CAMBER.
No king of mine is he—we are equal, weighed
Aright in state, though here his throne stand higher.
MADAN.
So be it. I say, if even some earth-born fire
Have ever lured the loftiest head that earth
Sees royal, toward a charm of baser birth
And force less godlike than the sacred spell
That links with him my mother, what were this
To her or me?
CAMBER.
To her no more than hell
To souls cast forth who hear all hell-fire hiss
All round them, and who feel the red worm’s kiss
Shoot mortal poison through the heart that rests
Immortal: serpents suckled at her breasts,
Fire feeding on her limbs, less pain should be
Than sense of pride laid waste and love laid low,
If she be queen or woman: and to thee—
MADAN.
To me that wax not woman though I know
This, what shall hap or hap not?
CAMBER.
Were it so,
It should not irk thee, she being wronged alone;
Thy mother’s bed, and not thy father’s throne,
Being soiled with usurpation. Ay? but say
That now mine uncle and her sire lies dead
And helpless now to help her, or affray
The heart wherein her ruin and thine were bred,
Not she were cast forth only from his bed,
But thou, loathed issue of a contract loathed
Since first their hands were joined not but betrothed,
Wert cast forth out of kingship? stripped of state,
Unmade his son, unseated, unallowed,
Discrowned, disorbed, discrested—thou, but late
Prince, and of all men’s throats acclaimed aloud,
Of all men’s hearts accepted and avowed
Prince, now proclaimed for some sweet bastard’s sake
Peasant?