weakened yet it acteth fully in you And to its vehement fire all things seem possible But this same grace in me diminished And by a thousand sins continually Extenuated acteth with such faintness In hazardous attempts that all things seem Impossible unto its little vigour This base effeminacy and cowardly Evasions are the punishments which my Offences do draw on me but our God Whom we must ne'r distrust gives your Example To fortifie me Come dear Polyeuctes Let us go 'fore the eyes of men to brave Idolatry and to shew who we are May I to suffer give you the Example As you have given me that of offering you Pol. By this most happy transport which Heaven sends you Again I know Nearchus and I weep For joy on 't come let us not lose more time The Sacrifice is ready let 's uphold Th' interest of the true God le ts tread Under our feet this feigned Thunderbolt With which th' abused and too credulous people Arm a corrupted piece of wood let 's go To make this fatall blindness manifest Those gods of stone and mettall let us break In pieces and le ts dedicate our days To this coelestiall heat and so let 's offer A triumph unto God let him dispose The rest Nearc Come let us make his glory to break forth Unto the eyes of all and for him dye Who for us suffer'd death and infamy The End of the second Act. Actus Tertius Scena Prima Paulina alone WHat floating cares what confused clouds Present inconstant images to mine eyes Sweet rest which I dare not so much as hope Send thy divine Ray speedily to clear them A thousand diverse thoughts which my sad troubles Produce in my uncertain heart are lost In wishes no hope flatters me not where I dare persist no fear affrights me not Where I dare fix my self my spirit imbracing All what it doth imagine would sometimes My happiness and sometimes my destruction Both one and tother strike it with so little Effect that it can neither hope nor fear Continually Severus troubleth My fantasie my hope is in his vertue I fear his jealousie and I cannot think That Polyeuctes with an equal eye Can see his Rivall heer as between such The hate is natural the interview Soon endeth in a quarrel the one sees In the hands of the other what he thinks He meriteth the other sees a desperate Would take it from him whatsoe'r high reason Raignsin their courage th' one conceiveth envy The other jealousie the shame of an Affront which each of them feareth to see Either receiv'd of old or at this present Destroying all their patience from the first Forms choler and distrust and seising on The Husband and the Lover both together Whether they will or no delivers them Over to their resentment and their passion But what a strange Chymera do I fancy Unto my self and what an injury Do I to Polyeuctes and Severus As if the vertue of these famous Rivals Could not triumph over those common evils The minds of both Mistresses to themselves Are of too high an order for such baseness They shall see one another in the Temple Like generous men but alas still I fear What is th' advantage that my Husband hath To be in Militene if Severus arm The Roman Eagle 'gainst him if my Father Command here and doth fear this Favorite And doth repent already of his choice The little hope I have is with constraint And born it is abortive and gives place To fear what ought to fix it doth but serve To dissipate it Gods grant that my fear Be false and my sad fancy a Chimere Scena Secunda Paulina Stratonica Paulina BUt let us understand the Issue on 't Now my Stratonica what 's the conclusion Of this great Sacrifice Strat. Alas Paulina Paul Have my Prayers and Devotions been frustrate I see an ill sign of it in thy face Have they unfortunately quarrelled Strat. Nearchus Polyeuctes and the Christians Paul Speak then the Christians Strat. I cannot speak Paul Thou dost prepare my soul for strange afflictions Strat. You ne'r could have a juster cause of grief Paul What have they murthered him Strat. That had been nothing Your dream is all true Polyeuctes is No more Paul What is he dead Strat. No he lives but O fate to be lamented this great courage This divine soul is no more worthy of The light nor of Paulina he is no more That Spouse so charming to your eyes he is The common enemy of the gods and State An infamous a Rebel a perfidious A Traytor Villain a base Particide An execrable plague to all good men An impious and a sacrilegious Wretch In a word Madam he 's a Christian. Paul This word would have suffic'd without that torrent Of Injuries Strat. Can there be any titles bad enough For Christians Paul He is what thou sayst if he Imbrace their faith but he 's my Husband and Thou speak'st to me Strat. Consider him no more Then the God he adoreth Paul I have lov'd him With duty and this duty still continues Strat. At present he doth give you cause to hate him Who doth betray the gods would make no scruple To betray you Paul Although he should betray me Yet I should love him And if thou Stratonica Dost wonder at this love know that my duty Dependeth not of his let him fall in it If he be so dispos'd I will do mine What if he lov'd elsewhere should his example Perswade me to imbrace unlawfull heats Let him be Christian I 'm not troubled at it I love his Person and I hate his errour But what resentment hath my Father of it Strat. A secret rage and an excess of choler Possesseth him though yet for Polyeuctes He shews some he 'll not let his justice Fall upon him before the punishment Of false Nearchus be presented to him To see how that will work upon his spirits Paul What is Nearchus Christian too Strat. 