 | The Tragedie of Alaham |  |
Actus 1.
Scena 1.
ALAHAM, HELI.Alaham.
Thou coward soule! Why standst thou doubting now?
Why to, and fro? The dice of chance are cast:
Counsells of law, of shame, of loue, are past.
Thinke what the worst haue done; what they enioy,
That plucke downe States to put vp priuate lawes,
Whom fame enobles while she would destroy.
Honor hath many wings: Chance hath no bookes:
Who follow, treade but where men trode before;
Who giue example still are something more.
Why to, and fro? The dice of chance are cast:
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Thinke what the worst haue done; what they enioy,
That plucke downe States to put vp priuate lawes,
Whom fame enobles while she would destroy.
Honor hath many wings: Chance hath no bookes:
Who follow, treade but where men trode before;
Who giue example still are something more.
Beare witnesse yet yee good, and euill spirits!
Who in the ayre inuisibly do dwell;
That these strange pathes I walke of vglinesse,
Are forc'd by threatning gulfes of treacherie,
Nourisht by States, and Times iniurious.
Nor is it sinne, which men for safety choose;
Nor hath it shame, which men are forc'd to vse.
Who in the ayre inuisibly do dwell;
That these strange pathes I walke of vglinesse,
Are forc'd by threatning gulfes of treacherie,
Nourisht by States, and Times iniurious.
Nor is it sinne, which men for safety choose;
Nor hath it shame, which men are forc'd to vse.
Heli.
What be these agonies indefinite?
These sudden changes, secret, violent,
Both argue euill lucke, and ill intent.
Alah.
That which I most did hate, and least did feare,
Is fall'n: Nature cares not for natiue blood.
I wickedly must doe, or mischiefe beare;
I must no more be, or no more be good.
Heli.
How growes this change? Reueale this secret work:
Both cures, and wounds doe oft together lurcke.
Alah.
Heli! you know the time when this fraile King,
Languish'd, and wanton'd in a powerfull throne,
Sent to the gods to learne what should befall,
Hauing but peace; and wealth to doubt withall.
Their answer was: My fathers eldest sonne
Must be a sacrifice for this Estate,
And with his blood wash out the doome of fate.
The Basshas, swoll'n by vse of ruling Kings,
Presume on God: and what by Gods decree
Was death; by their must onely exile be.
And proud againe with this vniust successe,
A second error on the first they build;
And he that liues against the heauenly doome,
Must now not liue, but raigne: yet only raigne,
To put downe me they feare, for him they scorne.
Is innocency to no other borne?
7
Traytors, to be my Lords; the dead, my King?
Is honor to so many masters tied?
Shall I not liue, except I scorned liue?
Well: where the choice is left to kill, or dye;
The best Estates doe but in hazard lie.
Heli.
T'is rashnesse to commit our right to chance.
Alaham.
T'is madnesse at the worst to feare mischance.
Heli.
Vnfold this factious clowdie mysterie;
What cannot help, yet will experience be.
Alaham.
The dayes be fresh, when all the world in hate
With Mahomets supreme authority,
The Basshas idly liu'd; no forme of State
Obseru'd; no Councells held; no Maiesty;
Weake spirits did corrupt; the strong did cast;
Worth withered vp; craft only was in trust;
The Court a farme; strange, ominous, ill signe,
When publike States to priuatenesse encline.
Such was my fathers frayle simplicity,
As wanting iudgment how to stand alone;
He (passion-ledd) could loue, and trust but one.
The world saw all was nought; yet I saw feare
Would, while it murmur'd, mischiefs councells keepe;
So blind are men, or with respects a sleep.
Enuy wrought more in me, and made me know,
This passion in the King (which did aduance
Mahomet aboue the reach of ouerthrow)
Had counter-passions, change, inconstancy,
For wit, and malice, possibility.
I stir'd the King with enuies of his slaue;
For great Estates inlarge not little harts.
My charge suspitious, which no answer haue;
Power still concluding all in euill part.
With Kings not strong in vertue, nor in vice,
I knew truth was like pillars built on ice.
Factions besides I in the Basshas mou'd,
And in their diuers witts my malice cast,
Conspiracy with good successe I prou'd:
For Kings are easily ledd away with many,
8
Thus we exil'd him with pretence of State,
Whom (it is true) I for my selfe did hate.
But now, when Mahomet was banisht hence,
His fellow Bassha's, fond of Gouernment,
To rule their Prince with his name they intend,
And ruine heires, yet seeme successions friends.
For while I by my brothers exile stood,
They hide their mindes to vndermine the more;
And much to me in pittie thinges they leaue,
That craft in good apparell might deceiue.
Heli.
Their craft, and power against you thus combui'd
How could you shunne? or worke the Basshas so,
As they might leaue to seeke your ouerthrow?
Alaham.
