 | Andromana : or the merchant's wife |  |
ACT II.
SCÆNA I.
Plangus, Nicetes, Aramnes.Ni.
What Sir, And are you Melancholy
When fate hath showr'd a happiness so unexpected on us?
This ugly sneaking peace is the Souldiers rock,
He splits his fortunes on. Bawdry's a vertue to't.
P---o' these Beaver-hats they make ones head ake
Worse then a Cap of steel, and bear not off a knock
The tenth part so well.
Pl.
You're mad for fighting, Gentlemen,
And we shall have enough of it.
The Argives fifty thousand strong,
Have like a whirlwind born down all before 'um;
And I with 13000. that remain
Yet undisbanded of the last expedition,
Have command to fight that multitude
In a month or two won't have pickt up that valour
That in this idle time hath slipt from 'um;
They have forgot what noise a Musket makes,
And start if they but hear a Drum;
Are these fellows either enow or fit,
On whom a Kingdome's safety should be built:
Indeed were they to encounter some Mistress,
Or storm a Brothel-house, perhaps they'd venture;
But for my part, I yeeld; nor will I oppose my Father:
If he sees good we perish, I am already sacrifiz'd;
Yet our enemies shall dearly purchase
Their Victory.
Pray look to your charge, Nicetes, and you
Aramnes with all care and speed; and when you come
Into the field; then let me see this countenance,
That frowning smile, and I shall like it.
I love a man runs laughing upon death;
But we lose time in talk.
Ex. Nic. Aram.
Enter Inophilus.
SCÆNA 2.
Ino.Your servant Captains. Sir, pray a word with you.
Pl.
Prethee be short, Inophilus, thou knowst my business:
Ino.
Sir, I am mad to see your tameness:
A man bound up by Magick is not so still as you,
Nothing was ever precipitated thus,
And yet refus'd to see its ruine.
Pl.
Thou art tedious, I shal not tarry.
Ino.
You are made General.
Pl.
I know it:
Ino.
Against the Argives.
Pl.
So.
Ino.
With 13000 men, no more Sir.
Pl.
I am glad on't, the honour is the greater:
Ino.
The danger is the greater; You will be kill'd sir,
And lose your Army.
Pl.
Is this all, I care not.
Ino.
But so do I, and so do all your friends.
I am as confident of it as I am alive.
The King might within this twenty four hours
Have had peace on fair conditions.
Pl.
(But dishonourable
In.
And would not. On a sudden useth the Ambassadors scurvily
And provokes the Argives, yet himself in no posture
Of defence.
Pl.
But—
Ino.
Pray give me leave sir,
After this you are on a sudden created General,
And packt away with a crowd of unhewn fellows,
Whose courage hangs as loose about them
As a sluts petticoats. Sir, he had other spirits
In the Court created for such perils;
Excuse me, I know you fear not to meet destruction,
But where men are sure to perish,
'Twere well the persons were of less concernment.
He might have let you stay'd till you had gather'd
An Army fit for your Command, and sent
Some petty things upon this expedition,
Whose loss would have been nothing, and of whom
It might have been recorded in our story
As an honour, that they dyed Monuments
Of the Kings folly. But let that pass;
You'l say perhaps, you only have a spirit
Fit for such undertakings—I wish you had not,
Your want then would not be half so grievous.
But heres the prodigy, you must fight them presently.
Come, 'tis a project put into the Kings head
By some who have a plot on you and him.
Pl.
It may be so, Inophilus, and I beleeve
All this is true you tell me, and it might startle
A man were less resolvd then I.
But danger and I have been too long acquainted
To shun a meeting now; I am engag'd,
And cannot any wayes come off with reputation.
Hadst told me this before, perhaps I might have thought on't:
And yet I should not neither.
If the King thinks I am grown dangerous,
He could not do it handsomer then thus;
It makes less noise now.—
But come, I must not fear such things, Inophilus:
The King hath more vertue and honour then
To do these actions, fit only for guilty souls;
Nor must I fear when my Inophilus fights by me.
Ino.
Troth Sir, for all your complement,
If you have no valour but what ows it self to my company,
Your'e like to make cold breakfast of your enemies:
I have other business then to throw away
My life, when there is so much odds against it:
Ile stay at home, and pray for you, that's all Sir.
Pl.
How! wilt not go then, Inophilus?
