University of Virginia Library

Actus 3.

Enter Homer one way, Iuno another.
Homer.
Behold where Iuno comes, and with a spell
Shuts vp the wombe by which Ioues sonne must passe:
For whilst shee Crosse-leg'd sits (as old wiues tell,
And with clutch't hands) there is no way alas
For faire Alcmena's childing. All those wiues
That heare her painfull throwes, are in dispaire:
Yet in her wombe the Ioue-bred Issue striues:
Three dayes are past, her paines still greater are.
But note a womans wit, though Iuno smile.
A Beldams braine the Goddesse shall beguile.

Iuno.
Ha, ha! Now Ioue with thy omnipotence,
Make (if thou canst) way for thy bastards birth,
Whose passage I thus binde, and in this knot
Which till their deaths, shall neuer be dissolu'd,
I haue power to strangle all the charmes of hell.
Nor powers of heauen shall streight me, till the deaths
Of yon adulteresse and her mechall brats.
Laugh Gods and men, sea, earth, and ayre make ioy,
That Iuno thus Alcmena can destroy.

Enter the Midwife, Galantis with two or three other aged women.
Galan.

Haue you obseru'd her to sit crosse-leg'd euer
since my Lady began her trauell? I suspect witch-craft, Il'e
haue a tricke to rouze her.

Mid.

No doubt but did she open her knees and fingers,
my Lady should haue safe deliuery.

Gal.
Trust to my wit, Il'e in & find a meanes to startle her.

Beld.
Note how the Beldame smiles, and in her clutches
Strangles my Ladies birth: some friend remoue her.

Iuno.
Ha, ha, he, their teares my griefes recure,
Thus I reuenge me of their deeds impure.

Enter Galantis merry.
Gal.
Now Ioue be prais'd, and Ladies dry your teares,
And gentle Madame come reioyce with vs.

Iuno.
Why, what's the matter?

Gal.
I cannot hold my ioy: thankes faire Lucina
Goddesse of child-birth, Ioue and all be prais'd,
Alcmena is deliuered, brought to bed
Of a fine chopping boy.

Iuno riseth.
Iuno.
Is my spell faild? how could I curse and teare?

Mid.
The witch is rouz'd, in and see what newes.

Gal.

Stay stay, Il'e go see what cōfort's within: for when I
came out I left my poore Lady in midst of all her torment.

Iuno.
What edge of steele, or Adamantine chaine,
Hath forc'd in two the vertue of my charme?
Which Gods and diuels gaue vnite consent
To be infract? Oh powerfull Iupiter!
I feare thy hand's in this.

Enter Galantis extreamely laughing.
Beld.
How the witch stormes!

Iuno.
What meanes the wretch to hold her sides & laugh,
And still to point at me? How now Galantis?

Gal.

That's my name indeed: (hold heart, hold) you are a
witch, are you? you sat crosse-leg'd, did you? my Lady could
not bee brought to bed, could she? And now Gallantis hath
gul'd you, hath she?

Iuno.

The morrall.

Gal.

Il'e tell thee; I suspecting thy trechery to my Lady,
brought in counterfet newes she was brought to bed, which
you (gooddy witch) no sooner heard, but rose vp; & no sooner
you had cast your armes abroad, but my Lady was deliuered
of two goodly boyes, one like my Lord Amphitrio,
but the other the brauest chopping lad—laugh the beldam
out of her skin, & then returne to comfort my Lady.

Exeunt
Iuno.
Oh that we should be subiect to the Fates!
And though being Gods, yet by their power be crost.
Galantis, Il'e be first reueng'd on thee
For this derision, and trans-forme thy shape
To some fowle monster, that shall beare thy name.
And are the bastards borne? They haue past the wombe,
They shall not passe the cradle. Iris Ho.

Enter Iris.
Iris.
Madame.

Iuno.
Fly into Affricke, from the mountaines there
Chuse me two venemous serpents, of the blood
That Perseus dropt out of the Gorgons head
When on his winged horse, with that new spoyle
He crost the Affricke climate: thou shalt know them
By their fell poyson, and their fierce aspect. When Iris?

Iris.
I am gone.

Iuno.
Haste Iris, flye with expeditions wings,
These brats shall dye by their inuenomed stings.

Homer.
The iealous Goddesse in the Chamber throwes
The poysonous serpents, who soone wound and kill
Yong Ipectetes, whom Amphitrio owes.
But Hercules, whom Ioue with power doth fill,
You first shall in his infant-cradle see,
Ere growne a man, famous for chiualrie.

The Nurses bring yong Hercules in his Cradle, and leaue him. Enter Iuno and Iris with two snakes, put them to the childe and depart: Hercules strangles them: to them Amphitrio, admiring the accident.
Hom.
He that could in his cradle serpents kill,
Will (being growne) the world with wonders fill.
Imagine him full growne, and nobly train'd
By King Euristeus, the bold youth proclaimes
Pastimes of exercise, where he hath gain'd
Chiefe praise and palme in these Olimpicke games.
Them we must next, as his first grace present
With Iuno, to his fame maleuolent:

Enter, after great shouts and flourishes, Iuno and King Euristeus.
Iuno.
Harke, harke Euristeus, how the yelling throats
Of the rude rabble, deifie his praise:
Their lofty clamours, and their shrill applauses
Strike 'gainst the cleare and azure floores of heauen,
And thence against the earth reuerberate,
That Iuno can nor rest aboue nor here,
But still his honours clangor strikes mine eare.

Eurist.
Patience celestiall Goddesse, as I wish
Your powerfull aidance when I need it most,
So for your sake I will impose him dangers,
Such and so great, that without Ioues owne hand,
He shall not haue the power to scatter them.

Iuno.
If neither tyrants, monsters, sauages,
Giants nor hell-hounds, can the bastard quell;
Let him be pasht, stab'd, strangled, poisoned,
shouts within.
Or murdered sleeping. Harke Euristeus still
How their wide throates his high applauses shrill.

Eur.
Th'earth shall not breed a monster, nor the heauens
Threaten a danger shall not taske his life.

Iuno.
Thou chim'st me spheare-like musicke, I haue rouz'd
A monstrous Lyon, that doth range these woods:
My deere Euristeus, make him tugge with him.
shouts.
Still doth his praise make the heauen resound;
Farewell Euristeus, Il'e not see him crown'd.
Exit Iuno.

Enter the Kings of Greece to Euristeus with Garlands, Hercules, Theseus, Perithous, Philoctetes, with others from the games of Olimpus.
1. King.
These honoured pastimes on Olimpus mount,
Begun by thee the Theban Hercules,
Shall last beyond all time and memory.
Thou art vnpeer'd, all Greece resounds thy praise,
And crowne thy worth with these greene wreaths of Baies.

Herc.
More deere to me then the best golden Arch
That ere crown'd Monarkes brow, we haue begun
In pastimes, wee'le proceed to acts more dreadfull,
To expresse our power and hardiment:
Though by your sufferage, we haue best deseru'd;
Yet merit we not all, these Grecian Princes,
Although degree'd below vs, did excell,
Though not as best, receiue as those did well.
Theseus, Perithous, Philoctetes, take
Your valours meeds, your praises lowd did sound,
Then each one take from Hercules a crowne.

Thes.
Braue Theban youth, no lesse then Ioues owne son,
Giue Theseus leaue both to admire and loue thee:
Lets henceforth haue one soule.

Herc.
Theseus commands the heart of Hercules,
And all my deeds, next Ioue omnipotent,
Il'e consecrate to thee and to thy loue.

Perith.
Though all vnworthy to be stil'd the friend
Of great Alcides, giue Perithous leaue
To do thee honour, and admire thy worth.

Philoct.
That Philoctetes begges of Hercules.
Thy curtesie equals thy actiue power:
And then in both art chiefe and patternelesse.

