A spacious court in the foreground. Adam, as a young Pharaoh, is seated on a throne, with Lucifer, as his minister, standing in front of him, delivering a flattering speech, whose spurious, ready-made language barely disguises the underlying irony intended. At a respectful distance a splendid retinue is seen waiting. In the background slaves are at work on a pyramid under the supervision of overseers who apply their whips freely. Bright sunshine.
LUCIFER
My Lord, your people are anxious to know -
who’d gladly die if it would please you so -
what makes the mighty Pharoah ill at ease,
unhappy on the velvet of his throne?
Why have you laid aside the day’s delight,
dispensed with dream-spun pictures of the night?
Excess of work why don’t you delegate
to bondsmen - as would seem appropriate?
Already what this great, wide world can offer -
the power and glory - all belong to you;
yes, all the pleasures can delight a man.
A hundred rich dominions call you Lord;
their scented flowers bloom for you alone;
for you they ripen fruit upon the bough.
A thousand women crave for your desire:
the fair-haired beauty with her languid eyes,
delicious, gentle, like a happy dream;
the dark enchantress, burning lips apart,
with frenzied passion glowing in her eyes…
All this is yours. Your whim’s their destiny.
Their little lives will have fulfilled their purpose
by seasoning your single moments’ pleasures…
ADAM
For such as these I’ve no desire at all.
They are my dues as tax, compulsory,
no fruit of self-endeavour, no achievement.
But this immense creation, I believe,
this giant work of art I’m set to build,
can point the way to everlasting greatness.
Nature herself admires the handiwork
in which my name shall stand perpetually.
No earthquake shall displace it, no disaster:
man has become more powerful than god.
LUCIFER
And - you’ve found happiness in this conceit?
Come, Pharaoh, put your hand upon your heart.
ADAM
I’ve found a gap, a void, I can’t describe it.
But, after all, who prayed for happiness?
It’s glory that I’ve wanted - and attained.
Even so, don’t let the people see my anguish:
they’d sooner pity than revere their master.
LUCIFER
What if you find one day, as find you will,
that glory’s only a short-lived, empty plaything.
ADAM
Impossible.
LUCIFER
But if you did?
ADAM
I’d die
and curse the world I had to leave behind.
LUCIFER
You won’t, although you’ll see the point - in vain,
for you’ll persist and court success again.
The overseers beat one of the workers so savagely that with a cry of anguish he runs into the Pharaoh’s court-room, followed by his persecutors, and collapses in front of the throne.
SLAVE
Help me, my Lord!
Eve, as the slave’s wife, rushes forward from among the workers and with a tortured scream she throws herself on her husband’s body.
EVE
No use! Why ask the Pharaoh?
How could he understand? He feels no pain
like one of us. Our groan’s not loud enough;
his throne’s too high above us. Call for me,
and I’ll protect you from the cruel scourges
with my own body.
ADAM
[to the overseers who press forward to drag them away]
Let them be! Get out!
[to himself]
What is this strange upsurge of sympathy?
Who is this woman here? Where has she come by
the charms which all but overwhelm the Pharaoh
and drag him down to join her in the dust?
[Adam rises.]
LUCIFER
That subtle gossamer you’ve seen before -
in which your master trapped you for a jest.
It’s to remind you that you’d been a worm,
when like a butterfly you proudly flutter.
You must have seen how strong this fibre is:
so delicate, it slips between the fingers
and can’t be torn apart.
ADAM
[descending from the throne]
Don’t try it either.
Although it hurts, it gives me pleasure too.
LUCIFER
A shame to find a thinker and a king
enmeshed in it.
ADAM
Then what’s the remedy?
LUCIFER
Let scholarship concoct an argument
against the existence of these occult tangles,
then crude materialism can shrug it off.
ADAM
I doubt if I could stoop to either of these.
EVE
My love, you’re bleeding. Let me help you. Come!
I’ll have to wipe this blood. There! Does it hurt?
SLAVE
It’s life that hurts, but cannot hurt much longer.
EVE
No! No! You’ll live! You mustn’t talk of dying.
Why should you die? You’ve just come back to life!
SLAVE
Why should I live, a slave? To build the Pharaoh
his pyramid, raise children for his bondage
and then to die? A million dies for one!
ADAM
O Lucifer, these words! What does he mean?
