 | The Emperovr of the East |  |
Act. 2.
Scæne 1.
Philanax, Timantus, Chrysapius, Gratianus.Philanax.
We only talk when we should do.
Timantus:
Ile second you,
Begin, and when you please.
Gratianus.
Be constant in it.
Chry.
That resolution which growes cold to day,
Will freeze to morrow.
Gratianus.
'Slight, I think sheele keepe him
Her ward for euer, to her selfe ingrossing
The disposition of all the fauors
And bounties of the Empire.
Chrys.
Wee that by
The neerenesse of our seruice to his person,
Should raise this man, or pull downe that, without
Her licence hardly dare prefer a suit,
Or if wee doe, 'tis cross'd.
Philanax.
You are troubled for
Your proper ends, my aimes are high and honest
The wrong that's done to Maiesty I repine at:
I loue the Emperor, and 'tis my ambition
To haue him know himselfe, and to that purpose
Ile run the hazard of a check.
Gratianus:
And I
Timan.
I will not come behinde,
Fall what can fall.
Chry.
Let vs put on sad aspects
To draw him on; charge home, weele fetch you off,
Or ly dead by you.
Enter Theodosius.
Theod.
How's this? clouds in the chamber,
And the ayre cleere abroad.
Phil.
When you our Sunne
Obscure your glorious beames, poore we that borrow
Our little light from you, cannot but suffer
A generall Eclipse.
Timantus.
Great Sir, 'tis true,
For 'till you please to know, and be your selfe,
And freely dare dispose of what's your owne
Without a warrant; we are falling meteors;
And not fixed starres.
Chrys.
The pale fac'd Moon that should
Gouerne the night, vsurps the rule of day,
And still is at the full in spite of nature,
And will not know a change.
Theod.
Speak you in riddles?
I am no Oedipus, but your Emperor,
And as such would be instructed.
Philanax.
Your command
Shall be obeyd, till now I neuer heard you
Speak like your selfe; and may that power by which
You are so, strike me dead, if what I shall
Deliuer, as a faithfull subiect to you,
Hath root, or growth from malice, or base enuy
Of your Sisters greatnesse; I could honor in her
A power subordinate to yours, but not
As 'tis predominant.
Timan.
It it fit that she,
Of such as should not bow but to your selfe?
Grat.
Shee with security walkes vpon the heads
Of the nobility, the multitude
As to a Deitie offring sacrifice,
For her grace, and fauour.
Chrys.
Her proude feete euen wearied
With the kisses of petitioners.
Gratian,
While you,
To whom alone such reuerence is proper,
Passe vnregarded by her,
Timant.
You haue not yet
Bene Master of one houre of your whole life,
Chrys.
Your will and faculties kept in more awe,
Then shee can doe her owne
Philanax.
And as a bondman,
O let my zeale finde grace, and pardon from you,
That I descende so low, you are designed
To this or that imployment, suiting well
A priuate man I grant, but not a Prince,
To bee a perfit horseman, or to know
The words of the chace, or a faire man of armes,
Or to bee able to pierce to the depth,
Or write a comment on th'obscurest Poets,
I grant are ornaments, but your maine scope
Should bee to gouerne men to guarde your owne,
If not enlarge your empire.
Chrys.
You are built vp
By the curious hand of nature to reuiue
The memorie of Alexander, or by
A prosperous successe in your braue actions
To riuall Cæsar.
Timant.
Rouze your selfe, and let not
Your pleasure bee a copye of her will
Philan.
Your pupill age is pass'd, and manly actions
Are now expected from you.
Grat.
Doe not loose
Timant.
What is't to haue the meanes
To bee magnificent, and not exercise
The boundlesse vertue?
Grat.
You confine your selfe
To that which strict Philosophie allowes of,
As if you were a priuate man.
Tim.
No pompe,
Or glorious showes of royaltie, rendring it
Both lou'd, and terrible.
Grat.
'Slight you liue, as it
Begets some doubt, whether you haue or not
Th'abilities of a man.
