Of doubt and fear, uncertain of my fate;When, by a thousand crooked paths, at last
I found a passage to his heart, and thought
I had secured it, Mariamne came;
And, when he saw her, all was lost again;
My arts all baffled by a single glance:
Yes, the proud queen was mistress of my life,
And might have taken it: had she known the way
To manage well her easy lover’s fondness,
Herod had signed the mandate for another,
And not for Mariamne; then the blow
I meant for her had fallen on Salome:
But I have made her pride assist my vengeance,
And I have only now to point the dart,
Which her own hand hath fashioned, to destroy her.
Thou mayest remember well the fatal time
That blasted all our hopes; when, Antony
Subdued. Augustus took the reins of empire,
Each Eastern monarch trembled on his throne:
Amongst the rest my hapless brother feared,
With his protector, he had lost his crown.
Resistance now was vain, and naught remained
But to address the conqueror of the world
In lowliest terms, and ask forgiveness of him.
Call back that dreadful day, when Herod, driven
Even to despair, beheld proud Mariamne
Spurn at his offered love and kind farewell;
Heard her with anguish heap reproaches on him;
Call for a father’s and a brother’s blood,
Shed by her tyrant husband: Herod flew
To me, and told his griefs; I seized the moment
Propitious to my vengeance, and regained
A sister’s power o’er his distressed heart;
Inflamed his rage, and sharpened his despair;
Dipped in fresh poison the envenomed dart
That pierced his soul: then, desperate in his wrath,
Thou heardest him swear to exterminate the race
Of Hebrews, and destroy its poor remains;
Condemn the mother, and cut off her sons
From their inheritance: but soon to rage
Succeeded love; one look from her disarmed
His vengeance. I, with double eagerness,
Pressed his departure, and at length prevailed:
He left her; from that hour I was successful;
My frequent letters kept up his resentment,
And, absent from her, all his rage returned:
He blushed in secret for his weakness past,
And by degrees, as I removed the veil,
His eyes were opened: Zares caught with me
The favorable hour, and painted her
In blackest colors; told him of her power,
Her interest, friends, and the seditious faction,
The partisans of the Asmonæan race.
But I did more, I raised his jealousy;
He trembled for his glory, and his life:
Continual treasons had alarmed his soul,
And left it ever open to suspicion:
Whate’er he fears, still ready to believe,
He is not able to distinguish guilt
From innocence; in short, I fixed his soul,
Guided his hand, and made him sign the mandate.
mazael.
’Twas nobly done: but what will Varus say,
The haughty prætor, will he see unmoved
A deed so daring? he’s thy master here,
And, unconfirmed by Rome, thy power is nothing.
From Varus’ hand thy brother must receive
His crown; nor can he act as sovereign here
Till the proud prætor shall restore it to him.
Will Varus, thinkest thou, e’er permit a queen,
Left to his care, to fall a sacrifice?
I know the Romans well, they ne’er forgive
Such rude contempt of their authority.
Thou wilt bring down the storm on Herod’s head;
Their thunder’s always ready; those proud conquerors
Are jealous of their rights, and take, thou knowest,
Peculiar pleasure in the fall of kings.
salome.
Fear not for Herod, Cæsar is his friend,
And Varus knows it, therefore will respect him:
Perhaps this Roman means to manage all,
But be it as it may, my aim is vengeance;
I’m on the verge of glory or of shame;
To-morrow, nay, to-day may change the scene:
Who knows if e’er hereafter I shall find
An hour propitious to me, who can tell
If Herod will be steady to his purpose?
I know his weakness, and I must prevent it,
Nor give him time to say, it shall not be.
When it is done, let Varus rage, and Rome
Pour forth her threats, it shall not damp my joys:
