ACT I (3)

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Scene 1. A pavilion in vineyard near Dion's house. Enter Dion and Aristocles, followed by Brentio and Tichus.
Dion. That Dionysius bends the neck of pomp
To do you honor, shows an eye yet false
To your true merit.
Aris. But 'tis better, Dion,
Than to have found his frowning archers planted
Point to our landing ship.
Dion. He'd not have dared
To greet you so, but this vain, strutting show
Wrongs you no less.
Aris. Himself far more.
Dion. Ay, friend.
The mines of earth into one coffer poured
Would not enrich a spendthrift or insure
Him linen for a shroud. If you can not
Prevail with him—If? Nay, you will. All ifs
Lie down before your wooing argument.
Aris. I knew his father when the years had stripped
His agued soul, and his untutored age
Looked from a crabbed eye upon the world.
For him I would not have a second time
Foregone Athenian groves, but youth that keeps
An open door to Wisdom as to Folly,
May even of Virtue make at last a guest.
Dion. My hope is born again, now you are here.
When I have seen pick-thank philosophers
At ear of Dionysius, seeding his mind—
Wherein my toil had set fair Ceres' garden—
With foul and flaunting weeds to overrun
My country, I have been tempted to forego
The idle reaping, uplay the soil itself,
And with some few and trusted followers
Rouse a new Spring to breed us gracious harvest.
Aris. But he who strikes at heritage gives riot
Fair leave to play above his trampled grave,
And rather than usurp a wrong with right,
You bend your strength to make the wrong a virtue.
Dion. Ay, so the young tyrant has my knee, but thus
To keep my mind at bow and flexure proves
My patience 'fore the gods. Welcome the day
When I may honor Truth in honoring
The head of rule in my belov?d city!
But now no more of state austerities;
I would be glad one hour and nurse the joy
Of seeing thee. Thou'st brought me half my heart
That kept with thee in Athens.
[Enter Brentio]
Well?
Bren. My lord,
The mistress comes.
Dion. In happy season.
Aris. Mistress?
Dion. My wife.
Aris. Art married, Dion?
Dion. Since you sailed;
To Aratea, Dionysius' sister,
But as unlike him as the eternal sky
To moody ocean.
Aris. Married? That the word?
Dion. Fast bound, indeed, to one who will not break
Our souls' knit circle. She is Virtue's servant,
And wears her fairest flower, beauty.
Tich. [Aside, as Dion looks off left to see if Aratea
approaches] Ha!
A beauty! I will warrant it. There be
Some ugly wives i' the world but no man married 'em.
Dion. [To Brentio] Come, sir. What entertainment is provided?
[Dion talks aside with slave]
Aris. So goes my friend. He who was happiest lost
In the vast solitude of a noble book,
Or Truth's deep-pathed discourse. A wife. Is this
My journey's end? That little haven whence
No harbored sail dares sea? Port of delay,
And pocket of emprise, whose shallows oft
Have sunk the mightiest hope of greatest states!
[Enter a servant]
Ser. [To Dion] My lord, the captain of the harbor
waits.
Dion. [To Aristocles] One moment, friend.
[Exit, right]
Aris. That lordly soul a-dream
In woman's arms! That heaven-cleaving mind
At fireside tattle with a gossip dame!
Now comes the sunward ranging eagle down
To sit by nest, a tame prudential spouse.
Where sped the proud ambassador of morn
On wings that clipped the burning orient,
Hovers the cautious mate at pains to find
A youngling's breakfast.
[Re-enter Dion]
Dion. Come, my friend. You're skilled
In harbor matters, and I need your word.
[Exeunt Dion and Aristocles, right]
Bren. Is your wise man married?
Tich. That's a fool's question.

Bren. True, but— Peace! Yonder comes the mistress. I must be off. "Entertainment," quoth my lord. Which means a gentle sally of honest nymphs, and a sort of mild, virtuous music at hide-and-seek in the vineyard. You must to court if you would know how wenches can trip in Sicily. Come, brother stranger. I'll take care o' your enjoyments. You shall see us with both eyes, I promise you.

