Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold Part 48

MEROPE

A TRAGEDY

STORY OF THE DRAMA

Apollodorus says:--"Cresphontes had not reigned long in Messenia when he was murdered, together with two of his sons. And Polyphontes reigned in his stead, he, too, being of the family of Hercules; and he had for his wife, against her will, Merope, the widow of the murdered king. But Merope had borne to Cresphontes a third son, called aepytus; him she gave to her own father to bring up. He, when he came to man's estate, returned secretly to Messenia, and slew Polyphontes and the other murderers of his father."

Hyginus says:--"Merope sent away and concealed her infant son.

Polyphontes sought for him everywhere in vain. He, when he grew up, laid a plan to avenge the murder of his father and brothers. In pursuance of this plan he came to king Polyphontes and reported the death of the son of Cresphontes and Merope. The king ordered him to be hospitably entertained, intending to inquire further of him. He, being very tired, went to sleep, and an old man, who was the channel through whom the mother and son used to communicate, arrives at this moment in tears, bringing word to Merope that her son had disappeared from his protector's house, and was slain.

Merope, believing that the sleeping stranger is the murderer of her son, comes into the guest-chamber with an axe, not knowing that he whom she would slay was her son; the old man recognised him, and withheld Merope from slaying him. The king, Polyphontes, rejoicing at the supposed death of aepytus, celebrated a sacrifice; his guest, pretending to strike the sacrificial victim, slew the king, and so got back his father's kingdom."

The events on which the action of the drama turns belong to the period of transition from the heroic and fabulous to the human and historic age of Greece. The doings of the hero Hercules, the ancestor of the Messenian aepytus, belong to fable; but the invasion of Peloponnesus by the Dorians under chiefs claiming to be descended from Hercules, and their settlement in Argos, Lacedaemon, and Messenia, belong to history.

aepytus is descended on the father's side from Hercules, Perseus, and the kings of Argos; on the mother's side from Pelasgus, and the aboriginal kings of Arcadia. Callisto, the daughter of the wicked Lycaon, and the mother, by Zeus, of Arcas, from whom the Arcadians took their name, was the granddaughter of Pelasgus. The birth of Arcas brought upon Callisto the anger of the virgin-G.o.ddess Artemis, whose service she followed: she was changed into a she-bear, and in this form was chased by her own son, grown to manhood. Zeus interposed, and the mother and son were removed from the earth, and placed among the stars. Callis...o...b..came the famous constellation of the Great Bear; her son became Arcturus, Arctophylax, or Bootes. From this son of Callisto were descended Cypselus, the maternal grandfather of aepytus, and the children of Cypselus, Laias and Merope.

The story of the life of Hercules, the paternal ancestor of aepytus, is so well known that there is no need to record it. The reader will remember that, although ent.i.tled to the throne of Argos by right of descent from Perseus and Danaus, and to the thrones of Sparta and Messenia by right of conquest, Hercules yet pa.s.sed his life in labours and wanderings, subjected by the decree of fate to the commands of his kinsman, the feeble and malignant Eurystheus. At his death he bequeathed to his offspring, the Heracleidae, his own claims to the kingdoms of Peloponnesus, and to the persecution of Eurystheus. They at first sought shelter with Ceyx, king of Trachis; he was too weak to protect them, and they then took refuge at Athens. The Athenians refused to deliver them up at the demand of Eurystheus; he invaded Attica, and a battle was fought near Marathon, in which, after Macaria, a daughter of Hercules, had devoted herself for the preservation of her house, Eurystheus fell, and the Heracleidae and their Athenian protectors were victorious. The memory of Macaria's self-sacrifices was perpetuated by the name of a spring of water on the plain of Marathon, the spring Macaria. The Heracleidae then endeavoured to effect their return to Peloponnesus.

