Straight to the king they sacred reverence gave, With solemn words, O son of thundering Jove, Young Ammon, live for ever! then kissed the ground. I laughed aloud, and scoffing, asked them why They kissed no harder ;-but the king leapt up, And spurned me to the earth, with this reply:'Do thou !'whilst with his foot he prest my neck, The Indies, kept him revelling at Susa; news Of his revolt? Thess. With grief incredible: Great Sysigambis wept, but the young queen Fell dead among her maids; Till from my ears, my nose, and mouth, the Cass. There spoke the spirit of Calisthenes! A stone has struck him, yet no thunderbolt: A sword has cut him, a javelin pierced him, Are your hearts firm? Phil. Hell cannot be more bent, To any ruin, than I to the king's. Thess. And I. Pol. Behold my hand; and if you doubt my truth, Tear up my breast, and lay my heart upon it. Cass. Join then, O worthy, hearty, noble hands, Fit instruments for such majestic souls! Pol. Still as the bosom of the desert night, Cass. To-day he comes from Babylon to Susa, With proud Roxana. Ah! who's that?-look there! Enter the Ghost of King PHILIP, shaking a truncheon at them, walks over the Stage. Cass. Now by the gods, or furies, which I ne'er Believed, -there's one of them arrived to shake us. What art thou? glaring thing, speak! What, the spirit Of our king Philip, or of Polyphemus? Phil. "Tis said, that many prodigies were seen That all the labours of the deep were seen, With richest cordials, for an hour or more, Cass. Knowing how much she loved, So furious, any torrent's falls so swift, And set the court in universal uproar. SCENE III. [Exeunt. Enter SYSIGAMBIS, STATIRA, PARISATIS, Attendants. Stat. Give me a knife, a draught of poison, Swell heart, break, break, thou stubborn thing! Sys. Is there no reverence to my person due? Darius would have heard me; trust not rumour. Stat. No, he hates, He loaths the beauties, which he has enjoyed. Then cooled them with his tears, died on my knees, Outwept the morning with his dewy eyes, Stat. Away, and let me die : 'Tis now the common talk, the news of the, I will have remedy, I will, I will, world, False to Statira, false to her that loved him; That loved him, cruel victor as he was, And took him, bathed all o'er in Persian blood; Kissed the dear cruel wounds, and washed them o'er And o'er in tearshair, -then bound them with my Laid him all night upon my panting bosom, Stat. Å man! a man! my Parisatis; Thus with thy hand held up, thus let me swear thee By the eternal body of the sun, Stat. Will you not give me leave to warn my sister? As I was saying-but I told his sweetness; Vows with such passion, swears with so much grace, That 'tis a kind of heaven to be deluded by him. Par. But what was it, that you would have me swear? Stat. Alas, I had forgot! let me walk by And weep awhile, and I shall soon remember. Sys. Have patience, child, and give her liberty; Passions, like seas, will have their ebbs and flows: Yet, while I see her thus, not all the losses We have received, since Alexander's conquest, Can touch my hardened soul, her sorrow reigns Too fully there. Par. But what if she should kill herself? Stat. Roxana then enjoys my perjured love, Roxana clasps my monarch in her arms: Doats on my conqueror, my dear lord, my king, Devours his lips, eats him with hungry kisses: him all, she, the curst happy she! By heaven I cannot bear it, 'tis too much; I'll die, or rid me of the burning torture. She grasps Or go distracted; madness may throw off sion. Madam, draw near, with all that are in presence, And listen to the vow, which here I make. Sys. Take heed, my dear Statira, and con*sider, What desperate love enforces you to swear. Stat. Pardon me, for I have considered well; And here I bid adieu to all mankind. Farewell, ye cozeners of the easy sex, And thou the greatest, falsest, Alexander! Farewell, thou most beloved, thou faithless dear! If I but mention him, the tears will fall; Sure there is not a letter in his name, But is a charm to melt a woman's eyes. Sys. Clear up thy griefs; thy king, thy Alexander, Comes on to Babylon: Stat. Why, let him come, Joy of all eyes but the forlorn Statira's. Stat. By heaven I never will, This is my vow, my secret resolution; [Knecls. And when I break it Sys. Ah, do not ruin all! Stat. May I again be flattered and deluded, May sudden death, and horrid, com instead Of what I wished, and take me unprepared! Sys. Still kneel, and with the same breath call again The woeful imprecation thou hast made. Stat. No, I will publish it through all the court, Stat. Never urge me more, Par. O angry heaven! what have the guiltless done! And where shall wretched Parisatis run! Sys. Captives in war, our bodies we resigned; But now made free, love does our spirits bind. Stat. When to my purposed loneness I retire, Your sight I through the grates shall oft desire, And after Alexander's health enquire. And if this passion cannot be removed, Ask how my resolution he approved, How much he loves, how much he is beloved? Then, when I hear that all things please him well, Thank the good gods, and hide me in my cell. [Exeunt. SCENE I. ACT II. Noise of trumpets sounding far off-The scene draws, and discovers a battle of crows and ravens in the air; an eagle