Herc.
We prize you as the deerest gemmes of Greece,
And all the honours of Alcmenaes sonne
You shall partake, whil'st these braue Argiue Kings,
That rang vs plaudits for the Olimpike games,
Shall clap our triumphes 'gainst the dreadful'st monsters
Heauen can send downe, or deepe Auerno belch forth.
As for the earth-bred monsters, we haue power
Infus'd by Ioue, to calme their insolence.
Nor will we cease, till we haue purchas'd vs
The name of Tyrant-tamer through the world.

Eurist.
It glads Euristeus to be made so happy
As to be Tutor to this noble youth.
Thou hast (witnesse Olimpus) prou'd thy selfe
The swiftest, actiu'st, ablest, strongest, conning'st
In shaft or dart; which when thy step-dame Iuno
Shall vnderstand how much thou do'st excell,
As 'twill please Ioue, it will content her well.

Herc.
May we renowne Euristeus by our fame,
As we shall striue to please that heauenly dame.

Eur.
Set on then Princes to the further honours
Of this bold Theban: may he still proceed
To crowne great Greece with many a noble deed.

Enter a Heardsman wounded.
Thes.
Stay Lords: what meanes this Tragicke spectacle?

Herds.
If Greece, that whilome was esteem'd the spring
Of valor, and the well of chiualry,
Can yeeld an army of resolued spirits,
Muster them all against one dreadfull beast,
That keeps the forrests and the woods in awe:
Commands the Cleonean continent,
Vnpeoples townes; And if not interdicted,
In time will make all Greece a wildernesse.

Herc.
Hearesman, thou hast exprest a monstrous beast,
Worthy the taske of Ioue-borne Hercules.
What is the sauadge? speake.

Herds.
Whether some God,
With Greece offended, sends him as a murreine,
To strike our heards; or as a worser plague,
Your people to destroy: But a fierce Lyon
Liues in the neighbour forrest, preying there
On man and beast, not satisfied with both.
Ten Heardsmen of my traine at once he slew,
And me thus wounded; yet his maw vnstaunch't,
He still the thicke Nemean groues doth stray,
As if the world were not sufficient pray.

Eurist.
This Lyon were a taske worthy Ioues sonne,
Oh free vs from this feare great Hercules.

Herc.
If he be den'd, Il'e rouze the monstrous beast;
If seeking prey, Il'e chace him through the groues,
And hauing ouer-run the fugitiue,
Dare him to single warre: It fits Ioues sonne
Wrastle with Lyons, and to tugge with Beares,
Grapple with Dragons, and incounter Whales.
Be he (as Ioues owne shield) invulnerable,
Or be his breast hoop't in with ribbes of brasse,
Be his teeth raser'd, and his tallons keepe,
Sending at euery blow, fire from his bones,
Yet I ere night will case me in his skin.
This is a sport—
Aboue th'Olimpiads; we will hunt to day
Yon fierce Nemean terror, as a game
Becomming Hercules. Winde hornes, away:
For now a generall hunting we proclaime,
Follow vs Princes, you that loue the game.

Exeunt.
Windhornes. Enter Iuno and Iris aboue in a cloud.
Iuno.
Yon cheerefull noyse of hunting tels mine eare
Hee's in the Chace: Redouble Ire on Ire,
And teare the bastard Theban limbe from limbe.
Where art thou Iris? tell me from the cloud,
Where I haue plac'd thee to behold the Chace.

Iris
aloft.
Great Hercules
Pursues him through the medowes, mountaines, rockes.

Iuno.
And flyes the sauadge? will he not turne head,
Knowing his skin (saue by Ioues Thunderbolt)
Not to be pierc'd? base trembling coward beast.

Iris.
Now doth the Lyon turne 'gainst Hercules
With violent fury: 'lasse poore Hercules.

Iuno.
Gramercy Iris, I will crowne thy brow
With a new case of starres, for these good newes.

Shouts within.
Iris.
Oh! well done Hercules.
He shakes him from his shoulders like a feather.
And hurles the Lyon flat: The beast againe
Leaps to his throat; Alcides grapples with him.
The Lyon now: Now Hercules againe.
And now the beast; me thinkes the combat's euen.

Iuno.
Not yet destroyd?

Shouts within.
Iris.
Well, wrastled Hercules:
He gaue the monstrous Lyon such a fall,
As if a mountaine should ore-whelme withall.
Aboue him still: he chokes him with his gripes,
And with his ponderous buffets stownds the beast.

Iuno.
Thus is my sorrow, and his fame increast.

Iris.
Now he hath strangled him.

Iuno.
Iris discend.
But though this faile, Il'e other dangers store,
My Lyon slaine, I will prouide a Boare.

Enter to them at one doore, Euristeus, and the Kings of Greece: at the other Hercules, with the Lyons head and skinne, Theseus, Perithous, Philoctetes.
Herc.
Thus Hercules begins his Iouiall taskes:
The horrid beast I haue torne out of his skin,
And the Nemean terror naked lyes,
Despoyl'd of his inuinced coat of Armes.

Iuno.
This head (O wer't the head of Hercules)
Doth grace Alcides shoulders, and me thinkes,
Deck'd in these spoyles, thou dar'st the God of Armes.

Herc.
To you great Iuno, doth Alcmena's sonne
His high laborious valour dedicate.
You might haue heard the Lyon roare to heauen;
Euen to the high tribunall in the Shpeares,
Where you sit crown'd in starres. We fac'd the beast,
And when he fixt his tallons in our flesh,
We catch't the monster in our manly gripes,
And made him thrice breake hold. Long did we tugge
For eminence; but when we prou'd his skin
To be wound-free, not to be pierc'd with steele,
We tooke the sauadge monster by the throat,
And with our sinowy puissance strangled him.

Eurist.
Alcides honours Thebes, and fames whole Greece.

Herc.
There shall not breath a monster here vnawed,
We shall the world affoord a wonderment,
Vnparalel'd by Theban Hercules.
This Lyons case shall on our shoulders hang,
Wee'l arme our body with th'vnvulner'd skin;
And with this massy Club all monsters dare:
And these shall like a bloudy meteor shew
More dreadfull then Orions flaming lockes,
T'affright the Gyants that oppresse the earth.

Eur.
Let Hercules meane time abide with vs,
Till King Euristeus new atchieuements finde,
Worthy his valour.

Thes.
Honour me great Prince,
To grace my friend Perithous, and his ayd,
To be at their high spowsals.

Perith.
Hypodamia
Shall in this suit assist Perishous,
With vs the Lapithes, the Centaurs meete,
Those whom Ixion got vpon a cloud.
They liue amongst the groues of Thessaly,
And in their double shapes will grace our feast.

Herc.
Perithous, we will meet the Centaurs there,
And quaffe with them to Hypodamia's health.
But wherefore stands bright Iuno discontent?

Iuno.
Oh blame me not, an vncoth sauadge Boare
Deuasts the fertill plaines of Thessaly:
And when the people come to implore our ayd,
Their liues no mortall that dare vndertake
To combat him; The rough Nemean Lyon
Was milde to this: he plowes the forrests vp,
His snowy foame he scatters ore the hils,
And in his course or-turnes the Dordan okes:
Oh let him dye by mighty Hercules.

Herc.
Eternall Goddesse, were his sharpned teeth
More dreadfull then the phangs of Cerberus,
Or were his bristled-hide Ioues Thunder proofe,
Were his head brasse, or his breast doubly plated
With 'best Vulcanian armour Lemnos yeelds;
Yet shall his braines rattle beneath my Club.
The Eremanthian forrest where he den's,
Shall quake with terrour when we beat the beast:
And when we cast his backe against the earth,
The ground shall groane and reele with as much terror
As when the Gyant Typhon shakes the earth.

Iuno.
Oh may'st thou liue the Theban Conquerour.
(Dye by the fury of that sauadge swine,
And with thy carkasse glut his rauenous maw.)

