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Percy Shelley: Poems

Oedipus Tyrannus: Act 2


SCENE 2.1:

THE PUBLIC STY.

THE B0ARS IN FULL ASSEMBLY.

ENTER PUEGANAX.


PURGANAX:

Grant me your patience, Gentlemen and Boars,

Ye, by whose patience under public burthens

The glorious constitution of these sties

Subsists, and shall subsist. The Lean-Pig rates

Grow with the growing populace of Swine, _5

The taxes, that true source of Piggishness

(How can I find a more appropriate term

To include religion, morals, peace, and plenty,

And all that fit Boeotia as a nation

To teach the other nations how to live?), _10

Increase with Piggishness itself; and still

Does the revenue, that great spring of all

The patronage, and pensions, and by-payments,

Which free-born Pigs regard with jealous eyes,

Diminish, till at length, by glorious steps, _15

All the land's produce will be merged in taxes,

And the revenue will amount to--nothing!

The failure of a foreign market for

Sausages, bristles, and blood-puddings,

And such home manufactures, is but partial; _20

And, that the population of the Pigs,

Instead of hog-wash, has been fed on straw

And water, is a fact which is--you know--

That is--it is a state-necessity--

Temporary, of course. Those impious Pigs, _25

Who, by frequent squeaks, have dared impugn

The settled Swellfoot system, or to make

Irreverent mockery of the genuflexions

Inculcated by the arch-priest, have been whipped

Into a loyal and an orthodox whine. _30

Things being in this happy state, the Queen

Iona--


NOTE:

_16 land's]lands edition 1820.


A LOUD CRY FROM THE PIGS:

She is innocent! most innocent!


PURGANAX:

That is the very thing that I was saying,

Gentlemen Swine; the Queen Iona being

Most innocent, no doubt, returns to Thebes, _35

And the lean Sows and Bears collect about her,

Wishing to make her think that WE believe

(I mean those more substantial Pigs, who swill

Rich hog-wash, while the others mouth damp straw)

That she is guilty; thus, the Lean-Pig faction _40

Seeks to obtain that hog-wash, which has been

Your immemorial right, and which I will

Maintain you in to the last drop of--


A BOAR (INTERRUPTING HIM):

What

Does any one accuse her of?


PURGANAX:

Why, no one

Makes ANY positive accusation;--but _45

There were hints dropped, and so the privy wizards

Conceived that it became them to advise

His Majesty to investigate their truth;--

Not for his own sake; he could be content

To let his wife play any pranks she pleased, _50

If, by that sufferance, HE could please the Pigs;

But then he fears the morals of the Swine,

The Sows especially, and what effect

It might produce upon the purity and

Religion of the rising generation _55

Of Sucking-Pigs, if it could be suspected

That Queen Iona--


[A PAUSE.]


FIRST BOAR:

Well, go on; we long

To hear what she can possibly have done.


PURGANAX:

Why, it is hinted, that a certain Bull--

Thus much is KNOWN:--the milk-white Bulls that feed _60

Beside Clitumnus and the crystal lakes

Of the Cisalpine mountains, in fresh dews

Of lotus-grass and blossoming asphodel

Sleeking their silken hair, and with sweet breath

Loading the morning winds until they faint _65

With living fragrance, are so beautiful!--

Well, _I_ say nothing;--but Europa rode

On such a one from Asia into Crete,

And the enamoured sea grew calm beneath

His gliding beauty. And Pasiphae, _70

Iona's grandmother,--but SHE is innocent!

And that both you and I, and all assert.


FIRST BOAR:

Most innocent!


PURGANAX:

Behold this BAG; a bag--


SECOND BOAR:

Oh! no GREEN BAGS!! Jealousy's eyes are green,

Scorpions are green, and water-snakes, and efts, _75

And verdigris, and--


PURGANAX:

Honourable Swine,

In Piggish souls can prepossessions reign?

