University of Virginia Library

SCENE IV.

Enter Hesione to Ammon.
Hesione.
It must be so! the Message which I sent
Has either misinform'd him of the Place;
Or thro' some Treach'ry never reach'd his Ears.
Hah! Ammon here!—he haply may inform me.

Ammon.
If 'tis the lost Omphales whom you seek,
The Man whose Fate I once sincerely mourn'd,
In vain you ask him of his old Companion:
Inrag'd, impatient he departed hence,
Loud against me, 'gainst Heaven, and his Fate;
And, when I would have been a Comfort to him,
He spurn'd me off; and bid me fawn no more!

Hesione.
Forget it, Ammon; much he has endur'd,
And, like a wayward Infant, shou'd be sooth'd,
And soften'd into Temper. Thou'rt sincere,
And earnest, and too apt to think thou'rt wrong'd.

Ammon.
Thou art sincere, and earnest, and too apt
To think thou'rt—

Hesione.
What?

Ammon.
Belov'd!

Hesione.
I take thee not.

Ammon.
He swore that you, and all your Sex were false;
That he had been at some appointed Place—
I know not where—but that you had contriv'd
T' abuse his Patience, and insult his Love.

Hesione.
Unhappy Youth! his Troubles are too great,
And Reason fails beneath the Weight of Sorrow:
For he himself cou'd never call me False,
Ne'er doubt my Truth! his is a generous Soul,
Noble, and glorious as the Form he wears!
Love, and Suspicion dwell not there together.
You too forgive him, Ammon; 'tis too much
In one sad Day to lose his Friend, and me:
Nor wonder, you was treated with Disdain,
When I might not be spar'd.

Ammon.
This his Return
Of Friendship?—thus I blow such Friends away!

Hesione.
Thou'rt lost with Ease.

Ammon.
I am not won so soon!—
My Soul abhors the least Ingratitude!

[Exit Ammon.