Robert Greene

“ Miles, thy share the Milan Dukedom is, For, well I wot, thy sword deserved no less; Set the crown on his head.
The which Alphonsus frankly giveth thee, In presence of his warlike men at arms; And if that any stomach this my deed, Alphonsus can revenge thy wrong with speed. Sound trumpets and drums.
Now to Albinius, which in all my toils I have both faithful, yea, and friendly found: Since that the gods and friendly fates assign This present time to me to recompense The sundry pleasures thou hast done to me, Sit down by them, and on thy faithful head Take the crown from thy own head. ”

“ Fair queens, yet handmaids unto Rasni's love,
Tell me, is not my state as glorious
As Juno's pomp, when tir'd with heaven's despoil,
Clad in her vestments spotted all with stars,
She cross'd the silver path unto her Jove?
Is not Remilia far more beauteous,
Rich'd with the pride of nature's excellence,
Than Venus in the brightest of her shine?
My hairs, surpass they not Apollo's locks?
Are not my tresses curlèd with such art
As love delights to hide him in their fair?
Doth not mine eye shine like the morning lamp
That tells Aurora when her love will come? ”

“ O Nineveh, thou harlot of the world,
I raise thy neighbours round about thy bounds,
To come and see thy filthiness and sin!
Thus saith the Lord, the mighty God of hosts:
Your king loves chambering and wantonness;
Whoredom and murder do distain his court;
He favoureth covetous and drunken men;
Behold, therefóre, all like a strumpet foul,
Thou shalt be judg'd and punish'd for thy crime;
The foe shall pierce the gates with iron ramps,
The fire shall quite consume thee from above,
The houses shall be burnt, the infants slain,
And women shall behold their husbands die. ”

“ So shall you reap great honor for your pain, And scape the scourge which else the fates ordain. Rise all up.
Belinus
Then, proud Alphonsus, look thou to thy crown: Belinus comes, in glittering armor clad, All ready pressed for to revenge the wrong Which not long since you offered unto him; And since we have God Mahound on our side, The victory must needs to us betide. Claramont
Worthy Belinus, set such threats away, And let us haste as fast as horse can trot To set upon presumptuous Aragon. You Fabius, haste, as Mahound did command, To Amurack with all the speed you may. ”

“ Dorastus. I see fair maid, you are pleased with rural labours, because you are ignorant of courtly pleasures.
Fawnia. Sure, Sir, such ignorance becomes us best, for courtly pleasures suit not our condition; mean though our pleasures are, yet they are innocent, and such become a shepherd's calling best.
Dorastus. I do believe, fair shepherdess, your aims are no higher than a country life, because you are in love with some kind shepherd. ”

“ Thou gettest no cow at my hand.
Alc. No cow, sir! alas, that word "no cow" goes as cold to my heart as a draught of small drink in a frosty morning! "No cow," sir! Why, alas, alas, Master Usurer, what shall become of me, my wife, and my poor child?
Usurer. Thou gettest no cow of me, knave! I cannot stand prating with you; I must be gone.
Ale. Nay, but hear you, Master Usurer: "no cow!" Why, sir, here's your thirty shillings: I have paid you eighteen-pence a week, and therefore there is reason I should have my cow.
Usurer. What pratest thou? have I not answered thee, thy day is broken? ”

“ Pardon, dear lord, the world goes very hard When womenkind are forced for to woe. If that your son had loved me so well, Why did he not inform me of the same? Carinus
Why did he not? What, have you clean forgot What ample proffers he did make to you, When hand to hand he did encounter you? Iphigina
No, worthy sir, I have not it forgot; But Cupid cannot enter in the breast Where Mars before had took possession. That was no time to talk of Venus’ games When all our fellows were pressed in the wars. Carinus
Well, let that pass: now canst thou be content To love Alphonsus, and become his spouse? ”

“ Have I not stol'n the beauty of the heavens,
And plac'd it on the feature of my face?
Can any goddess make compare with me,
Or match her with the fair Remilia?
Alvi. The beauties that proud Paris saw from Troy,
Mustering in Ida for the golden ball,
Were not so gorgeous as Remilia.
Remil. I have trick'd my trammels up with richest balm,
And made my perfumes of the purest myrrh:
The precious drugs that Ægypt's wealth affords,
The costly paintings fetch'd from curious Tyre,
Have mended in my face what nature miss'd.
Am I not the earth's wonder in my looks? ”

“ When you have done, march with your female troop To Naples’ town, to succor Amurack; And so, by marriage of Iphigina, You soon shall drive the danger clean away. Iphigina
So shall we soon eschew Charybdis’ lake, And headlong fall to Scylla’s greedy gulf. I vowed before, and now do vow again, Before I wed Alphonsus, I’ll be slain. Medea
In vain it is, to strive against the stream; Fates must be followed, and the gods’ decree Must needs take place in every kind of cause. Therefore, fair maid, bridle these brutish thoughts, And learn to follow what the fates assign. ”

