Rome. An open porch with statues of the gods, vessels with fragrant incense burning in them, with a view over the Apennines. In the centre a table laid and three couches. ADAM as Sergiolus, LUCIFER as Milo, and CATULUS, all voluntuaries. EVE as Julia, HIPPIA and CLUVIA as courtesans, richly and shamelessly apparelled, are revelling. On a raised platform a gladiatorial combat is in progress, slaves stand ready to receive orders. Flute-players are playing. Twilight; later, night.
CATULUS
How agile and how skilled, Sergiolus,
This gladiator with his crimson band,
I wager he prove victor in the fight.
ADAM
No, by great Hercules!
CATULUS
By Hercules,
Why which of us believeth in the gods?
’Twere better thou shouldst swear by Julia!
ADAM
So be it!
LUCIFER
Thou hast sworn a mighty oath
Setting one idol in another’s stead.
Swearest thou by her beauty or thy love,
Or by her faithfulness to thee, perchance?
CATULUS
Beauty doth fade, but if it faded not,
What charms one day were wearisome the next
A woman with less grace would steal thy heart
With the enchantment of new spells unknown.
ADAM
I do swear by her faithfulness to me.
Who hath upon his mistress lavished more
Than I?
HIPPIA
Ah, canst thou ever her embrace?
And if thou couldst, thou, who dost vainly yearn
For joy to which thou never canst attain,
Since in each woman thou canst only find
A single portion of the sum of bliss,
While the ideal of beauty and delight
Flees, an elusive phantom, from thy grasp,
How knowst thou if she, too, no caprice have,
No fond delusion that beguileth her?
A gladiator’s muscles torn…
ADAM
Thou speakest truth, but no more, Hippia!
Why thirst we for delight as Tantalus,
If we have not the strength of Hercules
And cannot change, like Proteus, our form,
And a despised slave, his toil fulfilled,
Doth such an hour enjoy as all in vain
His master seeketh? Is it, then, the truth
That pleasure is like water, that doth bring
Joy to the faint who drinketh but a draught,
But death to him who leaps into its waves?
LUCIFER
How fine this discourse on morality
To grace the wine cup and our lovely guests!
But do we make the wager?
ADAM
If I lose,
Then Julia is thine.
CATULUS
And if thou win?
ADAM
Thy horse is mine.
CATULUS
A month hence buy her back
Or I will thrust her in my lamprey pond.
LUCIFER
How fine and plump this fish, fair Julia:
Taste it, for thou shalt fatten others soon.
EVE
And shall no ugly worm feed on thee too?
Let him who lives rejoice, or if perchance
Rejoice he cannot, let him learn to laugh.
Drinks.
ADAM to his gladiator
Hey, fight thy best!
CATULUS to his gladiator
Now, bravely, on to him!
Catulus’ gladiator falls and from the ground raises his fingers to beg for his life. ADAM is about to make the sign of mercy, but Catulus arrest his hand and, clenching his fingers, turns his thumb downwards towards the gladiator.
Recipe ferrum! Cowardly dog! Of slaves
I have enough still, and I will not be
A miser. Ladies, who would you begrudge
This little scene exciting; sweeter far
Are kisses, love more ardent, if there flow
A little blood.
Meanwhile his victorious opponent has killed the gladiator.
ADAM
Kiss me, the horse is mine,
My Julia. Bear away this body. Ho!
Dancers, begin your merry comedy,
Enough to-day fighting.
They take away the corpse; dancers occupy the raised platform.
CATULUS
Cluvia,
Come, kiss me, I can never look for long
Whilst others yield to fond embrace.
LUCIFER
And we,
My Hippia, shall we not follow them?
But cleanse thy lip, lest there be poison there;
So, now my sweet, let us make merry too.
ADAM
Why beats thy heart so fast, my Julia?
My head upon thy bosom cannot rest.
They whisper.
LUCIFER
Hear ye, this madman babbles of the heart!
CATULUS
My dear one, see, I leave thy heart to thee,
Do what thou wilt with it, so I know not.
But let my lips ne’er lack thy kisses glow.
CLUVIA
Ah generous! I pledge thee in this cup.
Drinks.
CATULUS
So then, ’tis well. Thy arms are soft, my love,
But let me rest in thy embrace. Ah, see,
My garland from my head slips to the ground.
to the dancing girls
Lo, what a triumph of the dancers’ art,
What glowing fire, what rhythm and what grace!
CLUVIA
My fingers I will lay upon thine eyes,
If thou see there a charm for which I strive;
I cannot draw a word of praise from thee.
pointing to Lucifer
But look upon that bitter face. This man,
What pleasure finds he in yon lovely form,
If he can let his mistress idly dream, whilst he
Watches with mocking smile, and coldly eyes
The hundred sweet, albeit foolish things
That cast a fragrance on our happy feast.
CATULUS
Why truly, such a churlish face would cast
An icy gloom on all the realm of song.
He who this hour’s enchantment doth resist
And yields his soul not to the tide of joy
Is no good man and would he stayed at home.
