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)
Gallus. | Gal. | Gallus,
Words
302
Characters
1486
Typicality
0.54 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A03189
BritDrama no.
1653
Cluster
Cluster 0 — Clowns, beggars & street sellers
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Yes, Mistress Vulcan, she is as well known in Paphos here for her Meretrix, as any Lady in the land, she was the first that devised stewed meat, and proclaimed pic kle-oysters to be good for the back; she is the first that taught wenches the trade of Venery, and such as were born to nothing but beauty, she taught them how to use their Ta lent: Yes, I know her I warrant you. I smell knavery, if my Lady Venus play the whore What am I that keep the door? I see you can make shift to go too't without sheets: How shall I pass this night away till morning, I am as drowsy as a dormouse, the very thought that I must wake, charms me a sleep already, I would I durst venture on a nap; Heigh ho, sure I may wake again afore they rise, and never the wiser, I will stand to't, there is not a more sleepy trade in the world then a watchman, nor one that is more ac quainted with deeds of darkness, tell me of the Sun! the Sun will not rise this two hours; well, let them watch that will, or can, I must have a nod or two, God night to you all, for here am I fast till morning. Heigh ho, what's the matter there, would? More shame for him to look in at any bodies window. O great God Mars. At hand fir: I am not that Gallows that is made of three trees, or one that is never without hangers on: nor that Gall lus that is Latin for a Frenchman; but your own Gallus Gall linacius, servant and true squire to God Mars. I'm hard favoured enough already, you needs not Make my face worse then it is.
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…