Household Gods
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SCENE
THE HEARTH OF CRASSUS; AFTERWARDS THE LAWNS, THE WOODS, THE LAKE, THE ISLE.
CHARACTERS
CRASSUS, a barbarian from Britain.
ADELA, his wife, a noble Roman lady.
ALICIA, a servant in the house.
A STATUE OF PAN.
A FAUN.
HOUSEHOLD GODS
THE SCENE is at the hearth of CRASSUS, where is a little bronze altar dedicated to the Lares and Penates. A pale flame rises from the burning sandal-wood, on which CRASSUS throws benzoin and musk. He is standing in deep dejection.
CRASSUS.Smoke without fire!No thrill of tongues licks upThe offerings in the cup.Dead falls desire.Black smoke thou art,O altar-flame, that dost dismember,Devour the hearth, to leave no emberTo warm this heart.I see her still -Adela dancing hereTill dim gods did appearTo work our will.The delicate girl!Diaphanous gossamerSubtly revealing herBrave breast of pearl!Now – she's withdrawnAt dusk to the wild woods,Mystic beatitudesThat dure till dawn.Let life exclaimAgainst these things of spirit,Mankind that disinheritOf love's pure flame![He bends before the altar and begins to weep.]
Ye household gods!By these male tears I swearThat ye shall grant this prayer.All things at oddsShall be put straight -Harmonized, reconciledBy some appointed childOf some far Fate![A curtain has been drawn aside during this invocation, and
ALICIA advances. She smiles subtly upon him; and, giving a
strange gesture, makes one or two noiseless steps of dancing.]
ALICIA.
Master still sad?
CRASSUS.These faint and fearful shoresOf time are beaten by the surge of sense,Love worn away – by love? – to indifference.Who knows what god – or demon – she adores?Or in what wood she shelters, or what groveSees her profane our sacrament of love?ALICIA.I saw her followThe stream in the hollowWhere never ApolloAbides.So thick are the treesThat never the breezeStirs them, or seesWhat satyr inhabits the glen, what nymph in thepools of it hides.Lighter of footThan a sylph or a fairy,Sinuous, wary,I passed from the airyLawns, where the fluteOf the winds made tremulous music for man.I followed the rippleOf the stream; I creptWhere the waters wept -The floss in the fossGurgling acrossThe bosses of moss,Like a dryad's nippleIn the mouth of Pan!CRASSUS.
O pearl of the house! you came to the end?
ALICIA.
The dusk of the slave, the dawn of a friend?
CRASSUS.
Freedom is thine for the skill and the will.
ALICIA.The skill is mine – but the will lies still,Still as the earth that dare not stirTill the kiss of the sun awaken her!CRASSUS.Yet at these secrets and riddles? Behold!I can fill thy lap with a harvest of gold.ALICIA.Yet all the gold you could give to meWould fall at my feet when I rose to be free.CRASSUS.
What will you then?
ALICIA.No gift from men.Of my own free will I give you wit,(O man so sorely in need of it!)And happiness; and the flame that hath dwindledOn this dull hearth shall be rekindled.But this you must swear:To will, and to dare,To seek the spirit and slay the sense;And for this hourTo give me powerTo lead you in silent obedience,Though I bade you fall on your sword….CRASSUS.Enough!I give my life as I gave my love.ALICIA.O! love you have not understood.You have not guessed its secret food.You have not seen its single eye;But fear and doubt and jealousyHave risen, and now your love is tremblingLike a mountebank dissemblingWhen his trick's detected. Come!To find home we must leave home.CRASSUS.Starless and moonless, hidden in cloud,The night's one flame of pearl.ALICIA.
The bat flaps; the owl hoots aloud.
CRASSUS.
Lead on; I trust you, girl.