[Exeunt Brentio and Tichus. Enter, left, Aratea, Theano, Nauresta, Ocrastes and Phillistus]

Ara. I'm not convinced, Phillistus. Who may search
The wreckage 'neath a smile, or count the tears
Deep in a stoic eye? Let us believe
Aristocles is not in nature cold
As his philosophy.
Oc. I'll freeze my sword
A winter night, then warm his heart by 't. Cold!
The. You've seen him?
Oc. At the landing.
The. Now we hear!
What is this marvel like?
Oc. A frozen god.
Apollo cast in snow.
Phil. Sicilian suns
Are warm.
Oc. He's proof 'gainst sun. Why, he doth cool
His liver with his blood,—hath not a stir
Of whetted sense, be 't anger, love or pain,
To prick him mortal.
Ara. He is young to be
So true a sage.
The. They come. Prepare, O eyes,
To wonder!
[Re-enter Dion and Aristocles]
Ara. [Advancing] Welcome, noble Athenian.
Your fame has oft made voyage to our shore,
And we rejoice that now you follow it.
Please know my friends.
Dion. [To Aratea, as Aristocles greets the others]
Why is Phillistus here?
Are we so poor, my dame, the enemy
Must sauce our feast? Nay, nay!
Ara. I hope, my lord,
My brother's subjects are not enemies.

Phil. [Who has stood apart, approaches Aristocles] Welcome to Sicily, although your breath is somewhat frosty for our warmer pleasures.

Ara. [As Dion frowns] The frost that draws the poison, saves the flower, you mean, my good Phillistus.

Aris. A fair interpreter!

Phil. Ay, when we know not our meaning, let a woman find it.

Oc. Which she will do the more readily if we mean nothing.

The. True, her wit is generous. She'll always bait a hook that angles painfully.

Oc. Though she, good soul, must hang herself upon it.

[Theano and Ocrastes move aside, bantering. Aratea turns to Phillistus and Nauresta]