I found their crafte, and made my good of all,
Some I did winne, the rest I did disgrace,
Euen binding them by what they gaue to me:
So great the scopes of braue ambition be.
Nor staid I here; but as a man in doubt
To trust this tickle art of men too farre,
Where many witts to one kept subject are:
I forthwith sought on fewer heades to lay
This wardshippe of the King effeminate.
A farre lesse seruile course for me, that meant
To steale in change into this Gouernment.
This made me thinke of Caine, whose spirits I saw
Officious were, already entred grace,
Pleasant, and fit to multiplie a place.
The scruple that diuided him, and me,
Was feare he did too much possesse my wife:
With priuate scorne I waigh'd with publike ends;
And saw, who will not see, needs no amends.
For he, to hide his fault, straight puts on faith,
And care of me; a badge of seruile lust,
Which euer iniure those it pleaseth must.
In him I did accept the sacrifice
Of ruling him, that rul'd this wauing masse:
Who cannot beare, what can he bring to passe?
Now though by him the present state I gain'd,
Yet to my after-ends this gaue no ayde:
For their foundations only were, by fame,
On peoples loues, and wonders to be layd.
How little Princes fauors help the same
They know, that marke what feet men goe withall,
Who while they rise in grace, in credit fall.
The people then it was that I must seeke,
A future, not a present vse of power;
Not strength establish'd, but a strength to change;
To all, but onely those who worke it, strange.
With this Caines place had no Affinity;
It presage being of a Kingdomes fall,
When Kings trust any one to gouerne all.
His nature lesse, for it Monarchall was,
Sharpe, narrow-humor'd, only fit to rise
By that, which people hate, Crowne-flatteries,
Since nature therefore cannot change her face,
To thinke one fit, for all were foolishnesse,
To force an instrument experience feares,
Since wit may take of each the fruit it beares.
Some I did winne, the rest I did disgrace,
Euen binding them by what they gaue to me:
So great the scopes of braue ambition be.
Nor staid I here; but as a man in doubt
To trust this tickle art of men too farre,
Where many witts to one kept subject are:
I forthwith sought on fewer heades to lay
This wardshippe of the King effeminate.
A farre lesse seruile course for me, that meant
To steale in change into this Gouernment.
This made me thinke of Caine, whose spirits I saw
Officious were, already entred grace,
Pleasant, and fit to multiplie a place.
The scruple that diuided him, and me,
Was feare he did too much possesse my wife:
With priuate scorne I waigh'd with publike ends;
And saw, who will not see, needs no amends.
For he, to hide his fault, straight puts on faith,
And care of me; a badge of seruile lust,
Which euer iniure those it pleaseth must.
In him I did accept the sacrifice
Of ruling him, that rul'd this wauing masse:
Who cannot beare, what can he bring to passe?
Now though by him the present state I gain'd,
9
For their foundations only were, by fame,
On peoples loues, and wonders to be layd.
How little Princes fauors help the same
They know, that marke what feet men goe withall,
Who while they rise in grace, in credit fall.
The people then it was that I must seeke,
A future, not a present vse of power;
Not strength establish'd, but a strength to change;
To all, but onely those who worke it, strange.
With this Caines place had no Affinity;
It presage being of a Kingdomes fall,
When Kings trust any one to gouerne all.
His nature lesse, for it Monarchall was,
Sharpe, narrow-humor'd, only fit to rise
By that, which people hate, Crowne-flatteries,
Since nature therefore cannot change her face,
To thinke one fit, for all were foolishnesse,
To force an instrument experience feares,
Since wit may take of each the fruit it beares.
Of Mahomet I then be thought my selfe,
Whose absence pittie had. And as in sects,
The present errors doe prepare a place
For masked change, to shew her pleasing face:
So did the hate of present Gouernment
Forget his faults, as they forget their wounds.
I saw that he alone did fit my ends;
Occasion mother is of truest friends.
My ends were not to broyle the present State,
Nor leaue obedience in my fathers dayes;
But after he was dead, to dispossesse
My brother, whom the heauens did depresse.
Chance wrought me good: left it should worke me feare,
I meant to goe beyond the wayes of spite,
Both stay, and winne the world with Mahomet:
For who can stirre are fittest meanes to let.
My father I did moue, remou'd, and sped,
Feare made him pittifull, and folly kinde,
In passions Orbe most patient to be led;
Each argument begat another minde;
Doubt had no memory, offence was dead,
Distresse seem'd safety, likelinesse did binde:
For in these captiue wits, borne to be thrall,
Who sees one thought beyond them, seeth all.
Whose absence pittie had. And as in sects,
The present errors doe prepare a place
For masked change, to shew her pleasing face:
So did the hate of present Gouernment
Forget his faults, as they forget their wounds.
I saw that he alone did fit my ends;
Occasion mother is of truest friends.
My ends were not to broyle the present State,
Nor leaue obedience in my fathers dayes;
But after he was dead, to dispossesse
My brother, whom the heauens did depresse.
