LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Chap..-.': .:_, Copyright M» UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (dec 3 '«i** i €^-\^^ -\^-\ CopyrifiDt, i$96, By Pbilip Becker 6oeU. PRESS OF THE PETER PAUL BOOK BUFFALO, N. Y. €l)dracter$ KORESOS, a priest of Diontjsos. EURUPULOS, heir to the throne of Kaludon and brother to KALLIRRHOE. CHOROS of priests. KALLIRRHOE^ beloved of Koresos. AGLAIA^ attendant to KALLIRRHOE^ and beloved of EURUPULOS. MESSENGER from the temple. Attendants. SCENE; KALUDON. Time: The Regency of MELANIOS. Kdllirrboe KORESOS O Diontisos, here before thine altar After no ceaseless vigil of vain prayer But scarce with wrath of lips grown cold ere thou Didst hear my cry, I stand with offering Stainless and pure and holy hands of thanks. Thy pestilence hath spread from wall to wall, Swept men and mothers, virgins and the bud Of strength to everlasting shade beyond The voice of love, whose unavailing eyes Yearn from the loveless earth toward drearer Hades* Still how her proud eyes keep their sullen level I Who heard her sigh when her loved sire lay low In death ? "While yet above his treasured urn She sorrowed, came not one to whisper woe And said her mother, too, decaying craved Becoming burial ? The head of her Must wear this curse of partings populous I For thou herein hast honored me thy priest. Since at my supplication when she spumed Me most and held her arrogance bolt-bright Above my fettered soul, my rage outbrake My bonds and there I vowed my remnant life That she should feel the flame wherewith she blasted My hope, my fair desire, and all sweet joy Among staid precincts of mine adoration* 6 H^ilfrrftoc Heret tiie% Ltiaios^ be thou paid: this stain Of slaughtered goats with sacred ivy crowned And dearer tendrils of the sunny vine ; — (Yet grant me strength to look beyond her eyes) — Thus have I done; but thou, attendant, speak Upon the advent of Kallirrhoe. {Exit K0RES08. Enter CHORDS Strophe A Hence we passed with step of pain: For the rude voice of the pest, Moanings of dying, Oaths of defying, Sobs and low sighing Gave no rest. Through the long nights thick -with rain, The sacred wind. The brass bright-twined Leafy beckoned in behest. Strophe B To the forest we came : ^Dim Dodona, give us peace? Hear us, Zeus, oh grant us grace.*' Looked we then upon each face Of the warders of release. Grim-eyed stare of each dame, — Their silvered hair By the silver moon HallirrDoe Seemed graceless^ bare Of our anxious boon. Strophe C ''Blood the angered god demands. The princeliest fair that head : Else eqwal the life ye shed* Lead the victim to his hands Whom to avenge in holywise Guilty the guiltless dies* Speak no word but bind with bands Brow of the sacrifice.*' Antistrophe A Hither came we in dismay "With more death to death of grief. ** Give us his blessing I ** Round us pale pressing Cried they confessing Hope's belief. Silently we went our way To greet our priest, Ere they had ceased Questioning the fatal leaf. Antistrophe B Him we found low-bowed. ''Hath Dodona given peace, Heard our prayer and granted grace ? ** Yet we guarded speech a space, Fearing woe in heaven's release. KallirrUoe Tatight, his eyes gathered cloud : He raised his hands And cried ** 'Tis she The god demands — Kallirrhoel^' Antistrophe C Now the dawn hath brought a mom Most happy or most accursed, — In ocean of woe immersed Came and paceth toward its bourn Tear-sad, if she can find None of such kindly mind Choosing death that she may scorn of the baleful wind. Enter EURUPULOS Hail, friend I Tell me, is Koresos within ? CHORDS Truly thy haste of word imports strange news. EURUPULOS News that were better old to please that priest. CHOROS Thy lightness is unworthy thee and him And thus of Dionusos whom he serves. EURUPULOS A fit pfirase hast thou found herein for him I KallirrDoe CHOROS What phi*ase ? Speak, yotrth I What meanest thou in this ? EURUPULOS What meaning lieth here I treasure dose For Koresos, not for his doting slaves I CHOROS Slaves ? Doting slaves ? Now be thou ware, and heed^ O youth, lest the high princely stock whence thou Hast sprung, be laid in low^liness and shame By this unseemliness, — strange blasphemy That green years may insult the fruit of age, Conservers of the past not promisers Of laden ripeness from most dubious bud* But the soft fall of sacred foot I hear. KORESOS What loud impatience of untutored years Begins this fatal mom unhallowed strife ? CHOROS Behold the prince, ill master of his tongue. EURUPULOS Had I been more a master I had left Thee less a maker of such calm discourse; But now my words were weak before my cause And to just Koresos I turn my thought Engag^ing reminiscence of the woe Which spreads this day destruction on my life. 10 H^llirrftoe KORESOS Thott art most mcrciftil : a noble race Bespeaks this resolation to depose Thy blood for thy rude-fated sister : I Commend thy strength and dedicate thy love For her among the gifts by far most grateful To Diontisos. EURUPULOS Speed of lofty wish Aye marks the priest anticipating fact, Stirely to me her life is dear ; more dear Forsooth, than now to him w^ho whispered menace No longer since than in the month of flowers "When to her bosom alien to his vows He hissed tmtimely end. Methinks his name h not unknown to thce^ O Koresos. KORESOS Ettrtjpulos, ask me no idle question. CHOROS Heed him, Eurupulos, I pray thee, heed I Lest fate befall more keen than angry threat. EURUPULOS Here, then, before you both I bare my heart. Know thou, O Koresos, that thou