FOOTNOTES:
[285] [Old copy, in.]
[ACT V., SCENE I.]
Enter Decastro and his Army.
Dec. My fortune yet forsakes me not. There's something
Whispers my soul that, though a storm did cloud
My morning, I shall set the envy of
My yet prevailing enemy. Had you,
My fellow-soldiers, not been three hours' march
From aiding us when the Castilian army
Made the assault, we had given their fate a check,
And taught them how unsafe it is to court
Dangers abroad. I must entreat your courage
To suffer for some moments; a short time
Will bring us the queen's answer; if she yield
(As reason may persuade her), we shall spare
Much loss of blood; if not, your valour will
Have liberty to show itself. Yet still
Remember, that the city's forc'd t' obey
A stranger; in their votes they fight for us.
Did no man see the Lord Ossuna since
Our fight i' th' morning?
Capt. He appear'd not, since
We left the city to the enemy;
Which hath bred jealousy, my lord, that he
Chang'd with the present fortune.
Dec. Doubt him not:
He hath a heart devoted to the greatness
And safety of his country. Well, he may
Be lost i' th' number of the slain; but fate
Cannot enforce him stoop beneath the vow
Of rescuing Arragon from foreign arms.
Enter two common Soldiers haling Ossuna in as a hermit.
What insolence is this? Unhand the man!
Methinks his habit should beget respect.
Sol. My lord, we guess he is some spy, he came
Skulking from th' enemy's camp. Pray, guard
Your person; mischief often lurks in shapes
As holy.
Dec. I allow your care, and thank it:
Leave him to me, and for awhile retire. [Exeunt.
Oss. Your lordship knows me not?
Dec. Ossuna, welcome!
Bless'd be thy better angel who preserv'd thee!
How happy to the fortune of this war
Art thou restor'd! I should have fought unarm'd,
Had I not had the fate t' embrace thee thus.
How was my friend preserv'd?
Oss. By virtue of
This sacred habit. In the midst of war
Disguis'd I thus escap'd, though close pursued
By some of the queen's faction. To this weed
I owe my safety.
Dec. Quickly throw it off,
And reinvest thy body in that steel,
With which thou still hast triumph'd. O my lord,
How oft have we, all bath'd in blood and sweat,
Through clouds of dust, found out the way to force
Back victory to our side, when Fortune seem'd
To doat on th' enemy! We two have grown
Like cedars up together, and made all
Seem shrubs to us, no man sleeping secure
But in our shadows.
Dec. Thou speak'st so hollow, as there were a doubt
We might not be so still.
Oss. But there's no faith
In human fate. An emperor[286] did serve
As footstool to the conqueror, and are we
Better assur'd of destiny?
Dec. What strange
Unworthy faintness weakens his great soul
Who heretofore ne'er understood the language
Danger speaks in? Hath one defeat lost you
That mighty courage, which hath fix'd upon
Your name a glorious memory? Reassume
Yourself, my lord: let no degenerate fear
Benight the lustre of your former acts.
Oss. I call yourself and Arragon to witness,
My life hath yet been such, the reverend shades
Of my great ancestors need not look pale,
Or blush to know my story. To yourself,
To whose brave youth I tied my youth a servant,
I ever have perform'd all offices,
Due to so brave a friendship.
Dec. 'Tis confess'd.
Oss. And here I vow, setting aside those fears
Distract me as a Christian, I could smile,
Smile like some wanton mistress upon death,
Whatever shape it wears.
Dec. My lord, this war
Is warranted by casuists for lawful;
But they (you'll say) flatter the present state,
And make divinity serve human ends.
But in itself it's just: a war your judgment
Gave approbation to, and urg'd me first
To undertake. Therefore make good your own,
And throw off this unuseful habit.
Oss. Never.
Dec. What said my friend?
Oss. By all things sacred, never.
In this I will grow old, and with the weight
Of years bend to the earth. In this I'll breathe
A happier air than you in all your soft
And varied silks.
Dec. Some coward devil, sure,
Possesseth him. [Aside.
Oss. My lord, I am instructed
T' a patience far above your injuries;
Nor shall your scorn or anger triumph o'er
My resolution. I'm fix'd here, unmov'd
As is the centre.
Dec. I was much to blame:
This may be a brave virtue. Pray, my lord,
Give me your reasons why you tread this path,
So little beaten by the feet of courtiers?
I would not have the world mistake your aim,
And construe it to fear or melancholy.
Oss. That cannot shake me: he who by the card
O' th' world's opinion steers his course, shall harbour
In no safe port. But to your ear, my lord,
I give this free account. Seven winters pass'd,
When I set sail from Sicily, a storm
O'ertook the ship, so powerful, that the pilot
Gave up the stern to the ordering of the waves,
His art and hand grown useless; those kind stars
The sailors used t' invoke were lost i' th' tempest,
And nothing but a night, not to be seen,
Was seen by us. When every one began
T' advance himself toward death, as men condemn'd
To th' axe, when hope of pardon is shut out;
I, spite o' th' envious cloud, look'd up to heaven.
