]
CYPRIAN:
Now, since I am alone, let me examine _50
The question which has long disturbed my mind
With doubt, since first I read in Plinius
The words of mystic import and deep sense
In which he defines God.
CYPRIAN:
Now, since I am alone, let me examine _50
The question which has long disturbed my mind
With doubt, since first I read in Plinius
The words of mystic import and deep sense
In which he defines God.
Shelley
CLARIN:
You lie--under a mistake--
For this is the most civil sort of lie
That can be given to a man's face. I now
Say what I think.
CYPRIAN:
Enough, you foolish fellows! _35
Puffed up with your own doting ignorance,
You always take the two sides of one question.
Now go; and as I said, return for me
When night falls, veiling in its shadows wide
This glorious fabric of the universe. _40
NOTE:
_36 doting ignorance transcr. ; ignorance and pride 1824.
MOSCON:
How happens it, although you can maintain
The folly of enjoying festivals,
That yet you go there?
CLARIN:
Nay, the consequence
Is clear:--who ever did what he advises
Others to do? --
MOSCON:
Would that my feet were wings, _45
So would I fly to Livia.
[EXIT. ]
CLARIN:
To speak truth,
Livia is she who has surprised my heart;
But he is more than half-way there. --Soho!
Livia, I come; good sport, Livia, soho!
[EXIT.
]
CYPRIAN:
Now, since I am alone, let me examine _50
The question which has long disturbed my mind
With doubt, since first I read in Plinius
The words of mystic import and deep sense
In which he defines God. My intellect
Can find no God with whom these marks and signs _55
Fitly agree. It is a hidden truth
Which I must fathom.
[CYPRIAN READS;
THE DAEMON, DRESSED IN A COURT DRESS, ENTERS. ]
NOTE:
_57 Stage Direction: So transcr. Reads. Enter the Devil as a fine
gentleman 1824.
DAEMON:
Search even as thou wilt,
But thou shalt never find what I can hide.
CYPRIAN:
What noise is that among the boughs? Who moves?
What art thou? --
DAEMON:
'Tis a foreign gentleman. _60
Even from this morning I have lost my way
In this wild place; and my poor horse at last,
Quite overcome, has stretched himself upon
The enamelled tapestry of this mossy mountain,
And feeds and rests at the same time. I was _65
Upon my way to Antioch upon business
Of some importance, but wrapped up in cares
(Who is exempt from this inheritance? )
I parted from my company, and lost
My way, and lost my servants and my comrades. _70
CYPRIAN:
'Tis singular that even within the sight
Of the high towers of Antioch you could lose
Your way.
