revenge,
And gave me life. —
HASAN.
Do thou repay the gift,
Lest unrewarded mercy lose its charms.
Profuse of wealth, or bounteous of success,
When heav’n bestows the privilege to bless,
Let no weak doubt the gen’rous hand restrain;
For when was pow’r beneficent in vain? [Exeunt.
ACT V. — SCENE I.
ASPASIA, sola.
In these dark moments of suspended fate,
While yet the future fortune of my country
Lies in the womb of providence conceal’d,
And anxious angels wait the mighty birth;
O! grant thy sacred influence, pow’rful virtue!
Attentive rise, survey the fair creation,
Till, conscious of th’ encircling deity,
Beyond the mists of care thy pinion tow’rs.
This calm, these joys, dear innocence! are thine:
Joys ill exchang’d for gold, and pride, and empire.
[Enter Irene and attendants.
SCENE II.
ASPASIA, IRENE and attendants.
IRENE.
See how the moon, through all th’ unclouded sky,
Spreads her mild radiance, and descending dews
Revive the languid flow’rs; thus nature shone
New from the maker’s hand, and fair array’d
In the bright colours of primeval spring;
When purity, while fraud was yet unknown,
Play’d fearless in th’ inviolated shades.
This elemental joy, this gen’ral calm,
Is, sure, the smile of unoffended heav’n.
Yet! why —
MAID.
Behold, within th’ embow’ring grove
Aspasia stands —
IRENE.
With melancholy mien,
Pensive, and envious of Irene’s greatness.
Steal, unperceiv’d, upon her meditations
But see, the lofty maid, at our approach,
Resumes th’ imperious air of haughty virtue.
Are these th’ unceasing joys, th’ unmingled pleasures,
[To Aspasia.
For which Aspasia scorn’d the Turkish crown?
Is this th’ unshaken confidence in heav’n?
Is this the boasted bliss of conscious virtue?
When did content sigh out her cares in secret?
When did felicity repine in deserts?
ASPASIA.
Ill suits with guilt the gaieties of triumph;
When daring vice insults eternal justice,
The ministers of wrath forget compassion,
And snatch the flaming bolt with hasty hand.
IRENE.
Forbear thy threats, proud prophetess of ill,
Vers’d in the secret counsels of the sky.
ASPASIA.
Forbear! — But thou art sunk beneath reproach;
In vain affected raptures flush the cheek,
And songs of pleasure warble from the tongue,
When fear and anguish labour in the breast,
And all within is darkness and confusion.
Thus, on deceitful Etna’s flow’ry side,
Unfading verdure glads the roving eye;
While secret flames, with unextinguish’d rage,
Insatiate on her wasted entrails prey,
And melt her treach’rous beauties into ruin.
[Enter Demetrius.
SCENE III.
ASPASIA, IRENE, DEMETRIUS.
DEMETRIUS.
Fly, fly, my love! destruction rushes on us,
The rack expects us, and the sword pursues.
ASPASIA.
Is Greece deliver’d? is the tyrant fall’n?
DEMETRIUS.
Greece is no more; the prosp’rous tyrant lives,
Reserv’d for other lands, the scourge of heav’n.
ASPASIA.
Say, by what fraud, what force, were you defeated?
Betray’d by falsehood, or by crowds o’erborne?
DEMETRIUS.
The pressing exigence forbids relation.
Abdalla —
ASPASIA.
Hated name! his jealous rage
Broke out in perfidy — Oh! curs’d Aspasia,
Born to complete the ruin of her country!
Hide me, oh hide me from upbraiding Greece;
Oh, hide me from myself!
DEMETRIUS.
Be fruitless grief
The doom of guilt alone, nor dare to seize
The breast, where virtue guards the throne of peace.
Devolve, dear maid, thy sorrows on the wretch,
Whose fear, or rage, or treachery, betray’d us!
IRENE. aside.
A private station may discover more;
Then let me rid them of Irene’s presence;
Proceed, and give a loose to love and treason.
[Withdraws
ASPASIA.
Yet tell.
DEMETRIUS.
To tell or hear were waste of life.
ASPASIA.
The life, which only this design supported,
Were now well lost in hearing how you fail’d.
DE
METRIUS.
Or meanly fraudulent or madly gay,
Abdalla, while we waited near the palace,
With ill tim’d mirth propos’d the bowl of love.