Chrys.
The Firmament
Hath not more starres then there are seuerall beauties
Ambitious at the height to impart their deare,
And sweetest fauours to you.
Grat.
Yet you haue not
Made choice of one, of all the sex, to serue you,
In a Physicall way of courtshippe.
Theod.
But that I would not
Beginne the expression of my being a man,
In blood, or staine the first white robe I weare
Of absolute power, with a seruile imitation
Of any tyrannous habit, my iust anger
Prompts mee to make you in your suffrings feele,
And not in words to instruct you, that the licence
Of the loose, and saucie language you now practised,
Hath forfeited your heades.
Grut.
How's this?
Phil.
I know not
What the play may proue, but I assure you that
I doe not like the prologue.
Theod.
O the miserable
Condition of a Prince! who though hee varie
More shapes then Proteus in his minde, and manners,
Hee cannot winne an vniuersall suffrage,
Like Æsops folish Frogges they trample on him,
As a senselesse blocke, if his gouernement bee easie.
And if hee proue a Storke, they croke, and rayle
Against him as a tyranne. Ile put off
That maiestie, of which you thinke I haue
Nor vse, nor feeling, and in arguing with you,
Conuince you with strong proofes of common reason,
And not with absolute power, against which, wretches,
You are not to dispute. Dare you that are
My creatures, by my prodigall fauours fashion'd,
Presuming on the neerenesse of your seruice,
Set off with my familiar acceptance,
Condemne my obsequiousnesse to the wise directions
Of an incomparable Sister, whom all parts
Of our world, that are made happy in knowledge
Of her perfections, with wonder gaze on?
And yet you that were only borne to eate
The blessings of our mother earth, that are
Distant but one degree from beasts (since slaues
Can claime no larger priuiledge) that know
No farther then your sensuall appetites,
Or wanton lust haue taught you, vndertake
To giue your soueraigne lawes to follow that
Your ignorance markes out to him?
Walkes by.
Gratian.
How were wee
Abus'd in our opinion of his temper?
Phil.
Wee had forgot 'tis found in holy writ,
That Kings hearts are inscrutable.
Timantus.
I ne're reade it,
My studie lies not that way.
Philan.
By his lookes
The tempest still increases.
Theod.
Am I growne
So stupid in your iudgments, that you dare
With such security offer violence
To sacred maiestie? will you not know
His rending pawes? or fill th'affrighted ayre
With the thunder of his rorings? you bless'd Saints,
How am I trenched on? is that temperance
So famous in your cited Alexander,
Or Roman Scipio a crime in mee?
Cannot I bee an Emperour, vnlesse
Your wiues, and daughters bow to my proud lusts?
And cause I rauish not their fairest buildings
And fruitfull vineyards, or what is dearest,
From such as are my vassalls, must you conclude
I doe not know the awfull power, and strength
Of my prerogatiue? am I close handed
Because I scatter not among you that
I must not call mine owne. Know you court leeches,
A Prince is neuer so magnificent,
As when hee's sparing to inrich a few
With th'iniuries of many; could your hopes
So grossely flatter you, as to beleeue
I was born and traind vp as an Emperour, only
In my indulgence to giue sanctuarie,
In their vniust proceedings, to the rapine
And auarice of my groomes?
Philar.
In the true mirror
Of your perfections, at length wee see
Our owne deformities.
Timant.
And not once daring
To look vpon that maiestie wee now sleighted,
Chrys.
With our faces thus glewd to the earth, wee beg
Your gratious pardon.
Grat.
Offring our neckes
To bee trod on, as a punishment for our late
Presumption, and a willing testimony
Of our subiection.
Theod.
Deserue our mercie
In your better life heereafter, you shall finde,
Though in my Fathers life I helde it madnesse,
To learne from the instructions of my sister,
Ile make it good to all the world, I am
An Emperor; and euen this instant graspe
The Scepter, my rich stock of maiesty
Intire, no scruple wasted.
