Plays

me? Hadrian I beg you not to imitate your misguided sister. I would not have you undergo the same torture. Hope Would that I were worthy to imitate her sufferings, and so win a reward like hers! Hadrian Do not harden your young heart, but give way and burn incense before great Diana. Then I will adopt you as my own child, and love you most tenderly. Hope I should not care to have you for a father, and I want no favours from you. You deceive yourself with vain hopes if you suppose that I shall submit. Hadrian Be more careful in your speech or you will make me angry. Hope Be angry. What is it to me? Antiochus I am amazed, Augustus, that you should tolerate for a moment such insolence from a pert little child! I boil with indignation that she should be allowed such licence. Hadrian I wished to be merciful to her youth, but I can no longer be indulgent. She shall be punished as she deserves. Antiochus I wish that were possible. Hadrian Come, lictors, and scourge this little rebel to death with your heaviest rods. Antiochus She deserves to feel the full weight of your anger, as she has mocked your gracious clemency. Hope Here is the only clemency for which I long⁠—here the only mercy I crave. Antiochus Sapientia, what are you murmuring there, standing with uplifted eyes by the body of your dead child? Sapientia I am imploring Almighty God to give Hope the same firm courage that He gave Faith. Hope Oh, mother, mother! How wonderful are your prayers! Even as you prayed the uplifted hands of the panting executioners became powerless. I have not felt a twinge of pain. Hadrian So you do not mind scourging! We will try some sharper torture. Hope The most savage and deadly you can invent! The more cruelty you show the greater will be your humiliation. Hadrian Let her be suspended in the air, and lacerated with nails until her bowels gush forth, and the skin is stripped from her bones. Break her to pieces limb by limb. Antiochus That order is worthy of an emperor. The punishment fits the crime. Hope Oh, Antiochus, you are as crafty as a fox, but you flatter with the cunning of a chameleon. Antiochus Be quiet, you wretch! I thank the gods you will soon not have a mouth to prattle with. Hope It will not be as you hope. Both you and your master will be put to confusion. Hadrian What is this strange sweetness in the air? If I am not mistaken a marvellous perfume fills the room. Hope O Emperor, the torn shreds of my flesh are giving forth a heavenly fragrance to make you admit that you have no power to hurt me by torture! Hadrian Antiochus, advise me. Antiochus We must think of some other punishment. Hadrian Put in the brazier a vessel full of oil and wax and pitch. Bind her and throw her in. Antiochus Yes, she will not find it so easy to escape from Vulcan. Hope Christ has before now made fire grow mild and change its nature. Hadrian Antiochus, what is that sound? I seem to hear a noise like that of rushing waters. Antiochus My lord! My lord! Hadrian What has happened? Antiochus The boiling fire has burst the cauldron! It has overflowed and consumed every man near it. Only the vile witch who caused the disaster has escaped unhurt. Hadrian It seems we are worsted. Antiochus Yes, we can do nothing. Hadrian She must be beheaded like the other. Antiochus By the sword only can she be destroyed. Hope Charity, my dear, my only sister, have no fear of the tyrant’s threats, and do not wince at the thought of suffering. Be strong in faith, and strive to follow the example of your sisters who are going before you to the palace of heaven. Charity I am weary of this earth. I do not want to be separated from you even for a short time. Hope Have courage! Stretch out your hands to the palm. We shall be separated only for a moment. Soon, very soon, we shall be together in heaven. Charity Soon! Soon! Hope Be joyful, noble mother! Do not grieve for me. You should laugh, not weep, to see me die for Christ. Sapientia Indeed I do rejoice, but my joy will be full only when your little sister has followed you, slain in the same way⁠—and when my turn comes, mine last of all. Hope The blessed Trinity will give you back your three children. Sapientia Courage, my child! The executioner comes towards us with drawn sword. Hope Welcome, sword! Do Thou, O Christ, receive my soul driven from its bodily mansion for the confession of Thy Name. Sapientia Oh, Charity, lovely offspring of my womb, the one hope of my bosom, do not disappoint your mother who expects you to win this last fight! Despise safety now, and you will attain the same glory which shines on your sisters, and, like them, wear the crown of unspotted virginity. Charity Support me with your holy prayers, mother. Pray that I may be worthy to share their joy. Sapientia Stand fast in the faith to the end, and your reward will be an everlasting holiday. Hadrian Now, little Charity. Your sisters’ insolence has exhausted my patience and exasperated me. I want no more long speeches. I shall not waste much time on you. Obey my commands, and you shall enjoy all the good things this life has to offer. Disobey, and evil will fall on you. Charity I long for the good things. I will not have the evil. Hadrian That pleases me, and you shall profit by it. I will be indulgent and set you an easy task. Charity What is it? Hadrian You shall say “Great is Diana.” That is all. I will not compel you to sacrifice. Charity I will not say it. Hadrian Why? Charity Because I will not tell a lie. My sisters and I were born of the same parents, instructed in the same mysteries, and confirmed in the same faith. We have the same wish, the same understanding, the same resolution. Therefore, I am never likely to differ from them in