Ino.
The time hath been
I thought it better sport
To bustle through a bristly grove of Pikes.
When I have courted rugged danger with
Hotter desires then handsome faces,
And thought no women half so beautiful
As bloody gaping wounds:
But sir, to go and cast away my self now,
Would not be gallant, nor an action worth my envy:
'Tis weakness to make those that seek
My ruine, laugh at my folly with jaws stretcht wider
Then the Gulph that swallows us.
I know when honour calls me, and when treason
Counterfeits her voice.
Pl.
Well, stay at home and freeze,
And lose all sense of glory in a Mistress arms.
Go perish tamely, drunk with sin and peace,
And mayst thou, since thou darest not dye with them,
Out-live thy noble friends.
Ino.
I thank you Sir, but I cannot be angry.
SCÆNA 3.
Nicetes, Aramnes, with some Captains and Souldiers.Ni.
Yonder's the bones oth' Army rally'd up together.
But they look'd rather as if they came home
From being soundly beaten.
Methinks such tatter'd Rogues should never conquer,
Victory would look so scurvily among 'um,
They'd so be-dawb her if she wore clean linnen.
Cap.
Sir, We wear as sound hearts in these torn breeches
As ere a Courtier of them all.
We are not afraid of spoyling our hands for want
Of gloves, nor need we Almond butter when we go to bed.
And though my Lieutenant is pleas'd to be a little merry,
You shall see us dye as handsomely in these old cloaths
As those wear better, and become our wounds as well,
And perhaps smell as sweet when we are rotten.
Pl.
We hope it, Captains and Fellow souldiers,
We are proud of this occasion to try your valours,
You shal go no farther then your Prince doth,
I'le be no bringer up of Rears.
Let not the number of the Foe affright you,
The more they are, the more wil the honour be.
The Lion scorns to prey upon a Hare,
Nor is the blinking Taper fit to try Eagles eyes;
The weight of glory makes our danger light,
When victory comes easily tis half a shame
Souldiers shout, and exeunt.
To conquer.
Ino.
Ile stay at home and grieve, that so many
Daring souls should dye on such advantage.
Ino. exit.
SCÆNA 4.
KingSolus.
Her husband's dead too: Fates let me dye,
I am too happy to remain long thus
Plangus was my only obstacle, but him I have
Remov'd:
But love commanded,
His presence would have countermanded all attempts,
I need not fear his Magick at this distance.
His looks and actions were one entire enchantment, and
Powerful over a Lady's heart.
I sent for her, but she's not come yet.
Who waits without?
Enter Artesio.
There's a mourning Lady sir
Would speak with the King.
K.
Admit her, and be gone.
Enter to him Andromana in mourning, with a hood over her face, which she throws up when she sees the King.
SCÆNA 5.
K.So riseth Phæbus from the gloomy night,
(While pale-fac't Dian maketh hast to hide
Her borrowed glory in some neighbouring cloud,
Envying the beauty of the new-born day)
When darkness crouds into the other world.
Madam, Why kneel you?
She kneels.
You, at whose name Monarchs themselves might tremble,
And mortals bow with reverence great as they pay to Altars:
Scepters should break in peeces and adore you;
At whose sight the Sun and Moon should blush themselves
To blood and darkness, and falling from their sphere
Brush the audacious world to Atomes, for daring
To behold a lustre so much greater then their own.
An.
Sir, give me leave to wonder
What sin I have committed which calling
Down the vengeance of the gods,
Hath made me author of all this blasphemy.
Sir, I beseech your Majesty if you are angry with your creature,
Speak some cruel word and blast me.
Where I have sins enow of my own to blush for,
And shall not need to dye his cheeks for other mens offences.
K.
Lady, though Parthian darts are not so sharp
As are those killing words, yet that breath which
Utters them, is sweeter then the morning dew.
Ile be dumb, for praises cannot adde, but rather
Diminish Andromana's worth.
An.
I wonder now no longer at this language,
'Tis such as Kings are bred in;
But I beseech you Sir, if there be ought
You will command your servant, if Andromana
Must do or sufer any thing for great Euphorbas,
Lay by your self a minute, and remember
A Merchant's wife must hear you.
K.
Your husband Leon's dead, I hear Lady.
She weeps.
Nay spare those Pearls, Madam, cast not away
Such treasure upon the memory of one
Who, if the best of men, deserves them not.
