This horrid spectre let me see at once,

And shew if I'm a man.

ERIXENE.

It calls for more.

DEMETRIUS.

It calls for me then; Love has made me more.

ERIXENE.

O fortify thy soul with more than love;

To hear, what heard, thou'lt curse the tongue that tells

thee.

DEMETRIUS.

Curse whom? Curse thee!

ERIXENE.

Yes, from thy inmost soul.

Why dost thou lift thy eyes and hands to heav'n?
The pow'rs most conscious of this deed, reside
In darkness, howl below in raging fires,

Where pangs like mine corrode them.-Thence arise,
Black gods of execration and despair!

Tho' dreadful earthquakes cleave your upward way, While nature shakes, and vapours blot the sun; Then through those horrors in loud groans proclaim, That I am

DEMETRIUS.

What?-I'll have it, though it blast me.

ERIXENE.

Thus then in thunder-I am Perseus' wife.

[Demetrius falls against the scene. After a pause.

DEMETRIUS.

In thunder?-No; that had not struck so deep.
What tempest e'er discharg'd so fierce a fire?—

Calm and deliberate anguish feeds upon me;
Each thought sent out for help brings in new woe.
Where shall I turn? where fly? to whom but thee?
[Kneeling.
Tremendous Jove! whom mortals will not know
From blessings, but compel to be severe,
I feel thy vengeance, and adore thy power;
I see my failings, and absolve thy rage.
But, oh! I must perceive the load that's on me;
I can't but tremble underneath the stroke.
Aid me to bear!-But since it can't be borne,
Oh let thy mercy burst in flames upon me!
Thy triple bolt is healing balm to this;
This pain unfelt, unfancy'd by the wretch,
The groaning wretch that on the wheel expires.

Why did I tell thee?

ERIXENE.

DEMETRIUS.

Why commit a deed

Too shocking to be told? What fumes of hell
Flew to thy brain? What fiend the crime inspir'd?

ERIXENE.

Perseus, last night, as soon as thou wast fled,
At that dead hour, when good men are at rest,
When every crime and horror is abroad,

Graves yawn, fiends yell, wolves howl, and ravens

scream;

Than ravens, wolves, or fiends, more fatal far,

To me he came, and threw him at my feet,

And wept, and swore, unless I gave consent

To call a priest that moment, all was ruin'd.
That the next day Demetrius and his powers
Might conquer, he lose me, and I my crown,
Conferr'd by Philip but on Perseus' wife.
I started, trembled, fainted; he invades
My half-recover'd strength, brib'd priests conspire,
All urge my vow, all seize my ravish'd hand,
Invoke the gods, run o'er the hasty rite;
While each ill omen of the sky flew o'er us,
And furies howl'd our nuptial song below.
Canst thou forgive ?

DEMETRIUS.

By all the flames of love,

And torments of despair, I never can.

The furies toss their torches from thy hand,

And all their adders hiss around thy head!
I'll see thy face no more!

ERIXENE.

[Going.

Yet stay and hear me.

Thy rage is just.

[She kneels, and holds him.

DEMETRIUS.

I have heard too much.

ERIXENE.

'Till thou hast heard the whole, O do not curse me!

DEMETRIUS.

Where can I find a curse to reach thy crime?

Mercy!

ERIXENE.

[Weeping.

DEMETRIUS. [Aside.]

Her tears, like drops of molten lead, With torment burn their passage to my heart. And yet such violation of her vows

Stamp till the centre shakes,

So black a dæmon shalt thou never raise,

Perseus! Canst thou abhor him more than I?

Hell has its furies, Perseus has his love,
And, oh! Demetrius his eternal hate.

DEMETRIUS.

Eternal! Yes, eternal and eternal;
As deep, and everlasting, as my pain.

ERIXENE.

Some god descend, and sooth his soul to peace!

DEMETRIUS.

Talk'st thou of peace? What peace hast thou bestow'd? A brain distracted, and a broken heart.

Talk'st thou of peace? Hark, hark, thy husband calls,
His father's rebel! brother's murderer!

Nature's abhorrence, and thy lawful Lord!
Fly, my kind patroness, and in his bosom

Consult my peace.

ERIXENE.

I never shall be there.

My Lord!

my

Life!

DEMETRIUS.

How say'st? Is Perseus here?—

Fly, fly! away, away! 'tis death! 'tis incest!

[Starting wide, and looking round him. As he is going, he lays hold of his robe.

Dar'st thou to touch Demetrius? Dar'st thou touch him Even with thine eye?

ERIXENE.

I dare-and more, dare seize,
And fix him here: No doubt to thy surprize.-
I'm blemish'd, not abandon'd; honour still
Is sacred in my sight. Thou call'st it incest;
'Tis innocence, 'tis virtue; if there's virtue
In fix'd, inviolable strength of love.

For, know, the moment the dark deed was done,
The moment madness made me Perseus' wife,
I seiz'd this friend, and lodg'd him in my bosom,
[Shewing a dagger.
Firmly resolv'd I never would be more.
And now I fling me at thy feet, imploring
Thy steadier hand to guide him to my heart.
Who wed in vengeance, wed not but to die.

DEMETRIUS.

Has Perseus then an hymeneal claim?

And no divorce but death?-and death from me,
Who should defend thee from the world in arms?
O thou still excellent! still most belov'd!

ERIXENE.

Life is the foe that parts us; death, a friend
All knots dissolving, joins us; and for ever.