“ Bacon. Burden, thou wrong'st me in detracting thus;
Bacon loves not to stuff himself with lies:
But tell me 'fore these doctors, if thou dare,
Of certain questions I shall move to thee.
Burd. I will: ask what thou can.
Miles. Marry, sir, he'll straight be on your pick-pack, to know whether the feminine or the masculine gender be most worthy.
Bacon. Were you not yesterday Master Burden, at Henley upon the Thames?
Burd. I was: what then?
Bacon. What book studied you thereon all night?
Burd. I! none at all; I read not there a line.
Bacon. Then, doctors, Friar Bacon's art knows naught. ”

“ It ill becomes me for to wear a crown Whenas my lord is destitute himself. Why, high Alphonsus, if I should receive This crown of you, the which high love forbid, Where would yourself obtain a diadem? Naples is gone, Milan possessed is, And naught is left for you but Aragon. Alphonsus
And naught is left for me but Aragon? Yes, surely, yes, my fates have so decreed, That Aragon should be too base a thing For to obtain Alphonsus for her king. What, hear you not how that our scattered foes, Belinus, Fabius, and the Milan Duke, Are fled for succor to the Turkish court? ”

“ Give me but tokens of your highness' trust.
K. of Scots. Thou shalt have gold, honour, and wealth enough;
Win my love, and I will make thee great.
Ateu. These words do make me rich, most noble prince;
I am more proud of them than any wealth.
Did not your grace suppose I flatter you,
Believe me, I would boldly publish this;—
Was never eye that saw a sweeter face,
Nor never ear that heard a deeper wit:
O God, how I am ravish'd in your worth!
K. of Scots. Ateukin, follow me; love must have ease.
Ateu. I'll kiss your highness' feet; march when you please. ”

“ What, dost thou think Flaminius hath no friends For to revenge his death on thee again? Yes, be you sure that, ere you scape from hence, Thy gasping ghost shall bear him company, Or else myself, fighting for his defense, Will be content by those thy hands to die. Alphonsus
Laelius, few words would better thee become, Especially as now the case doth stand; And didst thou know whom thou dost threaten thus, We should you have more calmer out of hand: For, Laelius, know that I Alphonsus am, The son and heir to old Carinus, whom The traitorous father of Flaminius Did secretly bereave his diadem. ”

“ Within the reach of Rasni's government,
To wait as hand-maids on Remilia,
That her attendant train may pass the troop
That gloried Venus at her wedding-day.
K. of Crete. O my Lord, not sister to thy love!
'Tis incest and too foul a fact for kings;
Nature allows no limits to such lust.
Radag. Presumptuous viceroy, dar'st thou check thy lord,
Or twit him with the laws that nature loves?
Is not great Rasni above nature's reach,
God upon earth, and all his will is law?
K. of Crete. O, flatter not, for hateful is his choice,
And sister's love will blemish all his worth. ”

“ More would I say, but horses that be free Do need no spurs, and soldiers which themselves Long and desire to buckle with the foe Do need no words to egg them to the same. Enter Alphonsus, with a canopy carried over him by three lords, hailing over each corner a king’s head, crowned; with him, Albinius, Laelius, Miles, with crowns on their heads, and their soldiers.
Besides the same, behold whereas our foes Are marching towards us most speedily. Courage, my lords, ours is the victory. Alphonsus
Thou pagan dog, how darest thou be so bold To set thy foot within Alphonsus’ land? ”

“ Ralph. Marry, Sirrah Ned, thou shalt put on my cap and my coat and my dagger, and I will put on thy clothes and thy sword; and so thou shalt be my fool.
P. Edw. And what of this?
Ralph. Why, so thou shalt beguile Love; for Love is such a proud scab, that he will never meddle with fools nor children. Is not Ralph's counsel good, Ned?
P. Edw. Tell me, Ned Lacy, didst thou mark the maid,
How lovely in her country weeds she look'd?
A bonnier wench all Suffolk cannot yield:—
All Suffolk! nay, all England holds none such.
Ralph. Sirrah Will Ermsby, Ned is deceived. ”

“ I will, my lord. Exit Laelius.
Alphonsus
Full little thinks Belinus and his peers What thoughts Alphonsus casteth in his mind; For if they did, they would not greatly haste To pay the same the which they promised me. Enter Belinus, Albinius, Fabius, with their soldiers, marching.
Belinus
Like simple sheep, when shepherd absent is Far from his flock, assailed by greedy wolves, [10] Do scattering fly about, some here, some there, To keep their bodies from their ravening jaws, So do the fearful youths of Aragon Run round about the green and pleasant plains, And hide their heads from Neapolitans ”

