University of Virginia Library

PRELIMINARY SCENE.

VENUS and CUPID descend or enter.
CUPID.
From thy own Cyprus, goddess! on the wing
Of duteous zeal I meet thee; from the isle
Where ev'ry gale breathes love, where ev'ry shade
Weaves a close canopy for fond desire
To revel in unsated; where each stream,
That leads its mazy silver thro' the mead,
Murmurs a strain of liquid minstrelsy
Soft as the Dorian lute.

Ven.
But not so sweet
As Sappho's Lesbian lyre, and this to hear
I now invite thee. Come, my Son, with me
Receive harmonious incense from that lyre;
Hear the sweet suppliant, and unite with mine
Thy power (if Jove and his stern fates permit)
In aid of her distress.

Cup.
Declare the cause.

Ven.
Thou dost remember, (for this pensile orb
Has not as yet been circled by the sun
With annual radiance) since we both were mask'd
In shapes of mortal mould, and minded both
To pass the Cydnus: near the further bank
There lay a rude and homely fisher boy
Stretch'd on his rush-wove float, with hook and line
'Guiling the fish that scudded thro' the stream.
We call'd him to us, and with willing speed
He left his lures, and to the distant shore
Gave us safe waftage: with his manner pleas'd
And unschool'd courtesy, as soon as landed,
I stood confest the goddess; bade him ask
What wond'rous boon he pleas'd, and my full power
Should instant grant it: the fond youth ask'd beauty;
Beauty supreme, to strike the dullest sense,
And melt the coldest bosom.

Cup.
True, he did,
And still my recollection marks the change
With pleasure mix'd with wonder; his brown forehead,
Which the hot sun had parch'd and freckled o'er,
Quick took a Parian polish. His rude locks,
That stood in bristly tangles round his head,
Now smoothly flow'd in hyacinthine rings,
Mantling his neck and shoulders; downy crimson
Soft'ned his rustic ruddiness of cheek;
His eye glanced tenderness; his smile breath'd love.
Meanwhile the Graces at thy bidding came,
And from their sacred alabaster vase
Shed that blest unguent, which to all his limbs
(Accordant to proportion's faultless law)
Gave new dimensions, only seen before
In shapes of heav'nly frame.—But to the tale.

Ven.
Chang'd as he was, the youth repair'd to Lesbos,
Where Sappho saw, and, need I add, ador'd him.
For, Cupid, well thou know'st, the tender soul,
That Poesy inspires, is very wax
To Beauty's piercing ray: the blooming boy,
More raptur'd with her lyre than with her form,
Feign'd real passion; swore eternal truth.
Yet scarce the waning moon had heard his vows,
Ere all those vows were broke, and perjur'd Phaon
Parted for Sicily; where now he reigns
Here like ourselves, my Son, all-absolute,
Conquering each heart he lists, nor needs thy shafts
To aid his victories.

Cup.
But what of Sappho?

Ven.
Disconsolate she sought the darkling grove,
Where the lorn nightingale prick'd on her thorn
Wails to the list'ning stars, and join'd her plaint
With kindred notes as sweetly querulous.
And oft her hand would hang upon the trees
Sad madrigals, the which my pitying doves
Stole from the stems and bore to Phaon's eye,
But all in vain: at length, to court my aid,
Hither she bends her course. Ev'n while I speak,
I spy her glittering bark: see, o'er the waves
It rides with fav'ring gale! Our place be now
The middle region, where enshrin'd in clouds
We'll hear the vot'ry and accept her prayer.

[They ascend.

NOTE.

The above scene is not to be considered as essential to the Drama as it now stands; it was written many years before as a first scene, when the Author intended to throw the story into the form of a Masque; in which a part only (and that a small one) was meant to be set to Music. It is now inserted as a previous narrative of what is fabled concerning the cause of Phaon's superior beauty, (see Elian. Var. Hist. B. 12. C. 18,) and therefore in the closet may be read, by way of what our old Dramatists called an Induction to the Drama itself, though not a necessary part of it.