FAU. The gods forbid that e'er it happen so! MEDEA. Nay, never pray, for it must happen so ! FAU. And is there then no remedy for it? MEDEA. No, none but one, and that you have foresworn.

FAU. As though an oath can bridle so my mind, As that I dare not break a thousand oaths

For to eschew the danger imminent !
Speak, good Medea, tell that way to me,

And I will do it, whatsoe'er it be.

MEDEA. Then, as already you have well decreed, Pack to your country, and in readiness

Select the army of Amazones:

When you have done, march with your female troop To Naples' town, to succour Amurack:

And so by marriage of Iphigena,

You soon shall drive the danger clean away.

IPHI. So shall we soon eschew Charybdis' lake, And headlong fall to Scylla's greedy gulf.

I vow'd before, and now do vow again,

Before I wed Alphonsus, I'll be slain.

MEDEA. In vain it is to strive against the stream,
Fates must be follow'd, and the Gods' decree
Must needs take place in every kind of cause.
Therefore, fair maid, bridle these brutish thoughts,
And learn to follow what the fates assign.
When Saturn heard that Jupiter his son

Should drive him headlong from his heavenly seat,
Down to the bottom of the dark Avern,
He did command his mother presently

To do to death the young and guiltless child:
But what of that? the mother loath'd in heart
For to commit so vile a massacre.

Yea, Jove did live, and as the fates did say,
From heavenly seat drave Saturn clean away.
What did avail the castle all of steel,

The which Acrisius caused to be made,
To keep his daughter Danae clogg'd in?
She was with child for all her castle's force;
And by that child Acrisius, her sire,
Was after slain, so did the fates require.

A thousand examples I could bring hereof;
But marble stones need *
no colouring,
And that which every one doth know for truth,
Needs no examples to confirm the same.
That which the fates appoint, must happen so,
Though heavenly Jove, and all the Gods, say no.
FAU. Iphigena, she sayeth nought but truth,
Fates must be follow'd in their just decrees;
And therefore setting all delays aside,
Come, let us wend unto Amazone,

And gather up our forces out of hand.

IPHI. Since Fausta wills, and fates do so command, Iphigena will never it withstand.

ACT IV.+

Enter VENUS.

[Exeunt omnes.

VEN. Thus have you seen, how Amurack himself, Fausta his wife, and every other king,

Which holds their sceptres at the Turk his hands,
Are now in arms, intending to destroy,
And bring to nought, the prince of Arragon.
Charms have been used by wise Medea's art,
To know before what afterwards shall hap;
And King Belinus, with high Claramount,
Join'd to Arcastus,‡ which with princely pomp
Doth rule and govern all the warlike Moors,
* need] The 4to." needs."

† Act IV.] The 4to. "Act III."
Arcastus] The 4to. "Alphonsus."

Are sent as legates to God Mahomet,
To know his counsel in these high affairs.
Mahound, provok'd by Amurack's discourse,
Which, as you heard, he in his dream did use,
Denies to play the prophet any more;
But by the long entreaty of his priests,
He prophecies in such a crafty sort,

As that the hearers needs must laugh for sport.
Yet poor Belinus, with his fellow kings,
Did give such credence to that forged tale,
As that they lost their dearest lives thereby,
And Amurack became a prisoner
Unto Alphonsus, as straight shall appear.

[Exit.

Let there be a Brazen Head set in the middle of the place behind the stage, out of the which cast flames of fire. Drums rumble within. Enter two PRIESTS.

FIRST PR. My fellow priest* of Mahound's holy

house,

What can you judge of these strange miracles,
Which daily happen in this sacred seat?

[Drums rumble within.

Hark, what a rumbling rattleth in our ears!

[Cast flames of fire forth of the Brazen Head. See flakes of fire proceeding from the mouth Of Mahomet, that God of peerless power! Nor can I tell, with all the wit I have,

What Mahomet, by these his signs, doth crave.

SEC. PR. Thrice ten times Phoebus with his golden Hath compassed the circle of the sky, [beams Thrice ten times Ceres hath her workmen hir'd, And fill'd her barns with fruitful crops of corn,

priest] The 4to. "priests."

Since first in priesthood I did lead my life;
Yet in this time I never heard before

Such fearful sounds, nor saw such wondrous sights; Nor can I tell, with all the wit I have,

What Mahomet, by these his signs, doth crave.

[Speak [Mahomet] out of the Brazen Head.
MAH. You cannot tell, nor will you seek to know;
O perverse priest, how careless are you wax'd!
As when my foes approach unto my gates,
You stand still talking of, I cannot tell.

Go, pack you hence, and meet the Turkish kings,
Which now are drawing to my temple ward;
Tell them from me, God Mahomet is dispos'd
To prophecy no more to Amurack,

Since that his tongue is waxen now so free,
As that it needs must chat and rail at me.

[Kneel down both.
FIRST PR. O Mahomet, if all the solemn prayers
Which, from our childhood we have offer'd thee,
Can make thee call this sentence back again,
Bring not thy priest into this dangerous state!
For when the Turk doth hear of this repulse,
We shall be sure to die the death therefore.

MAII. Thou sayest truth: go call the princes in; I'll prophecy unto them for this once,

But in such wise as they shall neither boast,
Nor you be hurt in any kind of wise.

Enter BELINUS, CLARAMOUNT, ARCASTUS [and FABIUS]: go both the Priests to meet them ;* the first say:

FIRST PR. You kings of Turkey, Mahomet our God, By sacred science, having notice that

You were sent legates from high Amurack

Unto this place, commanded us, his priests,
That we should cause you make as mickle speed
As well you might, to hear for certainty
Of that shall happen to your king and ye.

BELI. For that intent we came into this place; And sithens that the mighty Mahomet

Is now at leisure for to tell the same,

Let us make haste and take time while we may,
For mickle danger happeneth through delay.

SEC. PR. Truth, worthy king, and therefore you
yourself,

With your companions, kneel before this place,
And listen well what Mahomet doth say.

[Kneel all down before the Brazen Head.
BELI. As you do will, we jointly will obey.
MAH. Princes of Turkey, and ambassadors
Of Amurack to mighty Mahomet,

I need must muse, that you which erst have been
The readiest soldiers of the triple world,
Are now become so slack in your affairs,
As when you should with bloody blade in hand
Be hacking helms in thickest of your foes,
You stand still loitering in the Turkish soil.
What, know you not how that it is decreed
By all the gods, and chiefly by myself,
That you with triumph should all crowned be?
Make haste, kings, lest when the fates do see
How carelessly you do neglect their words,
They call a council, and force Mahomet
Against his will some other thing to set.
Send Fabius back to Amurack again,
To haste him forwards in his enterprize;
And march you on, with all the troops you have,
To Naples ward, to conquer Arragon,

For if

you stay, both you and all your men Must needs be sent down straight to limbo den.