 | Polyeuctes, or the Martyr |  |
Actus Quintus.
Scena Prima.
Felix, Albin, Cleon.Felix.
Albin , perceiv'st thou Severus plot?
Seest thou his hate, and my sad misery?
Alb.
I see nought in him but a generous Rivall,
And in you nothing but a rigorous Father.
Fel.
How ill thou know'st him? all he doth's but shew,
In heart he hates me, and disdains Paulina,
And though he sometime lov'd her he esteemes now
A Rivals Relique too unworthy of him.
He speaks in his behalf, prays, threatens me,
And sayes he will destroy me, if I grant not
Pardon unto him, passing from generous
He thinks to fear me, but the Artifice
Is too gross not to be discovered:
I know the Court, and all its subtle windings
Before him, I'm acquainted with its plots,
And all its practises, it is in vain
For him to storm, and faign to be in fury,
I see what he intendeth to the Emperor,
Of that which he requests me, he'd accuse me,
Sparing his Rivall, I should be his Victime;
And if he had to do with some young Novice,
The plot is wel laid, without doubt he would
Destroy him easily, but an old Courtier
Is not so credulous, he seeth well
When one's in jeast, and when he is in earnest;
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Of all kinds, that if need were, I could give
Lessons even unto him.
Alb.
Gods! how you torture
Your self by this distrust?
Fel.
To stand in Court
It is the highest skill; when once a man
Hath cause to hate us, we ought to presume
That he seeks all the wayes he can to ruine us;
Then all his friendship is to be suspected;
If Polyeuctes forsakes not his Sect,
What ever his Protector intends for him
I'le boldly follow th'order is prescrib'd me.
Alb.
Pardon, Sir, pardon, let Paulina's prayers
And tears obtain it.
Fel.
Th'Emperours pardon, Albin,
Shall not come after mine, and so far am I
From drawing him out of this perilous pass,
As not to do what will destroy us both.
Alb.
But Sir, Severus promiseth—
Fel.
I mistrust him,
And know better then he the hate of Decius,
In favour of the Christians if he should
Oppose his anger without doubt he would
Ruine himself with us, I will try yet
Another way.—Bring Polyeuctes here,—
to Cleon.
And if I send him back again, if he
Remain insensible of this last attempt,—
Cleon returns.
At his departure hence he surely dies.
Alb.
Your order is too rigorous.
Fel.
I must follow it,
If I'le prevent disorder which may happen;
I see the People mov'd to take his part,
And thou thy self lately advertis'd me;
In the zeal which they do express for him,
I know not how long he may be within
My power; perhaps this evening, to night,
To morow I may see th'effects I fear;
And suddenly Severus flying to
His vengeance, may go to calumniate me
With some intelligence, I must break this stroak,
That would be fatall to me.
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What a strange evil is this diffidence?
Every thing hurts and ruines you, gives you shadows,
But see you not, Sir, that his death will put
This people into rage? tis a wrong way
To cure them, for to make them desperate.
Fel.
After his death it is in vain to murmur,
And if they dare proceed to any violence,
Tis but to give way for a day or two
Unto the insolence, I shall have done
My duty whatsoever may arrive;
But Polyeuctes comes, let us indeavour
To save him, retire Souldiers, and guard
The port well.—
Polyeuctes comes with the Guards, who retire suddenly.
Scena Secunda.
Felix, Polyeuctes, Albin.Felix.
Hast thou then such a hate to life, unfortunate
And wretched Polyeuctes, and the Law
Of Christians? doth it thus injoyn thee to
Forsake thy friends?
Pol.
I hate not life, and love
The lawfull use of it, but without dotage,
Which savoureth of slavery, always ready
To render it to God, from whom I hold it,
Reason ordains it and the Christian Law,
And thereby I instruct you how to live,
If you have but the heart to follow me.
Fel.
To follow thee into the Gulph, where thou
Wilt cast thy self?
Pol.
Rather unto the glory
Where I am going to ascend.
Fel.
At least
Let me have time to know't, to make me Christian,
Be thou my guide, and be not scrupulous
T'instruct me in thy faith, if thou refusest,
Tis thou shalt answer't to thy God for me.
Pol.
Felix, Jeast not, tis he shall be your Judge,
There is no flying from him, Kings and Shepheards
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The blood of his upon you.
Fel.
I'le shed no more,
And come what will on't, in the Christian faith
I'le suffer them to live and will protect them.
Pol.