ALICIA.You are bold to trust me; or, have you divinedMy secret?CRASSUS.No; the crystal of your mindShows only faint disturbing images,Things passing strange, as if enchanted seasKept their great swell upon it, and strange fishPlayed in its oily depths. Some monstrous wish,The shadow of some unspeakable desire,Strikes my heart cold, and sets my brain on fire.ALICIA.Learn this, as we pass through the portico:Fear nothing; there is nothing you can know!And by these terraces and steps that gleamWintry, although the summer night is hot,This – what we seek is never what we find!Life is a dream, like love; and from the dreamIf we may wake, we never find it whatWe would; for the wisdom of a mightier mindLeads us in its own waysTo a perfected praise.CRASSUS.Why are these shadows thrown across the lawnFrom the elms and yews? They were not wont to reachBeyond the branches of that copper-beech.ALICIA.Attend the dawnOf an unknown comet, that shall comeFrom the unfathomable wells of spaceInto its halidom.CRASSUS.I know it not. Last night I walked aloneHere, and saw nothing.ALICIA.I was not with you!There is no God upon the eternal throneOf stars begemming the bewildering blueUnless one has the eyes to see him. ThinkHow we two stand upon the brinkOf nothing! Here's a globe, whereto we trust,No larger than the smallest speck of dustOr mote in the sunbeam is to that sun's self,And we are like dead leaves in autumn's whilOf wind upon it.CRASSUS.Mystify me, girl!It is the right of an elf.Surely your flickering fireWill draw me to some mire!ALICIA.Here the stream dips its mouth into the wood.So does youth's calm and chaste beatitudeTouch the black mouth of Love, the ancient whore.CRASSUS.
Girl! what a scorpion leaping from your lips!
ALICIA.My mouth stings as no scorpion ever stang.in this round impudent smiling face of mineThere is a poison fiercer than all wine;And from these eyes more subtle sorrows pourThan you can dream. These teeth have been at gripsWith gods; I have sung what no girl ever sang.These ears have heardAn insufferable word!CRASSUS.
What do you mean?
ALICIA.The secret's in a kiss.Here are no kisses. Here great ArtemisRules; only in the woodland may a manHide his eyes from her, pledge himself to Pan.Come! through the tangled archesOf cypresses and larches,Stoop; under Artemis we walked upright;But this is Pan's home, and the House of Night.[They enter the wood.]
CRASSUS.So when I stoop, my cheek comes close to yours.Give me a kiss.ALICIA.The poisonous apple luresThus the boy's mouth. Beware!CRASSUS.O you are fair!Fairer than ever! In this tangle of treesYour hot breath wraps you in perfume.ALICIA.There is some gloom or doom,A bitter harsh ingredientIn these my sorceriesOf animal scent.CRASSUS.Yes! there is fear mixed with the fascination.It is the reverence that chastity, be sure!Gains from the impure.ALICIA.O virtuous nation!It is the fear of the uninitiateBefore the throne of FateThe hierophant.CRASSUS.
Kiss me, however!
ALICIA.Did I grantThis favour, all were lost. It is your truthTo Adela that tempts my youth.[Henceforth Alicia shakes with silent laughter.]
CRASSUS.
What little breasts you have!
ALICIA.Ay, maiden breasts!Would you betray my oath?CRASSUS.My will contestsMy wishes.ALICIA.Wait, and you shall surely seePart of the secret that ensorcels me.See all these bosses! It is notAs if a Titan smote himself into the earth,And was caught into her, made one with her?CRASSUS.The scent is fierce and hotLike a rutting panther's slot.Yet you are matched with mirth,Shaking each other like two wrestlers.ALICIA.What should stirYour melancholy but laughter?CRASSUS.Look, before usLight streams, a tremulous chorus.Oh, it is vague and vacillating!ALICIA.Love,Young love of maidens, is the soul thereof.And in the midst, behold, O man!The image of great Pan.CRASSUS.
I fear him.
ALICIA.Go and lie there, at his feet.Lie supine! Lie on that moss-covered root,While I draw forth the fluteAnd make a marvellous music.[She ceases laughing and begins to play.]
CRASSUS.O I writheBeneath the force of lips, of fingers litheThat touch the delicate stops so delicately.ALICIA.Hush!I have drawn the bird from the bush.Pan will appear anon.CRASSUS.
Ah! Ah! … Ah! Ah!
ALICIA.This music moves you. Now I'll play a tuneThat would make mad the melancholy moon.This.CRASSUS.Ah! you tear my soul out with the trills.Your fingers play like summer lightning on the shaft.It is like a storm on the mountains when it shrills;Like the angry sea when it booms. Hark!ALICIA.
Some god laughed.
CRASSUS.Your mouth is like some god's It burns and bloomsWith fire unheard of, with unguessed perfumes.O let me kiss you!ALICIA.
So you stop my song!
[She ceases the tune.]
CRASSUS.
There is another song.
