No More Learning

All the men, from
Montezuma down to Pizarro, are brave warriors; and only vary, in
proportion to the mitigating qualities which the poet has infused into
their military ardour. The women are all beautiful, and all deeply
in love; differing from each other only, as the haughty or tender
predominates in their passion. But the charm of the poetry, and the
ingenuity of the dialogue, render it impossible to peruse, without
pleasure, a drama, the faults of which may be imputed to its
structure, while its beauties are peculiar to Dryden.

The plot of the Indian Emperor is certainly of our author's own
composition; since even the malignant assiduity of Langbaine has been
unable to point out any author from whom it is borrowed. The play was
first acted in 1665, and received with great applause.



CONNECTION
OF
THE INDIAN EMPEROR
TO
THE INDIAN QUEEN [A].

[Footnote A: This argument was printed, and dispersed amongst the
audience upon the first night of representation. Hence Bayes is made
to say, in the Rehearsal, that he had printed many reams, to instil
into the audience some conception of his plot. ]


The conclusion of the Indian Queen (part of which poem was wrote
by me) left little matter for another story to be built on, there
remaining but two of the considerable characters alive, viz. Montezuma
and Orazia. Thereupon the author of this thought it necessary to
produce new persons from the old ones; and considering the late Indian
Queen, before she loved Montezuma, lived in clandestine marriage
with her general Traxalla, from those two he has raised a son and two
daughters, supposed to be left young orphans at their death. On the
other side, he has given to Montezuma and Orazia, two sons and a
daughter; all now supposed to be grown up to mens' and womens' estate;
and their mother, Orazia, (for whom there was no further use in the
story,) lately dead.

So that you are to imagine about twenty years elapsed since the
coronation of Montezuma; who, in the truth of the history, was a great
and glorious prince; and in whose time happened the discovery and
invasion of Mexico, by the Spaniards, under the conduct of Hernando
Cortez, who, joining with the Traxallan Indians, the inveterate
enemies of Montezuma, wholly subverted that flourishing empire;--the
conquest of which is the subject of this dramatic poem.

I have neither wholly followed the story, nor varied from it; and, as
near as I could, have traced the native simplicity and ignorance of
the Indians, in relation to European customs;--the shipping, armour,
horses, swords, and guns of the Spaniards, being as new to them, as
their habits and their language were to the Christians.

The difference of their religion from ours, I have taken from the
story itself; and that which you find of it in the first and fifth
acts, touching the sufferings and constancy of Montezuma in his
opinions, I have only illustrated, not altered, from those who have
written of it.



PROLOGUE


Almighty critics! whom our Indians here
Worship, just as they do the devil--for fear;
In reverence to your power, I come this day,
To give you timely warning of our play.
The scenes are old, the habits are the same
We wore last year, before the Spaniards came[A].
Now, if you stay, the blood, that shall be shed
From this poor play, be all upon your head.
We neither promise you one dance, or show;
Then plot, and language, they are wanting too:
But you, kind wits, will those light faults excuse,
Those are the common frailties of the muse;
Which, who observes, he buys his place too dear;
For 'tis your business to be cozened here.
These wretched spies of wit must then confess,
They take more pains to please themselves the less.
Grant us such judges, Phoebus, we request,
As still mistake themselves into a jest;
Such easy judges, that our poet may
Himself admire the fortune of his play;
And, arrogantly, as his fellows do,
Think he writes well, because he pleases you.
This he conceives not hard to bring about,
If all of you would join to help him out:
Would each man take but what he understands,
And leave the rest upon the poet's hands.

[Footnote A: Alluding to the Indian Queen, in which the scene is laid
before the arrival of the Spaniards in America, and which was acted in
1664, as this was in 1665. ]



DRAMATIS PERSONAE.


INDIAN MEN.

MONTEZUMA, _Emperor of Mexico_.
ODMAR, _his eldest son_.
GUYOMAR, _his younger son_.
ORBELLAN, _son of the late Indian Queen by TRAXALLA_.
_High Priest of the Sun_.

WOMEN.

CYDARIA, _MONTEZUMA'S daughter_.
ALMERIA, } _Sisters; and daughters to the late_
ALIBECH, } _Indian Queen_.

SPANIARDS.

CORTEZ, _the Spanish General_.
VASQUEZ, } _Commanders under him_.
PIZARRO, }


SCENE--_Mexico, and two leagues about it_.



THE INDIAN EMPEROR.


ACT I.

SCENE I. --_A pleasant Indian country_.

_Enter_ CORTEZ, VASQUEZ, PIZARRO, _with Spaniards and Indians
of their party_.


_Cort_. On what new happy climate are we thrown,
So long kept secret, and so lately known;
As if our old world modestly withdrew,
And here in private had brought forth a new?

_Vasq. _ Corn, oil, and wine, are wanting to this ground,
In which our countries fruitfully abound;
As if this infant world, yet unarrayed,
Naked and bare in Nature's lap were laid.
No useful arts have yet found footing here,
But all untaught and savage does appear.

_Cort. _ Wild and untaught are terms which we alone
Invent, for fashions differing from our own;
For all their customs are by nature wrought,
But we, by art, unteach what nature taught.

_Piz_. In Spain, our springs, like old men's children, be
Decayed and withered from their infancy:
No kindly showers fall on our barren earth,
To hatch the season in a timely birth:
Our summer such a russet livery wears,
As in a garment often dyed appears.

_Cort_. Here nature spreads her fruitful sweetness round,
Breathes on the air, and broods upon the ground:
Here days and nights the only seasons be;
The sun no climate does so gladly see:
When forced from hence, to view our parts, he mourns;
Takes little journies, and makes quick returns.

_Vasq_. Methinks, we walk in dreams on Fairy-land,
Where golden ore lies mixt with common sand;
Each downfal of a flood, the mountains pour
From their rich bowels, rolls a silver shower.

_Cort_. Heaven from all ages wisely did provide
This wealth, and for the bravest nation hide,
Who, with four hundred foot and forty horse,
Dare boldly go a new-found world to force.

_Piz_. Our men, though valiant, we should find too few,
But Indians join the Indians to subdue;
Taxallan, shook by Montezuma's powers,
Has, to resist his forces, called in ours.

_Vasq_. Rashly to arm against so great a king,
I hold not safe; nor is it just to bring
A war, without a fair defiance made.

_Piz_. Declare we first our quarrel; then invade.

_Cort_. Myself, my king's ambassador, will go;
Speak, Indian guide, how far to Mexico?

_Ind_. Your eyes can scarce so far a prospect make,
As to discern the city on the lake;
But that broad causeway will direct your way,
And you may reach the town by noon of day.

_Cort_. Command a party of our Indians out,
With a strict charge, not to engage, but scout:
By noble ways we conquest will prepare;
First, offer peace, and, that refused, make war.

[_Exeunt_.


SCENE II. --_A Temple_.

_The High Priest with other Priests. To them an
Indian_.


_Ind_. Haste, holy priest, it is the king's command.

_High Pr_. When sets he forward?

_Ind_. He is near at hand.

_High Pr_. The incense is upon the altar placed,
The bloody sacrifice already past;
Five hundred captives saw the rising sun,
Who lost their light, ere half his race was run.
That which remains we here must celebrate;
Where, far from noise, without the city gate,
The peaceful power that governs love repairs,
To feast upon soft vows and silent prayers.
We for his royal presence only stay,
To end the rites of this so solemn day.

[_Exit Ind_.

_Enter_ MONTEZUMA; _his eldest son_, ODMAR; _his
daughter_, CYDARIA; ALMERIA, ALIBECH, ORBELLAN,
_and Train. They place themselves_.

_High Pr_. On your birthday, while we sing
To our gods and to our king,
Her, among this beauteous quire,
Whose perfections you admire,
Her, who fairest does appear,
Crown her queen of all the year,
Of the year and of the day,
And at her feet your garland lay.

_Odm_. My father this way does his looks direct;
Heaven grant, he give it not where I suspect!

[MONTEZUMA _rises, goes about the Ladies, and
at length stays at_ ALMERIA, _and bows_.

_Mont_. Since my Orazia's death, I have not seen
A beauty, so deserving to be queen
As fair Almeria.

_Alm_. Sure he will not know
[_To her brother and sister, aside_.
My birth I to that injured princess owe,
Whom his hard heart not only love denied,
But in her sufferings took unmanly pride.

