{"id":711,"date":"2013-07-13T01:29:53","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=711"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:29:53","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:29:53","slug":"05-act-one-scene-3-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\/05-act-one-scene-3-vol-06-collected-plays-part-i-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-05_Act One -Scene-3.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

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

\n

\n <\/div>\n

\nThe Palace of Cepheus. A room in the women’s apartments.
\nPraxilla, to her enters Diomede.<\/i><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font>, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO Praxilla, Praxilla!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nSo, thou art back, thou tall inutility? Where wert thou lingering
\nall this hour? I am tired of always whipping thee. I will hire thee
\nout to a timber-merchant to carry logs from dawn to night-fall.
\nThou shalt learn what labour is.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPraxilla, O Praxilla! I am full to the throat with news. I pray
\nyou, rip me open.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

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

\nShe advances towards her with an uplifted knife.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>
\n\t (escaping)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA plague! can you not appreciate a fine metaphor when you
\nhear it? I never saw so prosaic a mortal. The soul in you was
\nborn of a marriage between a saucepan and a broomstick.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nTell me your news. If it is good, I will excuse you your whipping.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI was out on the beach thinking to watch the seagulls flying and
\ncrying in the wind amidst the surf dashing and the black cliff-
\nheads\u2014<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nAnd could not Poseidon turn thee into a gull there among thy<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 27<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nnatural kindred ? Thou wert better fitted with that shape than in
\na reasonable human body.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOh then you shall hear the news tell itself, mistress, when the
\nwhole town ,has chewed it and rechewed it.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nShe is going.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nStop, you long-limbed impertinence. The news!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI’ll be hanged if I tell you.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nYou shall be whipped, if you do not.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWell, your goddess Switch is a potent divinity. A ship with
\nmen from the East has broken on the headland below the temple
\nand two Chaldeans are saved alive for the altar.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThis is glorious news indeed.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt will be a great day when they are sacrificed!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nWe have not had such since the long galley from Cnossus
\ngrounded upon our shores and the temple was washed richly
\nwith blood and the altar blushed as thickly with hearts of victims
\nas the King’s throne with rubies. Poseidon was pleased that
\nyear and the harvest was so plentiful, men were brought in from
\nbeyond the hills to reap it.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 28<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThere would have been a third victim, but Prince
\nIolaus drew
\nsword on the priest Polydaon to defend him.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nI hope this is not true.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI saw it.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nIs the wild boy
\nIn love with ruin ? Not the King himself
\nCan help him if the grim sacrificant
\nDemand his fair young head: only a god
\nCould save him. And he was already in peril
\nFrom Polydaon’s gloomy hate!<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd Phineus’.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nHush, silly madcap, hush; or speak much lower.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHere comes my little queen of love, stepping<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAs daintily as a young bird in spring<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhen he would take the hearts of all the forest. ‘<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAndromeda enters.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nYou have slept late, Andromeda.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHave I?
\nThe sun had risen in my dreams: perhaps
\nI feared to wake lest I should find all dark<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 29<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOnce more, Praxilla.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe has risen in your eyes,
\nFor they are full of sunshine, little princess.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI have dreamed, Diomede, I have dreamed.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat did you dream?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI dreamed my sun had risen.
\nHe had a face like the Olympian Zeus
\nAnd wings upon his feet. He smiled upon me,
\nDiomede.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nDreams are full of stranger fancies.
\nWhy, I myself have seen hooved bears, winged lions,
\nAnd many other monsters in my dreams.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy sun was a bright god and bore a naming sword
\nTo kill all monsters.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI think I’ve seen today
\nYour sun, my little playmate.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNo, you have not.
\nI’ll not have any eyes see him but mine:<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe is my own, my very own.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 30<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd yet
\nI saw him on the wild sea-beach this morning.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nWhat mean you, Diomede ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE (to Andromeda)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYou have not heard ?
\nA ship was flung upon the rocks this morning
\nAnd all her human burden drowned.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nAlas!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nIt was a marvellous sight, my little playmate,
\nAnd made my blood with horror and admiration
\nRun richer in my veins. The great ship groaned
\nWhile the rough boulders dashed her into pieces,
\nThe men with desperate shrieks went tumbling down
\nMid laughters of the surge, strangled ‘twixt billows
\nOr torn by strips upon the savage rocks
\nThat tossed their mangled bodies back again
\nInto the cruel keeping of the surge.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nO do not tell me any more! How had you heart
\nTo look at what I cannot bear to hear?
\nFor while you spoke, I felt as if the rocks
\nWere tearing my own limbs and the salt surge
\nChoking me.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nI suppose it must have hurt them.
\nYes, it was pitiful. Still, ’twas a sight.
\nMeanwhile the deep surf boomed their grandiose dirge<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

