_Por._ Neither the gods nor man will give consent To put in practice your unjust intent. _Max._ Both must consent to that which I decree. _Por._ The soldiers love her brother's memory; And for her sake some mutiny will stir. _Max._ Our parting, therefore, shall be sought by her. Go, bid her sue for a divorce, or die; I'll cut the knot, if she will not untie: Haste to prepare her, and thyself return; Thy Hymen's torch this day with mine shall burn. [_Exit._ _Por._ Rather my funeral-torch; for, though I know Valeria's fair, and that she loves me too, 'Gainst her my soul is armed on every part: Yet there are secret rivets to my heart, Where Berenice's charms have found the way; Subtle as lightnings, but more fierce than they. How shall I this avoid, or gain that love! So near the rock, I to the port must move. _To him_ VALERIA _attended_. _Val._ Porphyrius, now my joy I may express, Nor longer hide the love I must possess. Should I have staid till marriage made us one, You might have thought it was by duty done; But of my heart I now a present make; And give it you, ere it be yours to take. Accept it as when early fruit we send; And let the rareness the small gift commend. _Por._ Great monarchs, like your father, often give What is above a subject to receive. But faithful officers should countermand And stop the gift, that passes through their hand; And to their prince that mass of wealth restore, Which, lavished thus, would make whole nations poor. _Val._ But to this gift a double right you have: My father gives but what before I gave. _Por._ In vain you such unequal presents make, Which I still want capacity to take. Such fatal bounty once the Gauls did show; They threw their rings, but threw their targets too. Bounty, so placed, does more like ruin look; You pour the ocean on a narrow brook. _Val._ Yet, if your love before prepares a boat, The stream so poured, drowns not, but makes it float. _Por._ But when the vessel is on quicksands cast, The flowing tide does more the sinking haste. _Val._ And on what quicksands can your heart be thrown? Can you a love besides Valeria's own? _Por._ If he who at your feet his heart would lay, Be met with first, and robbed upon the way, You may indeed the robber's strength accuse, But pardon him, who did the present lose. _Val._ Who is this thief, that does my right possess? Name her, and then we of her strength may guess.-- From whence does your unwonted silence come? _Por._ She bound and gagged me, and has left me dumb. _Val._ But of my wrongs I will aloud complain. False man, thou wouldst excuse thyself in vain; For thee I did a maiden's blush forsake; And owned a love thou hast refused to take.