Act II, Scene 3

[The summit of the Jungfrau Mountain.]

[Enter FIRST DESTINY.]

The Moon is rising broad, and round, and bright;
And here on snows, where never human foot
Of common mortal trod, we nightly tread,
And leave no traces: o'er the savage sea,
The glassy ocean of the mountain ice,
We skim its rugged breakers, which put on
The aspect of a tumbling tempest's foam,
Frozen in a moment--a dead Whirlpool's image:
And this most steep fantastic pinnacle,
The fretwork of some earthquake--where the clouds
Pause to repose themselves in passing by--
Is sacred to our revels, or our vigils;
Here do I wait my sisters, on our way
To the Hall of Arimanes--for to-night
Is our great festival--'tis strange they come not.

[A Voice without, singing.]

The Captive Usurper,
Hurled down from the throne,
Lay buried in torpor,
Forgotten and lone;
I broke through his slumbers,
I shivered his chain,
I leagued him with numbers--
He's Tyrant again!
With the blood of a million he'll answer my care,
With a Nation's destruction--his flight and despair!

SECOND VOICE
[without.]

The Ship sailed on, the Ship sailed fast,
But I left not a sail, and I left not a mast;
There is not a plank of the hull or the deck,
And there is not a wretch to lament o'er his wreck;
Save one, whom I held, as he swam, by the hair,
And he was a subject well worthy my care;
A traitor on land, and a pirate at sea--
But I saved him to wreak further havoc for me!

FIRST DESTINY
[answering.]

The City lies sleeping;
The morn, to deplore it,
May dawn on it weeping:
Sullenly, slowly,
The black plague flew o'er it--
Thousands lie lowly;
Tens of thousands shall perish;
The living shall fly from
The sick they should cherish;
But nothing can vanquish
The touch that they die from.
Sorrow and anguish,
And evil and dread,
Envelope a nation;
The blest are the dead,
Who see not the sight
Of their own desolation;
This work of a night--
This wreck of a realm--this deed of my doing--
For ages I've done, and shall still be renewing!

[Enter the SECOND and THIRD DESTINIES.]

THE THREE
Our hands contain the hearts of men,
Our footsteps are their graves;
We only give to take again
The Spirits of our slaves!

FIRST DESTINY
Welcome!--Where's Nemesis?

SECOND DESTINY
At some great work;
But what I know not, for my hands were full.

THIRD DESTINY
Behold she cometh.

[Enter NEMESIS.]

FIRST DESTINY
Say, where hast thou been?
My Sisters and thyself are slow to-night.

NEMESIS
I was detained repairing shattered thrones--
Marrying fools, restoring dynasties--
Avenging men upon their enemies,
And making them repent their own revenge;
Goading the wise to madness; from the dull
Shaping out oracles to rule the world
Afresh--for they were waxing out of date,
And mortals dared to ponder for themselves,
To weigh kings in the balance--and to speak
Of Freedom, the forbidden fruit.--Away!
We have outstayed the hour--mount we our clouds!
[Exeunt.]