And I amongst the rest am charged to attend
Upon their rouse.
1st Soldier.
Pass freely; I this night must stand ’twixt them and danger. The time of night?
2nd Soldier.
The clock last told eleven.
1st Soldier.
The powers celestial
That have took Rome in charge, protect it still!
Again good-night. [Exit 2ndSoldier.] Thus must poor soldiers do;
Whilst their commanders are with dainties fed,
And sleep on down, the earth must be our bed. [Exit.
EnterSextus, Aruns, Brutus, Valerius, Horatius, Scevola,andCollatine.
Sextus.
Sit round: the enemy is pounded[37]fast
In their own folds; the walls made to oppugn
Hostile incursions become a prison,
To keep them fast for execution;
There’s no eruption to be feared.
Brutus.
What shall’s do? Come, a health to the general’s health; and Valerius, that sits the most civilly, shall begin it; I cannot talk till my blood be mingled with this blood of grapes. Fill for Valerius. Thou shouldst drink well, for thou hast been in the German wars; if thou lovest me, drinkupse freeze.[38]
Sextus.
Nay, since Brutus has spoke the word, the first health shall be imposed on you, Valerius; and if ever you have been Germanized, let it be after the Dutch fashion.
Valerius.
The general may command.
Brutus.
He may; why else is he called the commander?
Sextus.
We will entreat Valerius.
Valerius.
Since you will needs enforce a high-German health, look well to your heads, for I come upon you with this Dutch tassaker[39]: if you were of a more noble science than you are, it will go near to break your heads round.
[Sings a Dutch song.]
O mork giff men ein man,
Skerry merry vip,
O mork giff men ein man
Skerry merry vap.
O mork giff men ein man,
That tik die ten long o drievan can,
Skerry merry vip, and skerry merry vap,
And skerry merry runke ede bunk,
Ede hoore was a hai dedle downe
Dedle drunke a:
Skeery merry runke ede bunk, ede hoor was drunk a.
O daughter yeis ein alto kleene,
Skerry merry vip,
O daughter yeis ein alto kleene,
Skerry merry vap.
O daughter yeis ein alto kleene,
Ye molten slop, ein yert aleene
Skeery merry vip, and skerry merry vap
And skerry merry runk ede bunk,
Ede hoore was a hey dedle downe
Dedle drunke a:
Skeery merry, runk ede bunk, ede hoor was drunk a.
Sextus.
Gramercies, Valerius; came this high-German health as double as his double ruff, I’d pledge it.
Brutus.
Were it in Lubeck or double-double beer, their own natural liquor, I’d pledge it were it as deep as his ruff: let the health go round about the board, as his band goes round about his neck. I am no more afraid of this Dutch fashion than I should be of the heathenish invention.
Collatine.
I must entreat you spare me, for my brain brooks not the fumes of wine; their vaporous strength offends me much.
Horatius.
I would have none spare me, for I’ll spare none. Collatine will pledge no health unless it be to his Lucrece.
Sextus.
What’s Lucrece but a woman? and what are women
But tortures and disturbance unto men?
If they be foul they’re odious, and if fair,
They’re like rich vessels full of poisonous drugs,
Or like black serpents armed with golden scales:
For my own part, they shall not trouble me.
Brutus.
Sextus, sit fast; for I proclaim myself a woman’s champion, and shall unhorse thee else.
Valerius.
For my own part, I’m a married man, and I’ll speak to my wife to thank thee, Brutus.
Aruns.
I have a wife too, and I think the most virtuous lady in the world.
Scevola.
I cannot say but that I have a good wife too, and I love her: but if she were in heaven, beshrew me if I would wish her so much hurt as to desire her company upon earth again; yet, upon my honour, though she be not very fair, she is exceeding honest.
Brutus.
Nay, the less beauty, the less temptation to despoil her honesty.
Scevola.
I should be angry with him that should make question of her honour.
Brutus.
And I angry with thee if thou shouldst not maintain her honour.
Aruns.
If you compare the virtues of your wives, let me step in for mine.
Collatine.
I should wrong my Lucrece not to stand for her.
Sextus.
Ha, ha! all captains, and stand upon the honesty of your wives! Is’t possible, think you,
That women of young spirit and full age,
Of fluent wit, that can both sing and dance,
Read, write, such as feed well and taste choice cates,
That straight dissolve to purity of blood,
That keep the veins full, and inflame the appetite,
Making the spirit able, strong, and prone,—
Can such as these, their husbands being away
Employed in foreign sieges or elsewhere,
Deny such as importune them at home?