 
\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 31<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nWith fierce triumphant voices. The whole scene<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWas like a wild stupendous sacrifice<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOffered by the grey-filleted grim surges<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOn the gigantic altar of the rocks<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nTo the calm cliffs seated like gods above.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlas, the unhappy men, the poor drowned men
\nWho had young children somewhere whom they loved,
\nHow could you watch them die! Had I been a god,.
\nI would not let this cruel thing have happened.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhy do you weep for them? they were not Syrians.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nNot they, but barbarous jabbering foreigners
\nFrom Indus or Arabia. Fie, my child,
\nYou sit upon the floor and weep for these ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhen Iolaus fell upon the rocks<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd hurt himself, you did not then forbid me<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nTo weep!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nHe is your brother. That was loving,
\nTender and right.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd these men were not brothers ?
\nThey too had sisters who will feel as I should
\nIf my dear brother were to die so wretchedly.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nLet their own sisters weep for them: we have
\nEnough of our own sorrows. You are young<\/font>
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 32<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd softly made: because you have yourself<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nNo griefs, but only childhood’s soon-dried tears,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nYou make a luxury of others’ woe.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nSo when we watch a piteous tragedy,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWe grace with real tears its painted sorrows.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhen you are older and have true things to weep for,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThen you will understand.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI’ll not be older!
\nI will not understand! I only know
\nThat men are heartless and your gods most cruel.
\nI hate them!<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nHush, Hush! You know not what you say,
\nYou must not speak such things. Come, Diomede,
\nTell her the rest.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>(covering her ears with her hands)<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\nI will not hear you.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE<\/font>
\n\t(kneeling by her and drawing her hands away)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut I<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWill tell you of your bright sungod.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe is not           
\nMy sungod or he would have saved them.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe did.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font>
\n\t(leaping to her feet)<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\nThen tell me of him.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 33<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSuddenly there dawned
\nA man, a vision, a brightness, who descended
\nFrom where I know not, but to me it seemed
\nThat the blue heavens just then created him
\nOut of the sunlight. His face and radiant body
\nAspired to copy the Olympian Zeus
\nAnd wings were on his feet.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe was my sungod!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe caught two drowning wretches by the robe
\nAnd drew them safe to land.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe was my sungod.
\nDiomede, I have seen him in my dream.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nI think it was Poseidon come to take
\nHis tithe of all that death for the ancient altar,
\nLest all be engulfed by his grey billows, he
\nGo quite unhonoured.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHang up your grim Poseidon!
\nThis was a sweet and noble face all bright
\nWith manly kindness.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOh I know, I know.
\nWhere went he with those rescued ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhy, just then<\/font>
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 34<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPrince Iolaus and his band leaped forth
\nAnd took them.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font>
\n\t(angrily)<\/i><\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWherefore took them? By what right?<\/font>
\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo die according to our Syrian law
\nOn dark Poseidon’s altar.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey shall not die.
\nIt is a shame, a cruel cold injustice.
\nI wonder that my brother had any part in it!
\nMy sungod saved them, they belong to him,
\nNot to your hateful gods. They are his and mine,
\nI will not let you kill them.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nWhy, they must die
\nAnd you will see it done, my little princess,
\nYou shall! Where are you going ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLet me go.
\nI do not love you when you talk like this.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nBut you are Syria’s lady and must appear
\nAt these high ceremonies.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI had rather be
\nA beggar’s daughter who devours the remnants
\nRejected from your table, than reign a queen
\nDoing such cruelty.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 35<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nLittle passionate scold!
\nYou mean not what you say. A beggar’s daughter!
\nYou ? You who toss about if only a rose-leaf
\nCrinkle the creamy smoothness of your sheets,
\nAnd one harsh word flings weeping broken-hearted
\nAs if the world had no more joy in store.
\nYou are a little posturer, you make
\nA theatre of your own mind to act in,
\nTake parts, declaim such childish rhetoric
\nAs that you speak now. You a beggar’s daughter!
\nCome, listen what became of your bright sungod.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHim too they would have seized, but he with steel
\nOpposed and tranquil smiling eyes appalled them.
\nThen Polydaon came and Phineus came
\nAnd bade arrest the brilliant god. Our Prince,
\nSeized by his glory, with his virgin point
\nResisted their assault.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy <\/b>Iolaus!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll suddenly the stranger’s lifted shield
\nBecame a storm of lightnings. Dawn was blinded;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nFar promontories leaped out in the blaze,
\nThe surges were illumined and the horizon
\nAnswered with light.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font>
\n\t(clapping her hands)<\/i><\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO glorious! O my dream!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nYou tell the actions of a mighty god,
\nDiomede.<\/font> <\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 36<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA god he seemed to us, Praxilla.
