Enter ZIRIFF, PASITHAS, and Guard: he places 'em
and Exit. A state set out.
Enter ZIRIFF, IOLAS, ARIASPES.
ARIASPES:
Pray heav'n it prove so.
ZIRIFF:
'Tis about this hollow.
ARIASPES:
How now! what region are we got into,
Th' inheritance of night?
Have we not mistaken a turning, Ziriff,
And stepp'd into the confines of some melancholy
IOLAS:
Sure, 'tis a part of the first Chaos,
That would not suffer any change.
ZIRIFF:
No matter, sir, 'tis as proper for our
Purpose, as the lobby for the waiting-woman's.
Stay you here: I'll move a little backward;
And so we shall be sure to put him past
Retreat. You know the word, if it be the prince?
[Ziriff goes to the door.
Here, sir, follow me; all's quiet yet.
KING:
Is he not come then?
IOLAS:
I do not like this waiting,
Nor this fellow's leaving of us.
ARIASPES:
This place does put odd thoughts into thee.
Then thou art in thine own nature, too,
As jealous as love or honour; wear thy sword
In readiness, and think how near we are a crown.
ZIRIFF:
Revenge! [Guard seizeth on 'em.
ZIRIFF:
Bring them forth. [Brings them forth.
ZIRIFF:
Yes, and the prince's friend.
The wrong'd Zorannes! King, d'you stare?
Away with them, where I appointed.
Let me go, villain, thou dar'st not do this.
ZORANNES:
Poor counterfeit, how fain thou now wouldst act a king,
And art not! Stay you [to Ariaspes]. Unhand him [in a whisper].
Leave us now. [Exeunt. Manent Ariasp. et Zoran.
ARIASPES:
What does this mean? Sure
He does intend the crown to me!
Follow me out of the wood, and thou shalt be
Master of this again; and then best arm
ARIASPES:
Thy offer is so noble,
In gratitude I cannot but propound
Gentler conditions; we will divide the empire.
ZORANNES:
Now, by my father's soul, I do almost repent
My first intents, and now could kill thee scurvily,
For thinking, if I'd a mind to rule, I would not rule
Alone. Let not thy easy faith (lost man)
Fool thee into so dull an heresy;
Orbella is our quarrel, and I have thought it fit
That love should have a nobler way of justice,
If thou dar'st die handsomely, follow me.
[Exeunt, and enter both again.
There. [Gives him his sword.
ARIASPES:
Extremely good; nature took pains, I swear,
The villain and the brave are mingled handsomely.
ZIRIFF:
'Twas fate that took it, when that it decreed
We two should meet; nor shall they mingle now:
We are but brought together straight to part. [Fight.
ARIASPES:
Some devil sure has borrowed this shape,
My sword ne'er stay'd thus long to find an entrance.
ZIRIFF:
To guilty men all that appears is devil;
Come, trifler, come. [Fight.
ARIASPES:
Dog, thou hast it.
ZIRIFF:
Why, then, it seems my star's as great as his,
[Ariaspes pants, and runs at him to catch his sword.
Thou now wouldst have me kill thee,
And 'tis a courtesy I cannot afford thee.
I have bethought myself, there will be use
Of thee. Pasithas, to the rest with him. [Exit.
[Enter Pasithas and two of the
THERSAMES:
The dog-star's got up high; it should be late:
And sure by this time every waking ear
And watchful eye is charm'd: and yet methought
A noise of weapons struck my ear just now.
'Twas but my fancy, sure; and were it more,
I would not tread one step that did not lead
To my Aglaura, stood all his guard betwixt,
With lightning in their hands.
Danger, thou dwarf dress'd up in giant's clothes,
That show'st far off still greater than thou art,
Go, terrify the simple and the guilty, such
As with false optics still do look upon thee!
But fright not lovers: we dare look on thee
In thy worst shapes, and meet thee in them too.
Stay, these trees I made my mark, 'tis hereabouts.
Love, guide me but [a]right this night,
And lovers shall restore thee back again
Those eyes the poets took so boldly from thee.