Allow me to remind you, grass is green--

All flesh is grass;--no bacon but is flesh--

Ye are but bacon. This divining BAG _80

(Which is not green, but only bacon colour)

Is filled with liquor, which if sprinkled o'er

A woman guilty of--we all know what--

Makes her so hideous, till she finds one blind

She never can commit the like again. _85

If innocent, she will turn into an angel,

And rain down blessings in the shape of comfits

As she flies up to heaven. Now, my proposal

Is to convert her sacred Majesty

Into an angel (as I am sure we shall do), _90

By pouring on her head this mystic water.

[SHOWING THE BAG.]

I know that she is innocent; I wish

Only to prove her so to all the world.


FIRST BOAR:

Excellent, just, and noble Purganax.


SECOND BOAR:

How glorious it will be to see her Majesty _95

Flying above our heads, her petticoats

Streaming like--like--like--


THIRD BOAR:

Anything.


PURGANAX:

Oh no!

But like a standard of an admiral's ship,

Or like the banner of a conquering host,

Or like a cloud dyed in the dying day, _100

Unravelled on the blast from a white mountain;

Or like a meteor, or a war-steed's mane,

Or waterfall from a dizzy precipice

Scattered upon the wind.


FIRST BOAR:

Or a cow's tail.


SECOND BOAR:

Or ANYTHING, as the learned Boar observed. _105


PURGANAX:

Gentlemen Boars, I move a resolution,

That her most sacred Majesty should be

Invited to attend the feast of Famine,

And to receive upon her chaste white body

Dews of Apotheosis from this BAG. _110


[A GREAT CONFUSION IS HEARD OF THE PIGS OUT OF DOORS, WHICH]

COMMUNICATES ITSELF TO THOSE WITHIN. DURING THE FIRST STROPHE, THE

DOORS OF THE STY ARE STAVED IN, AND A NUMBER OF EXCEEDINGLY LEAN PIGS

AND SOWS AND BOARS RUSH IN.


SEMICHORUS 1:

No! Yes!


SEMICHORUS 2:

Yes! No!


SEMICHORUS 1:

A law!


SEMICHORUS 2:

A flaw!


SEMICHORUS 1:

Porkers, we shall lose our wash, _115

Or must share it with the Lean-Pigs!


FIRST BOAR:

Order! order! be not rash!

Was there ever such a scene, Pigs!


AN OLD SOW (RUSHING IN):

I never saw so fine a dash

Since I first began to wean Pigs. _120


SECOND BOAR (SOLEMNLY):

The Queen will be an angel time enough.

I vote, in form of an amendment, that

Purganax rub a little of that stuff

Upon his face.


PURGANAX [HIS HEART IS SEEN TO BEAT THROUGH HIS WAISTCOAT]:

Gods! What would ye be at?


SEMICHORUS 1:

Purganax has plainly shown a _125

Cloven foot and jackdaw feather.


SEMICHORUS 2:

I vote Swellfoot and Iona

Try the magic test together;

Whenever royal spouses bicker,

Both should try the magic liquor. _130


AN OLD BOAR [ASIDE]:

A miserable state is that of Pigs,

For if their drivers would tear caps and wigs,

The Swine must bite each other's ear therefore.


AN OLD SOW [ASIDE]:

A wretched lot Jove has assigned to Swine,

Squabbling makes Pig-herds hungry, and they dine _135

On bacon, and whip Sucking-Pigs the more.


CHORUS:

Hog-wash has been ta'en away:

If the Bull-Queen is divested,

We shall be in every way

Hunted, stripped, exposed, molested; _140

Let us do whate'er we may,

That she shall not be arrested.

QUEEN, we entrench you with walls of brawn,

And palisades of tusks, sharp as a bayonet:

Place your most sacred person here. We pawn _145

Our lives that none a finger dare to lay on it.

Those who wrong you, wrong us;

Those who hate you, hate us;

Those who sting you, sting us;

Those who bait you, bait us; _150

The ORACLE is now about to be

Fulfilled by circumvolving destiny;

Which says: 'Thebes, choose REFORM or CIVIL WAR,

When through your streets, instead of hare with dogs,

A CONSORT QUEEN shall hunt a KING with Hogs, _155

Riding upon the IONIAN MINOTAUR.'


NOTE:

_154 streets instead edition 1820.


[ENTER IONA TAURINA.]


