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_ ACT V - SCENE IV
PHILIP
[solus].
His Grief no Doubt will rise into a Rage,
To see his Charmer rolling in her Blood,
I choose to see him not till my Return;
By then the Fierceness of the Flame may cease;
Nay, he'll grow cool, and quite forget his Love,
When I report her Father's kindled Wrath,
And all the Vengeance he intends to take.
[CHEKITAN comes in sight.]
But this is he, I cannot now avoid him;
How shall I soothe his Grief--He looks distracted--
I'm such a Stranger grown to Tears and Pity,
I fear he will not think I sympathize.
[Enter CHEKITAN.]
CHEKITAN.
Have I then found thee, thou false hearted Traitor?
Thou Tyger, Viper, Snake, thou worse than Christian;
Bloodthirsty Butcher, more than Murderer!
Thou every Thing but what Men ought to love!
Do you still live to breathe and see the Sun?
And face me with your savage guilty Eye?
PHILIP.
I fear'd, alas, you would run mad and rave.
Why do you blame me that I am not dead?
I risk'd my Life, was wounded for your Sake,
Did all I could for your Monelia's Safety,
And to revenge you on her Murderers.
Your Grief distracts you, or you'd thank me for 't.
CHEKITAN.
Would you still tempt my Rage, and fire my Soul,
Already bent to spill your treacherous Blood?
You base Dissembler! know you are detected,
Torax still lives, and has discover'd all.
[PHILIP starts and trembles.]
PHILIP.
Torax alive!--It cannot--must not be.
[Aside.]
CHEKITAN.
Well may you shake--You cannot mend your Blow.
He lived to see, what none but you could think of,
The bloody Knife drawn from Monelia's Breast.
Had you a thousand Lives, they'd be too few;
Had you a Sea of Blood, 't would be too small
To wash away your deep-dy'd Stain of Guilt.
Now you shall die; and Oh, if there be Powers
That after Death take Vengeance on such Crimes,
May they pursue you with their Flames of Wrath,
Till all their Magazines of Pain are spent.
[He attacks PHILIP with his hatchet.]
PHILIP.
I must defend myself
[Drawing his hatchet],
the Case is desperate.
[Fights; PHILIP falls.]
Fate is too hard; and I'm oblig'd to yield.
'Twas well begun--but has a wretched End--
Yet I'm reveng'd--She cannot live again.
You cannot boast to 've shed more Blood than I--
Oh, had I--had I--struck but one Blow more!
[Dies.]
CHEKITAN.
What have I done! this is my Brother's Blood!
A guilty Murderer's Blood! He was no Brother.
All Nature's Laws and Ties are hence dissolv'd;
There is no Kindred, Friendship, Faith, or Love
Among Mankind--Monelia's dead--The World
Is all unhing'd--There's universal War--
She was the Tie, the Centre of the Whole;
And she remov'd, all is one general Jar.
Where next, Monelia, shall I bend my Arm
To heal this Discord, this Disorder still,
And bring the Chaos Universe to Form?
Blood still must flow and float the scatter'd Limbs
Till thy much injur'd love in Peace subsides.
Then every jarring Discord once will cease,
And a new World from these rude Ruins rise.
[Pauses.]
Here then I point the Edge, from hence shall flow
[Pointing his knife to his heart.]
The raging crimson Flood, this is the Fountain
Whose swift Day's Stream shall waft me to thy Arms,
Lest Philip's Ghost should injure thy Repose.
[Stabs himself.]
I come, I come--Monelia, now I come--
Philip--away--She's mine in spite of Death.
[Dies.]
[Enter TENESCO.]
TENESCO.
Oh! I'm too late, the fatal Work is done.
Unhappy Princes; this your wretched End;
Your Country's Hopes and your fond Father's Joy;
Are you no more? Slain by each other's Hands,
Or what is worse; or by the Air you breath'd?
For all is Murder, Death, and Blood about us:
Nothing safe; it is contagious all:
The Earth, and Air, and Skies are full of Treason!
The Evil Genius rules the Universe,
And on Mankind rains Tempests of Destruction.
Where will the Slaughter of the Species end?
When it begins with Kings and with their Sons,
A general Ruin threatens all below.
How will the good King hear the sad Report?
I fear th' Event; but as it can't be hid,
I'll bear it to him in the softest Terms,
And summon every Power to soothe his Grief,
And slack the Torrent of his Royal Passion.
[Exit.] _
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