University of Virginia Library

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

Enter Phaeton on one side, and Althea on the other, attended by her Maids.
Phae.
Mov'd by my Love, I come, unkind Althea,
To mourn, and to provide for your sad Journey;
For I can't wish you Evil, tho you hate me.

Alth.
Then you are come? you dare approach me then?
O! worst of Men! most guilty of thy kind!
(For want of Pow'r allows me but Reproaches)
'Tis not assurance, but vile Impudence,
That brings you to a Friend, you so have wrong'd.
And yet 'tis well, 'tis just, that you are come,
That I may vent m' imprison'd Griefs on thee,
And with contageous Sorrows blast thy Joys.

Phae.
Madam, I have no joys, while you're in Pain.

Alth.
First (for Ill begin with my first Benefits)
I savd your Life (nor can you yet deny it)
When in one Night your Guiltless Friends were slain,
Then you Ingrate, then you too shou'd have dy'd.
In pity of your too untimely Fate.
I Snatch'd you from my angry Fathers Rage,
And set you free—O! that I h'd done no more!
But press'd by my ill stars, o're pow'red by Love!
By artful sighs, and your unmeaning Vows,
At once his Hopes, and Vengeance I betray'd;
Not only gave you life, but fled too with you.
—Again—in Asia where I might have reign'd,
Neglecting still all interests of my own,
To save your Life I slew the King Alphenor.
And fled again by Night thro Foes and Dangers,
And tho I fled from, what you seek, a Crown,
I fled well pleas'd because I fled with you.

Phae.
Yet hear me; and be patient while I speak—

Alth.
I took all Fears from you, and in Return
Of such, so man, Benefits have you?
Have you betray'd me? O! Prodigy of Falsehood!
Made by my fruitful Love now twice a Father,
In all my youth, in all my Spring of Beauty
To leave me for another!
Oh! my false Joys! O! disappointed Hopes!
How have I been deceiv'd; O! how abus'd!
Thinkst thou there are no Gods, that heard thy Oaths?
Or thinkst thou, they want Power to punish Crimes
Like thine? O! Hands! O! Knees! so often press'd
In vain in vain by his protesting Hands

Phae.
Wou'd you but hear I should not seem thus Guilty.

Alth.
I'll calmly reason with you like a Friend,
As if I hopd some Benefit from you.
Whither shall I go? to whom shall I return
Cast off by you? What to my native Country?
That I forsook for you! what to my Father?
Alas! he's dead! kill'd by my guilty Flight!
I was the only Pleasure of his Age,
His prop, his stay, and when I fled, he fell,
And left his Throne to my inveterate Foes.

Phae.
Yet hear me speak, and then condemn or quit me

Alth.
Or shall I fly to slain Alphenors Court?
Where for his Death, I shall be kindly treated.
You bid me go, but cut off all Retreat.
My native Friends that merited no evil,
For thee Ive lost, for thee I've made all Foes!
And now for all these fatal proofs of Love,
I'm thrust a Vagabond to the wide World.
Defenceless, Widow'd, Friendless, and alone!
Or what is worse, with my two helpless Orphans.
If this must be, O! think but how 'twill sound,
At your new Nuptials, that you've driv'n to exile
Your Children Beggars, with that tender Wife,
To whom you owe the life you use against her.
O! Jupiter! why hast thou giv'n to Gold,
A certain Test to know the true from false,
And yet in Man hath fixt no certain Mark,
To know the Good from Evil?

Pha.
I find you've drawn a dreadful Charge against me,
And such as Guilt cou'd never hope to Answer,
Yet, fortify'd with Innocence, I dare
Appeal to your own self to judge my Cause.
Lay but your Passion for a while aside
And tell me who? who caus'd this mournful parting?

Alth.
Ask thy self that Question? ask thy own Heart.

