“ Mordred. The greater is my conquest, if I win.
Gawin. The more your foil, if you should hap to lose:
For Arthur’s fame and valour’s such, as you
Should rather imitate, or at the least
Envy, if hope of better fancies fail’d:
For whereas envy reigns, though it repines,
Yet doth it fear a greater than itself.
Mordred. He that envies the valour of his foe,
Detects a want of valour in himself.
He fondly fights that fights with such a foe,
Where ’twere a shame to lose, no praise to win;
But with a famous foe succeed what will,
To win is great renown, to lose less foil. ”

“ Wheresoever I go, that I am pauper Stephano:
But I pray you, sir, for all your philosophy,
See that in this court you walk very wisely.
You are but newly come hither; being strangers, ye know,
Many eyes are bent on you, in the streets as ye go:
Many spies are abroad, you can not be too circumspect.
Damon. Stephano, because thou art careful of me, thy master, I do thee praise;
Yet think this for a surety: no state to displease
By talk or otherwise my friend and I intend: we will here,
As men that come to see the soil and manners of all men of every degree. ”

“ Exit Damon.
Gronno. I am glad he is gone, I had almost wept too. Come, Pithias,
So God help me, I am sorry for thy foolish case
Wilt thou venter thy life for a man so fondly?
Pithias. It is no venter: my friend is just, for whom I desire to die.
Gronno. Here is a madman! I tell thee, I have a wife whom I love well,
And if ich would die for her, chould ich were in hell.
Wilt thou do more for a man than I would for a woman?
Pithias. Yea, that I will.
Gronno. Then come on your ways, you must to prison haste.
I fear you will repent this folly at last.
Pithias. That shalt thou never see. ”

“ True friendship will I honour unto my life’s end;
My greatest glory shall be to be counted a perfect friend.
Pithias. For this your deed, most noble king, the gods advance your name,
And since to friendship’s lore you list your princely heart to frame,
With joyful heart, O king, most welcome now to me,
With you will I knit the perfect knot of amity:
Wherein I shall instruct you so, and Damon here your friend,
That you may know of amity the mighty force, and eke the joyful end:
And how that kings do stand upon a fickle ground,
Within whose realm at time of need no faithful friends are found. ”

“ At any time false that no man can make it:
And yet by their leave, that first have it spoken,
How that may prove false, even here I will open:
For I, Stephano, lo, so named by my father,
At this time serve two masters together,
And love them alike: the one and the other
I duly obey, I can do no other.
A bondman I am, so nature hath wrought me,
One Damon of Greece, a gentleman, bought me.
To him I stand bound, yet serve I another,
Whom Damon my master loves as his own brother:
A gentleman too, and Pithias he is named,
Fraught with virtue, whom vice never defamed. ”

“ Cast off all doubts and rest yourself on Mars:
A hopeless fear forbids a happy fate.
Arthur. In sooth (good Cador) , so our fortune fares,
As needs we must return to wonted force.
To wars we must; but such unhappy wars,
As leave no hope for right or wrong to ’scape.
Myself foresees the fate; it cannot fall
Without our dearest blood: much may the mind
Of pensive sire presage, whose son so sins.
All truth, all trust, all blood, all bands be broke!
The seeds are sown that spring to future spoil.
My son, my nephew, yea, each side myself,
Nearer than all (woe’s me) , too near, my foe! ”

“ Fame reporteth strange things of Dionysius,
But kings’ matters passing our reach, pertain not to us.
Carisophus. Dionysius, quoth you? since the world began,
In Sicilia never reigned so cruel a man:
A despiteful tyrant to all men; I marvel, I,
That none makes him away, and that suddenly.
Damon. My friend, the gods forbid so cruel a thing
That any man should lift up his sword against the king!
Or seek other means by death him to prevent,
Whom to rule on earth the mighty gods have sent.
But, my friend, leave off this talk of King Dionysius.
Carisophus. Why, sir? he cannot hear us. ”

