University of Virginia Library

Scena quarta.

Titiro, Montano, Dametas.
Tit.
I speak Montano what I know is true,
And speak to one who knows more then I do.
“Your Oracles are still obscurer farre
“Then we imagine: and their answers are
“Like knives, which if they warily be caught
“By that safe part which for the hand was wrought,
“Are usefull; but if rashly they be tane
“By th'edge or point, one may be hurt or slain.
That Amarillis (as thou argu'st) should
By Heav'n be destin'd for the gen'rall good
And safety of Arcadia, who should rather
Desire and joy, then I who am her Father?
But when I mark the words of th'Oracle,
Me thinks with those the signes agree not well.
If Love must joyn them, and the one doth fly,
How can that be? How can the strings which tie
The true-Love's knot be hatred and disdain?
“That cannot be oppos'd which Heav'ns ordain:
Since then we see such opposition here,
That Heav'ns did not ordain it, is most cleer.
Had they been pleas'd that Silvio should have had
My Amarillis, they would him have made
A Lover, not a Huntsman.

Mont.
Dost not see,
He's young, not yet seventeen? In time ev'n he
Will feel the dart of Love.

Tit.
A dog hath got
His love: I know not why a Nymph should not.

Mont.
“Youths are inclined more to recreation.

Tit.
“And is not love a nat'rall inclination?

Mont.
“Before the time 'tis an unnat'rall thing.

Tit.
“Love is a blossome which adorns our spring.

Mont.
“Your forward blossoms seldom come to good.

Tit.
“They seldom fail where frosts nip not the bud.
But came I hither to dispute with thee,
Montano? I nor can, nor fits it me.
Yet I'm a Father too of a most deer
And onely child; and (if Love do not blear
My eyes) a worthy one; such (under favour)
That many woo'd me, and still do to have her.

Mont.
Were not this Marriage made in heav'n by Fate,
'Tis made in earth by Faith, to violate
Which (Titiro) were rashly to prophane
The godhead of great Cynthia, in whose Fane
The solemn oath was taken. Now how ready
She is to wrath, and how incens'd already
Against this Country, thou art not to learn.
But I professe, as far as I discern,
And a Priest's mind rapt up above the skie
Into th'eternall counsels there can prie,
This knot by th'hand of Destiny was knit,
And all those signes which should accompan' it
(Have thou but Faith) will fall out jump and right
In their due time. I'll tell thee more; this night
I in my dream a certain thing have view'd,
Which my old hopes hath more then ere renew'd.

Tit.
“Dreams are but dreams: but well, what didst thou view?

Mont.
Thou dost remember, I presume (for who
Amongst us all is such a stupid wight
As to forget?) that lamentable night
When swelling Ladon (weary of his yoke)
The banks with his rebellious waters broke;
So that where birds were wont to build their nests,
Usurping fishes swam, and men, and beasts,
And flocks, and herds promiscuously tane
Th'impartiall deluge swept into the Main.
That very night (O bitter memory!)
I lost my heart, or rather that which I
More dearly priz'd, a child, a tender one
In swathing bands, and then my onely son.
Both then and since (though he be dead) as deer
To me, as if my onely son he were:
The cruel torrent ravish'd him away
Before the people of the house (who lay
In darknesse, fear and sleep buri'd alive)
With any timely succour could arrive:
We could not find the empty cradle neither,
But (as I ghesse) that and the child together
Were swallow'd by the flood.

Tit.
What else can be
Suppos'd? I think I've heard (perchance from thee)
This losse of thine before, in very truth
A miserable one, and full of ruth;
And I may say, of thy two sons the Floods
Have swallow'd one, the other's lost i'th'Woods.

