forth From baptism he doth send me unto death If you could comprehend the little worth Of this frail life and the eternal sweets That follow after death But to what end Is it to speak of those concealed treasures To souls whom God hath not inspired yet Paul Cruel for it is time my grief break forth And that a just reproach oppress a soul Ingratefull Is this that fair fire thou boasts of Are these thy oaths expressest thou for me The smallest sentiments I speak not to thee Of that deplorable estate wherein Thy death will leave thy poor disconsolate Wife I think that love should speak enough of that But that love so firm and so well deserv'd Which thou didst promise me and I bare thee When thou wilt leave me when thou mak'st me dye Can it not draw one sigh one tear from thee Ingratefull thou dost quit me yea with joy Thou hid'st it not but wilt that I should see it And thy hard heart insensible to my sad Attractions figureth unto it self A happiness that I shall never see Is it then the disgust that Marriage brings Am I grown odious after having given My self unto you Pol. Alas Paul How that alas came hardly forth Yet if it happily shew'd any sign Of a repentance Oh how charming were it Although inforc'd but courage he is mov'd I see he sheds tears Pol. True I weep Paulina And would to God that therewith this heard heart Might happily be pierc'd the sad estate Wherein I leave you doth deserve the plaints My love doth give me and if one can carry Griefs unto Heaven I carry them to see The excess of your misfortunes but if in This luminous abode of highest glory This God all just and good allow my Prayer If He vouchsafe to lend an ear unto Conjugall love He will display his light Upon your blindness Lord I do beseech thee Let me obtain this of thy goodness she Hath too much vertue not to be a Christian It pleased thee to give her too much merit Not to know Thee and to adhere unto Thee To live still an unfortunate Slave of hell And to die as she 's born under that yoak Paul What say'st thou miserable what dar'st thou wish Pol. That which with all my blood I fain would purchase Paul That rather Pol. T is in vain to make resistance This God toucheth the heart when least we think on 't That happy moment is not yet arriv'd It will come but the time 's not known unto me Paul Leave this Chymera come and love me still Pol. I love you much more then my self but pardon me Less then my God Paul In the name of that love Forsake me not Pol. In the name of that love Follow my steps Paul Dost thou not eare to quit me wilt thou then Seduce me Pol. Car'st thou not to go to Heaven I will conduct you there Paul Imaginations Pol. Coelestiall truths Paul Strange blindness Pol. Rather everlasting lights Paul Thou prefer'st death before Paulina's love Pol. You the base world before the divine goodness Paul Go cruell go and die thou never lov'dst me Pol. Live happy in the World and suffer me To die in peace Paul Yes I will leave thee trouble not thy self I go Scena Quarta Polyeuctes Paulina Severus Fabian Guards Paulina BUt what design Severus brings you here Is this done like a generous Cavaleer To come to brave here one in misery Pol. Paulina you treat ill so rare a merit At my sole prayer he renders me this visit I have committed incivility Noble Severus which I know you 'l pardon And impute to my want of liberty Being possessor of a Treasure which I was not worthy of before I die Suffer me to resign it unto you And to leave the rar'st vertue that a Woman Could e're receive from heaven unto the hands Of the most valiant and accomplish'd man The earth hath honour'd or Rome hath produc'd Y' are worthy of her she is worthy you Refuse her not Sir from a Husbands hand If he hath dis-united you his death Will make amends and joyn you both again Let not a fire which sometimes was so fair Become less now give her your heart and take Her faith to you live happily together And dye like me it is the glorious good Which Polyeuctes wisheth to you both Guards lead me to my death I 've nothing more To say come all is finish'd Scena Quinta Severus Paulina Fabian Severus I Am confounded In my astonishment to see his blindness His resolution 's so unparalel'd That scarce can I believe mine ears a heart That holds you dear but what heart is so low That could have known you and not cherish'd you A man belov'd by you assoon as lie Possesseth you without regret he leaves you Nay he doth more he doth resign you over And as if your fires were a fatall present He himself makes a gift on 't to his Rivall Surely the Christians either have strange whimsies Or their felicities must be infinite Since to pretend thereto they dare reject What one should purchase at an Empires price For my part if my destiny a little Sooner propitious had been pleas'd to honour me With your fair Nuptials I should have ador'd No glory but the