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diff --git a/7444.txt b/7444.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..16cd4d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/7444.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2468 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Psyche, by Molière, Translated by Charles +Heron Wall + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Psyche + + +Author: Molière + + + +Release Date: April 30, 2003 [eBook #7444] +Most recently updated: January 9, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PSYCHE*** + + +E-text prepared by Charles Franks, Delphine Lettau, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +PSYCHE. + +by + +MOLIERE + +Translated into English Prose. + +With Short Introductions and Explanatory Notes. + +by + +CHARLES HERON WALL + + + + + + + +'Psyche' is a _tragedie-ballet_. Moliere had sketched the plan, +written the prologue, the first act, and the first scenes of the +second and third acts, when the King asked him to have the play +finished before Lent. Pierre Corneille, then sixty years old, helped +him, and wrote the other scenes in a fortnight. Quinault wrote the +words of the songs. + +Moliere acted the part of Zephyr. + + + +PERSONS REPRESENTED. + +JUPITER. +VENUS. +LOVE. +ZEPHYR. +AEGIALE _and_ PHAENE, _two Graces_. +THE KING. +PSYCHE. +AGLAURA. +CIDIPPE. +CLEOMENES _and_ AGENOR, _two princes_, PSYCHE'S _lovers_. +LYCAS, _captain of the guards_. +A RIVER GOD +TWO CUPIDS. + + + + +PROLOGUE. + +_The front of the stage represents a rustic spot, while at the back the +sea can be seen in the distance._ + + +SCENE I. + +FLORA _appears in the centre of the stage, attended by_ VERTUMNUS, +_god of trees and fruit, and by_ PALEMON, _god of the streams. Each of +these gods conducts a troup of divinities; one leads in his train_ +DRYADS _and_ SYLVANS, _and the other_ RIVER GODS _and_ NAIADS. + +FLORA _sings the following lines, to invite_ VENUS _to descend +upon earth_:-- + +FLORA. + + The din of battle is stayed; + The mightiest king of earth + His arms aside has laid; + Of peace 'tis now the birth! + Descend thou, lovely Venus, + And blissful hours grant us! + +VERTUMNUS _and_ PALEMON, _and the divinities who attend them, join +their voices to that of_ FLORA, _and sing the following words_.-- + +CHORUS OF DIVINITIES _of the earth and streams, composed of_ +FLORA, NYMPHS, PALEMON, VERTUMNUS, SYLVANS, FAUNS, DRYADS, _and_ +NAIADS. + + A peace profound we now enjoy, + And games and bliss without alloy; + Earth's mightiest king has giv'n us rest; + To him be praise and thanks addrest. + Descend thou, lovely Venus, + And happy hours grant us! + +_Then is formed an entry of the ballet, composed of two_ DRYADS, +_four_ SYLVANS, _two_ RIVER GODS, _and two_ NAIADS, _after which_ +VERTUMNUS _and_ PALEMON _sing the following dialogue_:-- + +VERTUMNUS. + Yield, yield, ye beauties stern, + To sigh 'tis now your turn! + +PALEMON. + See you, the queen above, + She comes to breathe soft love! + +VERTUMNUS. + A fair one stern for aye + Ne'er wins a faithful sigh! + +PALEMON. + To woo has beauty arms, + But gentleness has greater charms. + +BOTH (_together_). + To woo has beauty arms; + But gentleness has greater charms. + +VERTUMNUS. + Seek not your hearts to shield; + To pine is law, and ye must yield. + +PALEMON. + Is aught more worthless born + Than hearts that love will scorn? + +VERTUMNUS. + A fair one stern, for aye + Ne'er wins a faithful sigh! + +PALEMON. + To woo has beauty arms, + But gentleness has greater charms. + +BOTH (_together_). + To woo has beauty arms, + But gentleness has greater charms. + +FLORA _answers the dialogue of_ VERTUMNUS _and_ PALEMON _by the +following minuet, and the other divinities join their dances to the +song._ + + + Does wisdom say, + In youth's heyday, + Sweet love forego? + Be up, in haste + These pleasures taste + Of earth below. + + Youth's wisdom too + Is love to woo, + And love to know. + If love disarms, + It is by charms; + So yield your arms. + + 'Twere madness 'gainst his darts + To seek to shield your hearts. + Whate'er the bond + Of lover fond, + 'Tis sweeter chain + Than freedom's gain. + +VENUS _descends from heaven, attended by_ CUPID, _her son, and two +Graces, called_ AEGIALE _and_ PHAENE; _and the divinities of the earth +and the streams once more unite their songs, and continue by their +dances to show their joy at her approach._ + +CHORUS _of all the Divinities of the earth and the streams._ + + A peace profound we now enjoy, + And games and bliss without alloy; + Earth's mightiest king has giv'n us rest; + To him be praise and thanks addrest. + Descend thou, lovely Venus, + And happy hours grant us. + +VEN. (_in her chariot_). Cease, cease, all your songs of joy. Such +rare honours do not belong to me, and the homage which in your +consideration you now pay me ought to be reserved for lovelier charms. +To pay your court to me is a custom indeed too old; everything has its +turn, and Venus is no longer the fashion. There are rising charms to +which now all carry their incense. Psyche, the beauteous Psyche, +to-day has taken my place. Already now the whole world hastens to +worship her, and it is too great a boon that, in the midst of my +disgrace, I still find some one who stoops to honour me. Our deserts +are not even fairly weighed together, but all are ready to abandon me; +while of the numerous train of privileged graces, whose care and +friendship followed me everywhere, I have now only two of the smaller +ones who cling to me out of mere pity. I pray you, let these dark +abodes lend their solitude to the anguish of my heart, and suffer me +to hide my shame and grief in the midst of their gloom. + +FLORA _and the other deities withdraw; and_ VENUS _with her retinue +descends from her chariot._ + + +SCENE II.--VENUS, CUPID, AEGIALE, PHAENE, CUPID + +AEGI. We know not what to do, goddess; while we see you overwhelmed by +this grief, our respect bids us be silent, our zeal would have us +speak. + +VEN. Speak; but if your cares would please me, leave all your advice +for a fitter time; and speak of my wrath but to own me right; that was +the keenest insult my divinity could ever receive; but revenge I shall +have if gods have any power. + +PHA. Your wisdom, your discernment, are greater than ours in deciding +what may be worthy of you; yet, methinks, a mighty goddess should not +thus give way to wrath. + +VEN. That is the very reason of my extreme anger; the greater the +brilliancy of my rank, the deeper the insult. If I did not stand on so +lofty a height, the indignation of my heart would not be so violent. +I, the daughter of the Thunderer, mother of the love-inspiring god; I, +the sweetest yearning of heaven and earth, who received birth only to +charm; I, who have seen everything that hath breath utter so many vows +at my shrines, and by immortal rights have held the sovereign sway of +beauty in all ages; I, whose eyes have forced two mighty gods to yield +me the prize of beauty--I see my rights and my victory disputed by a +wretched mortal. Shall the ridiculous excess of foolish obstinacy go +so far as to oppose to me a little girl? Shall I constantly hear a +rash verdict on the beauty of her features and of mine, and from the +loftiest heaven where I shine shall I hear it said to the prejudiced +world, "She is fairer than Venus"? + +AEGI. This is the way with mortals, this is the style of mankind; they +are impertinent in their comparisons. + +PHA. In the century in which we live, they cannot praise without +insulting great names. + +VEN. Ah! how well does the insolent rigour of these words avenge Juno +and Pallas, and comfort their hearts for the dazzling glory which the +famous apple has won me. I see them rejoicing at my sorrow, assuming +every moment a cruel smile, and with fixed gaze carefully seeking the +confusion that lurks in my eyes. Their triumphant joy, when this +affront is keenest felt, seems to tell me, "Boast, Venus, boast, the +charms of thy features; by the verdict of one man was the victory made +over us, but by the judgment of all, a mere mortal snatches it from +you." Ah! that blow is the direst; it pierces my heart, I cannot bear +its unequalled severity; the pleasure of my rivals is too great an +addition to my poignant grief. My son, if ever my feelings had any +weight with you, if ever I have been dear to you, if you bear a heart +that can share the resentment of a mother who loves you so tenderly, +use here your utmost power to support my interests, and cause Psyche +to feel the shafts of my revenge through your own darts. To render her +miserable, choose the dart that will please me most, one of those in +which lurks the keenest venom, and which you hurl in your wrath. See +that she loves, even to madness, the basest and lowest of mortals, and +let her hear the cruel torture of love unreturned. + +CUP. In the world nothing is heard but complaints of Cupid; everywhere +a thousand freaks are laid to my charge, and you could not believe the +evil and the foolish things which are daily said of me. If, to assist +your wrath ... + +VEN. Be gone; no longer resist your mother's wishes; use reasoning +only to find the shortest method of offering a sacrifice to my +outraged glory. Let your departure be your only answer to my +entreaties, and do not see my face again until you have avenged me. + +CUPID _flies off, and_ VENUS _withdraws with the two_ GRACES. _The +scenery changes to a large town, with palaces and houses of different +architecture on both sides of the stage._ + + + + +ACT I + +SCENE I.--AGLAURA, CIDIPPE. + + +AGL. My sister, there are sorrows which are rendered greater by +keeping them to ourselves; let us speak freely of our joint distress, +and give vent in our conversations to the poignant grief which fills +our hearts. We are sisters in misfortune, and your heart and mine have +so much in common that we can unite them, and in our just complaints +murmur, with a common lament, against the cruelty of our fate. My +sister, what secret fatality makes the whole world bow before our +younger sister's charms? and how is it that, amongst so many different +princes who are brought by fortune to this place, not one has any love +for us? What! must we see them on all sides pressing forward to lay +their hearts at her feet, whilst they pass our charms slightingly by? +What spell has heaven cast over our eyes? What have they done to the +gods that they are thus left without homage amidst all the glorious +tribute of which others proudly boast? Can there be for us, my sister, +any greater trial than to see how all hearts disdain our beauty, and +how the fortunate Psyche insolently reigns with full sway over the +crowd of lovers who ever attend her? + +CID. Ah! my sister, our fate is enough to bereave one of reason, and +all the ills of nature are nothing in comparison. + +AGL. At times I can almost shed tears over it; it takes away my +happiness and my rest; my constancy finds itself powerless against +such a misfortune; my mind is for ever dwelling over it, and the ill +success of our charms and the triumph of Psyche are ever before my +eyes. At night, unceasingly, comes to me the remembrance of it, and +nothing can banish the cruel picture. As soon as sweet slumber comes +to deliver me from it, it is immediately recalled to my