 | Andromana : or the merchant's wife |  |
THE TRAGEDY OF ANDROMANA.
Or, The fatal and deserved End of Disloyalty and Ambition.
Actus I.
Scæna I.
Enter Nicetes. Aramnes.Nic.
I have observed it too, but the cause is
As unknown to me as actions done in Countries
Not found out yet.
Ara.
Some Wench, my life to a brasse-Farthing.
Nic.
As like as may be:
We Souldiers are all given that way; especially
When our blood boils high, and pulses beat
Alarums to Cupid's Battels; We'r apter
To sally on a young flaming Girl,
Then on an Enemy that braves it before our Trenches.
Ara.
I ask it not to know his privacies;
For if his freedom doth not acquaint me with them,
Let them be secret still—yet I could wish
Would be handsom, and set a gloss upon all.
Times might be chosen of less publick notice:
It looks so poorly in a Prince to be thus careless
Of his own affairs: men do so talk on't—
Here comes Inophilus; if any body knows,
It must be he.
Enter Inophilus.
Ino.
Your servant, Captains; saw you the Prince to day?
Nic.
Not we: we hop't to hear of him from you.
Ino.
'Tis strange a man adorn'd with so much
Wisdom, should on the sudden fall off from the
Care of his own fame! I am his Friend, and so
I know are you; but to speak plainly to you,
He's grown my wonder now, as much as other mens.
I that have found a sweetness in his company
Beyond what ever Lovers dream of in a Mistris,
That as he spoke, methought have smelt the air prefum'd; nor
could have wish't a joy greater then living with him, next those
of Heav'n, and those prefer'd the more, because I knew Plangus
would be there.
I say, even I of late am grown out of love with any
thing that's Mortal; since I have found Plangus so far beneath,
(I will not say my expectations) but the assurances all good
men had of future gallantry. Hee's melancholly now, and hath
thrown off the spirit which so well became him, and all that
sweetness which bewitcht men's hearts is grown so rugged, so
incompos'd to all commerce, men fear hee'l shortly quarrel
with himself. Nay more, he doth not answer the fondness of his
Father's love with half that Joy he us'd to do.
Ara.
'Tis now about a Week I have observ'd this alteration;
it shakes him like an Ague once in two dayes; but holds him longer
then a fit oth' Gout: They whisper about the Court as if
the King had chid him for it, and now at length found his
thaunts.
Ino.
A poor discovery! Who might not find 'em out that
would be so uncivil: I was about to follow him, but thought
it an ignoble way, beneath the Name of Friendship, and so desisted.
About four dayes ago, meeting him ith' long Gallery, I
after a sigh or two, told me, Not very well—But he had business,
and so we parted. I saw him not agen in twenty hours after;
and then I askt him where he had been so long: He told
me (as if he was ashamed to deny me such a poor request) I must
not know; and when I told him, his often absence was observ'd.
Is it, saith he? I cannot help it, but it shall no more be so; and
at the last he stole away: Since when I saw him not.
Nic.
O this wicked Peace: Inophilus!
Is there no hopes of Warre?
To lye at home to see our Armours rust;
We could keep the Prince sober and merry too,
If he would but exchange his Court for a Camp.
Ino.
The King is old, and dotes upon his Son.
Is loth to venter him to danger:
Yet at this time there is occasion.
The Argives have refus'd to pay their tribute, and are for certain
preparing for Invasion: Some say they have got into Iberia
already.
Ara.
Nay then there's hopes:
If we could but find the Prince with a buff Coat again, I should
be once more merry.
Exeunt.
SCÆN. II.
Enter Ephorbas the King, Rinatus, Eubulus, Anamedes, three LORDS.Eph.
See the Embassadors entertain'd
With such an evenness, as should be us'd to men
We neither fear nor love; let neither
Too much obsequiousness teach them insolency,
Nor any ill usage brand us with incivility:
Stay you Rinatus.
he sighs.
Exeunt Eub. Anam.
—Open thy bosom and receive torrents of sorrow,
That lie like rocks of lead upon my soul;
Honest Rinatus; experience bids me trust thee
With a mighty secret. Thou canst not choose
I do not like that youth should be thus melancholy:
Let them enjoy themselves, for age will come,
Whose impotency will deny all pleasures.
I do believe he loves me. Hah!
Rin.
Yes, doubtless, better then sickmen health,
Or those who are pen'd up in darkness
Love the Sun.
Eph.
