Polyeucte

Act I--Polyeucte. Nearchus

NEARCHUS. Shall woman's dream of terror hurl the dart? Oh, feeble weapon 'gainst so great a heart! Must courage proved a thousand times in arms Bow to a peril forged by vain alarms?

POLY. I know that dreams are born to fade away, And melt in air before the light of day; I know that misty vapours of the night Dissolve and fly before the morning bright. The dream is naught--but the dear dreamer--all! She has my soul, Nearchus, fast in thrall; Who holds the marriage torch--august, divine, Bids me to her sweet voice my will resign. She fears my death--tho' baseless this her fright, Pauline is wrung with fear--by day--by night; My road to duty hampered by her fears, How can I go when all undried her tears? Her terror I disown--and all alarms, Yet pity holds me in her loving arms: No bolts or bars imprison,--yet her sighs My fetters are--my conquerors, her eyes! Say, kind Nearchus, is the cause you press Such as to make me deaf to her distress? The bonds I slacken I would not unloose Nothing I yield--yet grant a timely truce.

NEAR. How grant you know not what? Are you assured Of constancy?--as one who has endured? God claims your soul for Him!--Now! Now! To-day! The fruit to-morrow yields--oh, who shall say? Our God is just, but do His grace and power Descend on recreants with equal shower? On darkened souls His flame of light He turns, Yet flame neglected soon but faintly burns, And dying embers fade to ashes cold If we the heart His spirit wooes withhold. Great Heaven retains the fire no longer sought, While ashes turn to dust, and dust to naught. His holy baptism He bids thee seek, Neglect the call, and the desire grows weak. Ah! whilst from woman's breast thou heedst the sighs, The flame first flickers, then, untended--dies!

POLY. You know me ill,--'tis mine, that holy fire, Fed, not extinguished, by unslaked desire Her tears--I view them with a lover's eye; And yet your Christ is mine--a Christian I! The healing, cleansing flood o'er me shall flow, I would efface the stain from birth I owe; I would be pure--my sealed eyes would see! The birthright Adam lost restored to me This, this, the unfading crown! For this I yearn, For that exhaustless fount I thirst, I burn. Then, since my heart is true, Nearchus, say-- Shall I not grant to pity this delay?

NEAR. So doth the ghostly foe our souls abuse, And all beyond his force he gains by ruse; He hates the purpose fast he cannot foil,-- Then he retreats--retreats but to recoil! In endless barricade obstruction piles, To-day 'tis tears impede, to-morrow--smiles! And this poor dream--his coinage of the night Gives place to other lures, all falsely bright: All tricks he knows and uses--threats and prayers Attacks in parley--as the Parthian dares. In chain unheeded weakest link must fail, So fortress yet unwon he'll mount and scale. O break his bonds! Let feeble woman weep! The heart that God has touched 'tis God must keep! Who looks behind to dally with his choice When Heaven demands--obeys another voice!

POLY. Who loves thy Christ--say, must he love no other?

NEAR. He may--he must! 'Tis Christ says, "Love thy brother," Yet on the altar of the Heavenly King No rival place, no alien incense fling! Through Him--by Him--for Him--all goodness know! 'Tis from the source alone each stream must flow. To please Him, wife, and wealth, and rank, and state Must be forsaken--strait the heavenly gate. Poor silly sheep! afar you err and stray From Him who is The Life, The Truth, The Way! My grief chokes utterance! I see your fate, As round the fold the hungry wolves of hate Closer and fiercer rage: from sword and flame One shelter for His flock--one only Name! The Cross alone our victor over fears, Not this thy strength,--thy plea--a woman's tears!

POLY. I know thy heart! It is mine own--the tear My pity drops hath ne'er a taint of fear! Who dreads not torture, yet--to give relief To her he loves, perforce must ease her grief! If Heaven should claim my life, my death, my all, Then Heaven will give the strength to heed the call. The shepherd guides me surely to the fold, There, safe with Him, 'tis He will make me bold!

NEAR. Be bold! O come!

POLY. Yes, let thy faith be mine! There--at his feet--do I my life resign If but Pauline--my love--would give consent! Else heaven were hell, and home but banishment!

NEAR. Come!--to return. Thrice welcome to her sight, To see thee safe will double her delight: As the pierced cloud unveils a brighter sun, So is her joy enhanced--thy glory won! O come, they wait!

POLY. Appease her fear! Ah, this Alone will give her rest--her lover bliss. She comes!

NEAR. Then fly!

POLY. I cannot!

