How the Titan, the defiant, The self-centred, self-reliant, Wrapped in visions and illusions, Robs himself of life's best gifts!
Till by all the storm-winds shaken, By the blast of fate o'ertaken, Hopeless, helpless, and forsaken, In the mists of his confusions To the reefs of doom he drifts!
LACHESIS.
Sorely tried and sorely tempted, From no agonies exempted, In the penance of his trial, And the discipline of pain;Often by illusions cheated, Often baffled and defeated In the tasks to be completed, He, by toil and self-denial, To the highest shall attain.
ATROPOS.
Tempt no more the noble schemer;
Bear unto some idle dreamer This new toy and fascination, This new dalliance and delight!
To the garden where reposes Epimetheus crowned with roses, To the door that never closes Upon pleasure and temptation, Bring this vision of the night!
IV
THE AIR
HERMES (returning to Olympus.)
As lonely as the tower that he inhabits, As firm and cold as are the crags about him, Prometheus stands.The thunderbolts of Zeus Alone can move him; but the tender heart Of Epimetheus, burning at white heat, Hammers and flames like all his brother's forges!
Now as an arrow from Hyperion's bow, My errand done, I fly, I float, I soar Into the air, returning to Olympus.
O joy of motion! O delight to cleave The infinite realms of space, the liquid ether, Through the warm sunshine and the cooling cloud, Myself as light as sunbeam or as cloud!
With one touch of my swift and winged feet, I spurn the solid earth, and leave it rocking As rocks the bough from which a bird takes wing.
V
THE HOUSE OF EPIMETHEUS
EPIMETHEUS.
Beautiful apparition! go not hence!
Surely thou art a Goddess, for thy voice Is a celestial melody, and thy form Self-poised as if it floated on the air!
PANDORA.
No Goddess am I, nor of heavenly birth, But a mere woman fashioned out of clay And mortal as the rest.
EPIMETHEUS.
Thy face is fair;
There is a wonder in thine azure eyes That fascinates me.Thy whole presence seems A soft desire, a breathing thought of love.
Say, would thy star like Merope's grow dim If thou shouldst wed beneath thee?
PANDORA.
Ask me not;
I cannot answer thee.I only know The Gods have sent me hither.
EPIMETHEUS.
I believe, And thus believing am most fortunate.
It was not Hermes led thee here, but Eros, And swifter than his arrows were thine eves In wounding me.There was no moment's space Between my seeing thee and loving thee.
O, what a telltale face thou hast! Again I see the wonder in thy tender eyes.
PANDORA.
They do but answer to the love in thine, Yet secretly I wonder thou shouldst love me.
Thou knowest me not.
EPIMETHEUS.
Perhaps I know thee better Than had I known thee longer.Yet it seems That I have always known thee, and but now Have found thee.Ah, I have been waiting long.
PANDORA.
How beautiful is this house! The atmosphere Breathes rest and comfort, and the many chambers Seem full of welcomes.
EPIMETHEUS.
They not only seem, But truly are.This dwelling and its master Belong to thee.
PANDORA.
Here let me stay forever!
There is a spell upon me.
EPIMETHEUS.
Thou thyself Art the enchantress, and I feel thy power Envelop me, and wrap my soul and sense In an Elysian dream.
PANDORA, O, let me stay.
How beautiful are all things round about me, Multiplied by the mirrors on the walls!
What treasures hast thou here! Yon oaken chest, Carven with figures and embossed with gold, Is wonderful to look upon! What choice And precious things dost thou keep hidden in it?
EPIMETHEUS.
I know not.'T is a mystery.
PANDORA.
Hast thou never Lifted the lid?
EPIMETHEUS.
The oracle forbids.
Safely concealed there from all mortal eyes Forever sleeps the secret of the Gods.
Seek not to know what they have hidden from thee, Till they themselves reveal it.
PANDORA.
As thou wilt.
EPIMETHEUS.
Let us go forth from this mysterious place.
The garden walks are pleasant at this hour;The nightingales among the sheltering boughs Of populous and many-nested trees Shall teach me how to woo thee, and shall tell me By what resistless charms or incantations They won their mates.
PANDORA.
Thou dost not need a teacher.
(They go out.)
CHORUS OF THE EUMENIDES.
What the Immortals Confide to thy keeping, Tell unto no man;Waking or sleeping, Closed be thy portals To friend as to foeman.
Silence conceals it;
The word that is spoken Betrays and reveals it;By breath or by token The charm may be broken.
With shafts of their splendors The Gods unforgiving Pursue the offenders, The dead and the living!
Fortune forsakes them, Nor earth shall abide them, Nor Tartarus hide them;Swift wrath overtakes them!
With useless endeavor, Forever, forever, Is Sisyphus rolling His stone up the mountain!
Immersed in the fountain, Tantalus tastes not The water that wastes not!
Through ages increasing The pangs that afflict him, With motion unceasing The wheel of Ixion Shall torture its victim!
VI
IN THE GARDEN
EPIMETHEUS.
Yon snow-white cloud that sails sublime in ether Is but the sovereign Zeus, who like a swan Flies to fair-ankled Leda!
PANDORA.
Or perchance Ixion's cloud, the shadowy shape of Hera, That bore the Centaurs.
EPIMETHEUS.
The divine and human.
CHORUS OF BIRDS.
Gently swaying to and fro, Rocked by all the winds that blow, Bright with sunshine from above Dark with shadow from below, Beak to beak and breast to breast In the cradle of their nest, Lie the fledglings of our love.
ECHO.
Love! love!
EPIMETHEUS.
Hark! listen! Hear how sweetly overhead The feathered flute-players pipe their songs of love, And echo answers, love and only love.
CHORUS OF BIRDS.
Every flutter of the wing, Every note of song we sing, Every murmur, every tone, Is of love and love alone.
ECHO.
Love alone!
EPIMETHEUS.
Who would not love, if loving she might be Changed like Callisto to a star in heaven?
PANDORA.
Ah, who would love, if loving she might be Like Semele consumed and burnt to ashes?
EPIMETHEUS.
Whence knowest thou these stories?
PANDORA.
Hermes taught me;
He told me all the history of the Gods.
CHORUS OF REEDS.