Man. She was like me in lineaments her eyes,

Her hair, her features, all, to the very

tone

200

Even of her voice, they said were like to mine;

But soften'd all, and temper'd into beauty; She had the same lone thoughts and wanderings,

The quest of hidden knowledge, and a mind To comprehend the universe: nor these Alone, but with them gentler powers than mine,

Pity, and smiles, and tears which I had not;

And tenderness but that I had for her;
Humility and that I never had.
Her faults were mine- her virtues were
her own-

210

I loved her, and destroy'd her!
Witch.
With thy hand?
Man. Not with my hand, but heart-
which broke her heart;

It gazed on mine, and wither'd. I have shed
Blood, but not hers - and yet her blood

was shed

I saw, and could not stanch it.
Witch.
And for this-
A being of the race thou dost despise,
The order which thine own would rise

above,

Mingling with us and ours, thou dost forego The gifts of our great knowledge, and shrink'st back

To recreant mortality-Away!

220

Man. Daughter of Air! I tell thee, since that hour

But words are breath - look on me in my

sleep, Or watch my watchings - Come and sit by

me!

My solitude is solitude no more, But peopled with the Furies; - I have gnash'd

My teeth in darkness till returning morn, Then cursed myself till sunset; - I have pray'd

For madness as a blessing - 't is denied me.
I have affronted death, but in the war
Of elements the waters shrunk from me, 230
And fatal things pass'd harmless - the
cold hand

Of an all-pitiless demon held me back, Back by a single hair, which would not break.

In fantasy, imagination, all

The affluence of my soul-which one day

was

A Croesus in creation — I plunged deep,
But, like an ebbing wave, it dash'd me back
Into the gulf of my unfathom'd thought.

plunged amidst mankind - Forgetfulness sought in all, save where 't is to be found, And that I have to learn-my sciences, 241 My long pursued and superhuman art, Is mortal here; I dwell in my despair — And live and live for ever.

Witch.

It may be

That I can aid thee.

To do this thy power Man. Must wake the dead, or lay me low with them. hourin any Do so in any shape so it be the last. With any torture Witch. That is not in my province; but if thou Wilt swear obedience to my will, and do 250 My bidding, it may help thee to thy wishes. Obey! and Man. I will not swear — whom? the spirits Whose presence I command, and be the slave

Never!

Of those who served me
Is this all?
Witch.
Yet be-
Hast thou no gentler answer? -
think thee,

And pause ere thou rejectest.

I have said it.
Man.
Witch. Enough!-I may retire then
say!
Man.
Retire ! [The WITCH disappears.
Man. (alone). We are the fools of time
and terror: Days

261

Steal on us and steal from us; yet we live,
Loathing our life, and dreading still to die.
In all the days of this detested yoke
This vital weight upon the struggling heart,
Which sinks with sorrow, or beats quick
with pain,

Or joy that ends in agony or faintness
In all the days of past and future, for
In life there is no present, we can number
How few, how less than few, wherein the
soul
Forbears to pant for death, and yet draws
back

As from a stream in winter, though the
chill

Be but a moment's. I have one resource 270
Still in my science - I can call the dead,

But I can act even what I most abhor, The night And champion human fears. [Exit. approaches.

sequence

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, 440 No other Spirit in this region hath

A soul like his- or power upon his soul.

Nem. 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

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

470

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

―

460

like the unnatural

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!

Man.

She is silent, And in that silence I am more than answer'd. 480

Nem. My power extends no further. Prince of air!

It rests with thee alone

command her

- obey this sceptre !

voice. Ari. Spirit Nem. Silent still! She is not of our order, but belongs

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

490

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 blessèd, and that I shall die;
For hitherto all hateful things conspire
To bind me in existence-in a life
Which makes me shrink from immortality—
A future like the past. I cannot rest.
I know not what I ask, nor what I seek:
I feel but what thou art—and what I am;
And I would hear yet once before I perish
The voice which was my music - Speak to
me!

500