“ DAMON AND PITHIAS. [15]
Here entereth Aristippus.
Aristippus. Tho’ strange (perhaps) it seems to some,
That I, Aristippus, a courtier am become:
A philosopher of late, not of the meanest name,
But now to the courtly behaviour my life I frame.
Muse he that list, to you of good skill,
I say that I am a philosopher still.
Loving of wisdom is termed philosophy, [16]
Then who is a philosopher so rightly as I?
For in loving of wisdom proof doth this try,
That frustra sapit, qui non sapit sibi.
I am wise for myself: then tell me of troth,
Is not that great wisdom, as the world go’th? ”

“ The gods now I know have heard my fervent prayer,
That they have reserved me to this passing great honour,
To die for my friend, whose faith even now I do not mistrust;
My friend Damon is no false traitor, he is true and just:
But sith he is no god, but a man, he must do as he may,
The wind may be contrary, sickness may let him, [140] or some misadventure by the way,
Which the eternal gods turn all to my glory,
That fame may resound how Pithias for Damon did die:
He breaketh no oath which doth as much as he can,
His mind is here, he hath some let, he is but a man. ”

“ Ah, poor Stephano, hast thou lived to see this day,
To see thy true master unjustly made away?
Pithias. Stephano, seeing the matter is come to this extremity,
Let us make virtue our friend of mere necessity.
Run thou to the court, and understand secretly
As much as thou canst of Damon’s cause, and I
Will make some means to entreat Aristippus:
He can do much, as I hear, with King Dionysius.
Stephano. I am gone, sir. Ah, I would to God my travail and pain
Might restore my master to his liberty again!
Pithias. Ah woful Pithias! sith now I am alone,
What way shall I first begin to make my moan? ”

“ Which sort under that cloak do all kinds of villainy,
A right courtier is virtuous, gentle, and full of urbanity,
Hurting no man, good to all, devoid of villainy:
But such as thou art, fountains of squirrility and vain delights;
Though you hang by the court, you are but flatt’ring parasites;
As well deserving the right name of courtesy,
As the coward knight the true praise of chivalry.
I could say more, but I will not, for that I am your well-willer.
In faith, Carisophus, you are no courtier but a caterpillar,
A sycophant, a parasite, a flatterer, and a knave. ”

“ To all the world Dionysius’ court now plainly doth express:
Who since to faithful friends he gave his willing ear,
Most safely sitteth on his seat, and sleeps devoid of fear.
Purged is the court of vice, since friendship ent’red in,
Tyranny quails, he studieth now with love each heart to win:
Virtue is had in price, and hath his just reward;
And painted speech, that gloseth for gain, from gifts is quite debarr’d.
One loveth another now for virtue, not for gain;
Where virtue doth not knit the knot, there friendship cannot reign ”

“ But now this age requires a sager course,
And will, advis’d by harms, to wisdom yields.
Those swelling spirits, the self-same cause which first
Set them on gog, even fortune’s favours quail’d,
And now mine oft’nest scapes do scare me most.
I fear the trap whereat I oft have tripp’d:
Experience tells me plain that chance is frail,
And oft the better past, the worse to come.
Cador. Resist these doubts: ’tis ill to yield to harms.
’Tis safest then to dare, when most you fear.
Arthur. As safe sometimes to fear, when most we dare:
A causeless courage gives repentance place. ”

“ Did I not understand thee noble, valiant,
And worthy my sword’s society with thee,
For all Spain’s wealth, I’d not grasp hands.
Meet Don Andrea? I tell thee, noble spirit,
I’d wade up to the knees in blood, I’d make
A bridge of Spanish carcases, to single thee
Out of the gasping army.
And. Woot thou, prince?
Why even for that I love [thee.]
Bal. Tut, love me, man, when we have drunk
Hot blood together; wounds will tie
An everlasting settled amity,
And so shall thine.
And. And thine.
Bal. What! give no place?
And. To whom?
Bal. To me.
And. To thee? ”

