University of Virginia Library

Theseus, Phædra.
Ph.
Alas my valiant Theseus euen for thy royall mace,
Wherwith thy Kingdome thou dost weild, and by the noble raygne
Of thy belo'ud posterity, and comming home agayne,
And for the worship that is due vnto my fatall graue,
O let me die and suffer me, deserued death to haue.

Th
What cause compelleth thee to die?

Ph.
If I the cause of death
Disclose, then shall I not obtayne the loosyng of my breath:

Th.
No worldly wight (saue I my selfe alone) the same shall heare,
Art thou affrayd to tel it in thy husbandes bashful eare?
Speake out, thy secretes shrowd I shall within my faythful brest.

Ph.
What thou would other to conceale, kepe thou it first in rest,

Th.
Thou shalt not suffred be to die:

Ph.
From him that wisheth Death,
Death neuer can be seperate.

Th.
The crime that losse of breath
Ought to reuenge, shew it to me.

Ph.
Forsooth because I liue.

Th.
Alas do not my trilling teares thy stony stomacke grieue?

Ph.
It is the sweetest death, when one doth lothsome life forsake,
Bereft of such as should for him most woful weeping make.

Th.
Stil standes she mum? ye croked, old, ilfauord, hoblinge Trotte,
Hir Nurse for stripes and clogging bandes shall vtter euery iotte,
That shee forbid her hath to tell: in yron chaynes her bynd,
Let tawing whips wring out perforce the secrets of her mynd:

PH.
Now I my selfe wil speak: stay yet.

TH.
Why dost thou turne aside
From me thy weeping Countenance? thy teares why dost thou hide
That gushing sodaine frō thine eyes streame downe thy cheekes apace?
Why hidest thou thy flowing floudes with Coate before thy Face?

PH.
Thee, thee, Creator of the Heauens to witnesse I doe call,
And thee O glittering fiery glede of Christall Sky with all,
And Phœbus thou from whom at first our royall Race hath roon.
With fawning face & flattring words in suite I was not woon.
For naked sword, & thundring threts, appauled was I not:
My brused bones abode the blowe, and stripes when sore he smote:
This blemish black of foule defame my bloud shall purge agayne.

TH.
Declare what villaine is he yt our honour so doth stayne?

PH.
Whom least yee would mistrust.

TH.
To know who tis, ful sore I long.

PH.
This Sword wil tel, which sore afright when people thick in thrōg
Resorted fast, the Leacher vile for hast did leaue behinde,
Because the people preasing fast he dreeded in his minde:

TH.
Ah out alas, O woe is mee, what villany see I?
Alas what vncouth Monster fowle of mischiefe I espy?
Beholde the royall Iuory engrau'de and purtred fine,
Emboast with golden studdes, vpon th'enameld Haft doth shine,
(The Iewell of Actea lande) but whyther fled is bee?

PH.
With light Heele running sore dismaide these seruants did him see?

TH.
O sacred holinesse, O Ioue betweene whose mighty hands
The Marble Poale with weltring sway in course directed stands,
And thou that second Scepter weilds in fomy fighting waue,
Why doth this cursed broode with such this wicked vengeance raue?
Hath he bene fostred vp in Greece? or craggy Taurus wilde
Among hard rugged Rocks, and Caues, some sauage Scythian Childe?
Or else in brutish Colchis Ile by Desart Phasis flood?
Cat after kinde hee is, and will th'unkindly Bastard blood
Returne vnto his kinreds course, whence first his ligne hee clames.
This frantick fury vp and downe comes of the warlicke Dames,
To hate the loyall leagues of loue, and shunning long the vse
Of Cupids campe, with tag, and rag, her body to abuse,
Become as good as euer twangd: O detestable kinde,
No better Soyle by any meanes can chaunge thy filthy minde.
The brutish beasts themselues doe loath th'abuse which Venus drawes,
And simple shame fastnesse it selfe obserueth Natures lawes:
Where is the brag of Maiesty, and fayned portly grace
Of manly minde, that hateth new, and olde things doth embrace?
O double dealing life, thou clokes deceiptful thoughtes in brest,
And settest out a forhead fayre where frounced mynd doth rest:
The saucie Iacke with bashful brow doth malipiertnes hide:
The rashnes of the despret Dicke by stilnesse is vnspide.
With show of right religion knaues villany mayntayne,
And guileful mealemouthd Gentlemen do hold with speaking playne:
The daynty wanton Carpet Knights of hardnes boast and prate,
That Woodraunger, that brainsicke beast who liu'd in chast estate
An vndefyled Bachiler thou rude and homely clowne,
Thus dost thou watch thy tyme, to breede this blot in my renowne?
To make me Cuckold first of all did it delyght thy mynd,
First falling to thy spousall sport with mischiefe most vnkind,
Now, now, to thee supernal Ioue most hearty thankes I yeeld,
That with my first Antiope to dreary death I quelde,
That gone to dampish Stygian Dennes I left thee not behynd
Thy Mother: go, go Uagabond rawnge, rawnge, about to finde
Straunge forraine soyles, and outcast landes aloofe at world his end,
And Iles enclosd with th'Ocean floud to hell thy soule shall send:
Beneath among th'Antipodes thy selfe of harbring sped,
Though in the vtmost lurking nooke, thou shroude thy miching heade,
Aboue the grisly Pallaces thou climbe of lofty Poale,
Or maist aboue the clottring Snow aduaunce thy cursed Soule,
Beyond the brunt of Winter flawes and threatning rigour passe
And stormy wrath with rumbling rough of ysie Boreas,
With vengeance, vengeance violent fast hurling after thee,
With daunting plagues and pestilence thy sinnes shal scourged bee.
For life and death, about the world in euery lurking hoale.
O fugitiue I shal not cease stil to pursue thy soule.
But seeke and search for thee I shall in landes that lye a farre,
Al corners blynd and caues shut vp, Dennes lockt with bolt and barre,
A thousand wayes vnpassable no place shal me withstand.
My cursinges blacke shal light on thee there where reuenging hande
With weapon cā not worke ye harme: thou knowest that Neptune great
My Syre who flotes on floudes, & waues, with forked Mace doth beat
Geue licence freely vnto me three boones to chuse and craue,
Which willingly the God hath graunt, and sworne I shal it haue
Protesting vgsome Stygian Lake, and hallowed hath his vow:
O breaker of the wrastling waues, auouch thy promise now
Let neuer more Hippolitus behold th'eclipsed light,
And for the Fathers wrathful rage the cursed child downe smight,
To waile among the gastly sprites o Father bend thy might,
To giue (alas) this lothsome ayde vnto thy needy Sonne,
I of thy Maiesty deuyne exact not to be donne.
This chiefest bone, til puissant payse of ylles do vs oppresse:
In bottom deepe of boylyng Tartar pit and sore distresse,
In grisly Lymbo Iawes nigh garglefaced Ditis dimme,
Amid the crumpled threatning browes of Hellick Pluto grim,
To claime thy promise made to mee, as then I didde refrayne,
Now Syre thy fayth by promise due perfourme to me agayne.
Yet dost thou stay? why rumble not the waltring waues yet husht,
Through foggy cloude in dusky skies with stormy blastes outrusht.
Unfold the mantel blacke of Night, and roll away the Skies,
Enforce the fighting floods brast out with mounting waues to ryse
And coniure vp the water hagges that in the Rockes do keepe,
The Ocean surges swellyng hie cast vp from bottom deepe.