No More Learning

His queen Amexia then was big with child;
Nor was he gentler than his queen was mild;
Th'impatient people longed for what should come
From such a father, bred in such a womb;
When false Traxalla, weary to obey,
Took with his life their joys and hopes away.
Amexia, by the assistance of the night,
When this dark deed was acted, took her flight;
Only with true Garucca for her aid:
Since when, for all the searches that were made,
The queen was never heard of more: Yet still
This traitor lives, and prospers by the ill:
Nor does my mother seem to reign alone,
But with this monster shares the guilt and throne.
Horror choaks up my words: now you'll believe,
'Tis just I should do nothing else but grieve.

_Mont_. Excellent prince!
How great a proof of virtue have you shown,
To be concerned for griefs, though not your own!

_Aca_. Pray, say no more.

_Enter a Messenger hastily_.

_Mont_. How now, whither so fast?

_Mess_. O sir, I come too slow with all my haste!
The fair Orazia--

_Mont_. Ha, what dost thou say?

_Mess_. Orazia with the Inca's forced away
Out of your tent; Traxalla, in the head
Of the rude soldiers, forced the door, and led,
Those glorious captives, who on thrones once shined,
To grace the triumph, that is now designed. [_Exit_.

_Mont_. Orazia forced away! --what tempests roll
About my thoughts, and toss my troubled soul!
Can there be gods to see, and suffer this?
Or does mankind make his own fate or bliss;
While every good and bad happens by chance,
Not from their orders, but their ignorance? --
I will pull a ruin on them all,
And turn their triumph to a funeral.

_Aca_. Be temperate, friend.

_Mont_. You may as well advise
That I should have less love, as grow more wise.

_Aca_. Yet stay--I did not think to have revealed
A secret, which my heart has still concealed;
But, in this cause since I must share with you,
'Tis fit you know--I love Orazia too:
Delay not then, nor waste the time in words,
Orazia's cause calls only for our swords.

_Mont_. That ties my hand, and turns from thee that rage
Another way, thy blood should else assuage:
The storm on our proud foes shall higher rise,
And, changing, gather blackness as it flies:
So, when winds turn, the wandering waves obey,
And all the tempest rolls another way.

_Aca_. Draw then a rival's sword, as I draw mine.
And, like friends suddenly to part, let's join
In this one act, to seek one destiny;
Rivals with honour may together die. [_Exeunt_.



ACT III. SCENE I.

ZEMPOALLA _appears seated upon her Slaves in triumph,
and the Indians, as to celebrate the victory,
advance in a warlike dance; in the midst of which
triumph_, ACACIS _and_ MONTEZUMA _fall in upon
them_.

ZEMPOALLA _descends from her triumphant throne,
and_ ACACIS _and_ MONTEZUMA _are brought in before
her.

Zemp_. Shame of my blood, and traitor to thy own:
Born to dishonour, not command a throne!
Hast thou, with envious eyes, my triumph seen?
Or couldst not see thy mother in thy queen?
Couldst thou a stranger above me prefer?

_Aca_. It was my honour made my duty err;
I could not see his prisoners forced away,
To whom I owed my life, and you the day.

_Zemp_. Is that young man the warrior so renowned?

_Mont_. Yes, he, that made thy men thrice quit their ground.
Do, smile at Montezuma's chains; but know,
His valour gave thee power to use him so.

_Trax_. Grant that it did, what can his merits be,
That sought his vengeance, not our victory?
What has thy brutish fury gained us more,
Than only healed the wounds, it gave before?
Die then, for, whilst thou liv'st, wars cannot cease;
Thou may'st bring victory, but never peace.
Like a black storm thou roll'st about us all,
Even to thyself unquiet, till thy fall.
[_Draws to kill him_.

_Aca_. Unthankful villain, hold!

_Trax_. You must not give
Him succour, sir.

_Aca_. Why then, I must not live.
Posterity shall ne'er report, they had
Such thankless fathers, or a prince so bad.