\nThe soldiers ran in terror, Polydaon
\nWent snorting off like a black whale harpooned,
\nAnd even Phineus fled.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWas he not killed?
\nI wish he had been killed.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThis is your pity!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font>
\n\t(angrily)<\/i><\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI do not pity tigers, wolves and scorpions.
\nI pity men who are weak and beasts that suffer.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nI thought you loved all men and living things.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPerhaps I would have loved him like my hound
\nOr the lion in the park who lets me pat his mane;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut since he would have me even without my will
\nTo foul with his beast touch, my body abhors him.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nFie, fie! You speak too violently. How long
\nWill you be such a child ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOur Iolaus
\nAnd that bright stranger then embraced. Together
\nThey left the beach.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhere, where is Iolaus ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 37<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nWhy is he long in coming? I must see him.
\nI have a thousand things to ask.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nShe runs out.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe is
\nA strange unusual child, my little playmate.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nNone can help loving her, she is in charm<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nCompelling: but her mind is wry and warped.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nShe is not natural, not sound in fancy,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut made of wild uncurbed imaginations,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWith feelings as unruly as winds and waves<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd morbid sympathies. At times she talks<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nStrange childish blasphemies that make me tremble.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nShe would impose her fancies on the world<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAs better than the eternal laws that rule us!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI wish her mother had brought her up more strictly.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nFor she will come to harm.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOh, do not say it!
\nI have seen no child in all our Syria like her,
\nNone her bright equal in beauty. She pleases me
\nLike days of sunlight rain when spring caresses
\nWarmly the air. Oh, here is Iolaus.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nIs it he?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI know him by the noble strut
\nHe has put on ever since they made him captain.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAndromeda comes running.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 38<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy brother comes! I saw him from the
\nterrace.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nEnters Iolaus. Andromeda runs and
\nembraces him.
\n<\/i>Oh, Iolaus, have you brought him to me?
\nWhere is my sungod?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn heaven, little sister.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nOh, do not laugh at me. I want my sungod
\nWhose face is like the grand Olympian Zeus’
\nAnd wings are on his feet. Where did you leave him
\nAfter you took him from our rough sea-beaches ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat do you mean, Andromeda?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nSome power
\nDivine sent her a dream of that bright strength
\nWhich shone by you on the sea-beach today,
\nAnd him she calls her sungod.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nIs it so?
\nMy little wind-tossed rose Andromeda!
\nI shall be glad indeed if Heaven intends this.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhere is he?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nDo you not know, little rose-sister,
\nThe great gods visit earth by splendid moments
\nAnd then are lost to sight ? Come, do not weep;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe is not lost to Syria.<\/font>
\n<\/font> \n<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 39<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nIolaus,
\nWhy did you take the two poor foreign men
\nAnd give them to the priest ? My sungod saved them,
\nBrother, \u2014what right had you to kill?<\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy <\/b>child,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI only did my duty as a soldier,
\nYet grieve I was compelled.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nNow will you save them?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut they belong to dread Poseidon now!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat will be done to them?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey must be bound
\nOn the god’s altar and their living hearts
\nRipped from their blood-choked breasts to feed his hunger.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAndromeda covers her face with her
\nrobe.
\n<\/i>Grieve not for them: they but fulfil their fate.
\nThese things are in the order of the world
\nLike plagues and slaughters, famines, fires and earthquakes,
\nWhich when they pass us by killing their thousands,
\nWe should not weep for, but be grateful only
\nThat other souls than the dear heads we loved
\nHave perished.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nYou will not save them?<\/font>
\n<\/font> \n<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 40<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nUnhappy girl!
\nIt is impiety to think of it.
\nFie! Would you have your brother killed for your whimsies ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nWill you not save them, brother ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nI cannot, child.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen I will.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nDoes she mean <\/b>it?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nSuch wild caprices
\nAre always darting through her brain.<\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nI could not take<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPoseidon’s wrath upon my head!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nForget it
\nAs she will too. Her strange imaginations
\nFlutter awhile among her golden curls,
\nBut soon wing off with careless flight to Lethe.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nMedes enters.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat is it, Medes?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 41<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tM<\/font>EDES
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe King, Prince Iolaus,
\nRequires your presence in his audience-chamber.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nSo ? Tell me, Medes, is Poseidon’s priest
\nIn presence there ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tM<\/font>EDES
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe is and full of wrath.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nGo, tell them I am coming.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

