Scene iii.—­The Wood.

(Enter NISIDA and CYNTHIA, flying.)

Cynthia. 
Fly, fly, Nisida.

Nisida. 
                   Fly, fly, Cynthia,
Since a terror and a woe
Threatens us by far more fearful
Than when late a horror froze
All our words, and o’er our reason
Strange lethargic dulness flowed.

Cynthia. 
Thou art right, for then ’t was only
Our intelligence that owned
The effect of an enchantment,
A mere pause of thought alone. 
Here our very life doth leave us,
Seeing with what awful force
Stalks along this mighty lion
Trampling all that stops his course.

Nisida. 
Whither shall we fly for shelter?

Cynthia. 
O Diana, we implore
Help from thee!  But stranger still!—­
Him who doth appal us so,
The wild monarch of the mountain
See! a woman calm and slow
Follows.

Nisida. 
          O astounding sight!

Cynthia. 
’T is Daria.

Nisida. 
              I was told
She had been consigned to prison: 
Yes, ’t is she:  on, on they go
Through the forest.

Cynthia. 
                     Till the mountain
Hides them, and we see no more.

(Enter Escarpin.)

Escarpin. 
All Rome is full of wonder and dismay.[16]

Nisida. 
What has occurred?

Cynthia. 
                    Oh! what has happened, say?

Escarpin. 
Chrysanthus, being immured
By his stern sire, a thousand ills endured. 
Daria too, the same,
But in a house my tongue declines to name. 
It pleased the God they both adore
Both to their freedom strangely to restore,
And from their many pains
To free them, and to break their galling chains,
Giving Daria, as attendant squire,
A roaring lion, rolling eyes of fire:—­
In fine the two have fled,
But each apart by separate instinct led
To this wild mountain near. 
Numerianus coming then to hear
Of the event, assuming in his wrath,
That ’t was Polemius who had oped the path
Of freedom for his son and for the maid,
Has not an hour delayed,
But follows them with such a numerous band,
That, see, his squadrons cover all the land.

Voices (within). 
Scour the whole plain.

Others (within). 
                        Descend into the vale.

Others (within). 
Pierce the thick wood.

Others (within). 
                        The rugged mountain scale.

Escarpin. 
This noise, these cries, confirm what I have said: 
And since by curiosity I ’m led
To sift the matter to the bottom, I
Will follow with the rest.

Cynthia. 
                            I almost die
With fear at the alarm, and yet so great
Is my desire to know Daria’s fate,
And that of young Chrysanthus, that I too
Will follow, if a woman so may do.