As fast as ever I can prepare:
Who dips[167] with the devil, he had need have a long spoon,
Or else full small will be his fare.
Yet a proper gentleman I am, of truth:
Yea, that may ye see by my long side-gown:
Yea, but what am I? a scholar, or a schoolmaster, or else some youth.
A lawyer, a student, or else a country clown:
A broom-man, a basket-maker, or a baker of pies,
A flesh or a fishmonger, or a sower of lies?
A louse or a louser, a leek or a lark,
A dreamer, a drumble,[168] a fire or a spark?
A caitiff, a cutthroat, a creeper in corners,
A hairbrain, a hangman, or a grafter of horners?
By the gods, I know not how best to devise,
My name or my property well to disguise.
A merchant, a May-pole, a man or a mackerel,
A crab or a crevis, a crane or a cockerel?
Most of all these my nature doth enjoy;
Sometime I advance them, sometime I destroy.
A maid or a mussel-boat, a wife or a wild duck?
As bold as blind bayard, as wise as a wood-cock.
As fine as fi’pence, as proud as a peacock,
As stout as a stockfish, as meek as a meacock.
As big as a beggar, as fat as a fool,
As true as a tinker, as rich as an owl:
With hey-trick, how troll, trey-trip and trey-trace,
Troll-hazard with a vengeance, I beshrew his knave’s face;
For tro and troll-hazard keep such a range,
That poor Haphazard was never so strange:
But yet, Haphazard, be of good cheer,
Go play and repast thee, man, be merry to-yere.[169]
Though victual be dainty and hard for to get,
Yet perhaps a number will die of the sweat:[170]
Though it be in hazard, yet happily I may,
Though money be lacking, yet one day go gay.
_Enter_ MANSIPULUS.
When, Maud, with a pestilence! what, mak’st thou no haste?
Of barberry[171] incense belike thou wouldest taste!
By the gods, I have stayed a full great while:
My lord he is near at hand by this at the church-stile,
And all for Maud mumble-turd, that mangpodding madge,
By the gods, if she hie not, I’ll give her my badge.
[_Enter_ MANSIPULA.]
MANSIPULA. What, drake-nosed drivel, begin you to flont?
I’ll fry you in a faggot-stick, by Cock, goodman lout.
You boaster, you bragger, you brawling knave,
I’ll pay thee thy forty-pence, thou brawling slave
My lady’s great business belike is at end,
When you, goodman dawcock, lust for to wend.
You cod’s-head, you crack-rope, you chattering pie,
Have with ye, have at ye, your manhood to try.
[_Beat and hustle him._]
HAPHAZARD. What! hold your hands, masters. What! fie for shame, fie!
What culling, what lulling, what stir have we here?
What tugging, what lugging, what pugging by the ear.
What, part and be friends, and end all this strife.
MANSIPULUS. Nay, rather I wish her the end of my knife.
MANSIPULA. Draw it, give me it, I will it receive,
So that for to place it I might have good leave:
By the gods, but for losing my land, life and living,
It should be so placed he should have ill-thriving.
MANSIPULUS. By the gods, how ungraciously the vixen she chatteth.
MANSIPULA. And he even as knavishly my answer he patteth.
HAPHAZARD. Here is nought else but railing of words out of reason,
Now tugging, now tattling, now muzzling in season.
For shame! be contented, and leave off this brawling.
MANSIPULUS. Content, for I shall repent it for this my
tongue-wralling.
MANSIPULA. Thou knave, but for thee, ere this time of day
My lady’s fair pew had been strawed[172] full gay,
With primroses, cowslips, and violets sweet,
With mints and with marigolds, and margoram meet,
Which now lieth uncleanly, and all ’long of thee:
That a shame recompense thee for hindring of me!
MANSIPULUS. Ah pretty prank-parnel, the cushion and book,
Whereon he should read and kneel are present, here look.
My lord, when he seeth me, he will cast such an eye,
As pinch will my heart near ready to die.
And thus wise and thus wise his hand will be walking,
With thou, precious knave: away; get thee packing.
[_Here let him [pretend to] fight._
HAPHAZARD. Nay then, by the mass, it’s time to be knacking:
No words at all, but to me he is pointing.
Nay, have at you again: you shall have your anointing.
MANSIPULA. Body of me, hold, if ye can!
What, will you kill such a proper man?
HAPHAZARD. Nay, sure I have done, when women do speak.
Why would the knave my patience so break?
MANSIPULUS. Well, I must be gone, there is no remedy,
For fear my tail makes buttons, by mine honesty.
HAPHAZARD. For reverence on your face, your nose and your chin.
By the gods, have ye heard such an unmannerly villain?
MANSIPULA. I never heard one so rank of rudeness.
MANSIPULUS. In faith, it is but for lack of lewdness.[173]
But here I burn day-light, while thus I am talking.
Away, come, Mansipula, let us be walking.
MANSIPULA. Contented, Mansipulus; have with thee with speed.
HAPHAZARD. Nay, stay yet, my friends, I am not agreed.
MANSIPULA. We dare not tarry, by God, we swear.
HAPHAZARD. Nay, tarry, take comfort with you for to bear:
It is but in hazard, and if you be miss’d,
And so it may happen you feel not his fist.