memory by some +dream which startles me from my sleep. + +CID. That is just what I suffer from, my sister. All that you say, I +see myself, and you depict everything that I experience. + +AGL. Well, let us discuss the matter. What all-powerful charms have +been bestowed upon her? Tell me how, by the least of her looks, she +has acquired honour in the great art of pleasing? What is there in her +person that can inspire such passion? What right of sway over all +hearts has her beauty given her? She has some comeliness, some of the +brilliancy of youth; we are all agreed upon that, and I do not gainsay +it. But must we yield to her because we are her seniors by a few +years? Must we, therefore, consider ourselves quite commonplace? Are +we made so as to excite derision? Have we no charms, no power of +pleasing, no complexion, no good eyes, no dignity and bearing, by +which we may win hearts? Do me the favour, sister, to speak to me +frankly. Am I, in your opinion, so fashioned that my merit is below +hers? And do you think that she surpasses me in her attire? + +CID. You, my sister? By no means. Yesterday, at the hunt, I compared +you and her for a long time, and, without flattery, you appeared to me +the more beautiful. But tell me truly, sister, without blandishment, +am I deceiving myself when I think that I am so framed as to deserve +the glory of a conquest? + +AGL. You, my sister? You possess, without disguise, everything that +can excite a loving passion. Your least actions are full of a charm +which moves my soul. And I would be your lover if I were not a woman. + +CID. Whence comes it, then, that she bears off the palm from us; that, +at the first glance, all hearts give up the struggle, and that no +tribute of sighs and vows is paid to our loveliness? + +AGL. All the women, with one voice, find her attractions but small; +and, sister, I have discovered the cause of the number of lovers she +holds in thrall. + +CID. I guess it. We may presume that some mystery is hidden under it. +This secret of captivating everybody is not an ordinary effect of +nature; the Thessalian art must be mixed up in it, and, doubtless, +some one has given to her a charm by which she makes herself beloved. + +AGL. My opinion is founded on a more solid basis, and the charms by +which she draws all hearts to herself are a demeanour at all times +free of reserve; caressing words and looks; a smile full of sweetness, +which invites everyone, and promises them nothing but favours. Our +glory is departed; and that lofty pride which, by a full observance of +noble trials, exacted a proof of the constancy of our lovers, exists +no longer. We have degenerated, and are now reduced to hope for +nothing unless we throw ourselves into the arms of the men. + +CID. Yes, that is the secret; and I see that you understand it better +than I. It is because we cling too much to modesty, sister, that no +lovers come to us; it is because we try to sustain too strictly the +honour of our sex and of our birth. Men, nowadays, like what comes +easily to them; hope attracts them more than love; and that is how +Psyche deprives us of all the lovers we see under her sway. Let us +follow her example, and suit ourselves to the times; let us stoop, +sister, to make advances, and let us no longer keep to those dull +morals which rob us of the fruits of our best years. + +AGL. I approve of this idea; and we have an opportunity of making a +first trial of it upon the two princes who have last arrived. They are +charming, sister, and to me their whole person.... Have you noticed +them? + +CID. Ah! Both are formed in such a mould that my soul.... They are +perfect, my sister. + +AGL. I think we might seek their affections without dishonour to +ourselves. + +CID. I think that, without shame, a beautiful princess might bestow +her heart upon them. + +AGL. Here they both are. I admire their manners and attire. + +CID. They in no way fall short of all that we have said of them. + + +SCENE II.--CLEOMENES, AGENOR, AGLAURA, CIDIPPE. + +AGL. Wherefore, princes, wherefore do you thus hasten away? Does our +appearance fill you with fear? + +CLE. We were led to believe, Madam, that the Princess Psyche might be +here. + +AGL. Has this place no longer any charm for you if it is not adorned +by her presence? + +AGE. This place may be pleasant enough, but in our impatience we would +find the Princess Psyche. + +CID. Something very important must doubtless be urging you both to +seek her. + +CLE. The motive is powerful enough, since our happiness depends +entirely upon her. + +AGL. Might we be allowed to inquire into the secret implied by these +words? + +CLE. We do not pretend to make a mystery of it. Indeed, it would show +itself in spite of us; and the secret, Madam, does not last long when +it is love. + +CID. Without further words, Princes, it means that you are both in +love with Psyche. + +AGE. We are both under her sway, and we go with one accord to declare +our passion to her. + +AGL. It is certainly something quite new, and rather odd, to see two +rivals so well agreed. + +CLE. It is true that the thing is rare; but it is not impossible for +two perfect friends. + +CID. In this spot, is she the only fair one, and can you find none +other with whom to divide your admiration? + +AGL. Amongst all the nobly born, is she the only one whom your eyes +deem worthy of your tenderness? + +CLE. Do we reason when we fall in love? Do we choose the object of our +attachment? And when we bestow our hearts, do we weigh the right of +the fair one to fascinate us? + +AGE. Without having the power of choosing, we follow in such a passion +something which delights us; and when love touches a heart, we have no +reasons to give. + +AGL. Indeed, I pity the painful troubles to which I see your hearts +expose themselves. You love one whose bright charms will mingle grief +with the hopes they hold out to you, and whose heart will not fulfil +all that her eyes promise. + +CID. The hope which calls you into the rank of her lovers will +experience many disappointments in the favours she bestows; and the +fitful changes of her inconstant heart will cause you many painful +hours. + +AGL. A clear discernment of your worth makes us pity the fate into +which this passion will lead you; and if you wished, you could both +find a more constant heart and charms as great. + +CID. A choice sweeter by half can rescue your mutual friendship from +love; and there is such a rare merit apparent in you both that a +gentle counsel would, out of pity, save your hearts from what they are +preparing for themselves. + +CLE. This generous advice shows us a kindness which touches our +hearts; but heaven, madam, reduces us to the misfortune of not being +able to profit by it. + +AGE. Your illustrious pity would in vain dissuade us from a love of +which we both dread the result. What our friendship, Madam, has not +done cannot be effected by any other means. + +CID. The power of Psyche must have.... Here she is. + + +SCENE III.--PSYCHE, CIDIPPE, AGLAURA, CLEOMENES, AGENOR. + +CID. Come, sister, and enjoy what is offered to you. + +AGL. Prepare your charms to receive here a new triumph. + +CID. These two princes have both so well felt the power of your beauty +that their lips are eager to declare it. + +PSY. I little thought myself to be the cause of their pensiveness, and +I should have expected it to be quite otherwise when I found them +talking to you. + +AGL. We have neither sufficient rank nor beauty to make us deserving +of their love and solicitude, but they favour us with the honour of +their confidence. + +CLE. (_to_ PSYCHE). The avowal which we would make to your divine +charms, Madam, is, no doubt, a rash one; but so many hearts, on the +point of expiring, are by such avowals obliged to displease you, that +you have ceased to punish them by the terrors of your wrath. You see +in us two friends who were joined in childhood by a happy similarity +of feeling, and this tender union has been strengthened by a hundred +contests of esteem and gratitude. The attachment of our friendship has +been proved in the severe assaults of unfavourable fortune, the +contempt of death, the sight of torture, and the glorious splendour of +mutual good offices; but whatever trials it may have endured, to-day +witnesses its greatest triumph, and nothing proves so much its tried +fidelity as its duration through the rivalry of love. Yes, in spite of +so many charms, its constancy subjects our vows to the laws it gives +us. It comes with sweet and entire deference, to submit the success of +our passion to your choice; and, to give a weight to our competition +which may bring the balance of state reasons to favour the choice of +one of us, this friendship intends of free will to unite our two +estates to the fortune of the happy one. + +AGE. Yes, Madam, we wish to make of these two estates, which we +propose to unite under your happy choice, a help towards obtaining +you. The sacrifice which we make to the king, your father, in order to +ensure this happiness, has nothing difficult in it to our loving +hearts, and it will be a necessary gift that the rejected unfortunate +should make over to the one who is fortunate a power which he will no +longer know bow to enjoy. + +PSY. Princes, you both display to my eyes a choice so precious and +dazzling that it would satisfy the proudest heart. But your passion, +your friendship, your supreme virtue, all increase the value of your +vows of fidelity, and make it a merit that I should oppose myself to +what you ask of me. I must not listen to my heart only before engaging +in such a union, but my hand must await my father's decision before it +can dispose of itself, and my sisters have rights superior to mine. +But if I were referred absolutely to my own wishes, you might both +have too great a share in them, and my entire esteem be so evenly +balanced between you that I should not be able to decide in favour of +either. I would indeed respond with most affectionate interest to the +ardour of your suit, but amid so much merit two hearts are too much +for me, one heart too little for you. The accomplishment of my dearest +wishes would be to me a burden were it granted to me by your love. +Yes, Princes, I should greatly prefer you to all those whose love will +follow yours, but I could never have the heart to prefer one of you to +the other. My tenderness would be too great a sacrifice to the one +whom I might choose, and I should think myself barbarously unjust to +inflict so great a wrong upon the other. Indeed, you both possess such +greatness of soul that it would be wrong to make either of you +miserable, and you must seek in love the means of being both happy. If +your hearts honour me enough to give me the right of disposing of +them, I have two sisters well fitted to please, who might make your +destinies happy, and whom friendship endears to me enough for me to +wish that you should be their husbands. + +CLE. Can a heart whose love, alas! is extreme, consent to be given +away by her it loves? We yield up our two hearts, Madam, to your +divine charms, even should you doom them to death; but we beg you not +to make them over to any one but yourself. + +AGE. It would be too unjust to the princesses, Madam, and too poor a +tribute to their charms, if we should give to them the remains of a +former affection. Only the faithful purity of a first love deserves to +aspire to the honour to which your kindness invites us, for each of +your sisters merits a love which has sighed for her alone. + +AGL. It seems to me, Princes, without any offence, that before thus +refusing, you might wait until our intentions had been declared. Do +you think our hearts so susceptible and tender? And when people +propose your offering yourselves to us, are you so sure of being +accepted? + +CID. I think our sentiments are lofty enough to lead us to refuse a +heart which wants soliciting; and we wish to conquer our lovers by the +power of our own merit. + + +SCENE IV.