Enter AGLAURA with a torch in one hand,
and a dagger in the other.
AGLAURA:
How ill this does become this hand! much worse
This suits with this! one of the two should go.
The she within me says it must be this:
Honour says this; and honour is Thersames' friend.
What is that she then? is it not a thing
That sets a price, not upon me, but on
Life in my name, leading me into doubt,
Which, when 't has done, it cannot light me out?
For fear does drive to fate, or fate, if we
Do fly, o'ertakes and holds us, till or death,
Or infamy, or both, do seize us. [Puts out the light.
Ha! would 'twere in again. Antics and strange misshapes,
Such as the porter of my soul—mine eye,
Was ne'er acquainted with, fancy lets in,
Like a disrouted multitude, by some strange accident
Piec'd together. Fear now afresh comes on,
And charges love too home. He comes, he comes!
Woman, if thou wouldst be the subject of man's wonder,
Not his scorn hereafter, now show thyself!
Enter THERSAMES from the vaults; she stabs him
THERSAMES:
Unkindly done.
AGLAURA:
The prince's voice! defend it goodness!
THERSAMES:
What art thou that thus poorly hast
AGLAURA:
O sad mistake, 'tis he!
THERSAMES:
Hast thou no voice?
AGLAURA:
I would I had not, nor a being neither.
THERSAMES:
Aglaura? it cannot be.
AGLAURA:
O, still believe so, sir;
For 'twas not I indeed, but fatal love.
THERSAMES:
Love's wounds us'd to be gentler than these were,
The pains they give us have some pleasure
In them, and that these have not.
Enter ZIRIFF with a taper.
O, do not say 'twas you, for that does wound
Again: guard me, my better angel:
Do I wake? my eyes (since I was man) ne'er met
With any object gave them so much trouble,
I dare not ask neither to be satisfied,
She looks so guiltily. [Aside.
AGLAURA:
Why do you stare and wonder at a thing,
That you yourself have made thus miserable?
ZIRIFF:
Good gods, and I o' the party too! [Aside.
AGLAURA:
Did you not tell me, that the king this night
Meant to attempt mine honour; that our condition
Would not admit of middle ways, and that
We must send them to graves, or lie
ZIRIFF:
Unfortunate mistake! [Ziriff knocks.
I never did intend our safety by thy hands:
Pasithas, go instantly and fetch Andrages
From his bed. How is it with you, sir?
With the besieg'd: my soul is so beset,
It does not know whether't had best to make
A desperate sally out by this port
AGLAURA:
Sure, I shall turn statue here!
THERSAMES:
If thou dost love me, weep not, Aglaura:
All those are drops of blood, and flow from me.
ZIRIFF:
Now all the gods defend this way
Of expiation. Thinkest thou thy crime,
Aglaura, would be less by adding to it?
Or canst thou hope to satisfy those powers,
Whom great sins do displease, by doing greater?
AGLAURA:
Discourteous courtesy: I had
No other means left me than this, to let
Thersames know I would do nothing to him
I would not do unto myself, and that
THERSAMES:
Friend, bring me a little nearer,
I find a kind of willingness to say,
And find that willingness something obey'd,
My blood, now it persuades itself you did
Not call in earnest, maketh not such haste.
AGLAURA:
O my dearest lord, this kindness is
So full of cruelty, puts such an ugliness
On what I have done, that when I look upon
Me from myself, and which is more
Insufferable—I fear, from you.
THERSAMES:
Why should that fright thee, which most comforts me?
I glory in it, and shall smile i' th' grave,
To think our love was such, that nothing but
Itself could e'er destroy it.
AGLAURA:
Destroy it? can it have ever end? Will you
Not be thus courteous, then, in the other world?
Shall we not be together there as here?
THERSAMES:
I cannot tell whether I may or not.
THERSAMES:
No. The gods thought me unworthy of thee here.
And when thou art more pure, why
Should I not more doubt it?
