 | Valentinian |  |
SCENE 3.
Dance of Satyrs.Enter Claudia and Marcellina to Lucina.
Claud.
Prithee, what ails my Lady, that of late
She never cares for Company.
Marc.
I know not
Unless it be that Company causes Cuckolds.
Claud.
Ridiculous! That were a Childish Fear!
'Tis Opportunity does cause 'em rather,
When two made one are glad to be alone.
Marc.
But Claudia—Why this sitting up all Night
30
Great Heat and Vapors, which are main Corrupters!
Mark when you will; Your Ladies that have Vapors,
They are not Flinchers, that insulting Spleen
Is the Artillery of pow'rful Lust;
Discharg'd upon weak Honour which stands out
Two Fits of Head-Ach, at the most, then yields.
Claudia.
Thou art the frailest Creature, Marcellina!
And think'st all Womens Honours like thy own!
So thin a Cobweb that each blast of Passion
Can blow away: But for my own part, Girl!
I think I may be well stil'd Honours Martyr.
With firmest Constancy I have endur'd
The raging Heats of passionate Desires!
While flaming Love and boyling Nature both
Were pour'd upon my Soul with equal Torture:
I arm'd with Resolution stood it out
And kept my Honour safe.
Marc.
Thy Glory's great!
But, Claudia, Thanks to Heav'n that I am made
The weakest of all women: fram'd so frail
That Honour ne'er thought fit to chuse me out,
His Champion against Pleasure: my poor Heart
For divers years still tost from Flame to Flame,
Is now burnt up to Tinder every Spark
Dropt from kind Eyes sets it a-fire afresh,
Prest by a gentle hand I melt away,
One Sigh's a Storm that blows me all along;
Pity a wretch, who has no Charm at all,
Against th'impetuous Tide of flowing Pleasure,
Who wants both Force and Courage to maintain
The glorious War made upon Flesh and Blood,
But is a Sacrifice to every wish
And has no power left to resist a Joy.
Claud.
Poor Girl! How strange a Riddle Virtue is?
They never miss it who possess it not;
And they who have it ever find a want.
With what Tranquility and Peace thou liv'st!
For stript of Shame; Thou hast no cause to fear;
31
Of every thing I see: And think the World
A dreadful wilderness of savage Beasts;
Each man I meet I fancy will devour me;
And sway'd by Rules not natural but affected
I hate Mankind for fear of being lov'd.
Marc.
'Tis nothing less than Witchcraft can constrain
Still to persist in Errors we perceive!
Prithee reform; what Nature prompts us to,
And Reason seconds, why should we avoid?
This Honour is the veriest Mountebank,
It fits our Fancies with affected Tricks
And makes us freakish; what a Cheat must that be
Which robs our Lives of all their softer hours,
Beauty, our only Treasure it lays waste.
Hurries us over our neglected Youth,
To the detested state of Age and Ugliness,
Tearing our dearest Hearts Desires from us.
Then in reward of what it took away
Our Joys, our Hopes, our Wishes and Delights
It bountifully pays us all with Pride!
Poor shifts! still to be proud and never pleas'd,
Yet this is all your Honour can do for you.
Claud.
Concluded like thy self, for sure thou art
The most corrupt corrupting thing alive,
Yet glory not too much in cheating Wit:
'Tis but false VVisdom; and its Property,
Has ever been to take the part of Vice,
VVhich tho' the Fancy with vain shows it please,
Yet wants a power to satisfie the Mind.
Lucina wakes.
Claud.
But see my Lady wakes and comes this way.
Bless me! how pale and how confus'd she looks!
Luc.
In what Fantastique new world have I been?
VVhat Horrors past? what threatning Visions seen?
VVrapt as I lay in my amazing Trance,
The Host of Heav'n and Hell did round me Dance:
32
And those below: Methoughts they talkt of Love.
And nam'd me often; but it could not be
Of any Love that had to do with me.
For all the while they talk'd and argu'd thus,
I never heard one word of Maximus.
Discourteous Nymphs! who own these murmuring Floods
And you unkind Divinities o'th' VVoods!
VVhen to your Banks and Bowers I came distrest
Half dead throu' Absence seeking Peace and Rest.
VVhy would you not protect by these your Streams
A sleeping wretch from such wild dismal Dreams!
Mishapen Monsters round in Measures went
Horrid in Form with Gestures insolent;
Grinning throu' Goatish Beards with half clos'd Eyes,
They look'd me in the face frighted to rise!
In vain I did attempt, methought no Ground
VVas to support my sinking Footsteps! found.
In clammy Fogs like one half choak'd I lay,
Crying for help my Voyce was snatch'd away.
And when I would have fled,
My Limbs benumm'd, or dead.
Could not my Will with Terror wing'd obey
Upon my absent Lord for help I cry'd
But in that Moment when I must have dy'd:
With Anguish of my Fears confusing pains
Relenting Sleep loos'd his Tyrannick Chains
Claud.
