Enter the Queen, Mariana, and other ladies.
Queen. My lord the duke, your presence and my wish
Jump in an even line together: come,
We must to cards:
I have some crowns
I needs must lose to you.
Epire. I humbly beseech your highness pardon me:
I have important business of the king's,
Which doth command mine instant diligence.
Mar. Brother, indeed you shall attend the queen;
Another time will serve those state despatches.
Epire. Sister, content you, the affairs of state
Must give their best attendance on the times;
And great occurrents must not lose their minutes.
Mar. Now I'll stand to it, that to be a statesman or a lawyer is to be of the most thankless occupation that ever was derived from human invention.
Queen. Why, I pray thee, wench?
Mar. Because they bestow all the laborious toil of the mind until they be forty, that they may live imprisoned in a study-chamber till they be fourscore, only for this world's mammon, a great name and riches, which, like a string between a galley-slave's legs, is the only ease of their fetters.[216]
Queen. A notable construction of a noble labour: but shall we not have your company, my lord?
Epire. My service, madam, but my presence the king hath employed; only, if you please, I will send Prince Philocles to your majesty.