{"id":691,"date":"2013-07-13T01:29:44","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=691"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:29:44","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:29:44","slug":"04-act-one-scene-2-vol-06-collected-plays-part-i-volume-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/06-collected-plays-part-i-volume-06\/04-act-one-scene-2-vol-06-collected-plays-part-i-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-04_Act One -Scene-2.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n
\nSCENE II<\/b><\/font><\/span><\/div>\n

\n

\n <\/div>\n

\nThe same.
\nPerseus descends on winged sandals from the clouds.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nRocks on the outland jagged with the sea,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nYou slumbering promontories whose huge backs<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nJut into azure, and thou, O many-thundered<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nEnormous Ocean, hail! Whatever lands<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAre ramparted with these forbidding shores,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nYet if you hold felicitous roofs of men,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHomes of delightful laughter, if you have streams<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhere chattering girls dip in their pitchers cool<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd dabble their white feet in the chill lapse<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOf waters, trees and a green-mantled earth,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nCicalas noisy in a million boughs<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOr happy cheep of common birds, I greet you,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nSyria or Egypt or Ionian shores,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPerseus the son of Dana\u00eb, who long<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHave sojourned only with the hail-thrashed isles<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWet with cold mists and by the boreal winds<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nSnow-swathed. The angry voices of the surf<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAre welcome to me whose ears have long been sealed<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBy rigorous silence in the snows. O even<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe wail of mortal misery I choose<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nRather than that intolerable hush;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nFor this at least is human. Thee I praise,
\nO mother Earth and thy guardian Sea, O Sun
\nOf the warm south nursing fair life of men.
\nI will go down into bee-murmuring fields
\nAnd mix with men and women in the corn
\nAnd eat again accustomed food. But first
\nThis galley shattered on the sharp-toothed rocks
\nI fly to succour. You are grown dear to me,
\nYou smiling weeping human faces, brightly
\nWho move, who live, not like those stony masks<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 15<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd Gorgon visions of that monstrous world
\nBeyond the snows. I would not lose you now
\nIn the dead surges of the inhuman flood.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe descends out of sight.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font>I<\/font><\/i>olaus enters with Cireas, Dercetes and soldiers.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPrepare your ambush, men, amid these boulders,
\nBut at the signal, leave your rocky lairs
\nWith level bristling points and gyre them in.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tCIREAS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO Poseidon Ennosigaios, man-swallower, earth-shaker, I have
\nswabbed thee for eighteen years. I pray thee tot up the price
\nof those swabbings and be not dishonest with me nor miserly.
\nEighteen by three hundred and sixty-five by two, that is the sum
\nof them: and forget not the leap years either, O great Poseidon.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nInto our ambush, for I hear them come,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThey conceal themselves.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font>Perseus returns with Tyrnaus and Smerdas.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nChaldean merchants, would my speed to save<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHad matched the hawk’s when he swoops down for slaughter.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nSo many beautiful bodies of strong men<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nLost in the surge, so many eager hopes<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOf happiness now quenched would still have gladdened<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe sunlight. Yet for two delightful lives<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nSaved to the stir and motion of the world<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI praise the Gods that help us.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tTYRNAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThou radiant youth
\nWhose face is like a joyous god’s for beauty,
\nWhatever worth the body’s life may have,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 16<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nI thank thee that ’tis saved. Smerdas, discharge
\nThat hapless humour from thy lids! If riches
\nAre lost, the body, thy strong instrument
\nTo gather riches, is not lost, nor mind,
\nThe provident director of its labours.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tSMERDAS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThree thousand pieces of that wealthy stuff,
\nFull forty chests all crammed with noble gems,
\nAll lost, all in a moment lost! <\/b> We are beggars.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tTYRNAUS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nSmerdas, not beggared yet of arm or brain.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tSMERDAS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe toil-marred peasant has as much.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMerchant,
\nI sorrow for thy loss: all beautiful things
\nWere meant to shine in the bright day, and grievous
\nIt is to know the senseless billows play with them.
\nYet life, most beautiful of all, is left thee.
\nIs not mere sunlight something, and to breathe
\nA joy? Be patient with the gods; they love not
\nRebellion and overtake it with fresh scourgings.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tSMERDAS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO that the sea had swallowed me and rolled
\nIn my dear treasure! Tell me, Syrian youth,
\nAre there not divers in these parts, could pluck
\nMy wealth from the abyss ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nChaldean merchant,
\nI am not of this country, but like thyself
\nHear first today the surf roar on its beaches.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 17<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tSMERDAS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCursed be the moment when we neared its shores!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nO harsh sea-god, if thou wilt have my wealth,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nMy soul, it was a cruel mercy then to leave<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis beggared empty body bared of all<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThat made life sweet. Take this too, and everything.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS (stepping forward)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThy prayer is granted thee, O Babylonian.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe soldiers appear and surround
\nPerseus and the merchants.<\/i><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tCIREAS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll the good stuff drowned ! O unlucky Cireas !