hast proved Thyself a practiced archer in the doles Of death : for I, a prince, before thy servants Humble myself to shame thee what thou art. Rallirrftoe n Tears now avail me not, for she most dear Of all my kin, my sister, searching long Hath found a life to answer for her own Demanded, as thou sayst, by Dionusos. And her she found is of all women crowned The utmost wonder of our realm^s extent. The high, fierce fire my heart supports and feeds With proudest blood : and when I might attain. Starts this decree, a cloud across my hope. How have they sinned, my sister or her mate ? Tell me, just Koresos, and I will pause* More still than fate, more ruthless, too, thou standesti Hear me disclose thee to thyself, a dread And fearful curse to thy most holy office And yet more awful to this land of thine I CHORDS Stay, youth, thy rage : see how his hate he lowers I KORESOS Wilt thou declare this fevered love, yet live ? No oracle forbids the sacrifice Of thee for thy loved sister or tliat wonder Of thy dominion. Lift thy heart to deeds And be not thou content, O puissant prince. To bruit devotion in the ears of men. And, when thou mightst earn endless honor, fail. CHOROS O youth, reflect upon his words, and win. |[2 H^llirrDoe EURUPULOS Thou knowest well my duty's debt to men. Exalted in the hearts of Kaludon My father held his throne and not a breath Of abject rumor ever soiled his rule. Thumenides is dead and with him died My queenly mother. I am left, sole remnant — After Melanios, our childless regent — Of their torn fortune; were it right that I, Sole son to stead my house, beget fair offspring, And hold this power where it stood of yore, — Should leave my line and issueless, unloved Of gods or men, because I hear no voice Of destiny, die for Dodona's cry? Not that I love my life in what I am But what I see unripened if I die. Prevents the sacrifice for those I love. Hear mine appeal, for yonder in the distance Methinks they move, calmly and sadly dear. Save them, almighty Koresos, oh save I CHOROS Strophe A Heavy that joy in whose heart Sorrow^ must pay for its life : Who gave the one Its light and sun ? And who cast the gloom On the other's bloom ? RalllrrDoe js Surely the gods were at strife Thus to perplex man with art. Strophe B What is length of days, or strength, or praise ? They pass like the fragrance of flowers : For a time we charm away alarm Yet bend to the merciless powers Of death, whose breath Blasts as it sweeps with hurricane harm. Antistrophe A Tears fill her eyes as she nears Solemnly proud yet demure : Who knows her thought ? Why thus she sought Chill death and despair For a friend to bear ? Noble that friend and sure, Tried and devoid of low fears I Antistrophe B Since she loved her life, what was her strife — The friend who in utter surrender Robs herself of the light, of love's dear sight ? May Zeus and his mercy attend her, In peace release Breath from the fairness she flings to the night. {Enter KALLIRRHOE and AGLAIA.) H Hallirrftoe KORESOS Hail! maiden^ happy in tliy faithftd friends. KALLIRRHOE Little my joy when health allots heart-sickness* EURUPULOS O sister, fcnewst thou strength, sorrow were strange. KALLIRRHOE Thoti, too, wouldst have me die ttnjttstly, brother? EURUPULOS Far from my will such thought, Kallirrhoe; Yet, sister, would this day had never dawned. Ere thou and I and all we love in one Swift stroke of common fate had left the light. KORESOS Hast thou, a brother, not before this hour Revealed to her, thy sister, thy disease ? EURUPULOS She knoweth all. For, teU me, Koresos, What woman lovely in the eyes of men Lifts clear brow and most innocent of ill Knows not the spell she casts about the sense? And equally no woman but divines The kindred power in another^s beauty. Had I ne^er spoken (as no brother heart Would grant), she would have read my secret passion, Caught it and phrased it to my startled ears Kallirrftoe js And sent it speeding one hot eagerness Tlirowgh all my frame. Tr tist thou a woman^s guess. "W^ell knoweth she my love for fair Aglaia^ — Aglaia glad in me and ready so To die for her, my sister and her mistress. What though she be low-born and Agrios, Her father kept the hillside flecked with flock And pressed the oozy dugs and sent the curd To princely tables ? "What though thus ignobly A toiler with hard hands he wrought long years ? As from dark earth blossoms the purest lily And from the pool the lotus radiant, So issued she — a glory of no pride. Hers is the loveliness a god would woo ; High-dowered, beauteous, and rare with graces Forgotten through the jealousy of fates. Who give their gifts that men may worship them, Not love too well the gifted lest the bale Of smitten mind disturb the might of kings. As, in the days of old, fair Leda's child Waving her wayward tresses gold against Golden Apollo, made distraught huge Theseus Till tremblingly he caught her to his heart And bore her off a curse upon the lips Of unbelieving men, who, once beholding. Smothered their oaths and prayed she ga2e their way I Then, be her stock obscure, yet gentleness Never knew welcome in a breast more high. What better proof of most exalted worth ? She leaves her life to give another life. 16 K^UirrDoe CHORDS Discretion marks his words who first in rudeness Addressed our piotts ears; and why in meekness He here appeareth, know I not unless The strife of gladly losing one he loveth And sadly keeping thus another love Hath tired a mad invention unto cahn. Nevertheless, foreboding fills my spirit Lest in sweet words dark