Herc.
Perithous, I will bring thee to thy Bridals
This huge wilde swine, to feast the Centaurs with.
Diana's wrath shall be Alcides dish,
Which hee'l present to Hypodamia.
Theseus and Philoctetes, you consort
Perithous, and assist the Lapythes
In these high preparations: We will take
The Eremanthian forrest in our way.
Let's part, and sacred Goddesse wish vs well
In our atchieuements.

Iuno.
To be damn'd in hell.

Exeunt.
Enter Ceres and Proserpine attired like the Moone, with a company of Swaines, and country Wenches: They sing.
Song.

Ceres.
As we are Ceres, Queene of all fertility,
The earthes sister, Aunt to higest Iupiter,
And mother to this beauteous childe the Moone,
So will we blesse your haruests, crowne your fields
With plenty and increase: your bearded cares
Shall make their golden stalkes of wheat to bend
Below their laden riches: with full sickles
You shall receiue the vsury of their seeds.
Your fallowes and your gleabes our selfe will till
Frow euery furrow that your plow-shares raze
Vpon the plenteous earth, our sisters breast,
You shall cast vp aboundance for your gratitude
To Ceres and the chaste Proserpina.

Pros.
Whil'st with these swaines my mother merry-makes,
And from their hands eates cakes of newest wheate,
The firstlings of their vowed sacrifice,
Leaue me behinde to make me various garlands
Of all the choycest flowers these medowes yeeld,
To decke my browes, and keep my face from scorches
Of Phœbus raies.

Ceres.
That done returne to vs,
Vnto our Temple, where wee'l feast these swaines.

Proserp.
No sooner shall faire Flora crowne my temples,
But I your offerings will participate.

Ceres.
Exeunt singing.

Proser.
Oh! may these medowes euer barren be,
That yeeld of flowers no more variety.
Here neither is the white nor sanguine Rose,
The Straw-berry flower, the Paunce nor Violet:
Me thinkes I haue too poore a medow chose,
Going to begge, I am with a begger met
That wants as much as I: I should do ill
To take from them that need. Here grow no more,
Then serue thine owne despoyled breast to still,
The meades I rob, shall yeeld me greater store.
Thy flowers thou canst not spare, thy bosome lend,
On which to rest whil'st Phœbus doth transcend.

She lyes downe.
Thunder. Enter Pluto, his Chariot drawne in by Diuels.
Pluto.
What hurly-burly hath beene late in heauen
Against our brother loue omnipotent?
The Gyants haue made warre: great Briareus,
Whose hundred hands, a hundred swords at once
Haue brandish't against heauen, is topsie turn'd,
And tumbled headlong from th'Olimpicke Towers.
But big-limb'd Typhon, that assaulted most,
And hurl'd huge mountaines 'gainst heauens christall gates
To shatter them, wrastled with Ioue himselfe:
Whose heeles tript vp, kick't 'gainst the firmament;
And falling on his backe, spread thousand acres
Of the affrighted earth, astonish't Iupiter,
Lest he should rise to make new vp-rores there,
On his right hand the mount Pelorus hurle:
Vpon his left spacious Pachinne lyes,
And on his legges, the land of Liliby:
His head the ponderous mountaine Ætna crownes,
From which the Gyant breathes infernall fires:
And struggling to be freed from all these weights,
Makes (as he moues) huge earth-quakes that shake th'earth
And make our kingdomes tremble. Frighted thence,
We haue made ascent to take a free suruey
Whether the worlds foundations be still firme;
Lest being cranied, through these concaue cliffes,
The Sunne and starres may shine, to lighten hell.
Al's sound, we haue strooke th'earths basses with our mace,
And found the Center firme: Our Iron Chariot
That from his shod wheeles rusty darknesse flings,
Hath with our weight, prou'd mountaines, dales and rocks,
And found them no where hollow; All being well,
Wee'l cleaue the earth, and sinke againe to hell.

Proser.
Ceres, oh helpe me father Iupiter,
Yon vgly shape affrights me.

Pluto.
Ha, what's the matter?

Who breath'd that well-turn'd shrike, sweet shape, bright
beauty, Pluto's heart was neuer soft till now.

Faire mortall.

Proser.
Hence foule fiend.

Pluto.
By Lethe, Styx, Cocytus, Acheron,
And all the terrors our blacke Region yeelds,
I see and loue, and at one instant both.
Kisse me.

Proser.
Out on thee Hell-hound.

Pluto.
What are you, beauteous Goddesse?

Proser.
Nothing. Oh!
Helpe mother, father, Ceres, Iupiter.

Pluto.
Be what thou canst, thou now art Pluto's rape,
And shalt with me to Orcus.

Proser.
Clawes off Diuell.

Pluto.
Fetch from my sister Night a cloud of darknesse
To roabe me in, in that Il'e hide this beauty
From Gods and mortals, till I sinke to hell.
Nay, you shall mount my Chariot.

Pros.
Ceres, Ioue.

Pluto.
Ceres nor Ioue, nor all the Gods aboue
Shall rob me this rich purchase. Yoake my stallions
That from their nostrils breath infernall fumes:
And when they gallop through these vpper worlds,
With fogges choake Phœbus, chace the starres from heauen,
And while my Ebon Chariot ore the rocks,
Clatters his Iron wheeles, make a noyse more hideous
Then Panompheus thunder.

Pros.
Helpe heauen, helpe earth.

Pluto.
Cleaue earth, and when I stampe vpon thy breast
Sinke me, my brasse-shod wagon, and my selfe,
My Coach-steeds, and their traces altogether
Ore head and eares in Styx.

Proser.
You Gods, you men.

Pluto.
Eternall darknesse claspe me where I dwell
Sauing these eyes, wee'l haue no light in hell.

Exit.
Enter Ceres.
Ceres.
Where is my faire and louely Proserpine?
The feast is done, and she not yet return'd:
Speake Ioues faire daughter, whither art thou straid?
I haue sought the medowes, gleabes, and new-reap't fields,
Yet cannot finde my childe. Her scattered flowers,
And garland halfe made vp, I haue light vpon,
But her I cannot spy. Behold the trace
Of some strange wagon, that hath scortch't the fields,
And sing'd the grasse: these routes the sunne nere sear'd.
Where art thou loue? where art thou Proserpine?
Hath not thy father Ioue snatch't thee to heauen
Vpon his Eagle? I will search the spheares
But I will finde thee out: swift Mercury,
Ioues sonne, and Mayas; speake, speake from the clouds,
And tell me if my daughter be aboue.

Mercury flies from aboue.
Mer.
Thy clamours (Ceres) haue ascent through heauen;
Which when I heard, as swift as lightning
I search't the regions of the vpper world,
And euery place aboue the firmament.
I haue past the planets, soar'd quite through the spheares;
I haue crost the Articke and Antarkicke poles.
Hot Cancer, and cold Arctos I haue search't,
Past th'Hyperboreans, and the Solsticies,
The Tropiques, Zones, Signes, Zeniths, Circles, Lines,
Yet no where can I finde faire Proserpine.
Exit Mercury.

Ceres.
If not in heauen, Il'e next inquire the earth,
And to the place where old Oceanus
Layes his hoare head in Amphitrites lap:
Il'e trauell till I finde my girle.
Assist me gracious Neptune in my search;
And Tryton, thou that on thy shelly Trumpet,
Summons the Sea-gods, answer from the depth,
If thou hast seene or heard of Proserpine.

Exeunt.
Enter Tryton with his Trumpe, as from the sea.
Tryt.
On Neptunes Sea-horse with my concaue Trumpe,
Through all th'Abysse, I haue shril'd thy daughters losse.
The channels cloath'd in waters, the low citties,
In which the water-Nymphes, and Sea-gods dwell,
I haue perus'd; sought through whole woods and forrests
Of leauelesse Corrall planted in the deepes,
Tost vp the beds of Pearle, rouz'd vp huge Whales,
And sterne Sea-monsters from their rocky dennes.
Those bottomes, bottomlesse shallowes and shelues:
And all those currents where th'earths springs breake in,
Those plaines where Neptune feeds his Porposes,
Sea-morses, Seales, and all his cattell else.
Through all our ebbes and tides my Trump hath blaz'd her,
Yet can no cauerne shew me Proserpine.
Exit Tryton.

