_Medea._ In vain it is to strive against the stream; Fates must be follow'd, and the gods' decree Must needs take place in every kind of cause. Therefore, fair maid, bridle these brutish thoughts, And learn to follow what the fates assign. When Saturn heard that Jupiter his son Should drive him headlong from his heavenly seat Down to the bottom of the dark Avern, He did command his mother presently To do to death the young and guiltless child: But what of that? the mother loath'd in heart For to commit so vile a massacre; Yea, Jove did live, and, as the fates did say, From heavenly seat drave Saturn clean away. What did avail the castle all of steel, The which Acrisius causèd to be made To keep his daughter Danaë clogg'd in? She was with child for all her castle's force; And by that child Acrisius, her sire, Was after slain, so did the fates require. A thousand examples I could bring hereof; But marble stones need no colouring, And that which every one doth know for truth Needs no examples to confirm the same. That which the fates appoint must happen so, Though heavenly Jove and all the gods say no. _Fausta._ Iphigena, she sayeth naught but truth; Fates must be follow'd in their just decrees; And therefore, setting all delays aside, Come, let us wend unto Amazone, And gather up our forces out of hand. _Iphi._ Since Fausta wills and fates do so command, Iphigena will never it withstand. [_Exeunt._ ACT THE FOURTH PROLOGUE _Enter_ VENUS. _Venus._ Thus have you seen how Amurack himself, Fausta his wife, and every other king Which hold their sceptres at the Turk his hands, Are now in arms, intending to destroy, And bring to naught, the Prince of Arragon. Charms have been us'd by wise Medea's art, To know before what afterward shall hap; And King Belinus, with high Claramont, Join'd to Arcastus, which with princely pomp Doth rule and govern all the warlike Moors, Are sent as legates to God Mahomet, To know his counsel in these high affairs. Mahound, provok'd by Amurack's discourse, Which, as you heard, he in his dream did use, Denies to play the prophet any more; But, by the long entreaty of his priests, He prophesies in such a crafty sort As that the hearers needs must laugh for sport. Yet poor Belinus, with his fellow kings, Did give such credence to that forgèd tale As that they lost their dearest lives thereby, And Amurack became a prisoner Unto Alphonsus, as straight shall appear. [_Exit._ SCENE I.--_The Temple of_ MAHOMET. _Let there be a Brazen Head set in the middle of the place behind the stage, out of the which cast flames of fire; drums rumble within. Enter two_ Priests.