Dion. [To Aristocles] Ocrastes is a youth full dear to me.
Orphaned at birth, I've bred him from a babe.
He is of bravest heart, and must leap high
Although he fall o'er heaven.
Aris. And the maid?
Dion. The daughter of my brother some years dead.
Her bloom might make e'en priestly blood forget
To pace with vows, but she is true, and kneels
To wisdom's star. Hast yet no eye for woman?
Aris. For all things fair. That is my staff 'gainst age.
We're young so long as we love beauty.
[Aratea moves to Dion and Aristocles, leaving Nauresta and Phillistus together]
Nau. See
This feathered snuggery?
Phil. A vine-lark's nest.
Nau. Touch 't not. We'll lose a song by you. 'Tis strange
These dare-wings build about our heads, when they
So fear us.
Phil. Farther. Birds are not my study.
[They move aside]
Nau. Frowning again, my lord?
Phil. And reason for it.
I like not yonder pairing.
[Looks at Theano and Ocrastes]
Nau. Would that your plans
Might leave them happy!
Phil. False? I'll not believe it
Of thee, Nauresta. I've given thee confidence
As open as the ungated dawn; unlocked
My secrets; fixed within your breast, as in
My own, my darling purpose!
Nau. 'Twas my counsel
In Aratea's ear that brought you hither.
And why these dark reproaches where I hoped
To see the color of your gratitude?
Phil. What's done, though ne'er so well, but makes a way
For what's to do, Nauresta.
Nau. Ah, my lord,
I know not how to please you.
Phil. Learn. To me
Be wax, and adamant to all touch else.
Mad Dionysius is in revels lost;
Dion is far too stern for common love;
Between the two my hope makes fair ascent
Above the clouds of state. 'Tis I must reign.
Then we, my queen, must see our daughter wed
To some strong noble who will prop our power.
Ocrastes' love is bound inseverably
To Dion. Keep him from Theano, sweet.
Look on them now. See how she bends to him?
Nau. Nay, she is modest, sir.
Phil. But mark! He speaks,
And crimson runs her cheek, as though his voice
Did paint it magically, which bids him fair,
For know you not that love on blushes feeds
As plundering bees on roses? He is sure!
'Twill task you hard to ward from port who bears
So bold a sail.
Nau. But I will do it. Ay!
Phil. Again you are all mine! [Nauresta moves to Theano and Ocrastes]
Thus do I woo
The mother, with the daughter in my eye.
Ara. [To Aristocles] Ah, yes, I know you'll cast fond
sighs toward Athens,
And in the night look through the dark to her—
A myrtle-crown?d bride without her lord—
But yet our land, too poor in Ceres' smile
To outwoo Acad?me, may show some charm
To ease your banishment.
Aris. O, 'tis an isle
That 'neath the eye of Zeus might bloom nor blush
Save at his praise; yet holds within itself
Treasure that ornaments its cruder worth
As gems make eyes in stone,—a friend whose hand
Leads Virtue's own, and woman's beauty crowned
By starry mind as I ne'er hoped to see
Till at the port of the immortal world
My eyes should meet my dreams.
Dion. What now? So soon,
Aristocles?
Ara. My lord?
Dion. I knew she'd find
The gate to your forgiveness.
Phil. [Aside] My tongue creaks
Amid this piping.
Dion. True, she's fair enough
For praise, but I'm a plain prose lover, friend,
Nor, like a doting osier o'er a brook,
Pore on her features, wasting oil of time
That should burn high in task of gods and state.
Phil. [Aside] I'll cast a pebble in this summer pool.
[To Aristocles] Sir, you will find our Dionysius worthy,
The proud descendant of a prouder sire,
Upholding well his shining heritage.
Aris. Worthy I hope he is, but even kings,
My lord, may wrap them in humility,
Nor boast descent, when demigods of earth
But bastards are in heaven.
