SCENE III.
The same. A Room in Cleon's House.
Enter Gracculo, leading Asotus in an ape's habit, with a chain about his neck; Zanthia in Corisca's clothes, she bearing up her train.
Grac. Come on, sir.
Asot. Oh!
Grac. Do you grumble? you were ever
A brainless ass; but if this hold, I'll teach you
To come aloft and do tricks like an ape.
Your morning's lesson: if you miss——
Asot. O no, sir.
Grac. What for the Carthaginians? [Asotus makes moppes[116].] A good beast.
What for ourself, your lord[117]? [Dances.] Exceeding well.
There's your reward. [Gives him an apple.]—Not kiss your paw! So, so, so.
Zant. Was ever lady, the first day of her honour,
So waited on by a wrinkled crone? She looks now,
Without her painting, curling, and perfumes,
Like the last day of January. Further off!
So—stand there like an image; if you stir,
Till, with a quarter of a look, I call you,
You know what follows.
Coris. O, what am I fallen to!
But 'tis a punishment for my cruel pride,
Justly return'd upon me.
Grac. How dost thou like
Thy ladyship, Zanthia?
Zant. Very well; and bear it
With as much state as your lordship.
Grac. Give me thy hand:
Let us, like conquering Romans, walk in triumph[118],
Our captives following; then mount our tribunals,
And make the slaves our footstools.
Zant. Fine, by Jove!
Are your hands clean, minion?
Zant. Fall off then. She and I have changed our parts;
She does what she forced me to do in her reign,
And I must practise it in mine.
Grac. 'Tis justice:
O! here come more.
Enter Cimbrio, Cleon, Poliphron, and Olympia.
Cimb. Discover to a drachma,
Or I will famish thee.
Cleon. O! I am pined already.
Poliph. Spare the old jade, he's founder'd.
Grac. Cut his throat then,
And hang him out for a scarecrow.
Poliph. You have all your wishes
In your revenge, and I have mine. You see
I use no tyranny: once I was her slave,
And in requital of her courtesies,
Having made one another free, we are married:
And, if you wish us joy, join with us in
A dance at our wedding.
Grac. Agreed; for I have thought of
A most triumphant one, which shall express
We are lords, and these our slaves.
Poliph. But we shall want
A woman.
Grac. No, here's Jane-of-apes shall serve[119];
Carry your body swimming.—Where's the music?
Poliph. I have placed it in yon window.
Grac. Begin then sprightly.
[Music, and then a dance.
Enter Marullo behind.
Poliph. Well done on all sides! I have prepared a banquet;
Let's drink and cool us.
Grac. A good motion.
Cimb. Wait here;
You have been tired with feasting, learn to fast now.
Grac. I'll have an apple for jack, and may be some scraps
May fall to your share.
[Exeunt Grac. Zant. Cimb. Poliph. and Olymp.
Coris. Whom can we accuse
But ourselves, for what we suffer? Thou art just,
Thou all-creating Power! and misery
Instructs me now, that yesterday acknowledged
No deity beyond my pride and pleasure,
There is a heaven above us, that looks down
With the eyes of justice, upon such as number
Those blessings freely given, in the accompt
Of their poor merits: else it could not be,
Now miserable I, to please whose palate
The elements were ransack'd, yet complain'd
Of nature, as not liberal enough
In her provision of rarities
To soothe my taste, and pamper my proud flesh,
Should wish in vain for bread.
Cleon. Yes, I do wish too,
For what I fed my dogs with.
Coris. I, that forgot
I was made of flesh and blood, and thought the silk
Spun by the diligent worm out of their entrails,
Too coarse to clothe me, and the softest down
Too hard to sleep on; that disdain'd to look
On virtue being in rags, that from my servants
Expected adoration, am made justly
The scorn of my own bondwoman.
Cleon. I know I cannot
Last long, that's all my comfort.
Mar. What a true mirror
Were this sad spectacle for secure greatness!
Here they, that never see themselves, but in
The glass of servile flattery, might behold
The weak foundation upon which they build
Their trust in human frailty. Happy are those,
That knowing, in their births, they are subject to
Uncertain change, are still prepared, and arm'd
For either fortune: a rare principle,
And, with much labour, learn'd in wisdom's school!
For, as these bondmen, by their actions, show
That their prosperity, like too large a sail
For their small bark of judgment, sinks them with
A fore-right gale of liberty, ere they reach
The port they long to touch at: so these wretches,
Swollen with the false opinion of their worth,
And proud of blessings left them, not acquired;
That did believe they could with giant arms
Fathom the earth, and were above their fates,
Those borrow'd helps, that did support them, vanish'd,
Fall of themselves, and by unmanly suffering
Betray their proper weakness, and make known
Their boasted greatness was lent, not their own.
Cleon. O for some meat! they sit long.
Coris. We forgot,
When we drew out intemperate feasts till midnight;
Their hunger was not thought on, nor their watchings;
Nor did we hold ourselves served to the height,
But when we did exact and force their duties
Beyond their strength and power.
Asot. We pay for 't now:
Re-enter Poliphron, Cimbrio, Gracculo, Zanthia, and Olympia, drunk and quarrelling.
Cimb. Do not hold me:
Not kiss the bride!
Poliph. No, sir.
Mar. [coming forward] Hold!
Zant. Here's Marullo.
Olymp. He's your chief.
Mar. Take heed; I've news will cool this heat, and make you
Remember what you were.
Cimb. How!
Mar. Send off these,
And then I'll tell you.
[Exeunt Cleon, Asot. Zant. Olymp. and Coris.
Cimb. What would you impart?
Mar. What must invite you
To stand upon your guard, and leave your feasting;
Our masters are victorious.
All. How!
Mar. Within
A day's march of the city, flesh'd with spoil,
And proud of conquest; the armado sunk,
The Carthaginian admiral, hand to hand,
Slain by Leosthenes.
Cimb. I feel the whip
Upon my back already.
Grac. Every man
Seek a convenient tree, and hang himself.
Poliph. Better die once, than live an age to suffer
New tortures every hour.
Cimb. Say, we submit,
And yield us to their mercy?—
Mar. Can you flatter
Yourselves with such false hopes? Or dare you think
That your imperious lords, that never fail'd
To punish with severity petty slips
In your neglect of labour, may be won
To pardon those licentious outrages
Which noble enemies forbear to practise
Upon the conquer'd? We have gone too far
To think now of retiring; in our courage,
And daring, lies our safety: if you are not
Slaves in your abject minds, as in your fortunes,
Since to die is the worst, better expose
Our naked breasts to their keen swords, and sell
Our lives with the most advantage, than to trust
In a forestall'd remission, or yield up
Our bodies to the furnace of their fury,
Thrice heated with revenge.
Grac. You led us on.
Cimb. And 'tis but justice you should bring us off.
Grac. And we expect it.
Mar. Hear then, and obey me;
And I will either save you, or fall with you.
Man the walls strongly, and make good the ports;
Boldly deny their entrance, and rip up
Your grievances, and what compell'd you to
This desperate course: if they disdain to hear
Of composition, we have in our powers
Their aged fathers, children, and their wives,
Who, to preserve themselves, must willingly
Make intercession for us. 'Tis not time now
To talk, but do: a glorious end, or freedom,
Is now proposed us; stand resolved for either,
And, like good fellows, live or die together.
[Exeunt.