After the first Act.
1.
Ober. Here see I good fond actions in thy jig
And means to paint the world's inconstant ways:
But turn thine ene, see what I can command.
Enter two battles, strongly fighting, the one led by Semiramis, the other by Stabrobates: she flies, and her crown is taken, and she hurt.
Boh. What gars this din of mirk and baleful harm,
Where every wean is all betaint with blood?
Ober. This shows thee, Bohan, what is worldly pomp:
Semiramis, the proud Assyrian queen,
When Ninus died, did levy in her wars
Three millions of footmen to the fight,
Five hundred thousand horse, of armèd cars
A hundred thousand more; yet in her pride
Was hurt and conquered by Stabrobates.
Then what is pomp?
Boh. I see thou art thine ene,
Thou bonny king, if princes fall from high:
My fall is past, until I fall to die.
Now mark my talk, and prosecute my jig.
2.
Ober. How should these crafts withdraw thee from the world?
But look, my Bohan, pomp allureth.
Enter Cyrus, Kings humbling themselves; himself crowned by Olive Pat[259]: at last dying, laid in a marble tomb with this inscription:
"Whoso thou be that passest [by],—
For I know one shall pass,—know I
Am Cyrus of Persia, and I pray
Leave me not thus like a clod of clay
Wherewith my body is coverèd." [All exeunt.
Enter the King in great pomp, who reads it, and issueth, crying, "Ver meum."