“ Both to break my promise, and to suffer me to see thee die,
Whom so dearly I love: this small request grant me,
I shall never ask thee more, my desire is but friendly.
Do me this honour, that fame may report triumphantly,
That Pithias for his friend Damon was contented to die.
Damon. That you were contented for me to die, fame cannot deny;
Yet fame shall never touch me with such a villainy,
To report that Damon did suffer his friend Pithias for him guiltless to die;
Therefore content thyself, the gods requite thy constant faith,
None but Damon’s blood can appease Dionysius’ wrath. ”

“ My friendship thou soughtest for thine own commodity,
As worldly men do, by profit measuring amity:
Which I perceiving, to the like myself I framed,
Wherein I know of the wise I shall not be blamed:
If you ask me; Quare? I answer, Quia prudentis est multum dissimulare.
To speak more plainer, as the proverb doth go,
In faith, Carisophus, cum Cretense cretizo.
Yet a perfect friend I show myself to thee in one thing,
I do not dissemble, now I say I will not speak for thee to the king:
Therefore sink in thy sorrow, I do not deceive thee,
A false knave I found thee, a false knave I leave thee. ”

“ They cry for wars, and longing for th’ alarm,
Even now they wish t’ encounter with their foes.
Mordred. What could be wish’d for more? puissant king,
For your great help and valiant Irish force,
If I obtain the conquest in these wars,
Whereas my father claims a tribute due
Out of your realm; I here renounce it quite:
And if assistance need in doubtful times,
I will not fail to aid you with the like.
Gilla. It doth suffice me to discharge my realm,
Or at the least to wreak me on my foes.
I rather like to live your friend and peer,
Than rest in Arthur’s homage and disgrace.
Mordred. ”

“ What double death is this? but, O mighty Dionysius,
Do true justice now: weigh this aright, thou noble Eubulus;
Let me have no wrong, as now stands the case:
Damon ought not to die, but Pithias:
By misadventure, not by his will, his hour is past; therefore I,
Because he came not at his just time, ought justly to die:
So was my promise, so was thy promise, O king,
All this court can bear witness of this thing.
Damon. Not so, O mighty king: to justice it is contrary,
That for another man’s fault the innocent should die:
Ne yet is my time plainly expired, it is not fully noon. ”

“ Mordred. All things are rul’d in constant course: no fate
But is foreset: the first day leads the last.
No wisdom then, but difference in conceit,
Which works in many men as many minds.
You love the mean, and follow virtue’s race:
I like the top, and aim at greater bliss.
You rest content: my mind aspires to more.
In brief, you fear, I hope; you doubt, I dare.
Since, then, the sagest counsels are but strifes,
Where equal wits may wrest each side alike,
Let counsel go: my purpose must proceed.
Each likes his course, mine own doth like me best. ”

“ Must we be dar’d? Nay, let that princock come,
That knows not yet himself, nor Arthur’s force;
That ne’er yet waged wars; that’s yet to learn
To give the charge: yea, let that princock come,
With sudden soldiers pamper’d up in peace,
And gowned troops and wantons worn with ease;
With sluggish Saxons’ crew and Irish kerns,
And Scottish aid, and false redshanked Picts,
Whose slaughters yet must teach their former foil.
They shall perceive with sorrow, ere they part,
When all their toils be told, that nothing works
So great a waste and ruin in this age,
As do my wars. O Mordred, blessed son! ”

“ Now, Gorlois, ’suage thyself. Pride hath his pay,
Murther his price, adult’ry his desert,
Treason his meed, disloyalty his doom,
Wrong hath his wreak, and guilt his guerdon bears!
Not one abuse erst offered by thy foes,
But, since most sternly punish’d, is now purg’d.
Where thou didst fall, ev’n on the self-same soil,
Pendragon, Arthur, Mordred, and their stock
Found all their foils: not one hath ’scaped revenge;
Their line from first to last quite razed out!
Now rest content, and work no further plagues:
Let future age be free from Gorlois’ ghost:
Let Britain henceforth bathe in endless weal. ”