\nO greedy
\nPoseidon!<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tSMERDAS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nShield us! what are these threatening spear-points ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tTYRNAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFate’s.
\nThis is that strange inhospitable coast
\nWhere the wrecked traveller in his own warm blood
\nIs given guest-bath, (draws)<\/i> Death’s dice are yet to throw.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDraw not in vain, strive not against the gods.
\nThis is the shore near the temple where Poseidon
\nSits ivory-limbed in his dim rock-hewn house
\nAnd nods above the bleeding mariner
\nHis sapphire locks in gloom. You three are come,
\nA welcome offering to that long dry altar,
\nO happy voyagers. Your road is straight
\nTo Elysium.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAn evil and harsh religion<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 18<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nYou practise in your land, stripling of Syria,
\nYet since it is religion, do thy will,
\nIf thou have power no less than will. And yet
\nI deem that ere I visit death’s calm country,
\nI have far longer ways to tread.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tTYRNAUS (flinging away his sword)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTake me.
\nI will not please the gods with impotent writhing
\nUnder the harrow of my fate.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThey seize Tyrnaus.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tSMERDAS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO wicked fool!
\nYou might have saved me with that sword. Ah youth!
\nAh radiant stranger! help me! thou art mighty.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nStill, merchant, thou wouldst live?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tSMERDAS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI am dead with terror
\nOf these bright thirsty spears. O they will carve
\nMy frantic heart out of my living bosom
\nTo throw it bleeding on that hideous altar.
\nSave me, hero!<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI war not with the gods for thee.
\nFrom belching fire or the deep-mouthed abyss
\nOf waters to have saved the meanest thing
\nThat wears man’s kindly semblance, is a joy.
\nBut he is mad who for another’s ease
\nIncurs the implacable pursuit of heaven.
\nYet since each man on earth has privilege
\nTo battle even against the gods for life,
\nSweet life, lift up from earth thy fellow’s sword;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 19<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nI will protect meanwhile thy head from onset.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tSMERDAS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlas, you mock me! I have no skill with weapons
\nNor am a fighter. Save me!<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Syrians seize Smerdas.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHelp! I will give thee
\nThe wealth of Babylon when I am safe.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy sword is heaven’s; it is not to be purchased.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nSmerdas and Tyrnaus are led away.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nTake too this radiance.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS (drawing his sword)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAsian stripling, pause.
\nI am not weak of hand nor feeble of heart.
\nThou art too young, too blithe, too beautiful;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI would not disarrange thy sunny curls
\nBy any harsher touch than an embrace.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI too could wish to spare thy joyous body<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nFrom the black knife, whoe’er thou art, O stranger.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut grim compulsion drives and angry will<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOf the sea’s lord, chafing that mortal men<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nInsult with their frail keels his rude strong oceans.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nTherefore he built his grisly temple here,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd all who are broken in the unequal war<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWith surge and tempest, though they evade his rocks,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nMust belch out anguished blood upon that altar<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nMiserably.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI come not from the Ocean.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 20<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThere is no other way that men could come;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nFor this is ground forbidden to unknown feet.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n(smiling)<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nUnless these gaudy pinions on thy shoes
\nWere wings indeed to bear thee through the void!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAre there not those who ask nor solid land<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nFor footing nor the salt flood to buoy their motions ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPerhaps I am of these.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOf these thou art not.
\nThe gods are sombre, terrible to gaze at,
\nOr, even if bright, remote, grand, formidable.
\nBut thou art open and fair like our blue heavens
\nIn Syria and thy radiant masculine body
\nAllures the eye. Yield! it may be the God
\nWill spare thee.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSet on thy war-dogs. Me alive
\nIf they alive can take, I am content
\nTo bleed a victim.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nArt thou a demigod
\nTo beat back with one blade a hundred spears ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy sword is in my hand and that shall answer.
\nI am tired of words.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDercetes, wait. His face
\nIs beautiful as Heaven. O dark Poseidon,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 21<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nWhat wilt thou do with him in thy dank caves
\nUnder the grey abysms of the salt flood ?
\nSpare him to me and sunlight.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPolydaon and Phineus enter from behind.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDERCETES<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPrince, give the order.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nLet this young sungod live.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDERCETES<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt is forbidden.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut I allow it.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPOLYDAON (coming forward)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd when did lenient Heaven
\nMake thee a godhead, Syrian lolaus,
\nTo set thy proud decree against Poseidon’s ?
