s
gratifying, control over the moon. I think it possible that I may
concoct with it some scheme for our return. You shall, in that
case, Phoebus, be no longer excluded from my domain.

PHOEBUS.

Let me urge you to do no such thing. The action of this little
bird upon your unfortunate luminary is sympathetic, but surely
very obscure. It would be a pity to inquire into it so closely
as to comprehend it.

[SELENE, _without listening to him, passes up into the woods,
and exit_.]

PHOEBUS [_alone_].

To comprehend it might even be to discover that it does not exist.
Whereas to come here night after night, in the fragrant darkness,
to see the unhallowed lump of fire creep out of the lake, to
listen for the first clucks and shakes of the sweet little
purifying song, and to watch the orb growing steadily more hyaline
and lucent under its sway, how delicious! The absolute harmony and
concord of nature would be then patent and recurrent before us.
My poor sister! However, it is consoling to reflect that she is
almost certain not to be able to find that bird.

IV

[_The same glen._ AESCULAPIUS _alone, busily arranging a great
cluster of herbs which he has collected. He sits on a large
stone, with his treasures around him_.]

AESCULAPIUS.

Yew--an excellent styptic. Tansy, rosemary. Spurge and marsh
mallow. The best pellitory I ever plucked out of a wall. The herbs
of this glen are admirable. They surpass those of the gorges of
Cyllene. Is this lavender? The scent seems more acrid.

[_Enter_ PALLAS _and_ EUTERPE.]

PALLAS.

You look enviably animated, Aesculapius. Your countenance is so
fresh beneath that long white beard of yours, that the barbarians
will suppose you to be some mad boy, masquerading.

EUTERPE.

What will you do with these plants?

AESCULAPIUS.

These are my simples. As we shot through the Iberian narrows on our
frantic voyage hither, my entire store was blown out of my hands
and away to sea. The rarest sorts were flung about on rocks where
nothing more valetudinarian than a baboon could possibly taste
them. My earliest care on arriving here was to search these woods
for fresh specimens, and my success has been beyond all hope. See,
this comes from the wet lands on the hither side of the tarn----

EUTERPE.

Where Selene is now searching for the wizard who draws the smoke
away from the moon's face at night.

AESCULAPIUS.

This from the beck where it rus