And darted my faith thither, vowing to
Forsake the flatter'd pomp and business of
The faithless world, if I with safety might
Attain the land.
Dec. Was not I there, my lord?
Oss. You were.
Dec. And made not I the selfsame vow?
Oss. Heaven hath recorded that we both did vow it—
O' th' sudden, night forsook us, and the loud
Unruly winds fled to their unknown dwellings;
When a soft breath 'gan whisper to our sails,
A calm was to ensue.
Dec. My memory
Afflicts me much. But these are feeble vows,
Made only by our fears: we ought to have
Our reason undismay'd, whene'er a promise
Can force performance.
Oss. I dispute it not—
Soon as I reach'd the shore, I courted on
Those vanities which had my youth enamour'd,
Yet still with some remorse. Honours betray'd me
Into a glorious trouble, and I grew
Proud of my burthen; but if Heaven had been
Severe to my delays in this diseas'd
Surfeit of pomp, my soul might have been call'd
T' her last account: and, O my lord, where then
Had breach of vow been safe?
Dec. These are sad thoughts.
Oss. But necessary. When the morning's loss
Made me search out a shape for flight, this habit
Itself presented, and again redeem'd me;
And know, I am resolv'd ne'er to forsake it,
Till in the vault my earth and it together
Shall wear away to dust.
Dec. My lord, you have
Good title to your virtue. Pray, retire
Into my tent: this sudden change, if known,
May much amaze the soldier, and endanger
The glory of th' attempt. I shall entreat
Your prayer, since you deny your arm.
Oss. My lord, may Heaven direct you! [Exit Ossuna.
Dec. What have I obtain'd
By all this sweat of business? Like the wind,
Prosperous ambition only swell'd my sail,
To give me courage to encounter with
A tempest. Early cares and midnight frights,
Faint hopes and causeless fears, successively,
Like billows, have moved in me. What a fool
Is human wisdom; what a beggar wealth;
How scorn'd a nothing that proud state we doat on!
Time laughs us out of greatness, and shuts up
Our wide designs in a dark narrow room,
Whence, when the valiant monarch shall creep forth,
He will, like some poor coward, hide his eyes,
And hope to skulk away. But these are thoughts,
And now 'tis time for action.
Enter Soldier.
Sol. If your lordship
Will please for some few moments to retire
Into your tent, her majesty in person
Will give you parley here.
Dec. In person, sir?
The favour bears some omen! She who in
The tempest of misfortune still did spread
Her sails at large, why doth she strike them now,
The wind so prosperous? This is a descent
Beneath her greatness.
Sol. I reach not, my lord,
The mysteries of princes; but this message
She charg'd me to return.
Dec. The acts of princes
Are govern'd often by as frail a passion
As those are of the vulgar: the same rage
That stirs two footmen to a fray, creates
War between kingdoms; but the zealous subject,
Gazing afar on th' actions of the proud,
Finds towers and lions in an empty cloud.
But I'll obey her leisure. Watch you here
Till you discover her advanc'd this way. [Exit Decastro.
Enter Ascanio, Florentio.
Flo. Sir, you created me, and rais'd me up
To th' state of duke, when I was common dust;
And, had not fortune given me interest
I' th' favour of the queen, I had continued
In the worst fate of man, ingratitude.
Now I can boast I have restored you back
A love rich as the bounty you shower'd on me:
'Tis all the stock of my poor life.
Asc. Sad fate!
That I must wound thee to the heart to cure
My leprosy with thy blood. Florentio, search
I' th' stock of women; there's some other beauty.
Flo. O, no! no other.
Asc. I'll endow her with
The wealth of all Castile.
Flo. Poor empty nothing!
Asc. If sovereignty be the idol of thy soul,
I will divide my kingdom. Thou shalt reign
As independent as myself.
Flo. Great sir,
Continue but your favour, and my stars
Cannot afford a greatness equals it.
The treasures of th' ambitious are the scorn
Of those who seriously contemplate life.
My fortune's high enough: and now my thoughts
Grow temperate. Not for the empire of the east,
(Which yet retains the treasures man enjoy'd
Ere he grew black with sin), would I have wanted
This bless'd occasion to express the zeal
I owe my prince. Here, with as free a soul
I give her to your arms as e'er you threw
A smile upon my service.
Asc. Thanks, dear friend!
(That word must speak our loves). By this great gift
Thou hast redeem'd me from the torture, and
Possess'd me of the fairest.
Flo. O!