Chance wrought me good: left it should worke me feare,
I meant to goe beyond the wayes of spite,
Both stay, and winne the world with Mahomet:
For who can stirre are fittest meanes to let.
My father I did moue, remou'd, and sped,
Feare made him pittifull, and folly kinde,
In passions Orbe most patient to be led;
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Doubt had no memory, offence was dead,
Distresse seem'd safety, likelinesse did binde:
For in these captiue wits, borne to be thrall,
Who sees one thought beyond them, seeth all.
Mahomet returnes: But whether deeply shrin'd,
Within the hollow abstracts of his heart,
His malice lay; or that ambitious kinde
Be easie, for it selfe, from all to part;
Respect to me, and honour, layd behinde;
Finding this King to be but humors art,
He takes his soule, and miracles he showes;
Restores the lost, th'establish'd ouerthrowes.
My elder brother, whom the Gods fore-spake
Lawes had depriu'd, exil'd, and men forgot,
He straight calls home; and dares to vndertake
That which audacity beleeueth not.
Ah! Error of good meaning, apt to trust,
For want of ill enough, I perish must.
And am I borne for duties sacrifice,
To watch for change of times, or Gods reuenge?
Is patience scorne, and hazard yet vnwise?
No, No: Confusion raignes; despaire is it,
That now makes chance a God; and danger, wit.
Inflam'd, distract, confus'd, put out of feare
I am.
Within the hollow abstracts of his heart,
His malice lay; or that ambitious kinde
Be easie, for it selfe, from all to part;
Respect to me, and honour, layd behinde;
Finding this King to be but humors art,
He takes his soule, and miracles he showes;
Restores the lost, th'establish'd ouerthrowes.
My elder brother, whom the Gods fore-spake
Lawes had depriu'd, exil'd, and men forgot,
He straight calls home; and dares to vndertake
That which audacity beleeueth not.
Ah! Error of good meaning, apt to trust,
For want of ill enough, I perish must.
And am I borne for duties sacrifice,
To watch for change of times, or Gods reuenge?
Is patience scorne, and hazard yet vnwise?
No, No: Confusion raignes; despaire is it,
That now makes chance a God; and danger, wit.
Inflam'd, distract, confus'd, put out of feare
I am.
Visions I feele of better hopes arise.
Malice, and rage, whose heats had barrennesse,
Are, with ambition of reuenge, made wise.
Birth, chance, occasion, right, good fortunes be
To some: and wrong can all these trialls be seuere:
Malice, and rage, whose heats had barrennesse,
Are, with ambition of reuenge, made wise.
Birth, chance, occasion, right, good fortunes be
To some: and wrong can all these trialls be seuere:
Heli.
Alaham! I grant these trialls be seuere:
But know; temptation is misfortunes spie,
To worke in resolution change, or feare:
Attend your fathers death; still hold you there;
Before to vndermine a Monarchy
Is hard. Besides, iudge you your own intent:
For such your brother is in this to you,
As you before vnto your brother were;
11
Alaham.
Who measures hopes, and losses by the truth,
Goes euer naked in this world of might:
Mine be the Crowne: my brothers be the right.
Heli.
Will you exceed his mischiefe whom you blame?
Alah.
When euill striues, the worst haue greatest name.
Heli.
Goodnesse is only at the greatest best.
Alaham.
Those mischiefes prosper that exceed the rest.
Heli.
Thou art but one: for all a sufferer be.
Alaham.
That one is more than all the world to me.
Heli.
Faults to the State all priuate faults exceed.
Alaham.
My wounds then heale, when all the earth doth bleed.
Heli.
Let father moue thee: Pittie thou the State.
Alaham.
Father descending kindnesse signifies:
Our State is there, where our well-being lies.
Heli.
Fame euer liues, and euer will defame:
The ruine of thy father; and his Crowne.
Alaham.
They euer prosper whom the world doth blame;
Shame sees not climing vp, but falling downe.
Heli.
Yet feare thy selfe, if fame thou doest not feare;
Reuenge falls heauie, when God doth forbeare.
Alaham.
Men only giddie be that be aboue,
And will looke downe to doubts, when they be there.
Shall name of King o'erthrow a Kings Estate?
Hath publike good no friend? Shall priuate feare
Of one weake man make all vnfortunate?
No, No, deare Heli! I Gods Champion am;
And will my father for a while depose,
Lest he the Kingdome, we the Church doe lose.
Heli.
Alaham! If hands you on your father lay
For priuate ends, and make the Church your stayres,
By which you clime your owne ambitious way;
Your glory will be short, and full of feares:
Since nothing for the Church is done amisse;
And nothing well done that against her is.
Alaham.
So be the God eternall my beleefe;
As I my father from his State depose,
Only for feare the Church should honor lose.
