Exit with Omar.
SEID.
Alone.
I could not answer: one reproachful word
From Mahomet sufficed: I stood abashed,
But not convinced: if heaven requires it of me,
I must obey; but it will cost me dear.
SCENE III
SEID, PALMIRA.
SEID.
Palmira, art thou here? What fatal cause
Hath led thee to this seat of horror?
PALMIRA.
Fear,
And love directed me to find thee, Seid,
To ask thee what dread sacrifice thou meanest
To offer here; do heaven and Mahomet
Demand it from thee, must it be? O speak.
SEID.
Palmira, thou commandest my every thought
And every action; all depend on thee:
Direct them as thou wilt, inform my soul,
And guide my hand: be thou my guardian god,
Explain the will of heaven which yet I know not;
Why am I chosen to be its instrument
Of vengeance? are the prophet's dread commands
Irrevocable?
PALMIRA.
Seid, we must yield in silence,
Nor dare to question his decrees; he hears
Our secret sighs, nor are our sorrows hid
From Mahomet's all seeing eye: to doubt
Is profanation of the deity.
His God is God alone; he could not else
Be thus victorious, thus invincible.
SEID.
He must be Seid's God who is Palmira's:
Yet cannot my astonished could conceive
A being, tender, merciful, and kind,
Commanding murder; then again I think
To doubt is guilt: the priest without remorse
Destroys the victim: by the voice of heaven
I know that Zopir was condemned, I know
That Seid was predestined to support
The law divine: so Mahomet ordained,
And I obey him: fired with holy zeal
I go to slay the enemy of God;
And yet methinks another deity
Draws back my arm, bids me spare the victim.
Religion lost her power when I beheld
The wretched Zopir; duty urged in vain
Her cruel plea, exhorting me to murder;
With joy I listened to the plaintive voice
Of soft humanity: but Mahomet—
How awful! How majestic! Who can bear
His wrath? His frowns reproached my shameful weakness;
Religion is a dreadful power: alas!
Palmira, I am lost in doubts and fears,
Discordant passions tear this feeble heart:
I must be impious, must desert my faith,
Or be a murderer: Seid was not formed
For an assassin; but 'tis heaven's command,
And I have promised to avenge its cause:
The tears of grief and rage united flow,
Contending duties raise a storm within,
And thou alone, Palmira, must appease it;
Fix my uncertain heart, and give it peace:
Alas! Without dreadful sacrifice,
The tie that binds us is forever broke;
This only can secure thee.
PALMIRA.
Am I then
The price of blood, of Zopir's blood?
SEID.
So heaven
And Mahomet decree.
PALMIRA.
Love ne'er was meant
To make us cruel, barbarous, and inhuman.
SEID.
To Zopir's murderer, and to him alone,
Palmira must be given.
PALMIRA.
O hard condition!
SEID.
But 'tis the will of Mahomet and heaven.
PALMIRA.
Alas!
SEID.
Thou knowest the dreadful curse that waits
On disobedience—everlasting pain.
PALMIRA.
If thou must be the instrument of vengeance,
If at thy hands the blood which thou hast promised
Shall be required—
SEID.
What's to be done?
PALMIRA.
I tremble
To think of it—yet—
SEID.
It must be so then: thou
Hast fixed his doom; Palmira has consented.
PALMIRA.
Did I consent?
SEID.
Thou didst.
PALMIRA.
Detested thought!
What have I said?
SEID.
By thee the voice of heaven
Speaks its last dread command, and I obey:
Yon fatal altar is the chosen seat
Of Zopir's worship, there he bends the knee
To his false gods; retire, my sweet Palmira.
PALMIRA.
I cannot leave thee.
SEID.
Thou must not be witness
To such as a deed of horror: these, Palmira
Are dreadful moments: fly to yonder grove,
Thou wilt be near the prophet there: away.
PALMIRA.
Zopir must die then?
SEID.
Yes: this fatal hand
Must drag him to the earth, there murder him,
And bathe yon ruined altar in his blood.
PALMIRA.
Die by thy hand! I shudder at the thought:
But see! He comes; just heaven!
(the farther part of the stage