omen of swift fate And keen disaster lurk, since silent stands Absorbed and hesitant with lucent truth Holiest Koresos, Speak, master, speak I KORESOS Before I speak, confirm me my conjecture : Of thee with unuplifted eye I ask, Aglaia, but one only word and answer Me truly as thou art a woman bom Beauteous and perilous to mortal peace* Art thou the child of lowly Agrios, Herdsman and keeper of meek-moving sheep In Kaludon, who, maimed in combat once Among yon rugged mountains, limped in flight To us, praying for aid ? This would I know. AGLAIA Thou hast conjectured truly J I am his. CHOROS Flashing his eyes with sign of godlike fury I Nor can I aught discern of his intent. Rainrrftoe 57 KORESOS Thou knew^t, then, thou wast a slave bor n, hredf And willing still to manifest thyself No whit superior to thine origin I Here stood Eurupulos a willing aid To veil with pleadings dim the face of truth: How deep and wide and high and universal His love for thee I Here, too, Kallirrhoe Stood like a stone, unheeding, deaf, the dread And potent oracle of Zeus. Is^t thus Ye meant to baffle gods with treachery ? Are ye so ignorant as thus to deem Bright godhead blind to human cheat and fraud? In very truth however tortuous The path of guiltiness, yet be ye ware Upon the fleeing heel more subtly follow The lidless fates with hiss of retribution Armed strong, of speed unwearied, hot with hate* A curse shall fall upon your unbent heads I O Father Zeus, ere suppliant they sink Upon their knees I pray thee pity them j Forgive their deed, for life is sweet to youth And uninstructed in the errant means Of sin they wrought this insult to thy power I Forgive them. Father Zeus, and hear my prayer. ( Weeping, he sinks exhausted upon the earth.) CHORDS He lies on the ground; He utters no sound I j8__ Raltirrftoe "W^hat shall we say ? Hither come^ P^^Yf Oh gather ye round I KALLIRRHOE Now he revives and lifts again his head, Will I be venturesome and solve my doubt, AGLAIA Prithee, not harshly on my poor behalf I Or life or death, in equal grief henceforth I live a slave in deed thus humbled low. EURUPULOS Oh speak not so, Aglaia» For, as night Opposed to purple west rises from sea. So sorrow comes from gladness, lighting so A thousand stars else ever undescried I KALLIRRHOE Brother, lead her away that I may seek The priest, who glances as w^ith urgent threat. {Exeunt EURUPULOS and AGLAIA.) KORESOS "Whither away? Not yet upon your knees? KALLIRRHOE Distress thee not that thus they wander forth j Since ignorance of wrong is right^s first shield. HaltirrDoe J9 KORESOS Thy last word sttiteth well a weak defense* KALLIRRHOE No woman needs a man to hint her weak "When her strong master stoops to sttch a phrase. KORESOS Enough of words: the day would end ere thou Hadst satisfied thy most untoward tongue. KALLIRRHOE "Why, then, that gaze that bade me stay behind? KORESOS Kallirrhoe, thou hast as stubborn spirit Untamed, unf lexible by holy ways As by the softer touch of human love. KALLIRRHOE Yet tell me, tutored guardian of the gods, "Why thou so fervently hast disallowed Aglaia die for me ? My tried Aglaia, Alone of all my friends found faithful still I "What weary days I searched and vainly searched ; And at the last when none appeared in aid. Came she with timid voice and tearful prayer Placing her wan hands to my fevered head And whispered as she kneeled beside me there — "We both quite silvered in the last moonlight Mine eyes seemed destined to behold — ^there clung 20 K^nirrboe And syllabled she meant to give herself For me. How I rejoiced in this great gift Zeus sent in answer to my love of life I "Wherefore I joyed in her, wherefore in life, None save all-seeing Zeus can ever know, — Since dimness is the dawn of womanhood, Wearing her mystery invisibly A crown secure against who dares aspire. Now have I done. Think not I bend: I stand A rock against the waves of circumstance. Asking their hungry violence no peace. Yet ere I go, again I pray thee tell How that Aglaia may not die for me ? KORESOS Thou knowest but too well the fatal fault. KALLIRRHOE Fatal at least : but fault I cannot grant. KORESOS Both : since it counsels thee prepare thyself To die and charges insolence to Zeus. KALLIRRHOE How? Insolence I W^herein so grave a charge? KORESOS In that the oracle demanded clearly That who should die vicarious for thee Must be thy peer. KalllrrDoe 2j KALLIRRHOE Is not^ then, this fulfilled ? KORESOS A slave for thee, a maid of royal blood ? KALLIRRHOE And wherefore not? O Koresos, declare* KORESOS When dogs are steeds ; owls, doves ; earth, air ; sea, sky ; Then may a slave to lowest of the free Be peer: e^en then remote from him in worth. KALLIRRHOE O Koresos, a life for life is just. KORESOS No priest dares offer victims with one blot I KALLIRRHOE Blot may be whiteness to the eyes of gods I KORESOS Think not they lean with such a patient eye : "With chill austerity severe they rule. Such insult to the god we would appease, Would stir a greater plague than Kaludon Hath yet endured. Speak, then, no idle word. 21 K^iurrftoe KALLIRRHOE Thcn^ Korcsos^ look thott upon me well* This is the sacrifice thy hidden thought Demands* If I dared loose my tongue this hour In utterance, I could enlighten all. See that thou keen the sacrificial blade Till I bring me enrobed and filled with all True bravery of soul that I may die. Though I be woman, with no tear save red* That me thou wouldst sublime in peerless death^ Allowing none may die that I may live, Not flatters me : a barren, foolish truth 1 