HIPPIA
I fear almost lest this unhappy man
Hath been already stricken by the plague
Which rages in the city.
ADAM
Come, no more!
Away with these grim fancies. Friends, a song!
Who best knows how to sing a roundelay?
HIPPIA sings
Of wine and love no measure
Shall ever dull our pleasure.
New fragrance rare
Each cup doth hold,
And ecstasy doth shine on us
As shines the sun on headstones grey,
With radiant gleams of gold.
Of wine and love no measure
Shall ever dull our pleasure,
Each maiden hath
New charms untold,
And ecstasy doth shine on us,
As shines the sun on headstones grey,
With radiant gleams of gold.
CATULUS
A good song. Cluvia, what wilt thou sing?
CLUVIA sings
Hey, a mad world was it long ago,
When a lover sought to cheer her woe,
Widowed Lucrece did his suit deny,
Cold her breast, love’s pleasures did she fly,
And, resisting Cupid’s flaming dart
Plunged a dagger in her grieving heart.
ALL
The world is wiser now, rejoice we may
That in a wiser world we live to-day.
CLUVIA
Hey, a mad world was it long ago,
Brutus would rise up to fight the foe,
Leave his lovely home, with sword and shield
Like a common soldier take the field.
Why? A ragged people to defend.
Death on bloody battlefield his end.
ALL
The world is wiser now, rejoice we may
That in a wiser world we live to-day.
CLUVIA
Hey, a mad world was it long ago,
Ghostly fears brought hearts of heroes low,
They held holy what to us is mirth;
If such madmen now were on this earth
They should at our Roman people’s feasts
Be a show for us, and food for beasts.
ALL
The world is wiser now, rejoice we may
That in a wiser world we live to-day.
LUCIFER
Cluvia, thou hast Hippia surpassed.
I would that I myself had made that song.
ADAM
Julia, thou hast no song, why art thou sad,
When all around are gay and full of mirth?
Art thou then loath to lean upon my breast?
EVE
Ah nay; but, my Sergiolus, forgive,
If happiness make grave my countenance;
The happiness which laughs, I deem untrue.
Yea, with the sweetest moment of our joy
Is mingled an unutterable pain.
Perhaps it seems our bliss is but a flower,
Which withereth.
ADAM
So doth it seem to me.
EVE
And when I hear the music and the song,
I think not on the purport of the words,
The tide of sound doth lull me in its waves,
And then I feel I slumber in a dream,
And float upon a stream of harmony
Far back into the past, where once I played
Beneath the sunny palm-trees, innocent
In childhood’s distant days. My soul was called
Toward all things great and noble - But forgive,
’Tis but the magic of a foolish dream,
I kiss thee once again-and, lo, I wake.
ADAM
Away with dance and music, I grow sick
With this eternal stream of sweet delights.
My heart already yearns for bitterness,
Wormwood in wine, for kisses, stinging wounds,
And on my head distress and heaviness.
The dancers withdraw; a cry of pain is heard from without.
What cry is that which smites upon my heart?
LUCIFER
They do but crucify a few mad fools
Who dream of justice and of brotherhood.
CATULUS
And rightly so. Why stayed they not at home?
To seek their pleasure, and the world forget?
Why have they mixed in other men’s affairs?
LUCIFER
The beggar for his brother would the rich,
Yet make the beggar rich, the rich man poor,
And he would nail the other to a cross.
CATULUS
Then let us laugh at misery and wealth,
And mock the plague that rages in the town,
And all things that the Fates ordain for us.
New cry of pain.
ADAM to himself
Ah, then I feel I slumber in a dream
And float upon a stream of harmony,
Far back into the past. My soul was called
Toward all things great and noble. - Julia,
Did’st thou speak those words?
EVE
Yea, those words I spake.
Meanwhile it has grown dark. Before the porch passes a funeral procession with flutes and torches and mourning women. For a few moments dead silence reigns among all the revellers.
LUCIFER laughing
It seems our gaiety is overcast,
Is wit then silent, is there no more wine?
Because our surly friend hath drunk his fill?
Or, peradventure one of us doth fear,
Or is just now converted.
ADAM throwing his cup at Lucifer
Perish thou,
If so thou thinkest!
LUCIFER
Then, to join us, friends,
Straightway a new guest will I now invite.
Perchance he shall restore our mirth again.
Ho, slaves, bring in our friend who journeyeth
With light of torches, let him rest awhile,
We would but offer him a draught of wine.
They bring in the corpse on an open bier and place it on the table. The escort remains in the background. LUCIFER raises his wine cup to the corpse, in greeting.
Drink, friend, thy turn to-day; to-morrow, mine!
HIPPIA to the corpse
Perchance thou wouldst a kiss?
LUCIFER
Embrace him then,
And steal the obol hidden in his mouth.
HIPPIA
If thee I kiss, why may I not kiss him?
She kisses the dead man. The apostle PETER steps forward from among the mourners.
PETER
Hold, thou dost suck the plague into thyself!
ALL recoil in horror and rise from their places.