and a dragon meet and fight; the eagle drops down with all the rest of the birds, and the dragon flies away. Soldiers walk off, shaking their heads. The conspirators come forward. Cass. He comes, the fatal glory of the world, The headlong Alexander, with a guard Of thronging crowns, comes on to Babylon, Though warned, in spite of all the powers above, Who, by these prodigies, foretel his ruin. Pol. Why all this noise, because a king must die? Like silk-worms we are hid in our own web, But we shall burst at last through all the strings; And, when time calls, come forth in a new form, Not insects to be trod, but dragons winged. Thess. The face of all the court is strangely altered: There's not a Persian I can meet, but stares Phil. Others, more fearful, are removed to Dreading Roxana's rage, who comes i'th' rear To Babylon. Cass. It glads my rising soul, That we shall see him racked before he dies: I know he loves Statira more than life, And on a crowd of kings in triumph borne, Comes big with expectation to enjoy her. But when he hears the oaths, which she has ta ken, Her last adieu made public to the world, Her vowed divorce, how will remorse consume him, Prey, like the bird of hell, upon his liver! Pol. To baulk his longing, and delude his lust, Is more than death, 'tis earnest for damnation. Cass. Then comes Roxana, who must help our Lo the Chaldean priests appear; behold To soothe the king, who loves the Persian mode: Enter ALEXANDER; all kneel but CLYTUS. O my Hephestion, raise thee from the earth distance? Hug me, or, by Heaven, thou lov'st me not. And moulded up to such an excellence, Alex. Thou dost, thou lov'st me, crown of all my wars, Thou dearer to me than my groves of laurel: Though never mortal man arrived to such world. Lys. Dread sir, I cast me at your royal feet. Aler. What! my Lysimachus, whose veins are rich With our illustrious blood? My kinsman, rise ;Is not that Clytus? Cly. Your old faithful soldier. Alex. Come to my hands, thus double arm the king: And now, methinks, I stand like the dread God, I have seen Acknowledged me his son. My lightning thou, Lys. But if your majesty The last dear drop of blood for such a king?' Alex. Witness, my elder brothers of the sky, How much I love a soldier!O my Clytus, Was it not when we passed the Granicus, Thou didst preserve me from unequal force? 'Twas then, when Spithridates and Rhesaces, Fell both upon me with two dreadful strokes, And clove my tempered helmet quite in sunder, Then I remember, then thou didst me service; I think my thunder split them to the navel. Cly. To your great self you owe that victory, And sure your arms did never gain a nobler. Aler. By Heaven, they never did; for well thou know'st, And I am prouder to have passed that stream, Aris. But all the honours, which your youth has won, Are lost, unless you fly from Babylon; Alex. What fears thy reverend bosom shake? Aris. To Orosmades' cave I did repair, Where I atoned the dreadful God with prayer: But as I prayed I heard long groans within, And shrieks as of the damned, that howl for sin: I knew the omen, and I feared to stay, But prostrate on the trembling pavement lay. When he bodes happiness, he answers mild; "Twas so of old, and the great image smiled: But now in abrupt thunder he replied, Loud as rent rocks, or roaring seas, he cried, ་ All empires, crowns, glory of Babylon, Whose head stands wrapped in clouds, must tumble down.' Alex. If Babylon must fall, what is't to me? Or can I help immutable decree? Down then, vast frame, with all thy lofty towers, Since 'tis so ordered by almighty powers: Pressed by the fates, unloose your golden bars, 'Tis great to fall, the envy of the stars. Enter PERDICCAS, MELEAGER. Mel. O horror! Per. Dire portents! Alex. Out with them, then; What, are ye ghosts, ye empty shapes of men? Point with a thunder-bolt your monarch's doom. Mel. All, as for honour, did their lives expose; Their talons clashed, and beaks gave mighty blows, Whilst dreadful sounds did our scared sense assail, groan, We thought that all the clouds had tumbled down. Alex. Be witness for me, all ye powers divine, Lys. Ere you remove, be pleased, dread sir, to hear A prince allied to you by blood. Alex. Speak quickly. Lys. For all that I have done for you in war, I beg the princess Parisatis. Alex. Ha! Would the gods themselves, should they command. Alex. You should, brave sir? hear me, and thes be dumb! When by my order curst Calisthenes Was, as a traitor, doomed to live in torments, Lys. I doubted not at first but I should meet Alex. Against my life! Ah! was it so? how 'Tis said, that I am rash, of hasty humour; prince, I see it in his countenance, would die arm; Love asks his blood, nor shall he live to laugh At my destruction. Alex. Now be thy own judge; I pardon thee for my old Clytus' sake; Shall be delight to what thou shalt endure. Enter SYSIGAMBIS, PARISATIS. Aler. O thou the best of women, Sys. Permit me kneel, and give those adorations, Which from the Persian family are due: Par. Which, when a soul forgets, advanced so nobly, May it be drowned in deeper misery! Alex. To meet me thus, was generously done; But still there wants, to crown my happiness, Life of my empire, treasure of my soul, My dear Statira: O that heavenly beam, |