{"id":709,"date":"2013-07-13T01:29:52","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=709"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:29:52","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:29:52","slug":"44-rodogune-act-two-scene-1-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\/44-rodogune-act-two-scene-1-vol-06-collected-plays-part-i-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-44_Rodogune-Act Two-Scene-1.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n
\nAct Two<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\nThe palace in Antioch.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nSCENE I <\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/div>\n

\nA hall in the palace.
\nCleone, Phayllus.<\/i><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

P<\/font>HAYLLUS <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWorry the conscience of the Queen to death
\nLike the good bitch thou art. If this goes well,
\nI may sit unobserved on Syria’s throne.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tC<\/font>LEONE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nDo not forget me.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDo not forget thyself,
\nThen how shall I forget thee ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tC<\/font>LEONE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI shall remember.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIf for a game you are the queen, Cleone,
\nAnd I your minister, how would you start
\nYour play of reigning ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tC<\/font>LEONE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI would have many perfect tortures made
\nTo hurt the Parthian with, for every nerve
\nA torture. I would lie in flowers the while
\nDrinking sweet Cyprian wine and hear her moan.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 365<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI do not like your thought, have better ones.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tC<\/font>LEONE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShall I not satisfy my love, my hate ?
\nThen just as well I might not reign at all.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO hatred, love and wrath, you instruments<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBy which we are driven! Cleone, the gods use these<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nFor their own purposes, not we for ours.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tC<\/font>LEONE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI’ll do my will, Phayllus; you do yours.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOur kingdom being won! It is not, yet.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n(turning away)<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\nShe’s too violent for my calmer ends;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nLust drives her, not ambition. I wait on you,
\nYou gods who choose. If Fate intends my rise,
\nShe will provide the instruments and cause.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nTimocles enters from the inner palace.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI think I am afraid to speak to her.
\nI never felt so with the Egyptian girls
\nIn Thebes or Alexandria. Are you not
\nPhayllus ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYou remember faces well,
\nAnd have the trick for names, the monarch’s trick.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAntiochus, all say, will be the king.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 366<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut I say otherwise and what I say
\nHas a strange gift of happening.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYou’re my friend!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis is your sister ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nMy own and therefore yours.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis is your sister?<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA name that in its sound agrees
\nWith Syria’s roses. Are you too my friend,
\nCleone?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tC<\/font>LEONE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYour subject, prince.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd why not both ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tC<\/font>LEONE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nTo serve is better.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShall I try your will?<\/font><\/p>\n

\n(embracing her)<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThou art warm fire against the lips, thou rose,
\nCleone.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 367<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tC<\/font>LEONE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMay I test in turn?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tTIMOCLES <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOh, do!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tC<\/font>LEONE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nA rose examines by her thorns, \u2014 as thus.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nShe strikes him lightly on the cheek and goes out.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>(looking uncertainly at Phayllus who is
stroking his chin)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt was a courtesy, \u2014 our Egyptian way.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHers was the Syrian. Do not excuse yourself;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI am her brother.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>(turns as if to go, hesitates,
then comes back)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOh, have you met, Phayllus,
\nA Parthian lady here named Rodogune ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBlows the wind east ? But if it brings me good,
\nLet it blow where it will. I know the child.
\nShe’s fair. You’ld have her?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nFie on you, Phayllus!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPrince, I have a plain tongue which, when I hunger,
\nOwns that there is a belly. Speak in your language!
\nI understand men’s phrases though I use them not.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 368<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tTIMOCLES <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThink not that evil! she is not like those,
\nThe common flowers which have a fair outside
\nOf beauty, but the common hand can pluck.
\nWe wear such lightly, smell and throw away.
\nShe is not like them.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNo? Yet are they all
\nBorn from one mother Nature. What if she wears
\nThe quick barbarian’s robe called modesty?
\nThere is a woman always in the end
\nBehind that shimmering. Pluck the robe, ’twill fall;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThen is she Nature’s still.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI have seen her eyes, they are a liquid purity.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd yet a fish swims there which men call love,
\nBut truth names lust or passion. Fear not, prince;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe fish will rise to such an angler’s cast.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMistake me not, nor her. These things are done,
\nBut not with such as she; she is heaven-pure
\nAnd must like heaven be by worship won.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat is it then that you desire of her
\nOr ask of me? I can do always much.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO nothing else but this, only to kneel,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nLook up at her and touch the little hand<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThat fluttered like a moonlit butterfly<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAbout my mother’s hair. If she consenting smiled<\/font>
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 369<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nA little, I might even dare so much.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhy, she’s your slave-girl!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI shall kneel to her
\nSome day and feel her hand upon my brow.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat animal this is, I hardly know,
\nBut know it is the animal for me:<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nMy genius tells me. Prince, I need a bribe
\nBefore I’ll stir in this.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat bribe, Phayllus?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS<\/font><\/p>\n

\nA name, \u2014 your friend.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO more than merely friend!
\nBring me into the temple dim and pure
\nWhence my own hopes and fears now bar me out,
\nThen I am yours, Phayllus, you myself
\nFor all things.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tP<\/font>HAYLLUS <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nRemember me when you have any need.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n\tT<\/font>IMOCLES
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI have a friend! He is the very first<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWho was not conquered by Antiochus.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nNow has this love like lightning leaped at me!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 370<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Act Two The palace in Antioch. SCENE I   A hall in the palace. Cleone, Phayllus. PHAYLLUS Worry the conscience of the Queen to death…<\/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-709","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\/709","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=709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}