Leo. I have heard so much
Will keep me deaf for ever; No, Mark-antonio
After thy sentence, I may hear no more,
Thou hast pronounc'd me dead.
Phi. Appeal to reason,
She will reprieve you from the power of grief,
Which rules but in her absence; Hear me say
A soveraign message from her, which in duty,
And love to your own safety, you ought hear:
Why do you strive so? whither would you flie?
You cannot wrest your self away from care
You may from counsel; you may shift your place
But not your person; and another Clyme
Makes you no other.
Leo. Oh.
Phi. For passions sake,
(Which I do serve, honor, and love in you)
If you will sigh, sigh here; If you would vary
A sigh to tears, or out-cry, do it here.
No shade, no desart, darkness, nor the grave
Shall be more equal to your thoughts than I,
Only but hear me speak.
Leo. What would you say?
Phi. That which shall raise your heart, or pull down mine,
Quiet your passion, or provoke mine own;
We must have both one balsome, or one wound,
For know (lov'd fair) since the first providence
Made me your rescue, I have read you through,
And with a wondring pity look'd on you,
I have observ'd the method of your blood,
And waited on it even with sympathy
Of a like Red, and Paleness in mine own;
I knew which blush was angers, which was loves,
Which was the eye of sorrow, which of truth:
And could distinguish honor from disdain
In every change: and you are worth my study;
I saw your voluntary misery
Sustain'd in travel: A disguis'd Maid
Wearied with seeking: and with finding lost,
Neglected, where you hop'd most, or put by;
I saw it, and have laid it to my heart,
And though it were my Sister which was righted,
Yet being by your wrong, I put off nature,
Could not be glad, where I [was] bound to triumph;
My care for you, so drown'd respect of her;
Nor did I only apprehend your bonds,
But studied your release: and for that day
Have I made up a ransom, brought [you] health
Preservative 'gainst chance, or injury
Please you apply it to the grief; my self.
Leo. Humph.
Phi. Nay, do not think me less than such a cure,
Antonio was not; And 'tis possible
Philippo may succeed: My bloud and house
Are as deep rooted: and as fairly spread,
As Mark-antonio['s], and in that, all seek,
Fortune hath given him no precedency:
As for our thanks to Nature I may burn
Incense as much as he; I ever durst
Walk with Antonio by the self-same light
At any feast, or triumph, and ne'r car'd
Which side my Lady or her woman took
In their survey; I durst have told my tale too
Though his discourse new ended.
Phil. Let not that torture you, w[h]ich makes me happy
Nor think that conscience (fair) which is no shame
'Twas no repulse, [I] was your Dowry rather:
For then methought a thousand graces met
To make you lovely, and ten thousand stories
Of constant virtue, which you then out-reach'd,
In one example did proclaim you rich:
Nor do I think you wretched, or disgrac'd,
After this suffering, and do therefore take
Advantage of your need; but rather know
You are the charge and business of those powers,
Who, like best Tutors, do inflict hard tasks
Upon great Natures, and of noblest hopes;
Read trivial Lessons, and halfe lines to sluggs;
They that live long, and never feel mischance,
Spend more than halfe their age in ignorance.