IONA TAURINA (COMING FORWARD):

Gentlemen Swine, and gentle Lady-Pigs,

The tender heart of every Boar acquits

Their QUEEN, of any act incongruous

With native Piggishness, and she, reposing _160

With confidence upon the grunting nation,

Has thrown herself, her cause, her life, her all,

Her innocence, into their Hoggish arms;

Nor has the expectation been deceived

Of finding shelter there. Yet know, great Boars, _165

(For such whoever lives among you finds you,

And so do I), the innocent are proud!

I have accepted your protection only

In compliment of your kind love and care,

Not for necessity. The innocent _170

Are safest there where trials and dangers wait;

Innocent Queens o'er white-hot ploughshares tread

Unsinged, and ladies, Erin's laureate sings it,

Decked with rare gems, and beauty rarer still,

Walked from Killarney to the Giant's Causeway, _175

Through rebels, smugglers, troops of yeomanry,

White-boys and Orange-boys, and constables,

Tithe-proctors, and excise people, uninjured!

Thus I!--

Lord Purganax, I do commit myself _180

Into your custody, and am prepared

To stand the test, whatever it may be!


NOTE:

(_173 'Rich and rare were the gems she wore.' See Moore's "Irish

Melodies".-- [SHELLEY'S NOTE.])


PURGANAX:

This magnanimity in your sacred Majesty

Must please the Pigs. You cannot fail of being

A heavenly angel. Smoke your bits of glass, _185

Ye loyal Swine, or her transfiguration

Will blind your wondering eyes.


AN OLD BOAR [ASIDE]:

Take care, my Lord,

They do not smoke you first.


PURGANAX:

At the approaching feast

Of Famine, let the expiation be.


SWINE:

Content! content!


IONA TAURINA [ASIDE]:

I, most content of all, _190

Know that my foes even thus prepare their fall!


[EXEUNT OMNES.]


SCENE 2.2:

THE INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLE OF FAMINE.

THE STATUE OF THE GODDESS, A SKELETON CLOTHED IN PARTI-COLOURED RAGS,

SEATED UPON A HEAP OF SKULLS AND LOAVES INTERMINGLED.

A NUMBER OF EXCEEDINGLY FAT PRIESTS IN BLACK GARMENTS ARRAYED ON EACH

SIDE, WITH MARROW-BONES AND CLEAVERS IN THEIR HANDS.

[SOLOMON, THE COURT PORKMAN.]

A FLOURISH OF TRUMPETS.


ENTER MAMMON AS ARCH-PRIEST, SWELLFOOT, DAKRY, PURGANAX, LAOCTONOS,

FOLLOWED BY IONA TAURINA GUARDED.

ON THE OTHER SIDE ENTER THE SWINE.


CHORUS OF PRIESTS, ACCOMPANIED BY THE COURT PORKMAN ON MARROW-BONES

AND CLEAVERS:

GODDESS bare, and gaunt, and pale,

Empress of the world, all hail!

What though Cretans old called thee

City-crested Cybele?

We call thee FAMINE! _5

Goddess of fasts and feasts, starving and cramming!

Through thee, for emperors, kings, and priests and lords,

Who rule by viziers, sceptres, bank-notes, words,

The earth pours forth its plenteous fruits,

Corn, wool, linen, flesh, and roots-- _10

Those who consume these fruits through thee grow fat,

Those who produce these fruits through thee grow lean,

Whatever change takes place, oh, stick to that!

And let things be as they have ever been;

At least while we remain thy priests, _15

And proclaim thy fasts and feasts.

Through thee the sacred SWELLF00T dynasty

Is based upon a rock amid that sea

Whose waves are Swine--so let it ever be!


[SWELLFOOT, ETC., SEAT THEMSELVES AT A TABLE MAGNIFICENTLY COVERED AT]

THE UPPER END OF THE TEMPLE.

ATTENDANTS PASS OVER THE STAGE WITH HOG-WASH IN PAILS.

A NUMBER OF PIGS, EXCEEDINGLY LEAN, FOLLOW THEM LICKING UP THE WASH.


MAMMON:

I fear your sacred Majesty has lost _20

The appetite which you were used to have.

Allow me now to recommend this dish--

A simple kickshaw by your Persian cook,

Such as is served at the great King's second table.