--PSYCHE, AGLAURA, CIDIPPE, CLEOMENES, AGENOR, LYCAS. + +LYC. (_to_ PSYCHE). Ah! Madam! + +PSY. What is the matter? + +LYC. The king.... + +PSY. What? + +LYC. Requests your presence. + +PSY. What am I to augur from your agitation? + +LYC. You will know it only too soon. + +PSY. Alas! how you excite my fears about the king! + +LYC. Fear only for yourself; you are the one to be pitied. + +PSY. I can praise heaven, and be no longer anxious, when I know that I +am the only one in danger. But tell me, Lycas, what alarms you. + +LYC. Suffer me, Madam, to obey him who sent me hither; and I beg of +you, learn from his lips what troubles me thus. + +PSY. Let us go and hear what this is which makes them fear that my +courage will fail me. + + +SCENE V.--AGLAURA, CIDIPPE, LYCAS. + +AGL. If your orders do not extend to us, tell us what great misfortune +is hidden under your sadness. + +LYC. Alas! hear for yourselves, princesses, the great misfortune which +is known to the whole court. These are the very words which, through +the oracle, destiny has spoken to the king, and which grief, Madam, +has engraven on my heart:-- + + "No one must think to lead + Psyche to Hymen's shrine; + But all with earnest speed, + In pompous mournful line, + High to the mountain crest + Must take her; there to await, + Forlorn, in deep unrest, + A monster who envenoms all, + Decreed by fate her husband; + A serpent whose dark poisonous breath + And rage e'er hold the world in thrall, + Shaking the heavens high and realms of death." + +After so severe a decree, I leave you to judge for yourselves if the +gods could have manifested their wrath in a more cruel and fearful +manner. + + +SCENE VII.--AGLAURA, CIDIPPE. + +CID. How does this sudden misfortune into which destiny has plunged +Psyche affect you, sister? + +AGL. But how does it affect you, sister? + +CID. To speak the truth, my heart is not very much grieved at it. + +AGL. My heart feels something which very much resembles joy. Let us +go; Fate has sent us a calamity which we can consider as a blessing. + + +FIRST INTERLUDE. + +_The scenery changes to horrible rocks, and shows a dreadful cavern in +the distance. It is in this desert that_ PSYCHE, _in obedience to the +oracle, is to be exposed. A band of afflicted people come to bewail +her death. Some give utterance to their pity by touching complaints +and mournful lays, while the rest express their grief by a dance full +of every mark of the most violent despair_. + +WAILINGS _sung by a woman and two men_. + +WOMAN. + Ah! weep with me, ye forests; + Ye mighty rocks of hardest adamant, + Ye Springs, ye beasts, + Lament the fate of one so fair. + +1ST MAN. + Alas! dire grief + +2ND MAN. + Without relief! + +1ST MAN. + Cruel death! + +2ND MAN. + Fell decree + +ALL THREE (_together_). + Of sternest fate that dooms to die + Such beauty rare! Oh! heavens high! + And stars! behold! and sigh! + +WOMAN. + My sad, sad lay repeat, + Ye caverns deep; + With notes of sorrow greet + Her death, ye mountains steep; + Re-echo, woods, and silent hills, + My grief; and ye, soft rippling rills! + +1ST MAN. + Alas! dire grief + +2ND MAN. + Without relief! + +1ST MAN. + Cruel death! + +2ND MAN. + Fell decree + +ALL THREE (_together_). + Of sternest fate that dooms to die + Such beauty rare! Oh! heavens high! + And stars! behold! and sigh! + +2ND MAN. + Who then, eternal gods, will doom + A guiltless maid to lasting gloom? + Oh! this thy rigour, heaven, shames + Hell's unrelenting flames! + +1ST MAN. + Cruel will + +2ND MAN. + Of gods severe! + +THE TWO MEN. + Say why this hard decree, + To crush a heart so free + From guilt or stain? + Oh! fell edict unheard ere this! + Thou doomest a maid who showers bliss + Upon the mortal race. + She the sad earth would grace, + And would give life for pain! + +WOMAN. + All tears are idle, all sighs. + Heaven wills it so--she dies! + Whene'er the gods their powers wield, + All man can do--is but to yield. + +1ST MAN. + Alas! dire grief + +2ND MAN. + Without relief! + +1ST MAN. + Cruel death! + +2ND MAN. + Fell decree! + + + + +ACT II. + +SCENE I.--THE KING, PSYCHE, AGLAURA, CIDIPPE, LYCAS, _and_ FOLLOWERS. + + +PSY. The cause of your tears, my Lord, is dear to me; but you are too +kind when you allow a father's love to overmaster the duties of a +great king. The homage which here you pay to nature is fraught with +too much injury to the rank which you hold. I must decline its +touching favours. Check somewhat the sway of your grief over your +wisdom, and cease to honour my destiny with tears, which, springing +from a king's heart, show weakness. + +KING. Ah! my daughter! close not my eyes to these tears; my grief is +reasonable, even though it be extreme; and when such a loss as mine +must endure for ever, wisdom herself, believe me, may weep. 'Tis in +vain that pride of regal sway bids us be insensible to such +calamities; as vain for reason to come to our help, and desire us to +see with unmoved eye the death of what we love. The effort required is +barbarous in the eyes of the universe--'tis brutality rather than +highest virtue. In this misfortune I will not wear a show of +insensibility, and hide the grief I feel. I renounce the vanity of +this fierce callousness, known as fortitude, and whatever be the name +given to the keen pain, the pangs of which I feel, I will exhibit it, +my daughter, to the gaze of all, and in the heart of a king display +that of a man. + +PSY. I deserve not this violent grief. Seek, I pray, to resist the +claims it asserts over your heart, whose might a thousand events have +marked. What! for me, my Lord, you must abandon that kingly firmness +of which, under the blows of misfortune, you have shown such perfect +proofs? + +KING. In numberless occasions firmness is easy. All revolutions to +which ruthless fortune can expose us--loss of rank, persecution, +envy's venom, hatred's dart--present nothing which the will of a soul, +but a little swayed by reason, cannot easily brave. But those rigours +which crush the heart under the weight of bitter grief are ... are the +cruel darts of those severe decrees of fate which deprive us for ever +of our loved ones. Against such ills reason offers no available +weapons. These are the direst blows that the gods in their wrath can +hurl against us! + +PSY. My Lord, one consolation is still left you. Your marriage has +been graced with more than one gift from the gods, and by hiding me +from your sight, they with open favour deprive you of nothing but what +they have not carefully made good for you. Enough remains to relieve +your sorrow, and this law of heaven which you call cruel leaves +sufficient room in the two princesses, my sisters, for paternal love +wherein to place all its kindness. + +KING. Ah! empty comfort to my sorrow. There is naught that can console +me for thy loss. My grief fills my soul, I am conscious of nothing +else; in presence of such cruel destiny, I look to what I lose, and +see not what I still retain. + +PSY. My Lord, you know better than myself that we must rule our will +by that of heaven; and in this sad farewell I can only say to you that +which you can much better say to others. These gods are sovereign +lords of the gifts they deign to offer us; they leave them in our +hands so long only as it pleases them; when they withdraw them, we +have no right to murmur over the favours which their hands refuse any +longer to pour upon us. My Lord, I am a gift they have offered to your +vows, and when, by this decree, they wish to take me back, they +deprive you of nothing that you do not hold from them; and it is +without a murmur that you must resign me. + +KING. Ah! seek, I pray, better foundations for the comfort thy heart +would offer me. Do not by the fallacy of thy reasoning increase the +burden of the piercing grief which now torments me. Dost thou imagine +that thou givest me a powerful reason why I should not complain of +this decree of heaven? and in this proceeding of the gods, of which +thou biddest me be satisfied, dost thou not clearly see a deadly +severity? Consider the state in which the gods force me to resign +thee, and that in which my hapless heart received thee. Thou shalt +know then that they take from me much more than they gave: from them I +received in thee, my daughter, a gift I did not ask for; then I found +in it but few charms, and without joy I saw my family increased by it. +But my heart and my eyes have made a sweet habit of this gift. Fifteen +years of care, of watchfulness, of study, have I employed to render it +precious to me. I have decked it with the lovely wealth of a thousand +brilliant virtues; I have enshrined in it, by assiduous care, the +rarest treasures that wisdom yields; to it clings the tenderness of my +soul. I have made it the charm, the joy of this heart, the solace of +my wearied senses, the sweet hope of my old age. All this they take +from me--these gods! And thou wouldst have me utter no complaint +concerning this dire edict from which I suffer! Ah! with too much +rigour their power tramples upon the affections of our heart. To +withdraw their gift, have they not waited till I had made it my all? +Rather, if it was their purpose to remove it, had it not been better +to give me nothing? + +PSY. My Lord! dread the wrath of those gods whom you dare upbraid. + +KING. After this blow, what more can they inflict on me? + +PSY. Ah! my Lord! I tremble for your sins, of which I am the cause; I +hate myself for this.... + +KING. Ah! let them bear with my legitimate complaints; 'tis pain +enough for me to obey them; it ought to suffice them that my heart +abandons thee to the barbarous respect we must bear them, without +claiming also to control the grief that so frightful a decree calls +forth. My just despair can know no bounds. My grief, my grief, I will +nurse it for ever! I will feel for ever the loss I sustain, of +heaven's rigour I will always raise high my complaint; until death I +will unceasingly weep for that than which the whole world could give +me naught more precious. + +PSY. Ah! I pray you, my Lord, spare my weakness. I need constancy in +these circumstances. Add not to the excess of my grief by the tears of +your fondness. My sorrow alone is deep enough; my fate and your grief +are too much for my heart. + +KING. True! I must spare thee my disconsolate trouble. The fatal +moment has come. I must tear myself from thee; but how can I utter +this dreadful word? And yet I must! Heaven commands it. An unavoidable +cruelty forces me to leave thee in this fatal spot. Farewell, I go... +Farewell. + + +SCENE II.