As if impelled by powers invisible And irresistible, my steps return Unto this spacious hall.All corridors And passages lead hither, and all doors But open into it.Yon mysterious chest Attracts and fascinates me.Would I knew What there lies hidden! But the oracle Forbids.Ah me! The secret then is safe.
So would it be if it were in my keeping.
A crowd of shadowy faces from the mirrors That line these walls are watching me.I dare not Lift up the lid.A hundred times the act Would be repeated, and the secret seen By twice a hundred incorporeal eyes.
(She walks to the other side of the hall.)My feet are weary, wandering to and fro, My eyes with seeing and my heart with waiting.
I will lie here and rest till he returns, Who is my dawn, my day, my Helios.
(Throws herself upon a couch, and falls asleep.)ZEPHYRUS.
Come from thy caverns dark and deep.
O son of Erebus and Night;
All sense of hearing and of sight Enfold in the serene delight And quietude of sleep!
Set all the silent sentinels To bar and guard the Ivory Gate, And keep the evil dreams of fate And falsehood and infernal hate Imprisoned in their cells.
But open wide the Gate of Horn, Whence, beautiful as planets, rise The dreams of truth, with starry eyes, And all the wondrous prophecies And visions of the morn.
CHORUS OF DREAMS FROM THE IVORY GATE.
Ye sentinels of sleep, It is in vain ye keep Your drowsy watch before the Ivory Gate;Though closed the portal seems, The airy feet of dreams Ye cannot thus in walls incarcerate.
We phantoms are and dreams Born by Tartarean streams, As ministers of the infernal powers;O son of Erebus And Night, behold! we thus Elude your watchful warders on the towers!
From gloomy Tartarus The Fates have summoned us To whisper in her ear, who lies asleep, A tale to fan the fire Of her insane desire To know a secret that the Gods would keep.
This passion, in their ire, The Gods themselves inspire, To vex mankind with evils manifold, So that disease and pain O'er the whole earth may reign, And nevermore return the Age of Gold.
PANDORA (waking).
A voice said in my sleep: "Do not delay:
Do not delay; the golden moments fly!
The oracle hath forbidden; yet not thee Doth it forbid, but Epimetheus only!"I am alone.These faces in the mirrors Are but the shadows and phantoms of myself;They cannot help nor hinder.No one sees me, Save the all-seeing Gods, who, knowing good And knowing evil, have created me Such as I am, and filled me with desire Of knowing good and evil like themselves.
(She approaches the chest.)
I hesitate no longer.Weal or woe, Or life or death, the moment shall decide.
(She lifts the lid.A dense mist rises from the chest, and fills the room.PANDORAfalls senseless on the floor.Storm without.)CHORUS OF DREAMS FROM THE GATE OF HORN.
Yes, the moment shall decide!
It already hath decided;
And the secret once confided To the keeping of the Titan Now is flying far and wide, Whispered, told on every side, To disquiet and to frighten.
Fever of the heart and brain, Sorrow, pestilence, and pain, Moans of anguish, maniac laughter, All the evils that hereafter Shall afflict and vex mankind, All into the air have risen From the chambers of their prison;Only Hope remains behind.
VIII
IN THE GARDEN
EPIMETHEUS.
The storm is past, but it hath left behind it Ruin and desolation.All the walks Are strewn with shattered boughs; the birds are silent;The flowers, downtrodden by the wind, lie dead;The swollen rivulet sobs with secret pain, The melancholy reeds whisper together As if some dreadful deed had been committed They dare not name, and all the air is heavy With an unspoken sorrow! Premonitions, Foreshadowings of some terrible disaster Oppress my heart.Ye Gods, avert the omen!
PANDORA (coming from the house).
O Epimetheus, I no longer dare To lift mine eyes to thine, nor hear thy voice, Being no longer worthy of thy love.
EPIMETHEUS.
What hast thou done?
PANDORA.
Forgive me not, but kill me.
EPIMETHEUS.
What hast thou done?
PANDORA.
I pray for death, not pardon.
EPIMETHEUS.
What hast thou done?
PANDORA.
I dare not speak of it.
EPIMETHEUS.
Thy pallor and thy silence terrify me!
PANDORA.
I have brought wrath and ruin on thy house!
My heart hath braved the oracle that guarded The fatal secret from us, and my hand Lifted the lid of the mysterious chest!
EPIMETHEUS.
Then all is lost! I am indeed undone.
PANDORA.
I pray for punishment, and not for pardon.
EPIMETHEUS.
Mine is the fault not thine.On me shall fall The vengeance of the Gods, for I betrayed Their secret when, in evil hour, I said It was a secret; when, in evil hour, I left thee here alone to this temptation.
Why did I leave thee?
PANDORA.
Why didst thou return?
Eternal absence would have been to me The greatest punishment.To be left alone And face to face with my own crime, had been Just retribution.Upon me, ye Gods, Let all your vengeance fall!
EPIMETHEUS.
On thee and me.
I do not love thee less for what is done, And cannot be undone.Thy very weakness Hath brought thee nearer to me, and henceforth My love will have a sense of pity in it, Making it less a worship than before.
PANDORA.
Pity me not; pity is degradation.
Love me and kill me.
EPIMETHEUS.
Beautiful Pandora!
Thou art a Goddess still!
PANDORA.
I am a woman;
And the insurgent demon in my nature, That made me brave the oracle, revolts At pity and compassion.Let me die;What else remains for me?
EPIMETHEUS.
Youth, hope, and love:
To build a new life on a ruined life, To make the future fairer than the past, And make the past appear a troubled dream.
Even now in passing through the garden walks Upon the ground I saw a fallen nest Ruined and full of rain; and over me Beheld the uncomplaining birds already Busy in building a new habitation.
PANDORA.
Auspicious omen!
EPIMETHEUS.
May the Eumenides Put out their torches and behold us not, And fling away their whips of scorpions And touch us not.
PANDORA.
Me let them punish.
Only through punishment of our evil deeds, Only through suffering, are we reconciled To the immortal Gods and to ourselves.
CHORUS OF THE EUMENIDES.