in The Golden Age, or The Lives of Jupiter and Saturn — Heywood, Thomas
Metadata
Play
The Golden Age, or The Lives of Jupiter and Saturn
Author
Heywood, Thomas
Year (catalogued)
1611
First performance
1610
Decade
1610s
Genre
Classical Myth
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Queen Anne's Men
Theater
Red Bull;Outdoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
Acri.
Words
312
Characters
1744
Typicality
0.27 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A03205
BritDrama no.
1637
Cluster
Cluster 10 — Mourners, mothers & doleful voices
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Ladies well done: I Like this providence And careful watch over Danae: let me find you Faithless, you die, be faithful and you live Eternized in our love. Go call her hither, Be that your charge: the rest keep watchful eye On your percullist entrance, which forbids All men, save us, free passage to this place. See! Danae is descended. Fair daughter How do you brook this palace? The architectur's sumptuous, and the building Of cost invaluable, so rich a structure For beauty, or for state, the world affords not. Is not thy attendance princely, Like a Queens? Are not all these thy vassals to attend? Are not thy chambers fair, and richly hung? The walks within this barricadoed mure Full of delight and pleasure for thy taste And curious palate, all the chiefest cates Are from the furthest verges of the earth Fetched to content thee. What distates thee then? None of these. I love my Danae. But when I record The Oracle, it breeds such fear in me, That makes this thy reteinement. Il'e tell thee Lady. The unchanging mouth Of Phœbus, hath this Oracle pronoun'st, That Danae shall in time child such a son That shall Acrisius change into a stone. Our fears are certain, and our doom as fixed As the decrees of Gods. Thy durance here Is with limit endless. Go attend her Unto her chamber, there to live and Ankresse And changeless virgin, to the perjod Of her last hour. And you, to whom this charge Solely belongs, banish all womanish pity: Be deaf unto her prayers, blind to her tears, Obdure to her relenting passion. Should she (as heaven and oracle forbid) By your corrupting lose that precious Gem We have such care to keep and lock safe up: Your lives are doomed. Be faithful we desire, And keep your bodies from the threatened fire.
Plot summary
Plot — The Golden Age, or The Lives of Jupiter and Saturn
King Uranus of Crete is dead. Titan is the eldest son, but his younger brother Saturn is the popular choice to ascend the throne. Titan agrees to make way for him provided that he agrees to settle the succession on Titan’s issue and kill his own sons as soon as they are born. Saturn is declared a god, and under his benevolent rule, the people learn agriculture, ship- building, and architecture, and begin to make weapons for hunting. His wife, Sibylla, becomes pregnant, but Saturn keeps his promise to Titan and kills the baby. During a second pregnancy, an oracle foretells that the child will depose Saturn. This time Sibylla demands the privilege of killing her own child; but neither she nor her women can bring themselves to do it, so the baby is sent to a foster mother, the Princess of Epirus, and Saturn is deceived with the blood of a goat. Jupiter grows up in the court of King Melisseus of Epirus, and is sent as an envoy to conclude a peace with King Lycaon of Pelasgia; but Lycaon has murdered the Epirote hostage and offers his limbs to Jupiter as a cannibalistic banquet. Jupiter deposes Lycaon and the people elect him their King. During the conflict, he encounters Callisto, Lycaon’s daughter, and is attracted to her. She asks him to grant her a boon to prove his love; he promises, but her request is to live a chaste life as a nymph of Diana. She joins Diana, but the nymphs are already paired off, so she must await the next recruit to have a bedfellow. This turns out to be Jupiter in female disguise. During a stag hunt, he diverts her, reveals his identity and rapes her. Months later, the nymphs undress to bathe together; Callisto is reluctant, and is forcibly stripped. She is found to be pregnant. and expelled from the order. Titan learns that Saturn’s sons are alive, and marches on Crete to seize the throne. Saturn learns that Sibylla has deceived him, and sends to Jupiter for help. Meanwhile, Jupiter is curious about his parentage. He meets Callisto, pursued by their son Archas, whom she has brought up among beasts in a remote cave. Saturn’s ===== PAGE 135 ===== 1611 message arrives, confirming Jupiter’s origins, and he goes to Crete, leaving Archas as King in his stead. Meanwhile Titan and his sons have taken Saturn prisoner. Jupiter frees them after defeating Titan in battle, and is granted his sister, Juno, in marriage. Saturn worries about the oracle, and attempts to kill Jupiter, but the plot backfires: Saturn is deposed and sent into exile, and…