KORESOS And wherefore foolish if a truth ? KALLIRRHOE Device Of their own gain makes wise the meanest fools* KORESQS Dark are thy words. KALLIRRHOE That I spake lucent terror I The hand of man, not Zeus, created slaves. Cold kings and priests august, the strong of earth Must find a mode to save their hands from stain, Writing a deeper on their sordid hearts* Hailirrftoe 23 KORESOS Wotildst thou so think, were not thy life at stake? KALLIRRHOE Would I were cf tiel, — so to answer thee ; But I beseech thee ere I deck myself In ritwal of plagtte-atoning death The last time for the roving eyes of ivho Will come in witness of a rtfde deceit, Confirm me of sincerity and rttth In this thy reading of the oracle. KORESOS One moment ere the sacrificial knife Reaves thee of life, I shall declare : nor else. KALLIRRHOE I go. KORESOS {as she moves away) How my soul follows in her way I Scarce can I stay my voice from utterance Of her blest name. ^^Kallirrhoe I ** I fain "Would call, to bid her yet retrace her step. ♦ ♦ Now Zeus be praised for hate I From my soul's de^ I hate her, seeing she hath made me love I CHOROS Strophe A FuU of sorrow and of cares "Weary he passed ? 24 K^llirrftoe On his bf ow no crown he wears Thottgh a king of men he be^ Heavy-hearted as the se% Leaving at last Mirth and joy of earth, soul free. Strophe B And darknesss lieth beyond the breath Last drawn as hence man hasteneth. Who hath pierced the gloom of the tomb ? Who hath brought relief to low grief ? As leaves in autumn fall dead And parent tree overhead Knoweth them nevermore, Like unto autumn^s store, Fruit and the garlands of spring. We fade away, in a moment decay. Tainted, a filthy thing I Strophe C Shall we sorrow and, sorrowing, double woe Or be glad and in gladness lightly go Over wastes of despair where she spreads her snare Woven of thought and of care? Antistrophe A Why a godhead, if no aid Answer worn knees ? Hide the brow in ivy shade. Droop the eye with vinous drowse, Qang the cymbals in carouse Kallirrftoe 25 Doubly with glees^ — lakchos^ joctmd raid I Antistrophe B The gods in bidding mankind endure Allow no bane but hides a cure, Ariadne cried to the tide As her Theseus dead to her fled : The swept wave, deaf to appeal. Responded naught as the keel Arrogant spurned vain Crete, Turned, she saw at her feet, Tall in no glory of earth. Brighter than star with white Artemis far. Dread Dionusos in mirth I Antistrophe C He requited with love her questioning grief, To a woman bereft a god gave relief: Shall a priest be abandoned who dedicates Life and on godhead waits ? Epodos "Where lies, O Eros, thy kindliness ? Thus to destroy a priest. Thus to mock the just, to consume the true By deep-sown fire of a human eye I Blaspheme I never, rather bless Thy potent will and deity. Yet on my master at least Thou hast brought the dubious gift of rue. 26 K^liirrftoe {Enter KORESOS slowly.) CHORDS What thottghts arc tliinc^ O Kofesos^ our lord, That ever ■with the earth thoti hast discourse And never upward to the air art -won? KORESOS 'Tis that I question earth to answer me, And finding still reply unwritten where I seek, yet gaze on emptiness as dreaming. CHOROS Surely the load upon thine age is grown Too grave to w^ear ; youth were a fitter time. KORESOS Thou speakcst, then, of her whom young in years I loved, still love, and shall not cease to love? CHOROS Strange that thy wisdom and ripe mastery Of humors kin to vigorous prime submit Their strength unto a scorning maiden. Royal I grant her with unsullied blood of sires Endued and with the valid victories Of perished generations beautiful ; Nathless, what gainest thou — advanced from bloom Of youth, from springtime of man^s passioning. From the first fine delirium of vein, From freshness and the thrilling zest of mom HallfrrDoe 27 (What mom clear yotith awakes to manhood's mist) ? Canst thou without the tinct regret at folly- Hide blossom of thy plucking in her hair ? Or wage enf readied warfare widely sweet Upon her cheek ? Cling lip and interlock Fond fingers ? Think thou on this vainness, judge Thyself if not most mad and ill-advised Too late thy wooing show most indecorous, KORESOS Oh say not so 1 Too well I know her hate That settled strong as destiny hath blasted My hope and long desire of life and bliss. Methinks the very temple-stones one day In witness of my truth must far proclaim Their knowledge of my knees bent low to Zeus Remedial. But all is past : so pass Much cherished dreams whence we awake to earth From lands incredible beyond our ken. Pity for her inhabiteth my heart, Yet Dionusos spake and Dionusos Shall be obeyed if no free-bom present The price : in death vicarious to die. Aye, even as I speak, hither she moves. [As KALLIRRHOE enters) "What means thy garb of cheer, Kallirrhoe, Thy loosened hair, these arms outspread, this gait As if the festal timbrel taught thy step Obedience to its call ? No festival Is here, but sombre rite of formal death 28 Rallirrftoe On thee decreed^ not lacking piety Of yonder holy knife and my true hand Swift to stttTender thee unto out god^ "Who to allay rough crest and ceaseless wave Of loss demands the princely price of thee* KALLIRRHOE No ill-conjectttred method in my robe^ O priest, — if still thott ponder and not once ; On failure, yield the answer aye unanswered. And lest thou fail to read, mine enterprise Be here to teach* What I shall the victim wail Against the god's decree interpreted In mode of grace by comely deputy ? That were to rail on fate, blaspheme the just, Assume the heifer's