Summary
Aethiopia reveals that the land Niger and his daughters are looking for is called Britannia (Britain). She refers to Britain as a "blessed Isle" where one can find the beauties about whom the poets sing.
She goes on to say that Britain is a "world, divided from the world" and that it is the diamond upon the ring of the globe.
Finally, she explains that Britain is ruled by a great and powerful "sun," so magnificent that its power can make dark Ethiopian skin white. This sun, Aethiopia argues, is a cure-all for any "defects" one might have.
Aethiopia tells Niger to call his daughters to Britain's shore, where their beauty will no longer be scorched, damaged, and ruined by the harsh sun. Instead, they will experience a temperate climate and have their beauty restored.
At this news, an elaborate dance begins between Niger's daughters and the Tritons.
Each daughter displays a fan with her name on it, as well as a symbol that best represents her.
The couples dance and sing, preparing to travel to Britain to fulfill Aethiopia's promise.
Analysis
With Aethiopia's appearance in the masque, more and more praise is piled upon King James I and his court, as well as upon Britain and its people more generally.
When Aethiopia reveals that the "-tania" land in question is Britannia (surprising no one), she launches into a string of epithets to describe what is to Niger and his daughters a foreign land. Britain is compared to the diamond on the ring of the whole world, suggesting that it is the crowning "jewel" of all of civilization. In her descriptions of the country, Aethiopia portrays Britain as both distinctly part of the world and separate from it, even referring to it as a "world, divided from the world."
These descriptions emphasize the perception that Britain is both a natural progression of the great civilizations – notably ancient Greece and Rome, whose art, culture, and mythology heavily influenced the English Renaissance – and a superior, almost divinely inspired nation.
Aethiopia's comments also lend some insight into the nuanced portrayal of race in the masque. While it goes without saying that the performance is outwardly racist, both Niger and Aethiopia remind audiences again and again that the daughters were and are still beautiful, but that their beauty has been "scorched" by the harsh sun of their Eastern climate.
While this perspective is clearly one that relies on the supremacy of whiteness over blackness, it also lays bear the masque's central concern which is not, surprisingly, race or skin color at all. Instead, the masque uses skin color and the notion of beauty as a vehicle through which it can more emphatically praise Britain, and more specifically the king, who ushers in a more "temperate" climate in his land.