Come, come, forget these sorrows Lady,
And wear not mourning weeds before the world's destruction;
Hide not those fair eyes, whose splendor would enrich
Our Court:
Madam, though none there be in Court
Can merit such a beauty, yet I my self
Have taken pains to search a husband for you;
What think you of my self?
An.
Great Sir, your care is like your self, all noble,
But suits with me no better
Then Phælus horses did with Phaeton,
Ruin'd the world and him: first, Sir,
You do debase you self to honour her, whose worth
Is less considerable then Lovers oaths:
My husband's ashes are scarce cold yet,
And would your Majesty have me forsake my honour,
And his memory so soon?
I have not payd oblations due to his ashes yet.
K.
You complement away the worth we know you have Andromana,
An.
I say he is the Prince, and great Ephorbas son,
He's Plangus, and if you think there yet remains
A title that can be either better or greater,
I think him worthy of it.
K.
But do'st think him worthy Andromana?
An.
O heavens! Is Jove worth heaven,
Or doth the Sun deserve to be a light
To all the world, can vertue deserve honour?
Or labour, riches: Can Gods merit Altars?
It might have been a puzling question
To them whose ears have not been blest with Plangus worth.
But this 'tis so below him.
K.
But say he loves thee:
An.
I dare not say so:
For when I think a Prince pretends to such poor things
As I am, I feel an Ice run through my veines,
And my blood curdles into flakes of snow,
And bids me fear him, not with an awe or reverence
But as a spotted sinful thing which is the worse
For being great. Tis such a fear as I
Should conceive against an armed ravisher.
K.
These things may be expected Lady, I confess
From blood that boyls in flames hot as the Sun
In scorching Libra, or sturdy Hercules
When he unmayden'd fifty in one night;
But from a man whose years have tam'd those vices,
Whose love is dotage, and not lust,
Who doth adore a handsome vertue, and payes
His vowes to't, you should have other hopes.
Plangus is young, a Souldier, and by consequence
Something which youth excuses. But Ephorbas
Hath left those toyes behinde him when he shook off his youth.
And.
Sir, Now my fears are out.
O virtue! are there just powers which men adore,
And throw away their prayers upon,
That lend their eyes to humane actions, or was the name
Of heaven invented to still petty sinners?
Sir, sure I am mistaken
Is a Theam of wonder to all neighbour Nations;
Pray help me to him, I would see that Angel;
The Kingdom's honour, and good men's Sanctuary.
But if you are the man, whom I have pray'd for
Oftner then I have slept; pray Sir, belye not
A vertue which I have hitherto admired.
K.
I see you are a stranger, Lady (give me leave to say so)
To Ephorbas;
But if a Lady of thy melting years
Can love this grayness, I vow my Scepter,
Throne, Kingdome, and my self are thine;
Tha'rt fit to be a Queen.
She starts back.
An.
A Queen! Sir, have your subjects anger'd you?
Have they rebell'd, or done some sin that wants a name?
Ile cleave to th'pavement till I have begg'd a vengeance
Great as their crime; but this you mention
Is a punishment, which your subjects must
Study years to curse you for; No sin deserves it.
You would blinde my eyes with throwing gold befor'um,
Or set me up so high on the steep' pinacle
Of honour's Temple, that you would have me not be able
To look down on my own simplicity.
You can create me great, I know Sir, but good you cannot;
You might compel, entice me too perhaps to sin;
But can you allay a gnawing conscience,
Or binde up bleeding reputation:
I did never hear that physick could afford
A remedy for a wounded honour.
Ep.
Th'art a Fool, Andromana.
You must be mine,
Consider on't.
An.
Sir, you may command your vassail,
K:
That's kindely said.
And.
But—I humbly take my leave,
Goodness protect you.
SCÆNA 6.
Enter to him, Rinatus, Eubulus, and Aramedes.Eph.
Wait on that Lady forth.
Rin.
Would there were not a woman in the world
So we had our Prince again.
Sir, are you mad? or have forgot you are a father?
You have undone us all.
Eph.
Why what's the matter?
Rin.
O Sir, the Prince.
Eph.
He is not dead, Rinatus, is he?
Rin.
Sir, If he be, 'tis you have murd'red him:
Was it for this you were so jealous tother day?