\nWilt thou rescind what Ocean’s Zeus has ordered ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPolydaon\u2014<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPOLYDAON<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDoes a royal name on earth
\nInflate so foolishly thy mortal pride,
\nThou evenest thyself with the Olympians ?
\nBeware, the blood of kings has dropped ere now
\nFrom the grey sacrificial knife.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOur blood!
\nThou darest threaten me, presumptuous priest ?
\nBack to thy blood-stained kennel! I absolve<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 22<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThis stranger.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPOLYDAON <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCaptain, take them both. You flinch?
\nAre you so fearful of the name of prince
\nHe plays with? Fear rather dark Poseidon’s anger.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPHINEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBe wise, young lolaus. Polydaon,
\nThy zeal outstrips the reverence due to kings.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI need not thy protection, Tyrian Phineus:<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis is my country.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe draws.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPHINEUS (aside to Polydaon)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt were well done to kill him now, his sword
\nBeing out against the people’s gods; for then
\nWho blames the god’s avenger?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPOLYDAON<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWill you accept,
\nSyrians, the burden of his sacrilege?
\nUpon them for Poseidon!<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDERCETES<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSeize them but slay not!
\nLet none dare shed the blood of Syria’s kings.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tSOLDIERS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPoseidon! great Poseidon.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS,<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nlolaus,
\nRein in thy sword: I am enough for these.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe shakes his uncovered shield in the<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 23<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nfaces of the soldiers. They stagger
\nback covering their eyes.<\/i><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nGods, what a glory lights up Syria!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPOLYDAON <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmazement!
\nIs this a god opposes us? Back, back!<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tCIREAS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMaster, master, skedaddle: run, run, good King of Tyre, it is
\nscuttle or be scuttled. Zeus has come down to earth with
\nfeathered shoes and a shield made out of phosphorus.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe runs off, followed more slowly by
\nDercetes and the soldiers.<\/i><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPHINEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhate’er thou art, yet thou shalt not outface me.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe advances with sword drawn.
\n<\/i>Hast thou Heaven’s thunders with thee too?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPOLYDAON (pulling him back)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBack, Phineus!
\nThe fiery-tasselled aegis of Athene
\nShakes forth these lightnings, and an earthly sword
\nWere madness here.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe goes out with Phineus.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO radiant strong immortal,
\nlolaus kneels to thee.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNo, lolaus.
\nThough great Athene breathes Olympian strength
\nInto my arm sometimes, I am no more<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 24<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThan a brief mortal. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nArt thou only man ?
\nO then be lolaus’ friend and lover,
\nWho com’st to me like something all my own
\nDestined from other shores.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nGive me thy hands,
\nO fair young child of the warm Syrian sun.
\nEmbrace me! Thou art like a springing laurel
\nFed upon sunlight by the murmuring waters.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTell me thy name. What memorable earth
\nGave thee to the azure ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI am from Argolis,
\nPerseus my name, the son of Dana\u00eb.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nCome, Perseus, friend, with me: fierce entertainment<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWe have given, unworthy the fair joyousness<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThou carriest like a flag, but thou shalt meet<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nA kinder Syria. My royal father Cepheus<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nShall welcome, my mother give thee a mother’s greeting<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd our Andromeda’s delightful smile<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPersuade thee of a world more full of beauty<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThan thou hadst dreamed of.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI shall yet be glad with thee,
\nO lolaus, in thy father’s halls,
\nBut I would not as yet be known in Syria.
\nIs there no pleasant hamlet near, hedged in<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 25<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nWith orchard walls and green with unripe corn
\nAnd washed with bright and flitting waves, where I
\nCan harbour with the kindly village folk
\nAnd wake to cock-crow in the morning hours,
\nAs in my dear Seriphos ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tIOLAUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSuch a village
\nLurks near our hills, \u2014 there with my kind Cydone
\nThou may’st abide at ease, until thou choose,
\nO Perseus, to reveal thyself to Syria.
\nI too can visit thee unquestioned.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPERSEUS<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThither
\nThen lead me. I have a thirst for calm obscurity
\nAnd cottages and happy unambitious talk
\nAnd simple people. With these I would have rest,
\nNot in the laboured pomp of princely towns
\nAmid pent noise and purple masks of hate.
\nI will drink deep of pure humanity
\nAnd take the innocent smell of rain-drenched earth,
\nSo shall I with a noble untainted mind
\nRise from the strengthening soil to great adventure.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThey go out.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 26<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCENE II   The same. Perseus descends on winged sandals from the clouds. PERSEUS Rocks on the outland jagged with the sea, You slumbering promontories…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-06-collected-plays-part-i-volume-06","wpcat-15-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}