Perseus the Deliverer

Scene I

The sea-shore.

 

Andromeda chained to the cliff.

 

ANDROMEDA

O iron-throated vast unpitying sea,

Whose borders touch my feet with their cold kisses

As if they loved me! yet from thee my death

Will soon arise, and in some monstrous form

To tear my heart with horror before my body.

I am alone with thee on this wild beach

Filled with the echo of thy roaring waters.

My fellowmen have cast me out: they have bound me

Upon thy rocks to die. These cruel chains

Weary the arms they keep held stiffly out

Against the rough cold jagged stones. My bosom

Hardly contains its thronging sobs; my heart

Is torn with misery: for by my act

My father and my mother are doomed to death,

My dear kind brother, my sweet Iolaus,

Will cruelly be slaughtered; by my act

A kingdom ends in miserable ruin.

I thought to save two fellowmen: I have slain

A hundred by their rescue. I have failed

In all I did and die accursed and hated.

I die alone and miserably, no heart

To pity me: only your hostile waves

Are listening to my sobs and laughing hoarsely

With cruel pleasure. Heaven looks coldly on.

Yet I repent not. O thou dreadful god!

Yes, thou art dreadful and most mighty; perhaps

This world will always be a world of blood

And smiling cruelty, thou its fit sovereign.

But I have done what my own heart required of me,

And I repent not. Even if after death

Eternal pain and punishment await me

And gods and men pursue me with their hate,

I have been true to myself and to my heart,

I have been true to the love it bore for men,

And I repent not.

 

She is silent for a while.

 

Alas! is there no pity for me? Is there

No kind bright sword to save me in all this world?

Heaven with its cold unpitying azure roofs me,

And the hard savage rocks surround: the deaf

And violent Ocean roars about my feet,

And all is stony, all is cold and cruel.

Yet I had dreamed of other powers. Where art thou,

O beautiful still face amid the lightnings,

Athene? Does a mother leave her child?

And thou, bright stranger, wert thou only a dream?

Wilt thou not come down glorious from thy sun,

And cleave my chains, and lift me in thy arms

To safety? I will not die! I am too young,

And life was recently so beautiful.

It is too hard, too hard a fate to bear.

 

She is silent, weeping. Cydone enters: she comes and sits down at Andromeda's feet.

 

CYDONE

How beautiful she is, how beautiful!

Her tears bathe all her bosom. O cruel Syrians!

 

ANDROMEDA

What gentle touch is on my feet? Who art thou?

 

CYDONE

I am Cydone. Iolaus loves me.

 

ANDROMEDA

My brother! lives he yet?

 

CYDONE

He lives, dear sweetness,

And sent me to you.

 

ANDROMEDA (joyfully)

It was a cruel lie!

He's free?

 

CYDONE

No, bound and in the temple. Weep not.

 

ANDROMEDA

Alas! And you have left him there alone?

 

CYDONE

The gods are with him, sister. In a few hours

We shall be all together and released

From these swift perils.

 

ANDROMEDA

Together and released!

Oh yes, in death.

 

CYDONE

I bid you hope. O child,

How beautiful you are, how beautiful,

Iolaus' sister! This one white slight garment

Fluttering about you in the ocean winds,

You look like some wind-goddess chained in play

By frolic sisters on the wild sea-beaches.

I think all this has happened, little sister,

Just that the gods might have for one brief hour

You for a radiant vision of childish beauty

Exposed against this wild stupendous background.

 

ANDROMEDA

You make me smile in spite of all my grief.

Did you not bid me hope, Cydone?

 

CYDONE

And now

I bid you trust: for you are saved.

 

ANDROMEDA

I am.

I feel it now.

 

CYDONE

Your name's Andromeda?

 

ANDROMEDA

Iolaus calls me so.

 

CYDONE

I think he cheats me.

You are Iolaus changed into a girl.

Come, I will kiss you dumb for cheating me

With changes of yourself.

 

Kisses her.

 

If I could have

My Iolaus always chained like this

To do my pleasure with, I would so plague him!

For he abuses me and calls me shrew,

Monster and vixen and names unbearable,

Because he's strong and knows I cannot beat him.

 

ANDROMEDA

The world is changed about me.

 

CYDONE

Heaven's above.

Look up and see it.

 

ANDROMEDA

There is a golden cloud

Moving towards me.

 

CYDONE

It is Perseus. Sweetheart,

I go to Iolaus in the temple,—

I mean your other fair boy-self. Kiss me,

O sweet girl-Iolaus, and fear nothing.

 

She goes out over the rocks.

 

ANDROMEDA

I shall be saved! What is this sudden trouble

That lifts the bosom of the tossing deep,

Hurling the waves against my knees? Save me!

Where art thou gone, Cydone? What huge head

Raises itself on the affrighted seas?

Where art thou, O my saviour? Come! His eyes

Glare up at me from the grey Ocean trough

Hideous with brutish longing. Like great sharp rocks

His teeth are in a bottomless dim chasm.

 

She closes her eyes in terror. Perseus enters.

 

PERSEUS

Look up, O sunny-curled Andromeda!

Perseus, the son of Danaë, is with thee

To whom thou now belongest. Fear no more

Sea-monsters nor the iron-souled Poseidon,

Nor the more monstrous flinty-hearted rabble

Who bound thee here. This huge and grisly enemy

That rises from the flood, need not affright thee.

Thou art as safe as if thy mother's arms

Contained thee in thy brilliant guarded palace

When all was calm, O white Andromeda!

Lift up thy eyes' long curtains: aid the azure

With thy regards, O sunshine. Look at me

And see thy safety.

 

ANDROMEDA

O thou hast come to me!

It was not only a radiant face I dreamed of.

 

PERSEUS

In time to save thee, my Andromeda,

Sole jewel of the world. I go to meet

Thy enemy, confronting grim Poseidon.

 

ANDROMEDA

O touch me ere you go that I may feel

You are real.