'T was he Seduced him see the unworthy fruit Of their old amity this perfidious Taking him lately from us 'gainst his will Drew him to baptism now you have the secret That seemed so mysterious which your love Could not draw from him Paul Thou didst blame me then For being too unfortunate Strat. I foresaw not Such a misfortune Paul Ere I will give up My soul unto my griefs I 'le try the force Of my laments in quality of Wife And Daughter I hope to perswade a huâ—band And pacifie a Father if I fail With both of them I 'le take no other Counsel But what despair shall give me tell me now What did they in the Temple Strat. The impiety They acted there was such as 't is without Example I can't think on 't without trembling And fear I should commit a crime but in Relating it in few words understand Their beastly insolence Scarce had the Priest Obtained silence and towards the East Setled his countenance but their small respect Appeared plainly both of them
strict order To render you no service Pol You mistake me I have no purpose to apply my self Unto you as a means for my escape But I desire that one of you three being Sufficient to guard me would oblige me To seek Severus and intreat him here This might be done with safety I presume If I could tell him an important secret He would injoy more happiness and I Should dye content Cle. Since it is for Severus I will dispence with all things Pol. He himself Will recompence thy pains if I should fail The sooner that thou go'st the better 't is Dispatch Cle I fly and you shall have me here In less time then a moment Exit Cleon. Scena Secunda Polyeuctes alone his Guards being retired to the corners of the Stage DElicious Spring of love yet fruitfull still In misery of me what is your will Yâ— flattering pleasures baâ—ts of flesh and blood Why fly you not since I esteem you mud Vanish vain honours worldly glory pass Which shines and is as brittle too as glass Hope not that I 'le sigh after you at all It is in vain your weak charms to estall Why shew you me Gods enemies in state And flourishing he doth reserve a fate That shall confound those great ones and the sword Suspended o're their heads at his least word Shall fall on them so much more heavily As that they dream't not of their misery Thou cruel Tiger Decius that dost thirst For blood thou shalt be glutted till thou burst That God which we adore hath for a while Permitted thee wild forrest Boar to spoil His lovely Vineyard but thy fearfull fate Draws near which will thy glory terminate The Scythian comes like an impetuous flood To revenge Christian and Persian blood A little yet and then thy hour is come When thou shalt sleep until the day of doom In body not in mind out of the name Of Christian that is fed still with a flame Which never dies Nothing can warrant thee The thunder 's ready in the cloud I see And will no longer hold in expectation Of thy repentance wretch in obstination In the mean time let Felix sacrifice Me to thy rage my Rivall blind his eyes And make himself his Son-in-Law I yield Unto my loss rather I win the field Vain baits I slight you and despise your art For in this Christian and Regenerate heart I feel a divine flame whose Ray will dim Paulina's beauty in her brightest trim I look upon her now but as a toy That would detain me from my heavenly joy Adoreable Idea's sweets above You fill a heart that 's capable to love The souls Possessed with your sacred fire Fix there and firmly settle their desire Never to change you promise and give more Your benefits do still increase your store The happy death which I expect to me Is a sweet passage to eternity 'T is you O divine flame which nothing can Extinguish that make me more then a man Look on Paulina's face and never fear Her assaults and temptations I can hear I see her but my heart inflamed now With holy zeal to her charms cannot how And my eyes cleared with celestiall light Hers appear clouded in a vail of night Scena Tertia Polyeuctes Paulina Guards Polyeuctes MAdam what 's the design that brings you hither Is it to fight me or to second me And the fair proffer of this perfect love Comes it to aid me or to overthrow me Bring you here with you hate or amity As enemy or as my dearest moyety Paul You have no enemy here Sir but yourself Every one loves you none but Polyeuctes Hateth your vertue it is he alone That executes my dream do not destroy Your self and you are safe how great soe'r Your crime be you are innocent if you grant A pardon to your self deign to consider The blood from whence y' are sprung your noble actions Your rare endowments think Sir that you are Belov'd by all the people favoured of The Prince and Son-in-law unto the Governour Of the whole Province the name of my Husband I reckon t' ee as nothing that 's a happiness Onely for me which is not great for you But after your exploits after your birth After your power look upon our hope And give not up unto the hangmans hand What to our just desires so fair a fortune Doth promise Pol. I consider more and know My advantages and the hope which on them Great courages do frame they aspire not But unto transitory good which cares Disurb which dangâ—â—s follow and which death Take from us fortune makes her sport with them To day i th' throne to morrow in the dirt Their greatest glory never is without Some discontent few of our Caesars have Injoy'd it long this greatness perisheth I have ambition too but mine 's more fair And noble for I seek immortall glory A happiness assur'd that hath no end Nor