Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Alas, he had rather sleep to shake his fit off. Look ye, friends, how gently he leads. Upon my word,

He's tame enough, he needs no further watching.
Good my friends, go to your houses,

And by me have your pardons, and my love;
And know, there shall be nothing in my power
You may deserve, but you shall have your wishes.
To give you more thanks were to flatter you.
Continue still your love; and, for an earnest,
Drink this.

All. Long mayest thou live, brave prince! brave
prince!

Brave prince!

[Er. Phi. and Pha. Cap. Thou art the king of courtesy ! Fall off again, my sweet youths. Come, and every man trace to his house again, and hang his pewter up; then to the tavern, and bring your wives in muffs. We will have music; and the red grape shall make us dance, and rise, boys. [Exeunt.

Enter KING, ARETHUSA, GALATEA, MEGRA, CLEREMONT, DION, THRASILINE, BELLARIO, and attendants.

King. Is it appeased?

Dion. Sir, all is quiet as the dead of night, As peaceable as sleep. My lord Philaster Brings on the prince himself.

King. Kind gentleman!

I will not break the least word I have given
In promise to him: I have heaped a world
Of grief upon his head, which yet I hope
To wash away.

Enter PHILASTER and PHARAMOND.
Cle. My lord is come.
King. My son!

Blest be the time, that I have leave to call
Such virtue mine! Now thou art in mine arms,
Methinks I have a salve unto my breast
For all the stings, that dwell there. Streams of grief,
That I have wronged thee, and as much of joy,
That I repent it, issue from mine eyes :
Let them appease thee. Take thy right; take her;
She is thy right too; and forget to urge
My vexed soul with that I did before.

Phi. Sir, it is blotted from my memory,
Past and forgotten. For you, prince of Spain,
Whom I have thus redeemed, you have full leave
To make an honourable voyage home.
And if you would go furnished to your realm
With fair provision, I do see a lady,
Methinks, would gladly bear you company :
How like you this piece?

Meg. Can shame remain perpetually in me, And not in others? or, have princes salves, To cure ill names, that meaner people want? Phi. What mean you?

Meg. You must get another ship,

To bear the princess and the boy together.
Dion. How now !

Meg. Ship us all four, my lord; we can endure

[blocks in formation]

For me to clear myself? It lies in your belief.
My lords, believe me; and let all things else
Struggle together to dishonour me.

Bel. Oh, stop your ears, great king, that I may speak

As freedom would; then I will call this lady
As base as be her actions! hear me, sir :
Believe your heated blood, when it rebels
Against your reason, sooner than this lady.
Meg. By this good light, he bears it hand-
somely.

Phi. This lady? I will sooner trust the wind
With feathers, or the troubled sea with pearl,
Than her with any thing. Believe her not!
Why, think you, if I did believe her words,
I would outlive them? Honour cannot take
Revenge on you; then, what were to be known
But death?

King. Forget her, sir, since all is knit
Between us. But I must request of you
One favour, and will sadly be denied.
Phi. Command, whate'er it be.
King. Swear to be true

To what you promise.

Phi. By the powers above!
Let it not be the death of her or him,
And it is granted.

King. Bear away that boy

To torture: I will have her cleared or buried. Phi. Oh, let me call my words back, worthy sir!

Ask something else! Bury my life and right
In one poor grave; but do not take away
My life and fame at once.

King. Away with him! it stands irrevocable.
Phi. Turn all your eyes on me here stands a

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Bel. Have you not seen it, nor the like? Dion. Yes, I have seen the like, but readily I know not where.

Bel, I have been often told,

In court, of one Euphrasia, a lady,

And daughter to you; betwixt whom and me
They, that would flatter my bad face, would swear
There was such strange resemblance, that we two
Could not be known asunder, dressed alike.

Dion. By heaven, and so there is.
Bel. For her fair sake,

Who now doth spend the spring-time of her life
In holy pilgrimage, move to the king,
That I may escape this torture.

Dion. But thou speakest

As like Euphrasia, as thou dost look.
How came it to thy knowledge, that she lives
In pilgrimage?

Bel. I know it not, my lord;

But I have heard it; and do scarce believe it. Dion. Oh, my shame! Is't possible? Draw

near,

That I may gaze upon thee. Art thou she,
Or else her murderer? Where wert thou born?
Bel. In Syracusa.