 

PERSEUS

Let my kiss, sweet doubting dreamer,

Convince thee. Now I dart like a swift hawk

Upon my prey and smite betwixt the billows.

Watch how I fight for thee. I will come soon

To gather thee into my grasp, my prize

Of great adventure.

 

He goes out.

 

ANDROMEDA

The music of his name

Was in my brain just now. What must I call thee?

Perseus, the son of Danaë! Perseus!

Perseus, Athene's sword! Perseus, my sun-god!

O human god of glad Andromeda!

Forgive, Athene, my lack of faith. Thou art!

How like a sudden eagle he has swooped

Upon the terror, that lifts itself alarmed,

Swings its huge length along the far-ridged billows

And upwards yawns its rage. O great Athene!

It belches fiery breath against my Perseus

And lashes Ocean in his face. The sea

Is tossed upon itself and its huge bottoms

Catch chinks of unaccustomed day. But the aegis

Of Perseus hurls the flame-commingled flood

Back in the dragon's eyes: it shoots its lightnings

Into the horizon like fire-trailing arrows.

The world surprised with light gazes dismayed

Upon the sea-surrounded war, ringed in

With foam and flying tumult. O glorious sight,

Too swift and terrible for human eyes!

I will pray rather. Virgin, beautiful

Athene, virgin-mother of my soul!

I cannot lift my hands to thee, they are chained

To the wild cliff, but lift my heart instead,

Virgin, assist thy hero in the fight.

Descend, armipotent maiden, child of Zeus,

Shoot from his godlike brain the strength of will

That conquers evil: in one victorious stroke

Collecting hurl it on the grisly foe.

Thou, thou art sword and shield, and thou the force

That uses shield and sword, virgin Athene.

The tumult ceases and the floods subside.

I dare not look. And yet I will. O death,

Thou tossest there inertly on the flood,

A floating mountain. Perseus comes to me

Touching the waves with airy-sandalled feet,

Bright and victorious.

 

Perseus returns.

 

PERSEUS

The grisly beast is slain that was thy terror,

And thou mayst sun the world with smiles again,

Andromeda.

 

ANDROMEDA

Thou hast delivered me, O Perseus, Perseus,

My sovereign!

 

PERSEUS

Girl, I take into my arms

My own that I have won and with these kisses

Seal to me happy head and smiling eyes,

Bright lips and all of thee, thou sunny Syrian.

All thy white body is a hero's guerdon.

 

ANDROMEDA

Perseus!

 

PERSEUS

Sweetly thou tak'st my eager kisses

With lovely smiles and glorious blushing cheeks

Rejoicing in their shame.

 

ANDROMEDA

I am chained, Perseus,

And cannot help myself.

 

PERSEUS

O smile of sweetness!

I will unravel these unworthy bonds

And rid thee of the cold excuse.

 

ANDROMEDA

My chains?

They do not hurt me now, and I would wear them

A hundred times for such a happy rescue.

 

PERSEUS

Thou tremblest yet!

 

ANDROMEDA

Some sweet and sudden fear

O'ertakes me! O what is it? I dare not look

Into thy radiant eyes.

 

PERSEUS

Sweet tremors, grow

Upon her. Never shall harsher fears again

O'ertake you, rosy limbs, in Perseus' keeping.

How fair thou art, my prize Andromeda!

O sweet chained body, chained to love not death,

That with a happy passiveness endures

My touch, once more, once more. And now fall down

Clashing into the deep, you senseless irons,

That took a place my kisses only merit.

Princess of Syria, child of imperial Cepheus,

Step forward free.

 

ANDROMEDA (falling at his feet and embracing them)

O Perseus, O my saviour!

Wilt thou not also save those dear to me

And make this life thou givest worth the giving?

My father, mother, brother, all I love,

Lie for my fault shuddering beneath the knife.

 

PERSEUS

It was a glorious fault, Andromeda.

Tremble not for thy loved ones. Wilt thou trust

Thy cherished body in my arms to bear

Upward, surprising Heaven with thy beauty?

Or wilt thou fear to see the blue wide Ocean

Between thy unpropped feet, fathoms below?

 

ANDROMEDA

With you I fear not.

 

PERSEUS

Cling to me then, sweet burden,

And we will meet our enemies together.

 

He puts his arms round her to lift her and the curtain falls.

 

Scene II

The Temple of Poseidon.

 

Polydaon, Therops, Dercetes, Cydone, Damoetes and a great number of Syrians, men and women. Iolaus stands bound, a little to the side: Cepheus and Cassiopea, surrounded by armed men.

 

POLYDAON

Cepheus and Cassiopea, man and woman,

Not sovereigns now, you see what end they have

Who war upon the gods.

 

CASSIOPEA

To see thy end

My eyes wait only.

 

POLYDAON

Let them see something likelier.

Is't not thy son who wears those cords, and that

An altar? What! the eyes are drowned in tears

Where fire was once so ready? Where is thy pride,

O Cassiopea?

 

CASSIOPEA

There are other gods

Than thy Poseidon. They shall punish thee.

 

POLYDAON

If thou knewst who I am, which is most secret,

Thou wouldst not utter vain and foolish wishes.

When thou art slain, I will reveal myself.

 

CASSIOPEA

Thou hast revealed thyself for what thou art

Already, a madman and inhuman monster.

 

CEPHEUS

My queen, refrain from words.

 

DAMOETES

Perissus comes.

 

CASSIOPEA

Ah God!

 

THEROPS

Look, the Queen swoons! Oh, look to her!

 

Perissus enters.

 

POLYDAON

Yes, raise her up, bring back her senses: now

I would not have them clouded. News, Perissus!

Thy face is troubled and thy eyes stare wildly.

 

PERISSUS

Stare, do they? They may stare, for they have cause.

You too will stare soon, Viceroy Polydaon.

 

THEROPS

What rare thing happened? The heavens were troubled strangely,

Although their rifts were blue. What hast thou seen?

 

PERISSUS

I have seen hell and heaven at grips together.

 

POLYDAON

What do I care for hell or heaven? Your news!