ALICIA.You do me wrong.For you love Adela!CRASSUS.By God, girl, no!I love Alicia.ALICIA.
Ah! you love her SO! [She laughs]
CRASSUS.
Your laugh is shocking – why do you mock me, dear?
ALICIA.Because you will not guess my secret here.But – put your arms about my neck, and swarYou love me, and will always keep them there.Then I might dare.CRASSUS.
I swear it. O my sweet!
ALICIA.
Then take my kiss.
CRASSUS.Your mouth is like a rose of fire. But what is this?I cannot bear it.ALICIA.Ai! Uhu! Uhu!It is my heart; this arrow strikes me through.Stir not one muscle for a moment. Death!You beast, you kill me with your urgent breath.CRASSUS.
O how I love you! [He moves violently.]
ALICIA.Fool! Now all my painMust be gone through again.It is sure your chastity's unstained by crime;You do the wrong thing just at the right time!CRASSUS.Why do you taunt me? All the wood is spring's,And love is hovering o'er us with his wings.ALICIA.
Sub pennis, penis!
CRASSUS.
Hush! you break the spell.
ALICIA.Oh! you great fools fo men, I know you well.But nothing is so detrimentalTo love as to be sentimental.I will yet make you wise.Know that I have the magic to disguiseMyself in manyt ways. Do you feel this?(Lie still, this heaven were ruined by a kiss!)I am a butterfly, such idle flittingAs to a flower like you is fittingNow I'm a mole. Do you think you know me now?Here is the earthworm severed by the plough.CRASSUS.You are a witch. I want your love; you giveOnly love's comedy.ALICIA.The way to liveIs to find comedy and tragedyIn everything. But if you cannot seeThrough to the Bacchanal spirit, this should suit.Here is the blacksmith hammering a flute.CRASSUS.
Oh love, love, kiss me!
ALICIA.I will forge a ringOf bloom of blood-kisses upon your neck,Till it is like a garden of roses in late spring.CRASSUS.
"Soft, and stung softly, fairer for a fleck."
ALICIA.O marvellous nation!Vanity, dullness, slobber, and quotation!CRASSUS.
Why do you love me if you scorn me so?
ALICIA.
Why, did I say I loved you? I say no.
CRASSUS.
Why do you make love?
ALICIA.To beguile the hour;To crown my rose-wreath with a greener flower'To do my master's bidding, that's to giveLife to yourself, who only think you live.But listen! Have you seen the nine waves rollMonotonous upon the shoal,Rising and falling like a maiden asleep;Then with a lift and a leapThe ninth wave curls, and breaks upon the beach,And rushes up it, swallowing the sand?I am that ocean…. Now, you understand?CRASSUS.Alicia! O! this is unbearable.Surely this wave washes the shore of hell!ALICIA.Each follows eachRemorseless and indifferent as NatureIs to each creature.CRASSUS.
Wonderful, wonderful woman!
[She throws her head back, and laughs]
ALICIA.Now, you thinkYou know my secret. I have given you drink,And you are wise. But hush! to all emotionSave this the pulse and swell of OceanFor at the last with mouth and fingers wriedAll must proclaim the triumph of the tide.CRASSUS.
Ah! still you mock me with your cruel laugh.
ALICIA.
It is your foolish epitaph.
CRASSUS.But this can be no mockery. Heave and swayAnd curl and thrust – these waves are not at play.ALICIA.You feel the ocean breaking on the shoal;But passionless and moveless is its soul.CRASSUS.
Ah! but your soul is in your breath.
ALICIA.Only as the graven image of deathWhich men call life, and ignorantly adore!CRASSUS.
Spare me! I cannot bear you more.
ALICIA.Then will I drown you. Lock your fingers fastIn mind, and let our mouths mix at the last.[The stuatue of PAN is seen to be alive.]
