Enter PRINCE, Conspirators.
THERSAMES:
Couldst thou not find out Ziriff?
1 Court.:
Not speak with him, my lord,
Yet I sent in by several men.
ORSAMES:
I wonder Iolas meets us not here, too.
THERSAMES:
'Tis strange, but let's on now howe'er;
When fortunes, honour, life, and all's in doubt,
Bravely to dare is bravely to get out.
Betray'd! betray'd! [Excursions.
ORSAMES:
Shift for yourself, sir, and let us alone;
We will secure your way, and make our own.
Enter the KING and Lords.
KING:
Follow, lords, and see quick execution done;
Who treads on fire, and does not put it out,
Disperses fear in many sparks of doubt. [Exeunt.
Enter Conspirators, and the Guard upon them.
ORSAMES:
Stand, friends: an equal party.
[Fight.] Three of the Conspirators fall,
and three of the King's side:
Orsames and Philan kill the rest.
They throw off their disguises.
PHILAN:
Brave Orsames, 'tis pleasure to die near thee.
ORSAMES:
Talk not of dying, Philan; we will live,
And serve the noble prince again: we are alone.
Off then with thy disguise, and throw it in the bushes.
Quick, quick! before the torrent comes upon us.
We shall be straight good subjects, and I despair not
Of reward for this night's service. So
We two now kill'd our friends! 'tis hard,
Enter ARIASPES, IOLAS, two Courtiers, part of the Guard.
ARIASPES:
Follow, follow!
ORSAMES:
Yes, so you may now; ye're not likely to overtake.
IOLAS:
Orsames and Philan! how came you hither?
ORSAMES:
The nearest way, it seems; you follow'd, thank you.
As if it had been through quicksets.
IOLAS:
'Sdeath, have they all escap'd?
ORSAMES:
Not all, two of them we made sure;
But they cost dear: look here else.
ARIASPES:
Is the prince there?
PHILAN:
They are both princes, I think.
They fought like princes, I am sure.
Iolas pulls off the visors.
IOLAS:
Stephines and Odiris. We trifle.
ORSAMES:
Two of them are certainly hereabouts.
ARIASPES:
Upon my life, they swam the river;
Come, straight to horse, and follow o'er the bridge;
You and I, my lord, will search this place a little better.
ORSAMES:
Your highness will, I hope, remember who were
ARIASPES:
O, fear not, your mistress shall know ye're valiant.
ORSAMES:
Philan, if thou lov'st me, let's kill them upon the place.
PHILAN:
Fie! thou now art wild indeed!
Thou taught'st me to be wise first,
And I will now keep thee so. Follow, follow. [Exeunt.
Enter AGLAURA with a lute.
The Prince comes and knocks within.
AGLAURA:
What wretch is this that thus usurps
Upon the privilege of ghosts, and walks
My willing sense, too soon; yet if that voice
THERSAMES:
Open, fair saint, and let me in.
AGLAURA:
It is the prince——
That cannot sleep do light; welcome, sir. [Opens.
Bless me, what means this unsheath'd minister of death?
If, sir, on me quick justice be to pass,
Why this? Absence, alas! or such strange looks
As you now bring with you, would kill as soon.
THERSAMES:
Softly! for I, like a hard-hunted deer,
Have only herded here; and though the cry
Reach not our ears, yet am I followed close:
O my heart! since I saw thee
Time has been strangely active, and begot
A monstrous issue of unheard-of story:
Sit; thou shalt have it all! nay, sigh not.
Such blasts will hinder all the passage;
Dost thou remember how we parted last?
AGLAURA:
Can I forget it, sir?
THERSAMES:
That word of parting was ill-plac'd, I swear.
It may be ominous; but dost thou know
Into whose hands I gave thee?
AGLAURA:
Yes, into Ziriff's, sir.
THERSAMES:
That Ziriff was thy brother, brave Zorannes,
Preserv'd by miracle in that sad day
Thy father fell, and since thus in disguise
Waiting his just revenge.
AGLAURA:
You do amaze me, sir.
THERSAMES:
And must do more, when I tell all the story.
The king, the jealous king, knew of the marriage,
And when thou thought'st thyself by my direction,
Unless I would renounce all right,
And cease to love thee—O strange and fond request!—
Immur'd thou must have been in some sad place,
And lock'd for ever from Thersame's sight,
For ever, and that unable to endure!
This night I did attempt his life.
AGLAURA:
Was it well done, sir?
THERSAMES:
O no! extremely ill!
For to attempt and not to act was poor.
Here the dead-doing law (like ill-paid soldiers)
Leaves the side it was on to join with power.
Royal villainy now will look so like to justice,
That the times to come and curious posterity
Will find no difference. Weep'st thou, Aglaura?
And we will there mock tyranny and fate.