Ceres.
If heauen nor sea, then search thy bosome earth,
Faire sister Earth, for these beauteous fields
Spread ore thy breast; for all these fertill croppes,
With which my plenty hath inrich't thy bosome,
For all those rich and pleasant wreathes of graine
With which so oft thy Temples I haue crown'd:
For all the yearely liueries and fresh robes
Vpon thy sommer beauty I bestow,
Shew me my childe.

Earth riseth from vnder the stage.
Earth.
Not in reuenge faire Ceres
That your remorslesse plowes haue rak't my breast,
Nor that your Iron-tooth'd harrowes print my face
So full of wrinkles, that you digge my sides
For marle and soyle, and make me bleed my springs
Through all my open'd veines, to weaken me;
Do I conceale your daughter: I haue spread
My armes from sea to sea, look't ore my mountaines,
Examin'd all my pastures, groues, and plaines,
Marshes and wowlds, my woods and Champian fields,
My dennes and caues; and yet from foot to head
I haue no place on which the Moone doth tread.

Earth sinkes.
Ceres,
Then Earth thou hast lost her: and for Proserpine
Il'e strike thee with a lasting barrennesse.
No more shall plenty crowne thy fertill browes,
Il'e breake thy plowes, thy Oxen murren-strike:
With Idle agues Il'e consume thy swaines,
Sow tares and cockles in thy lands of wheat,
Whose spykes the weed and cooch-grasse shall out-grow,
And choke it in the blade. The rotten showers
Shall drowne thy seed, which the hote sunne shall parch,
Or mill-dewes rot; and what remaines shall be
A prey to rauenous birds. Oh Proserpine!
You Gods that dwell aboue, and you below,
Both of the woods and gardens, riuers, brookes,
Fountaines and wels, some one among you all
Shew me her selfe or graue, to you I call.

The riuer Arethusa riseth from the stage.
Areth.
That can the riuer Arethusa do,
My streames you know faire Goddesse, issue forth
From Tartary, by the Tenarian Isles:
My head's in Hell, where Stygian Pluto reignes,
There did I see the louely Proserpine,
Whom Pluto hath rap't hence; behold her girdle,
Which by the way dropt from her beauteous waste,
And scattered in my streames. Faire Queene adue,
Crowne you my banks with flowers, as I tell true.
Exit Are.

Ceres.
Hath that infernall monster stolne my childe?
Il'e mount the spheares, and there solicite Ioue,
To inuade the Stygian kingdomes, to redeeme
My rauish't daughter. If the Gods deny
That grace to Ceres, Il'e inuoke the helpe
Of some bold mortall: noble Hercules,
Who with his Club shall rouze th'infernall King,
Dragge out the furies with their snaky lockes,
Strangle hels Iudges in their scarlet robes,
And bring a double terrour to the damn'd.
Of Gods and Men I will inuoke the aides
To free my childe from those infernall shades.

Enter Hercules, Theseus, Perithous, Philoctetes, Hypodamia, the Centaurs, Nessus, Euritus, Chiron, Cillarus, Antimachus, Hippasus. At a banquet.
Herc.
To grace thy feast faire Hypodamia,
The Eremanthian forrest we haue rob'd
Of that huge Boare: you Centaurs doubly shap't,
Feed with Alcides on that monstrous swine,
That hath deuour'd so many Swaynes and Heards.

Thes.
Take Theseus welcome for Perithous sake,
And sit with vs faire Princes, take your place
Next you Alcides; then the Centaurs round.

Antimæc.
Now by Ixion, that our grand-sire was,
That dar'd to kisse the mighty thunderes wife,
And did not feare to cuckold Iupiter,
Thou dost the Centaur's honour.

Ness.
Let's quaffe the brides health in the bloud of grapes,
Wine begets mirth, and mirth becomes a bridall.

Perith.
Fill then for Nessus and Antimachus,
Let Euritus and Chiron pledge it round.

Eur.
Fill to vs all, euen till these empty bowles
Turne vp their bottomes 'gainst the face of heauen.

Chi.
Off shall all this to Hipodamia's health,
The beauteous bride: wil't pledge it Hercules?

Herc.
Yes, were it deeper then the golden cup
Ioue quaffes in from the hand of Ganimed.
Silanthus, Hippasus, and Cillarus,
To the faire Princesse of the Lapythes.

Anti.
Shee's faire indeed, I loue her: wine and loue
Adde fire to fire. To Philoctetes this.

Phi.
'Tis welcome Hippasus. Here Cillarus.

Cil.
Faire Hypodamia's of the Centaurs brood,
Great Bistus daughter, neere ally'd to vs,
Il'e take her health.

Perith.
Gramercy Cillarus:
Il'e do the like to faire Philonome,
Thy sweet She-Centaur.

Cil.
Double this to her.

Hyp.
Crowne all your healths with mirth, let ioyes abound
And to Philonome let this go round.

Anti.
Cramercies, 'lasse my braine begins to swim,
I haue an appetite to kisse the bride,
I and I will.

Thess.
What meanes Antimachus?

Anti.
Kisse Hypodamia, I and—

Thes.
That's too much,
And more then any of the Centaurs dare.

Cil.
Why? who should hinder him?

Thes.
That Theseus will.

Ant.
Ha, ha, haue I from the fierce Lyon torne her whelp?
Brought from the forrests she-Beares in my armes?
And dandled them like infants? plaid with them,
And shall I not then dare to kisse the bride?

Herc.
Audacious Centaur, do but touch her skirt,
Prophane that garment Hymen hath put on;
Or with thy hideous shape once neere her cheeke,
Il'e lay so huge a ponder on thy skull,
As if the basses of the heauen should shrinke,
And whelme ore thee the marble firmament.

Anti.
That will I try.

Cil.
Assist Antimachus.

A confused fray with stooles, cups & bowles, the Centaurs are beaten.
Peri.
Rescue for Hypodamia.

Chi.
Downe with the Lapythes.

Ness.
Downe with Hercules.

Herc.
You cloud-bred race, Alcides here will stand
To plague you all with his high Iouiall hand.

Alarme. Enter Iuno, with all the Centaurs.
Iuno.
And shrinkes Ixions race? durst he aspire
To our celestiall bed? though for his boldnesse
He now be tortured with the wheele in hell?
And dare not you withstand base Hercules?
Currage braue Hyppo-Centaurs, let the bastard
Be hew'd and mangled with our conquering arme.
Renue the fight, make the Thessalian fields
Thunder beneath your hoofes, whilst they imprint
Vpon the earth, deepe semi-circled moones.
Let all your arm'd race gallop from the hils,
To inmure the faint deiected Lapithes.
Tis Iuno, whom your tortur'd grand-sire lou'd,
Bids you to Armes: lift vp your weapons hye
And in their fall may great Alcides dye.

Antimac.
Our grand-sires wheeles cracke all that Centaurs bones,
That flyes when Iuno giues incouragement.
Chirus, Latreus, Nessus, Euritus,
And all our race first tumbled in the clouds
That crown'd the mountaine toppes of Thessaly,
Make head againe, follow Antimachus,
Whose braine through heated with the fumes of wine
Burnes with the loue of Hypodamia.
Theseus, Perithous, and Alcides, all
Shall in this fury by the Centaurs fall.

Alarme. Enter to them Hercules, Theseus, Perithous, and Philoctetes.
Herc.
Behold the lust-burn'd and wine-heated monsters
Once more make head; wee'l pash them with our club.
This Centaure-match, it shall in ages,
And times to come, renowne great Hercules.
Vpon them, when we parlee with our foes:
Tongues peace: for we breake silence with our blowes.

