Scene III Enter Telasco, With Zorai in Chains
Cora. (Uttering a loud and piercing shriek) Oh, I am heard!—Behold my father’s spirit!—Yet his features are full of indignation!—his countenance is terrible!—Alonzo, awake me from this dream!
Alonzo. Would to God it were, indeed, only your father’s shade!—but, alas! it is he himself.—Oh what an hour of horror!
Cora. (Casting a look of awe towards Telasco) My father!
Telasco. (To Zorai) Why was I brought hither at this moment?—Do not the important services which I have done my native country through so long a course of years, give me a just claim to expect some forbearance? Go and demand of the priests if I must be compelled to stay with her,—I will, meanwhile, support myself against this pillar.
Cora. (Approaching him with trembling steps) My father!
Telasco. (With agony) Save me Zorai—save me!
Zorai. (Thrusting Cora away) Hence serpent!—spare the old man at least in his last moments. (Telasco turns away his face)
Cora. (Falling upon her knees, and clasping her hands in agony) Brother!
Zorai. I, thy brother!—Alas, yes!—these chains speak too plainly that I am thy brother.
Cora. Father!
Telasco. (With still averted eyes) Who calls me by that name?—I do not know that voice!
Cora. Father!—brother!—Oh these are the only agonies of death! (Wringing her hands)
Telasco. (Turning his eyes towards Cora) Oh Zorai, my paternal feelings will not be suppressed!—It is the voice of her mother!—it is the form of her mother!—Cora!—Cora—I have passed through life with honour, and now you cover my grave with shame!—Away, away! nor hope to experience my compassion!—Do you deserve it?—Did I constrain you to devote your youth to the service of the sun?—Did I not, on the contrary, frequently admonish you to consider well what you intended? Did I not represent to you, that the world afforded many pleasures of which you were then ignorant, and which you would first learn to think desirable when their enjoyment would be criminal, and when your life would consequently be rendered miserable by the impossibility of their attainment? Even on the very last evening before your irrevocable oath was taken—(God only knows how I assumed courage for the purpose)—did I not again entreat you to reflect upon all these things while it was yet possible to retract?—Dark and gloomy then appeared the future to my soul, as the ocean on a cloudy day. Even you wept—yes, Cora, you wept; your heart was overpowered.—It was the warning voice of a guardian spirit within you; but you resisted the impulse, adhered firmly to your enthusiastic resolution, and would think of nothing but of a nearer intercourse with the gods—Behold us now standing here,—I, a poor old man with my grey hairs, mourning the honour of my house destroyed for ever;—this youth, full of energy and love for his native country, cut off even in the prime of life, guiltless himself, yet involved in your destiny;—both, both, murdered by the hand of a daughter—of a sister;—and worse than murdered, hurled to the grave with shame as their companion!—Oh that I should have lived to see this day!—Blest, blest, was thy mother’s lot, that she died before the dawn of so fatal a morning! (Cora, overpowered with her father’s reproaches, sinks to the ground with a sigh; Telasco exclaims with an emotion of tenderness) Zorai, support her!
Zorai. (Raising up his sister, in which Alonzo makes an effort to assist him, but is thrust back by Zorai) Hence, thou murderer of innocence!—Oh that a hero should thus sink to nothing when we behold him near!—How did I reverence this man at a distance!—how admire him when I listened to the detail of his noble actions!—I felt my young heart elevated, and wished for nothing so ardently as that I were myself in his place!—Fool that I was!—His heroism was the effect of chance, not principle; he is still but a man, and weak as the rest of mankind!—Look here, and exult at this scene, it is thy work; and thou may’st thank these chains that, even in the midst of the temple, and in the presence of our god himself, thou art not made the victim of my vengeance.
Alonzo. Did you know how my heart is tortured, how inexpressibly I love, you would be more compassionate to my sorrows!
Telasco. Say no more, my son—his fate is much more deplorable than ours: we have one treasure left, which we shall carry with us to another world, a pure conscience;—that treasure he has lost; he is poorer than ourselves.
Cora. Oh, my father, do not let me die in despair!—Can you refuse me your blessing in the hour of death! (She falls at his feet) I will cling round your knees, my anguish shall move you!—have pity on your kneeling daughter!—bless me, my father!—forgive me, my brother! (Telasco and Zorai appear much affected) See how I humble, how I twine myself about you!—Oh, my agony is inconceivable!—Have compassion upon me, or my heart will break!
Telasco. Son! son!—let us not aggravate the bitter stroke of death!—the wretched easily forgive!—Raise her up to my arms. (Zorai raises up his sister. Telasco clasps her to his breast) Die in peace—I forgive thee!
Cora. (In a faint voice) My brother!
Telasco. Yes, yes, Zorai!—no resentment!—forgive the penitent!—call her sister!
Zorai. (Embracing her) Unhappy—sister!
Cora. Ye gods, I thank you!—the bitterness of death is past.
Alonzo. Your hearts are softened!—Might Alonzo venture!—Zorai, you called me a weak man. Yes, I am weak; but I am not a villain!—Misery soon unites the sufferers to each other—let us not die in enmity.
Telasco. Stranger, I harbour no resentment against you!—Can I leave the world in a better state of mind, than in speaking pardon to those by whom I have been injured. Have you any parents living?
Alonzo. An aged mother.
Telasco. For her sake come hither, that I may bless thee in her place! (He embraces him)
Alonzo. From what a grievous burden is my heart relieved!—And you too Zorai! (Offering him his hand)
Zorai. Away! I admire my father’s conduct; but—I cannot follow his example.
Alonzo. Not to give peace to a dying man?
Zorai. I cannot!—Would you have me dissemble reconciliation?—You are hateful to me!—leave me!—I will endeavour to subdue this bitter feeling; and should I succeed, I will reach out my hand as our last moments approach, and you will understand my meaning.
Alonzo. Accept my thanks even for this concession.—I acknowledge it to be more than I deserve. (Cora leans against a pillar, and endeavours to recover herself).