Pha.
It was not I, I sought not this Divorce.
The Gods, the angry Gods woud have us parted,
Witness ye Pow'rs! how long I did oppose you!
Struggling with Fate, my Mother, and my Country,
Before I yielded up a Prize like this.
The hoary Priests of Isis threatn'd Egypt,
With Evils imminent, with Plagues, with Famine,
Unless that you were banish'd—And the Nile
Withdrew its fertile Streams within its Bed,
And shrunk its noble Flood into a Brook.
In vain the holy Priests mourn'd drown'd Osiris,
With shorn Locks, and dismal Cries in vain
A Successor they sought to the white God!
All was deny'd till you was driven from Egypt.
What cou'd I do? or how cou'd I deny
My Friend, my Mother, and my falling Country?

Alth.
If this were so, why left we not this Egypt?
Why should my Banishment from Egypt part us?
We had been wanderers together before this!
Nor Gods, nor Priests, requir'd that you should stay,
And Love, and Benefits, and Vows, and Oaths
Oblig'd you to go with me.—
But these are Feints, weak Blinds to hide their Guilt,
'Tis Lybia is the God compels your stay!
'Tis Lybia drives Althea out of Egypt!
'Tis Lybia is the dreadful Fate that parts us!

Pha.
Be calm a while, and give me leave to speak.
I will not urge the Love that Lybia bears me,
(Tho that, I swear, would move another strangely)
The Crowns she brings (tho I was born for Crowns)
I will not urge, for these are foreign Motives:
It was for you I yielded to these Nuptials.—

Alth.
For me! for me you left me for another!
O wretched Trifler!

Pha.
Pray hear me out—
You ask what God? what Priests require my stay?
Why you, Althea, are the God compels it.
Knowing the Hardships of a Friendless Exile,
How could I bear to see Althea perish,
And have it in my Power to ward her Fate?
My Children too, sprung from that beauteous root,
Attackt my Heart, and with resistless force,
Tore me from what my Soul desires most!
For Me, you've made too many Foes already,
And should I then add to their fatal Number?
If Asia and Samos are provok'd for me,
Should I dare Egypt too, to fix your Ruin?
Alas! if I go with you I destroy you,
If I stay here, Im but my self unhappy,
And by my pain provide for you and yours.
'Tis Death to my Desires to lose Althea,
But 'tis Damnation to undo her more.
Yet woud I go, the Pow'r of Ægypt stops me,
The Pow'r that drives you hence confines me here.
Come calm that Rage (which yet I cannot blame
Because it shews you Love me) and consider
That by this match the Wealth of Ægypts yours,
For what is mine is so. By which ill-Fortune
Will follow you in vain, but never reach you:
Contending Nations will with Pride invite you
That know your Interest in the Prince of Ægypt.

Alth.
How easie tis to give us Words for Deeds!
No more with specious Arts disguise the truth;
The fulsom Dawb too visibly is seen.
If twas for me you did these wondrous things.
Why was the secret kept thus long from me?
Who first shou'd have been won to yield you to her.

Phae.
How cou'd I plead a hateful Cause with you?
I cou'd not wish to gain ev'n from my self?

Alth.
These are invented Causes, not the real;
Your proud aspiring Soul disdain'd my Bed,
Because I brought no Kingdoms for my Dowr.

Phae.
Believe the brave Ambition of my Soul.
Wou'd not permit me to forgo my Love,
For any Cause, but what I have assign'd,
Your Childrens, and your Happiness—

Alth.
Give me no Happiness that s mixt with Woe,
Nor Wealth and Pow'r that rack my Soul with Grief.

Phae.
Opinion only makes you here unhappy,
Who in the midst of Plenty think you're Poor.

Alth.
Delude me on with Words, you've got a Refuge,
And you grow eloquent upon it: But your Deeds
Your Deeds are more emphatic: am I not
Forsaken? with my Children forc'd to Exile?

Phae.
To ease that Care take largely of my store,
Rich presents to our Friends to recommend you.

