_1_.
That is according to the man that did it.
_2_.
There springs a new branch, whose was the foot?
_Bes_.
A Lords.
_1_.
The cause is mighty, but had it been two Lords,
And both had kick'd you, if you laugh, 'tis clear.
_Bes_.
I did laugh,
But how will that help me, Gentlemen?
_2_.
Yes, it shall help you if you laught aloud.
_Bes_.
As loud as a kick'd man could laugh, I laught Sir.
_1_.
My reason now, the valiant man is known
By suffering and contemning; you have
Enough of both, and you are valiant.
_2_.
If he be sure he has been kick'd enough:
For that brave sufferance you speak of brother,
Consists not in a beating and away,
But in a cudgell'd body, from eighteen
To eight and thirty; in a head rebuk'd
With pots of all size, degrees, stools, and bed-staves,
This showes a valiant man.
_Bes_.
Then I am valiant, as valiant as the proudest,
For these are all familiar things to me;
Familiar as my sleep, or want of money,
All my whole body's but one bruise with beating,
I think I have been cudgell'd with all nations,
And almost all Religions.
_2_.
Embrace him brother, this man is valiant,
I know it by my self, he's valiant.
_1_.
Captain, thou art a valiant Gentleman,
To bide upon, a very valiant man.
_Bes_.
My equall friends o'th'Sword, I must request your hands to this.
_2_.
'Tis fit it should be.
_Bes_.
Boy, get me some wine, and pen and Ink within:
Am I clear, Gentlemen?
_1_.
Sir, the world has taken notice what we have done,
Make much of your body, for I'll pawn my steel,
Men will be coyer of their legs hereafter.
_Bes_.
I must request you goe along and testife to the Lord _Bacurius_,
whose foot has struck me, how you find my cause.
_2_.
We will, and tell that Lord he must be rul'd,
Or there are those abroad, will rule his Lordship.
[_Exeunt_.
_Enter_ Arbaces _at one door, and_ Gob. _and_ Panthea _at
another_.
_Gob_.
Sir, here's the Princess.
_Arb_.
Leave us then alone,
For the main cause of her imprisonment
Must not be heard by any but her self.
[_Exit_ Gob.
You're welcome Sister, and would to heaven
I could so bid you by another name:
If you above love not such sins as these,
Circle my heart with thoughts as cold as snow
To quench these rising flames that harbour here.
_ [P]an_.
Sir, does it please you I should speak?
_Arb_.
Please me?
I, more than all the art of musick can,
Thy speech doth please me, for it ever sounds,
As thou brought'st joyfull unexpected news;
And yet it is not fit thou shouldst be heard.
I pray thee think so.
_Pan_.
Be it so, I will.
Am I the first that ever had a wrong
So far from being fit to have redress,
That 'twas unfit to hear it? I will back
To prison, rather than disquiet you,
And wait till it be fit.
_Arb_.
No, do not goe;
For I will hear thee with a serious thought:
I have collected all that's man about me
Together strongly, and I am resolv'd
To hear thee largely, but I do beseech thee,
Do not come nearer to me, for there is
Something in that, that will undoe us both.
_Pan_.
Alas Sir, am I venome?
_Arb_.
Yes, to me;
Though of thy self I think thee to be
In equall degree of heat or cold,
As nature can make: yet as unsound men
Convert the sweetest and the nourishing'st meats
Into diseases; so shall I distemper'd,
Do thee, I pray thee draw no nearer to me.
_Pan_.
Sir, this is that I would: I am of late
Shut from the world, and why it should be thus,
Is all I wish to know.
_Arb_.
Why credit me _Panthea_,
Credit me that am thy brother,
Thy loving brother, that there is a cause
Sufficient, yet unfit for thee to know,
That might undoe thee everlastingly,
Only to hear, wilt thou but credit this?
By Heaven 'tis true, believe it if thou canst.
_Pan_.
Children and fools are ever credulous,
And I am both, I think, for I believe;
If you dissemble, be it on your head;
I'le back unto my prison: yet me-thinks
I might be kept in some place where you are;
For in my self, I find I know not what
To call it, but it is a great desire
To see you often.
_Arb_.
Fie, you come in a step, what do you mean?
