University of Virginia Library

Actus quintus.

Scena Prima.

Enter Constantina and Flavanda.
Con.
If thou wilt know a reason why I sent for thee,
Ask of my heart, for that would never be
At quiet till I had seen thee,
But rowling still in my disturbed breast
Prompted my soul to dye not stain'd with such forgetfulness.

Fla.
Thy immaculate mind tells me thy soul is pure,
I should suspect the heavens before its whiteness:
The alabaster Mines helpt by the Suns reflection
Cannot shew a piece so candid.

Con.
I cannot boast its colour, 'tis a soul one,
And ere I dye, it will be one continued spot
More ugly than deformity it self: There is
A crime that I must perpetrate, or else my Ghost
Cannot rest quiet in its urne.

Fla.
There is no crime so horrid, but thy former goodness
Has made a virtue: One drop of poyson
Pour'd into the Ocean, polluteth not the water,
But clears it self and adds unto the stream.

Con.
Ingratitude is a sea of venome,
Which my malicious soul has entertain'd,
And must discharge her poyson upon thee;
Thou that hast been the partner of my sorrows
Must now become the subject of my malice.

Fla.
Thou canst not find a fitter subject, I dare
Encounter with the deadliest poyson thou canst give
And think it a preservative.

Con.
Mine is the worst of venomes;
If thou but tak'st it, 'tis not thy body only
That must perish, but thy soul too.
To what sure destruction do I run on either side?
If I refuse to sue unto thee, I am ingratefull,
And if I do, the same stain brands me still.
Canst thou be inconstant? wonder not Flavanda
Why I ask so rude a question,
For by thy inconstancy, I must be proved constant,
Thy weakness must be my triumph,
And thy disloyalty my eternall glory.
To ask thee now whether thou couldst leave Charastus
Were a Tautology as absurd as to name, Flavanda
And most excellent, I know thou dost
Already understand me.

Fla.
Yet I am ignorant for whom thou pleadst.

Con.
I plead for one that loves thee with an ardour
More fervent than Charastus, one that will not waver
When he sees whole Chataracks of beauty, much less
At the small suspition of a feature. Fidelio
Is the man; which ought you to respect then most
Him that left me for you, or you for me?

Fla.
Be not mistaken Constantina,
That love that he profess'd to me was only feign'd:
Charastus sent him but to trie me.

Con.
I prithee say not so; thou wilt undo
A Virgin with a truth; if he be constant,
How impious then was my suspition.

Fla.
When you were gon, he told his treachery,
And with what plots he sought for to betray me.

Con.
No more.
Thou hast returnd my poyson to the sull;
The false suspition of his Loyalty heaps sin on sin.
My soul's one leprosie so foul,
That surely the flames in which I must be sacrific'd
Will 'gainst their Nature downwards tend,
And hurry me to Hell. Oh Fidelio, never before
I wisht thee false: thy constancy will be my ruine.

Enter Fidelio.
Fid.
Oh Constantina here shall my knee take root,
Untill thy voice denounce my sentence: This penitence
Entreats no pardon, 'tis Justice rather Rigour I desire.

Con.
Let this suffice
To shew my duty and my penitence: could I fall lower.
My ambition to out-go thee in humility
Should force me down.

Fid.
Kneel'st thou to me? the earth shall not resist me,
But my obedient soul shall press me down,
Till nature bids me stay, lest I should
Violate her Lawes by falling upwards.

Con.
Thou canst not kneel Fidelio and I stand,
When the Sun is down, the exhalations fall.
Arise, and I will personate those vapours.

Fid.
Thy sentence must dissolve my frozen joynts
Or I shall fall again: Canst thou forgive me?

Con.
Canst thou forgive me?

Fid.
No, I cannot, it lies not in heavens power
To forgive where none is guilty: A pardon
Does belong unto a Conscience stain'd with wickedness,
But thou art innocent, so innocent
That the purest Chrystall will confess some spots
To see thy whiteness.

Con.
To make me clear, prove not your self disloyall.
Or you inconstant are, or I more stain'd
Than misbelieving Atheists with my incredulity.

Fid.
Thou art become more glorious by thy incredulity:
Thou couldst suspect, and yet be virtuous.
Thou thoughtst me false, yet lov'd me still,
When I upon a supposition sought Revenge,
And most unluckily obtain'd it.

Con.
Yet I was Author of thy crime:
My soul suspition was thy sins sad president.

Fid.
Thou mak'st my sin appear more horrid:
Thy suspition was but the confirmation of thy constancy,
And were that a President to me
How wicked then were I for to be vicious
Because thou wert virtuous.

Con.
I cannot conquer you with arguments, yet
In civility you must yield: contend not with a woman;
That victory will be no glory surely;
You must not sir deny me that: See,
My soul pours out it self in a petition.

