University of Virginia Library

SCENE X.

Melampus, Madauces, and Orontes.
MADAUCES.
My son!

MELAMPUS.
I soon will satisfy thy friendship.
Orontes, hail! Bless'd monarch, I have found
Thy queen of graces; lovelier than the dawn
Serenely rising on a night of storms,
She cheers our labours with propitious smiles.

ORONTES.
Thou hast beheld her with enamour'd looks,
And dost describe her in a lover's phrase.

MELAMPUS.
Dismiss thy fears. Not all the arms of beauty,
Not Juno's eye nor Cytherea's roses
Can touch my frozen heart.

ORONTES.
Then swear again.

MELAMPUS.
A second time?

ORONTES.
Yes, swear a second time.

MELAMPUS.
To hallow'd Themis I repeat my oath.

ORONTES.
That she I love—

MELAMPUS.
Be render'd to thy arms.
Within two hours expect her presence here.

ORONTES.
Then I forget my torments, and the spurns
Of this injurious goblin.

MELAMPUS.
From those torments
She hath assur'd thy freedom.

ORONTES.
In two hours
Will she admit Orontes?

MELAMPUS.
On this spot.
Art thou content?

ORONTES.
Thrice happy.

MELAMPUS.
Then reply,
Whence sprang thy hasty and unjust suspicion,
When thou requir'dst me to renew my oath?

ORONTES.
Forgive the ardour of impetuous love,
And the high passions in a royal breast.

MELAMPUS.
Thou dost miscall the gen'rous flame of love,
Nor feel'st the impulse of a noble passion.
It was that eager, genuine self-regard,
Which sits beside a throne, for ever doubting
The faithful hand of service, yet devouring
The good procur'd by others, and suppressing
The sense of obligation. Come, Orontes;
Away with this companion, not by nature,
But coz'ning habit foster'd in a mind
Deserving better inmates.

ORONTES.
Ah! again
I see the demon.

MELAMPUS.
He will soon forsake thee.
But that internal worst of fiends control,
Unfeeling pride: thus give thy virtues freedom.