Chapter 21Scene 4

A guard-room in the Palace. Antiochus, alone. ANTIOCHUS What were Death then but wider life than earth Can give us in her clayey limits bound? Darkness perhaps! There must be light behind. As he speaks, Phayllus enters. Who is it? PHAYLLUS Phayllus and thy conqueror. ANTIOCHUS In some strange warfare then! PHAYLLUS I came to see Before thy end the greatness that thou wast; For thou wert great as mortals measure. Thou hast An hour to live. ANTIOCHUS Shorter were better. PHAYLLUS An hour! It is strange. The beautiful strong Antiochus In one brief hour and by a little stroke Shall be mere rotten carrion for the flies To buzz about.

Act V, Scene 4 ANTIOCHUS Thinkest thou so, Phayllus? PHAYLLUS I know it, and in thy fall, because thou wert great, I feel my greatness who am thy o’erthrower. I long to probe the mightiness thou art And know the thoughts that fill thee at this hour; For it must come to me some day. The things We are, do and are done to! Let it be. Dost thou not ask to kiss thy wife? She’ld come, Though she must leave thy brother’s bed for it. ANTIOCHUS What a poor lie, Phayllus, for the great man Thou thinkst thyself! PHAYLLUS Thou knowst not then for her Thou diest, that his hungry arms may clasp Her warm sweet body thou hast loved to kiss? ANTIOCHUS So didst thou work it? Thou art a rare study, Thou Graeco-Syrian. PHAYLLUS I am what my clay Has made me. It does not hurt thee then to know That while thou art dying, they are hard at work Even now before thy kingly corpse is cold? ANTIOCHUS What a blind owl thou art that seest the sun And thinkst it darkness! Hence! I weary of thee. Thou art too shallow after all. Outside Is it the dawn?

Rodogune PHAYLLUS The dawn. Thou wak’st too early For one who shall not sleep again. ANTIOCHUS Yes, sleep I have done with; now for an immortal waking. PHAYLLUS That dream of fools! Thou art another man Than any I have seen and to my eyes Thou seemst a grandiose lack-wit. Yet in defeat I could not move thee. I have limits then? ANTIOCHUS Yes, didst thou think thyself a god in evil And souls of men thy subjects? Leave me, send Thy executioner. Let him be quick. I wait! Phayllus goes. I fear he still will loiter. Waiting Was ever tedious to me: I will sleep. (he lies down; after a pause) Is this that other country? Theramenes Before me smiling with his twenty wounds And Mentho with the breasts that suckled me! Who are these crowding after me so fast? My mother follows me and cousin Eunice Treads in her footsteps. Thou too, Timocles? Thoas, Leosthenes and Philoctetes, Good friends, will you stay long? The world grows empty. Why, all that’s great in Syria staggers after me Into blind Hades; I am royally Attended. Theras enters.

Act V, Scene 4 THERAS Phayllus’ will compels me to it, Or else I do not like the thing I do. ANTIOCHUS Who is it? Thou art the instrument. Strike in. Keep me not waiting. I ever loved proud swiftness And thorough spirits. THERAS I must strike suddenly or never strike. He strikes. ANTIOCHUS I pass the barrier. THERAS Will not this blood stop flowing? ANTIOCHUS The blood? Let the gods have it; ’tis their portion. THERAS A red libation, O thou royal sacrifice! I have done evil. Will sly Phayllus help me? He was a trickster ever. I have done evil. ANTIOCHUS Tell Parthian Rodogune I wait for her Behind Death’s barrier. THERAS The world’s too still. Will he not speak again Upon this other side of nothingness? O sounds, sounds, sounds! The sentries change, I think. I’ll draw thy curtains, O thou mighty sleeper.

Rodogune He draws the curtains, extinguishes the light and goes out. All is still for a while, then the door opens again and Eunice and Rodogune enter. EUNICE Tread lightly, for he sleeps. The curtain’s drawn. RODOGUNE O my Antiochus, on thy hard bed In the rude camp with horses neighing round Thou well mightst slumber nor the undistant trumpet Startling unseal thy war-accustomed ears From the sweet lethargy of earned repose. But in the horrible silence of this prison How canst thou sleep? It clamours in my brain More than could any sound, with terror laden And voices. EUNICE I’ll wake him. RODOGUNE Do not. He is tired And you will spoil his rest. EUNICE He moves no more Than the dead might. RODOGUNE Speak not of death, Eunice; We are too near to death to speak of him. EUNICE He must be waked. Cousin Antiochus, You sleep too soundly for a prisoner. Wake!

