In readiness, nor is our friend Zephines
Arriv'd at Delphos; nothing is ripe. Besides
Ther. Good heav'ns! did I but dream that she was mine?
Upon imagination did I climb80
Up to this height? Let me then wake and die!
Some courteous hand snatch me from what's to come,
And, ere my wrongs have being, give them end!
Zir. How poor and how unlike the prince is this!
This trifle, woman, does unman us all;85
Robs us so much, it makes us things of pity.
Is this a time to loose our anger in,
And vainly breathe it out, when all we have
Will hardly fill the sail of Resolution,
And make us bear up high enough for action?90
Ther. I have done, sir; pray chide no more;
The slave, whom tedious custom has inur'd,
And taught to think of misery as of food,
Counting it but a necessary of life,
And so digesting it, shall not so much as once95
Be nam'd to patience, when I am spoken of.
Mark me; for I will now undo myself
As willingly as virgins give up all
First nights to them they love.[Offers to go out
Zir. Stay, sir: 'twere fit Aglaura yet were kept100
In ignorance. I will dismiss the guard,
And be myself again.[Exit
Ther. In how much worse estate am I in now,
Than if I ne'er had known her! Privation is
A misery as much above bare wretchedness105
As that is short of happiness:
So, when the sun does not appear,
'Tis darker, 'cause it once was here.
Re-enter Ziriff. Speaks to Orsames and others half entered
Zir. Nay, gentlemen,
There needs no force where there is no resistance:110
I'll satisfy the king myself.
Ther. O! it is well y'are come.
There was within me fresh rebellion,
And reason was almost unking'd again.
But you shall have her, sir.[Goes out to fetch Aglaura115
Zir. What doubtful combats in this noble youth
Passion and reason have!