Alarme. They fight, the Centaurs are all disperst and slaine. Enter with victory, Hercules, Theseus, Perithous, Philoctetes, Hypodamia, and others.
Herc.
Let Thessaly resound Alcides praise,
And all the two-shap't Centaurs that suruiue,
Quake when they heare the name of Hercules.
Were these Thessalian monsters bred at first
By Saturne and Philiris, as some say,
When in equinall shape she was deflour'd?
Or when Ixion, snatcht to heauen by Ioue,
And feasted in the hye Olimpicke hall,
He sought to strumpet Iuno? The heauens Queene
Transform'd a cloud to her celestiall shape,
Of which he got the Centaurs. Be they bred
Of earth or vapour, their hote fiery braines
Are now dispurpled by Alcides Club,
And in their deaths renowne the Lapythes.

Thes.
Ioues sonne was borne a terrour to the world,
To awe the tyrants that oppresse and sway.

Perith.
But most indebt to thee Perithous is,
That hast restor'd a virgin and a bride,
Pure and vntouch't to sleep in these my armes.

Hypoda.
My tongue shall sound the praise of Hercules.
My heart imbrace his loue.

Herc.
Oh had bright Iuno
My louing step-dame, seated in the clouds,
Beheld me pash the Centaurs with my club,
It would haue fild her with celestiall ioyes;
Knowing that all my deeds of fame and honour
I consecrate to her and Iupiter.
Of these proud Centaurs Nessus is escapt,
The rest all strew the fields of Thessaly.

Enter Ceres.
Ceres.
Reserues the noble Theban all his valour
For th'ingrate Iuno, and hath stor'd no deed
Of honour for deiected Ceres here?
Ceres forlorne, forsaken and despis'd,
Whom neither obdure heauen, relentlesse sea,
Nor the rude earth will pitty.

Herc.
Queene of plenty,
Lye it within the strength of mortall arme,
The power of man, or worke of demi-god,
I am thy Champion.

Ceres.
From heauen, earth and sea,
Then Ceres must appeale to Hercules.
Know then I am rob'd of beauteous Proserpine,
Tartarian Dis hath rap't my daughter hence;
Which when I heard, I skal'd the thundered throne,
And made my plaints to him, who answered me,
His power was onely circumscrib'd in heauen,
And Pluto was as absolute in hell
As he in heauen ; nor would he muster Gods
Against the fiends, ore which his brother reign'd.
Next made I suit to haue Neptune call his waters,
And with his billowes drowne the lower world:
Who answered, the firme channell bounds his waues,
Nor is there passage betweene sea and hell,
The earth beneath her center cannot sinke,
Nor haue I hope from thence; onely great Hercules

Herc.
Will vndertake what neither Iupiter,
Neptune, nor all the Gods dare make their taske:
The Stygian Pluto shall restore the moone,
Or feele the masse of this my ponderous club.
Comfort faire Queene, Il'e passe the poole of Styx,
And if leane Charon wastage shall deny,
The Ferry-man Il'e buffet in his barge.
Three-throated Cerberus that keepes hell-gates,
Shall (when we come to knocke) not dare to howle:
The ghosts already dead, and doom'd, shall feare
To dye againe at sight of Hercules.
Sterne Mynos, Æachus, and Rhadamant,
Shall from the dreadfull sessions kept in hell,
Be rouz'd by vs: wee'l quake them at that barre
Where all soules stand for sentence: the three sisters
Shall crowch to vs. Ceres, wee'l ransacke hell,
And Pluto from th'infernall vaults expell.

Thes.
Theseus in this will ayd great Hercules.

Peri.
And so Perithous shall.

Herc.
Comfort Queene Ceres,
Whom neither Harpyes, Boares or Buls can tame,
The darke Cimerians must next sound his fame.
Adue bright Hypodamia lately freed
From the adulterous Centaurs: Our renowne
That yet 'tweene heauen and earth doth onely shine,
Hell shall next blaze for beauteous Proserpine.

Homer.
Dumbe Shew. Enter Somele like a huntresse, with her traine, Iupiter like a wood-man in greene: he woes her, and winnes her.

Enter Iuno and Iris.
Iuno.
Hast thou found him Iris?

Iris.
Madame I haue.

Iuno.
Where?

Iris.
In the house of Cadmus, courting there
The fairest of the race, yong Semele.

Iuno.
What am I better to be Queene of heauen,
To be the sister and the wife of Ioue,
When euery strumpet braues my Deity?
Whilst I am busied to lay traps and traines
For proud Alcmena's bastard, he takes time
For his adulterous rapes. Europa liues
Sainted in earth, Calisto shines a starre,
Iust in mine eye, by name of Lesser Beare,
Io in Ægypt is ador'd a Goddesse:
And of my seruant Argus (slaine by Mercury)
There liues no note; saue that his hundred eyes
I haue transported to my peacockes traine.
Thus fall the friends of Iuno, whilst his strumpets
Front me on earth, or braue mine eye in heauen:
But Semele shall pay for't. In what shape
Saw'st thou him court that strumpet?

Iris.
Like a wood-man.

Iuno.
I met him on the mountaine Erecine,
And tooke him for the yong Hyppolitus.
Iris I hau't; 'tis plotted in my braine,
To haue the strumpet by her louer slaine.
Of her nurse Beroe Il'e assume the shape,
And by that meanes auenge me on this rape.

Exeunt:
Enter Semele with her seruants and attendants.
Semel.
Oh Iupiter! thy loue makes me immortall,
The high Cadmeian is my grace,
To that great God exalted, and my issue,
When it takes life, shall be the seed of Gods;
And I shall now be ranck't in equipage
With Danae, Io, Lada, and the rest,
That in his amours pleas'd the thunderer best.
Me-thinkes since his imbraces fil'd my wombe,
There is no earth in me, I am all diuine:
Ther's in me nothing mortall, saue this shape,
Whose beauty hath cal'd Ioue himselfe from heauen,
The rest all pure, corruptlesse and refin'd,
That hath daz'd men, and made th'immortall blinde.
Leaue vs, oh you vnworthy to attend
Or wait vpon Cadmeian Semele:
Hebe shall be my hand-mayd, and my wine
The hand of Ioues owne cup-bearer shall fill,
Il'e begge of him the Troian Ganimed
To be my page; and when I please to ride,
Borrow his Eagle through the ayre to glide.
Go call me hither my Nurse Beroe,
Whom I will make free-partner in my ioyes.

Enter Iuno in the shape of old Beroe.
Seru.
Beroe attends your grace.

Sem.
Oh my deere nurse! liues there on earth a Princesse
Equally lou'd and grac'd by Ioue himselfe?

Iuno.
Out on thee strumpet, I could teare those eyes,
Whose beauty drew my husband from the skyes.

Sem.
Am I not happy Beroe?

Iuno.
Were you sure
'Twere Ioue himselfe this gladnesse did procure.
Madame, there many fowle imposters be,
That blinde the world with their inchastity:
And in the name of Gods, being scarce good men,
Iuggle with Ladyes, and corrupt their honors.
Thinke you you stripling that goes clad in greene,
Is Iupiter?

Sem.
I know him for heauens King,
Whose issue in my wombe I feele to spring.

Iuno.
I thinke it not; but Lady this I know,
That Gods are so lasciuious growne of late,
That men contend their lusts to imitate.

Sem.
Not Iupiter.

Iuno.
Things truly reconcile,
You'l iumpe with me: how haue you beene the while,
Since you were breeding, now well, sometimes ill,
Subject to euery imperfection still,
Apt to all chances other women be.
When were you lou'd of the high Deity,
That hath the guift of strength, power, health, and ioy,
The least of these could not your state annoy.

Sem.
Thou putst me in mistrust, and halfe perswad'st me
He is no more then mortall whom I loue.
How shall I proue him nurse?

