Antony's favorite is Cæfar's friend;

Fortune attends him, at his chariot wheels
Submiffive chain'd: his fubtle policy

Is equal to his courage, and he rifes

With added strength and glory from his fal! :
The fenate crown him.

MAZAEL.

But when Mariamne

Shall fee her husband, where will be thy pow'r?
That haughty rival o'er the king had ever
A fatal influence that fupplanted thee;
And her proud spirit, ftill inflexible,
And ftill revengeful, holds its enmity:
Her safety must depend on thy deftruction,
And mutual inj'ries nourish mutual hate.
Doft thou not dread her all-fubduing charms,
Those lordly tyrants o'er the vanquish'd Herod?
For five years paft, e'er fince their fatal marriage,
Hath his ftrange paffion for her still increas'd,
By hatred fix'd, and nourish'd by disdain.
Oft have we seen the haughty monarch kneel
Before her feet, her eyes indignant turn'd
In fury from him, whilft in vain he su'd

For fofter looks than fhe wou'd deign to give.
How have we seen him rage, and figh, and weep,

VOL. I.

G

Abufe

Abufe, and flatter, threaten and implore!
Mean in his rage, and cruel in his love;
Abroad a hero, and a flave at home:
He punish'd an ungrateful barb'ous race,
And, recking with the father's blood, ador'd
The daughter; rais'd the dagger to her breast,
Guided by thee, then dropp'd it at her feet.
At Rome indeed, whilft from her fight remov'd,
The chain was loofen'd; but t'will re-unite
When he returns, and fhall again behold
The fatal charms which he fo long admir'd:
Thofe pow'rful eyes are ever fure to please,
And will refume their empire o'er his heart:
Her foes will foon be humbled, and if the
But gives the nod, muft fall a facrifice
To her refentment. Let us guard against it,

And court that pow'r which we can ne'er destroy!
Refpect well-feign'd may win her to our purpofe.

SALOME.

No: there are better methods to remove

Our fears of Mariamne.

MAZAEL.

Ha! what means?

SALOME.

Perhaps e'vn now the dies.

MAZAEL.

MAZAEL.

And wilt thou dare

To do a deed fo defp'rate? If the king

SALOME.

The king affifts me in the work of vengeance,

And has confented: Zares is arriv'd

At Solyma; my inftrument of wrath

Waits for his victim: know, the time, the place, The hand to execute, are ready all:

To-day it must be done.

MAZAEL.

Haft thou then gain'd

At last the vict'ry? Cou'd the king believe thee? Spite of his paffion, will he yield up all,

And act as thou command'ft?

SALOME.

Not fo: my pow'r

Is more confin'd: fcarce cou'd I urge to vengeance,

With all my arts, his long-reluctant foul,

But I avail'd me of his abfence from her:
Whilft Herod liv'd, expos'd to all her charms,
Thou know'ft I led a life of wretchedness,
Of doubt and fear, uncertain of my fate;
When, by a thoufand crooked paths, at laft

I found a paffage to his heart, and thought
I had fecur'd it, Mariamne came;

And, when he faw her, all was loft again;
My arts all baffled by a fingle glance:

Yes, the proud queen was mistress of my life,
And might have ta'en it had fhe known the way

Τα
To manage well her eafy lover's fondness,

Herod had fign'd the mandate for another,
And not for Mariamne; then the blow

I meant for her had fall'n on Salome :
But I have made her pride affift my vengeance,
And I have only now to point the dart,

Which her own hand hath fashion'd, to deftroy her.
Thou may'ft remember well the fatal time

That blafted all our hopes; when, Antony
Subdued, Auguftus took the reins of empire,
Each eaftern monarch trembled on his throne:
Amongst the rest my hapless brother fear'd,
With his protector, he had loft his crown.
Refiftance now was vain, and nought remain'd
But to address the conqu'ror of the world

In lowlieft terms, and ask forgiveness of him.
Call back that dreadful day, when Herod, driv'n
Ev'n to defpair, beheld proud Mariamne
Spurn at his offer'd love and kind farewell;

Heard

Heard her with anguish heap reproaches on him;
Call for a father's and a brother's blood,

Shed by her tyrant husband: Herod flew

To me, and told his griefs; I feiz'd the moment
Propitious to my vengeance, and regain'd
A fifter's pow'r o'er his distressful heart;
Enflam'd his rage, and fharpen'd his defpair;
Dipp'd in fresh poison the envenom'd dart
That pierc'd his foul: then, defp'rate in his wrath,
Thou heard'ft him fwear t'exterminate the race
Of Hebrews, and deftroy its poor remains;
Condemn the mother, and cut off her fons
From their inheritance: but foon to rage
Succeeded love; one look from her difarm'd
His vengeance. I, with double eagerness,
Prefs'd his departure, and at length prevail'd:
He left her; from that hour I was fuccessful;
My frequent letters kept up his resentment,
And, abfent from her, all his rage return'd:
He blush'd in fecret for his weakness past,
And by degrees, as I remov'd the veil,
His eyes were open'd: Zares caught with me
The favourable hour, and painted her

In blackest colours; told him of her pow'r,
Her int'reft, friends, and the feditious faction,