SCENE I.
THE STREET IN FRONT OF LYSANDER'S HOUSE.
Enter CYPRIAN, MOSCON, and CLARIN, in gala dresses.
CYPRIAN [aside]. Where, presumptuous thoughts, ah! where,
Would you lead me, whither go?
If for certain now you know
That the high attempts you dare
Are delusive dreams of bliss,
Since you strive to scale heaven's wall,
But from that proud height to fall
Headlong down a dark abyss?
I Justina saw . . . . . So near
Would to God I had not seen her,
Nor in her divine demeanour
All the light of heaven's fourth sphere.
Lovers twain for her contend,
Both being jealous each should woo,
And I, jealous of the two,
Know not which doth most offend.
All I know is, that suspicion,
Her disdain, my own desires,
Fill my heart with furious fires --
Drive me, ah! to my perdition.
This I know, and know no more,
This I feel in all my strait;
Heavens! Justina is my fate!
Heavens! Justina I adore!--
Moscon.
MOSCON. Sir.
CYPRIAN. Inquire, I pray,
If Lysander's in.
MOSCON. I fly.
CLARIN. No, sir, no. On me rely,--
Moscon can't go there to-day.
CYPRIAN. Ever wrangling in this way,
How ye both my patience try!
Why can he not go? Say why?
CLARIN. Because to-day is not his day.
Mine it is, sir, to his sorrow.
So your message I will bear.
Moscon can't to-day go there;
He will have his turn to-morrow.
CYPRIAN. What new madness can this be
Which your usual feud doth show?
But now neither of you go,
Since in all her brilliancy
Comes Justina.
CLARIN. From the street
To her house she goes.
* * * * *
SCENE II.
Enter JUSTINA and LIVIA, veiled. -- CYPRIAN, MOSCON, and CLARIN.
JUSTINA. Ah, me!
Cyprian's here. [Aside to her.] See, Livia, see!
CYPRIAN [aside]. I must strive and be discreet,
Feigning with a ready wit,
Till my jealousy I can prove.
I will only speak of love,
If my jealousy will permit.
Not in vain, senora sweet,--
Have I changed my student's dress,
The livery of thy loveliness,
As a servant at thy feet,
Thus I wear. If sighs could move thee
I would labour to deserve thee;
Give me leave at least to serve thee,
Since thou wilt not let me love thee.
JUSTINA. Slight effect, sir, as I see,
Have my words produced on you,
Since they have not brought . . . .
CYPRIAN. Too true!
JUSTINA. A forgetfulness of me.
In what way must I explain
Clearer than I have done before,
That persistence at my door
Is and ever must be vain?
If a day, a month, a year,
If for ages there you stay,
Naught but this that now I say
Ever can you hope to hear.
As it were my latest breath,
Let this sad assurance move thee,--
Fate forbids that I should love thee,
Cyprian, except in death.
[She moves towards the house.
CYPRIAN. At these words my hopes revive:--
Sad! no, no, to joy they move me,
For if thou in death canst love me,
Soon for me will death arrive.
Be it so; and since so nigh
Comes the hour your words to prove --
Ah! even now begin to love,
Since I now begin to die.
[JUSTINA enters.
* * * * *
SCENE III.
CYPRIAN, MOSCON, CLARIN, and LIVIA.
CLARIN. Livia, while my master yonder,
Like a living skeleton,
Life and motion being gone,
On his luckless love doth ponder,
Give me an embrace.
LIVIA. Stay, stay.
Patience, man! until I see,
For I like my conscience free,
If to-day is your right day.--
Tuesday, yes, and Wednesday, no.
CLARIN. What are you counting there? Awake!
Moscon's mum.
LIVIA. He might mistake,
And I wish not to act so.
For, desiring to pursue
A just course betwixt you both,
Turn about, I would be loth
Not to give you each his due.
But I see that you are right,
'Tis your day.
CLARIN. Embrace me, then.
LIVIA. Yes, again, and yet again.
MOSCON. Hark to me, my lady bright,
May I from your ardour borrow
A good omen in my case;
And as Clarin you embrace,
Moscon you'll embrace to-morrow!
LIVIA. Your suspicion is, in fact,
Quite absurd; on me rely.
Jupiter forbid that I
Should commit so bad an act
As to be cool in any way
To a friend. I will to thee
Give an embrace in equity,
When it is your worship's day.
[Exit.
* * * * *
SCENE IV.
CYPRIAN, MOSCON, and CLARIN.
CLARIN. Well, I'll not be by to see,
That's a comfort.
MOSCON. How? why so?
Need I be chagrined to know,
If the girl's not mine, that she
Thus to you her debt did pay.
CLARIN. No.
MOSCON. This makes my point more strong,
Since to me it were no wrong
If it chanced not on my day.
But our master yonder, see,
How absorbed he seems.
CLARIN. More near,
If he speaks I'd like to hear.
MOSCON. And I, too, would like.
CYPRIAN. Ah me!
[As MOSCON and CLARIN approach CYPRIAN from opposite sides, he
gesticulates with his arms, and accidentally strikes both.
Love, how great thy agonies!--
CLARIN. Ah! ah, me!
MOSCON. Ah, me! I bawl.
CLARIN. Well, I think that we may call
This the land of the 'sigh-ah-mes'!
CYPRIAN. What! and have you both been here?
CLARIN. I, at least, was here, I'll swear.
MOSCON. And I, also.
CYPRIAN. O, despair
End at once my sad career!
Ah, what human heart to woe
Like to mine has given a home?
* * * * *
SCENE V.
THE COUNTRY.
CYPRIAN, CLARIN, and MOSCON.
CLARIN. Whither Moscon, do we roam?
MOSCON. When we've reached the end, we'll know.
Leagues behind us lies the town,
Still we go.
CLARIN. A strange proceeding!--
Little time have we for reading,
Idly pacing up and down.
CYPRIAN. Clarin, get thee home.
MOSCON. And I?
CLARIN. Sly-boots, would you rather stay?
CYPRIAN. Go: here leave me both; away!
CLARIN. Mind, he tells us both to fly.
[Exeunt CLARIN and MOSCON.
* * * * *
SCENE VI.
CYPRIAN. Memory of a maddened brain,
Do not with such strong control
Make me think another soul
Is what in my heart doth reign.
Blind idolator I have been --
Lost in love's ambitious flight,
Since such beauty met my sight,
Since a goddess I have seen.
Yet in such a maze of woe
Rigorous fate doth make me move,
That I know but whom I love,
And of whom I am jealous -- no.
Yet this passion is so strong --
Ah, so sweet this fascination,
Driving my imagination
With resistless force along --
That I would (I know too well
How this madness doth degrade me)
To some devilish power to aid me,
Were it even to rise from hell,
Where some mightier power hath kept it,--
Sharing all its pains in common,--
I would, to possess this woman,
Give my soul.
* * * * *
SCENE VII.
The Demon and CYPRIAN.
Demon [within]. And I accept it.
[A great tempest is heard, with thunder and lightning.
CYPRIAN. What's this, ye heavens so pure?
Clear but a moment hence and now obscure,
Ye fright the gentle day!
The thunder-balls, the lightning's forked ray,
Leap from its riven breast --
Terrific shapes it cannot keep at rest;
All the whole heaven a crown of clouds doth wear,
And with the curling mist, like streaming hair,
This mountain's brow is bound.
Outspread below, the whole horizon round
Is one volcanic pyre.
The sun is dead, the air is smoke, heaven fire.
Philosophy, how far from thee I stray,
When I cannot explain the marvels of this day!
And now the sea, upborne on clouds the while,
Seems like some ruined pile,
That crumbling down the wind as 'twere a wall,
In dust not foam doth fall.
And struggling through the gloom,
Facing the storm, a mighty ship seeks room
On the open sea, whose rage it seems to court,
Flying the dangerous pity of the port.
The noise, the terror, and that fearful cry,
Give fatal augury
Of the impending stroke. Death hesitates,
For each already dies who death awaits.
With portents the whole atmosphere is rife,
Nor is it all the effect of elemental strife.
The ship is rigged with tempest as it flies.
It rushes on the lee,
The war is now no longer of the sea;
Upon a hidden rock
It strikes: it breaks as with a thunder shock.
Blood flakes the foam where helpless it is tost.
[The sound of the tempest increases, and voices are heard within.
VOICES WITHIN. We sink! we sink! we're lost!
DEMON [within]. For what I have in hand,
I'll trust this plank to bear me to the land.
CYPRIAN. As scorning the wild wave
One man alone his life attempts to save.
While lurching over, mid the billows' swell,
The great ship sinks to where the Tritons dwell;
There, with its mighty ribs asunder rent,
It lies a corse of the sea, its grave and monument.
[Enter The Demon, dripping with wet, as if escaped from the sea.
DEMON [aside]. For the end I wish to gain
It was of necessity
That upon this sapphire sea
I this fearful storm should feign,
And in form unlike that one
Which in this wild wood I wore,
When I found my deepest lore
By his keener wit outdone,
Come again to assail him here,
Trusting better now to prove
Both his intellect and his love.--
[Aloud.
Earth, loved earth, O mother dear,
From this monster, this wild sea,
Give me shelter in thy arms.
CYPRIAN. Lose, my friend, the dread alarms,
And the cruel memory
Of thy peril happily past;
Since we learn or late or soon,
That beneath the inconstant moon
Human bliss doth never last.
DEMON. Who are thou, at whose kind feet
Has my fortune cast me here?
CYPRIAN. One who with a pitying tear,
For a ruin so complete,
Would alleviate your woe.
DEMON. Ah, impossible!-- for me
Never, never, can there be
Any solace.
CYPRIAN. How, why so?
DEMON. All my priceless wealth I've lost . . .
But I'm wrong to thus complain,
I'll forget, nay, think it gain,
Since my life it hath not cost.
CYPRIAN. Now that the wild whirl malign
Of this earthquake storm doth cease,
And the sky returns to peace,
Quiet, calm, and crystalline,
And the bright succeeds the dark
With such strange rapidity,
That the storm would seem to be
Only raised to sink thy bark,
Tell me who thou art, repay
Thus a sympathy so sincere.
DEMON. It has cost me to come here
More than you have seen to-day,
More than I can well express;
Of the miseries I recall
This ship's loss is least of all.
Would you see that clearly?
CYPRIAN. Yes.
DEMON. I am since you wish to know it,
An epitome, a wonder
Of all happiness and misfortune,
One I have lost, I weep the other.
By my gifts was I so glorious,
So conspicuous in my order,
Of a lineage so illustrious,
With a mind so well informed,
That my rare endowments feeling,
A great king (in truth the noblest
King of Kings, for all would tremble
If he looked in anger on them,)
In his palace roofed with diamonds
And with gems as bright as morning,
(If I called them stars, 'tis certain
The comparison were too modest,)
His especial favourite called me.
Which high epithet of honour
So enflamed my pride, as rival
For his royal seat I plotted,
Hoping soon my victor footsteps
Would his golden thrones have trodden.
It was an unheard-of daring,
THAT, chastized I must acknowledge,
I was mad; but then repentance
Were a still insaner folly.
Obstinate in my resistance,
With my spirit yet unconquered,
I preferred to fall with courage
Than surrender with dishonour.
If the attempt was rash, the rashness
Was not solely my misfortune,
For among his numerous vassals
Not a few my standard followed.
From his court, in fine, thus vanquished,
Though part victor in the contest,
I went forth, my eyes outflashing
Flames of anger and abhorrence,
And my lips proclaiming vengeance
For the public insult offered
To my pride, among his people
Scattering murder, rapine, horror.
Then a bloody pirate, I
The wide plains of the sea ran over,
Argus of its dangerous shallows,
Lynx-eyed where the reefs lay covered;
In that vessel which the wind
Bit by bit so soon demolished,
In that vessel which the sea
As a dustless ruin swallowed,
I to-day these fields of crystal
Eagerly ran o'er, my object
Being stone by stone to examine,
Tree by tree to search this forest:--
For a man in it is living,
Whom it is of great importance
I should see, this day expecting
The fulfilment of a promise
Which he gave and I accepted.
This infuriate tempest stopped me.
And although my powerful genius
Could chain up east, south, and north wind,
I cared not, as if despairing
Of success, with other objects,
Other aims in view, to turn them
To the west wind's summer softness.--
[Aside.
(I have said I could, but did not,
For I note the dangerous workings
Of his mind, and thus to magic
Bind him by these hints the stronger.)
Let not my wild fury fright thee,
Nor be at my power astonished,
For I could my own death give me,
If I were by rage so prompted,
And so great that power, the sunlight,
By my science could be blotted.
I, in magic am so mighty,
That I can describe the orbits
Of the stars, for I have travelled
Through the farthest and beyond them.
And in order that this boasting
May not seem to you mere bombast,
Look, if at this very instant
You desire it, this untrodden
Nimrod of rude rocks more savage
Than of Babylon is recorded,
Shall without a leaf being shaken,
Show the most horrific portents.
I am, then, the orphan guest here
Of these ash-trees, of these poplars,
And though what I am, assistance
At thy feet here I ask from thee:
And I wish the good I purchase
To repay thee with the product
Of unnumbered years of study,
Though it now slight effort costs me,
Giving to your wildest wishes
[Aside.
(Here I touch his love,) the fondest
Longings of your heart, whatever
Passion can desire or covet.
If through courtesy or caution
You should not accept my offer,
Let my good intentions pay you,
If from greater acts you stop me.
For the pity that you show me,
Which I thankfully acknowledge,
I will be a friend so faithful,
That henceforth the changeful monster
Of events and acts, called Fortune,
Which 'twixt flattering words and scornful,
Generous now, and now a miser,
Shows a friendly face or hostile,
Neither it nor that laborious
Ever flying, running worker,
Time, the loadstone of the ages,
Nor even heaven itself, heaven proper,
To whose stars the dark world oweth
All its most divine adornment,
Will have power to separate me
From your side a single moment,
Since you here have given me welcome.
And even this is almost nothing
When compared with what my wishes
Hope hereafter to accomplish.
CYPRIAN. Well to the sea, my thanks are due, that bore
You struggling to the shore,
And led you to this grove,
Where you will quickly prove
The friendly feelings that inflame my breast,
If happily I merit such a guest.
Then let us homeward wend,
For I esteem you now as an old friend.
My guest you are, and so you must not leave me
While my house suits you.
DEMON. Do you then receive me
Wholly as yours?
CYPRIAN [embracing him]. This act doth prove it true,
That seals an eternal bond betwixt us two.--
[Aside.
Oh! if I could win o'er
This man to instruct me in his magic lore!
Since by that art my love might gain
Some solace for its pain;
Or yielding to its mighty laws
My love at length might win my love's sweet cause --
The cause of all my torment, madness, rage.
DEMON [aside]. The working of his mind and love I gauge.
* * * * *
SCENE VIII.
CLARIN and MOSCON enter running from opposite sides. CYPRIAN and The Demon.
CLARIN. Oh! are you sir, alive?
MOSCON. My friend, do you
Speak civilly for once as something new?
That he's alive requires no demonstration.
CLARIN. I struck this lofty note of admiration,
Thou noble lackey, to express my wonder,
How from this storm of lightning, rain, and thunder,
Without a miracle he could survive.
MOSCON. Will you stop wondering, now you see him alive?
CYPRIAN. These are my servants, sir.--
What brings you here?
MOSCON. Your spleen once more to stir.
DEMON. They have a pleasant humour.
CYPRIAN. Foolish pair,
Their weary wit is oft too hard to bear.
MOSCON. This man, sir, waiting here,
Who is he?
CYPRIAN. He's my guest, so do not fear.
CLARIN. Wherefore have guests at such a time as this?
CYPRIAN [to The Demon]. Your worth is lost on ignorance such as his.
MOSCON. My master's right. Are you, forsooth, his heir?
CLARIN. No; but our new friend there,
Looks like a guest, unless I deceive me, who
Will honour our poor house a year or two.
MOSCON. Why?
CLARIN. When a guest soon means to go away,
Well, he'll not make much smoke in the house, we say.
But this . . . .
MOSCON. Speak out.
CLARIN. Will make, I do not joke . .
MOSCON. What?
CLARIN. In the house a deuced deal of smoke.
CYPRIAN. In order to repair
The danger done by the rude sea and air,
Come thou with me.
DEMON. [Aside.] I'm thine, while thou hast breath.
CYPRIAN. I go to prepare thy rest.
DEMON [aside]. And I thy death:--
An entrance having gained
Within his breast, and thus my end obtained;
My rage insatiate now without control
Seeks by another way to win Justina's soul.
[Exit.
CLARIN. Guess, if you can, what I am thinking about.
MOSCON. What is it?
CLARIN. That a new volcano has burst out
In the late storm, there's such a sulphur smell.
MOSCON. It came from the guest, as my good nose could tell.
CLARIN. He uses bad pastilles, then; but I can
Infer the cause.
MOSCON. What is it?
CLARIN. The poor gentleman
Has a slight rash on his skin, a ticklish glow,
And uses sulphur ointment.
MOSCON. Gad! 'tis so.
[Exeunt.
* * * * *
SCENE IX.
THE STREET.
LELIUS and FABIUS.
FABIUS. You return, then, to this street.
LELIUS. Yes; the life that I deplore
I return to seek once more
Where 'twas lost. Ah! guide my feet,
Love, to find it!--
FABIUS. That house there
Is Justina's; come away.
LELIUS. Wherefore, when I will to-day
Once again my love declare.
And as she, I saw it plain,
Trusted some one else at night,
'Tis not strange, in open light,
That I try to soothe my pain.
Leave me, go; for it is best
That I enter here alone.
My rank in Antioch is known,
My father Governor; thus drest
In his robe as 'twere, my strong
Passion listening to no mentor,
I Justina's house will enter
To protest against my wrong.
[Exeunt.
* * * * *
SCENE X.
A HALL IN THE HOUSE OF LYSANDER.
JUSTINA, and afterwards LELIUS.
JUSTINA. Livia . . . . But a step! who's there?
[LELIUS enters
LELIUS. It is I.
JUSTINA. What novelty,
What extreme temerity,
Thus, my lord, compels you? . . .
LELIUS. Spare
Your reproaches. Jealous-grown,
I can bear that you reprove.
Pardon me, for with my love
My respect has also flown.
JUSTINA. Why, at such a perilous cost
Have you dared . . .
LELIUS. Because I'm mad.
JUSTINA. To intrude . . . .
LELIUS. Heart-broken, sad.
JUSTINA. Here . . . .
LELIUS. Because, in truth, I'm lost.
JUSTINA. Nor perceive how scandal views
Such an act as now you do
'Gainst . . . .
LELIUS. Be not so moved, for you
Little honour now can lose.
JUSTINA. Lelius, spare at least my fame.
LELIUS. Ah, Justina, it were best
That this language you addressed
Unto him who nightly came
Down here from this balcony;--
'Tis enough for me to show
All your lightness that I know,
That less coy and cold to me
Your pretended honour prove.
If I am disdained, displaced,
'Tis another suits your taste,
Not that you your honour love.
JUSTINA. Silence, cease, your words withhold.
Who with insult e'er before
Dared to pass my threshold's door?
Are you then so blind and bold,
So audacious, so insane,
As my pure light to eclipse,
Through the libel of your lips,
By chimeras false and vain?--
In my house a man?
LELIUS. 'Tis so.
JUSTINA. From my balcony?
LELIUS. With shame
I repeat it.
JUSTINA. O, my fame,
O'er us twain your Aegis throw.
* * * * *
SCENE XI.
THE SAME.
The Demon appears at the door which is behind JUSTINA.
DEMON [aside]. For the deep design I handle,
For my double plot I come
Raging to this simple home,
Now to work the greatest scandal
Ever seen. Here, brooding o'er him,
This wild lover mad with ire,
I will fan his jealous fire,
I will place myself before him,
Catch his eye, and then as fleeing,
In invisible gloom array me.
[He affects to come in, and being seen by LELIUS muffles himself in
his cloak, and re-enters the inner apartment.
JUSTINA. Man, do you come here to slay me?
LELIUS. No, to die.
JUSTINA. What object seeing
Paralyses thus your senses?
LELIUS. What I see is your untruth.
Tell me now, the wish, forsooth,
Has invented my offences.
From that very chamber there
Came a man, I turned my head,
When he saw my face he fled
Back into the room.
JUSTINA. The air
Must this phantasy display --
This illusion.
LELIUS. Oh, that sight!
JUSTINA. Is it not enough by night,
Lelius, but in open day
Thus fictitious forms to see?
LELIUS. Phantom shape or real lover,
Now the truth I will discover.
[He goes into the room where The Demon had disappeared.
JUSTINA. I no hindrance offer thee,
For my innocence, a way,
At the cost of this permission,
Thus finds out the night's submission
To correct by the light of day.
* * * * *
SCENE XII.
LYSANDER and JUSTINA; LELIUS, within.
LYSANDER. My Justina.
JUSTINA [aside]. Woe is me!
Ah, if here before Lysander
Lelius from that room comes forth!
LYSANDER. My misfortunes, my disasters
Fly to be consoled by thee.
JUSTINA. What can be the grief, the sadness,
That your face betrays so plainly?
LYSANDER. And no wonder, when the pallor
Springs even from the heart. This sobbing
Stops my weak words in their passage.
[LELIUS appears at the door of the apartment.
LELIUS [aside]. I begin now to believe,
Since he is not in this chamber,
Jealousy can cause these spectres.
He, the man I saw, has vanished,
How I know not.
JUSTINA [aside to Lelius]. Come not forth,
Lelius, here before my father.
LELIUS. Convalescent in my sickness
I will wait till he is absent.
[Retires.
JUSTINA. Why this weeping? why this sighing?
What, sir, moves thee, what unmans thee?
LYSANDER. I am moved by a misfortune,
I'm unmanned by a disaster,
Greater far than tender pity
Ever wept,-- the dread example
Cruelty has sworn to make
In the innocent blood of martyrs.
To the Governor of this city
Decius Caesar a strict mandate
Has despatched . . . I can speak no more.
JUSTINA [aside]. What position e'er was harder?
Moved with pity for the Christians
Hither comes to me Lysander
The sad news to tell, not knowing
Lelius to his words may hearken,--
Lelius, the Governor's son.
LYSANDER. So Justina . . .
JUSTINA. Sir, no farther,
Since you feel it so acutely,
Speak upon this painful matter.
LYSANDER. Let me, for I'll feel some solace
When to thee it is imparted.
In it he commands . . .
JUSTINA. Proceed not
Further now, when you should rather
Cheat your years with more repose.
LYSANDER. How? when I, to make you partner
In those lively fears whose bodings
Are sufficient to despatch me,
Would inform you of the edict,
The most cruel that the margin
Of the Tiber ever saw
Writ in blood to stain its waters,
Do you stop me? Ah, Justina,
You were wont in another manner
Once to listen to me.
JUSTINA. Sir,
Different were the circumstances.
LELIUS [at the door, aside]. I can hear but indistinctly
Half-formed words and broken accents.
* * * * *
SCENE XIII.
FLORUS enters. -- JUSTINA and LYSANDER; LELIUS, peeping at the door
of the inner room.
FLORUS [aside]. Licence has a jealous lover,
Who but enters to unmask here
A pretended purity,
To forego politer manners.
I come here with that intention . . .
But as she is with her father
I will wait a new occasion.
LYSANDER. Who is there? Some footstep passes.
FLORUS [aside]. Ah! 'tis now impossible
Without speaking to get back here.
Some excuse I'll try to offer:--
I am . . .
LYSANDER. You here, sir?
FLORUS. Your pardon.
I ask leave, sir, to speak with you
On a most important matter.
JUSTINA [aside]. Oh! take pity on me, fortune,
For these trials are too many.
LYSANDER. Well, sir, speak.
FLORUS [aside, at the door]. Florus in Justina's house
Leaves and enters like a master!--
These are not unfounded jealousies,
These are real and substantial.
LYSANDER. You grow pale, you change your colour.
FLORUS. Do not wonder, be not startled,
For I came to give a warning,
To your life of utmost value,
Of an enemy that you have,
Who your swift destruction planneth.
What I've said is quite sufficient.
LYSANDER [aside]. Florus, doubtless, must have gathered
Somehow that I am a Christian,
And thus comes in kindliest manner
Of my danger to apprise me.--
[Aloud.
Speak, hide nothing in this matter.
* * * * *
SCENE XIV.
LIVIA enters. -- JUSTINA, LYSANDER, and FLORUS; LELIUS at the door of the room.
LIVIA. Sir, the Governor, who is waiting
At the door of the house, commanded
Me to call you to his presence.
FLORUS. Best I wait for his departure:--
[Aside.
(Meantime my excuse I'll think of.)
So 'tis well that you despatch him.
LYSANDER. I appreciate your politeness.
Here I will return instanter.
[Exeunt LYSANDER and LIVIA.
* * * * *
SCENE XV.
JUSTINA and FLORUS; LELIUS at the door.
FLORUS. Are you then that virtuous maiden,
Who, the very breeze that flatters
With its soft and sweet caresses,
You would call rude, bold, unmannered?
How then is it you surrendered
Even the very keys of the casket
Of your honour?
JUSTINA. Hold, hold, Florus,
Do not dare to throw a shadow
On that honour which the sun
After the most strict examen
Has proved bright and pure.
FLORUS. Too late
Comes this idle boast. It happens
That I know to whom you have given
Free access . . .
JUSTINA. You dare this scandal?--
FLORUS. By a balcony . . .
JUSTINA. Do not say it.
FLORUS. To your honour.
JUSTINA. Thus will you blast me?
FLORUS. Yes, for hypocritical virtue
Merits something even harsher.
LELIUS [at the door, aside]. Florus was not then the hero
Of the balcony; some more happy
Lover than us twain she welcomes.
JUSTINA. Oh! defame not noble damsels,
Since you noble blood inherit.
FLORUS. Noble damsel, dar'st thou call thee,
When thy very arms received him,
And from thy balcony he departed?
Power subdued thee; from the fact
That the Governor is his father,
Vanity led thee on to show
That in Antioch he commanded . . .
LELIUS [aside]. Here he speaks of me.
FLORUS. Not seeing
Any graver defect of manner,
Than what in his birth and breeding
Rank may cover with its mantle,
But not so . . . .
[LELIUS enters.
LELIUS. Be silent, Florus,
Nor attack me in my absence;
For of a rival to speak ill,
Is the act but of a dastard.
'Tis to stop this I come forward,
Angry after so many passes
Which my sword has had with thine,
That I have not yet dispatched thee.
JUSTINA. Who, not guilty, ever saw her
In such dangerous straits entangled?
FLORUS. What behind your back was spoken,
I before you will establish,
Truth is truth where'er 'tis uttered.
[They grasp their swords.
JUSTINA. Florus! Lelius! what would you have then.
LELIUS. I would have full satisfaction
Where I heard th'insulting language.
FLORUS. I'll maintain what I have said
Where I said it.
JUSTINA. From so many
Strokes of fortune, free me, Heaven!--
FLORUS. And I'll learn to chastise your rashness.
* * * * *
SCENE XVI.
The Governor enters with LYSANDER and attendants. -- JUSTINA, LELIUS,
and FLORUS.
[All who enter]. Hold! stand back!
JUSTINA. Unhappy me!
GOVERNOR. What is this? But empty scabbards,
Naked swords, are quite sufficient
To inform me what has happened.
JUSTINA. What misfortune!
LYSANDER. What affliction!--
LELIUS. Ah, my lord . . .
GOVERNOR. Enough, no farther.
Lelius, thou a son of mine,
A disturber? Thou a scandal
To all Antioch through my favour?
LELIUS. Think, my lord . . .
GOVERNOR. Arrest, disarm them,
Take them hence. Make no distinction
On account of blood or rank here.
Let them suffer both alike,
Since in guilt alike they acted.
LELIUS [aside]. I came jealous, and go outraged.
FLORUS [aside]. To my pains new pains are added.
GOVERNOR. In distinct and separate prisons,
And with watchful eyes to guard them,
Place the two. -- And you, Lysander,
Is it possible you have tarnished
Such a noble reputation,
Suffering . . . .
LYSANDER. No; let not these dazzling
False appearances mislead you,
For Justina in what happened
Was quite blameless.
GOVERNOR. In her house here,
Would you have her live regardless
Of the fact that they were young,
And that she was fair; My anger
I restrain, lest people say,
I, an interested party,
Sentence passed as partial judge.--
But of you who caused this quarrel,
Now that maiden shame has left you,
Well I know that you will glad me
With the occasion I desire,
Of exposing, of unmasking,
In the light of actual vices,
The false virtuous part you've acted.
[Exeunt The Governor and his attendants; LELIUS and FLORUS follow as prisoners.
* * * * *
SCENE XVII.
JUSTINA and LYSANDER.
JUSTINA. I reply but with my tears.
LYSANDER. Tears as vain as they are tardy.
What an act was mine, Justina,
When to thee my lips imparted
Who thou art! Oh, would I never
Told thee, that upon the margin
Of a rivulet in this forest,
A dead mother's womb here cast thee!
JUSTINA. I . . . .
LYSANDER. Do not attempt excuses.
JUSTINA. Heaven will make them, then, hereafter
LYSANDER. When too late, perhaps.
JUSTINA. No limit
Can be late here while life lasteth.
LYSANDER. For the punishment of crimes.
JUSTINA. Injured truth to re-establish.
LYSANDER. I, from what I have seen, condemn thee.
JUSTINA. I thee, from what thou knowest not, rather.
LYSANDER. Leave me; I go forth to die
Where my grief will soon dispatch me.
JUSTINA. At thy feet I would lose my life;
But do not reject me, father.
[Exeunt.
* * * * *
SCENE XVIII.
A HALL IN CYPRIAN'S HOUSE.
At the end is an open gallery, through which is seen the country.
CYPRIAN, the Demon, MOSCON, and CLARIN.
DEMON. Since the hour that I have been
In your house a guest, you ne'er
Show a gay and cheerful air.
Sadness in your face is seen.
It is wrong your cure to shun,
Seeking to mislead mine eyes,
Since I would unsphere the skies,
Shake the stars, and shroud the sun,
For the least desire you feel
That more pleasantly you might live.
CYPRIAN. Magic has no power to give
The impossible I conceal,
Though the misery I betray.
DEMON. Come, confess the longed-for bliss.
CYPRIAN. I love a woman.
DEMON. And is this
The impossible that you say?
CYPRIAN. If you knew her, you'd agree.
DEMON. Well, describe her, I'm resigned;
Though I can't but smile to find
What a coward you must be.
CYPRIAN. The fair cradle of the skies,
Where the infant sun reposes,
Ere he rises, decked with roses,
Robed in snow, to dry heaven's eyes.
The green prison-bud that tries
To restrain the conscious rose,
When the crimson captive knows
April treads its gardens near,
Turning dawn's half frozen tear
To a smile where sunshine glows.
The sweet streamlet gliding by,
Though it scarcely dares to breathe
Softest murmurs through its teeth,
From the frosts that on it lie.
The bright pink, in its small sky
Shining like a coral star.
The blithe bird that flies afar,
Drest in shifting shades and blooms --
Soaring cithern of plumes
Harping high o'er heaven's blue bar.
The white rock that cheats the sun
When it tries to melt it down,
What it melts is but the crown
Which from winter's snow it won.
The green bay that will not shun,
Though the heavens are all aglow,
For its feet a bath of snow,--
Green Narcissus of the brook,
Fearless leaning o'er to look,
Though the stream runs chill below
In a word, the crimson dawn,
Sun, mead, streamlet, rosebud, May
Bird that sings his amorous lay,
April's laugh that gems the lawn,
Pink that sips the dews up-drawn,
Rock that stands in storm and shine,
Bay-tree that delights to twine
Round its fadeless leaves the sun,
All are parts which met in one
Form this woman most divine.
For myself, in blind unrest,
(Guess my madness if you can)
I, to seem another man,
In these courtly robes am drest,
Studious calm I now detest,
Fame no longer fires my mind,
Passion reigns where thought refined,
I my firmness fling to tears,
Courage I resign to fears,
And my hopes I give the wind.
I have said, and so will do,
That to some infernal sprite
I would offer with delight
(And the pledge I now renew)
Even my soul for her I woo.
But my offer is in vain,
Hell rejects it with disdain,
For my soul, it may allege,
Is a disproportionate pledge
For the interest I would gain.
DEMON. Is this, then your boasted courage,
In the footsteps of dejected
Swains to follow, who grow timid
When their first assault's rejected?
Are examples then so distant
Of fair ladies who surrender
All their vanities to entreaties,
All their pride to fond addresses?
Would you make your breast the prison
Of your love, your arms her fetters?
CYPRIAN. Can you doubt it?
DEMON. Then command them
To retire, those two, your servants,
So that we remain here only.
CYPRIAN. Go: both leave me for the present.
MOSCON. I obey.
[Exit.
CLARIN. And I as well.--
[Aside, concealing himself.
Such a guest must be the devil.
CYPRIAN. They are gone.
DEMON [aside]. That Clarin's hiding,
Is to me of small concernment.
CYPRIAN. What more wish you now?
DEMON. First fasten
Well this door.
CYPRIAN. Yes; none can enter.
DEMON. For the possession of this woman,
With your lips you have asserted
You would give your soul.
CYPRIAN. 'Tis so.
DEMON. Then the contract is accepted.
CYPRIAN. What do you say?
DEMON. That I accept it.
CYPRIAN. How?
DEMON. So much have I effected
By my science, that I will teach you
How by it to get possession
Of the woman that you worship;
For I (though so wise and learned)
Have no other means to win her.
Let us now in writing settle
What we have resolved between us.
CYPRIAN. Do you wish by new pretences
To prolong the pains I suffer?
In my hand is what I tender,
But in yours is not the offer
That you make me; no, for never
Conjurations or enchantments
Can free will control or fetter.
DEMON. Give me, on the terms you spoke of,
Your signed bond.
CLARIN. [peeping]. The deuce! This fellow
Is no fool, I see. No greenhorn
In his business is this devil.
I give him my bond! No, truly,
Though my lodgings wanted a tenant
For the space of twenty ages,
I wouldn't do it.
CYPRIAN. Sir, much jesting
May with merry friends be pastime,
Not with those who are dejected.
DEMON. I, in proof of what I am able
To effect, will now present you
With an example, though it faintly
Shows the power my art possesses.
From this gallery what is seen?
CYPRIAN. Much of sky, and much of meadow,
Wood, a rivulet, and a mountain.
DEMON. Which to you doth seem most pleasant?
CYPRIAN. The proud mountain, for in it
Is my adored one represented.
DEMON. Proud competitor of time,
Rival of the years for ever,
Who as king of fields and plains
Crown'st thee with the cloud and tempest,
Move thyself, change earth and air;
Look, see who I am that tell thee.--
And, look thou, too, since a mountain
I can move, thou mayest a maiden.
[The mountain moves from one side to the other in the perspective of
the theatre.
CYPRIAN. Never saw I such a wonder!
Ne'er a sight of so much terror!
CLARIN [peeping]. With the fright and with the fear,
I enjoy a twofold tremble.
CYPRIAN. Mighty mountain bird that fliest,
Trees for wings replacing feathers,
Boat, whose rocks supply the tackle,
As thou furrowest through the zephyr,
To thy centre back return thee,
And so end this fear, this terror.
[The mountain returns to its original position.
DEMON. If one proof is not sufficient,
I will give you then a second.
Do you wish to see the woman
You adore?
CYPRIAN. Yes.
DEMON. Then, thy entrails
Ope, thou monster, to whose being
The four elements are servants.
Show to us the perfect beauty
That thou hidest in thy centre.
[A rock opens and JUSTINA is seen sleeping.
Is this she whom you adore?
CYPRIAN. Whom I idolize beyond measure.
DEMON. But since I have power to give her,
I can take her too, remember.
CYPRIAN. Now impossible dream of mine,
Now thy arms will be the centre
Of my love, thy lips the sun,
Burning, brimming as with nectar.
DEMON. Stay; for till the word you gave me
Is affirmed, and well attested,
You can touch her not.
[CYPRIAN rushes towards the rock, which closes.
CYPRIAN. Oh, stay
Cloud that hides the most resplendent
Sun, that on my bliss e'er dawned!--
But 'tis air my void arm presses.--
I believe your art, acknowledge
Now I am your slave for ever.
What do you wish I do for thee?
What do you ask?
DEMON. To be protected
By your signature here written
In your blood, at the foot of a letter.
CLARIN [peeping]. Oh! I'd give my soul that I
To stay here had not been tempted.
CYPRIAN. For my pen I use this dagger,
Paper let this white cloth serve for,
And the ink wherewith I write it,
Be the blood my arm presents me.
[He writes with the point of a dagger upon a piece of linen, having
drawn blood from one of his arms.
CYPRIAN [Aside]. Oh! I freeze with fear, with horror!
I, great Cyprian, say expressly
I will give my immortal soul,
(Oh! what lethargy, what frenzy!)
Unto him whose art will teach me
(What confusion! what strange terror!)
How I may of fair Justina,
Haughty mistress mine, possess me.
I have signed it with my name.
DEMON [aside]. Now to my deceits is rendered
Valid homage, when such reason,
When discourse like his must tremble
Even when my help is sought for.--
Have you written?
CYPRIAN. And signed the letter.
DEMON. Then the sun you adore is thine.
CYPRIAN. Thine too, for the years eternal,
Is the soul I offer thee.
DEMON. Soul for soul I pay my debtors,
Then for thine I give to thee
Thy Justina's
CYPRIAN. In what term then,
Think you you can teach to me
All your magic art?
DEMON. A twelvemonth;
But on this condition . . . .
CYPRIAN. Speak.
DEMON. That within a cavern buried,
Without any other study,
We may live there both together,
In our service having no one
For us two but this attendant,
[Drags out CLARIN.
Who being curious hid him here;--
By securing thus his person
That our secret is well kept,
We, I think, may be quite certain.
CLARIN [aside]. Oh, that I had never waited!
How does it happen though, so many
Neighbours prone to pry, as I am,
Are not caught thus by the devil?
CYPRIAN. So far well. My love, my genius
Have this happy end effected:
First Justina will be mine,
Then by my new lights, new learning,
I will wake the world's surprise.
DEMON. I have gained what I intended.
CLARIN. I not so.
DEMON. You come with us.--
[Aside.
O'er my great foe I've got the better.
CYPRIAN. Ah, how happy my desires,
If I reach to such possession!--
DEMON [aside]. Never will my envy rest
Till I gain both souls to serve me.--
Let us go, and in the deepest
Cavern this wild world presenteth
You to-day will learn in magic
Your first lesson.
CYPRIAN. Let us enter,
For my mind with such a master,
For my love with such incentive,
Will the sorcerer Cyprian's name
Live before the world for ever.