_Alib_. Since Montezuma will his choice renew,
In dead Orazia's room electing you,
'Twill please our mother's ghost that you succeed
To all the glories of her rival's bed.

_Alm_. If news be carried to the shades below,
The Indian queen will be more pleased, to know,
That I his scorns on him, who scorned her, pay.

_Orb_. Would you could right her some more noble way!

[_She turns to him, who is kneeling all this while_.


_Mont_. Madam, this posture is for heaven designed,
[_Kneeling_.
And what moves heaven I hope may make you kind.

_Alm_. Heaven may be kind; the gods uninjured live.
And crimes below cost little to forgive:
By thee, inhuman, both my parents died;
One by thy sword, the other by thy pride.

_Mont_. My haughty mind no fate could ever bow,
Yet I must stoop to one, who scorns me now:
Is there no pity to my sufferings due?

_Alm_. As much as what my mother found from you.

_Mont_. Your mother's wrongs a recompence shall meet;
I lay my sceptre at her daughter's feet.

_Alm_. He, who does now my least commands obey,
Would call me queen, and take my power away.

_Odm_. Can he hear this, and not his fetters break?
Is love so powerful, or his soul so weak?
I'll fright her from it. --Madam, though you see
The king is kind, I hope your modesty
Will know, what distance to the crown is due.

_Alm_. Distance and modesty prescribed by you!

_Odm_. Almeria dares not think such thoughts as these.

_Alm_. She dares both think and act what thoughts she please.
Tis much below me on his throne to sit;
But when I do, you shall petition it.


_Odm_. If, sir, Almeria does your bed partake,
I mourn for my forgotten mother's' sake.

_Mont_. When parents' loves are ordered by a son,
Let streams prescribe their fountains where to run.

_Odm_. In all I urge, I keep my duty still,
Not rule your reason, but instruct your will.

_Mont_. Small use of reason in that prince is shown,
Who follows others, and neglects his own.

[ALMERIA _to_ ORBELLAN _and_ ALIBECH, _who are this while
whispering to her_.

_Alm_. No, he shall ever love, and always be
The subject of my scorn and cruelty.

_Orb_. To prove the lasting torment of his life,
You must not be his mistress, but his wife.
Few know what care an husband's peace destroys,
His real griefs, and his dissembled joys.

_Alm_. What mark of pleasing vengeance could be shown,
If I, to break his quiet, lose my own?

_Orb_. A brother's life upon your love relics,
Since I do homage to Cydaria's eyes:
How can her father to my hopes be kind,
If in your heart he no example find?

_Alm_. To save your life I'll suffer any thing,
Yet I'll not flatter this tempestuous king;
But work his stubborn soul a nobler way,
And, if he love, I'll force him to obey.
I take this garland, not as given by you,
[_To MONT_.
But as my merit and my beauty's due.
As for the crown, that you, my slave, possess,
To share it with you would but make me less.

_Enter_ GUYOMAR _hastily_.

_Odm_. My brother Guyomar! methinks I spy
Haste in his steps, and wonder in his eye.

_Mont_. I sent thee to the frontiers; quickly tell
The cause of thy return; are all things well?

_Guy_. I went, in order, sir, to your command,
To view the utmost limits of the land:
To that sea-shore where no more world is found,
But foaming billows breaking on the ground;
Where, for a while, my eyes no object met,
But distant skies, that in the ocean set;
And low-hung clouds, that dipt themselves in rain,
To shake their fleeces on the earth again.
At last, as far as I could cast my eyes
Upon the sea, somewhat, methought, did rise,
Like blueish mists, which, still appearing more,
Took dreadful shapes, and moved towards the shore.

_Mont_. What forms did these new wonders represent?

_Guy_. More strange than what your wonder can invent.
The object, I could first distinctly view,
Was tall straight trees, which on the waters flew;
Wings on their sides, instead of leaves, did grow,
Which gathered all the breath the winds could blow:
And at their roots grew floating palaces,
Whose outblowed bellies cut the yielding seas.

_Mont_. What divine monsters, O ye gods, were these,
That float in air, and fly upon the seas!
Came they alive, or dead, upon the shore?

