University of Virginia Library

ACT II.

SCENE I.

The SCENE is a pleasant Country, the Prospect is terminated by a Beautiful Mountain adorn'd with Woods and Water-falls. Juno and Iris descend in different Machines. Juno in a Chariot drawn by Peacocks; Iris on a Rainbow; they alight and meet.
JUNO.
Iris , impatient of thy Stay,
From Samos have I wing'd my Way,
To meet thy slow Return;
Thou know'st what Cares infest
My anxious Breast,
And how with Rage and Jealousie I burn:
Then why this long Delay?

IRIS.
With all his Speed not yet the Sun
Thro' half his Race has run,
Since I to execute thy dread Command
Have thrice encompass'd Seas and Land.

JUNO.
Say, where is Semele's Abode?
'Till that I know,
Tho' thou hadst on Lightning rode,
Still thou tedious art and slow.

IRIS.

JUNO.
No more—I'll hear no more.
How long must I endure?—
How long with Indignation burning,
From impious Mortals
Bear this Insolence!
Awake Saturnia from thy Lethargy;
Seize, destroy the curst Adultress.
Scale proud Citheron's Top:
Snatch her, tear her in thy Fury,
And down, down to the Flood of Acheron
Let her fall, let her fall, fall, fall:
Rolling down the Depths of Night,
Never more to behold the Light.
If I am own'd above,
Sister and Wife of Jove;
(Sister at least I sure may claim,
Tho' Wife be a neglected Name,)
If I th'Imperial Scepter sway—I swear
By Hell—
Tremble thou Universe this Oath to hear,
Not one of curst Agenor's Race to spare.

IRIS.
Hear mighty Queen, while I recount
What Obstacles you must surmount;
With Adamant the Gates are barr'd,
Whose Entrance two fierce Dragons guard:
At each approach they lash their forky Stings,
And clap their brazen Wings:
And as their scaly Horrours rise,
They all at once disclose
A thousand fiery Eyes,
Which never know Repose.

JUNO.
Hence, Iris, hence away,
Far from the Realms of Day;
O'er Scythian Hills to the Meotian Lake
A speedy Flight we'll take:
There, Somnus I'll compell
His downy Bed to leave and silent Cell:
With Noise and Light I will his Peace molest,
Nor shall he sink again to pleasing Rest,
'Till to my vow'd Revenge he grants Supplies,
And seals with Sleep the wakeful Dragons Eyes.

[They ascend.

SCENE II.

The SCENE changes to an Apartment in the Palace of Semele; she is sleeping; Loves and Zephyrs waiting.
CUPID.
See , after the Toils of an amorous Fight,
Where weary and pleas'd, still panting she lies;
While yet in her Mind she repeats the Delight,
How sweet is the Slumber that steals on her Eyes!
Come Zephyrs, come, while Cupid sings,
Fan her with your silky Wings;
New Desire
I'll inspire,
And revive the dying Flames;
Dance around her
While I wound her,
And with Pleasure fill her Dreams.

A Dance of Zephyrs, after which Semele awakes, and rises,
SEMELE.
O Sleep, why dost thou leave me?
Why thy visionary Joys remove?
O Sleep, again deceive me,
To my Arms restore my wandring Love.

SCENE III.

Two Loves lead in Jupiter; while he meets and embraces Semele, Cupid Sings.
CUPID.
Sleep forsaking,
Seize him waking;
Love has sought him,
Back has brought him;
Mighty Jove tho' he be,
And tho' Love cannot see,
Yet by feeling about
He has found him out,
And has caught him.

SEMELE.
Let me not another Moment
Bear the Pangs of Absence,
Since you have form'd my Soul for Loving,
No more afflict me
With Doubts and Fears, and cruel Jealousie.

JUPITER.

SEMELE.
If chearful Hopes
And chilling Fears,
Alternate Smiles,
Alternate Tears,
Eager Panting,
Fond Desiring,
With Grief now fainting,
Now with Bliss expiring;
If this be Love, not you alone,
But Love and I are one.

BOTH.
If this be Love, not you alone,
But Love and I are one.

SEMELE.
Ah me!

JUPITER.
Why Sighs my Semele?
What gentle Sorrow
Swells thy soft Bosom?
Why tremble those fair Eyes
With interrupted Light?
Where hov'ring for a Vent,
Amidst their humid Fires,
Some new-form'd Wish appears.
Speak, and obtain.

SEMELE.
At my own Happiness
I sigh and tremble;
Mortals whom Gods affect
Have narrow Limits set to Life,
And cannot long be bless'd.
Or if they could—
A God may prove inconstant.

JUPITER.
Beware of Jealousie:
Had Juno not been jealous,
I ne'er had left Olympus,
Nor wander'd in my Love.

SEMELE.
With my Frailty don't upbraid me,
I am Woman as you made me.
Causeless doubting or despairing,
Rashly trusting, idly fearing.
If obtaining
Still complaining,
If consenting
Still repenting,
Most complying
When denying,
And to be follow'd, only flying.
With my Frailty don't upbraid me,
I am Woman as you made me.

JUPITER.
Thy Sex of Jove's the Masterpiece,
Thou, of thy Sex, art most excelling.
Frailty in thee is Ornament,
In thee Perfection.
Giv'n to agitate the Mind,
And keep awake Mens Passions;
To banish Indolence,
And dull Repose,
The Foes of Transport
And of Pleasure.

SEMELE.
Still I am mortal,
Still a Woman;
And ever when you leave me,
Tho' compass'd round with Deities,
Of Loves and Graces,
A Fear invades me,
And conscious of a Nature
Far inferior,
I seek for Solitude,
And shun Society.

JUPITER.
[apart.]
Too well I read her Meaning,
But must not understand her.
Aiming at Immortality
With dangerous Ambition,
She wou'd dethrone Saturnia;
And reigning in my Heart
Would reign in Heav'n.
Least she too much explain,
I must with Speed amuse her;
It gives the Lover double Pain,
Who hears his Nymph complain,
And hearing must refuse her.

SEMELE
Why do you cease to gaze upon me?
Why musing turn away?
Some other Object
Seems more pleasing.

JUPITER.

SEMELE.
Shall I my Sister see!
The dear Companion
Of my tender Years.

JUPITER.
See she appears
But sees not me,
For I am visible
Alone to thee.
While I retire, rise and meet her,
And with Welcomes greet her.
Now all this Scene shall to Arcadia turn,
The Seat of happy Nymphs and Swains,
There without the Rage of Jealousie they burn,
And taste the Sweets of Love without its Pains.

SCENE IV.

Jupiter retires. Semele and Ino meet and embrace. The SCENE is totally changed, and shews an open Country. Several Shepherds and Shepherdesses enter. Semele and Ino having entertain'd each other in dumb Shew, sit and observe the Rural Sports, which end the Second Act.