Phila.
If these teares
I drop, proceed not from my ioy to heare this
May my eye-bals follow 'em.
Tim.
I will shew my selfe
By your suddain metamorphosis transform'd
From what I was.
Grat.
And nere presume to aske
What fits not you to giue.
Theod.
Moue in that sphere,
And my light with full beames shall shine vpon you.
Forbeare this slavish courtship, 'tis to me
In a kinde idolatrous.
Phil.
Your gratious sister.
Enter Pulcheria, Seruant.
Pul.
Has he conuerted her?
Ser.
And, as such, will
Present her when you please.
Pul.
I am glad of it.
Comand my Dresser to adorne her with
The robes that I gaue order for.
Mar.
I shall.
Pul.
And let those pretious Iewels I tooke last
Out of my Cabinet, if't be possible,
Giue lustre to her beauties, and that done,
Command her to be neere vs.
Mar.
Tis a prouince
I willingly embrace,
Exit Mart.
Pul.
O my deare Sir,
You haue forgot your morning taske, and therefore
But it shall bee gentlie.
Theodos.
'T will become you, though,
You said with reuerend duty. Know heereafter,
If my mother liu'd in you, how ere her sonne,
Like you shee were my subiect.
Pulch.
How?
Theod.
Put off
Amazement, you will finde it. Yet Ile heare you
At distance, as a sister, but no longer
As a gouernesse, I assure you.
Grat.
This is put home,
Timant.
Beyond our hopes
Philam.
Shee stands as if his words
Had powerfull magick in 'em.
Theod.
Will you haue mee
Your pupill euer? the downe on my chinne
Confirmes I am a man, a man of men,
The Emperour, that knowes his strength.
Pulcheria,
Heauen grant
You know it not too soone.
Theod.
Let it suffice
My wardships out. If your designe concernes vs
As a man, and not a boy, with our allowance
You may deliuer it.
Pulch.
A strange alteration!
But I will not contend. Bee, as you wish, Sir,
Your owne disposer, vncompeld I cancell
All bondes of my authority.
Kneeles.
Theod.
You in this
Pay your due homage, which perform'd, I thus
Embrace you as a Sister. No way doubting
Your vigilance for my safetie as my honor,
And what you now come to impart, I rest
Most confident, points at one of them.
Pulch.
At both,
And not alone the present, but the future
Of her, you are to heate with holy fires,
And make the consort of your royall bed,
The certaine meanes of glorious succession,
With the true happinesse of our humane being,
Are wholy comprehended.
Theodosius.
How? a wife?
Shall I become a votarie to Hymen,
Before my youth hath sacrific'd to Venus?
'Tis something with the soonest, yet to shew
In things in different, I am not auerse
To your wise counsailes, let mee first suruay
Those beauties, that in being a Prince I know
Are riualls for mee. You will not confine mee
To your election, I must see deere sister
With mine owne eyes.
Pulcheria.
'Tis fit Sir, yet in this
You may please to consider, absolute Princes
Haue, or should haue, in Policie, lesse free will
Then such as are their vassals. For, you must,
As you are an Emperour, in this high businesse
Waigh with due prouidence, with whom alliance
May bee most vsefull for the preseruation
Or your increase of Empire.
Theod.
I approue not
Such compositions for our morall ends,
In what is in it selfe diuine, nay more
Decreed in heauen. Yet if our neighbour Princes,
Ambitious of such neerenesse, shall present
Their dearest pledges to mee (euer reseruing
The caution of mine owne content) Ile not
Contemne their courteous offers.
Pulch.
Bring in the pictures:
2. Pictures brought in.
Theod.
Must I then iudge the substances by the shadowes;
The Painters are most enuious, if they want
Good colours for preferment: virtuous Ladies
Loue this way to bee flatterd, and accuse
Some grace they cannot truely call their owne.
Is't not so Gratianus? you may challenge
Some interest in the science.
Grat.
A pretender
To the art I truely honor, and subscribe
To your maiesties opinion.