ALL
The plague! The plague! Away from hence, away!
PETER
Ah, wretched generation, race of cowards,
While happiness and ease doth smile on thee
Thou spreadest like a butterfly thy wings
To wanton in the sunlight, and dost mock
God, and all virtue tramplest underfoot.
But if the moment come, when at thy door
Disaster knocketh, if thou dost but feel
God’s awful finger laid upon thy head,
Thou cringest, craven, bowed in base despair.
Dost thou not feel that Heaven’s punishment
Weighs hard upon thee? Lift thine eyes and see!
The city is laid waste. A barbarous
And savage horde doth trample underfoot
Thy golden harvest. Order perisheth,
No man commandeth, no man doth obey.
Murder and theft stalk shameless through the land,
And after, follow terror and grey care.
No help or stay is found in earth or heaven.
Thou can’st not lull with passion rapturous
That voice that speaks within thy deepest heart,
And vainly urges thee to nobler ends!
Thou dost not feel contentment, verily,
And only loathing now doth pleasure yield.
Thy lips do tremble and with haggard eyes
Thou gazest vainly: in the ancient gods
Thou dost believe no more, they are but stones.
The statues of the gods crumble and full into dust.
They crumble, and thou findest no new God
To lift thee once again from dust and clay.
Yet see, what is more mighty to destroy
Than plague that spreadeth in thy city death.
From their soft couches thousands rise to seek
The empty wilderness of Thebais
To live as anchorites that shun the world,
There seeking, for their senses numbed, that which
May yet excite, that which may yet uplift.
Base generation, thou shalt perish from
This great world that shall now be purified.
HIPPIA collapsing in front of the table
O woe is me, I writhe in agony,
An icy sweat, the flames of Orcus burn!
The plague, the plague, my life is gone from me!
Is there not one of you to succour me
Who have with me so much of pleasure shared?
LUCIFER
To-day thy turn; to-morrow mine, fair one.
HIPPIA
Then kill me, kill me, or my curse on thee!
PETER stepping up to her
Curse not, my daughter, curse not, but forgive.
Lo, I will succour thee and the Great God,
The everlasting God of sacred love.
Lift up thy heart to him. See, now thy soul
Is by this water cleansed from sin and dross
And flies to Him.
He baptizes her with a dish taken from the table.
HIPPIA
My father, I have peace.
She dies.
CATULUS setting forth
I turn my steps to Thebais to-day,
This world of sin is loathsome to me now.
CLUVIA
Stay, Catulus, for I will go with thee.
She goes with Catulus.
ADAM absorbed in thought, advances to the front. EVE follows him.
Art thou here, Julia? What wouldest thou
Where death hath slain our mirth and happiness?
EVE
And is not then my place there, where thou art?
Sergiolus, thou couldst have found so much
Nobility in this poor heart of mine
Where thou didst only seek for passing joy.
ADAM
And in my heart lay too nobility.
Alas, what might have been! To perish thus
Meanly and miserably. If God be,
kneels and raises hands to heaven
If he hath care for us and governeth,
Let him a new race bring upon the earth,
Create a new ideal for mankind,
Reviving with fresh blood our outworn race,
Inflaming with new ardour noble hearts
To strive on, upward. All that which was ours
Is worn out now, and we have little strength
To form a new world. Hear us, O my God!
In the sky the Cross appears in glory. From behind the mountain the glare of burning towns is seen. From the hilltops half-savage hordes swarn down. From the distance a hymn is heard.
LUCIFER to himself
This sight doth send a tremor through my heart,
But is it not my part to fight with man?
That which I cannot do he doth for me,
And such like play before hath met mine eyes,
And when the glory slowly hath grown dim
Doth yet remain a sign, the cross of blood.
PETER
The Lord hath heard. Lift up thine eyes and see,
The outworn earth begins to be reborn.
These warriors clad in the pelt of beasts,
Savage and barbarous, who burn with fire
Fair cities, these, whose horses trample down
The harvest that dead centuries have sown,
And find their stable in deserted shrines,
These shall renew with red and virile blood
The outworn veins of an exhausted race;
And these, who in the circus raise their hymn,
While ravening tigers tear them limb from limb,
These shall a vision new bring to this earth,
The freedom of all men, and brotherhood,
These wondrous forces that shall shake the world.
ADAM
I feel the soul doth yearn for other things
Than that sweet sloth that pillowed slumber brings
The heart’s blood, slowly bleeding, joy may give:
A greater joy is a new life to live.
PETER
Be this thy purpose. Glory give to God.
For thyself, work. The will of man is free
To bring to fullness that which lies in him,
And only one command doth bind him: love!
ADAM
Up then, up to the fight with high resolve
To follow this new faith; a new world form,
The flower of which shall knightly virtue be;
The poetry, the lofty form ideal
That standeth by the altar - womanhood!
He leans on Peter anid departs.
LUCIFER
For that which cannot be, doth burn thy heart;
Yet worthy of the man to play the part.
God is well pleased this faith man heavenward bear,
And I, for it shall drive him to despair.
He follows after.