Act V, Scene 4 RODOGUNE There is some awful presence in this room. EUNICE I partly feel it. Wake, wake, Antiochus. She draws apart the curtain and puts in her arm, then hastily withdraws it. O God, what is this dabbles so my hand, That feels almost like blood? (tearing down the curtain) Antiochus! She falls half-swooned against the wall. There is a silence, then noise is heard in the corridors and the voice of Nicanor at the door. NICANOR Guard carefully the doors; let no evasion Deceive you. RODOGUNE Antiochus! Antiochus! Antiochus! EUNICE Call him not; he will wake And Heaven be angry. O my Rodogune, Let us too sleep. RODOGUNE Antiochus! Antiochus! Nicanor enters armed with soldiers and lights. NICANOR Am I in time? Thou? thou? How cam’st thou here? Who is this woman with the dreadful face? Can this be Rodogune? Eunice, speak. What is this blood upon thy hands and dress?

Rodogune Thou dost not speak! Oh, speak! EUNICE I am going, I am going to my chamber To sleep. NICANOR Arrest her, guards. He approaches the bed and recoils. Awake the house! Sound the alarm! O palace of Nicanor, Thou canst stand yet upon thy stony base Untroubled! The warlike prince Antiochus Lies on this bed most treacherously murdered. Cries and commotion outside. Speak, wretched girl. What villain’s secret hand Profaned with death this royal sanctuary? How cam’st thou here or hast this blood on thee? There enter in haste Callicrates, Melitus, Cleone; afterwards Phayllus and others. CLEONE (to Nicanor) Thou couldst not save him then for all my warning? In vain didst thou mistrust me! PHAYLLUS (entering) It is done. Yet Theras came not! Do I fail? Fortune, my kindly goddess, help me still In the storm I have yet to weather. NICANOR Thou hast come! This is thy work, thou ominous counsellor. PHAYLLUS In all the land who dare impugn me, if it be?

Act V, Scene 4 NICANOR Thou art a villain! Thou shalt die for this. PHAYLLUS One day I shall, for this or something else. But here’s the King. NICANOR No more a king for me Or Syria. Timocles enters, followed by Cleopatra. MELITUS The Queen comes cold and white and shuddering. CLEOPATRA (speaking with an unnatural calmness) Why do these cries of terror shake the house Repeating Murder and Antiochus? Nicanor, lives my son? NICANOR Behold, O woman, The frame you fashioned for Antiochus, Cast from your love before, now cast from life, By whose unnatural contrivance, let them say Who did it. CLEOPATRA It is not true, it is not true! There can be no such horror. O, for this, For this you gave him back! TIMOCLES O gods! Phayllus, I did not think that he would look like this.

Rodogune MELITUS Cover this death. It troubles the good King. TIMOCLES (recovering himself) This is a piteous sight, beloved mother; Would that he lived and wore the Syrian crown Unquestioned. CLEOPATRA Timocles, I will not credit What yet a horror in my blood believes. The eyes of all men charge you with this act; Deny it! TIMOCLES Mother! CLEOPATRA Deny it! TIMOCLES Alas, mother! CLEOPATRA Deny it! TIMOCLES O mother, what shall I deny? It had to be. Blame only the dire gods And bronze Necessity. CLEOPATRA Call me not mother! I have no children. I am punished, gods, Who dared outlive my great unhappy husband For this! She rushes out.

Act V, Scene 4 NICANOR Is this thy end, O great Seleucus? What Fury rules thy house? The Queen is gone With desperate eyes. Who next? There enter in haste Philoctetes, Thoas, Leosthenes and others of Antiochus’ party. PHILOCTETES It is true then, It is most true! O high Antiochus, How are thy royal vast imaginations All spilt into a meagre stream of blood! And yet thy eyes seem to gaze royally Into death’s vaster realms as if they viewed More conquests there and mightier monarchies. When we were boys and slumber came with noon, Often you’ld lay your head upon my knee Even thus. O little friend Antiochus, We are again in hundred-gated Thebes And life is all before us. THOAS O insupportable! Thou styled by men a king, no king of mine, Acquit thyself of this too kindred blood. No murderer sits in great Seleucus’ chair Longer than takes the movement of my sword Out of its scabbard. I live to ask this question. LEOSTHENES Nor think thy royal title nor thy guards Shall fence thy life, thou crown`ed fratricide, Nor many ranks of triple-plated iron Shut out swift vengeance. PHILOCTETES His eyes look up and seem to smile at me.

Rodogune NICANOR Thoas, thy anger ranges far too wide. Respect the blood of kings, Leosthenes. THOAS See dabbled on this couch the blood of kings Thus by a kindred blood respected. TIMOCLES The hearts Of kings are not their own, nor yet their acts. This was an execution, not a murder. In better time and place you shall have proofs: Phayllus knows it all. Be satisfied. Lift up this royal dead. All hatred now Forgotten, I will royally inter His ashes guarding still his diadem And sword and armour. All that most he loved Shall go with him into the silent world. RODOGUNE I come. TIMOCLES The voice of Rodogune! That woman’s form The shadowy anguished robe concealed! She here Beside my brother! NICANOR We had forgotten how piteous was this scene. O you who loved the dead, forbear a while; All shall be sternly judged. TIMOCLES O Rodogune, The dead demands thy grief, since he too loved thee, But not in this red chamber pay thy debt,

