Francis Beaumont

“ Ye wound her now; ye are too superstitious,
No sacrifice of bloud, or death she longs for.
Lid. Came he from Heaven?
Clar. He tells us truth good Lidian.
Lisa. That part of noble love which is most sweet,
And gives eternal being to fair beauty,
Honour, you hack i' pieces with your swords,
And that ye fight to crown, ye kill, fair credit.
Clar. Thus we embrace, no more fight, but all friendship,
And where love pleases to bestow his benefits,
Let us not argue.
Lid. Nay, brave Sir, come in too;
You may love also, and may hope, if ye do,
And not rewarded for't, there is no justice ”

“ I'll be thy Nurse, and get a Coral for thee,
And a fine Ring of Bells.
Jac. 'Faith, this is somewhat
Too much, Fabricio, to your friend that loves you;
Methinks your goodness rather should invent
A way to make my follies less, than breed 'em;
I should have been more moderate to you,
But I see ye despise me.
Fab. Now I love ye,
There, take your Sword: continue so; I dare not
Stay now to try your patience, soon I'll meet ye,
And as you love your honours, and your state,
Redeem your self well to the Gentlewoman,
Farewel till soon. ”

“ Manent Valerio, and Evanthe.
Evan. Is our fair love, our honest, our entire,
Come to this hazard?
Val. 'Tis a noble one, and I am much in love with malice for it,
Envy could not have studied me a way,
Nor fortune pointed out a path to Honour,
Straighter and nobler, if she had her eyes;
When I have once enjoy'd my sweet Evanthe,
And blest my Youth with her most dear embraces,
I have done my journey here, my day is out,
All that the World has else is foolery,
Labour, and loss of time; what should I live for?
Think but mans life a Month, and we are happy. ”

“ Now, my Son Diocles,
Are ye not weary of your game to day?
And are ye well?
Dio. Yes, Mother, well and lusty,
Only ye make me hunt for empty shadows.
Del. You must have patience, Rome was not built in one day:
And he that hopes, must give his hopes their Currents.
You have kill'd a mighty Boar.
Dio. But I am no Emperour:
Why do you fool me thus, and make me follow
Your flattering expectation hour by hour?
Rise early, and sleep late? to feed your appetites,
Forget my Trade, my Arms? forsake mine honour,
Labour and sweat to arrive at a base memory? ”

“ It was your honour;
And e're you give it full, do you destroy it?
Or was there some dire Star? some Devil that did it?
Some sad malignant Angel to mine honour?
With you I dare not rage.
Del. With me thou canst not,
Though it was I. Nay, look not pale and frighted;
I'le fright thee more. With me thou canst not quarrel;
I rais'd the thunder, to rebuke thy falshood:
Look here, to her thy falshood. Now be angry,
And be as great in evil as in Empire.
Dio. Bless me, ye Powers.
Del. Thou hast full need of blessing. ”

“ All. We are ready, Captain.
Rod. So, now what are ye?
Ped. Am I?
My habit shews me what I am.
Rod. Thy heart
A desperate fool, and so thy fate shall tell thee.
What Devil brought thee hither? for I know thee.
Ped. I know thou dost, and since it is my fortune
To light into thy fingers, I must think too
The most malicious of all Devils brought me,
Yet some men say thou art noble.
Rod. Not to thee,
That were a benefit to mock the Giver;
Thy father hates my friends, and family,
And thou hast been the heir of all this malice. ”

“ Ped. Dost thou seek more coals still to sear thy conscience,
Work sacred innocence, to be a Devil?
Do't thy self for shame, thou best becom'st it.
Rod. Sirrah, I scorn my finger should be 'fil'd with thee;
And yet I'le have it done: this child shall strangle thee,
A crying Girle, if she were here, should master thee.
Alin. How should I save him? how my self from violence?
Ped. Leave your tongue-valour, and dispatch your hate, Sir;
The patience of my death, shall more torment thee,
(Thou painted honour, thou base man made backward)
Than all my life has fear'd thee. ”

“ Pray ye speak uprightly.
Cle. We confess ye happy,
And we could well wish such another Banquet,
But on that price my Lord—
Val. 'Twere nothing else,
No man can ever come to aim at Heaven,
But by the knowledge of a Hell. These shooes are heavy,
And if I should be call'd to dance they'l clog me,
Get me some pumps; I'le tell ye brave Camillo,
And you dear friends, the King has honour'd me,
Out of his gracious favour has much honour'd me,
To limit me my time, for who would live long?
Who would be old? 'tis such a weariness,
Such a disease, that hangs like lead upon us. ”

“ But I reserve thee to a nobler service.
Rod. I thank ye, and I'le study more to honour ye:
You have the nobler soul, I must confess it,
And are the greater Master of your goodness.
Though it be impossible I would now recover,
And my rude will grow handsom in an instant,
Yet touching but the pureness of your metal,
Something shall shew like gold, at least shall glister,
That men may hope, although the mind be rugged,
Stony, and hard to work, yet time, and honour
Shall find and bring forth that, that's rich and worthy. ”

“ And ordering both their ends and loves. O Honour!
How greedily men seek thee, and once purchased,
How many Enemies to mans peace bringst thou!
How many griefs and sorrows, that like sheers,
Like fatal Sheers, are sheering off our lives still!
How many sad Eclipses do we shine thorow!
Enter Delphia, Drusilla, vail'd.
When I presum'd I was blessed in this fair woman.
Del. Behold him now, and tell me how thou lik'st him.
Dio. When all my hopes were up, and Fortune dealt me
Even for the greatest, and the happiest Monarch,
Then to be cozen'd, to be cheated basely? ”

