IRENE;

A TRAGEDY.

ACT I.

SCENE I.

DEMETRIUS and LEONTIUS, in Turkish Habits.

LEONTIUS.

AND is it thus Demetrius meets his friend, Hid in the mean disguise of Turkish robes, With servile secrecy to lurk in shades, And vent our suff'rings in clandestine groans?

DEMETRIUS.

;

Till breathless fury rested from destruction,
These groans were fatal, these disguises vain
But now our Turkish conquerors have quench'd
Their rage, and pall'd their appetite of murder;
No more the glutted sabre thirsts for blood,
And weary cruelty remits her tortures.

LEONTIUS.

Yet Greece enjoys no gleam of transient hope,
No soothing interval of peaceful sorrow;
The lust of gold succeeds the rage of conquest,

The lust of gold, unfeeling and remorseless,
The last corruption of degenerate man!

Urg'd by the imperious soldier's fierce command,
The groaning Greeks break up their golden ca-

verns

Pregnant with stores that India's mines might

envy,

Th' accumulated wealth of toiling ages.

DEMETRIUS.

That wealth, too sacred for their country's use!
That wealth, too pleasing to be lost for freedom!
That wealth, which, granted to their weeping
prince,

Had rang'd embattled nations at our gates!
But, thus reserv'd to lure the wolves of Turkey,
Adds shame to grief, and infamy to ruin.
Lamenting Av'rice now too late discovers
Her own neglected in the public safety.

LEONTIUS.

Reproach not misery.-The sons of Greece,
Ill-fated race! so oft besieg'd in vain,
With false security beheld invasion.

Why should they fear?-That pow'r that kindly spreads

The clouds, a signal of impending show'rs,
To warn the wand'ring linnet to the shade,
Beheld without concern expiring Greece,
And not one prodigy foretold our fate.

DEMETRIUS.

A thousand horrid prodigies foretold it.
A feeble government, eluded laws,
A factious populace, luxurious nobles,
And all the maladies of sinking states.
When public Villainy, too strong for justice,

Shews his bold front, the harbinger of ruin,
Can brave Leontius call for airy wonders,
Which cheats interpret, and which fools regard?
When some neglected fabric nods beneath
The weight of years, and totters to the tempest,
Must Heav'n dispatch the messengers of light,
Or wake the dead, to warn us of its fall?

LEONTIUS.

Well might the weakness of our empire sink Before such foes of more than human force; Some Pow'r invisible, from Heav'n or Hell, Conducts their armies, and asserts their cause.

DEMETRIUS.

And yet, my friend, what miracles were wrought
Beyond the pow'r of constancy and courage?
Did unresisted lightning aid their cannon?
Did roaring whirlwinds sweep us from the ram-
parts?

'Twas vice that shook our nerves, 'twas vice, Leontius,

That froze our veins, and wither'd all our pow'rs.

LEONTIUS.

Whate'er our crimes, our woes demand com

passion.

Each night, protected by the friendly darkness, Quitting my close retreat, I range the city, And, weeping, kiss the venerable ruins:

With silent pangs I view the tow'ring domes, Sacred to pray'r, and wander through the streets, Where commerce lavish'd unexhausted plenty, And jollity maintain'd eternal revels.

DEMETRIUS.

How chang'd, alas !-Now ghastly Desolation

In triumph sits upon our shatter'd spires;
Now superstition, ignorance, and error,
Usurp our temples, and profane our altars.

LEONTIUS.

From ev'ry palace bursts a mingled clamour,
The dreadful dissonance of barb'rous triumph,
Shrieks of affright and wailings of distress.
Oft when the cries of violated beauty

Arose to Heav'n, and pierc'd my bleeding breast,
I felt thy pains, and trembled for Aspasia.

DEMETRIUS.

Aspasia! spare that lov'd, that mournful name: Dear, hapless maid-tempestuous grief o'erbears My reasoning pow'rs-Dear, hapless, lost Aspasia!

LEONTIUS.

Suspend the thought.

DEMETRIUS.

All thought on her is madness;

Yet let me think-I see the helpless maid, Behold the monsters gaze with savage rapture, Behold how lust and rapine struggle round her!

LEONTIUS.

Awake, Demetrius, from this dismal dream,
Sink not beneath imaginary sorrows;
Call to your aid your courage and your
Think on the sudden change of human scenes;
Think on the various accidents of war;

wisdom;

Think on the mighty power of awful virtue; Think on that Providence that guards the good.

DEMETRIUS.

O Providence! extend thy care to me,
For Courage droops unequal to the combat,