University of Virginia Library

Actus Secundus.

Scena prima.

Francisco.
Can no advice of freinds? nor mine owne reason
Hold me from strong pursuite of what I finde
Can never be obtaind? am I so stupid
After so many scornes not to desist?
An arrow shot sooner may be recal'd
Then her affection; th'Apenine, the Alpes
Will eas'lier be removed then her Father:
Feed not thy selfe, fond foole, with desperate hopes:
But shall I, arm'd with powerfull love, consult
With timerous discretion? the weake Child
Of feeble age? the towring Eagle may
More eas'ly be confin'd within high walls
Then that wing'd boy, that hover'd over Chaos
Be ty'd to humane possibilities:
What transformations did the Antique Poets
Affirme to have bin wrought on men and Gods
By his sole deity? which Jove himselfe
His frequent sport had found; what guards, what spies,
He hath deceiv'd and forc't; the fiery Bull,
The wakefull dragon, and glaz'd Argus witnes.
Though shee that's truly nam'd Angelica
Should now abhor thy person; love can lend thee
The shape of him she loves; were she averse
From all mankind, if she like any thing
Shee may at length be brought to dote on thee:
But may I not be tax'd of too much sloth?
Neglecting active industry, t'expect
To be assisted by such miracles?
I yet have only trod the beaten path
Of vowed service, friends good will, and Ioynture;
The elder Brothers formall evidence:
I am so farr from practising the art
Of spells and philters, I have quite omitted
Corruption of her confidents and servants:
I am too cheape a lover and too tame,
And hitherto have taught her to deny
By easie asking; I must let her know
What I dare doe: my Father is incens'd
At my repulse, his old suppressed hate
Renewes it selfe; hee'l rather condiscend
To match me with a fury, then with her:
It will be wisdom to decline th'alliance
Of him thy Father counts his enemy:
It would be wretchednesse to make thy love
Depend upon th'affections of another:
He never lov'd that can for any cause
Suspend his love: set then before thine eyes
Valiant Achilles, who acquir'd more honor
By constancie, even to his enemies Daughter,
In spite of th'opposition of his friends,
Then ere he did by Hectors overthrowe.
Redeeme the time Francisco, though't be short,
And let this one day satisfie the losse
Of weekes and monthes; her father keeps a slave
A cunning Affrican, whose very soule
For mony and hope of liberty i'le buy:
Him will I strait imploy; love nere refuses
The basest instruments, if they be usefull,
A drudge may finde more corners in the house
Than ere the master knew; and may discover
A secret inlet to betray a City;
There will i now begin, he shall advise
Where I shall plant my golden batteries.

Scena Secunda.

Imperiale. Molosso.
Imp.
I am with wonder strucken, not with feare,
At thy relation of this barbarous plot,
Contriv'd against my life, after faith given,
Of firme attonement: but the Leopards spots
Or staines of virgin honor may as soone
Be wip't away, as hatred that hath seizd
A cankred brest; this machination
Is so inhumane, that to lend it credit
Is a degree to inhumanity.

Mol.
To give slow faith to such a horrid plot
Becomes a heart so full of piety;
But in this black designe many presumptions
Vnite themselves to fortifie beliefe;
Nor is it to be thought, the wretch durst feine it
Giving so short a time to be disproov'd;
The heavens forbid your virtuous diffidence
Should lead you to the hazard: I must count
This blest discovery a large recompence,
Of former ills fortune hath throwne on me:
For I am bold to hope, it will by you
Be gratiously accepted, though I finde
Some late unhappy errors have inforc't
Your patience to inflict just punishment
On him that is your slave, and might expect
The restles misery of the painfull oare,
With all the wants that ever were susteyin'd
In a remorsles Galley; but your goodnes
(In spite of fate that meant all this) is pleas'd
To give me shelter under your owne roofe,
And to the emulation of my fellowes
To grant the favour of your houshold service;
A bondage which I truely may prefer
Above the common peoples liberty:
These are the benifites, that invite my soule
To meditate your preservation,
Which ere I cease to doe, Tyber and Poe
Shall quite abandon fruitefull Italy,
And wash th'Arabian sands; though I am rude,
I must abhor churlish ingratitude.

Jmp.
Fortune and thy integrity have found
A weighty occasion to confirme and fixe thee
With rootes of adamant, in my good opinion:
Nor doth it happen often to a servant
T'injoy the happy meanes t'account himselfe
The Saviour of his master: Kings are borne
More frequently, then such examples found:
But if to this unavlu'd benifit
Thy pregnant industry can adde a second,
The mischeife to divert upon himselfe
Thou having sav'd me now, shall crowne me then.

Mol.
Great sir, you owe the thanks of what's yet don
To chance alone; I am ambitious
Of somthing that might merit, if at least
The diligence and industrie of one
Of my condition, may deserue that title.

