Some god hath put his mercy in your manhood, Whereto he'll infuse power, and press you forth
Thes. Oh, no knees, none, widow;
Unto the helmeted Bellona use them, And pray for me your soldier.
Troubled I am.
2d. Qu. Honour'd Hippolita,
Most dreaded Amazonian, that hast slain
The scythe-tusk'd-boar; that with thy arm as strong, As it is white, wast near to make the male To thy sex captive, but that this thy lord, Born to uphold creation in that honour First Nature stiled it in, shrunk thee into The bound thou wast o'erflowing, at once subduing Thy force and thy affection: Soldieress, That equally canst poize sternness with pity, Who now I know hast much more power on him Than ever he had on thee, who ow'st his strength And his love too; who is a servant for
The tenor of the speech: Dear glass of ladies, Bid him that we, whom flaming war doth scorch, Under the shadow of his sword may cool us: Require him he advance it o'er our heads; Speak't in a woman's key, like such a woman As any of us three; weep e'er you fail; lend us a knee, But touch the ground for us no longer time
Than a dove's motion when the head's pluckt off: Tell him if he i'th' blood-ciz'd field lay swoln, Shewing the sun his teeth, grinning at the moon, What you would do,
Hip. Poor lady, say no more;
I had as lieve trace this good action with you, As that whereto I'm going, and never yet Went I so willing way. My lord is taken Heart-deep with your distress; let him consider; I'll speak anon.
3rd. Qu. to Emil. O my petition was
Set down in ice, which by hot grief uncandied
Melts into drops, so sorrow wanting form Is prest with deeper matter.
Emil. Pray stand up,
Your grief is written in your cheek.
3rd. Qu. Oh woe,
You cannot read it there; there through my tears, Like wrinkled pebbles in a glassy stream,
You may behold them. Lady, lady, alack! He that will all the treasures know o'th' earth, Must know the centre too; he that will fish For my least minnow, let him lead his line To catch one at my heart. O pardon me; Extremity that sharpens sundry wits Makes me a fool.
Emil. Pray you say nothing, pray you; Who cannot feel, nor see the rain, being in't, Knows neither wet, nor dry; if that
The ground-piece of some painter, I would buy you T'instruct me 'gainst a capital grief indeed,
Such heart-pierc'd demonstration; but alas
Being a natural sister of our sex,
Your sorrow beats so ardently upon me,
That it shall make a counter-reflect 'gainst
My brother's heart, and warm it to some pity,
Though it were made of stone: pray have good comfort. Thes. Forward to th' temple, leave not out a jot O'th' sacred ceremony.
1st. Qu. Oh this celebration
Will longer last, and be more costly than
Your suppliants war. Remember that your fame Knolls in the ear o'th' world: what you do quickly, Is not done rashly; your first thought is more Than others' labour'd meditance; your premeditating More than their actions; but oh Jove, your actions, Soon as they move, as Asprays do the fish,
Subdue before they touch. Think, dear duke, think, What beds our slain kings have.
2nd. Qu. What griefs our beds,
That our dear lords have none,
3rd. Qu. None fit for the dead:
Those that with cords, knives, drams, precipitance, Weary of this world's light, have to themselves Been death's most horrid agents, human grace Affords them dust and shadow.
1st. Qu. But our lords
Lie blistering 'fore the visitating sun,
And were good kings when living.
Thes. It is true, and I will give you comfort, To give your dead lords graves:
The which to do must make some work with Creon. 1st. Qu. And that work presents itself to th' doing: Now 'twill take form, the heats are gone to-morrow, Then bootless toil must recompence itself With its own sweat; now he's secure, Not dreams we stand before your puissance, Rincing our holy begging in our eyes To make petition clear.
2nd. Qu. Now you may take him Drunk with his victory.
3rd. Qu. And his army full
Of bread and sloth.
Thes. Artesis, that best knowest
How to draw out, fit to this enterprize
The prim❜st for this proceeding, and the number Το carry such a business forth; and levy Our worthiest instruments, whilst we dispatch This grand act of our life, this daring deed Of fate in wedlock.
1st. Qu. Dowagers, take hands; Let us be widows to our woes, delay Commends us to a famishing hope. All. Farewell.
2nd. Qu. We come unseasonably.
Cull forth, as unpang'd judgment can, fit'st time
For best solicitation?
Thes. Why good ladies,
This is a service, whereto I am going,
any was; it more imports me Than all the actions that I have foregone, Or futurely can cope.
1st. Qu. The more proclaiming
Our suit shall be neglected, when her arms, Able to lock Jove from a synod, shall By warranting moon-light corslet thee. Oh when Her twining cherries shall their sweetness fall Upon thy tasteful lips, what wilt thou think
Of rotten kings, or blubber'd queens? what care For what thou feel'st not? what thou feel'st being able To make Mars spurn his drum. Oh if thou couch But one night with her, every hour ín't will Take hostage of thee for a hundred, and
Thou shalt remember nothing more, than what That banquet bids thee to.
Hip. Though much unliking
You should be so transported, as much sorry I should be such a suitor, yet I think
Did I not by th' abstaining of my joy
Which breeds a deeper longing, cure their surfeit That craves a present med'cine, I should pluck All ladies' scandal on me. Therefore, sir, As I shall here make trial of my prayers, Either presuming them to have some force, Or sentencing for aye their vigour dumb,
Prorogue this business we are going about, and hang Your shield afore your heart, about that neck Which is my fee, and which I freely lend
To do these poor queens service.
All Qu's. to Emil. Oh help now,
Our cause cries for your knee. Emil. If you grant not
My sister her petition in that force, With that celerity and nature which
She makes it in, from henceforth I'll not dare
To ask you any thing, nor be so hardy Ever to take a husband.
Thes. Pray stand up.
I am entreating of myself to do
That which you kneel to have me; Perithous, Lead on the bride; get you and pray the gods For success and return; omit not any thing In the pretended celebration; queens, Follow your soldier (as before); hence you, And at the banks of Anly meet us with The forces you can raise, where we shall find The moiety of a number, for a business
More bigger look't. Since that our theme is haste, I stamp this kiss upon thy currant lip;
Sweet, keep it as my token. Set you forward, For I will see you gone.
Hippolita and Emilia discoursing of the friendship between Perithous and Theseus, Emilia relates a parallel instance of the love between herself and Flavia, being girls.
Once with a time, when I enjoy'd a play-fellow; You were at wars, when she the grave enrich'd, Who made too proud the bed, took leave o'th' moon (Which then look'd pale at parting) when our count Was each eleven.
Hip. "Twas Flavia.
Emil. Yes.
You talk of Perithous and Theseus' love;
Theirs has more ground, is more maturely season'd, More buckled with strong judgment, and their needs The one of th' other may be said to water
Their intertangled roots of love; but I
And she (I sigh and spoke of) were things innocent, Loved for we did, and like the elements,
That know not what, nor why, yet do effect Rare issues by their operance, our souls
Did so to one another; what she liked,
Was then of me approved; what not condemn'd, No more arraignment; the flower that I would pluck, And put between my breasts, (Oh then but beginning To swell about the bosom) she would long
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