Asc. The fairest nature e'er made for wonder.
Flo. She is fair.
Asc. Enjoying her, thy king shall live, who else
Were desperate beyond cure. He shall be envied;
And every year, as age threatens decay,
He shall regain new life from her. Florentio,
Believe't, there's miracle in such a beauty.
Flo. Surely there is.
Enter Queen, Sanmartino, Oniate, Cleantha, Floriana.
And see sh' appears! how like some heavenly vision,
That kills with too much glory!
Asc. Stand still, and wonder with me.
Queen. Cleantha! O, the prodigy! And how
Wilt thou endure his serious face? Can'st thou,
Whom nothing tempted but wit parcel-gilt
And the last fashion, suffer Oniate?
Cle. Madam, I undertake him for a penance:
Perhaps he was enjoin'd me.
Queen. It was Love
You went to shrift with then. And yet how that
Young wanton Idleness should counsel you
To this conversion, still is more my riddle.
Cle. The court is full of wonders, madam; and
'Tis handsome to do things extravagant.
Queen. But how, in th' heat of war, your thoughts should be
So apt for Love's impression?
Cle. Love will dance
As nimbly to the trumpet, fife, or drum,
As to those many violins which play
So loud at court. Moreover, it concern'd
My safety; I so straitly was besieg'd,
And by so strong a Cæsar.
Queen. O my lord!
I am informed with how fierce a spirit
You do assault our ladies.
San. Pray, your mercy!
And if your majesty will please to banish
The art of making love quite from the court,
I'll not be out of fashion.
Queen. For your sake
I will contrive it so: and, good my lord,
Will you begin th' example, you will see
How soon the fine young lords will follow you.—
Your pardon, sir; had I but seen your highness,
I had not lost so much of language from
A most expressive gratitude.
Asc. Madam, you pay a trivial debt with too great interest;
For how contemn'd a slightness was my life
Until employ'd to serve you?
Flo. She glanced this way,
And love's artillery played from her eye.
Unhappy bankrupt, what a kingdom have
I forfeited! So often in a calm
Some vessel, rich in freight and proud in sail,
Doth spring a sudden leak, and sinks for ever.
Asc. But, madam, is there hope your heart can yield
To an exchange in love? My title's good,
Florentio having given up his claim.
Enter Decastro, &c.
Queen. But, sir, th' estate is still my own; nor have
I need to sell it. But Decastro's here;
And if your majesty will deign your presence
Unto the parley, 'twill advance the honour
And purpose of our meeting.
Asc. I'm your servant.
Queen. My lord, you see how near the safety of
Our subjects toucheth us: we can stoop thus
Beneath our majesty, and enter parley
Even with a rebel.
Dec. Madam, 'tis in vain
To hold dispute 'gainst what you will condemn;
And it were insolence to boast my power
Or speak my right, now when the hearts of all men
Confirm the justice of my taking arms.
Cast but your eye on this vast body, which
The kingdom doth unite in my defence,
And see how ruinous is your error, that
Must lean to foreign succours.
Queen. 'Tis a refuge
Your practice forc'd me to.
Dec. But would your highness
Had lent a gentler ear to the safe counsel
Of him who had no crime but too much love!
Flo. My lord, that word fell rudely from your tongue,
And, I may say, unmannerly: 'tis duty
You owe the queen.
Dec. Right, sir; an humble duty,
Ambitious to expose my life to dangers,
Greater than any other soul dares fancy.
Asc. Pray stay, Florentio: this is now my cause,
And I (proud man) will tell you, your great heart
Doth want expansion to receive a love
Worthy her scorn.
Dec. And I will answer you,
Proud monarch of Castile, what mould
Soever nature casts me in, my mind
Is vaster than your empire; and I can
Love equally with him whose name did conquer
Kingdoms as large as yours.
Asc. Your majesty
Must license here my rage, to teach his folly
(Presumptuous folly) a submiss repentance.
Dec. Sir, here I stand prepar'd. [A shout within.
Queen. What noise is that?
Oni. The city's all in mutiny, and vow
To perish in the Lord Decastro's cause:
They're ready now to lay rude hands upon
The garrisons of Castile. Your majesty
Should hinder mischief, if you suddenly
Return, and by your presence stop their fury.
Dec. Pray, Oniate, take this signet: tell
The magistrates her majesty and I
Are now accorded, with a due regard
To th' public safety. Take some of my army,
To give authority to what you say.
Assure them all is well. [Exit Oniate.
Asc. What means this wonder?
Flo. This speaks him noble, even to our envy.
Queen. My lord, in this you have oblig'd us. Pray,
Inform us of your thoughts, that we may study
To make this parley happy.
Dec. Mighty lady,
I find my love hath not been dress'd so smooth
To tempt your liking: and I must confess,
My passion (like the spleen of witches) hath
Begot whirlwinds and thunder. Would I might
Have found a softer way t' have wrought my ends!
For by your beauty (the most sacred oath
A lover can swear by) that was the mark,
The sole fair mark I aim'd at. For, if pride
Had oversway'd my love, I could have stood
O' th' level with that prince, so much your people
Were vow'd to my devotion.
Queen. O my lord,
You fairly speak your virtues.
Dec. And but view
The vastness and good order of my camp,
Your best towns sworn to run my fortune, and
You'll say 'twas love did beg this interview.
Asc. My lord, your language cannot fright us from
The queen's defence.
Dec. Great sir, she needs it not.
Down on your knees, my fellow-soldiers, and
With me bow to your sovereign: swear with me
Never to lift your arm 'gainst her command.
Thus as your subject; as your lover thus—
Thus to the earth I fall, and with my lips
Seal my obedience. [Kisseth the ground.
Queen. Pray, rise up, my lord.
Would I could merit thus much favour; but——
Dec. Pardon. I interrupt you—but you cannot
Find love to answer mine; nor will I force it.
Be happy in your choice, and wheresoe'er
You fix, shine ever glorious. From this hour
I'll never more disturb you.
Queen. Now beshrew me,
Methinks I feel compassion. [Aside.] Good my lord,
Write in that blank all your demands, and, by
The honour of a princess, I'll deny
Nothing you shall insert. [He looks on it, and returns it.
Dec. There 'tis again,
The paper innocent as when you gave it.
Queen. My lord, you have writ nothing.
Dec. And 'tis nothing,
Now I have miss'd yourself, I can demand.
Fortune, contract thy treasure from all nations,
And gild it o'er with honour and with beauty,
Yet hast thou not the power to force one wish,
Now I have lost this lady.
Asc. A great spirit!
Dec. One humble prayer I have, which must not be
Denied: and 'tis, your majesty will give
Me leave ne'er more to see you.
Queen. O my lord——
Dec. My vow's irrevocable. I shall secure
Your kingdom best by absence, and my eye
Will never brook so rich a treasure made
The purchase[287] of another. To a cave,
Some undiscover'd cave, to which no path
Doth lead the wandering lover, I have vowed
The remnant of my days.
Enter Ossuna.
Flo. A strange conversion!
And 'twill behove my fate to follow him.
Dec. My Lord Ossuna here and I have sworn
Our lives to solitude, which we'll observe
Religiously: and since I cannot prove
Possessor, I'll be conqueror, in love.
Asc. Pray stay, my lord. Behold Florentio there,
He hath outdone you: he, for love of me,
Hath done what you for love of heaven. All
The interest he had in that bright queen
He hath resign'd to me.
Dec. He hath paid you for your favours.
Flo. 'Tis confess'd: what's mine is yours.
Asc. Thanks, my Florentio; for with her my youth
May be still happy, and my age disdain
To know a weakness. From her eyes I may
Draw still new vital heat, and find what fools
Have studied for, th' elixir: in her arms
I may be safe 'gainst all invasion from
Abroad, or civil dangers nurs'd at home.
Queen. Your highness' pardon. I confess how high
Your merits rise in my esteem; but must not,
To honour your deserts, myself become
Unworthy after-story, blemish'd with
That scorn which still defames our sex, register'd
A most inconstant woman; or, what's much
More infamous, one who reserves her love
To serve her profit, and exposeth it
To the merchant that bids fairest.
Asc. Madam, spare that breath to clear
The air, when poison'd by contagion.
I know your settled thoughts, and that my power
Or title weighs not in your love. Florentio,
I will no longer rack you: though the queen
Be th' only fire e'er warm'd this heart, and I
Despair ever to love again, I will
Disdain to be unjust. I will not be
O'ercome in friendship: reassume thy right.
Flo. Sir, you undo me. In your injury
I was less wretched: like a bankrupt now,
Without all hope of payment, I must owe.
Asc. Th' ambition of my service, and disguise,
Was to advance your fortune, madam; nor
Can I attempt you farther, though the conquest
Would wreathe my temples with a prouder laurel
Than the addition of the world unto
My sceptre. Be safe in your choice, and happy.
Queen. This goodness grows even to a miracle.
In his behalf, sir, I must vow myself
A subject, and your servant.
Asc. O, command;
For I have nothing, madam, but obedience.
My kingdom shall be proud to share with yours
In danger, and I'll glory to be styled
Your soldier.
Flo. I am lost in wonder! Sir,
I know not how to entertain this blessing:
I fear my joys will be my ruin.
Dec. Be both happy;
And may time never father that black moment,
Which shall appear to you less fortunate!
Asc. Join then your hands for ever. He doth live
Mighty indeed, who hath power and will to give. [Exeunt.