Tell me that flax will not be touched with fire,
Nor they be won to what they most desire!
Brutus.
Shall I end this controversy in a word?
Sextus.
Do, good Brutus.
Brutus.
I hold some holy, but some apt to sin;
Some tractable, but some that none can win;
Such as are virtuous, gold nor wealth can move;
Some vicious of themselves are prone to love;
Some grapes are sweet and in the garden grow,
Others unpruned turn wild neglected so;
The purest ore contains both gold and dross,
The one all gain, the other nought but loss;
The one disgrace, reproach, and scandal taints,
The other angels and sweet-featured saints.
Collatine.
Such is my virtuous Lucrece.
Aruns.
Yet she for virtue is not comparable to the wife of Aruns.
Scevola.
And why may not mine be ranked with the most virtuous?
Horatius.
I would put in for a lot, but a thousand to one I shall draw but a blank.
Valerius.
I should not show I loved my wife, not to take her part in her absence: I hold her inferior to none.
Aruns.
Save mine.
Valerius.
No, not to her.
Brutus.
Oh, this were a brave controversy for a jury of women to arbitrate!
Collatine.
I’ll hazard all my fortunes on the virtues
Of divine Lucrece. Shall we try them thus?
It is now dead of night; let’s mount our steeds;
Within this two hours we may reach to Rome,
And to our houses all come unprepared,
And unexpected by our high-praised wives.
She of them all that we find best employed,
Devoted, and most huswife-exercised,
Let her be held most virtuous, and her husband
Win by the wager a rich horse and armour.
Aruns.
A hand on that.
Valerius.
Here’s a helping hand to that bargain.
Horatius.
But shall we to horse without circumstance?
Scevola.
Scevola will be mounted with the first.
Sextus.
Then mount cheval! Brutus, this night take you the charge of the army. I’ll see the trial of this wager: ’twould do me good to see some of them find their wives in the arms of their lovers, they are so confident in their virtues. Brutus, we’ll interchange goodnight; be thou but as provident o’er the army as we (if our horses fail not) expeditious in our journey. To horse, to horse!
All.
Farewell, good Brutus.
[Exeunt.
EnterLucreceand her twoMaids.
Lucrece.
But one hour more, and you shall all to rest.
Now that your lord is absent from this house,
And that the master’s eye is from his charge,
We must be careful, and with providence
Guide his domestic business; we ha’ now
Given o’er all feasting and left revelling,
Which ill becomes the house whose lord is absent;
We banish all excess till his return,
In fear of whom my soul doth daily mourn.
1st Maid.
Madam, so please you to repose yourself
Within your chamber; leave us to our tasks;
We will not loiter, though you take your rest.
Lucrece.
Not so; you shall not overwatch yourselves
Longer than I wake with you; for it fits
Good huswives, when their husbands are from home,
To eye their servants’ labours, and in care
And the true manage[40]of his household state,
Earliest to rise, and to be up most late.
Since all his business he commits to me,
I’ll be his faithful steward till the camp
Dissolve, and he return; thus wives should do,
In absence of their lords be husbands too.
2nd Maid.
Madam, the Lord Turnus his man was thrice for you here, to have entreated you home to supper; he says his lord takes it unkindly he could not have your company.
Lucrece.
To please a loving husband, I’ll offend
The love and patience of my dearest friend.
Methinks his purpose was unreasonable,
To draw me in my husband’s absence forth
To feast and banquet; ’twould have ill become me
To have left the charge of such a spacious house
Without both lord and mistress.
I am opinioned thus: wives should not stray
Out of their doors, their husbands being away.
Lord Turnus shall excuse me.
1st Maid.
Pray, madam, set me right into my work.
Lucrece.
Being abroad, I may forget the charge
Imposed me by my lord, or be compelled
To stay out late, which, were my husband here,
Might be without distaste, but he from hence,
With late abroad, there can no excuse dispense.
Here, take your work again, a while proceed,
And then to bed; for whilst you sew I’ll read.
[They retire.
EnterSextus, Aruns, Valerius, Collatine, Horatius,andScevola.
Aruns.
I would have hazarded all my hopes, my wife had not been so late a-revelling.
Valerius.
