SCENE V   The sea-shore.   Andromeda, dishevelled, bare-armed and unsandalled, stripped of  all but a single light robe, stands on a wide low ledge under a  rock jutting out from the cliff with the sea washing below her feet.  She is chained to a rock behind her by her wrists and ankles, her  arms stretched at full length against its side. Polydaon, Perissus, Damoetes and a number of Syrians stand near  on the great rocky platform projecting from the cliff of which the  ledge is the extremity. POLYDAON There meditate affronts to dire Poseidon. Rescue thyself, thou rescuer of victims! I am sorry

SCENE III     Under the Syrian hills. Antiochus, his generals, soldiers, Eunice, Rodogune, Mentho. ANTIOCHUS What god has moved them from their passes sheer Where they were safe from me ? THOAS They have had word, No doubt, to take us living. LEOSTHENES On! THOAS They are Three thousand, we six hundred armed men. Shall we go forward ? LEOSTHENES Onward still, I say! ANTIOCHUS Yes, on! I turn not back lest my proud Fate Avert her eyes from me. A hundred guard The princesses.                                                   

SCENE II     Eric, Hertha. ERIC I sent for thee to know thy name and birth. HERTHA My name is Hertha and my birth too mean To utter before Norway's lord. ERIC Yet speak. HERTHA A Trondhjem peasant and a serving-girl Were parents to me. ERIC And from such a stock Thy beauty and thy wit and grace were born? HERTHA The gods prodigiously sometimes reverse The common rule of Nature and compel Matter with soul. How else should it be guessed That gods exist at all? ERIC Who nurtured thee? HERTHA A da

SCENE II     The colonnade of a house in Antioch, overlooking the sea. Antiochus, Philoctetes. ANTIOCHUS The summons comes not and my life still waits. PHILOCTETES Patience, beloved Antiochus. Even now He fronts the darkness. ANTIOCHUS                                 Nothing have I spoken As wishing for his death. His was a mould That should have been immortal. But since all Are voyagers to one goal and wishing's vain To hold one traveller back, I keep my hopes. O Philoctetes, we who missed his life, Should have the memory of his end! Unseen He goes from us into the shades unknown:

  SCENE IV     A guard-room in the palace. Antiochus, alone. ANTIOCHUS What were Death then but wider life than earth Can give us in her clayey limits bound ? Darkness perhaps! There must be light behind.             As he speaks, Phayllus enters. Who is it? PHAYLLUS Phayllus and thy conqueror. ANTIOCHUS In some strange warfare then! PHAYLLUS            I came to see Before thy end the greatness that thou wert; For thou wert great as mortals measure. Thou hast An hour to live. ANTIOCHUS Shorter were better. PHAYLLUS

SCENE II   A hall in the palace at Cowsambie. Yougundharayan, Roomunwath. YOUGUNDHARAYAN I see his strength lie covered sleeping in flowers; Yet is a greatness hidden in his years. ROOMUNWATH Nourish not such large hopes. YOUGUNDHARAYAN I know too well The gliding bane that these young fertile soils Cherish in their green darkness; and my cares Watch to prohibit the nether snake who writhes Sweet-poisoned, perilous in the rich grass, Lust with the jewel love upon his hood, Who by his own crown must be charmed, seized, changed Into a warm great god. I seek a bride For Vuthsa. RO

SCENE III    A room commanding the outer court of the palace. Nebassar, Praxilla.   PRAXILLA I have seen them from the roof; at least ten thousand March through the streets. Do you not hear their rumour, A horrid hum as of unnumbered hornets That slowly nears us ? NEBASSAR If they are so many, It will be hard to save the princess. PRAXILLA Save her! It is too late now to save anyone. NEBASSAR I fear so. PRAXILLA But never is too late to die As loyal servants for the lords whose bread We have eaten. At least we women of the household Will show the

SCENE V     On the Avunthian border. Roomunwath, Yougundharayan, Alurca, soldiers. ROOMUNWATH. The dawn with rose and crimson crowned the hills, There was no sign of Vuthsa's promised wheels. Another noon approaches. YOUGUNDHARAYAN Two days only Vasuntha's here. Yet is Udayan swift With the stroke he in a secret sloth prepares. ROOMUNWATH We learned that though too late. A secret rashness, A boy's wild venture with his life for stake And a kingdom! Dangerously dawns this reign, ALURCA See, see, a horseman over Avunthie's edge Rides to us. He quests forward wit

Act Two   SCENE I   A room in the palace at Cowsambie. Alurca, Vasuntha. ALURCA He'll rule Cowsambie in the end, I think. VASUNTHA Artist, be an observer too. His eyes Pursue young Vuthsa like a hunted prey And seem to measure possibility, But not for rule or for Cowsambie care. To reign's his nature, not his will. ALURCA This man Is like some high rock that was suddenly Transformed into a thinking creature. VASUNTHA There's His charm for Vuthsa who is soft as spring, Fair like a hunted moon in cloud-swept skies, Luxurious like a jasmine in its leaves. ALUR

Act One   Eric's palace.    SCENE I Eric, Aslaug, Hertha, Harold, Gunthar. ERIC Eric of Norway, first whom these cold fiords, Deep havens of disunion, from their jagged And fissured crevices at last obey, The monarch of a thousand Vikings! Yes, But only by the swiftness of his sword That monarchy's assured,¹ headlong, athirst, My iron hound pursues its panting prey.² And when the sword is broken ? or when death Proves swifter ? All this realm with labour built, Dissolving like a transitory cloud, Becomes the thing it was, cleft, parcelled out By discord. I have found the way to join, — The warrior's sword, builder of u