lustre of your eyes I would have made of them my Kings and gods They should have first reduced me to dust Before that Paul Sir no more of this discourse I fear I 've heard too much and that this heat Should thrust forth some unseemly consequence Unworthy of us both Severus know My Polyeuctes wholy doth take up Paulina's thoughts he hath but a short moment To live you are the innocent cause thereof I know not if your soul might have presum'd To frame some hope to your desires upon His ruine but assure your self there is No death so cruel whereunto I would not With fearless steps address nor in Hell horrors So dreadfull which I would not rather suffer Then fully my fame to espouse a man After his sad fate who in any kind Might cause his death and if you should believe me Of so unsound a mind the Love I bear you Would turn all into hatred you are generous Be so unto the end My Father is In a condition to deny you nothing He fears you and I will be bold to adde This word that if he doth destroy my Husband It is to you he sacrificeth him Save this unfortunate use your interest for him Indeavour pray to serve him as a Prop I know t is much what I demand of you But how much greater the indeavour is So much more is the glory on 't preserve A Rivall that you 'r jealous of it is A tract of vertue which belongeth not But unto you if this be not sufficient Renown unto you t is much that a woman Sometimes belov'd and yet perhaps whose love May touch you should owe that to your great heart Which she esteems most dear Lastly remember You are Severus after
You know me ill the self same heat still burns me And the desire increaseth when th' effect Recoyls those tears which with a Husbands Eye I look upon leave me as good a Christian In heart as you but to receave the seal And sacred character thereof which washes Our sins in saving water and in opening Our Eyes with a divine Ray doth restore us Unto the first right which we had to Heaven Though I prefer it before all the greatness Of Empires as the supream good and that Which I alone aspire to I believe I may to satisfie a lawfull love Defer this sacred baptism for a day Nearc Thus the malicious enemy of man Abuseth you what he can't do by force He doth attempt by policy still jealous Of good designs which he endeavoureth To shake when he can't break them he putâ— on With all the power he can to stop their course With obstacle upon obstacle he is comming To trouble yours to day by tears to morrow By something else this dream so full of horrour Is but the slourish of his first illusions Pol. He sets all things a work both prayer and threatning He assaults always and is never weary He thinks to do at last what yet he cannot And what we do defer concludes half broken Destroy his first stroaks let Paulina weep God would not have a heart that the world rules Who looks upon him when his voice doth call him At distance and as doubtfull in his choice Hearkens unto another voice then his Pol. To give our selvs to him must we love no body Nearc We may love all he suffers he ordains it But this great King of Kings this Lord of Lords Will have the first love and the chiefest honours As nothing's equall to his supreame Greatnes So nothing must be lov'd but after him And in him we to please him must neglect Wife and wealth friends and fortunes for his glory We must not stick t' expose our selves to dangers Yea even to death to pour our bloud forth for him But how far are you from this perfect love Which I could wish you as so necessary To your salvation and eternal good I cannot speak unto you Polyeuctes But with tears in mine eyes now that we are Hated in every place that all believe They serve the State well when they persecute us Now that a Christian is expos'd a butt Unto the sharpest torments how can you Or'ecome the griefe on 't if you can't resist A Womans tears Pol. You do'nt astonish me The Pitty that doth wound me doth proceed From a great courage rather then from weakness Nearchus on my equals a faire eye Hath had much force he feareth to offend it That dreads not death and if we must affront The cruel'st punishments to find delights And pleasures there your God whom I dare not Yet to call mine in making me a Christian Will give me strength enough to undergo them Nearc Haste then to be one Pol. Yes I fly Nearchus I long to bear the glorious mark of it But my Paulina doth afflict her self And can't consent so much this dream doth trouble her To leave me to go forth Nearc Your safe return Will be more pleasing to her in an hour Or little more you shall wipe off her tears The happiness will seem again to see you More sweet by how much more she hath lamented So dear a Husband Come we are expected Pol. Appease her fear and calm her sorrow then She comes again Nearc Fly fly Pol. Alas I cannot Nearc You must Sir to be safe Oh fly an Enemy That