Love, 'tis true thou dost receive
Tribute for my loyalty,
And so much dost thou achieve
That my faith did never die,
It doth with my works revive;
My content—'tis to thee plain—
And my glory all decays,
As thy fury grows amain;
In my soul as dwelling-place
Faith, faith only, doth remain.
But if it be truth declared
And beyond all doubt have passed,
That to faith glory is barred,
I, who shall to faith hold fast,
What hope I for my reward?
Sense doth vanish with the pain
That is pictured, all the bliss
Flies and is not seen again,
And amidst such miseries
Faith, faith only, doth remain.
With a profound sigh the hapless Marsilio ended his song, and straightway Erastro, handing over his pipe, without further delaying began to sing thus:
ERASTRO.
In my woe and suffering
'Midst the pleasures of my care,
My faith is so choice a thing,
That it flieth not from fear
Neither unto hope doth cling;
'Tis not moved to agony,
In its task of climbing high,
To behold that joy hath fled,
Nor to see that life is sped
Where faith lives and hope is dead.
This is wondrous 'midst my woe,
Yet 'tis so that thus my bliss,
If it comes, may come to show
That amidst a thousand 'tis
That to which the palm should go;
Let not fame this truth deny
But unto the nations cry
With loud tongue that Love doth rest
Firm and loyal in my breast
Where faith lives and hope is dead.
Ah! thy rigorous disdain
And my merit, poor and low,
So affright me that 'tis plain,
Though I love thee, this I know,
Yet I dare not tell my pain;
Ever open I espy
The gate to my agony,
And that life doth slow depart,
For thou heedest not the heart
Where faith lives and hope is dead.
Never doth my fancy frame
Such a frenzied, foolish, thought
As to think that I could claim
Any bliss that I have sought
By my faith and heart aflame;
Thou canst know with certainty
My surrendered soul doth try,
Shepherdess, to love thee true,
For 'tis there that thou wilt view
Where faith lives and hope is dead.
Erastro became silent, and straightway the absent Crisio, to the sound of the same instruments, began to sing in this fashion:
CRISIO.