_Bass._ Curse on that Name---- Urge me no more to follow your Chimeras, Lest you oblige me to break off that Friendship You blush to own----Oh! my _Aurelia_! _Arm. aside._ How sweet is treacherous Vice! how eagerly Fond Man pursues his Ruin! All Arguments were vain----yet still one Way remains, Which cannot fail, to stop the Progress of this impious Love. His Wife, by my Direction, comes to _Venice_: Her Sight will soon awake his slumbering Virtue, At least it will retrieve _Aurelia_'s Senses. [_Exit_ Armando. _Aur. recovering._ Where am I? Where's my Lord, my false _Bassino_? _Bass._ Here, here, my Soul, my charming Dear. _Aur. thrusts him off._ Hold off--Approach me not--urge not my Rage, Or with this Dagger I'll revenge my Wrongs On thy perfidious Heart----But, oh! his Heart's too hard, Even for temper'd Steel--Therefore I'll sheath it here. [_Offers at her Breast_: Bassino _snatches the Dagger, and throws himself at her Feet in a distracted Manner_. _Bass._ Oh! hold----forbid it Gods! I am the Cursed Cause, and I must die. Oh! who could bear my Load of mortal Woe! Ye heavenly Powers bestow the Stroke of Grace, And rack _Bassino_: Let your vengeful Thunder Now crush my guilty Head----Or thou, Oh! Parent Earth, Open thy Bosom, and conceal my Crime. [_Tears the Ground._ _Aur._ Is he then mine again! [_Falls down._ Look up, my Lord, my Love, my Life! My dear _Bassino_! 'Tis _Aurelia_ calls. Let me for ever fold thee in my Arms, And beg thoul't never speak of parting more. [_Embraces him._ _Both rise and embrace in an Extasy._ _Bass._ Oh! never, never---- The Poles shall meet, the Sun and Moon invert Their wonted Motion e're I part from thee. I fondly try'd how much I was belov'd, And since you're true, my Bliss is now compleat. _Aur._ Was't but a Trial? then my Griefs are vanish'd, And I am lost in Joy----_Bassino's_ mine. [_They embrace again._ _Bass._ Thine, thine for ever: And this happy Day, Shall end _Aurelia_'s Fears----Ha---- This Day, said I, but where's _Placentia_ then? My Wife _Placentia_! Little does she think What Baseness I intend--Oh! racking Thought! But 'tis resolv'd, I'll change nor think no more: I'll try to plunge, and reach the blissful Shore; And if I sink, yet still this Hope's my Friend, I'll snatch my Treasure e're my Course I end. [_Aside._ _Aur._ My Lord, what makes you pause? _Bass._ The ravishing Thoughts of mighty Joys to come Kept me in Extasy and made me dumb; When on thy snowy Breast dissolv'd I lie, What Monarch can there be more blest than I? [Bassino _leads her off with a languishing Air_. _Enter_ Alonzo.