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

\nAlas!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nFear not.
\nI have a strength the grim intriguers dream not of.
\nLet not my sister hear this, Diomede.<\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

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

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

\nWhat may not happen? The priest is
\ndangerous,<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPoseidon may be angry. Let us go<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd guard our child from peril of this
\nshock.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nCurtain<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 42<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

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

\n

\n <\/div>\n

\nThe Palace of Cepheus. A room in the women’s apartments.
\nPraxilla, to her enters Diomede.<\/i><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font>, <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO Praxilla, Praxilla!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nSo, thou art back, thou tall inutility? Where wert thou lingering
\nall this hour? I am tired of always whipping thee. I will hire thee
\nout to a timber-merchant to carry logs from dawn to night-fall.
\nThou shalt learn what labour is.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPraxilla, O Praxilla! I am full to the throat with news. I pray
\nyou, rip me open.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

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

\nShe advances towards her with an uplifted knife.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>
\n\t (escaping)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA plague! can you not appreciate a fine metaphor when you
\nhear it? I never saw so prosaic a mortal. The soul in you was
\nborn of a marriage between a saucepan and a broomstick.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nTell me your news. If it is good, I will excuse you your whipping.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI was out on the beach thinking to watch the seagulls flying and
\ncrying in the wind amidst the surf dashing and the black cliff-
\nheads\u2014<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nAnd could not Poseidon turn thee into a gull there among thy<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 27<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nnatural kindred ? Thou wert better fitted with that shape than in
\na reasonable human body.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOh then you shall hear the news tell itself, mistress, when the
\nwhole town ,has chewed it and rechewed it.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nShe is going.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nStop, you long-limbed impertinence. The news!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI’ll be hanged if I tell you.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nYou shall be whipped, if you do not.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWell, your goddess Switch is a potent divinity. A ship with
\nmen from the East has broken on the headland below the temple
\nand two Chaldeans are saved alive for the altar.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThis is glorious news indeed.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt will be a great day when they are sacrificed!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nWe have not had such since the long galley from Cnossus
\ngrounded upon our shores and the temple was washed richly
\nwith blood and the altar blushed as thickly with hearts of victims
\nas the King’s throne with rubies. Poseidon was pleased that
\nyear and the harvest was so plentiful, men were brought in from
\nbeyond the hills to reap it.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 28<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThere would have been a third victim, but Prince
\nIolaus drew
\nsword on the priest Polydaon to defend him.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nI hope this is not true.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI saw it.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nIs the wild boy
\nIn love with ruin ? Not the King himself
\nCan help him if the grim sacrificant
\nDemand his fair young head: only a god
\nCould save him. And he was already in peril
\nFrom Polydaon’s gloomy hate!<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd Phineus’.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nHush, silly madcap, hush; or speak much lower.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHere comes my little queen of love, stepping<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAs daintily as a young bird in spring<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhen he would take the hearts of all the forest. ‘<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAndromeda enters.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nYou have slept late, Andromeda.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHave I?
\nThe sun had risen in my dreams: perhaps
\nI feared to wake lest I should find all dark<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 29<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOnce more, Praxilla.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe has risen in your eyes,
\nFor they are full of sunshine, little princess.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI have dreamed, Diomede, I have dreamed.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat did you dream?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI dreamed my sun had risen.
\nHe had a face like the Olympian Zeus
\nAnd wings upon his feet. He smiled upon me,
\nDiomede.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nDreams are full of stranger fancies.
\nWhy, I myself have seen hooved bears, winged lions,
\nAnd many other monsters in my dreams.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy sun was a bright god and bore a naming sword
\nTo kill all monsters.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI think I’ve seen today
\nYour sun, my little playmate.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNo, you have not.
\nI’ll not have any eyes see him but mine:<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe is my own, my very own.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 30<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd yet
\nI saw him on the wild sea-beach this morning.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nWhat mean you, Diomede ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE (to Andromeda)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYou have not heard ?
\nA ship was flung upon the rocks this morning
\nAnd all her human burden drowned.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nAlas!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nIt was a marvellous sight, my little playmate,
\nAnd made my blood with horror and admiration
\nRun richer in my veins. The great ship groaned
\nWhile the rough boulders dashed her into pieces,
\nThe men with desperate shrieks went tumbling down
\nMid laughters of the surge, strangled ‘twixt billows
\nOr torn by strips upon the savage rocks
\nThat tossed their mangled bodies back again
\nInto the cruel keeping of the surge.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nO do not tell me any more! How had you heart
\nTo look at what I cannot bear to hear?
\nFor while you spoke, I felt as if the rocks
\nWere tearing my own limbs and the salt surge
\nChoking me.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nI suppose it must have hurt them.
\nYes, it was pitiful. Still, ’twas a sight.
\nMeanwhile the deep surf boomed their grandiose dirge<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