Dion. Ay, some of us
Should curvet not so high, bethinking of
Our audience in the clouds; for this brave world
Is but a theatre whereto the gods
For pastime look, and whoso makes most show
Of plumes careering and proud-lifting stride
Is but the greatest anticker of all
To their high eyes. A little music, friends.
Phil. And in good time! A sermon then a song.
[Enter dancers, the two in advance bearing urns which they place on a small altar, singing]
Bring cedar dark,
And ruby-wood,
Bring honeyed-bark,
The Naiad's food,
Till altar flame
And incense rise
In friendship's name
To seek the skies.
[Chorus by maidens bearing wreaths of olive and laurel]
Myrtle leave on Venus' tree,
Nor the Bacchic ivy see;
Olive bring, and laurel bough.
And may hours that gather now
Of his years fair token be!
[They bow before Aristocles and continue dancing]
Aris. [Watching Aratea] The sun has made a shrine of her bright hair
Where eyes would worship, but her fairer face
Lures their devotion ere they gaze one prayer.
Phil. [Crossing to Aristocles] Aristocles, I swear yon dancer's foot,
Curving the air, marks beauty of more worth
Than all the fantasies of dream you write
On heavens conjectural.
Dion. [Angrily to Phillistus] It suits you well
To treat the theme deific with bold tongue.
No thought so high but you would trick it out
In shrugging sophistry!
Phil. [Going] Farewell. The court
Has always welcome for me.
Dion. Farewell, my lord.
And Ceres send you grace!
Phil. [Turning] Beware, proud Dion!
The topmost limb makes an uneasy seat.
Who perches there must take account of winds,
Lest dignity go forfeit to surprise.
By Jaso, sir, your cause is fallen sick,
Nor Athens emptying all her wits may heal it! [Exit]
Ara. My lord, a little patience——
Dion. Patience, madam!
Would words were meat for swords! I'd had his crop!
[Enter a royal messenger]
Mess. Most noble Dion, greeting from the king.
He begs you'll bring the Athenian sage to banquet,
And see some shows within the royal gardens.
Dion. More revels! More? This cracks the very glass
Of our fair prospect, wherein we saw him sit
With listening ear to wisdom.
[To messenger] No!
Ara. My lord——
Dion. Say to the tyrant I'll not feast with him. [Exit messenger]
Ara. May I be bold to say this is not well?
I fear, my lord, your stern, imperious port
Is much against you in our easeful city.
If on occasion you would smooth your brow
To patient lenience you in time would win
All hearts to wear the livery of your purpose,
That now shows cold and sober for their mood.
Dion. Not so! The bending tree ne'er kissed the clouds.
I will not stoop! What? Flaunt his sport before
A sage's eye, who comes at his own suit
To teach him truth?
Aris. Yet we must not forget
Discourteous truth is hated; vehemence,
The whip of argument, but frights conviction.
Pardon so stale a word.
Ara. But 'tis so true!
The winding zephyr, not the hurrying gale,
Finds out the hidden rose. My brother's heart
Has yet a grain of good, which gentleness
May find and touch to life.
Dion. It was the slight,
The unseemly slight to you, Aristocles,
So chafed me.
Aris. Think but of our charge, my friend,
Fair Syracuse.
Dion. So, so! I say no more.
Your wisdom be to me Athene's shield
Whereby I'll see to strike this head of wrong
Nor be devoured. Come, we will walk abroad.
But not to court.
Aris. [To Aratea] My wishes wait on thee.
May Fortune dress thee for a second self
Till eyes mistaking seek thy face for hers.
Ara. Nay, let her wed thee, and like loving wife
Give all her portion, then empty-handed pluck
New grace from heaven to adorn thee still.
[Exeunt Dion and Aristocles]

