Acast. Delay not then, but haste and cheer thy love. Cast. Oh! I will throw my impatient arms about her, In her soft bosom sigh my soul to peace, SCENE II. A Chamber. Enter MONIMIA. Mon. Stand off, and give me room! I will not rest till I have found Castalio, My wishes' lord, comely as the rising day, Amidst ten thousand eminently known! Flowers spring up where'er he treads; his eyes, Fountains of brightness, cheering all about him! When will they shine on me?-Oh, stay my soul! I cannot die in peace till I have seen him. CASTALIO within. Cast. Who talks of dying with a voice so sweet, That life's in love with it? Mon. Hark! 'tis he that answers. Cast. [Entering.] Here, my love. Cast. Have I been in a dream, then, all this As might have moved the hardest heart; why while? And art thou but the shadow of Monimia? Why dost thou fly me thus? wert thou Deaf to my criefs, and senseless of my pains? Mon. Did not I beg thee to forbear inquiry? Mon. Oh, were it possible, that we could drown Readst thou not something in my face, that In dark oblivion but a few past hours, We might be happy. Cast. Is it then so hard, Monimia, to forgive A fault, where humble love, like mine, implores thee? For I must love thee, though it prove my ruin. What shall I do to be enough thy slave, Mon. If I am dumb, Castalio, and want words Just as thy poor heart thinks! Have not I wronged thee? Cast. No. Mon. Still thou wander'st in the dark, Castalio; But wilt, ere long, stumble on horrid danger. Cast. What means my love? speaks Wonderful change, and horror from within me? Cast. Then there is something yet, which I have not known: What dost thou mean by horror and forbearance Of mine inquiry? Tell me, I beg thee, tell me, And don't betray me to a second madness! Mon. Must I? Cast. If, labouring in the pangs of death, Thou wouldst do any thing to give me ease, Unfold this riddle ere my thoughts grow wild, And let in fears of ugly form upon me. Mon. My heart won't let me speak it; but remember, Monimia, poor Monimia, tells you this, Cast. What means my destiny? For all my good or evil fate dwells in thee! Mon. No, never. Cast. Where's the power On earth, that dare not look like thee, and say so? Thou art my heart's inheritance; I served And who shall rob me of the dear bought blessing? Mon. Time will clear all; but now, let this content you. Heaven has decreed, and therefore I'm resolved (With torment I must tell it thee, Castalio) Ever to be a stranger to thy love, In some far distant country waste my life, And never more shall find the way to rest; I should know all, for love is pregnant in them; [Exit Monimia. Mon. Ah, poor Castalio! Cast. Pity, by the gods, She pities me! then thou wilt go eternally, What means all this? Why all this stir to plague A single wretch? If but your word can shake This world to atoms, why so much ado With me? Think me but dead, and lay me so. Enter POLYDOre. Pol. To live, and live a torment to myself, What dog would bear it, that knew but his condition? We have little knowledge, and that makes us cowards, Because it cannot tell us what's to come. Pol. Why, what art thou? Cast. My brother Polydore? Cast. Canst thou inform me Pol. Of what! Cast. Of my Monimia! Pol. No. Good-day. Cast. In haste! Methinks my Polydore appears in sadness. Pol. Indeed, and so to me does my Castalio. Cast. Do I? Pol. Thou dost. Cast. Alas, I have wond'rous reason! I am strangely altered, brother, since I saw thec. Pol. Why! Cast. Oh! to tell thee, would but put thy heart To pain. Let me embrace thee but a little, Pol. A fault! when thou hast heard The tale I tell, what wilt thou call it then? Pol. First for thy friendship, traitor, I cancel it thus; after this day, I'll ne'er Cast. What will my fate do with me? Pol. Perjured, treacherous wretch, Farewell! Cast. I'll be thy slave, and thou shalt use me Just as thou wilt, do but forgive me. Bb Pol. Never. Cast. Oh! think a little what thy heart is do- How, from our infancy, we, hand in hand, Even in the womb we embraced; and wilt thou now, For the first fault, abandon and forsake me, Pol. Blind wretch! thou husband! there is a Go to her fulsome bed, and wallow there: Cast. Hold there, I charge thee. Pol. Is she not a Cast. Whore? Pol. Ay, whore; I think that word needs no Cast. Alas! I can forgive even this, to thee! To wrong that virtue, which thou couldst not Cast. Do, draw thy sword, and thrust it through my heart; There is no joy in life, if thou art lost. A base-born villain! Pol. Yes; thou never cam'st From old Acasto's loins; the midwife put Of a true brother, in a cradle by me, Mon. I am here, who calls me? Sweet as the shepherd's pipe upon the mountains, Cast. Ay, brother's blood. Art thou prepared for everlasting pains? Hurt not her tender life! Cast. Not kill her? Rack me, Ye powers above, with all your choicest torments, And wreak revenge some way yet never known. die Before we part; I have drank a healing draught For all my cares, and never more shall wrong thee. Pol. O she's innocent! Cast. Tell me that story, And thou wilt make a wretch of me indeed. Pol. Hadst thou, Castalio, used me like a friend, This ne'er had happened; hadst thou let me know Placed some coarse peasant's cub, and thou art he. Thy marriage, we had all now met in joy; Cust. Thou art my brother still. Pol. Thou liest. Cast. Nay then Yet I am calm. Pol. A coward's always so. Cast. Ah!-ah-that stings home-Coward! Cast. This to thy heart, then, though my mother tune; None but myself could e'er have been so cursed! | But here remain, till my heart burst with sobbing. My fatal love, alas! has ruined thee, Thou fairest, goodliest frame the gods e'er made, Why wouldst thou study ways to damn me far- And force the sin of parricide upon me? Pol. 'Twas my own fault, and thou art cent; Cast. Vanish, I charge thee, or [Draws a dagger. Cha. Thou canst not kill me; That would be kindness, and against thy nature. Acast. What means Castalio? Sure thou wilt not pull More sorrows on thy aged father's head. inno-Tell me, I beg you, tell me the sad cause Of all this ruin. Forgive the barbarous trespass of my tongue; With love of thee, even when I used thee worst; Mon. Now, my Castalio, the most dear of men, cursed fate Has weighed thee down into destruction with him. Mon. When I am laid low in the grave, and Mayst thou be happy in a fairer bride; Thank Heaven, I go prepared against that curse. | Pol. That must be my task: East. Thou, unkind Chamont, Now, if thou wilt embrace a nobler vengeance, Cast. First, thyself, As I do, and the hour, that gave thee birth: Acast. Have patience. Cast. Patience! preach it to the winds, Cha. Gape earth, and swallow me to quick de- Thus I find rest, and shall complain no more. struction, If I forgive your house! if I not live An everlasting plague to thee, Acasto, And all thy race. Ye've overpowered me now; But hear me, Heaven!-Ah, here's a scene of death! My sister, my Monimia breathless! Now, Ye powers above, if ye have justice, strike, Strike bolts through me, and through the cursed Acast. My Polydore! Pol. Who calls? Pol. Castalio! oh! [Stabs himself. Chamont, to thee my birth-right I bequeath; [Acasto faints into the arms of a servant. 'Tis thus that Heaven its empire does maintain; It may afflict, but man must not complain. [Exeunt omnes. SCENE I-A Street in Venice. ACT I. Enter PRIULI and JAFFIER. Pri. No more! I'll hear no more! Begone and leave me. Jaf. Not hear me! By my suffering but you shall! My lord, my lord! I'm not that abject wretch, You think me. Patience! where's the distance throws Me back so far, but I may boldly speak And urge its baseness) when you first came home By all men's eyes, a youth of expectation, In right, though proud oppression will not hear me? You treacherously practised to undo me; Pri. Have you not wronged me? Jaf. Could my nature e'er Have brooked injustice, or the doing wrongs, Pri. Yes, wronged me! In the nicest point, The honour of my house, you have done me wrong. You may remember (for I now will speak, Seduced the weakness of my age's darling, Jaf. 'Tis to me you owe her! |