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Bes. Farewell, sir, farewell! Commend me to the gentlewoman, I pray.

1 Sw. How now, captain? bear up, man. Bes. Gentlemen o'the sword, your hands once more; I have been kick'd again; but the foolish fellow is penitent, h'as ask'd me mercy, and my honour's safe.

2 Sw. We knew that, or the foolish fellow had better have kick'd his grandsire.

Bes. Confirm, confirm, I pray.

1 Sw. There be our hands again! Now let him come, and say he was not sorry, and he sleeps for it.

Bes. Alas! good ignorant old man, let him go, let him go; these courses will undo him.

[Exeunt.

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business

Brought thee hither?

Lyg. Several businesses:

My public business will appear by this;
I have a message to deliver, which

If it pleases you so to authorize, is
An embassage from th' Armenian state,
Unto Arbaces for your liberty.

The offer's there set down; please you to read it.
Tigr. There is no alteration happen'd since
I came thence?

Lyg. None, sir; all is as it was.

Tigr. And all our friends are well?
Lyg. All very well.

Spa. Though I have done nothing but what
was good,

I dare not see my father: It was fault
Enough not to acquaint him with that good.

Lyg. Madam, I should have seen you.
Spa. Oh, good sir, forgive me.

Lug. Forgive you! why, I am no kin t'you, am I? Spa. Should it be measur'd by my mean deserts, Indeed you are not.

Lyg. Thou couldst prate, unhappily, Ere thou couldst go; 'would thou couldst do as well!

And how does your custom hold out here?
Spa. Sir?

Lyg. Are you in private still, or how?

Spa. What do you mean?

Lyg. Do you take money? Are you come to sell sin yet? Perhaps, I can help you to liberal clients: Or has not the king cast you off yet? Oh, thou vile creature, whose best commenda

tion is, that thou art a young whore! I would thy mother had liv'd to see this; or, rather, that I had died ere I had seen it! Why didst not make me acquainted when thou wert first resolv'd to be a whore?

I would have seen thy hot lust satisfied
More privately: I would have kept a dancer,
And a whole concert of musicians,
In my own house, only to fiddle thee.
Spa. Sir, I was never whore.

Lyg. If thou couldst not say so much for thyself, thou shouldst be carted.

Tigr. Lygones, I have read it, and I like it; You shall deliver it.

Lyg. Well, sir, I will :

But I have private business with you.
Tigr. Speak; what is't?

Lyg. How has my age deserv'd so ill of you,
That you can pick no strumpets i'the land,
But out of my breed?

Tigr. Strumpets, good Lygones?

Lyg. Yes; and I wish to have you know, I scorn
To get a whore for any prince alive :
And yet scorn will not help! Methinks, my
daughter

Might have been spar'd; there were enow besides.
Tigr. May I not prosper but she's innocent
As morning light, for me; and, I dare swear,
For all the world.

Lyg. Why is she with you, then?
Can she wait on you better than your man?
Has she a gift in plucking off your stockings?
Can she make caudles well, or cut your corns?
Why do you keep her with you? For a queen,
I know, you da contemn her; so should Ï;
And every subject else think much at it.
Tigr. Let 'em think much; but 'tis more firm
than earth,

Thou see'st thy queen there.

Lyg. Then have I made a fair hand! I call'd her whore. If I shall speak now as her father, I cannot choose but greatly rejoice that she shall be a queen: But if I should speak to you as a statesman, she were more fit to be your whore. Tigr. Get you about your business to Arbaces; Now you talk idly.

Lyg. Yes, sir, I will go.

And shall she be a queen? She had more wit
Than her old father, when she ran away.
Shall she be queen? Now, by my troth, 'tis fine!
I'll dance out of all measure at her wedding:
Shall I not, sir?

Tigr. Yes, marry, shalt thou.

Lyg. I'll make these wither'd kexes bear my
body

Two hours together above ground.
Tigr. Nay, go;

My business requires haste.
Lyg. Good Heav'n

preserve you!
You are an excellent king.
Spa. Farewell, good father.
Lyg. Farewell, sweet virtuous daughter.
I never was so joyful in my life,
That I remember! Shall she be a queen?

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I have made up a new strong constancy,
Not to be shook with eyes. I know I have
The passions of a man; but if I meet
With any subject that should hold my eyes
More firmly than is fit, I'll think of thee,
And run away from it: Let that suffice. [Exeunt.
Enter BACURIUS and a Servant.

Bac. Three gentlemen without, to speak with me ?

Serv. Yes, sir.

Bac. Let them come in.

Enter BESSUS with the two Sword-men.
Serv. They are enter'd, sir, already.
Bac. Now, fellows, your business? Are these
the gentlemen?

Bes. My lord, I have made bold to bring these
gentlemen, my friends o'th' sword, along with me.
Bac. I am afraid you'll fight, then.
Bes. My good lord, I will not;
Your lordship is mistaken; fear not, lord.
Bac. Sir, I am sorry for❜t.

Bes. I ask no more in honour.

you hear my lord is sorry.

Bac. Not that I have beaten you,

Gentlemen,

But beaten one that will be beaten;
One whose dull body will require a laming,
As surfeits do the diet, spring and fall.
Now to your sword-men:

What come they for, good captain Stockfish?

Bes. It seems your lordship has forgot my

name.

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man's head, the nature of the beatings; and we do find his honour is come off clean and sufficient: This, as our swords shall help us.

Bac. You are much bound to your bilbo men; I'm glad you're straight again, captain. 'Twere good you would think some way how to gratify them; they have undergone a labour for you, Bessus, would have puzzled Hercules with all his valour.

2 Sw. Your lordship must understand we are no men o'th' law, that take pay for our opinions; it is sufficient we have clear'd our friend.

Bac. Yet there is something due, which I, as touch'd in conscience, will discharge. Captain, I'll pay this rent for you.

Bes. Spare yourself, my good lord; my brave friends aim at nothing but the virtue.

Bac. That's but a cold discharge, sir, for the pains.

2 Sw. Oh, lord! my good lord!

Bac. Be not so modest; I will give you something.

Bes. They shall dine with your lordship; that's sufficient.

Bac. Something in hand the while. You rogues, you apple-squires, do you come hither, with your bottled valour, your windy froth, to limit out my beatings?

1 Sw. I do beseech your lordship.
2 Sw. Oh, good lord!

Bac. 'Sfoot, what a bevy of beaten slaves are here! Get me a cudgel, sirrah, and a tough one. 2 Sw. More of your foot, I beseech your lord

ship.

Bac. You shall, you shall, dog, and your fellow beagle.

1 Sw. O' this side, good my lord. Bac. Off with your swords; for if you hurt my foot, I'll have you flead, you rascals. 1 Sw. Mine's off, my lord.

my strap's tied to my cod-piece point: Now, 2 Sw. I beseech your lordship, stay a little; when you please.

Bac. Captain, these are your valiant friends; you long for a little too?

Bes. I am very well, I humbly thank your lord

ship.

toe, you mungrel? Thy buttocks cannot be so Bac. What's that in your pocket hurts my hard; out with it quickly.

2 Sw. Here 'tis, sir; a small piece of artillery, that a gentleman, a dear friend of your lordship's, mark, the nose is somewhat loose. sent me with, to get it mended, sir; for, if you

wearier of doing nothing, than kicking these two Bac. A friend of mine, you rascal? I was never

Bac. That would be a show, indeed, worth seeing. Sirs, be wise and take money for this motion, travel with it; and where the name of Bessus has been known, or a good coward stir-foot-balls. ring, 'twill yield more than a tilting. This will prove more beneficial to you, if you be thrifty, than your captainship, and more natural. Men of most valiant hands, is this true?

2 Sw. It is so, most renowned. Bac. "Tis somewhat strange.

1 Sw. Lord, it is strange, yet true. We have examined, from your lordship's foot there to this

Enter Servant.

Serv. Here is a good cudgel, sir.

Bac. It comes too late; I am weary; prithee, do thou beat them.

2 Sw. My lord, this is foul play, i'faith, to put a fresh man upon us: Men are but men, sir. Bac. That jest shall save your bones. Cap

tain, rally up your rotten regiment, and be gone. I had rather thresh than be bound to kick these rascals, 'till they cry'd, ho!' Bessus, you may put your hand to them now, and then you are quit. Farewell! as you like this, pray visit me again; 'twill keep me in good health. [Exit. 2 Sw. H'as a devilish hard foot; I never felt the like.

1 Sw. Nor I; and yet, I am sure, I have felt a hundred.

2 Sw. If he kick thus i' th' Dog-days, he will be dry-foundred. What cure now, captain, besides oil of bays?

Bes. Why, well enough, I warrant you; you can go?

2 Sw. Yes, Heav'n be thank'd! but I feel a shrewd ache; sure, he's sprang my huckle-bone. 1 Sw. I ha' lost a haunch.

Bes. A little butter, friend, a little butter; but ter and parsley is a sovereign matter: Probatum

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2 Sw. Oh, my small guts! a plague upon these sharp-toed shoes; they are murderers! [Exeunt.

