University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

Elpinus, Chorus.
Elpin.
Oh Love! how rigid are thy Laws?
How much must all that once subject
Themselves to thee, endure before
They taste the promis'd joy?
Who, who would not have curst thy power,
Rebell'd against thy sway, and sought
Some other way to bliss? if poor
Amintas had not scap'd the deaths
Thy usage tempted him to seek.
Ev'n we, who have ador'd thee long
With much fidelity and zeal;
We, who have rais'd thy name above
All other Gods, to whom we make
Our own Apollo yield; should then
Have taught our Children to forget
Thy worship, and forsake thy Temples.
But now that our Amintas lives,
We'll, if 'tis possible, forget
Thy Cruelty, to bless thy Care.

Chorus.
The Sage Elpinus comes and talks
As if Amintas were alive:
Ah Shepherd! didst thou know the things
Which we have heard to day; the ills
That Love has brought on all, thou wouldst
Have little reason to forget
His Cruelty, or bless his Care.

Elpin.
Rejoyce, my friends, rejoice, the news
You heard is false; Amintas lives.

Chor.
Ah! what, Elpinus, dost thou say?
How dost thou comfort us? Is't false?
Did he not fling himself but now
From yonder Hill among the Rocks?
Ah! tell us how he was preserv'd? what pow'r,
What God was by, to save him at his fall?

Elpin.
Hear then what I shall say, no more
Than I have with these eyes beheld.
I've in the Desart Vale a Cave,
Where Thyrsis came to me to day,
Where, while we talkt of that proud Nymph
Whose Fetters formerly he wore,
And I at present wear, we heard
A voice, and lookt up tow'rds the hill;
Whence, down the Precipice, we saw
A Body tumble on a Bush.
Just by my Cave, and near the Mount,
A few tall Bushes rise from Box,
And other Trees, which all unite
In one; on these we saw him fall:
But, carry'd by the Body's weight,
He rowl'd off thence, and at our feet
Fell next; the Bushes sav'd the blow
So much, we took him up alive.
He was yet speechless, and 'twas long
E're we had any other signs
Of Life, besides his sighs and groans, which shew'd
Us that he breath'd: But, oh!
When we perceiv'd who 'twas, what tongue
Can tell the fright which we were in?
Pity and wonder struck us dumb:
Yet thinking by his breath, he might
Still live, we were a little calm'd.

Chor.
Oh wonderful Escape! Oh thou
Hadst cause, Elpinus, to applaud
The Care and Providence of Love.

Elp.
Thyrsis then told me what had past,
The secret of his Love, and how
Despair had hurry'd him to this.
We fetch'd the Remedies we had
At hand, and for Alfibeus sent,
Who by Apollo has been taught
The Art of Physick; when he came,
He told us quickly, there were hopes.
And as we wept to see him still
Lye speechless in his arms he said
We should not be surpriz'd at that;
For, having searcht him well, he found
No wounds, nor any thing which might
With reason make us fear: 'Tis true,
He said he might be some time in a Trance,
But after would recover soon.
And having then perform'd his Art,
He order'd men to bear him home,
Who at a little distance hence,
Are coming with our Friend.

Chorus.
What Fools are men in Love? how apt
To be deceiv'd, how ready oft
To joyn with those they love to cheat themselves?
What mischiefs have their false despairs,
And groundless hopes begot? How near
Was poor Amintas rash mistake,
Depriving us of what we all
Expected in our time to see,
The grace and pleasure of these woods?

Elp.
Alfibeus with his charge appears,
And in his Looks we may discern,
How much Amintas safely glads
His soul as well as ours.