 | Jason |  |
SCENE VI.
Orontes, and Cassandane veiled, with the Genius of Caucasus by her side.Genius
sings, as he enters, to a lute behind the scenes.
Dreary mansion of the dead,
[Trochaics.
Yield to innocence access:
Through thy dust of mould'ring bones
Beauty steps, with me her guard.
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Can harmony be here? Sweet voice, which sings
Of innocence and beauty, canst thou breathe
Through tainted bosoms purity of feeling,
And charm the mind's deformity away?
A graceful image penetrates the gloom.
Ah! do not come a phantom of illusion,
Nor, with deceit accumulating woe,
Pollute the promise of thy specious mien.
CASSANDANE.
As thy good genius am I come, O king,
To show thy restless feet the paths of peace.
ORONTES.
Then my good genius thou may'st well be styl'd,
Whoe'er thou art.
CASSANDANE.
To pity frame thy mind;
A gen'rous sense of benefits recall;
The gate of virtue leads alone to peace.
ORONTES.
O Pherendates! I too late acknowledge
Thy toils, thy wounds, thy conquests for Orontes.
CASSANDANE.
Thou didst his daughter of her heart beguile,
Then to another form thy love transfer.
ORONTES.
It is for her the lion hath assail'd me,
Enchantments harass'd, and the demon haunted.
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unveiling, and kneeling.
And her thou see'st before her sov'reign's feet.
ORONTES, embracing her, at which the scene changes to the garden, and all the Fiends descend.
My Cassandane! O what pow'r convey'd thee
To quell these horrors, fix my wav'ring soul,
And backward turn my steps, whose errors touch'd
Ingratitude and guilt. Discreetest maid,
More to thy prudence is Orontes bound,
Than to thy father's valour. What could blind me
To leave that soft serenity of beauty,
And court the lightning of Medea's eye?
How cam'st thou hither? But explain hereafter.
The Genius
sings.
How she came, I unfold:
[Cretics.
Faithful love was her guide.
I the ruling genius here,
[Trochaics.
Fly to celebrate thy bliss.
| Jason | |