12
The Church it is one linke of Gouernment,
Of noblest Kings the noblest instrument.
For while Kings sacred keepe her mysteries,
She keepes the world to Kings obedient;
Giuing the body to obey the spirit,
So carrying power vp to infinite.
But here with vs, the discipline is stain'd;
Forme lost; truth scandaliz'd with noueltie;
Louingnesse with craft; and faith with Atheisme.
Honor, and zeale, with curiosity;
The worst best vs'd; shame carrying honors face,
And Innouation king in euery place.
Downe must these ruines to be set vpright;
Misfortune peec'd growes more vnfortunate;
And parents Lawes must yeeld to Lawes of State.
Heli.
Then see the means: For though the end were good,
Yet for a priuate man to change a State,
With Monarchs sleights to alter Monarchie,
Seemes hard, if not impossible, to me.
Alaham.
Impossible is but the faith of feare;
To make hope easie fetch beliefe elswhere.
Yet lest these sparkes rak'd vp in hollow hearts,
Should spread, and burne before their fury show;
Keepe on the course which you haue vs'd to goe.
Preach you with firie tongue, distinguish might,
Tyrants from Kings; duties in question bring
Twixt God, and man; where power infinite
Compar'd, makes finite power a scornfull thing.
Safely so craft may with the truth giue light,
To iudge of Crownes without enammelling;
And bring contempt vpon the Monarchs State;
Where straight unhallowed power hath peoples hate.
Glaunce at Prerogatiues indefinite,
Taxe customes, warres, and Lawes all gathering;
Censure Kings faults, their spies, and fauourites;
Holinesse hath a priuiledge to sting.
Men be not wise; bitternesse from zeale of spirit,
Is hardly iudg'd; the enuy of a King
13
Where God seemes great in Priests audacity.
Thus keep a god: For be he true, or no,
Mixt faith so workes on mans idolatrie,
That minds, in bonds; bodies, delight in woe.
Religion carrying men aboue respect:
For what thing else can stand in selfe neglect?
And when mens mindes thus tun'd, and tempted are
To change, with arguments 'gainst present times,
Then hope awakes, and mans ambition climes.
Heli.
What hope can blot the feare of Princes power?
Alaham.
Taxes, and scornes of Basshas gouernment,
Which vnder Kings make present times still sowre;
Hope leades the ill, and they the innocent.
Heli.
These hopes are poore: For feare is with thē mixt.
Alaham.
All feares are weake, where any hope is fixt.
Heli.
Dissolue (tis true) you may with enuy, feare,
Craft, treacherie, contempt, neglect;
Not build: these sands will no foundation beare:
These engines are to ruine, not erect.
Will you a father, can you a King throw downe?
Alaham.
Or suffer that the Christians weare his Crowne
Heli.
The Christians with what faith, or policy,
Can you call in? Such remedies are ill:
For what they conquer, that enioy they will.
Besides, the force lies in Caine Basshas hands,
In Mahomet wealth, law, and gouernment:
What way to them?
Alaham.
My wife, their mutuall trust.
These Basshas with themselues she shall betray;
Arts of reuenge are written downe in lust.
What cannot women doe with wit, and play?
Heli.
Who would bestow his wife in works of shame?
Alaham.
They that thinke ought more deare than honest name.
Good fortune doth in humors market sit,
And those that buy, must sell all else for it.
Heli.
The shame is sure; the good in hazard lies.
Alaham.
Such staires they clime, that vnto fortune rise.
Opinion raignes without, and truth within:
Who others please, against themselues must sin.
Exit Heli.
Opinion raignes without, and truth within:
14
You spirits then growne subtile by your age!
Not you that doe inhabite Paradise,
Whose constant ioyes most vnacquainted be
With all affections, that should make you wise!
No: I inuoke that blacke eternity,
As apt to put in action, as deuise!
Helpe me, that haue to doe with Princes power,
To plucke downe King, with Kings authority;
And make men slaues, with show of liberty.
Free hope from euill lucke, reuenge from feare;
Ruine, and change adorne you euery where.
Not you that doe inhabite Paradise,
Whose constant ioyes most vnacquainted be
With all affections, that should make you wise!
No: I inuoke that blacke eternity,
As apt to put in action, as deuise!
Helpe me, that haue to doe with Princes power,
To plucke downe King, with Kings authority;
And make men slaues, with show of liberty.
Free hope from euill lucke, reuenge from feare;
Ruine, and change adorne you euery where.
Scena secunda.
MAHOMET: ALAHAM.Mahomet.
My Lord! So oft alone, pulls downe the heart
To thoughts, and courses far vnmeet for it.
Princes must show themselues in open sight;
Men ioy in them that doe in men delight.
Triumphs of common peace, sacrifice, thanks, praise,
Prepared are,
To solemnize this vniuersall ioy,
Wherein your selfe the greatest part enioy.
Alaham.
