In this place, precisely, I shall strike the blow:
For no mortal eye will be able to see it.
These woods today shall see the talk of Love
In a new guise, and it shall be clearly shown
That my deity is present here
In itself, and not in its ministers.
I shall breathe noble feelings into crude breasts,
I shall soften the sound of their tongues;
Because, wherever I may be, I am Love,
In shepherds no less than in heroes;
And the inequality of the subjects,
I level as it pleases me: and this is also
My supreme glory and great miracle,
To render the rustic pipes similar
To the most learned lyres; and, if my mother,
Who disdains seeing me wander among the woods,
Does not know this, it is she who is blind, and not I,
Whom the blind common folk wrongly call blind.

A woodcut decorative tailpiece or printer's ornament features a central gadrooned urn or vase. The vessel is flanked by symmetrical, ornate scrolling foliage and floral elements.

ACT