I speak not as if I thought he did not;
For thou know'st I humour him, afford him
Liberty enough; I never chide him, nor express
The least dislike of any action. Am not I a gentle father?
Me thinks were I a son again, to such a father,
I should not think he liv'd too long: Shouldst thou, Rinatus?
Rin.
No more doth he, upon my soul:
One command of yours would make him venter upon
Lightning, nay almost make him act a sin,
A thing he fears to name,
Eph.
I do believe thee:
But yet, me thinks, should he be grown so impious,
There might be found excuses.
A Crown is a temptation; especially so near one:
'Tis not with Princes as with other Sons; and I am old too;
Hath not my hand the palsie? Doth a Crown become gray hairs?
To be a King might make some men forswear all conscience.
But I know Plangus hath far nobler thoughts;
And yet an Empire might excuse a Parricide.
Rin.
Sir! sure you are a stranger to your son;
For give me leave to say, your fears are vain:
So great a virtue as the Princes,
Cannot anticipate his hopes by any sin:
Honour and duty have been acquainted with him now too long
To be divorct. Some Sycophants there are
(Such creatures still will haunt the Court) I know
Love not the Prince, because he loves not them.
Sir, shut your ears to them, they will betray you to your ruine.
Jealousy's a disease should be below a King,
Oh shut it from your soul,
One may read in story
What dire effects the fury hath brought forth:
Kings make away their onely sons, and Princes their fathers,
And when they have done, they may dispair at leisure.
Eph.
I do not think Plangus hath plots, or on my Crown,
Or me; he was virtuous alwaies, and is still, I hope:
But why is he so much from Court then, and alone too?
I do but ask the question.
Rin.
It can be no design, believe me, Sir;
For Crowns are won by other courses.
Aspirers must grow popular, be hedg'd about
With their Confederates; then would he flatter you,
Be jolly still, as if no melancholy thought were in him.
A guilty conscience would then teach him policy,
And he would seek to take suspition from all his carriages;
Innocence makes him careless now.
Eph.
Thou hast almost resolv'd me;
The tempest in my soul is almost laid,
And wants but time to calm it.
Youth hath its whimsies, nor are we
To examine all their paths too strictly,
We went awry our selves when we were young.
Rin.
Sir!
Eph.
Thou maist be gone, Rinatus,
Exit. Rinat.
SCÆN. III.
EPHORBAS, SOLUS.
—The blessing of an honest servant!
This Rinatus is truer unto me:
He loves the King as well as I Ephorbas;
And may I live but to reward him;
For hee's too honest for a Court!
Enter Artesio.
How now Artesio? thy looks speak strong amazement;
I am with child to hear the news: Prethee be quick in the delivery.
Art.
The Prince an't please your Majesty—
Eph.
What of him Artesio?
Art.
I have observ'd is much retir'd of late.
Eph.
So have I too; this is no News.
Art.
And I can whisper in your ear the cause.
'Twas Chance, no Policy of mine, betrayed his privacies:
Ill Offices are not the Engines I desire to rise by;
Only love to the young Prince makes me reveal them.
Eph.
Nay, nay, without apology;
If it were Treason, it should not go down the sooner
For all the guilded preparation.
Nor am I of so Feminine a humour, as
To mistrust affection delivered bluntly:
Plain meaning, should be plainly told;
Bad Wares may have false lights; good can abide the day.
Art.
But I know
The nature of my Office;
Though Kings still hug suspition in their bosoms,
They hate the causers; Love to hear secrets too,
Yet the Revealers still fare the worse,
Being either thought guilty of ends or weakness.
And so esteem'd by those they tell them to
Either unfit or dangerous to be trusted,
Perhaps, Sir, when the Prince and you are friends again,
I should have whispered the Princes errors to himself—
Eph.
Without a syllable of Prologue more—
Or I shall verifie your fears.
Art.
In this brave City (take it as brief as may be)
There lives a Beauty fit to command
Them that command the World,
And might be Alexanders Mistris, were he yet alive,
And had added Empires as large as his desires:
She's but a private Merchant's Wife;
Yet the Prince is so far gravel'd in her affection,
I fear.—
Eph.
Then there is hopes I may recall him:
Love is a childish evil, though the effects are dangerous,
A Princes Errors
Grown publick, will be scandalous.
Poor boy! perhaps the jealous Husband may commit a murder,
I would not have him cut off so young:
Love should be Princes recreation, not their business.
What Physick must we give him for his cure?
