The Sack of Rome/Act II
ACT II
[edit]Scene I
[edit]Palace of Valentinian
(Enter Valentinian and Heraclius)
Valentinian
- Hast thou seen Maximus?---Is he return'd?
- 'Tis whisper'd that he's now about the court:
- I order'd Ricemar to urge his stay
- To try his valour in the feats of war,
- Till I found means to sooth Ardelia's grief,
- Or reconcil'd her to my ardent love:
- Yet I suspect my will is disobey'd.
Heraclius
- I, through the Campus Martius, saw him pass,
- Sullen and fierce as is the baited bull,
- Whetted for blood and roaring for his prey,
- When rushing on the victim of his rage.
Valentinian
- He surely meditates some great revenge.
- He has a bold, assuming, haughty soul---
- A daring pride that spurns the least affront---
- I fear him more than Ætius
Heraclius
- But Ætius is the idol of the army,
- And at his beck---the young barbarian princes.
- Haughty and brave, he brooks not thy delay;
- Impatient for the promise made Gaudentius,
- Sighs for a union with the fair Eudocia.
- A son so near---a sceptre in his eye,
- May empire give to his aspiring father.
Valentinian
- Go lead him hither with his favour'd son,
- My hand shall rid me from all fear from them:
- Once in the palace, and the work is done:
- I'll save my daughter for a nobler union.
- But find out Maximus---'tis him I dread;
- A man thus injur'd never can forgive.
Heraclius
- He lov'd Ardelia with the purest flame;
- Indeed she was, for innocence and truth,
- For elegance, true dignity, and grace,
- The fairest sample of that ancient worth
- Th' illustrious matrons beasted to the world
- When Rome was fam'd for every glorious deed.
- But she's no more!
Valentinian
- Hah! slave, forbear---
- Mean'st thou to try my love, or wake my fears?
- Say thou at once---suspense I ne'er could bear.
Heraclius
- Despair, resentment, agonizing grief,
- This morn have clos'd the period of a life
- Too pure and spotless for the Roman world.
Valentinian
- Then I'm undone forever---double the guards.
- Go find Petronius out---suffer not him,
- Nor Ætius, to see another sun:
- To make the work complete, bring Ætius hither;
- My sword is ready for a traitor's blood,
- Nor dare another arm attempt his death.
(Exit Heraclius)
- Down coward conscience, nor disturb a prince.
- My recent crime haunts all my sleepless nights;
- Yet, shall I fill the measure of my guilt
- And turn assassin?---Am I so lost, as thus
- To stain my hand with the Patrician blood---
- Pollute my court---disgrace the Roman name?
- No, that can't be---her infamy's complete.
- And no new crime is wanting in the list
- To stigmatize, and blast her ancient fame.
- In this apartment, now my gloomy cell,
- Where I have seen Ardelia drown'd in tears,
- And almost dying with indignant grief,
- All other crimes are light---let Ætius die.
(Enter Edoxia)
- But hah!---here comes my torment---
- My other conscience---to kill me with a look---
- The fair---the excellent---the wrong'd Edoxia;
- Her presence freezes all my powers of speech;
- I dare not lift my eye to meet her frown---
- I'm all confusion---guilt---perdition---death.
(Retiring hastily)
Edoxia
- Oh! fly me not, my sovereign---
- I only come to warn my much lov'd lord,
- A lowering storm may burst upon his head.
Valentinian
- I fear no storms but from an injur'd wife;
- The sharp invectives of neglected beauty.
Edoxia
- My wrongs I here forgive---thy safety now
- Is all I have to wish---my soul is all alarm.
Valentinian
- What idle terror has assail'd thy brain;
- Or what new rupture threatens empire next?
Edoxia
- No foreign foe awakes my anxious thought;
- The faithful Ætius commands the legions,
- And guards the posts from Tyber to the Rhine,
- From bold inroads and fierce barbarick foes.
Valentinian
- A woman, weaken'd by a sense of wrongs,
- With a creative fancy, spreads contagion,
- If she names her fears---yet tell the cause,
- If any cause thou hast, thus to alarm
- And agitate my mind.
Edoxia
- Petronius Maximus
Valentinian
- What of Petronius?
Edoxia
- 'Tis him I fear:---As from the Circus,
- Late this morn I came, he enter'd---
- Rage in his eye---unheeding what he saw;
- Lost in deep thought, and wrap'd in dark intrigue,
- He onward mov'd, with slow and solemn steps---
- A dark, fix'd brow, and gesture of despair---
- He walk'd, and stop'd, and trod, and stamp'd the ground,
- And gnash'd his teeth, and clench'd his nervous palm,
- Then spread it on his breast and press'd it hard,
- As if afraid his heart would burst its bounds---
- Then sob'd a lowly sigh---alas! Ardelia!
- And, as the shadow moves beside the man,
- His steps were measur'd by an Alan prince;
- But neither heeded all the sports of Rome.
- Forgive my lord, my soft officious care
- To guard thy peace from each domestick foe.
Valentinian
- Thou best of women! how shall I atone
- For half the wrongs my faithless heart has done
- To beauty blended with superiour worth?