If change were currant in Eternity,
As here amongst vs in this mortall spheare,
Passion might hope for counterpassion there.
My brothers doome decreed was from aboue:
Truth varies not: Gods pleasure constant is:
Time present shewes not all that is amisse.
Mahomet.
Ioy opens mindes, and enuy shuts them in:
God, by your brothers life, adiournes our sinne.
Alah.
When God speaks vnto men, and they expound,
Truth easily scapes, all threatned woes seeme light;
15
For power is proud till it looke downe to feare,
Though only safe, by euer looking there.
Besides; if fates be past, what meanes this starre,
Whose glorious taile threatens vnglorious dayes,
Feare vnto Kings, and to the State a warre?
What meane these bloody showers? These darkned rayes
Of Sunne, and Moone, which still eclipsed are?
Are all signes chance? For if the starres can worke,
These signes that threaten proue their bodies lurke.
What added is in honor to the Crowne,
Or what increase of Empire to the King;
That exiles are call'd home to put me downe?
Strange innouation some increase should bring.
Kings fondly else tempt God, and trust to chance,
Where change, and hazard nothing doe aduance.
Mahomet.
Your brothers fault was only Princes feare;
One ill example hurts to many were.
Alaham.
Gods law it was, wherby he was depriu'd;
My elder brothers right, was but the law.
Change in Estates is like vnto a steepe,
Which, but it selfe, can nothing constant keepe.
Mahomet.
It is no chance to giue the elder place.
Alah.
The wounds are new that present right deface.
Mah.
The second borne are not borne to the Crowne.
Alah.
Hope, which our God sets vp, dare man pull downe?
Mahomet.
Alaham! Our Gods decree did not exile
Thy brother: It was heauenly mystery,
Which faction construed to impiety.
When I return'd, I saw foundations layd
In Princes faults, for Basshas tyrannie;
Who keeping both the Princes heyres aliue,
The one exil'd, the other enuious,
Would make each plague to other; both, to vs.
I wrought, and ouercame the Princes hate,
Restor'd his sonne, and in his sonne the State.
Alaham.
And wast thou then call'd into grace by me,
To be the meane that I should ruin'd be?
16
Artisan of craft, great Empire of deceipt,
The plague of all inferiors, and the bait;
In Princes frailty shall not drowne this State.
Sense and thy wrongs alike be generall;
A Princes power cannot protect them all.
When flattery giues scope to tyrannize,
Extremes then from extremities doe rise.
Mahomet.
The giddy head that sees with daz'led sight,
Imagines all the world to turne about:
And rage, which to your selfe makes you seeme great,
Is lesse to me, than if you did entreat.
Alaham.
Who truth doe only but to hate it know,
They nothing feare, but only to be good:
Vnthankfulnesse is euer valiant so.
Mahomet.
To them God thanklesse seemes, not thanklesse is,
That sacrifice for leaue to doe amisse.
If wrongfully you had not banish'd me;
To whom could my returne thank-worthy be?
Alaham.
Our gods seem'd wroth; and fame spake strangely ill.
That sure my Wife did worse than dote of thee;
This was dishonor, wrong, and losse to me.
Yet I distract with good beleefe and feare,
Detest her could not; loue forbade it me:
Loue her I did not, for mistrust was there;
While I suspected her, I hated thee.
At length ('t is true) I got thee banished;
If not reuenge, at least security:
Till humorous Time, that blots to print againe,
Shew'd me in Hala's thoughts Caine Bassha's name.
I call'd thee home; and though I scorne still beare
By fame, who when she lies, recanteth not,
Yet I forgaue the shame, and pardoned feare;
Brought thee good lucke, where good turnes are forgot.
And is it a returne of that you owe,
For you to worke your Patrones ouerthrow?
Mahomet.
Alaham! Put off this fruitlesse peeuishnesse
Of expectation, lost in ill desires.
For you, in witnesse of my thankfull heart,
The Gouernment of old Ormus I got;
And by possession mans hope loseth not.
17
For you, in witnesse of my thankfull heart,
The Gouernment of old Ormus I got;
And by possession mans hope loseth not.
Alaham! Besides, iudge both your thoughts, and State:
Kings children are no Kings; Authority
Goes not by blood; she sets another rate:
Vse, is her kinne; Grace, her affinity.
Then looke not on desires earnestnesse;
Impossible is easie there, wishes effect,
The future great, the present euer lesse:
Comparison still carying vp the eye
To make all that we haue but miserie.
Care, bought with blood; and feare, with treacherie;
Danger, with wrong; and shame, with venturing;
Vncertaine hopes, and certaine misery,
The fortunes be of haste to be a King.
Kings children are no Kings; Authority
Goes not by blood; she sets another rate:
Vse, is her kinne; Grace, her affinity.
Then looke not on desires earnestnesse;
Impossible is easie there, wishes effect,
The future great, the present euer lesse:
Comparison still carying vp the eye
To make all that we haue but miserie.