Did the sea-monster come and eat and go?

 

PERISSUS

He came but went not.

 

POLYDAON

Was not the maiden seized?

 

PERISSUS

Ay, was she, in a close and mighty grasp.

 

POLYDAON

By the sea-beast?

 

PERISSUS

'Tis said we all are animals;

Then so was he: but 'twas a glorious beast.

 

POLYDAON

And was she quite devoured?

 

PERISSUS

Why, in a manner,—

If kisses eat.

 

POLYDAON

Ha! ha! such soft caresses

May all my enemies have. She was not torn?

What, was she taken whole and quite engulfed?

 

PERISSUS

Something like that.

 

POLYDAON

You speak with difficult slowness

And strangely. Where's your blithe robustness gone,

Perissus?

 

PERISSUS

Coming, with the beast. He lifted her

Mightily from the cliff to heaven.

 

POLYDAON

So, Queen,

Nothing is left thee of Andromeda.

 

PERISSUS

Why, something yet, a sweet and handsome piece.

 

POLYDAON

You should have brought it here, my merry butcher,

That remnant of her daughter.

 

PERISSUS

It is coming.

 

POLYDAON

Ho, ho! then you shall see your daughter, Queen.

 

DERCETES

This is a horrid and inhuman laughter.

Restrain thy humour, priest! My sword's uneasy.

 

THEROPS

It is a scandal in Poseidon's temple.

 

POLYDAON

Do you oppose me?

 

(to Therops)

 

Wilt thou resist Poseidon,

Misguided mortal?

 

DERCETES

He glares and his mouth works.

This is a maniac. Does a madman rule us?

 

THEROPS

There has been much of violence and mad fierceness,

Such as in tumults may be pardoned. Now

It is the tranquil hour of victory

When decency should reign and mercy too.

What do we gain by torturing this poor Queen

And most unhappy King?

 

POLYDAON

Hear him, O people!

He favours great Poseidon's enemies.

Therops turns traitor.

 

DAMOETES

He rails at the good priest.

 

CRIES

Therops a traitor!

 

MEGAS

Therops, thou favour kings?

Thou traitor to Poseidon and his people?

 

GARDAS

I say, hear Therops. He is always right,

Our Therops; he has brains.

 

CRIES

Hear Therops, Therops!

 

THEROPS

Let them be punished, but with exile only.

I am no traitor. I worked for you, O people,

When this false priest was with the King of Tyre

Plotting to lay on you a foreign chain.

 

CRIES

Is it so? Is it the truth? Speak, Polydaon.

 

POLYDAON

Must I defend myself? Was it not I

Who led you on to victory and turned

The wrath of dire Poseidon? If you doubt me,

Be then the sacrifice forbidden; let Cepheus

And Cassiopea reign; but when the dogs

Of grim Poseidon howl again behind you,

Call not to me for help. I will not always pardon.

 

CRIES

Polydaon, Polydaon, Poseidon's mighty Viceroy! Kill Therops!

Iolaus upon the altar!

 

POLYDAON

Now you are wise again. Leave this Therops.

Bring Iolaus to the altar here.

Lay bare his bosom for the knife.

 

THEROPS

Dercetes,

Shall this be allowed?

 

DERCETES

We must not dare offend

Poseidon. But when it's over, I'll break in

With all my faithful spears and save the King

And Cassiopea. Therops, 'twould be a nightmare,

The rule of that fierce priest and fiercer rabble.

 

THEROPS

With all the better sort I will support thee.

 

PERISSUS

Therops, my crowd-compeller, my eloquent Zeus of the market-place, I know thy heart is big with the sweet passion of repentance, but let it not burst into action yet. Keep thy fleet sharp spears at rest, Dercetes. There are times, my little captain, and there is a season. Watch and wait. The gods are at work and Iolaus shall not die.

 

POLYDAON

We only wait until our mighty wrath

Is shown you in the mangled worst offender

Against our godhead. Then, O Cassiopea,

I'll watch thy eyes.

 

PERISSUS

Behold her, Polydaon.

 

Perseus and Andromeda enter the temple.

 

CRIES

Andromeda! Andromeda! who has unchained her? It is Andromeda!

 

CEPHEUS

It is the spirit of Andromeda.

 

THEROPS

Shadows were ne'er so bright, had never smile

So sunny! she is given back to earth:

It is the radiant winged Hermes brings her.

 

DERCETES

'Tis he who baffled us upon the beach.

I see the gods are busy in our Syria.

 

Andromeda runs to Cassiopea and clasps and kisses her knees, the soldiers making way for her.

 

CASSIOPEA (taking Andromeda's face between her hands)

O my sweet child, thou livest!

 

ANDROMEDA

Mother, mother!

I live and see the light and grief is ended.

 

CASSIOPEA (lifting Andromeda into her arms)

I hold thee living on my bosom. What grief

Can happen now?

 

CEPHEUS

Andromeda, my daughter!

 

POLYDAON (awaking from his amazement)

Confusion! Butcher, thou hast betrayed me. Seize them!

They shall all die upon my mighty altar.

Seize them!

 

PERSEUS (confronting him)

Priest of Poseidon and of death,

Three days thou gav'st me: it is but the second.

I am here. Dost thou require the sacrifice?

 

POLYDAON

Art thou a god? I am a greater, dreadfuller.

Tremble and go from me: I need thee not.

 

PERSEUS

Expect thy punishment. Syrians, behold me,

The victim snatched from grim Poseidon's altar.

My sword has rescued sweet Andromeda

And slain the monster of the deep. You asked

For victims? I am here. Whose knife is ready?

Let him approach.

 

THEROPS

Who art thou, mighty hero?

Declare unto this people thy renown

And thy unequalled actions. What high godhead

Befriends thee in battle?

 

PERSEUS

Syrians, I am Perseus,

The mighty son of Zeus and Danaë.

The blood of gods is in my veins, the strength

Of gods is in my arm: Athene helps me.

