Cupid's Shafts

Third Epeisodia

Nyssa the Bacchante and Cupid enter

Chorus

Nyssa runs through the wood

Seeking Cupid's shrine.

There the god awaits her,

A smile upon his lips.

Nyssa

This arrow of yours, Cupid!

This is the cause of all my troubles!

Why did you wound me with it?

Why drive me mad with lust?

Cupid

I shoot my shafts at many.

Why should I remember you?

Nyssa

I am Nyssa the Bacchante,

One of Dionysus's retinue!

You shot me at the orgy.

Your arrow pierced my flesh.

Now I desire the satyr Aeschylus!

Lift your curse, Aphrodite's son!

Cupid

Aeschylus, he desires you,

And you desire him too.

Is that not enough,

Nyssa the Bacchante?

Nyssa

No! His touch is rough!

His breath is foul!

I am a servant to Dionysus.

Would you see me servant to a beast?

Cupid

Desire is like that, Nyssa.

It holds you in its claws.

All it wants to do is feast.

Surely you, a Bacchante,

Should understand this?

Nyssa

You have two arrows, Cupid.

One tipped with gold, one with lead.

One inflames desire, the other kills it dead.

Shoot at me Cupid!

Wound me with your leaden shaft!

Give me release!

Chorus

The nymph pleads her case

To the son of Aphrodite.

But he does not care.

His heart is hard and cruel.

Cupid

I could do this for you Nyssa.

I could release you from desire.

But I do not choose to do so.

Aeschylus is what you shall desire.

Chorus

Nyssa, her rage enflamed,

Strikes at Cupid's quiver,

The leaden shaft to claim.

But Cupid does not relinquish

His grasp upon the shaft.

And so it breaks in twain.

Cupid

You sought release from my spell

And visited violence upon me.

Now the leaden shaft is broken.

It will do you no good.

Enjoy my gift!

Nyssa

This arrow it shall free me,

One way or another.

Behold, Cupid! Mock me no more!

Chorus

Nyssa the Bacchante

Plunges the shaft into her own throat.

The ivy wood wounds her mortally.

And so she expires

On the floor of Cupid's shrine.

Aeschylus the satyr,

Still filled with lust for her,

Enters Cupid's shrine

And sees Nyssa lying there.

Aeschylus the satyr enters

Aeschylus

Nyssa - the one I desire!

You lie in your own blood!

Was I so repellent

That you could not live?

Cupid, my desire still lives,

Without her it shall feed on me.

Release me Cupid! Release me,

With your lead-tipped shaft.

Cupid

I cannot help, Aeschylus.

My leaden shaft is cleft in twain.

One half I hold in my hand.

The other lies in Nyssa's throat.

Aeschylus

Then I shall seek release

From desire by my own hand.

Nyssa, Aeschylus and Cupid exit