PAN.Shrill, shrillOver the hill!The hunter is hot – this is the kill!Scream! Scream!Dissolving the dreamOf life, the knife to the heart of the wife!The fountain jetsIts flood of blood,And the moss that it wetsIs an amethyst flame of violets.Who shall escapeMurder and rapeWhat I am alive in my solemn shape?Shrill, shrill,Over the hill!The hunter is hot – this is the kill!The heart of the homeIs a fury of foam;The storm is awake, and the billows comb.But though I beTheir frenzy of glee,I am also the passionless soul of the sea!Mine eyes glint fire,And my cruel lips curl;Mine the desireOf the god and the girl;But fierier and fleeter,And subtler and sweeterThan the race of the rhythm, the march of the metre,Is the shrilling, shrillingOf the knife in the killingThat ends, when it must,(O the throb and the thrust!)In a death, in the dust,The silence, the stillness, of satiate lust,The solemn pauseWhen the veil withdrawsAnd man looks on his god, on the Causeless Cause.Still, still,Under the hill!The hunter is dead – this is the kill!CRASSUS.
Pan spoke.
ALICIA.Pan never speaks till man is dumb,And only then if he be like a childSilently curled within its mother's womb,Or feeding at her breast. There is a wildWay also – when his dumbness is of death.And there's a first and second death. RememberTo die so that no god's or angel's breathMay quicken into life the wasted ember!CRASSUS.
I am dead now.
ALICIA.But I must raise you up.The night grows darker; all Pan's light is gone,And you and I are pledged to supUpon a secret.CRASSUS.
All your secret shone.
[She laughs again.]
ALICIA.Oh, when you know it! But you must divineAdela's shrine.CRASSUS.
I am weary of Adela grown chaste and chill.
ALICIA.The hunter lags; how heavy is the hill!But you are bound to Adela.CRASSUS.
To you!
ALICIA.
But you have given me freedom. I will leave you.
CRASSUS.
What have I done to grieve you?
ALICIA.You have been the solemn fool with face awryThat I have gathered in my ecstasy.You are only a vulgar primrose I have plucked.CRASSUS.
At least, she-devil, you have been well-treated.
ALICIA.O tragic farce – not even rimes completed!Nay, darling! no rebellion. When you knowMy secret, you will understand. You are boundTo Adela within the portico,To me upon this ground.By day, in life, adore the Lares, man!By night, in deaht, make offering to Pan!Can you cut day from night by any endeavour?If so, both life and death were lost for ever.Come, the stream steepens.CRASSUS.
This road leads to hell.
ALICIA.
The way to heaven is shorter.
CRASSUS.
Who can tell?
ALICIA.
I have measured it.
CRASSUS.
You, girl?
ALICIA.
It is not hard.
CRASSUS.
What did you make the height of it?
ALICIA.
One yard.
CRASSUS.
You always mock me?
ALICIA.Pity of my youth!I swerve not from, you stumble at, the truth.CRASSUS.
I like not jests. This is a serious journey.
ALICIA.Why did you make a mocker your attorney?The way to Rome leads through the Apennines.Bacchus has horns beneath the crown of vines.If you fear horns, make some polite excuseNot to invoke him by the name Zagreus!A FAUN [Passing among the trees].Ye thought me a lambWith a crown of thorns;I am royal, a ramWith death in my horns.So mild and softAnd feminine,Ye held me aloftAnd frowned on sin!But I was awakeIn your clasp as I lay;I roused the snakeFrom its nest of clay;And ere ye knewI had sunk my foreheadThrough and through;Harsh and horridThrough all the pleasureOf rose and vineI thrust my treasure,The cone of the pine.Irru's maidWas easily sated,For she was afraidWhen Irru mated!CRASSUS.
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
ALICIA.You would not laughWere you the maid!CRASSUS.
How could I be?
ALICIA.Great calf!But you are all the same, blaspheme and jeerAt any mystery beyond your sphereOf beer, and beef, and beer, and beef, and beer.Now you have frightened the shy god!CRASSUS.Why heed?Between your – arms – is all the god I need.ALICIA.Prudish and coarse to the last. Now hush indeed!The stream kisses the lake. We near the shrine.Stir no snapped twig. Let your foot – even yours -Fall like a fawn's.CRASSUS.
Your breath is like new wine.
ALICIA.
Hush now! no porpoise gambols!
CRASSUS.How obscure'sThe glimmer of the lake. Is that the isle?ALICIA.Yes! in that shadow lurks a smile.See; from that jagged cloud Diana startsLike a deer from the brake; her silver splendour dartsThrough the crisp air to the grove upon the isle…Do you see her? Do you see her?CRASSUS.Monstrous! Vile!These eyes betray me.ALICIA.No! your Adela liesWith arms thrown back, head tilted, open thighs.Her lips flame out like poppies in the dusk.The breeze brings back to us a scent of musk.Her mouth is oozing kisses!CRASSUS.