Edoxia
- Ill boding dreams and gloomy apparitions---
- Fresh bleeding ghosts, and shades of darkest hue,
- Haunt all my slumbers---some deep design,
- Of terrible import, in Maximus I saw;
- Waste not a moment---oh! secure thyself,
- And when we meet again, we'll talk of love.
(Exeunt)
Scene II
[edit](Valentinian and Heraclius)
Heraclius
- Ætius attends thy will, as does his son---
- With them Beotius, prefect of the city.
Valentinian
- Let only Ætius enter---tell him
- The business is of such import---
- No other ear must witness---thou wilt thy self
- Take care of both Beotius and Gaudentius
Heraclius
- I will my lord---he and his noble friend
- May fight Attila in the shades below,
- If that fierce warrior still remembers Rome.
Valentinian
- No vulgar souls we'll send the gods this day;
- Petronius next, and then defy the world.
(Exit Heraclius)
- My arm be strong---away with conscious qualms---
- His is a life worthy of Cæsar's sword:
- 'Tis true I but suspect his cover'd treason:
- Yet, Ætius must die---as shall Gaudentius.
(Exit)
Scene III
[edit](Eudocia and Placidia)
Eudocia
- Oh ! my Placidia,
- The good, the generous Ætius is dead,
- And murder'd by the hand of Valentinian.
Placidia
- Impossible!---'tis but the tale of malice, whisper'd round,
- By some vile foe to Valentinian's house.
Eudocia
- 'Tis done,
- And hell itself records the dreadful deed.
Placidia
- My father ne'er could stain the imperial throne
- By such a crime as this!
- What! like the madman of old Philip's race,
- Plunge his drawn dagger in the faithful breast
- Of such a friend as Ætius?
Eudocia
- He has,
- And my Gaudentius just escap'd the blow
- Heraclius design'd, by speedy flight,
- And in his stead Beotius was slain.
Placidia
- Where is the virtuous youth?---and where his friends?
Eudocia
- He pass'd the guards, Traulista by his side,
- And, through the western gate, they, swift as lightning,
- Hasted to Liguria---though much he lov'd,
- He'll ne'er forgive the murd'rer of his sire;
- He has a filial heart and valiant arm,
- And nature's instinct wakes a tender strife.
- The genuine virtues of his youthful heart,
- Cherish'd by reason---ripen'd to sublime,
- Nurs'd up by honour, gratitude and worth,
- Call loud for vengeance o'er his father's tomb.
Placidia
- Alas! the gath'ring storm---what chosen blasts,
- Heaven's vengeance next pours down, is with the gods.
Eudocia
- The death of Ætius augurs ill to Rome;
- His soul, too firm to fear, or Goths, or Huns;
- Too great to be corrupted, or deceiv'd,
- Sooth'd their rough passions, balanc'd their ambition;
- They lov'd, they fear'd, and will avenge his death.
Placidia
- When jealousy's at war with wild ambition,
- And reason quits the helm amid the storm,
- The furious hurricane of passion swells
- Till ev'ry sail hurls on to sure perdition.
Eudocia
- Ah! my Gaudentius---could Eudocia's blood
- Wash off the guilt contracted by her sire,
- These veins I'd ope, and warm libations pour
- Down at thy feet, to make his daughter
- Worthy of thy love---love did I say?---no---
- He must forever hate---despise---detest---
- And curse the name of Cæsar's blasted race,
- And fly the sight of his too wretched daughter.
Placidia
- Alas! I fear---I know not what I fear---
- Imagination's short of what I dread
- From complicated guilt, which stalks abroad.
- Oh! Heaven avert the destiny of Rome!
Eudocia
- I'm sick of life---of pageantry and pomp---
- Of thrones and sceptres stain'd by human blood:
- Come let us wander down the sacred walks,
- The silent grots, where virtue once reclin'd.
- The verdant forests bend their lofty tops
- To make a covert for the weary head;
- There tranquiliz'd beneath pale Cynthia's shade,
- We'll breathe and whisper disappointed love;
- And weep our country, family and friends,
- 'Till bright Aurora streaks the eastern skies
- And lights us back among the busy throng.
(Exeunt)
Scene IV
[edit](Valentinian and Heraclius)
Valentinian
- The gilded morn in transports hails the day,
- And the shrill trumpet sounds to martial sports;
- But yet a certain heaviness hangs o'er me,
- As though a tempest burst from midnight clouds.
- Were I afraid of either gods or men,
- I'd swear this day is like the ides of March,
- Big with portentous omens:---Calphurnia's dreams,
- And my Edoxia's fears, bear such a semblance
- That through the night, (even if a cricket moves)
- I start---I cry---my evil genius! say,
- Dost come with Ætius' or Petronius' sword?
Heraclius
- No superstitious dread should ere pervade
- The royal bosom of a Roman prince;
- Encircled deep by faithful veteran bands
- Who wait his fiat, and observe his nod,
- To feed his pleasures, or to blast his foes;
- To light the capitol, or guard the state,
- Or make the empire tremble at his frown.