“ Alphonsus victor of Belinus' land,
Yet shalt thou never live to see that day;—
And therefore, Fabius, stand not lingering,
But presently slash off his traitorous head.
Albi. Slash off his head! as though Albinius' head
Were then so easy to be slashèd off:
In faith, sir, no; when you are gone and dead,
I hope to flourish like the pleasant spring.
Beli. Why, how now, Fabius! what, do you stand in doubt
To do the deed? what fear you? who dares seek
For to revenge his death on thee again,
Since that Belinus did command it so? ”

“ And are the vows so solemnly you swore Unto Belinus, my most friendly niece, Now washed so clearly from thy traitorous heart? Is all the rancor which you erst did bear Unto Alphonsus worn so out of mind, As, where thou shouldest pursue him to [the] death, You seek to give our daughter to his hands? The gods forbid that such a heinous deed With my consent should ever be decreed; And rather then thou shouldst it bring to pass, If all the army of Amazons Will be sufficient to withhold the same, Assure thyself that Fausta means to fight ‘Gainst Amurack, for to maintain the right. ”

“ Alphon. Thanks, mighty prince; but yet I seek not this:
It is not words must recompense my pain,
But deeds. When first I took up arms for you,
Your promise was, whatever my sword did win
In fight, as his Alphonsus should it crave.
See, then, where lies thy foe Flaminius,
Whose crown my sword hath conquer'd in the field;
Therefore, Belinus, make no long delay,
But that discharge you promis'd for to pay.
Beli. Will nothing else satisfy thy conquering mind
Besides the crown? Well, since thou hast it won,
Thou shalt it have, though far against my will. ”

“ What injury hath Amurack, my sire, Done to the gods, which now I know are wrath, Although unjustly and without a cause? For well I wot, not any other king, Which now doth live, or since the world begun Did sway a scepter, had a greater care To please the gods then mighty Amurack. And for to quite our father’s great good will, Seek they thus basely all his fame to spill? Fausta
Iphigina, leave off these woeful tunes: It is not words can cure and ease this wound, But warlike swords; not tears, but sturdy spears. High Amurack is prisoner to our foes. ”

“ Adam. "A paltry smith"! Why, I'll stand to it, a smith is lord of the four elements; for our iron is made of the earth, our bellows blow out air, our floor holds fire, and our forge water. Nay, sir, we read in the Chronicles that there was a god of our occupation.
First Ruf. Ay, but he was a cuckold.
Adam. That was the reason, sir, he call'd your father cousin. "Paltry smith"! Why, in this one word thou hast defaced their worshipful occupation.
First Ruf. As how?
Adam. Marry, sir, I will stand to it, that a smith in his kind is a physician, a surgeon and a barber. ”

“ To scape away without thy praise of her. I do not doubt but long or ere this time, Alphonsus’ fame unto the heavens should climb; Alphonsus’ fame, that man of Jove his seed, Sprung from the loins of the immortal gods, Whose sire, although he habit on the earth, May claim a portion in the fiery pole, As well as any one whate’er he be. But, setting by Alphonsus’ power divine, What man alive, or now amongst the ghosts, Could countervail his courage and his strength? But thou art dead, yea, Virgil, thou art gone, And all his acts drowned in oblivion. ”

“ Thrice Hesperus with pomp and peerless pride Hath heaved his head forth of the eastern seas, Thrice Cynthia, with Phoebus’ borrowed beams, Hath shown her beauty through the darkish clouds, Since that I, wretched duke, have tasted aught, Or drunk a drop of any kind of drink. Instead of beds set forth with ebony, The greenish grass hath been my resting place, And for my pillow stuffed [soft [27] ] with down, The hardish hillocks have sufficed my turn. Thus I, which erst had all things at my will, A life more hard then death do follow still. ”

“ To punish all that live in Nineveh;
For God is just, as he is merciful,
And doubtless plagues all such as scorn repent.
Thou shalt not see the desolation
That falls unto these cursèd Ninevites,
But shalt return to great Jerusalem,
And preach unto the people of thy God
What mighty plagues are incident to sin,
Unless repentance mitigate His ire:
Rapt in the spirit, as thou wert hither brought,
I'll seat thee in Judaea's provinces.
Fear not, Oseas, then to preach the word.
Oseas. The will of the Lord be done! ”