Enter ARBACES, with his sword drawn.
Arb. It is resolv'd: I bore it whilst I could;

I can no more. Hell, open all thy gates,
And I will thorough them: If they be shut,
I'll batter 'em, but I will find the place

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would look us all out of the land, Årb. I do confess it; will that satisfy? prithee, get thee gone. Mar. Sir, I will speak. Arb. Will ye?

Mar. It is my duty.

I fear you'll kill yourself: I am a subject,
And you shall do me wrong in't; 'tis my cause,
And I may speak.

Arb. Thou art not train'd in sin,

It seems, Mardonius: Kill myself! by Heav'n,
I will not do it yet; and, when I will,
I'll tell thee, then I shall be such a creature,
That thou wilt give me leave without a word.
There is a method in man's wickedness;
It grows up by degrees: I am not come
So high as killing of myself; there are
A hundred thousand sins 'twixt me and it,
Which I must do; I shall come to't at last,
But, take my oath, not now. Be satisfied,
And get thee hence.

Mar. I'm sorry 'tis so ill.
Arb. Be sorry, then:

True sorrow is alone; grieve by thyself.
Mar. I pray you let me see your sword put

up
Before I go I'll leave you then.

Arb. Why so. it not

What folly is this in thee? is

Where the most damn'd have dwelling! Ere I As apt to mischief as it was before?

end,

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Can I not reach it, think'st thou? These are toys
For children to be pleas'd with, and not men.
Now I am safe, you think: I would the book
Of Fate were here; my sword is not so sure
But I would get it out, and mangle that,
That all the destinies should quite forget
Their fix'd decrees, and haste to make us new,
Far other fortunes; mine could not be worse.
Wilt thou now leave me?

Mar. Heav'n put into your bosom temperate thoughts!

I'll leave you, though I fear.

Arb. Go; thou art honest.

[Exit MAR.

Why should the hasty errors of my youth
Be so unpardonable to draw a sin,
Helpless, upon me
e?

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His worst wish on thee! Thou hast broke my heart.

Gob. How, sir! Have I preserv'd you, from a
child,

From all the arrows malice or ambition
Could shoot at you, and have I this for pay?
Arb. 'Tis true, thou didst preserve me, and in
that

Wert crueller than hard'ned murderers

Of infants and their mothers? Thou didst save me,

Only till thou hadst studied out a way
How to destroy me cunningly thyself:
This was a curious way of torturing.
Gob. What do you mean?

Arb. Thou know'st the evils thou hast done to me!

Dost thou remember all those witching letters
Thou sent'st unto me to Armenia,
Fill'd with the praise of my beloved sister,
Where thou extol'dst her beauty? What had I
To do with that; what could her beauty be
To me? And thou didst write how well she lov'd
me!

Dost thou remember this? so that I doted
Something before I saw her.

Gob. This is true.

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Gob. You kill your father.

Arb. My father? Though I know it for a lye, Made out of fear, to save thy stained life, The very rev'rence of the word comes cross me, And ties mine arm down.

Gob. I will tell you that shall heighten you again;

I am thy father; I charge thee hear me.
Arb. If it should be so,

As 'tis most false, and that I should be found
A bastard issue, the despised fruit

Of lawless lust, I should no more admire
All my wild passions! But another truth
Shall be wrung from thee: If I could come by
The spirit of pain, it should be poured on thee,
'Till thou allow'st thyself more full of lyes
Than he that teaches thee.

Enter ARANE.

Ara. Turn thee about;

I come to speak to thee, thou wicked man!
Hear me, thou tyrant!

Arb. I will turn to thee;

Hear me, thou strumpet! I have blotted out The name of mother, as thou hast thy shame. Ara. My shame! Thou hast less shame than

any thing!

Why dost thou keep my daughter in a prison? Why dost thou call her sister, and do this?

Arb. Cease, thou strange impudence, and answer quickly!

If thou contemn'st me, this will ask an answer, And have it.

Ara. Help me, gentle Gobrias.

Arb. Guilt dare not help guilt; though they grow together.

In doing ill, yet at the punishment

They sever, and each flies the noise of other.
Think not of help; answer!

Ara. I will; to what?

Arb. To such a thing, as, if it be a truth, Think what a creature thou hast made thyself, That didst not shame to do what I must blush Only to ask thee. Tell me who I am, Whose son I am, without all circumstance Be thou as hasty as my sword will be, If thou refusest.

Ara. Why, you are his son.

Arb. His son? Swear, swear, thou worse than
woman damn'd!

