Collected Works (Vol. I)

THE FATAL FORCE,* 1899. ‘* She In the habiliments of the goddess Isis That day appeared.” —Antony and Cleopatra, iii. 6, 16. ‘Stoop not down, for a precipice lieth beneath the earth, reached by a descending ladder which hath Seven Steps, and therein is established the throne of an evil and fatal force.""— ZOROASTER. PEOPLE. RATOUM, Queen of Egypt. THE LEPER, her divorced husband. KHOMSU, ¢thezr son (dead). S’AFI, son of KHOMSU and RATOUM. THE KING OF SYRIA. AMENHATEP, High Priest. | Chorus of Priests. Soldiers of Egypt. Syrian Troops. SAFI. WuHy is thy back made stiff, unrighteous priest, Thy knee reluctant? Thine old eyes, grown blind, Stare into silence, and behold no god Longer. Thy forehead knows no reverence Nor sign of worship. Or sits mutiny Blasphemous on thy brows? For in thine eyes I see full knowledge, and some glittering fire Lurks in the rheumy corners ; yea, some fire Malignant, terrible—nay, pitiable, Thou poer fool stricken with senility, How spurred to passion? Yet behold thy god, Horus, lest anger take benignancy From his left hand and smite thee with his strength. Thou hearest? Nay, thou pitiful old man, For I have loved thee. Yet my godhead must Get worship. Anger not the god, but stoop, My faithful priest, and worship at my feet. AMENHATED, Tam most miserable. But truth must leap In this tremendous moment from my lips, Its long-shut barrier. For I pity thee With my old heart’s whole pity. Thou art young, And beautiful, and proud, and dear to me, Whom I have served thy life through. Now that love Demands a deadlier service—to speak truth. Thou art not Horus, but a man as I. CHORUS. Thou art not Horus, but aman. Thy life Is not of the immortals, but, as ours, ' Stands at the summons of the hooded death. * This play deals with the effect of shattering all the solid bases of a young man’s mind. Here we find him strong enough to win through. case with a weaker nature. latter good. HElence also in part the tragedy. none but the strongest may strive. In the ‘‘ Mother's Tragedy” is a similar It is well to note that in the former play the mother is evil; in the Fora good mother is an affliction against which It is fortunately rare. 141