Semele: In Two Scenes Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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Dramatis Personae	A
	-
JUNO	B
SEMELE Princess of Thebes	C
JUPITER	D
MERCURY	E
	-
SCENE The Palace of Cadmus at Thebes	C
	-
	-
	-
SCENE I	F
	-
JUNO Descending from her chariot enveloped in a cloud	G
Away ye peacocks with my winged car	H
Upon Cithaeron's cloud capped summit wait	I
The chariot and cloud vanish	J
Hail hail thou house of my undying anger	D
A fearful hail to thee thou hostile roof	K
Ye hated walls This this then is the place	L
Where Jupiter pollutes his marriage bed	M
Even before the face of modest day	A
'Tis here then that a woman a frail mortal	N
A dust created being dares to lure	O
The mighty Thunderer from out mine arms	P
And hold him prisoner against her lips	Q
	-
Juno Juno thought of madness	R
Thou all lonely and in sadness	R
Standest now on heaven's bright throne	S
Though the votive smoke ascendeth	T
Though each knee in homage bendeth	T
What are they when love has flown	S
	-
To humble alas each too haughty emotion	U
That swelled my proud breast from the foam of the ocean	U
Fair Venus arose to enchant gods and men	V
And the Fates my still deeper abasement decreeing	W
Her offspring Hermione brought into being	W
And the bliss once mine own can ne'er glad me again	V
	-
Amongst the gods do I not reign the queen	X
Am I not sister of the Thunderer	O
Am I not wife of Zeus the lord of all	Y
Groans not the mighty axis of the heavens	Z
At my command Gleams not Olympus' crown	A2
Upon my head Ha now I feel myself	B2
In my immortal veins is Kronos' blood	C2
Right royally now swells my godlike heart	D2
Revenge revenge	E2
Shall she unpunished ridicule my might	F2
Unpunished discord roll amongst the gods	G2
Inviting Eris to invade the courts	H2
The joyous courts of heaven Vain thoughtless one	U
Perish and learn upon the Stygian stream	I2
The difference 'twixt divine and earthly dust	J2
The giant armor may it weigh thee down	A2
Thy passion for a god to atoms crush thee	T
Armed with revenge as with a coat of mail	K2
I have descended from Olympus' heights	L2
Devising sweet ensnaring flattering words	M2
But in those words death and destruction lurk	W
Hark 'tis her footstep she approaches now	N2
Approaches ruin and a certain death	T
Veil thyself goddess in a mortal form Exit	O2
	-
SEMELE Calling behind the scenes	P2
The sun is fast declining Maidens haste	Q2
Scatter ambrosial fragrance through the hall	Y
Strew roses and narcissus flowers around	R2
Forgetting not the gold embroidered pillow	B
He comes not yet the sun is fast declining	W
	-
JUNO hastily entering in the form of an old woman	U
Praised be the deities my dearest daughter	O
	-
SEMELE	T
Ha Do I dream Am I awake Gods Beroe	O
	-
JUNO	B
Is't possible that Semele can e'er	O
Forget her nurse	S2
	-
SEMELE 'Tis Beroe By Zeus	T2
Oh let thy daughter clasp thee to her heart	D2
Thou livest still What can have brought thee here	O
From Epidaurus Tell me all thy tale	K2
Thou art my mother as of old	U2
	-
JUNO Thy mother	O
Time was thou call'dst me so	B
	-
SEMELE Thou art so still	V2
And wilt remain so till I drink full deep	W2
Of Lethe's maddening draught	X2
JUNO Soon Beroe	O
Will drink oblivion from the waves of Lethe	T
But Cadmus' daughter ne'er will taste that draught	X2
	-
SEMELE	T
How my good nurse Thy language ne'er was wont	Y2
To be mysterious or of hidden meaning	W
The spirit of gray hairs 'tis speaks in thee	T
Thou sayest I ne'er shall taste of Lethe's draught	X2
	-
JUNO	B
I said so yes But wherefore ridicule	Z2
Gray hairs 'Tis true that they unlike fair tresses	A3
Have ne'er been able to ensnare a god	B3
	-
SEMELE	T
Pardon poor thoughtless me What cause have I	F
To ridicule gray hairs Can I suppose	C3
That mine forever fair will grace my neck	W
