FullReads

SEMELE. (Repulsing him.)
Away!

ZEUS. (After a pause of astonishment.)
Is Jupiter asleep? Will Nature
Rush to her fall?–Can Semele speak thus?
What, not an answer? Eagerly mine arms
Toward thee are stretched–my bosom never throbbed
Responsive to Agenor’s daughter,–never
Throbbed against Leda’s breast,–my lips ne’er burned
For the sweet kiss of prisoned Danae,
As now–

SEMELE. Peace, traitor! Peace!

ZEUS. (With displeasure, but tenderly.) My Semele!

SEMELE.
Out of my sight!

ZEUS. (Looking at her with majesty.)
Know, I am Zeus!

SEMELE. Thou Zeus?
Tremble, Salmoneus, for he fearfully
Will soon demand again the stolen charms
That thou hast robbed him of–thou art not Zeus!

ZEUS. (With dignity.)
The mighty universe around me whirls,
And calls me so–

SEMELE. Ha! Fearful blasphemy!

ZEUS. (More gently.)
How, my divine one? Wherefore such a tone?
What reptile dares to steal thine heart from me?

SEMELE.
My heart was vowed to him whose ape thou art!
Men ofttimes come beneath a godlike form
To snare a woman. Hence! thou art not Zeus!

ZEUS.
Thou doubtest? What! Can Semele still doubt
My godhead?

SEMELE. (Mournfully.)
Would that thou wert Zeus! No son
Of morrow-nothingness shall touch this mouth;
This heart is vowed to Zeus! Would thou wert he!

ZEUS. Thou weepest? Zeus is here,–weeps Semele?
(Falling down before her.)
Speak! But command! and then shall slavish nature
Lie trembling at the feet of Cadmus’ daughter!
Command! and streams shall instantly make halt–
And Helicon, and Caucasus, and Cynthus,
And Athos, Mycale, and Rhodope, and Pindus,
Shall burst their bonds when I order it so,
And kiss the valleys and plains below,
And dance in the breeze like flakes of snow.
Command! and the winds from the east and the north,
And the fierce tornado shall sally forth,
While Poseidon’s trident their power shall own,
When they shake to its base his watery throne;
The billows in angry fury shall rise,
And every sea-mark and dam despise;
The lightning shall gleam through the firmament black
While the poles of earth and of heaven shall crack,
The ocean the heights of Olympus explore,
From thousandfold jaws with wild deafening roar
The thunder shall howl, while with mad jubilee
The hurricane fierce sings in triumph to thee.
Command–

SEMELE, I’m but a woman, a frail woman
How can the potter bend before his pot?
How can the artist kneel before his statue?

ZEUS.
Pygmalion bowed before his masterpiece–
And Zeus now worships his own Semele!

SEMELE. (Weeping bitterly.)
Arise–arise! Alas for us poor maidens!
Zeus has my heart, gods only can I love,
The gods deride me, Zeus despises me!

ZEUS. Zeus who is now before thy feet–

SEMELE. Arise!
Zeus reigns on high, above the thunderbolts,
And, clasped in Juno’s arms, a reptile scorns.

ZEUS. (Hastily.)
Ha! Semele and Juno!–which the reptile!

SEMELE.
How blessed beyond all utterance would be
Cadmus’ daughter–wert thou Zeus! Alas!
Thou art not Zeus!

ZEUS. (Arises.) I am!
(He extends his hand, and a rainbow fills the hall; music
accompanies its appearance.)
Knowest thou me now?

SEMELE.
Strong is that mortal’s arm whom gods protect,–
Saturnius loves thee–none can I e’er love
But deities–

ZEUS. What! art thou doubting still
Whether my might is lent me by the gods
And not god-born? The gods, my Semele,
In charity oft lend their strength to man;
Ne’er do the deities their terrors lend–
Death and destruction is the godhead’s seal–
Bearer of death to thee were Zeus unveiled!
(He extends his hand. Thunder, fire, smoke, and earthquake.
Music accompanies the spell here and subsequently.)