Chapter XXXII: Act II

_Atreus_ [_in soliloquy_]: O soul, so sluggish, spiritless, and weak,
And (what in kings I deem the last reproach)
Still unavenged, after so many crimes,
Thy brother's treacheries, and every law
Of nature set at naught, canst vent thy wrath
In vain and meaningless complaints? By now
The whole wide world should be astir with arms, 180
Thy arms, and on both seas thy ships of war
Should swarm; the fields and town's should be ablaze,
And gleaming swords should everywhere be seen.
Beneath our charging squadrons' thundering tread
Let Greece resound; let this my enemy
Within no forest's depths a hiding find. 185
No citadel upon the mountain heights
Shall shelter him. Let all the citizens,
Mycenae leaving, sound the trump of war.
Whoe'er grants refuge to that curséd head,
Shall die a dreadful death. This noble pile,
The home of our illustrious Pelops' line, 190
I would might fall on me, if only thus
It might destroy my hated brother too.
But come, my soul, do what no coming age
Shall e'er approve--or e'er forget; some deed
Must be attempted, impious, bloody, dire,
Such as my brother's self might claim as his.
No crime's avenged save by a greater crime. 195
But where the crime that can surpass his deeds?
Is he yet crushed in spirit? Does he show
In prosperous circumstances self-control,
Contentment in defeat? Full well I know
His tameless spirit; it can ne'er be bent--
But can be broken. Then, before his force 200
He strengthens and opposing powers prepares,
We must the attack begin, lest, while we wait,
He strike us unprepared. For well I know
That he must either slay me or be slain
By me. There lies the crime between us two:
Who leaps to grasp it first, the crime shall do.

_Attendant:_ But does the evil fame of such a deed
Deter you not?

_Atreus:_ The greatest blessing this
Of royal power, that men are forced to praise 205
Their monarchs' deeds as well as bear them.

_Attendant:_ Yea,
But they whose praise is forced by fear become
By that same fear in turn the bitterest foes.
But he who seeks the people's heartfelt praise,
Will wish their hearts and not their tongues to speak. 210

_Atreus:_ True praise may often fall to humble men,
But false alone to kings. Let subjects learn
To want what they would not.

_Attendant:_ Let monarchs learn
To choose the right; then all will choose the same.

_Atreus:_ When kings are forced to choose the right alone,
Their rule is insecure.

_Attendant:_ Where is no shame,
No thought of righteousness, no piety, 215
No faith, no purity, Oh, then indeed
That rule is insecure.

_Atreus:_ But purity,
Faith, piety, are private virtues all;
With kings, their will is law.

_Attendant:_ Oh, count it wrong
To harm thy brother, though he basest be.

_Atreus:_ Whatever may not lawfully be done 220
To brothers, may with perfect right be done
To him. What is there left me now unstained
By crime of his? Where has he failed to sin?
My wife has he debauched, my kingdom stolen,
The ancient emblem of our dynasty
By fraud obtained, and all our royal house
By that same fraud in dire confusion plunged.
There is a flock within our royal stalls, 225
Rich fleeced and nobly bred, and with the flock
A ram, their leader, wondrous, magical;
For from his body thickly hangs a fleece
Of fine-spun gold, with which the new-crowned kings
Of Pelops' line are wont t' adorn their scepters.
Who owns the ram is king, for with his fate 230
The fortunes of our noble house are linked.
This sacred ram in safety feeds apart
Within a mead whose fateful bounds are fenced
By stony walls, and kept with gate of stone.
Him, greatly daring, did my brother steal,
Perfidious, with my wife in secret league 235
Of crime. And this has been the fountain spring
Of all my woes; throughout my kingdom's length
Have I a trembling exile wandered long,
And found no place of safety from his snares;
My wife has he defiled, my subjects' faith
And loyalty destroyed, my house o'erthrown,
All ties of kinship broken, and nothing left 240
Of which I may be sure save only this--
My brother's enmity. Why do I stand
In stupid inactivity? At length
Bestir thyself, and gird thy courage up.
Think thou on Pelops and on Tantalus;
Such deeds as theirs must by my hands be done.

[_To_ Attendant.]

Tell thou me then how vengeance may be won.

