_Gycia._ Dost thou say this?

Is thy soul free from all offence with her, If thou camest now to judgment?

_Asan._ Ay, indeed, Free as a child's.

_Gycia._ Oh, my own love! my dear!

Ah no! too late, too late!

[_Embraces him._

_Asan._ I ask thee not Counter a.s.surance, since I know thy truth.

_Gycia._ Speakst thou of Theodorus? He loved me Before I knew thee, but I loved no man Before I met Asander. When he knelt That day, it was in pity for my grief, Thinking thee false, and all his buried love Burst into pa.s.sionate words, which on the instant I as thy wife repelled.

_Asan._ Oh, perfect woman!

[_They embrace._

O G.o.d, it is too late! Come, let us go; The guests are waiting for us. What can Fate Devise to vanquish Love.

[_Exeunt._

_Enter two drunken_ Labourers _of Cherson, bearing f.a.ggots and straw._

_1st Lab._ Well, friend, what kind of day has it been with you?

_2nd Lab._ Oh, a white day, a happy day! Plenty of food, plenty of wine, raree shows without end, such processions as were never seen--the very model of a democracy; nothing to pay, and everybody made happy at the expense of the State. I have lived in Cherson, man and boy, for fifty years, and I never saw anything to compare with it. Here's good luck to Lamachus's memory, say I, and I should like to celebrate his lamented decease as often as his daughter likes.

_1st Lab._ Didst know him, citizen?

_2nd Lab._ No, not I. He has been dead these two years. Time he was forgotten, I should think. They don't commemorate poor folk with all these fal-lals and follies.

_1st Lab._ Well, citizen, there is one comfort--the great people don't enjoy themselves as we do. Did you ever see such a set of melancholy, frowning, anxious faces as the grandees carried with them to-day? And as for the Prince and the Lady Gycia, I don't believe they spoke a word the livelong day, though they walked together. That is the way with these grandees. When you and I quarrel with our wives, it is hammer and tongs for five minutes, and then kiss and make friends.

_2nd Lab._ And fancy being drilled by that old fool from Bosphorus--"Most Ill.u.s.trious, this is your proper place;"

"Respectable sir, get you back there" (_mimics_ MEGACLES), and so forth.

_1st Lab._ Well, well, it is good to be content. But I warrant we are the only two unhappy creatures in Cherson to-night, who have the ill fortune to be sober. And such wine too, and nothing to pay!

_2nd Lab._ Never mind, citizen, we shall be paid in meal or malt, I dare say, and we are bound to keep sober. By the way, it is a curiously contrived bonfire this.

_1st Lab._ It will be the crowning triumph of the whole festival, the senator said.

_2nd Lab._ But who ever heard of a bonfire on a large scale like this, so close to an old building? You know our orders: we are to place lines of f.a.ggots and straw close to the building on every side, well soaked with oil, and certain sealed vessels full of a secret compound in the midst of them. And just before midnight we are to run with torches and set light to the whole bonfire, to amuse the n.o.ble guests at the banquet.

[IRENE _at a window, overhearing._

_1st Lab._ Ah! do you not see? It is a device of the Senate to startle our friends from Bosphorus. The f.a.ggots and straw blaze up fiercely round the wall; then, when all is confusion, the substance in the sealed vessels escapes and at once puts out the fire, and the laugh is with us. Our friends from Bosphorus know what we can do in chemistry before now.

_2nd Lab._ Faith, a right merry device! Ha! ha! What a head thou hast, citizen! Well, we must go on with our work. Lay the f.a.ggots evenly.

_Ire. (at the window above)._ Great G.o.d! what is this?

We are doomed to die!

Good friends, Know you my brother, the Lord Theodorus?

I have something urgent I would say to him.

I will write it down, and you shall give it him When he comes forth from the banquet.

[_Disappears._

_1st Lab._ Good my lady. Her brother, too, she calls him. I go bail it is her lover, and this is an a.s.signation. Well, well, we poor men must not be too particular.

_2nd Lab._ No, indeed; but let us get on with our work, or we shall never finish in time.

_Ire. (reappearing)._ Here it is. Give it him, I pray, when he comes forth.

'Tis a thing of life and death.

_1st Lab._ So they all think, Poor love-sick fools!

_Ire._ See, here is gold for you-- 'Tis all I have; but he will double it, If you fail not.

_1st Lab._ Lady, we shall be here, We must be here. Fear not, we shall not miss him.

SCENE II.--_The banquet hall._

_At a table, on a dais_, ZETHO, ASANDER, GYCIA, _and_ Senators; LYSIMACHUS, _and_ Courtiers _of Bosphorus._ Magnates _of Cherson at cross tables._ ASANDER, LYSIMACHUS, _the_ Courtiers, _and_ Senators _seem flushed with wine._

_Zetho._ I drink to him whose gracious memory We celebrate to-day. In all our Cherson, Which boasts descent from the Athenian race, Who one time swayed the world, there was no man, Nor ever had been, fired with deeper love Of this our city, or more heartfelt pride In our republican rule (LYSIMACHUS _sneers_), which free-born men Prize more than life. I do not seek to bind Those who, long nurtured under kingly rule, Give to the Man the love we bear the State; But never shall the name of King be heard In this our Cherson.

_Lys._ Archon, 'twere unwise To risk long prophecies.

_Bard._ Be silent, sir, If you would not offend.

_Zetho._ I bid you all Drink to the memory of Lamachus And weal to our Republic.

_Lys._ Shall we drink Its memory, for it has not long to live, If it be still alive?

_Bard._ It will outlive thee.

_Thou_ hast not long to live.

_Lys._ Longer than thou, If swords be sharp.

_Zetho._ I pray you, gentlemen, Bandy not angry words.

_Gycia._ My Lord Asander, Thy cup is empty. Shall I fill it for thee?

Thou lovedst Lamachus?

_Asan._ Ay, that I did; And I love thee. But I have drunk enough.

I must keep cool to-night.