brute appeal from pain. For here, devout, our master Koresos Tells Kaludon to kill a princess, prize At word, as asked by dying citizens ; New irony of power that subjects' cry Demands and wins the faU of nobler state I When died a god for man, to found such justice ? So am I come in all obedience. Ripe for the happy god, one soul the more, One grape starved Dionusos crunches thus To burnish the sleek brow one red the more And fling Persephone the corporal husk I How I wilt thou charge me sacrilegious now, Because I count most vain enervate incense. And vain your shrieking beasts w^ith taunt of wreath Encircling their decorous innocence ? K^llirrDoe 29 KORESOS Cease, on thy life I KALLIRRHOE Thou shalt hear all. KORESOS Insult Not Dionusos. Though thou spurn the man Of me^ bethink thee that on this my brow The dreadful choice of priesthood sits enthroned^ The which thus rashly and in wrath to vex Shall bring more horror than mere loss of breath I KALLIRRHOE Of all I have bethought me and — ^I speak* KORESOS Better were peace and good than sin and death. KALLIRRHOE A weak word, priest I For though I speak a sin In tonguing here my hot soul, I am true. KORESOS "Woe, woe I thy shroud is sin and taints thy white. KALLIRRHOE Then, as a king begat, queen bare me, I Scorning degree, control, and niggard truth "Within the meditated phrase, entreat 30 K^llirrftoe Thcc, Lord of all the wof Id^ O Zetts, be kind I And if I sin^ inspire a grand sin now I KORESOS Again before tbe god of Kaludon In awful fear I warn thee, curb thy tongue I CHOROS He speaks intending favor; timely heed; Allow I join entreaty for thy good* KALLIRRHOE Away I I reck not longer, but declare My heart that, ere it burst to sanguine bloom Upon the blade, pierces for utterance My breast intact. By all the gods in heaven, You never loved me, Koresos, but still "Within thyself held hate of me, designed The overthrow of all our house, and scared Eurupulos until he proved one night "Within the sacred grove his righteous arm Upon thy crippled form I KORESOS ^Tis false, I — KALLIRRHOE Nay, Attend I I will not scant a syllable. And then thou didst devise how that by love And craft thou mightst deceive and vanquish him Kallirrftoe 3£ By snaring me unto thine arms ; but spumed And loathed by me, acute to pierce and keen To cut thy covetous conceits, recourse "Was thine to Dionusos and Dodona, Nay, hear me home I Thou hast my latest word. "What heed the gods the hand, so up to them Twine sweet submissive scent and savors thick ? But thee I know from thy shrunk foot's w^eak print E'en to the chill of thy foul-scheming heart, — A plausive priest, a most corrupt impostor I KORESOS Now may the gods — but seize her, bind her arms I And may — KALLIRRHOE Thy curse upon thine own life fall. And mayst thou live among men tedious days. Ceaseless increasing thine infirmities From hour to hour until thy sorrows bow^ Thee down a living corse close to the earth To make thee show a cringer to the ground As now to gods and men. And when the end Befalls, with blasted eyeballs, impotent And fain to speak thy woe, with palsied tongue And still more withered shape than this thy case. Alone, unloved of men, a sport of gods Then ware of thee, reviled and outcast mayst Thou die in misery, unburied lie In wildered waste of earth where human hand 32 Hallfrrftoe May never strew a piotts dtist-grain o'er Thy "wretched flesh. May rapine birds too vilc^ Too sick for honest carrion, draw near And pick thee piece from rotting piece that there Qtiite peered in wretchedness with merit here, Though formless, spared in not one ache the less, But in each several lif led part of thee A realm of woe, endlessly mayst thou shriek In ghastly music through the dawnless night. Haunting the hollow spaces of the air. Hearing no answer but reverberate pain Leaping thy scattered lips remote from Zeus I CHORDS He swoons I attendants, hoi . ♦ ♦ Lead her within* [Exeunt all save CHOROS.) CHORDS Strophe A Wherever upon the ways of the earth Man moves, he moves not alone; But attendant, invisible, two Hover: one is woe and the other is mirth; One smarting a smile with rue And one to cheer every moan. And which, when they battle, shall win or lose, Seems never a man's to choose. No more than to bid the sun arise Or hang the thick clouds from the skies. Kallirrboe 33 Strophe B Many degrees of sight Zeus gave And he taught us to ga^e and be glad; He laughs with our joy and is cahn at ouf grief ; He looks with no pity and sends no relief For he heaps with distresses the sad^ Sinners of choice whom no prayers can save "When they read awry. E'en to kings and high Of the world when they cry He deafens his ear^ Placid with power, unmoved as a flower His face regarding man's fear. Strophe C For he taught us the right, Not his the blame If the better eye miss and betray : The king sees wide and discovers the same Vith a god's wing-traveling sight ; And the slave is least, For he toils, is a beast — For defect to the gods, and to man for play* Antistrophe A If, then, the strictest of eyes, and of ears The finest leaned to the prayer And in justice noted and made Answer, Koresos may be heedless of fears And slay with a cheerful blade. 