Nau. Now, Aratea, the song of praise! Which of the gods is he most like?

Ara. Like none of them. Jove is long-bearded, Neptune has forgot to walk, Mercury is boyish, Apollo like a woman, and Mars so heavy-footed he would stumble mocking the grace of Aristocles!

Nau. 'Tis plain a curious eye will never take you to Olympus, since you've seen the Athenian.

Ara. I own I have a sudden comfort from this gentle sage.

Nau. What is it?

Ara. You know my Dion has one only fault.

Nau. O, all but perfect man!

Ara. He is so true that he is stern as truth.

Nau. That's truth indeed!

Ara. So just that he is harsh as Justice' self.

Nau. Another truth!

Ara. So good that——

Nau. What! More of this singular fault?

Ara. This Athens' tongue, so sweetly mediate,
Will lead the people's love unto my lord,
Who now upholds the state in thankless sort.
They honor and admire, but keep their hearts
For those who woo them! Ah, I blame them not.
Oc. Dion need borrow no Athenian tongue
To speak for him.
Nau. You'll hear no voice denies
Him perfect praise.
Oc. Who would deny it?
The. None,
Ocrastes, none. How like a gem unpriced
His rich simplicity doth shine amid
The purpled show of lords! It is as though
The sovereign alkahest, weary of law,
Had given the scorn?d pebble leave to glow
The fairest eye of all the pearl?d shore.
Ara. They'll sing us deaf, Nauresta, on this theme.
But come. [Draws Nauresta away] Come, madam, come! We must prepare
Some good-wife pleasure for my lord's return.
[Exeunt Aratea and Nauresta, left]
Oc. [Embracing Theano] My love! At last! O goddess Patience, how
Thou muffledst me! Time crept on thousand legs
And each one crippled.
The. Ay, so slow the hour
Moved to this golden now I thought each moment
Turned back to seek some loss and spent itself
A second time.
Oc. Now all the world's at morn.
How young we are, Theano! O, 'tis true
Life is at tick of dawn when love begins.
The. I'm older then than you, for I 'gan love
The day you won the laurel from proud Carthage.
In the wild race how like a shooting star
You made a heaven of earth's grosser air!
And 'twas that day I heard old warriors say
Your lance would dare prick ope the clouds till Mars
Looked forth to combat. Ah, I scarce believe
Our island's easy lap did bear you, and thank
The gods that wealth, whose poison-pampered tooth
Likes best the marrow-sweet of youth, has left
You still a man.
Oc. Truth weeps when lovers talk,
But where is sound more sweet? All that I am
I owe to Dion. Give to him the praise,
If praise is due, and you would please me best.
The. Thy approbation is my glass of merit,
And there alone am I array?d fair,
Yet for his sake, not yours, I love lord Dion.
'Tis wonder's hour in wonder's day he should
So fit his life, despite the careless time,
To please the gods.
Oc. When shall we tell him, love,
Of this new joy of ours?
The. My mother first.
Oc. Didst note her frown?
What has so changed her, sweet?
The. I find her troubled late, as she would soothe
Her breast above some panting mystery.
Oc. She must disclose the cause, and show if 't has
An honest face. I'll have no mincing doubts
And ghostly secrets peering on our love.
The. She is our gentle mother. Wait, my heart!
Oc. Phillistus is too often at her ear.
Have guard against him. In his smoothest words
He'll subtly seat a devil to confound you.
'Tis pity. Eloquence is the flute o' the soul,
Which virtue alone should play, for good or bad
It has immortal consequence.
The. He was
My father's friend, and well may be my mother's.
Oc. Ah, but he coos too near her widowed nest.
The. Ocrastes! Can you dare? My noble mother!
Whose sorrows sit like shadows in her eye?
Whose loyal breast asks no embrace less chill
Than the cold tomb where my dear father lies?
Oc. 'Twas but a word.
The. Unsay it, O, unsay it!
Oc. Ay, by our island's god, 'twas never spoken!
The. I've scarce a breath, Ocrastes.
Oc. And that breath
This kiss must drink. You will forgive? Speak not.
These clinging lips have told me. A kiss, Theano,
Unseals all secrets but to be their grave.
Then we know all, and all we know's forgot.
'Tis saying true, a kiss is worth the world,
When, having it, there's no world but a kiss.
[Re-enter Nauresta and Aratea, left]
Nau. [Crossing to Theano] Still here, my daughter?
[Enter Brentio, right]
Bren. O, mistress, the master is coming with Dionysius.
Since he would not take the Athenian to court, the court
is coming hither.
Oc. Here? 'Tis a strange declension of his pride.
Ara. I fear 'tis cover for a thrust 'gainst Dion.
Oc. No! Virtue such as his is heavened above
The reach of sceptres.