“ Aristippus. My friend, in this case I can do you no pleasure.
Pithias. Sir, you serve in the court, as fame doth tell.
Aristippus. I am of the court indeed, but none of the council.
Pithias. As I hear, none is in greater favour with the king, than you at this day.
Aristippus. The more in favour, the less I dare say.
Pithias. It is a courtier’s praise to help strangers in misery.
Aristippus. To help another, and hurt myself, it is an evil point of courtesy.
Pithias. You shall not hurt yourself to speak for the innocent.
Aristippus. He is not innocent, whom the king judgeth nocent. ”

“ To Fame, the flatterer of the former age.
Were all believ’d which antique bruit imports,
Yet wisdom weighs the peril join’d to praise.
Rare is the fame (mark well all ages gone)
Which hath not hurt the house it most enhanc’d.
Besides, fame’s but a blast that sounds awhile,
And quickly stints, and then is quite forgot.
Look, whatsoe’er our virtues have achiev’d,
The chaos vast and greedy time devours.
To-day all Europe rings with Arthur’s praise:
’Twill be as hush’d as if I ne’er had been.
What boots it then to venture life or limb
For that which needs ere long we leave or lose?
Cador. ”

“ Here entereth Pithias and Stephano.
Pithias. What strange news are these! ah, my Stephano,
Is my Damon in prison, as the voice doth go?
Stephano. It is true, O cruel hap! he is taken for a spy,
And as they say, by Dionysius’ own mouth condemned to die.
Pithias. To die! Alas! For what cause?
Stephano. A sycophant falsely accused him: other cause there is none.
But, O Jupiter, of all wrongs the revenger,
Seest thou this unjustice, and wilt thou stay any longer
From heaven to send down thy hot consuming fire,
To destroy the workers of wrong, which provoke thy just ire? ”

“ Mordred. Trust me, a huge and mighty kingdom ’tis
To bear the want of kingdom, realm, and crown.
Gawin. A common want, which works each worlding’s woe:
That many have too much, but none enough.
It were his praise could he be so content,
Which makes you guilty of the greater wrong.
Wherefore think on the doubtful state of wars.
Where Mars hath sway, he keeps no certain course:
Sometimes he lets the weaker to prevail,
Sometimes the stronger troops: hope, fear, and rage
With eyeless lot rules all uncertain good,
Most certain harms be his assured haps. ”

“ Bending in the hams like an old courtier:—
Thy assured friend, say, ’gainst Lorenzo and
The devil,—little Jeronimo Marshal.
Hor. Jeronimo Marshal.
Jer. So, now read it o’er.
Hor. Signior Andrea, ’tis a villainous age this,
That a nobleman should be a knave as well
As an ostler, or a serjeant, or a broker; yet
I speak not this of Lorenzo: he’s an
Honest lord, and has hired one to murder you,
When you return from Portugal: yet
He’s an honest duke’s son, but not the
Honest son of a duke. O that villainy
Should be found in the great chamber, and honesty
In the bottom of the cellar! ”

“ Is this the fruit of Mordred’s forward youth
And tender age, discreet beyond his years?
O false and guileful life! O crafty world!
How cunningly convey’st thou fraud unseen!
Th’ ambitious seemeth meek, the wanton chaste;
Disguised vice for virtue vaunts itself.
Thus (Arthur) , thus hath fortune play’d her part,
Blind for thy weal, clear-sighted for thy woe.
Thy kingdom’s gone, thy sphere affords no faith:
Thy son rebels: of all thy wonted pomp
No jot is left, and fortune hides her face.
No place is left for prosperous plight: mishaps
Have room and ways to run and walk at will. ”

“ Therefore farewell, Stephano, commend me to my friend Pithias,
Whom I trust to deliver in time out of this woful case.
Stephano. Farewell, my dear master, since your pleasure is so.
O cruel hap! O poor Stephano!
O cursed Carisophus, that first moved this tragedy!—
But what a noise is this? is all well within, trow ye?
I fear all be not well within, I will go see.—
Come out, you weasel: are you seeking eggs in Damon’s chest?
Come out, I say, wilt thou be packing? by Cock, you were best.
Carisophus. How durst thou, villain, to lay hands on me? ”