JUSTINA.

It cannot be! Whom have I ever loved?
Trophies of my oblivion and disdain,
Floro and Lelio did I not reject?

And Cyprian?

She becomes troubled at the name of CYPRIAN

Did I not requite him

With such severity, that he has fled

Where none has ever heard of him again ?—
Alas! I now begin to fear that this

May be the occasion whence desire grows bold,
As if there were no danger. From the moment
That I pronounced to my own listening heart,
Cyprian is absent, O miserable me!

I know not what I feel!

[More calmly.

It must be pity

To think that such a man, whom all the world
Admired, should be forgot by all the world,

And I the cause.

[She again becomes troubled.

And yet if it were pity, Floro and Lelio might have equal share, For they are both imprisoned for my sake.

Alas! what reasonings are these? It is
Enough I pity him, and that, in vain,

Without this ceremonious subtlety.

[Calmly.

And woe is me! I know not where to find him

now,

Even should I seek him through this wide world.

Enter DEMON.

DEMON.

Follow, and I will lead thee where he is.

Into

my

JUSTINA.

And who art thou, who hast found entrance hither, chamber through the doors and locks? Art thou a monstrous shadow which my madness Has formed in the idle air?

DÆMON.

No. I am one

Called by the thought which tyrannizes thee
From his eternal dwelling; who this day
Is pledged to bear thee unto Cyprian.

JUSTINA.

So shall thy promise fail. This agony
Of passion which afflicts my heart and soul
May sweep imagination in its storm;
The will is firm.

DÆMON

Already half is done

In the imagination of an act.

The sin incurred, the pleasure then remains ;
Let not the will stop half way on the road.

JUSTINA.

I will not be discouraged, nor despair,

Although I thought it, and although 'tis true
That thought is but a prelude to the deed :—
Thought is not in my power, but action is:
I will not move my foot to follow thee.

DÆMON.

But a far mightier wisdom than thine own
Exerts itself within thee, with such power
Compelling thee to that which it inclines

That it shall force thy step; how wilt thou then
Resist, Justina ?

It were not free if thou hadst power upon it.

[He draws, but cannot move her

DEMON.

Come, where a pleasure waits thee.

Too dear.

JUSTINA.

It were bought

'Tis shame, 'tis torment, 'tis despair.

DÆMON.

But how

Canst thou defend thyself from that or me,
If my power drags thee onward?

JUSTINA.

My defence

Consists in God.

[He vainly endeavours to force her, and at last releases her.

DÆMON.

Woman, thou hast subdued me,

Only by not owning thyself subdued.

But since thou thus findest defence in God,
I will assume a feigned form, and thus
Make thee a victim of my baffled rage.
For I will mask a spirit in thy form
Who will betray thy name to infamy,
And doubly shall I triumph in thy loss,

First by dishonouring thee, and then by turning
False pleasure to true ignominy.

JUSTINA.

I

Appeal to Heaven against thee! so that Heaven

May scatter thy delusions, and the blot
Upon my fame vanish in idle thought,

Even as flame dies in the envious air,
And as the flow'ret wanes at morning frost,
And thou shouldst never- -But, alas! to whom
Do I still speak?-Did not a man but now
Stand here before me?-No, I am alone,
And yet I saw him. Is he gone so quickly?
Or can the heated mind engender shapes
From its own fear? Some terrible and strange
Peril is near. Lisander! father! lord!

Livia!

Enter LISANDER and Livia.

LISANDER.

O my daughter; what?

LIVIA.

What?

JUSTINA.

Saw you

A man go forth from my apartment now ?—

I scarce sustain myself!

LISANDER.

A man here!

JUSTINA.

Have you not seen him?