Ara. But he was too bold
In his refusal to attend the feast.
They come! And Dionysius' brow is like
A new, unclouded sun. No eyes for us!
[Enter Dionysius, Aristocles, Dion, and lords]
Diony. [To Aristocles] Speak on, nor cease t' enchant my rous?d ear,
Although thy words, like honey from the isle
Where Ate fell, are something mixed with bitter.
But give me not to virtue suddenly,
Lest she disdain the greening, unripe fruit,
And from her sun I do forever fall.
Dion. Heed then his counsel, Dionysius.
A ruler is the state's bountificer,—
High warden at the gates of happy good,—
And when he turns unto himself the stream
That should make fair his country, he is damned
As oft a robber as his subjects count.
Each man he meets may claim his golden coat!
Diony. What's your rough meaning, sir?
Aris. 'Tis this, my lord.
Here is a land born in a dream of Nature,
And given to man to please her waking eyes
Until she thinks that yet she dreams. His task
To build the adorning temple, turn groves retired
To happy shades where wisdom meets with youth,
And with triumphant art set statued thought
To gleam abroad from every favored spot
Till e'en the flattered gods be tempted here
In marble fair to wait on mortal eyes,
And genius roam in generation free,
Breathing the constant good of mind aspiring,
Till not a clod, be it or earth or human,
But knows a smile to make itself more fair.
How should it grieve thee then to see the pomp
Of one, sole, only man heave with the weight
Of all the state, and wear in barren pride
The fertile beauty of his golden isle?
Diony. Divine Athenian, if I be that man,
Be thou the master of my realm till I
Have learned what 'tis to be one. Teach me here
My first new duty.
Dion. Check debauching riot
That sluices now the palace! Cease these feasts
That fume to heaven like Hecate's brewing-vats!
Nay, sir, those scowls unwrite your waterish vow.
Aris. Our Dion means, my lord, that virtue wanes
As revels wax; and yet an hour of rest
The gods allow us. I myself have trained
Young figures for the dance that wreathes with grace
The needful, idle hour.
Diony. You leave us music?
Aris. Ay, 'tis the angel 'tween the sense and soul,
A hand on each, that one may feel the touch
Of purest heaven mid rosy revelling,
The other catch sweet trembles of a wave
That shake her calm till white cheek meets the rose.
Diony. And feasting, sir?
Aris. Nay, there's the soul's expense
For what o'erdims her fair, majestic visions;
But fruits of sheltered vales grow lush for man,
And awny grasses droop with sugared grains,
And wine, tempered to reason's flow, oft lights
The questing mind.
Diony. Enough! No groaning board
That shifts its burden to the spirit! No revel
To pleasure Pleasure! Naught but what is meet
For fair philosophy's relaxive hour!
Adrastus, see 'tis done. Go instantly! [Exit Adrastus]
Dion, you're for the harbor?
Dion With your leave.
Diony. Which we must grant. Your business is our own.
Oc. With you, my lord?
Dion. Most welcome son. Adieu. [Exeunt Dion and Ocrastes]
Ara. Brother, 'tis long since you have visited me.
I hold a magnet now in our new friend
Will draw you to my house.
Diony. Nay, I must rob you.
The palace is his home.
Ara. O, not to-day!
Diony. I'll yield to-day, but not an hour beyond
To-morrow's sun. Adieu, Aristocles.
Give me thy love; I'll give thee Syracuse. [Exeunt Dionysius and lords]
Ara. [To Aristocles] We have some statues in the garden, sir,
May please an eye from Athens. Will you come? [Exeunt Aratea and Aristocles]
The. Mother, why look so darkly on Ocrastes?
Nau. Darkly, my daughter?
The. Has he not a soul
As truly virtuous as his face is fair?
Nau. True, but he's not for you. Believe it.
The. Ah!
Nau. Nor grieve my heart with pleading to know more.
Some day I'll speak, but now my bosom's locked
With key not in my hands.
The. Mother, I pray
You'll give no more a flattered, willing ear
To lord Phillistus' tongue.
Nau. What do you mean?
The. I do not know. I am disturbed by him.
I scarce can tell you how.
Nau. To call him friend
But proves my loyalty to the loved dead.
The. I do not doubt my mother! No, no, no!
But him I fear. His eye speaks muddily,
And echoes not his words.
Nau. No more of this!
You prattle, child. Say that he loves me——
The. Ah,
Not that!
Nau. Yet were he villain, is not love
The soul's sweet cleanser and redeeming incense?
The. The serpent and the bee make food and venom
Of the same flower's sweetness; so fair minds
In love enlarge with merit, while villainy,
Sucking such sweet, swells rank and poisonous.
Nau. No more, my daughter!
[Enter courtiers, right]