AGLAURA:
Because, if I shall be more pure, I shall
Be then more fit for you. Our priests
Assure us an Elysium; and can
That be Elysium, where true lovers must not
Meet? Those powers that made our loves, did they
Intend them mortal, would sure have made them
Of a coarser stuff, would they not, my lord?
THERSAMES:
Pr'ythee, speak still;
This music gives my soul such pleasing business;
Takes it so wholly up, it finds not leisure to
Attend unto the summons death does make.
Yet they are loud and peremptory now,
And I can only—— [Faints.
AGLAURA:
Some pitying power inspire me with
A way to follow him: heart, wilt thou not
ZIRIFF:
My griefs besot me.
His soul will sail out with this purple tide,
And I shall here be found staring after't,
Like a man that's too short o' th' ship, and's left
Behind upon the land. [She swoons.
O, welcome, welcome; here [he] lies, Andrages,
Alas, too great a trial for thy art.
ANDRAGES:
There's life in him: from whence these wounds?
ZIRIFF:
O, 'tis no time for story.
ANDRAGES:
'Tis not mortal, my lord; bow him gently;
And help me to infuse this into him.
The soul is but asleep, and not gone forth.
ZIRIFF:
Hark! the prince does live.
THERSAMES:
Whate'er thou art hast given me a new life,
And with it all my cares and miseries,
Expect not a reward: no, not a thanks.
If thou wouldst merit from me
(Yet who would be guilty of so lost an action?)
Restore me to my quietness again,
For life and that are most incompatible.
ZIRIFF:
Still in despairs! I did not think till now
'Twas in the power of fortune to have robb'd
Thersames of himself; for pity, sir,
And reason live; if you will die,
Die not Aglaura's murther'd,
That's not so handsome; at least
Die not her murther'd and her murtherer too;
For that will surely follow. Look up, sir;
This violence of fortune cannot last ever:
Who knows but all these clouds are shadows
To set off fairer days. If it grows blacker,
And the storms do rise, this harbour's always open.
THERSAMES:
What sayest thou, Aglaura?
AGLAURA:
What says Andrages?
ANDRAGES:
Madam, would heaven [that] his mind would admit
As easy cure, as will his body! 'twas
Only want of blood, and two hours' rest
ZIRIFF:
And by that time,
It may be, heaven will give our miseries some ease.
Come, sir, repose upon a bed;
There's time enough to-day.
THERSAMES:
Well, I will still obey,
Though I must fear it will be with me
But as it is with tortured men,
Whom states preserve only to rack again. [Exeunt.
Take off table. Enter ZIRIFF with a taper.
ZIRIFF:
All fast too here! They sleep to-night
I' their winding-sheets, I think: there's such
A general quiet. O, here's light, I warrant you;
For lust does take as little rest as care or age:
Courting her glass, I swear—fie! that's a flatterer, madam,
In me you shall see trulier what you are.
ORBELLA:
What make you up at this strange hour, my lord?
ZIRIFF:
My business is my boldness' warrant, madam;
And I could well afford t' have been without
It now, had heav'n so pleas'd.
ORBELLA:
'Tis a sad prologue:
What follows, in the name of virtue?
ORBELLA:
Ay, what of him? Is well, is he not?
If to be on's journey to the other world
ORBELLA:
Why, he's not dead, is he?
ZIRIFF:
Yes, madam, dead.
ZIRIFF:
I do not know particulars.
ORBELLA:
Art sure he's dead?
ZIRIFF:
Madam, I know him as certainly dead,
As I know you too must die hereafter.
ORBELLA:
We must all die.
The sisters spin no cables for us mortals.
They're Thread, and Time, and Chance.
Trust me, I could weep now;
But watery distillations do but ill,
On graves, they make the lodging colder.
ZIRIFF:
What would you, madam?
ORBELLA:
Why, my friends, my lord,
I would consult, and know what's to be done.
ZIRIFF:
Madam, 'tis not so safe to raise the court,
Things thus unsettled: if you please to have——
ORBELLA:
Where's Ariaspes?
ZIRIFF:
In his dead sleep by this time, sure.