Nor mine at this time of night a-gambolling.
Horatius.
They wear so much cork under their heels, they cannot choose but love to caper.
Scevola.
Nothing does me good, but that if my wife were watching, all theirs were wantoning, and if I ha’ lost, none can brag of their winnings.
Sextus.
Now, Collatine, to yours; either Lucrece must be better employed than the rest, or you content to have her virtues rank with the rest.
Collatine.
I am pleased.
Horatius.
Soft, soft, let’s steal upon her as upon the rest, lest having some watch-word at our arrival, we may give her notice to be better prepared: nay, by your leave, Collatine, we’ll limit you no advantage.
Collatine.
See, lords, thus Lucrece revels with her maids:
Instead of riot, quaffing, and the practice
Of high lavoltoes[41]to the ravishing sound
Of chambering music, she, like a good huswife,
Is teaching of her servants sundry chares.—
Lucrece!
Lucrece.[Coming forward.]
My lord and husband, welcome, ten times welcome.
Is it to see your Lucrece you thus late
Ha’ with your person’s hazard left the camp,
And trusted to the danger of a night
So dark, and full of horror?
Aruns.
Lords, all’s lost.
Horatius.
By Jove, I’ll buy my wife a wheel,[42]and make her spin for this trick.
Scevola.
If I make not mine learn to live by the prick of her needle for this, I’m no Roman.
Collatine.
Sweet wife, salute these lords; thy continence
Hath won thy husband a Barbarian horse
And a rich coat of arms.
Lucrece.
Oh, pardon me; the joy to see my lord
Took from me all respect of their degrees.
The richest entertainment lives with us,
According to the hour, and the provision
Of a poor wife in the absence of her husband,
We prostrate to you; howsoever mean,
We thus excuse’t,—Lord Collatine away,
We neither feast, dance, quaff, riot, nor play.
Sextus.
If one woman among so many bad may be found good, if a white wench may prove a black swan, it is Lucrece; her beauty hath relation to her virtue, and her virtue correspondent to her beauty, and in both she is matchless.
Collatine.
Lords, will you yield the wager?
Aruns.
Stay, the wager was as well which of our wives was fairest too; it stretched as well to their beauty as to their continence. Who shall judge that?
Horatius.
That can none of us, because we are all parties. Let Prince Sextus determine it, who hath been with us, and been an eye-witness of their beauties.
Valerius.
Agreed.
Scevola.
I am pleased with the censure of Prince Sextus.
Aruns.
So are we all.
Collatine.
I commit my Lucrece wholly to the dispose of Sextus.
Sextus.
And Sextus commits him wholly to the dispose of Lucrece.
I love the lady and her grace desire,
Nor can my love wrong what my thoughts admire.
Aruns, no question but your wife is chaste
And thrifty, but this lady knows no waste.
Valerius, yours is modest, something fair;
Her grace and beauty are without compare.
Thine, Mutius, well disposed, and of good feature,
But the world yields not so divine a creature.
Horatius, thine a smug lass and graced well,
But amongst all, fair Lucrece doth excel.
Then our impartial heart and judging eyes
This verdict gives,—fair Lucrece wins the prize.
Collatine.
Then, lords, you are indebted to me a horse and armour.
All.
We yield it.
Lucrece.
Will you taste such welcome, lords, as a poor unprovided house can yield?
Sextus.
Gramercy, Lucrece, no; we must this night sleep by Ardea walls.
Lucrece.
But, my lords, I hope my Collatine will not so leave his Lucrece.
Sextus.
He must: we have but idled from the camp, to try a merry wager about their wives, and this at the hazard of the King’s displeasure, should any man be missing from his charge. The powers that govern Rome make divine Lucrece for ever happy! Good-night.
Scevola.
But, Valerius, what thinkest thou of the country girls from whence we came, compared with our city wives whom we this night have tried?
Valerius.
Scevola, thou shalt hear.
[Sings.] O yes, room for the crier,
Who never yet was found a liar!
O ye fine smug country lasses,
That would for brooks change crystal glasses,
And be transhaped from foot to crown,
And straw-beds change for beds of down;
Your partlets turn into rebatoes,[43]
And ’stead of carrots eat potatoes;
Your frontlets[44]lay by, and your rails,[45]
And fringe with gold your daggled tails:
Now your hawk-noses shall have hoods
And billements[46]with golden studs;
Straw-hats shall be no more bongraces[47]
From the bright sun to hide your faces;
For hempen smocks to help the itch,
Have linen, sewed with silver stitch;
And wheresoe’er they chance to stride,
One bare before to be their guide.