Behold her aegis, which if I uncover

Will blind you with its lightnings; and this sword

Is Herpe, which can pierce the earth and Hades.

What I have done, is by Athene's strength.

Borne from Seriphos through pellucid air

Upon these winged shoes, in the far west

I have traversed unknown lands and nameless continents

And seas where never came the plash of human oars.

On torrid coasts burned by the desert wind

I have seen great Atlas buttressing the sky,

His giant head companion of the stars,

And changed him into a hill; the northern snows

Illimitable I have trod, where Nature

Is awed to silence, chilled to rigid whiteness;

I have entered caverns dim where death was born:

And I have taken from the dim-dwelling Graiae

Their wondrous eye that sees the past and future:

And I have slain the Gorgon, dire Medusa,

Her head that turns the living man to stone

Locking into my wallet: last, today,

In Syria by the loud Aegean surges

I have done this deed that men shall ever speak of.

Ascending with winged feet the clamorous air

I have cloven Poseidon's monster whose rock-teeth

And fiery mouth swallowed your sons and daughters.

Where now has gone the sea-god's giant stride

That filled with heads of foam your fruitful fields?

I have dashed back the leaping angry waters;

His Ocean-force has yielded to a mortal.

Even while I speak, the world has changed around you.

Syrians, the earth is calm, the heavens smile;

A mighty silence listens on the sea.

All this I have done, and yet not I, but one greater.

Such is Athene's might and theirs who serve her.

You know me now, O Syrians, and my strength

I have concealed not. Let no man hereafter

Complain that I deceived him to his doom.

Speak now. Which of you all demands a victim?

 

He pauses: there is silence.

 

What, you have howled and maddened, bound sweet women

For slaughter, roared to have the hearts of princes,

And are you silent now? Who is for victims?

Who sacrifices Perseus?

 

THEROPS

Speak! is there

A fool so death-devoted?

 

PERSEUS

Claims any man victims?

 

CRIES

There's none, great Perseus.

 

PERSEUS

Then, I here release

Andromeda and Iolaus, Syrians,

From the death-doom: to Cepheus give his crown

Once more. Does any man gainsay my action?

Would any rule in Syria?

 

CRIES

None, mighty Perseus.

 

PERSEUS

Iolaus, sweet friend, my work is finished.

 

He severs his bonds.

 

IOLAUS

O mighty father, suffer me for thee

To take thy crown from the unworthy soil

Where rude hands tumbled it. 'Twill now sit steady.

Dercetes, art thou loyal once again?

 

DERCETES

For ever.

 

IOLAUS

Therops?

 

THEROPS

I have abjured rebellion.

 

IOLAUS

Lead then my royal parents to their home

With martial pomp and music. And let the people

Cover their foul revolt with meek obedience.

One guiltiest head shall pay your forfeit: the rest,

Since terror and religious frenzy moved

To mutiny, not their sober wills, shall all

Be pardoned.

 

CRIES

Iolaus! Iolaus!

Long live the Syrian, noble Iolaus!

 

IOLAUS

Andromeda, and thou, my sweet Cydone,

Go with them.

 

CEPHEUS

I approve thy sentence, son.

 

Dercetes and his soldiers, Therops and the Syrians leave the temple conducting Cepheus and Cassiopea, Andromeda and Cydone.

 

IOLAUS

Now, Polydaon,—

 

POLYDAON

I have seen all and laughed.

Iolaus, and thou, O Argive Perseus,

You know not who I am. I have endured

Your foolish transient triumph that you might feel

My punishments more bitter-terrible.

'Tis time, 'tis time. I will reveal myself.

Your horror-starting eyes shall know me, princes,

When I hurl death and Ocean on your heads.

 

PERSEUS

The man is frantic.

 

IOLAUS

Defeat has turned him mad.

 

PERISSUS

I have seen this coming on him for a season and a half. He was a fox at first, but this tumult gave him claws and muscles and he turned tiger. This is the end. What, Polydaon! Good cheer, priest! Roll not thy eyes: I am thy friend Perissus, I am thy old loving schoolmate; are we not now fellow-craftsmen, priest and butcher?

 

POLYDAON

Do you not see? I wave my sapphire locks

And earth is quaking. Quake, earth! rise, my great Ocean!

Earth, shake my foemen from thy back! clasp, sea,

And kiss them dead, thou huge voluptuary.

Come barking from your stables, my sweet monsters:

With blood-stained fangs and fiery mouths avenge me

Mocking their victory. Thou, brother Zeus,

Rain curses from thy skies. What, is all silent?

I'll tear thee, Ocean, into watery bits

And strip thy oozy basal rocks quite naked

If thou obey me not.

 

IOLAUS (advancing)

He must be seized

And bound.

 

PERSEUS

Pause. See, he foams and clutches!

 

Polydaon falls to the ground.

 

He

Is sentenced.

 

PERISSUS

Polydaon, old crony, grows thy soul too great within thee? dost thou kick the unworthy earth and hit out with thy noble fists at Heaven?

 

IOLAUS

It was a fit; it is over. He lies back white

And shaking.

 

POLYDAON (As he speaks, his utterance is hacked by pauses of silence. He seems unconscious of those around him, his being is withdrawing from the body and he lives only in an inner consciousness and its vision.)

 

I was Poseidon but this moment.

Now he departs from me and leaves me feeble:

I have become a dull and puny mortal.

(half rising)

It was not I but thou who fearedst, god.

I would have spoken, but thou wert chilled and stone.

What fearedst thou or whom? Wast thou alarmed

By the godhead lurking in man's secret soul

Or deity greater than thy own appalled thee?...

Forgive, forgive! pass not away from me.

Thy power is now my breath and I shall perish

If thou withdraw.... He stands beside me still

Shaking his gloomy locks and glares at me

Saying it was my sin and false ambition

Undid him. Was I not fearless as thou bad'st me?

Ah, he has gone into invisible

Vast silences!... Whose, whose is this bright glory?

One stands now in his place and looks at me.

