Am. I have too much betray’d my Passion for him,
—I must recal it, if I can I must:—
I will—for should I yield, my power’s o’erthrown,
And what’s a Woman when that glory’s gone?
[Exit.
SCENE II. The Apartments of Alcippus.
Enter Alcippus and Pisaro.
Pis. You seem’d then to be pleas’d with what she said.
Alcip. And then methought I was so, But yet even then I fear’d she did dissemble. —Gods, what’s a Man possest with Jealousy?
Pis. A strange wild thing, a Lover without reason;
I once have prov’d the torture on’t,
But as unlike to thine as good from evil;
Like fire in Limbecks, mine was soft and gentle,
Infusing kindly heat, till it distill’d
The spirits of the Soul out at my Eyes,
And so it ended.
But thine’s a raging Fire, which never ceases
Till it has quite destroy’d the goodly Edifice
Where it first took beginning.
Faith, strive, Sir, to suppress it.
Alcip. No, I’ll let it run to its extent,
And see what then ‘twill do.
Perhaps ‘twill make me mad, or end my life,
Either of which will ease me.
Pis. Neither of these, Alcippus; It will unman you, make you too despis’d; And those that now admire will pity you.
Alcip. What wouldst thou have me do?
Am I not ty’d a Slave to follow Love,
Whilst at my back Freedom and Honour waits,
And I have lost the power to welcome them?
Like those who meet a Devil in the night,
And all afrighted gaze upon the Fury,
But dare not turn their backs to what they fear,
Though safety lie behind them.
Alas! I would as willingly as those
Fly from this Devil, Love.