The Purgatory of St. Patrick | Page 5

of King Egerius, and other parts.
THE PURGATORY OF SAINT PATRICK.

ACT THE FIRST.
THE SEA-SHORE, WITH PRECIPITOUS CLIFFS.
SCENE I.
The King EGERIUS, clad in skins, LEOGAIRE, POLONIA, LESBIA, and a Captain.
KING [furious]. Here let me die. Away!
LEOGAIRE. Oh, stop, my lord!
CAPTAIN. Consider . . .
LESBIA. Listen . . .
POLONIA. Stay . . .
KING. Yes, from this rocky height,?Nigh to the sun, that with one starry light?Its rugged brow doth crown,?Headlong among the salt waves leaping down?Let him descend who so much pain perceives;?There let him raging die who raging lives.
LESBIA. Why wildly seekest thou the sea?
POLONIA. Thou wert asleep, my lord; what could it be?
KING. Every torment that doth dwell?For ever with the thirsty fiends of hell --?Dark brood of that dread mother,?The seven-necked snake, whose poisoned breath doth smother?The fourth celestial sphere;?In fine, its horror and its misery drear?Within me reach so far,?That I myself upon myself make war,?When in the arms of sleep?A living corse am I, for it doth keep?Such mastery o'er my life, that, as I dream,?A pale foreshadowing threat of coming death I seem.
POLONIA. How could a dream, my lord, provoke you so?
KING. Alas! my daughters, listen, you shall know.?From out the lips of a most lovely youth?(And though a miserable slave, in sooth?I dare not hurt him, and I speak his praise),?Well, from the mouth of a poor slave, a blaze?Of lambent lustre came,?Which mildly burned in rays of gentlest flame;?Till reaching you,?The living fire at once consumed ye two.?I stood betwixt ye both, and though I sought?To stay its fury, the strange fire would not?Molest or wound me, passing like the wind,?So that despairing, blind,?I woke from out a deep abysm?Of dream, a lethargy, a paroxysm;?But find my pains the same,?For still it seems to me I see that flame,?And flying, at every turn?See you consumed; but now I also burn.*
[footnote] *The Dream of Egerius, as given by Calderon, agrees substantially with Jocelin's description, and differs only in one slight particular (the number of the flames) from that in Montalvan's "Vida y Purgatorio de San Patricio". In the latter, the name of the Irish prince to whom Patrick was sold is not given; in Jocelin he is called "Milcho." Calderon was either ignorant of this, and gave the king a name that was purely imaginary, or, considering it less musical than he would wish, gave him the more harmonious one of Egerio. The following is Jocelin's version: "And Milcho beheld a vision in the night: and behold Patrick entered his palace as all on fire, and the flames, issuing from his mouth, and from his nose, and from his eyes, and from his ears, seemed to burn him; but Milcho repelled from himself the flaming hair of the boy, nor did it prevail to touch him any nearer; but the flame, being spread, turned aside to the right and catching on his two little daughters, who were lying in one bed, burned them even to ashes: then the south wind blowing strongly dispersed their ashes over many parts of Ireland." -- "Jocelin's Life of St. Patrick, translated by Swift" (Dublin, 1804), pp. 17, 18.
LESBIA. Light phantoms these,?Chimeras which an entrance find with ease?Into the dreamer's brain.?[A trumpet sounds.?But wherefore sounds this trumpet?
CAPTAIN. It is plain?Ships are approaching to our port below.
POLONIA. Grant me thy leave, great lord, since thou dost know A trumpet in my ear?Sounds like a siren's voice, serene and clear;?Ever to war inclined,?In martial music my chief joy I find;?Its clangour and its din?Lead my rapt senses on: for I may win?Through it my highest fame,?When soaring to the sun on waves of flame,?Or wings as swift, my proud name shall ascend,?There it may be with Pallas to contend.?[Aside.?A stronger motive urges me to go:?If it is Philip's ship I wish to know.?[Exit.
LEOGAIRE. Descend, my lord, with me?Down where the foam-curled head of the blue sea?Bows at the base of this majestic hill,?Whose sands, like chains of gold, restrain its wilder will.
CAPTAIN. Let it divert thy care,?This snow-white monster fair,?Whose waves of dazzling hue?Shape silver frames round mirrors sapphire blue.
KING. Nothing can give relief;?Nothing can now divert me from my grief;?That mystic fire will give my life no rest,--?My heart an Etna seems within my breast.
LESBIA. Is any sight more fair? can aught surpass?That of a vessel breaking through the glass?Of crystal seas, and seeming there to be,?As with light share it cuts the azure mass,?A fish of the wind, a swift bird of the sea,?And being for two elements designed,?Flies in the wave and swims upon the wind??But now no witchery?Were it to any eyes that sight to see;?For lo! the roused-up ocean,?Heaving with all its mountain waves in motion,?Wrinkles its haughty brow,?And suddenly awaking,?Neptune, his trident shaking,?Ruffles the beauteous face so sweet and calm but now.?Well may the sailor in his