Imperious is his calm Olympian brow,

The sea's blue unfathomed depths gaze from his eyes,

Wide sea-blue locks crown his majestic shape:

A mystic trident arms his tranquil might.

As one new-born to himself and to the world

He turns from me with the surges in his stride

To seek his Ocean empire. Earth bows down

Trembling with awe of his unbearable steps,

Heaven is the mirror of his purple greatness....

But whose was that dimmer and tremendous image?...

A horror of darkness is around me still,

But the joy and might have gone out of my breast

And left me mortal, a poor human thing

With whom death and the fates can do their will....

But his presence yet is with me, near to me....

Was I not something more than earthly man?...

 

(with a cry)

 

It was myself, the shadow, the hostile god!

I am abandoned to my evil self.

That was the darkness!... But there was something more

Insistent, dreadful, other than myself!

Whoever thou art, spare me!... I am gone, I am taken.

In his tremendous clutch he bears me off

Into thick cloud; I see black Hell, the knives

Fire-pointed touch my breast. Spare me, Poseidon....

Save me, O brilliant God, forgive and save.

 

He falls back dead.

 

PERSEUS

Who then can save a man from his own self?

 

IOLAUS

He is ended, his own evil has destroyed him.

 

PERSEUS

This man for a few hours became the vessel

Of an occult and formidable Force

And through his form it did fierce terrible things

Unhuman: but his small and gloomy mind

And impure dark heart could not contain the Force.

It turned in him to madness and demoniac

Huge longings. Then the Power withdrew from him

Leaving the broken incapable instrument,

And all its might was spilt from his body. Better

To be a common man mid common men

And live an unaspiring mortal life

Than call into oneself a Titan strength

Too dire and mighty for its human frame,

That only afflicts the oppressed astonished world,

Then breaks its user.

 

IOLAUS

But best to be Heaven's child.

Only the sons of gods can harbour gods.

 

PERISSUS

Art thou then gone, Polydaon? My monarch of breast-hackers, this was an evil ending. My heart is full of woe for thee, my fellow-butcher.

 

IOLAUS

The gods have punished him for his offences,

Ambition and a hideous cruelty

Ingenious in mere horror.

 

PERSEUS

Burn him with rites,

If that may help his soul by dark Cocytus.

But let us go and end these strange upheavals:

Call Cireas from his hiding for reward,

Tyrnaus too, and Smerdas from his prison,

Fair Diomede from Cydone's house.

Humble or high, let all have their deserts

Who partners were or causes of our troubles.

 

IOLAUS

There's Phineus will ask reasons.

 

PERSEUS

He shall be satisfied.

 

PERISSUS

He cannot be satisfied, his nose is too long; it will not listen to reason, for it thinks all the reason and policy in the world are shut up in the small brain to which it is a long hooked outlet.

 

PERSEUS

Perissus, come with me: for thou wert kind

To my fair sweetness; it shall be remembered.

 

PERISSUS

There was nothing astonishing in that: I am as chock-full with natural kindness as a rabbit is with guts; I have bowels, great Perseus. For am I not Perissus? am I not the butcher?

 

They go out: the curtain falls.

 

Scene III

The audience-chamber of the Palace.

 

Cepheus, Cassiopea, Andromeda, Cydone, Praxilla, Medes.

 

CEPHEUS

A sudden ending to our sudden evils

Propitious gods have given us, Cassiopea.

Pursued by panic the Assyrian flees

Abandoning our borders.

 

CASSIOPEA

And I have got

My children's faces back upon my bosom.

What gratitude can ever recompense

That godlike youth whose swift and glorious rescue

Lifted us out of Hell so radiantly?

 

CYDONE

He has taken his payment in one small white coin

Mounted with gold; and more he will not ask for.

 

CASSIOPEA

Your name's Cydone, child? your face is strange.

You are not of the slave-girls.

 

CYDONE

O I am!

Iolaus' slave-girl, though he calls me sometimes

His queen: but that is only to beguile me.

 

ANDROMEDA

Oh, mother, you must know my sweet Cydone.

I shall think you love me little if you do not

Take her into your bosom: for she alone,

When I was lonely with my breaking heart,

Came to me with sweet haste and comforted

My soul with kisses,—yes, even when the terror

Was rising from the sea, surrounded me

With her light lovely babble, till I felt

Sorrow was not in the same world as she.

And but for her I might have died of grief

Ere rescue came.

 

CASSIOPEA

What wilt thou ask of me,

Even to a crown, Cydone? thou shalt have it.

 

CYDONE

Nothing, unless 'tis leave to stand before you

And be for ever Iolaus' slave-girl

Unchidden.

 

CASSIOPEA

Thou shalt be more than that, my daughter.

 

CYDONE

I have two mothers: a double Iolaus

I had already. O you girl-Iolaus,

You shall not marry Perseus: you are mine now.

Oh, if you have learned to blush!

 

ANDROMEDA (stopping her mouth)

Hush, you mad babbler!

Or I will smother your wild mouth with mine.

 

Perseus and Iolaus enter.

 

CEPHEUS

O welcome, brilliant victor, mighty Perseus!

Saviour of Syria, angel of the gods,

Kind was the fate that led thee to our shores.

 

CASSIOPEA (embracing Iolaus)

Iolaus, Iolaus, my son!

My golden-haired delight they would have murdered!

Perseus, hast thou a mother?

 

PERSEUS

One like thee

In love, O Queen, though less in royalty.

 

CASSIOPEA

What can I give thee then who hast the world

To move in, thy courage and thy radiant beauty,

And a tender mother? Yet take my blessing, Perseus,

To help thee: for the mightiest strengths are broken

And divine favour lasts not long, but blessings

Of those thou helpest with thy kindly strength

Upon life's rugged way, can never fail thee.

 

CEPHEUS

And what shall I give, seed of bright Olympus?

Wilt thou have half my kingdom, Argive Perseus?