_Guy_. Alas, they lived too sure; I heard them roar.
All turned their sides, and to each other spoke;
I saw their words break out in fire and smoke.
Sure 'tis their voice, that thunders from on high,
Or these the younger brothers of the sky.
Deaf with the noise, I took my hasty flight;
No mortal courage can support the fright.

_High Pr_. Old prophecies foretel our fall at hand,
When bearded men in floating castles land.
I fear it is of dire portent.

_Mont_. Go see
What it foreshows, and what the gods decree.
Meantime proceed we to what rites remain. --
Odmar, of all this presence does contain,
Give her your wreath, whom you esteem most fair.

_Odm_. Above the rest I judge one beauty rare,
And may that beauty prove as kind to me,
[_He gives_ ALIBECH _the wreath_.
As I am sure fair Alibech is she.

_Mont_. You, Guyomar, must next perform your part.

_Guy_. I want a garland, but I'll give a heart:
My brother's pardon I must first implore,
Since I with him fair Alibech adore.

_Odm_. That all should Alibech adore, 'tis true;
But some respect is to my birthright due.
My claim to her by eldership I prove.

_Guy_. Age is a plea in empire, not in love.

_Odm_. I long have staid for this solemnity,
To make my passion public.

_Guy_. So have I.

_Odm_.
But from her birth my soul has been her slave;
My heart received the first wounds which she save:
I watched the early glories of her eyes,
As men for daybreak watch the eastern skies.

_Guy_. It seems my soul then moved the quicker pace;
Yours first set out, mine reached her in the race.

_Mont_. Odmar, your choice I cannot disapprove;
Nor justly, Guyomar, can blame your love.
To Alibech alone refer your suit,
And let her sentence finish your dispute.

_Alib_. You think me, sir, a mistress quickly won.
So soon to finish what is scarce begun:
In this surprise should I a judgment make,
'Tis answering riddles ere I'm well awake:
If you oblige me suddenly to chuse,
The choice is made, for I must both refuse:
For to myself I owe this due regard,
Not to make love my gift, but my reward.
Time best will show, whose services will last.

_Odm_. Then judge my future service by my past.
What I shall be, by what I was, you know:
That love took deepest root, which first did grow.

_Guy_. That love, which first was set, will first decay;
Mine, of a fresher date, will longer stay.

_Odm_. Still you forget my birth.

_Guy_. But you, I see,
Take care still to refresh my memory.

_Mont_. My sons, let your unseemly discord cease,
If not in friendship, live at least in peace.
Orbellan, where you love, bestow your wreath.

_Orb_. My love I dare not, even in whispers, breathe.

_Mont_. A virtuous love may venture any thing.

_Orb_. Not to attempt the daughter of my king.

_Mont_. Whither is all my former fury gone?
Once more I have Traxalla's chains put on,
And by his children am in triumph led:
Too well the living have revenged the dead!

_Alm_. You think my brother born your enemy;
He's of Traxalla's blood, and so am I.

_Mont_. In vain I strive.
My lion-heart is with love's toils beset;
Struggling I fall still deeper in the net.
Cydaria, your new lover's garland take,
And use him kindly for your father's sake.

_Cyd_. So strong an hatred does my nature sway.
That, spite of duty, I must disobey:
Besides, you warned me still of loving two;
Can I love him, already loving you?

_Enter a Guard hastily_.

_Mont_. You look amazed, as if some sudden fear
Had seized your hearts; is any danger near?

_1 Guard_. Behind the covert, where this temple stands,
Thick as the shades, there issue swarming bands
Of ambushed men, whom, by their arms and dress,
To be Taxallan enemies I guess.

_2 Guard_. The temple, sir, is almost compassed round.

_Mont_. Some speedy way for passage must be found.
Make to the city by the postern gate,
I'll either force my victory, or fate;
A glorious death in arms I'll rather prove,
Than stay to perish tamely by my love.

[_Exeunt_.

_An alarm within. Enter_ MONTEZUMA, ODMAR, GUYOMAR, ALIBECH,
ORBELLAN, CYDARIA, ALMERIA, _as pursued by Taxallans_.

_Mont_. No succour from the town?

_Odm_. None, none is nigh.

