[The Scene opens, and a scaffold with the heads and bodies of JUSTINA
and CYPRIAN is seen. Over it in the air, upon a winged serpent, is
The Demon.
DEMON. Hear, O mortals, hear what I,
By the orders of high Heaven,
For Justina's exculpation,
Must declare to all here present.
I it was, who to dishonour
Her pure fame, in form dissembled
For the purpose, scaled her house,
And her very chamber entered.
And in order that her fame
Should not by that fraud be lessened,
I come here her injured honour
To exhibit pure and perfect.
Cyprian, who with her lieth
On a happy bier at rest there,
Was my slave. But he effacing,
With the blood his neck outsheddeth,
The red signature, the linen
Is now spotless and unblemished.
And the two, in spite of me,
Having to the spheres ascended
Of the sacred throne of God,
Live there in a world far better.--
This, then, is the truth, which I
Tell, because God makes me tell it,
Much against my will, my practice
Not being great as a truth-teller.
[He falls swiftly, and sinks into the earth.
LIVIA. Oh! what horror!
FLORUS. What confusion!
LIVIA. What a prodigy!
MOSCON. What terror!
GOVERNOR. These are all but the enchantments
Which this sorcerer effected
At his death.
FLORUS. I am in doubt
To believe them or reject them.
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