ACT III
Scene 1
Tyrsis, Chorus
TYRSIS O arrant cruelty, ungrateful heart, ungrateful woman; o three and four times most ungrateful sex! And you, Nature, negligent mistress, you would put in women's faces and forms all that is gentle, comely, and kind, yet you would forget their other parts? Perhaps the wretch has killed himself; he has not come. For three hours now, I have searched and searched again for him in the place and surroundings where I left him; but I cannot find him for his footprints. Ah, he has surely killed himself! I will ask news of him from those shepherds I see there. Friends, have you seen Amyntas, or perhaps heard news of him?
CHORUS How distraught you seem. What is it afflicts you? Whence this sweat and anxiety? Are you ill? Tell us.
TYRSIS I fear the worst for Amyntas. Have you seen him?
CHORUS We have not seen him since he left with you a good while ago. Of what are you afraid?
TYRSIS That he may have killed himself.
CHORUS Killed himself? But why? What do you believe is the reason?
TYRSIS Hatred and Love.
CHORUS Two powerful enemies indeed. When put together, what can they not do? But explain further.
TYRSIS He loved a nymph too much and was too much hated by her.
CHORUS Come, tell all. This is a well-trod path; perhaps someone will come who has news of him. Perhaps even he himself will come.
TYRSIS I will tell you gladly, for it is not right that such inexplicable ingratitude should stand without reproach.
I had informed Amyntas (and I was, alas, the one who apprised and led him; now I am sorry for it) that Sylvia would go with Daphne to bathe in a certain spring. So he went there, doubtful and uncertain, moved not by his heart but only by my insistent prodding; he often turned back in doubt, but I urged him forward against his will. Then the spring was near; behold, we heard a womanly wail; and almost at once, we saw Daphne beating her palms together. When she saw us, she raised her voice: "Ah, haste!" she cried, "Sylvia has been assaulted!"
Hearing this, the lovelorn Amyntas sprang forth like a leopard, and I followed. There naked as she was born, we saw the young girl tied to a tree, and her hair was the rope that bound her: her very hair was wrapped around the tree in a thousand knots, and her lovely girdle which once protected her virginal breast had assisted in accomplishing this violent act, for it bound both her hands to the hard trunk. The tree itself provided bonds against her: a twist of a pliable branch held each of her soft legs.
We saw before her a villainous satyr who had just then finished tying her. She defended herself as much as she could; but how long could she have struggled? Amyntas, an arrow in his hand, hurled himself like a lion, and I meanwhile had filled my tunic with stones. Then the satyr fled, and in doing so, gave way for Amyntas' gaze. Amyntas turned his lovesome eyes upon those graceful limbs, which seemed soft and white as lilies that tremble with dew. I saw his whole face glow; then he approached her softly and shyly and said:
"O lovely Sylvia, forgive these hands, if they dare too much in approaching your sweet limbs; but harsh necessity urges them: the necessity to loosen these knots. This is the grace that fortune grants them, be it against your will."
CHORUS Words to soften a heart of stone. But what did she say then?
TYRSIS She said nothing; but scornful and ashamed, she lowered her face to the ground and, twisting herself as much as she could, hid her delicate bosom. He, coming forward, began to loosen the blond tresses, saying: "Such a rough trunk was never worthy of such lovely knots. What advantage do lovers have, if they share with the trees that tie which binds them to the ones they love? Cruel tree, could you offend these fair locks, that did you such honor?" Then with his hands he loosened her own in such a way that he seemed to fear even touching them; yet at the same time, he desired them. Then he bent to untie her feet; but when Sylvia's hands were freed she said scornfully: "Shepherd, do not touch me. I belong to Diana; I know how to free my own feet."
CHORUS Such pride resides in the nymph's heart? A gracious act so ungraciously rewarded!
TYRSIS He kept himself away respectfully, not even raising his eyes to look at her, denying himself his pleasure in order to save her the trouble of denying him of it. I who was hidden, and saw and heard everything, was then about to cry out, but restrained myself. Now hear something strange. After much effort, she freed herself; and as soon as she was loose, without even saying "farewell," she began to flee like a deer; yet she had no cause to fear, for she noted Amyntas' respect.
CHORUS Then why did she flee?
TYRSIS Sylvia wanted to attribute her escape to her own fleetness, not to Amyntas' timid love.
CHORUS Then she is ungrateful also in this. What did the wretched boy do then? What did he say?
TYRSIS I know not; for I, full of disgust, ran to catch her, but in vain, for I lost her. Then returning to the spring where I had left Amyntas, I did not find him, but my heart foresees something bad. I know he had been ready to die even before this occurred.
CHORUS It is the custom and the cunning of every lover to threaten to die, but rarely do they do so.
TYRSIS May God grant that he will not be the rare exception.
CHORUS No, he will not be.
TYRSIS I will go to the cave of the wise Elpinus. If Amyntas is alive, perhaps he has taken refuge there, where often the bitterest suffering is sweetened at the sound of the clear pipes which, being heard, draws the stones from the heights and makes the rivers run with pure milk, and distills honey from the hard trunk.
To be continued.
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