Scene II

Enter Phædria.

Phæd. Going into the country, I began

(As happens when the mind is ill at ease)

To ponder with myself upon the road,

Tossing from thought to thought, and viewing all

In the worst light. While thus I ruminate,

I pass unconsciously my country-house,

And had got far beyond, ere I perceiv’d it.

I turn’d about, but with a heavy heart;

And soon as to the very spot I came

Where the roads part, I stop. Then paus’d a while:

“Alas! thought I, and must I here remain

Two days? alone: without her?—Well! what then?

That’s nothing.—What, is’t nothing?—If I’ve not

The privilege to touch her, shall I not

Behold her neither?—If one may not be,

At least the other shall.—And certainly

Love, in its last degree, is something still.”

—Then I, on purpose, pass’d the house.—But see!

Pythias breaks forth affrighted.—What means this?