Alth.
I'll use no Friends of thine, nor touch thy Gifts;
The Gifts ill men bestow advantage none.

Phae.
By the refulgent God, that gave me being!
My Father Phæbus!—

Alth.
Thy Father! thine! th'illustrious God disdains thee.
Thy Father! 'twas a boast of thy false Mother.
By which she wou'd conceal her guilty shame.

Phae.
No more—for yet I call the Gods to witness
I'd pour into your Arms what e'r you want,
Both for your journey, and your after Ease;
Tho you to your own detriment refuse it.
And with injurious Language drive me from you:

Exit.
Alth.
Go, go make haste, to your new Bride make haste!
Too long I've kept you from her wish'd-for sight.
Go on, go on, Consummate your new Nuptials,
Yet if the Gods but lend a pitying Ear,
You soon shall wish you never had prepar'd 'em.

Walks up and down in a Passion.
Cassi.
If once, O! Venus! I must feel thy Power.
Far be this racking Violence of Passion!
A Love more gentle in my Soul inspire!
Calm be my Joys, temperate my Desire!
Easie the soft Emotions of my Heart!
Or if they must be fierce, Oh! make 'em short.
My inclinations veering, as the Wind,
In change preventing that false roving kind!

Alth.
O! Juno! early Guardian of my youth,
And sacred Pledge of our Connubial Vows,
If e'er my Off'rings have been grateful to you,
I do adjure you suffer not my Foes
To gather Joys from my opprobrious Grief!

Mer.
Madam, transported by untimely Rage,
You've lost th'occasion that before you wisht for.
Ex. Mer.

Alth.
Sits down and reclines her Head on her Hand.
Symphony and Song.
At the end of the Song, Enter Phaeton and Merops.

Phae.
Madam, I'm told you sent for me again,
Tho you are angry with me I obey,
And come with Joy to hear what you'll command me.

Alph.
(Rising and coming forward)
Forgive, my Lord, the outrage of my Tongue
Nay I beg you, by our mutual benefits,
By our past Love (alas! that it is past!)
To pardon my Violence of Passion.
If I said ought too harsh, or to severe,
Think me a Woman, impotent of Reason,
That cou'd not see thro Pain my future Good,
And such a Pain, as to be rent from you;
My Soul, my All (for you were All to me)
Just in the fierce abundance of my Love.
Then add to this my little helpless Infants
Banish'd, and in the tender Bud expos'd
To nipping Blasts of an inclement Fortune.
(weeps)
Pardon these Tears, that spight of me will fall
When e're this dreadful Image comes in view.

Phae
Excuse them not, they speak a noble Nature.

Alth.
These Ills thro them transfix'd the Mother in me,
And work'd the raging Terror into Madness—
But now I'm calm, and Reason rules again,
I am convinc'd, that you have done most wisely,
Perhaps most kindly too!
(Sighs.)
I own your Care of me, and of my Children;
I own I've nothing to accuse but Fate,
And since our Stars will have it so, I'll bear it.

Phae.
O! my Althea! I approve thy Grief,
Nor can I blame thy Rage; for both are just.
I swear thy Tenderness, and Love so charm me
But that the Gods, have doomd me to be Great
For thy Protection, I should leap down with thee
Into ignoble Ruin—
Nor think of my immortal Glory more.

Alth.
Dissembling Villain! Oh! my Heart be calm!
Or I shall lose this only Hour of Vengeance!
Aside.
Fool that I was, who cou'd not see my good.
Had I been wise, I had my self advis'd it,
And stood a glad assistant at your Nuptials.
But alas! I am a Woman! and tis
Below you to emulate me in Evil;
Or rail because I rail'd, I then was Mad,
But now I have consider'd, I consent,

Pha.
You do, Althea! like a tender Mother,
To share that Pain for them, I feel for you.
In this we both prefer the Good and Fortune
Of what we Love to our own fond desires.

