HERMIONE. Some help! O father, no; all help comes too late. I am the man of all alive[98] the most unfortunate. BOMELIO. I[99] see thy loyalty, I see thy faithful love, Else never durst thou this attempt adventured to prove. Take comfort thereby, my son. HERMIONE. I am the man, I say, That Love and Fortune once advanc'd, but now have cast away. The joy, the sweet delight, the rest I had before, Fell to my lot that now the loss, my plague, might be the more. O Fortune! froward dame, wilt thou be never sure? Most constant in inconstancy I see thou wilt endure. BOMELIO. Accuse not Fortune, son, but blame thy love therefor; For I perceive thou art in love, and then[ce] thy trouble is more. HERMIONE. Father, if this be love: to lead a life in thrall, To think the rankest poison sweet, to feed on honey-gall; To be at war and peace, to be in joy and grief, Then farthest from the hope of help, where nearest is relief; To live and die, to freeze and sweat, to melt and not to move; If it be this to live in love, father, I am in love. BOMELIO. Why did you not possess your lady then at home? HERMIONE. At home! where is it, sir? alas! for I have none. Brought up I know not how, and born I know not where, When I was in my childhood given unto my prince, then here, Of[100] whom I cannot tell, wherefore I little know. But now cast out to seek my fate, unhappy where I go. Then dare I not be seen; here must I not abide. Did ever more calamities unto a man betide? BOMELIO. My heart will burst, if I forbear amidst this misery. Behold, thy father thou hast found, my son Hermione! Thy father thou hast found, thy father--I am he. HERMIONE. But is it possible my father you should be? BOMELIO. Even from my first exile here have I liv'd forlorn, And once I gave thee to my prince, for thou wast noble-born; And now he gives me thee, and welcome home again! HERMIONE. This is my recompense for all my former pain. Dear father, glad I am to find you here alive: By your example I may learn with froward chance to strive. BOMELIO. Come, son, content thee now within a cave to dwell. I will provide for thy redress, and all things shall be well. A darksome den must be thy lofty lodging now. HERMIONE. Father, I am well content to take such part as you. Here is a breathing-fit[101] after hard mischance. O gracious Venus! once vouchsafe thy servants to advance. _Strike up a noise of viols_: VENUS' _triumph_. [_Enter_ VENUS.] VENUS. Behold what Love can work for their delight That put affiance in her deity. Though heaven and earth against them bend their might, Yet in the end theirs is the victory: I will in them, and they triumph in me. Let Fortune frown, I will uphold their state, Yea, seem they never so unfortunate. FORTUNE. Brag not too much: what, think'st thou I have done? Nay, soft, not yet: my sport is not begun. [_Music, Music_. THE FOURTH ACT. _Enter_ PENULO _and_ LENTULO.