Valentinian
- The noble Ætius, of princely birth,
- Possess'd a soul by Roman valour warm'd,
- That won the plaudits both of friends and foes;
- The legions lov'd---the citizens ador'd,
- And all will murmur at his sudden fall:
- Yet more I fear Petronius's rage,
- Than all the city, senators, or troops.
Heraclius
- Thou hast done well to cut a traitor down
- Ere he usurp'd and rob'd thee of a throne;
- And if plebeian, or patrician tongues,
- Should utter menace, or a plaintive word,
- Teach them the fate of Rome hangs on thy will.
Valentinian
- But where is Maximus?
- Though he's in friendship, gen'rous and sincere,
- Yet injur'd once, implacably he hates:
- 'Twou'd beggar language to describe his pride,
- His strength of passion when arous'd to rage;
- Inexorable vengeance tears his soul
- Constant and noble, as a god he loves,
- But as a furious fiend, rewards his foes;
- Nought but their death can cool his passions down.
Heraclius
- Petronius Maximus returns no more
- To interrupt the pleasures of the court:
- Ardelia dead---the funeral pile burnt down---
- Her ashes gather'd in a golden urn;
- He in despair has left the imperial city.
- Beside the margin of the Tuscan shore,
- In a small villa of the Anician name,
- He's gone to weep his folly and his fate.
Valentinian
- Where are his friends?---his num'rous train of clients?
- Where the admiring crowds fed by his hand,
- And basking in his wealth?
Heraclius
- Just as the world in ev'ry age have done,
- Paying their court where better fortune smiles;
- 'Tis not the sun, when muffled up in clouds
- And plunging down the western briny main
- Mankind adore.
- The eastern monarch just from Thetis' bed,
- With rosy blushes on his morning beams,
- Majestick rising o'er the burnish'd world,
- Beholds his homagers on ev'ry side;
- As in the field of Mars amid the sports,
- The son of Theodotius, is a god.
Valentinian
- Yet anguish tears, and love inflames my breast;
- Oh! would oblivion wrap a sable veil
- O'er my remorse, and o'er Ardelia's grief,
- O'er her bright form, and her untimely death,
- I might defy the vengeance of her lord:
- Methinks I see her lovely tearful eye
- With scornful glances fir'd---till grief and fear,
- And consternation numb my torpid frame.
Heraclius
- Why should an emperor fear?
Valentinian
- Say, where's Gaudentius?
Heraclius
- He, swift of foot as an Herulian archer,
- Escap'd my sword, and shelters in the camp;
- But after him---with thy express command---
- A trusty messenger I have dispatch'd:
- This night his sire may meet him in the shades.
Valentinian
- Where is Traulista---prince of the Ostrogoths,
- Dauntless and brave---his first---his chosen friend?
Heraclius
- Gone to Liguria with the son of Ætius;
- He lov'd him much.
Valentinian
- Then let him share his fate.
Heraclius
- Leave them to me, and chase thy cares away;
- The sports are ready---guarded every post,
- And while the victims in the Circus bleed,
- Smile that thy foes on the same moment fall.
Valentinian
- Hafte to the field of Mars---there I'll forget,
- A pang e'er touch'd my heart.
Heraclius
- There learn all Rome---
- That if they brave the mandates of thy lip,
- A sov'reign's arm shall punish as it ought.
(Exeunt)
Scene V
[edit](Gaudentius solus---in disguise---just returned to the city, where he was shewn the murdered body of Ætius)
- Was this the dowry of the fair Eudocia,
- The mangled body of my much lov'd sire
- Presented by her father's guilty hand?
- Just gods avenge---the trait'rous deed avenge!
- What is the faith---or what the gratitude,
- Or what the sacred promise of an emperor!
- As cruelty portrays an abject mind,
- Servility precedes the fall of states
- In this declension of the Roman world,
- While tyrants dip the scymitar in blood,
- And sport on human misery at large,
- Shall I sit down with folded arms and see
- A monster gorging on a parent's blood;
- Or unaveng'd behold a father die
- By Valentinian's base ungrateful hand!
- Yet he, alas! is my Eudocia's sire:
- But glory, fame, ambition and revenge
- Bid me erase this passion from my heart,
- And boldly stem the madness of the times,
- Recover Rome and reinstate her power,
- And bring her back to glory, wealth and fame.
- But hah!---Eudocia, pensive and alone;
(Seeing Eudocia at a distance)
- Shall I advance, or banish her forever?
(While he hesitates, Eudocia slowly crosses the stage without observing him)
- One tear dissolves the firmness of my soul,
- Unmans the mind, and melts the warrior down;
- Dashes his hope, and weakens his resolve;
- 'Tis ruin to retire---death to speak.
- Chaste as Diana in each graceful move,
- While Venus lights the features of her face
- And gives her son the torch to fire my soul;
- Yet honour, conscience, virtue and the world
- Forbid a union with his bloody house;
- My father's murderer---the gods forbid!
- Yet she's all innocence---and virtue's soul
- Shines forth conspicuous in her heavenly form:
- I haste from her as from the hand of death.
(Exeunt different ways)