Hyllus, the eldest of them, inquired of the oracle at Delphi respecting their return; he was told to return by the _narrow pa.s.sage_ and in the _third harvest_. Accordingly, in the third year from that time Hyllus led an army to the Isthmus of Corinth; but there he was encountered by an army of Achaians and Arcadians, and fell in single combat with Echemus, king of Tegea. Upon this defeat the Heracleidae retired to northern Greece; there, after much wandering, they finally took refuge with aegimius, king of the Dorians, who appears to have been the fastest friend of their house, and whose Dorian warriors formed the army which at last achieved their return. But, for a hundred years from the date of their first attempt, the Heracleidae were defeated in their successive invasions of Peloponnesus. Cleolaus and Aristomachus, the son and grandson of Hyllus, fell in unsuccessful expeditions. At length the sons of Aristomachus, Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus, when grown up, repaired to Delphi and taxed the oracle with the non-fulfilment of the promise made to their ancestor Hyllus. But Apollo replied that his oracle had been misunderstood; for that by the _third harvest_ he had meant the third generation, and by the _narrow pa.s.sage_ he had meant the straits of the Corinthian Gulf. After this explanation the sons of Aristomachus built a fleet at Naupactus; and finally, in the hundredth year from the death of Hyllus and the eightieth from the fall of Troy, the invasion was again attempted and was this time successful. The son of Orestes, Tisamenus, who ruled both Argos and Lacedaemon, fell in battle; many of his vanquished subjects left their homes and took refuge in Achaia.

The spoil was now to be divided among the conquerors. Aristodemus, the youngest of the sons of Aristomachus, did not survive to enjoy his share. He was slain at Delphi by the sons of Pylades and Electra, the kinsman, through their mother, of the house of Agamemnon, that house which the Heracleidae with their Dorian army had dispossessed. The claims of Aristodemus descended to his two sons, Procles and Eurysthenes, children under the guardians.h.i.+p of their maternal uncle, Theras.

Temenus, the eldest of the sons of Aristomachus, took the kingdom of Argos. For the two remaining kingdoms, that of Sparta and that of Messenia, his two nephews, who were to rule jointly, and their uncle Cresphontes, had to cast lots. Cresphontes wished to have the fertile Messenia, and induced his brother to acquiesce in a trick which secured it to him. The lot of Cresphontes and that of his two nephews were to be placed in a water-jar, and thrown out. Messenia was to belong to him whose lot came out first. With the connivance of Temenus, Cresphontes marked as his own lot a pellet composed of baked clay, as the lot of his nephews, a pellet of unbaked clay; the unbaked pellet was of course dissolved in the water, while the brick pellet fell out alone. Messenia, therefore, was a.s.signed to Cresphontes.

Messenia was at this time ruled by Melanthus, a descendant of Neleus.

This ancestor, a prince of the great house of aeolus, had come from Thessaly and succeeded to the Messenian throne on the failure of the previous dynasty. Melanthus and his race were thus foreigners in Messenia and were unpopular. His subjects offered little or no opposition to the invading Dorians; Melanthus abandoned his kingdom to Cresphontes, and retired to Athens.

Cresphontes married Merope, whose native country, Arcadia, was not affected by the Dorian invasion. This marriage, the issue of which was three sons, connected him with the native population of Peloponnesus. He built a new capital of Messenia, Stenyclaros, and transferred thither, from Pylos, the seat of government; he proposed, moreover, says Pausanias, to divide Messenia into five states, and to confer on the native Messenians equal privileges with their Dorian conquerors. The Dorians complained that his administration unduly favoured the vanquished people; his chief magnates, headed by Polyphontes, himself a descendant of Hercules, formed a cabal against him, and he was slain with his two eldest sons. The youngest son of Cresphontes, aepytus, then an infant, was saved by his mother, who sent him to her father, Cypselus, the king of Arcadia, under whose protection he was brought up.

The drama begins at the moment when aepytus, grown to manhood, returns secretly to Messenia to take vengeance on his father's murderers. At this period Temenus was no longer reigning at Argos; he had been murdered by his sons, jealous of their brother-in-law, Deiphontes. The sons of Aristodemus, Procles and Eurysthenes, at variance with their uncle and ex-guardian, Theras, were reigning at Sparta.

PERSONS OF THE DRAMA

LAIAS, _uncle of_ aePYTUS, _brother of_ MEROPE.

aePYTUS, _son of_ MEROPE _and_ CRESPHONTES.

POLYPHONTES, _king of_ MESSENIA.