May my Inophilus never pretend to virtue,
Ile teach him a more thriving art.
Come to the window a little Sir, and hear
How the good people curse you; as cold weather
As it is, some are so hard at it they sweat again.
Eph.
Prethee unriddle; hast thou drunk Hemlock
Since I saw thee last?
Rin.
I would not be in my wits for any thing i'th world,
My grief would kill me if I were;
He's mad that will speak sense or reason,
Now you have thrown away our Prince thus
Whose innocence was clearer then his own eyes:
Can you think how you have murdred so much vertue,
And not blush your self to death?
Eph.
I think indeed I sent him General against the Argives,
But 'twas his own desire.
Rin.
'Twas not his own desire Sir, to have but 13000 men,
Sir was it? Was that Army fit to oppose great Argo?
There came a Messenger just now, that saw the Prince
Not sixteen miles from hence (for thither is the Foe marcht)
Draw up his men to engage the enemy.
Eph.
For heaven's sake Rinatus, post him back again,
Bid him retreat; command my son from me,
If it be possible redeem the error;
I'de give my Kingdom, life, or any ting
It were to do agen.
Rin.
I'me glad to see this now, heaven send it ben't too late.
Eph.
Nay stand not prating.
A horn within.
Rin.
Tis from the Army Sir, O heaven I fear;
Enter Mess.
Eph.
If from the Army, prethee put on better looks.
Mess.
Your son, nay more, your dying son,
Commanded me to bring you word,
He dy'd true to his honour, King, and Country-men,
Nor let me stay to see the brightest lamp go out
That ever grac't this orb.
The King faints.
Rin.
O heaven, the King! why this is worse Sir
Then the other, let not us lose you both.
Eph.
Let me but hear how twas he made his Exit,
And then my glass is run, I will not live
One minute longer.
Mess.
Sir, thus it was—
Tis scarce three hours ago since the brave
Plangus marcht from Laxa with an Army,
Whose souls were richer then their cloaths by far,
Though their valour had put on all the bravery
That Souldiers ever wore. The Prince whose presence
Breath'd new fire into these flaming spirits,
Resolv'd to meet the enemy with his handful,
And with a winged speed, fell down to the Elean Straights,
Determining there to try it with him.
His Souldiers also true sons of War,
Conteming so great odds, when victory and their Country
Was to crown the Conquerors, whetted
Their eager valours with impatient expectation
of the enemy, who trusting to his multitude came on
Wing'd both with scorn and anger, to see that paucity
Should dare dispute victory against their odds.
Plangus who though he saw, yet could not fear
Destruction, and scorn'd to avoid it
When the King commanded him to meet it,
And having given Zopiro the left wing,
The body to Evarness, himself chose out the right,
Because he would be opposite to Argo.
And keeping a reserve as great as could be hop't for
From so small a company not above five hundred men,
He gave the command of them to Zenon,
Who with his fellows took it ill they should be so long idle,
And had not the honour to be thought worthy
To dye with the most forward, and would no question have
Refus'd the charge; but that the smiling Prince
Promis'd them they should have time to dye.
Words here were needless, nor had he time to use them.
Rin.
What was Inophilus idle all this while?
Mess.
I only heard the Prince wish just as
He spur'd his horse against the valiant Argo,
He had fewer by a thousand men
So he had Inophilus.
Rin.
O trayterous boy!
Mess.
The Prince and Argo met, and like two mighty Tydes
Encountred.
Here death put on her sable Livery,
And the two Gallants whose valour animated each Army,
Bandyed a long time with equal force,
'Till at last great Argo fell; and on a sudden
Multitudes of men accompani'd him, so that
The wing went presently to rout and execution.
Zopiro also, and Evarnes having slain
Their opposite leaders, breath death and destruction
To their reeling Foes.
Thus flusht with victory, and blood the Iberians,
Revel'd through the flying field 'till there came on
The enemies reserve of twenty thousand men,
Who fresh and lusty, grinded their teeth for anger
At their fellows overthrow, and powring on
Our weary Souldiers, turn'd the stream of victory.
But the Princes valour, and good fortune soon
Overcame this opposition, and having rallied his broken
When presently he saw Evarness who had pil'd up enemies
About him, as an Obelisk of his own death and victory,
Fall bleeding at his foot, and having kiss't it
With his dying lips, intreated him to save
Himself for a more happy day, and dyed.