O yes, room for the crier,
Who never yet was found a liar!
Lucrece.
Will not my husband repose this night with me?
Horatius.
Lucrece shall pardon him: we ha’ took our leaves of our wives, nor shall Collatine be before us, though our ladies in other things come behind you.
Collatine.
I must be swayed: the joys and the delights
Of many thousand nights meet all in one,
To make my Lucrece happy!
Lucrece.
I am bound to your strict will. To each good-night.
Sextus.
To horse, to horse! [Aside.] Lucrece, we cannot rest
Till our hot lust embosom in thy breast.
[Exeunt all butLucrece.
Lucrece.
With no unkindness we should our lords upbraid;
Husbands and kings must always be obeyed.
Nothing save the high business of the state,
And the charge given him at Ardea’s siege,
Could ha’ made Collatine so much digress
From the affection that he bears his wife;
But subjects must excuse when kings claim power.
But, leaving this, before the charm of sleep
Seize with his downy wings upon my eyes,
I must go take account among my servants
Of their day’s task; we must not cherish sloth.
No covetous thought makes me thus provident,
But to shun idleness, which, wise men say,
Begets rank lust, and virtue beats away. [Exit.
EnterSextus, Aruns, Horatius, Brutus, Scevola,andValerius.
Horatius.
Return to Rome now we are in the midway to the camp!
Sextus.
My lords, ’tis business that concerns my life:
To-morrow, if we live, we’ll visit thee.
Valerius.
Will Sextus enjoin me to accompany him?
Scevola.
Or me?
Sextus.
Nor you, nor any: ’tis important business
And serious occurrences that call me.
Perhaps, lords, I’ll commend you to your wives.
Collatine, shall I do you any service to your Lucrece?
Collatine.
Only commend me.
Sextus.
What, no private token to purchase our kind welcome?
Collatine.
Would royal Sextus would but honour me
To bear her a slight token.
Sextus.
What?
Collatine.
This ring.
Sextus.
As I am royal I will see’t delivered.
[Aside.] This ring to Lucrece shall my love convey,
And in this gift thou dost thy bed betray.
To-morrow we shall meet.—This night, sweet fate,
May I prove welcome, though a guest ingrate! [Exit.
Aruns.
He’s for the city, we for the camp. The night makes the way tedious and melancholy; prithee a merry song to beguile it.
Valerius.
[Sings.] There was a young man and a maid fell in love,
Terry derry ding, terry derry ding, terry derry dino.
To get her good will he often did——[48]
Terry derry ding, terry derry ding, langtido dille.
There’s many will say, and most will allow,
Terry derry ding, terry derry ding, &c.,
There’s nothing so good as a terry derry ding, &c.
I would wish all maids before they be sick,
Terry derry, &c.
To inquire for a young man that has a good——
Terry derry, &c.
Scevola.
Nay, my lord, I heard them all have a conceit of an Englishman—a strange people, in the western islands—one that for his variety in habit, humour, and gesture, puts down all other nations whatsoever; a little of that, if you love me.
Valerius.
Well, Scevola, you shall.
[Sings.][49]The Spaniard loves his ancient slop,
The Lombard his Venetian,
And some like breechless women go—
The Russ, Turk, Jew, and Grecian;
The thrifty Frenchman wears small waist,
The Dutch his belly boasteth;
The Englishman is for them all,
And for each fashion coasteth.
The Turk in linen wraps his head,
The Persian his in lawn too;
The Russ with sables furs his cap,
And change will not be drawn to;
The Spaniard’s constant to his block;
The French, inconstant ever;
But, of all felts that can be felt,
Give me your English beaver.
The German loves his cony-wool,[50]
The Irishman his shag[51]too;
The Welsh his monmouth[52]loves to wear,
And of the same will brag too;
Some love the rough, and some the smooth,
Some great, and others small things;
But oh, your lecherous Englishman,
He loves to deal in all things.
The Russ drinks quass; Dutch, Lubeck beer,
And that is strong and mighty;
The Briton, he metheglin quaffs;
The Irish, aquavitæ;
The French affects the Orleans grape,
The Spaniard tastes his sherry;
The English none of these can scape,
But he with all makes merry.
