So slow to let in such a long'd-for guest?30
Must joy stand knocking, sister? come, prepare,
Prepare;
The king of Persia's coming to you straight—
The king! mark that.
Agl. I thought how poor the joys you brought with you,35
Were in respect of those that were with me.
Joys are our hopes stript of their fears; and such
Are mine: for know, dear brother, the king is come
Already, and is gone. Mark that.
Zir. Is this instinct or riddle? what king? how gone?40
Agl. The cave will tell you more
Zir. Some sad mistake: thou hast undone us all.
The prince, the prince! cold as the bed of earth
He lies upon, as senseless too! death hangs
Upon his lips, like an untimely frost45
Upon an early cherry. The noble guest,
His soul, took it so ill that you should use
His old acquaintance so, that neither pray'rs
Nor tears can e'er persuade him back again.
Hold, hold! we cannot sure part thus. Sister! Aglaura!50
Thersames is not dead: it is the prince
That calls.
Agl. The prince? where?
Tell me, or I will straight
Go back again into those groves of jessamine
Thou took'st me from, and find him out, or lose55
Myself for ever.
Zir. For ever? Ay, there's it!
For in those groves thou talk'st of,
There are so many byways and odd turnings,
Leading unto such wide and dismal places,
That should we go without a guide, or stir60
Before heav'n calls, 'tis strongly to be feared,
We there should wander up and down for ever,
And be benighted to eternity.
Agl. Benighted to eternity? What's that?
Zir. Why, 'tis to be benighted to eternity,65
To sit i' th' dark, and do I know not what;
Unriddle at our own sad cost and charge
The doubts the learned here do only move.