Mont.
Perhaps kind Heav'ns in the surviving brother
Will make me rich amends yet for the other:
“'Tis alwayes good to hope. Now list me out:
'Twas at the dawning of the morn, about
That mungrell hour which gotten betwixt night
And day, is half an Ethiop and half white,
When having watcht out all the night almost,
With various fancies of this Marriage tost,
Quite overcome at length with wearinesse,
A gentle slumber did mine eyes oppresse,
Which with it such a lively vision brought,
That though I slept, I was awake. Methought,
On fam'd Alfeo's bank I angling sate
Under a shady Beech, there came up straight
A grave old man, down to the middle bare,
His chin all dropping, and his grisled hair;
Who with both hands, and countenance beni'ne
Put a nak'd weeping infant into mine,
Saying, Lo here thy Son, and take good heed
Thou kill him not; then div'd into the reed.
With that, black clouds obscur'd the Heavens round,
And threatning me with a dire tempest, frown'd.
I to my bosome clapt the babe for fear,
And cry'd, Shall then one hour both give and bear
Away my joy? Straight all the welkin turn'd
Serene, and thunderbolts to ashes burn'd
Fell hissing in the River, with bows broken
And shafts by thousands, signes which did betoken
Extinguisht vengeance; then a shrill voice brake
From the riv'd Beech, which in his tongue thus spake,
Believe Montano, and thy hope still nourish,
Thy fair Arcadia once again shall flourish.
So ever since in my eyes, mind, and brest
The pleasing figure of this dream's imprest,
Standing before me still in every place;
But above all, the courteous meen and face
Of that old man (me thinks I see him wet)
Which made me coming now, when thee I met,
Directly to the Temple, there with pure
And holy Sacrifice my Dream t'insure.

Tit.
“Truely Montano, Dreams are Histories
“Of what is past, rather then Prophecies
“Of what's to come: Meer fragments of some sight,
“Or thought of the past day, which prints at night
“A vain reflection of it self, like those
“Which in a cloud the Sunne opposed shows.

Mont.
“Not alwayes with the senses sleeps the soul:
“Rather when she is free from all controll
“Of cousening forms, which do the senses blinde,
“Whilst they're asleep, more wakefull is the minde.

Tit.
In short: how Heav'ns have destin'd to dispose
Of our two children, neither of us knows.
But this is cleer to both of us, thine flyes,
And against Nature's law, doth Love's despise.
And mine (as't proves) is ty'd; her self yet hath
No benefit of her engaged faith.
Nor do I know whether she love or no:
That she makes others love, full well I know;
And can I think it probable that shee
Should others wound, and go her self still free?
Mee thinks of late she's alter'd in her cheer,
Who us'd all Mirth and Jollity t'appear.
“But to put Maids in mind of marrying,
“And then not marry them, is an ill thing.
“As in a curious garden a fair Rose,
“Which (cloystred up in leaves) did late repose
“Under the sable canopie of night
“Upon its mother-stalk, with the first light
“Raises its head, then opes its tender eye,
“Whence whispring Bees suck Nectar as they fly;
“Then to the Sun which on its form doth gaze,
“Its purple and perfumed brest displayes:
“But if it be not gatherd then, and stay
“Till it be kist by the Meridian Ray,
“Before the Sun to th'other world be fled,
“Upon its mourning stalk it hangs the head;
“So pale, so shrunk, so without life it showes,
“That one can hardly say, This was a Rose.
“So a young Virgin, whilst her Mothers care
“Shuts and preserves her from the blasting air,
“Shuts her own bosom too against desire:
“But if she find some amorous youth to eye her,
“And hears him sigh, she opes him straight her heart,
“And in her tender brest receives Love's dart.
“Then if by fear, or else by maiden shame,
“She be withheld from shewing of her flame,
“(Poor soul!) Concealment like a worm i'th'bud,
“Lies in her Damask cheek sucking the bloud:
“So all her beauty's gone, if that fire last,
“And all her Lovers when her Beauty's past.

Mont.
Take courage Titiro; do not embase
Thy soul with mortall fears, but nobly place
Thy hopes above; “Heav'n favours a strong faith,
“And a faint pray'r nere clomb that arduous path.
“And if all men should pray to Heav'n at need,
“And pray with hope, much more should Heav'ns own seed
Our childrens Pedigree it is Divine,
“And Heav'n that shines on all, will surely shine
“On its own Progenie. Come Titiro,
Together to the Temple let us go,
Together offer, thou a hee-goat there,
To Pan, and I to Hercules a Steer.
“The Gods who blesse the herds, will blesse no lesse
“Them, who the Gods do with those blessings blesse.
Trusty Dametas go, and quickly cull
From my fair herd the best and gentlest Bull,
And bring him to me to the Temple straight;
Come by the hill, the neerest way is that.

Tit.
And good Dametas, from my herd bring one
Of the best Goats.

Dam.
Both shall with speed be done.
May the high Gods pleas'd in their goodnesse be
To blesse (Montano) this thy Dream to thee,
Ev'n to thy utmost wish: this memory
Of thy lost son is a good augury.