_Attendant:_ Drive out his hostile spirit with the sword. 245

_Atreus:_ Thou speakest of the end of punishment,
But I the punishment itself desire.
Let easy-going rulers slay their foes;
In my domain death is a longed-for boon.

_Attendant:_ Do pious motives stir thee not at all?

_Atreus:_ Away, O Piety, if ever thou
Didst dwell within my house, and in thy stead
Let come dire furies' cohorts, fiends at war, 250
Megaera holding high in either hand
Her flaming torch; for with a mighty rage
'Tis not enough my heart should be inflamed:
I fain would be by greater horrors filled.

_Attendant:_ What new design does thy mad soul conceive?

_Atreus:_ No deed within the accustomed bounds of grief. 255
I'll leave no crime undone; and yet no crime
Is bad enough for me.

_Attendant:_ Wilt use the sword?

_Atreus:_ 'Tis not enough.

_Attendant:_ The flames?

_Atreus:_ Still not enough.

_Attendant:_ What weapon then will thy mad passion use?

_Atreus:_ Thyestes' self.

_Attendant:_ Far worse than madness this.

_Atreus:_ I do confess it. Deep within my heart, 260
A fearful tumult rages unrestrained,
And I am hurried on, I know not where;
I only know that I am hurried on.
From lowest depths a moaning sound is heard,
And thunders rumble in the cloudless skies;
A crashing noise resounds throughout the house
As though 'twere rent in twain; upon my hearth
The frightened Lares turn their gaze from me. 265
Yet this shall be, this awful thing shall be,
Ye gods, which ye do fear to think upon.

_Attendant:_ What then is this which thou dost meditate?

_Atreus:_ Some greater evil lurks within my soul,
And, monstrous, swells beyond all human bounds,
My sluggish hands impelling to the deed.
I know not what it is; but this I know,
That 'tis some monstrous deed. So let it be. 270
Haste thee and do this deed, O soul of mine!
'Tis worthy of Thyestes--and of me.
Let both perform it then. The Odrysian house
Was wont to look on feasts unspeakable--
monstrous thing, 'tis true, but long ago
Performed. This grief of mine some greater sin 275
Must find to feed upon. Do thou inspire
My heart, O Daulian Procne, who didst know
A mother's and a sister's feelings too.
Our cause is similar. Assist thou then,
And nerve my hand to act. Let once again
A sire with joyous greed his children rend,
And hungrily devour their flesh. 'Tis good,
'Tis quite enough. This mode of punishment
So far doth please me well. But where is he? 280
Why do the hands of Atreus rest so long
Inactive? Even now before mine eyes
The perfect image of the slaughter comes;
I seem to see the murdered children heaped
Before their father's face. O timid soul,
Why dost thou fear? Why droops thy courage now
Before the deed is done? Then up, and dare.
Of this mad crime the most revolting part 285
Thyestes' self shall do.

_Attendant:_ But by what wiles
Shall we unto our snares entice his feet?
For he doth count us all his enemies.

_Atreus:_ He never could be taken, were his will
Not bent on taking too. E'en now he hopes
To take my kingdom from me. In this hope,
He'll rush against the bolts of threat'ning Jove; 290
This hope will make him brave the whirlpools' wrath,
And sail within the treacherous Libyan shoals;
On this hope stayed, the greatest ill of all
Will he have strength to bear--the sight of me.

_Attendant:_ But who will give him confidence in peace?
To whom will he such weighty credence give? 295

_Atreus:_ His wicked hope is ready to believe.
Yet shall my sons this message bear from me:
Now let the wretched exile roam no more,
But leave his homeless state for royal halls,
And rule at Argos, sharer of my throne.
But if Thyestes harshly spurn my prayer,
His guileless children, overspent with woes 300
And easily beguiled, will bend his will
Unto their prayers. His ancient thirst for power,
Together with his present poverty,
And harsh demands of toil will move the man,
However stubborn, by their weight of woes.

_Attendant:_ But time by now has made his troubles light. 305

_Atreus:_ Nay; sense of wrong increases day by day.
'Tis easy to bear hardship for a time;
But to endure it long, an irksome task.

_Attendant:_ Choose other servants of thy grim design.