No, no, proceed to persecute, and be
The Instrument of our felicities;
A Christian is at best, when he doth suffer;
The cruel'st torments are but recompences
Unto us; God that rendereth the Centuple
Unto good actions giveth persecutions
To make up the full measure, but these Secrets
Are very hard for you to comprehend,
Tis but to his Elect that God reveals them.
Fel.
I speak to thee unfaignedly, and would
Be a true Christian.
Pol.
Who can then retard
Th'effect of such a great and signall happiness?
Fel.
The presence—
Pol.
Of whom? of Severus?
Fel.
Only
For him I've feigned so much anger 'gainst thee.
Dissemble for a while, till he be gone.
Pol.
Is it thus, Felix, that you speak unfeignedly?
Bear to your Pagans, carry to your Idols
The impoysoned honey which your words powr forth:
A Christian feareth nothing, knoweth not
How to dissemble, to the eyes of all
The world, he's still a Christian.
Fel.
This zeal
Of thy faith serveth thee but to seduce thee,
If thou run to thy death before thou dost
Instruct me.
Pol.
I should speak unto you here
Unseasonably, it is a gift of Heaven,
And not of reason, there it is that I
Seeing God face to face shall obtain for you
This Grace more easily.
Fel.
In the mean time
Thy loss will make me desperate.
Pol.
You can
Repair it; free of one Son, you may have
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Answereth yours better; my loss, Sir, would be
But a change advantagious unto you.
Fel.
Forbear to injure me with this discourse,
I have esteem'd thee more then thou deserv'st,
Bt in spight of my goodness which increaseth
When thou provok'st it, in the end this insolence
Would make thee odious and revenge mee on thee
Aswell as our gods.
Pol.
How? d'ee change so soon
Honour and Language? doth the zeal of your gods
Enter again into you? and to be
A Christian vanisheth? was it by chance
That you said you would speak unfeignedly?
Fel.
Go to, presume not, whatsoe'r I swear
Unto thee, that I'le follow the imposture
Of thy new Doctors, I but flattered
Thy madness, to the end to snatch thee from
The fearfull precipice whereinto thou art
Ready to fall, I would gain time to Husband
Thy life after that Decius Favourite
Were with-drawn hence, but I have done too great
An injury to our omnipotent gods.
Chuse whether thou wilt give thy blood unto them.
Or incense?
Pol.
I'm not doubtfull in my choise,
But, O heaven! see Paulina.
Scena Tertia.
Felix, Polyeuctes, Paulina, Albin,Paulina.
Which of you two do murther me to day?
Is't both together, or each at his turn?
What? can I neither bend nature, nor love?
And shall I obtain nothing either from
A Husband, or a Father?
Fel.
Speak to your Husbond,
Paul.
Live with Severus.
Paul.
Tiger, murther me
Without this injury.
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My pitty seeks
As much as possible it may, to comfort you.
Our love doth carry you to such true griefs,
That nothing but another love can cure
Those wounds; since then so great a merit could
Inflame you, his fair presence hath a right
To charm you, you did love him, he doth love you,
And his augmented glory.—
Paul.
Cruel, What have I done unto thee that
Thou treat'st me thus, as to reproach me with,
In contempt of my faith, so great a love
Which I've subdu'd for thee? see now, to make thee
Vanquish so strong an adversary, what attempts
I was to make against my self, what combats
I had to give to thee a heart, so justly
Due to its first subduer; if ingratitude
Sway not my heart, make some attempt upon thee
To give thee to Paulina; learn of her
To force thy proper sentiment, take her vertue
For guide unto thy blindness, suffer her
T'obtain thy life from thee thy self, to live
Still subject to thy laws; but if thou canst
Reject such just desires, at least regard
Her tears, attend her sighs, and make not desperate
A soul that doth adore thee.
Pol.
I've said to you already, and Paulina,
I say again to you, live with Severus,
Or die with me, I despise not your tears,
Nor yet your faith, but henceforth I must have
No commerce with you, nor know you no more
Unless you be a Christian. Felix, 'tis
Enough on't, take again in your anger to you,
And on this insolent revenge your gods
And you.
Paul.
Oh Father! I confess, his crime's
Scarce pardonable, but if he distracted,
You, Sir, are reasonable; nature is too strong,
And its fair characters imprinted in
The blood are ne'r defac'd, a Father is
Always a Father, and on this assurance
I dare hald up some small remains of hope:
Cast a paternall look upon your daughter,
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The death of this dear Criminall, and the gods
Will find her punishment unlawfull, since
She'le mingle innocence and crime together,
And so by this redoublement will change
Into an unjust rigour, a just chastisement.
