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SRI AUROBINDO

Collected Plays and Short Stories

Part One

Perseus the Deliverer

Persons of the Drama

Prologue

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

Act Four

Act Five

Persons of the Drama

Pallas Athene.          
Poseidon.    
Perseus,  

son of Zeus and Danaë.
Cepheus,  

King of Syria.
Iolaus,  

son of Cepheus and Cassiopea.
Polydaon,  

priest of Poseidon.
Phineus,   King of Tyre.
Tyrnaus,

Merchants of Babylonia, wrecked, the coast of Syria.
Smerdas,
Therops,  

a popular leader.

Perissus,  

a citizen butcher.

Dercetes,  

a Syrian captain.

Nebassar,  

captain of the Chaldean Guard.

Chabrias,

townsmen and villagers.

Damoetes,
Megas,
Gardas,
Morus,
Syrax,
Cireas,  

a servant in the temple of Poseidon.

Medes,  

an usher in the palace.

Cassiopea,  

princess of Chaldea, Queen of Syria.

Andromeda,  

daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopea.

Cydone,  

mistress of Iolaus.

Praxilla,  

head of the palace household in the women's apartments.

Diomede,  

a slave-girl, servant and playmate of Andromeda.

Baltis,

Syrian women.

Pasithea

 

Scene: The city of Cepheus, the seashore, the temple of Poseidon on the headland and the surrounding country.

Prologue

The Ocean in tumult, and the sky in storm: Pallas Athene appears in the heavens with lightnings playing over her head and under her feet.

Athene

Error of waters rustling through the world,

Vast Ocean, call thy ravenous waves that march

With blue fierce nostrils quivering for prey,

Back to thy feet. Hush thy impatient surges

At my divine command and do my will.

Voices of the Sea

Who art thou layest thy serene command

Upon the untamed waters?

Athene

I am Pallas,

Daughter of the Omnipotent.

Voices

What wouldst thou?

For we cannot resist thee; our clamorous hearts

Are hushed in terror at thy marble feet.

Athene

Awake your dread Poseidon. Bid him rise

And come before me.

Voices

Let thy compelling voice

Awake him: for the sea is hushed.

Athene

Arise,

Illimitable Poseidon! let thy blue

And streaming tresses mingle with the foam

Emerging into light.

Poseidon appears upon the waters.

Poseidon

What quiet voice

Compels me from my rocky pillow piled

Upon the floor of the enormous deep?

Voices

A whiteness and a strength is in the skies.

Poseidon

How art thou white and beautiful and calm,

Yet clothed in tumult! Heaven above thee shakes

Wounded with lightnings, goddess, and the sea

Flees from thy dreadful tranquil feet. Thy calm

Troubles me: who art thou, dweller in the light?

Athene

I am Athene.

Poseidon

Virgin formidable

In beauty, disturber of the ancient world!

Ever thou seekest to enslave to man

The eternal Universe, and our huge motions

That shake the mountains and upheave the seas

Wouldst with the glancing visions of thy brain

Coerce and bridle.

Athene

Me the Omnipotent

Made from His being to lead and discipline

The immortal spirit of man, till it attain

To order and magnificent mastery

Of all his outward world.

Poseidon

What wouldst thou of me?

Athene

The powers of the earth have kissed my feet

In deep submission, and they yield me tribute,

Olives and corn and all fruit-bearing trees,

And silver from the bowels of the hills,

Marble and iron ore. Fire is my servant.

But thou, Poseidon, with thy kindred gods

And the wild wings of air resist me. I come

To set my feet upon thy azure locks,

O shaker of the cliffs. Adore thy sovereign.

Poseidon

The anarchy of the enormous seas

Is mine, O terrible Athene: I sway

Their billows with my nod. Man's feeble feet

Leave there no traces, nor his destiny

Has any hold upon the shifting waves.

Athene

Thou severest him with thy unmeasured wastes

Whom I would weld in one. But I will lead him

Over thy waters, thou wild thunderer,

Spurning thy tops in hollowed fragile trees.

He shall be confident in me and dare

The immeasurable oceans till the West

Mingles with India, and reach the northern isles

That dwell beneath my dancing aegis bright,

Snow-weary. He shall, armed with clamorous fire,

Rush o'er the angry waters when the whale

Is stunned between two waves and slay his foe

Betwixt the thunders. Therefore I bid thee not,

O azure strong Poseidon, to abate

Thy savage tumults: rather his march oppose.

For through the shocks of difficulty and death

Man shall attain his godhead.

Poseidon

What then desir'st thou,

Athene?

Athene

On yonder inhospitable coast

Far-venturing merchants from the East, or those

Who put from Tyre towards Atlantic gains,

Are by thy trident fiercely shaken forth

Upon the jaggèd rocks, and who escape,

The gay and savage Syrians on their altars

Massacre hideously, thee to propitiate,

Moloch-Poseidon of the Syrian coasts,

Dagon of Gaza, lord of many names

And many natures, many forms of power

Who rulest from Philistia to the north,

A terror and a woe. O iron King,

Desist from blood, be glad of kindlier gifts

And suffer men to live.

Poseidon

Behold, Athene,

My waters! see them lift their foam-white tops

Charging from sky to sky in rapid tumult:

Admire their force, admire their thunderous speed.

With green hooves and white manes they trample onwards.

My mighty voices fill the world, Athene.

Shall I permit the grand anarchic seas

To be a road and the imperious Ocean

A means of merchandise? Shall the frail keels

Of thy ephemeral mortals score its back

With servile furrows and petty souls of men

Triumphing tame the illimitable sea?

I am not of the mild and later gods,

But of that elder world; Lemuria

And old Atlantis raised me crimson altars,

And my huge nostrils keep that scent of blood

For which they quiver. Return into thy heavens,

Pallas Athene, I into my deep.

Athene

Dash then thy billows up against my aegis

In battle! think not to hide in thy deep oceans;

For I will drive thy waters from the world

And leave thee naked to the light.

Poseidon

Dread virgin!

I will not war with thee, armipotent.

Athene

Then send thy champion forth to meet my champion,

And let their conflict govern ours, Poseidon.

Poseidon

Who is thy champion?

Athene

Perseus, the Olympian's son,

Whom Danaë in her strong brazen tower,

Acrisius' daughter, bore, by heavenly gold

Lapped into slumber: for of that shining rain

He is the beautiful offspring.

Poseidon

The parricide

That is to be? But my sea-monster's fangs

And fiery breathings shall prevent that murder.

Farewell, Athene.

Athene

Farewell, until I press

My feet upon thy blue enormous mane

And add thy Ocean to my growing empire.

Poseidon disappears into the sea.

He dives into the deep and with a din

The thunderous divided waters meet

Above his grisly head. Thou wingest, Perseus,

From northern snows to this fair sunny land,

Not knowing in the night what way thou wendest;

But the dawn comes and over earth's far rim

The round sun rises, as thyself shalt rise

On Syria and thy rosy Andromeda,

A thing of light. Rejoice, thou famous hero!

Be glad of love, be glad of life, whose bosom

Harbours the quiet strength of pure Athene.

She disappears into light.