Art.
I dare not counsel you;
But in my poor judgement
Some gentle Fatherly perswasions will work upon
So good a nature.
Eph.
Could'st thou but possibly effect
How I might take him napping?
Art.
That is beyond my skill:
But I can shew you the House, and time
He walks from hence in, which will be
About an hour hence; for then her Husband
Comes home from the Ryalto.
Eph.
Time will not tarry for a King; let's go.
Exeunt.
SCÆN. IV.
INOPHILUS.Ino.
What is become of this young Prince? Or where
Doth he bestow himself? Doth he walk invisible?
Where have I been to look him?
The Horses are in the Stables,
His Page and I at home too, that us'd to be as inseperable Companions.
Enter Nicetus, Aramnes.
Ram.
Well met Gentlemen, where is the Hermit Plangus?
Nic.
We cannot tell, nor have we been to seek him.
If at the Court, we should hear presently; if not,
We might be too officious in his search,
And our enquiry might make his absence but so much the more
Notorious; and I'me confident he's well:
His virtue guards him still from all Mischances.
Ino.
Though his company's the dearest thing I love,
Yet for his good I could digest his absence,
But that I doubt a mighty mischief might spring
From this small Grain of indiscretion
The King is old, and there are Knaves about the Court
That (if he knew it not) would tell him so:
And men conscious to themselves of a defiancy,
Are still most jealous of a growing worth.
Perhaps a thinking Father (for plodding is old age's sickness)
May take notice of his Son's retirement, and misconstrue it so:
Nothing is impossible—
Heaven send it otherwise.
Ara.
This care becomes you Sir; but I dare swear 'tis needless:
The King is but an ill dissembler; and had he but the least
thought of such a thing, hee'd hide it less then the Sun conceals
his brightness: Besides, a man as great Euphorbus is, whose rule
of living hath been directed by the Line of Virtue, cannot mistrust
that Vice in his own Son, of which himself was never
or had his Crown been the effect of some audacious crime,
perhaps his guilty Conscience might have mistrusted; but 'tis impossible
where there is no guilt, to fear a punishment.
Ino.
You speak my hopes:
But this for certain, Gentlemen,
The King who was admired for his matchless sleeping,
Whose night no noise disturb'd, and it was difficult
To wake before his hour, sleeps but unquietly of late,
Will start at Mid-night, and cry Plangus:
Is greedy after News, and walks unevenly,
And sometimes on the sudden looks behind him; and when
One speaks to him, scarcely marks one syllable.
Surely the mind of some distemper shakes
His soul into this looseness.
Enter Messenger.
Mess.
My Lord, the Prince desires
To meet you half an hour hence i'th' Gallery.
Ino.
Me?
Mess.
Yes my Lord.
Ino.
I shall. Your Servant, Captains.
All.
Yours, my Lord.
[Exeunt at several Doors.]
SCÆN. V.
PLANGUS, ANDROMANA.Pl.
It cannot be so late.
An.
Believ't, the Sun is set, my Dear;
And Candles have usurp't the Office of the day.
Pl.
Indeed methinks a certain mist
Like darkness, hangs on my eye-lids.
But too great lustre may undo the sight:
A man may stare so long upon the Sun, that he
May look his eyes out; and certainly, 'tis so with me;
I have so greedily swallowd thy light,
That I have spoyl'd my own.
Why shouldst thou tempt me to my ruine thus,
As if thy presence were less welcome to me,
Then day to one, who (tis so long ago
He saw the Sun) hath forgot what light is.
Love of thy presence makes me wish this absence,
Phœbus himself must suffer an Eclips,
And Clouds are still foyles to the brightest splendor:
Some short departure will (like a river stopt)
Make the current of our pleasures run
The higher at our next Meeting
Pl.
Alas my Dearest!
Tell those so, that know not what it is to part from Blessing;
Bid not him surfeit to taste health's sweetness,
That knows what 'tis to groan under a Disease.
An.
Then let us stand and out-face danger,
Since you will have it so; despise report,
And contemn scandals into nothing,
Which vanish with the breath that utters 'um;
Love is above these vanities.
Should the innocent thing my Husband take thee here,
He could not spight me but by growing jealous;
And Jealousies black effect would be a cloyster
Perhaps to kill me too: But that's impossible,
I cannot dye so long as Plangus loves me:
Yet say this piece of Earth should play the Coward,
And fall at some unlucky stroake,
Love would transport my better half
To its Center, Plangus heart, and I should live in him.
