Enter PHERON at a distance.
PHERON. [Afide.]

So clofe! fo loving !-Here I ftand unfeen,

And watch my rival's fate.

ΜΕΜΝΟΝ.

But thou, my fair;

Thou art my peace in tumult, life in death;

Thou yet canft make me bless'd.

MANDANE.

As how, my lord ?

ΜΕΜΝΟΝ,

Ah! why wilt thou infult me?

MANDANE.

Memnon

MEMNON..

Speak!

MANDANE.

Nature forbids; and when I would begin,

She ftifles all my spirits, and I faint:

My heart is breaking, but I cannot speak.

O let me fly.

MEMNON...

You pierce me to the soul.

MANDANE.

[Holding ber.

O fpare me for a moment, till my heart
Regains its wonted force, and I will speak--
Pheron, you know, is daily urgent with me,

Breaks through restraints, and will not be refused.

[Pheron fhews a great concern. Yet more; The prince, the young impetuous prince, Before his father fent him forth to war,

And gave the Mede to his deftru&tive fword,
Has often taught his tongue a filken tale,

Defcende

Defcended from himself, and talk'd of love.
Since laft I saw thee, his licentious paffion
Has haunted all my
dreams-

This day the court shines forth in all its luftre,
To welcome her returning warrior home;

Alas, the malice of our stars!

ΜΕΜΝΟΝ.

To place it

[Embrace.

Beyond the power of fate to part our loves ;
Be this our bridal night, my life!-my foul !
PHERON.

Perdition feize them both! and have I lov'd
So long, to catch her in another's arms!
Another's arms for ever! O the pang!
Heart-piercing fight !-but rage fhall take its turn-
It fhall be fo-and let the crime be his
Who drives me to the black extremity;
I fear no farther hell than that I feel.

ΜΕΜΝΟΝ.

Trembling I grasp thee, and my anxious heart
Is ftill in doubt if I may call thee mine.

O blifs too great! O painful ecstasy!

I know not what to utter.

[Exit.

MANDANE.

Ah, my lord!

What means this damp that comes athwart my joy,

Chaftifing thus the lightness of my heart?

I have a father, and a father too,

Tender as nature ever fram'd. His will

Should be confulted. Should I touch his peace,
I should be wretched in my Memnon's arms.

MEMNON.

Talk not of wretchednefs.

R 4

MANDANI.

Alas! this day

MANDANE.

First gave me birth, and (which is ftrange to tell)
The fates e'er fince, as watching its return,,
Have caught it as it flew, and mark'd it deep
With fomething great; extremes of good or ill.
MEMNON.

Why fhould we bode misfortune to our loves?
No; I receive thee from the gods, in lieu
Of all that happiness they ravish'd from me;
Fame, freedom, father, all return in thee.
Had not the gods Mandane to beftow,

They never would have pour'd fuch vengeance on me
They meant me thee, and could not be severe.
Soon as night's favourable fhades defcend,
The holy priest shall join our hands for ever,
And life fhall prove but one long bridal-day.
Till then, in fcenes of pleasure lose thy grief,
Or ftrike the lute, or fmile among the flowers,
They'll sweeter fmell, and fairer bloom for thee.-
Alas! I'm torn from this dear tender fide,
By weighty reasons, and important calls;

Nay, e'en by love itself-I quit thee now,
But to deferve thee more.

MANDANE.

Your friends are here.
ΜΕΜΝΟΝ.

[They embrace.

[Exit Mand.

Excellent creature! how my foul pants for thee!
But other paffions now begin their claim;
Doubt, and disdain, and forrow, and revenge,
With mingling tumult, tear up all my breast:
O how unlike the foftneffes of love!

Enter

Enter SYPHOCES.

SYPHOCES.

Hail, worthy Memnon.

MEMNON.

Welcome, my Sophoces.

And much I hope thou bring'ft a bleeding heart;
A heart that bleeds for others miseries,

Bravely regardless of its own, though great;
That firft of characters.

SYPHOCES.

And there's a fecond,

Not far behind; to rescue the distress'd,

Or die.

MEMNON.

Yes, die; and visit those brave men,

Who, from the firft of time, have bath'd their hands
In tyrants' blood, and grafp'd their honeft fwords
As part of their own being, when the cause,
The public caufe demanded. O my friend!
How long shall Egypt groan in chains? How long
Shall her fons fall in heaps without a foe ?
No war, plague, famine, nothing but Bufiris,
His people's father! and the ftate's defence!
Yet but a remnant of the land furvives.

SYPHOCES.

What havock have I feen? Have we not known
A multitude become a morning's prey,
When troubled reft, or a debauch, has four'd
The monster's temper? Then 'tis inftant death;
Then fall the brave and good, like ripen'd corn
Before the sweeping scythe; not the poor mercy
To starve and pine at leisure in their chains.-
But what fresh hope, that we receive your fummons
To meet you here this morning?

MEMNON.

Know, Syphaces,

ΜΕΜΝΟΝ.

'Twas on this day my warlike father's blood,
So often lavish'd in his country's cause,
And greatly fold for conqueft and renown ;
'Twas on this execrable day it flow'd
On his own pavement, in a peaceful hour,
Smok'd in the duft, and wash'd a ruffian's feet.
This guilty day returning, rouses all

My fmother'd

rage, and blows it to a flame.

Where are our friends?

SYPHOCES.

At hand. Rameses,

Laft night, when gentle reft o'er nature spread
Her ftill command, and care alone was waking,
Like a dum, lonely, difcontented, ghoft,
Enter'd my chamber, and approach'd my bed:
With burfts of paffion, and a peal of groans,
He recollects his godlike brother's fate,

The drunken banquet, and the midnight murder,
And urges vengeance on the guilty prince.
Such was the fellness of his boiling rage,

Methought the night grew darker, as he frown'd.
ΜΕΜΝΟΝ.

I know he bears the prince moft deadly hate;
But this will enter deeper in his foul;

[Shews a letter. And roufe up paffions, which till now have slept : Murder will look like innocence to this.

How, Memnon ?

SYPHOCES.

MEMNON.

This reminds me of thy fate;

The
queen has courted thee with proffer'd realms,
And fought by threats to bend thee to her will;