_Zemp_. You're both too bold to will or to deny:
On me alone depends his destiny.
Tell me, audacious stranger, whence could rise
The confidence of this rash enterprise?

_Mont_. First tell me, how you dared to force from me
The fairest spoils of my own victory?

_Zemp_. Kill him--hold, must he die? --why, let him die;--
Whence should proceed this strange diversity.
In my resolves?
Does he command in chains? What would he do,
Proud slave, if he were free, and I were so?
But is he bound, ye gods, or am I free?
'Tis love, 'tis love, that thus disorders me.
How pride and love tear my divided soul!
For each too narrow, yet both claim it whole:
Love, as the younger, must be forced away. --
Hence with the captives, general, and convey
To several prisons that young man, and this
Peruvian woman.

_Trax_. How concerned she is!
I must know more.

_Mont_. Fair princess, why should I
Involve that sweetness in my destiny?
I could out-brave my death, were I alone
To suffer, but my fate must pull yours on.
My breast is armed against all sense of fear;
But where your image lies, 'tis tender there.

_Inca_. Forbear thy saucy love, she cannot be
So low, but still she is too high for thee.

_Zemp_. Be gone, and do as I command; away!

_Mont_. I ne'er was truly wretched till this day.

_Oraz_. Think half your sorrows on Orazia fall,
And be not so unkind to suffer all:
Patience, in cowards, is tame hopeless fear,
But, in brave minds, a scorn of what they bear.
[_Exit Inca_, MONTEZUMA, ORAZIA, _and_ TRAXALLA.

_Zemp_. What grief is this which in your face appears?

_Aca_. The badge of sorrow, which my soul still wears.

_Zemp_. Though thy late actions did my anger move,
It cannot rob thee of a mother's love.
Why shouldst thou grieve?
Grief seldom joined with blooming youth is seen;
Can sorrow be where knowledge scarce has been?
Fortune does well for heedless youth provide,
But wisdom does unlucky age misguide;
Cares are the train of present power and state,
But hope lives best that on himself does wait:
O happiest fortune if well understood,
The certain prospect of a future good!

_Aca_. What joy can empire bring me, when I know
That all my greatness to your crimes I owe:

_Zemp_. Yours be the joy, be mine the punishment.

_Aca_. In vain, alas, that wish to Heaven is sent
For me, if fair Orazia must not live.

_Zemp_. Why should you ask me what I cannot
give?
She must be sacrificed: Can I bestow
What to the gods, by former vows, I owe?

_Aca_. O plead not vows; I wish you had not shown
You slighted all things sacred for a throne.

_Zemp_. I love thee so, that, though fear follows still,
And horror urges, all that have been ill,
I could for thee
Act o'er my crimes again; and not repent,
Even when I bore the shame and punishment.

_Aca_. Could you so many ill acts undertake,
And not perform one good one for my sake?

_Zemp_. Prudence permits not pity should be shown
To those, that raised the war to shake my throne.

_Aca_. As you are wise, permit me to be just;
What prudence will not venture, honour must;
We owe our conquest to the stranger's sword,
Tis just his prisoners be to him restored.
I love Orazia; but a nobler way,
Than for my love my honour to betray.

_Zemp_. Honour is but an itch of youthful blood,
Of doing acts extravagantly good;
We call that virtue, which is only heat
That reigns in youth, till age finds out the cheat.

_Aca_. Great actions first did her affections move,
And I, by greater, would regain her love.

_Zemp_. Urge not a suit which I must still deny;
Orazia and her father both shall die:
Begone, I'll hear no more.

_Aca_. You stop your ears--
But though a mother will not, Heaven will hear;
Like you I vow, when to the powers divine
You pay her guiltless blood, I'll offer mine. [_Exit_.

_Zemp_. She dies, this happy rival, that enjoys
The stranger's love, and all my hopes destroys;
Had she triumphed, what could she more have done,
Than robbed the mother, and enslaved the son?
Nor will I, at the name of cruel, stay:
Let dull successive monarchs mildly sway:
Their conquering fathers did the laws forsake,
And broke the old, ere they the new could make,
I must pursue my love; yet love, enjoyed,
Will, with esteem, that caused it first, grow less:
But thirst and hunger fear not to be cloyed,
And when they be, are cured by their excess.