Care, bought with blood; and feare, with treacherie;
Danger, with wrong; and shame, with venturing;
Vncertaine hopes, and certaine misery,
The fortunes be of haste to be a King.
Alaham.
O God! what's this? Mine inward spirits shake;
Senses doe leaue their worke; thoughts are confus'd;
Horror and glory now possession take;
New visions to my darknesse are infus'd:
Like Delpho's mayd, I find a mightie worke;
My heart with more than it selfe doth resolue;
What I thinke, speake, or doe, is not mine owne.
I feele what made me wish my brothers fall,
And finde what mischiefe gets, it goes withall.
His safety now, I see, my safety is;
And honor you, that haue procured this.
Mahomet.
A blessed worke, if it be wrought within.
Alaham.
It is no worke: it is a heauenly blisse,
Which perfect be, as soone as they beginne.
Spite! (thou Impostume of aspiring hearts,
Whose nature is, that if the bagge remaine,
The wicked humors straight will fill againe)
I will lay open thee, and all thy arts:
It is no shame to say we were amisse,
Since man doth take his name of that he is.
Thy life is sought: Nay more, thy death is sworne.
18
By whom?
Alah.
By them that hate, because they loue.
And eithers kindnesse doe in mischiefe proue.
Mahomet.
What is my fault?
Alah.
That thou of fault are free.
Mahomet.
What his reward?
Alah.
Their loue that malice thee.
Mahomet.
Where lies my hope?
Alah.
To kill, or to be kill'd.
Mahomet.
A wicked choice, where mischiefe is the best.
Is their delight in shedding guiltlesse blood?
Alaham.
What moues the wicked else to hate the good?
Mahomet.
Who be the men?
Alah.
I to my selfe am free;
But faith forbids to tell what others be.
Mahomet.
Disperse these clouds: Secrecy is euils friend;
Neutrality hath neuer noble end.
Tell me their names, that I my foes may know,
And you, with honor, from ill friendship goe.
Alaham.
I witnesse take of these light-bearing starres,
Wherein the doomes are laid of mans desires;
No lacke of hope, or power, to conceale;
Remorse alone doth them, and me reueale.
My wife hath compass'd Caine so cunningly
As he hath sworne you, by his hand, shall dye.
Mahomet.
Vncredible it is to thinke men neuer change;
To thinke they alter easily, is a strange.
Vpon what grounds should this strange malice moue?
Alaham.
Vpon what grounds doe men beginne to loue?
Mahomet.
What moued Caine?
Alah.
That which I may not see:
For they loue well that doe in hate agree.
Mah.
Are truth and friendship but ambitious traps,
To feed desire with all that she can get?
Are words, and good turnes but hearts counterfeit?
Alaham.
When enemies bid enemies take heed,
They trust not them, and yet they will beware;
For disaduantage growes of little care.
19
Mahomet.
Good Angells still protect the innocent:
Hell would haue all, if harme were ill intent.
Alah.
Mischiefe still hides her selfe from them she hits,
In hopes, and feares of vnresoluing wits.
Mahomet.
I well know Caine: his nature to excesse
Of good, or ill, is forc'd by industrie:
In others spite lies his impietie.
Appease your wife: for that must lie in you.
Alaham.
Call vp the dead; for that is lesse to doe.
A womans hate is euer dipt in blood,
And doth exile all counsells that be good.
Mahomet.
Reason and truth shall pleade to her for me.
Alaham.
The eyes of rage it selfe doe only see:
And truth serues vnto rage, but for a glasse
To decke her selfe in, and bring spite to passe.
Reason to rage is like hands to a sore,
Whose often stroking makes the anguish more.
Mahomet.
Impossible all counsell doth refuse.
Alaham.
Let Caine be kill'd: and then my wife accuse.
Mahomet.
My heart shall first take counsell with my fate:
If it foretell the worst, it teacheth feare;
If it diuines no ill, how can it hate?
If what shall fall it feeles not; I must beare.
The time growes on: The King (I know) makes haste
To sacrifice to God: For common ioyes
Are made much dearer by the sorrowes past.
CHORVS PRIMVS, Of good Spirits.
We that are made to guard good men, and binde the ill,
See both miscarried here below, against our power, and will.
As if the earth, and hers, were to the worst left free,
And we made subiect, by their curse, to deaths blacke Colonie.
Yet is our Maker strong, and we his first Creation,
Wheras the state of that darke Quire is meerly our priuation.
Whence doth this ods then grow, which seemes to master all;
Since we are more than nature is, they much lesse, by their fall?
Are we not diligent, or is the good not wise?
Showes Truth lesse glorious in the earth, than her ill picture Lies?
Then Audit vs in grosse; at least we equall be:
And if in minutes men seeke out true inequality,
Compare words with the life, Eternity with time,
Insulting pride with humble loue, pure innocence with crime:
And if these in their natures equally be weigh'd,
The one liues euer building vp, what others haue decay'd.