 

PERSEUS

Thy kingdom falls by right to Iolaus

In whom I shall enjoy it. One gift thou hadst

I might have coveted, but she is mine,

O monarch: I have taken her from death

For my possession.

 

CEPHEUS

My sunny Andromeda!

But there's the Tyrian: yet he gave her up

To death and cannot now reclaim her.

 

IOLAUS

Father,

The Babylonian merchants wait, and Cireas:

The people's leaders and thy army's captains

Are eager to renew an interrupted

Obedience.

 

CEPHEUS

Admit them all to me: go, Medes.

 

As Medes goes out, Diomede enters.

 

ANDROMEDA

Diomede! playmate! you too have come quite safe

Out of the storm. I thought we both must founder.

 

DIOMEDE

Oh, yes, and now you'll marry Perseus, leave me

No other playmate than Praxilla's whippings

To keep me lively!

 

ANDROMEDA

Therefore 'tis you look

So discontent and sullen? Clear your face,

I'll drag you to the world's far end with me,

And take in my own hands Praxilla's duty.

Will that please you?

 

DIOMEDE

As if your little hand could hurt!

I'm off, Praxilla, to pick scarlet berries

In Argolis and hear the seabirds' cries

And Ocean singing to the Cyclades.

I'll buy you brand new leather for a relic

To whip the memory of me with sometimes,

Praxilla.

 

PRAXILLA

You shall taste it then before you go.

You'll make a fine fair couple of wilfulnesses.

I pity Perseus.

 

ANDROMEDA

You are well rid of us,

My poor Praxilla.

 

PRAXILLA

Princess, little Princess,

My hands will be lighter, but my heart too heavy.

 

Therops and Dercetes enter with the Captains of the army, Cireas, Tyrnaus and Smerdas.

 

ALL

Hail, you restored high royalties of Syria.

 

THEROPS

O King, accept us, be the past forgotten.

 

CEPHEUS

It is forgotten, Therops. Welcome, Dercetes.

Thy friend Nebassar is asleep. He has done

His service for the day and taken payment.

 

CASSIOPEA

His blood is a deep stain on Syria's bosom.

 

DERCETES

On us the stain lies, Queen: but we will drown it

In native streams, when we go forth to scourge

The Assyrian in his home.

 

THEROPS

Death for one's King

Only less noble is than for one's country.

This foreign soldier taught us that home lesson.

 

CASSIOPEA

Therops, there are kings still in Syria?

 

THEROPS

Great Queen,

Remember not my sins.

 

CASSIOPEA

They are buried deep,

Thy bold rebellion,—even thy cruel slanders,

If only thou wilt serve me as my friend

True to thy people in me. Will this be hard for thee?

 

THEROPS

O noble lady, you pay wrongs with favours!

I am yours for ever, I and all this people.

 

CIREAS (to Diomede)

This it is to be an orator! We shall hear him haranguing the people next market-day on fidelity to princes and the divine right of queens to have favourites.

 

IOLAUS

Cireas, old bribe-taker, art thou living? Did Poseidon forget thee?

 

CIREAS

I pray you, Prince, remind me not of past foolishness. I have grown pious. I will never speak ill again of authorities and divinities.

 

IOLAUS

Thou art grown ascetic? thou carest no longer then for gold? I am glad, for my purse will be spared a very heavy lightening.

 

CIREAS

Prince, I will not suffer my young piety to make you break old promises; for if it is perilous to sin, it is worse to be the cause of sin in others.

 

IOLAUS

Thou shalt have gold and farms. I will absolve

Andromeda's promise and my own.

 

CIREAS

Great Plutus!

O happy Cireas!

 

IOLAUS

Merchant Tyrnaus, art thou for Chaldea?

 

TYRNAUS

When I have seen these troubles' joyous end

And your sweet princess, my young rescuer,

Happily wedded.

 

IOLAUS

I will give thee a ship

And merchandise enough to fill thy losses.

 

PERSEUS

And prayers with them, O excellent Chaldean.

The world has need of men like thee.

 

SMERDAS (aside)

I quake.

What will they say to me? I shall be tortured

And crucified. But she with her smile will save me.

 

IOLAUS

Smerdas, thou unclean treacherous coward soul!

 

SMERDAS

Alas, I was compelled by threats of torture.

 

IOLAUS

And tempted too with gold. Thy punishment

Shall hit thee in thy nature. Farmer Cireas!

 

CIREAS

Prince Plutus!

 

IOLAUS

Take thou this man for slave. He's strong.

Work him upon thy fields and thy plantations.

 

SMERDAS

O this is worst of all.

 

IOLAUS

Not worse than thy desert.

For gold thou lustest? earn it for another.

Thou'lt save thy life? it is a freedman's chattel.

 

SMERDAS

O speak for me, lady Andromeda!

 

ANDROMEDA

Dear Iolaus,—

 

CEPHEUS

My child, thou art all pity;

But justice has her seat, and her fine balance

Disturbed too often spoils an unripe world

With ill-timed mercy. Thy brother speaks my will.

 

IOLAUS

Thou hast increased thy crime by pleading to her

Whom thou betrayedst to her death. Art thou

Quite shameless? Hold thy peace!

 

ANDROMEDA

Grieve not too much.

Cireas will be kind to thee; wilt thou not, Cireas?

 

CIREAS

At thy command I will be even that

And even to him.

 

Noise outside.

 

CEPHEUS

What other dangerous clamour

Is at our gates?

 

Perissus enters, brandishing his cleaver.

 

PERISSUS

Pull out that sharp skewer of thine, comrade Perseus, or let me handle my cleaver.

 

CEPHEUS

Thou art angry, butcher? Who has disturbed thy noble serenity?

 

PERISSUS

King Cepheus, shall I not be angry? Art thou not again our majesty of Syria? And shall our majesty be insulted with noses? Shall it be prodded by a proboscis? Perseus, thou hast slaughtered yonder palaeozoic ichthyosaurus; wilt thou suffer me to chop this neozoan?

 

PERSEUS

Calmly, precisely and not so polysyllabically, my good Perissus.