Fid.
Weep'st thou Constantina: I'le plough the earth,
And sow those precious seeds, wee'l have
A crop of Pearl, more glorious than the Orientall:
Venus shall have a neck-lace of these Gems,
Dianas Virgin Zone these beads shall beautifie,
The other Deities shall labour in our Harvest,
And think one seed a pay too prodigall.
Weep Sweet no more, thou hast shed enough
To purchase immortality, I prithee weep no more
Lest I be forc't to sow my Tares
Among that heavenly grain.

Fla.
How well those drops become them? the pleasing dew
Adds not a greater lustre to the Rose.
With what a sweet variety they flow?
How prettily they sport in method?
One Knocks.
Alas! one knocks Fidelio.

Fid.
I will not wake to hear him. Tell him
I say I will not: in this sweet slumber
I'de not disturb the Heavens with a petition,
Or should they call, I would refuse to hear them.

Enter Arontas.
Aron.
Most noble Shepherd, the King expects you in the Temple,
For to see the sacrifice, and you fair Shepherdess
(I am sorry I must become so sad a messenger)
Must presently prepare to suffer.

Exit.
Fid.
Never did voyce jar hoarser in my ears,
Oh what a hellish sound it leaves!
Hells three mouth'd Porter joyn'd to Scylla's quire
Cannot howl out so sad a Message.
Prepare to suffer? What is that?
Comment on those sad words sweet Heavens,
Unfold that hideous mysterie: I dare not think
Upon the exposition 'tis so horrid.
Know'st thou what 'tis to suffer?

Con.
Yes, 'tis to dye, and be immortall.

Fid.
Death is the common rode to immortality; men
Whose lives abhor'd all virtue but Repentance,
In abundant troops, flock by that common High-way,
And shall she whose Virgin soul no thought has blemish'd
Find no unknown path peculiar to such excellence?

Con.
To dye a spotless sacrifice is a glorious path
Nere trod on but by them whose Saint like presence
Still addeth to its curiositie: The Altar is no funerall Pile,
That melts its fuell into Ashes, but a refining fire,
As gentle as those flames from which
The purified Gold receives it lustre.

Fid.
Oh do not deceive thy self: How often do we see
The Sacrifices perish, and nere return
More glorious by their sufferings.

Con.
'Tis true, that fire that cleanses but the Gold
Consumes the drosser Mettalls: Had bea [illeg.],
Our common sacrifices, but souls confirm'd divine
By Innocence and Reason, we might adore 'um
On our Altars without the blot of superstition.

Fid.
If death must purchase immortality,
Thou must not, shalt not be immortall:
There is a debt due unto Nature for thy goodness.
Live here an everlasting mortall then and pay it.
The glory freely given unto desert
Is greater than if purchas'd.

Con.
But who can give it? 'Tis not in Natures power.
She frames our goodness for the Heavens;
There I must live, hem'd in with happiness:
There no felicity will be wanting, but when
These tears makes me remember thee.

Fid.
Let not the thought of me thy murderer
Disturb thy happiness: I will revenge thy quarrell to the full.
Something must be done: Farewell thou heavenly Canditate;
Thou hast a place selected mongst the Deities
Where thou must sit and teach the ignorant world
That constancy, which none but thou couldst ever boast of.
I shall betray a womanish passion in me
Should I stay longer. Farewell thou new elected Deity.

Exit.
Con.
My Tears so stop my speech, I cannot
Bid Farewell.

Enter Thesbia.
Thes.
What weeping Constantina? Can the fear of death
From out the circle of thy purest innocence
Draw such a faintness.

Con.
The senseless trees, Hearbs, plants, and flowers
In dewy tears lament the Suns sad absence, and shall I
Deny that duty to Fidelio when a sad Ecclips
Must hide him from me to eternity.
Tears are not Emblemes of a faint belief,
The hottest dayes melt often into showers.
Oh Thesbia! my heart will break,
And cheat the Altar of its sacrifice.

Thes.
Here, drink this Nepenthe's juice then,
'Twill ease thy heart, do not refuse it, the Priest
Just now bequeath'd it to me as an heavenly Cordiall.

Con.
What had I forgot? See here's the same.
Oh 'twas a Holy man; He would fain have died
To save my life.

Thes.
So would he to have sav'd mine: Trust me
He made me weep to see his silver tears
Distill in such abundance from his eyes;
My dear, dear father could have don no more.

Con.
Lets then on bended knees in adoration of his charity
Wish that the Heavens will never be ingratefull,
But still showre down on his deserts a due felicity.

Thes.
Upon our knees we wish it;
And as this juice from our orecharged souls
Expels our miseries, so may his sorrows vanish.
They drink.
'Tis down. My congeled blood late frozen to my heart
Dissolves, and with a quick agility
Leaps in my new-fill'd veins. My thoughts have pleasant fuell,
And every sense is ravish't with an unknown happiness.

Con.
She sings.
she sleeps.

