In Athens. A public square with a tribune for speaking in the centre. In the foreground on one side the open porch of a temple with statues of gods, garlands, and an altar. EVE as Lucia, the wife of Miltiades, the commander of the army, with her son KIMON, accompanied by a few slaves who bear objects for sacrifice, comes before the temple. In the square people in rags are moving to and fro. A sunny morning.

EVE
Hither, come hither, dearest son, and see.
Thy father yonder in his speedy ship
Sailed forth to fight on a far, hostile land.
For there beyond, there dwells a cruel race
That threatens our fair nation’s liberty.
Come, Kimon, let us pray the mighty gods
That Heaven shall protect our people’s right
And bring thy valiant father safe again.

KIMON
Why hath my father fared so far away,
This ragged cowardly people to protect,
And left his lovely wife to grieve at home?

EVE
Nay, judge thy noble father not, for God
Doth on such children lay his heavy curse.
Only a loving woman hath the right
To mourn the mighty exploits of her lord,
And shame would feel if he did not such deeds.
Thy father hath done what befits a man.

KIMON
Then dost thou fear that he will vanquished be?

EVE
Nay, boy, he is a hero, and will gain
The victory; one thing I fear alone
That of himself he prove not vanquisher.

KIMON
How meanest thou?

EVE
      There is a mighty word
That fires men’s hearts, ambition! In the slave
It sleeps; or in his narrow soul debased,
Sinks to be crime, but, nourished with the blood
Of freedom, grows to greatness, and the pride
Of citizenship; and all noble things
Waketh to life; but if it prove too strong,
It turneth on its mother, strives with her
Until one or the other bleed to death.
If in his heart ambition should wax bold,
And he should e’er this sacred land betray,
My curse were on him. Let us pray, my son.
They withdraw into the temple. Meanwhile the square becomes more and more thronged.

FIRST VOICE FROM THE CROWD
No stirring news of warfare, it would seem
Our army hath not met the enemy.

SECOND VOICE FROM THE CROWD
And in the city all men sleep. Does none
Perchance yet form a plan that, as of old,
Must, ere it may be carried out, receive
The sanction of the sovereign people’s voice?
To this place early am I come today,
Yet have I met no client for my vote.

FIRST VOICE FROM THE CROWD
A weary life, my friends, what shall we do?

THIRD VOICE FROM THE CROWD
A little uproar would not come amiss.
Meanwhile EVE has lit the fire on the altar, washed her hands and prepared for the sacrifice to be offered. Her Attendant Maidens begin a hymn which mingles, verse by verse, with the scene that follows. The square is filled with citizens and people. Two demagogues fight for the tribune.

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
Away, this place is mine, if I speak not,
The country is in peril, get thee gone!
The crowd cheer.

SECOND DEMAGOGUE
Nay, but the State will perish if thou speak.
The crowd laugh and clap.
Base hireling, get thee gone.

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
      No hireling thou,
For none would hire thee. Citizens, in grief
I raise my voice, for to a noble mind
Woeful it is to bring a great man low.
And yet I must, before your judgement seat,
From his triumphal chariot drag him down.

SECOND DEMAGOGUE
Thou knave, a good beginning dost thou make,
Go, deck with bloom the beast thou hast ordained
For sacrifice.

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
      Away from here, begone!

VOICES FROM THE CROWD
Why do we hearken to this scoffing rogue.
They try to pull the Second Demagogue down.

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
Yet though my heart is sad, I needs must speak,
For greater than its general do I hold
The welfare of the people’s sovereignty.

SECOND DEMAGOGUE
This hungry, venal rabble that doth watch,
Like to a dog, for broken bread that from
Its master’s table falls. Ye race of cowards,
I envy not the sorry meal ye make.

VOICES FROM THE CROWD
Down with the traitor! Down with him!
They grow more violent. EVE sacrifices two doves and incense on the altar.

EVE
O holy Aphrodite, hear my prayer,
Deign to accept the scent of sacrifice;
I ask thee not for laurels for my lord,
But peace at home to cheer his valiant heart.
In the smoke of the sacrifice EROS appears, smiling. The GRACES surround him and scatter roses on him. The group of worshippers are silent in devotion.

THE ATTENDANT MAIDENS
Oh, hear her prayer.

EROS
      Thy pure heart shall be
A blessing on thee.

THE GRACES
      And the Graces guard
And cherish thee.

THE ATTENDANT MAIDENS
      Hail! Aphrodite, hail!

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
O people, hear the accusation, hear!
Miltiades the country hath betrayed.

SECOND DEMAGOGUE
Thou speakest falsehood; hear, o people, else
Too late shall ye repent of evil done.

FIRST VOICE FROM THE CROWD
Thou impudent deceiver, down from hence!
They pull him down into the crowd.

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
The flower of thy youth he doth command,
He, who has taken Lemnos at one blow,
Now, halting, waits at Paros, bought with bribes!

THIRD VOICE FROM THE CROWD
Death to him! Death!

FIRST CITIZEN
      Cry death to him, ye knaves
Or never look to me for help again.
The sacrifice ends. The Deities vanish.

EVE rising
What tumult sounds without? Come, see my son.

