Aust. Peace! no more.
Bast. O, tremble, for you hear the lion roar.
K. John. Up higher to the plain; where we'll set forth295
In best appointment all our regiments.
Bast. Speed then, to take advantage of the field.[154]
K. Phi. It shall be so; and at the other hill[155]
Command the rest to stand. God and our right! [Exeunt.
Here after excursions, enter the Herald of France, with trumpets, to the gates.[156]
F. Her. You men of Angiers, open wide your gates,[157]300
And let young Arthur, Duke of Bretagne, in,[158]
Who by the hand of France this day hath made
Much work for tears in many an English mother,
Whose sons lie scattered on the bleeding ground:[159]
Many a widow's husband grovelling lies,[160]305
Coldly embracing the discoloured earth;[161]
And victory, with little loss, doth play[162]
Upon the dancing banners of the French,
Who are at hand, triumphantly display'd,[163]
To enter conquerors and to proclaim310
Arthur of Bretagne England's king and yours.[158]
Enter English Herald, with trumpet.[164]
E. Her. Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells;
King John, your king and England's, doth approach,
Commander of this hot malicious day:
Their armours, that march'd hence so silver-bright,315
Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood;[165]
There stuck no plume in any English crest
That is removed by a staff of France;[166]
Our colours do return in those same hands
That did display them when we first march'd forth;320
And, like a jolly troop of huntsmen, come
Our lusty English, all with purpled hands,
Dyed in the dying slaughter of their foes:[167]
Open your gates and give the victors way.
First Cit. Heralds, from off our towers we might behold,[168]325
From first to last, the onset and retire
Of both your armies; whose equality
By our best eyes cannot be censured:
Blood hath bought blood and blows have answer'd blows;
Strength match'd with strength, and power confronted power:330
Both are alike; and both alike we like.
One must prove greatest: while they weigh so even,
We hold our town for neither, yet for both.