Antiochus' chamber.
Antiochus, with a map before him.

ANTIOCHUS

Ecbatana, Susa, and Sogdiana,""
The Aryan country which the Indus bounds,
Euphrates' stream and Tigris' golden sands,
The Oxus and Jaxartes and these mountains
Vague and enormous shouldering the moon
With all their dim beyond of nations huge;

This were an empire! What are Syria, Greece

And the blue littoral to Gades ? They are

Too narrow to contain my soul, too petty

To satisfy its hunger and its vastness.

O pale sweet Parthian face with liquid eyes

Mid darkest masses and O gracious limbs

Obscuring this epitome of earth,

You will not let me fix my eyes on Susa.

I never yearned for any woman yet.

While Timocles with the light Theban dames

Amused his careless heart, I walked aside;

Parthia and Greece became my mistresses.

But now my heart is filled with one pale girl.

Exult not, archer, I will quiet thee

With sudden and assured possession first,

Then keep thee beating an eternal strain.

I have loved her through past lives and many ages.

The Parthian princess, lovely Rodogune!

O name of sweetness! Renowned Phraates' daughter,

A bud of kings, — my glorious prisoner

With those beseeching eyes. O high Antiochus,

Who snatched her from among her guardian spears,

Thou hast gone past but left this prophecy

Of beautiful conquered Persia grown my slave

To love me. It is thou, my Rodogune!

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                                      Rodogune enters.

RODOGUNE (with lowered eyes)

I have brought the wine.

ANTIOCHUS

Thou art the only wine,
O Parthian! Wine to flush Olympian souls
Is in this glorious flask. Set down the bowl.
Lift up instead thy long and liquid eyes;

I grudge them to the marble Rodogune.
Thou knowest well why I have sent for thee.
Have we not gazed into each other's eyes
And thine confessed their knowledge?

RODOGUNE

Prince, I am

Thy mother's slave,

ANTIOCHUS

Mine, mine, O Rodogune,
For I am Syria.

RODOGUNE

Thine.

ANTIOCHUS

O, thou hast spoken!

RODOGUNE

Touch me not, touch me not, Antiochus!

Son of Nicanor, spare me, spare thyself,

O me! I know the gods prepare some death;

I am a living misfortune.

ANTIOCHUS

Wert thou my fate

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Of death itself, delightful Rodogune,

Not, as thou art, heaven's pledge of bliss, I'ld not abstain

From thy delight, but have my joy of thee

The short while it is possible on earth.

O, play not with the hours, my Rodogune.

Why should brief man defer his joys and wait

As if life were eternal ? Time does not pause,

Death does not tarry.

RODOGUNE

Alas!

ANTIOCHUS

Thou lingerest yet.
Wilt thou deny the beating of our hearts
That call to us to bridge these sundering paces ?
O, then I will command thee as a slave.
Thou would'st not let me draw thee, come thyself
Into my arms, O perfect Rodogune,
My Parthian captive!

RODOGUNE

Antiochus, my king!

ANTIOCHUS

So heave against me like a wave for ever.
Melt warmly into my bosom like the Spring,
O honied breathing tumult!

RODOGUNE

O release me!

ANTIOCHUS

Thou sudden sorceress, die upon my breast!
My arms are cords to bind thee to this stake,
Slowly to burn away in crimson fire.

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RODOGUNE

Release me, O release me!

ANTIOCHUS

                  Not till our lips have joined
Eternal wedlock. With this stamp and this
And many more I'll seal thee to myself.
Eternal Time's too short for all the kisses
I yearn for from thee, O pale loveliness,
Dim mystery! Press thy lips to mine. Obey.
Again! and so again and even for ever
Chant love, O marvel, let thy lips' wild music
Come faltering from thy heart into my bosom

                                             Rodogune sinks at his feet and
                                                             embraces his knees.

RODOGUNE

I am thine, thine, thine, thine for ever.

She rises and hides her face in her hands.

ANTIOCHUS (uncovering her face)

Hide not thy face from love. The gods in heaven
Look down on us; let us look up at them
With fearless eyes of candid joy and tell them
Not Time nor any of their dooms can move us now.
The passion of oneness two hearts are this moment
Denies the steps of death for ever.

RODOGUNE

               My heart
Stops in me. I can bear no more of bliss.
O, leave me now that I may live for thee.

ANTIOCHUS

Stay where thou art. Or go, for thou art mine
And I can send thee from me when I will
And call thee when I will. Go, Rodogune

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Who yet remain with me.

                                          Rodogune leaves the chamber with

                                                                           faltering steps.

O Love, thou art
Diviner in the enjoying. Can I now
Unblinded scan this map? No, she is there;

It is her eyes I see and not Ecbatana.

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