be honest Atr. Hence with thy old Cant That was the unintelligible stuff Thou taught'st my foolish Youth which now I find All non-sence and not fit for Princes Courts Pen. What is not Vertue fit for Princes Courts Atr. No 't is an Art of washing o're false Coin And stamping Images of Gods on Knaves Thou seem'st the humblest Creature in the World The Fool that into flaming Aetna leapt To be esteem'd a God had not more pride Thou fling'st thy self into the jaws of want To be ador'd and thought a Godlike man He strove to disappear in Flame and Smoke And thou in cloudy words of good and wise Pen. I serv'd so faithfully your Royal House Upwards of threescore years that I believ'd I might assume the name of honest man Since it was all the wages I desir'd When did I ever wrong you in my life That you shou'd throw this scandal on my age I speak for Vertues sake and not my own Lest all men shou'd forsake her for a Cheat. I 'le do her right as I 'm in Conscience bound And boldly tell you Vertue makes my Age More pleasant than your Kingdom does your Youth Atr. Thanks to Thyestes Pen. He has wrong'd you indeed But what have your obedient Subjects done And you kill them to save their lives I came Atr. They hide the Traytour Pen. I believe the Gods Hide him lest you by death shou'd set him free From greater punishments which they inflict Vengeance belongs to Gods and they devour Their luscious Morsels of Revenge alone Atr. I 'le find their Banquet out and have my share I care not what it cost me let our fam'd Great House Pelops tumble on my head So damn'd Thyestes perish under me Pen. You 'l make your self as odious as he Almost as impious too Atr. I wou'd be more I wou'd do all that Villany to him That he can only wish were done to me I have no other way to prove my self His Elder Brother and a lawful King For he of us that is the greatest Fiend Ought to be King of Argos ' cause he gives The greatest proof of Tantalus his blood And I 'le appear no Bastard to the World Pen. What will your People say Atr. I 'le make 'em say What I command Pen. Falshoods perhaps you may Atr. That is the great Prerogative of Power To tax the world for Praise as well as Coin I 'le make 'em praise my actions good or bad Pen. Yes whilst you live you may but when you are dead The world will curse you to Eternity Atr. My Name will live then to Eternity Pen. So will your Soul but lost Atr. Let 'em but live No matter how Pen. Fear you not Men or Gods Atr. The Fear of Gods ne're came in Pelops House Pen. Think you there are no Gods Atr. I find all things So false I 'm sure of nothing but of wrongs Pen. Then fear your injur'd Subjects for the beams Of Vertue breed the Golden Mines of Praise But Vice the Iron of Rebellion Atr. Let them fear that oh I am mad I burn Furies with flaming brands are in my breast Their Snakes with their own poyson almost burst And every Vein o' mine contains a Snake Ho! there bid Mycenae get in Arms I will pour all my Kingdom upon Greece Pen. And who shall guard your Cities then Atr. The Furies They are their Temples and belov'd abodes Pen. Oh! Sir Atr. Away or I will spurn thee hence I am transported from my self arm arm I 'le do Pen. What will you do Atr. I know not what Something that all the Gods shall tremble at Ex. Pen. How miserable a thing is a great man Take noysie vexing greatness they that please Give me obscure and safe and silent ease Acquaintaince and Commerce let me have none With any powerful thing but time alone My rest let time be fearful to offend And creep by me as by a slumb'ring Friend Till with ease glutted to my Grave I steal As men to sleep after a plentious Meal Oh! wretched he who call'd abroad by power To know himself can never find an hour Strange to himself but to all others known Lends every one his Life and uses none So e're he tasted Life to Death he goes And himself loses e're himself he knows Exit ACT II. SCENE II. Philisthenes and Antigone meet SCENE the Mouth of a Cave in a Grove Ant. OH my Philisthenes sad news sad news My cruel Fathers Feaver of Revenge Grows on him every hour night brings him all The restless shades of Hell day all the Flames He 's ever calling for thy Fathers Blood How greedily wou'd he drink thine more sweet But do not fear as soon as Night appears Away we 'll fly from this accursed place Devoted by our Fathers to all ill By thine to Incest and by mine to blood Phi. Oh! Gods what dreadful miseries must befall Th' unhappy Off-spring of two such bad men Ant. Our Innocence and Love will guard us safe I have prepar'd a Chariot for our flight To the Aegean Sea and there a Boat Lies lock'd at Anchor in a Creek so small It seems a little Closet of the Sea Where Mayden Calms lye hid from Ruffian Winds The Creek appears a wrinkle made with age