BELLANIMA

Do not abuse them then For my pure substance will admit no mixture With any thing that's earthy, lest it should Be so defiled. Together with my self I must bestow on thee two different servants. The one is Like my self, all innocence, The other's clad in and infernal robe Of malice to us, and will tempt thy frailty To lose desires, from her black invention Forging aspersions on me to divert Thy love: which I so prize, my bliss or ruin Hath sole dependence on it. If she urge Those accusations, deaf thy understanding To her suggestions, and inform thy reason Only from the other, who best knows my passion, Powers and habits: thou wast made for me To be my instrument, and I for thee. And when I do forsake thee, or infect My looser thoughts with any other object Then thy wished good, may I be made example Of imbecility; the spoil of time; Mockery of fortune; image of inconstancy; The scale of envy and calamity. And this fair structure (now by these upheld) Be buried in it's own and their lad ruins. Would! Physander. So suddenly forgetful of thy vows Before full consummation of those rites Crown Bridegrooms happy? Wretched Bellamina, that in the instant Of thy expected comfort, shouldst be thrown Below all misery Oh that lustful sense Should cause divorce betwixt us! I am lost Almost beyond recovery, since my substance Must be partaking of his hated ills: Such is the fate of wedlock. His content Exit with Bon. Genius. In false delights, must be my punishment. I come to snatch a Husband from thine arms Lascivious strumpet; thou whose looser eyes Bewitched his ill affection, and entice His thoughts with wanton appetite of sense, From my chased love. Does not Physander see Ruin hid under every bait of pleasure; She lays to catch him? Do not Afflict me thus. Those false dissembling kisses Wound me to death. Return unto my bosom, That never shall be warm with others touch. She's common, and will mix her lustful blood Even with beasts. Let not her Syrene charms bewitch thee thu Unto a shipwreck. Every smile of hers Shadow's a rock to split thee: in my arms Shalt sleep as safe as if the clouds did guard thee. Am I not fair? Shoot not mine eyes a fire As liv lie? grow not colours on my cheeks, Brighter then those that paint her rottenness And will Physander leave me? Did I not Forsake th'etheriall Palace of my father, To be thine only? and a whore to rival me! O misery! What pleasures? guilded ones, To mock thy sense their inside's bitterness. Return, with me shalt find delights, As far exceeding these as the great day Star His pale cheeked sister, or nights lesser beauties. A thousand winged intelligences daily Shall be thy ministers, and from all parts Inform thee of the World's new accidents. Shalt from their scanning frame by my advice, Rules of prevention shalt command all arts As handmaids; Shalt converse with Heaven and Angels; And after all I'll bring thee to Elysium. Cold there compels no use of rugged furs, Nor makes the mountains barren. Ther's no dog To rage and scorch the harvest labourer While the lascivious Landlord wastes th'increase In prodigal contrivements, how to allay The furious heat with artificial snows, And drinks his wine in ice. Spring's always there, And paints the valleys: while a temperate air Sweeps their embroidered face with his cursed gales, And breathes perfumes, no Persian aromates: Pontic Amomus, or Indian balsam Can imitate. There night does never spread Her bon wings; but daylight's always there, And one blessed eason crowns the eternal year. And I made miserable. Look up Physander, I am come to help thee, N to to afflict: I share thy sum erings. There's not and anguish but it is inflicted As equally on me. Why would Physander Cut wedlock's Gordian, and with looser eyes Dote on a common wanton what is pleasure More then a lustful motion in the sense? The prosecution full of anxious fears The end Repentance. Though content be called The soul of Actium, and licentious man Propounds it as the reason of his life; Yet if intemperate appetite pursue it, The pure end's lost, and ruin must attend it. But I would comfort thee. Do but express A detestation of thy former follies, We will be reunited, and enjoy Eternal pleasures. We'll live Physander, and enjoy each other In new delights: thou shalt be cured by Temperance. She's the Physician that does moderate Desire with reason, bridling appetite. Yonder's her Cave, whose plain, yet decent roof Shines not with ivory or Plataeae of gold. No Tyrian purples cover her low couch Nor are the carved supporters artists work Bought at the wealth of provinces; she feeds not On costly viands, in her gluttony, Wasting the spoils of conquests: from a rock That weeps a running crystal she does fill Her shell cup, and drinks sparingly. Physander, Expire not yet: thy wounds are not so mortal. Help me to bear him yonder; gently raise His weakened body. What can we not endure, When pains are lessened by the hope of cure? Liberty in ills To please his senses, which have surfeited With and excess: and if your art supply no , Death will divorce us. Pity then sweet Lady, And from your treasure of instructions Prescribe a powerful medicine that may quicken His cold defects, which more and more increase, Lessening his weakened powers. To a chased wife Preserve (now it's reformed) her husbands life. My endless thanks great power, Mother of other virtues. While he sleeps, My cares shall watch him. O thou death Like God, That chayn'st the senses captive, and dost raise Dreams out of humours, whose illusive shadows, Oft work on fancy to beget belief Of prophecies, let no black horrors mix Their frightful presence, but with gentle shows, (Yet such as are instructive) sweetly work Upon what wakes within while th'other cease; Then sleeps the figure of eternal peace. Next to Heaven, the thanks are endue To this thy life's restorer. She hath precepts, By which thou mayest preserve it to a length, And end it happy. She's a majestic ruler, and commands Even with the terror of her awful brow. As in a throng sedition being raised, the ignoble multitude inflamed with madness, Firebrands and stones fly; fury shows them weapons: till spying some grave man honoured for wisdom, They straight are silent, and erect their ears, While he with his sage counsel does assuage Their minds disorder, and appease their rage. So Prudence, when rebellious appetites Have raised temptations, with their batteries Assaulting reason, she does interpose, And keep it safe. Attempts of sense are weak, If their vain forces wisdom deign to break. A habit of the mind by which just things Perfect their working. Man's the best of creatures Enjoying Law and Justice; but the worst If separated from them. It's established By fear of Law, and by Religion; Distributes endue to all. Physander is forgiven. Reflect not back On thy passed errors, but with sorrows eyes, That may be guides to the prevention Of after ills. She is, And can expect no greater. Think on Fortitude. Be not dejected by a fear that's grounded On such a weak foundation. 'Tis not appetite Of things that carry horror makes men valiant; But patient bearing of afflictions That are necessited. It begins to work; I'll prosecute the rest. What he intends For good, shall be inverted to my ends. Exit. Resist This black temptation: thy ill Genius whispered it. Presume not yet Physander: thou art weak. Fear, so Pusillanimous, is better Then daring confidence. Now Physander, Where is this boasted valour? Fear's expressed Even in thy silence. To rour of and ill In sometime greater in the expectation, Then th'ill it self: yet where true fortitude Guard's the mind with resolves, it's lessened by it, When it increases boldness. Chance may clear Many of punishment, but none of fear. Thou art not well instructed: go with me, I'll teach thee how to shun them. Exeunt. All lets are now removed; hells malice falls Beneath our conquest, and Loves palace gates Ope'to receive our triumph. Thus does chased wedlock suffer. Heavenly servant Whisper some powerful counsel in his ear, That may reclaim him. If it works, return, And bring me comfort, who Till then must mourn. We'll shortly to my father, who with joy Will entertain us.