{"id":722,"date":"2013-07-13T01:29:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=722"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:29:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:29:58","slug":"55-rodogune-act-four-scene-4-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\/55-rodogune-act-four-scene-4-vol-06-collected-plays-part-i-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-55_Rodogune-Act Four-Scene-4.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

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

\n

\n <\/div>\n

\n

\n <\/div>\n

\nThe same.
\nAntiochus, Eunice, Rodogune.<\/i><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tA<\/font>NTIOCHUS
\n\t<\/font>,<\/font>
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI put my hand on Antioch. Thou hast done well,
\nO admirable quick Theramenes.
\nThis fight was lionlike.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tE<\/font>UNICE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd like the lion
\nThou art, my warrior, thou canst now descend
\nUpon Seleucus’ city. How new ’twill seem
\nAfter the mountains and the starlit skies
\nTo sleep once more in Antioch!<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tR<\/font>ODOGUNE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI trust the stars
\nAnd mountains better. They were kind to me.
\nMy blood within me chills when I look forward
\nAnd think of Antioch.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThese are the shadows from a clouded past<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhich shall not be repeated, Rodogune.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis is not Antioch that thou knew’st, <\/b>the prison<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOf thy captivity, thou enterest now,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nNot Antioch of thy foes, but a new city<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd thy own kingdom.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tR<\/font>ODOGUNE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nAre the gods so good ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThe gods are strong; they love to test our strength
\nLike armourers hammering steel. Therefore ’twas said<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 428<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThat they are jealous. No, but high and stern
\nDemanding greatness from the great; they strike
\nAt every fault they see, perfect themselves
\nLabour at our perfection. What rumour increases
\nApproaching from the mountains ? Thoas, thou ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThoas enters.
\n<\/i>Thy brow is dark. Is it Theramenes ?
\nReturns our fortune broken ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nBroken and fallen.
\nWe who are left bring back Theramenes
\nUpon whose body twenty glorious wounds
\nSmile at defeat.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nTheramenes before me!
\nHow have you kept me lying in my tents!
\nI thought our road was clear of foemen.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThe gods
\nHad other resources that we knew not of.
\nWithin the passes, on the summit couch
\nThe spears of Macedon. They have arrived
\nFrom the sea, from Antioch.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThe Macedonians! Then
\nOur day is ended; we must think of night.
\nWe reach our limit, Thoas.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThat’s if we choose;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nFor there are other tidings.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 429<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\nThey should be welcome.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nPhraates, thy imperial father, comes<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWith myriad hosts behind him thunder-hooved,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nNot for invasion armed as Syria’s foe,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut for the husband of his Rodogune.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nShall we recoil upon these helpers ? Death<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nCan always wait.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nPerhaps. Leave me awhile,
\nThoas; for we must sit alone tonight,
\nMy soul and I together; Rodogune,<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThoas goes.
\n<\/i>Wouldst thou go back to Parthia, to thy country?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tR<\/font>ODOGUNE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI have no country, I have only thee.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI shall be where thou art; it is all I know<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd all I wish for.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nEunice, wilt thou go
\nTo Antioch safe ? My mother loves thee well.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tE<\/font>UNICE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nI follow her and thee. What talk is this ?
\nI shall grow angry.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nAm I other, Eunice,
\nThan once I was ? Is there a change in me
\nSince first I came into your lives from Egypt?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 430<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tE<\/font>UNICE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nYou are my god, my warrior and the same
\nYou ever were.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nTo her and thee I am.
\nSleep well, my Rodogune, for thou and I
\nNot sure of Fate, are of each other sure.
\nTo thee what else can matter ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tR<\/font>ODOGUNE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nNothing else.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nRodogune and Eunice enter the