Tell the King what is this clamour.

 

PERISSUS

My monarch, Phineus of Tyre has brought his long-nosed royalty to thy gates and poke it he will into thy kingly presence.

 

His blusterings, King, have flustered my calm great heart within me.

 

CEPHEUS

Comes he alone?

 

PERISSUS

Damoetes and some scores more hang on to his long tail of hook-nosed Tyrians; but they are all rabble and proletariate, not a citizen butcher in the whole picking. They brandish skewers; they threaten to poke me with their dainty iron spits,—me, Perissus, me, the butcher!

 

CEPHEUS

Phineus in arms! This is the after-swell

Of tempest.

 

PERSEUS

Let the Phoenician enter, comrade.

 

Perissus goes out.

 

Look not so blank. This man with all his crew

Shall be my easy care.

 

Phineus enters the hall with a great company, Tyrians with drawn swords, Damoetes, Morus and others; after them Perissus.

 

CEPHEUS

Welcome, Tyre.

 

CASSIOPEA

Thou breakest armed into our presence, Phineus.

Had they been earlier there, these naked swords

Would have been welcome.

 

PHINEUS

I am not here for welcome,

Lady. King Cepheus, wilt thou yield me right,

Or shall I take it with my sword?

 

CEPHEUS

Phineus,

I never have withheld even from the meanest

The least thing he could call his right.

 

PHINEUS

Thou hast not?

Who gives then to a wandering Greek my bride,

Thy perfect daughter?

 

CASSIOPEA

She was in some peril,

When thou wert absent, Tyre.

 

PHINEUS

A vain young man,

A brilliant sworder wandering for a name,

Who calls himself the son of Danaë,

And who his father was, the midnight knows.

This is the lord thou giv'st Andromeda,

Scorning the mighty King of ancient Tyre.

 

CEPHEUS

He saved her from the death to which we left her,

And she was his,—his wife, if so he chose,

Or, conquered by the sword from grim Poseidon,

His then to take her as he would from that moment.

 

PHINEUS

Do his deeds or thy neglect annul thy promise?

 

IOLAUS

King Phineus, wilt thou take up and lay down

At pleasure? Who leaves a jewel in the mud,

Shall he complain because another took it?

 

PRAXILLA

And she was never his; she hated him.

 

PHINEUS

I'll hear no reasons, but with strong force have her,

Though it be to lift her o'er the dearest blood

Of all her kin. Tyrians!

 

Andromeda takes refuge with Perseus.

 

Abandon, princess,

The stripling bosom where thou tak'st thy refuge.

Thou hast mistook thy home, Andromeda.

 

IOLAUS

'Tis thou mistakest, Phineus, thinking her

A bride who, touched, shall be thy doom. Get hence

Unhurt.

 

PHINEUS

Prince Iolaus, the sword that cut

Thy contract to Poseidon, cuts not mine,—

Which if you void, thou and thy father pay for it.

 

PERSEUS

Phineus of Tyre, it may be thou art wronged,

But 'tis not at his hands whom thou impugnest.

Her father gave her not to me.

 

PHINEUS

Her mother then?

She is the man, I think, in Syria's household.

 

PERSEUS

Her too I asked not.

 

PHINEUS

Thou wooedst then the maid?

It shall not help thee though a thousand times

She kissed thee yes. Pretty Andromeda,

Wilt thou have for thy lord this vagabond,

Wander with him as beggars land and sea?

Despite thyself I'll save thee from that fate

Unworthy of thy beauty and thy sweetness,

And make thee Queen in Tyre. Minion of Argos,

Learn, ere thou grasp at other's goods, to ask

The owner, not the owned.

 

PERSEUS

I did not ask her.

 

PHINEUS

Then by what right, presumptuous, hast thou her?

Or wherefore lies she thus within thy arm?

 

PERSEUS

Say, by what right, King Phineus, thou wouldst take her,

Herself and all refusing?

 

PHINEUS

By my precontract.

 

PERSEUS

Thou gavest her to Death, that contract's broken.

Or if thou seekest to revoke thy gift,

Foregather then with Death and ask him for her.

The way to him is easy.

 

PHINEUS

Then by my sword,

Not asking her or any, because I am a king,

I'll take her.

 

PERSEUS

If the sword is the sole judge,

Then by my own sword I have taken her, Tyrian,

Not asking her or any, who am king

O'er her, her sovereign. This soft gold is mine

And mine these banks of silver; this rich country

Is my possession and owes to my strong taking

All her sweet revenues in honey. Phineus,

I wonder not that thou dost covet her

Whom the whole world might want. Wrest her from me,

Phoenician; to her father she belongs not.

 

(opening his wallet)

 

King Phineus, art thou ready? Yet look once more

On the blue sky and this green earth of Syria.

 

PHINEUS

Young man, thou hast done deeds I'll not belittle.

Yet was it only a sea-beast and a rabble

Whom thou hast tamed; I am a prince and warrior.

Wilt thou fright me with thy aegis?

 

PERSEUS

Not fright, but end thee;

For thou hast spoken words deserving death.

Come forth into the open, this is no place

For battle. Marshal thy warlike crew against me,

And let thy Syrian mob-men help with shouts:

Stand in their front to lead them; I alone

Will meet their serried charge, Dercetes merely

Watching us.

 

PHINEUS

Thou art frantic with past triumphs:

Argive, desist. I would not rob thy mother

Of her sole joy, howe'er she came by thee.

The gods may punish her sweet midnight fault,

To whom her dainty trickery imputes it.

 

PERSEUS

Come now, lest here I slay thee.

 

PHINEUS

Thou art in love

With death: but I am pitiful, young Perseus;

Thou shalt not die. My men shall take thee living

And pedlars hawk thee for a slave in Tyre,

Where thou shalt see sometimes far off Andromeda,

A Queen of nations.

 

PERSEUS

Thou compassionate man!

But I will give thee, hero, marvellous death

And stone for monument, which thou deservest;

For thou wert a great King and famous warrior,

When still thou wert living. Forth and fight with me!