So that to make and marre, is our true difference;
To marre, expressing finite power; to make, omnipotence.
The obiect then it is, from whence this oddes doth grow,
By which the ill o'reweighs the good in euery thing below.
And what is that but Man? A crazed soule, vnfix'd;
Made good, yet fall'n, not to extremes, but to a meane betwixt:
Where (like a cloud) with windes he toss'd is here, and there,
We kindling good hope in his flesh; they quenching it with feare.
We with our abstract formes, and substance bodilesse,
Image by glaunces into him our glories, their distresse.
And in prospectiue Maps make ill farre off appeare,
Lest it should worke with too great power, when it approacheth neare.
Beauties againe of Truth (which those ill spirits conceale)
With Optike glasses we reflect on man to kindle zeale.
But whether idle man, exceeding orders frame,
(As out of heauen iustly cast) must Vulcan-like goe lame;
Or that those euill spirits so dazle humane eyes,
As they thinke foule forbidden things more beautifull, more wise;
Wee see, though they want power to change our reall frame,
Yet in the world they striue to gaine, by changing of our name:
Calling the Goodnesse, weake; Patience, a lacke of sense,
Or seeming not to feele, because it dares make no defence.
True Pietie in Man, which vpward doth appeale,
They doe deride, as argument of little strength, much zeale.
And as the Painters art, by deeping colors there,
Here sleighting o're, and finely casting shadowes euery where,
Makes from a flat, a face shew off, as if imboss'd;
In which the forme, not matter, is the summe of all his cost:
So take these Fayries from, or adde vnto our meane,
With arts fine casting shadows, till they seeme to change vs cleane;
And make a picture which they couet should excell;
And which yet, to be like, must lose the life of doing well.
This image is their wit, and so their Deitie,
Which though not keeping one shape long, in all would worship'd be.
In precept, doctrine, rite, and discipline agree'd,
That, but prosperity on earth, there is no liuing Creed:
See both miscarried here below, against our power, and will.
As if the earth, and hers, were to the worst left free,
20
Yet is our Maker strong, and we his first Creation,
Wheras the state of that darke Quire is meerly our priuation.
Whence doth this ods then grow, which seemes to master all;
Since we are more than nature is, they much lesse, by their fall?
Are we not diligent, or is the good not wise?
Showes Truth lesse glorious in the earth, than her ill picture Lies?
Then Audit vs in grosse; at least we equall be:
And if in minutes men seeke out true inequality,
Compare words with the life, Eternity with time,
Insulting pride with humble loue, pure innocence with crime:
And if these in their natures equally be weigh'd,
The one liues euer building vp, what others haue decay'd.
So that to make and marre, is our true difference;
To marre, expressing finite power; to make, omnipotence.
The obiect then it is, from whence this oddes doth grow,
By which the ill o'reweighs the good in euery thing below.
And what is that but Man? A crazed soule, vnfix'd;
Made good, yet fall'n, not to extremes, but to a meane betwixt:
Where (like a cloud) with windes he toss'd is here, and there,
We kindling good hope in his flesh; they quenching it with feare.
We with our abstract formes, and substance bodilesse,
Image by glaunces into him our glories, their distresse.
And in prospectiue Maps make ill farre off appeare,
Lest it should worke with too great power, when it approacheth neare.
Beauties againe of Truth (which those ill spirits conceale)
With Optike glasses we reflect on man to kindle zeale.
But whether idle man, exceeding orders frame,
21
Or that those euill spirits so dazle humane eyes,
As they thinke foule forbidden things more beautifull, more wise;
Wee see, though they want power to change our reall frame,
Yet in the world they striue to gaine, by changing of our name:
Calling the Goodnesse, weake; Patience, a lacke of sense,
Or seeming not to feele, because it dares make no defence.
True Pietie in Man, which vpward doth appeale,
They doe deride, as argument of little strength, much zeale.
And as the Painters art, by deeping colors there,
Here sleighting o're, and finely casting shadowes euery where,
Makes from a flat, a face shew off, as if imboss'd;
In which the forme, not matter, is the summe of all his cost:
So take these Fayries from, or adde vnto our meane,
With arts fine casting shadows, till they seeme to change vs cleane;
And make a picture which they couet should excell;
And which yet, to be like, must lose the life of doing well.
This image is their wit, and so their Deitie,
Which though not keeping one shape long, in all would worship'd be.
In precept, doctrine, rite, and discipline agree'd,
That, but prosperity on earth, there is no liuing Creed:
Out of which fatall guide Alaham now vndertakes
The ruine of his King, and father, for ambitions sake;
Against the lawes of Nations, power, and natiue blood;
As if the vttermost of ill a Scepter could make good.