MEROPE, _widow of_ CRESPHONTES, _the murdered king of_ MESSENIA.

THE CHORUS, _of_ MESSENIAN _maidens_.

ARCAS, _AN OLD MAN OF_ MEROPE'S _household_.

MESSENGER.

GUARDS, ATTENDANTS, etc.

_The Scene is before the royal palace in_ STENYCLAROS, _the capital of_ MESSENIA. _In the foreground is the tomb of_ CRESPHONTES. _The action commences at day-break._

MEROPE

LAIAS. aePYTUS.

_Laias_

Son of Cresphontes, we have reach'd the goal Of our night-journey, and thou see'st thy home.

Behold thy heritage, thy father's realm!

This is that fruitful, famed Messenian land, Wealthy in corn and flocks, which, when at last The late-relenting G.o.ds with victory brought The Heracleidae back to Pelops' isle, Fell to thy father's lot, the second prize.

Before thy feet this recent city spreads Of Stenyclaros, which he built, and made Of his fresh-conquer'd realm the royal seat, Degrading Pylos from its ancient rule.

There stands the temple of thine ancestor, Great Heracles; and, in that public place, Zeus hath his altar, where thy father fell.

Southward and west, behold those snowy peaks, Taygetus, Laconia's border-wall; And, on this side, those confluent streams which make Pamisus watering the Messenian plain; Then to the north, Lycaeus and the hills Of pastoral Arcadia, where, a babe s.n.a.t.c.h'd from the slaughter of thy father's house, Thy mother's kin received thee, and rear'd up.-- Our journey is well made, the work remains Which to perform we made it; means for that Let us consult, before this palace sends Its inmates on their daily tasks abroad.

Haste and advise, for day comes on apace.

_aepytus_

O brother of my mother, guardian true, And second father from that hour when first My mother's faithful servant laid me down, An infant, at the hearth of Cypselus, My grandfather, the good Arcadian king-- Thy part it were to advise, and mine to obey.

But let us keep that purpose, which, at home, We judged the best; chance finds no better way.

Go thou into the city, and seek out Whate'er in the Messenian people stirs Of faithful fondness for their former king Or hatred to their present; in this last Will lie, my grandsire said, our fairest chance.

For tyrants make man good beyond himself; Hate to their rule, which else would die away, Their daily-practised chafings keep alive.

Seek this! revive, unite it, give it hope; Bid it rise boldly at the signal given.

Meanwhile within my father's palace I, An unknown guest, will enter, bringing word Of my own death--but, Laias, well I hope Through that pretended death to live and reign.

[THE CHORUS _comes forth_.

Softly, stand back!--see, to these palace gates What black procession slowly makes approach?-- Sad-chanting maidens clad in mourning robes, With pitchers in their hands, and fresh-pull'd flowers-- Doubtless, they bear them to my father's tomb.

[MEROPE _comes forth_.

And look, to meet them, that one, grief-plunged Form, Severer, paler, statelier than they all, A golden circlet on her queenly brow!

O Laias, Laias, let the heart speak here-- Shall I not greet her? shall I not leap forth?

[POLYPHONTES _comes forth, following_ MEROPE.

_Laias_

Not so! thy heart would pay its moment's speech By silence ever after, for, behold!

The King (I know him, even through many years) Follows the approaching Queen, who stops, as call'd.

No lingering now! straight to the city I; Do thou, till for thine entrance to this house The happy moment comes, lurk here unseen Behind the shelter of thy father's tomb; Remove yet further off, if aught comes near.

But, here while harbouring, on its margin lay, Sole offering that thou hast, locks from thy head; And fill thy leisure with an earnest prayer To his avenging Shade, and to the G.o.ds Who under earth watch guilty deeds of men, To guide our vengeance to a prosperous close.

[LAIAS _goes out_. POLYPHONTES, MEROPE, _and_ THE CHORUS _come forward. As they advance_, aePYTUS, _who at first conceals himself behind the tomb, moves off the stage_.

_Polyphontes_ (_To_ THE CHORUS)

Set down your pitchers, maidens, and fall back!

Suspend your melancholy rites awhile; Shortly ye shall resume them with your Queen.