Theod.
Let mee see,
Cleanthe, daughter to the King of Epirus,
Ætatis suæ, the fourteenth: ripe enough,
And forward too, I assure you. Let me examine
The Symmetries. If Statuaries could
By the foote of Hercules set downe punctually
His whole dimensions, and the countenance be
The index of the minde, this may instruct me,
With the aydes of that I haue read touching this subiect,
What shee is inward: the colour of her haire,
If it be, as this does promise, pale, and faint,
And not a glistering white; Her brow, so so;
The circles of her sight, too much contracted;
Iuno's faire cowe eyes by old Homer are
Commended to their merit, heeres a sharpe frost,
In the tippe of her nose, which by the length assures mee
Of stormes at midnight, if I faile to pay her
The tribute she expects. I like her not:
What is the other.
Chrysapius.
How hath hee commenc'd
Doctor in this so sweete and secret art,
Without our knowledge?
Timantus.
Some of his forward pages
Haue rob'd vs of the honor.
Philanax.
No such matter,
Hee has the theorie only, not the practick.
Theod.
Amasia, Sister to the Duke of Athens,
Her age eighteen, descended lineally
From Theseus, as by her pedegree
Will be made apparent: Of his lustie kinred?
A Philosophicall aspect, there is
More wit then beauty in her face, and when
I court her, it must be in tropes, and figures,
Or shee will crie absurd. Shee will haue her clenchs
To cut off any fallacie I can hope
To put vpon her, and expect I should
Euer conclude in Syllogismes, and those true ones
In parte & toto, or sheele tire mee with
Her tedious Elocutions in the praise
Of the increase of generation, for which
Alone the sport in her moralitie
Is good and lawfull, and to bee often practis'd
For feare of missing. Fy on't, let the race
Of Theseus be match'd with Aristotles,
Ile none of her.
Pulcher.
You are curious in your choice, Sir,
And hard to please, yet if that your consent
May giue authority to it, Ile present you
With one, that if her birth, and fortunes answer
The rarities of her body, and her mind',
Detraction durst not tax her.
Theod.
Let me see her,
Though wanting those additions, which we can
Supplie from our owne store: it is in vs
To make men rich, and noble, but to giue
Legitimate shapes and virtues, does belong
To the greate creator of 'em, to whose bounties
Alone 'tis proper, and in this disdaines
An Emperour for his riuall.
Pulch.
I applaud
This fit acknowledgement, since Princes then
Grow lesse then common men, when they contend
With him, by whom they are so.
Enter Paulinus, Cleon, Athenais newly habited.
Theod.
I confesse it.
Not to hold you in suspense, Behold the virgin
Rich in her naturall beauties, no way borrowing
Th'adulterate aydes of art. Peruse her better,
Shee is worth your serious view.
Phyl.
I am amaz'd too.
I neuer saw her equall.
Gratian.
How his eye
Is fix'd vpon her!
Timantus.
And as shee were a fort,
He would suddainly surprize, Hee measures her
From the bases to the battlements.
Chrys.
Ha! now I view her better,
I know her; 'tis the mayd that not long since
Was a petitioner; her brauerie
So alters her, I had forgot her face.
Phil.
So has the Emperour.
Paulinus.
Shee holdes out yet,
And yeeldes not to th'assault.
Cleon.
Shee is strongly garded
In her virgin blushes.
Paulin.
When you know, faire creature,
It is the Emperour that honours you
With such a strict suruay of your sweete parts,
In thankefulnesse you cannot but returne
Due reuerence for the fauour.
Athenais.
I was lost
In my astonishment at the glorious obiect,
And yet rest doubtfull whether he expects,
Being more then man, my adoration,
(Since sure there is diuinity about him,)
Or will rest satisfi'd if my humble knees
In duty thus bowe to him.
Theod.
Ha! it speakes.
Pulch.
Shee is no statue Sir,
Theod.