34 H^llirrDoe Not quake as, oozing through hair, The rich life gives the ransoming seal: Since, one destroyed shall a thousand heal. The next grey dawn are no mourners seen : Fair Kaludon awakes and is dean* Antistrophe B Lofty however a mortal be And a boast to the land of his race, The gods but command him, no mercy is theirs j Their- faces are alien, devoid of cares. Their spirits unclouded. What grace Owe they to us? They would never decree Even to their own Sons of earth, sky-sown, Incorruptive bone. Eye proof against night. Sinews of steel that can mock the deal Of discovering dart in the fight. Antistrophe C Dionusos brought low "W"ith swift disease ; And almighty Zeus to the loud despair Sent peace in pafl to bid from these No more than Kallirrhoe go : More solicitous Or more just to us There was never god o'er the vaulted air. Rallirrftoe 35 Enter EURUPULOS Tcfl me^ O men^ delay me not, with speed Resolve me — Koresos — is he within? CHORDS Not doubtfully thy question bears its answer J But, in thy turn, say wherefore pallid cheek, Breath-interrupted phrases, hurried eyes? EURUPULOS I fain would learn the deed, whether performed Or haply unaccomplished yet and waiting. If I might enter — CHOROS No impiety I By Dionusos, who would stay the knife. May he ignobly perish. Hold, no further Advance lest thunder and insanity Strike palsy through thine every vein and harrow And shrivel thy man's vigor into naught* EURUPULOS Hark ye I so many marvels throng to loose Themselves articulate, yet credible To none, I needs must pause which to propose. Briefly, Melanios the King hath passed To me the scepter. 36 K^llirrDoe CHOROS How? What favor hast Thou found, to be prcf erred before his end? EURUPULOS He IS no more. CHOROS What means this woi'd? Oh speak 1 EURUPULOS Shall I repeat ? He is no more. He breathes Never again the breath of life, but now Awaits the journey ever at the ebb Until due rites be paid. CHOROS Oh heavy news I The manner of fiis end ? EURUPULOS I would relate Were I but more immediate to aid KalIirrhoe« I cannot speak and think She dies an arm-stretch whence I stand* CHOROS Defer Thy cares to fate ; how meetly may the earth Be ordered, 'tis divine solicitude. KiilHrrDoe 37 EURUPULOS Kno^w, then, as I f ettjmed Aglaia hence, To me swift-footing o^er the mead there posted A messenger who urged a further speed, How that the king grew wan with fading breath. Alarmed, I hastened -where he sat amid Ignorant and too willing ministrants. For one would soothe his brow^, another loose His robe, and still another cried him air. Until I came and swept them with my hand Away and backward from his struggling breast. He seemed to sink beneath a load on ^s heart. At every effort weaker coping, while. Dumb and imploring gods to ease his pain, We stood admiring his so godlike death. His temples throbbed with stroke and throe of vein, His eye stood fixed, his regal lips did quaver Like aging leaves at autumn's first fierce blast; Or, like scared soldiers in a first assault, — And fitly, too, whose master save that hour Knew illness never. But when I perceived Behind me where the slaves stood all a-weeping. Ill-omened beat of breast and hair shook horrid From head, terror crept to my trembling foot And crawled snake-Hke, increasing length and upward Behind me, traveled on, and when it reached My brain, it stung me hot, it maddened me; I heard Melanios cry ^*How dark it grows I ** And, trying eyes, I felt myself drop earthward Like some struck bird. How long I lay were idle 38 H^llirrDce To estimate J but I awoke to strains Of sudden mtfsic with an echoed beauty, Which flattered with ^^Hail, King Eurupulos I ** "While yon before me on his wonted couch, Melanios outstretched lay white and dead. CHORDS Strange sorrow, bearing bahn in spite of tears 1 EURUPULOS What balm, O friends, if greater grief be here ? CHOROS What grief, Eurupulos, obeying gods ? EURUPULOS Obedience is good, but who may know The pleasure of the distant-dwelling gods? CHOROS Not far they dwell, inspiring present fears And constant apprehension in men's deeds. EURUPULOS My sister, mate with me, our mother's child. To die so rudely I CHOROS Think thou whom to save. EURUPULOS What consolation to support a brother? Kalllrrftoe 39 CHOROS What I thou a king and speak these vulgar words ? Better thott ne^er knewst sovereignty on earth Than live so far from heaven thtjs hard to brook A private loss when one death means a kingdom Preserved and hailing thee successive king 1 Take spirit of the gods^ tranquillity, Immunity from aches and moans of men ; Live the large life becoming kingly sway ; Bind not thy youthful soul subservient To cares ; hold high thy crown^s authority ; Keep thou thy rescued love, whom, though a slave, Ennobled in thy choice, may Zeus increase "With largess of strong heirs and happy days, That when thou, grey, shalt hand thy scepter on, Pure Kaludon may rise to thee one wide And vivid blessing, sound, imperishable. But, soft I not far a nearing footstep draws More near. Enter ATTENDANT Am I not changed in spirit, voice, Gait, all that goes before throughout my years I passed me ? Whom address I? For, methinks, A man made god, or god made mortal first Should hear my story lest the burden top In marvel the less marvel of such change, EURUPULOS I bid thee speak : a king attends this frenzy. 