But what was that I heard thee muttering	W
Between thy teeth A god	B3
	-
JUNO Said I a god	B3
The deities in truth dwell everywhere	O
'Tis good for earth's frail children to implore them	D3
The gods are found where thou art Semele	T
What wouldst thou ask	W
	-
SEMELE Malicious heart But say	A
What brings thee to this spot from Epidaurus	A
'Tis not because the gods delight to dwell	E3
near Semele	T
	-
JUNO By Jupiter naught else	A
What fire was that which mounted to thy cheeks	A
When I pronounced the name of Jupiter	O
Naught else my daughter Fearfully the plague	W
At Epidaurus rages every blast	F3
Is deadly poison every breath destroys	A
The son his mother burns his bride the bridegroom	G3
The funeral piles rear up their flaming heads	A
Converting even midnight to bright day	A
While howls of anguish ceaseless rend the air	O
Full to overflowing is the cup of woe	B
In anger Zeus looks down on our poor nation	U
In vain the victim's blood is shed in vain	H3
Before the altar bows the priest his knee	T
Deaf is his ear to all our supplications	A
Therefore my sorrow stricken country now	N2
Has sent me here to Cadmus' regal daughter	O
In hopes that I may move her to avert	I3
His anger from us Beroe the nurse	A
Has influence thus they said with Semele	T
And Semele with Zeus I know no more	O
And understand still less what means the saying	W
That Semele such influence has with Zeus	A
	-
SEMELE Eagerly and thoughtlessly	T
The plague shall cease to morrow Tell them so	A
Zeus loves me Say so It shall cease to day	A
	-
JUNO Starting up in astonishment	J3
Ha Is it true what fame with thousand tongues	A
Has spread abroad from Ida to Mount Haemus	A
Zeus loves thee Zeus salutes thee in the glory	T
Wherein the denizens of heaven regard him	K3
When in Saturnia's arms he sinks to rest	L3
Let O ye gods my gray hairs now descend	M3
To Orcus' shades for I have lived enough	N3
In godlike splendor Kronos' mighty son	U
Comes down to her to her who on this breast	L3
Once suckled yes to her	O
	-
SEMELE Oh Beroe	O
In youthful form he came in lovelier guise	A
Than they who from Aurora's lap arise	A
Fairer than Hesper breathing incense dim	K3
In floods of ether steeped appeared each limb	K3
He moved with graceful and majestic motion	U
Like silvery billows heaving o'er the ocean	U
Or as Hyperion whose bright shoulders ever	O
His bow and arrow bear and clanging quiver	O
His robe of light behind him gracefully	T
Danced in the breeze his voice breathed melody	T
Like crystal streams with silvery murmur falling	W
More ravishing than Orpheus' strains enthralling	W
	-
JUNO	A
My daughter Inspiration spurs thee on	O3
Raising thy heart to flights of Helicon	O3
If thus in strains of Delphic ecstasy	T
Ascends the short lived blissful memory	T
Of his bright charms Oh how divine must be	T
His own sweet voice his look how heavenly	T
But why of that great attribute	P3
Kronion joys in most be mute	P3
The majesty that hurls the thunder	O
And tears the fleeting clouds asunder	O
Wilt thou say naught of that alone	S
Prometheus and Deucalion	S
May lend the fairest charms of love	Q3
But none can wield the bolt save Jove	Q3
The thunderbolt it is alone	S
Which he before thy feet laid down	S
That proves thy right to beauty's crown	S
	-
SEMELE	T
What sayest thou What are thunder bolts to me	T
	-
JUNO Smiling	W
Ah Semele A jest becomes thee well	T
	-
SEMELE	T
Deucalion has no offspring so divine	S
As is my Zeus of thunder naught I know	S
	-
JUNO	S
Mere envy Fie	Q3
	-
SEMELE No Beroe By Zeus	A
	-
JUNO	S
Thou swearest	P3
	-
SEMELE By Zeus by mine own Zeus	A
	-
JUNO Shrieking Thou swearest	P3
Unhappy one	S
	-
SEMELE In alarm What meanest thou Beroe	O
	-
JUNO	S
Repeat the word that dooms thee to become	R3
the wretchedest of all on earth's wide face	A
Alas lost creature 'Twas not Zeus	A
	-
SEMELE Not Zeus	A
Oh fearful thought	P3
	-
JUNO A cunning traitor 'twas	A
From Attica who 'neath a godlike form	S3
Robbed thee of honor shame and innocence	A
SEMELE sinks to the ground	P3
Well mayest thou fall Ne'er mayest thou rise again	S
May endless night enshroud thine eyes in darkness	A
May endless silence round thine ears encamp	T3
Remain forever here a lifeless mass	A
Oh infamy Enough to hurl chaste day	P3
Back into Hecate's gloomy arms once more	O
Ye gods And is it thus that Beroe	O
Finds Cadmus' daughter after sixteen years	A
Of bitter separation Full of joy	U3
I came from Epidaurus but with shame	V3
To Epidaurus must retrace my steps	A
Despair I take with me Alas my people	T
E'en to the second Deluge now the plague	W
May rage at will may pile mount Oeta high	Q3
With corpses upon corpses and may turn	S
All Greece into one mighty charnel house	A
Ere Semele can bend the angry gods	A
I thou and Greece and all have been betrayed	P3
	-
SEMELE Trembling as she rises and extending an arm towards her	O
Oh Beroe	O
	-
JUNO Take courage my dear heart	P3
Perchance 'tis Zeus although it scarce can be	T
Perchance 'tis really Zeus This we must learn	S
He must disclose himself to thee or thou	N2
Must fly his sight forever and devote	P3
The monster to the death revenge of Thebes	A
Look up dear daughter look upon the face	A
Of thine own Beroe who looks on thee	T
With sympathizing eyes my Semele	T
Were it not well to try him	K3
	-
SEMELE No by heaven	S
I should not find him then	S
	-
JUNO What Wilt thou be	T
Perchance less wretched if thou pinest on	S
In mournful doubt and if 'tis really he	T
	-
SEMELE Hiding her face in Juno's lap	W3
Ah 'tis not he	T
	-
JUNO And if he came to thee	T
Arrayed in all the majesty wherein	S
Olympus sees him Semele What then	S
Wouldst thou repent thee then of having tried him	K3
	-
SEMELE Springing up	X3
Ha be it so He must unveil himself	Q3
	-
JUNO Hastily	T
Thou must not let him sink into thine arms	A
Till he unveils himself so hearken child	P3
To what thy faithful nurse now counsels thee	T
To what affection whispers in mine ear	O
And will accomplish Say will he soon come	R3
	-
SEMELE	T
Before Hyperion sinks in Thetis' bed	P3
He promised to appear	O
	-
JUNO Forgetting herself hastily Is't so indeed	P3
He promised Ha To day Recovering herself Let him approach	Y3
And when he would attempt inflamed with love	Q3
To clasp his arms around thee then do thou	N2
Observe me well as if by lightning struck	W
Start back in haste Ha picture his surprise	A
Leave him not long in wonderment my child	P3
Continue to repulse him with a look	W
As cold as ice more wildly with more ardor	O
He'll press thee then the coyness of the fair	O
Is but a dam that for awhile keeps back	W
The torrent only to increase the flood	P3
With greater fury Then begin to weep	W2
'Gainst giants he might stand look calmly on	S
When Typheus hundred armed in fury hurled	P3
Mount Ossa and Olympus 'gainst his throne	S
But Zeus is soon subdued by beauty's tears	A
Thou smilest Be it so Is then the scholar	O
Wiser perchance than she who teaches her	O
Then thou must pray the god one little little	T
Most innocent request to grant to thee	T
One that may seal his love and godhead too	P3
He'll swear by Styx The Styx he must obey	P3
That oath he dares not break Then speak these words	A
Thou shalt not touch this body till thou comest	P3
To Cadmus' daughter clothed in all the might	P3
Wherein thou art embraced by Kronos' daughter	O
Be not thou terrified my Semele	T
If he in order to escape thy wish	J
As bugbears paints the horrors of his presence	A
Describes the flames that round about him roar	O
The thunder round him rolling when he comes	A
These Semele are naught but empty fears	A
The gods dislike to show to us frail mortals	A
These the most glorious of their attributes	A
Be thou but obstinate in thy request	P3
And Juno's self will gaze on thee with envy	T
	-
SEMELE	T
The frightful ox eyed one How often he	T
Complains in the blest moments of our love	Q3
Of her tormenting him with her black gall	T
	-
JUNO Aside furiously but with embarrassment	P3
Ha creature Thou shalt die for this contempt	P3
	-
SEMELE	T
My Beroe What art thou murmuring there	O
	-
JUNO In confusion	S
Nothing my Semele Black gall torments	A
Me also Yes a sharp reproachful look	W
With lovers often passes as black gall	T
Yet ox eyes after all are not so ugly	T
	-
SEMELE	T
Oh Beroe for shame they're quite the worst	P3
That any head can possibly contain	S
And then her cheeks of green and yellow hues	A
The obvious penalty of poisonous envy	T
Zeus oft complains to me that that same shrew	O
Each night torments him with her nauseous love	Q3
And with her jealous whims enough I'm sure	O
Into Ixion's wheel to turn all heaven	S
	-
JUNO Raving up and down in extreme confusion	S
No more of this	A
	-
SEMELE What Beroe So angry	O
Have I said more than what is true Said more	O
Than what is wise	A
	-
JUNO Thou hast said more young woman	S
Than what is true said more than what is wise	A
Deem thyself truly blest if thy blue eyes	A
Smile thee not into Charon's bark too soon	S
Saturnia has her altars and her temples	A
And wanders amongst mortals that great goddess	A
Avenges naught so bitterly as scorn	S
	-
SEMELE	O
Here let her wander and give birth to scorn	S
What is't to me My Jupiter protects	A
My every hair what harm can Juno do	P3
But now enough of this my Beroe	O
Zeus must appear to day in all his glory	O
And if Saturnia should on that account	P3
Find out the path to Orcus	A
	-
JUNO Aside That same path	T
Another probably will find before her	O
If but Kronion's lightning hits the mark	W
To Semele	O
Yes Semele she well may burst with envy	O
When Cadmus' daughter in the sight of Greece	A
Ascends in triumph to Olympus' heights	A
	-
SEMELE Smiling gently	O
Thinkest thou they'll hear in Greece of Cadmus' daughter	O
	-
JUNO From Sidon to Athens the trumpet of fame	V3
Shall ring with no other but Semele's name	V3
The gods from the heavens shall even descend	P3
And before thee their knees in deep homage shall bend	P3
While mortals in silent submission abide	P3
The will of the giant destroyer's loved bride	P3
And when distant years shall see	O
Thy last hour	O
	-
SEMELE Springing up and falling on her neck	W
Oh Beroe	O
	-
JUNO Then a tablet white shall bear	O
This inscription graven there	O
Here is worshipped Semele	O
Who on earth so fair as she	O
She who from Olympus' throne	S
Lured the thunder hurler down	S
She who with her kisses sweet	P3
Laid him prostrate at her feet	P3
And when fame on her thousand wings bears it around	P3
The echo from valley and hill shall resound	P3
	-
SEMELE Beside herself	Q3
Pythia Apollo Hear	O
When oh when will he appear	O
	-
JUNO And on smoking altars they	P3
Rites divine to thee shall pay	P3
	-
SEMELE Inspired	P3
I will harken to their prayer	O
And will drive away their care	O
Quench with my tears the lightning of great Jove	Q3
His breast to pity with entreaty move	Q3
	-
JUNO Aside	P3
Poor thing that wilt thou ne'er have power to do Meditating	W
Ere long will melt yet yet she called me ugly	O
No pity only when in Tartarus	O
To Semele	O
Fly now my love Make haste to leave this spot	P3
That Zeus may not observe thee Let him wait	P3
Long for thy coming that he with more fire	O
May languish for thee	O
	-
SEMELE Beroe The heavens	O
Have chosen thee their mouthpiece Happy I	Q3
The gods from Olympus shall even descend	P3
And before me their knees in deep homage shall bend	P3
While mortals in silent submission abide	P3
But hold 'tis time for me to haste away	P3
Exit hurriedly	O
	-
JUNO Looking after her with exultation	S
Weak proud and easily deluded woman	S
His tender looks shall be consuming fire	O
His kiss annihilation his embrace	O
A raging tempest to thee Human frames	O
Are powerless to endure the dreaded presence	O
Of him who wields the thunderbolt on high	Q3
With raving ecstasy	O
Ha when her waxen mortal body melts	O
Within the arms of him the fire distilling	W
As melts the fleecy snow before the heat	P3
Of the bright sun and when the perjured one	S
In place of his soft tender bride embraces	O
A form of terror with what ecstasy	O
Shall I gaze downwards from Cithaeron's height	P3
Exclaiming so that in his hand the bolt	P3
Shall quake For shame Saturnius Fie for shame	V3
What need is there for thee to clasp so roughly	O
Exit hastily	O
A Symphony	O
	-
	-
	-
SCENE II	Q3
	-
The Hall as before Sudden brightness	O
ZEUS in the shape of a youth MERCURY in the distance	O
	-
ZEUS	O
Thou son of Maia	Z3
	-
MERCURY Kneeling with his head bowed reverentially	O
Zeus	O
	-
ZEUS Up Hasten Turn	S
Thy pinions' flight toward far Scamander's bank	W
A shepherd there is weeping o'er the grave	Q3
Of his loved shepherdess No one shall weep	W2
When Zeus is loving Call the dead to life	Q3
	-
MERCURY Rising	W
Let but thy head a nod almighty give	Q3
And in an instant I am there am back	W
In the same instant	P3
	-
ZEUS Stay As I o'er Argos	O
Was flying from my temples curling rose	O
The sacrificial smoke it gave me joy	U3
That thus the people worship me so fly	O
To Ceres to my sister thus speaks Zeus	O
Ten thousandfold for fifty years to come	R3
Let her reward the Argive husbandmen	S
	-
MERCURY	O
With trembling haste I execute thy wrath	T
With joyous speed thy messages of grace	O
Father of all For to the deities	O
'Tis bliss to make man happy to destroy him	K3
Is anguish to the gods Thy will be done	S
Where shall I pour into thine ears their thanks	O
Below in dust or at thy throne on high	O
	-
ZEUS	O
Here at my throne on earth within the palace	O
Of Semele Away Exit Mercury	O
Does she not come	R3
As is her wont Olympus' mighty king	W
To clasp against her rapture swelling breast	P3
Why hastens not my Semele to meet me	O
A vacant deathlike fearful silence reigns	O
On every side around the lonely palace	O
So wont to ring with wild bacchantic shouts	O
No breath is stirring on Cithaeron's height	P3
Exulting Juno stands Will Semele	O
Never again make haste to meet her Zeus	O
A pause after which he continues	O
Ha Can yon impious one perchance have dared	P3
To set her foot in my love's sanctuary	O
Saturnia Mount Cithaeron her rejoicings	O
Fearful foreboding Semele yet peace	O
Take courage I'm thy Zeus the scattered heavens	O
Shall learn my Semele that I'm thy Zeus	O
Where is the breath of air that dares presume	G3
Roughly to blow on her whom Zeus calls His	O
I scoff at all her malice Where art thou	N2
O Semele I long have pined to rest	P3
My world tormented head upon thy breast	P3
To lull my wearied senses to repose	O
From the wild storm of earthly joys and woes	O
To dream away the emblems of my might	P3
My reins my tiller and my chariot bright	P3
And live for naught beyond the joys of love	Q3
Oh heavenly inspiration that can move	Q3
Even the Gods divine What is the blood	P3
Of mighty Uranus what all the flood	P3
Of nectar and ambrosia what the throne	S
Of high Olympus what the power I own	S
The golden sceptre of the starry skies	O
What the omnipotence that never dies	O
What might eternal immortality	O
What e'en a god oh love if reft of thee	O
The shepherd who beside the murmuring brooks	O
Leans on his true love's breast nor cares to look	W
After his straying lambs in that sweet hour	O
Envies me not my thunderbolt of power	O
She comes she hastens nigh Pearl of my works	O
Woman the artist who created thee	O
Should be adored 'Twas I myself I worship	X3
Zeus worships Zeus for Zeus created thee	O
Ha Who will now in all the being realm	A4
Condemn me How unseen yes how despised	P3
Dwindle away my worlds my constellations	O
So ray diffusing all my dancing systems	O
What wise men call the music of my spheres	O
How dead are all when weighed against a soul	O
Semele approaches without looking up	X3
My pride my throne on earth Oh Semele	O
He rushes towards her she seeks to fly	O
Thou flyest art mute Ha Semele thou flyest	P3
	-
SEMELE Repulsing him	K3
Away	P3
	-
ZEUS After a pause of astonishment	P3
Is Jupiter asleep Will Nature	O
Rush to her fall Can Semele speak thus	O
What not an answer Eagerly mine arms	O
Toward thee are stretched my bosom never throbbed	P3
Responsive to Agenor's daughter never	O
Throbbed against Leda's breast my lips ne'er burned	P3
For the sweet kiss of prisoned Danae	S
As now	S
	-
SEMELE Peace traitor Peace	O
	-
ZEUS With displeasure but tenderly My Semele	O
	-
SEMELE	O
Out of my sight	P3
	-
ZEUS Looking at her with majesty	O
Know I am Zeus	O
	-
SEMELE Thou Zeus	O
Tremble Salmoneus for he fearfully	O
Will soon demand again the stolen charms	O
That thou hast robbed him of thou art not Zeus	O
	-
ZEUS With dignity	O
The mighty universe around me whirls	O
And calls me so	O
	-
SEMELE Ha Fearful blasphemy	O
	-
ZEUS More gently	O
How my divine one Wherefore such a tone	S
What reptile dares to steal thine heart from me	O
	-
SEMELE	O
My heart was vowed to him whose ape thou art	P3
Men ofttimes come beneath a godlike form	S3
To snare a woman Hence thou art not Zeus	O
	-
ZEUS	O
Thou doubtest What Can Semele still doubt	P3
My godhead	P3
	-
SEMELE Mournfully	O
Would that thou wert Zeus No son	S
Of morrow nothingness shall touch this mouth	T
This heart is vowed to Zeus Would thou wert he	O
	-
ZEUS Thou weepest Zeus is here weeps Semele	O
Falling down before her	O
Speak But command and then shall slavish nature	O
Lie trembling at the feet of Cadmus' daughter	O
Command and streams shall instantly make halt	P3
And Helicon and Caucasus and Cynthus	O
And Athos Mycale and Rhodope and Pindus	O
Shall burst their bonds when I order it so	O
And kiss the valleys and plains below	O
And dance in the breeze like flakes of snow	O
Command and the winds from the east and the north	T
And the fierce tornado shall sally forth	T
While Poseidon's trident their power shall own	S
When they shake to its base his watery throne	S
The billows in angry fury shall rise	O
And every sea mark and dam despise	O
The lightning shall gleam through the firmament black	W
While the poles of earth and of heaven shall crack	W
The ocean the heights of Olympus explore	O
From thousandfold jaws with wild deafening roar	O
The thunder shall howl while with mad jubilee	O
The hurricane fierce sings in triumph to thee	O
Command	P3
	-
SEMELE I'm but a woman a frail woman	S
How can the potter bend before his pot	P3
How can the artist kneel before his statue	P3
	-
ZEUS	O
Pygmalion bowed before his masterpiece	O
And Zeus now worships his own Semele	O
	-
SEMELE Weeping bitterly	O
Arise arise Alas for us poor maidens	O
Zeus has my heart gods only can I love	Q3
The gods deride me Zeus despises me	O
	-
ZEUS Zeus who is now before thy feet	P3
	-
SEMELE Arise	O
Zeus reigns on high above the thunderbolts	O
And clasped in Juno's arms a reptile scorns	O
	-
ZEUS Hastily	O
Ha Semele and Juno which the reptile	O
	-
SEMELE	O
How blessed beyond all utterance would be	O
Cadmus' daughter wert thou Zeus Alas	O
Thou art not Zeus	O
	-
ZEUS Arises I am	B4
He extends his hand and a rainbow fills the hall music	W
accompanies its appearance	O
Knowest thou me now	S
	-
SEMELE	O
Strong is that mortal's arm whom gods protect	P3
Saturnius loves thee none can I e'er love	Q3
