Act I: Scene I

NEARCHUS.Shall woman's dream of terror hurl the dart?Oh, feeble weapon 'gainst so great a heart!Must courage proved a thousand times in armsBow to a peril forged by vain alarms?

POLY.I know that dreams are born to fade away,And melt in air before the light of day;I know that misty vapours of the nightDissolve and fly before the morning bright.The dream is naught--but the dear dreamer--all!She has my soul, Nearchus, fast in thrall;Who holds the marriage torch--august, divine,Bids me to her sweet voice my will resign.She fears my death--tho' baseless this her fright,Pauline is wrung with fear--by day--by night;My road to duty hampered by her fears,How can I go when all undried her tears?Her terror I disown--and all alarms,Yet pity holds me in her loving arms:No bolts or bars imprison,--yet her sighsMy fetters are--my conquerors, her eyes!Say, kind Nearchus, is the cause you pressSuch as to make me deaf to her distress?The bonds I slacken I would not unlooseNothing I yield--yet grant a timely truce.

NEAR.How grant you know not what? Are you assuredOf constancy?--as one who has endured?God claims your soul for Him!--Now! Now! To-day!The fruit to-morrow yields--oh, who shall say?Our God is just, but do His grace and powerDescend on recreants with equal shower?On darkened souls His flame of light He turns,Yet flame neglected soon but faintly burns,And dying embers fade to ashes coldIf we the heart His spirit wooes withhold.Great Heaven retains the fire no longer sought,While ashes turn to dust, and dust to naught.His holy baptism He bids thee seek,Neglect the call, and the desire grows weak.Ah! whilst from woman's breast thou heedst the sighs,The flame first flickers, then, untended--dies!

POLY.You know me ill,--'tis mine, that holy fire,Fed, not extinguished, by unslaked desireHer tears--I view them with a lover's eye;And yet your Christ is mine--a Christian I!The healing, cleansing flood o'er me shall flow,I would efface the stain from birth I owe;I would be pure--my sealed eyes would see!The birthright Adam lost restored to meThis, this, the unfading crown! For this I yearn,For that exhaustless fount I thirst, I burn.Then, since my heart is true, Nearchus, say--Shall I not grant to pity this delay?

NEAR.So doth the ghostly foe our souls abuse,And all beyond his force he gains by ruse;He hates the purpose fast he cannot foil,--Then he retreats--retreats but to recoil!In endless barricade obstruction piles,To-day 'tis tears impede, to-morrow--smiles!And this poor dream--his coinage of the nightGives place to other lures, all falsely bright:All tricks he knows and uses--threats and prayersAttacks in parley--as the Parthian dares.In chain unheeded weakest link must fail,So fortress yet unwon he'll mount and scale.O break his bonds! Let feeble woman weep!The heart that God has touched 'tis God must keep!Who looks behind to dally with his choiceWhen Heaven demands--obeys another voice!

POLY.Who loves thy Christ--say, must he love no other?

NEAR.He may--he must! 'Tis Christ says, "Love thy brother,"Yet on the altar of the Heavenly KingNo rival place, no alien incense fling!Through Him--by Him--for Him--all goodness know!'Tis from the source alone each stream must flow.To please Him, wife, and wealth, and rank, and stateMust be forsaken--strait the heavenly gate.Poor silly sheep! afar you err and strayFrom Him who is The Life, The Truth, The Way!My grief chokes utterance! I see your fate,As round the fold the hungry wolves of hateCloser and fiercer rage: from sword and flameOne shelter for His flock--one only Name!The Cross alone our victor over fears,Not this thy strength,--thy plea--a woman's tears!

POLY.I know thy heart! It is mine own--the tearMy pity drops hath ne'er a taint of fear!Who dreads not torture, yet--to give reliefTo her he loves, perforce must ease her grief!If Heaven should claim my life, my death, my all,Then Heaven will give the strength to heed the call.The shepherd guides me surely to the fold,There, safe with Him, 'tis He will make me bold!

NEAR.Be bold! O come!

POLY.Yes, let thy faith be mine!There--at his feet--do I my life resignIf but Pauline--my love--would give consent!Else heaven were hell, and home but banishment!

NEAR.Come!--to return. Thrice welcome to her sight,To see thee safe will double her delight:As the pierced cloud unveils a brighter sun,So is her joy enhanced--thy glory won!O come, they wait!

POLY.Appease her fear! Ah, thisAlone will give her rest--her lover bliss.She comes!

NEAR.Then fly!

POLY.I cannot!

NEAR.To deny would yield thine enemy the victory!He loves to kill, and knows his deadliest dartFinds friend within the fort--thy traitor heart!