Proserpine and Midas Part 3

fields Of Ceres, Queen of plenteous Sicily.

_Pros._ Sweet Ino, well I know the love you bear My dearest Mother prompts your partial voice, And that love makes you doubly dear to me.

But you are idling,--look[,] my lap is full Of sweetest flowers;--haste to gather more, That before sunset we may make our crown.

Last night as we strayed through that glade, methought The wind that swept my cheek bore on its wings The scent of fragrant violets, hid Beneath the straggling underwood; Haste, sweet, To gather them; fear not--I will not stray.

_Ino._ Nor fear that I shall loiter in my task.

(_Exit._)

[Sidenote: (By Sh.e.l.ley.)]

_Pros._ (_sings as she gathers her flowers._) [10]

Sacred G.o.ddess, Mother Earth, Thou from whose immortal bosom G.o.ds, and men, and beasts have birth, Leaf, and blade, and bud, and blossom, Breathe thine influence most divine On thine own child Proserpine.

If with mists of evening dew Thou dost nourish these young flowers Till they grow in scent and hue Fairest children of the hours[,]

Breathe thine influence most divine On thine own child Proserpine.

(_she looks around._)

My nymphs have left me, neglecting the commands Of my dear Mother. Where can they have strayed?

Her caution makes me fear to be alone;-- I'll pa.s.s that yawning cave and seek the spring Of Arethuse, where water-lilies bloom Perhaps the nymph now wakes tending her waves, She loves me well and oft desires my stay,-- The lilies shall adorn my mother's crown. [11]

(_Exit._)

(_After a pause enter Eunoe._)

_Eun._ I've won my prize! look at this fragrant rose!

But where is Proserpine? Ino has strayed Too far I fear, and she will be fatigued, As I am now, by my long toilsome search.

_Enter Ino._

Oh! you here, Wanderer! Where is Proserpine?

_Ino._ My lap's heaped up with sweets; dear Proserpine, You will not chide me now for idleness;-- Look here are all the treasures of the field,-- First these fresh violets, which crouched beneath A mossy rock, playing at hide and seek With both the sight and sense through the high fern; Star-eyed narcissi & the drooping bells Of hyacinths; and purple polianthus, Delightful flowers are these; but where is she, The loveliest of them all, our Mistress dear?

_Eun._ I know not, even now I left her here, Guarded by you, oh Ino, while I climbed Up yonder steep for this most worthless rose:-- Know you not where she is? Did you forget Ceres' behest, and thus forsake her child?

_Ino._ Chide not, unkind Eunoe, I but went Down that dark glade, where underneath the shade [12]

[Footnote: MS. pages numbered 11, 12, &c., to the end instead of 12, 13, &c.]

Of those high trees the sweetest violets grow,-- I went at her command. Alas! Alas!

My heart sinks down; I dread she may be lost;-- Eunoe, climb the hill, search that ravine, Whose close, dark sides may hide her from our view:-- Oh, dearest, haste! Is that her snow-white robe?

_Eun._ No;--'tis a faun [Footnote: MS. _fawn._]

beside its sleeping Mother, Browsing the gra.s.s;--what will thy Mother say, Dear Proserpine, what will bright Ceres feel, If her return be welcomed not by thee?

_Ino._ These are wild thoughts,--& we are wrong to fear That any ill can touch the child of heaven; She is not lost,--trust me, she has but strayed Up some steep mountain path, or in yon dell, Or to the rock where yellow wall-flowers grow, Scaling with venturous step the narrow path Which the goats fear to tread;--she will return And mock our fears.

_Eun._ The sun now dips his beams In the bright sea; Ceres descends at eve From Jove's high conclave; if her much-loved child Should meet her not in yonder golden field, Where to the evening wind the ripe grain waves Its yellow head, how will her heart misgive. [13]

Let us adjure the Naiad of yon brook[,]

She may perchance have seen our Proserpine, And tell us to what distant field she's strayed:-- Wait thou, dear Ino, here, while I repair To the tree-shaded source of her swift stream.

(_Exit Eunoe._)

_Ino._ Why does my heart misgive? & scalding tears, That should but mourn, now prophecy her loss?

Oh, Proserpine! Where'er your luckless fate Has hurried you,--to wastes of desart sand, Or black Cymmerian cave, or dread h.e.l.l, Yet Ino still will follow! Look where Eunoe Comes, with down cast eyes and faltering steps, I fear the worst;--

_Re-enter Eunoe._

Has she not then been seen?

_Eun._ Alas, all hope is vanished! Hymera says She slept the livelong day while the hot beams Of Phoebus drank her waves;--nor did she wake Until her reed-crowned head was wet with dew;-- If she had pa.s.sed her grot she slept the while.

_Ino._ Alas! Alas! I see the golden car, And hear the flapping of the dragons wings, Ceres descends to Earth. I dare not stay, I dare not meet the sorrow of her look[,]

The angry glance of her severest eyes. [14]

_Eun._ Quick up the mountain! I will search the dell, She must return, or I will never more.

(_Exit._)

_Ino._ And yet I will not fly, though I fear much Her angry frown and just reproach, yet shame Shall quell this childish fear, all hope of safety For her lost child rests but in her high power, And yet I tremble as I see her come.

_Enter Ceres._

_Cer._ Where is my daughter? have I aught to dread?

Where does she stray? Ino, you answer not;-- She was aye wont to meet me in yon field,-- Your looks bode ill;--I fear my child is lost.

_Ino._ Eunoe now seeks her track among the woods; Fear not, great Ceres, she has only strayed.

_Cer._ Alas! My boding heart,--I dread the worst.

Oh, careless nymphs! oh, heedless Proserpine!

And did you leave her wandering by herself?

She is immortal,--yet unusual fear Runs through my veins. Let all the woods be sought, Let every dryad, every gamesome faun [Footnote: MS. _fawn._]

Tell where they last beheld her snowy feet Tread the soft, mossy paths of the wild wood.

But that I see the base of Etna firm I well might fear that she had fallen a prey To Earth-born Typheus, who might have arisen [15]

And seized her as the fairest child of heaven, That in his dreary caverns she lies bound; It is not so: all is as safe and calm As when I left my child. Oh, fatal day!

Eunoe does not return: in vain she seeks Through the black woods and down the darksome glades, And night is hiding all things from our view.

I will away, and on the highest top Of snowy Etna, kindle two clear flames.

Night shall not hide her from my anxious search, No moment will I rest, or sleep, or pause Till she returns, until I clasp again My only loved one, my lost Proserpine.

END OF ACT FIRST.

ACT II

_Scene.

The Plain of Enna as before.

Enter Ino & Eunoe._