University of Virginia Library

ACT I.

SCENE, The Plains of Thessaly.
Enter Ixion and Damon.
Ixion.
Oh fatal Love! thou Torment of my Breast!
Will none but Jove's Wife,
That Vixon of Strife,
The haughty proud Dame
Allay my hot Flame:
And grant Ixion his desired Rest?
‘I die cruel God,
‘If my Heart I reveal;
‘But I die more than once,
‘If my Love I conceal.

[Exit.
Enter Mopsa.
Mop.
‘What Business so sudden occasions this haste?
‘Return to your Plow,
‘Or by Ceres I vow;
‘Thou Peevish old Sot,
‘Thou shalt know what is what.

Dam.
‘Be gone, noisy Spouse, 'tis not fit you shou'd know
‘The Secrets of Kings:
‘Such Politick Things
‘Employ my Brain now.
‘Be gone to your Spinning,
‘And Brats that are Whining,
‘And leave these Projects for Damon to do.

Mop.
‘Ah! Damon, I know,
‘Your too shallow Skull,
‘Is always with Whimsies
‘And Fancies so full:
‘What Business of State,
‘You Clown, can you have?
‘Come back to your Plow.

Dam.
‘I will not Return.

Mop.
‘Come back I say now,
‘Or else I will beat it into thy dull Pate.

‘Dam.

Map.
‘Go on, my dear Damon,
‘Since you've the King's Word,
‘I shall then be the Lady:

Dam.
‘And I the Landlord.
[Exit Mopsa.
Damon solus.
‘What strange God is that
‘I see there descending,
[Mercury is descending.
‘With Wings on his Feet,
‘And this Way is tending?
‘Odzooks! I so tremble,
‘I cannot dissemble.

Enter Mercury.
Mer.

Dam.
Oh thou subtle, prying God,
Strike me not, but spare thy Rod;
And I will nought conceal,
Tho' you know too well.
‘My Master has an Itch
‘To that Jilting Witch,
‘Who rules all above:
‘But Jove's Bastards and Love.
Here comes Ixion, who knows best,
I'll leave him to tell the rest.

[Exit.
Enter Ixion.
Ixion.
Eternal Pain, Eternal Pleasure,
‘Thus to Love and thus to Languish!
‘Juno, give me all thy Treasure;
‘Grant thy Love, and ease my Anguish:
‘If I presume, and too much dare,
‘Give me what I dread the most, Despair.
Oh Hermes! pity me, assistance bring,
To this unhappy, this too daring King.

Mer.

Ixion.
‘Once obtaining of my Love,
‘Once possessing,
‘And Caressing,
‘Of Immortal Blessing.
‘Is so far so much above
‘Your Threats of everlasting Pain;
‘Let me but my Goddess gain,
‘I'll slight the Wheel, the God defie,
‘And dare the Thunder of the Sky.

Merc.
‘Come on then rash Monarch,
‘Pursue thy sad Fate,
‘For Hermes bewails thee,
‘Tho' Pity's too late.

[Enter Damon, Deiopeia, and two Nymphs.
Deiop.
‘Gentle Damon, make thy Choice,
‘Which of us shall have thy Voice?
‘Thy Master does our Mistress prove,
‘Amongst her Maids come take thy Love.

Dam.
‘Which way, Beauties, shall I turn?
‘Equally for all I burn;
‘Come my Fair ones, I'll appease you,
‘I am strong, and made to please you:
‘Singly come to yonder Grove,
‘I can Cure each Nymph of Love.

All Three Nymphs.
‘Turn thee this way, this Way move,
‘Turn thee this Way, I'm thy Love.

Dam.
‘Odzooks! how inflam'd is my Heart with desire!
‘The Tall and the Short, and the Thick I admire;
‘And the Black, and the Fair, and the Brown raises Fire:
‘Ev'ry Face and ev'ry Feature,
‘Still inspires with some good Nature.

Deiop.
‘Stay, my Dearest, not so fast,
‘Love that's eager cannot last;
‘How he trembles with Desire,
‘And his Passion rises high'r!

‘Dam.
Gentle Nymphs, invoke your aid,
‘Quench the Flames your Eyes have made.

Deiop.
‘Seize him, Seize him, Satyrs of the Wood,
‘Cool him in yon Crystal Flood.

[Enter Satyrs.
Dam.
Avaunt, you Goatish Slaves, be gone:
‘What is my Crime? What have I done?
‘Is it thus you reward your poor Clown?
‘First make him in Love, and then he must drown?

Deiop.
‘You're too hot, you're too hot,
‘And a Cooling is good,
‘To allay your quick Flame,
‘And Temper your Blood.
Seize him, Satyrs of the Wood,
Cool him in that Crystal Flood.

The Satyrs seize him, and then throw him into the River.