Volume Xiv Part 61 (2/2)

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?

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