the hand that death presents them
Must be mine, that none may think
I a greater love could cherish
For my son than for my gods.
And as I desire, when wendeth
Hither great Numerianus,
That he find them dead, arrest them
On the spot, and fling them headlong
Into yonder cave whose centre
Is a fathomless abyss:--
And since one sole love cemented
Their two hearts in life, in death
In one sepulchre preserve them.

CHRYSANTHUS.
Oh! how joyfully I die!

DARIA.
And I also, since the sentence
Gives to me the full assurance
Of a happiness most certain
On the day this darksome cave
Doth entomb me in its centre. (They are cast into the abyss.)

POLEMIUS.
Cover the pit's mouth with stones.
(A sudden storm of thunder and lightning: Enter Numerianus, Claudius,
Aurelius, and others.

NUMERIANUS.
What can have produced this tempest?

POLEMIUS.
When within the cave they threw them,
Dark eclipse o'erspread the heavens.

CLAUDIUS.
Shadowy shapes, phantasmal shadows
Are upon the wind projected.

CYNTHIA.
Lightnings like swift birds of fire
Dart along with burning tresses.

CLAUDIUS.
Lo! an earthquake's awful shudder
Makes the very mountains tremble.

POLEMIUS.
Yes, the solid ground upheaveth,
And the mighty rock descendeth
O'er our heads.

NISIDA.
While on the instant
Dulcet voices soft and tender
Issue from the cave's abysses.

NUMERIANUS.
Rome to-day strange sights presenteth,
When a grave exhibits gladness,
And the sun displays resentment.

(A choir of angels is heard singing from within the cave.)
"Happy day, and happy doom,
May the gladsome world exclaim,
When the darksome cave became
Saint Daria's sacred tomb".
(A great rock falls from the mountain, and covers the tomb, over it is
seen an angel.)

ANGEL.
This great cave which holds to-day
In its breast so great a treasure,
Never shall by foot be trodden;--
Thus it is I 've sealed and settled
This great mass of rock upon it,
Which doth shut it up for ever.
And in order that their ashes
On the wind be ne'er dispers`ed,
But while time itself endureth
Shall be honoured and respected,
This brief epitaph, this simple
Line shall tell this simple legend
To the ages that come after:
"Here the bodies are preserv`ed
Of Chrysanthus and Daria,
The two lover-saints of Heaven".

CLAUDIUS.
Wherefore humbly we entreat
Pardon for our many errors.

3. The whole of the first scene is in 'asonante' verse, the vowels
being i,