Iuno.
Il'e tell you madame; When you see him next,
Seeme with some strange and vncoth passion vext,
And beg of him a boone, which till he grant,
Sweare he no more your fauours shall inchant.

Sem.
Beroe, what boone?

Iuno.
To hugge you in that state
In which faire Iuno he imbrac'd so late.
To descend armed with celestiall fire,
And in that maiesty glut his desire.
His right hand arm'd with lightning, on his head
Heauens massy crowne; and so to mount your bed.
So are you sure he is a God indeed,
Obtaine this boone, and fairely may you speed.

Sem.
Thou hast fir'd me Beroe.

Iuno.
Thou shalt be on flame,
So great, the Ocean shall not quench the same.

Sem.
Beroe away, my chamber ready make,
Tosse downe on downe: for we this night must tumble
Within the armes of mighty Iupiter.
Of whom Il'e begge th'immortall sweets of loue,
Such as from Ioue Imperiall Iuno tastes.
Begone without reply, my loue's at hand.

Iuno.
Thy death's vpon thy boone: this Iuno cheares,
That my reuenge shall mount aboue the spheares.
exit Iuno.

Sem.
I will not smile on him, lend him a looke,
As the least grace, till he giue free ascent
To fill me with celestiall wonderment.

Enter Iupiter like a wood-man.
Iup.
Oh thou that mak'st earth heauen, & turn'st th'imortal
Into this shape terrestriall, thou bright issue
Of old Ægenor, and the Cadmeian line,
For whom, these stony buildings we preferre
Before our Christall structures: that mak'st Ioue
Abandon on the high counsels of the Gods
To treat with thee of loues faire blandishments:
Diuinest of thy race, faire Semele
Fold in thy armes Olimpicke Iupiter.

Sem.
Iupiter!

Iup.
That Iupiter that with a powerfull nod
Shakes the heauens arches, ore the vniuerse
Spreads dread & awe; and when we arme our selfe
With maiesty, make th'earths foundation tremble,
And all mortality flye like a smoake
Before our presence vanish't and consum'd.

Sem.
Did Semele behold such Maiesty,
She could beleeue this were the thunderers voyce,
Thou hee?

Iup.
What meanes this strangenesse Semele?
Haue I preferd thy beauty before hers
Whose state fils heauen, whose food's Ambrosia,
Vpon whose cup the louely Hebe waits
When she quaffes Nectar? whose bright Chariot
Is drawn with painted peacocks through the clouds
And am I thus receiu'd?

Sem.
Thou bed with Iuno?
Base groome, thou art no better then thou seem'st,
And thy impostures haue deceiued a Princesse
Greater then ere descended from thy line.
Hence from my sight thou earth, that hast profan'd
The dreadfull thunderers name: what see I in thee
More then a man, to proue thy selfe a God?
Thou deifi'd? thy presence groome is poore,
Thy 'hauiour sleight, thy courtship triuiall,
Thou hast not a good face, what's in thee worth
The fauour and the grace of Semele?
A God? alasse! thou art scarce a proper man.

Iup.
Ha, fails my shape, is he that awes the Gods,
Now valued lesse then man? why Semele
Proue me and what I can: wouldst thou haue gold?
Il'e raine a richer shower in thy bosome
Then ere I powr'd on Danae.

Sem.
Gold! what's that?
Which euery mortall Prince can giue his loue.

Iup.
Wouldst thou increase thy beauty or thy strength?

Sem.
I am nor fowle nor sicke.

Iup.
Wouldst thou haue God-hood?
I will translate this beauty to the spheares,
Where thou shalt shine the brightest starre in heauen:
Il'e lift thy body from this terrene drosse,
And on two eagles, swift as Pegasus,
Wee'l take our daily progresse through the clouds.
Il'e shew thee all the planets in their ranke,
The monstrous signes, the Lyon, Ramme and Bull,
The blake-scald Scorpion, and the Cancers clawes.
Aske what thou wilt to proue my Deity,
And take it as thine owne faire Semele.

Sem.
Grant me one boone, lesse then the least of these,
My armes shall spread thus wide to imbrace my loue,
In my warme bosome I will gloue thy hand,
And seale a thousand kisses on thy lippes.
My fingers Il'e intangle in these curles,
And scarse my Iuory arme about thy necke;
And lay my selfe as prostate to thy loue,
As th'earth her grasse-greene apron spreads for raine.
Speake, shall I aske? or haue you power to grant?

Iup.
By dreadfull Styx, an oath I cannot change,
But aske and haue.

Sem.
Then bed with me to night,
Arm'd with the selfe-same God-hood, state and power
You Iuno meet.

Iup.
Blacke day, accursed houre,
Thou hast ask't too much, thy weake mortality
Cannot indure the scorthing fires of heauen.

Sem.
Either you cannot doo't, as wanting might,
Or loath you are to breed me such delight.
Is this your loue?

Iup.
Thy death is in thy boone:
But 'tis thy fate, she can it not recall,
Nor I vnsweare: the infant in her wombe
Not yet full growne and ripe, torments me most:
For in this rash demand they both are lost.

Sem.
Il'e stand it at all dangers, and prepare
For this nights sport.

Iup.
Aboue my thunders are,
Thither I must, and beeing arm'd, descend
To giue this beauty (in her rashnesse) end.

Sem.
Remember by this kisse you keep your oath.

Iup.
Neuer did Ioue to heauen ascend so loath;
Expect me this sad night.

Sem.
With double ioy.
Celestiall sweets shall surfet me, and cloy
My appetite; the Gods are loath to impart
Their pleasures to vs mortals. Dance my hart,
And swim in free delights, my pleasures crowne,
This Iouiall night shall Semele renowne.
Exit Semele.

Iuno and Iris plac'd in a cloud aboue.
Iuno.
Come Iris, ore the loftiest pinnacles
Of this high pallace, let vs mount our selues,
To see this noble pastime: Is't not braue?

Iris.
Hath her suit tooke effect? 'lasse Semele!

Iuno.
Hang, burne her witch, be all such strumpets fir'd
With no lesse heat then wanton Semele.
Oh 'twill be gallant sport, wil't not Iris?
To see these golden roofes daunce in the aire.
These pinnacles shall pricke the floores of heauen,
These spires confused, tumble in the clouds;
And all flye vp and shatter at the approach
Of his great God-hood. Oh 'twould please me Iris
To see this wanton with her bastard, blowne
And hang'd vpon the high hornes of the moone.
The howre drawes on, we may from hence espy
Th'adultresse sprall, the pallace vpwards fly.

Enter two maids of Semeles chamber.
1. Maid.

Questionlesse my Lady lookes for some great
Guests, that she makes all this preparation.

2. Maid.

'Tis not like she expects them at supper, because
she herselfe is preparing to bed.

1. Maid

Did you note how she made vs tumble & tosse
the bed before the making of it would please her?

2. Maid.

There hath beene tumbling and tossing on that
bed hath pleas'd her better; you know the youth in greene,
he hath made my Lady looke red ere now.

1. Maid.

You know shee is naturally pale; hee did but
wrastle with her to get her a colour.

2. Maid.

They youth in greene hath giuen her a medicine
for the greene sicknesse, I warrant her: I am deceiued,
if (when they meet) it go not two to one of her side.

1. Maid.

Why do you thinke her with childe.

2. Maid.

Tis past thinking, I dare sweare. But let's attend
my lady.

Enter Semele drawne out in her bed.
Sem.
Away, we will haue none partake our pleasures,
Or be eye-witnesse of these prodigall sweets
Which we this night shall in aboundance taste.
This is the houre shall deifie my earth,
And make this drosse immortall: thankes my Beroe,
That thou hast made me begge my happinesse,
Shew'd me the way to immortallity,
And taught me how to emulate the Gods.
Descen'd great Ioue in thy full maiesty,
And crowne my pleasures: here behold me spred,
To taste the sweets of thy immortall bed.