Just as it reach’d my lips, a sudden cry
Urg’d me to dash it to the ground, untouch’d,
And seize my sword with disencumber’d hand.
ASPASIA.
What cry? The stratagem? Did then Abdalla —
DEMETRIUS.
At once a thousand passions fir’d his cheek!
Then all is past, he cry’d — and darted from us;
Nor, at the call of Cali, deign’d to turn.
ASPASIA.
Why did you stay, deserted and betray’d?
What more could force attempt, or art contrive?
DEMETRIUS.
Amazement seiz’d us, and the hoary bassa
Stood, torpid in suspense; but soon Abdalla
Return’d with force that made resistance vain,
And bade his new confed’rates seize the traitors.
Cali, disarm’d, was borne away to death;
Myself escap’d, or favour’d, or neglected.
ASPASIA.
Oh Greece! renown’d for science and for wealth,
Behold thy boasted honours snatch’d away.
DEMETRIUS.
Though disappointment blast our general scheme,
Yet much remains to hope. I shall not call
The day disastrous, that secures our flight;
Nor think that effort lost, which rescues thee.
[Enter Abdalla.
SCENE IV.
IRENE, ASPASIA, DEMETRIUS, ABDALLA.
ABDALLA.
At length, the prize is mine — The haughty maid,
That bears the fate of empires in her air,
Henceforth shall live for me; for me alone
Shall plume her charms, and, with attentive watch,
Steal from Abdalla’s eye the sign to smile.
DEMETRIUS.
Cease this wild roar of savage exultation;
Advance, and perish in the frantick boast.
ASPASIA.
Forbear, Demetrius, ’tis Aspasia calls thee;
Thy love, Aspasia, calls; restrain thy sword;
Nor rush on useless wounds, with idle courage.
DEMETRIUS.
What now remains?
ASPASIA.
It now remains to fly!
DEMETRIUS.
Shall, then, the savage live, to boast his insult;
Tell, how Demetrius shunn’d his single hand,
And stole his life and mistress from his sabre?
ABDALLA.
Infatuate loiterer, has fate, in vain,
Unclasp’d his iron gripe to set thee free?
Still dost thou flutter in the jaws of death;
Snar’d with thy fears, and maz’d in stupefaction?
DEMETRIUS.
Forgive, my fair; ’tis life, ’tis nature calls:
Now, traitor, feel the fear that chills my hand.
ASPASIA.
’Tis madness to provoke superfluous danger,
And cowardice to dread the boast of folly.
ABDALLA.
Fly, wretch, while yet my pity grants thee flight;
The pow’r of Turkey waits upon my call.
Leave but this maid, resign a hopeless claim,
And drag away thy life, in scorn and safety,
Thy life, too mean a prey to lure Abdalla.
DEMETRIUS.
Once more I dare thy sword; behold the prize,
Behold, I quit her to the chance of battle.
[Quitting Aspasia.
ABDALLA.
Well may’st thou call thy master to the combat,
And try the hazard, that hast nought to stake;
Alike my death or thine is gain to thee;
But soon thou shalt repent: another moment
Shall throw th’ attending janizaries round thee.
[Exit, hastily, Abdalla.
SCENE V.
ASPASIA, IRENE, DEMETRIUS.
IRENE.
Abdalla fails; now, fortune, all is mine. [Aside.
Haste, Murza, to the palace, let the sultan
[To one of her attendant
Despatch his guards to stop the flying traitors,
While I protract their stay. Be swift and faithful.
[Exit Murza.
This lucky stratagem shall charm the sultan, [Aside.
Secure his confidence, and fix his love.
DEMETRIUS.
Behold a boaster’s worth! Now snatch, my fair,
The happy moment; hasten to the shore,
Ere he return with thousands at his side.
ASPASIA.
In vain I listen to th’ inviting call
Of freedom and of love; my trembling joints,
Relax’d with fear, refuse to bear me forward.
Depart, Demetrius, lest my fate involve thee;
Forsake a wretch abandon’d to despair,
To share the miseries herself has caus’d.
DEMETRIUS.
Let us not struggle with th’ eternal will,
Nor languish o’er irreparable ruins;
Come, haste and live — Thy innocence and truth
Shall bless our wand’rings, and propitiate heav’n.
IRENE.
