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Full speech
I. His name revives, and lifts me up from earth. Oh, which way shall I first convert my self? Or in what mood shall I assay to speak, That (in a moment) I may be delivered Of the prodigious grief I go withal? See, see, the mourning fount, whose springs weep yet, the untimely fate of that too beauteous boy, That trophaee of selflove, and spoil of nature, Who (now transformed into this drooping flower) Hangs the repentant head, back from the stream, As if it wished, would I had never looked In such a flattering mirror. Oh NARCISSVS, Thou that wast once (and yet art) my NARCISSVS; Had ECHO but been private with thy thoughts, She would have dropped away her self in tears, Till she had all turned water, that in her, (As in a glass) thou mightest have gazed, And seen thy beauty's by more kind reflection: But selflove never yet could look on truth, But with bleared beams; lieke flattery and she Are twin born sisters, and so mix their eyes, As if you see er one, the other die. Why did the gods give thee a heavenly form, And earthy thoughts, to make thee proud of it? Why, do I ask? 'Tis now the known disease That beauty hath, to bear too deep a sense Of her own self-conceived excellence. Oh, hadst thou known the worth of heavens rich gift, Thou wouldst have turned it to a truer use, And not (with starved, and covetous ignorance) P ed in continual eyeing that bright gem, The glance whereof to others had been more, Then to thy famished mind the wide world's store: "So wretched is it to be merely rich. Witness thy youths deer sweets, here spent untasted, Like a fair taper, with his own flame wasted. I will (kind MERCURY) be brief as time. Vouchsafe me, I may do him these last rites, But kiss his flower, and sing some mourning strain Over his watery hearse. Done presently (good HERMES) bide a little, Suffer my thirsty eye to gaze a while, But e'ene to taste the place, and I am vanished. Here young ACTEON fell, pursued, and torn By CYNTHIA'S wrath (more eager, then his hounds) And here, (ay me, the place is fatal) see The weeping NIOBE, translated hither From Phrygian mountains: and by PHoeBE reared As the proud trophaee of her sharp revenge. But here, Oh here, the Fountain of selflove , In which LATONA, and her careless Nymphs , (Regardless of my sorrows) bath themselves In hourly pleasures. Oh, stay: I have but one poor thought to cloth In airy garments, and then (faith) I go. Henceforth, thou treacherous, and murdering spring, Be ever called the Fountain of selflove: And with thy water let this curse remain, (As and inseparate plague) that who but tastes A drop thereof, may, with the instant touch, Grow dotingly enamored on themselves. Now, HERMES, I have finished. Well. Away. Leave me. Hence.
Plot summary
Plot — Cynthia's Revels, or The Fountain of Self-Love
Cynthia proclaims a revels at which all are welcome. Mercury and Cupid, who is usually banned from her court, go disguised as pages. Resurrected by Mercury, Echo curses the fountain beside which Narcissus died, so that all who drink of it will be afflicted with self-love. Amorphus does so and reports its wonders, so that the water is much in demand. He undertakes to make Asotus, a citizen’s heir, into a courtier, and gives him intensive training in courtly behaviour and the practice of wooing, but Asotus’ plebeian tastes keep betraying him. While the court ladies impatiently await the arrival of the fountain-water, Asotus courts his father’s old love, Argurion. He accepts her gifts, but then gives them away to the other courtiers in an effort to ingratiate himself. Argurion faints, then transfers her affections to the page Morus. The water arrives and is eagerly consumed. Arete brings the courtiers Cynthia’s instructions that they are to prepare an entertainment for her that evening. They 1600 suggest a masque, but are offended when Arete decides to ask the scholar Criticus to write it: they will only be the performers. Cynthia makes her appearance, and the masque is performed: Anteros (played by Cupid ) introduces four virgins, and a page ( played by. Mercury ) introduces four brothers, all of them representing virtues associated with Cynthia. Cupid attermpts to make the masquers fall in love with one another, but his arrows cannot counteract the influence of the fountain- water. The revels ended, Cynthia is annoyed to find that the masquers are people who are not usually welcome in her court, and calls them to account for. usurpin Zz virtues they do not have in their own persons. Criticus sentences them to sing a palinode, and to wash off their self-love in Helicon, the well of knowledge. B-Text Asotus is to prove his skill as a courtier on: the evening of the masque, by challenging all comers to compete with him in courtly behaviour. Mercury persuades Crites to accept the challenge, to punish him and his associates for bringing the name of courtier into disrepute. Posing as a courtly Frenchman, Mercury competes with Amorphus and defeats him. Crites continually bests Asotus until he withdraws from the contest, unable to go on. _