--PSYCHE, AGLAURA, CIDIPPE. + +PSY. Follow the king, my sisters; dry his tears, solace his grief. You +would fill him with alarm were you to, expose yourselves to my +misfortune. Preserve for him whatever he possesses still; the serpent +I expect might prove hurtful to you, and draw you in the same fate as +myself; nay, through _your_ death might cause me a second death. +Me alone has heaven condemned to his poisonous breath; nothing could +save me; and I need no example to die. + +AGL. Grudge us not this cruel privilege of mingling our tears with +your sorrows; suffer our sighs to answer your last sighs; accept this +last pledge of our tender love. + +PSY. 'Tis but to lose yourselves to no purpose. + +CID. 'Tis to hope for a miracle in your favour, or to accompany you to +the tomb. + +PSY. What room is there for hope after such an oracle? + +AGL. An oracle is ever veiled in obscurity; the more we believe that +we know its meaning, the less do we understand it. Perhaps, after all, +you must expect from it nothing but glory and happiness. Suffer us, +dear sister, to behold this mortal dread deceived by a worthy issue; +or at least let us die with you, if heaven does not show itself more +propitious to our prayers. + +PSY. Dear sister, lend a readier ear to nature's voice, which summons +you to stand by the king. You love me too much, and duty murmurs; you +know its unavoidable laws. A father ought to be dearer to you than +myself; become both the mainstays of his old age. A thousand kings, a +thousand rival kings, cherish love for you; you both owe your father a +son-in-law and grandchildren. A thousand kings vie with each other to +whisper their vows to you. Me alone the oracle demands, and alone, +too, I will die, if I can, without weakness, or, if not, at least +without you as witnesses of that little which nature has left me. + +AGL. Then by sharing your woe we annoy you! + +CID. I dare go somewhat further, we offend you! + +PSY. No; but you add to my torture, and perhaps increase the wrath of +heaven. + +AGL. It is your will; we go. May that same heaven, more just, and less +severe, decree for you the fate we desire, and for which our sincere +friendship, in spite of you and of the oracle, still hopes! + +PSY. Farewell. This hope, these vows, my sisters, none of the gods +will ever fulfil. + + +SCENE III.--PSYCHE (_alone_). + +Alone, at last, I can look on this terrible change, which from the +summit of highest glory hurls me to the tomb. This glory was without +parallel. Its sheen spread from pole to pole; all kings seemed created +to love me; all their subjects, looking upon me as on a goddess, were +but now beginning to accustom me to the incense they never ceased to +offer; sighs followed me, for which I gave naught in return. My soul +remained fancy-free, while it captivated so many, and in the midst of +so much love was queen of all hearts, and yet mistress of my own. Oh! +heaven! hast thou counted a crime this want of feeling? All this +severity which thou dost exhibit, is it because in return for their +vows I have given nothing but esteem? If such be thy law, why didst +thou not create in me that which merit and love create in others, +and.... But what do I see here? + + +SCENE IV.--CLEOMENES, AGENOR, PSYCHE. + +CLE. Behold in us two friends, two rivals, whose only wish is to +expose our life to save yours. + +PSY. Can I listen to you when I have refused two sisters? Princes! +think you that you could defend me against heaven? To surrender +yourselves to the serpent, whose coming I must await here, is but a +despair ill-becoming great hearts; and to die when I die is to +overwhelm a sensitive, soul, that already has but too many sorrows. + +AGE. A serpent is not invincible; Cadmus, who loved no one, slew Mars' +own reptile. We love, and Love makes everything possible for the heart +that follows his standard, for the hand of whose darts he is himself +the guide. + +PSY. Do you expect his aid in behalf of an ungrateful one whom all his +shafts have been unable to wound? Think you he can stay his vengeance, +when 'tis bursting forth, and help you to release me from its stroke? +Even if you should serve me, even if you should restore me to life, +what reward do you hope for from that which knows no love? + +CLE. It is not by the hope of so lovely a reward that we are animated. +We seek only to obey the dictates of a love that dares not presume, +whatever its efforts may be, that it can be so fortunate as to please +you, so worthy as to kindle within you a responsive flame. + +AGE. Live, fair princess, and live for another; we will behold it with +a jealous eye, we will die of it, yet of a death sweeter far than if +we had to see you die. If we cannot save your life by the loss of +ours, whatever love you may prefer to ours, we are ready to die of +grief and of love. + +PSY. Live, Princes, live, and no longer seek to ward off or to share +my fate. I believe I have told you, heaven seeks me alone; me alone +has it condemned. Methinks, I hear already the deadly hissing of its +minister, who even now draws nigh. My dread pictures him to me, ever +offers him to my view. Fear has mastered all my feelings; under its +influence I see him on the summit of this rock; I sink for very +weakness, and my fainting heart scarce keeps up a remnant of courage. +Farewell, Princes; flee, lest he poison you. + +AGE. We have seen nothing as yet to astonish us. And since you deem +your death so nigh, if strength fail you, we have both arms and hearts +which hope never forsakes. It may be a rival has dictated this oracle; +and gold has made its interpreter speak. It would be no miracle if a +man has answered in the stead of a dumb deity; and everywhere we have +but too many examples that temples, no less than other places, are the +abode of the wicked. + +CLE. Suffer us to oppose to the cowardly ravisher to whom sacrilege +abandons you a love that heaven has chosen for the defender of the +only fair one for whom we wish to live. If we dare not aspire to her +possession, at least, in the midst of her danger, allow us to follow +the ardour and dictates of our passion. + +PSY. These dictates, this extreme ardour, with which your hearts are +filled in my behalf, obey them in behalf of others, in behalf of my +sisters. Live for them, since I die. Lament the cruel rigour of my +fate; and by your death do not give my sisters new ground for sorrow. +These are my last wishes, and in all ages the orders of the dying have +been received as law. + +CLE. Princess.... + +PSY. Once more, Princes, live for my sisters. So long as you love me, +you must obey me; do not drive me to hate you, and to look upon you as +rebels for being too faithful to me. Go, leave me to die alone in this +spot, where I have no voice left except to say farewell. But I feel +myself lifted up, and the air opens a road whence you will no longer +hear this dying voice. Farewell, Princes, farewell, for the last time. +See, can you doubt my destiny? + +PSYCHE _is borne through the air by two_ ZEPHYRS. + +AGE. We lose sight of her. Prince, let us both seek on the summit of +this rock some means of following her. + +CLE. Let us seek those of not surviving her. + + +SCENE V.--LOVE (_in the air_). + +LOVE. Die, then, rivals of a jealous god, whose wrath you have +deserved, since your heart was sensible to the same charms. And thou, +Vulcan, fashion a thousand brilliant ornaments to adorn the palace +where Love will dry Psyche's tears, and yield himself her slave. + + +SECOND INTERLUDE. + +_The scene changes to a splendid terrace, surrounded by pillars +emblazoned with golden figures. The whole represents a magnificent +palace, which_ LOVE _designs for_ PSYCHE. _Six_ CYCLOPS, _accompanied +by four_ FAIRIES, _introduce a ballet, and, whilst keeping time, +give the last touches to four huge silver vases which the_ FAIRIES +_have brought. The ballet is twice interrupted by this recitation of_ +VULCAN, _which he gives out in two parts._ + + +PART I. + + Hasten, these seats prepare + For heaven's gentlest god. + No strength, no effort spare; + With mighty zeal and constant care + Do now, my lads, what must be done. + When Love commands us--see! + What haste too great can be? + + Great Love no lazy hand will brook; + So work with might and main. + Your ancient hammers ply, + And sparks will swiftly fly + Beneath your arms that rain + The fast, resounding blows; + While zeal to please him glows + Within your heaving breasts. + + +PART II. + + Then serve a god so kind, + Who loves great zeal to find. + No strength, no effort spare; + With mighty zeal and constant care + Do now, my lads, what must be done. + When Love commands us--see! + What haste too great can be? + + Great Love no lazy hand can brook; + So work with might and main. + Your ancient hammers ply, + And sparks will swiftly fly + Beneath your arms that rain + The fast, resounding blows, + While zeal to please him glows; + Within your heaving breasts. + + + + +ACT III. + +SCENE I.--LOVE, ZEPHYR. + + +ZEP. Yes! right gallantly have I acquitted myself of your errand; and +from the summit of that rock I have softly borne this beauty through +the air to this enchanted palace, where, with full freedom, you can +decree her fate. Yet you astonish me by this mighty change in your +appearance. That figure, that countenance, that costume, perfectly +conceal your real being, and I defy the most cunning to see in you +to-day the god of love. + +LOVE. 'Tis because I do not wish to be known to Psyche. 'Tis my heart, +my heart alone, I wish to unfold; nothing more than the sweet raptures +of this keen passion, which her charms excite within it. To express +its gentle pining, and to hide what may be from those eyes that impose +on me their will, I have assumed this form which thou seest. + +ZEP. You are a master in everything; this is how I know it. Often the +gods, when in love, have been seen assuming various disguises, seeking +to alleviate the pleasing wound inflicted on all hearts by your fiery +darts; but in good sense you outstrip them. Yours is the form +necessary for succeeding with the lovely sex, for whom we sigh. Yes, +the assistance derived from that form is powerful; and, apart from +rank and wit, whoever finds the means of being so fashioned does not +sigh in vain. + +LOVE. I have decided, my dear Zephyr, to remain always thus; and the +oldest of all loves cannot be blamed for this. It is time to issue +from this long infancy, that wears out my patience. It is time, +henceforth, that I should be grown up. + +ZEP. You are right. You cannot do better; and you are initiated into a +mystery that demands no childish powers. + +LOVE. This change will, no doubt, vex my mother. + +ZEP. I foresee some anger in that quarter, although disputes about age +ought not to exist among immortals; yet, your mother Venus shares the +spirit of beauties, who do not like grown-up children. But whereat I +fancy her offended is the line of conduct you are pursuing; and 'tis a +strange method of avenging her, to love the beauty she wished to see +punished. This hatred to which she expects the power of a son +generally feared by the gods to answer.... + +LOVE. Let us drop this discourse, Zephyr, and tell me whether thy eyes +do not find Psyche the fairest woman in the world? Is there aught on +the earth, aught in heaven, that could seize from her the glorious +title of matchless beauty? But I see her, my dear Zephyr, wondering at +the splendours of this spot. + +ZEP. You can show yourself, to put an end to her torture, and unfold +to her her glorious destiny. Speak to one another all that sighs, +lips, and glances can speak. As a discreet confident, I know my duty, +and will not interrupt lovers' secrets. + + +SCENE II.