ACT III
Scene 2
(Amyntas, Daphne, Nerina)
[Review the cast of characters
here.]
AMYNTAS Your pity was no pity at all, o Daphne, when you held back my arrow; but my death shall be more bitter because it is delayed. And now, why do you lead me along so many different paths and distract me with such useless talk? Of what are you afraid? That I will kill myself? You fear for my welfare.
DAPHNE Do not despair, Amyntas; for if I know her well, it was but shame, not cruelty, that made her flee.
AMYNTAS My despair could be my salvation, since hope has only been my ruin. Alas, hope still tries to spring up within my breast, only because I am alive. What is worse than the life of a wretch such as I?
DAPHNE You now live, wretched man, in your misery; but may you suffer this state only to be happy when it is granted. If you continue to live and hope, your reward will be that which you saw in her lovely nakedness.
AMYNTAS Did it not seem to Love nor to my fortune that I was indeed miserable, since I was forced to behold Sylvia's fair form, which will never be mine?
NERINA So then I must be the accursed bearer of bitterest news! Will your soul be forever wretched, Montanus, when you hear of the harsh fate of your only daughter Sylvia? Old, bereft father: ah, you are father no more!
DAPHNE I hear a mournful voice.
AMYNTAS I hear Sylvia's name, which wounds my ears and heart. But who speaks of her?
DAPHNE It is Nerina, gentle nymph very dear to Cynthia, who has such beautiful hands and eyes and such comely, graceful ways.
NERINA I only want him to know so that he will make sure to recover her unfortunate remains, if there be any. Ah, Sylvia! How cruel and unhappy your fate!
AMYNTAS What could have happened? What is she saying?
NERINA Daphne!
DAPHNE What are you saying to yourself? Why do you name Sylvia, and why do you lament?
NERINA I lament a bitter circumstance.
AMYNTAS Of what circumstance could she be thinking? I feel as if my heart is freezing and my spirit receding. Is she alive?
DAPHNE Tell us, of what bitter circumstance do you speak?
NERINA Oh, God, why am I the messenger? But I had best say it. Sylvia came to my lodgings, naked: you would know the reason. Once dressed again, she asked if I wished to go with her on the hunt which had been organized in the ilex wood. I agreed, and we went; and we found many nymphs gathered there. Shortly after, an unusually large wolf emerged from I know not where, and from his lips dripped bloody drool. Sylvia fitted an arrow to the bow that I gave her; she pulled, and struck him at the top of his head. Then he ran back into the wood and she, brandishing another arrow, followed him.
AMYNTAS O doleful beginning! What end will she yet announce to me?
NERINA I with my own arrows gave chase, but she was too far ahead, and I ran slower. As they went into the wood, I saw her no more; but following their tracks, I entered woods even more dense and deserted. There I espied Sylvia's arrow on the ground, and not far from it a white veil which I myself had wrapped round her hair. When I looked round, I saw seven wolves licking the earth which was splattered with blood around a bone stripped bare. It was my good fortune that I was not seen by them; they were so intent upon their meal. And so, full of fear and pity, I went back. This is as much as I can tell you of Sylvia: here is her veil.
AMYNTAS Have you not said enough? Oh, veil, blood! Ah, Sylvia, you are dead!
DAPHNE Poor man, he has fainted from grief. Perhaps he is dead.
NERINA He breathes still; this may be a brief faint. There, he revives.
AMYNTAS Grief that so distressed me, why do you not kill me now? You are too slow! Perhaps you leave the task to my hand. I am glad it may do such a task, since you cannot, or refuse to do so. If there is nothing lacking to the certainty of her death or the plenitude of my misery, what do I care? What more do I await? O Daphne, you saved me, only to hear this final bitterness? It would surely have been good and sweet to die then, when I wanted to kill myself; I would have then evaded the sorrow this news has given me. Now that you have done the extreme of your cruelty, you shall suffer that I die, and suffer you should.
DAPHNE Delay your death, until we better understand the truth.
AMYNTAS Why do you want me to delay? I have waited too long and understood too much.
NERINA Ah, if I were only mute!
AMYNTAS Nymph, I pray you, give me that veil which is the only sad remnant of her, that it may accompany me through the short path of life left to me; and with its presence, may it increase that pain, which is indeed small, if I need help to die.
NERINA Should I give it or not? the reason he asks for it makes me think I should not.
AMYNTAS Cruel one, such a small gift you deny me at the very end? Also in this my fate shows itself averse to me. I renounce the veil: it stays with you. And all of you, stay; for I go never to return.
DAPHNE Amyntas, wait, listen—. Ah, me, with what fury he departs!
NERINA He goes so quickly, it would be vain to pursue him. Therefore it is better that I remain silent and recount nothing to poor Montanus.
CHORUS It is not necessary to kill one's self for love: for faith and love are enough to hold united those chosen souls.
To be continued.
