ANT. My soul is heavy, and my eyelids feel The weighty power of lazy Morpheus: Each element, that breathes a life within me, Runs a contrary course, and conspire[s] To counterfeit a chaos: whilst the frame And weak supporters of my inward man Crack as beneath the weight of Atlas' burthen. A sudden change! how my blear'd eyelids strive To force a sleep 'gainst nature! O you powers, That rule the better thoughts, if you have ought To act on my frail body, let it be With eagles' speed, or, if your wills so please, Let my forepass'd and undigested wrongs O'erwhelm my thoughts, and sink me to the ground With their no less than death's remembrances. Cease, bastard slave, to clog my senses With the leaden weights of an unwilling sleep, Unless thy raw-bon'd brother join his force, And make a separation 'twixt My airy soul and my all-earthly body; I am o'ercome; Heaven work your wills; My breath submits to this, as 'twould submit to death. [_Sleeps._ _Soft music_; LOVE _descends half-way, then speaks_. LOVE. Sleep, entranced man, but be Wakeful in thy fancy; see, Love hath left his palace fair, And beats his wings against the air, To ease thy panting breast of ill: Love's a physician, and his[25] will Must be obey'd: therefore with haste To Flanders fly; the echoing blast Of fame shall usher thee along, And leave thee pester'd in a throng Of searching troubles, which shall be But bugbears to thy constancy. _Enter from one side Death, and from the other side_ AURELIA; _Death strikes three times at_ ANTONIO, _and_ AURELIA _diverts it_. _Exeunt severally._ What this same shadow seems to be, In Flanders thou shalt real see; The maid that seem'd to conquer death, And give thee longer lease of breath, Doats on thy air; report hath been Lavish in praising thee unseen. Make haste to Flanders; time will be Accus'd of slothfulness, if she Be longer tortur'd: do not stay, My power shall guide thee on the way. [_Ascendat._[26] _Enter_ GIOVANNO _and the_ OLD TAILOR. GIO. He is asleep. O. TAI. See how he struggles, as if some visions had Assum'd a fuller shape of horror than His troubled thoughts.[27] GIO. His conscience gripes him to [a] purpose: See, [see,] he wakes; let us observe. ANT. Stay, gentle pow'r, leave hostage that thy promise Thou wilt perform, and I will offer to Thy deity More than my lazy heart has offer'd yet. But stay, Antonio, can thy easy faith Give credit to a dream? an airy vision, Fram'd by a strangeling[28] fancy, to delude weak sense With a gay nothing? Recollect thyself; Advise thee by thy fears; it may force hence This midnight's shade of grief, and gild It with a morn as full of joy as does Bright Phoebus to our eastern world, when blushing He arises from the lap of sea-green Thetis To give a new day birth. GIO. Why, how now, friend? what, talking to thyself? ANT. O Giovanno, 'tis my unpartial thoughts, That rise in war against my guilty conscience; O, it stings me!