Collected Works (Vol. II)

ACTUS SECUNDUS 93 THESEUS. Tell me, friend master, how the work goes on. When shall our gallant vessel breast the deep? When shall we see the sun sink o’er the Poop, And look toward moonrise, and the land be lost, And the perched watcher on the mast behold The melting mirror of the ocean meet The crystallising concave of the sky? ARGUS. All this shall happen when the work is done. JASON. How many moons, friend fool, before that day? ARGUS. These things are known not even to the Gods, Except the Father only.? HERACLES. Fools must talk. ARGUS. I talk, divulging nothing. HERACLES. I strike thee, Yet act not. ARGUS. Hero, stay that heavy hand! The ship shall sail ere spring. THESEUS. But now you talk More as befits a.workman to a king. 1 The satire is on Matthew xxiv. 36. JASON. Be gentle now, my friends! builders, Reared in the rugged borders of the North,} Have northern manners ; surly if attacked, But genial when—— These ship- ARGUS. The proper treatment is Kindness—like lions whom Demeter tamed. THESEUS. I promise thee, the next time thou art wroth, A second kindness from Alcides’ hand. ARGUS. Spare me that, King, and take, thyself, a club. JASON. King Theseus, thou art far reputed wise. Hast thou not learnt a lesson from the hap Of Heracles supreme in—shipbuilding? I by my meekness will abash thy strength. Good Argus, thou art unsurpassed in art To curve the rougher timbers, to make smooth The joints and girders, and to plane and work The iron and the nailheads, and to lift Row after row the tiers of benches thrice In triple beauty, and to shape the oars, To raise the mast—— ARGUS. Thy knowledge staggers me! IIow wast thou thus instructed? JASON. By much thought. To clamp the decks—— 1 Argus is wittily characterised as a Scottish shipbuilder.