_Atreus:_ Young men lend ready ear to base commands.

_Attendant:_ Beware, lest what against their uncle now 310
Thou teachest them, they turn against their sire
In time to come. Full oft do crimes recoil
Upon the man who instigated them.

_Atreus:_ Though none should teach them fraud and ways of crime,
The throne itself would teach them. Dost thou fear
Lest they grow evil? Evil were they born.
What thou dost savage, cruel call in me,
Dost deem impossible and impious, 315
Perchance my brother even now doth plot
Against myself.

_Attendant:_ Shall then thy children know
What crime they do?

_Atreus:_ Not so, for youthful years
Cannot keep silent faith. They might perchance
Betray the trick. The art of secrecy
Is mastered only by the ills of life.

_Attendant:_ And wilt thou then deceive the very ones 320
Through whom thou plann'st another to deceive?

_Atreus:_ That so they may themselves be free from guilt.
For what the need of implicating them
In crimes of mine? Nay, through my acts alone
My hate shall work its ends. But hold, my soul,
Thou doest ill, thou shrinkest from the task.
If thou dost spare thine own, thou sparest his 325
As well. So then let Agamemnon be
The conscious minister of my designs,
And wittingly let Menelaüs help
His father's plans. And by this test of crime,
Let their uncertain birth be put to proof:
If they refuse to wage this deadly war,
And will not serve my hatred; if they plead
He is their uncle--then is he their sire.
So let them go. But no! a look of fear 330
Has oft revealed the heart. And weighty plans,
E'en 'gainst the stoutest will, betray themselves.
They shall not know of how great consequence
Their mission is.
[_To_ Attendant.]
And do thou hide it too.

_Attendant:_ No warning do I need, for in my breast
It shall be hid by fear and loyalty.
But more shall loyalty prevail with me. 335

* * * * *

_Chorus:_ At last our royal family,
The race of ancient Inachus,
Hath quelled the brothers' deadly strife
What fatal madness drives you on
To shed by turns each other's blood, 340
And gain the throne through paths of crime?
O ye who lust for regal state,
Ye know not where true power is found;
For riches cannot make a king,
Nor Tyrian garments richly dyed, 345
Nor royal crowns upon the brow,
Nor portals glittering with gold.
But he is king who knows no fear,
Whose heart is free from mad desires;
Whom vain ambition moveth not, 350
Nor fickle favor of the mob.
The hidden treasures of the west
Move not his heart, nor sands of gold
Which Tagus' waters sweep along
Within their shining bed; 355
Nor yet the garnered wealth of grain
Trod out on Libyan threshing-floors.
He fears no hurtling thunderbolt
In zig-zag course athwart the sky;
No Eurus ruffling up the sea, 360
Nor the heaving Adriatic's waves,
Windswept and mad before the blast;
No hostile spear, nor keen, bare sword
Can master him; but, set on high,
In calm serenity he sees 365
All things of earth beneath his feet.
And so with joy he goes to meet
His fate, and welcomes death.
In vain 'gainst him would kings contend,
Though from all lands they congregate--
They who the scattered Dacians lead; 370
Who dwell upon the red sea's marge
Whose depths are set with gleaming pearls;
Or who, secure on Caspian heights,
Leave all unclosed their mountain ways
Against the bold Sarmatians; 375
They who through Danube's swelling waves
Dare make their way with fearless feet,
And, wheresoe'er they dwell, despoil
The famed and far-off Serians:
In vain all these, for 'tis the soul 380
That makes the king. He needs no arms,
No steeds, no ineffectual darts
Such as the Parthian hurls from far
In simulated flight; for him
No engines huge with far-hurled rocks 385
Lay waste the hostile city's walls.
But he is king who knows no fear,
And he is king who has no lust;
And on his throne secure he sits
Who is self-crowned by conscious worth. 390
Let him who will, in pride of power,
Upon the brink of empire stand:
For me, be sweet repose enough;
In humble station fixed, would I
My life in gentle leisure spend, 395
In silence, all unknown to fame.
So when my days have passed away
From noisy, restless tumult free,
May I, in meek obscurity 400
And full of years, decline in death.
But death lies heavily on him
Who, though to all the world well known,
Is stranger to himself alone.