ERIXENE.

I guess your meaning, Sir; but am surpriz'd
That Dymas' son should think of aught I do.

DEMETRIUS.

False are my senses! false both ear and eye!
All, all be rather false than her I love!

ERIXENE.

She past not, Sir, this way.

DEMETRIUS.

Is then my pain

Your sport? And can Erixene pretend
Herself deceiv'd, by what deceiv'd the king?
An artifice made use of for your sake;
A proof, not violation, of my love.

ERIXENE.

I thought not of your love, nor artifice :
Both were forgot; or rather, never known.
But without artifice I tell you this;
Your brother lays his sceptre at my feet,

And whose example bids my heart resist
The charms of empire?

DEMETRIUS.

This is woman's skill:

You cease to love, and from my conduct strive
To labour an excuse. For if indeed

You thought me false, had you been thus serene,
Calm, and unruffled? No; my heart says, No.
Passions, if great, though turn'd to their reverse,
Keep their degree, and are great passions still.

And she who, when she thinks her lover false,
Retains her temper, never lost her heart.

ERIXENE.

That I'm serene, says not I never lov'd.
Indeed the vulgar float as passion drives;

But noble minds have reason for their

queen. While you deserv'd, my passion was sincere ; You change, my passion dies. But pardon, Sir, If my vain mind thinks anger is too much:

Take my neglect; I can afford no more.

DEMETRIUS.

No: rage! flame! thunder! give a thousand deaths!
Oh! rescue me from this more dreadful calm!
This curst indifference! which, like a frost
In northern seas, out-does the fiercest storm.
Commanded by my father to comply,

I feign'd obedience :-Had I then refus'd

ERIXENE.

I grant the consequence had been most dreadful!
I grant that Dymas' daughter had been angry.

DEMETRIUS.

Ask Dymas with what rage

ERIXENE.

You well might rage,

To be refus'd.

DEMETRIUS.

Refus'd?

ERIXENE.

He told your secret;

The King, and I, and all the court can witness.

DEMETRIUS.

Refus'd! false villain! O the perjur'd slave!
Hell-born impostor! Madam, 'tis most false !
Warm from my heart is every word I speak!
The villain lies! Believe the pangs that rend me;
Believe the witness streaming from my eyes,
And let me speak no more.

ERIXENE.

I do believe

Your grief sincere. I've heard the maid is fair.

DEMETRIUS.

Proceed; and thus indeed commit that crime

You falsely charge on me. The crown has charm'd you:
How warm this morning did you press my flight?
The cause is plain: An outrag'd lover's groan,

And dying agony, molest your ear,
And hurt the music of a nuptial song.

ERIXENE.

Since your inconstancy persists to charge
Its crime on my ambition, I'll be kind,
And leave you in possession of an error,
Of which you seem so fond.

ERIXENE.

'Tis well tim'd.

My lord, your brother doubts if I'm sincere,
And thinks (an error natural to him)

I'll break my vow to you. You'll clear my fame,
And labour to convince him, that to-morrow,

Erixene's at once a bride and queen.

PERSEUS.

[Exit Erixene.

When I have work'd him up to violence,
Bring thou the king, and pity my distress.

On what Extremes extreme distress impels me?

In things impossible I put my trust;

I, in my only brother, find a foe;

Yet in my rival, hope the greatest friend.

When all our hopes are lodg'd in such expedients,

'Tis as if poison were our only food;

And death was call'd on as the guard of life.

Why dost thou droop?

PERSEUS.

DEMETRIUS.

Because I'm dead: quite dead

To hope; and yet rebellious to despair;

Like ghosts unbless'd, that burst the bars of death.
Strange is my conduct?-Stranger my distress;
Beyond example both! Who e'er before me
Press'd his worst foe, to prove his truest friend?
But though thou'rt not my Brother, thou'rt a Man;

And, if a man, compassionate the worst

That man can feel; though found that worst in me.

PERSEUS.

What would'st?

DEMETRIUS.

Unclinch thy talons from thy prey;

Let the dove fly to this her nest again.

[Striking his breast

For, oh! the maid's unalienably mine,

Though now through rage run mad, and turn'd to thee.

How often have I languis'd at her feet?

Bask'd in her eye, and revell'd in her smile?
How often, as she listen'd to my vows,
Trembling and pale with agonies of joy,

Have I left earth, and mounted to the stars?

PERSEUS.

There Dymas' daughter shone above the rest,
Illustrious in thy sight.

DEMETRIUS.

Thy taunt, how false————

I no less press your int'rest than my own.
Think you 'tis possible her heart, so long

Inclin'd to me, the price of all my vows,
Purchas'd by tears and groans, and paid me down
In tenderest returns of love divine,

Can in one day be yours?--Impossible!

PERSEUS.

If I'm deceiv'd, I'm pleas'd with the deceit.
How my heart dances in the golden dream!
In pity do not wake me till to-morrow.