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ACT II
SCENE III
The Summit of the
Jungfrau Mountain.
Enter FIRST DESTINY.
The moon is rising broad, and round, and bright;
And here on snows, where never human foot 300
Of common
mortal trod, we nightly tread,
And
leave no traces; o'er the savage sea,
The
glassy ocean of the mountain ice,
We skim its rugged breakers, which put on
The aspect of a tumbling tempest's foam,
Frozen in a moment--
a dead whirlpool's image.
And this most steep fantastic pinnacle,
The fretwork of some
earthquake-- where the clouds
Pause to repose themselves in passing by--
Is sacred to our revels, or our
vigils; 310
Here do I wait my sisters, on our way
To the Hall of
Arimanes, for to-night
Is our great festival-- 't is strange they come not.
A Voice without, singing.
The Captive Usurper,
Hurl'd down from the throne,
Lay
buried in torpor,
Forgotten and lone;
I broke through his slumbers,
I shiver'd his chain,
I leagued him with numbers-- 320
He's
Tyrant again!
With the blood of a million he'll answer my care,
With
a nation's destruction-- his flight and despair.
Second Voice, without.
The ship sail'd on, the ship sail'd fast,
But I left not a sail, and I left not a mast;
There is not a plank of the hull or the deck,
And there is not a wretch to lament o'er his
wreck;
Save one, whom I held, as he swam, by the hair,
And he was a subject well worthy my care;
A traitor on land, and a
pirate at sea-- 330
But I saved him to wreak further
havoc for me!
FIRST DESTINY, answering.
The city lies sleeping;
The morn, to deplore it,
May dawn on it weeping:
Sullenly, slowly,
The black plague flew o'er it--
Thousands lie lowly;
Tens of thousands shall perish--
The living shall fly from
The sick they should cherish; 340
But nothing can vanquish
The touch that they die from.
Sorrow and anguish,
And
evil and dread,
Envelope a nation--
The
blest are the dead,
Who see not the sight
Of their own desolation;
This work of a night--
This wreck of a realm-- this deed of my doing 350
For ages I've done, and shall still be renewing!
Enter the SECOND and THIRD DESTINIES.
The Three.
Our hands contain
the hearts of men,
Our footsteps are their graves:
We only give to take again
The spirits of our slaves!
FIRST DESTINY.
Welcome!-- Where's
Nemesis?
SECOND DESTINY.
At some great work;
But what I know not, for
my hands were full.
THIRD DESTINY.
Behold she cometh.
Enter NEMESIS.
FIRST DESTINY.
Say, where hast thou been?
My sisters and thyself are slow to-night.
NEMESIS.
l was detain'd repairing
shattered thrones, 360
Marrying fools, restoring dynasties,
Avenging men upon their enemies,
And making them repent their own revenge;
Goading the wise to madness, from the dull
Shaping out
oracles to rule the world
Afresh, for they were waxing out of date,
And mortals dared to ponder for themselves,
To weigh kings in the balance, and to speak
Of
freedom, the forbidden fruit.-- Away!
We have outstaid the hour-- mount we our clouds! 370
(Exeunt.)
CST Approved