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)
Omph. | Ompale. | Omp. | Om.
Words
342
Characters
1860
Typicality
0.38 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A03189
BritDrama no.
1653
Cluster
Cluster 12 — Wooers, gallants & courtly love-talk
Important excerpts
Passages from this character's speech that contain the most distinguishing words for Cluster 12 (signor, sal, zelmane, handkerchief, absolon, dissemble…). Matches are highlighted.
frown. Leave prating, ply your work. Admit them, they shall see what pomp we have, And that our beauty can the loftiest slave. We are queen of Lydia, And this our vassal. Do you know him Lords? Stoop slave, and kiss the foot of Omphale. Behold him Greeks there. There at his task. Alcid S hear me. I'll follow to, and with what Art
Full speech
Why so, this is a power infused in love, Beyond all magic; Is't not strange to see A woman's beauty tame the Tyrant-tamer? And the great Monster-master overmatch? Have you done your task? Then I shall frown. Leave prating, ply your work. Admit them, they shall see what pomp we have, And that our beauty can the loftiest slave. We are queen of Lydia, And this our vassal. Do you know him Lords? Stoop slave, and kiss the foot of Omphale. Behold him Greeks there. There at his task. Alcid S hear me. I'll follow to, and with what Art I can, Strive this his rage and torture to allay. Beneath this rock where we have often kissed, I will lament the noble Thebans fallen, The Lydian Omphale will be to him A truer Mistress, then his wife, whose hate Hath brought on him this sad and ominous fate. Nor hence, for any force or prayer remove, But die with him whom I so dearly love. I am thy Omphale. We have lost our servant, never yet had Lady One of the Like rank. All King Thespius daughters, Fifty in number, childed all one night, Could not prevail so much with Hercules As we have done; no not fair Yole Daughter to Cacus, beauteous Megara, Nor all the fair and amorous queen's of Greece, Could slave him Like the Lydian Omphale. Therefore where ever his labours be renowned, Let not our beauty pass unregistered. Bondaging him that captived all the earth, Nor will we leave him, or yet lose him thus What either beauty, cunning, flattery, tears Or woman's Art can, we will practice on him. But now the Priests and Princes are prepared For the great sacrifice, which we will grace With our high presence, and behold aloof These rights unto the gods performed and worser ne We'll gain by Art, what we with beauty wone. How slave? submit and to thy task again. Darest thou rebel? What strange fury Hath late possessed him to be thus disturbed? Hear me 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…