Woman. All tears are idle, all sighs. Heaven wills it so—she dies! Whene'er the gods their powers wield, All man can do—is but to yield. Woman 1st Man. Alas! dire grief 1st Man 2nd Man. Without relief! 2nd Man 1st Man. Cruel death! 1st Man 2nd Man. Fell decree! 2nd Man ACT II. SCENE I.——THE KING, PSYCHE, AGLAURA, CIDIPPE, LYCAS, and FOLLOWERS. Psy. The cause of your tears, my Lord, is dear to me; but you are too kind when you allow a father's love to overmaster the duties of a great king. The homage which here you pay to nature is fraught with too much injury to the rank which you hold. I must decline its touching favours. Check somewhat the sway of your grief over your wisdom, and cease to honour my destiny with tears, which, springing from a king's heart, show weakness. Psy King. Ah! my daughter! close not my eyes to these tears; my grief is reasonable, even though it be extreme; and when such a loss as mine must endure for ever, wisdom herself, believe me, may weep. 'Tis in vain that pride of regal sway bids us be insensible to such calamities; as vain for reason to come to our help, and desire us to see with unmoved eye the death of what we love. The effort required is barbarous in the eyes of the universe—'tis brutality rather than highest virtue. In this misfortune I will not wear a show of insensibility, and hide the grief I feel. I renounce the vanity of this fierce callousness, known as fortitude, and whatever be the name given to the keen pain, the
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