University of Virginia Library

SCENE VI.

Enter, at an opposite side, Marcellus and Mentevole.
MARCELLUS.
Enough, my lord. This fair acknowledgment
Has rais'd your justice high in my esteem.
A soldier's honour can require no more;
And sure, tis better, thus to join our hands,
Than try their strength in rude hostility.

MENTEVOLE.
I was your brother's friend; and while he liv'd,
Though the same passion that still fires my soul,
Then fiercely burn'd for this enchanting Julia;
Yet, from respect for his precedent claim,
And to her choice avow'd, within my breast
I kept the painful secret. He so lov'd me,
The wound he could not heal, I would not shew:
Then sure, full equally, from you, Marcellus,
New to her charms, at least I may expect
A like declining.

MARCELLUS.
Good Mentevole,
Let's find some safer subject.

MENTEVOLE.
No, this only.
I cannot speak, or think, of aught but her:
She is my essence; feeds, wakes, sleeps, with me;
Is vital to me as the air I breathe.
But mark, I am compos'd; no violence
Lives in my thoughts, or shall disgrace my tongue.

MARCELLUS.
Then, lest I move your temper, let me leave you.

MENTEVOLE.
No, pr'ythee no, not thus unsatisfied.
I'll not contend, but her transcendent beauty,
Even at first sight, must strike the gazer's eye
With admiration, which might grow to love.
But is it possible, one interview,
(For you but once have seen her,) should so root
Her image in your soul, that all your bliss,
Or future misery, depends on her?

MARCELLES.
Regard not me, but reason for yourself.
If all your faithful vows, your length of courtship,
Her father's favour, and the nameless aids
Which time and opportunity have furnish'd,
Raise not your hopes above a rival's power;
Say, were it not more wise, and manly too,
To rouse, and shake off such a hard dominion?

MENTEVOLE.
How cold you talk? Good heaven! I might as well
Resolve to change my nature; bid my ear
See for my eye, or turn my blood to milk;
New-stamp my features, and new-mould my limbs;
Make this soft flesh, that yields to every print,
Impassive as thin air; waste time and thought
On any wild impossibility;
As be the thing I am, and cease to love her.

MARCELLUS.
Then take, my lord, your course, while I shall follow
The counsel which I offer. Once rejected,
No more to persecute, where most I love,
I shall retire, and mourn repulse in silence.

MENTEVOLE.
So then, my lord, my suit is persecution?

MARCELLUS.
I said it not; but since you will search further,
I've heard almost as much.

MENTEVOLE.
And who inform'd you?

MARCELLUS.
A lower tone, perhaps, may meet an answer.

MENTEVOLE.
I will be answered.

MARCELLUS.
Will!—hot man, farewell!

[going.
MENTEVOLE.
Come back. I'll answer for you. Your own pride;—

MARCELLUS.
Ha! have a care!

MENTEVOLE.
Your boyish vanity;
Your fond conceit of that imposing form;—

MARCELLUS.
I'll bear no more; this insolence and rudeness
Have rous'd my rage, and thus I answer thee.

[They fight. Mentevole is disarmed.
MENTEVOLE.
My life is yours. Strike home.

[shewing his breast.
MARCELLUS.
Take back your sword;
And when your peevish spleen next swells within you,
Let this deserv'd rebuke subdue your choler.
[Exit Marcellus.