Our destinies made by your hands inseperable,
We ought to make happy or miserable
Together, and you should be cruell even
Unto the extreamest point to dis-unite
What you have joyned, one heart to another
United once, never retires it self,
You cannot seperate them, unless you tear them;
But you are sensible of my just griefs,
And with a Fathers eye behold my tears.
Fel.
Yes, Daughter, it is true, a Father is
Always a Father, nothing can raze out
The sacred character thereof, I carry
A sensible heart, and you have pierced it,
I joyn me with you against this distracted.
Unfortunate, and wretched Polyeuctes,
Art thou alone insensible, and wilt
Thou only make thy crime unpardonable?
Canst thou hear so many heart-breaking sighs
From such a tender breast? canst thou behold
So much love, and be nothing touched with it?
Acknowledgest thou neither Father-in-Law
Nor Wife, without amity for the one,
Or love for th'other? to resume the names
Of Son and Husband, wilt thou see us both
Fall at thy feet, and so imbrace thy knees?
Pol.
Oh! how unhandsome is this artifice,
After twice having tryed threatning,
After making me see Nearchus dying,
After imploying love, and its effort,
After declaring to me that great thirst
Of baptism to oppose to God the interest
Of God himself. You joyn your selves together?
Oh policy of Hell! must we o'recome
So many times before we triumph? sure
Your resolutions are so slow, take yours
At last, since, I've already taken mine.
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The Universe, under whose feet, the Heaven,
The Earth, and Hell doth tremble, one God which
Loving us with an infinite love, dy'd for us
With ignominy, and which by an excess
Of that same love will every day be offer'd
As Victim for us; But I am too blame
To speak of this to those can't understand me:
See the blind error that you dare defend;
You defile all your gods with foulest crimes,
You punish not one sin whose Master's not
I'th' heaven by your accompt,
Adultery, Incest, Prostitution,
Theft, Murther, and what ever we detest,
It is the example which your Deities
Give you to follow; I've profan'd their Temple,
And broken down their Altars, I would do it
Again, if I could reach them, even before
The eyes of Felix, yea, before Severus,
And more, even in the presence of the Senate,
Or of the Emperour himself.
Fel.
At last
My goodness giveth place to my just fury,
Adore them, or thou dy'st.
Pol.
I am a Christian.
Fel.
Thou impious wretch, I say again, adore them,
Or renounce life.
Pol.
I am a Christian.
Fel.
Art thou? O heart too obstinate! Souldiers, execute
The order that I gave,—
Cleon and the other Guards take Polyeuctes away, Paulina follows him.
Paul.
Where lead you him?
Fel.
To death.
Pol.
To glory.
Adiew my dear Paulina, love my memory.
Paul.
I'le follow thee throughout, and even to death.
Pol.
Forsake your errour, or not follow me.
Fel.
Take him away, and see I be obey'd,
Since he desires to dye, 'tis fit he perish.
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Scena Quarta.
Felix, Albin.Felix.
Albin , I do me violence, but I must,
My gentle nature would have easily
Destroy'd me, let the peoples rage at present
Display it self, and let Severus thunder,
And fret with fury having performed this
I am secure; but art not thou surpriz'd
With this unshaken constancy? seeth thou
Impenetrable hearts like his, or such
Horrid impieties? I have satisfied
My grieved heart, and have neglected nothing
To make his soft and yielding; I have feigned
Before thy eyes base wickedness, and surely
Had it not been for his last blasphemies,
Which fill'd me suddenly with fear and anger,
I should have scarce triumphed o'r my self.
Alb.
You'l one day curse perhaps this victory,
Which savoureth of I know not what an action
Too black, unworthy Felix, and a Roman,
Shedding your blood thus by your proper hand.
Fel.
So sometime Brutus, and stout Manlius shed it,
Which added to their glory, far from lessening it;
Never have our old Hero's had ill blood,
But they have opened their proper bowels
To let it out.
Alb.
Your heat seduceth you;
But whatsoe'r it tell you, when you once
Shall find it cold, when you shall see Paulina,
And that her sad despair expressed by
Her crys and waylings shall come forth to move you.—
Fel.
Thou mak'st me to remember that she follow'd
That Traytor, This despair which she will shew,
May interrupt the effect of my command;
Go therefore, and giue order it be done,
See what he doth, break any obstacle
Her griefs may give unto it, and withdraw her
From that sad spectacle, if thou canst indeavour
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Alb.
There is no need, Sir, she returns her self.
Scena Quinta.
Felix, Paulina, Albin.Paulina.