The price and pains which its ingredients cost _25

Might have maintained some dozen families

A winter or two--not more--so plain a dish

Could scarcely disagree.--


SWELLFOOT:

After the trial,

And these fastidious Pigs are gone, perhaps

I may recover my lost appetite,-- _30

I feel the gout flying about my stomach--

Give me a glass of Maraschino punch.


PURGANAX (FILLING HIS GLASS, AND STANDING UP):

The glorious Constitution of the Pigs!


ALL:

A toast! a toast! stand up, and three times three!


DAKRY:

No heel-taps--darken daylights! --


LAOCTONOS:

Claret, somehow, _35

Puts me in mind of blood, and blood of claret!


SWELLFOOT:

Laoctonos is fishing for a compliment,

But 'tis his due. Yes, you have drunk more wine,

And shed more blood, than any man in Thebes.

[TO PURGANAX.]

For God's sake stop the grunting of those Pigs! _40


PURGANAX:

We dare not, Sire, 'tis Famine's privilege.


CHORUS OF SWINE:

Hail to thee, hail to thee, Famine!

Thy throne is on blood, and thy robe is of rags;

Thou devil which livest on damning;

Saint of new churches, and cant, and GREEN BAGS, _45

Till in pity and terror thou risest,

Confounding the schemes of the wisest;

When thou liftest thy skeleton form,

When the loaves and the skulls roll about,

We will greet thee-the voice of a storm _50

Would be lost in our terrible shout!


Then hail to thee, hail to thee, Famine!

Hail to thee, Empress of Earth!

When thou risest, dividing possessions;

When thou risest, uprooting oppressions, _55

In the pride of thy ghastly mirth;

Over palaces, temples, and graves,

We will rush as thy minister-slaves,

Trampling behind in thy train,

Till all be made level again! _60


MAMMON:

I hear a crackling of the giant bones

Of the dread image, and in the black pits

Which once were eyes, I see two livid flames.

These prodigies are oracular, and show

The presence of the unseen Deity. _65

Mighty events are hastening to their doom!


SWELLFOOT:

I only hear the lean and mutinous Swine

Grunting about the temple.


DAKRY:

In a crisis

Of such exceeding delicacy, I think

We ought to put her Majesty, the QUEEN, _70

Upon her trial without delay.


MAMMON:

THE BAG

Is here.


PURGANAX:

I have rehearsed the entire scene

With an ox-bladder and some ditchwater,

On Lady P--; it cannot fail.

[TAKING UP THE BAG.]

Your Majesty

[TO SWELLFOOT.]

In such a filthy business had better _75

Stand on one side, lest it should sprinkle you.

A spot or two on me would do no harm,

Nay, it might hide the blood, which the sad Genius

Of the Green Isle has fixed, as by a spell,

Upon my brow--which would stain all its seas, _80

But which those seas could never wash away!


IONA TAURINA:

My Lord, I am ready--nay, I am impatient

To undergo the test.

[A GRACEFUL FIGURE IN A SEMI-TRANSPARENT VEIL PASSES UNNOTICED THROUGH

THE TEMPLE; THE WORD "LIBERTY" IS SEEN THROUGH THE VEIL, AS IF IT WERE

WRITTEN IN FIRE UPON ITS FOREHEAD. ITS WORDS ARE ALMOST DROWNED IN THE

FURIOUS GRUNTING OF THE PIGS, AND THE BUSINESS OF THE TRIAL. SHE

KNEELS ON THE STEPS OF THE ALTAR, AND SPEAKS IN TONES AT FIRST FAINT

AND LOW, BUT WHICH EVER BECOME LOUDER AND LOUDER.]

Mighty Empress! Death's white wife!

Ghastly mother-in-law of Life! _85

By the God who made thee such,

By the magic of thy touch,

By the starving and the cramming

Of fasts and feasts! by thy dread self, O Famine!

I charge thee! when thou wake the multitude, _90

Thou lead them not upon the paths of blood.

The earth did never mean her foison

For those who crown life's cup with poison

Of fanatic rage and meaningless revenge--

But for those radiant spirits, who are still _95

The standard-bearers in the van of Change.