40 H^llirrftoe ATTENDANT Thou biddest with the smooth command of right. CHORDS And rightly so : for know^ who ruled one hour Ago^ is dead^ — ^Melanios, ATTENDANT Behold My coldness I Naught can move me now except Some never dreamed and never acted wonder. EURUPULOS And yet thou stayest when^ aware of worst, "We list thy petty tale of tragedy : The victim^s blood is spilled and Koresos In shame at muted beauty, hides. Not so? ATTENDANT Hides verily, for where his being keeps Zeus knows. CHOROS I glean with empty hand. EURUPULOS Aye, Zeus : For Zeus can penetrate the blindest flesh And scare the lurking shame I Rallirrftoe u ATTENDANT His body holds No shame if benefit to Kalttdon Be other. EURUPULOS Practise caution, youth, feed not The willing ire of dread and dauntless kings That touch, therein devouring their affects, Since sorrow oft devises tragic issues, ATTENDANT Thou canst not brave me, high Eurupulos, I am a messenger from holier haunt Than ever royal throne hath graced. EURUPULOS Thou slave I Deal with me openly or die this hour! ATTENDANT I mean not ill to whisper entrance thus Into thine unsuspecting and else startled Ears^ yet, so please thy will, call Koresos. CHOROS I fail to gather his intent. EURUPULOS He tempts Me with his trickery of tongue. 42 K^lllrrftoe ATTENDANT Call^ priest^ — He will be deaf to thy command, great king I Aye, wert thou nearer than a king, — his friend, Entreaty were alike most impotent* Nor that in obstinate adherence fixed Upon his god, he willed a deafened ear, But that he nevermore may hear thy voice. Since cold, kissing the temple's cold, he lies Before Kallirrhoe I EURUPULOS Conduct us further : Some mystery half-scented goads conceit* ATTENDANT king and fellow-priests of Dionusos, The gods have chosen a weak tongue in me To publish you my legend, for I press My fingers, weakening more and more to hide This world, and as I look again, doubt more. Hence unrelieved, I know not whither best 1 go for counsel in my pain save that If here to you I may release it free. It may, in sharing, lose some poignancy As oft as memory shall entertain Its visitant surprise until I die. For, as into the sacred place she hurried Afire with wrath she kindled by her hate, A certain pallor spelled the images, Ralllrrboe 43 All saving Dionusos who grew flushed And turned ambiguous black and purpled o'er As grapes in sunlight just at harvest-time* In midst of weirdest portents of the gods, The advent of moved Koresos amazed Us more; for though the white of swoon overcast His countenance, we had not so awaited The ghostly stare and tremble of his hands. He seemed some child in shame confessing fault, And not a priest of god at sacrifice: — Solemnly slow with force deliberate Touching the fillet for the only time And thence denouncing from this air the victim. Nay, there he stood ; a moment faced her, dumb; Convulsively he stole the knife I offered. Bade her uncover bosom to the blow. Himation and tunic loosed, descended. And hung from the confining zone. Thereat Or punishment from heaven or frenzy swift At finding her so beauteous, thrilled his spirit ; Else, O ye gods, pronounce why then he rushed To her and with one wild, despairing cry, ^*KallirrhoeI '* plunging his dagger, drunk To hilt within his own breast, fell a heap With stream of dying kisses marking aye Departing life, prone at her kirtle's edge* At this distraught, a cloud bedimmed mine eyes; I heard the smothered lamentations beat Mine ears; I woke; I gained the door; one glance Behind I threw, and lo I where lay the maiden 44 KallirrDoe Kissing with lovers dew those so long parched lips As if to win them answer and their bloom. EURUPULOS Now all the gods so prosper me as now In grateftilness of heart I honor them I CHOROS Speak no ill-omened word. The gods are skilled To blight his reign who tatinteth chance untoward I EURUPULOS I need not counsel. . . . Thee^ I mean, aye, thee Who barest message suiting royal ear, Command my bounty. Yet, assure me well, — "Why tarries thus my sister o*er a corse Erst hated, now so pitied, — ^woman's way ? Go thou to her. Instant attendance here Tell her the king demands, so shall she learn A double joy to lodge, dead Koresos And King Eurupulos. What I not returned ? {Exit ATTENDANT.) CHOROS Strophe Woe, woe I for a master departed I weep I O Kaludon, surely this fate Is beyond thee to bear and esteem, A calamitous loss, if I seem To measure his height to the state I Hallirrftoe 45 "W^oe^ woe I I will hide me and deep In my grief I shall waste qttite away, Not a tear will I spare night or day, Antistrophe In veriest prophecy, seeing, I cry : No good shall descend on a king Who at hate is cheered and is crowned With no circlet of bay but hath botind On his brow double death that shall sting, Envenom, and drive to insidious vanity. Till the jealous gods visit with scourge And its pitiless beat of red surge* (Enter KA LLIRRHOE slowly. ) EURUPULOS {ToCHOROS:) Ye might affright me, if I recked your omens* I hear, yet scorn them as I scorned your lord, Bending me as occasion hinted prudence I {ToKALLIRRHOE:) See where she moves restored I Kallirrhoe, Dear sister, hail I happy on whom the curse. So strangely lighted, is more strangely lifted, That thou mayst live to choose thee peace and rest, Adored a princess peerless through the realm. What I hast thou naught for me? 46 K^iurrftoe CHORDS She raises lid And ga^es with no wonted pride and fire. EURUPULOS Ah^ have they whispered how Melanios Is dead and I — nay, pardon that I cause Thy tears ; methinks I, too^ at hearing this^ Slighted no whit my heart. Weep for the king And then rejoice in him whom death exalts. E'en me^ thy brother, sister! me, thy brother I . . How now — no word? Art dumb? Is't possible That I, thy brother, kin and close to thee, That I, thy king, thy lord, before all eyes Speak and receive no answer ? Art thou mad ? Perchance dead Koresos — KALLIRRHOE Not that name, brother, I charge thee, but in all the earth what else May please thee, utter. EURUPULOS What distraction here ? I know what thou art overdelicate To make prohibited mine ears : ** Not strange He took his life so long due heaven I ** KALLIRRHOE Brother I What word hath leaped untimely here to birth ? EURUPULOS Hast fhoxi not ere tfiis^ sister^ wished him ill, And for his fuin summoned every god Thy heart knew and thy tongue could name ? KALLIRRHOE How true And wise thy words, O brother I EURUPULOS Wherein wise And true but erst unworthy one reply ? KALLIRRHOE There was a god, Eurupulos, whose name To me familiar by once hated tongue Was yet essential stranger. EURUPULOS "Whose, I pray? KALLIRRHOE Him had I prayed and called in curse on life, The priest could not have more effectual Fallen beneath the blow than now he fell, Turning the moment's boon to lifelong bane. CHOROS Dark words as ever veil her darker thought. 