But Sir, you have a Fame to loose, which should be
A Princes onely care and darling,
Which should have an eternity beyond his life:
If he should take that from you, I should be kill'd indeed.
Pl.
Why dost thou use these Arguments to bid me go,
Yet chain me to thy tongue, while the Angel-like
Musick of thy voice entring my thirsty ears,
Charms up my fears to immobility.
Tis more impossible for me to leave thee,
When it lyes destitute of a soul to informe it.
Marriners might with farre greater ease
Hear whole sholes of Syrens singing,
And not leap out to their destruction;
Then I forsake so dangerous a sweetnesse.
Andr.
I will be dumb then.
Pla.
I will be deaf first. I've thought a way now,
I'le run from hence and leave my soul behinde me:
It shall be so: and yet it shall not neither;
What shall a husband banish a Prince his house for fear?
A husband? 'tis but an aery title,
I will command there shall be no such thing,
And then Andromana is mine, or his, or any man's
Shee will her self. These Ceremonies
Fetter the world, and I was born to free it.
Shall man, that noble creature, be afraid of words,
Things himself made?
Shall sounds, a thing of seven small letters, give
Check to a Princes will?
An.
Did you not promise me, dear Sir?
Have you not sworn too, you would not stay beyond the time?
Have Oaths no more validity with Princes?
Let me not think so.
Pla.
Come, I will goe, thou shall not ask in vain.
But let us kisse at parting, it may be our last perhaps.
—I cannot now move one foot, though all the Furies
Should whip me forward with their snakes.
Woman thou stol'st my heart, just now thou stol'st it.
A cannon bullet might have kiss't my lips
And left me as much life.
The King having listned comes in softly.
—Are we betrayd?
What art, Speak, or resolve to dye.
K.
A well-wisher of the Princes
Pl.
The King?—It cannot be!
He starts.
K.
Though thou hast thrown all nature off,
I cannot what's my duty.
Ungratious boy, had'st been the off-spring of a sinfull bed,
Lust would have been thy kinsman, and what enormity
Thy looser life could have been guilty of,
Had found excuse in an unnatural conception.
Prethee hereafter seek another father:
Ephorbas cannot call him son that makes lust his diety.
Had I but knowne.—(but we are hoodwink't still
To all mischances) I should have had a son,
That would make it his study, to embrace corruption,
And take delight in unlawfull sheetes,
I would have hugg'd a Monster in mine arms
Before thy mother—good O heavens!
What will this world come to at last!
When Princes that should be the patterns of all virtue
Lead up the dance to vice.
What shall we call our owne, when our owne wives
Banish their faith, and prove false to us.
Have I with so much care promis'd my self
So pleasing a Spring of comfort? and are all
Those blossoms impt, and buds burnt up by the fire
Of lust and sin!—
Have I thus long labored against
The billowes, that did oppose my growing hopes?
And must I perish in the havens mouth?
No gulfe but this to be devour'd in?
Could not you th's inclination, find out
Another rock to split it selfe upon?
Had'st thou hugg'd drunkennesse, the wit or mirth
Of company might have evcus'd it.
Prodigality had beene a sin
A Prince might have beene proud in, compar'd to this.
Or had thy greener yeares incited the to treason
And atteempt a doubting father's crown
It had beene a noble vece.
Ambition runs through the veines of princes,
It brings forth acts great as themselves and it.
Spurs on to honour, and resolves great things.
But this, this Leachery is such a thing
A prince; I might say my son
(But let that passe) and dare to show
Himself to nought but darknesse, & black chambers
Whose motions like some planet
Are all excentrick, not two houres together
In his owne sphere, the court.
But I am tame to talke thus; Be gone with as much speed
As a coward would auoyd his death.
And never more presume to looke upon this woman, this whore.
Thou losest both thy eyes and me else.
Plangus is going out, but comes again.
Pl.
Sir, the reverence that I ow my father,
And the injury I have done this Gentlewoman
Had charmed me up to silence but I must
Speak something for her honour:
When I have done, command me to the Altar,
Whilst (I confesse) you tainted me with sin,
I did applaud you and condemn my selfe;
It look't like a fathers care.—But when
You us'd that tearm of whore to her that stands there,
I would have given ten thousand Kingdomes
You had had no more relation to me,
Then hath the Northerne to the Southerne pole.
I should have flown to my revenge swifter then lightning,
But I forbeare, and pray imagine not what I had done.