Thunder, lightnings, Iupiter descends in his maiesty, his Thunderbolt burning.
Iup.
Thus wrapt in stormes, and black tempestuous clouds,
Lightning and showers, we sit vpon the roofes
And trembling Tarrasses of this high house
That is not able to containe our power.
Yet come we not with these sharpe thunders arm'd,
With which the sturdy giants we ore-threw,
When we the mighty Typhon sunke beneath
Foure populous kingdomes: these are not so fiery,
The Cyclopes that vs'd to forge our bolts,
Haue qualifi'd their feruour, yet their violence
Is 'boue the strength of mortals. Beauteous Semele,
In steed of thee I shall imbrace thy smoakes,
And claspe a fumy vapour left in place
Thunder and lightning.
Of thy bright beauty, Stormy tempests cease,
The more I frowne, the more their breathes increase.

Sem.
What terror's this? oh thou immortall speake!
My eyes are for thy maiesty too weake.

As he toucheth the bed it fires, and all flyes vp, Iupiter from thence takes an abortiue infant.
Iup.
Receiue thy boone, now take thy free desire
In thunder, tempest, smoake, and heauenly fire.

Iuno.
Ha, ha, ha.
Faire Semele's consum'd, 'twas acted well:
Come, next wee'l follow Hercules to hell.

Iupiter taking vp the Infant, speakes as he ascends in his cloud.
Iup.
For Semele (thus slaine) the heauens shall mourne
In pitchy clouds, the earth in barrennesse;
The Ocean (for her slaughter) shall weepe brine,
And hell resound her losse. Faire Semele
Nothing but ashes now; yet this remainder,
That cannot dye, being borne of heauenly seed,
I will conserue till his full time of birth:
His name Il'e Bachus call, and being growne,
Stile him, The God of Grapes; his Bachenals
Shall be renown'd at feasts, when their light braines
Swim in the fumes of wine. This all that's left
Of Semele, vnto the heauens Il'e beare,
Whose death this Motto to all mortals lends:
He by the Gods dyes, that 'boue man contends.

Homer.
A dumbe shew of Pluto and all his Diuels, presenting seuerall gifts and shewes to cheere, but she continues in her discontent.

Enter Theseus, Perithous, and Philoctetes armed.
Thes.
Saw you not Hercules?

Perith.
Noble Theseus no.
I left him in the forrest, chacing there
Dianaes Hart, and striuing to out-run
The swift-foot beast.

Thes.
His actiue nimblenesse
Out-flies the winged bird, out-strips the steed,
Catcheth the hare, & the swift grey-hound tires
Out-paceth the wilde Leopard, and exceeds
Beasts of most actiue chace.

Phi.
We haue arriu'd
At Tenaros; this is the mouth of hell,
Which by my counsell, wee'l not seeke to enter
Till Hercules approach.

Thes.
Not enter Philoctetes?
Our spirits may compare with Hercules.
Though he exceed our strength, I with my sword
Will beat against blacke Tartaras Ebon gates,
And dare the triple-headed dogge to armes,
Hels tri-shap't porter.

Phi.
Not by my perswasion.

Peri.
Perithous will assist his noble friend,
And in this worke preuent great Hercules.
Let's rouze the hell-hound, call him from his lodge,
And (maugre Cerberus) enter hels-mouth,
And thence redeeme the rauish't Proserpine.

Thes.
Had Orpheus power by musicke of his harpe,
To charme the curre, pierce Orcus, Pluto please,
And at his hands begge faire Euridice:
And shall not we as much dare with our swords,
As he with fingring of his golden strings.
Come, let our ioynt assistance rouze the fiend,
Thunder against the rusty gates of hell,
And make the Stygian kingdomes quake with feare.

They beate against the gates. Enter Cerberus.
Cerb.
What mortall wretch, that feares to dye aboue
Hath trauel'd thus farre to enquire out death?

Thes.
We that haue blaz'd the world with deeds of praise
Must fill the Stygian Empire with our fame;
Then rouze thee thou three-throted curre, and taste
The strength of Theseus.

Cerb.
These my three empty throats you three shall gorge,
And when my nailes haue torne you limbe from limbe,
Il'e sit and feast my hunger with your flesh.
These phangs shall gnaw vpon your cruded bones,
And with your bloods Il'e smeare my triple chaps,
Your number fits my heads, and your three bodies
Shall all my three-throars set a worke at once.
Il' worry you; and hauing made you bleed,
First sucke your iuice, then on your entrails feed.

Perithous fights with Cerberus, and is slaine.
Thes.
Hold bloudy frend, and spare my noble friend,
The honour of the worthy Lapythes
Lyes breathlesse here before the gates of hell:
Cease monster, cease to prey vpon his body,
And feed on Theseus here.

Theseus is wounded.
Cerb.
Il'e eate you all.

Enter Hercules.
Herc.
Stay and forbeare your vp-roare, till our club
Stickle amongst you: whil'st we in the chace
Haue catch't the swift and golden headed stagge;
These valiant Greekes haue sunke themselues beneath
The vpper world, as low as Erebus.
Whom see we? Theseus wounded, yong Perithous
Torne by the rauenous phangs of Cerberus.
My griefe conuert to rage, and sterne reuenge.
Come, guard thee well infernall Caniball,
At euery stroke that lights vpon thy skull,
Il'e make thee thinke the weight of all the world
And the earths huge masse shall crowne thee.

Cerb.
Welcome mortall,

Thou com'st to mend my breake-fast, thou wilt yeeld me
many a fat bit.

Herc.
Il'e make thee eate my club,
And swallow this fell mastiffe downe thy panch.
At euery weighty cuffe Il'e make thee howle,
And set all hell in vp-roare: when thou roarest,
Thy barking groanes shall make the brasen Towers
Where ghosts are tortur'd, eccho with thy sound.
Plutoes blacke guard at euery deadly yell,
Shall frighted run through all the nookes of hell.

Hercules beats Cerberus, and binds him in chaines.
Herc.
Keep thou this rauenous hell-hound gyu'd & bound,
Hels bowels I must pierce, and rouze blacke Dis,
Breake (with my fists) these Adamantine gates,
The Iron percullis teare, and with my club
Worke my free passage (maugre all the fiends)
Through these infernals. Lo, I sinke my selfe
In Charons barge, Il'e ferry burning Styx,
Ransacke the pallace where grim Pluto reignes,
Mount his tribunall, made of sable Iet,
Despight his blacke guard, stownd him in his chaire,
And from his arme snatch beauteous Proserpine.
Ghosts, Furies, Fiends shall all before vs flye,
Or once more perish, and so doubly dye.

Hercules sinkes himselfe: Flashes of fire; the Diuels appeare at euery corner of the stage with seuerall fire-workes. The Iudges

---

of hell, eand the three sisters run ouer the stage, Hercules after them: fire-workes all ouer the house. Enter Hercules.
Herc.
Hence rauenous vulture, thou no more shalt tire
On poore Prometheus, Dunae spare your rubs,
Stand still thou rowling stone of Sisiphus,
Feed Tantalus with apples, glut thy panch,
And with the shrinking waues quench thy hote thirst.
Thy bones Ixion, shall no more be broke
Vpon the torturing wheele: the Eagles beake
Shall Titius spare at sight of Hercules,
And all the horrid tortures of the damn'd
Shall at the wauing of our club dissolue.

Enter Pluto with a club of fire, a burning crowne, Proserpine, the Iudges, the Fates, and a guard of Diuels, all with burning weapons.
Pluto.
Wer't thou Imperiall Ioue, that swaies the heauens,
And in the starry structure dwel'st aboue,
Thou canst not reuell here: my flaming Crowne
Shall scortch thy damn'd soule with infernall fires.
My vassaile Furies with their wiery strings.
Shall lash thee hence, and with my Ebon club
Il'e ding thee to the lowest Barathrum.

