Enter Placidius and Nigrinus. Nigrinus, with two drawn swords, held upward in his hands.
Plac. All other means have failed to move her heart; Our last resource is, therefore, to your art.
Nig. Of wars, and bloodshed, and of dire events, Of fates, and fighting kings, their instruments, I could with greater certainty foretell; Love only does in doubts and darkness dwell. For, like a wind, it in no quarter stays, But points and veers each hour a thousand ways. On women love depends, and they on will; Chance turns their orb, while destiny sits still.
Plac. Leave nothing unattempted in your power: Remember you oblige an emperor.
Nig. An earthy fiend by compact me obeys; But him to light intents I must not raise. Some astral forms I must invoke by prayer, Framed all of purest atoms of the air; Not in their natures simply good or ill; But most subservient to bad spirits' will, Nakar of these does lead the mighty band, For eighty legions move at his command: Gentle to all, but, far above the rest, Mild Nakar loves his soft Damilcar best. In airy chariots they together ride, And sip the dew as through the clouds they glide: These are the spirits, which in love have power.
Plac. Haste, and invoke them in a happy hour.
Nig. And so it proves: For, counting seven from noon, 'Tis Venus' hour, and in the waxing moon, With chalk I first describe a circle here, Where these etherial spirits must appear. Come in, come in; for here they will be strait: Around, around, the place I fumigate: My fumigation is to Venus just: The souls of roses, and red coral's dust; A lump of Sperma Ceti; and to these The stalks and chips of Lignum Aloes; And, last, to make my fumigation good, 'Tis mixt with sparrows' brains, and pigeons' blood. [Nigrinus takes up the swords.
They come, they come, they come! I hear them now.
Plac. A death-like damp sits cold upon my brow, And misty vapours swim before my sight.
Nig. They come not in a shape to cause your fright.