A Select Collection of Old English Plays Part 61

RIN. Heav'n bless you, sir, what a despair is this?

Because you hate a hangman, you will be Your executioner yourself. Believe me, That which presents so great danger to you, I look upon with joy. There is no subject That loves you or the prince, but must be glad To see the zeal Iberians bear to a true virtue, When bending under an unjust oppression; No doubt their love had been as great to you, Had you been in like danger. Besides, my lord, You are not sure 'tis with the prince's consent, The soldiers do this. My life for yours, you will Be safe, let the worst come. Let us Go meet your fears.

[_They begin to rise, when at the instant_ ANDROMANA _enters undressed, and in a fright_.

AND. Happy am I, my lord,

[_She weeps._

This sudden flight[99] hath rescu'd me from being Made the subject of some villain's l.u.s.t, who With his sword drawn just now was forcing me To lewd embraces; if you command to search the court, He cannot be far hence, for he ran that way.

RIN. O impudence!

That durst attempt a sin darkness and woods Have too many eyes for in the open court.

[PLANGUS _stirs behind the hangings_.

I shall be with you. The devil hath Armour on!

[RINATUS _draws, and runs at him_.

EPH. Drag him to torture----

[_They fetch him out._

My son! why have I liv'd to see this?

Away with him to death; the air will grow infectious.

Why stay you?

SCENE IX.

_Enter_ ZOPIRO _and_ INOPHILUS, _with Soldiers_.

INO. Unhand the prince, or else by heav'n he treads Into his grave that moves a foot to touch him.

Madam, though Plangus' n.o.ble self was blind, And could not see the deep black darkness of Your h.e.l.lish actions, his friends had eyes about them.

Was this your love? this your repentance?

This your advice, your counsel? Had I, I must confess,[100]

And these his n.o.ble friends, been[101] rul'd by him, ere this He'd been a sacrifice to your revenge and you.

Why stand you mute, sir? Want you a tongue to justify Your innocence our swords and we maintain?

And now, my liege, we turn to you, whom we Have serv'd as truly as e'er subjects did Any prince alive; and whilst you're worthy, we Will do so still; but we'll be no man's slaves Alive, much less be his that is another's, While this base witch (for so she is) constrains You to do actions children would blush at, And wise men laugh at, which will after leave you Both to repentance and despair. This beggar, whom T'other day you took up as some lost thing, Gave your honour to, and in that our safety; That knew less to be good than devils do, And hath ills lodged in her that would make h.e.l.l Beyond that the furies dwell in, Banish her hence, send her to some place Where murders, rapines, or sins yet Unheard of do inhabit, and where she can Do us no mischief. Do you betake yourself To your former virtue, and restore the prince To those affections you once had for him.

We then perhaps may live to see Iberia happy.

EPH. Why am I forc'd thus to declare his shame, Which at the bound strikes me, and's made my own?

You know not how well Plangus can dissemble: He is an hypocrite, I need not tell you more, Those three syllables comprehend all ill.

My queen just now 'scaped from his base attempt, Wherein he would have forc'd her to have d.a.m.n'd Herself and him, and dishonoured me.

What meant that armour on, and why so guarded?

Where was a danger threat'ned him? or doth he Think his conscience could not sting him through it?

I wish, my lords,[102] he might live. But, as nature That, as he is my son, bids me preserve him; So honour, which pleads to the king stronger Than nature can, tells me, for that very reason, I can less pardon him than something born A stranger to my blood. But I deserve To die, as well as he. If he be grown A burden to the earth, I am so too, That gave the monster being. Wherefore Let me be drawn to execution too, For fathers are guilty of their children's ills.

INO. Would Plangus then have forc'd Andromana?

Yes, so would Daphne have ravish'd Phoebus!

I'll undertake goats are less salt than she.

But for his armour:--can any man that breathes One common air with her not need an armour?

Bra.s.s walls can't be security enough.

Why speak you not, sir? are you dumb too?

PLAN. 'Tis for them to speak are sure to be believ'd, And not for him that is condemn'd as guilty.

Words can excuse slight faults.

If mine are esteem'd such, that all my actions, A speaking duty of one-and-twenty years, Speak not enough to clear me, silence shall.

I've no more to say, therefore, but To bid you do your duty to the king, And ask him pardon for this[103] intemperate zeal: Heav'n knows I wish'd it not, nor would I buy My safety at one of my father's angry thoughts, Much less his fears, for those I fall by.

Obey my father, and if ye love me, gentlemen, Shed not one tear for Plangus.

For I am timely taken from those plagues This woman's crying sins must bring upon Iberia, and make you wish that you Had died as soon and innocent as I.

AND. That I was nothing, I confess; that what I am, I owe to Ephorbas; nay, that the greatness I am now in tells me it is too high To be secure, my fears bear witness.

I wish my life would excuse Plangus his; at least My blood wash off the blackness of his guilt, Heav'n knows it should not be one minute, ere He should be restor'd to his former virtues; But since it cannot be, I'll in and weep-- Not for myself, but him.

[_Exit._

INO. Millions of plagues go with thee. Sir [_To_ PLANGUS], you shall Along with us; we will not trust you Or to the king or her.

[_Exeunt._

ACT V., SCENE 1.

LIBACER _solus_.

LIB. What politician was there ever yet Who, swimming through a sea of plots and treasons, Sank not at last i' th' very haven's mouth?

And shall I do so too? No, my thoughts prompt me, I shall be told in story, as the first That stood secure upon the dreadful ruins He had thrown down beneath him. Yet I'm nigh The precipice I strive to shun with so much care.

I have betray'd Plangus, 'tis true, and still Have found a growing fortune; but so long As jealousy binds up Ephorbas' thoughts From searching deeper, deeper, 'tis not well That Plangus lives at all: though he be disgrac'd.

H' has friends enow about the king, and they Will find a time to pacify him, which will be My undoing. He must not therefore live.

Andromana is of that mind too; But how to compa.s.s it? or when perhaps I have, what will become of me?

Nothing more usual than for those folks, who Have by sinister means reach'd to the top O' th' mountain of their hopes, but they throw down And forget the power that rais'd them; indeed Necessity enforceth them, lest others climb By the same steps they did, and ruin them.

I must not therefore trust her womanship, Who, though I know she cannot stand without Me now; yet, when she's queen alone, Fortune may alter her, and make her look Upon me as one whose life whispers Unto her own guilt. 'Tis not safe to be The object of a princess' fear; then she will find Others will be as apt to keep her up As I to raise her. I'll prevent her first.

Time is not ripe yet; but when it is (for I must walk on with her a little farther) I will unravel all this labyrinth ev'n To the king himself. Then let her accuse me, Though she should d.a.m.n herself to h.e.l.l, I know she'll be believ'd no more Than Plangus hath been hitherto.

Thus shall I still grow great, though all the world Be to a dreadful ruin madly hurl'd.

[_Exit._

SCENE II.

PLANGUS _solus_.

PLAN. I can no longer hold; 'tis not i' th' power Of fate to make me less. Bid me outstare The sun, outrun a falling star, Feed upon flames, or pocket up the clouds; Or if there be a task mad Juno's hate Could not invent to plague poor Hercules, Impose it upon me, I'll do't without a grudge.

Condemn me to a galley, load me with chains Whose weight may so keep me down, I can scarce Swell under my burden to let out a sigh, I would o'ercome all. Were there a deity That men adore, and throw their prayers upon, That would lend just ears to human wishes, I would grow great by being punished, and be A plague myself, so that when people curs'd Beyond invention, to their prodigious rhetoric This epiphonema should be added, "Become as miserable as wretched Plangus."