Herc.
First shall this engine arm'd with spikes of steele,
That fore the gates of hell strooke flat thy cutte.
Fall with no lesse power on thy burning sconce,
Then should great Ioue the massy center hurle,
And turne the worlds huge frame vpon thy head.

Pluto.
Vpon him Diuels.

Herc.
Ayd me powers Diuine,
From these blacke fiends to rescue Proserpine.
Hercules fels Pluto, beats off the Diuils with all their fire-workes, rescues Proserpine.
Now are we King of Orcus, Achercu,
Cocytus, Styx, and fiery Phlegeton.

Pros.
Long liue Alcides, crown'd with Godlike honours,
For rescuing me out of the armes of Dis,
The vnder-world, and fiery iawes of hell.

All the ghosts.
Long liue eterniz'd noble Hercules,
That hath dissolu'd our torments.

Rha.
Hercules, attend th'vnchanging doome of Rhadamunt,
And if the Gods be subiect to the Fares,
Needs must thou (noble Greeke) obey their doome,
Lo, in their name, and in the awfull voyce
Of vs the reuerend Iudges, to whose doome
Thou once must stand: I charge thee stir not hence,
Till we haue censur'd thee and Proserpine.
Is not the power of Ioue confin'd aboue?
And are not we as absolute in state
Here in the vaults below? To alter this
The heauens must faile, the sunne melt in his heat,
The elements dissolue, Chaos againe
Confuse the triple Masse, all turne to nothing:
Now there is order: Gods there are, and Diuels:
These reward vertue; the other punish vice.
Alter this course you mingle bad with good,
Murder with pitty, hate with clemency.
Ther's for the best no merit, for the offender
No iust infliction.

Herc.
Rhadamant speakes well.

Pluto.
To whom will Hercules commit this businesse?

Herc.
I will appeal to Ioue, and to the Planets,
Whose powers, though bownded, yet infuse their might
In euery mortall.

Æacus.
Them the Fates shall summon,
Of whom this beauteous mayd, the Moone, is one,
The lowest of the seuen: you reuerend sisters,
Who all things that are past be, and to come,
Keepe registred in brasse, assemble there.

Herc.
Be Ceres pleas'd, Alcides is content:
Nor can she stand to bearer Iustices.
Then to the Gods and Planets.

Sownd. Enter Saturne, Iupiter, Iuno, Mars, Phœbus, Venus, and Mercury: they take their place as they are in bright. Ceres.
Satur.
I know this place, why haue you summon'd Saturne
To hell, where he hath beene to arraigne the Moone?
These vncoth cauernes better suit my sadnesse
Then my high spheare aboue, whence to all mortals
I shoot my thicke and troubled melancholy.
Say, what's the businesse? say.

Iup.
Ceres, thy presence
Tels me thy suit is 'bout thy daughters ape.

Ceres.
Is she not thine? and canst thou suffer her
To be intoomb'd in hell before her time?

Iuno.
Cannot hell swallow your ambitious bastard?
But (maugre all these monsters) liues he still?

Phœb.
I saw grim Pluto in my daily progresse
Hurry her in his chariot ore the earth.

Venus.
What could he lesse do if he lou'd the Lady?

Mars.
Venus is all for loue.

Mercu.
And Mars for warre,
Sometimes he runnes a tile at Venus lippes,
You haue many amorous bickerings.

Mars.
Well spoke Mercury.

Saturne.
Come we hither
To trifle, or to censure? what would Pluto?

Pluto.
Keepe whom I haue.

Ceres.
Canst suffer't Iupiter?

Herc.
I won her from the scenes of Stygian Pluto,
And being mine, restore her to her mother.

Ceres.
And shall not Ceres keepe her? speake great Ioue

Iup.
Thy censure Rhadamant.

Rhad.
The Fates by whom your powers are all conscrib'd
Pronounce this doome: If since her first arriue
She hath tasted any food, she must of force
Be euerlastingly confin'd to hell.

Pluto.
Asculaphus, thou didst attend my Queene,
Hath she yet tasted of our Stygian fruits
That we may keepe her still?

Ascu.
I saw her in her mouth chaw the moist graines of a Pomegranate.

Ceres.
Curst Asculaphus,
Il'e adde vnto thy vglinesse, and make thee
A monster, of all monsters most abhor'd.

Pluto.
Your censures, oh you Gods, is she not Pluto'?
Giue your free censures vp.

All.
She must be Pluto's.

Ceres.
The Gods are partiall all.

Pluto.
Welcome my Queene.

Herc.
What can Alcides more for Ceres loue,
Then ransacke hell, and rescue Proserpine?
Needs must our further conquests here take end,
When Gods and Fates against our force contend.

Ceres.
Iustice, oh iustice, thou Omnipotent.
Rob not thy Ceres of her beauteous childe,
Either restore my daughter to the earth,
Or banish me to hell.

Saturn.
Ceres you are fond,
Th'earth cannot want your plenty: your fertility
Will worse become hell scortched barrennesse.
Let's breake this Sessions vp, I am dull.

Iup.
You Gods aboue
And powers below, attend the Thunderers voyce,
And to our moderation lend an eare
Of reuerence. Ceres, the Fates haue doom'd her
The Bride of Pluto; nor is she disparaged
To be the sister of Olimpicke Ioue.
The rape that you call force, we title Loue:
Nor is he lesse degree'd, saue in his lot,
To vs that sway the heauens. So much for Pluto.
Now beauteous Ceres we returne to you,
Such is your care to fill the earth with plenty,
To cherish all these fruits, from which the mortals
Ostend their gratitude to vs the Gods
In sacrifice and offrings, that we now
Thus by our dread power, mittigate the strictnesse
Of the Fates doome: we haue not (oh you Gods)
Purpose to do our Stygian brother wrong,
Nor rob the heauens the Planet of the Moone,
By whom the seas are sway'd: Be she confin'd
Below the earth, where be the ebbes and tides?
Where is her power infus'd in hearbes and plants?
In trees for buildings? simples phisicall?
Or minerall mines? Therefore indifferent Ioue
Thus arbitrates: the yeare we part in twelue,
Cal'd Moneths of the Moone: twelue times a yeare
She in full splendor shall supply her orbe,
And shine in heauen: twelue times fill Pluto's armes
Below in hell. When Ceres on the earth
Shall want her brightnesse, Pluto shall enioy it,
When heauen containes her, she shall light the earth
From her bright spheare aboue. Parted so euen,
We neither fauour hell, nor gloze with heauen.

Plu.
Pluto is pleas'd.

Ceres.
Ceres at length agreed.

Proser.
Ioue is all iustice, and hath well decreed.

Iup.
Say all the planets thus?

All.
We do.

Iup.
Our Sessions we dissolue then. Hercules,
We limit you to dragge hence Cerberus,
To the vpper world, and leaue thee to the vniuerse
Where thou shalt finish all thy Iouiall taskes;
Proceed and thriue. You that to earth belong,
Ascend to your mortality with honors,
The Gods to heauen: Pluto and his keepe hell,
The Moone in both by euen attonement dwell.

Exeunt three wayes Ceres, The seus, Philoctetes, and Hercules dragging Cerberus one way: Pluto, hels Iudges, the Fates and Furies downe to hell: Iupiter, the Gods and Planets ascend to heauen.
Enter Homer.
Our full Sceane's wane, the Moones arraignment ends,
Ioue and his mount, Pluto with his descends.
Poore Homer's left blinde, and hath lost his way,
And knowes not if he wander or go right,
Unlesse your fauours their cleare beames display.
But if you daine to guide me through this night,
The acts of Hercules I shall pursue,
And bring him to the thrice-raz'd wals of Troy:
His labours and his death Il'e shew to you.
But if what's past your riper iudgements cloy,
Here I haue done: if ill, too much: if well,
Pray with your hands guide Homer out of hell.