In a high Promontories bending brow The little Harbour is o're-look'd by all But a poor humble Fisherman whose Hut Is all the Castle that commands the Port There needs no Porter where there is no Door Nothing they think can creep out o' that Chink The honest Fisherman expects us both E're Night be old then let us fearless fly We cannot lose our way for we transport Our Journeys end along with us our selves Phi. What Beauty and Love do I to Misery lead Oh! Love I lead thee from thy Fathers rage To a more cruel Tyrant merciless want My Fathers sins have press'd him down so low He stoops to eat the Charitable Bread Of a poor aged Man Peneus by Name Ant. I knew that man oh that 's a good old man Phi. Where he conceals my Father I know not He would not trust the secret with my Youth For fear I shou'd be cheated by ill men But from my Father oft he Presents brings Such as his miserable Fortune yields Their chiefest value is my Fathers Love Now shall I steal thee from thy Fathers Court And cannot give thee for it a poor Cave Ant. I foresaw this and all my Jewels brought Those with our Love will make a great Estate Phi. Oh! you kind Gods which way have I deserv'd Such wondrous Love from such a wondrous Maid Ant. What have I done with ' em I have 'em not I have not lost 'em sure I left 'em in my Chamber I did ill For I abhor to thrust my head again Within that cursed House which is a Sink Where Jove throws all the scum of all ill stanes And Furies watch'd my absence I 'm afraid To set my Jewels in some baleful Charm But I 'le go fetch
quiet is the Masque Concluded then and Furies gone to rest Then Furies may have rest though I 'm denyed The Gods grudge me what they bestow on Hell What Nights have I Sure I mistake for Nights Whole pieces torn out of th' Infernal Blacks To wrap the Furies whilst they sport themselves In this cold upper Air by tort'ring me Confound you Furies why do you vex me Is Earth grown good that you want work below I 'm sure my share has wickedness enough And find my Brother and I 'le fill your hands Mean while torment me not with Nightly pains Want of revenge is pain enough to me Till revenge Crowns me I am still depos'd A Contemn'd Artless Nerveless Spiritless Slave A loaded emptyness on which my Brother Like a God hangs an Universe of wrongs Ho! there Enter a Waiter 1. Your Royal Will Atr. Thou fawning Dog Thou lazy useless Cur how long wilt thou And all thy fellow Curs with flattering Tongues Lye licking my wide Wounds and not hunt out The Savage Beast from whom I had 'em all My gaping aking wounds can ne're be cur'd Till they are tented with his naked Bones By Tantalus my wicked Grandfather Who fear'd no Gods by my more wicked self Who have no fear of Gods or Men or Devils Bring me Thyestes all to pieces torn E're I be rack'd by one more restless Night Or you and all the Race of you shall dye For I 'le leave nothing upon Earth to groan For all your Deaths but the o're-loaded Trees On whose torn boughs in Clusters you shall hang. Enter a Second 2. Sir Tereus is return'd from the strict search Of Prince Thyestes Atr. Ha! go bring him in Enter Tereus Now speak the Tydings yet thou need'st not speak Thy trembling Joints bow under evil news Death fills thy Face and stands as in the Door Ready to take possession of the House Thy Eyes like Evening-lights before their time Consum'd with Storms are ready to go out And let thy Soul in darkness scape away But first I 'le make it lay its burden down Speak can Thyestes yet be found Ter. Not yet Atr. Then from this hour thou shalt be found no more 1. Great Sir Atr. Nor thou thus will I use you all Stabs both For you are Traytors all hir'd Traytors all Brib'd by Thyestes you are all his Slaves He governs here in Argos and not I I am his Slave poor Slave I have not Wealth Enough to purchase from his Head one Hair Yet he can buy my Peace my Throne my Wife And after all can keep me on the Rack In my own Kingdom in the midst of all My Slaves and Guards a Slave can rack a King An exil'd Slave a King so many Friends In Heaven Earth and Hell has Villany Enter Antigone with Agamemnon and Menelaus Infants Atr. Now what art thou Ant. Antigone Atr. What 's that Ant. Your Daughter Sir Atr. And are you sure o' that By Heavens thy Mother was so rank a Whore That it is more than all the Gods can tell What share of thee is mine Ant. You have been pleas'd To think me all your own Atr. I have been pleas'd To be a Fool and think thy Mother too Was all my own and chaste Ant. So sure she was Though any Chastity may be surpriz'd However Sir we came Atr. To make me mad Was it for that Ant. No Sir to make you Calm You have been pleas'd sometimes to take delight In most unworthy me and in these two Poor innocent young Princes who did ne're Offend you yet Atr. How not offend me yet Then shou'd two flames all of the â—udden burst Out of the Hill on which my Palace stands The Hill upon whose brow by night I sleep By day I take my prospects of my delight The horrid flames wou'd not offend me ha By all the Gods these damn'd incestuous Brats Are the irruptions of a burning Whore More hot than Aetna Ant. Oh! Sir howe're my Mother sin'd of late Yet I have heard your self sometimes conâ—ess You thought her innocent when we were born She never saw my wicked Uncle's Face Till after we were born Atr. And what o' that Are there no men to sin withall but he What a vast Monster dost thou make thy Mother At the first minute of her Birth in Sin To conquer Nature cancel all her Laws Do more than Fiends have done these thousand years No no so well of her do I believe I rather think she always was a Whore And by degrees ascended to this height Oh! how I lov'd that Woman oh the Gods Why in her stead was I not doom'd to love Some gastly grim devouring Hellish Fury Whose Hairs were Serpents and her breath a plague Whose Bones were Gibets and her Nerves Iron Chains Whose Eyes were Comets and her Voice was Thunder Whose Teeth were Hooks all gor'd with humane blood Whose Flesh and Blood was a devouring bog Compounded of all poysons in the world In her abhor'd embrace I had not found So many Deaths and Hells as I do now Ant. Gods if my Mother sin'd against such love And sin'd so foulely as some say she has Pour all your vengeance on her impious head And spare the injur'd King his heavy wrongs Are sufferings great enough for all his sins Atr. Gods with what witchcraft did this woman deal She has transform'd me to I know not what I am a mingle of Fool Tyrant Devil Madman and Child for by the Gods I weep VVho ne're did so in tender'st Infancy Ant. Hard were the Heart that would not melt at this Atr. I am a madman too I tear my self Cause him â—ought to tear I cannot reach I 'm such a Tyrant were he in my reach I 'd teach the Fur 〈…〉 to torment the damn'd I was not always tâ—us this hellish mind VVas the Creation of that cursed woman VVhom yet I love so rank a Fool am I And for her sake her sin-begotten brood For which I loathe my self away with ' em Ant. Pray Sir Atr. How now Resist my will Begone Or on the floor I 'le mingle ah your Brains What hinders me from killing these lewd Brats Sure it is Hell which is afraid to lose Fruit of a Stock the like was ne're before Hence from my sight you Bastards or my Guards Shall bear you hence upon their Holbard points Enter Peneus Pen. Get you hence Children leave the King to me Go fair Antigone your Planets lowr I like 'em not but Children your's shine out Prince Agamemnon Oracles agree Shall lay a glorious Empire in the Dust And Menelaus be the chiefest Cause But yet no Oracle did utter this Without ill-boding sounds then Children hence Argos perhaps may perish by your Death And that sad way the Oracle fulfill'd Ex. An. Agam. Mene. Atr. How now old Dotard what is thy business here Pen. Business I have or I wou'd ne're come here A Court is not a place for an old man ' Specially if in dotage so far gone As to
to everlasting banishment The odious memory of all moments past And all their Progeny Thy. I had prepar'd Excuses for my Crimes and what were truth But this amazing Piety and Love Render me past excuse the worst of men Atr. Must these dire thoughts like Harpies hover round Our Friendship still Hence with 'em to abodes More hid from man than those from whence you came And rise oh rise to my embrace what means This low unfitting posture Thy. It means more Than words can speak I never kneel'd before Then guess the honour I wou'd pay to you Atr. I in the kindest manner take the sense But do not like the Language of the Knee 'T is between Brothers an ungrateful Tongue Then rise to me or I will kneel to you We will be equal Thy. That shall never be I 'le rise to your commmand and so I still Bow in obedience low Atr. Once more your arms My dearest Brother Thy. My most excellent King Atr. Now dear Philisthenes thy arms sweet Youth Phi. Sir give me leave to fall and kiss your Feet Atr. Indeed it shall not be Phi. Pray suffer me Atr. No hang upon my Neck thou art my Son Wilt thou not own the Title of my Son Phi. Not own it Sir Atr. Now last let me embrace Embraces Peneus The standing blessing of our Family Pen. Had I been only born for this good hour And all my fourscore years a desart Road Without one joy to ease my Pilgrimage This Journeys end had made amends for all Atr. Good man Phi. Now Father do you credit us To Thy. Atr. Still there are Clouds that darken my delight My Brothers Garments Brother spare my Eyes And with these Royal Ornaments conceal These Reliques of deceas'd unhappiness The Attendants give Thyestes rich Robes Thy. Sir These foul Garments are the Livery Of a good Master sorrow for my sins Atr. But you shall have no Master in my Court For with these Ornaments receive my Crown Takes his Diadem from his head and gives it to Thyestes Thy. A second Usurpation Gods forbid If my more fitting Garb offend your Eyes Let me lye hid among th' attending Crowd Atr. You shall be hid no more Thy. I 'm great enough Whilst you are so Friendship so makes me yours In lessening your own self you lessen me Atr. It is more great to give than wear a Crown Thy. And to refuse more glorious than to give That is the share of greatness I will chuse And you invited me to take my share Atr. I did then both of us will be thus great I in my Crown you in excelling me But see my Aerope my dearest Queen Enter the Queen attended and richly habited Thy. My shame my horror my Eternal Hell Aero Your spacious goodness Sir has farther reach'd Than guilt cou'd fly and has invited home To all the glories of your Court a man I 'le boldly tell it him before his face For whom Hell has not punishment enough There is a Creature for whom Heaven has scarce Rewards enow opprest with heavy wrongs And is not suffer'd to breath open Air. Atr. What is this Creature Aero Injur'd Innocence Which before man and Gods I claim for mine And I intreat you nay conjure you Sir Not as you are my Husband but my King The Representative of the Just Gods To bring my innocence into the light And if the Sun himself has not more spots Atr. You 'd have my Brother speak your innocence What need I have exactly weigh'd your cause Aero I 'le have the Ballance hang'd upon Sun beams That Heaven and Earth may see my innocence Atr. My Throne exalts it into all mens view Aero Sir it exalts your goodness and not mine Unless you Crown my Fame as well as me I only bear the luggage of your praise Atr. The world may be assur'd I 've not a doubt Aer But nothing in the World shall have a doubt Atr. By the Eternal Gods the Whore commits Aside Incest in fancy with the Villain here Before my Face The very sight of him Has got her Spirit big with Insolence Thy. Sir you but lately offer'd me your Crown I for a moment will assume the gift And be a King that is be uncontroul'd Whilst I declare the Queens wrong'd innocence Atr. What need all this I know what you wou'd say Thy. I ravish'd her and Hell did ravish me Atr. And I who have been wrong'd by both of you Must for my Recompence be disobey'd Nature I find has to the Birth and Death Of every thing annex'd tormenting pangs Pangs wait upon the Birth of our new joys And our past ills dye with Convulsion fits Aer My innocence is clear'd and now dispose Of me Sir at your pleasure Thy. And of me Atr. Then thus I will dispose of all of you My Broher to my Friendship and my Crown To my delighted bosome my dear Queen To my Antigone this noble Youth This good old man to my rewards and thanks Do you all weep for joy Come dry your Eyes My Love shall be too hot for such light dew Now let the Trumpets reparation make For frightning Argos with the sounds of War And set hearts dancing to the sounds of Peace Let the pale Mothers trembling for their Babes Now dandle 'em in their Arms with smiling Cheeks Return the Husbands back to their young Wives And let not Armour hinder their embrace Let Swords wear Rust the Livery of Peace Let every Door be with a Garland Crown'd And all the Conduits surfeited with Wine Till they o're flow with infinite excess And now prepare the Temple Altars Priests For the great Ceremony of the Day Call my Antigone to meet her Love Brother lead on indeed you must you shall Ex. Thy. Atreus Aerope and as they go off Antigone enters runs to Philisthenes and emberaces him Ant. My Love Phi. My Love Ant. Oh! my excessive joy And is this possible oh God! gods Gods When I lost thee at the unfaithful Cave Did I e're think to find thee with this joy Phi. When I was seiz'd and dragg'd before the King Did Ie're think that this shou'd be my Death To dye in thy embraces with delight Ant. This was the art of the Celestial Powers To hold their Jewels up at a high price Phi. The Gods give nothing cheap but misery What have I suffer'd for this happiness I have a large account to bring thee in And thou shalt pay it all I will extend All the Estate of Beauty which thou hast Enter a Gentleman Gent. The Temple is prepar'd the Priests attend The Court expects you with impatience Sir Phi. Is 't possible And does Love stay for us Pardon us Love thou ne're didst so before Since thou art so impatient for thy work By all the Gods I 'le find thee work enough Ex. The Scene a Temple Priests at the Altar Enter Atreus Aerope Thyestes Philisthenes Antigone Peneus Attendants The Nuptial Ceremony perform'd they come out of the Temple The