Dear sister, do not so: Alas _Panthea_,
Where I am would you be? Why that's the cause
You are imprison'd, that you may not be
Where I am.
_Pan_.
Then I must indure it Sir, Heaven keep you.
_Arb_.
Nay, you shall hear the case in short _Panthea_,
And when thou hear'st it, thou wilt blush for me,
And hang thy head down like a Violet
Full of the mornings dew: There is a way
To gain thy freedome, but 'tis such a one
As puts thee in worse bondage, and I know,
Thou wouldst encounter fire, and make a proof
Whether the gods have care of innocence,
Rather than follow it: Know that I have lost,
The only difference betwixt man and beast,
My reason.
_Pan_.
Heaven forbid.
_Arb_.
Nay 'tis gone;
And I am left as far without a bound,
As the wild Ocean, that obeys the winds;
Each sodain passion throwes me where it lists,
And overwhelms all that oppose my will:
I have beheld thee with a lustfull eye;
My heart is set on wickedness to act
Such sins with thee, as I have been afraid
To think of, if thou dar'st consent to this,
Which I beseech thee do not, thou maist gain
Thy liberty, and yield me a content;
If not, thy dwelling must be dark and close,
Where I may never see thee; For heaven knows
That laid this punishment upon my pride,
Thy sight at some time will enforce my madness
To make a start e'ne to thy ravishing;
Now spit upon me, and call all reproaches
Thou canst devise together, and at once
Hurle'em against me: for I am a sickness
As killing as the plague, ready to seize thee.
_Pan_.
Far be it from me to revile the King:
But it is true, that I shall rather choose
To search out death, that else would search out me,
And in a grave sleep with my innocence,
Than welcome such a sin: It is my fate,
To these cross accidents I was ordain'd,
And must have patience; and but that my eyes
Have more of woman in 'em than my heart,
I would not weep: Peace enter you again.
_Arb_.
Farwell, and good _Panthea_ pray for me,
Thy prayers are pure, that I may find a death
However soon before my passions grow
That they forget what I desire is sin;
For thither they are tending: if that happen,
Then I shall force thee tho' thou wert a Virgin
By vow to Heaven, and shall pull a heap
Of strange yet uninvented sin upon me.
_Pan_.
Sir, I will pray for you, yet you shall know
It is a sullen fate that governs us,
For I could wish as heartily as you
I were no sister to you, I should then
Imbrace your lawfull love, sooner than health.
_Arb_.
Couldst thou affect me then?
_Pan_.
So perfectly,
That as it is, I ne're shall sway my heart,
To like another.
_Arb_.
Then I curse my birth,
Must this be added to my miseries
That thou art willing too? is there no stop
To our full happiness, but these meer sounds
Brother and Sister?
_Pan_.
There is nothing else,
But these alas will separate us more
Than twenty worlds betwixt us.
_Arb_.
I have liv'd
To conquer men and now am overthrown
Only by words Brother and Sister: where
Have those words dwelling? I will find 'em out,
And utterly destroy 'em; but they are
Not to be grasp'd: let 'em be men or beasts,
And I will cut 'em from the Earth, or Towns,
And I will raze 'em, and the[n] blow 'em up:
Let 'em be Seas, and I will drink 'em off,
And yet have unquencht fire left in my breast:
Let 'em be any thing but meerly voice.
_Pan_.
But 'tis not in the power of any force,
Or policy to conquer them.
_Arb_.
_Panthea_, What shall we do?
Shall we stand firmly here, and gaze our eyes out?
_Pan_.
Would I could do so,
But I shall weep out mine.
_Arb_.
Accursed man,
Thou bought'st thy reason at too dear a rate,
For thou hast all thy actions bounded in
With curious rules, when every beast is free:
What is there that acknowledges a kindred
But wretched man? Who ever saw the Bull
Fearfully leave the Heifer that he lik'd
Because they had one Dam?
_Pan_.
Sir, I disturb you and my self too;
'Twere better I were gone.
_Arb_.
I will not be so foolish as I was,
Stay, we will love just as becomes our births,
No otherwise: Brothers and Sisters may
Walk hand in hand together; so will we,
Come nearer: is there any hurt in this?
_Pan_.