Jmp.
It may, it may; great merit is in story
Ascrib'd somtimes to bondmen; all our soules
Are free and equall, thence our merits flow:
Why should the person vilifie the worke,
And not the worke rather ennoble him?
It is the benefit we looke upon,
And not the givers meane condition.

Mol.
I have a ripe designe that shall both give
Assurance of the truth of what I brought
And powre the vengeance on your enemy;
Nor can it ever be discovered
To hurt your fame; it shall amaze the actor
And shall be speedy too; things of long time
Are ever doubtfull, lost in expectation,
Propounded usuallie for private ends,
Gain'd by degrees; an acceptable deede
Hath double welcome when t'is don with speede.

Imp.
Noble Molosso, such thy virtues make thee,
Proceed with Courage in thy enterprize,
Which i'le not presse to know, till the event,
But by inmplicit trust freelie declare
What confidence I meane to place in thee;
And take from me this iust incouragement
To rest assur'd, thy service hath not met
With an ungratefull master: I shall never
Forgive my late credulitie, that meant
T'have added to his former punishment.

Scena Tertia.

Molosso. Sango. Francisco.
Mol.
He's now made sure, I must with speed find out
Yong Spinola, and speake with Sango too,
Behold 'um both together, t'will succed;

San.
See where Molosso comes, sir.

Fran.
O t'is hee.
How is't Moloss? thy face hath busines in't
I would thou wert at leasure.

Mol.
My toil'd body
Will not admit a cheerefull countenance;
But I can throw of care if you command.

Fra.
Wouldst thou embrace redemption?

Mol.
Aske me whether
I would not wish some shade if I were broil'd
Vpon the Libian Sands, where Cancer raignes:
But Sir if I mistake not, you sustaine
A greater servitude, yet seeke not freedome.

Fra.
Thou wouldst perswade me to shake off Loves fetters.

Mol.
Rather to change them into chaines of gold,
To wealth and ornament; it may be done
Without your Chimicall projection.

Fra.
Thou shouldst not stand in need of that t'inrich thee,
Could this b'effected.

Mol.
Sir, I have no art,
Nor leisure to discourse, but I have heard
There is by fate an opportunity
Allotted every man, to make him rich
And happy too, provided he take hold,
And I am confident that's offer'd you.

Fra.
What? to enjoy divine Angelica?
No treasure else can make me rich or happy.

Mol.
When she is brought into your own possession,
You can but blame your selfe, if she depart.

Fra.
I shall destroy my selfe if then she scape,
But how? prithy convey thy joyfull newes
Into me by a reverend secrecie,
That I may be all eare, while thou art whispering.

They whisper.
San.
What plot should this be now? I long to know,
Molosso doubts some accident may happen
Vpon his Masters death, and wisely seekes
To gaine a friend, under whose safe protection
He may be sheltred from a sudden storme;
I have an equall share in the successe
Of his designes; his preservation's mine,
And therefore need not be inquisitive,
Th'assured fate of his obdurate Lord
May make that good hee promiseth; the daughter,
If once the Father were remov'd, perhaps
Would entertaine new thoughts, me thinks she should
Be sensible of Dorias neglects:
Who can condemne this yong mans hot desire?
Were I as free, as noble as himselfe,
I should most willingly become her slave,
And I doe hate my forc't condition
For no one ill so much, as that it brings
Despaire of such transcendent happinesse

Fra.
I'me ravisht with it, 'tis the sprightfull childe
Of thine owne braine, and will not brook delay.

Mol.
That's true: I'le see that all things be prepar'd:
If the least wheele be out of frame, the watch
Is altogether uselesse.

Fra.
Winde it up,
That I may observe each minute of the time
That is the Crysis of my life or death:
First take a taste of my ensuing bounty,
It may relieve thee, should we be discover'd:
If by this plot my present hopes succeed,
All future Lovers shall thy story reade.

Scena Quarta.

Sango. Molosso.
San.
I see thou hast a golden plot in hand,
Thou must impart.

Mol.
Halfe this is due to thee
By our establisht law of equall fortunes.

San.
I would I might share with Francisco too.

Mol.
That riddle quickly will unfold it selfe:
But Sango, I'me glad I met thee, I was forc't
For some important reasons to reveale
Thy weighty secret to my Patron.

San.
how?

Mol.
'Twas compell'd to do't.

San.
What? to disclose it?
And unto him? is this your dumb mans vertue?
Canst thou so soone forget thine own vile wrongs?
Hath the dull ayre of Europe chil'd thy bloud?
For thy sole cause I hardly could containe
My present joy in the discovery,
Though death stood gaping for me while I heard it,
And would'st thou cowardly betray thy fortune?