“ You counsel well; therefore, Belinus, haste, And, Claramont, go bear him company, With King Arcastus, to the city walls: Then bend with speed unto the darksome grove, Where Mahomet this many a hundred year Hath prophesied unto our ancestors. Tell to his priests that Amurack your king Is now selecting all his men at arms To set upon that proud Alphonsus’ troop. The cause you know, and can inform him well, That makes me take these bloody broils in hand ”

“ In honour of his beauteous Alvida?
Come hither, swain; what is it that thou cravest?
Adam. Faith, sir, nothing, but to speak a few sentences to your worship.
Rasni. Say, what is it?
Adam. I am sure, sir, you have heard of the spirits that walk in the city here.
Rasni. Ay, what of that?
Adam. Truly, sir, I have an oration to tell you of one of them; and this it is.
Alvi. Why goest not forward with thy tale?
Adam. Faith, mistress, I feel an imperfection in my voice, a disease that often troubles me; but, alas, easily mended; a cup of ale or a cup of wine will serve the turn. ”

“ What will you give me, sir?
Sir Bar. A hundred pounds.
Slip. I am your man: give me earnest. I am dead at a pocket, sir; why, I am a lifter, master, by my occupation.
Sir Bar. A lifter! what is that?
Slip. Why, sir, I can lift a pot as well as any man, and pick a purse as soon as any thief in my country.
[Pg 350]
Sir Bar. Why, fellow, hold; here is earnest, ten pound to assure thee. [Gives money] . Go, despatch, and bring it me to yonder tavern thou seest; and assure thyself, thou shalt both have thy skin full of wine and the rest of thy money. ”

“ Now, Amurack, advise thee what thou sayest: Bethink thee well what answer thou wilt make: Thy life and death dependeth on thy words. If thou deny to be Alphonsus’ sire, Death is thy share: but if that thou consent, Thy life is saved. Consent? nay, rather die; Should I consent to give Iphigina Into the hands of such a beggar’s brat? What, Amurack, thou dost deceive thyself; Alphonsus is the son unto a king; What then? The [n] worthy of thy daughter’s love. She is agreed, and Fausta is content; Then Amurack will not be discontent. Take Iphigina by the hand, and give her to Alphonsus. ”

“ Some lay as dead as either stock or stone, Some other tumbled, wounded to the death; But most of them, as to their sovereign king, Did offer duly homage unto him. As thus I stood beholding of this pomp, Methought Alphonsus did espy me out, And, at a trice, he leaving throne alone, Came to embrace me in his blessed arms. Then noise of drums and sound of trumpets shrill Did wake Carinus from this pleasant dream. Something, I know, is now foreshown by this: The gods forfend that aught should hap amiss. Carinus walk up and down. ”

“ We wail the life that we have led before:
O, pardon, Lord! O, pity Nineveh!
All. O, pardon, Lord! O, pity Nineveh!
Rasni. Let not the infants, dallying on the teat,
For fathers' sins in judgment be oppress'd!
K. of Cil. Let not the painful mothers big with child,
The innocents, be punish'd for our sin!
Rasni. O, pardon, Lord! O, pity Nineveh!
All. O, pardon, Lord! O, pity Nineveh!
Rasni. O Lord of heaven, the virgins weep to thee!
The covetous man sore sorry for his sin,
The prince and poor, all pray before thy throne;
And wilt thou, then, be wroth with Nineveh? ”

“ Why, proud Alphonsus, thinkest thou Amurack, Whose mighty force doth terrify the gods, Can e’er be found to turn his heels, and fly Away for fear from such a boy as thou? No, no, although that Mars this mickle while Hath fortified thy weak and feeble arm, And Fortune oft hath viewed with friendly face Thy armies marching victors from the field, Yet at the presence of high Amurack Fortune shall change, and Mars, that god of might, Shall succor me, and leave Alphonsus quite. ”

“ If such escapes, O London, reign in thee,
Repent, for why each sin shall punish'd be!
Repent, amend, repent, the hour is nigh!
Defer not time! who knows when he shall die?
SCENE IV.—A Public Place in Nineveh.
Enter one clad in Devil's attire.
Devil. Longer lives a merry man than a sad; and because I mean to make myself pleasant this night, I have put myself into this attire, to make a clown afraid that passeth this way: for of late there have appeared many strange apparitions, to the great fear and terror of the citizens.—O, here my young master comes. ”

“ Carinus
Albinius, go call forth Amurack: We’ll see what he doth say unto this match. Exit Albinius; bring forth Amurack.
Most mighty Turk, I, with my warlike son Alphonsus, loathing that so great a prince As you should live in such unseemly sort, Have sent for you to proffer life or death; Life, if you do consent to our demand, And death, if that you dare gainsay the same. Your wife, high Fausta, with Iphigina, Have given consent that this my warlike son Should have your daughter for his bedfellow ”