Act V, Scene 4 Not in this square of horror. In thy calm room Gently bedew his memory with tears And I will help them with my own. Me too He loved once. LEOSTHENES Shall our swords yet sleep? He wooes His brother’s wife beside his brother’s corpse Whom he has murdered. THOAS Yet, Leosthenes. For Heaven has borne enough from him. At last The gods lift up their secret thunderbolts Above us. NICANOR She totters and can hardly move. Assist her or she falls. PHILOCTETES (raising his head) O Rodogune, What wilt thou with my dead? PHAYLLUS Shall it be allowed? TIMOCLES I do not grudge this corpse her sad farewell. O Rodogune, embrace the unresponsive dead; But afterwards remember life and love Are still on earth. THOAS Afterwards, Timocles. Give death a moment. There is a silence while Rodogune bends swaying over the dead Antiochus.

Rodogune TIMOCLES O my Rodogune, Leave now the dead man’s side whose debt is paid. Return to life, to love. RODOGUNE (stretching out her arms) My king! my king! Leave me not, leave me not! I am behind thee. She falls dead at the feet of Antiochus. EUNICE O, take me also! She rushes to Rodogune and throws herself on the dead bodies. NICANOR Raise the princess up; She has swooned. THOAS Her heart has failed her: she is dead. TIMOCLES Rise up, my Rodogune. THOAS She is dead, Timocles; She’s safe from thee. Thou goest not alone, My king, into the darkness. CLEONE Look to the King! TIMOCLES (speaking with difficulty) Lives she? MELITUS No, she is dead, King Timocles.

Act V, Scene 4 CLEONE Brother, the King! Timocles has been tearing at the robe round his neck. Phayllus, Melitus and others crowd round to support him as he falls. NICANOR It is a fit at worst Which anger and despair have forced him to. PHAYLLUS It is not death? I live then. NICANOR Death, thou intriguer! Art thou not Death who with thy wicked promptings And poisonous whispers worked to dangerous rage The kindly moods of Timocles? Seize him, He shall atone this murder. PHAYLLUS You build too soon Your throne upon these prostrate bodies. Your king Lives still, Nicanor. NICANOR Not to save thee from death, Nor any murderer. Drag him hence. CLEONE The King revives. Save thyself, brother. LEOSTHENES Ten kings should not avail To save him.

Rodogune NICANOR Drag hence that subtle Satan. TIMOCLES I live And I remember! CLEONE Sleepest thou, Phayllus? PHAYLLUS My king, they drag me hence to murder me. TIMOCLES (vaguely at first) Who art thou? Thou abhorred and crooked devil, Thou art the cause that she is lost to me. Slay him! And that shrewd-lipped, rose-tinted harlot, Let her be banished somewhere from men’s sight Where she can be forgotten. O brother, brother, I have sent thee into the darkling shades, Myself am barred the way. PHAYLLUS What I have done, I did for this poor king and thankless man. But there’s no use in talking. I am ready. TIMOCLES (half-rising, furiously) Slay him with tortures! let him feel his death As he has made me feel my living. NICANOR Take him And see this sentence ruthlessly performed Upon this frame of evil. May the gods In their just wrath with this be satisfied.

Act V, Scene 4 PHAYLLUS And yet I loved thee, Timocles. He is taken out, guarded. NICANOR Daughter, Eunice, rise. EUNICE I did not know till now Life was so difficult a thing to leave. Her going was so easy! NICANOR Ah, girl, this tragic drama owns in part Thy authorship! Henceforth be wise and humble. To her chamber lead her. EUNICE Do with me what you will. My heart has gone to journey with my dead. O father, for a few days bear with me; I do not think that I shall long displease you Hereafter. She goes, attended by Melitus. NICANOR Follow her, Callicrates, And let no dangerous edge or lethal drink Be near to her despair. Callicrates follows. THOAS This cannot keep us From those we loved.

Rodogune NICANOR Syrians, what yet remains Of this storm-visited, bolt-shattered house Let us rebuild, joining our strength to save The threatened kingdom. For when this deed is known, The Parthian lion leaps raging for blood And Ptolemy’s dangerous grief for the boy he cherished Darkens on us from Egypt. Syria beset And we all broken! TIMOCLES Something has snapped in me Physicians cannot bind. Thou, Prince Nicanor, Art from the royal blood of Syria sprung And in thy line Seleucus may descend Untainted from his source. Brother, brother, We did not dream that all would end like this, When in the dawn or set we roamed at will Playing together in Egyptian gardens, Or in the orchards of great Ptolemy Walked with our arms around each other’s necks Twin-hearted. But now unto eternity We are divided. I must live for ever Unfriended, solitary in the shades; But thou and she will lie at ease inarmed Deep in the quiet happy asphodel And hear the murmur of Elysian winds While I walk lonely. PHILOCTETES We too without thee now Breath-haunted corpses move, Antiochus. Thou goest attended to a quiet air; Doomed still to live we for a while remain Expecting what the gods have yet in store.