The Masque of Augures with the severall Antimasqves presented on Twelfe-Night, 1622

Jonson, Ben (1573?-1637)

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The Second Antimaske.
Which was a perplex'd Dance of straying and deform'd Pilgrims taking severall pathes, till with the opening of the light above, and breaking forth of Apollo, they were all frighted away, and the Maine Masque begun.
Apollo descending, Sung.
It is no dreame, you all doe wake, and see;
Behold, who comes! far-shooting Phœbus he
That can both hurt and heale; and with his voyce
Reare Townes, and make societies rejoyce;
That taught the Muses all their harmonie,
And men the tunefull Art of Augurie.
Apollo stoopes, and when a God descends,
May Mortalls thinke he hath no vulgar ends.

Being neere the earth, he call'd these persons following, who came forth as from their Tombes.

Linus , and Orpheus, Branchus, Idmon, all
My sacred Sons, rise at your Fathers call
From your immortall Graves; where sleepe, not death,
Yet bindes your powers.

Linvs.
Here.

Orphevs.
Here.

Branchvs.
What sacred breath
Doth re-inspire us?

Idmon.
Who is this we feele?

Phoemonoe.
What heat creepes through me, as when burning steele
Is dipt in water?

Apollo.
I, Phœmonœ,
Thy Father Phœbus's fury filleth thee;
Confesse my Godhead; once againe I call,
Let whole Apollo enter in you all,
And follow me.

Chorvs.
We flie, we doe not tread,
The Gods doe use to ravish whom they lead.

Apollo
descended, shewed them where the King sate, and sung forward.
Behold the love and care of all the Gods
Of the Ocean, and the happie Iles;
That whilst the World about him is at ods,
Sits Crowned Lord here of himselfe, and smiles.

Chorvs.
To see the erring mazes of mankinde;
Who seeke for that, doth punish them to finde.

Then he advanced with them to the King.
Apollo.
Prince of thy Peace, see what it is to love
The Powers above!
Jove hath commanded me
To visit thee;

And in thine honour with my Musique reare
a Colledge here,
Of tunefull Augures, whose divining skill,
shall waite thee still,
And be the Heralds of his highest will.
The worke is done,
And I have made their President thy Sonne;
Great Mars too, on these nights,
hath added Salian rites.
Yond, yond afarre,
They closed in their Temple are,
And each one guided by a starre.

Chorvs.
Haste, haste, to meet them, and as they advance
'twixt every Dance;
Let us interpret their Prophetick trance.

Here they fetch'd out the Maskers, and came before them with the Torch-bearers along the Stage, singing this full Song.
Apollo and Chorus.
Which way, and whence the lightning flew,
Or how it burned, bright, and blew,
Designe, and figure by your lights:
Then forth, and shew the severall flights

Your Birds have made, or what the wing
Or voyce in Augurie doth bring.
Which hand the Crow cried on, how high
The Vulture, or the Erne did flie,
What wing the Swan made, and the Dove,
The Storke, and which did get above:
Shew all the Birds of food or Prey,
But passe by the unluckie Jay,
The Night-Crow, Swallow, or the Kite
Let those have neither right,

Chor.
Nor part,
In this nights art.

The Torch-bearers daunced.
After which the Augures layd by their Staves, and Danced their Entrie, which done, Apollo and the rest, interpreted the Augurie.
Apollo.
The Signes are luckie all, and right
There hath not beene a voyce, or flight
Of ill Presage.

Linus.
The bird that brings
Her Augurie alone to Kings
The Dove, hath flowne.

Orpheus.
And to thy peace
Fortunes and the Fates increase.

Branchus.
Minerva's Hernshaw and her Owle,
Doe both proclaime, thou shalt controle
The course of things.

Idmon.
As now they be
With tumult carried:

Apollo.
And live free
From hatred, faction, or the feare,
To blast the Olive thou dost weare.

Chorvs.
More is behind, which these doe long to show,
And what the Gods to so great vertue owe.

The maine Daunce.
Chorus.

Still, still the Auspice is so good,
We wish it were but understood;
It even puts Apollo
To all his strengths of art, to follow,
The flights, and to devine
What's meant by every Signe.

Thou canst not lesse be, then the charge
of every Dietie.
That thus art left here to inlarge,
And shield their pietie!
Thy neighbours at thy fortune long have gaz'd,
But at thy wisdome, all doe stand amaz'd.
And wish to be,
O'recome, or governed by thee!
Safetie it selfe so sides thee, where thou goest,
And Fate still offers what thou covet'st most!

