University of Virginia Library

Scena quarta.

Enter Demeneta and Thisbe her mayd.
Demen.
When sawest thou Cnemon, Thisbe?

This.
Know you not
That Pallas high feast call'd Quinquatria
This day was celebrated here in Athens,
One with a ship by land, (as is the manner)
Was consecrated, Cnemon was imployd,
Clad in his robes, and on his head a crowne,
To sing the usuall hymne due to her praise
I saw him busie in the ceremonies.

Dem.
Is this the day? by Iove I knew it not,
Else had I beene spectator of the sight,
Chiefly to see my Cnemon in his office,
Could I be angry with him, I should chide him
For not acquainting me.

This.
He did it neatly;
I would not for my maiden-head have miss'd
So rare a sight, not for ten maiden-heads.

Dem.
Are all the rites and ceremonies done?
I faine would see yet the conclusion.

This.
Mistresse, tis to late; see Cnemon there
return'd in all his robes.

Enter Cnemon in his robes crowned, Demeneta runnes to him and takes him in her armes.
Dem.
My young Hippolitus, and my deare Theseus,
Welcome, O welcome to me.

Cnem.
Heavens defend me
From this lewd Phædra— aside.
Mother what dee meane
To burne me thus with kisses?

Dem.
Burthen thee
With blisses too I can, my pretty boy,
If thou wilt love thy mother.

Cnem.
In what nature
Require you that? if as it ought to be,
That children love their Parents, I agree.

Dem.
As Uenus with Anchises sported once
In Ida grove, so let mee sport with thee;
Dost understand me now?

Cnem.
You are too bold,
Too impudent.

Dem.
Nay, prethee doe not frowne,
This night I must enjoy thee, and thou me,
Thy fathers absence doth invite us to it;
I will maintaine thee like a Princes sonne,
Glittering in gold, and our sweet furtive sports
Keepe from the sunne and knowledge of the gods,
No one shall know it.

Cnem.
Hence incestuous woman,
Think'st thou to make me wrong my fathers bed,
And to commit an act so foule as incest?
Tempt me no more; by heaven, by earth and all
Th'immortall gods, I'le die a thousand deaths
Ere thinke a thought on't, much lesse yeeld unto it,
Your damned wit, nor quaint inticing words
Shall not prevaile, my hate exceeds my love.
Exit Cnemon in a rage.

Demen.
Am I despised thus, and my hot love
Requited with disdaine, as cold as ice,
By such a youngling? he shall know the difference
Betweene a womans favours and her frownes,
And curse too late his foolish modesty:
Goe Thisbe to the Castle, tell my husband
I am not well, intreat him to come to me
With all the speed he can.

This.
I shall sweet Mistresse.—
Exit Thisbe.

Demeneta lies down upon the bed, faining her selfe sicke.
Dem.
What raging fires still burne me? how I am
Divided in my selfe tweene love and hate,
two mighty passions combatting together?
Love would prevaile, if reason might be judge,
But love is too unreasonably harsh:
Hate therefore execute thy proper function,
Enflame my breast with rage and high disdaine
Against this brat that gave me the repulse,
Inspire my study in his Tragedie.

Enter Aristippus and Thisbe.
Arist.
How fares my sweet heart, that she keepes her bed?

Dem.
Deare husband, very sicke and in ill case.

Arist.
The gods forbid, that sound doth strike me dead;
What ailes my dearest wife? tell me the cause
Of this your sudden sicknesse.

Dem.
Nothing Sir,
I know no cause at all.

Arist.
Come, come, you must not
Conceale your griefe, but lay it ope unto me,
I doe beseech my love.

Dem.
Since you are so
Importunate to know it, understand
The goodly young man, sonne unto us both
(To you by nature, but to me by love)
Whom I (the gods know) held as deare unto me
As you, when he perceiv'd by certaine tokens
I was with child by you (which thing I kept
Hid from your knowledge till I knew my selfe
The certainty) and waiting for your absence,
When I in wonted manner councell'd him
To leave his whores, and to avoid his cups
(Which things I knew he lov'd, but would not tell you,
Lest I should run into the ill suspition
Of stepmother) whilest I in gentle manner
Told him these things, I will not speake the worst,
Nor in what sort he did revile us both,
But last of all, he spurn'd me on the belly,
Which hath procur'd this my disease and paine.

Arist.
O villaine, I will scurge him even to death;
Thisbe, goe call him hither.

Exit Thisbe.
Then presently enters Cnemon, Aristippus falls presently a buffetting of him without speaking a word, then calls his servants and scurgeth him with rods.
Cnem.
Deare father, I beseech you let me know
The cause of this your anger and my stripes
So cruelly laid on mee.

Arist.
Oh cleanly dissembler,
Thou wouldst indeed know thy owne fault from me.

Hee beats him afresh.
Cnem.
Yet now at length, Sir, let me understand
What I have done, that thus provokes your wrath,
The gods doe know my innocence.

Arist.
Base wretch,
Thy innocence; would she belie thee thinkst thou,
That lov'd thee better than her selfe? away,
Get out of my sight, I will not heare thee speak.
Exit Cnemon.
My dearest Demeneta, cheere your selfe,
Strive to forget the paine.

Dem.
I'm in bad plight,
So that I doe not onely feare the life
Of that I goe with, but mine owne, besides,
These accidents are dangerous to women;
Yet, Sir, it griev'd me that you tooke so sharpe
A punishment of Cnemon, for all this
I cannot chuse but love him.

Arist.
That's thy vertue,
But banish him thy thoughts as I will doe,
Hence forth as most unworthy of our love;
Come sweet, you shall remove from hence into
A fitter roome, I'le send a Doctor to you.
Exit Aristippus.

Dem.
You doe mistake my pulse, whose veines doe swell
With rage and furie, and shall live in paine,
Untill I be reveng'd.

This.
My Mistresse knowes
How to deceive old Dotards with false shewes.

Exeunt.