Dion. What's thy name?

Bel. Euphrasia.

Dion. Oh, 'tis just, 'tis she!

Now I do know thee. Oh, that thou hadst died,
And I had never seen thee nor my shame!
How shall I own thee? shall this tongue of mine
Eer call thee daughter more?

Bel. 'Would I had died indeed; I wish it too:
And so I must have done by vow, ere published
What I have told, but that there was no means
To hide it longer. Yet I joy in this,

The princess is all clear.

King. What have you done?

Dion. All is discovered.

[blocks in formation]

Dion. It is a woman.

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

(For I must call thee still so) tell me why
Thou didst conceal thy sex? It was a fault;
A fault, Bellario, though thy other deeds
Of truth outweighed it: all these jealousies
Had flown to nothing, if thou hadst discovered
What now we know.

Bel. My father oft would speak
Your worth and virtue; and, as I did grow
More and more apprehensive, I did thirst
To see the man so praised; but yet all this
Was but a maiden longing, to be lost
As soon as found; till sitting in my window,
Printing my thoughts in lawn, I saw a god,
I thought, (but it was you) enter our gates.
My blood flew out, and back again as fast,
As I had puffed it forth and sucked it in
Like breath: then was I called away in haste,
To entertain you. Never was a man,
Heaved from a sheep-cot to a sceptre, raised
So high in thoughts as I: you left a kiss
Upon these lips then, which I mean to keep
From you for ever. I did hear you talk,
Far above singing! after you were gone,
I grew acquainted with my heart, and searched
What stirred it so: alas! I found it love;
Yet far from lust; for could I but have lived
In
presence of you, I had had my end.
For this I did delude my noble father
With a feigned pilgrimage, and dressed myself
In habit of a boy; and, for I knew
My birth no match for you, I was past hope
Of having you; and, understanding well,
That, when I made discovery of my sex,
I could not stay with you, I made a vow,
By all the most religious things a maid
Could call together, never to be known,
Whilst there was hope to hide me from men's eyes,
For other than I secmed, that I might ever
Abide with you: then sat I by the fount,
Where first you took me up.

King. Search out a match

Phi. Blessed be you powers, that favour inno- Within our kingdom, where and when thou wilt,

cence!

And I will pay thy dowry; and thyself
Wilt well deserve him.

Bel. Never, sir, will I

Marry; it is a thing within my vow:

But, if I may have leave to serve the princess,
To see the virtues of her lord and her,
I shall have hope to live.

Are. I, Philaster,

Cannot be jealous, though you had a lady
Dressed like a page to serve you; nor will I
Suspect her living here. Come, live with me ;
Live free, as I do. She, that loves my lord,
Curst be the wife that hates her!

Phi. Igrieve such virtues should be laid in earth,
Without an heir. Hear me, my royal father:
Wrong not the freedom of our souls so much,
To think to take revenge of that base woman;
Her malice cannot hurt us. Set her free
As she was born, saving from shame and sin.

[blocks in formation]

་་

[blocks in formation]

SCENE I.

ACT I.

Enter TIMAGORAS and LEOSTHENES. Timag. WHY should you droop, Leosthenes, or despair

My sister's favour? What, before, you purchased
By courtship, and fair language, in these wars
(For, from her soul, you know, she loves a soldier)
You may deserve by action.

Leest. Good Timagoras,

When I have said my friend, think all is spoken
That may assure me yours; and pray you, believe,
The dreadful voice of war, that shakes the city,
The thundering threats of Carthage, nor their army,
Raised to make good those threats, affright not me.
If fair Cleora were confirmed his prize,
That has the strongest arm and sharpest sword,
I'd court Bellona in her horrid trim,
As if she were a mistress, and bless fortune
That offers my young valour to the proof,
How much I dare do for your sister's love.
But, when that I consider how averse
Your noble father, great Archidamus,
Is, and hath ever been, to my desires,
Reason may warrant me to doubt and fear,
What seeds soever I sow in these wars
Of noble courage, his determinate will
May blast, and give my harvest to another,
That ne'er toiled for it.

