been more than a fable—have blasted the object of his preference; but that preference-if you could trust her words or her features-was nothing to her. Let the parties speak for themselves. Alcibiades encounters Glycerium returning from the temple of Ceres. SCENE I. ALCIBIADES. GLYCERIUM. Alc. You keep, then, to your point, beautiful Glycerium! All that I tell you of your charms, and of my feelings, is nothing but poetry? Glyc. (Laughing.) Mere, downright poetry. I keep to my point. Alc. And though I sware the deepest and the dearest oath thyself could dictate ? Glyc. I keep to my point. Alc. And shall nothing, nothing persuade thee of the contrary? To a persevering zeal, they teach us, all things yield; and is thy heart, enchanting girl, to be the unyielding prodigy of nature? Demand of me -O, demand what thou wilt! Demand gifts Glyc. Alcibiades, you speak with Glycerium! Alc. With Glycerium indeed-the proud Glycerium!-Demand sacrifices! Demand proofs and trial! O, demand Glyc. Well, then, I demand time for the probation. Alc. Time? What time? Glyc. O, not too much of it either. Simply a couple of years. Alc. (Indignant.) Glycerium, do I deserve your mockery? Glyc. (Still more sportively.) Good gods above us! who is mocking? If thy flame be so vehement, why should it not last all the longer? There are fiery mountains, if travellers speak sooth, that have been burning on for centuries. But, indeed Alc. Well! What indeed? Glyc. Indeed it were a pity that our she-companions should go so long in mourning, and our young matrons be so long faithful to their husbands. Now, Alcibiades, art thou resolved? Shall our bargain stand for the two years? Alc. He, sweet Glycerium, loves thee not who could love thee for two Alc. Life in danger, saidst thou? O, if that might touch thee, name me but an enemy to rush upon-a monster to contend with! Glyc. As if we were living in the days of Alcides, when there were Nemean lions and fire-breathing hydras!-Good son of Clinias, you understand me not, because you will not understand me. The danger to life, of which I spoke, must be neither more nor less than a sumption-the fruits of too protracted expectation. con Alc. You hold fast, then, by this jocular demand? Glyc. I hold fast by this serious de◄ mand; and I tender thee free choice of entering on thy suitor-service today or to-morrow. Alc. (Proudly.) Glycerium, have you never heard that conquerors, who strain too hard their conditions with the conquered, often end by gaining less than at first was offered them? Glyc. O yes; the case at least may be conceived. Alc. The case has happened; be lieve me, happened often. Glyc. (Bitterly.) Who questions it? Only it is one shall never happen betwixt thee and me. Alc. Shall it not?-Thinkst thou it shall not?-A wager on it! This case shall come; come speedily! Why dost thou hesitate? Thy hand upon't! The wager holds. Glyc. (With anger.) Shameless! I laugh at this juvenile audacity, which venal courtesans and vile coquettes have trained thee to. Dreamst thou, because they have listened to thee, that now nothing can withstand thee? Know that thy charms-charms, forsooth!-are in my eyes so worthless, so despicable, that Alc. Hush, my good Glycerium! You are heaping errors upon errors. A foe despised is already half-victorious; since where circumspection is awanting enough, Glycerium, we meet again, and that right suddenly! Suppose ten days to have elapsed. Then try the Sortes Shakspearianæ, and these lines will be sure to come up for poor Glycerium : "Was ever woman in this humour woo'd? I'll have her but I will not keep her long." They may stand as the motto of SCENE II. GLYCERIUM'S Bath-room. Mysis (a female slave). Mysis. O no! Not so indeed. Rather have I been guessing on all sides what secret trouble could be thus disquieting thy bosom-and so I found out Glyc. Indeed! Thou foundest somewhat, did'st thou? Ha, ha, ha! Well, and it was Mysis. That I had no occasion to be guessing so much about the matter; that it was probably a certain trouble, which generally makes its first appearance with our fourteenth or fifteenth year, and until our fortieth, our fiftieth, or oftentimes our sixtieth, departs not-the TROUBLE OF LOVE. Glyc. Poor Mysis, I fear me the trouble of madness has got hold of thee; for a guesser, at least, thou art irretrievably ruined. Mysis. That may the Powers for thy own sake forbid! What, most beautiful Glycerium, adorned with all the graces of Love's goddess, wouldst thou still be unacquainted with Love's self? Wouldst thou still reckon it an honour to remain frigid and insensible? Believe me— me who have lived longer in the world than thou-in thy place Glyc. (Laughing.) No doubt, no doubt, in my place wouldst thou otherwise demean thyself, since Iby happy fortune-am not Mysis. Mysis. Be what thou wilt! To enjoy life forms the happiness of life; yet one often forfeits this kind of happiness for ever, by disdaining it too long. O Glycerium, it now rests solely with thyself, to become the envy of thy sisters, the first of thy sex. Despise not the counsel of thy faithful slave, and profit by the auspicious opportunity that may perhaps never return. Glyc. Is the fool again speaking riddles? What, prithee, is this auspicious