KIMON
The people on a traitor sentence pass.
Advancing to the steps of the porch.

EVE
My heart doth ever tremble if I see
This hungry people judge the strong and great.
For if the noble fall into the mire,
The mob looks on with cruel joy and mocks,
As though it saw its baseness justified.

SECOND VOICE FROM THE CROWD
My master, I am hoarse, yet I would cry.

SECOND CITIZEN
Lo, here is something that shall ease thy throat.

SECOND VOICE FROM THE CROWD
What shall I speak?

SECOND CITIZEN
      Why, cry death to the knave!

SECOND VOICE FROM THE CROWD
Death, death!

EVE
      For whose death doth the people shout?

SECOND DEMAGOGUE stepping up to her.
For whose death else than his who stands a head
Above his fellows? That they cannot brook.

EVE
They seek to kill Miltiades! Ye gods!
And thou, Old Crispos, whom from slavery
My Lord did free, dost thou cry death to him?

CRISPOS
I ask forgiveness, lady; one alone
May live of us two. I three children have;
And he who bids me vote supports us all.

EVE
Woe to thee, if thy fate degrades thee so.
But yet I pardon thee if thou dost starve.
But thou, Thersites, and ye all, ye all,
Who sleep in peace, content and prosperous,
Because Miltiades your enemies
Hath driven from your gates! Oh, thankless men!

THERSITES
Ah, lady, though it grieves me to the heart,
What can we do? It is the people’s voice,
And who would risk the loss of all he hath
In rash defiance of the raging tide?

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
Then I the people’s sentence do declare.
LUCIFER, as a soldier with terrified face, rashes in.

LUCIFER
All, all is lost. The foe is at the gates.

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
It cannot be. Stands not our general
Victor before them?

LUCIFER
      Lo, he is the foe.
What ye do plot against him he hath learned.
And noble anger stirs within his breast.
And whilst ye prate, he comes with fire and sword.

SECOND DEMAGOGUE
Ye traitors, ye have brought all this on us.

VOICES FROM THE CROWD
Down with them! Long live our great general!
Woe to us, let us flee, each for himself!
Oh, all is lost!

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
      Nay, let us homage pay
And meet him at the gates.

EVE
      O ye great gods!
Grievous the judgment of thy death, my lord,
But yet more bitter ’tis thou nast deserved
The condemnation - though thy life be spared.

FIRST VOICE FROM THE CROWD
Come, seize his wife; if any harm shall come
Upon our town, she and her son shall die.

EVE
For thee, my lord, I gladly yield my life.
But let my son be spared his country’s curse.

KIMON
Fear not for me, my mother, come with me.
This holy place shall shield us from all hurt.
They escape from the pursuers into the porch of the temple. Two Nymphs let fall a chain of roses behind them in front of the crowd, who thereon draw back. From without, trumpets sound, and the crowd with cries of fear disperse. The Nymphs vanish.

LUCIFER laughing, rubs his hands.
A good jest was it. Excellent it is
That when hearts break, the intellect doth laugh.
Turns towards the temple.
If but the sight of this for ever young,
Eternal beauty did disturb me not.
I shiver in this realm of mystery,
Which on the shameless casts a veil of shame,
Renders the sinner noble, destiny
Sublime makes, with the blossoms of the rose,
And with the kisses of simplicity.
Why doth my world its coming so delay,
Perverted form, and terror, doubt and fear
To put to flight this dream that raises man
When he doth faint, to rise to fight anew?
But we shall see, when death’s dark horror comes
And casts its shadow, if this tedious play
Of foolish puppets doth not reach its end.
He mingles with the Crowd.
ADAM, as Miltiades, is brought in wounded at the head of armed troops. The Crowd and the Demagogues in supplication before him.

VOICES FROM THE CROWD
Long live our general! Mercy, great lord!

ADAM
What have ye done, that mercy ye implore?
What can the strong ask of the weak? ’Tis strange,
My wife comes not to greet me, nor my son,
Some evil surely hath befallen them.

EVE
Why art thou come, Miltiades, if I
No joy may feel that thou art come? My son,
Succour thy mother, for she sinks in shame,
Thy father leaveth no good name to thee.

ADAM
What means this? At my feet the people fall,
My wife doth curse me, while my breast doth bleed,
Wounded in battle for my native land.

EVE
Thy country and my heart bleed more than thou.
Why comest thou with men in armour here?

ADAM
Doth not such escort then befit my rank?
I come, because my grievous wound forbids
That I my office rightly may perform.
I come to yield up my authority
Into the hands of those who sent me forth,
The sovereign people, and account to it.
to the soldiers
My valiant friends! I take my leave of you,
Well have ye merited your hearth and home.
Pallas Athene, lo, I dedicate
To thee, upon thine altar, this my sword.
He has himself conducted up the steps of the temple. The soldiers disperse.

EVE throwing herself upon his neck
Where is the wife more happy than thine own?
Beloved husband, great Miltiades,
See how thy son grows like thee, and how tall
And handsome is he!

ADAM
      Ah, beloved ones!

KIMON
Well knew I that, whate’er my father does,
Is well done.