Filthy harlot!
ALICIA.I never fed on a superber scarlet.And look! the wonder of plumes that foams uponHer tidal breast – oh, but a swan! a swan!A swan snow-white with his sole scarlet hiddenIn the abode forbidden!O but his eye swoons as his broad beak slipsWithin her luscious lips.O but – I cannot see – I long to dieAlike for wonder – and for jealousy!CRASSUS.
Vile, filthy whore! I'll catch you at it.
ALICIA.Soft!See how his feathers hold her soul aloft!CRASSUS. Beast! Have you brought me through the wood for this?
ALICIA.
Now wonder I must teach you how to kiss.
CRASSUS.
I'll clip his wings.
ALICIA.Sub pennis, penis! 'Slife!It's not the wings of him that clip your wife.CRASSUS.
Thou art as filthy a creature as she!
ALICIA.Fat fool!All your emotions vary with your -CRASSUS.
What?
ALICIA.
Your state of health.
CRASSUS.
Be off with you, foul —
ALICIA.
Well?
CRASSUS.I'll swim and stab them. The black mouth of hellYawns for their murder.ALICIA.I'll be at the death.Dive then, but softly. Scarcely draw your breath.CRASSUS.
O, she's unwary!
ALICIA.
Is your love forgotten?
CRASSUS.
All love is rotten.
ALICIA.
But your pure love for me you boasted of?
CRASSUS.
Ay, that was perfect love.
ALICIA.
You love me then, not her?
CRASSUS.
Indeed I do.
ALICIA.
Swear me the oath anew!
CRASSUS.
I swear to love you till the world shall end.
ALICIA.
Then, Crassus, I will always be your friend.
CRASSUS.
Ah, that is good! You do not mock me now!
ALICIA.Creep softly to the land. Kiss but my brow.My curls are wet… No, never touch me there!CRASSUS.
Why? Have I not?
ALICIA.
You have not.
CRASSUS.
Just my hand.
ALICIA.You disobey your mistress's command?The time is near when you shall seeThe keyhole of my comedy!CRASSUS.
Ha! Ha! Ha!
ALICIA.Hush, you coarse slave; we'll surpriseYour good wife in her mystic exercise.Quick, through the bramble![They burst through upon ADELA.]
CRASSUS.Now, you beast, I've got you!The curst of God, and plague of Naples, rot you!For this white brute – one slit![He cuts the throat of THE SWAN with his dagger.]
ADELA.Oh love betrayed!O my dead beauty! Faugh! deceitful maid.Not Crassus found me out. Had I the wingsOf my dead love – oh love! -ALICIA.
Why, wondrous things!
ADELA.
These nails shall serve. A servant!
CRASSUS.She shall beMy wife, damned witch, when I have done with thee![THE SWAN dies.]
ADELA.
I'll kill her now. But see! my swan is dead.
ALICIA.Yes! and what light is breaking overhead?What blaze of blue and gold envelops us?CRASSUS.
O marvel! O miraculous!
ADELA.What is it? Why, my lover's life, in meOnce concentrated, now diffused, illumesThe endless reaches of eternityWith infinite brilliance, with intense perfumes.ALICIA.
O then your lover was some god's disguise.
ADELA.
And you have robbed me. Now beware your eyes!
[She springs at ALICIA, who guards herself easily. But in the struggle her robe tears.]
ALICIA.
Take care!
ADELA.
A boy!
CRASSUS.
A boy! Then what am I?
ALICIA.That is the key-word of the comedy.You thought you had two vices at your need;But she had Jove and you had Ganymede.[They are struck dumb and still with amazement. ALICIA claps her hands four times.]
Sweep through the air, bright blaze of eagle-wings!Crassus, sub pennis, penis! How he swingsHis bulk from yonder sightless poise, to bearme back to the Dominion of the airWhere I shall bear the cup of Jupiter!Blind babes, love one another, no less trueBecause the gods have deigned to dwell with you![The eagle bears GANYMEDE aloft.]
CRASSUS.Adela! these mysteries too greatFor you and me to estimate.But, widowed both, come, seek domestic charmsAs we were wont, in one another's arms!What perfect moss for you to lie upon!ADELA. I am your wife, dear Crassus. (sotto voce) Oh, my swan!
CURTAIN