Nau. Good-day, my lords! You are early from the play. Did it not please you?

First courtier. Tame, tame. I'd not have left my couch at the bath for such. And Dracon's tongue was middle of a pretty tale.

Nau. But the banquet—why stayed you not for that?

Second courtier. Have you not heard? The seven evil winds have struck the feast, and left but fruit and wine. My wife's as good a cook. Can serve a plate of figs!

Nau. What's this?

First courtier. As we say. Our delectable gardens are smit with sudden prudent frost. The mullein and the plantain shortly will grow where we have plucked luxuriance' rose.

[Enter Aratea and Aristocles]

Nau. What do you mean, my lord?

First courtier. [Looking at Aristocles] The wind is all too near that wrought this havoc.

Aris. Nay, have no fear for Dion. You wrong this hour of promise. Your brother yields us much.

Ara. Indeed too much! These sudden born desires are to be feared in him. Ah, here's Ocrastes.

Nau. He's much disturbed. I know that brow.

[Re-enter Ocrastes, right]

The. Ocrastes?

Oc. Now heavens shake for what mine eyes have seen!
I followed Dion to the southern shore
Where the new pinnace floats beneath the castle,
And there Domenes held him in close talk,
When suddenly ere wink could question it,
The soldiers had him bound within a boat
Outrowing to the pinnace, which took him up
And bent to sea like an embodied wind.
But that a score of traitor arms enforced me
The waves had kept me not on hated land!
Surprise so stormed him Dion scarce could call
"Revenge me not, but seek to calm the city!"
Then from the pinnace a relenting boat
Brought this short writing. 'Tis for Aratea.

Ara. Read—read—Ocrastes—I—I can not see.

Oc. [Reads] Aristocles will be thy comfort. Bid him not forget Syracuse to think of me. Now that the thorny counsellor is plucked from court, he can do much with Dionysius. Ocrastes will be to thee a brother of more love than ever was the tyrant. Sweet, farewell. 'Tis from thine eyes I'm banished, not thy heart.

Ara. O Dion, Dion! My unhappy lord!

Aris. Abate thy grief, dear lady. Affliction is
The night of man where stars his lustrous soul
That in a happy sun would pale unseen.
Ara. My brother! 'Tis his treacherous hand! O, me!
Now heaven and earth be naught, I care not!
[Exeunt Aratea, Nauresta, Theano and attendants]
A courtier. Come!
There's more to this.
Another. Ay, friends, let's to the streets.
[Courtiers hurry away. Ocrastes and Aristocles alone]
Oc. I'll rouse the populace!
Aris. No, you will calm it.
Oc. Sir, I was knit in heat and tempered mortal!
Your natal star was cold when you were born,
Dead in the heavens, had long forgot its fire,
And could not give one twinkle's warmth to you!
I've blood, and know my friends!
Aris. Dost think that sorrow
Lives only in hot brows? No angers be
That rage not on the tongue?
Oc. O, you can feel?
Aris. Here sweep the tides that prove it.
Oc. Yet so calm?
Aris. Who keeps his heart astir with his own woe
Has never room for others. Let us put
Our paltry love aside and seek the good
Of all the city, not of one because
He is our friend. Think not a man may leave
Life's reefed and breakered straits behind and reach
Philosophy's still-waved almighty sea
With selfish sorrow's mottled pilot eye.
Oc. And you've a mortal pulse? Can love and die?
Aris. I am as you, Ocrastes,—heart and limb,—
But I have given my kingdom to my soul,
And throned secure above the body's chance
Rock not with its misfortune.
Oc. Who can keep
Such sovereign state, my lord? Art never torn
Or shaken?
Aris. What hap of winds, think you, may shake
The monarch towers of the soul?
Oc. Forgive me,
Aristocles. Thou sun immovable!
How like Hyperion fixed in calm you shine,
And riot's faction in my blood grows still
With looking on thee. I'll to court and strive
With sober measure to effect repeal
Of Dion's banishment. And failing that,
I yet may save for him his untouched wealth. [Going, turns]
Is it not lonely on the serene height,
My lord?
Aris. The gods are sometimes there. [Exit Ocrastes]
The gods?
Vain words on vainer tongue. O, man, man, man!
Weak child of limit and unwinged desire,
Coping with deity in daring bout,
And drowned at last within a woman's tear!
... Hyperion fixed in calm. Ay, true it is
That in the heaven of my sphering mind
I've reached the pause solstitial. And would fain
Take comet course on new, unbidden track
Than traverse o'er the stale appointed route.
Ay, break the orbit's fond and placid round,
And swim a wonder to the staring suns!
The end is death,—and yet a comet's death.
The rushing wings are round me, bear me up,
And drive me like a meteor charging doom,
When Aratea veils me with her eyes.
[Enter Tichus]

Tich. [Aside, noting Aristocles' groan] Ho, for ill that's past and ill that is to come, philosophy has ever a saw, but in a present pinch speaks not for groaning!... My lord, the lady Aratea asks for word with you.

Aris. [Hesitating] Tell her ... I come.

[Curtain]


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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