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)
Aege. | Aegeon.
Words
261
Characters
1467
Typicality
0.57 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A03205
BritDrama no.
1637
Cluster
Cluster 6 — Battlefield messengers & soldiers
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
All which we'll punish on K. Saturn's head, I that have made the Aegean confines shake, And with my powerful voice affrighted Heaven: From whose enraged eyes the darkened skies Have borrowed lustre, and Promethian fire, Will fright from Creet the proud Saturnian troop, And thousand hacked and mangled soldiers bring To entomb the glories of the Cretan King. Arm royal Titan, Arm Enceladus, A pale of brandished steel hath girded thy land. From the earth's Caverns break infernal fires, To make thy villages and hamlets burn. Tempestuous ruin in the shape of war Clouds all thy populous kingdom, At my heals Confusion dogs me, and the voice of death Still thunders in mine ears. Thy tongue hath spoke thy own destruction, Since whom K. Saturn spared, our swords must kill, And he is come to offer up that life Which hath so long been forfeit. Where's now the high and proud Enceladus, To stop the fury of the Adverse foe, Or stay the base flight of our dastard troops? Titan is slain, Hyperion strews the earth, And thousands by the hand of Jupiter Are sent into black darkness. All that stand Sink in the weight of his high Jovial hand. To shun whose rage, Aegeon thou must fly. Creet with our hoped conquests all adieu. We must propose new quests, since Saturn's son Hath by his puissance all our camp overrun. And what shall I do then? They have already God into the town, And barricadoed' gainst us their Iron gates. What means then shall we find to startle them?
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…