_Enter_ TRAXALLA.

_Trax_. Now I shall see, what thoughts her heart
conceals;
For that, which wisdom covers, love reveals. [_Aside_.
Madam, the prisoners are disposed.

_Zemp_. They are?
And how fares our young blustering man of war?
Does he support his chains with patience yet?

_Trax_. He, and the princess, madam--

_Zemp_. Are they met?

_Trax_. No: but from whence is all this passion
grown?

_Zemp_. 'Twas a mistake.

_Trax_. I find this rash unknown
Is dangerous; and, if not timely slain,
May plunge your empire in new wars again.

_Zemp_. Thank ye; I shall consider.

_Trax_. Is that all?
The army doat on him, already call
You cruel; and, for aught I know, they may
By force unchain, and crown him in a day.

_Zemp_. You say, I have already had their curse
For his bad usage; should I use him worse?

_Trax_. Yet once you feared his reputation might
Obscure the prince's in the people's sight.

_Zemp_. Time will inform us best what course to
steer,
But let us not our sacred vows defer:
The Inca and his daughter both shall die.

_Trax_. He suffers justly for the war; but why
Should she share his sad fate? A poor pretence,
That birth should make a crime of innocence.

_Zemp_. Yet we destroy the poisonous viper's young,
Not for themselves, but those from whom they
sprung.

_Trax_. O no, they die not for their parents' sake,
But for the poisonous seed which they partake.
Once more behold her, and then let her die,
If in that face or person you can see
But any place to fix a cruelty.
The heavens have clouds, and spots are in the moon;
But faultless beauty shines in her alone.

_Zemp_. Beauty has wrought compassion in your
mind!

_Trax_. And you to valour are become as kind.
To former services there's something due,
Yet be advised--

_Zemp_. Yes, by myself, not you.

_Trax_. Princes are sacred.

_Zemp_. True, whilst they are free:
But power once lost, farewell their sanctity:
'Tis power, to which the gods their worship owe,
Which, uncontrouled, makes all things just below:
Thou dost the plea of saucy rebels use;
They will be judge of what their prince must chuse:
Hard fate of monarchs, not allowed to know
When safe, but as their subjects tell them so.
Then princes but like public pageants move,
And seem to sway, because they sit above. [_Exit_.

_Trax_. She loves him; in one moment this new
guest
Has drove me out from this false woman's breast;
They, that would fetter love with constancy,
Make bonds to chain themselves, but leave him free
With what impatience I her falsehood bear!
Yet do myself that, which I blame in her;
But interest in my own cause makes me see
That act unjust in her, but just in me. [_Exit_.


SCENE II.

ISMERON _asleep. --Enter_ ZEMPOALLA.


_Zemp_. Ho, Ismeron, Ismeron!
He stirs not; ha, in such a dismal cell
Can gentle sleep with his soft blessings dwell?
Must I feel tortures in a human breast,
While beasts and monsters can enjoy their rest?
What quiet they possess in sleep's calm bliss!
The lions cease to roar, the snakes to hiss,
While I am kept awake,
Only to entertain my miseries.
Or if a slumber steal upon my eyes,
Some horrid dream my labouring soul benumbs
And brings fate to me sooner than it comes.
Fears most oppress when sleep has seized upon
The outward parts, and left the soul alone.
What envied blessings these cursed things enjoy!
Next to possess, 'tis pleasure to destroy.
Ismeron! ho, Ismeron, Ismeron! [_Stamps_.

_Ism_. Who's that, that with so loud and fierce a call
Disturbs my rest?

_Zemp_. She, that has none at all,
Nor ever must, unless thy powerful art
Can charm the passions of a troubled heart.

_Ism_. How can you have a discontented mind,
To whom the gods have lately been so kind?

_Zemp_. Their envious kindness how can I enjoy,
When they give blessings, and the use destroy?

