University of Virginia Library

Scena Prima.

Enter Virtusus hastily, and Fidelio following, in each hand a naked Rapier.
Fid.
Oh save thee Great Prince, from yonder Hill
A fierce and cruell Beast comes raging.

Vir.
Where is this hideous Monster?

Fid.
Alas! it follows thee Here, take this sword,
And stand upon thy Guard: See, how he yawnes,
As if he meant to swallow thee alive:
His eyes are numberless from which proceeds
Such a sulphureous flame, that alas, I fear,
The very smell will kill thee: Oh what a black
And noysome mist his gaping mouth sends forth?
His tongues spit floods of venome, and his reaching tayle
Sweeps down whole mountaines, on his
Cristed back doth rise, so many and such massy spears,
That you would swear whole Armies
Came to thy destruction.

Vir.
I see nothing, sir, so horrid.

Fid.
Alas, it comes invisible.

Vir.
Would'st have me fight with shadowes?
I fear you are distracted sir.

Fid.
So, now yon are safe from company, I'le be more plain.
This fierce inhumane Beast, which I so mention'd,
Lodges here, here in my Breast his den is,
Long on my inmost Bowels he has gnaw'd
Lacking his worthy prey; But now on thee
He means to seize. Revenge his Name is;
You may guess the Monster.

Vir.
My innocence is ignorant of his Nature.

Fid.
I'le prompt it in few words. You must dye.

Vir.
It is acknowledged: So must we All.

Fid.
Nay, by this Hand I mean, Revenges Instrument.

Vir.
I am so innocent,
I can't perswade my self to credit you.

Fid.
Cowards still plead Innocence.
Dar'st thou not fight?

Vir.
My cause too good is, yours too bad.
Think what a staine my honor would receive,
Should I but fight when such an inequality
Parts our causes.

Fid.
Oh Coward!

Vir.
Are you more valiant, Because
In a distemper'd rage you dare draw a sword,
Which not provok't you durst not?
'Tis he is truly valiant that will fight,
Not when his furious Blood boyles
In his veines thus, not when a fervent inundation
Swells his distemper'd channels, but when it coldly flowes
With a mild, soft, and quiet motion:
Those streams that run with such a hideous violence
Are still the shallowest; The silent waters
Are most dangerous.
If I have wrong'd you sir in such a manner,
That nought but death will expiate my crime,
Let me understand my fault before I dye.
Beasts do not fight without their naturall parlye.

Fid.
I scarce have so much patience
As to tell thee: Thou had'st a sister.

Vir.
And, hope I have one yet. What of her?

Fid.
Canst thou remember her, and no crimson Blush
Stain thy immodest cheeks? oh impudence!

Vir.
When I remember her,
I have less guilt than I expected:
For if my wronging her my onely fault is,
Heaven knowes I am virtuous.

Fid.
Hell is divine then: Less Tyranny is harbour'd there.
If for to cloyster up a sister be a vertue,
Let me be vicious Heavens: For to have kill'd her
Had been charity; But to bury her alive
Where she must still consume in Loves hot torturing flames
And never perish, is an act that Saints
All humane Malice. Know'st not me yet?
Know'st not Fidelio?

Vir.
Fidelio! Let me embrace thee: I must.

Fid.
Keep off dissembling Crocadile: Too long
Has the thought of thee already rioted in my bosome,
Which now I'le banish quite: Prepare to dye.

Vir.
Hold yet your hand:
She is not in a Nunnery as you think.

Fid.
Ha! Is she dead then? Oh my misconstruing soul!
'Tis too true: Can I know it,
And let thee live a minute after?

Vir.
Do not abuse your patience: She is not dead.

Fid.
What happy place containes her then?

Vir.
I know not that sir.
When that my Father did with bad success
Send unto Delphos, to demand what fortune
Should betide my sister, after that solemn Contract
That was made between you, He received from thence
This short but fatall Oracle.
Brabantas take this answer, and no other,
Thy daughter's born to disinthrone her Brother.
These words did so inrage my Father,
To think his own bowels should root out
His own posterity, that nought but
The immurement of my sister could asswage his Passion,
Which shortly he determin'd to performe;
But she, the night before that dismall day,
The silent darkness helping her escape,
Departed from the Court; But whither
I am uncertain, for my raging Father
Supposing me the plotter of her flight, next day
Did banish me his Kingdom, on pain of death
Not to return without her.
First to Pelorus I begun my voyage,
Which then I found all drown'd in tears,
Lamenting your departure, which as I heard
Her late suppos'd immurement had caus'd.
Long there I staid not, but sayling onwards,
The tempestuous Sea cast me unawares
On this infortunate Kingdome; VVhere I shall never finde her.

Fid.
And would'st thou carry her back again
To her imprisonment? Oh! the unconscionable
Cruelty of a Brother!

Vir.
Do not deceive your self. Heaven Knowes
My thoughts are innocent.

Fid.
Talk not of innocence false man,
It is a virtue which thy childhood nere could boast off,
Thy tainted blood runs thick within thy veines,
And I must vent it, lest it prove dangerous.

Vir.
'Twill prove as clear as christall
In token of my Innocence: No silver wandring stream
Shall with a purer current flow, than this
My unpolluted blood shall, to invite
Thy guilty hands, to wash them of their staine.

Fid.
There I could bathe eternally, and never faint.
Prepare. Have at you sir. So cunning?

They fight, and a Letter drops.
Vir.
Hold: What had I forgot?
For this same crime Fidelio I will not dye
Innocence is wrong'd in't: I'le give thee
A juster cause for thy Revenge, thy sisters Will:
Here in this letter 'tis inclos'd.

He gives him the Letter.
Fid.
Letters to me from Thesbia? art sure
The inclos'd injunctions are to kill thee?

Vir.
Her threatning brow at my departure told me so.
When I receiv'd them, me thoughts her face appear'd
Like to a quiet stream crispt on the suddain
By some gentle winde, which soon, too soone
Arose to Billowes; Then her tongue
Proclaim'd me vagabond, commanding me to finde
My sister and her Brother, or neer to see her more.

Fid.
Thou wilt grow odious to all the world.
She lov'd thee once Virtusus, and ever would
Had not thy virtue fail'd, for which
If now she has sent thy doome,
Millions of Armies shall not hold my hand
From acting a Revenge, that shall puzzle
All the Furies for to second.

He reads.
Vir.
Never did guilty Prisoner at the Bar
Await the sentence of the Magistrate, with such
A Holy and Religious fear as I do mine.
See how his clouded brow
Already doomes me guilty: Such another look
Would save the Executioner his labour.

Fid.
Oh cruell sister! Would'st have me pardon him?
Think'st thou he is innocent? the cruell Leopard
Is less spotted.
Enter a Messenger.
The Newes?

Mess.
The Prince Charastus is return'd from Court,
And does desire a speedie conference.

Fid.
Wee'l wait him instantly.

Mess.
But good sir, stay not; The affaire,
He sayes, is very weighty.

Exit.
Fid.
My sisters pleasure, and the Kings affairs
Defers our combate till some other time, meane while
Read this inclosed Letter, my sister sends it thee,
Shee'l not the Proverb break,
Love bids us write what we are sham'd to speak.

Exeunt.