Be they th' appointed stewards, to fill

The lap of Pain, and Toil, and Age!--

Remit, O Queen! thy accustomed rage!

Be what thou art not! In voice faint and low _100

FREEDOM calls "Famine",--her eternal foe,

To brief alliance, hollow truce.--Rise now!


[WHILST THE VEILED FIGURE HAS BEEN CHANTING THIS STROPHE, MAMMON,]

DAKRY, LAOCTONOS, AND SWELLFOOT, HAVE SURROUNDED IONA TAURINA, WHO,

WITH HER HANDS FOLDED ON HER BREAST, AND HER EYES LIFTED TO HEAVEN,

STANDS, AS WITH SAINT-LIKE RESIGNATION, TO WAIT THE ISSUE OF THE

BUSINESS, IN PERFECT CONFIDENCE OF HER INNOCENCE.


[PURGANAX, AFTER UNSEALING THE GREEN BAG, IS GRAVELY ABOUT TO POUR THE]

LIQUOR UPON HER HEAD, WHEN SUDDENLY THE WHOLE EXPRESSION OF HER FIGURE

AND COUNTENANCE CHANGES; SHE SNATCHES IT FROM HIS HAND WITH A LOUD

LAUGH OF TRIUMPH, AND EMPTIES IT OVER SWELLFOOT AND HIS WHOLE COURT,

WHO ARE INSTANTLY CHANGED INTO A NUMBER OF FILTHY AND UGLY ANIMALS,

AND RUSH OUT OF THE TEMPLE. THE IMAGE OF FAMINE THEN ARISES WITH A

TREMENDOUS SOUND, THE PIGS BEGIN SCRAMBLING FOR THE LOAVES, AND ARE

TRJPPED UP BY THE SKULLS; ALL THOSE WHO EAT THE LOAVES ARE TURNED INTO

BULLS, AND ARRANGE THEMSELVES QUIETLY BEHIND THE ALTAR. THE IMAGE OF

FAMINE SINKS THROUGH A CHASM IN THE EARTH, AND A MINOTAUR RISES.


MINOTAUR:

I am the Ionian Minotaur, the mightiest

Of all Europa's taurine progeny--

I am the old traditional Man-Bull; _105

And from my ancestors having been Ionian,

I am called Ion, which, by interpretation,

Is JOHN; in plain Theban, that is to say,

My name's JOHN BULL; I am a famous hunter,

And can leaf any gate in all Boeotia, _110

Even the palings of the royal park,

Or double ditch about the new enclosures;

And if your Majesty will deign to mount me,

At least till you have hunted down your game,

I will not throw you. _115


IONA TAURINA [DURING THIS SPEECH SHE HAS BEEN PUTTING ON BOOTS AND]

SPURS, AND A HUNTING-CAP, BUCKISHLY COCKED ON ONE SIDE, AND TUCKING UP

HER HAIR, SHE LEAPS NIMBLY ON HIS BACK:

Hoa! hoa! tallyho! tallyho! ho! ho!

Come, let us hunt these ugly badgers down,

These stinking foxes, these devouring otters,

These hares, these wolves, these anything but men.

Hey, for a whipper-in! my loyal Pigs

Now let your noses be as keen as beagles', _120

Your steps as swift as greyhounds', and your cries

More dulcet and symphonious than the bells

Of village-towers, on sunshine holiday;

Wake all the dewy woods with jangling music.

Give them no law (are they not beasts of blood?) _125

But such as they gave you. Tallyho! ho!

Through forest, furze, and bog, and den, and desert,

Pursue the ugly beasts! tallyho! ho!


FULL CHORUS OF I0NA AND THE SWINE:

Tallyho! tallyho!

Through rain, hail, and snow, _130

Through brake, gorse, and briar,

Through fen, flood, and mire,

We go! we go!


Tallyho! tallyho!

Through pond, ditch, and slough, _135

Wind them, and find them,

Like the Devil behind them,

Tallyho! tallyho!


[EXEUNT, IN FULL CRY;]

IONA DRIVING ON THE SWINE, WITH THE EMPTY GEEEN BAG.


THE END.

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