University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

[To them] Arsinoe enters with the Prince.
Arsinoe.
To you, my Lord,
[To Nar.
The Queen at length resigns this royal charge;
Judæa's other hope! the dearest pledge
Of sacred faith that monarch can bestow.

Fla.
Gods!—'tis not possible!—they've only form'd
Those beauties in the same celestial mold—
Exact similitude of shape and air!

Nar.
What may this mean, Flaminius?

Ar.
Do I wake?
Or does deluding fancy lead me still
In new fantastick labyrinths of bliss?—

Fla.
The face, and harmony of voice the same!

Nar.
You're lost in admiration and surprize:
Reveal the cause.

Fla.
Oh, Sir,—I once was blest
With such a lovely object of my flame!
Beauty and goodness in her heav'nly form
Held equal empire; Oh!—

Nar.
What cruel fate
Sever'd your hearts, so tender and so true,
That still the wound bleeds fresh?

Fla.
The violence
Of civil discord snatch'd her from my arms:
But the last pang of death alone hath pow'r
To tear the beauteous image from my breast!
She liv'd the grace of Cleopatra's court,
And shar'd her fall!—As her high merits claim'd
My earliest love, to her I'll pay my last:
My passion for the sex expir'd, and lies
In dear Hortensia's tomb!

Ar.
Hortensia lives!
[She runs into his arms.
Lives only for Flaminius—Lives to crown
Such matchless constancy!

Fla.
Hath fate rejoin'd
Our long-divided hearts!—'Tis she!—I know
[She shews her Ring.
That pledge of our espousals, where express'd,
The virgin-phænix riseth from the flames:
Th' inscription was prophetick of thy fate,
Another and the same.

Ar.
But ever thine!—
Will not this joy, as all my former, fleet
Like the light vapour of a morning dream?—

Fla.
Rap'd from my self, my senses are oppress'd
With rushing ecstasies: Oh! I cou'd stand
And gaze for ever on thy heav'nly charms,
In speechless transport, which too big for words
Swells in my heaving heart!

Ar.
How did you 'scape
Th' assassinates whom Anthony employ'd
To take your head?

Fla.
My Phædria, by the crime
Of fortune born a slave (for sure his soul
Was of the noblest order) wou'd assume
My habit and my name; his features, age,
And stature, well befriending the deceit;
And thus disguis'd, his honest heart receiv'd
The wounds they meant for me.

Ar.
O wondrous faith!

Fla.
But now, for Rome, Hortensia!—

Nar.
Madam, pay
The Queen a last farewell, in whom you found
The kindest mistress and the best of friends.

Ar.
I will, my lord; and—

Fla.
Hark! the trumpet speaks
The King's approach, our signal to depart:
I now must leave thee, to secure the Prince,
As Cæsar gave command: but near the walls
My troops are tented in the western vale;
Where meditating on my blissful change,
I'll watch impatient for the purple dawn:
Thither you come?

Ar.
Tho' grinning savages
Oppos'd my speed, I'd rush intrepid on.
From clime to clime, where-ever glory calls,
I'll wait my warriour; pleas'd with thee to pass
The frozen Danube, or the sun-burnt Nile:
And tho' my sex denies me to partake
The dangers of the field; with ardent vows
I'll beg each tutelary Pow'r, to spread
Protection round thee, in the cloud of war.
But if relentless to my pray'r they prove,
And thou art fated in the fight to fall,
I'll follow fast the soul of my desire,
And by the wound, that pierc'd my lord, expire.

[Exeunt Arsinoe on one side of the Stage, the rest on the other.