knows your weakness that doth finde it easily That woundeth with the eys whose stroke doth kill And please because receav'd not 'gainst your will Scena Secunda Polyeuctes Nearchus Paulina Stratonica Polyeuctes LEt 's fly then since we must adiew Paulina Adiew within an hour or little more I will return again here Paul What occasion So pressing doth invite you to go forth Doth it concern your honour or your life Pol. Much more then either Paul What 's the secret then Pol You shall know one day I am loath to leave you But yet I must Paul D' ee love me Pol. Witness Heaven A thousand times more then my self I love you But Paul But you care not for my discontent Should you have Secrets that I may not know What proof of love is this i th' name of Himen Give only to my tears this fatall journey Pol. A dream makes you afraid Paul I know those presages Are vain but I do love you and I fear Pol. For an hours absence fear no hurt adiew Your tears prevail too much upon me and I feel my heart even ready to revolt There 's no resisting her but in my flight Exit Scena Tertia Paulina Stratonica Paulina GO and neglect my tears hast to precipitate thee Before the death which the Gods have predicted Unto me follow that same fatall Agent Of thy ill destinies who perhaps may give thee Into the hands of murtherers See Stratonica In this sad age wherein we live what Empire We have upon the stubborn Spirits of men See what is left us and the ordinary Effect of that love which they offer us And of the vowes they make us whilst they are But Lovers we are Soveraigns and untill They 've gain'd the conquest we are us'd as Queens But after Marriage they are Kings by turn Strat. Sure Polyeuctes wants no love for you Though with full confidence he treat you not In this affair though he depart in spight Of all your tears it is a part of prudence Without afflicting you presume with me That it is fit he should conceale the cause Assure your self he hath just reason for it A Husband must not tell us every thing Let him be sometimes free and not abase him To render us accompt still of his steps We both have but one heart which feels the same Traverses but this heart hath notwithstanding Its divers functions and the Law of marriage Which holdeth you together ordains not That he should tremble when you tremble Madam What maketh you afrayd troubles not him He 's an Armenian and you are a Roman And you may please to understand that our Two Nations ha'nt the same impressions Upon this subject A dream pâ—sseth with us For a ridiculous phansie it doth leave us Nor hope nor fear nor scruple but it carries Authority in Rome and passeth for A faithfull mirrour of fatality Paul Mine's very strange and though Armenian I believe that thy fear would equall mine If by my bare recitall such like horrors Had struck thy Spirit Strat. To recount our evils We ease them oftentimes Paul Attend me then But I must tell thee more and that thou mayst The better comprehend this sad discourse I will discover unto thee my weakness In the relation of my first amours A woman that loves honour may confess Without shame those surprizes of the sences Which reason doth or'ecome chiefly it is
will thereby become stronger Sev. 'T is not an evil I intend to cure I only will but see her sigh and dye Fab. You will break forth without doubt in her presence A Lover that doth lose all hath no more Complacence but in such despaire he follows His passion which doth thrust him on to injury And imprecation Sev. Judge otherwise Of me my respect doth continue yet My despair violent as 't is adores her What reason have I to reproach this Lady Wherewith can I accuse her who hath promised Me nothing she 's not perjur'd she 's not light Her duty hath betrayd me her Father And my misfortune but her duty was Just and her Fathers reason guided him I impute all the treason unto my Misfortune somewhat less of prosperous hap And arriv'd sooner would have gained one By th' other and conserved me too happy But too late I could not have gain'd her I Leave me to see her then to sigh and dye Fab. Yes I will go t' assure her that you are In this extream misfortune strong enough To overcome your selfe she fears like me Those first provoked motions which a sudden And unexpected loss raiseth in Lovers The violence whereof excites much trouble Without the presence of the object to Redouble it Sev. I see her Fabian Fab. Remember Sir Sev. Another is her Husband Alas my sad fate she doth love another It is impossible my grief to smother Scena Secunda Severus Paulina Stratonica Fabian Paulina T Is true Severus I do love another And plead not here for 't every one Except my self do flatter and abuse you Paulina hath a noble soul and speaks With open heart the report of your death Is not that which destroys you if just heaven Had put my marriage to my choice I should To your