Alth.
Bring forth, bring forth my pretty Babes, bring them
To their Father to take their last Farewel.
Enter two Maids with two Children, Althea goes to them, and as she speaks takes hold of them and him alternately.
Let him behold in these his double likeness.
Extend extend your little Arms; embrace him,
Cling you about his Neck, and you about his Knees.
The Maids apply each as directed, and Althea Kneels, and takes hold of his Hands
Speak to him tenderly; and move his Soul!
Methinks ev'n now their Eyes, and Motions speak,
And with me beg your most peculiar Care.
Look on them well—do they not deserve it?
Are these young tender Images of you,
Fit for the Hazards of a tedious Voyage?
O! my dear Children! O! my little Babes!
Must you so soon partake your Mothers Woe?
Oh! press him closer yet, and yet more close,
And with your melting cries excite the Father.

Children.
O! my Father! oh! good Father pity us!

1 Child.
Father, what have we done to make you leave us?
Have I done any thing to anger you?
If I have been a naughty Boy, indeed
I'm sorry for't, indeed I am.

Pha.
(speaking tenderly and mov'd.)
Rise, oh! rise! What means this Pomp of Sadness?
What wou'd these Tears? What wou'd these dear Embraces?
Embraces them all, takes up Althea, and the Maid and Child.
You cannot think that I can ever slight 'em?
They shall, as my first Hopes, be my first Care.
And if the Gods but favour my Designs,
I once shall see them Princes here in Ægypt.
Grow up my Boys, and be your Mothers Comfort,
And my Glory.
(She turns aside her head, and seems to weep.
Why dost thou turn thy Beauteous Face away?
And with stoln Tears bedew thy tender Cheeks?
Why hear these wishes, with unwilling Ears?

Alth.
Nothing—'Tis a fond Mothers sudden pang
For her unhappy Children.

Pha.
Let them not
Give you farther Grief: I'll take care of them.

Alth.
I wou'd obey you—but I am a Woman—
A Sex, that's born for Tears.—Oh! my Children!

Pha.
But why so often call you on your Children?

Alth.
Indeed I cannot help it, for I bore 'em,
And brought them forth into this World of Woe.
And now must see them, e're they know what life is,
Expos'd, and driven upon a thousand hazards.
Perhaps there may be cause why I should go,
But what alarms can these afford the Court?

Pha.
What would you have me do?

Alth.
Implore their stay:
Beg it of Merops with your utmost zeal.
While they're secure, within their Fathers sight,
The dearer half of me is free from Danger.

Pha.
Well I will try, but can't assure success

Alth.
VVhat cannot only Daughters do with Fathers?
Employ but Lybia, and the Boon is granted.

Pha.
I will—nor will she I believe deny me.

Alth.
O! I will help you in this grateful labour:
I have a Robe, thats wove by hands Divine,
Materials rich, as the fam'd story's artful:
Minerva's Tryal 'tis with bold Arachne.
This with a Crown of Gold by Vulcan wrought,
And giv'n by Juno to our fav'rite House;
I will, with my two Children send to win her.
No Mortal can resist such powerful Bribes.

Pha.
Rob not thy self of such unequall'd Treasures,
The Egyptian Court has wealth enough for her,
VVith whom my VVill outweighs a Mine of Gold.

Alth.
You must permit me, Sir, to send them, for
VVere my life demanded for their stay,
I'd freely part with it, much more with these,
And Gold with Man's more prevalent, than duty,
The Gods make Fortune still attend on Gold,
As if their Blessings too were bought and sold.

Pha.
Well then, Althea, you shall have your will.

Alth.
I fly on all the Wings of swift desire,
To send this noble Ransom with my Children.

Pha.
I will before to make their way more easy.

Ex.
Alth.
Now Gods befriend me, and one fatal Hour,
Shall venge my wrongs, and your affronted Pow'r.

Ex. Omnes.