Stynt, I say, gyf men place, quia sum dominus dominorum,
He that agans me says rapietur lux oculorum.[804]
And each of them hereupon moves about his scaffold, and gives the best idea he can of the magnitude of his power:
Above all kynges under the cloudys crystall,
Royally I reigne in welthe without woo ...
I am Kyng Herowdes.[805]
That of heven and hell chyff rewlar am I,
To wos magnyfycens non stondyt egall,
For I am soveren of al soverens.[806]
Make room, says a third:
A-wantt, a-want the, on-worthy wrecchesse!
Why lowtt ye nat low to my lawdabyll presens?...
I am a sofereyn semely, that ye se butt seyld;
Non swyche onder sonne, the sothe for to say ...
I am kyng of Marcylle![807]
Such princes fear nothing, and are never abashed; they are on familiar terms with the audience, and interpellate the bystanders, which was a sure cause of merriment, but not of good order. Octavian, being well pleased with the services of one of his men, tells him:
Boye, their be ladyes many a one,
Amonge them all chouse thee one,
Take the faierest, or elles non,
And freely I geve her thee.[808]
Every lord bows to my law, observes Tiberius: