Proserpine and Midas

Two unpublished Mythological Dramas

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

• Publisher: Start Classics
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781609778798
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Mary Shelley (née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, often known as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley) was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, travel writer, and editor of the works of her husband, Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. She was the daughter of the political philosopher William Godwin and the writer, philosopher, and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary Shelley was taken seriously as a writer in her own lifetime, though reviewers often missed the political edge to her novels. After her death, however, she was chiefly remembered only as the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley and as the author of Frankenstein. It was not until 1989, when Emily Sunstein published her prizewinning biography Mary Shelley: Romance and Reality, that a full-length scholarly biography analyzing all of Shelley's letters, journals, and works within their historical context was published. The well-meaning attempts of Mary Shelley's son and daughter-in-law to "Victorianise" her memory through the censoring of letters and biographical material contributed to a perception of Mary Shelley as a more conventional, less reformist figure than her works suggest. Her own timid omissions from Percy Shelley's works and her quiet avoidance of public controversy in the later years of her life added to this impression. The eclipse of Mary Shelley's reputation as a novelist and biographer meant that, until the last thirty years, most of her works remained out of print, obstructing a larger view of her achievement. She was seen as a one-novel author, if that. In recent decades, however, the republication of almost all her writings has stimulated a new recognition of its value. Her voracious reading habits and intensive study, revealed in her journals and letters and reflected in her works, is now better appreciated. Shelley's recognition of herself as an author has also been recognized; after Percy's death, she wrote about her authorial ambitions: "I think that I can maintain myself, and there is something inspiriting in the idea". Scholars now consider Mary Shelley to be a major Romantic figure, significant for her literary achievement and her political voice as a woman and a liberal.

MIDAS.

A DRAMA IN TWO ACTS.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.

Immortals.
APOLLO.
BACCHUS.
PAN.
SILENUS.
TMOLUS, God of a Hill. FAUNS, &c.

Mortals.
MIDAS, King of Phrygia.
ZOPYRION, his Prime-Minister.
ASPHALION, LACON, Courtiers.
COURTIERS, Attendants, Priests, &c.

Scene, Phrygia.

MIDAS.

ACT I.

Scene; a rural spot; on one side, a bare Hill, on the other an Ilex wood; a stream with reeds on its banks.

The Curtain rises and discovers Tmolus seated on a throne of turf, on his right hand Apollo with his lyre, attended by the Muses; on the left, Pan, fauns, &c.

Enter Midas and Zopyrion.

Midas. The Hours have oped the palace of the dawn And through the Eastern gates of Heaven, Aurora Comes charioted on light, her wind-swift steeds, Winged with roseate clouds, strain up the steep. She loosely holds the reins, her golden hair, Its strings outspread by the sweet morning breeze[,] Blinds the pale stars. Our rural tasks begin; The young lambs bleat pent up within the fold, The herds low in their stalls, & the blithe cock Halloos most loudly to his distant mates. But who are these we see? these are not men, Divine of form & sple[n]didly arrayed, They sit in solemn conclave. Is that Pan, [36] Our Country God, surrounded by his Fauns? And who is he whose crown of gold & harp Are attributes of high Apollo?

Zopyr. Best Your majesty retire; we may offend.

Midas. Aye, and at the base thought the coward blood Deserts your trembling lips; but follow me. Oh Gods! for such your bearing is, & sure No mortal ever yet possessed the gold That glitters on your silken robes; may one, Who, though a king, can boast of no descent More noble than Deucalion's stone-formed men[,] May I demand the cause for which you deign To print upon this worthless Phrygian earth The vestige of your gold-inwoven sandals, Or why that old white-headed man sits there Upon that grassy throne, & looks as he Were stationed umpire to some weighty cause[?]

Tmolus. God Pan with his blithe pipe which the Fauns love Has challenged Phoebus of the golden lyre[,] Saying his Syrinx can give sweeter notes Than the stringed instrument Apollo boasts. I judge between the parties. Welcome, King, I am old Tmolus, God of that bare Hill, [37] You may remain and hear th' Immortals sing.

Mid. [aside] My judgement is made up before I hear; Pan is my guardian God, old-horned Pan, The Phrygian's God who watches o'er our flocks; No harmony can equal his blithe pipe.

[Sidenote: (Shelley.)] Apollo (sings). The sleepless Hours who watch me as I lie, Curtained with star-enwoven tapestries, From the broad moonlight of the sky, Fanning the busy dreams from my dim eyes Waken me when their Mother, the grey Dawn, Tells them that dreams & that the moon is gone.

Then I arise, and climbing Heaven's blue dome, I walk over the mountains & the waves, Leaving my robe upon the Ocean foam,-- My footsteps pave the clouds with fire; the caves Are filled with my bright presence & the air Leaves the green Earth to my embraces bare.

The sunbeams are my shafts with which I kill Deceit, that loves the night & fears the day; All men who do, or even imagine ill Fly me, and from the glory of my ray Good minds and open actions take new might Until diminished by the reign of night.

I feed the clouds, the rainbows & the flowers [38] With their etherial colours; the moon's globe And the pure stars in their eternal bowers Are cinctured with my power as with a robe; Whatever lamps on Earth or Heaven may shine Are portions of one power, which is mine.

I stand at noon upon the peak of heaven, Then with unwilling steps I wander down Into the clouds of the Atlantic even-- For grief that I depart they weep & frown [;] What look is more delightful than the smile With which I soothe them from the western isle [?]

I am the eye with which the Universe Beholds itself & knows it is divine. All harmony of instrument or verse, All prophecy, all medecine is mine; All light of art or nature;--to my song Victory and praise, in its own right, belong.

[Sidenote: (Shelley.)] Pan (sings). From the forests and highlands We come, we come; From the river-girt islands W[h]ere loud waves are dumb, Listening my sweet pipings; The wind in the reeds & the rushes, [39] The bees on the bells of thyme, The birds on the myrtle bushes[,] The cicale above in the lime[,] And the lizards below in the grass, Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was Listening my sweet pipings.

Liquid Peneus was flowing, And all dark Tempe lay In Pelion's shadow, outgrowing The light of the dying day Speeded by my sweet pipings. The Sileni, & Sylvans, & Fauns And the nymphs of the woods & the waves To the edge of the moist river-lawns, And the brink of the dewy caves[,] And all that did then attend & follow Were silent with love, as you now, Apollo! With envy of my sweet pipings.

I sang of the dancing stars, I sang of the daedal Earth--- And of heaven--& the giant wars-- And Love, & death, [&] birth, And then I changed my pipings, [40] Singing how down the vale of Menalus, I pursued a maiden & clasped a reed, Gods and men, we are all deluded thus! It breaks in our bosom & then we bleed! All wept, as I think both ye now would If envy or age had not frozen your blood, At the sorrow of my sweet pipings.

Tmol. Phoebus, the palm is thine. The Fauns may dance To the blithe tune of ever merry Pan; But wisdom, beauty, & the power divine Of highest poesy lives within thy strain. Named by the Gods the King of melody, Receive from my weak hands a second crown.

Pan. Old Grey-beard, you say false! you think by this To win Apollo with his sultry beams To thaw your snowy head, & to renew The worn out soil of your bare, ugly hill. I do appeal to Phrygian Midas here; Let him decide, he is no partial judge.

Mid. Immortal Pan, to my poor, mortal ears Your sprightly song in melody outweighs His drowsy tune; he put me fast asleep, As my prime minister, Zopyrion, knows; But your gay notes awoke me, & to you, [41] If I were Tmolus, would I give the prize.

Apol. And who art thou who dar'st among the Gods Mingle thy mortal voice? Insensate fool! Does not the doom of Marsyas fill with dread Thy impious soul? or would'st thou also be Another victim to my justest wrath? But fear no more;--thy punishment shall be But as a symbol of thy blunted sense. Have asses' ears! and thus to the whole world Wear thou the marks of what thou art, Let Pan himself blush at such a judge. [Footnote: A syllable here, a whole foot in the previous line, appear to be missing.]

(Exeunt all except Midas & Zopyrion.)

Mid. What said he? is it true, Zopyrion? Yet if it be; you must not look on me, But shut your eyes, nor dare behold my shame. Ah! here they are! two long, smooth asses['] ears! They stick upright! Ah, I am sick with shame!

Zopyr. I cannot tell your Majesty my grief, Or how my soul's oppressed with the sad change That has, alas! befallen your royal ears.

Mid. A truce to your fine speeches now, Zopyrion; To you it appertains to find some mode Of hiding my sad chance, if not you die.

Zopyr. Great King, alas! my thoughts are dull & slow[;] Pardon my folly, might they not be cut, [42] Rounded off handsomely, like human ears [?]

Mid. (feeling his ears) They're long & thick; I fear 'twould give me pain; And then if vengeful Phoebus should command Another pair to grow--that will not do.

Zopyr. You wear a little crown of carved gold, Which just appears to tell you are a king; If that were large and had a cowl of silk, Studded with gems, which none would dare gainsay, Then might you--

Mid. Now you have it! friend, I will reward you with some princely gift. But, hark! Zopyrion, not a word of this; If to a single soul you tell my shame You die. I'll to the palace the back way And manufacture my new diadem, The which all other kings shall imitate As if they also had my asses['] ears.

(Exit.)

Zopyr. (watching Midas off) He cannot hear me now, and I may laugh! I should have burst had he staid longer here. Two long, smooth asses' ears that stick upright; Oh, that Apollo had but made him bray! I'll to the palace; there I'll laugh my fill With--hold! What were the last words that Midas said? [43] I may not speak--not to my friends disclose The strangest tale? ha! ha! and when I laugh I must not tell the cause? none know the truth? None know King Midas has--but who comes here? It is Asphalion: he knows not this change; I must look grave & sad; for now a smile If Midas knows it may prove capital. Yet when I think of those--oh! I shall die, In either way, by silence or by speech.

Enter Asphalion.

Asphal. Know you, Zopyrion?--

Zopyr. What[!] you know it too? Then I may laugh;--oh, what relief is this! How does he look, the courtiers gathering round? Does he hang down his head, & his ears too? Oh, I shall die! (laughs.)

Asph. He is a queer old dog, Yet not so laughable. 'Tis true, he's drunk, And sings and reels under the broad, green leaves, And hanging clusters of his crown of grapes.--

Zopyr. A crown of grapes! but can that hide his ears[?]

Asph. His ears!--Oh, no! they stick upright between. When Midas saw him--

Zopyr. Whom then do you mean? Did you not say-- [44]

Asph. I spoke of old Silenus; Who having missed his way in these wild woods, And lost his tipsey company--was found Sucking the juicy clusters of the vines That sprung where'er he trod:--and reeling on Some shepherds found him in yon ilex wood. They brought him to the king, who honouring him For Bacchus' sake, has gladly welcomed him, And will conduct him with solemnity To the disconsolate Fauns from whom he's strayed. But have you seen the new-fashioned diadem [Footnote: Another halting line. Cf. again, p. [47], 1. 3; p. [55], 1. 11; p. [59], 1.1; p. [61], 1. 1; p. [64], 1. 14.] That Midas wears?--

Zopyr. Ha! he has got it on!-- Know you the secret cause why with such care He hides his royal head? you have not seen--

Asph. Seen what?

Zopyr. Ah! then, no matter:-- (turns away agitated.) I dare not sneak or stay[;] If I remain I shall discover all.

Asp. I see the king has trusted to your care Some great state secret which you f...

Table of contents

• COVER
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• PREFATORY NOTE.
• INTRODUCTION.
• PROSERPINE.
• MIDAS.