University of Virginia Library

SCENE IV.

Sertorius, Bebricius, remain.
Bebr.
Yet melancholy! when both Gods and Men
Strive to out-vye in gifts? Stretch out thy arm,
Like angry Jove, to those who envy thee:
VVe'll be thy Elements, to execute.

Sert.
Thy loss, Terentia, does depress my Soul:
I grovel in the dark; and, when light comes,
Behold the falshood of my flatt'ring Stars.

Bebr.
VVhen Heav'n is kind, and pours his blessings down,
Not Miser-like, but with a bounteous hand;
Who knows, but Fate reserves this to the last,
To make invalid all the other gifts?
Distrust is worse than Death; and blinds the sense:
So Night, to the dull Phlegmatick, creates
The Aiery nothings which from Fancy rise;
But when the warring Senses rouze the Soul
To active heat, streight the Chimœra's fled:
Then let not thought, form'd from despair, give birth
To Beings far unworthy of your breast.

Enter a Souldier.
Sert.
What means this rudeness, in our privacy?

Sould.
Some Strangers new arriv'd do beg admittance.

Sert.
Conduct 'em in.

[Ex. Souldier.