ACT I.



SCENE I.

Enter MYCETES, COSROE, MEANDER, THERIDAMAS, ORTYGIUS,
CENEUS, MENAPHON, with others.

MYCETES. Brother Cosroe, I find myself agriev'd;
Yet insufficient to express the same,
For it requires a great and thundering speech:
Good brother, tell the cause unto my lords;
I know you have a better wit than I.

COSROE. Unhappy Persia,--that in former age
Hast been the seat of mighty conquerors,
That, in their prowess and their policies,
Have triumph'd over Afric,<5> and the bounds
Of Europe where the sun dares scarce appear
For freezing meteors and congealed cold,--
Now to be rul'd and govern'd by a man
At whose birth-day Cynthia with Saturn join'd,
And Jove, the Sun, and Mercury denied
To shed their<6> influence in his fickle brain!
Now Turks and Tartars shake their swords at thee,
Meaning to mangle all thy provinces.