thou watchest
O'er Chrysanthus.

CLAUDIUS.
From this instant
Until thy return, I promise
Not to leave his side.

POLEMIUS.
Aurelius . . .

AURELIUS.
My good lord.

POLEMIUS.
Art sure thou knowest
In this mountain the well-hidden
Cave wherein Carpophorus dwelleth?

AURELIUS.
Him I promise to deliver
To thy hands.

POLEMIUS.
Then lead the soldiers
Stealthily and with all quickness
To the spot, for all must perish
Who are there found hiding with him:--
For the care with which, ye Heavens!
I uphold the true religion
Of the gods, their faith and worship,
For the zeal that I exhibit
In thus crushing Christ's new law,
Which I hate with every instinct
Of my soul, oh! grant my guerdon
In the cure of my son's illness! [Exeunt Polemius and Aurelius.

CLAUDIUS (to Escarpin).
Go and tell my lord Chrysanthus
That I wish he would come with me
Forth to-day for relaxation.

ESCARPIN.
Relaxation! just say whither
Are we to go forth to get it;
Of that comfort I get little--

CLAUDIUS.
Outside Rome, Diana's temple
On the Salarian way uplifteth
Its majestic front: the fairest
Of our Roman maids dwell in it:
'T is the custom, as thou knowest,
That the loveliest of Rome's children
Whom patrician blood ennobles,
From their tender years go thither
To be priestesses of the goddess,
Living there till 't is permitted
They should marry: 't is the centre
Of all charms, the magic circle
Drawn around a land of beauty--
Home of deities--Elysium!--
And as great Diana is
Goddess of the groves, her children
Have to her an altar raised
In the loveliest cool green thicket.
Thither, when the evening falleth,
And the season is propitious,
Various squadrons of fair nymphs
Hasten: and it is permitted
Gallant youths, unmarried also,
As an escort to go with them.
There this evening will I lead him.

ESCARPIN.
Well, I doubt that your prescription
Is the best: for fair recluses,
Whose sublime pursuits, restricted
To celestial things, make even
The most innocent thought seem wicked,
Are by no means likely persons
To divert a man afflicted
With this melancholy madness:
Better take him into the thickest
Throng of Rome, there flesh and bone
Goddesses he 'll find, and fitter.--

CLAUDIUS.
Ah! you speak but as the vulgar:
Is it not the bliss of blisses
To adore some lovely being
In the ideal, in the distance,
Almost as a vision?--

ESCARPIN.