--PSYCHE (_alone_). + +Where am I? and in a spot I deemed deserted, what skilled hand has +reared this palace, which art and nature deck with the rarest gifts +that the eye could ever admire. Everything smiles, shines, sparkles in +this garden, in these apartments, whose pompous furniture presents +nothing that does not charm and flatter the beholder; and +whithersoever my fears lead me, I see under my feet naught but gold or +flowers. Can heaven have formed this world of wonders for the abode of +a serpent? And when, by this sight, it amuses and stays the unequalled +rigour of my jealous fate, does it wish to show that it repents of it? +No, no; this is the darkest, the keenest shaft of its hatred, so +fertile in its cruelties. This hatred, by a renewed and unparalleled +sternness, lays before my gaze the choice it has made of all that is +fairest in the world, only that I may leave it with deeper regret. + +How foolish is my hope if it fancies it can thus alleviate my pain. +Every moment that my death is delayed becomes a new misfortune for me; +the more it stays its coming, the oftener I die. + +Leave me no longer to pine; come, take thy victim, monster, whose +mission it is to slay me. Wouldst thou have me seek thee? and must I +rouse thy fury to devour me? If heaven wills my death, if my life be a +crime, dare at length to seize whatever little remains of it; I am +tired of murmuring against a lawful penalty; I am weary of sighs; +come, that I may end the death I am dying. + + +SCENE III.--LOVE, PSYCHE, ZEPHYR. + +LOVE. Behold this serpent, this pitiless monster, whom a wonderful +oracle has prepared for you, and who perhaps does not inspire such +dread as you had imagined. + +PSY. You, my Lord! you are that monster who, so spoke the oracle, +threatens my sad life? you, who seem rather a god, deigning +miraculously to come yourself to my rescue? + +LOVE. What need of help in the midst of an empire where all that +breathes only awaits your look to do its bidding, where I am the only +monster you have to fear? + +PSY. But small is the fear that a monster like you inspires, and if it +has any venom, a soul has little reason to venture on the least +complaint against a pleasing poison, the cure of which all the heart +would dread! Scarce do I behold you than already my calmed fears +suffer the image of death to vanish; and I feel I know not what +unknown fire flow through my frozen veins: Esteem I have felt, and +kindness, friendship, gratitude; compassion's innocent sorrows have +made me know its power, but I have not yet felt what I now feel. I +know not what it is, but I know that it fills me with delight, and +causes me no alarm. The longer I gaze on you, the more I feel the +spell. Nothing that I have ever felt had the same effect; and I would +tell you, my Lord, that I love you, did I know what love is. Turn them +not away, those eyes that poison me, those eyes so tender, so +piercing, yet so loving, that look as if they shared the confusion +they cause me. Alas! the more dangerous they prove, the more fondly I +cling to them. What decree of heaven is it which I cannot understand, +that forces me to tell you more than I should? I, whose modesty ought +at least to wait that you explain the confusion that, I see, is within +you. You sigh, my Lord, as I sigh; your senses, like mine, seem +amazed. 'Tis my duty to be silent concerning this, yours to speak it, +yet it is I who tell this to you. + +LOVE. Your heart, Psyche, has ever been too insensible, and you must +not wonder if, to repair the insult, Love now pays himself with usury +for that which your soul ought to have granted him. The time is come +in which your lips must breathe those sighs so long restrained; and +while it draws you from that fierce humour, an endless rapture, as +sweet as it is unknown, must wound you as deeply as it ought to have +wounded you during those golden days the course of which your +unfeeling soul has profaned. + +PSY. Not to love is, then, a great crime? + +LOVE. Do you suffer a hard punishment for it? + +PSY. The punishment is mild indeed. + +LOVE. The penalty is suited to the offence; and Love, on this glorious +day, avenges himself of lack of love by an excess of love. + +PSY. Would I had been punished before! My life's happiness lies in it. +I ought to blush at it, or to whisper it low, but this torture has too +many charms. Suffer me to say, and to repeat it aloud; though I said +it a hundred times, I would never blush for it. It is not I who speak; +and the wonderful empire, the amiable violence of your presence, sway +my voice as soon as I begin to speak. Vainly does my modesty take +secret offence at it; vainly would my sex and decency bind me to other +laws; it is your eyes that dictate my answer, and my lips, the slaves +of their almighty power, no longer consult me on the self-respect I +owe myself. + +LOVE. Fair Psyche, believe what these eyes tell you. Let yours vie +with each other in instructing me of all your emotions. Trust this +sighing heart, which, so long as yours will answer, will tell you more +by a sigh than a hundred looks can express. 'Tis the sweetest +language, the most powerful, the truest of all! + +PSY. The understanding of it was due to both our hearts to make them +equally satisfied. I have sighed, you have understood me; you sigh, +and I heard you. But release me from doubt, my Lord, and tell me, if +by the same road Zephyr has led you hither after me; to tell me what I +hear now. When I arrived here, were you expected? and when you speak +to him, are you obeyed? + +LOVE. The empire I exercise over this sweet climate is as sovereign as +yours is over my heart. _Love_ is favourable to me, and 'tis for his +sake that Aeolus has placed Zephyr under my command. It was Love who, +to reward my passion, dictated this oracle, by which your fair days +that were threatened have been released from a throng of lovers; and +which has freed me from the lasting obstacle of so many ardent sighs +that were unworthy of being addressed to you. Ask not of me what this +region be, nor the name of its ruler; you shall know it in time. My +object is to win you; but I wish to do so by my services, my assiduous +care, my constant vows, by a lover's sacrifice of all that I am, of +all my power can effect. The splendour of my rank must not solicit you +for me, neither must I make a merit of my power; and though sovereign +lord of this blissful realm, I wish to owe you, Psyche, to nothing but +my love. + +Come with me, Princess, and admire its marvels; prepare your eyes and +ears to the charms it will offer you. You shall gaze on woods and +meads, contesting their beauties with gold and gems; you shall hear +nothing but sweet concerts; a hundred beauties shall serve you here; +without envy they shall worship you, and every moment with a humble +and raptured soul shall solicit the honour of your commands. + +PSY. My will waits upon yours; I can no longer have one of my own; but +at any rate your oracle has severed me from two sisters, and the king, +my father, whom my supposed death has all three reduced to bewail me. +Suffer my sisters to be witnesses of my glory and your love for me, to +dissipate the error which overwhelms their soul with mortal sorrow. + +Lend them too, as you did me, Zephyr's wings, that they may facilitate +their access to your empire, as they did mine. Let them see where I +live, let them wonder at the success of my loss. + +LOVE. You do not yield me all your soul, Psyche. This affectionate +remembrance of a father and two sisters snatches from me part of that +which I crave for my passion only. Have no eyes for anyone but for me, +who have none but for you. Let love for me, and the desire of pleasing +me, be your only thought, and when such cares dare divert you from +it.... + +PSY. Can you be jealous of affection for kin? + +LOVE. I am jealous, my Psyche, jealous of all nature. The sun's rays +kiss you too often; your tresses are too sensible to the wooing of the +breeze; no sooner does it caress them than I murmur. The very air +which you breathe passes with too much pleasure between your lips; +your robes cling too closely to your form. I know not what bewilders +me, and I dread amidst your sighs some stray one. + +But you would see your sisters. Be gone, Zephyr; Psyche commands, I +cannot forbid. + + +SCENE IV.--LOVE, PSYCHE. + +LOVE. When you shall show them this blissful seat, make them a +thousand gifts from these treasures; lavish on them endearments, +caresses; and, if possible, exhaust the tendernesses that blood +demands, so that you may yield yourself entirely to love. I shall not +importune you with my presence, but let not your meeting be too long, +remembering that you rob _me_ of whatever attention you pay _them_. + +PSY. Your love grants me a favour, which 'twere not possible for me to +abuse. + +LOVE. Still, let us visit these gardens, this palace, where you will +meet naught but what will pale before your dazzling charms. And you, +little Cupids, you, young Zephyrs, whose souls are but soft sighs, vie +with each other in showing what joy you feel at the appearance of my +princess. + + +THIRD INTERLUDE. + +_Entry of ballet, composed of four_ CUPIDS _and four_ ZEPHYRS, _twice +interrupted by a dialogue sung by a_ CUPID _and a_ ZEPHYR. + +LOVE, PSYCHE. + +PART I. + + +A ZEPHYR. + + + Ye gentle youth, follow + Love's sweet and tender glow; + In happy days and fair, + From passion's joys do not forbear.-- + 'Tis to deceive they tell you, aye, + You should avoid the wooing sigh, + And fear the pressing suit.-- + 'Tis now the time to learn + What fires within you burn! + +_They sing together._ + + All gentle hearts in turn + With love must glow; + And greater charms that burn + A greater debt will owe. + +A ZEPHYR (_alone_). + A youthful heart and tender + At last must yield surrender. + +BOTH (_together_). + All gentle hearts in turn + With love must glow; + And greater charms that burn + A greater debt will owe. + +A CUPID (_alone_). + What boots to play the truant's part, + And shield yourselves against the dart? + The sunny day is flown and gone, + The hour lost may ne'er be won. + +BOTH (_together_). + All gentle hearts in turn + With love must glow; + And greater charms that burn + A greater debt will owe. + + +PART II. + +A ZEPHYR. + Great Love hath potent charms; + To him we yield our arms; + His cares and sorrows sweet + Have, too, their joy--though fleet! + To follow him, all hearts + Would court a thousand darts. + If we would taste his deep delight, + Ah! we must pine till fades the light + Before our eyes. + A worthless life it is--when love + Fills not the heart it fain would move! + +_They sing together._ + + In love if we must grieve and sigh, + A moment's bliss still well repays + The ills and woes of many days. + +A ZEPHYR (_alone_). + 'Midst hopes and fears, + And mystery and tears, + We cannot, without the touch of pain, + Bliss seek again. + +BOTH (_together_). + In love if we must grieve and sigh, + A moment's bliss still well repays + The ills and woes of many days. + +A CUPID (_alone_). + What better deed is there to do + Than strive to please and softly woo? + A lover's part is sweetest care, + And this it is that all must bear. + +BOTH (_together_). + In love if we must grieve and sigh, + A moment's bliss still well repays + The ills and woes of many days. + + + + +ACT IV. + +_The scene changes to a splendid palace, in the interior of which is +seen at the end of a long vestibule a lovely garden, in which are many +trees laden with all kinds of fruit._ + +SCENE I.