Sofonisba (alone): Sofonisba, what are you waiting for? Now
is the time to escape from worries. Be brave!
Here to my lips
(she takes the cup in her
hand, and presses the poison to her lips) I already raise the lethal cup! But, alas! My
hand, why does it shake
(she withdraws her
trembling hand)? How the poisoned air
spreads! Beneath my unstable feet
why is the ground shaking? …
Where am I? … What happened to me? …
Is this perhaps the natural chill signalling the
way down the fatal path? Ah! I did not think
that the aspect of death
would be so terrible!
(Behind the stage is heard a march played
on military instruments.) Ah! But what sound
is that, both happy and ferocious? …
Where is it coming from? … I can look.
(At a sign from Sofonisba her handmaidens
open the curtains.) Open! … What an atrocious sight!
The ships! The prisoners! In vain, in vain
you await me, you arrogant people!
I won’t come. This is my escape.
Let me drink …
(She presses the poison again to her lips.) Oh God! But then
(she stops her hand, stupefied),
do I have to die like this? Among so many Gods
will I then not be able to find a single merciful one?
But the evil ministers are approaching!
(Roman soldiers enter with burning torches,
and holding chains in their hands.) The swords!
The chains! Ah, some help; Heaven, or earth,
who can give them to me? … What folly! What
do I hope for? To whom am I calling? There are no
more men or gods left for me. They all leave
me wretched and abandoned. And the only thing
I still have (what cruel support!) is my constancy.
(She takes the poison.)English: Ian Page � 2020