University of Virginia Library

Scen. VI.

Lucasia, Eumela, Charistus, Olyndus.
Luc.
I must confess, had not this Action been
Tainted with private Interest, but born
From zeal unto the Publique, then it might
Have been read Valour, as it is, it will
Be stil'd but Fury.

Eum.
Madam it had then
Been only Valour, now 'tis Love and Valour.

Luc.
VVhere those Religious Names, King, Country, Father,
Are trampled over, can you call it Valour?

Cha.
If trampled o'r for you. To hazard all
These holy Names, of Subject unto King,
Of Prince to Country, and of Son to Father,
And whil'st I spar'd to shed the smallest drop
Of Bloud, that might be once call'd yours, to have
That ignominious Name of Coward hurl'd on me,
And take up all their Places; what else is it
But to esteem your self a Prize, that doth
Absolve me from all these, and make me stand
Above the rate of mortals.

Olyn.
Father, Country,
State, Fortunes, Commonwealth, th'are Names that Love
Is not concern'd in; that looks higher still,
And oversees all these.

Luc.
It is not Love then;
For that, as it is Valiant, so it is
Just, Temperate, Prudent, summons all those Noble
Heroick Habits into one rich Mass,
And stamps them Honour.

Eum.
But that Honour is
A Valour beyond that of Mortals, striving
Who shall possess most of this Mole-hill Earth.

Olyn.
That Honour is a Justice, that doth see
Measures, and Weights, Axes, and Rods below it.

Eu.
A Temperance not concern'd in Meats, and Wines.

Olyn.
A Prudence that doth write Charistus now
A better Patriot, than the sober'st Statesman
That plots the good of Crete.

Luc.
If he that cares not
For things, be thence above them; if he sees
More nobly, that doth draw the Veyl before
His Eyes to Lower Objects, then Charistus
Soares high, and nothing scapes him.

Cha.
Fair Lucasia,
I am not so immodest, as to challenge
The least of these my self: but yet in that
I love your Vertues, they are all mine own.

Luc.
And yet you fear'd I was anothers, whom
I durst not publiquely avow. Do y' think
My Love could stoop to such Contrivances?
Or if I meant a subject of such worth,
I needed to pretend a Prince?

Olyn.
It is not
Lucasia's Love, that dares not call the Eye
Of Day to try it: But where Love's engag'd
To such a Treasure as your self, what can
Be thought secure? It stands and watches still,
And fears it's very helps; could any love
Lucasia and be careless, 'twere a fault
Would make him not deserve her.

Luc.
Could you then
Think I could be so impious unto Love
As to divide Eumela and Olyndus?
Or else so treacherous unto Friendship, as
To part Eumela and my self? Being Hearts
Are Temples, and both sorts of Love most Sacred,
To have wrong'd either had been Sacrilege
Worthy the horrid'st Thunder.

Eum.
Love drinks in
All that may feed suspicion, but is deaf
To what may clear it; 'tis engag'd so much
To th' Object, that it views the Object only,
And weighs not what attends it.

Luc.
Where the Heart
Offends, you blame the Passion. Love it self
Is never undiscreet, but he that Loves.

Cha.
Wisdome and Love at once were never yet
Permitted to a God, I must not then
Presume they meet in me. If Love admits
Discretion, if it Ponder, and Consider,
Search, and Compare, and Judge, and then Resolve,
'Tis Policy, not Affection: give it Eyes,
Counsell, and Order, and it ceaseth. What
Though it first brake from out the Chaos? 'twas
To make another in the Creature. Distance,
Figure, and Lineament are things that come
From something more Advis'd; Love never leads,
It still transports. The Motions which it feels
Are Fury, Rapture, Extasie, and such
As thrust it out full of Instinct, and Deity,
To meet what it desires.

Luc.
Alas! it self
Hath Eyes, but 'tis our Blindness that doth veyl them:
If Love could not consist with Wisdome, then
The World were govern'd by one generall Madness.

Olynd.
'Tis not deni'd but that we may have Wisdom
Before we Love, as men may have good Eyes
Before they fix them on the Sun: but dwell they
A while upon it, and they straight grow blind
From those admired Beauties.

Luc.
But if Love
Do not consider, why then doth it fear?
Why doth it form Chimæras to it self,
And set up Thought 'gainst Thought? why is't alike
Tortur'd with Truth, and Falshood? why afflicted
As much from Doubts, as Certainties?

Cha.
This is
Not from Distrust, but Care; Love is not perfect
Till it begins to fear. It doth not know
The worth of that it seeks, unless it be
Anxious, and troubled for it: And this is
Not any thought of Blemish in the thing
It loves, but only Study to preserve it.

Lu.
Who puts a Snake 'mongst Flowers to preserve 'em?
Or who pours Poyson into Crystall that
It may be kept from cracking? Jealousie
What art thou? thou could'st not come down from Heav'n;
For no such Monsters can inhabit there.

Eum.
Nor can it spring from Hell; for it is born
Of Love, and there is nought but Hate.

Luc.
Pray y' tell me
Who joyn'd it unto Love? who made them swear
So firm a Friendship?

Olyn.
The same Deity
That joyn'd the Sun and Light, the same that knits
The Life and Spirit.

Luc.
These preserve each other:
But that doth twine and wreath it self about
Our growing Loves, as Ivy 'bout the Oak;
We think it shelters, when (alas!) we find
It weakens, and destroys.

Eum.
It is not Jealousie
That ruins Love, but we our selves, who will not
Suffer that fear to strengthen it; Give way
And let it work, 'twill fix the Love it springs from
In a staid Center.

Luc.
What it works I know not,
But it must needs suppose Defect in one,
Either Defect of Merit in the Lover,
Or in the Lov'd, of Faith; you cannot think
That I give Others Favours, when your self
Boast such a store of Merits.

Cha.
O Lucasia,
Rather than be so impious as to think
That you want Faith, I must confess a want
Of Merit in my self; (which would there were not.)
And being it is so, I was compell'd
To fear lest one more worthy than my self
Might throw me from my happiness. Consider
That you are born t' enrich the Earth, and then
If you will have one Love and not be Jealous,
You must convert your Eye upon your Eye,
Make your own Heart Court your own Heart, and be
Your self a servant to your self.

Luc.
But doth not
This Passion cease at last?

Olyn.
It ceaseth to
Disturb, but still remains to quicken Love;
As Thunder ceaseth when 't hath purg'd the Air,
And yet the Fire which caus'd it still remains
To make it move the livelier.

Luc.
Were it quiet,
What Hand, Charistus, would More sweetly move
The Orbs of this our Island? who fetch in
More frequent Conquests? and who more become
The Triumphs than your self?

Cha.
Beleeve Charistus
Dreams; Errours, false Opinions, slippery Hopes,
And Jealous Fears are now his Spoyl, his Captives,
And follow Love's Triumphant Chariot, which
His Soul sits high in, and o'rlooks the vain
Things of this lower World.

Luc.
Lucasia did
Only retire, not flie; Let's to the Grove,
And by the Consummation of our Loves
Under those Myrtles (which as yet perhaps
Preserve the blushing Marks of those your Angers)
Appease th' offended Goddess.

Olyn.
This your Union
Will make your Kingdoms joyn; Cyprus and Crete
Will meet in your Embraces.

Eum.
Our Hearts are
Love's ord'nary Employment: 'tis a Dart
Of a more scattering Metall that strikes you;
When he wounds Princes, he wounds Nations too.

Exeunt.