[To Scaramouch.] So, you are he would make of me a show. Scaramouch. It is my vocation. It may be an inferior calling, but there are worse. It is not so honourable as being a god, doubtless, but it is a decent kind of beggary. Bacchus. I understand you have been prosperous. Scaramouch. On the whole I have. I am not yet a millionaire, but I have capital. I--don't look at me like that! Bacchus. Prosperity has spoiled you, sir, I see: You need to view the world with other eyes. Come, Harlequin, that splinter of your sword Shall work an old-world metamorphosis. Strike him between the shoulders. [Harlequin strikes Scaramouch. To an ape Be changed: and in that form you shall be caught, And pass on exhibition for a year From John-o'-Groat's to Land's End, up and down: Thereafter you shall be a man again. Scaramouch. Monkeys, menageries and misery! Bacchus, Bacchus, think what you do! Do I merit such a fate? Make me a toad, a rat, a cockroach! Heavens! a monkey in a cage! Straw, stench, and filth; and little boys to tickle me with sticks, and throw me nuts! A blinking bleared baboon! A chattering, gibbering, jabbering---- [Scaramouch rushes out transformed to an ape. Bacchus [to Glaucus]. Come hither. Glaucus [aside]. Now shall I grow young again, and be the god I am--and yet I tremble. Bacchus. You look like one who thinks himself of note. Glaucus. Surely, sir, surely. I am Silenus, your high godship's faithful old servant. I wish I could see myself. Have I undergone a change similar to your godship's? When I last saw you--I remember nothing since I fell asleep by the sea-shore--you were an old blown blue-bottle; now you are as I see you. Am I now a god? Have I cast my slough? Silenus. Oho! I have a word to say. You must know that I played Bacchus in my wanderings. This vain old coxcomb took it into his head that he must be a god, whereupon I persuaded him that he was myself, though all Olympus knows there's not much of the god about me. Glaucus. What! have I been played upon like a kettledrum? Is this all a drean? Bacchus. Well, are you still an immortal? Glaucus. No--no; I am a foolish old man. Bacchus. I'm glad you think so: you can now go home. Glaucus. My daughter, sir? Bacchus. Is safe. Farewell. [Glaucus goes out. [To Harlequin and Columbine.] Come here. Harlequin and Columbine. Mercy! mercy! Bacchus. Will you return, or will you follow me? Harlequin and Columbine. O send us back! Bacchus. A wretched choice: but go. [Harlequin and Columbine go out. Sarmion, what says the lady to your love? Sarmion. O words of wonder, of enchantment--sweet, And yet so strong, so tender and so bold, That any ears save mine would miss the sense, The savour, the aroma that they bear. Ariadne. You love him, then? Ione. Yes. Ariadne.