NEAR. To deny would yield thine enemy the victory! He loves to kill, and knows his deadliest dart Finds friend within the fort--thy traitor heart!

Enter Pauline and Stratonice

POLY. I needs must go, Pauline! My love, good-bye! I go but to return--for thine am I!

PAUL. Oh, why this haste to leave a loving wife? Doth honour call?--or fear'st thou for thy life?

POLY. For more, a thousandfold!

PAUL. Great Gods above!

POLY. Thou hast my heart! Let this content thy love!

PAUL. You love and yet you leave me. What am I? Not mine to solve the dreary mystery!

POLY. I love thee more than self--than life--than fame But----

PAUL. There is something that thou dar'st not name. Oh, on my knees I supplicate, I pray, Remove my darkness!--turn my night to day!

POLY. Oh, dreams are naught!

PAUL. Yet, when they tell of thee, I needs must listen, for I love! Ah, me!

POLY. Take courage, dear one, 'tis but for an hour, Thy love must draw me back, for love hath power O'er all in earth and heaven. My soul's delight, I can no more! My only safety--flight!

(Exeunt Polyeucte and Nearchus.)

PAUL. Yes, go, despise my prayer--my agony; Go, ruthless--meet thy fate--forewarned by me; Chase thy pursuer, herald thine own doom; Go, kiss the murderer's hand, and hail the tomb! Ah, Stratonice! for our boasted power As sovereigns o'er man's heart! Poor regents of an hour! Faint, helpless, moonbeam--light was all I gave, The sun breaks forth--his queen becomes his slave! Wooed? Yes; as other queens I held my court Won--but to lose my crown, and be the sport Of proud, absorbing and imperious man!

STRAT. Ah, man does what he wills--we, what we can; He loves thee, lady!

PAUL. Love should mate with trusts; He leaves me!

STRAT. Lady, 'tis because he must! He loves thee with a love will never die, Then, if he leave thee, reason not the why: Give him thy trust! Oh, thou shalt have reward, For thee he hides the secret! Let him guard Thy life beloved--in fullest liberty. The wife who wholly trusts alone is free! One heart for thee and him--one purpose sure, Yet this heart beats to dare--and to endure. The wife's true heart must o'er the peril sigh Which meets his heart moved but to purpose high; Thy pain his pain, but not his terror thine: He is Armenian, thou of Roman line. We, of Armenia, mock thy dreams to scorn, For they are born of night, as truth of morn; While Romans hold that dreams are heaven-sent, And spring from Jove for man's admonishment.

PAUL. Though this thy faith--if thou my dream shouldst hear-- My grief must needs be thine, thy fear my fear, And, that the horror thou may'st fully prove, Know that I--his dear wife--did once another love! Nay, start not, shrink not, 'tis no tale of shame, For though in other years the heavenly flame Descended, kindled, scorched--it left me pure With courage to resign--with strength to endure. He touched my heart, but never stained the soul That gained this hardest conquest--self-control. At Rome--where I was born--a soldier's eye Marked this poor face, from which must Polyeucte fly; Severus was his name:--Ah! memory May spare love linked with death a tear, a sigh!

STRAT. Say, is it he who, at the risk of life, Saved Decius from his foes and endless strife? Who, dying, dealt to Persia stroke of death, And shouted 'Victory!' with his latest breath? His whitening bones, amid the nameless brave, Lie still unfound, unknown, without a grave; Unburied lies his dust amid the slain, While Decius rears an empty urn in vain!

PAUL. Alas! 'tis he; all Rome attests his worth, Hide not his memory, kindly Mother Earth! 'Tis but his memory that I adore The past is past--and I can say no more. All gifts save one had he--yes, Fortune held her hand, And I, as Fortune's slave, obeyed my sire's command.

STRAT. Ah! I must wish that love the day had won!

PAUL. Which duty lost--then had I been undone; Though duty gave, yet duty healed, my pain; Yet say not that my love was weak or vain! Our tears fell fast, yet ne'er bore our distress The fatal fruit of strife and bitterness. Then, then, I left my hero, hope and Rome, And, far from him, I found another home; While he, in his despair, sought sure relief In death, the only end to life's long grief! You know the rest:--you know that Polyeucte's eye Was caught,--his fancy pleased; his wife am I. Once more by counsel of my father led, To Armenia's greatest noble am I wed; Ambition, prudence, policy his guide Yet only duty made Pauline his bride; Love might have bound me to Severus' heart, Had duty not enforced a sterner part. Yes, let these fears attest, all trembling for his life, That I am his for aye--his faithful, loving wife.

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