Press not her flight, while yet her feeble nerves
Refuse their office, and uncertain life
Still labours with imaginary woe;
Here let me tend her with officious care,
Watch each unquiet flutter of the breast,
And joy to feel the vital warmth return,
To see the cloud forsake her kindling cheek,
And hail the rosy dawn of rising health.
ASPASIA.
Oh! rather, scornful of flagitious greatness,
Resolve to share our dangers and our toils,
Companion of our flight, illustrious exile,
Leave slav’ry, guilt, and infamy behind.
IRENE.
My soul attends thy voice, and banish’d virtue
Strives to regain her empire of the mind:
Assist her efforts with thy strong persuasion;
Sure, ’tis the happy hour ordain’d above,
When vanquish’d vice shall tyrannise no more.
DEMETRIUS.
Remember, peace and anguish are before thee,
And honour and reproach, and heav’n and hell.
ASPASIA.
Content with freedom, and precarious greatness.
DEMETRIUS.
Now make thy choice, while yet the pow’r of choice
Kind heav’n affords thee, and inviting mercy
Holds out her hand to lead thee back to truth.
IRENE.
Stay — in this dubious twilight of conviction,
The gleams of reason, and the clouds of passion,
Irradiate and obscure my breast, by turns:
Stay but a moment, and prevailing truth
Will spread resistless light upon my soul.
DEMETRIUS.
But, since none knows the danger of a moment,
And heav’n forbids to lavish life away,
Let kind compulsion terminate the contest.
[Seizing her hand.
Ye christian captives, follow me to freedom:
A galley waits us, and the winds invite.
IRENE.
Whence is this violence?
DEMETRIUS.
Your calmer thought
Will teach a gentler term.
IRENE.
Forbear this rudeness,
And learn the rev’rence due to Turkey’s queen:
Fly, slaves, and call the sultan to my rescue.
DEMETRIUS.
Farewell, unhappy maid; may every joy
Be thine, that wealth can give, or guilt receive!
ASPASIA. nd when, contemptuous of imperial pow’r,
Disease shall chase the phantoms of ambition, May penitence attend thy mournful bed, And wing thy latest pray’r to pitying heav’n! [Exeunt Dem. Asp. with part of the attendants.
SCENE VI.
[IRENE walks at a distance from her attendants.]
After a pause.
Against the head, which innocence secures,
Insidious malice aims her darts in vain,
Turn’d backwards by the pow’rful breath of heav’n.
Perhaps, e’en now the lovers, unpursu’d,
Bound o’er the sparkling waves. Go, happy bark,
Thy sacred freight shall still the raging main.
To guide thy passage shall th’ aerial spirits
Fill all the starry lamps with double blaze;
Th’ applauding sky shall pour forth all its beams,
To grace the triumph of victorious virtue;
While I, not yet familiar to my crimes,
Recoil from thought, and shudder at myself.
How am I chang’d! How lately did Irene
Fly from the busy pleasures of her sex,
Well pleas’d to search the treasures of remembrance,
And live her guiltless moments o’er anew!
Come, let us seek new pleasures in the palace,
[To her attendants, going off.
Till soft fatigue invite us to repose.
SCENE VII.
[Enter MUSTAPHA, meeting and stopping her.]
MUSTAPHA.
Fair falsehood, stay.
IRENE.
What dream of sudden power
Has taught my slave the language of command?
Henceforth, be wise, nor hope a second pardon.
MUSTAPHA.
Who calls for pardon from a wretch condemn’d?
IRENE.
Thy look, thy speech, thy action, all is wildness —
Who charges guilt, on me?
MUSTAPHA.
Who charges guilt!
Ask of thy heart; attend the voice of conscience —
Who charges guilt! lay by this proud resentment
That fires thy cheek, and elevates thy mien,
Nor thus usurp the dignity of virtue.
Review this day.
IRENE.
Whate’er thy accusation,
The sultan is my judge.
MUSTAPHA.
That hope is past;
Hard was the strife of justice and of love;
But now ’tis o’er, and justice has prevail’d.
Know’st thou not Cali? know’st thou not Demetrius?
IRENE.
Bold slave, I know them both — I know them traitors.
MUSTAPHA.
Perfidious! — yes — too well thou know’st them traitors.
IRENE.
Their treason throws no stain upon Irene.
This day has prov’d my fondness for the sultan;
Complete Works of Samuel Johnson Page 603