“ If I should favour both, 'twill taint my honour,
And that before my life I must prefer;
If one I lean to, the other is disvalued;
You are fierie both, and love will make you warmer.
Clar. The warmer still the fitter. You are a fool Lady.
Oli. To what may love, and the Devil jealousie spur you
Is too apparent: my name's call'd in question:
Your swords flie out, your angers range at large:
Then what a murther of my modesty follows?
Clar. Take heed of that by any means: O innocent,
That will deny a blessing when 'tis offer'd,
Would I were murther'd so, I would thank my modesty. ”

“ To my dear Lord, with vertuous thoughts that scorn ye.
Victorious Thomyris ne'r won more honour
In cutting off the Royal head of Cyrus,
Than I shall do in conquering thee; farewel,
And if thou canst be wise, learn to be good too.
'Twill give thee nobler lights than both thine eyes do;
My poor Lord and my self are bound to suffer,
And when I see him faint under your sentence,
I'll tell ye more, it may be then I'll yield too.
Fred. Fool unexampled, shall my anger follow thee? ”

“ You appear the vision of a Heaven unto me,
Stuck all with stars of honour shining clearly,
And all the motions of your mind Celestial;
Man is a lump of Earth, the best man spiritless,
To such a woman; all our lives and actions
But counterfeits in Arras to this vertue;
Chide me again, you have so brave an anger,
And flows so nobly from you, thus deliver'd,
That I could suffer like a Child to hear ye,
Nay make my self guilty of some faults to honour ye.
Eva. I'le chide no more, you have rob'd me of my courage,
And with a cunning patience checkt my impudence ”

“ Has never scar'd you Clora to my knowledge.
Clor. 'Tis true, for I never have seen a worse;
Nor while I say my prayers heartily,
I hope I shall not.
Fran. Well, I am no tell tale:
But is it not great pity, tell me Clora,
That such a brave deserving Gentleman
As every one delivers this to be,
Should have no more respect, and worth flung on him
By able men? Were I one of these great ones,
Such vertues should not sleep thus.
Clor. Were he greater
He would sleep more I think: I'le waken him.
Fran. Away ye fool. ”

“ No, he woos not,
Nor worthy is of death, because she follows him,
Because she courts him; Shall I kill an innocent?
O Diocles! would thou hadst never known this,
Nor surfeited upon this sweet Ambition,
That now lies bitter at thy heart; O Fortune,
That thou hast none to fool, and blow like bubbles,
But Kings, and their Contents!
Del. What think you now, Girl?
Dru. Upon my life, I pity his misfortune:
See how he weeps; I cannot hold.
Del. Away, fool;
He must weep bloody tears before thou hast him.
How fare ye now, brave Dioclesian?
What! lazy in your loves? ”

“ Enter Frederick.
Fred. Look to the door Sirrah,
Thou art a fool, and may'st do mischief lawfully.
Tony. Give me your hand, you are my Brother fool,
You may both make the Law, and marr it presently.
Do you love a wench?
Fred. Who does not, fool?
Tony. Not I, unless you will give me a longer lease to marry her.
Fred. What are all these that come, what business have they?
Tony. Some come to gape, those are my fellow fools;
Some to get home their wives, those be their own fools;
Some to rejoyce with thee, those be the times fools ”

“ To mortal anger? 'gainst the man ye love most?
Have ye the name of vertuous, not the nature?
Lid. I will sit down.
Clar. And I'le sit by you, Lidian.
Lis. And I'le go on, can Heaven be pleas'd with these things?
To see two hearts that have been twin'd together,
Married in friendship to the world, to wonder,
Of one growth, of one nourishment, one health,
Thus mortally divorc'd for one weak woman?
Can love be pleas'd? love is a gentle spirit,
The wind that blows the April flowers, not softer;
She is drawn with doves to shew her peacefulness,
Lions and bloody Pards are Mars's servants ”

“ Cal. I weep your miseries, and would to heaven—what noise?
Lis. It comes on louder.
Kill me, and save your self; save your fair honour,
And lay the fault on me, let my life perish,
My base lascivious life, shoot quickly, Lady.
Cal. Not for the World, retire behind the hangings,
And there stand close—my husband, close, Lisander.
Enter Cleander with a Taper.
Clean. Dearest, are you well?
Cal. O my sad heart, my head, my head.
Clean. Alas, poor soul! what do you do out of your bed?
You take cold, my Calista; how do ye?
Cal. Not so well, Sir, to lie by ye, my Brothers fright—
Clean. ”

“ What did he tell thee, Evanthe?
Evan. That but to gain thy life a fortnight longer,
Thy lov'd poor life, thou gav'st up all my duties.
Val. I swear 'tis false; my life and death are equal,
I have weigh'd 'em both, and find 'em but one fortune,
But Kings are men, and live as men, and dye too,
Have the affections men have, and their falsehoods;
Indeed they have more power to make 'em good;
The King's to blame, it was to save thy life Wench,
Thy innocent life, that I forbore thy bed,
For if I had toucht thee thou hadst dyed, he swore it. ”

“ A most insulting Tyranness, I to thee
May prove a gentle Mistriss.
Aur. O my Stars,
A Mistriss? can I live and owe that name
To flesh and blood? I was born to command,
Train'd up in Soveraignty; and I, in death
Can quit the name of Slave; she that scorns life,
May mock Captivity.
Char. Rome will be Rome
When we are nothing; and her power's the same
Which you once quak'd at.
Max. Dioclesian lives;
Hear it and tremble; Lives (thou King of Persia)
The Master of his Fortune, and his Honour ”