 | Dione |  |
132
SCENE IV.
PARTHENIA. LYCIDAS. DIONE. LAURA.Parthenia.
This melancholy scene demands a grone.
Hah! what inscription marks this weeping stone?
‘O pow'r of beauty! here Menalcas lies.
‘Gaze not, ye shepherds, on Parthenia's eyes.
Why did Heav'n form me with such polish'd care?
Why cast my features in a mold so fair?
If blooming beauty was a blessing meant,
Why are my sighing hours deny'd content?
The downy peach, that glows with sunny dyes,
Feeds the black snail, and lures voracious flies;
The juicy pear invites the feather'd kind,
And pecking finches scoop the golden rind;
But beauty suffers more pernicious wrongs,
Blasted by envy, and censorious tongues.
How happy lives the nymph, whose comely face
And pleasing glances boast sufficient grace
To wound the swain she loves! no jealous fears
Shall vex her nuptial state with nightly tears,
Nor am'rous youths, to push their foul pretence,
Infest her days with dull impertinence.
But why talk I of love? my guarded heart
Disowns his pow'r, and turns aside the dart.
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‘Gaze not, ye shepherds, on Parthenia's eyes.’
Come, Lycidas, the mournful lay peruse,
Lest thou, like him Parthenia's eyes accuse.
[She stands in a melancholy posture looking on the tomb.
Lycidas.
Call'd she not Lycidas?—I come, my fair;
See gen'rous pity melts into a tear,
And her heart softens. Now's the tender hour,
Assist me, love, exert thy sov'reign power
To tame the scornful maid;
Dione.
—Rash swain, be wise:
'Tis not from thee or him, from love she flies.
Leave her, forget her.
[They hold Lycidas.
Luara.
—Why this furious haste?
Lycidas.
Unhand me; loose me.
Dione.
—Sister, hold him fast.
To follow her, is, to prolong despair.
Shepherd, you must not go.
Lycidas.
—Bold youth forbear.
Hear me, Parthenia.
Parthenia.
—From behind the shade
Methought a voice some list'ning spy betray'd.
Yes, I'm observ'd.
[She runs out.
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—Stay, nymph; thy flight suspend:
She hears me not—when will my sorrows end!
As over-spent with toil, my heaving breast
Beats quick. 'Tis death alone can give me rest.
[He remains in a fixt melancholy.
| Dione | |