LUCIFER
Wild ramblings only of a dying man.
ADAM
What did he mean?
LUCIFER
Great Pharaoh, what’s the matter?
Is this indeed a thing of some importance?
The world’s about to lose - another slave.
EVE
To you he’s just a number, but to me
he’s all I have. And who will love me now?
SLAVE
I’m dying, woman. Put me out of mind.
[He dies.]
ADAM
Then I will love you. Take away the corpse.
[Attendants lift the body to take it out.]
Come, here’s your proper place upon this throne,
for you’re as much a sovereign queen of graces
as I’m a sovereign power. This was to be.
We had to meet each other.
EVE
Mighty Pharaoh
I know your will commands our destiny.
I’m not reluctant either, only grant me
a little time and then do as you will.
ADAM
Don’t use that word: “command”. For all my kingdom
can I obtain nothing without command?
EVE
A good thing, Pharaoh, that the words you’re saying
even now don’t seem to hurt, but for the moment
do not begrudge my first tears for the dead.
How handsome, and he’s dead. O, gods, he’s dead!
[She throws herself on the body.]
ADAM
He’s handsome, and he’s dead. It doesn’t follow.
He’s sneering at our strife in his repose,
or sadly smiling at our vanities.
LUCIFER
A slave, a runaway who still defies you:
he’s bragging that he’s overcome your chains.
ADAM
Peace to the dead, and to the living - pleasure!
He won’t appreciate your tears, my lady,
whereas I miss your smiles.
The corpse is taken out. Adam leads Eve to the throne.
Here, sit beside me.
How wonderful to hold you in my arms!
A sudden cry of anguish among the workers. Eve shudders.
What’s wrong, my love?
EVE
Your people cry with pain.
O, can’t you hear?
ADAM
I’ve heard it for the first time.
It’s not a pleasing sound: try not to listen.
Come, kiss me and forget about the world.
[to Lucifer]
And you there, go and silence that commotion!
LUCIFER
I can’t do that. It’s their prerogative.
Groans go with chains, inherited together.
Another groan from the workers. Eve cries out in pain. Adam rises.
ADAM
What can I do to ease your suffering?
Rebounding from your heart these cries of anguish,
like thunderbolts, have struck me by the head.
I think the world is crying out for help.
EVE
Destroy me, Pharaoh, but forgive me this:
the people’s cries won’t Let me rest at ease.
I am your bondslave, as I surely know;
my single aim in life is your delight.
I would forget, I would shut out the world,
my misery, my dreams, my dead one even,
that I won’t lack the fun, my lips the fire,
but when I hear that million-handed creature,
the toiling people groan beneath the scourges,
as from the body’s harm all members suffer,
even I, forsaken daughter of your people,
within my throbbing heart I feel the pain.
ADAM
I see it now. A million dies for one.
That’s what the dead man said.
EVE
O, noble Pharaoh,
you look unhappy and I am to blame…
Drive me from you or teach me not to hear.
ADAM
It’s you who are by far the better teacher,
for you could teach me how to hear that cry.
I’ll have no more of that. Release the slaves!
Let them be free. There’s no delight in glory
attained to gratify a single human
if millions die for it and millions groan
in whom the human cries out to be heard.
I’m plagued a million times for all my pleasures.
LUCIFER
Pharaoh, you must be raving! Look, the masses
are only beasts of burden pre-appointed
by fate to tread the mills of all regimes.
They’re made for that. Give them today their freedom,
from all your loss no gain, no profit made,
they’ll find another master by tomorrow.
You think that you could ride them as you do
if they did not require an overlord,
or had self-conscious, independent minds?
ADAM
But don’t they groan as if their bondage hurt them?
LUCIFER
Indeed, it hurts them, but they don’t know why.
In every human there’s a lust for power:
that is the spur, not solidarity,
which rallies multitudes to flags of freedom,
unable as they are to comprehend
the motive which still drives them like a goad.
Hence their rejection of existing order,
and their innate obsession with the new,
in whose pursuit they hope to realise
the dreams they entertain of happiness.
O, yes, the masses are a murky ocean:
no light can penetrate that darksome gulf.
It’s waves that glitter, tossing on the surface,
and by a happy chance - you are a wave.
ADAM
Why me?