_Ism_. Dread empress, tell the cause of all your grief;
If art can help, be sure of quick relief.

_Zemp_. I dreamed, before the altar that I led
A mighty lion in a twisted thread;
I shook to hold him in so slight a tie,
Yet had not power to seek a remedy:
When, in the midst of all my fears, a clove,
With hovering wings, descended from above,
Flew to the lion, and embraces spread,
With wings, like clasping arms, about his head,
Making that murmuring noise that cooing doves
Use, in the soft expression of their loves;
While I, fixed by my wonder, gazed to see
So mild a creature with so fierce agree:
At last the gentle dove turned from his head,
And, pecking, tried to break the slender thread,
Which instantly she severed, and released
From that small bond the fierce and mighty beast,
Who presently turned all his rage on me,
And, with his freedom, brought my destiny.

_Ism_. Dread empress, this strange vision you relate
Is big with wonder, and too full of fate,
Without the god's assistance, to expound.
In those low regions, where sad night hangs round
The drowsy vaults, and where moist vapours steep
The god's dull brows, that sways the realm of sleep;
There all the informing elements repair,
Swift messengers of water, fire, and air,
To give account of actions, whence they came,
And how they govern every mortal frame;
How, from their various mixture, or their strife,
Are known the calms and tempests of our life:
Thence souls, when sleep their bodies overcome,
Have some imperfect knowledge of their doom.
From those dark caves those powers shall strait appear;
Be not afraid, whatever shapes they wear.

_Zemp_. There's nothing, thou canst raise, can make me start;
A living form can only shake my heart.

_Ism_. _You twice ten hundred deities,
To whom we daily sacrifice;
You powers, that dwell with fate below,
And see what men are doomed to do;
Where elements in discord dwell;
Thou god of sleep, arise and tell
Great Zempoalla what strange fate
Must on her dismal vision wait. _

_Zemp_. How slow these spirits are! Call, make them rise,
Or they shall fast from flame and sacrifice.

_Ism_. Great empress,
Let not your rage offend what we adore,
And vainly threaten, when we must implore.
Sit silently, and attend--
While my powerful charms I end.

_By the croaking of the toad,
In their caves that make abode;
Earthy Dun that pants for breath,
With her swelled sides full of death;
By the crested adders' pride,
That along the clifts do glide;
By thy visage fierce and black;
By the death's-head on thy back;
By the twisted serpents placed
For a girdle round thy waist;
By the hearts of gold that deck
Thy breast, thy shoulders, and thy neck:
From thy sleepy mansion rise,
And open thy unwilling eyes,
While bubbling springs their music keep,
That use to lull thee in thy sleep. _

_God of Dreams rises_.

_God_. Seek not to know what must not be revealed;
Joys only flow where fate is most concealed:
Too busy man would find his sorrows more,
If future fortunes he should know before;
For, by that knowledge of his destiny,
He would not live at all, but always die.
Enquire not, then, who shall from bonds be freed,
Who 'tis shall wear a crown, and who shall bleed:
All must submit to their appointed doom;
Fate and misfortune will too quickly come:
Let me no more with powerful charms be pressed;
I am forbid by fate to tell the rest.

[_The god descends_.

_Zemp_. Stay, cozener, thou, that hat'st clear truth like light,
And usest words dark as thy own dull night.
You tyrant gods, do you refuse to free
The soul, you gave, from its perplexity?
Why should we in your mercies still believe,
When you can never pity, though we grieve?
For you have bound yourselves by harsh decrees;
And those, not you, are now the deities.
[_Sits down sad_.

_Ism_. She droops under the weight of rage and care:
You spirits, that inhabit in the air,
With all your powerful charms of music, try
To bring-her soul back to its harmony.

SONG SUNG BY AERIAL SPIRITS.

_Poor mortals, that are clogged with earth below,
Sink under love and care,
While we, that dwell in air,
Such heavy passions never know.
Why then should mortals be
Unwilling to be free
From blood, that sullen cloud,
Which shining souls does shroud?
Then they'll shew bright,
And like us light,
When leaving bodies with their care,
They slide to us and air_.