Afterwards if thou canst, come for Andromeda;

None shall oppose thy seizure. Behind me, captain,

So that the rabble here may not be tempted

To any treacherous stroke.

 

Phineus goes out with the Tyrians, Damoetes and the Syrian favourers of Phineus, followed by Perseus and Dercetes. Cireas behind them at a distance.

 

CEPHEUS

Sunbeam, I am afraid.

 

ANDROMEDA

I am not, father.

 

CEPHEUS

Alone against so many!

 

IOLAUS

Shall I go, father,

And stand by him?

 

CEPHEUS

He might be angry. Hark!

The voice of Phineus.

 

IOLAUS

He cries some confident order.

 

CEPHEUS

The Tyrians shout for onset; he is doomed.

 

There is a moment's pause, all listening, painfully.

 

IOLAUS

The shouts are stilled; there is a sudden hush.

 

CEPHEUS

What can it mean? This silence is appalling.

 

Dercetes returns.

 

What news? Thou treadest like one sleeping, captain.

 

DERCETES

O King, thy royal court is full of monuments.

 

CEPHEUS

What meanest thou? What happened? Where is Perseus?

 

DERCETES

King Phineus called to his men to take alive

The Greek; but as they charged, great Perseus cried,

"Close eyes, Dercetes, if thou car'st to live,"

And I obeyed, yet saw that he had taken

A snaky something from the wallet's mouth

He carries on his baldric. Blind I waited

And heard the loud approaching charge. Then suddenly

The rapid footsteps ceased, the cries fell dumb

And a great silence reigned. Astonishment

For two brief moments only held me close;

But when I lifted my sealed lids, the court

Was full of those swift charging warriors stiffened

To stone or stiffening, in the very posture

Of onset, sword uplifted, shield advanced,

Knee crooked, foot carried forward to the pace,

An animated silence, life in stone.

Only the godlike victor lived, a smile

Upon his lips, closing his wallet's mouth.

Then I, appalled, came from that place in silence.

 

CEPHEUS

Soldier, he is a god, or else the gods

Walk close to him. I hear his footsteps coming.

 

Perseus returns, followed by Cireas.

 

Hail, Perseus!

 

PERSEUS

King, the Tyrians all are dead,

Nor needst thou build them pyres nor dig them graves.

If any hereafter ask what perfect sculptor

Chiselled these forms in Syria's royal court,

Say then, "Athene, child armipotent

Of the Olympian, hewed by Perseus' hand

In one divine and careless stroke these statues

To her give glory."

 

CEPHEUS

O thou dreadful victor!

I know not what to say nor how to praise thee.

 

PERSEUS

Say nothing, King; in silence praise the Gods.

Let this not trouble you, my friends. Proceed

As if no interruption had disturbed you.

 

CIREAS

O Zeus, I thought thou couldst juggle only with feathers and phosphorus, but I see thou canst give wrinkles in magic to Babylon and the Medes. (shaking himself) Ugh! this was a stony conjuring. I cannot feel sure yet that I am not myself a statue.

 

PERISSUS (who has gone out and returned)

What hast thou done, comrade Perseus? Thou hast immortalised his long nose to all time in stone! This is a woeful thing for posterity; thou hadst no right to leave behind thee for its dismay such a fossil.

 

CEPHEUS

What now is left but to prepare the nuptials

Of sweet young sunny-eyed Andromeda

With mighty Perseus?

 

PERSEUS

King, let it be soon

That I may go to my blue-ringed Seriphos,

Where my mother waits and more deeds call to me.

 

CASSIOPEA

Yet if thy heart consents, then three months give us,

O Perseus, of thyself and our sweet child,

And then abandon.

 

PERSEUS

They are given.

 

ANDROMEDA

Perseus,

You give and never ask; let me for you

Ask something.

 

PERSEUS

Ask, Andromeda, and have.

 

ANDROMEDA

Then this I ask that thy great deeds may leave

Their golden trace on Syria. Let the dire cult

For ever cease and victims bleed no more

On its dark altar. Instead, Athene's name

Spread over all the land and in men's hearts.

Then shall a calm and mighty Will prevail

And broader minds and kindlier manners reign

And men grow human, mild and merciful.

 

PERSEUS

King Cepheus, thou hast heard; shall this be done?

 

CEPHEUS

Hero, thou cam'st to change our world for us.

Pronounce; I give assent.

 

PERSEUS

Then let the shrine

That looked out from earth's breast into the sunlight,

Be cleansed of its red memory of blood,

And the dread Form that lived within its precincts

Transfigure into a bright compassionate God

Whose strength shall aid men tossed upon the seas,

Give succour to the shipwrecked mariner.

A noble centre of a people's worship,

To Zeus and great Athene build a temple

Between your sky-topped hills and Ocean's vasts:

Her might shall guard your lives and save your land.

In your human image of her deity

A light of reason and calm celestial force

And a wise tranquil government of life,

Order and beauty and harmonious thoughts

And, ruling the waves of impulse, high-throned will

Incorporate in marble, the carved and white

Ideal of a young uplifted race.

For these are her gifts to those who worship her.

Adore and what you adore attempt to be.

 

CEPHEUS

Will the fiercer Grandeur that was here permit?

 

PERSEUS

Fear not Poseidon; the strong god is free.

He has withdrawn from his own darkness and is now

His new great self at an Olympian height.

 

CASSIOPEA

How can the immortal gods and Nature change?

 

PERSEUS

All alters in a world that is the same.

Man most must change who is a soul of Time;

His gods too change and live in larger light.

 

CEPHEUS

Then man too may arise to greater heights,

His being draw nearer to the gods?

 

PERSEUS

Perhaps.

But the blind nether forces still have power

And the ascent is slow and long is Time.

Yet shall Truth grow and harmony increase:

The day shall come when men feel close and one.

Meanwhile one forward step is something gained,

Since little by little earth must open to heaven

Till her dim soul awakes into the Light.