sole vertues Sir have given my self And all the rigour of our former fate Against your merit had made vain attempts I saw in you Illustrious marks enough To give you worthy preferrence even before The happiest Monarchs but since other Laws My duty did impose what ever Lover My Father had assign'd me though your valour Had added to this greatness which it gave you The splendor of a Crown though I lov'd you And hated him I should have sighed at it But yet I should obey and o're my passions My reason being Soveraign should have blam'd My sighs and dissipated all my hatred Sev. How happie are you that a sigh or two Can easily acquit you of your troubles So always absolute Queen of your desires The greatest changes find you still resolv'd Your spirit is carried in the strongest love Unto indifference and perhaps to scorn And your stout firmness without trouble makes Favour succeed contempt and love disdain Oh how a little of your humour or Rather your vertue would comfort the evils Of this dejected heart a sigh a tear Shed with regret would have already cur'd me Of losing you my reason would prevail Upon enfeebled love and from indifference Would go even to oblivion and my fire Henceforth commanding over yours I should Esteem me happy in anothers arms O too too lovely object that hast charm'd me Must we thus love is' t so that you have lov'd me Paul I loved thee Severus and if I Could smother in my soul the flame remains there What rigorous torments Gods should I avoid 'T is true my reason tames my passions But whatsoe're Authority she hath taken Upon them she raigns not but tyrannizeth And though the outside be without commotion The inside is but trouble and sedition A certain charm I know not what inclines me Towards you yet your merit sure is great Although my reason 's strong I see it still Such as it lights my fires so much more strongly To work on my affections as it is Environed with puissance and glory I see that in all places after you It draws triumphant victory that I Best know the price on 't and that it hath not Deceiv'd the generous hope I conceiv'd of it But that same duty which in Rome subdu'd it And makes me subject to the Law of Man here Repulseth still so strongly the assault Of so many allurements that it tears My soul but doth not shake it 't is that vertue Even cruel to our own desires which you Should praise when you blaspheam it if you please You may complain on 't but yet praise its rigour That triumpheth o're you and or'e my heart At one time lower thoughts could not have merited That perfect love which you have born unto me Sev. O sweet Paulina pardon a blind grief Which knoweth nothing but excess of misery I named it inconstancy and took For crimes th'indeavours of a vertuous duty I do beseech you shew less to my senses The greatness of my Loss and of your worth And so through pitty hiding this rare vertue That feeds my fires even when she separates us Make some defects appear that may successively Weaken my grief together with my love Paul Alas this vertue though invincible still Makes but appear a soul too sensible These tears are witnesses thereof and these Effeminate sighs which stir up the remembrance Of our first fires too rigorous effects Of a beloved presence against which My duty hath too little of defence But if you do esteem this vertuous duty keep me the glory on 't and cease to see me Spare me those tears that trickle to my shame Spare me those tears that with grief I or'ecome Lastly spare me those sad discourses which Do but stir up your torments and mine own Sev. So shall I rob my self of the sole good That remains to me Paul Save you from a sight Fatall unto us both Sev. What recompense Of all my love what fruit of my devotions Paul That 's the sole remedy that can cure our evils Sev. I 'le die of mine Oh love my memory Paul I 'le cure mine they would sully my fair glory Sev. Oh! since your glory doth pronounce the sentence My griefe must yield unto its interest From such a heart as mine what is' t that it Cannot obtain you do awake the cares Which I owe to my glory farewell Madam I go to seek in honourable combats That immortality which a fair death Doth give if I after this mortall stroak Of fate have life enough to seek a death Paul And I whose punishment your sight increases Intend to avoid it even in Sacrifice And alone in my Chamber shutting up My sorrows I will make my secret Orisons Unto the Gods for you Sev. May righteous Heaven Contented with my ruine heap up happiness On Polyeuctes and Paulina's heads Paul May brave Severus find after so much Disaster a felicity that may be Worthy his valour Sev. In you he could find it Paul I depend of a Father and a Husband Sev. Oh duty that destroys and makes me desperate Adiew too vertuous and too charming object Paul Adiew adiew thou too unfortunate And faithfull lover Scena Tertia