Eph. Time will not tarry for a king; let's go.
[Exeunt.
SCENE IV.
Ino. What is become of this young prince? or where
Doth he bestow himself? Doth he walk invisible?
Where have I [not] been to look him? the horses
Are in the stables, his page and I at home too,
That us'd to be as inseparable companions.
Enter Nicetes, Aramnes.
Ara. Well met, gentlemen! where is the hermit Plangus?
Nic. We cannot tell, nor have we been to seek him.
If at the court, we should hear presently; if not,
We might be too officious in his search, and our
Inquiry might make his absence
But so much the more notorious; and I'm confident
He's well: his virtue guards him still from all mischances.
Ino. Though his company's the dearest thing I love,
Yet for his good I could digest his absence,
But that I doubt a mighty mischief might spring
From this small grain of indiscretion.
The king is old, and there are knaves about the court
That (if he knew it not) would tell him so:
And men, conscious to themselves of a deficiency,
Are still most jealous of a growing worth.
Perhaps a thinking father (for plodding
Is old age's sickness) may take notice of
His son's retirement, and misconstrue it so:
Nothing is impossible: heaven send it otherwise!
Ara. This care becomes you, sir; but I dare swear
'Tis needless: the king is but an ill dissembler; and had he
But the least thought of such a thing, he'd hide it
Less than the sun conceals his brightness:
Besides, a man as great as Ephorbas is, whose rule
Of living hath been directed by the line
Of virtue, cannot mistrust that vice in his
Own son, of which himself was never guilty;
Had his younger years been tainted with inordinate
Desires, or had his crown been the effect
Of some audacious crime, perhaps his guilty
Conscience might have mistrusted.
But 'tis impossible, where there is no guilt,
To fear a punishment.