_Zemp_. Death on these trifles! Cannot your art find
Some means, to ease the passions of the mind?
Or, if you cannot give a lover rest,
Can you force love into a scornful breast?

_Ism_. Tis reason only can make passions less;
Art gives not new, but may the old increase;
Nor can it alter love in any breast,
That is with other flames before possessed.

_Zemp_. If this be all your slighted arts can do,
I'll kindle other flames, since I must burn,
And all their temples into ashes turn.

_Ism_. Great queen--

_Zemp. If you would have this sentence staid,
Summon their godheads quickly to your aid,
And presently compose a charm, that may
Love's flames into the stranger's breast convey,
The captive stranger, he whose sword and eyes
Wheree'er they strike, meet ready victories:
Make him but burn for me, in flames like mine,
Victims shall bleed, and feasted altars shine:
If not--
Down go your temples, and your gods shall see
They have small use of their divinity. [_Exeunt_.



ACT IV.

SCENE I. --_The scene opens, and discovers_ MONTEZUMA
_sleeping in prison_.

_Enter_ TRAXALLA _leading in_ ORAZIA.


_Trax_. Now take your choice, and bid him live or die;
To both shew pity, or shew cruelty:
'Tis you that must condemn, I'll only act;
Your sentence is more cruel than my fact.

_Oraz_. You are most cruel, to disturb a mind,
Which to approaching fate was so resigned.

_Trax_. Reward my passion, and you'll quickly prove
There's none dare sacrifice what I dare love.
Next to thee, stranger; wake, and now resign
The bold pretences of thy love to mine,
Or in this fatal minute thou shalt find--

_Mont_. Death, fool; in that thou may'st be just and kind:
'Twas I that loved Orazia, yet did raise
The storm, in which she sinks: Why dost thou gaze,
Or stay thy hand from giving that just stroke,
Which, rather than prevent, I would provoke?
When I am dead, Orazia may forgive;
She never must, if I dare wish to live.

_Oraz_. Hold, hold--O Montezuma, can you be
So careless of yourself, but more of me?
Though you have brought me to this misery,
I blush to say I cannot see you die.

_Mont_. Can my approaching fate such pity move?
The gods and you at once forgive and love.

_Trax_. Fond fool, thus to mis-spend that little breath
I lent thee to prevent, not hasten, death:
Let her thank you she was unfortunate,
And you thank her for pulling on your fate;
Prove to each other your own destinies. [_Draws_.

_Enter_ ZEMPOALLA _hastily, and sets a dagger to_
ORAZIA'S _breast. _

_Zemp_. Hold, hold, Traxalla, or Orazia dies. --
O, is't Orazia's name that makes you stay?
'Tis her great power, not mine, that you obey.
Inhuman wretch, dar'st thou the murderer be
Of him, that is not yet condemned by me?

_Trax_. The wretch, that gave you all the power you have,
May venture sure to execute a slave;
And quench a flame your fondness would have burn,
Which may this city into ashes turn,
The nation in your guilty passion lost;
To me ungrateful, to your country most:
But this shall be their offering, I their priest.

_Zemp_. The wounds, thou giv'st, I'll copy on her breast:
Strike, and I'll open here a spring of blood,
Shall add new rivers to the crimson flood.
How his pale looks are fixed on her! --'tis so.
Oh, does amazement on your spirits grow?
What, is your public love Orazia's grown?
Could'st thou see mine, and yet not hide thy own?
Suppose I should strike first, would it not breed
Grief in your public heart to see her bleed?

_Trax_. She mocks my passion; in her sparkling eyes
Death, and a close dissembled fury lies:
I dare not trust her thus. [_Aside_. ]--If she must die,
The way to her loved life through mine shall lie.

[_He puts her by, and steps before_ ORAZIA; _and
she runs before_ MONTEZUMA.

_Zemp_. And he, that does this stranger's fate design,
Must, to his heart, a passage force through mine.

_Trax_. Can fair Orazia yet no pity have?
'Tis just she should her own preserver save.