--AGLAURA, CIDIPPE. + + +AGL. I can bear it no longer, my sister. I have seen too many wonders; +future times will scarcely conceive them; this sun, that sees all, and +lays all before our gaze, never beheld the like. This dazzling palace +and this stately equipage are a display hateful to me; shame as well +as spite overwhelm me. How cruelly Fortune has treated us; see how her +inconsiderate bounty blindly lavishes, exhausts, and unites her +efforts to make all these treasures the lot of a younger sister! + +CID. I share all your feelings; your griefs are mine; in this +delightful spot, all that displeases you wounds me; all which you +consider a deadly insult oppresses me no less than yourself, and +leaves bitterness within my breast and blushes on my brow. + +AGL. No, my sister, no living queen, in her own realm speaks in such +sovereign tones as Psyche in these abodes. Here we see her obeyed with +scrupulous exactitude; and a yearning study of her will seeks it even +in her eyes, a thousand beauties throng around her, and seem to say to +our jealous looks, "Whatever your charms may be, she is still fairer, +and we who serve her are fairer than you." She orders, it is done; +none refuse, none rebel. Flora, clinging to her steps, lavishes her +sweetest charms around her; Zephyr flies to execute her orders, and +his mistress and he, too much a prey to her charms, forget their own +love in their eagerness to serve her. + +CID. She has gods at her services, soon she will have altars; our sway +extends over weak mortals only, whose continual caprice and impudence, +rebelling secretly from us, oppose either murmurs or stratagem to our +will. + +AGL. It was but little indeed that at our court so many hearts +contended for her, preferring her to us! It was not enough that she +was there worshipped night and day by a crowd of lovers. When we were +comforting ourselves with seeing her on the brink of the grave by the +sudden order of the oracle, she thought fit to display before us the +miracle of her new destiny, and has chosen our eyes to be witnesses of +that which at the bottom of our hearts we least desire. + +CID. What above all fills my heart with despair is to see this lover, +so perfect, so born to please, a captive under her sway. Were it in +our power to choose from so many monarchs, should we find one who +bears such a noble mien? To see your wishes fulfilled beyond +expectation is oftentimes a bliss that engenders unhappiness; there is +no splendid train, no proud palace, but opens some door to incurable +ills. But to possess a lover of perfect merit, to see yourself dearly +beloved by him, is a happiness so lofty, so exquisite, that its worth +cannot be expressed. + +AGL. No more of this, my sister; the thought of it would kill us; let +us rather think of revenge; let us find means of breaking the spell +that fosters this affection between her and him. + +She comes; I have darts ready, such as she shall find difficult to +parry. + + +SCENE II.--PSYCHE, AGLAURA, CIDIPPE. + +PSY. I come to bid you farewell; my lover wishes your departure. He +can no longer endure that you should deprive him of a particle of the +joy he feels in being alone to contemplate me. The merest look, the +slightest word, is a treasure for his love, and I rob him of it when I +grant it to my sisters in favour of the ties of blood. + +AGL. Jealousy is very keen, and these nice sentiments well deserve +that he who shows such tenderness for you should be considered above +the generality of lovers. I speak thus because I do not know him; nor +do you know his name, or that of those to whom he owes the light. This +alarms us. I hold him to be a mighty prince, whose power is extreme, +far above kingly sway. His treasure which he has strewn beneath your +feet would put Abundance herself to the blush. Your love for him is as +keen as his for you; you are his delight, he is yours; your happiness, +my sister, would be perfect if you but knew whom you love. + +PSY. What care I! He loves me. The more he sees me, the more I please +him. There are no pleasures which delight the soul, but anticipate my +wishes. I do not understand the cause of your alarm when all here +obeys my will. + +AGL. What boots it that all bows to you here if this lover ever +conceals what he is? If we are alarmed, it is for your interest alone. +Vain it is that everything meets you with a smile, and brings delight; +true love scorns reserve; and whoever persists in concealment is +conscious that he is in some way open to reproach. Should this suitor +prove fickle--for often change in love is pleasing, and between +ourselves, I dare say that, however dazzling the flash of your charms, +there are others as fair as you--if, I say, another beauty should bind +him under new thralls, if in the state in which you are now, alone and +defenceless at his mercy, he should go so far as to offer violence, on +whom should the king wreak his vengeance for this change or this +insolence? + +PSY. You fill me with dread. Kind heaven! can I be so unfortunate? + +CID. Who knows but that Hymen's knot.... + +PSY. Say no more, I could not bear it. + +AGL. I have but one word more to say. This prince who loves you, sways +the winds, gives us Zephyr's wings for a chariot, and every moment +lavishes on you new pleasures, when he thus openly breaks the order of +nature, may perhaps mingle some little imposture with so much love. +Perhaps this palace is nothing more than an enchantment; these gilt +ceilings, these mountains of wealth, with which he buys your +affection, so soon as he shall be weary of your caresses, will vanish +in a moment. You know as well as ourselves what power lies in spells. + +PSY. In my turn, what cruel alarms I feel! + +AGL. Our friendship seeks your good only. + +PSY. Farewell, sisters, we must close our meeting; I love, and fear +lest he should grow impatient; go, and to-morrow, if I may, you shall +see me, either happier or crushed by the deepest anguish. + +AGL. We go to apprise the king of the new glory, the excess of bliss +which heaven showers upon you. + +CID. We go to relate to him the surprising and marvellous tale of so +pleasing a change. + +PSY. Trouble him not, sisters, with your suspicions, and when you +describe to him this charming empire.... + +AGL. We both know what we must conceal and what speak, and need no +lessons. + +ZEPHYR _carries off_ PSYCHE'S _sisters in a cloud, which +descends to the earth, and in which he bears them rapidly away._ + + +SCENE III.--LOVE, PSYCHE. + +LOVE. You are alone at last. I can once more without your importunate +sisters as witnesses declare to you what sway eyes so fair have won +over me, and how extreme is the delight that a sincere ardour inspires +when once it has locked two hearts together. I can unfold to you the +loving eagerness of my enraptured soul, and swear that, enslaved to +you alone, its rapture has no other aim than to behold this ardour +followed by a similar ardour, to conceive no other wish but to bind my +vows to your desires, and make all that pleases you my only delight. +But wherefore does a cloud of sadness seem to dim the brightness of +those beautiful eyes? Is there aught which you can want in these +abodes? Scorn you the homage of the vows here paid to you? + +PSY. No, my Lord! + +LOVE. What is it then? And to what must I attribute my misfortune? You +sigh less from love than from grief. The roses of your cheek are +faded, a token of secret sorrow. Scarce are your sisters gone than you +sigh of regret. Ah! my Psyche, when two hearts are swayed by an equal +passion, can their sighs have a different object? and when their love +is true, and the loved one nigh, is there room to sigh for relatives? + +PSY. That is not the cause of my sorrow. + +LOVE. Is it the absence of a rival, and a favoured rival too, that +causes this neglect? + +Psy. How ill you understand a heart wholly yours. I love you, my Lord; +and my love is vexed at the undeserved suspicion which you have +conceived. You but little know your own deserts, if you fear that you +are not loved. I love you; and since I beheld the light of day, I have +shown myself proud enough to scorn the vows of more than one king; and +since I must disclose to you my whole heart, I have found none but you +worthy of me. And yet I feel a certain sadness, which I would fain +conceal from you; a gloomy grief is mingled with all my affection. Ask +not the cause of it; perhaps, if you knew it, you would punish me for +it, and if I still dare to aspire to anything, I am sure I should not +obtain it. + +LOVE. And do you not dread lest I should in my turn feel vexed at you +for so ill understanding your own powers, or for pretending to be +ignorant of the absolute sway you exercise over me? Ah! if you doubt +it in the least, be undeceived. Speak. + +PSY. I should have to bear with the shame of a refusal. + +LOVE. I pray you to harbour kinder feelings in my behalf; the trial of +it is easy. Speak; everything waits on your will. If you cannot trust +my words without oaths, I swear by those beautiful eyes, those lords +of my heart, those divine authors of my passion; and if it be not +sufficient to swear by your beautiful eyes, I swear by the Styx, by +which all the gods do swear. + +PSY. After this assurance, my fears are somewhat allayed. My Lord, +here I look on pomp and abundance, I adore you, and you worship me; my +heart is enraptured, my senses charmed by it; but amidst this highest +bliss, I have the misfortune of not knowing which it is whom I love. +Dispel this darkness, and unfold to me who this perfect lover is. + +LOVE. Psyche, what is that you say? + +PSY. That this is the happiness for which I long, and that if you +refuse it to me ... + +LOVE. I have sworn it, I am no longer master of it; but you do not +know what you ask. Leave me my secret. If I discover myself, I lose +you and you me. The only remedy is for you to retract your words. + +PSY. Is this my sovereign sway over you? + +LOVE. Your power is unbounded, and I am wholly yours. But if our +wooing has charms for you, lay no obstacle in the way of its pleasing +continuance. Do not force me to flight. This would be the least +misfortune which can happen to us from that wish which has seduced +you. + +PSY. My Lord, you now wish to test me; but I know how far I am to +believe it. I pray you to let me know the measure of my glory, and no +longer to conceal from me for what illustrious choice I have rejected +the vows of so many kings. + +LOVE. Do you will it so? + +PSY. Suffer me to beseech you to it. + +LOVE. If you knew what cruel misfortune you draw upon yourself by +it.... + +PSY. My Lord, you fill me with despair. + +LOVE. Think well on it; I can yet be silent. + +PSY. Do you pledge yourself by oaths which you do not mean to keep. + +LOVE. Be it so! I am a god, the most powerful of all gods, absolute +master on this