ORBELLA:
I know he is not. Find him instantly.
ZIRIFF:
I'm gone. [Turns back again.
But, madam, why make you choice of him, from whom
If the succession meet disturbance, all
ORBELLA:
My lord, I am not yet so wise as to
Be jealous; pray, dispute no further.
ZIRIFF:
Pardon me, madam, if, before I go,
I must unlock a secret unto you; such
A one as, while the king did breathe,
Durst know no air? Zorannes lives.
ZIRIFF:
And in the hope of such a day as this
Has lingered out a life, snatching, to feed
His almost famish'd eyes, sights now and then
ORBELLA:
Strange! this night
ZIRIFF:
If you did love him,
As they say you did, and do so still;
'Tis now within your power!
ORBELLA:
I would it were,
My lord; but I am now no private woman;
If I did love him once (as 'tis so long ago,
I have forgot), my youth and ignorance may well
ORBELLA:
Yes, excuse it, sir.
ZIRIFF:
Though I confess I lov'd his father much,
And pity him, yet having offer'd it unto
Your thoughts, I have discharg'd a trust; and zeal
Shall stray no further. Your pardon, madam.
ORBELLA:
Maybe, 'tis but a plot to keep off Ariaspes'
Greatness, which he must fear, because he knows
He hates him: for these great statesmen
That, when time has made bold with the king
And subject, throwing down all fence,
That stood betwixt their power
And others' right, are on a change,
Like wanton salmons coming in with floods,
That leap o'er wires and nets, and make their way,
To be at the return to every one a prey.
ZIRIFF:
Look here, vain thing, and see thy sins full blown!
There's scarce a part in all this face thou hast
Not been forsworn by, heav'n forgive thee for't!
For thee I lost a father, country, friends:
Myself almost; for I lay buried long.
And when there was no use thy love could pay
Too great, thou mad'st the principal away.
As wantons, entering a garden, take
The first fair flow'r they meet, and treasure't in
Their laps; then seeing more, do make
Fresh choice again, throwing in one and one,
TIll at length the first poor flower, over-charged
With too much weight, withers and dies. So hast
Thou dealt with me, and, having kill'd me first,
ORBELLA:
Hold, hold! not for my sake, but
Orbella's, sir: a bare and single death
Is such a wrong to justice, I must needs
Find out a way to make me long a-dying;
For death's no punishment: it is the sense,
The pains and fears afore, that makes a death.
To think what I had had, had I had you:
What I have lost in losing of myself,
Are deaths far worse than any you can give.
Yet kill me quickly; for, if I have time,
I shall so wash this soul of mine with tears,
Make it so fine, that you would be afresh
In love with it, and so perchance I should
Again come to deceive you.
[She rises up weeping, and hanging
ZIRIFF:
So rises day, blushing at night's deformity:
And so the pretty flowers blubber'd with dew,
And over-wash'd with rain, hang down their heads.
I must not look upon her.
ORBELLA:
Were but the lilies in this face as fresh
As are the roses; had I but innocence join'd
To these blushes, I should then be bold; for when
They went a-begging, they were ne'er denied—
'Tis but a parting kiss, sir!
Enter PASITHAS, and Two Guards.
ZIRIFF:
I dare not grant it. Pasithas, away with her! [Exeunt.
A bed put out. THERSAMES and AGLAURA on it,
THERSAMES:
She wak'd me with a sigh, and yet she sleeps
Herself, sweet innocence! Can it be sin to love
This shape? and if it be not, why am
I persecuted thus? She sighs again;
Sleep that drowns all cares, cannot, I see, charm love's.
Best pillows, through whose fineness does appear
The violets, lilies, and the roses
You are stuff'd withal! to whose softness I owe
The sweet of this repose, permit me to
Leave with you this. See, if I have not wak'd her.
Sure I was born, Aglaura, to destroy
Call you this drowsiness a quiet then?
Believe me, sir, 'twas an intruder I
Much struggled with, and have to thank a dream,
Not you, that it thus left me.