K.
Upon my life shee is very handsome.
aside.
Pl.
To be a whore is more unknowne to her
Then what is done in the Antipodes;
She is so pure she cannot think a sin
Nor ever heard the Name to understand it.
K.
No doubt these private meetings
Were to read her moral lectures, and teach her
Chastity.
Pl.
Nay, give me leave Sir,
I Do not say my addresses have been all so virtuous,
For whatsoever base desires a flaming beauty
Could kindle in a heart, were all alive in me;
And prompted me to seek some ease by quenching:
Imagine but a man that had drunk Mercury,
And had a fire within his Bones;
Whose blood was hotter then the melted Ore,
If he should wish for drink, nay steal it too,
Could you condemn him?
Ep.
Marry'd do they say?
aside.
Pl.
I Did endure a heat
Seas could not cool. It would have kill'd a Salamander.
Then taught both impudence and wit:
I singled out my foe, used all the arts
That love could thinke upon, and in the end
Found a most absolute repulse.
K.
Well, Plangus, youth excuses, the first fault,
But a relapse exceeds all pardon.
Ex. King. Pl.
SCÆNA. VI.
Manet ANDROMANA.An.
Curst be old age, and he that first number'd fourscore:
What Devil has betray'd us both to a doating fool?
Did I but now promise my selfe what hopes
Ambitious thoughts could reach; and shall I sink
Down to my first foundation without the pleasure of
A Tasted greatnesse. Death and disgrace,
I Dare provoke the utmost of your malice.
After the sweetnesse of some sharp revenge.
Libacer.
Madam, my Master.
Enter servant in haste.
An.
You may both hang together.
Lib.
Why this it is, if a man should kill his father
For you, he should be thus rewarded as soon as
Your turns served, I may be hang'd that did it.
An.
Since he is dead; How was it done?
Lib.
Why nothing; onely as he was taking water at the
Ryalto, his foot slipt a little, and he came tumbling in the Sea;
whence he was taken up, but not alive.
Heav'n prospers not these courses,
I see it plainly, let them be acted with as much closeness,
Or to what end soever, they never thrive. Libacer,
We are undone, undone; the King hath found
His Son here, and I have lost him to eternity.
Lib.
You women are the shallowest creatures,
You never look beyond the present.
Rome was not built in one day, Madam;
Greatness is never sweet that comes too easily.
Should Plangus be a Fool now, and obey his Father:
'Pox o' this vertue, it spoyls most men living.
We have hopes yet; Revenge is something,
And if my old Trade fail not,
Princes are mortal as well as other men;
Yet my soul inspires me with half a confidence
That Leon hath not dy'd in vain.
I use to see as far into a mischief as another:
I'le go to him, and if I bring him not within this half hour,
As hot and eager on the scent as e're he was,
Take me and hang me at my coming home.
As he is going out he meets Artesio.
Lib.
Madam, here is a Messenger from Court.
An.
If from thence, I may be bold to ask,
How Plangus the noblest Prince alive doth?
Art.
Madam, as well as Souldiers can
That are sick for honour, I suppose by this time
H'ath left the Court, and is gone in quest for glory,
Which he intends to ravish from young Argoe's brow,
The valiant Leader of the Argive's Army.
An.
I'me confident then Sir, your business is not to me,
If any body else hath sent you; Sir, be pleas'd to spare the message,
And tell them, I neither have learnt the trick
Oth' Court, nor yet intend it; I want no new Gowns,
And have heard men forswear themselves
In better language, and to better purpose
Then gaining of a Lady's honour.
Art.
Madam, My business is from the King,
Who doth intreat you would be pleas'd to bless the Court,
And bring an answer, I must not stay for one.
Exit Art.
An.
Now we do see an end of all our mischiefs;
The Prince is gone from Court, and the King hath sent for us;
Doth not the name strike terrour to thy curdling blood.
Lib.
No by my troth not at all, as far as I see
You're better then you were. Ile lay my life the old man
Would turn Gamester:
Take my counsel, play deep
Or not at all: Not an Ace under a Kingdome.
Your Grace I hope will remember your poor friends.
An.
If I do finde any such thing,
Let me alone to melt his Ice,
Go get me mourning with all hast.
Exit Lib.
Let froward Fortune do her worst, I shall
Create my greatness, or attempting fall:
And when I fall I will deserve my ruine.
Exit.
| Andromana : or the merchant's wife | |