earth, and in the heavens; my power is supreme in the +ocean and the air; in a word, I am Love himself. I have wounded myself +with my own darts for love of you; and, alas! but for the violence +which you impose on me, and which has turned my passion for you into +wrath, you would have me now for your husband. Your wish is +accomplished; you know whom you loved; you know the lover whom you +charmed; see now what misfortune is upon us. Yourself you force me to +abandon you, yourself you force me to deprive you of all the fruits of +your victory. It may be that your beautiful eyes will see me no more; +this palace, these grounds, once vanished with me, will cause your +rising glory to fade away. You would not believe me, and the +dispelling of this doubt has for fruit that Fate, at whose blows the +very heavens tremble, mightier than my love, mightier than all the +gods united, which is even now showing its hatred to you, and driving +me hence. + +LOVE _flies away, and the gardens vanish._ + + +SCENE IV. + +_The stage represents a desert and the wild banks of a river._ + +PSYCHE, _the_ RIVER GOD, _reclining on a bank of reeds, and leaning on +an urn._ + +PSY. Cruel destiny! aching pain! fatal curiosity! Speak, dread +solitude, what hast thou done with all my felicity? I loved a god; was +beloved by him; my happiness redoubled at every moment; and now behold +me, alone, bewailing, in the midst of a desert, where, to increase my +pain, when shame and despair are upon me, I feel my love increasing +now that I have lost the lover. Its very remembrance charms and +poisons my soul. Its delights tyrannise over a wretched heart, which +my passion has condemned to the keenest pain. Kind heaven! When Love +abandoned me, why did he leave me the fire he had breathed into me. O +thou! the pure and inexhaustible source of all good, lord of men and +gods, dear author of the pain I now endure, art thou for ever vanished +from my sight? I! I banished thee! when love was deepest, when bliss +supreme, an unworthy suspicion filled my heart with alarm. Ungrateful +heart, the fire was but ill-kindled; for from the first moment of love +we cannot have any wish other than that of him whom we cherish. Let me +die, it is the only choice left me after the loss I have made. For +whom, great gods, would I live, for whom entertain a single wish? +Thou, river, whose wave washes these desert sands, bury my crime in +thy waters; and end ills so miserable by allowing me to find a rest in +thy bed. + +THE RIVER GOD. Thy death would sully my stream, Psyche. Heaven forbids +it. Perhaps after such heavy sorrows, another fate awaits thee. Rather +flee Venus' implacable anger. I see her seeking thee in order to +punish thee; the son's love has excited the mother's hatred. Flee! I +will detain her. + +PSY. I shall await her avenging wrath! What can it have that will not +be too pleasant for me? Whoever seeks death dreads no gods or +goddesses, but can defy all their darts. + + +SCENE V.--VENUS, PSYCHE, THE RIVER GOD. + +VEN. Insolent Psyche, you dare then to await my arrival after you have +deprived me on earth of my honours, after your seducing charms have +received the incense which is due to mine alone? I have seen my +shrines forsaken, I have seen all the world, enslaved by your charms, +idolise you as the sovereign beauty, offer to you a homage until then +unknown, and not stay to consider whether there was another Venus at +all; notwithstanding this, I see you bold enough not to dread the +punishment your crime justly deserves, and to meet my gaze as if my +resentment were but little matter. + +PSY. If I have been loved by a few mortals, is it a crime in me to +have possessed charms by which they allowed their eyes to be captured +while they were blind to you? I am but what heaven hath made me, I +have only those attractions which it has been willing to lend me; if +the vows that were paid to me pleased you but little, you had only to +show yourself, to conceal no longer from men that perfect beauty which +has but to show itself in order to bring them back to their duty. + +VEN. You should have guarded better against these vows; this +veneration, this incense ought to be declined, and in order to +undeceive them more effectively, you should yourself have rendered +this homage to me in their presence. You found pleasure in this error, +from which on the contrary you should have shrunk with horror. Your +haughty temper, proud of having rejected a thousand kings, has carried +the extravagant ambition of its choice even to the skies. + +PSY. Have I in my ambition aspired to heaven? + +VEN. Your insolence is without an equal; do you not aspire to the gods +when you reject all the kings of the world? + +PSY. If Love had hardened my heart to all their passion, and had +reserved me for himself alone, do I stand guilty? and must you to-day +as a price for so dazzling a love crush me with everlasting sorrow? + +VEN. Psyche, you should have known your position better, and the rank +of this god. + +PSY. And has he allowed me time and opportunity for doing so when from +the first he became absolute master of my heart? + +VEN. You have allowed your heart to be charmed by him, and you have +loved him as soon as he said, "I love." + +PSY. How could I refuse to love the god who inspires all with love, +and who was pleading his own cause? He is your son; you well know his +power, his merit. + +VEN. Yes; he is my son; but a son who excites my wrath; a son who ill +returns to me what he knows is due; a son who knows that I am +forsaken, and who, the more to flatter his own unworthy affection, +since you return his love, wounds no one, forces no one to come to my +shrine and address his supplications to me. You have made a rebel of +him; but the whole world shall behold my dire revenge on you, and I +shall teach you whether it is meet for a mortal maiden to suffer a god +to sigh at her feet. Follow me; you shall find by your own experience +to what degree of mad self-reliance this ambition was leading you. +Come, and arm yourself with as much patience as you possess +presumption. + + +FOURTH INTERLUDE. + +_The scenes represent the infernal regions; a sea of fire is +discovered, whose waves are rolling unceasingly. This terrible sea is +enclosed by burning ruins; and, standing in the midst of the raging +billows, through a frightful opening, appears_ PLUTO'S _palace. Eight_ +FURIES _issue from it, and form the entry of the ballet, in which they +show their delight at having kindled such dire wrath in the heart of +the sweetest of divinities. A_ GOBLIN _adds perilous jumps to their +dances, and meanwhile_ PSYCHE, _who, in obedience to_ VENUS, _has come +to the infernal regions, is seen crossing again in_ CHARON'S _bark, +holding the box given to her by_ PROSERPINA _for_ VENUS. + + + + +ACT V. + +SCENE I.--PSYCHE (_alone_) + + +Alas! Ye awful waves of hell, ye gloomy palaces where Megaera and her +sisters hold their court, far ever foes to the sun's light, amongst +your Ixions and your Tantaluses, in the midst of so many incessant +tortures, in these hideous recesses, what pain, what toil so great as +those to which Venus condemns my love? Yet my troubles satisfy not her +wrath; and since I am subject to her laws, since I see myself a prey +to her resentment, in these cruel moments I must have had more than +one soul, more than one life, to fulfil her commands. Yet all this I +could bear with joy if, in the midst of her hatred, my eyes could +behold, were it for one moment only, my darling, my beloved lover! His +name I dare not utter; my lips, whose guilt it was to exact too much, +are now unworthy of him; and in this deadly anguish, the keenest pain +my ever-returning death subjects me to is that I may not see him. If +his anger lasted still, no anguish could equal mine; but if he felt +any pity for a soul that worships him, however great the sufferings to +which I am condemned, I should feel them not. Yea, thou mighty +destiny, if he would but stay his wrath, all my sorrows would be at an +end. Ah! a mere look from the son suffices to make me insensible to +the mother's fury. I will doubt it no longer; he shares my grief, he +sees what I endure, and weeps with me; my sufferings are his too; it +is a self-imposed law of love; in spite of Venus, in spite of my +crime, he it is who sustains and revives me in the midst of the +dangers I have to encounter. He harbours still the tender feelings +urged by his passion, and hastens to restore me to new life as soon as +I perish. But what would with me those two shades I see advancing +towards me through the doubtful light of these dark recesses? + + +SCENE II.--PSYCHE, CLEOMENES, AGENOR. + +PSY. Cleomenes, Agenor, is it not you whom I see? Who has deprived you +of life? + +CLE. The meetest grief that could have caused a noble despair. That +funeral pomp where you awaited the fiercest rigour and highest +injustice of a fate most dark. + +AGE. On that same rock where heaven in its wrath was promising to you, +instead of a husband, a dragon who would forthwith devour you, we held +ourselves ready to repulse his fury, or die with you. You know it +well, Princess; and when you disappeared from our gaze through the +air, both, equally carried away by our love and grief, cast ourselves +headlong from that rock, in order to follow your beauty, or rather to +feel that love-born joy of offering in your behalf a first prey to the +monster. + +CLE. We were fortunately deceived as to the meaning of your oracle; +but here we have recognised its miracle, and learned that the serpent, +ready to devour you, was the god who is the source of all love, and +who, in spite of his divinity, adoring you himself, could not bear +that mortals such as we are should presume to love you. + +AGE. We now enjoy a pleasant death, as a reward for having followed +you. What would have been life to us if we could not have been yours? +Here we behold your charms once more; which neither of us would ever +have seen again in the world above. Happy shall we be if we see the +merest tear honour the misfortunes of which you have been the cause. + +PSY. How can I have more tears to shed when my own misfortunes have +been carried to the highest pitch? Let us mingle our sighs, since we +have so fatal a destiny; we cannot exhaust sighs; but yours, Princes, +are uttered in behalf of an ungrateful being. You would not survive my +misfortune; but under whatever blow I fall, I cannot die for you. + +CLE. Have we deserved aught else, we whose great passion has not +ceased to weary you with the tale of our woes? + +PSY. Princes, you might have won my whole soul but for your being +rivals; those incomparable qualities which attended the vows of both +rendered you too deserving of love to allow me to reject either. + +AGE. You have been able, without injustice or cruelty, to refuse a +heart reserved for a god. But behold Venus! Fate bids us return, and +forces us to say "Farewell." + +PSY. Is not leisure allowed you to tell me what your abode is here? + +CLE. Among groves ever green, where we breathe naught but love; no +sooner do we die of love than through love we revive; we sigh for love +under the sweet laws of his blest empire; and everlasting night dares +not expel from it the day which Love himself brings on our phantoms, +which he inspires, and of which he forms a court even in Hades. + +AGE. Your envious sisters, who descended here below after us lost +themselves in the hope of losing you. Both, each in turn, as a reward +for the plot which cost them their life, suffer, now the rock at +Ixion's side, now the vulture at Tityus'! Love, by means of the +Zephyrs, has executed on them swift justice for their envenomed and +jealous malice. Those winged ministers of his just wrath, under +pretence of restoring them again to you, cast them both to the bottom +of a precipice, where the hideous spectacle of their mangled bodies +displays but the first and least torture for that stratagem the +cunning of which was the cause of the ills you now endure. + +PSY. How I pity them! + +CLE. You alone are to be pitied; but we tarry too long conversing with +you. Farewell! May we live in your remembrance; may you, and that +soon, have nothing further to dread. Soon may Love exalt you to +heaven, place you beside the other gods, and, kindling again a flame +that cannot be extinguished, release for ever your beauteous eyes from +the task of increasing daylight in these realms! + + +SCENE III.