THE REVELLS.
After which Apollo went up to the King and Sung.
Doe not expect to heare of all
Your good at once, lest it forestall
A sweetnesse would be new:
Some things the Fates would have conceal'd
From us the Gods, left being reveal'd
Our powers shall envy you.
It is enough your people learne
The reverence of your peace
As well as Strangers doe discerne
The Glories, by th'increase
And that the princely Augur here, your Sonne
Doe by his Fathers lights his courses run.

Chorus.
Him shall you see triumphing over all
Both foes and vices: and your young and tall
Nephewes, his Sonnes grow up in your imbraces,
To give this Hand Princes in long races.

Here the heaven opened, and Jove, with the Senate of the Gods, were discovered, while Apollo returned to his Seat, and ascending sung.
Apollo.
See heaven expecteth my returne,
The forked fire begins to burne,
Jove beckons to me come.

Jove.
Though Phœbus be the god of Arts,
Hee must not take on him all parts:
But leave his Frather some.

Apollo.
My arts are only to obey.

Jove.
And mine to sway
Jove is that one, whom first, midst, last, you call
The power that governes, and conserveth all;
Earth, Sea, and Ayre, are subject to our checke,
And Fate with heaven, moving at our beck.
Till Jove it ratifie,
It is no Augurie,
Though uttered by the mouth of Destinie.

Apollo.
Deare father, give the Signe, and seale it then.
The Earth riseth.
It is the suit of Earth and Men.

Jove.
What doe their Mortals crave without our wrong?

Earth with the rest.
That Jove will lend us this our Soveraigne long;
Let our grand-children, and not wee,
His want or Absence ever see.

Jove.
Your wish is blest.
Jove knocks his Chin against his brest,
And firmes it with the rest.

Chorus.
Sing then his fame, through all the orbes; in even
Proportions, rising still, from Earth to Heaven:
And of the lasting of it leave to doubt,
The power of time shall never put that out.

This done, the whole Scæne shut, and the Maskers danced their last Dance.

Artes eximias quatuor Apollini acceptas tulit antiquitas

Sagittandi peritiam, unde apud Homerum, frequens illud Epitheton εχηβολος, longe jaculans.

Medicinam, unde Medici nomen adeptus.

Musicam, unde μουσηγετης appellatus.

Et Divinationem (in quâ etiam Augurium) unde Augur Apollo dictus. Virg. Æneid. lib. 4. & Horat. Car. lib. 1. Ode. 2. Nube ca«n»dentes humeros amictus Augur Apollo. Et Car. sæcul. ult. ubi doctissimus Poeta has artes totidem versibus complectitur. Augur & fulgente decorus arcu Phœbus, acceptus que novem camœnis, Qui salutari levat arte fessos corporis artus.

Linus Ap[p]ollinis & Terpsichores filius, Paus.

Orpheus, Apollinis & Calliopes, de quibus Virg, in Eclogâ scrip«si»t. Non me Carminibus vincet, nec Thracius Orpheus, Nec Linus, huic mater quamvis, atque huic pater adsit, Orphei Calliopea, Lino formosus Apollo.

Branchus, Apollinis & Jances filius, de quo vid. Strab. lib.<1>4. & Statium, Thebaid. lib. 3.—patrioque æqualis honori Branchus.

Jdmon, Apollinis & Asteries filius. De illo vid. Valer. Flac. lib. 1. Argonautic.—Contra Phœb«e»ius Idmon non pallore viris, non ullo horrore comarum terrib«i»lis, plenus fatis, Phœboque quieto, Cui genitor tribuit «monitu» prænoscere Divum Omina, seu Flammas, seu lubrica cominus exta, seu plenum certis interroget aëra pennis.

Phœmonœ filia Phœbi quæ prima carmen heroïcum cecinit. Hesiod. in Theog.

Allusio ad illud Ovidij Epistol. Epist. Parid. Ilion aspicies, firmataque turribus altis Mœnia Apollineæ structa canore lyræ.