Mol.
My obligation to my starres and thee,
Their Mercury, can never be exprest;
Which I have husbanded to my advantage.
It is the ground from whence I'le take my rise,
To leap, and fall like dreadfull thunder on him:
It is not vengeance, but soft pietie
To wish a foes death, when hee's fit to dye,
To let him live, and feele himselfe so wretched,
That he shall seeke and sue for absent death,
Is a revenge becomes me, and I'le have it;
Thou know'st my Patrons former trust was chang'd
Into a sudden jealousie, which sprang
From consciousnesse of his base injuries;
This hath remov'd that doubt, and set me right
In his lost good opinion, which I meane
Still to confirme by my strict diligence,
Till time and opportunity shall shew
How far this petty-mischiefe I'le out-goe.

San.
Now are thy thoughts full plum'd, it pleases me
To see thee mount, not flag in thy revenge:
I must confesse, I love a present mischiefe,
But, if it may conduce to thy brave ends,
To make a feyn'd retrait, and then returne
With greater violence; I must consent,
And when th'art ready for thy great assault,
But, this, and I shall joyne; in the meane time
Let nothing be discover'd to my Patron;
If that be, death's the best I can expect.

Mol.
Rest thou secure, and to expresse my thanks,
It shall not be the least part of my plot,
To give thee meanes to gaine the full fruition
Of her that Genua so admires and strives for.

San.
Can there be hope of such a happinesse?

Mol.
I, and a good assurance of successe.

San.
I shall embrac't with all the circumstance
Of danger, that bold treason undergoes,
Or what accompanies forbidden love
In the most jealous climes: I should desire
In the fruition of such blisse t'expire.

Mol.
Stoutly resolv'd, come, let us lay our ground,
We shall build sure, when our foundation's sound.

Scena Quinta.

Verdugo.
Vnder a homely habit many times,
Vertue lyes hid; this rusticke weed conceales
An Engine that can frustrate providence:
When I attempt the death of any man,
No towne of Garrison, not his owne house,
Nor any place of sanctuary can save him:
Nor doth my praise consist in this alone,
That I command the life of whom I list;
A desperate wretch may claime that priviledge:
He that is weary of his owne, may be
Lord of anothers life; but such attempts
Hatch't onely by a phrensie, seldome prosper:
My actions are the fruits of a bold spirit,
Temper'd with judgement, done with secrecy:
Hence is our brave profession found to be
Of speciall use to awe the insolent,
And secure those that seeke to live in peace.
What satisfaction is it to a man
That receives wrong, to call his enemy forth,
And then expose himselfe to equall hazard?
Or in strict Common-wealths t'appeale to law,
As if a feyn'd submission in set words
Could cure the piercing sting of injury;
No, 'tis assurance of a close revenge
That plants civility, deters and keeps men
From giving, and from suffering affronts;
This benefit we bring to every man,
Yes, and the publicke States of Italy,
How ere they censure our particular actions,
Receive no small security from us;
Treason would hardly finde just punishment
Within their narrow territories, if we
Should not, like eager hounds, pursue the traytors,
And make them know, that in another Country
The justice of their owne can overtake them;
Let then the sloathfull taxe us, that our ends
Are not the publicke good, but private game,
Which we preserve above mankinde; this is
But what's objected to the souldier; he
Will fight against his brother for reward,
Men ought to follow their vocation;
The fountaine of our livelyhood is profit,
Without which, honour challenging the skill
To nourish arts, cannot provide us clothes,
Nor vertue, noys'd to be the greatest good,
Procure us bread. Nor yet is our profession
More cruell then the gravest; I have heard
Of Lawyers, that are priviledg'd to cut
Their clyents throats, with a perplext Indenture,
A parchment Saw. The learn'd Physitian
Following the long and beneficiall way
Of reverend Galen, by degrees will purge
The humours of his Patient, till he leaves
Nothing but bores for death, and hungry wormes
To gnaw upon; as for his pliant skinne,
That, while he lives, by pieces is pul'd off,
Till he be wholly flea'd: the Vsurer,
I'st not his use to blinde men first in bonds,
And bring 'um then to execution,
Extending both their bodies and their lands
Vpon a racke; we are more pitifull,
And by an unexpected way dispatch
Quicker then lightning, or a cunning heads-man,
For all the ill of death is apprehension;
How's Jmperiale wrong'd? if when he hath
But newly said his prayers, I release him
From the ensuing miseries of age;
And when that work's perform'd, my charity
May doe as much for Spinola himselfe,
Provided I be offer'd like conditions:
My hand of justice is not partiall.
But soft, this pleasing contemplation
May make m'omit the time of action,
Which now drawes neere; my plot is so contriv'd,
That being pursu'd with resolution,
It cannot want successe; our best designes
Are often crost, when through a fond remorse
We change our counsels: few have learn'd the skill
To be or wholly good, or wholly ill.

Chorus of two.
1

2

1

2

1