The Italian in her high chapine,[53]
Scotch lass, and lovely frau too,
The Spanish donna, French madame,
He will not fear to go to;
Nothing so full of hazard dread,
Nought lives above the centre,
No fashion, health, no wine, nor wench,
On which he dare not venture.
Horatius.
Good Valerius, this has brought us even to the skirts of the camp. Enter, lords.
[Exeunt.
EnterSextus, LucreceandAttendants.
Lucrece.
This ring, my lord, hath oped the gates to you;
For, though I know you for a royal prince,
My sovereign’s son, and friend to Collatine,
Without that key you had not entered here.—
More lights, and see a banquet straight provided.
My love to my dear husband shall appear
In the kind welcome that I give his friend.
Sextus.
[Aside.] Not love-sick, but love-lunatic, love-mad:
I am all fire, impatience, and my blood
Boils in my heart, with loose and sensual thoughts.
[EnterServants,who set out a banquet.
Lucrece.
A chair for the prince,
May’t please your highness sit?
Sextus.
Madam, with you.
Lucrece.
It will become the wife of Collatine
To wait upon your trencher.
Sextus.
You shall sit:
Behind us at the camp we left our state;
We are but your guest—indeed, you shall not wait.
[Aside.] Her modesty hath such strong power o’er me,
And such a reverence hath fate given her brow,
That it appears a kind of blasphemy
To have any wanton word harsh in her ears.
I cannot woo, and yet I love ’bove measure;
’Tis force, not suit, must purchase this rich treasure.
Lucrece.
Your highness cannot taste such homely cates?
Sextus.
Indeed, I cannot feed. [Aside.] But on thy face:
Thou art the banquet that my thoughts embrace.
Lucrece.
Knew you, my lord, what free and zealous welcome
We tender you, your highness would presume
Upon your entertainment. Oft, and many times,
I have heard my husband speak of Sextus’ valour,
Extol your worth, praise your perfection,
Ay, dote upon your valour, and your friendship
Prize next his Lucrece.
Sextus.
[Aside.] O impious lust,
In all things base, respectless, and unjust!
Thy virtue, grace, and fame I must enjoy,
Though in the purchase I all Rome destroy.—
Madam, if I be welcome as your virtue
Bids me presume I am, carouse to me
A health unto your husband.
Lucrece.
A woman’s draught, my lord, to Collatine!
Sextus.
Nay, you must drink off all.
Lucrece.
Your grace must pardon
The tender weakness of a woman’s brain.
Sextus.
It is to Collatine.
Lucrece.
Methinks ’twould ill become the modesty
Of any Roman lady to carouse,
And drown her virtues in the juice of grapes.
How can I show my love unto my husband
To do his wife such wrong? By too much wine
I might neglect the charge of this great house
Left solely to my keep; else my example
Might in my servants breed encouragement
So to offend, both which were pardonless;
Else to your grace I might neglect my duty,
And slack obeisance to so great a guest;
All which being accidental unto wine,
Oh, let me not so wrong my Collatine!
Sextus.
We excuse you. [Aside.] Her perfections, like a torrent
With violence breaks upon me, and at once
Inverts and swallows all that’s good in me.
Preposterous Fates, what mischiefs you involve
Upon a caitiff prince, left to the fury
Of all grand mischief! hath the grandame world
Yet mothered such a strange abortive wonder,
That from her virtues should arise my sin?
I am worse than what’s most ill, deprived all reason,
My heart all fiery lust, my soul all treason.
Lucrece.
My lord, I fear your health, your changing brow
Hath shown so much disturbance. Noble Sextus,
Hath not your venturous travel from the camp,
Nor the moist rawness of this humorous[54]night
Impaired your health?
Sextus.
Divinest Lucrece, no. I cannot eat.
Lucrece.
To rest then.—
A rank of torches, there, attend the prince!
Sextus.
Madam, I doubt I am a guest this night
Too troublesome, and I offend your rest.
Lucrece.
This ring speaks for me, that next Collatine
You are to me most welcome; yet, my lord,
Thus much presume,—without this from his hand,
Sextus this night could not have entered here;
No, not the king himself.
My doors the daytime to my friends are free,
But in the night the obdure gates are less kind;
Without this ring they can no entrance find.—
Lights for the prince!
Sextus.
A kiss, and so good-night—nay, for your ring’s sake, deny not that.
