oft would say In other things let justice be observ'd Val. O ye immortal Gods why has your care Given us a touchstone to distinguish our Adulterate gold and no mark to discern The treacherous hearts of false perfidious men If this be true Confound him with your sharpest thunderbolt But 't is too true and if I further stay To question it I fear I shall become Procurour of those dire events upon me Portended in my last nights dreams to happen Within so short a time Antonia retire I 'le have a care To vindicate my honor his proud Laurels Which from Joves thunder are secure I 'le blast But let this secret make no further progress Ant My prudent care shall not fail to correct This fault to which our sex is incident Val. A Prince who tolerates a known disgrace Becomes the subject of the vulgar scorn Ant. Honor once sought to be betray'd is never Secure so long as the Offendor lives Val. Gelosie entred in a Prince no other Assistant needs to hasten his revenge Ant. Which when it is of a slow pace we find 'T is signe of weakness in a Princes mind Let him th' effects Sir of your anger prove Who thus hath undervalued your love In prudent Monarques like your self t' appear Not to be fear'd should be your only fear Exit Car. You Majesty's perplext Val. But why should I So low thoughts of my self have and so high Of his bold insolent temeritie Good Carbo have the patience to repeat Thy story over though in it ev'ry passage Creates new wounds and ulcers in my soul Thou saidst the Master of my light Cavalrie Macrinus was not Father of this Florus But that Arsenius the sworn enemy of My person and my dignitie has made The world the present of this dissembling Monster Can this be so Car. Your Majestie may rest Can this be so Car. Your Majestie may rest Assur'd I heard it from his own relation And how besides he has in a disguise Converst here with him in our Camp where he Assur'd him of the consent of Hostilius For his obtaining of the fair Aurelia The Idol of his soul With the rich dowrie of the Roman Empire Val. Which his pernicious hopes securely streight Devour'd with consentment to my ruine Car. Yes and with invitation to my self Joyning with him to take part with Hostilius See where the Empress comes I take my leave Exit Valentius Fulvia Antonia Ful. Now if Antonia as thy promise was aside Thou hast distill'd the poison in his ears I shall perceive streight by the operation Val. My dearest Fulvia since all griefs and sorrows Divided are betwixt the Wife and Husband Th' occasions also should be so if then Antonia's care without your intimation Has let me know the cause of your distemper I must obtain her pardon let then thy Former serenity of looks dispel Those clouds of sorrow from that brow to mine Where they hang thick already but I 'le have Them washt away in bloud of the offendors Ful. With whose let mine be joyn'd Sir 't is the only Favor I beg here on my knees by all kneels The former merits with which the constant duty Of an obedient Wife has e're been able T' oblige a Husband by the rising hopes Of young Valentius and the other pledges And fruits of our so constant loves till now By this accursed accident disturb'd Val. They are not rise then O let me not see takes her up My idol thus bow and encline to me Ful. Sure you look on me with false eyes or else You see me chang'd into a loathsome creature Suspicion of guilt in an Empress makes her Seem foul and guiltie to her felf and others So I am in effect a Viper though He casts no poison forth his very touches Are venemous th' offring to embrace me In Florus has methinks with leprosie Infected all my parts Good Sir have mercie kneels again On your poor Fulvia here and let me die When life is now my greatest miserie Val. His bloud shall rather satisfie th' offence Who trespast on thy spotless innocence And though he seemeth at too cheap a rate By single death his crime to expiate 'T is recompenc't at once to see him die And live in a perpetual infamie Whilst thou the best of women glorie of embraces her The present age and honor of thy sex Shalt like a star of the first magnitude Shine glorious in the firmament of honor However yet my dearest Fulvia The heavens in their happiness delay Thy presence though so much desired there T' instruct the age is necessary here Ful. My noble Lord my dutie So hitherto obsequious to your will Shall strive then to obey your last commands Val. O now thou speakst like Fulvia and thy self Thy passions can never long transforme thee Come let us go to my Pavilion and Consult upon the manner how to put In speedy execution our revenge The just effects of which shall never cease Till in the Traitors bloud I find my peace Exeunt Florus Honorius Flo. 