in The Brazen Age (The Age of Brass) — Heywood, Thomas
Metadata
Play
The Brazen Age (The Age of Brass)
Author
Heywood, Thomas
Year (catalogued)
1613
First performance
1611
Decade
1610s
Genre
Classical Myth
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Queen Anne's Men
Speech prefix(es)
Ache.
Words
296
Characters
1610
Typicality
0.35 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A03189
BritDrama no.
1653
Cluster
Cluster 24 — Gods, cupids & celestial agents
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Dares the Theban bastard Contend with us, as we are eldest son Unto the graven and old Oceanus, And the Nymph Nais, born on Pindus mount, From whence our broad and spacious currents rise? So are we proud to cope with Hercules. Near let my streams wash A arnania's banks, Or we confined in Thous, our grand seat, Till (by the ruin of Alcmena's son) We lodge bright Deianeira in our arms. What's Hercules that I should dread his name? Or what's he greater then Amphitri is son? When we assume the name of Demigod Not Prote S can transshape himself Like us, For we command our figure when we please. Sometime we Like a serpent run along Our medowy banks: and sometime Like a Bull Graze on these strands we water with our streams. We can translate our fury to a fire, And when we swell, in our fierce torrents swallow The Champion plains, and flow above the hills, Drown all the continents by which we run; Yea Hercules himself. It is for her this bastard I despise. Prepare thee Theban. No more, I am thy Captive, thou my Conqueror: I see, no Magic, or enchanting spell Have power on virtue and true fortitude. No sleight Illusion can deceive the eyes Of him that is divinely resolute. I lay me at thy feet, a lowly vassal, Since thou hast reft me of that prccious horn, Which tearing from my head in shape of Bull, Thus wounded me. Take Deianeira freely, Only restore me that rich spoil thou hast won, Which all the Nymphs and graces dwelling near, Shall fill with redolent flowers, and delicate fruits, And call it Cornucopiae, plenties horn, In memory of Ach lous lose, And this high conqu st wone by Hercules.
Plot summary
Plot — The Brazen Age (The Age of Brass)
Hercules and the shape-changing Achelous fight for the hand of Dejanira; Achelous transforms himself into a series of monsters, but Hercules retains the upper hand, and Achelous concedes defeat after one of his bull’s horns is pulled off (later to become the cornucopia). Hercules takes Dejanira home, and en route they meet Nessus, the only survivor of Hercules’ massacre of the centaurs. Feigning friendship, the vindictive Nessus offers to carry Dejanira across the river on his back; but when he gets to the other side, he attempts to abduct her. Hercules shoots him and, dying, he tells Dejanira that his blood is a love-charm, which she should use on Hercules if he ever seems interested in another woman; in fact, it is poisonous. Hercules travels to Egypt, where King Busiris sacrifices foreigners, and kills him on his own altar, but refuses to accept his crown. During his absence, Diana, offended that King Oeneus has sacrificed to all the gods but her, sends a boar to ravage the Calydonian countryside. The lords of Greece gather to hunt the boar. One of them is Adonis, and Venus falls in love with him; he insists on hunting, the boar kills him, and she transforms him into a flower. Atalanta joins the hunt, and Meleager falls in love with her; when the boar is killed, he is awarded its head, but he offends his companions by presenting it to her. In the ensuing fight, Meleager kills his uncles. His mother Althea is torn between her duty to her brothers and to her son. Meleager’s life is in her power, for, when he was born, the Fates visited her, pointed out a brand in the fire, and foretold that the child would live until the brand was burnt up; she rescued it and has kept it safe ever since. Now she burns the brand, and he dies; in remorse, she kills herself with his sword. Hercules joins Jason and the Argonauts on their quest to retrieve the golden fleece from Colchis. On the way they stop off at Troy, where King Laomedon faces an unwelcome obligation to sacrifice his daughter Hesione: he accepted a loan from Neptune’s priests to finance building the city walls, but failed to repay it when the work was complete, and retribution came in the form of a sea monster who must be appeased with the monthly sacrifice of a young Trojan woman; this month the fatal lot has fallen on Hesione. Laomedon offers Hercules a reward for rescuing her, but reneges after Hercules does so. Jason insists they defer Hercules’ revenge until their return from Colchis. The golden…