University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

Enter Dion and Æmylius.
Dion.
These are our Limits, which I must not pass,
For all beyond, the Argive Lands extend:
I hear their Guards upon their march to meet you,
And leave you to their Convoy.

Æm.
Thou good old General of a Godlike Prince,
All health to him, and next to him, to thee.

Dion.
I grieve to part, since you must go to Argos,
And I am loth to have you for a Foe:
There will be Action there, and Roman hands
Are never Idle at a time like that.

Æm.
Yet now I shall not draw my peaceful Sword;
For as I'm sent Rome's Envoy, not her Souldier,
I stand exempted from the Call of War.

Dion.
How will the joyful News transport the King,
That though Æmylius would not side with him,
He will not fight against him! He shall be told,
And his great Soul shall give a due Acknowledgment
In sparing Romans for a Roman's sake.

Æm.
Gods! why are Kings your Images beneath,
The liveliest Portraitures of heavenly Powers,
Created subject to Eternal Discord?
Why is War wag'd for ever on the Earth?
Why are not less malignant Planets plac'd
To guide their Actions, to preserve their Peace,
And influence their Lives to run on smoothly
With the same Harmony that moves your Spheres?

Dion.
Boundless Ambition, vast desire of Empire,
And Fame for gallant Deeds perform'd in War,
Still spur them forward through the dusty Field,
While Reason all in vain would hold them back.

Æm.
Why should our hands rebel against our hearts?
I love a gallant Enemy in my Soul,
And with regret encounter when I meet;
The Breasts where Vertue dwells are sacred Seats,
Nor should they be prophan'd, no more than Shrines;
No Wounds should enter there; but base Plebeians,
Sordid, and void of Spirits as of Sense,
True mortal Stuff, should gorge the maw of Death.

Dion.
O let me be secur'd of such a Friend,
If my great Master has not all your Soul,
Let the remaining part be given to me,
And place a Loyal Subject next this Lord.

Æm.
Sure we are ally'd, our Age and Hearts alike,
And thou wer't meant a Roman, but thy Stars
At thy Nativity mistook the Soil,
And cast thee on a too too distant Clime
Far from the Bounds of Rome.

Dion.
My Fate has placed me,
Where, if I had not found a Lord, like Pyrrhus,
I would have chose a Consul to command me,
And offer'd him my Service.

Æm.
The sound of trampling Horse encreases still,
Which speaks them near; time steals away insensibly,
And old Mens talk is tedious as their Years,
Who after several Farewells, still talk on.

Dion.
But now the Night urges our last adieu,
And wakeful Birds, impatient for the Morning,
Already do begin to call it forth
With Notes like Trumpets sounding a Retreat:
Short is the Souldiers Ceremony, a Hand and Heart
Is all we give at parting.

Æm.
And that is all
That the most ardent Lovers have to give:
Once more, all health to Pyrrhus, and to thee.

[Exit.
Enter Helenus.
Hel.
Oh! how I grudge the hated Steps I take,
To lead me farther off the dear Apartments
That hold my Love; how eager to return.
I burn with Fires more scorching than before,
And heightned Charms dilate the rising Flame;
Heav'n has took pains to work her to a Miracle:
A wondrous Faith, joyn'd with a matchless Form.

Dion.
You are welcom, Prince:
I thank you that you have deceiv'd my Fears,
And by returning thus, outrun my Hopes.

Hel.
Oh Dion! when will the War begin?

Dion.
Still better; in that strain you speak Success,
A Prælude to a Pæan; soon, I hope,
And soon the Conquest follow.

Hel.
You have seen me fighting.

Dion.
And doubt not but to see you so again,
With the same fortune as you have fought before.

Hel.
I tell thee Friend, I will outdoe my self;
My rising Soul strains to a higher Pitch
Than e'er it reach'd till now; Revenge and Love,
Fury and Jealousie, and thirst of Honour,
All rage and roul within my troubled Mind,
And work the Tempest high:
Lead me, my General, lead me to the War;
And oh! employ your interest with the King
To hasten on the too too tedious hour.
To me the flying Minutes seem but slow;
E'er this I would have been amidst the Foe,
Forcing my dreadful Passage with my Sword,
Possess'd of all that Conquest can afford:
Through thickest Ranks, I would like Lightning break;
Love and Revenge make all resistance weak.

Enter Pyrrhus and Souldiers.
Pyrrh.
See your dead Prince plac'd on the highest Elephant,
That all the Army, at the dismal Object,
May with more Fury kindle to Revenge.
To them.]
Oh! Dion oh! Helenus Son and General,
Where have you loiter'd? now our busie Fates
Call for all Hands.

Dion.
Mine, Royal Sir, are ready;
And my Heart joins them, it strikes out with Vigour,
And beats thick knocks against my aged Breast.

Pyrrh.
Helenus, lead the Van, Ten thousand Men,
Are order'd to attend you to the On-set:
March to the Ramparts, South of Juno's Temple,
And while our warlike Trumpets sound to Battle,
And the great Squadrons mingle in the Wars;
Suspend, ye Gods, the Thunder of your Skies,
Withold your Bolts, that play with idle Rage,
And fall with harmless Flames on Mountains tops.
Look on more dreadful Actions done beneath,
See our Swords strike, with more dispatch, in death.

SONG.

[A Battle sounded.
Enter Lanassa.
Lan.
I, now it is begun; alas, my Pyrrhus!
How my Soul shakes within me when I think
What Dangers thy dear Life is thus expos'd to!
Ah! whither does he run? he rushes fearless
On pointed Swords, the Arm of Death lifts at him;
But yet he shall not perish unattended.
If Fate ordains our fall, we'll fall together:
Together walk through all the gloomy Arbours,
The Grots, and Mansions of the Blessed dead;
Together stretch'd o'er the black Banks of Lethe,
Look down upon the Stream that glides beneath us.
Oh! Blissful prospect of a future state,
Delightful Ecstasie in Thoughts of Death!
Methinks, through all the vast and verdant Meads
No Rose lies blasted, and no Myrtle fades;
But ever bloom, where my lov'd Pyrrhus treads:
Through all Elyzium, all the flow'ry Groves,
Each ravish'd Ghost with wonder sees our Loves.
Pleas'd with the View, they point us out, and cry,
Loe! Yonder, where the happy Lovers lie!
Urg'd by their transport to forsake their Bowers,
They wait on us, and all the Train is ours.

[Exit.