'Twas not long after the gallant Zenon
(Who had performed that day deeds of eternal fame,
And with his few spight of opposition, thrice charg'd
And routed some thousands of the enemy)
Expir'd, which when the Prince beheld,
Weeping for anger, he flew among'st his enemies,
Sustain'd only by the greatness of his courage,
For blood and strength had both forsook him;
He spent that spark of life was left in him,
In slaughter and revenge, when leaning on his weapon's point
That dropt with blood as fast as he,
He then conjur'd me with all speed only to tell the King.
I saw him dye worthy of his father, and himself.
A horn without,
Eph.
O heaven! what means these acclamations?
A shout,
What do the Iberians welcome their bloody
A shout again
Conqueror, with so much joy.
SCÆNA. 7.
Enter to them Plangus, Inophilus, Zopiro, Captains.Eph.
Oh! Oh!
He faints.
Rin.
O cowardly boy, for that base word includes
All baseness; doth not shame kill thee,
Or fear chill thy dastard blood to an ice,
At sight of that most noble injur'd ghost?
Tis well, dear Plangus (if thy Divinity deserve not
A more lasting name) that thou art come
To take revenge on that most traiterous son,
In's Father's presence, who detests his baseness
More then thy self can do.—
Pl.
Excuse us dear Renatus,
If when we expected such a welcome
As had that Roman son whose mother
Dy'd for joy to see him, we sound so cold
An entertainment, something made us look't upon
So like an inconvenience, that we could not
But put on some small amazement.
Eph.
And do I hear thee speak agen,
And see thee, or only dream a happiness,
Whose reality stars, and my Genius deny me?
Or art thou Plangus Angel come to rowse
Me from despair.
Pl.
Sir, Pray beleeve it; and be not backward
In th'entertainment of these Souldiers, if
You esteem it a happiness;
In a word, you are a Conqueror:
And the audacious Argive have paid their
Lives as sacrifices to your offended sword.
Eph.
A messenger of comfort to a despairing Lover
Is a less acceptable thing, then this thy presence,
If what yon fellow told me were untruth,
Thy welcome sight hath amply made amends
For those tormenting fears he put me to.
But if it were not, let me know what chance redeem'd you.
Pl.
If you have hear'd how things then went
When I sent away that Messenger.—
Eph.
Yes, I have heard it:
Pl.
Then know when death and our own fates
Had sworn our ruine, and wee like some strong wall that
Long resists the iron vomits of the flaming Cannon,
At last shakes it self into a dreadful ruine
To those who throw it down; so had the Iberians
With valour great as the cause they fought for
Strove with a noble envy; who should at first
Out-go his fellow in slaughtering the Argives;
At last oppress'd with multitude and toyl,
We sunk under the unequal burden;
Then was our emulation chang'd, and who before
To run the race of death first.
Sir, there it was I (and many other braver Captains) fell,
Being one wound from head to foot.
O then it was Inophilus came in
With about twenty other Gallants, and with what speed
The nimble lightning flyes from East to West
Redeem'd this bleeding trunk, which
The insulting Argive had encompas't
Blown up with victory and pride;
He with a gallantry like none but great Inophilus,
Being bravely backt by his own Souldiers,
Whose actions spoke them more then men,
Had not Inophilus been by, redeem'd the honour
Of a bleeding day. And thus were our troops
As little now as their valour great
Enrich'd with victory, blood, and Jewels, of which
The opposite Army wanted no store,
Returnd with the renown of an atchievement
As full of glory and honour to the Conquerors
As ruine to the Argives,
Ino.
My Liedge—
Had this action, and my merit been so great
As our Prince would make it, I then might
Own it, and expect reward.—
But it was so small, so much below my duty,
That I must upon my knees beg pardon
That I came no sooner.
Eph.
This is a prodigy beyond what ever yet
Was wrote in story.
Inophilus, we have been too backward
In cherishing thy growing vertue, we will
Hereafter mend it
And, dear Rinatus, be proud of thy brave son,
And let the people honour the remaining Army,
We shall esteem it as a favour done to us;
We have a largess for your valours Captains,
You have not fought in vain.
And let none wear a discontented brow;
For where a frown is writ, wee'l think it reason
To say, that face hath Characters of treason.
Exeunt.
| Andromana : or the merchant's wife | |