_Guy_. We are inclosed, and must resolve to die.

_Mont_. Fight for revenge, now hope of life is past
But one stroke more, and that will be my last.

_Enter_ CORTEZ, VASQUEZ, PIZARRO, _to the Taxallans_: CORTEZ
_stays them, just falling on_.

_Cort_. Contemned? my orders broke even in my sight?
Did I not strictly charge, you should not fight?

[_To his Indians_.

_Ind_. Your choler, general, does unjustly rise,
To see your friends pursue your enemies.
The greatest and most cruel foes we have,
Are these, whom you would ignorantly save.
By ambushed men, behind their temple laid,
We have the king of Mexico betrayed.

_Cort_. Where, banished virtue, wilt thou shew thy face,
If treachery infects thy Indian race?
Dismiss your rage, and lay your weapons by:
Know I protect them, and they shall not die.

_Ind_. O wondrous mercy, shewn to foes distrest!

_Cort_. Call them not so, when once with odds opprest;
Nor are they foes my clemency defends,
Until they have refused the name of friends:
Draw up our Spaniards by themselves, then fire
Our guns on all, who do not strait retire.

[_To_ VASQ.

_Ind_. O mercy, mercy! at thy feet we fall,
[_Indians kneeling_.
Before thy roaring Gods destroy us all:
See, we retreat without the least reply;
Keep thy Gods silent! if they speak we die.

[_The Taxallans retire_.

_Mont_. The fierce Taxatlans lay their weapons down,
Some miracle in our relief is shewn.

_Guy_. These bearded men in shape and colour be
Like those I saw come floating on the sea.

[MONT. _kneels to_ CORT.

_Mont_. Patron of Mexico, and God of wars,
Son of the sun, and brother of the stars--

_Cort_. Great monarch, your devotion you misplace.

_Mont_. Thy actions shew thee born of heavenly race.
If then thou art that cruel God, whose eyes
Delight in blood, and human sacrifice,
Thy dreadful altars I with slaves will store,
And feed thy nostrils with hot reeking gore;
Or if that mild and gentle God thou be,
Who dost mankind below with pity see,
With breath of incense I will glad thy heart;
But if, like us, of mortal seed thou art,
Presents of choicest fowls, and fruits I'll bring,
And in my realms thou shalt be more than king.

_Cort_. Monarch of empires, and deserving more
Than the sun sees upon your western shore;
Like you a man, and hither led by fame,
Not by constraint, but by my choice, I came;
Ambassador of peace, if peace you chuse,
Or herald of a war, if you refuse.

_Mont_. Whence, or from whom, dost thou these offers bring?

_Cort_. From Charles the Fifth, the world's most potent king.

_Mont_. Some petty prince, and one of little fame,
For to this hour I never heard his name:
The two great empires of the world I know,
That of Peru, and this of Mexico;
And since the earth none larger does afford,
This Charles is some poor tributary lord.

_Cort_. You speak of that small part of earth you know;
But betwixt us and you wide oceans flow,
And watry desarts of so vast extent,
That passing hither four full moons we spent.

_Mont_. But say, what news, what offers dost thou bring
From so remote, and so unknown a king?

[_While_ VASQUEZ _speaks_, CORTEZ _spies the ladies
and goes to them, entertaining_ CYDARIA _with
courtship in dumb shew_.

_Vasq_. Spain's mighty monarch, to whom heaven thinks fit,
That all the nations of the earth submit,
In gracious clemency, does condescend
On these conditions to become your friend.
First, that of him you shall your sceptre hold;
Next, you present him with your useless gold:
Last, that you leave those idols you implore,
And one true deity with him adore.

_Mont_. You speak your prince a mighty emperor,
But his demands have spoke him proud and poor;
He proudly at my free-born sceptre flies,
Yet poorly begs a metal I despise.
Gold thou mayest take, whatever thou canst find,
Save what for sacred uses is designed:
But, by what right pretends your king to be
The sovereign lord of all the world and me?

_Piz_. The sovereign priest--
Who represents on earth the power of heaven,
Has this your empire to our monarch given.

_Mont_. Ill does he represent the powers above,
Who nourishes debate, not preaches love;
Besides, what greater folly can be shewn?
He gives another what is not his own.