Timag. Prithee, do not nourish

These jealous thoughts; I'm thine, and, pardon me,
Though I repeat it, my Leosthenes,

That, for thy sake, when the bold Theban sued,
Far-famed Pisander, for my sister's love,
Sent him disgraced and discontented home;
I wrought my father then; and I, that stopped not
In the career of my affection to thee,
When that renowned worthy brought with him
High birth, wealth, courage, as fee'd advocates
To mediate for him, never will consent,
A fool, that only has the shape of man,
Asotus, though he be rich Cleon's heir,
Shall bear her from thee.

Leost. In that trust I live.
Timag. Which never shall deceive you.
Enter PISANDER.

Pis. Sir, the general,
Timoleon, by his trumpets hath given warning
For a remove.

Timag. 'Tis well; provide my horse.
l'is. I shall, sir.

[Exit Pisander.

Leost. This slave has a strange aspect?

Timag. Fit for his fortune; 'tis a strong limbed

knave;

My father bought him for my sister's litter.
O pride of women! Coaches are too common;
They surfeit in the happiness of peace,
And ladies think they keep not state enough,
If, for their pomp and ease, they are not borne
In triumph on mens' shoulders.

Leost. Who commands

The Carthaginian fleet?

Timag. Gisco's their admiral,

And, 'tis our happiness, a raw young fellow,
One never trained in arms, but rather fashioned
To tilt with ladies lips than crack a lance,
Ravish a feather from a mistress' fan,
And wear it as a favour. A steel helmet,
Made horrid with a glorious plume, will crack
His woman's neck.

Leo. No more of him.-The motives
That Corinth gives us aid?

Timag. The common danger:
For Sicily being on fire, she is not safe;
It being apparent that ambitious Carthage,
(That to enlarge her empire strives to fasten
An unjust gripe on us, that live free lords
Of Syracusa) will not end, till Greece
Acknowledge her their sovereign.
Leost. I'm satisfied.

What think you of our general?
Timag. He is a man

Of strange and reserved parts; but a great soldier.
[A trumpet sounds.
His trumpets call us; I'll forbear his character:
To-morrow, in the senate-house, at large
He will express himself.

Leost, I'll follow you.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The Senate House.

Enter ARCHIDAMUS, CLEON, DIPHILUS, OLYM-
PIA, CORISCA, CLEORA, and ZANTHIA.
Arch. So careless we have been, my noble lords,
In the disposing of our own affairs,
And ignorant in the art of government,
That now we need a stranger to instruct us.
Yet we are happy that our neighbour Corinth
(Pitying the unjust gripe Carthage would lay
On Syracusa) hath vouchsafed to lend us
Her man of inen, Timoleon, to defend
Our country and our liberties.

Diph. 'Tis a favour

We are unworthy of, and we may blush
Necessity compells us to receive it.

Arch. Oshame! that we,that are a populous nation,
Engaged to liberal nature for all blessings
An island can bring forth; we that have limbs,
And able bodies, shipping, arms and treasure,
The sinews of the war, now we are called
To stand upon our guard, cannot produce
One, fit to be our general!

Cleon. I'm old and fat;

I could say something else.

Arch. We must obey

The time and our occasions; ruinous buildings,
Whose bases and foundations are infirm,
Must use supporters: We are circled round
With danger; o'er our heads with sail-stretched
wings

Destruction hovers, and a cloud of mischief
Ready to break upon us; no hope left us,
That may divert it, but our sleeping virtue,

[blocks in formation]

Arch. It is your seat,

Which with a general suffrage,

As to the supreme magistrate, Sicily tenders, And prays Timoleon to accept.

Timol. Such honours,

To one ambitious of rules or title,

Whose heaven or earth is placed in his command,
And absolute power o'er others, would with joy,
And veins swoln high, with pride be entertained.
They take not me; for I have ever loved
An equal freedom, and proclaim all such
As would usurp another's liberties,

Rebels to nature, to whose bounteous blessings
All men lay claim as true legitimate sons.
But such as have made forfeit of themselves
By vicious courses, and their birthright lost,
'Tis not injustice they are marked for slaves
To serve the virtuous. For myself, I know
Honours andgreat employments aregreat burdens,
And must require an Atlas to support them.
He that would govern others, first should be
The master of himself, richly endued
With depth of understanding, height of courage,
And those remarkable graces which I dare not
Ascribe unto myself.

Arch. Sir, empty men

Are trumpets of their own deserts; but you.

« ZurückWeiter »