'T is strange methinks Honorius that you An Epicurean by Sect should be An enemy of love the greatest pleasure When once obtain'd in the enjoyment of What we call perfect beauty a happiness So frequently desir'd so seldom found Hon. The nature of true pleasure can't consist In the delights of love which leave the soul Not satisfi'd when the most satiated Whilst in her interchangeably there fight Restless disgust and restless appetite True pleasures no remorse but leave behind Them still a grateful odor in the mind Flo. They ill discourse of love who are no lovers Hon. It troubles me to see the royal fort Of noble Florus heart thus yielded up Flo. 'T is given up to him who conquers all things And will in time the brave Honorius brest Where virtue keeps so strong a garrison Hon. It must be weak if so contemptible An Adversary can his entrance force Flo. Neglect of the Enemy destroys the valiant Hon. The fear of him dejecteth noble spirits Flo. Who apprehends his Adversary may Preserve his honor though he lose the day Hon. Esteem of him is distrust in our selves Flo. A prudent fear companion is of valor Hon. 'T is rather of an irresolved mind To them Aurelia Flo. But stay behold here breaks the beauteous light Which will these difficulties cleer Honorius stand firm what means this change Honorius surpriz'd at her beauty Let not thy actions contradict thy words Hon. My hearts unmov'd but the external sense In such surprisals has no sure defence exit Au. Yonder he comes his eyes are fixt on mine Those false lights which will lead him to his ruine Love and Disdain two raging firebrands Are of the mind their common residence Is in the heart but raise a general Disturbance in the soul confounding all Her faculties They are of equal force Contending for the prize with emulation But in effect and nature contrary The one producing hatred and the other Gentle affection
well exprest who thus affects you Exit Plo. Let 's see if the Inscription shew the same Person the picture seems to represent turns about the Medal Fulvia Empress second Wife of Valentius c. Is this some real passage or illusion Perchance I dream and now some lively visions Play the Impostors on my deluded fancy I wish it were so but that scarce can be For though in dreams we think our selves awake Yet really awake we know we dream not No I am the lost miserable Florus And this the cruel Fulvia who destroys me And which is strange with love a stronger engine Erected for my ruine then her hatred Who can esteem me innocent whilst I Am flexible thought to so foul a crime Blast me ye heavens or else at least these looks Which please the Empress if my heart be chast They are lascivious and my honor stain And this sufficient is to make me guilty Was ever case like mine If I declare My self a lover then I lose my friends And if I am belov'd my Prince I injure In highest point of honor and what 's strange Th' offendor is in both wayes innocent Exit Antonia 'T is strange my Husbands love should fade so soon Which I have sought to cultivate with all Art duty offices which can become A subtle woman or complacent wife Perchance I am deceiv'd and with some false Surmise create within my self true torment O Gelosie o thou quicksighted daughter Of thy blind father Love of whom at last Thou prov'st the murd'rer thou of all things only Detested loathed hated by thy self Ingenious only in the searching after That which thou wishest could not be found out Or being found leaves thee in greater torment Since in so short a time thy venom has Spread through my veins and poison'd all my thoughts Return to thy infernal mansion where Hatred begot thee though perchance some share Love in thy generation might have To make thy birth double and so more monstrous There be a torment to thy self and since Suspicions are thy choicest nourishment Vex thy self with new fears never secure As well with those which doubtful are as sure To her Servilius Ser. Here comes my poor Antonia methinks The sad reproach of my inconstancy Ant. What cause have I giv'n you of late to be So much disgusted with my company Ser. None but some other flames have in my brest Extinguisht thine and rob me of my rest Ant. What can these strange looks or this language mean I hope Sir you intend no breach of faith Ser. No I am forc'd to it against my intention Against my former vows and my own wishes Ant. We all confess Sir this unquestion'd truth Mans will cannot be forc't though it rebel By any power on earth in heaven or hell Ser. If here 's an error Florus should be rather Accus'd then I he who first joyn'd our loves Has been the occasion of dissolving them In shewing me a face of late in beauty So far transcending thine That 't were impiety not to adore it Ant. False and disloyal man Florus and thou shalt sink under the force Of my revenge provok't to such a height It shall pluck on you both untimely fate Ser. Antonia divert the torrent of This furious rage some other way accuse Nature who has to my excessive torment This beauty form'd so far excelling thine As the moon does the lesser stars out-shine Ant. Traytor accuse thy one perfidiousness Which makes thee change thy promise and thy customs Ser. I have chang'd the object only not my custom Ant. Th' hast broke thy faith this makes thee infamous I hope in her thou followst thou wilt see An hatred equal to my love of thee Ser. Antonia examining thy glass Accuse that vulgar beauty and thy face Which on my free-born soul has had no charms More pow'rful and such early fading colours Exit Ant. Go go Go if my beauty be of untimely fate In my revenge so shall not be my hate To perfect which I heaven and hel will move 'T is th' only recompence of injur'd love Nature and Fortune cruel Stepmothers Are to us women in our tender years Our Fathers Palaces to us are Prisons Where nor our persons nor scarce our looks are free And afterward when our maturity Should change this bondage into liberty We only of all creatures are who buy With a vast dowry our own slavery Thus only changing a new Master whom We purchase to rule o'r our souls and bodies And cast us off thus when he please Man is A bold insolent creature grand usurper Upon the rights of nature not by his wit For in our age of folly we enslave him But by his force and number He makes lawes Partial t' himself rigid to us his vows He breaks ours must be kept his vices Pass only for his gallantries ours are Branded with foul and horrid names t' affright us Ambition in us in him is honor And our irregular appetites in him Pass for the noble passions of his love Not only to be excus'd but commended Who made these laws and customs did our Sex Ever give up their voice and suffrages No there 's no right or obligation then We should obey these orders made by men So partial Judges th' Empress and I will see To vindicate our sexes libertie Exit ACT. III. Florus Servilius Carbo Car. That which you tell us is a secret of Importance that Arsenius should be Your Father and converse here in our Camp Flo. 'T is True but I am now relating to you Th' occasion which has brought Aurelia hither The wild lust of her Father not content To violate the chastity of Virgins The faith of Matrons Widows vows at last Lasciviously incroached on his Daughter The horror of which thought so frighted her Such was her vertuous innocence she sought Her refuge from her enemies and fled From him her Father as her greatest foe So by this means fortune affords my arms Th' happy occasion of protecting virtue I think her self in a corporeal shape Ser. This passion of your love strangely deceives you Virtue needs no external form or beauty Seldom puts any on and yet more seldom 'T is that they can agree Chiefly in Courts like jarring Elements Where one proves the confusion of the other Beauty at least to Virtue ever fatal Car. He tells you true the outward shape of your Aurelia shews no internal goodness Flo. Sure correspondent to Th' external splendor must be lodg'd in her A soul deserving such an habitation As greater lustre of some sparkling jewels Denotes in them no less intrinsique virtue Car. I can compare Aurelia's eyes to stars As bright as you but of ill influence And look on her arrival to the Camp Like the approach of some ill threatning Comet Th' heavens preserve our General and us Flo. What raises these strange Omens of my love Which some will envy but the most approve Ser. Most will condemn others oppose think not Aurelia's beauty will
Victoriously under my conduct flew Through Italy reducing the Enemies power To the Precincts of Rome in the surprisal Of Sarnium I saw the picture of a Lady Drawn by the pencil of the famous Sanga Whose shape the very Goddesses would take Were they to make love here on earth again Ah how this object in the very moment Depriv'd me of my liberty so that My entrance there was servile not triumphal Car. To see arise in a great General Confusion from a Picture from a shadow Is very strange Serv. I thought A painted fire might deceive the sight But never raise a heat or kindle flames Flor. I grant this did not fame Paint out th' original substance of this shadow Above what fancy comprehends Eumolpus Has on this subject made a Song wherein He' has toucht the proper string of my affection With commendation of his friend the Painter Boy le ts see it go now and sing it SONG That divine form which thus deludes thy sense And holds thee gazing in a strange suspence The creature only is of Sanga's art Yet from these eyes love does his fires dart To them a lively speech his fav'ring hand Which to the tongue he never would impart Has giv'n like Sirens to betray thy heart Ah flye then 't is too late thou hast thy wound And there dost panting lye upon the ground My strange misfortune is that I Or rather my ill fate have fixt my love Upon an Enemy of Valentius So that if I pursue it I shall lose My Princes favour and if not I lose My soul my self Car. Why he is sick of my disease I love An Enemy of Valentius to Thee Aside Aurelia I gave my faith before Thy Father was declar'd his enemy Ser. I must condem this love Car. 'T is then with high injustice Ser. He 's guilty who hates not His Princes Enemies can you think him Then innocent who thus adores them Flor. Have patience only and Consider if th' admirer of this object Rather deserves reproach pity or envy shews a picture to them Car. What 's this I see aside startling I have defended here my Rival this Is my Aurelia's picture which I left her A pledge of my eternal love at parting Ser. This image so confounds my reason that Th' accused may justly absolve himself aside surpriz'd By virtue of his Judges crime I must Think of my duty to my Wife and Prince Flor. I perceive strange emotion In them but would not from their weakness seek Protection for my failings Why thus chang'd Come in and recollect your selves I 'le see If you are sick of my infirmity Exeunt Arsenius Honorius Ars disguis'd in habit of a common souldier Ars Behold us here arriv'd At the Tents of Valentius that I The General of Hostilius disguis'd In this vile habit of a common Souldier Expose my self to him my Enemy Are strange effects of love that liberty Which I give thee Thou in requital seems't to take from me Hon. Sir that you have restor'd me to my self And liberty I must confess but not That I thus seek to recompence your favour Express your meaning these words offend my honor Ars You have oft told me that Your General Florus was your greatest friend On which belief I let you know he was My only Son and how capricious fortune Had separated those minds and affections Which nature joyn'd Hon. 'T is true and I acquainted You with his love of your Princess Aurelia Well knowing the advantages you would Take to seduce him from his loyalty With so fair a temptation but know To this I then consented fearing that To take from noble vertue the occasion Of victory was to envy her triumphing Ars I hope his love of her will now extort That which the duty of a Father could not That 's his obedience since love ever finds His Empire greatest in the greatest minds though hitherto The vain and empty title of being loyal Prevail'd more with him then the entreaties of A most indulgent and a tender father Hon. Sir you are too indulgent who would thus Permit nay more perswade him to become A Traitor to his Prince the common Father Of us and of his Country and in whose Obedience though with loss of life and fortune He 's happy in performing thus his duty Ars Of all wild beasts which entrance find in Courts Malicious detractors are the worst Of all domestical these flatterers Which into Princes ears gently distill The poison of these maxims as if human Nature could thus comply with servitude Not foaming at the Curb Sir like sea waves Impetuously forc'd by several winds We are by the tempestuous torrents hurri'd Of rage ambition choller and revenge Of which the latter justly has provokt My indignation against Valentius Hon. Nothing can justifie these practises Against your Prince Ars But to the subject to return from which We deviate now I have of late obtain'd Aurelia by the consent of her Father In marriage for my Son to whom I lately Addrest a letter signifying the same shews him a letter Intending you the happy bearer of This grateful news of which another Copy I to Aurelia sent to shew my pen As forward as my sword in the procuring Hers and her Fathers interest but since Considering in desperate diseases That extreme remedies are best I 've chang'd My thoughts perswaded that a Fathers presence Will be more prevalent Then the mute eloquence of Paper so Behold me here arrived to procure An end to my calamities my Sons Greatest felicity the ruine of The persecutor of my life Valentius Hon. Give o're this rash discourse here thou shouldst die The sacrifice of my just indignation draws at him Wer 't not to envy thy brave Sons secure Triumphing over thy vain stratagems Dost hope through my protection to put Thy treacherous practice into execution Against my Prince the sound of this discourse More odious is to me then the noise Of chains or fetters which I 'le rather suffer These abject thoughts proportionate and proper Are to thy doating age attribute to Thy fortune of having so brave a Son puts up his sword The life thou receiv'st from these generous hands Ar. Is it a generous part thus to reward My benefit with this ingratitude Hon. A benefit conferred in the sense Of interest merits no recompence Ar. My forward love mistaken was to try To gain affection from an Enemy Hon. Thy hopes are vain it was thy error here With curtesie to ' abuse a Gentleman Ar. A Gentleman who such resentment shows The man to whom his liberty he owes Hon. Can he be author of my liberty Who would engage me in this treacherie Ar. Sir is it treacherously or nobly done To reconcile a Father to a Son Hon. A Father he who seeks to rob a Son Of his true honor and reputation Ar. Honor to spend his youth and time and die In service of his Fathers Enemy Hon. His respect to his Father must give way To that of