measure far above the reach of envy Oâ— destiny and is a sorry life Too deâ—r a purchase for it which immediatly May be tane from me which makes me injoy But even the flying instant end 's not able T' assure me that which follows Paul See the dotage And the ridiculous dreams of you fond Christians Behold how their lies have seduced you You think that all your blood is not enough For a felicity so sweet but Sir This blood is not yours to dispose of it You have not life as an inheritance The day that gives it you at the same time Engageth it you owe it to the Prince Unto the Publick to the State Pol. I would Lose it for them in honourable fight I know what is the happiness thereof And what 's the glory you do boast the memory Of Decius Ancestors and this name yet precious Unto you Romans put into his hands At the end of six hundred years the Empire I owe my life unto the peoples good To the Prince and his crown but I do owe it Much more unto the God that gave it me If to dye for ones Prince be held to be A glorious fate when one dies for his God How shall his death be crown'd Paul What God Pol. Peace Paulina He hears your words for he is not a God Like your false gods insensible and deaf Weak made of wood of marble or of gold Even as you please he is the God o' th' Christians He is mine he is yours the heaven and earth Acknowledge him who made both them and us Paul Adore him then in mind and outwardly Express it not Pol. Oh no! I should be then Idolater and Christian both together Paul Dissemble for a moment till Severus Be gone and let my Fathers goodness work Pol. The goodness of my God is to be cherish'd Much more he doth remove me from the dangers I would have run into and without suffering Me to look back his Favour crowneth me Entring in the career with the first wind He brings me to the Port and comming
or this dear Criminall and the gods Will find her punishment unlawfull since She 'le mingle innocence and crime together And so by this redoublement will change Into an unjust rigour a just chastisement Our destinies made by your hands inseperable We ought to make happy or miserable Together and you should be cruell even Unto the extreamest point to dis-unite What you have joyned one heart to another United once never retires it self You cannot seperate them unless you tear them But you are sensible of my just griefs And with a Fathers eye behold my tears Fel. Yes Daughter it is true a Father is Always a Father nothing can raze out The sacred character thereof I carry A sensible heart and you have pierced it I joyn me with you against this distracted Unfortunate and wretched Polyeuctes Art thou alone insensible and wilt Thou only make thy crime unpardonable Canst thou hear so many heart-breaking sighs From such a tender breast canst thou behold So much love and be nothing touched with it Acknowledgest thou neither Father-in-Law Nor Wife without amity for the one Or love for th' other to resume the names Of Son and Husband wilt thou see us both Fall at thy feet and so imbrace thy knees Pol. Oh! how unhandsome is this artifice After twice having tryed threatning After making me see Nearchus dying After imploying love and its effort After declaring to me that great thirst Of baptism to oppose to God the interest Of God himself You joyn your selves together Oh policy of Hell must we o'recome So many times before we triumph sure Your resolutions are so slow take yours At last since I 've already taken mine I adore but one God the Master of The Universe under whose feet the Heaven The Earth and Hell doth tremble one God which Loving us with an infinite love dy'd for us With ignominy and which by an excess Of that same love will every day be offer'd As Victim for us But I am too blame To speak of this to those can't understand me See the blind error that you dare defend You defile all your gods with foulest crimes You punish not one sin whose Master 's not I' th' heaven by your accompt Adultery Incest Prostitution Theft Murther and what ever we detest It is the example which your Deities Give you to follow I 've profan'd their Temple And broken down their Altars I would do it Again if I could reach them even before The eyes of Felix yea before Severus And more even in the presence of the Senate Or of the Emperour himself Fel. At last My goodness giveth place to my just fury Adore them or thou dy'st Pol. I am a Christian. Fel. Thou impious wretch I say again adore them Or renounce life Pol. I am a Christian. Fel. Art thou O heart too obstinate Souldiers execute The order that I gave Cleon and the other Guards take Polyeuctes away Paulina follows him Paul Where lead you him Fel. To death Pol. To glory Adiew my dear Paulina love my memory Paul I 'le follow thee throughout and even to death Pol. Forsake your errour or not follow me Fel. Take him away and see I be obey'd Since he desires to dye 't is fit he perish Scena Quarta Felix Albin Felix ALbin I do me violence but I must My gentle nature would have easily Dest oy'd me let the peoples rage at present Display it self and let Severus thunder And fâ—et with fury having performed this I am secure but art not thou surpriz'd With this unshaken constancy seeth thou Impenetrable hearts like his or such Horrid impieties I have satisfied My grieved heart and have neglected nothing To make his soft and yielding I have feigned Before thy eyes base wickedness and surely Had it not been for his last blasphemies Which fill'd me suddenly with fear and anger I should have scarce triumphed o'r my self Alb. You 'l one day curse perhaps this victory Which savoureth of I know not what an action Too black unworthy Felix and a Roman Shedding your blood thus by your proper hand Fel. So sometime Brutus and stout Manlius shed it Which added to their glory far from lessening it Never have our old Hero's had ill blood But they have opened their proper bowels To let it out Alb. Your heaâ— seduceth you But whatsoe'r it tell you when you once Shall find it cold when you shall see Paulina And that her sad despair expressed by Her crys and waylings shall come forth to move you Fel. Thou mak'st me to remember that she follow'd That Traytor This despair which she will shew May interrupt the effect of my command Go therefore and giue order it be done See what he doth break any obstacle Her griefs may give unto it and withdraw her From that sad spectacle if thou canst indeavour To comfort her go then who holdeth thee Alb. There is no need Sir she returns her self Scena Quinta Felix Paulina Albin Paulina BArbarous Father finish thy black work This second sacrifice is worth thy rage Joyn thy sad Daughter to thy Son-in-Law Why tarry'st thou thou seest here the same crime Or the same vertue thy barbarity In her hath the same matter my dear Husband Left me his lights in dying his just blood With which his Executioners are comming To cover me hath opened mine eyes I see I know I do believe and am Free of mine error I am undeceiv'd Thou seest me baptis'd with that blest blood Lastly I am a Christian have I not Spoken enough keep in destroying me Thy rank and credit fear the Emperour And doubt Severus if thou wilt not perish My death is necessary Polyeuctes cals me Unto his happy death I see Nearchus And he both stretching forth their hands unto me Bring me to see thy gods which I detest They broke but one I will break all the rest There you shall see me brave all that you fear Those silly Thunder-bolts which you depaint Within their hands and holily rebellious Unto the Laws of birth thou once shalt see me Fail in obedience to thee it is not My grief that I do make appear therein T is grace within me speaks and not despair May I say it again Felix I am A Christian settle by my death thy fortune And mine the stroke to both on 's will be precious Since it assureth the one earth and lifts me Unto the Heavens Scena Ultima Felix Severus Paulina Albin Fabian Severus UNnaturall Father wretched Polititian Ambitious slave to a Chymerick fear Is Polyeuctes dead then by your cruelties And think you to conserve your sorry dignities The favour which for him I offer'd you Instead of saving him hasted his death I prayed threatned but I could not move you You thought me false or but of little power But you shall know at your cost that Severus Boasts not of any thing but what he can Perform and by your ruine he will make you To judge that he who can destroy you could Have protected you continue to The gods this faithfull service by such horrors Shew them your zeal adiew but when the storm Shall break upon you doubt not of the arm From whence the strokes shall come Fel. Severus stay And with a quiet mind suffer that I Give you an easie vengeance by my cruelties Cease to reproach me more I do indeavour To keep my sorry dignities I dispose Their false deceitfull lustre to your feet That glory whereunto I dare t' aspire Is a rank more Illustrious I do find My self forc'd to it by a secret bait I yield to those transports I do not know And by a woâ—king which I understand not I from my fury pass unto the zeal Of my blest Son-in-law t is he no doubt Whose innocent blood prays an Almighty God For me his Persecutor his love spred On all the Family draws after him As well the Father as the Daughter I Have made a Martyr of him and his death Hath made me Christian I procur'd his bliss He will work mine so is it that a Christian Is angry and revengeth happy cruelty Whose event is so sweet Paulina give me Thy hand bring fetters here and sacrifice Unto your gods these two new Christians I am one She is so observe your anger Paul How happily at last I find my Father This blessed change maketh my joy compleat Fel. Daughter it doth belong but to the hand That doth it Sev. Who would not be touch'd with A spectacle so tender I believe Such changes come not without miracle Your Christians without doubt which we in vain Do persecute have something in them which Surpasseth humane they do lead a life With so much innocence that Heaven doth owe them Some great acknowledgement to shew themselves More strong the more they are oppress'd is not Th' effect of common vertues I still lov'd them What ever might be said on 't I ne'r saw them To dye but this heart sighed for 't and perhaps I shall one day be better known unto them In the mean time I like that every one Should have his own gods and that he should serve them After his own way without fear of punishment If you are Christians fear no more my hate I love them Felix and from their Protector I will not make a Persecutor of them In you guard well your power take it again Serve your God serve your Monarch I will lose My credit with his Majesty or he Shall shake off this severity by his Unjust hate he doth too much wrong himself Fel. Daign gracious Heaven to end his work in you And one day to give you what you deserve T' inspire into you all his sacred Truths For us we blesse this fortunate adventure Come let us go to give our Martyrs buriall To kiss their precious bodies and to put them In holy place in consecrated ground Then let us make the name of God resound FINIS