THE VIRGIN-MARTYR.] Of this Tragedy, which appears to have been very popular, there are three editions in quarto, 1622, 1631, and 1661; the last of which is infinitely the worst. It is not possible to ascertain when it was first produced; but as it is not mentioned among the dramatic pieces "read and allowed" by Sir H. Herbert, whose account commences with 1622, it was probably amongst the Author's earliest efforts. In the composition of it he was assisted by Decker, a poet of sufficient reputation to provoke the hostility or the envy of Jonson, and the writer of several plays much esteemed by his contemporaries.

In the first edition of this Tragedy it is said to have been "divers times publickly acted with great applause by the servants of his Majesty's Revels." The plot of it, as Coxeter observes, is founded on the tenth and last general persecution of the Christians, which broke out in the nineteenth year of Dioclesian's reign, with a fury hardly to be expressed; the Christians being every where, without distinction of sex, age, or condition, dragged to execution, and subjected to the most exquisite torments that rage, cruelty, and hatred could suggest.

DRAMATIS PERSONE.

Dioclesian,

Maximinus,} Emperors of Rome.

King of Pontus.

King of Epire.

King of Macedon.

Sapritius, Governor of Cæsarea.

Theophilus, a zealous persecutor of the Christians. Sempronius, captain of Sapritius' guards.

Antoninus, son to Sapritius.

Macrinus, friend to Antoninus.

Harpax, an evil spirit, following Theophilus in the shape of a secretary.

Angelo, a good spirit, serving Dorothea in the habit of a page.

Hircius, a whoremaster, } servants of Dorothea. Spungius, a drunkard,

Priest of Jupiter.

British Slave.

Artemia, daughter to Dioclesian.
Calista,

Christeta, daughters to Theophilus.
Dorothea, the Virgin-Martyr.

Officers and Executioners.

SCENE, Cæsarea.

THE

VIRGIN-MARTYR.

ACT I. SCENE I.

The Governor's Palace.

Enter THEOPHILUS and HARPAX.

Theoph. Come to Cæsarea to-night!
Harp. Most true, Sir.

Theoph. The emperor in person!
Harp. Do I live?

Theoph. Tis wondrous strange! The marches of great princes,

Like to the motions of prodigious meteors,
Are step by step observed; and loud-tongued
Fame

The harbinger to prepare their entertainment :
And, were it possible so great an army,
Though cover'd with the night, could be so near,
The governor cannot be so unfriended
Among the that attend his person,

many

But, by some secret means, he should have notice Of Cæsar's purpose;1-in this then excuse me, If I appear incredulous.

Of Caesar's purpose ;-in this then excuse me,] Before Mr. M. Mason's edition, it stood :

-he should have notice

Of Caesar's purpose in this,

meaning, perhaps, in this hasty and unexpected visit: I have not, however, altered the pointing.

Harp. At your pleasure.

Theoph. Yet, when I call to mind you never 'fail'd me,

In things more difficult, but have discover'd Deeds that were done thousand leagues distant from me,

When neither woods, nor caves, nor secret vaults,

No, nor the Power they serve, could keep these Christians

Or from my reach or punishment, but thy magick
Still laid them open, I begin again

To be as confident as heretofore,
It is not possible thy powerful art
Should meet a check, or fail.

Enter a Priest with the Image of Jupiter, CALISTA

and CHRISTETA.

Harp. Look on the Vestals,

The holy pledges that the gods have given you, Your chaste, fair daughters. Wer't not to upbraid

A service to a master not unthankful,

I could say these, in spite of your prevention,
Seduced by an imagined faith, not reason,
(Which is the strength of nature,) quite forsaking
The Gentile gods, had yielded up themselves
To this new-found religion. This I cross'd,
Discover'd their intentions, taught you to use,
With gentle words and mild persuasions,
The power and the authority of a father
Set off with cruel threats; and so reclaim'd them:
And, whereas they with torments should have died,
(Hell's furies to me, had they undergone it!)
[Aside.
They are now votaries in great Jupiter's temple,

And, by his priest instructed, grown familiar With all the mysteries, nay, the most abstruse ones, Belonging to his deity.

Theoph. 'Twas a benefit,

For which I ever owe you. Hail, Jove's flamen! Have these my daughters reconciled themselves, Abandoning for ever the Christian way,

To your opinion?

Priest. And are constant in' it.

They teach their teachers with their depth of judgment,

And are with arguments able to convert
The enemies to our gods, and answer all
They can object against us.

Theoph. My dear daughters!

Cal. We dare dispute against this new-sprung sect,

In private or in publick.

Harp. My best lady,

Perséver in it.

Chris. And what we maintain, We will seal with our bloods.

Harp. Brave resolution !

I e'en grow fat to see my labours prosper. Theoph. I young again. To your devotions. Harp. Do

My prayers be present with you.

[Exeunt Priest and Daughters.

2 Priest. And are constant in it.] So the first two editions. The last, which is very incorrectly printed, reads to it, and is injudiciously followed by the modern editors.

3 Perséver in it.] So this word was anciently written and pronounced: thus the king, in Hamlet:

but to perséver

In obstinate condolement.

Coxeter adopts the unmetrical reading of the third quarto, persevere in it, and is followed by Mr. M. Mason, who, however, warns the reader to lay the accent on the penultimate.