EVE
      Kimon, make me not ashamed,
His wife should have had firmer faith than thee.

ADAM
My son, give to the gods thy father’s sword.

KIMON hangs the sword above the altar.
O Pallas, guard this precious sword until
The time shall come for me to seek it here.

EVE
And let the mother at this sacrifice
Twofold burn incense. Pallas, save and bless.
She sacrifices incense.

FIRST DEMAGOGUE on the tribune
Spake I not truth, that he a traitor is,
Bought by Darius? A pretence his wound,
He will not fight against the Persian host.

VOICES FROM THE CROWD
Death to him, death!

ADAM
      What tumult sounds without?

EVE
Miltiades, that cry is terrible!
The crowd doth call thee traitor once again.

ADAM
The charge gives food for mirth, a traitor I,
The victor of the fight at Marathon?

EVE
Alas, an evil folk thou findest here!

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
Why tarry ye? Seize him!
The mob presses towards the temple, LUCIFER among them.

EVE
      Miltiades,
Stay in this holy place, here art thou safe!
Ah, why hast thou disbanded all thy host?
Why didst thou not destroy this haunt of crime?
This rabble doth deserve nought else than chains,
Which feels that thou wert born to be its lord,
Since thou more great and noble art than all,
And slays thee lest it fall before thy feet.

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
Do ye hear what this traitor’s wife doth speak?

EVE
It is the woman’s right that she protect
Her husband, though he should a sinner prove,
And how much more Miltiades, my lord,
Whose heart is pure, from such base dogs as ye.

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
Why doth the people’s sovereignty permit
These insults?

FIRST VOICE FROM THE CROWD
      How if she doth speak the truth?

FIRST CITIZEN
Who holds to them is suspect. Shout aloud,
Ye scurvy ragged knaves, or starve to death!

VOICES FROM THE CROWD
Death to him!

ADAM
      Cover the boy’s eyes. My blood
He must not see; away, wife, from my breast.
Let not the lightning that the rock doth blast,
Smite thee. Alone I die - why should I live?
I mark how foolish is that liberty
Which I have ever striven to defend.

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
Why waver ye so long?

VOICES FROM THE CROWD
      Death, death to him!

ADAM
I curse this craven people not; the fault
Lies not in them, by nature are they base,
Since misery hath branded them as slaves,
And slavery hath rendered them the tools
Of murder in a few proud rebels’ hands.
And I alone was mad that I believed
That such a people needed liberty.

LUCIFER aside
Thou hast thyself pronounced thine epitaph,
And that of many great ones after thee.

ADAM
Lead me down hence: no longer will I claim
This sanctuary.
He causes himself to be conducted down the steps. He gives EVE tenderly into the hands of her Attendant Maidens.
      I am ready, come.

SECOND DEMAGOGUE
Lo, speak, defend thyself; all is not lost.

ADAM
My wound should sore torment me if I spake
In my defence.

SECOND DEMAGOGUE
      Yet speak and save thyself.
A short while since the people fawned on thee.

ADAM
Ah, therefore were it vain; its own disgrace
This sullen people never will forgive.

LUCIFER
Thou art then undeceived?

ADAM
      Ah, truly so.

LUCIFER
Thou seest that thou wert a nobler lord
To this besotted mob than it to thee?

ADAM
It may be, yet the ruin is the same;
And fate the same is, though its name be changed.
To strive with it is idle, and no more
Will I maintain the combat. But yet why
Should any noble heart strive toward the heights?
Ah, let him live for self and pleasure seek,
With which to gratify his fleeting life,
And stagger, drunken, to the land of shades.
To new ways lead me onward, Lucifer,
Onward, that I may gaze and laugh to see
The virtues and the woes of other men,
And pleasures only for myself desire.
Thou, woman, who, it seemeth to my heart,
Once, with thy magic, in the desert set
A garden for me, if thou, of my son,
Like a good mother, make a citizen;
Mad wert thou, worthy to be laughed to scorn
By any painted prostitute who sits
Within a tavern, fired with wine and lust,
Virtue deny, with pleasure sate thyself!
On, to the scaffold, to my punishment,
Not as for some base deed, but for the cause
That noble hopes and aims possessed my soul.
Meanwhile a block is brought before the steps. LUCIFER stands beside it with an axe. ADAM bends his head.

FIRST DEMAGOGUE
Let him be put to death. Long live the State!

LUCIFER in a whisper to ADAM
A fine farewell. But bravest warrior,
Doth not the horror of death’s icy blast
Make thee to shudder somewhat in strange dread?

EVE
Pallas, thou hast not hearkened to my prayer.
From the temple issues the Genius of Death as a gentle-eyed youth. He approaches Adam with a reversed torch and with a wreath.

ADAM
Pallas hath heard. The gods be with thee, wife.
My heart is now at peace, my Lucia.

LUCIFER
A curse on thee, world of illusion vain!
Thou hast my triumph thwarted once again.

EVE
A curse upon thee, people brutish, mean;
Thou hast destroyed the fount of happiness.
Its blossom fresh lies withered in the dust.
Yet not so sweet was liberty to thee,
As it was grievous to my mourning heart.