Madam, Alas such Accidents as these
Are not of value to disturb your Peace!
The cold damp-Dews of Night have mixt and wrought
With the dark Melancholy of your Thought.
And throu' your Fancy these Illusions brought.
I still have markt your Fondness will afford
No hour of Joy in th'absence of my Lord.
33
A Ring!
Lucin.
Absent, all night—and never send me word?
Lycias.
Madam, while sleeping by those Banks you lay!
One from my Lord commanded me away.
In all obedient haste I went to Court,
Where busie Crowds confus'dly did resort;
News from the Camp it seems was then arriv'd
Of Tumults rais'd and Civil Wars contriv'd;
The Emperor frighted from his Bed does call
Grave Senators to Council in the Hall—
Throngs of ill-favour'd Faces fill'd with Scars
Wait for Employments praying hard for Wars
At Council Door attend with fair pretence
In Knavish Decency and Reverence
Banquers, who with officious Diligence—
Lend Money to supply the present need
At treble Use that greater may succeed,
So publick Wants will private Plenty breed,
Whisp'ring in every Corner you might see.
Lucin.
But what's all this to Maximus and me?
Where is my Lord? what Message has he sent?
Is he in Health? What fatal Accident,
Does all this while his wisht Return prevent?
Lycias.
When ere the Gods that happy hour decree,
May he appear safe and with Victory;
Of many Hero's who stood Candidate
To be the Arbiters 'twixt Rome and Fate;
To quell Rebellion and protect the Throne
A Choice was made of Maximus alone;
The People, Souldiers, Senate, Emperor
For Maximus with one consent concur.
Their new-born hopes now hurry him away,
Nor will their Fears admit one moments stay:
Trembling through Terror lest he come too late
They huddle his Dispatch while at the Gate
The Emperor's Chariots to conduct him wast.
34
These fatal Honours my dire Dream foretold!
Why should the Kind be ruin'd by the Bold?
He ne'r reflects upon my Destiny
So careless of himself, undoing mee
Ah Claudia! in my Visions so unskill'd
Hee'l to the Army go and there be kill'd.
Forgetful of my Love; Hee'l not afford
The easie Favour of a parting Word;
Of all my Wishes hee's alone the Scope
And hee's the only End of all my Hope,
My fill of Joy, and what is yet above
Joys, Hopes, and Wishes—He is all my Love:
Mysterious Honour tell me what thou art!
That takes up diff'rent Forms in every Heart;
And dost to diverse Ends and Interests move
Conquest is his—my Honour is my Love.
Both these do Paths so oppositely chuse
By following one you must the other lose.
So two strait Lines from the same Point begun.
Can never meet, tho' without end they run—
Alas, I rave!
Lycias.
Look on thy Glory, Love, and smile to see
Two faithful Hearts at strife for Victory!
Who blazing in thy sacred Fires contend
While both their equal Flames to Heav'n ascend,
The God that dwells in Eyes light on my Tongue
Lest in my Message I his Passion wrong;
You'l better guess the Anguish of his Heart,
From what you feel, then what I can impart;
But Madam, know the Moment I was come,
His watchful Eye perceiv'd me in the Room;
When with a quick precipitated haste
From Cæsar's Bosom where he stood embrac'd
Piercing the busie Crowd to me he past—
Tears in his Eyes; his Orders in his Hand,
He scarce had Breath to give this short Command.
With thy best speed to my Lucina fly,
If I must part unseen by her I dy,
35
And Fate which takes too little Care of Love,
Force me away: Tell her 'tis my Request,
By those kind Fires she kindled in my Breast;
Our future Hopes and all that we hold dear,
She instantly wou'd come and see me here.
That parting Griefs to her I may reveal
And on her Lips propitious Omens seal.
Affairs that press in this short space of time
Afford no other place without a Crime;
And that thou maist not fail of wisht for Ends
In a success whereon my Life depends
Give her this Ring.
[Looks on the Ring.
Lucin.
How strange soever these Commands appear
Love awes my Reason, and controuls my Fear.
But how couldst thou employ thy lavish Tongue
So idly to be telling this so long!
When ev'ry moment thou hast spent in vain,
Was half the Life that did to me remain.
Flatter me, Hope, and on my Wishes smile,
And make me happy yet a little while.
If through my Fears I can such Sorrow show
As to convince I perish if he go:
Pity perhaps his Gen'rous Heart may move
To sacrifice his Glory to his Love.
I'l not despair!
Who knows how eloquent these Eyes may prove
Begging in Floods of Tears and Flames of Love.
[Exit Lucina.
Lycias.
Thanks to the Devil, my Friend, now all's our own,
How easily this mighty work was done!
Well! first or last all Women must be won—
“It is their Fate and cannot be withstood
“The wise do still comply with Flesh and Blood;
“Or if through peevish Honour Nature fail
“They do but lose their Thanks; Art will prevail.
[Exit.
| Valentinian | |