Scaena Secunda.
Enter Emilia alone, with two Pictures.
Emil.
Yet I may bind those wounds up, that must open
And bleed to death for my sake else; I'll choose,
And end their strife: two such young handsome men
Shall never fall for me, their weeping Mothers,
Following the dead cold ashes of their Sons
Shall never curse my cruelty: Good Heaven;
What a sweet face has Arcite, if wise nature
With all her best endowments, all those beauties
She shews into the births of noble bodies,
Were here a mortal woman, and had in her
The coy denials of young Maids, yet doubtless,
She would run mad for this man: what an eye?
Of what a fiery sparkle, and quick sweetness:
Has this young Prince? here Love himself sits smiling,
Just such another wanton Ganimead,
Set Love a fire with, and enforc'd the god
Snatch up the goodly Boy, and set him by him
A shining constellation: what a brow,
Of what a spacious Majesty he carries?
Arch'd like the great ey'd Juno's, but far sweeter,
Smoother than Pelops Shoulder? Fame and Honor
Methinks from hence, as from a Promontory
Pointed in heaven, should clap their wings, and sing
To all the under world, the Loves, and Fights
Of gods, and such men near 'em. Palamon,
Is but his soil, to him, a mere dull shadow,
He's swarth, and meagre, of an eye as heavy
As if he had lost his mother; a still temper,
No stirring in him, no alacrity,
Of all this sprightly sharpness, not a smile;
Yet these that we count errors, may become him
Narcissus was a sad Boy, but a heavenly:
Oh who can find the bent of womans fancy?
I'm a fool, my reason is lost in me,
I have no choice, and I have ly'd so lewdly
That Women ought to beat me. On my knees
I ask thy pardon: Palamon, thou art alone,
And only beautiful, and these thy eyes,
These the bright lamps of Beauty that command
And threaten Love, and what young Maid dare cross 'em
What a bold gravity, and yet inviting
Has this brown manly face? Oh Love, this only
From this hour is complexion: lye there Arcite,
Thou art a changling to him, a mere Gipsie.
And this the noble Bodie: I am sotted,
Utterly lost: My Virgins faith has fled me.
For if my Brother, but even now had ask'd me
Whether I lov'd, I had run mad for Arcite.
Now if my Sister; More for Palamon,
Stand both together: now, come ask me Brother,
Alas, I know not: ask me now sweet Sister,
I may go look; what a mere child is Fancie,
That having two fair gawds of equal sweetness,
Cannot distinguish, but must cry for both.
Enter Emil. and Gent.
Emil.
How now Sir?
Gent.
From the Noble Duke your Brother
Madam, I bring you news: the Knights are come.
Emil.
To end the quarrel?
Gent.
Yes.
Emil.
Would I might end first:
What sins have I committed, chaste Diana,
That my unspotted youth must now be soil'd
With bloud of Princes? and my Chastity
Be made the Altar, where the Lives of Lovers,
Two greater, and two better never yet
Made Mothers joy, must be the sacrifice
To my unhappy Beauty?