Those softer hours of pleasure and delight
That, like so many single hearts, should have
Adorn'd our thread of life, we will at once,
By love's mysterious power and this night's help,
Contract to one, and make but one rich draught
AGLAURA:
What mean you, sir?
THERSAMES:
To make myself incapable of misery,
By taking strong preservatives of happiness:
I would this night enjoy thee.
AGLAURA:
Do, sir, do what you will with me;
For I am too much yours to deny the right
THERSAMES:
But what, Aglaura?
AGLAURA:
Gather not roses in a wet and frowning hour,
They'll lose their sweets then, trust me they will, sir.
What pleasure can love take to play his game out,
When death must keep the stakes? [A noise without.
Hark, sir, grave-bringers and last minutes are at hand,
Hide, hide yourself; for love's sake, hide yourself!
THERSAMES:
As soon the sun may hide himself as I.
The Prince of Persia hide himself!
AGLAURA:
O, talk not, sir; the sun does hide himself,
When night and blackness comes.
THERSAMES:
Never, sweet ignorance, he shines in th' other world then;
And so shall I, if I set here in glory.
Enter, ye hasty seekers of life.
[Opens the door. Enter Ziriff.
If all the joy within me come not out,
To give a welcome to so dear an object,
Excuse it, sir; sorrow locks up all doors.
ZIRIFF:
If there be such a toy about you, sister,
Keep 't for yourself, or lend it to the prince;
There is a dearth of that commodity,
And you have made it, sir. Now,
What is the next mad thing you mean to do?
Will you stay here? when all the court's beset,
Like to a wood at a great hunt, and busy mischief hates
To be in view, and have you in her power——
THERSAMES:
To me all this?
For great grief's deaf, as well as it is dumb,
And drives no trade at all with counsel. Sir,
Why do you not tutor one that has the plague,
And see if he will fear an after-ague fit;
Such is all mischief now to me, there is none left
Is worth a thought; death is the worst I know,
And that, compar'd to shame, does look more lovely now
Than a chaste mistress, set by a common woman;
And I must court it, sir?
ZIRIFF:
No wonder, if that heav'n
Forsake us when we leave ourselves:
What is there done should feed such high despair?
AGLAURA:
Dear sir, be rul'd;
If love be love, and magic too,
As sure it is, where it is true;
We then shall meet in absence, and in spite
Of all divorce freely enjoy together
What niggard fate thus peevishly denies.
THERSAMES:
Yea: but, if pleasures be themselves but dreams,
What then are the dreams of these to men?
That monster, Expectation, will devour
All that is within our hope or power,
And ere we once can come to show how rich
We are, we shall be poor,
ZIRIFF:
I understand not this.
In times of envious penury, such as these are,
To keep but love alive is fair; we should not think
Of feasting him. Come, sir:
Here in these lodgings is a little door,
That leads unto another; that again
Unto a vault that has his passage under
The little river, opening into the wood;
From thence 'tis but some few minutes' easy business
Unto a servant's house of mine, who for his faith
And honesty hereafter must
Look big in story. There you are safe, however;
And when this storm has met a little calm,
What wild desire dares whisper to itself,
You may enjoy, and at the worst may steal.
THERSAMES:
What shall become of thee, Aglaura, then?
Shall I leave thee their rage's sacrifice?
And, like dull seamen threaten'd with a storm,
Throw all away I have to save myself?
AGLAURA:
Can I be safe, when you are not, my lord?
Knows love in us divided happiness?
Am I the safer for your being here?
Can you give that you have not for yourself?
My innocence is my best guard, and that your stay,
Betraying it unto suspicion, takes away.
THERSAMES:
Grows that in question? [kisses her] then 'tis time to part!
When we shall meet again, heaven only knows;
And when we shall, I know we shall be old.
Love does not calculate the common way;
Minutes are hours there, and the hours are days;
Each day's an year, and every year an age.
What will this come to, think you?
ZIRIFF:
Would this were all the ill!
For these are petty little harmless nothings.
Time's horse runs full as fast hard-borne and curb'd,
As in his full career, loose rein'd and spurr'd.
THERSAMES:
Happiness such as men, lost in misery,
Would wrong in naming, 'tis so much above them.
All that I want of it, all you deserve,
Heaven send you in my absence!
AGLAURA:
And misery such as witty malice would
Lay out in curses on the thing it hates,
Heaven send me in the stead, if when you are gone
[Leads him out, and enters up one of the vaults.
I welcome it but for your sake alone. [Exeunt.
ZIRIFF:
Stir not from hence, sir, till you hear from me,
So, good-night, dear prince.
THERSAMES:
Good-night, dear friend.
ZIRIFF:
When we meet next, all this will but advance.
Joy never feasts so high,
As when the first course is of misery. [Exeunt.