_Zemp_. Can Montezuma so ungrateful prove
To her, that gave him life, and offers love?

_Oraz_. Can Montezuma live, and live to be
Just to another, and unjust to me?
You need not be ungrateful; can she give
A life to you, if you refuse to live? --
Forgive my passion; I had rather see
You dead, than kind to any thing but me.

_Mont_. O, my Orazia!
To what new joys and knowledge am I brought!
Are death's hard lessons by a woman taught?
How to despise my fate I always knew;
But ne'er durst think, at once, of death and you:
Yet since you teach this generous jealousy,
I dare not wish your life, if I must die.
How much your love my courage does exceed!
Courage alone would shrink to see you bleed!

_Zemp_. Ungrateful stranger! thou shalt please thy eyes,
And gaze upon Orazia while she dies! --
I'll keep my vow! --It is some joy to see,
That my revenge will prove my piety.

_Trax_. Then both shall die! --We have too long withstood,
By private passions urged, the public good.

_Zemp_. Sure he dissembles; and, perhaps, may prove
My ruin, with his new ambitious love:
Were but this stranger kind, I'd cross his art,
And give my empire, where I gave my heart.
[_Aside_. Yet, thou ungrateful man,
Let thy approaching ruin make thee wise.

_Mont_. Thee, and thy love, and mischief, I despise!

_Zemp_. What shall I do? Some way must yet be tried;--
What reason can she use whom passions guide!

[_Aside. Trax_. Some black designs are hatching now:--False eyes
Are quick to see another's treacheries.

[_Aside. Zemp_. Rash stranger, thus to pull down thy own fate!

_Mont_. You, and that life you offer me, I hate.

_Enter Jailor_.

_Zemp_. Here, jailor, take--What title must he have?
Slave, slave! --Am I then captive to a slave? --
Why art thou thus unwilling to be free?

_Mont_. Death will release me from these chains, and thee.

_Zemp_. Here, jailor, take this monster from my sight,
And keep him where it may be always night.
Let none come near him; if thou dost, expect
To pay thy life, the price of the neglect.

_Mont_. I scorn thy pity, and thy cruelty;
And should despise a blessing sent from thee.

_Zemp_. O, horror to my soul! take him away! --
My rage, like dammed-up streams, swelled by some stay,
Shall, from this opposition, get new force,
And leave the bound of its old easy course. --
Come, my Traxalla, let us both forgive,
And in these wretches' fates begin to live.
The altars shall be crowned with funeral boughs,
Peace-offerings paid,--but with unquiet vows.
[_Exeunt_ ZEMP. _and_ TRAX.

_Oraz_. How are things ordered, that the wicked should
Appear more kind and gentle than the good?
Her passion seems to make her kinder prove,
And I seem cruel through excess of love:
She loves, and would prevent his death; but I,
That love him better, fear he should not die.
My jealousy, immortal as my love,
Would rob my grave below, and me above,
Of rest. --Ye gods, if I repine, forgive!
You neither let me die in peace, nor live.

_Enter_ ACACIS, _Jailor, and Indian_.

_Jail_. They are just gone, sir.

_Aca_. 'Tis well: Be faithful to my just design,
And all thy prince's fortune shall be thine.
[_Exit_ ACACIS.

_Ind_. This shall to the empress. [_Exit Indian_.

_Oraz_. What can this mean! --
'Twas Prince Acacis, if I durst believe
My sight; but sorrow may like joy deceive:
Each object different from itself appears,
That comes not to the eyes, but through their tears.

_Enter_ ACACIS, _bringing in_ MONTEZUMA.
Ha! --

_Aca_. Here, sir, wear this again;--[_Gives a sword_.
Now follow me.

_Mont_. So, very good;--
I dare not think, for I may guess amiss;
None can deceive me while I trust in this. [_Exeunt_.


SCENE II.

_Enter_ ORAZIA, _conducted by two Indians with their
swords drawn;_ MONTEZUMA, ACACIS _whispering
another Indian_.


_Aca_. Think what a weight upon thy faith I lay.

_Ind_.