Scene II
Orsabrin discovered in prison, bound
Orsabrin. Sure 'tis eternal night with me! would this
Were all too!
For I begin to think the rest is true,
Which I have read in books, and that there's more
To follow.5
Enter Reginella
Reginella. Sure this is he[She unbinds him
Orsabrin. The pure and first-created light broke through
The chaos thus!
Keep off, keep off, thou brighter excellence,
Thou fair divinity! if thou com'st near,10
(So tempting is the shape thou now assum'st),
I shall grow saucy in desire again,
And entertain bold hopes, which will but draw
More and fresh punishment upon me.
Reginella. I see y'are angry, sir: but, if you kill15
Me too, I meant no ill. That which brought me hither
Was a desire I have to be with you
Rather than those I live with. This is all,
Believe't.
Orsabrin. With me? O thou kind innocence, witness all20
That can punish falsehood, that I could live with thee,
Even in this dark and narrow prison, and think
All happiness confin'd within the walls!
O, hadst thou but as much of love as I!
Reginella. Of love! What's that?25
Orsabrin. Why, 'tis a thing that's had, before 'tis known;
A gentle flame, that steals into a heart,
And makes it like one object so, that it scarce cares
For any other delights, when that is present;
And is in pain, when 't's gone; thinks of that alone,30
And quarrels with all other thoughts that would
Intrude, and so divert it.
Reginella. If this be love, sure I have some of it.
It is no ill thing, is it, sir?
Orsabrin. O, most divine:
The best of all the gods strangely abound in't;35
And mortals could not live without it: it is
The soul of virtue and the life of life.