Augurandi scientia nobilis erat & antiqua, apud Gentes præsertim Hetruscas: quibus erat Collegium & Domicilium celeberrimum Augurum, quorum summa fuit Authoritas & Dignitas per totam Italiam, potissimum Romæ. Romulus, urbe condita, Collegium & Augures instituit, ipse nobilis, ut apud Liu. Lib. 1. & Tull. «De Divin.» lib. 1. Optimus Augur. Eorum officium fuit auspicia captare & ex iis colligere signa futurarum rerum, Deorumque monita considerare de eventibus prosperis vel adversis. Sacra erat Romanis & res regia habita, dignitasque, penes patricios & principes viros mansit, etiam apud Imperatores obtinuit, unde ab Apolline nostro talis Præses pulchrè designatus

Saltationes in rebus sacris adhibebantur apud omnes pœne gentes: & â saliendo, seu saltatione sacrâ ad saliare carmen institutâ, Salij dicti & Marti consecrati. Omnes etiam qui ad cantum & tibiam ludebant, Salij & Salisubsuli dicebantur. Salius, υμνωδος, vet. gloss, & Pacuvi. Pro Imperio sic Salisubsulus vestro excubet Mars. &(Virg. Æneid lib. 8. Tum Salij ad Cantus incensa altaria circum populeis adsunt evincti tempora ramis.

Auguria captaturi cœlum eligebant purum & serenum, aereque nitido. Lituum (qui erat baculus incurvus, Augurale Signum) manu tenebat Augur. Eo cæli regiones designabat, & metas intra quas contineri debebant Auguria: & hæ vocabantur Templa: unde Contemplatio dicta est Consideratio, & meditatio rerum sacrarum, ut dextrum sinistrumque, latus observaret. In impetrito sibi ipse regiones definiebat; in oblat«iv»o manum suam respexit lœvam aut dextram. Regiones ab Oriente in occasum terminabat limite decumano, & cardine ex tran«s»verso signo metato, quo oculi ferrent quam longissime. Antica in Ortum vergebat. Postica regio à Tergo ad occasum. Dextra ad meridiem. Sinistra ad septertrionem. Observationes fiebant Augure sedente, capite velato, togâ duplici Augurali candidâ amicto, à mediâ nocte ad mediam diem, crescente, non deficiente die. Neque captabantur Auguria post mensem Julium, propterea quod Aves redderentur imbecilliores & morbidæ, Pullique eorum essent imperfecti.

Augurandi scientia ορνιθομαντεια dicta. Divinatio per aves. Aves aut Oscines, aut Præpetes. Oscines, quæ ore, Præpetes, quæ volatu Augurium significant. Pullitripudio. Aves auspicatæ, & Præpetes, Aquila, Vultur, Sanqualis seu ossifraga, Triorches, sive Buteo, Immussulus, Accipiter, Cygnus, Columba, Oscines, Cornix, Cornus, Anser, Ciconia, Ardea, Noctua; inauspicatæ; Milvus, Farra, Nycticorax, Striges, Hirundo, Picus, &c.

Habebant dextra & læva omnia; antica & postica; Orientalia & Occidentalia. Graeci cum se ad Septentrionem obverterent, Ortum ad dextram habuere. Romani cum Meridiem in auspicando contuerentur, Ortum ad lævam habuere. Itaque sinistræ partes eœdem sunt Romanis quæ Græcis dextræ ad ortum. Sinistra igitur illis meliora, Dextra pejora: Græcis contrâ. Sinistra, pertinentia ad ortum: Salutaria, qui«a» ortus lucis index & auctor. Dextra, quia spectant occasum, tristia.

Columbæ auguria non nisi regibus dant; quia nunquam singulæ volant: sicut Rex nunquam solus incedit. Nuntiæ pacis.

Ardea, & Ardeola, rerum arduarum auspicium. Minervæ sacra. Apud Homer. Iliad. K. δεξιωτρωδιος.

Auspicium, ab ave specienda. Paul. Nam quod nos cum præpositione dicimas ASPICIO apud veteres sine præpositione SPICIO dicebatur.

Signa quæ sese offer«r»ent, era«n»t multifaria: nam si obijceretur, eretur avis aliqua, considerabatur quo volatu ferretur, an abliquo vel prone, vel supino motu Corporis, quo flecteret, contorqueret, aut contraheret membra; qua in parte se occultaret; an ad dextram vel sinistram canerent Oscines, &c.

Romulus augur fuit, & Numa, & reliqui reges Romani, sicut ante eos Turnus, Rhamnetes & alij. Lacedemonij suis regibus Augurem Assessorem dabant. Cilices, Lycij, Cares, Arabes, in summa veneratione habuerunt Auguria.

Vide Orpheum in hymn. de omnip. Jovis.

Mos Jovis, annuendo votis & firmandis om«i»nibus, Apud Homer, &c.

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