Lucrece.
Jove give your highness soft and sweet repose!
Sextus.
And thee the like, with soft and sweet content!—
My vows are fixed, my thoughts on mischief bent. [Exit.
Lucrece.
’Tis late; so many stars[55]shine in this room,
By reason of this great and princely guest,
The world might call our modesty in question,
To revel thus, our husband at the camp.
Haste, and to rest; save in the prince’s chamber,
Let not a light appear.—My heart’s all sadness.
Jove, unto thy protection I commit
My chastity and honour; to thy keep
My waking soul I give, whilst my thoughts sleep.
[Exeunt.
EnterClownand aServing-man.
Clown.
Soft, soft; not too loud; imagine we were now going on the ropes with eggs at our heels; he that hath but a creaking shoe I would he had a crick in his neck; tread not too hard for disturbing[56]Prince Sextus.
Serving-man.
I wonder the prince would ha’ none of us stay in his chamber and help him to bed.
Clown.
What an ass art thou to wonder! there may be many causes: thou know’st the prince is a soldier, and soldiers many times want shift: who can say whether he have a clean shirt on or no? for any thing that we know he hath used staves-acre[57]o’ late, or hath ta’en a medicine to kill the itch. What’s that to us? we did our duty to proffer our service.
Serving-man.
And what should we enter farther into his thoughts? Come, shall’s to bed? I am as drowsy as a dormouse, and my head is as heavy as though I had a night-cap of lead on.
Clown.
And my eyes begin to glue themselves together. I was till supper was done altogether for your repast, and now after supper I am only for your repose: I think, for the two virtues of eating and sleeping, there’s never a Roman spirit under the cope of Heaven can put me down.
EnterMirable.
Mirable.
For shame! what a conjuring and caterwauling keep you here, that my lady cannot sleep! you shall have her call by and by, and send you all to bed with a witness.
Clown.
Sweet Mistress Mirable, we are going.
Mirable.
You are too loud; come, every man dispose him to his rest, and I’ll to mine.
Serving-man.
Out with your torches.
Clown.
Come, then, and every man sneak into his kennel.
[Exeunt.
EnterSextus,with a drawn sword and a lighted taper.
Sextus.
Night, be as secret as thou art close, as close
As thou art black and dark! thou ominous queen
Of tenebrous silence, make this fatal hour
As true to rape as thou hast made it kind
To murder and harsh mischief! Cynthia, mask thy cheek,
And, all you sparkling elemental fires,
Choke up your beauties in prodigious fogs,
Or be extinct in some thick vaporous clouds,
Lest you behold my practice! I am bound
Upon a black adventure, on a deed
That must wound virtue, and make beauty bleed.
Pause, Sextus, and, before thou runn’st thyself
Into this violent danger, weigh thy sin.
Thou art yet free, beloved, graced in the camp,
Of great opinion[58]and undoubted hope,
Rome’s darling, in the universal grace
Both of the field and Senate, where these fortunes
Do make thee great in both. Back! yet thy fame
Is free from hazard, and thy style from shame.
O Fate! thou hast usurped such power o’er man
That where thou plead’st thy will no mortal can
On then, black mischief! hurry me the way;
Myself I must destroy, her life betray;
The hate of king and subject, the displeasure
Of prince and people, the revenge of noble,
And the contempt of base, the incurred vengeance
Of my wronged kinsman Collatine, the treason
Against divinest Lucrece—all these total curses,
Foreseen not feared, upon one Sextus meet,
To make my days harsh—so this night be sweet!
No jar of clock, no ominous hateful howl
Of any starting hound, no horse-cough breathed from the entrails
Of any drowsy groom, wakes this charmed silence
And starts this general slumber. Forward still:
To make thy lust live, all thy virtues kill.
[He draws a curtain;Lucreceis discovered in bed.]
Here, here, behold! beneath these curtains lies
That bright enchantress that hath dazed my eyes.
Oh, who but Sextus could commit such waste
On one so fair, so kind, so truly chaste?
Or like a ravisher thus rudely stand,
To offend this face, this brow, this lip, this hand?
Or at such fatal hours these revels keep,
With thought once to defile thy innocent sleep?
Save in this breast, such thoughts could find no place,
Or pay with treason her kind hospitable grace;
But I am lust-burnt all, bent on what’s bad,
That which should calm good thought makes Tarquin mad.—
Madam! Lucrece!