But deities	O
	-
ZEUS What art thou doubting still	O
Whether my might is lent me by the gods	O
And not god born The gods my Semele	O
In charity oft lend their strength to man	S
Ne'er do the deities their terrors lend	P3
Death and destruction is the godhead's seal	O
Bearer of death to thee were Zeus unveiled	P3
He extends his hand Thunder fire smoke and earthquake	W
Music accompanies the spell here and subsequently	O
	-
SEMELE	O
Withdraw withdraw thy hand Oh mercy mercy	O
For the poor nation Yes thou art the child	P3
Of great Saturnius	O
	-
ZEUS Ha thou thoughtless one	S
Shall Zeus to please a woman's stubbornness	O
Bid planets whirl and bid the suns stand still	O
Zeus will do so oft has a god's descendant	P3
Ripped up the fire impregnate womb of rocks	O
And yet his might's confined to Tellus' bounds	O
Zeus only can do this	O
He extends his hand the sun vanishes and it becomes	O
suddenly night	P3
	-
SEMELE Falling down before him	K3
Almighty one	S
Couldst thou but love Day reappears	O
	-
ZEUS Ha Cadmus' daughter asks	O
Kronion if Kronion e'er can love	Q3
One word and he throws off divinity	O
Is flesh and blood and dies and is beloved	P3
	-
SEMELE	O
Would Zeus do that	P3
ZEUS Speak Semele What more	O
Apollo's self confesses that 'tis bliss	O
To be a man 'mongst men a sign from thee	O
And I'm a man	S
	-
SEMELE Falling on his neck	W
Oh Jupiter the Epidaurus women	S
Thy Semele a foolish maiden call	O
Because though by the Thunderer beloved	P3
She can obtain naught from him	K3
	-
ZEUS Eagerly They shall blush	C4
Those Epidaurus women Ask but ask	W
And by the dreaded Styx whose boundless might	P3
Binds e'en the gods like slaves if Zeus deny thee	O
Then shall the gods e'en in that self same moment	P3
Hurl me despairing to annihilation	S
	-
SEMELE Springing up joyfully	O
By this I know that thou'rt my Jupiter	O
Thou swearest and the Styx has heard thine oath	T
Let me embrace thee then in the same guise	O
In which	D4
	-
ZEUS Shrieking with alarm	E4
Unhappy one Oh stay oh stay	P3
	-
SEMELE Saturnia	S
	-
ZEUS Attempting to stop her mouth	T
Be thou dumb	R3
	-
SEMELE Embraces thee	O
	-
ZEUS Pale and turning away	P3
Too late The sound escaped The Styx 'Tis death	T
Thou Semele hast gained	P3
	-
SEMELE Ha Loves Zeus thus	O
	-
ZEUS	O
All heaven I would have given had I only	O
Loved thee but less Gazing at her with cold	P3
horror Thou'rt lost	P3
	-
SEMELE Oh Jupiter	O
	-
ZEUS Speaking furiously to himself	Q3
Ah Now I mark thine exultation Juno	S
Accursed jealousy This rose must die	P3
Too fair alas too sweet for Acheron	S
	-
SEMELE	O
Methinks thou'rt niggard of thy majesty	O
	-
ZEUS	O
Accursed be my majesty that now	S
Has blinded thee Accursed be my greatness	O
That must destroy thee Cursed be I myself	Q3
For having built my bliss on crumbling dust	P3
	-
SEMELE	O
These are but empty terrors Zeus In truth	T
I do not dread thy threats	O
ZEUS Deluded child	P3
Go take a last farewell forever more	O
Of all thy friends beloved naught naught has power	O
To save thee Semele I am thy Zeus	O
Yet that no more Go	S
	-
SEMELE Jealous one the Styx	O
Think not that thou'lt be able to escape me Exit	P3
	-
ZEUS	O
No Juno shall not triumph She shall tremble	O
Aye and by virtue of the deadly might	P3
That makes the earth and makes the heavens my footstool	O
Upon the sharpest rock in Thracia's land	P3
With adamantine chains I'll bind her fast	P3
But oh this oath	T
Mercury appears in the distance	O
What means thy hasty flight	P3
	-
MERCURY	O
I bring the fiery winged and weeping thanks	O
Of those whom thou hast blessed	P3
	-
ZEUS Again destroy them	D3
	-
MERCURY In amazement	P3
Zeus	O
	-
ZEUS None shall now be blessed She dies	O
The curtain falls	O

Friedrich Schiller

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