Barbarous Father, finish thy black work,
This second sacrifice is worth thy rage,
Joyn thy sad Daughter to thy Son-in-Law,
Why tarry'st thou? thou seest here the same crime,
Or the same vertue; thy barbarity
In her hath the same matter; my dear Husband
Left me his lights in dying, his just blood,
With which his Executioners are comming
To cover me, hath opened mine eyes:
I see, I know, I do believe, and am
Free of mine error, I am undeceiv'd,
Thou seest me baptis'd with that blest blood;
Lastly, I am a Christian, have I not
Spoken enough? keep in destroying me,
Thy rank and credit, fear the Emperour.
And doubt Severus, if thou wilt not perish,
My death is necessary, Polyeuctes cals me
Unto his happy death, I see Nearchus
And he both stretching forth their hands unto me:
Bring me to see thy gods which I detest,
They broke but one, I will break all the rest,
There you shall see me brave all that you fear,
Those silly Thunder-bolts which you depaint
Within their hands, and holily rebellious
Unto the Laws of birth, thou once shalt see me
Fail in obedience to thee; it is not
My grief that I do make appear therein,
Tis grace within me speaks, and not despar.
May I say it again? Felix, I am
A Christian, settle by my death thy fortune
And mine, the stroke to both on's will be precious,
Since it assureth the one earth, and lifts me
Unto the Heavens.
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Scena Ultima.
Felix, Severus, Paulina, Albin, Fabian.Severus.
Unnaturall Father, wretched Polititian,
Ambitious slave to a Chymerick fear,
Is Polyeuctes dead then by your cruelties,
And think you to conserve your sorry dignities?
The favour which for him I offer'd you,
Instead of saving him, hasted his death;
I prayed, threatned, but I could not move you;
You thought me false, or but of little power,
But you shall know at your cost that Severus
Boasts not of any thing but what he can
Perform and by your ruine he will make you
To judge that he who can destroy you, could
Have protected you; continue to
The gods this faithfull service by such horrors
Shew them your zeal, adiew, but when the storm
Shall break upon you, doubt not of the arm
From whence the strokes shall come.
Fel.
Severus, stay,
And with a quiet mind suffer that I
Give you an easie vengeance, by my cruelties
Cease to reproach me more, I do indeavour
To keep my sorry dignities, I dispose
Their false deceitfull lustre to your feet;
That glory whereunto I dare t'aspire
Is a rank more illustrious, I do find
My self forc'd to it by a secret bait,
I yield to those transports I do not know,
And by a wo king which I understand not,
I from my fury pass unto the zeal
Of my blest Son-in-law; tis he no doubt,
Whose innocent blood prays an Almighty God
For me his Persecutor, his love spred
On all the Family, draws after him
As well the Father as the Daughter, I
Have made a Martyr of him, and his death
Hath made me Christian, I procur'd his bliss,
He will work mine, so is it that a Christian
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Whose event is so sweet! Paulina, give me
Thy hand, bring fetters here, and sacrifice
Unto your gods these two new Christians
I am one, She is so, observe your anger.
Paul.
How happily at last I find my Father!
This blessed change maketh my joy compleat.
Fel.
Daughter, it doth belong but to the hand
That doth it.
Sev.
Who would not be touch'd with
A spectacle so tender? I believe
Such changes come not without miracle,
Your Christians without doubt, which we in vain
Do persecute, have something in them which
Surpasseth humane, they do lead a life
With so much innocence, that Heaven doth owe them
Some great acknowledgement; to shew themselves
More strong the more they are oppress'd, is not
Th'effect of common vertues; I still lov'd them,
What ever might be said on't, I ne'r saw them
To dye, but this heart sighed for't, and perhaps,
I shall one day be better known unto them:
In the mean time I like that every one
Should have his own gods, and that he should serve them
After his own way without fear of punishment,
If you are Christians, fear no more my hate,
I love them, Felix and from their Protector,
I will not make a Persecutor of them
In you: guard well your power, take it again,
Serve your God, serve your Monarch, I will lose
My credit with his Majesty, or he
Shall shake off this severity, by his
Unjust hate he doth too much wrong himself.
Fel.
Daign gracious Heaven to end his work in you,
And one day to give you what you deserve,
T'inspire into you all his sacred Truths:
For us we blesse this fortunate adventure,
Come, let us go to give our Martyrs buriall,
To kiss their precious bodies, and to put them
Jn holy place, in consecrated ground,
Then let us make the name of God resound.
FINIS.
| Polyeuctes, or the Martyr | |