_Vasq_. His power must needs unquestioned be below,
For he in heaven an empire can bestow.

_Mont_. Empires in heaven he with more ease may give,
And you, perhaps, would with less thanks receive;
But heaven has need of no such viceroy here,
Itself bestows the crowns that monarchs wear.

_Piz_. You wrong his power, as you mistake our end,
Who came thus far religion to extend.

_Mont_. He, who religion truly understands,
Knows its extent must be in men, not lands.

_Odm_. But who are those that truth must propagate
Within the confines of my father's state?

_Vasq_. Religious men, who hither must be sent
As awful guides of heavenly government;
To teach you penance, fasts, and abstinence,
To punish bodies for the soul's offence.

_Mont_. Cheaply you sin, and punish crimes with ease,
Not as the offended, but the offenders please;
First injure heaven, and, when its wrath is due,
Yourselves prescribe it how to punish you.

_Odm_. What numbers of these holy men must come?

_Piz_. You shall not want, each village shall have some;
Who, though the royal dignity they own,
Are equal to it, and depend on none.

_Guy_. Depend on none! you treat them sure in state,
For 'tis their plenty does their pride create.

_Mont_. Those ghostly kings would parcel out my power,
And all the fatness of my land devour.
That monarch sits not safely on his throne
Who bears, within, a power that shocks his own.
They teach obedience to imperial sway,
But think it sin if they themselves obey.

_Vasq_. It seems, then, our religion you accuse,
And peaceful homage to our king refuse.

_Mont_. Your Gods I slight not, but will keep my own;
My crown is absolute, and holds of none.
I cannot in a base subjection live,
Nor suffer you to take, though I would give.

_Cort_. Is this your answer, sir?

_Mont_. --This, as a prince,
Bound to my people's and my crown's defence,
I must return; but, as a man, by you
Redeemed from death, all gratitude is due.

_Cort_. It was an act my honour bound me to:
But what I did, were I again to do,
I could not do it on my honour's score,
For love would now oblige me to do more.
Is no way left that we may yet agree?
Must I have war, yet have no enemy?

_Vasq_. He has refused all terms of peace to take.

_Mont_. Since we must fight, hear, heavens, what prayers I make!
First, to preserve this ancient state and me,
But if your doom the fall of both decree,
Grant only he, who has such honour shewn,
When I am dust, may fill my empty throne!

_Cort_. To make me happier than that wish can do,
Lies not in all your Gods to grant, but you;
Let this fair princess but one minute stay,
A look from her will your obligements pay.

[_Exeunt_ MONTEZUMA, ODMAR, GUYOMAR, ORBELLAN, ALMERIA, and
ALIBECH.

_Mont_. to _Cyd_. Your duty in your quick return be shewn. --
Stay you, and wait my daughter to the town.
[_To his guards_.

[CYDARIA _is going, but turns and looks back upon_ CORTEZ, _who
is looking on her all this while_.

_Cyd_. My father's gone, and yet I cannot go;
Sure I have something lost or left behind!

[_Aside_.

_Cort_. Like travellers who wander in the snow,
I on her beauty gaze 'till I am blind.

[_Aside_.

_Cyd_. Thick breath, quick pulse, and heaving of my heart,
All signs of some unwonted change appear:
I find myself unwilling to depart,
And yet I know not why I would be here.
Stranger, you raise such torments in my breast,
That when I go, (if I must go again)
I'll tell my father you have robbed my rest,
And to him of your injuries complain.

_Cort_. Unknown, I swear, those wrongs were which I wrought,
But my complaints will much more just appear,
Who from another world my freedom brought,
And to your conquering eyes have lost it here.

_Cyd_. Where is that other world, from whence you came?

_Cort_. Beyond the ocean, far from hence it lies.

_Cyd_. Your other world, I fear, is then the same,
That souls must go to when the body dies.
But what's the cause that keeps you here with me,
That I may know what keeps me here with you?

_Cort_. Mine is a love which must perpetual be,
If you can be so just as I am true.

_Enter_ ORBELLAN.

_Orb_. Your father wonders much at your delay.

_Cyd_. So great a wonder for so small a stay!

_Orb_. He has commanded you with me to go.

_Cyd_.