Lucrece.
Who’s that? O me! beshrew you!
Sextus.
Sweet, ’tis I.
Lucrece.
What I?
Sextus.
Make room.
Lucrece.
My husband Collatine?
Sextus.
Thy husband’s at the camp.
Lucrece.
Here is no place for any man save him.
Sextus.
Grant me that grace.
Lucrece.
What are you?
Sextus.
Tarquin, and thy friend, and must enjoy thee.
Lucrece.
Heaven such sins defend![59]
Sextus.
Why do you tremble, lady? cease this fear:
I am alone; there’s no suspicious ear
That can betray this deed: nay, start not, sweet.
Lucrece.
Dream I, or am I full awake? oh, no!
I know I dream to see Prince Sextus so.
Sweet lord, awake me, rid me from this terror.
I know you for a prince, a gentleman,
Royal and honest, one that loves my lord,
And would not wreck a woman’s chastity
For Rome’s imperial diadem. Oh, then,
Pardon this dream; for, being awake, I know
Prince Sextus, Rome’s great hope, would not for shame
Havoc his own worth, or despoil my fame.
Sextus.
I’m bent on both; my thoughts are all on fire:
Choose thee; thou must embrace death or desire.
Yet do I love thee. Wilt thou accept it?
Lucrece.
No.
Sextus.
If not thy love, thou must enjoy thy foe.
Where fair means cannot, force shall make my way:
By Jove, I must enjoy thee!
Lucrece.
Sweet lord, stay.
Sextus.
I’m all impatience, violence and rage,
And, save thy bed, nought can this fire assuage.
Wilt love me?
Lucrece.
No, I cannot.
Sextus.
Tell me why?
Lucrece.
Hate me, and in that hate first let me die.
Sextus.
By Jove, I’ll force thee!
Lucrece.
By a god you swear
To do a devil’s deed. Sweet lord, forbear.
By the same Jove I swear, that made this soul,
Never to yield unto an act so foul.
Help, help!
Sextus.
These pillows first shall stop thy breath,
If thou but shriekest: hark how I’ll frame thy death—
Lucrece.
For death I care not, so I keep unstained
The uncrazed[60]honour I have yet maintained.
Sextus.
Thou canst keep neither, for if thou but squeakest
Or lett’st the least harsh noise jar in my ear,
I’ll broach thee on my steel; that done, straight murder
One of thy basest grooms, and lay you both,
Grasped arm in arm, on thy adulterate bed,
Then call in witness of that mechal[61]sin.
So shalt thou die, thy death be scandalous,
Thy name be odious, thy suspected body
Denied all funeral rites, and loving Collatine
Shall hate thee even in death: then save all this,
And to thy fortunes add another friend,
Give thy fears comfort, and these torments end.
Lucrece.
I’ll die first; and yet hear me. As you’re noble,
If all your goodness and best generous thoughts
Be not exiled your heart, pity, oh, pity
The virtues of a woman; mar not that
Cannot be made again; this once defiled,
Not all the ocean waves can purify
Or wash my stain away: you seek to soil
That which the radiant splendour of the sun
Cannot make bright again. Behold my tears;
Oh, think them pearlèd drops, distilled from the heart
Of soul-chaste Lucrece; think them orators,
To plead the cause of absent Collatine,
Your friend and kinsman.
Sextus.
Tush, I am obdure.
Lucrece.
Then make my name foul, keep my body pure.
Oh, prince of princes, do but weigh your sin;
Think how much I shall lose, how small you win.
I lose the honour of my name and blood,
Loss Rome’s imperial crown cannot make good;
You win the world’s shame and all good men’s hate—
Oh, who would pleasure buy at such dear rate?
Nor can you term it pleasure, for what’s sweet
Where force and hate, jar and contention meet?
Weigh but for what ’tis that you urge me still:
To gain a woman’s love against her will.
You’ll but repent such wrong done a chaste wife,
And think that labour’s not worth all your strife,
Curse your hot lust, and say you have wronged your friends;
But all the world cannot make me amends.
I took you for a friend; wrong not my trust,
But let these chaste tears quench your fiery lust.
Sextus.
No; those moist tears, contending with my fire
Quench not my heat, but make it climb much higher:
I’ll drag thee hence.
Lucrece.
Oh!
Sextus.
If thou raise these cries,