Ara. By all that's good, you are.
Arb. Then art thou all

That ever was known bad! Now is the cause
Of all my strange misfortunes come to light.
What reverence expect'st thou from a child,
To bring forth which thou hast offended Heav'n,
Thy husband, and the land? Adulterous witch!
I know now why thou wouldst have poison'd me:
I was thy lust, which thou wouldst have forgot!
Then, wicked mother of my sins, and me,
Shew me the way to the inheritance

I have by thee, which is a spacious world
Of impious acts, that I may soon possess it.
Plagues rot thee, as thou liv'st, and such dis-

eases

As use to pay lust, recompence thy deed!
Gob. You do not know why you curse thus.
Arb. Too well.

You are a pair of vipers; and behold
The serpent you have got! There is no beast,
But, if he knew it, has a pedigree

As brave as mine, for they have more descents;
And I am every way as beastly got,
As far without the compass of a law,
As they.

Ara. You spend your rage and words in vain, And rail upon a guess; hear us a little.

Arb. No, I will never hear, but talk away
My breath, and die.

Gob. Why, but you are no bastard.
Arb. How's that!

Ara. Nor child of mine.

Arb. Still you go on

In wonders to me.

Gob. Pray you, be more patient;

I may bring comfort to you.

Arb. I will kneel,

And hear with the obedience of a child.
Good father, speak! I do acknowledge you,
So you bring comfort.

Gob, First know, our last king, your supposed
father,

Was old and feeble when he married her,
And almost all the land, as she, past hope
Of issue from him.

Arb. Therefore she took leave

To play the whore, because the king was old: Is this the comfort?

Ara. What will you find out

To give me satisfaction, when you find

How you have injur'd me? Let fire consume me If ever I were whore!

Gob. Forbear these starts,

Or I will leave you wedded to despair,
As you are now: If you can find a temper,
My breath shall be a pleasant western wind
That cools and blasts not.

Arb. Bring it out, good father.

I'll lie, and listen here as reverently
As to an angel: If I breathe too loud,
Tell me; for I would be as still as night.

Gob. Our king, I say, was old, and this our

queen

Desir'd to bring an heir, but yet her husband,
She thought, was past it; and to be dishonest,
I think, she would not: If she would have been,
The truth is, she was watch'd so narrowly,
And had so slender opportunities,

She hardly could have been: But yet her cunning

Found out this way; she feign'd herself with child,

And posts were sent in haste throughout the land,

And God was humbly thank'd in ev'ry church, That so had bless'd the queen; and prayers were

made

For her safe going and delivery.

She feign'd now to grow bigger; and perceiv'd

A far more large respect from every man,
And saw her power encrease, and was resolv'd,
Since she believ'd she could not have't indeed,
At least she would be thought to have a child.
Arb. Do I not hear it well? Nay, I will make
No noise at all; but pray you to the point,
Quick as you can.

Gob. Now when the time was full
She should be brought to bed, I had a son
Born, which was you: This, the queen hearing
of,

Mov'd me to let her have you; and such reasons
She shewed me, as she knew well would tie
My secrecy: She swore you should be king;
And, to be short, I did deliver you
Unto her, and pretended you were dead,
And in mine own house kept a funeral,
And had an empty coffin put in earth.

That night this queen feign'd hastily to labour,
And by a pair of women of her own,

Which she had charm'd, she made the world be

lieve

She was deliver'd of you. You grew up,
As the king's son, till you were six years old;
Then did the king die, and did leave to me
Protection of the realm; and, contrary
To his own expectation, left this queen
Truly with child, indeed, of the fair princess
Panthea. Then she could have torn her hair,
And did alone to me, yet durst not speak
In publick, for she knew she should be found
A traitor; and her tale would have been thought
Madness, or any thing rather than truth.
This was the only cause why she did seek
To poison you, and I to keep you safe;
And this the reason why I sought to kindle
Some sparks of love in you to fair Panthea,
That she might get part of her right again.

Arb. And have you made an end now? Is this all?

If not, I will be still till I be aged,

Till all my hairs be silver.

Gob. This is all.

Arb. And is it true, say you too, madam ?
Ara. Yes, Heaven knows, it is most true.
Arb. Panthea, then, is not my sister.
Gob. No.

Arb. But can you prove this?
Gob. If you'll give consent,
Else who dares go about it?

Arb. Give consent?

Why, I will have 'em all that know it rack'd
To get this from 'em. All that wait without,
Come in, whate'er you be, come in, and be
Partakers of my joy! Oh, you are welcome!
Enter BESSUS, Gentlemen, MARDONIUS, and
other Attendants.
Mardonius, the best news! Nay, draw no nearer;
They all shall hear it: I am found No King.
Mar. Is that so good news?
Arb. Yes, the happiest news
That e'er was heard.

Mar. Indeed, 'twere well for you

This hope of issue made her fear'd, and brought | If you might be a little less obey'd.

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