opportunity I am not to lose ? Mysis. Nay, feign not thyself so ignorant of what all Athens knows! Deny it not at least to me, that the flower of our Attic youth, the fairest, the hopefullest of Greeks Glyc. Ha, ha, ha! Art.thou there at last, madam go-between? I can fancy thou speakst of Alcibiades. Mysis. To be sure I do. To whom but Alcibiades could these epithets belong? Glyc. In thy eyes, perhaps, but not in mine! Pity, my poor Mysis, thou art not some fifteen years younger, and he himself does not hear thee! He loves his own praises too well not to debase himself, for a few moments, out of gratitude. Mysis. O no; my wishes could never soar so high. Glyc. Nor mine sink so low. To be serious, Mysis! As you value my favour, henceforth not a word of this young profligate, who coquets it with every courtesan in Athens -but assuredly never shall with me. Could you believe it, but the other day the insolent offered to wager with me Enough of him! Thou shalt be most grievously chastised-I will have thee scourged with rods till the blood run down tby back-if his name ever again escape thy lips. Mysis. Well, then, if I am no longer to speak of him and for him, let him —let him (running off) do it for himself! Glyc. (Amazed, and calling after her.) How? What's this? What saidst thou? Mysis, remain ! Alcibiades. (Starting out of a hidingplace, where he has heard all, behind Glycerium's back.) She said, beautiful Glycerium Glyc. (Terrified.) Gods! Dreadful! Who dares? (Turning round, she sees Alcibiades; springs up in the same moment, and throws on, in great disorder, the first garment she can lay hold of.) Ha! Infamous!Mysis! Slaves! Myrto! Mysis! Alc. Spare thy lungs, beautiful Glycerium! Mysis is probably by this time too far off to hear thee; too far off are all other witnesses, whom-even could thy cries bring them hither-thy modesty no doubt would wish away again. Beside thee thou hast none but a young man, who to escape the pang of perishing for love, has ventured on a step, the temerity-the audacious ingenuity of which-thou wilt-for the sake of that very love-forgive. (Approaching.) Glyc. (Shrinking into a corner.) Off, miscreant! Touch me not, or away from me! or― Alc. Seest thou, dear Glycerium, what a silly thing threats are in some positions? They expire, yet unspoken, on the lips of the threatener: so do but allow me a few words to Glyc. Accurst be thou, and accurst each word of thine, insidious villain! -Corrupting slaves-holding no indecency too base, so it but serve thy appetites!-I tell thee once again, away! and take with thee my utter abhorrence for the future, as thou hast had my indifference in the past. Alc. And why, Glycerium-I adjure thee tell me why has this indifference pursued me? She, that alone has forced me to such bold expedients-O how was she offended? what dost thou require in the man that is to please thee? Glyc. Henceforth I shall require that he be as unlike as possible to thee, egregious villain! Alc. An answer that sounds well -and nothing more. Dost thou require in him noble ancestry? Say what is nobler than mine? Dost thou require wealth? I have as much as any citizen of Athens. Renown? Methinks what I have reaped is, for my years, sufficient; not to mention that the seed I've sown for time to come, bids fairer than my neighbours'! Dost thou require beauty of person? Listen to the judgment. of thy sisters;-thou wilt hardly hear a judgment to my prejudice. Glyc. I listen only to my own; and in accordance with that, sooner shall the vilest, the blackest Moor become my chosen lover, than thou. Away with a coin, that has passed already through a thousand hands, and in each lost more and more, till scarce a jot of worth remains! Alc. (With a tone of half-bitter feeling.) Excellent! Aconceit, which probably-in such a situation, such a dress-no maiden ever yet has lighted on! (Calmly.) O, Glycerium, how strong and how glowing my love must be to bear, without abating, what is so wont to annihilate affection-contemptuous, unmerited mockery. No, maiden, as fair-far fairer than a goddess-grace -thou canst not in earnest mean to play Diana with me; or, if thou wilt, let me be thy Endymion ! *— O suffer this arm-which no other ever yet repelled-to wind around thee. Be thou the elm, and I the vine-branch! The only one art thou, who has taught me that true love is omnipotent; I will teach thee, in return, that all the joys of earth are less than nothing to the raptures of tenderness. (He embraces her. She looses herself from him with marks of sovereign disgust; and he lets her go.) Glyc. Off! I tell thee. Joys with thee were to me the pains of hell. Off! or even these weak hands shall try to tear out thy lascivious eyes. Alc. (Laughing.) An experiment, i' faith, in which they shall not lightly speed! A robbery, against which I must struggle pretty lustily! Too dear would be my loss, did I no longer see no longer see this bosom, shining like the marbles of Phidias-wax seven times refined yields to it, as morning twilight to the sun-this arm, this face, -O, not the mere roses of youth, but even the flush of anger gives it matchless charms. Glycerium! too exquisite Glycerium! is thy hate for me really, then, so vehement? Glyc. More