Fla.
Thus ceast the dying Nightingale, enamor'd sleep
Delighted with thy Harmony stole the last accent
From our ears. Thesbia! what has her voyce
Husht thee into a slumber too, and left me here
The sole resister of its power? Sleep on sweet souls,
And when ye wake, think it no pain
If ye be forc't too soon to sleep again.

Exeunt.

Sce. 2.

An Altar discover'd: Loud Musick.
Enter Bermudo, Arontas, Spadatus, Halisdus, Virtusas and Fidelio.
Ber.
What means this silence Shepherd? me thinks you look
As if you were at some most solemn funerall,
Where the corps of an endeared friend is to be interr'd:
These visages become that place; but when you go
To salute the heavenly Deities with your free oblations,
You must put on a far more pleasing countenance
That the Gods may pleasure in your offerings,
And delight in your burnt sacrifice.

Fid.
My divining soul great King, foretels
An universall ruine in this sacrifice,
A generall numness prompts my heart unto a sad,
And deadly melancholy: Surely I have of fended.

Ber.
Yes in thy drooping zeal. Come, let not fear
Hinder that devotion, which thou beganst
With such a noble resolution, to thy immortall glory.

Fid.
I do conjure you Sir by that hate which you
Conceive gainst women; By your Crown, by your Scepter,
By all the Gods I do conjure you
To spare this humane sacrifice.
If you needs must offer to their Deities,
Surfet their Altars with the richest gums,
Fetch forth the Phænix nest for an oblation,
Or let the world lament the loss of all their cattle,
Prophane not thus their Altars with a womans blood.

Ber.
Thou hast won so much on me by thy former service,
That to deny thee now were a most vild ingratitude
Did not the Gods require it: my vow to Heavens is past
And cannot be recall'd, to promise them
The malefactors for an offering, and then
Cheat 'um with a sheep on some such trifle,
Is not to sacrifice but defraud.

Fid.
The Gods nere feast on humane entrails,
Their Nectar is not mortalls blood:
Think you their stomacks have so base an appetite
To hunger after that which men do loath?
Repentance is their banquet, the steam of fervent sighes
Their food, and tears not blood's the potion they delight in:

Ber.
Be not ingratefull Shepherd;
Strive not, for my love, to make me impious:
Justice and fidelity commands them for a sacrifice.

Fid.
Sacrifices must be pure, not spotted;
The fairest beasts are destin'd to the Altar.

Ber.
The sinner gets his pardon sooner
By his own sufferings, than if h'ad suffer'd by a Proxee.

Fid.
I did belye her Innocence, believe me Sir
She is innocent, as innocent as the new-begotten child.

Ber.
To purge a sin, oft-times a Lamb must dye,
And so shall she, our zeal will be the greater.

Fid.
Rather your impiety:
Who offers up one Godhead to anothers honour?
Be not so irreligious to destroy that gem,
Which I adore, as a resplendant Deity
Sent from Heaven, to beautifie the earth.

Ber.
Take heed; Be not so fondly superstitious.
Thus to contract a Deity to a Beast.

Fid.
A Beast! can Heavens heare this,
And no thunderbolt tell the proud King he lyes?
A beast! wert thou arm'd with thunder,
Or were it but to see thee ten thousand deaths,
Nor piety, nor Religion should withhold me,
But I would tear that venemous tongue out,
And hang it like a lying Meteor in the Ayr.

Ber.
He grows frantick: Alas poor man,
He deserves my pity more than anger.

Fid.
Where sleeps your Justice now?
Rouze up your drousie headed Lawes
To take revenge on him that dares their utmost.

Solemn Musick.
Ber.
Whence this sad Musick?

Enter Sperazus, Flavanda, and others bringing in Constantina and Thesbia, veild All in a solemn manner.
Fla.
Cease your petitions: it lies not in the power
Of your prayers, nor his mercy to recall 'um:
Fate has deceiv'd the Altar Sir; The Lambs
That should have been the sacrifice, are dead.

Ber.
Dead!

Fla.
Yes, Your threats great King has prov'd
Their executioner: Imagination that unnatural flame
Has not consum'd, but broke their tender Hearts.
Here you may see the ruines of those well-built Temples.

She unvails them.
Fid.
Ha! Heavens vanish't unto Heaven;
Why did'st thou steal thy death divinest?
Why did thy flitting soul poast so away,
And give no warning to thy friends?
Hands off ye dogs, do not deny the Gods their sacrifice.
He snatches at a Sword, and the Guard hold him.
Me thinks the Genius of the world doth stagger;
The affrighted Earth turns round, and sends forth
Foggy trees, in a continued lamentation for its loss:
The Heavens stand still to entertain her ex excellence,
And all the Planets turn to Constellations
With amazement: Copernicus, thy opinion
Now is verified.

Ber.
Most reverend father, though cruell destiny
Has abrig'd part of our triumph by their deaths
Yet to manifest our duty, in all ceremonious order
Let their corps be sacrific'd.

