Rog. Thus ’tis to lie with another man’s wife: he shall be sure to hear on’t again. But we are friends, sweet duck.
[Kisses Thais.
And this shall be my maxim all my life:—
Man never happy is till in a wife. 200
Cla. Here sink our hate lower than any whirlpool;
And this chaste kiss I give thee for thy care,
[Kisses Abigail.
Thou[327] fame of women, full as wise as fair.
Duke. You have saved us a labour in your love.
But, gentlemen, why stood you so prepost’rously?
Would you have headlong run to infamy—
In so defamed a death?
Rog. O, my liege, I had rather roar to death with Phalaris’ bull, than, Darius-like, to have one of my wings extend to Atlas, the other to Europe. 210
What is a cuckold, learn of me:
Few can tell his pedigree,
Nor his subtile nature conster.
Born a man but dies a monster:
Yet great antiquaries say,
They spring from out Methusala,
Who after Noah’s flood was found
To have his crest with branches crown’d.
God in Eden’s happy shade
This same [wondrous] creature made. 220
Then to cut off all mistaking,
Cuckolds are of women’s making;
From whose snares, good Lord deliver us!
Cla. Amen, amen!
Before I would prove a cuckold, I would endure a winter’s pilgrimage in the frozen zone—go stark naked through Muscovia, where the climate is nine degrees colder than ice. And thus much to all married men:—
Now I see great reason why 230
Love should marry jealousy:
Since man’s best of life is fame,
He hath need preserve the same;
When ’tis in a woman’s keeping,
Let not Argus’ eyes be sleeping.
The box[328] unto Pandora given
By the better powers of heaven,
That contains pure chastity,
And each virgin sovereignty,
Wantonly she oped and lost, 240
Gift whereof a god might boast.
Therefore, shouldst thou Diana wed,
Yet be jealous of her bed.