Suppose her one,
And that shee had nor organs voice, nor heat,
Most willingly I would resigne my Empire
That I was her Pigmalion, though, like him,
I doted on my workmanship, without hope too
Of hauing Cytherea so propitious
To my vowes, or sacrifice, in her compassion
To giue it life or motion.
Pulch.
Pray you be not rap'd so,
Nor borrow from imaginary fiction
Impossible aydes; she's flesh and blood, I assure you,
And if you please to honor her in the triall,
And be your owne security, as youle finde
I fable not, she comes in a noble way
To be at your deuotion.
Chry.
'Tis the maid
I offer'd to your highnesse, her chang'd shape
Conceal'd her from you:
Theod.
At the first I knew her,
And a second firebrand Cupid brings to kindle
My flames almost put out: I am too cold,
And play with opportunity.
May I taste then
The nectar of her lip? I do not giue it
The praise it merits: antiquity is too poore
To help me with a simile to expresse her.
Let me drink often from this liuing spring,
To nourish new inuention.
Pulcheria.
Do not surfet
In ouer-greedily deuouring that
Which may without satiety feast you often.
From the moderation in receiuing them,
The choysest viands do continue pleasing
To the most curious palats; if you thinke her
Worth your embraces, and the soueraigne title
Of the Græcian Empresse,
Theod.
If? how much you sinne,
Only to doubt it; the possession of her
Makes all that was before most pretious to me,
A prouident Protectresse. I already
Grow weary of the absolute command
Of my so numerous subiects, and desire
No soueraignty but here, and write downe gladly,
A period to my wishes.
Pulcher.
Yet before
It be too late, consider her condition,
Her father was a Pagan, she her selfe
A new conuerted Christian.
Theod.
Let me know
The man to whose religious meanes I ow
So great a debt.
Paulinus.
You are aduanc'd too high Sir,
To acknowledge a beholdingnes, 'tis discharg'd,
And I, beyond my hopes, rewarded, if
My seruice please your Maiesty.
Theod.
Take this pledge
Of our assured loue. Are there none here
Haue suits to prefer? on such a day as this
My bounty's without limit. O my dearest,
I will not heare thee speak; what euer in
Thy thoughts is apprehended, I grant freely:
Thou would'st plead thy vnworthinesse, by thy self
The magazine of felicity, in thy lownesse
Our Eastern Queens at their full height bow to thee,
And are in their best trim thy foyles and shadowes.
Excuse the violence of my loue, which cannot
Admit the least delay. Command the Patriarch
With speed to do his holy office for vs,
That when we are made one.
Pulch.
You must forbeare Sir,
She is not yet baptiz'd.
Theod.
In the same houre
In which she is confirmed in our faith,
And both be gainers; weele heare no reply
That may diuert vs on.
Pulch.
You may hereafter
Please to remember to whose furtherance
You ow this height of happinesse.
Ath.
As I was
Your creature when I first petition'd you,
I will continue so, and you shall finde me,
Though an Empresse, still your seruant.
All go off but Philanax, Gratianus, and Timantus!
Gratianus.
Here's a marriage
Made vp on the suddain!
Philanax.
I repine not at
The faire maids fortune, though I feare the Princesse
Had some peculiar end in't.
Timantus.
Who's so simple
Only to doubt it?
Gratianus.
It is too apparent,
She hath preferr'd a creature of her owne,
By whose meanes she may still keepe to her selfe
The gouernment of the Empire.
Tim.
Where as if
The Emperor had espous'd some neighbour Queen,
Pulcheria with all her wisdome could not
Keepe her preheminence.
Philanax.
Be it as it will,
'Tis not now to be alter'd, heauen I say
Turne all to the best.
Gratianus.
Are we come to praying againe?
Phil.
Leaue thy prophanenesse
Gratian.
Would it would leaue mee.
I am sure I thriue not by it.
Timant.
Come to the Temple.
Grat.
Eu'n where you will, I know not what to think on't,
The end of the second Acte.
| The Emperovr of the East | |