Spe.
I dare not Sir pollute the Altars
With a dead oblation: High Heavens will be displeased
With our offerings; The very beasts abhor the dead.
Let but their bodies be inter'd, & then come
And offer a few prayers, and without doubt
The Deities will be appeas'd.

Ber.
Your will shall rule us

Exeunt.
Manent Fidelio and Virtusus with Constantina and Thesbia.
Fid.
Oh death, thou grand Commissioner of Fate,
Seize these my vitall spirits, since she is gon
Whose warmer breath so oft has nourish'd them.
What! canst thou not hear now Death?
Art thou grown' astonish't at thy late got prize?
Assume her quickly heavens; Death wil forget
His office else and let the populous world
Surfet with multiplicity.

Vir.
Did ever traveller so faint to see
The end of all his travells? Has all my wearied steps
Tended to this Home, and tremble I to behold it?
Where be those pleasing smiles, those wheeling eyes,
And that harmonious voyce, which once did call me, Brother?
Are all gon? Has death ravish't thy Virgin blushes too,
To adorn thy soul translated to some Deity?

Fid.
That new star which the Astronomers of late
Observ'd in Cassiopeia, was but thy Harbinger,
Sent to prepare that roome to entertain thy excellence:
There thou must set, Queen Regent of the Constellation;
Oh be my Zenith ever!
Lend me thy influence to direct my actions,
And sooner shall the Adamant forget the North,
Than I thy sacrifice.

Vir.
What Justice would not stagger
To condemn such excellence? what Tyger almost famish'd
Would not stand amaz'd, and rather starve,
Than make a prey of such perfections?

Fid.
Why mad'st her Nature of such goodness,
And tookst no care for to preserve her?
Me thinks those lips, soft and as ruddy
As the purest wax, invites impression.
He kisses her.
Heavens, be not jealous If I kiss her.
They're warme: a crimson blush begins
To beautifie her cheeks, and sayes I was immodest:
Oh Heavens? She stirs too; Now for some glorious apparition.

Con.
What new fire burns my polluted breast?
Whence come these unknown flames?
Guard me some chaster power; good providence
Redeem this Temple from a prophanation.

Fid.
Thou hast mistook thy way divinest; Heaven
Lies not here; That has a narrow path
Nere trod on but by vertue; Go, Knock
At Repentance gate, one tear of thine
Will easily compell an entrance: Thy goodness surely
Is not ignorant, it is thy charity only
To enrich the earth again with thy diviner presence
That has caus'd this wilfull error.

Con.
If thou bee'st here, I'le seek no other path,
This is the only way my wishes aim at.

Fid.
Keep off; The beams of thy divinity
Will consume me; I begin to melt;
My knees more stubborn than the Elephants
Bows down in adoration with thy lustre.

Con.
I cannot tell what strange effects
Sleep has procur'd upon my outward shape;
My thoughts are sure the same, they have Fidelio
Still their subject, which makes me confident
That I am not chang'd, but still am Constantina.

Fid.
Thou art some Goddess rather, which
To appear more glorious has assum'd her shape;
Alas, the Heavens has stole her soul
For an immortall Pyramide, and it would be
Too great a prejudice to it, should it return
From such celestiall happiness.

Con.
I am transform'd in nothing but my tongue,
That once was powerfull to charme belief;
VVher's now its vain Authority? Thesbia
I prithee sweet awake, and tell thy incredulous Brother
That I live, yet straight must dye
Kild with his most misjudging charity.

Vir.
'Tis she; oh Thesbia my dearest sweet, Awake
Awake, Virtusus calls thee; Depart not in a dream;
Let not thy soul be ravish't with those joyes
Which heaven presents thee with; good sleep
Be not so cruell to be eternall.

Enter Sperazus.
Spe.
Trifle not time Fidelio with these Ceremonies;
Arise, 'twas only sleep caus'd by a potion
That deceiv'd the King.

Fid.
May I believe you?

Spe.
Belive your senses; why so fearfull?
She's no Ghost.

Fid.
Liv'st thou Constantina? thou art so pure
I do suspect it.

Thes.
What pleasing waves rocks my delighted soul?
How is it tost within a gulf of happiness? Ha!

Vir.
Let it float still, divinest, the enamor'd waves
Will be made happy by its presence.
Nay, fly not Thesbia from the Haven:
Here are no trayterous sands, no sudden storms,
Nor unseen Rocks to ruine thee. All
Is as free from danger as thy wishes.
Why casts thou Anchor? Hop'st thou to be securer
In that miserable Ocean? Oh Thesbia
Thou wilt raise storms in that securer Port
If thou deniest an entrance.

Thes.
Surely you do mistake me Sir.
Thesbia was a woman, and can you love her,
And think her so immodest to turn man.

Con.
Thou canst no longer Thesbia lye conceal'd,
He knows All.

Thes.
Ha'st thou betraid me Constantina?
Oh let me sink under my shames sad burthen.

Vir.
Wee'l sink together then; thou and I
Will be each others monument.

Spe.
No more!
I heare Bermudo coming: true Lovers care
Will in possession oft-times breed dispair.

Exeunt.

Sce. 3.

Enter Bermudo.
Ber.
My Plots still fail, and all my shafts
Shot gainst resisting walls
Bring back a ruine to the sender that sacrifice
Wherewith I thought to expiate my crime
Fate has converted to a murther so horrid,
That I must sink, or get a pardon for devotion.
Oh how my groveling soul prest down with wickedness
Rowles like the imprison'd wind
Pent in the hollow caverns of the Earth,
Finding no vent to aspire, but still must lye
Under the heavie weight of foul impiety.
Repentance must redeem it from its thraldome, a Ransome
Which I dare not think on lest envious Fates
Should turn that too into a wickedness.
The greatest are not still the best I see,
Kings are but crown'd to fall deckt with a pompous infamy.
A grone within.
Ha! what dismall noyse beats that alarm
To my guilty conscience? my affrighted blood retires,
And leaves my trembling arms
Shaking like sapless branches at the Northern wind,
My feet the Basis of this tottering Pyramide
Cleaves close unto the earth, whilst my erected hair
Stiffer then bristles of a Porcupise
Stares in the face of Heaven: Oh I am thunderstruck.
Enter Constantina and Thesbia severally.
Ha! the easie stomack't earth vomits their dead,
To tortors me; Am I environ'd round with Ghosts?
Conceal me ye good Heavens;
Spread an eternall darkness ore the world,
That very sprights may wander still in ignorance:
VVrap my affrighted soul in a defence
Not to be pierc'd with apprehensions eye;
Make me invisible or blind.

Con.
Heavens cannot hide you from my just revenge
Without the forfeiture of goodness: Murder.
That crying sin has like a power Spell
Summon'd my scarce cold corps, not fully setled
In my latest urn, to appear again on earth,
And force an accusation of thy conscience.

Ber.
Mount mount my soul, and with the swiftest winds
Fly to some unknown Land, where the affrighted Sun
Nere yet durst enter, nor the amazed Heavens
Think on a place so horrid: where the corrupted ayr
Darts forth infection, & the ulciferous winds,
Whiffs plagues to the inhabitants more loathsome
Than the stench breath from polluted charnell houses;
Where death surfets his fatall arrow,
And each funerall Knell yeld by a dying Mandrake
Proves still the dirge of an ensuing frailty.
Is there no Sanctuary for a guilty conscience?
Let me then sink, sink to the Center.
Release those captive Gyants Heavens, that now groan
Under the heavie weight of mighty Mountains
Hurle Pelion upon Ossa, and Olimpus upon Pelion,
And all their fetters upon me, to press me down
Beyond the reach of Register: Let me not suffer
In their Annalls too, but let a sad mortality
Of Remembrance ceaz all succeeding times,
That I may fall forgotten.

Thes.
Is this the way to expiate thy crime Bermudo?
Are prophaner wishes thy repentance? take Heed
Do not precipitate thy inclining ruine; Pull not
That hovering Justice on thy head, lest it fall forgive
No less than fatall.

Ber.
Thou blest Idæa of a form divine,
My rash devotion; entombe Revenge amongst those
Sacred Reliques, and let thy incensed ghost
Sleep in its peacefull urne: oh be as mild as excellent:
Draw hence those looks, fill'd with such pleasing horror,
And each succeeding day shall add
New Trophees to thy mercie.

Thes.
Thinkst thou my patient Ghost can rest in quiet,
Whil'st thy majestick cruelty tramples ore the ruines
Of my lost honor? Can I behold thy ambitious mind
Sweld higher with my sufferings, and no pious envie
Seek to abate thy triumph? shall wronged innocence
Unrevenged lie, whil'st charity proclames it lawfull?
A crime on punish'd is a virtue in the opinion
Of the giddy multitude.

Ber.
Let not misconstruing fools contract those beams
Which in a bountious manner use to flow
Even to the period of their lustre.
No Mortalls force procur'd my hate:
I still preserv'd thee like a blooming Rose,
VVater'd thee with my choisest streams, and sand thee
VVith my pleasingst gales, till envious fate
Stole that delicious Bud, not fully ripened.

Thes.
Thou hadst forestall'd his office else; and like
A treacherous wretch to make my ruine seeme more horrid,
VVhen that my pamper'd Appetite lay bathing in felicity
Thou wouldst have thrown me headlong to destruction,
There to die like to some harmeless Beast
Fatted for slaughter.

Ber.
It was devotion sought thy ruine, I was compelld
To play the Tyrant by Religion: and like
A carefull Mariner in a storm, to throw away
A Gem, priz'd far beyond my Diadem,
VVitness ye Heavens how oft my Zeal
Suffer'd affections checks; how oft my Love
Held back my hand from ruining that comely Temple
VVhich I so admir'd, and ever must, though now
Imagination makes it horrid.

Thes.
Play not still the Hypocrite;
VVhy mention'st Love? Did ever Love
Pronounce so sad a sentence.

Ber.
Witness ye powers before whom I kneel
How dearly, dearly I did love thee; And surely
Had not fate been so hasty, I had tug'd hard
VVith my Religion to have sav'd thee.

Enter Charastus, Brabantas, Sperazus, Flavanda, Fidelio, Virtusus, Arontas, Spadatus, Attendants and Guard.
Cha.
His own words condemn him.

Omnes.
They do most mighty Prince, and we obey.

Cha.
Love that so long has bar'd me from my throne
Once more reseats me in my former dignity.
Seiz on the Usurper Guard.

Ber.
Hands off, Rebellious Miscreants, what unjust authority
Prophanes our sacred person? Can Scicilians
Grow so impious, to violate their Kings?

Cha.
The date of your supremacis is expir'd; your approaching end
Must put a fatall period to your Tyranny: A Crown
Is off too pure a mettle to endure long
VVithin so gross a Mine.

Ber.
Unheard of wickedness! Heavens can you hear this,
And dart no quick consuming plague into his treacherous bosome:
VVhere be those Lawes which we Scicilians still
Held as Religious orders? where's Piety
And Allegiance, our ador'd Penates.

Cha.
Here in this breast: Long has Religion
And my former vow maintain'd thy Tyrany:
Long have I seen thy pompous height
Grown riotous with my ruine, yet still have flatter'd it
Without ambitious interruptions: No
High swell'd thought has once desir'd a repossession
Nor ever should, had not thy love of him
Declar'd a forfeture.

Ber.
Take not so poor a Covert for thy irreligion:
A Boyes chast Love forfeits no Diadem.

Thes.
Thus, that false title I renounce: thus
I appear my self, deckt with my virgins innocence;
She discovers her self.
These blushes speaks me woman Sir.

Ber.
Am I outreacht in policy? good Fate
Send some invisible dart, and kil me quickly,
Shame will deceive thee of thy triumph else.

Spe.
Be not asham'd Bermudo: It is an honor for to fall
Thrust by a Royall hand: A practis'd Polititian
No ignoble brain did work thy ruine.

Bra.
Our revenge must thank thee Thesbia;
Thou hast dissolv'd this mass of Tyranny,
And brought our long-lost honors to their former lustre:
We owe duty to thee for our second birth,
And ignorance must pay ingratitude, if you refuse
The reacceptance of that Crown bestowd so freely
By your Liberality. I will not say Virtusus has desert
Whose just heat may chalenge your affection,
That were to extoll him beyond humane merit,
But I dare say though poor in worth
Hee's rich in his endeavors.

Spe.
Her blushes do bewray her Love, which long ere this
Had met its wish'd for happiness, Had not revenge
For my second Fidelio been too obstinate.
The love of him made her forgoe her Country,
And on unknown Lands hazard these many dangers
In his search: She told it to me, when her Confessor.
Here take her Virtusus as a Virgin Sacrifice,
Pure as the timely blossome whose forward Zeal
Decks the arising Spring.

Bra.
I'le make the harmony compleat:
Thus from that cloyster which my timerous age
Before design'd thee too, a parents care releases thee;
And with the same devotion confines thee to Fidelio;
Turn thy Repentance to obedience, thy zeal to Love,
And all thy care into a setled constancy,
That from the ruines of that chaster Temple
A sacred Structure may erect it self, no less perspicuous.

Spe.
May our Kingdoms joyn'd by this double concord
Like two flames of incence shoot up still
In one continued lustre, whil'st our souls
Peircht on their sparing glories
Reach an immortality.

Cha.
Can I yet live and see my life divided?
Shall Hymeneall flames consume her Virgin Zone
And I stand by a vain Spectator: Patience
Thou art a virtue.

Fla.
What sad thought great King can in the midst
Of this solemnity draw such a veil ore that majestick splendor?
Which in his perfect brightness ought to shine
To the refreshing of your nummed Subjects.

Cha.
The remembrance of my lost Sister, hangs like a clog
Upon my soul, yet prompts me forward to revenge.
Can Charastus triumph whil'st Desdonella lies
In her eternall sleep, rockt with the pleasing Lullaby
Of falling waters? Can I maintain a thought
Tending to happiness, before Revenge
Has quietly entomb'd her? first shall my rage
Swell higher than the streams that buried her,
That all may perish with its inundation.

Fla.
Rob not the Heavens Charastus of the honour
Due for your happiness: can you be so ingratefull
To their mercy, to let revenge
Cheat them of their alacritie clam'd justly by their favors.