\ninterior of the tent.<\/i><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nA god! Yes, I have godlike stirrings in me.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nShall they be bounded by this petty world<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe sea can span ? If Rome, Greece, Africa,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAsia and all the undiscovered globe<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWere given me for my garden, all glory mine,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAll men my friends, all women’s hearts my own,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWould there not still be bounds, still continents<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nUnvanquished ? O thou glorious Macedonian,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThou too must seek at last more worlds to conquer.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHast thou discovered them ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis earth is but a hillock when all’s said,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe sea an azure puddle. All tonight<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nSeems strange to me; my wars, ambition, fate<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd what I am and what I might have been,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nFloat round me vaguely and withdraw from me<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nLike grandiose phantoms in a mist. Who am I ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhence come I? Whither go, or wherefore now?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWho gave me these gigantic appetites<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThat make a banquet of the world ? Who set<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThese narrow, scornful and exiguous bounds<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nTo my achievement ? <\/b> O, to die, to pass,<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 431<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nNothing achieved but this, "He tried great things,
\nAccomplished small ones." If this life alone
\nBe given us to fail or to succeed,
\nThen ’tis worth keeping.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Parthian treads our land!
\nPhraates’ hooves dig Grecian soil once more!
\nThe subtle Parthian! He has smiled and waited
\nTill we were weak with mutual wounds and now
\nStretches his foot towards Syria. Have I then
\nAchieved this only, my country’s servitude?
\nShall that be said of me? It galls, it stabs.
\nMy fame! "Destroyer of Syria, he ended
\nThe great Seleucus’ work." Whatever else
\nO’ertake me, in this the strong gods shall not win.
\nI will give up my body and sword to Timocles,
\nRepel the Parthian, save from this new death,
\nThese dangerous allies from Macedon,
\nSyria, then die.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut wherefore die ? Should I not rather go
\nWith my sole sword into the changeful world,
\nCreate an empire, not inherit one ?
\nAre there not other realms ? has not the East
\nGreat spaces ? In huge torrid Africa
\nBeyond the mystic sources of the Nile
\nThere must be empires. Or if with a ship
\nOne sailed for ever through the infinite West,
\nThrough Ocean and still Ocean for three years,
\nMight not one find the old Atlantic realms
\nNo fable ? Thy narrow lovely littoral,
\nO blue Mediterranean, India, Parthia,
\nIs this the world ? I thirst for mightier things
\nThan earth has. But for what I dreamed, to bound
\nUpon Nicanor through the deep-bellied passes
\nOr fall upon the Macedonian spears,
\nIt were glorious, yet a glorious cowardice,
\nToo like self-slaughter. Is it not more heroic
\nTo battle with than to accept calamity?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 432<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nUnless indeed all thinking-out is vain
\nAnd Fate our only mover. Seek it out, my soul,
\nAnd make no error here; for on this hour
\nThe future of the man Antiochus,
\nWhat future he may have upon the earth
\nIn name or body lies. Reveal it to me, Zeus!
\nIn Antioch or upon the Grecian spears,
\nWhere lies my fate ?<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhile he is speaking, the Eremite enters.<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tE<\/font>REMITE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBefore thee always.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nHow
\nCam’st thou or whence ? I know thy ominous look.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tE<\/font>REMITE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe how inquire not nor the whence, but learn
\nThe end is near which I then promised thee.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nSo then, defeat and death were from the first
\nMy portion! Wherefore were thoughts gigantical
\nWith which I came into my mother ready-shaped
\nIf they must end in the inglorious tomb ?<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tE<\/font>REMITE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nDespise not proud defeat, scorn not high death.
\nThe gods accept them sternly.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nYes, as I shall,<\/font>
\n<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tBut not submissively.
E<\/font>REMITE
\n\t<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nBreak then, thou hill<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 433<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nUnsatisfied with thy own height. The gods
\nCare not if thou resist or if thou yield;<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThey do their work with mortals. To the Vast
\nWhence thou, O ravening, strong and hungry lion,
\nOverleaping cam’st the iron bars of Time,
\nReturn! Thou hast thy tamers. God of battles!
\nSon of Nicanor! Strong Antiochus!
\nDepart and be as if thou wert not born.
\nThe gods await thee in Antioch.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

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

\nI will meet them there.
\nBreak me. I see you can, O gods. But you break
\nA body, not this soul; for that belongs, I feel,
\nTo other masters. It is settled then.
\nTomorrow sets in Antioch.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 434<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCENE IV       The same. Antiochus, Eunice, Rodogune. ANTIOCHUS , I put my hand on Antioch. Thou hast done well, O admirable quick…<\/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-722","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\/722","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=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}