 | The Jealous Lovers |  |
SCEN. VI.
Dypsas, Tyndarus, Evadne, Pamphilus, Techmessa, Asotus, Ballio, Phronesium, Priests and sacrifice, and Hymens statue discovered.Asot.
Tyndarus living? here take this cloke away, Ballio:
We have no use on't.
Ball.
The more sorrow's mine.
Tyn.
How does my friend Asotus?
Asot.
You are welcome
From the dead, Sir: I hope our friends in Elysium
Are in good health.
Tyn.
Ballio, I thank you heartily
You had an honest and religious care
To see us both well buried.
Ball.
I shall be hang'd.
Exit.
The song and sacrifice.
Priest.
Hymen, thou God of union, with smooth brow
Accept our pious Orgies. Thou that tiest
Hearts in a knot, and link'st in sacred chains
(He presents Tyndarus and Evadne.
The mutuall souls of Lovers, may it please
Thy Deitie, to admit into the number
Of thy chaste votaries this blessed pair.
Mercy you Gods, the statue turns away.
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Why should this be? The reason is apparent:
Evadne has been false, and the chaste deitie
Abhorres the sacrifice of a spotted soul.
Go thou dissembler, mask thy self in modesty,
Weare vertue for a veil, and paint false blushes
On thy adulterate cheek. Though thou mayst cozen
The eyes of man, and cheat the purblinde world,
Heaven has a piercing sight. Hymen, I thank thee;
Thou stoppedst my foot stepping into the gulf.
How neare was I damnation!
Evad.
Gentle Hymen,
What sinne have I unwillingly committed
To call heavens anger on me?
Priest.
If there be
A secret guilt in these that hath offended
Thy mighty godhead, wilt thou please to prove
He presents Pamphil. & Techmessa
This other knot? The Statue turns again!
What prodigies are these!
Pam.
Celestiall powers,
You tyrannize o're man: and yet 'tis sinne
To ask you why you wrong us.
Tech.
Cunning Pamphilus,
Though, like a snake, you couch your self in flowers,
The gods can finde your lurking, and betray
The spotted skin.
Priest.
Above this twenty yeares
Have I attended on thy sacred Temple,
Yet never saw thee so incens'd, dread Hymen.
Tyn.
To search the reason, will you please to proffer
These to his godhead?
Priest.
Will thy godhead daigne
These two the blessings of the geniall sheet?
He presents Pamphilus and Evadne
He beckens 'um.
Tyn.
I, there the faith is plighted.
False Pamphilus, the honour of the temple,
And the respect I beare religion,
Cannot protect thee. I will stain the altars,
And sprinkle every statue in the shrine
With treacherous bloud.
Priest.
Provoke not Joves just thunder.
Tyn.
Well, you may take Evadne; heaven give you joy.
Pamp.
Religion is meere juggling. This is nothing
But the Priests knaverie: a kinde of holy trick
To gain their superstition credit. Hymen,
Why dost thou turn away thy head? I fear
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A woman in the face. If so, I pardon thee:
If out of spight thou crosse me, know, weak godhead,
I'le teach mankinde a custome that shall bring
Thy altars to neglect. Lovers shall couple,
As other creatures,—freely, and ne're stand
Upon the tedious ceremonie—Marriage:
And then thou Priest mayst starve. Who in your temple
Will light a—Cere-candle, or for incense burn
A grain of frankincense?
Chrem.
Heaven instruct our souls
To finde the secret mysterie!
Asot.
I have entertain'd
One that by Ylem and Aldeboran,
With the Almutes, can tell any thing.
I'le fetch him hither: he shall resolve you.
Exit Asot.
Chrem.
Man is a ship that sails with adverse windes,
And has no haven till he land at death.
Then when he thinks his hands fast grasp the bank,
Comes a rude billow betwixt him and safetie,
And beats him back into the deep again.
| The Jealous Lovers | |