Ber.
Stop not the current of his anger: Let it flow.
Here are no trembling barks that fear its vigor.
Could he invent a torment which never yet
His predecessors boasted of, my patience
Should convert it into charity.
Enter Desdonella and Halisdus.
Diana! amaze me not ye Heavens:
Can she vouchsafe such favor unto him
Who late abus'd her with immodesty? my incredultry
Sins too much against her virtue: 'Tis she,
The Ayr's perfum'd, the odoriferous clouds
Fill'd with delicious spices distills to odors:
The fragrant flowers as she walks
Offers their sweetest incence, and where she treads
The adoring grass bows in a pious gratitude.
Are ye all amaz'd? why kneel ye not,
And with a generall adoration entertain that Deity
That freely comes to visit you? Thus greatest Goddess
My obedient soul submits with truest penitence,
I must confess I did abuse your presence
With most prophane & unchast ceremonies,
Yet I must say it was my Zeal,
And the assurance of your clemency, that made me.

Des.
Arise Bermudo: it is I must kneel;
Thus as a Subject to your power I bow,
But as a powerfull Subject thus I stand.
If my supposed death has in your noble breast
Kindled religious sparks, if Desdonellas fate
Has mov'd your patience to Revenge,
Calm your disturbed thoughts; See I live
This shape is truly reall.

Cha.
My Sister Desdonella, more welcome than my immortality:
Unto what power shall I ascribe this happiness?

Des.
I owe my life unto his curtesie;
He mock't Bermud'os Statutes with my feigned death,
Whil'st in a Cave my melancholy Lute and I
Flatter'd each others misery.

Cha.
Surely Halisdus thou wert born
To make thy King ungratefull; my joyes abound
To an unmeasur'd height, I fear they are
Too vehement to last.

Ber.
I am amaz'd; my converted appetite
Courts an unknown desire; my fervent zeal
Turns to a looser flame, and worships now
The Temple for the Deity.

Des.
Why now so strange Bermudo? didst thou admire
The structure only for the builders sake?
Is it become less glorious in anothers right?
Can virtue vanish with a name.

Ber.
No Desdonella thy suppos'd divinity
Made me perceive something that still is excellent;
All is not vanisht with those beams,
The departed Sun leaves still a heat behind him.

Des.
But can that heat, cast from those weaker rayes
Extract so full an adoration? Canst thou but pay
A liking to its fervor, and not contemn it
For the absent Sun?

Ber.
How impious were I should I hate that shape
Which I durst think Diana would inhabit?
When I contemn it, may my blood forget its motion,
My soul her faculties, and the Heavens my soul.

Cha.
On that condition take thy throne again.
Learn now to be a King, and rule with such pleasing majestie
That thy Subjects may sooner doubt thy favor,
Than fear thy anger.

Ber.
This Councell might be welcome unto them
That do desire a Diadem; But unto him
That is already wearied with his weight,
It is as vain as expent fencing unto Cowards,
They may have skill, but dare not use it.
Yet, if you'l needs instruct my unwilling soul
In that virtue which you only Sir are Master of,
Raign longer than, and let me learn by your example.

Cha.
He must not raign that cannot rule Affection;
If you refuse this favor, I shall suspect you
Still to be a Tyrant, and not worthy of my Sister.

Des.
Alas what means my Brother?

Cha.
To make thee Queen, and seat thee
In the highest dignity, whil'st I in Shepherds weeds
Learn to asswage desires. Nay weep not sweet Flavanda,
Perhaps thou dost suspect thou art a stranger to my heart,
But witness, oh ye Heavens, that what I do
Proceeds from Love to thee; Thee I will meditate,
And when I sleep my dreams shal fancie thee.
Still I'le discouse of thee, and when the happy end
Has crown'd my studies that I truly know thee,
I shall have search't the deepest point of all Philosophie.
But you fair Princess whose conquering eye
Has took a prisoner captive, and now boasts
In the bare spoyle of anothers victory,
You I must nere remember, but must
As ill taught children learn to forget again
What my greedy eye too soon conceived.

Con.
Good Sir.
Make not me an accessory to your inconstancy.
Your hopes of me you see are vain,
Hymen has joyn'd our hearts already in a knot
Which naught can separate but death.

Cha.
Tis true, fair Creature, you are His:
Meet him with an ardent Love.
And from the Ashes of thy nicer chastity
Let a tall Phænix issue, whil'st I
In silent groves desire of Fate to dye.

Fid.
Stay Charastus; Let not thy destruction
Crown our wedding.

Cha.
Let fortune then decide the controversie: Here
Take this sword, and plead thy title, a cause so just
Would make a Coward valiant:

Fid.
But me a Coward.

Cha.
Thy goodness has incen'st me;
Dost thou refuse the combate? take heed
Pull not a ruine on thee with thy virtue; I am enrag'd.
My envious heart is tympaniz'd with anger.
Hadst thou but offer'd to have sought at first,
I then had left the combat, and with as much scorne
Had hated thy disloyalty, as now I emulate thy goodness.
Guard thy self.

Hal.
Hold, Princes hold, Make not a Theater of the Temple:
Do not prophane this sacred place
With an incestuous quarrell.

Cha.
Incestuous? Is love incestuous?

