The Two Lovers of Heaven: Chrysanthus and Daria Part 25

(Enter Chrysanthus.)

CHRYSANTHUS.

Belov'ed bride, 't is one to whom thy charms Are even less dear than is thy soul, ah! me, One who would live and who will die with thee.

DARIA.

Belov'ed spouse, my heart could not demand Than thus to see thee near, to clasp thy hand, A sweeter solace for my long dismay, And all the awful wonders of this day.

Hear the surprising tale, And thou wilt know . . .

VOICES (within).

Search hill.

OTHERS.

And plain.

OTHERS.

And vale.

CHRYSANTHUS.

Hush! the troops our fight pursuing Have the forest precincts entered.[17]

DARIA.

What then shall I do, Chrysanthus?

CHRYSANTHUS.

Keep thy faith, thy life surrender:--

DARIA.

I a thousand lives would offer: Since to G.o.d I 'm so indebted That I 'll think myself too happy If 't is given for Him.

POLEMIUS (within).

This centre Of the mountain, whence the sun Scarcely ever is reflected-- This dark cavern sure must hold them.

Let us penetrate its entrails, So that here the twain may die.

DARIA.

One thing only is regretted By me, in my life thus losing, I am not baptized.

CHRYSANTHUS.

Reject then That mistrust; in blood and fire[18]

Martyrdom the rite effecteth:--

(Enter Polemius and Soldiers.)

POLEMIUS.

Here, my soldiers, here they are, And the hand that death presents them Must be mine, that none may think I a greater love could cherish For my son than for my G.o.ds.

And as I desire, when wendeth Hither great Numeria.n.u.s, That he find them dead, arrest them On the spot, and fling them headlong Into yonder cave whose centre Is a fathomless abyss:-- And since one sole love cemented Their two hearts in life, in death In one sepulchre preserve them.

CHRYSANTHUS.

Oh! how joyfully I die!

DARIA.

And I also, since the sentence Gives to me the full a.s.surance Of a happiness most certain On the day this darksome cave Doth entomb me in its centre. (They are cast into the abyss.)

POLEMIUS.

Cover the pit's mouth with stones.

(A sudden storm of thunder and lightning: Enter Numeria.n.u.s, Claudius, Aurelius, and others.

NUMERIa.n.u.s.

What can have produced this tempest?

POLEMIUS.

When within the cave they threw them, Dark eclipse o'erspread the heavens.

CLAUDIUS.

Shadowy shapes, phantasmal shadows Are upon the wind projected.

CYNTHIA.

Lightnings like swift birds of fire Dart along with burning tresses.

CLAUDIUS.

Lo! an earthquake's awful shudder Makes the very mountains tremble.

POLEMIUS.

Yes, the solid ground upheaveth, And the mighty rock descendeth O'er our heads.

NISIDA.

While on the instant Dulcet voices soft and tender Issue from the cave's abysses.

NUMERIa.n.u.s.

Rome to-day strange sights presenteth, When a grave exhibits gladness, And the sun displays resentment.

(A choir of angels is heard singing from within the cave.) "Happy day, and happy doom, May the gladsome world exclaim, When the darksome cave became Saint Daria's sacred tomb".

(A great rock falls from the mountain, and covers the tomb, over it is seen an angel.)

ANGEL.

This great cave which holds to-day In its breast so great a treasure, Never shall by foot be trodden;-- Thus it is I 've sealed and settled This great ma.s.s of rock upon it, Which doth shut it up for ever.

And in order that their ashes On the wind be ne'er dispers'ed, But while time itself endureth Shall be honoured and respected, This brief epitaph, this simple Line shall tell this simple legend To the ages that come after: "Here the bodies are preserv'ed Of Chrysanthus and Daria, The two lover-saints of Heaven".

CLAUDIUS.

Wherefore humbly we entreat Pardon for our many errors.

3. The whole of the first scene is in 'asonante' verse, the vowels being i, e, as in "restrIctEd", "drIftlEss", "hIddEn", etc. These vowels, or their equivalents in sound, will be found pretty accurately represented in the last two syllables of every alternate line throughout the scene, which ends at p. 25, and where the verse changes into the full consonant rhyme.

4. The resemblance between certain parts of Goethe's Faust and The Wonder-Working Magician of Calderon has been frequently alluded to, and has given rise to a good deal of discussion. In the controversy as to how much the German poet was indebted to the Spanish, I do not recollect any reference to The Two Lovers of Heaven. The following pa.s.sage, however, both in its spirit and language, presents a singular likeness to the more elaborate discussion of the same difficulty in the text.

The scene is in Faustus's study. Faustus, as in the present play, takes up a volume of the New Testament, and thus proceeds: