So in my desp'rate state, each little comfort
Preserves me from despair.
Amideo. For him I ventur'd all that maids hold dear, Th' opinion of my modesty, and virtue,
My loss of fortune, and my brother's love.
For him I have expos'd myself to dangers,
Which (great themselves) yet greater would appear,
If you could see them through a woman's fear:
But why do I my right by dangers prove?
The greatest argument for love is love:
That passion, Julia, while he lives, denies,
He should refuse to give her when he dies:
Yet grant he did his life to her bequeath,
May I not claim my share of him in death?
I only beg, when all the glory's gone,
The heatless beams of a departing sun.
Inca. Why dost thou pause? thou canst not give me back,
With fruitless grief, what I enjoy'd before,
No more than seas repenting of a wreck,
Can with a calm our buried wealth restore.
Montezuma. 'Twere vain to own repentance, since I know Thy scorn, which did my passions once despise, Once more would make my swelling anger flow; Which now ebbs lower than
The gods, that in my fortunes were unkind,
Gave me not sceptres, nor such gilded things;
But whilst I wanted crowns, enlarg'd my mind
To despise sceptres, and dispose of kings.
Traxalla. There's something shoots from my enliven'd
Like a new soul, but yet without a name:
Nor can I tell what the bold guest will prove,
It must be envy, or it must be love:
Let it be either, 'tis the greatest bliss
For man to grant himself, all he dares wish.
Zempoalla. Ho, Ismeron, Ismeron!
He stirs not; ha! in such a dismal cell
Can gentle sleep with his soft blessings dwell?
Must I feel tortures in a human breast,
While beasts and monsters can enjoy their rest?
What quiet they possess in sleep's calm bliss!
The lions cease to roar, the snakes to hiss,
While I am kept awake-
Only to entertain my miseries.
Or, if a slumber steal upon my eyes,
Some horrid dream my lab'ring soul benumbs,
And brings fate to me sooner than it comes.
Zemp. I dream'd before the altar that I led
A mighty lion in a twisted thread;
I shook, to hold him in so slight a tie,
Yet had not power to seek a remedy:
When in the midst of all my fears, a dove,
With hovering wings, descended from above,
Flew to the lion, and embraces spread,
With wings, like clasping arms, about his head,
Making that murm'ring noise that cooing doves
Use in the soft expression of their loves.
While I, fix'd by my wonder, gaz'd to see
So mild a creature with so fierce agree:
At last the gentle dove turn'd from his head,
And pecking tried to break the slender thread,
Which instantly she sever'd, and releas'd
From that small bond the fierce and mighty beast,
Who presently turn'd all his rage on me,
And with his freedom brought my destiny.
Ismeron. Dread empress, this strange vision you
Is big with wonder, and too full of fate
Without the gods' assistance to expound.
In those low regions where sad night hangs round
The drowsy vaults, and where moist vapours steep
The god's dull brows that sways the realm of sleep;
There all th' informing elements repair,
Swift messengers of water, fire, and air,
To give account of actions whence they came,
And how they govern every mortal frame;
How from their various mixture, or their strife,
Are known the calms and tempests of our life:
Thence souls, when sleep their bodies overcome,
Have some imperfect knowledge of their doom.
From those dark caves those powers shall straight appear;
Be not afraid whatever shapes they wear.
Zemp. There's nothing thou canst raise can make me start;
A living form can only shake my heart.
Ism. You twice ten hundred deities,
To whom we daily sacrifice;
You powers that dwell with Fate below,
And see what men are doom'd to do;
Where elements in discord dwell;
Thou god of sleep, arise and tell
Great Zempoalla what strange fate
Must on her dismal vision wait.
Ism. By the croaking of the toad,
In her cave that makes abode.
Earthy dun that pants for breath,
With her swell'd sides full of death;
By the crested adders' pride
That along the cliffs do glide;
By thy visage fierce and black;
By the death's-head on thy back;
By the twisted serpents placed
For a girdle round thy waist;
By the hearts of gold that deck
Thy breast, thy shoulders, and thy neck:
From thy sleepy mansion rise,
And open thy unwilling eyes,
While bubbling springs their music keep,
That use to lull thee in thy sleep.
God. Seek not to know what must not be reveal'd; Joys only flow where fate is most conceal'd:
Too busy man would find his sorrows more,
If future fortunes he should know before;
For by that knowledge of his destiny
He would not live at all, but always die.
Inquire not then who shall from bonds be freed,
Who 'tis shall wear a crown, and who shall bleed:
All must submit to their appointed doom;
Fate and misfortune will too quickly come:
Let me no more with powerful charms be press'd,
I am forbid by Fate to tell the rest.
THE INDIAN EMPEROR. 1664 or 1665.
Cortez. On what new happy climate are we thrown, So long kept secret, and so lately known;
As if our old world modestly withdrew,
And here, in private, had brought forth a new!
Vasquez. Corn, wine, and oil are wanting to this ground, In which our countries fruitfully abound:
As if this infant world, yet unarray'd,
Naked and bare, in Nature's lap were laid.
No useful arts have yet found footing here:
But all untaught and savage does appear.
Guyomar. I went, in order, sir, to your command,
To view the utmost limits of the land:
To that sea-shore where no more world is found,
But foaming billows breaking on the ground,
Where, for a while, my eyes no object met,
But distant skies that in the ocean set:
And low-hung clouds that dipt themselves in rain,
To shake their fleeces on the earth again.
At last, as far as I could cast my eyes
Upon the sea, somewhat methought did rise
Like bluish mists, which still appearing more,
Took dreadful shapes, and mov'd towards the shore. Montezuma. What forms did these new wonders represent?
Guy. More strange than what
your wonder can invent. The object I could first distinctly view
Was tall straight trees which on the waters flew,
Wings on their sides instead of leaves did grow,
Which gather'd all the breath the winds could blow:
And at their roots grew floating palaces,
Whose out-blow'd bellies cut the yielding seas.
Mont. What divine monsters, O ye gods, were these, That float in air, and fly upon the seas!
Came they alive or dead upon the shore?
Guy. Alas! they liv'd too sure, I heard them roar:
All turn'd their sides, and to each other spoke,
I saw their words break out in fire and smoke.
Sure 'tis their voice that thunders from on high,
Or these the younger brothers of the sky.
Deaf with the noise I took my hasty flight,
No mortal courage can support the fright.
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