48 K^llirrftoe KALLIRRHOE Know^st not the god who late instmcted thee The eloquence of beauty and dcsife. Lilt of Aglaia^s name, to call her fair ? EURUPULOS Sister I remind mc not in mockery I Link not my love with thine ill-omened hate I KALLIRRHOE I mock not now, Eurupulos, I am Not as I was, but in his death I know He loved me and I live to die for him, EURUPULOS What frenzy insupportable transports Thy senses, sister ? Art thou credulous In folly that he died to save thy life? Away I enrage me not I Believe not so. How? Hath thy woman's heart so soon conceded Superb esteem of him and touch of greatness Where late thou f oundest but a low intent ? List to me, sister I Grieve for him no more. Impute not virtue ever lived in him Whenas he lies in death, deserving so Compassion, Such, no other, is the weakness The dead ask. Die for thee I Recount his crime; Think on his deeds ; intriguing for this throne ; Intriguing for thy body, as thou oft HallirrDoe 49 Hast owned to mc in secrecy ; and picture — Not difficult — the plague from heaven he called j Behold the incense of their putrid pyres Arising as to him in godhead raised Thereby, through the compliance of his god* Thinkst thou no sleepless nights were his as out He ga^ed and saw his pestilential power? Thinkst thou he constant smiled thereat complacent And never imaged ruin haunted him? Thinkst thou that when he raised his eyes this mom^ No joy was his at death of thee who thus Marked pluming of his will? And then when he Beheld thee standing beauteous before The knif e, thinkst thou thy loveliness restrained Him, mercy melted at the pitch delight? Nay I there were sudden voices in his ears And all the dead, unburied save by heap On heap of their staled usefulness, aye, all Appeared that moment, raving by compact, That when he seemed triumphant most, then least Might power be his to strike aught but himself* They came with bodies hungry for the earth; These masks of murder palsied further boast. Forbade more immolation, leered, and swore To throttle with a million ready fingers Invisibly that human lie and curse I CHORDS O King Eurupulos, if this be false. The gods will merciless abide the deed! ^ H^llirrftoe KALLIRRHOE Brother^ thou shaft this once and nevermore Again behold my face. I shall be brief. I know that Koresos was pure as light The gold mom pottrs with lavish artlessness Above the earth. I knew not ere yon moment The meaning and the winged wonder men Call love. I thought it something soft^ to nestle Like smoothness of a bird's down 'gainst the cheek, To charm with ever-changing strangenesses, Htmt heart with fierce desire to thrall the other, And ever in consummate blessedness A feverish, sttspecting jealousy At time, friends, joy, or grief unshared and known» It is not so, and I am rapt beyond Mere words, a part in reahns I ne'er descried — CHORDS Look to the king, attendants, where he sways 1 KALLIRRHOE Sustained there, bathed in gentler, alien air. All else, ennobled from the inmost heart Of being and transmuted from the sense And movement of my daily ease to issue More rare from calm to higher calm, as eagles Must mount, or men might were their oceans piled Enmassed one on the other, calmest highest. And in the sailless craft of contemplation Hallirrboe st Ride quite stjpr eme^ the wide eyes luster ed wider I Aye, as among tts mortal men, devising Iti lands or residence vicissitudes, Until so settled is our latest state And blotted out the past one, that we fail To image how all stood before the change. So in my soul, late residence of hate — CHOROS Kallirrhoel Thy brother I Look on him I KALLIRRHOE The sum of former days is as a dream No sooner dreamed than dead, despite the strength Of its phantasmal truth. And thus my life Moves on in melody and beat of love* And I believe he waits beyond the bourn And stays his hands (assailing not the gods "With his impatience) from too eager reach To me. Oh what a thought I oh what a god To treasure soul in poise, to bring me balm Amid severest service ! If not true, — Ah, Zeus be praised, I have been happy once I CHOROS Kallirrhoe I Thy brother I Look on him 1 Seest not how he hath heard but half thy dreaming'? Art thou so frantic? Hast no pious tears? 52 K^llirrftoe KALLIRRHOE The gods Iiave judged : and happy are the dead Who die unspotted deaths after sttch lives. Attendants, follow. Bear the bodies hence. {Exit KALLIRRHOE followed by ATTEND- ANTS bearing the bodies of EUR UP UL OS and KORESOS.) CHOROS Strange is death : Eqttally here they lie, Prince and priest, Less than living, one with buried, least. Ah, not so: for they go. That, so gloried here, with black-stained brow ? This, uncrowned in life, love-hallowed now I Muteness, a song, sob, sigh, — Such is breath. THE END.