University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

Amyntas and Thyrsis.
AMYNTAS.
Thyrsis, I come to know my destiny.
And if thy kind endeavours nought avail
To soothe the fate of thy unhappy friend,
I am resolved to bleed in Sylvia's presence,
The cruel cause of all my tender woes;
She, who rejoices thus to see me wither,
Soul-smitten by the lightning of her eye;
My irremediable death will sure enjoy,
Will sure enjoy the last, decisive blow.

THYRSIS.
Amyntas, drop these idle lamentations;
They never gain a step: put on the man.
I bring thee tidings that should comfort thee.

AMYNTAS.
What are the tidings? Speak; I'm on the rack!
Art thou a messenger of life, or death?

THYRSIS.
A messenger of life, and happiness;
Provided thou hast firmness to procure them.
In short, to gain the blessings I announce,
Thou must assume a dauntless resolution.
Reflect on Providence's ways to man.
The goods best worth our acquisition are
The fruits of courage, toil, and perseverance.
These rugged avenues to life's first treasures,
Enhance our value of the great possessors,
Making their well-earned glory venerable.
If sacrilegiously they could be snatched
With hand profane, and yield to mere volition,
Then would the soul supine, by lavish nature
Stored with the seeds of flowery sentiment,
Wanton in vigorous, and immortal strains,
Without the necessary, happy labour;
And knaves exchanging vice for easy virtue,
Rise in a moment to divine perfection.
Love likewise must be brave, and persevering.

AMYNTAS.
Thy eloquence ill-timed bespeaks the danger
Extreme that I must undergo to win
My cruel fair; but out with it at once;
I'll meet it with a violence as great
As all it's horror can affront me with.

THYRSIS.
Suppose thy mistress in a lonely wood;
That lonely wood on every side hommed in
With precipices and mishapen rocks;
Those rocks resounding to the lion's roar,
Those rocks the dreadful haunts of prowling tigers;
Say, to redeem her thence couldst thou defy
The rock mishapen, and the prowling savage?

AMYNTAS.
Thyrsis, I'd thither go, bold and secure,
With foot as fearless as when I betake me
To rural pastime on a festal day.

THYRSIS.
Suppose thy Sylvia was a prey to robbers,
To robbers armed and desperate: wouldst thou dare
The ruffians to attack for her deliverance?

AMYNTAS.
Would I attack them? Yes, with that assurance,
Yes, with that eagerness, with which the stag
His thirst appeases at the purling fountain.

THYRSIS.
Expect some greater proof; you must display
In warmer terms your amorous heroism.

AMYNTAS.
Thyrsis, I'd for my Sylvia cross the river,
When the relenting snow gorges its torrent,
In cataracts descending from the Alps;—
Thyrsis, I'd for my Sylvia tread the flame;
I'd go to Pluto's realms in quest of Sylvia.
Indeed no trial that: for Sylvia's presence
Would make grim Pluto and his kingdom smile;
Her eye would dissipate the gloom of hell,
It's anguish heal, and change it to Elysium.
Oh tell me quickly all I am to know!

THYRSIS.
Hear then—

AMYNTAS.
—But trifle not; tell it me briefly.

THYRSIS.
Sylvia awaits thee at Diana's fountain,
Alone, and naked; will the timorous lover,
Let slip the golden opportunity?

AMYNTAS.
What are the words that strike my ravished ear;
Does Sylvia wait for me alone, and naked?

THYRSIS.
Perhaps too Daphne may be there; but she
You know, with all her art assists your love.

AMYNTAS.
Does she await me naked, says my Thyrsis?

THYRSIS.
Naked, I say, she doth await thee—but—

AMYNTAS.
That cruel but, and hesitation kill me.

THYRSIS.
She knows not that you are to find her there.

AMYNTAS.
Oh! galling end of a delusive tale!
It turns all the preceding sweets to bitter!
Inhuman Thyrsis, how dost thou torment me!
Thou shouldst pour balm into my bleeding wound;
Instead of that thou woundest me afresh,
Causing my former wound to smart, and fester.
Art thou my friend, or hast thou human nature?
Thou seest me overwhelmed with misery;
My load of misery seems to be thy sport;
Instead of striving to alleviate it,
With barbarous hand thou pressest down the burden.

THYRSIS.
If thou art ruled by me thou wilt be happy.

AMYNTAS.
What is the counsel thou wouldst give me?—

THYRSIS.
Go;
Be bold; avail thyself of this occasion.

AMYNTAS.
Kind heaven forbid that I should e'er commit
Deliberate act that would offend my Sylvia!
I ne'er offended her but by my passion;
I could not blame myself for that; it was
Involuntary, irresistible:
Blame we the trembling, and obedient string,
That speaks, in musick, to the lyrist's finger?
Kind heaven forbid that I should e'er offend her,
By any action on myself depending.

