 | The Strange Discovery |  |
Scena prima.
Enter Aristippus solus in a melancholy humour.Aristip.
How have I plai'd the foole and rob'd my selfe
In hastie passion of my onelie sonne;
Repentance when it comes too late doth argue
An inconsiderate iudgment; O my Cnemon
Would thou hadst kill'd me ere I banish'd thee,
For death is better sure then banishment;
Nere shall I see my boy, well for this fault
I will do penance, penance on my selfe;
Athens adiew and all the Citie pleasures
Forsake me quite; my solitarie manour
Farre in the countrey where no people comes
Shall be my habitation day and night
Where I will eate my heart out.
Exit Aristippus.
Enter Demeneta and Thisbe.
Demen.
Oh my Cnemon,
My prettie boy, more deere then my owne life,
How I lament thy chance and my mishap.
This.
Comfort your selfe deere mistris I beseech you.
Demen.
Peace foole, my griefe is more then can be cur'd
By any words of comfort, no man knowes
What a sharpe corsive it was to my heart,
More fervent is my love now he is absent.
This.
Fie, fie, forget him, thinke upon his pride
And high disdaine against you, thinke he doth
Deserve this punishment and greater too.
How readie thou art Thisbe to doe mischiefe,
Thou art the fire brand that hast kindled this
Combustion in my heart, thou hast not beene
A helpe unto me, but a hinderance
In the fruition of my love, by thee
And by thy meanes I have lost my onely joy,
And yet for all this thou dost still incense me
To run on in this way; most wicked wretch.
This.
Well I perceive your mind, she thinkes to make me
Support the fury of her franticke fits,
But I shall overreach you sure in wit,
And lay the saddle on the right horse backe,
aside.
Why do you thus accuse your trusty servant?
You know I did but what I was commanded,
Nor ere did any thing without your warrant,
If this thing happen'd not as you would have it,
Ascribe it not to any fault in me,
But rather, as you justly may, to fortune;
If you will have me yet devise some way
To remedy your present griefe and sorrow,
You shall perceive how ready my good will
Shall be at your commands.
Demen.
What remedy
Can possibly be found, since he that can
Ease me, and none but he, is separated
At such a distance from me? and besides
Th'unhop'd for lenity of those which gave
Sentence against him hath destroyd my hopes.
I would he had suffered death, for then in me
Had quenched beene the flames of burning love.
Hope that is past removes griefe from the heart,
And when despaire possesseth troubled minds
They intermit all sorrow building on
Th'impossibility of their enjoying;
But as it is methinkes I see and heare
Cnemon complayning of my cruelty,
And how by unjust guiles I did ensnare him;
Sometimes me thinks he comes to me as if
My course to him where ere he lives remote;
These things enflame me, these things make me mad,
But O ye gods, I have as I deserve;
Why did I not with good will seeke to win him
Rather then by deceit and craft compell him?
Why did I not most humbly sue unto him
Rather then wrong him like an enemy?
It may be at the first he did deny me
For maiden modesty, and feare to foule
His fathers sheets, but had I persever'd
Unto the end, he might have beene allur'd
To condescend by faire meanes to my will;
But O my Thisbe tell me, tell me quickly
What remedy is that thou wouldst devise
For me and saist is easie?
This.
Mistris this:
All men suppose that Cnemon is departed
The towne of Athens and the territory
As he was judg'd to doe, but I know well
(Who have search'd all things meerely for your sake)
That he remaines here still in secret manner
With one Arsinoe whom I thinke you know,
Shee playes well on the Virginals with her
He lyeth every night, for this faire maid
Won with his love, and pitying his distresse
Receiv'd him in, and promiseth as soone
As all things are provided for her journey,
To goe away with him.
Demen.
O happy wench,
Happy Arsinoe is thy destiny,
Though banishment or death with such a partner;
But what doe these thinges ought aduantage me?
This.
Much, i'le pretend I am in love with Cnemon,
And will desire for old acquaintance sake,
Arsinoe would be pleas'd to suffer me
In stead of her to lie with him one night,
Which if I can obtaine, it shall be yours,
And ile provide before he go to bed
He shall have wine sufficient, least our plot
Should be discover'd; if you have your wish,
Rest then contented to give o're your love,
For in most natures it is easily seene
That such love whose beginning's violent
After the first experiment decayes
And waxeth cold, but graunt it burne a fresh
Within your bosome (which ye gods forbid)
Tis but to make a new voiage, & seeke out
A new way to atchieve it.
Demen.
I approve,
And praise thy rare inuention deerest Thisbe;
Faile not to put this plot in execution,
And I shall well reward thee.
This.
Feare it not,
I crave but three dayes to bring this about.
Demen.
Tis granted; if thy wit can worke my pleasure,
How I shall love my Thisbe beyond measure!
Exeunt.
| The Strange Discovery | |