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ACT V. SCENE I.
Enter Gallatea, Erminia, Pisaro, Aminta.
Call.
AND hast thou found him? ease my misery.
Pis.
I have, and done as you commanded me.
I found him sitting by a fountain side,
Whose tears had power to swell the little tide,
Which from the Marble Statues breasts still flows:
As silent and as numberless were those.
I laid me down behind a Thicket near,
Where undiscover'd I could see and hear:
The Moon the day suppli'd, and all below
Instructed, even as much as day could do.
I saw his postures, heard him rave and cry,
'Twas I that kill'd Erminia, yes 'twas I;
Then from his almost frantick head he'd tear
Whole handfuls of his well-becoming hair:
Thus would he till his rage was almost spent,
And then in softer termes he would lament;
Then speak as if Erminia still did live,
And that belief made him forget to grieve.
—The Marble Statue Venus, he mistook
For fair Erminia, and such things he spoke;
Such unheard passionate things as e'ne would move,
The Marble Statue's self to fall in love;
He'd kiss its breast, and say she kind was grown,
And never mind, alass, 'twas senseless stone;
He took its hand, and to his mouth had laid it,
But that it came not, and its stay betray'd it;
Then would he blush, and all asham'd become,
His head declining, for a while be dumb:
His Armes upon his breast across would lay,