 
\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 31<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nWith fierce triumphant voices. The whole scene<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWas like a wild stupendous sacrifice<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOffered by the grey-filleted grim surges<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOn the gigantic altar of the rocks<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nTo the calm cliffs seated like gods above.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlas, the unhappy men, the poor drowned men
\nWho had young children somewhere whom they loved,
\nHow could you watch them die! Had I been a god,.
\nI would not let this cruel thing have happened.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhy do you weep for them? they were not Syrians.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nNot they, but barbarous jabbering foreigners
\nFrom Indus or Arabia. Fie, my child,
\nYou sit upon the floor and weep for these ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhen Iolaus fell upon the rocks<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd hurt himself, you did not then forbid me<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nTo weep!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nHe is your brother. That was loving,
\nTender and right.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd these men were not brothers ?
\nThey too had sisters who will feel as I should
\nIf my dear brother were to die so wretchedly.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nLet their own sisters weep for them: we have
\nEnough of our own sorrows. You are young<\/font>
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 32<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAnd softly made: because you have yourself<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nNo griefs, but only childhood’s soon-dried tears,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nYou make a luxury of others’ woe.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nSo when we watch a piteous tragedy,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWe grace with real tears its painted sorrows.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhen you are older and have true things to weep for,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThen you will understand.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI’ll not be older!
\nI will not understand! I only know
\nThat men are heartless and your gods most cruel.
\nI hate them!<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nHush, Hush! You know not what you say,
\nYou must not speak such things. Come, Diomede,
\nTell her the rest.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>(covering her ears with her hands)<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\nI will not hear you.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE<\/font>
\n\t(kneeling by her and drawing her hands away)<\/i><\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut I<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWill tell you of your bright sungod.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe is not           
\nMy sungod or he would have saved them.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe did.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font>
\n\t(leaping to her feet)<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\nThen tell me of him.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 33<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nSuddenly there dawned
\nA man, a vision, a brightness, who descended
\nFrom where I know not, but to me it seemed
\nThat the blue heavens just then created him
\nOut of the sunlight. His face and radiant body
\nAspired to copy the Olympian Zeus
\nAnd wings were on his feet.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe was my sungod!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe caught two drowning wretches by the robe
\nAnd drew them safe to land.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe was my sungod.
\nDiomede, I have seen him in my dream.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nI think it was Poseidon come to take
\nHis tithe of all that death for the ancient altar,
\nLest all be engulfed by his grey billows, he
\nGo quite unhonoured.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHang up your grim Poseidon!
\nThis was a sweet and noble face all bright
\nWith manly kindness.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOh I know, I know.
\nWhere went he with those rescued ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhy, just then<\/font>
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 34<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPrince Iolaus and his band leaped forth
\nAnd took them.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font>
\n\t(angrily)<\/i><\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWherefore took them? By what right?<\/font>
\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo die according to our Syrian law
\nOn dark Poseidon’s altar.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey shall not die.
\nIt is a shame, a cruel cold injustice.
\nI wonder that my brother had any part in it!
\nMy sungod saved them, they belong to him,
\nNot to your hateful gods. They are his and mine,
\nI will not let you kill them.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nWhy, they must die
\nAnd you will see it done, my little princess,
