Bren. No, proud dictator, both do weary stand
On equal terms: both wish a peaceful league.
But if they shall oppress, know, generous spirits
Will break this compact, like a spider's web.
Mer. Jove's will is finish'd: and, though Juno frown,
That no more Trojan blood shall dye the stage,
The world's fourth empire Britain doth embrace.
The thunder-bearer with a Janus look
At once views ruddy morn and cloudy west:
Her wings, display'd o'er this terrestrial egg,
Will shortly hatch an universal peace;
For Jove intends a favour to the world.
It now remains that you two martial wights
Cease from your braving one another's worth:
You must be friends at last. The close is sweet,
When, after tumults, hearts and hands do meet. [Exeunt.
Nec lusisse pudet, sed non incidere ludum.
FOOTNOTES:
[339] The wife of Locrine. See Geoffrey of Monmouth, bk. ii. c. 4.
[340] A coxcomb, or conceited person. So in "The Emperor of the East," act iv. sc. 1—
"I have a heart, yet
As ready to do service for my leg
As any princock, peacock of you all."
And again, "The Old Law," act iii. sc. 2—
"That wet one has cost many a princock's life."