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And died unpardon'd - though he call'd in aid
The Phyxian Jove, and in Phigalia roused
The Arcadian Evocators to compel

The indignant shadow to depose her wrath,
Or fix her term of vengeance - she replied

In words of dubious import, but fulfill'd.
If I had never lived, that which I love
Had still been living; had I never loved,
That which I love would still be beautiful -
Happy and giving happiness.
What is she now? — a sufferer

What is she?

for my sins

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A thing I dare not think upon - or nothing.
Within few hours I shall not call in vain ·

Yet in this hour I dread the thing I dare:
Until this hour I never shrunk to gaze

On spirit, good or evil - now I tremble,
And feel a strange cold thaw upon my heart.
But I can act even what I most abhor,

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The Hall of Arimanes. Arimanes on his Throne, a Globe of Fire, surrounded by the Spirits.

Enter the DESTINIES and NEMESIS; then MANFRED.

A Spirit.

What is here?

A mortal! Thou most rash and fatal wretch !

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Bow down and worship!

Second Spirit.

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A Magian of great power, and fearful skill!

Third Spirit. Bow down and worship, slave! What, know'st thou not

Thine and our Sovereign? - Tremble, and obey!

All the Spirits. Prostrate thyself, and thy condemned

clay,

Child of the Earth! or dread the worst.

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On the bare ground, have I bow'd down my face,
And strew'd my head with ashes; I have known
The fulness of humiliation, for

I sunk before my vain despair, and knelt

To my own desolation.

Fifth Spirit.

Dost thou dare

Refuse to Arimanes on his throne

What the whole earth accords, beholding not

The terror of his Glory?

- Crouch! I say.

Man. Bid him bow down to that which is above him,

The overruling Infinite the Maker

Who made him not for worship- let him kneel,

And we will kneel together.

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Is of no common order, as his port
And presence here denote; his sufferings
Have been of an immortal nature, like

Our own; his knowledge, and his powers and will,
As far as is compatible with clay,

Which clogs the ethereal essence, have been such
As clay hath seldom borne; his aspirations
Have been beyond the dwellers of the earth,
And they have only taught him what we know
That knowledge is not happiness, and science
But an exchange of ignorance for that
Which is another kind of ignorance.

This is not all the passions, attributes

Of earth and heaven, from which no power, nor being,
Nor breath from the worm upwards is exempt,
Have pierced his heart; and in their consequence
Made him a thing, which I, who pity not,
Yet pardon those who pity. He is mine,
And thine, it may be —be it so, or not,
No other Spirit in this region hath
A soul like his or power upon his soul.
Nemesis. What doth he here then?

First Des.

Let him answer that.

Man. Ye know what I have known; and without

power

I could not be amongst ye: but there are

Powers deeper still beyond - I come in quest

Of such, to answer unto what I seek.

Nem.

Man.

What would'st thou?

Thou canst not reply to me.

Call up the dead - my question is for them.

Nem. Great Arimanes, doth thy will avouch

The wishes of this mortal?

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Shadow! or Spirit!

Whatever thou art,

Which still doth inherit
The whole or a part
Of the form of thy birth,
Of the mould of thy clay,
Which return'd to the earth,
Re-appear to the day!
Bear what thou borest,

The heart and the form,

And the aspect thou worest

Redeem from the worm.

Appear!

Appear! - Appear!

Who sent thee there requires thee here!

[The Phantom of ASTARTE rises and stands

in the midst.

Man. Can this be death? there 's bloom upon her cheek;

But now I see it is no living hue,

But a strange hectic-like the unnatural red
Which Autumn plants upon the perish'd leaf.
It is the same! Oh, God! that I should dread

To look upon the same - Astarte ! -No,

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I cannot speak to her - but bid her speak-
Forgive me or condemn me.

Man.

NEMESIS.

By the power which hath broken
The grave which enthrall'd thee,
Speak to him who hath spoken,
Or those who have call'd thee!

She is silent,

And in that silence I am more than answer'd.

Nem. My power extends no further.

Prince of air!

It rests with thee alone command her voice.
Ari. Spirit - obey this sceptre !
Nem.

She is not of our order, but belongs

Silent still!

To the other powers. Mortal! thy quest is vain,

And we are baffled also.

Man.

Hear me, hear me —

Astarte! my beloved! speak to me:

I have so much endured so much endure

Look on me! the grave hath not changed thee more

Than I am changed for thee. Thou lovedst me

Too much, as I loved thee: we were not made
To torture thus each other, though it were
The deadliest sin to love as we have loved.
Say that thou loath'st me not — that I do bear
This punishment for both - that thou wilt be
One of the blessed - and that I shall die;

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For hitherto all hateful things conspire

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