You always take the two sides of one question.
Now go, and as I said, return for me

When night falls, veiling in its shadows wide
This glorious fabric of the universe.

MOSCON.

How happens it, although you can maintain
The folly of enjoying festivals,

That yet you go there?

Livia is she who has surprised my heart;

But he is more than half way there.-Soho! Livia, I come; good sport, Livia, soho! [Exit.

CYPRIAN.

Now since I am alone, let me examine

The question which has long disturbed my mind
With doubt, since first I read in Plinius

The words of mystic import and deep sense
In which he defines God. My intellect

Can find no God with whom these marks and signs Fitly agree. It is a hidden truth

Which I must fathom.

Enter the DEVIL, as a fine Gentleman.

DÆMON.

[Reads.

Search even as thou wilt,

But thou shalt never find what I can hide.

'Tis a foreign gentleman.

Even from this morning I have lost my way
In this wild place, and my poor horse, at last
Quite overcome, has stretched himself upon
The enamelled tapestry of this mossy mountain,
And feeds and rests at the same time. I was
Upon my way to Antioch upon business
Of some importance, but wrapt up in cares
(Who is exempt from this inheritance?)
I parted from my company, and lost

My way, and lost my servants and my comrades.

CYPRIAN.

'Tis singular, that, even within the sight

Of the high towers of Antioch, you could lose

Your way.

Of all the avenues and green paths Of this wild wood there is not one but leads, As to its centre, to the walls of Antioch; Take which you will you cannot miss your road.

DEMON.

And such is ignorance! Even in the sight
Of knowledge it can draw no profit from it.
But, as it still is early, and as I
Have no acquaintances in Antioch,
Being a stranger there, I will even wait
The few surviving hours of the day,
Until the night shall conquer it. I see,
Both by your dress and by the books in which
You find delight and company, that you
Are a great student;—for my part, I feel
Much sympathy with such pursuits.

DEMON.

Many.

CYPRIAN.

Alas!

Much pains must we expend on one alone,
And even then attain it not;-but you
Have the presumption to assert that you
Know many without study.

DÆMON.

And with truth;

For, in the country whence I come, sciences
Require no learning,-they are known.

CYPRIAN.

Oh, would

I were of that bright country! for in this
The more we study, we the more discover
Our ignorance.

DÆMON.

It is so true that I

Had so much arrogance as to oppose
The chair of the most high Professorship,
And obtained many votes, and though I lost,
The attempt was still more glorious than the failure
Could be dishonourable: if you believe not,
Let us refer it to dispute respecting

That which you know best, and although I
Know not the opinion you maintain, and though
It be the true one, I will take the contrary.

CYPRIAN.

The offer gives me pleasure. I am now
Debating with myself upon a passage

Of Plinius, and my mind is racked with doubt
To understand and know who is the God
Of whom he speaks.

DÆMON.

It is a passage, if

I recollect it right, couched in these words: "God is one supreme goodness, one pure essence, One substance, and one sense, all sight, all hands.”

CYPRIAN.

'Tis true.

DÆMON.

What difficulty find you here?

CYPRIAN.

I do not recognize among the Gods
The God defined by Plinius: if he must
Be supreme goodness, even Jupiter

Is not supremely good; because we see
His deeds are evil, and his attributes

Tainted with mortal weakness. In what manner

Can supreme goodness be consistent with

The passions of humanity?

DEMON.

The wisdom

Of the old world masked with the names of Gods