\nYou shall! Where are you going ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nLet me go.
\nI do not love you when you talk like this.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nBut you are Syria’s lady and must appear
\nAt these high ceremonies.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI had rather be
\nA beggar’s daughter who devours the remnants
\nRejected from your table, than reign a queen
\nDoing such cruelty.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 35<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nLittle passionate scold!
\nYou mean not what you say. A beggar’s daughter!
\nYou ? You who toss about if only a rose-leaf
\nCrinkle the creamy smoothness of your sheets,
\nAnd one harsh word flings weeping broken-hearted
\nAs if the world had no more joy in store.
\nYou are a little posturer, you make
\nA theatre of your own mind to act in,
\nTake parts, declaim such childish rhetoric
\nAs that you speak now. You a beggar’s daughter!
\nCome, listen what became of your bright sungod.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nHim too they would have seized, but he with steel
\nOpposed and tranquil smiling eyes appalled them.
\nThen Polydaon came and Phineus came
\nAnd bade arrest the brilliant god. Our Prince,
\nSeized by his glory, with his virgin point
\nResisted their assault.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy <\/b>Iolaus!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll suddenly the stranger’s lifted shield
\nBecame a storm of lightnings. Dawn was blinded;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nFar promontories leaped out in the blaze,
\nThe surges were illumined and the horizon
\nAnswered with light.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font>
\n\t(clapping her hands)<\/i><\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nO glorious! O my dream!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nYou tell the actions of a mighty god,
\nDiomede.<\/font> <\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 36<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nA god he seemed to us, Praxilla.
\nThe soldiers ran in terror, Polydaon
\nWent snorting off like a black whale harpooned,
\nAnd even Phineus fled.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWas he not killed?
\nI wish he had been killed.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThis is your pity!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font>
\n\t(angrily)<\/i><\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI do not pity tigers, wolves and scorpions.
\nI pity men who are weak and beasts that suffer.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nI thought you loved all men and living things.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPerhaps I would have loved him like my hound
\nOr the lion in the park who lets me pat his mane;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut since he would have me even without my will
\nTo foul with his beast touch, my body abhors him.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nFie, fie! You speak too violently. How long
\nWill you be such a child ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOur Iolaus
\nAnd that bright stranger then embraced. Together
\nThey left the beach.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhere, where is Iolaus ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 37<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nWhy is he long in coming? I must see him.
\nI have a thousand things to ask.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nShe runs out.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nShe is
\nA strange unusual child, my little playmate.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nNone can help loving her, she is in charm<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nCompelling: but her mind is wry and warped.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nShe is not natural, not sound in fancy,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut made of wild uncurbed imaginations,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWith feelings as unruly as winds and waves<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd morbid sympathies. At times she talks<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nStrange childish blasphemies that make me tremble.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nShe would impose her fancies on the world<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAs better than the eternal laws that rule us!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI wish her mother had brought her up more strictly.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nFor she will come to harm.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nOh, do not say it!
\nI have seen no child in all our Syria like her,
\nNone her bright equal in beauty. She pleases me
\nLike days of sunlight rain when spring caresses
\nWarmly the air. Oh, here is Iolaus.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nIs it he?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tD<\/font>IOMEDE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI know him by the noble strut
\nHe has put on ever since they made him captain.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAndromeda comes running.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 38<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy brother comes! I saw him from the
\nterrace.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nEnters Iolaus. Andromeda runs and
\nembraces him.