But marke how Vice still makes example her owne fate;
For with like mischiefe Hala shakes both him, and his Estate.
He in his fathers bowels seeks an earthly Throne;
Whence she supplants his heires againe with bastards of her owne.
He makes wrong triumph ouer right, and innocence;
She makes her lust religions lord, confusion her defence.
Thus, as that Tyrant who cut off the Statues head,
Which bare the name of Iupiter Olympian christened;
Euen by this scornfull act to what was God in name,
Taught people to encroch vpon the sacred Monarch-frame:
So while the o'reswoll'n pride of this Mahumetan,
By wounding of his Princely race, playes false with God and man;
He in it doth disperse those clouds of reuerence,
Which betweene man, and Monarchs Seate keep sweet intelligence;
And while he would be lord of order, nature, right,
Brings in disorder, that deuouring enemy of might,
Which with her many hands vnweaues what time had wrought,
And proues, what power obtaines by wrong, is euer dearly bought.
So that our griefe and ioy is in this Tragedy,
To see the ill, amongst her owne, act vnprosperity;
The corne fall to the ground, the chaffe in siues remaine,
Which of the corne was once, and yet cannot be corne againe.
But as their ancient mates the sudden-kindled Windes,
Broken out of the watry clouds, wherein they were enshrin'd;
Afflict the sturdy Oke, are heauy to the Reed;
And equally spend out thēselues with good or euill speed:
So of these windy spirits, which wander in the ayre,
By their malignity to blast, both what is foule, and faire;
Whether they prosper doe, or faile in their intent,
Their vglinesse disclosed is, their violence is spent:
While we vphold the world, and were we all but one,
By Legions of those Angels curs'd, could not be ouerthrown'd.
Yet among stories, as the Authors winne no praise,
Which truly write; but they who time with flatteries doe please:
So in mans muddy soule, the meane doth not content,
Nor equally the two extremes; but that which fits his bent.
This makes some soare, and burne; some stoope, and wet their wings;
And some againe commit excesse, euen in indifferent things.
For who maintaines one vice to multiply another,
Incestuously begets more heyres vpon his owne first mother.
And in Venerian acts, as Concubine, and wife,
Only expresse that difference which pictures do from life;
The act being all in one, and but the same in all,
Saue that the bondage of the vice delighteth to enthrall:
So in mans choice, suppose this ends indifferent:
The good, and ill, like equall wayes; yet will the worst content.
The ruine of his King, and father, for ambitions sake;
Against the lawes of Nations, power, and natiue blood;
As if the vttermost of ill a Scepter could make good.
But marke how Vice still makes example her owne fate;
For with like mischiefe Hala shakes both him, and his Estate.
He in his fathers bowels seeks an earthly Throne;
Whence she supplants his heires againe with bastards of her owne.
He makes wrong triumph ouer right, and innocence;
22
Thus, as that Tyrant who cut off the Statues head,
Which bare the name of Iupiter Olympian christened;
Euen by this scornfull act to what was God in name,
Taught people to encroch vpon the sacred Monarch-frame:
So while the o'reswoll'n pride of this Mahumetan,
By wounding of his Princely race, playes false with God and man;
He in it doth disperse those clouds of reuerence,
Which betweene man, and Monarchs Seate keep sweet intelligence;
And while he would be lord of order, nature, right,
Brings in disorder, that deuouring enemy of might,
Which with her many hands vnweaues what time had wrought,
And proues, what power obtaines by wrong, is euer dearly bought.
So that our griefe and ioy is in this Tragedy,
To see the ill, amongst her owne, act vnprosperity;
The corne fall to the ground, the chaffe in siues remaine,
Which of the corne was once, and yet cannot be corne againe.
But as their ancient mates the sudden-kindled Windes,
Broken out of the watry clouds, wherein they were enshrin'd;
Afflict the sturdy Oke, are heauy to the Reed;
And equally spend out thēselues with good or euill speed:
So of these windy spirits, which wander in the ayre,
By their malignity to blast, both what is foule, and faire;
Whether they prosper doe, or faile in their intent,
Their vglinesse disclosed is, their violence is spent:
While we vphold the world, and were we all but one,
By Legions of those Angels curs'd, could not be ouerthrown'd.
Yet among stories, as the Authors winne no praise,
Which truly write; but they who time with flatteries doe please:
So in mans muddy soule, the meane doth not content,
Nor equally the two extremes; but that which fits his bent.
23
And some againe commit excesse, euen in indifferent things.
For who maintaines one vice to multiply another,
Incestuously begets more heyres vpon his owne first mother.
And in Venerian acts, as Concubine, and wife,
Only expresse that difference which pictures do from life;
The act being all in one, and but the same in all,
Saue that the bondage of the vice delighteth to enthrall:
So in mans choice, suppose this ends indifferent:
The good, and ill, like equall wayes; yet will the worst content.
| The Tragedie of Alaham | |