Apart from Angelo, Harpax seems to advance in his malignant work. When the daughters of Theophilus express their zeal for paganism, he "grows fat to see his labours prosper;" yet he cannot look forward to the defeat of those labours in their approaching conversion, though on some occasions we find he could "see a thousand leagues" in his master's service. And this agrees with the doctrine, that when some signal triumph of the faith was at hand, the evil spirits were abridged of their usual powers. Again, when Harpax expects to meet Angelo, he thus expresses the dread of his presence, and the effect which it afterwards produced on him:
"————I do so hate his sight,
That, should I look on him, I should sink down."
Act II. sc. 2.
And this, too, perfectly agrees with the power attributed to the superior spirits of quelling the demons by those indications of their quality which were not to be perceived by mortals: per occultissimæ signa præsentiæ, quæ angelicis sensibus etiam malignorum spirituum, potius quam infirmitati hominum, possunt esse perspicua. Civ. Dei, lib. ix.
The tragedy is too full of horrors; but this is a fault of which our ancestors were very tolerant.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.
| Dioclesian, Maximinus, | } | Emperors of Rome. |
| King of Pontus. | ||
| King of Epire. | ||
| King of Macedon. | ||
| Sapritius, Governor of Cæsarea. | ||
| Theophilus, a zealous persecutor of the Christians. | ||
| Sempronius, captain of Sapritius' guards. | ||
| Antoninus, son to Sapritius. | ||
| Macrinus, friend to Antoninus. | ||
| Harpax, an evil spirit, following Theophilus in the shape of a secretary. | ||
| Angelo, a good spirit, serving Dorothea in the habit of a page. | ||
| Julianus, Geta, | } | servants of Theophilus. |
| Priest of Jupiter. | ||
| British Slave. | ||
| Artemia, daughter to Dioclesian. | ||
| Calista, Christeta, | } | daughters to Theophilus. |
| Dorothea, the Virgin-Martyr. | ||
| Officers and Executioners. | ||
SCENE, Cæsarea.