THYRSIS.
Amyntas, answer me ingenuously:
Supposing thou couldst quit thy passion for her;
Tell me, that passion wouldst thou quit to please her?

AMYNTAS.
No, though I could, I would not cease to love her;
Love will not let me harbour such an image;
Oh! 'tis a cold, and bleak one! to my mind
It makes the universe a dreary waste.

THYRSIS.
Then you confess in spight of her you'd love her;
Though in your power it were to cease your passion?

AMYNTAS.
No—not in spight of her—yet I would love her—

THYRSIS.
But as the case is put, you own you'd love her
Against her will?

AMYNTAS.
Why—yes—against her will.

THYRSIS.
Why will you then refuse, against her will,
To show a hardiness, which though, at first,
It may displease her virgin-modesty,
In time may be thy powerful advocate,
Soften her breast with tender imagery,
And give thee love's complete reciprocation!

AMYNTAS.
I cannot answer thee; yet I'm inspired;
Even now I feel love speaking to my heart,
In torrents of tumultuous eloquence.
My struggling tongue more forcibly describes
The strong, and varied feelings of my soul
Than the most copious orator could paint them.
But thou art versed in all love's intricacies,
And use hath made the theme familiar to thee.

THYRSIS.
And will you then not go?

AMYNTAS.
Yes, I will go;
But whither thou wouldst have me go, I will not.

THYRSIS.
Whither, Amyntas, wilt thou go?

AMYNTAS.
To death;
If this is all thy friendship can effect,
To make my life wear a more chearful aspect.

THYRSIS.
And dost thou think that I effect so little?
Dost thou despise this opportunity?
Thou art a simple, poor, despairing lover.
Would Daphne have suggested this adventure,
Had she not seen a glimpse of Sylvia's heart,
Seen that it was disposed to favour thee?
'Tis probable she knows thy mistress loves thee,
But by her plighted word perhaps is bound
Not to reveal the secret of her friend.
Were it not for thy stature, I'd suppose
Thou just hadst left the cradle: dost thou wish
She would in terms express declare her passion?
But surely thou must know the declaration
Would ill agree with Sylvia's bashful nature.
What circumstance would more offend her pride,
Than if she knew you harboured such desire;
And yet you'd rather perish than offend her;
If she would rather that you should be happy
By artful theft, or bolder violence,
To you what difference is there how you win
Your happiness, provided you are happy?

AMYNTAS.
Who can assure me that my Sylvia wishes
I'd undertake this love's knight-errantry?

THYRSIS.
Thou inconsistent man!—Bewitching passion!
Thy fascination dwindles manly reason
To the low, captious fancy of a child!
Again I tell thee, love is kept alive
By dangers, and by difficulties;
Without their necessary animation,
It loses all it's spirit, it grows dead.
Sylvia in thought thou dreadest to offend;
And yet, thou torpid lover, thou wouldst have
Certain anticipation of success;
Which, if she knew thou hadst, it would, most justly,
Against thee raise her keenest indignation.
Consider, though futurity is doubtful,
Yet thou mayst prosper in thy enterprize:
If then thou mayst, go boldly, and atchieve it.
For thy success is hazarded as much
By dull inaction as by brave attempt.
And if, all thy endeavours nought availing.
To soften Sylvia's heart, thou needs must die;
Adorn thy death by some adventurous deed;
So shall the swains revere thy memory:
Timorous, or brave in love, thou canst but die;
Die bravely then; if thou embracest death
(And voluntary death bespeaks a mind
Of vigorous tone, and fit for great resolves)
Let it not, following tears, and puny whining,
Throw ridicule upon thy tragic story.
Thy silence tells me reason hath prevailed;
Her power thou feelest; own, and be convinced
That thou at length art foiled in argument;
A surer victory wilt thou gain in love.
Go fearless to thy nymph.

AMYNTAS.
Yet stay awhile.

THYRSIS.
Why stay awhile? the rapid wing of time
Stays not a moment.

AMYNTAS.
Let us yet consider
If I should execute this bold design,
And how I should conduct it.

THYRSIS.
As we go
We'll frame the measures for it's execution.
Since life's most eligible scenes contain,
With certain pleasure, their contingent pain;
The prudent man a steddy course will steer,
'Twixt rash presumption, and desponding fear:
Nothing is certain in our earthly state;
A seeming trifle may be big with fate.
But if we always are afraid to stir,
Lest from our aim by moving we should err;
If all our projects die of cold delay,
Like a fixed, withering plant, we pine away;
No solid satisfaction can we share,
Our life a series of inactive care.

CHORUS.