Mal. May’st thou be a notorious wittolly pander to thine own wife, and yet get no office, but live to be the utmost misery of mankind, a beggarly cuckold! 71
[Exit.
Pietro. It shall be so.
Men. It must be so, for where great states revenge,
’Tis requisite the parts be closely dogg’d,[431]
(Which piety and soft respect forbears).
Lay one into his breast shall sleep with him,
Feed in the same dish, run in self-faction,
Who may discover[432] any shape of danger;
For once disgrac’d, displayèd[433] in offence,
It makes man blushless, and man is (all confess) 80
More prone to vengeance than to gratefulness.
Favours are writ in dust; but stripes we feel
Depravèd nature stamps in lasting steel.
Pietro. You shall be leagu’d with the duchess.
Equato. The plot is very good.
Pietro.[434] You shall both kill, and seem the corse to save.
Fer. A most fine brain-trick.
Celso. [aside] Of a most cunning knave.