THERSAMES:
A dream! What dream, my love?
AGLAURA:
I dreamt, sir, it was day,
And the fear you should be found here——
ZORANNES:
Awake! How is it with you, sir?
THERSAMES:
Well, extremely well, so well that, had I now
No better a remembrancer than pain,
I should forget I e'er was hurt, thanks to
Heav'n and good Andrages.
ZORANNES:
And more than thanks; I hope we yet shall live
To pay him. How old's the night?
ZORANNES:
I have a cause that should be heard
Yet ere daybreak, and I must needs entreat
You, sir, to be the judge in't.
THERSAMES:
What cause, Zorannes?
ZORANNES:
When you have promis'd——
THERSAMES:
'Twere hard I should deny thee anything.
Know'st thou, Andrages, what he means?
ANDRAGES:
Nor cannot guess, sirs. [Draw in the bed.]
A trouble in his face, when first he left you;
Re-enter ZORANNES, with KING, ARIASPES, IOLAS,
QUEEN, and Two or Three Guards.
ZORANNES:
Have I not pitch'd my nets like a good huntsman?
Look, sir, the noblest of the herd are here.
THERSAMES:
I am astonished.
ZORANNES:
This place is yours. [Helps him up.
THERSAMES:
What wouldst thou have me do?
ZORANNES:
Remember, sir, your promise,
I could do all I have to do alone;
But justice is not justice, unless't be justly done:
Here then I will begin; for here began my wrongs.
This woman, sir, was wondrous fair, and wondrous kind:
Ay, fair and kind; for so the story runs.
She gave me look for look and glance for glance,
And every sigh like Echo's was return'd.
We sent up vow by vow, promise on promise,
So thick and strangely multiplied, that sure
We gave the heavenly registries their business;
And other mortals' oaths then went for nothing.
We felt each other's pains, each other's joys:
Thought the same thought, and spoke the very same;
We were the same, and I have much ado
To think she could be ill, and I not be
So too, and after this, sir, all this, she
Was false, lov'd him and him; and had
I not begun revenge, till she
Had made an end of changing, I had had
The kingdom to have killed. What does this
THERSAMES:
A punishment he best can make,
ZORANNES:
I thank you, sir,
For him I will not trouble you. His life is mine;
I won it fairly; and his is yours:
He lost it foully to you—
A man so wicked that he knew no good,
But so as't made his sins the greater for't.
Those ills, which (singly acted) bred despair
In others, he acted daily, and ne'er thought
The grievance each particular has against him,
I will not meddle with; it were to give him a
Long life to give them hearing:
First then the hopes of all my youth, and a
Reward which heaven hath settled on me
(If holy contracts can do anything),
He ravish'd from me, kill'd my father—
Aglaura's father, sir, [and] would have whor'd my sister,
And murthered my friend. This is all!
And now your sentence, sir.
THERSAMES:
We have no punishment can reach these crimes;
Therefore 'tis justest sure to send him, where
They're wittier to punish than we are here;
And 'cause repentance oft stops that proceeding,
A sudden death is sure the greatest punishment.
ZORANNES:
I humbly thank you, sir.
KING:
What a strange glass th' have showed me now myself
In! Our sins, like to our shadows, when
Our day was in its glory, scarce appear'd,
Towards our evening how great and monstrous
ZORANNES:
Is this all you have to say? [Draws.
ZORANNES:
What mean you, sir?
THERSAMES:
Nay, I denied not you. That all
Thy accusations are just, I must acknowledge;
And to these crimes I have but this t'oppose—
He is my father and thy sovereign!
'Tis wickedness, dear friend, we go about
To punish; and when we have murther'd him,
What difference is there betwixt him and
Ourselves, but that he first was wicked?
Thou now wouldst kill him, 'cause he kill'd thy father;
And when thou'st killed [him], have not I the self-
ZORANNES:
Why, sir, you know you would
THERSAMES:
True: and therefore 'tis
I beg his life. There was no way for me
To have redeem'd th' intent, but by a real
Saving of it. If he did not ravish from
Thee thy Orbella, remember that that
Wicked issue had a noble parent—love.
[Be ready, Courtiers and Guard, with their swords
drawn at the breasts of the prisoners.
Remember how he lov'd Zorannes, when
He was Ziriff! There's something due to that.
If you must needs have blood for your revenge,
Take it here. [Offers his breast.] Despise it not,
Zorannes. [Zorannes turns away.
The gods themselves, whose greatness makes
The greatness of our sins, and heightens 'm, above
What we can do unto each other, accept
Of sacrifice for what we do 'gainst them.
Why should not you? and 'tis much thriftier too:
You cannot let out life there, but my honour
Goes; and all the life you can take here,
Posterity will give me back again;
That would have been ill rhetoric in me,
But where it is, it cannot but persuade.
ZORANNES:
Th' have thaw'd the ice about my heart; I know
KING:
Come down, come down:
There's none so fit to be the judge of this
As I. The life you show'd such zeal to save
I here could willingly return you back;
But that's the common price of all revenge.
Enter Guard, ORSAMES, PHILAN, Courtiers, ORITIHIE,
IOL. & ARI.:
Ha, ha, ha! how they look now!
ZORANNES:
Death: what's this?
THERSAMES:
Betray'd again!
All th' ease our fortune gives our misery is hope,
And that, still proving false, grows part of it.
KING:
From whence this guard?
ARIASPES:
Why, sir, I did corrupt,
While we were his prisoners,
One of his own to raise the court.
Shallow souls! that thought we could not counter-mine!
Come, sir, you're in good posture to despatch them.
KING:
Lay hold upon his instrument. Fond man!
Dost think I am in love with villainy?
All the service they can do me here is but
To let these see the right I do them now
Is unconstrain'd: then thus I do proceed:—
Upon the place Zorannes lost his life
I vow to build a tomb; and on that tomb
I vow to pay three whole years' penitence;
If in that time I find, that heaven and you
Can pardon, I shall find again the way
THERSAMES:
Sir, be not so cruel
To yourself; this is an age.
KING:
'Tis now irrevocable;
Thy father's lands I give thee back again, and his commands;
And with them leave to wear the tiara
That man there has abus'd. To you, Orbella,
Who, it seems, are foul as well as I,
I do prescribe the self-same physic I
Do take myself; but in another place
And for a longer time—Diana's nunnery.
ORBELLA:
Above my hopes. [Aside.
KING:
[To Ari.] For you, who still have been
The ready instrument of all my cruelties,
And there have cancell'd all the bonds of brother,
Perpetual punishment! Nor, should this line expire,
Shall thy right have a place.
ARIASPES:
Hell and furies! [Exit.
KING:
[To Zir.] Thy crimes deserve no less; yet, 'cause thou wert
Heaven's instrument to save my life,
Thou only hast the time of banishment
[Comes down. Ziriff offers to kiss the king's hand.
And famine here, till I return. No: thou shalt not
KING:
Aglaura, thus I freely part with thee,
And part with all fond flames and warm desires.
I cannot fear new agues in my blood, since I
Have overcome the charms thy beauty had:
No other ever can have so much pow'r.
Thersames, thou look'st pale! Is't want of rest?
THERSAMES:
No, sir; but that's a story for your ear.
ORSAMES:
A strange and happy change.
ORITHIE:
All joys wait on you ever.
How for thy sake now could I wish love were
No mathematic point, but would admit
Division, that Thersames might, though at
My charge, pay thee the debt he owes thee.
ORITHIE:
Madam, I loved the prince, not myself.
Since his virtues have their full rewards,
KING:
What miracles of preservation have we had?
How wisely have the stars prepar'd you for felicity?
Nothing endears a good more than the contemplation
Of the difficulty we had to attain to it:
But see, night's empire's out!
And a more glorious auspiciously does begin;
Let us go serve the gods, and then prepare
For jollity. This day I'll borrow from my vows.
Nor shall it have a common celebration;
A high record to all posterity. [Exeunt omnes.