\n<\/i>Oh, Iolaus, have you brought him to me?
\nWhere is my sungod?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nIn heaven, little sister.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nOh, do not laugh at me. I want my sungod
\nWhose face is like the grand Olympian Zeus’
\nAnd wings are on his feet. Where did you leave him
\nAfter you took him from our rough sea-beaches ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat do you mean, Andromeda?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tDIOMEDE <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nSome power
\nDivine sent her a dream of that bright strength
\nWhich shone by you on the sea-beach today,
\nAnd him she calls her sungod.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nIs it so?
\nMy little wind-tossed rose Andromeda!
\nI shall be glad indeed if Heaven intends this.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhere is he?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nDo you not know, little rose-sister,
\nThe great gods visit earth by splendid moments
\nAnd then are lost to sight ? Come, do not weep;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe is not lost to Syria.<\/font>
\n<\/font> \n<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 39<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nIolaus,
\nWhy did you take the two poor foreign men
\nAnd give them to the priest ? My sungod saved them,
\nBrother, \u2014what right had you to kill?<\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nMy <\/b>child,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI only did my duty as a soldier,
\nYet grieve I was compelled.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nNow will you save them?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut they belong to dread Poseidon now!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat will be done to them?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey must be bound
\nOn the god’s altar and their living hearts
\nRipped from their blood-choked breasts to feed his hunger.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAndromeda covers her face with her
\nrobe.
\n<\/i>Grieve not for them: they but fulfil their fate.
\nThese things are in the order of the world
\nLike plagues and slaughters, famines, fires and earthquakes,
\nWhich when they pass us by killing their thousands,
\nWe should not weep for, but be grateful only
\nThat other souls than the dear heads we loved
\nHave perished.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nYou will not save them?<\/font>
\n<\/font> \n<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 40<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nUnhappy girl!
\nIt is impiety to think of it.
\nFie! Would you have your brother killed for your whimsies ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nWill you not save them, brother ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nI cannot, child.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NDROMEDA<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nThen I will.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nDoes she mean <\/b>it?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nSuch wild caprices
\nAre always darting through her brain.<\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nI could not take<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPoseidon’s wrath upon my head!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nForget it
\nAs she will too. Her strange imaginations
\nFlutter awhile among her golden curls,
\nBut soon wing off with careless flight to Lethe.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nMedes enters.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat is it, Medes?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 41<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tM<\/font>EDES
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe King, Prince Iolaus,
\nRequires your presence in his audience-chamber.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nSo ? Tell me, Medes, is Poseidon’s priest
\nIn presence there ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tM<\/font>EDES
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nHe is and full of wrath.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nGo, tell them I am coming.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

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

\nAlas!<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI<\/font>OLAUS
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nFear not.
\nI have a strength the grim intriguers dream not of.
\nLet not my sister hear this, Diomede.<\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

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

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

\nWhat may not happen? The priest is
\ndangerous,<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPoseidon may be angry. Let us go<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd guard our child from peril of this
\nshock.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\nCurtain<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 42<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCENE III   The Palace of Cepheus. A room in the women’s apartments. Praxilla, to her enters Diomede. DIOMEDE , O Praxilla, Praxilla! PRAXILLA So,…<\/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-711","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\/711","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=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}