vehement than words can breathe. Alc. And not a hope of change? Glyc. The gods will never punish me so heavily. For the last time I tell thee-Begone! Alc. And for the first time I tell thee, that passion makes thee blind. Thou wilt have me go, and bethinkst thee not of the consequence of going; bethinkst thee not, that now-in this broad daylight-across this open court, o'erlooked by twenty jealous eyes-out of this door, which leads to nothing but thy bath-room'twould bring upon thee endless and immeasurable troubles. Glyc. What troubles can it bring, when I proclaim aloud the ignominious fraud that helped thee here? Alc. Poor maiden, then wouldst thou only publish thy own shame! Knowst thou the world so little, as not yet to know its inclination to think the worst of every one? Ah! often enough has it transformed heroic deeds to crimes. Here too will it approve its power; here, where ill construction borders so close on probability. Alcibiades alone with Glycerium! Alone with her in the bath room! O, by my word, report speaks of both of us too favourably for any one to believe we would squander such precious moments on simple conversation. Glyc. Slanderer, the reputation of my virtue stands as firmly as that of thy audacity. Alc. Doubly bad for thee, if the latter rank so high!-Then must it have devoured thy innocence more quickly than the wolf the lamb. Impeach me just as bitterly as you please; they will reckon it for certain that you hide-the head charge of the impeachment. Load me with invectives, and they will put down the effect of thy purity to the account "Tales of love, How the pale Phoebe, hunting in a grove of-disappointed expectations. The Glyc. (Ponders half a minute, with eyes cast upwards; then with passionate anxiety.) Alcibiades! Alc. Well? Dost thou recollect thyself? Am I permitted to remain? Glyc. Not that, not that! But yet -by this way, which leads along a covered passage, past my chamber, through a private door-by this I would have thee go. Alc. (Considers for a couple of seconds -this having taken him by surprise.) Impossible! Pardon me, beautiful Glycerium, if for once I have my own way, since thou so often hast had thine. A covered passage! Past thy chamber! through a private door! O no, that is the path of only a favoured, happy lover! The scorned, despised, rejected, would profane it. Far shorter ways has he to choose, and chooses-that by which he came. Farewell. (As if going.) Glyc. (Anxiously.) Alcibiades! Alc. Well? Your pleasure? Glyc. Ha! miscreant, too well thou knowest that now I must bid thee stay.-Excellent! Is this thine art of conquering maidens? Is it in this thy charms' allmightiness consists? Does it become a man-not yet dead to all sense of shamewhen he encounters modesty, to have resort to force? Alc. And who here talks of force? Look on me, Glycerium: these arms are strong and muscular; they have wrestled victoriously with men; but not yet have I essayed to throw them round thee-or, if I did, that feeble off! was sufficient to undo them.-Nay, more! Behold, I am not so unarmed, as thou perchance supposest (showing a dagger, hitherto concealed beneath his mantle.) Out of foresight I brought it hither; and thou wouldst not have been the first of thy sex to sink down-at sight of such an argument-from the cruel est of beauties to the most complying. But what a libidinous Satyr might deem glorious, is loathsome to the son of Clinias. Surprise and stratagem he counts legitimate; but force-fye upon't! Away with thee, worthless weapon. Bodies thou mightst subdue; but souls thou couldst never change, souls thou couldst never bless! Away with thee! (Casts it disdainfully into a corner.) Glyc. Excellent again! Vapour away with thy magnanimity before a maid, whose good name thou so infamously plottest to destroy-whom, not content with the vilest artifice, thou threatenest now with ill report from others, and slander from thyself. Villain, is that not worse than to subdue with daggers? Alc. Do I hear aright? I threatened thee with slander? When did I that? Glyc. Saidst thou not two seconds ago, they would believe thee more readily than me? Alc. How falsely you interpret all about me, because you handle all with prejudice! My silence-I said, or meant to say-they would credit sooner than thy words. No, Glycerium, it shall not be for thy sake Alcibiades will begin to study the most abandoned of all vices-falsehood. Freely will he confess the truth-ay, even of this interviewto every one that asks him. But that he should go out into the open market-place, assemble the citizens of Athens, and recount to them how scornfully thou hast entreated him; to demand that, would really be too much. Glyc. And who demands it? Generosity in thee were a penance for me. I ask only justice: justice towards a girl-whom-thou thyself hast compelled-to become thy enemy. Alc. (Hastily interrupting her.) I have compelled thee to it? Compelled thee? Good gods! I compel a maiden to be my enemy, for whom I would a thousand times have sacrificed my life-and sacrifice it now! O how, Glycerium, how have I done this? Glyc. You think, then, that the daring style in which you first solicited my favour; your contumelious wager; your corrupting of a wretch |