Dio. No, keep the Court;
Seek you in Rome for honour: I will labour
To find content elswhere. Disswade me not,
By ——, I am resolv'd. And now Drusilla,
Being as poor as when I vow'd to make thee
My wife, if thy love since hath felt no change,
I am ready to perform it.
Dru. I still lov'd
Your Person, not your fortunes: in a cottage,
Being yours, I am an Empress.
Del. And I'le make
The change most happy.
Dio. Do me then the honour,
To see my vow perform'd. You but attend
My Glories to the urn; where be it ashes,
Welcom my mean estate: and as a due,
Wish rest to me, I honour unto you. [Exeunt.
Actus Quintus. Scena Prima.
Enter CHORUS.
Cho. The War with glory ended; and Cosroe
(Acknowledging his fealtie to Charinus)
Dismiss'd in peace, returns to Persia:
The rest, arriving safely unto Rome,
Are entertained with triumphs: Maximinian,
By the grace and intercession of his Uncle,
Saluted Cæsar: but good Dioclesian,
Weary of Pomp and State, retires himself
With a small Train, to a most private Grange
In Lombardie; where the glad Countrey strives
With Rural Sports to give him entertainment:
With which delighted, he with ease forgets
All specious trifles, and securely tastes
The certain pleasures of a private life.
But oh Ambition, that eats into
With venom'd teeth, true thankfulness, and honour,
And to support her greatness, fashions fears,
Doubts, and preventions to decline all dangers,
Which in the place of safetie, prove her ruine:
All which be pleas'd to see in Maximinian,
To whom, his confer'd Sovera[ignt]y was like
A large sail fill'd full with a fore-right wind,
That drowns a smaller Bark: and he once faln
Into ingratitude, makes no stop in mischief,
But violently runs on. Allow Maximinian all,
Honour, and Empire, absolute command;
Yet being ill, long great he cannot stand. [Exit.
SCENE II.
Enter Maximinian, and Aurelia.