Hal.
Yes, of your sister.

Cha.
I have no sister except Desdonella.

Hal.
Pardon me great King if I unfold a secret.
Which never should have been reveal'd
Had not the fear of your destruction forc't me.

Cha.
If it be good, do not delay my joyes so long
As I shall be in pardning thee.

Hal.
You greatest Princess, I have injur'd most,
But yet I know your virtues to be such
That I dispair not of a Pardon.

Des.
Assure thy self there is no crime so horrid
But the remembrance of thy former goodness
Will command a Pardon for.

Hal.
Then thus Brabantas I restore thy Son
Took from thee in the late intestine wars
When Scicilies three Monarchs like three meeting streams
Strove to convert each others Kingdom
To their own Dominions.

Bra.
I must confess in those inhumane broyls
When Scicily groaned with her civill wars, I lost a Son
Who in his tender years was taken from his Nurse
By the rough violence of a barbarous soldier.

Hal.
I was that souldier that in hope of great reward
Took from the nurse that unresisting Babe
And brought him here to Lelybæus to present
The King with: But fortune, that seldom
Crosses wicked men, then frown'd on me:
For our tender Prince committed for the more security
To my loving wife, did with a fall
From her too careless arms receive his death.

Bra.
Oh most unhappy fate.

Hal.
I then was forc't to turn my captive to a Prince again,
For in the room of dead Charastus
I then plac't your Son, who hitherto
Has liv'd our Soveraign, and ever should, Had not
The fear of their approaching ruines told it.

Bra.
This happiness may be wish't for, not obtain'd.

Hal.
I could produce your Kingdoms Arms
Wove on his Mantle, but this would be
A shallow testimony to that I'le shew you.
Look on his left wrist, there you may see
The half Moon, from which Lunaster he was nam'd
If Fames Report be true.

Bra.
It is most true; He had his name from thence.

Hal.
See Royall Sir, 'tis still preserv'd.

Bra.
Do I yet live, and see my Son Lunaster?
Fate thou art too bounteous: I cannot live
To pay a due gratuity, an age will be too little
To express my joyes in.

Cha.
Am I deceast that now my transmigrated soul
Seeks out a new inclosure?
Tell me my name good Heavens, my Countrey too,
Who are my Kin, or rather who are not.
All here I think do clame alliance.
Fairest Constantina my divining soul
Prompts me to call thee Sister: Be not I prithee
Angry with my Love, I will no more
Harbor incestuous flames, yet I will see thee still,
And keep a Brothers distance: you'l not be jealous Sir?

Fid.
I were injurious to her virtue then.

Cha.
Nor you Flavanda?

Fla.
Let me dye hated first of all,
And have no tomb but malice.

Cha.
I am not mortall sure, such joyes as these
Belong to immortality.

Spe.
When three Kingdoms joyn, it is a Royall unity,
Scicily shall be no more Trinacria now
But one promontory whose soaring top
Stretch'd bove th'insulting billows
Shall strike a terror to our foes, whil'st we
Arm'd with their fear sleep in security:

Vir.
Let not the loss dear Brother
Of this Kingdome trouble you; wee'l haste unto Pachynus
And when that envious fate bereaves us of our father,
Thou and I, will like the Zodiacks Gemini,
Raign our alternate courses in that happy Kingdome.

Con.
Yet I must ruinate that happiness:
It is I Virtusus that must disinthrone thee.
So Apollo said.

Cha.
No dearest Sister, I am
That Brother that Apollo meant; my crown
Already thou hast lost, my Love to thee has lost it.
Hadst thou been less fair, less constant to Filio,
And more kind to me, I still had raign'd;
This nere had been divulg'd; Had it Halisdus?

Hal.
Never Sir. Tortures should nere have forc't it
From me.

Cha.
The Oracle is fulfill'd then. Let all fears vanish.
Heavens knew a Crown was not my due,
That made me sure so willing for to part with't.
I am glad tis gon so fairly, and I am confident
There's none, knew he the cares, the troubles,
The perplexed thoughts and dangers that attends
A good Kings throne, but he would resign
As willingly as I do, did not his calling,
And his shame forbid it. That Kingdom
Which my ignorance so long usurpt, returns to thee Bermudo,
'Tis Desdonella's right, she is the richer Jewell.
Be once a man again, and from the ruines
Of thy pristine Tyranny, build a most glorious Structure
To reach Heaven; Let not thy former cruelty
Make thee dispair; who would aspire
Ought first to fall, that he may rise the higher.

Ber.
Come dearest Desdonella, too long I have practis'd Tyranny;
Mercy hereafter shall become my study. For now I see
Our lives are but a Scene, a Scene that changes
At the will and pleasure of the Author;
We are all but Actors and do take
Each severall day a severall part; This day
We personate a King, the next a Beggar.
This is our course of life which varies still, till Death
The closer up of all comes in and clean
Puts out the Tapers, and withdraws the Scene.

Exeunt.