--PSYCHE (_alone_). + +Hapless lovers! their passion still continues; though dead, both love +me--me, whose harshness so ill received their vows. 'Tis not thus thou +actest--thou, who alone hast seized my heart; lover whom I still prize +a thousand times more than my life, and who breakest such charming +ties. Shun me no longer, and leave me to hope that one day thou shalt +cast a glance on me, that by my sufferings, I shall please thee, and +again win thy plighted faith. But my woes have disfigured me too much +to allow to entertain such hopes. Eyes dejected, sad, despairing, +pining, and with cheeks faded, what have I that can speak in my favour +if some miracle impossible to foresee does not restore to me the +beauty which once captivated thee? This treasure of divine beauty, +which Proserpina has entrusted to me for Venus, contains charms which +I can make mine own, and their lustre must be extreme, since beauty +herself, Venus, requires them to adorn herself. Would it be a great +crime to snatch a few? To captivate a god, who has been my lover, to +recover his affection, and put an end to my torture, can anything that +I may do be unlawful? Let me open it. What vapours cloud my brain? and +what do I behold issuing from this open casket? Love, unless thy +compassion forbids my death, I must needs descend to the tomb, never +to live again. + +PSYCHE _swoons, and_ LOVE _flies towards her_. + + +SCENE IV. + +LOVE. Thy danger, Psyche, dispels my wrath; nay, the violence of my +passion has never abated; and though thou hast excited my highest +displeasure, yet my anger was harboured only against my mother's +wrath. I have seen all thy toils, I have followed all thy misfortunes, +and throughout my sighs have answered thy tears. Look on me, I am +still the same. What, again and again, I repeat that I love thee, and +yet thou wilt not say that thou lovest me! Can it be that thy +beauteous eyes are for ever closed, that they are for ever bereft of +daylight? O Death! need'st thou have taken so cruel a dart, and, +regardless of my eternal being, endangered my own life! How oft, +ungrateful deity, have I swelled thy dark empire by the contempt or +the cruelty of a fierce and proud fair one? How many faithful lovers, +since I must confess it, have I, through irresistible raptures, +sacrificed to thee? Go, I shall wound no more souls, I shall pierce no +more hearts, but with darts dipped in the divine liquors that foster +heaven's immortal passions. I shall hurl them no more but to make as +many lovers as there are gods. As for thee, thou inexorable mother, +who forcest her to bereave me of what I held dearest in this world, +dread, in thy turn, the effects of my wrath. Thou wouldst sway my +feelings, thou who art often swayed by my will; thou who wearest a +heart as sensitive as that of mortals; thou enviest to mine the +raptures of thine own! But in this same heart I shall plunge such +darts as shall be followed by jealous sorrow. I shall crush thee by +abasing ravishments, and ever choose as objects for thy dearest +longings Adonises and Anchises who will nurse nothing but hatred +towards thee. + + +SCENE V.--VENUS, LOVE, PSYCHE (_still senseless_). + +VEN. The threat is full of respect, and the anger of a rebellious son +presumptuous.... + +LOVE. I am no longer a child; my childhood has been but too long, and +my wrath is as just as it is impetuous. + +VEN. Its impetuosity should be subdued, and thou oughtest to remember +that to me thou owest thy birth. + +LOVE. And thou mightest well not forget that thou possessest a heart +and beauty that hold their power from me; that my bow is the only +support of this power, that without my shafts it is nothing, and that +if the stoutest hearts have suffered themselves to be drawn in thy +triumphant train, thou hast never enslaved any one whose chains it was +not my pleasure to forge. Mention no more those rights of birth that +fetter my desires; and if thou dost not wish to lose a thousand sighs, +pay thy tribute to gratitude when thou seest me; thou whose glory and +delights are the offsprings of my power. + +VEN. How hast thou defended this glory of which thou speakest? How +hast thou restored it to me? And when thou hast seen my shrines +deserted, my temples violated, the honours due to me rivalled by those +of another, if thou hast shared my shame, how hast thou punished +Psyche, who hath stolen them from me? I bade thee throw a spell over +her, that she might love the basest of mortals, who would not +condescend to answer her passion but by continual repulse and +cruellest contempt; and thyself thou hast loved her! Thou hast seduced +immortal deities against me; for the Zephyrs have concealed her from +me; for thee, Apollo himself, by an oracle cleverly turned, had +snatched her from my power so well that, but for the curiosity which +by a blind distrust restored her to my vengeance, she escaped for ever +my angry passion. See to what thy love has reduced her, thine own +Psyche! See! her soul is even now departing; and if thine is still +smitten, receive now her last breath. Threaten and brave me if thou +wilt, but she must die. So much insolence suits thee well; and I must +needs bow to all it pleases thee to say, I, who can do nothing without +thy darts. + +LOVE. Thy power is but too great, relentless goddess! Fate abandons +her to thy wrath; but be less inexorable to the prayers and tears of a +son who beseeches thee on his knees. It must be a pleasant sight +enough for thee to see on one side Psyche expiring, on the other a son +who, in a suppliant voice, wishes to hold his heart's happiness from +thee only. Give me back my Psyche, restore to her all her charms, +surrender her to my tears, to my love, to my grief; for she is my +eyes' delight, my heart's happiness. + +VEN. However deep thy love for Psyche, do not expect me to put an end +to her misfortunes. If Fate abandons her to me, I abandon her to her +fate. Importune me no more, and let her in the midst of her calamities +triumph or perish without Venus. + +LOVE. Alas! if I am too importunate, I would not be so if I could but +die! + +VEN. This grief is not common that drives an immortal to long for +death. + +LOVE. Thou mayest judge of the intensity of my passion by its very +excess; wilt thou not be merciful? + +VEN. I must confess thy love touches my heart; it disarms, it abates +my sternness; thy Psyche shall see the light again. + +LOVE. How powerfully I shall cause thy sway to be felt everywhere! + +VEN. Ay! thou shalt behold her decked in her first beauty; but I will +have the entire deference of thy grateful vows. I will that a true +respect allow my love to select for thee another spouse. + +LOVE. And I will have no such grace; I assume all my former boldness; +I will have Psyche; I will have her plighted faith; I will that she +live again, and that she live for me; and I reckon as naught that thy +wearied hatred give way to favour another maiden. Jupiter, who even +now appears, shall judge betwixt us, and decide between my +insubordination and thy wrath. + +_The lightning flashes, the thunder rolls, and_ JUPITER +_appears in the air borne aloft by his eagle_. + + +SCENE VI.--JUPITER, VENUS, LOVE, PSYCHE (_senseless_). + +LOVE. O thou to whom alone all is possible, father of gods, lord of +mortals, soften the rigour of an inexorable mother, who without me +would have no shrines. I have wept, I have supplicated; I sigh, I +threaten. Sighs and threats are alike vain. She will not perceive that +on my displeasure hangs the happy or sad condition of the whole world, +and that if Psyche dies, if Psyche be not mine, I am no longer "Love". +Yes! I shall break my bow, shatter my arrows; I shall even extinguish +my sacred flame, and leave all nature to pine to death; or if I deign +to wound a few more hearts with these golden shafts that arrest my +sway, I shall wound you all above in behalf of mortals, while I shall +hurl against them blunted darts only that inspire hatred, and produce +thankless and cruel rebels. What tyrannical law is this that would +bind me to keep my shafts ever ready to serve you, and would have me +make conquest upon conquest for you, while you forbid me to make one +for myself? + +JUP. (_to_ VENUS). My daughter, show thyself less severe towards +him; his Psyche's destiny is even now in thy hands. Fate, at thy +slightest word, is ready to follow up thy wrath. Speak, and let a +mother's tenderness prevail upon thy designs. All dread this wrath +which awes even me. Will thou leave the world to become the prey of +hatred, disorder, and confusion, and change a god of union, of +delights, of joy, into one of bitterness and division? Consider the +lofty rank we hold, and say whether passion ought to sway our +feelings. The word revenge is pleasing to mortals; the more is it meet +that we should resort to forgiveness. + +VEN. I forgive this rebel son. Yet would you have me submit to the +reproach that a contemptible mortal, the object of my wrath, proud +Psyche, because she displays some charms, has defiled my alliance and +my son's couch? + +JUP. Well, then, I make her immortal, so that all shall be equal. + +VEN. I feel no longer hatred or contempt for her, but admit her to the +honour of this conjugal tie. Psyche! recover your life, never more to +lose it. Jupiter has contrived your restoration, and I abandon that +lofty humour which opposed itself to your wishes. + +PSY. (_recovering from her fainting condition_). It is you then, +mighty goddess, who restores the life to this innocent being? + +VEN. Jupiter extends his pardon to you, and my wrath lasts no longer. +Live! Venus commands it. Love allows it. + +PSY. (_to_ LOVE). At last I see you again, dear object of my +passion! + +LOVE. (_to_ PSYCHE). You are mine at last, my soul's own delight! + +JUP. Come, lovers, come; and conclude in heaven so great, so lofty a +union. Come, fair Psyche, to change thy destiny, and take thy place +among the gods. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PSYCHE*** + + +******* This file should be named 7444.txt or 7444.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/7/4/4/7444 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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