LUCIFER
Well, you, or someone not unlike you,
who’s grown aware of that instinctive urge
and fights his way to your resplendent place
acclaimed by all the champion of the people.
Meanwhile the herd, with no advantage gained,
will change its name and serve another master.
ADAM
There’s no escaping from your disputation:
it’s going round and round, a vicious circle.
LUCIFER
There’s one escape, though. Should you give the few
aspiring characters some chains or rings
or other baubles, saying, “I create you
an overlord! You are a nobleman!” -
they’ll take your words, and while they spurn the mob,
they suffer you to hold them in contempt.
ADAM
Don’t tease me with your specious arguments.
No slaves, I say. Let every one be free
Give out this proclamation to the people.
Have done with it before I change my mind.
LUCIFER
[to the audience]
Conceited man, you’ll no doubt postulate
that you have made this move, and not your fate!
[Exit.]
ADAM
Now, let this artifice stand unaccomplished,
colossal ruin to warn ambitious men,
a question mark against our strengths and failings.
Great cheering outside. The workers disperse and Lucifer returns.
Slavedom, rejoice! A Pharaoh stoops to you.
But don’t presume he’s been compelled to stoop.
EVE
Take heart, my love, and put your mind at ease.
Why must you long for some relentless glory
which creeps between us like a deadly snake?
ADAM
It’s a stupendous thing!
EVE
Don’t think of it.
The groans are hushed, our bliss is undisturbed.
Lean on my breast. What more can you desire?
ADAM
How narrow is your feminine horizon!
And yet it does attract the haughty male,
for frailty holds the strong infatuated.
As wary parents grow the more protective
the more forlorn their child appears to them.
EVE
O, Pharaoh, it’s a shame to weary you
with all this useless, idle talk of mine.
I’m not too clever, but I cannot help it.
ADAM
Don’t try to help it either, lovely one,
for brains I have myself which will suffice.
You think I mean to linger on your breast
for power or greatness, or indeed for knowledge,
which, I believe, is better found in books?
Just talk to me and let me hear your voice,
let its vibrations penetrate the heart;
the subject-matter makes no difference.
What has the nightingale to say? Who cares?
One hears the song transported with delight.
Be like a flower, a darling ornament,
useless, but for the single virtue - beauty.
[to Lucifer]
There’s one more thing that mars our perfect bliss,
a fatuous wish, perhaps, but yours to grant.
Give us a daring glimpse into the future.
Let’s see our name go down the centuries
into posterity.
LUCIFER
While you embraced,
a gentle breeze stirred up - you might have felt it.
It lighted on your face, then passed away,
but left a tiny layer of dust behind.
Within a year this dust can grow to inches;
increase a few feet in a hundred years;
some thousand years shall top your pyramids
and have your name engulfed in mounds of sand.
The jackal’s howl shall fill your pleasure-gardens
and vagabonds shall roam the wilderness…
[While Lucifer speaks all this becomes visible.]
All this through no upheavals of the sky,
or shattering convulsions of the earth,
but by this gentle breeze which plays around.
ADAM
How dreadful!
LUCIFER
[with a sneer]
Don’t despair! Your spirit lost,
your body shall endure, preserved a mummy,
a curiosity for boys at school,
its face deformed and the inscription faded:
no one to know if it spelt king or slave.
He hicks at the mummy which has appeared in front of the throne. Slowly it rolls down the steps. Startled by this, Adam jumps to his feet.
ADAM
Take this away! Your curst infernal visions!
O, false ambitions, unavailing strife!
I still can hear: “A, million dies for one!”
Why, then, I must emancipate those millions.
No other way: a free society!
Self interest must yield to common cause:
the many parts will make a healthy total.
EVE
And will you leave your love behind so soon?
ADAM
Yes. I must leave you, throne and everything,
To new horizons! Lead me, Lucifer!
I’ve wasted too much time in this blind alley.
[He is about to leave.]
EVE
If you return, my Lord, with shattered hopes,
you’ll find a shelter in my love.
ADAM
Indeed,
I can foresee that in the distant future
I’ll meet you in a more exalted form:
then you will love me - no more in obedience,
but as my equal, partner of my joy.
[Exit.]
LUCIFER
Not so much haste. There’s time enough to spare.
You’ll reach the goal before you think you’re there -
and break your heart to find it so inane.
I’ll have my laughs. Meantime - we’ll try again.