 | Orestes |  |
SCENE III.
A Fort.Enter the Sailers.
3. Sail.
If the Sea had but refunded us one more Runlet,
I would have been contented.
2. Sail.
Ay, one more Runlet to have regaled ourselves
with, whilst our Leaders are lost, and our Pilot busied
in refitting our Vessels; and let Fate have done its worst.
1. Sail.
Confound the Sea! It is more greedy than
a Greek Usurer.
2. Sail.
Look'ee, Friends, make your selves easy.
The Sea will be damnable drunk with our Wine; and
if it could play us such Tricks while it was sober,
what must we expect when it grows drunk? For my
part, I am ev'n for staying at Land, and becoming a
Man of another Element. While we are sober, d'ee
see, let us know when we are well, and stay here and
plant a Colony.—Never mind what precise Fools tell
you of Country. One Country is as good as another.
3. Sail.
Very true:—Thou speak'st like a very
wise Man indeed:—and thy Sobriety bespeaks it self.
2. Sail.
Do I not? For no wise Man ever car'd a Fig
for his Country.
1. Sail.
Unless he had an Estate in it, Dorax.—
2. Sail.
Very true! For why should a Man value a
Country which he is a Slave in? And in all the Countries
in which I have ever been, I have found the Poor to
be no better than Slaves to the Rich. Now here, d'ee
see, we shall be the greatest Men in our Country.
I have but one Thing to urge against your
Design, and that is, how to satisfy two whoreson
Appetites I have of Eating and Drinking. For as we
shall live very free, whilst we have no one to enslave
us; so shall we live very hungry, whilst we have nothing
to eat.
2. Sail.
Pshaw! Never fear, Man; we shall find Fish,
Flesh, and Fowl enough, I warrant you; and if the
Climate do but produce the generous Grape—
3. Sail.
But there's another more whoreson Appetite
of mine, which must be supply'd. In short, Friend,
I would have a Posterity to leave the Fruits of our Labours
to.
2. Sail.
Never fear a Want of Women, Boy. As
soon as the Fame of our Colony reaches Greece, we shall
have 'em trooping over hither by Wholesale to make
their Fortunes. For my part, I am more afraid of
seeing my first Wife again, than of not getting a second.
1. Sail.
Well then, we are agreed to stay here, and
plant a Colony?
2. Sail.
Agreed! What else? What a Pleasure will
it be to us, when we grow rich and powerful, to receive
Ambassadors from our quondam Country to sollicit
our Alliance; ay, and sometimes to make 'em pay
for it? For I must tell you, I intend to insist on very
high Terms, whatever Side I declare my self of.
1. Sail.
You! Pree'thee, Dorax, do not talk altogether
in the Singular Number: We are to be a Commonwealth,
and every Man shall have an equal Vote.
3. Sail.
Ay, ay, all upon a Level. I'll suffer no Man
to be greater than my self.
But hold you, hold you, Fellow-Statesmen;
and let us settle one material Point before hand. How
shall this Commonwealth of ours be kept on foot without
Money?
2. Sail.
Why there's it now. Ev'n confess yourself
shallow, and stand instructed.—Without Money, you
say? Why, we'll run deeply in Debt to one another,
and so grow rich. Every politick State in Greece is in its
readier Course towards Prosperity, by so much more
as it owes; as that Ship makes her faster Way to Port,
who has already spent all her Stock of Biscuit. Do not
you see now, Gentlemen, how necessary it will be to
have such a wise Man as I am at your Head to direct
your Councils.
Enter Pilot.
Pilot.
Fly, fly, my Friends; the Scythians are alarm'd,
and make in Bodies toward the Shore to surprize us. Our
only Hope to escape from Slavery is by our instant Flight.
2. Sail.
Flight? a Plague on't, had ever young Commonwealth
so untimely an End! What a hopeful Prize
is here run adrift, before we could have time to board
her!
Pilot.
Away, Drunkard. Our Leaders are taken by
the Foe: As we shall be, if we don't immediately prevent
it. Away, away.
1. Sail.
Would I were well landed in Greece again,
tho it were thro' another Storm!
2. Sail.
And would I were well supply'd with Drink,
and I would fix the Colony, and govern here by my
self!
[Exeunt.
| Orestes | |