Perhaps he is stay’d by talk with some friend:
It is but in hazard: then sing, ere you wend.
Let hope be your helper, your care to defend.
MANSIPULUS. By hap or by hazard we sing, ere we cry;
Then sing, let us say so, let sorrow go by.
MANSIPULA. We can be but beaten, that is the worst.
_Enter_ SUBSERVUS.
What how, Mansipulus! thou knave, art thou curs’d?
My lord standeth talking, and I gape for thee.
Come away, with a wannion! run, haste and hie.
MANSIPULUS. Nay, hearken, Subservus, stay, I pray thee:
Let us have a song, and then have with thee.
SUBSERVUS. Content, if thou hie thee.
_Sing here all._
_Hope so, and hap so, in hazard of threat’ning,
The worst that can hap, lo, in end is but beating._
MANSIPULUS [_sings_].
_What, if my lording do chance for to miss me,
The worst that can happen is, cudgel will kiss me:
In such kind of sweetness, I swear by God’s mother,
It will please me better, it were on some other._
[ALL.] _With thwick thwack, with thump thump,
With bobbing and bum,
Our side-saddle shoulders shall shield that doth come.
Hope so, and hap so, in hazard, &c._
MANSIPULA [_sings_].
_If[174] case that my lady do threaten my case,
No cause to contrary, but bear her a space,
Until she draw home, lo, where so she will use me,
As Doctors doth doubt it, how I should excuse me._
[ALL.] _With thwick thwack, with thump thump,
With bobbing and bum,
Our side-saddle shoulders shall shield that doth come.
Hope so, and hap so, in hazard, &c._
SUBSERVUS [_sings_].
_What, if your company cause me have woe,
I mind not companions so soon to forego.
Let hope hold the helmet, till brunt it be past,
For blows are but buffets and words but a blast._
[ALL.] _With thwick thwack, with thump thump,
With bobbing and bum,
Our side-saddle shoulders shall shield that doth come.
Hope so, and hap so, in hazard, &c._
HAPHAZARD [_sings_].
_Then let us be merry, it is but by hap,
A hazardly chance may harbour a clap:
Bestir ye, be merry, be glad and be joying,
For blows are but buffets and small time annoying._
[ALL.] _With thwick thwack, with thump thump,
With bobbing and bum,
Our side-saddle shoulders shall shield that doth come.
Hope so, and hap so, in hazard, &c._
[_The end of the song._
_All speaketh this._
Haphazard, farewell: the gods do thank thee.
[_Exeunt._
HAPHAZARD. Farewell, my friends, farewell, go prank ye.
By the gods, Haphazard, these men have tried thee:
Who said thou wast no man, sure they belied thee.
By Jove, master merchant, by sea or by land,
Would get but small argent, if I did not stand
His very good master, I may say to you,
When he hazards in hope what hap will ensue.
In court I am no man:--by Cock, sir, ye lie--
A ploughman, perhaps, or ere that he die,
May hap be a gentleman, a courtier or captain;
And hap may so hazard he may go begging:
Perhaps that a gentleman, heir to great land,
Which selleth his living for money in hand,
In hazard it is the buying of more:
Perhaps he may ride, when spent is his store.
Hap may so hazard, the moon may so change,
That men may be masters, and wives will not range:
But in hazard it is in many a grange,
Lest wives wear the cod-piece, and maidens go strange.[175]
As peacocks sit perking by chance in the plumtree;
So maids would be masters by the guise of this country.
Haphazard each state full well that he marks,
If hap the sky fall, we may hap to have larks.
Well, fare ye well now for better or worse:
Put hands to your pockets, have mind to your purse.
[_Exit._
_Enter_ JUDGE APPIUS.
The furrowed face of fortune’s force my pinching pain doth move:
I, settled ruler of my realm, enforced am to love.
Judge Appius I, the princeliest judge that reigneth under sun,
And have been so esteemed long, but now my force is none:
I rule no more, but ruled am; I do not judge but am judged;
By beauty of Virginia my wisdom all is trudged.
O peerless dame, O passing piece, O face of such a feature,
That never erst with beauty such matched was by nature.
O fond Apelles, prattling fool, why boasteth thou so much,
The famous’t piece thou mad’st in Greece, whose lineaments were
such?
Or why didst thou, deceived man, for beauty of thy work,
In such a sort with fond desire, where no kind life did lurk,
With raging fits, thou fool, run mad, O fond Pigmalion?
Yet sure, if that thou sawest my dear, the like thou could’st make
none:
Then what may I? O gods above, bend down to hear my cry,
As once ye[176] did to Salmacis, in pond hard Lycia by.
O, that Virginia were in case as sometime Salmacis,
And in Hermophroditus stead myself might seek my bliss!
Ah gods, would I unfold her arms complecting of my neck?
Or would I hurt her nimble hand, or yield her such a check?
Would I gainsay her tender skin to bathe, where I do wash,
Or else refuse her soft, sweet lips to touch my naked flesh?
Nay! O, the gods do know my mind, I rather would require
To sue, to serve, to crouch, to kneel, to crave for my desire.
But out, ye gods! ye bend your brows, and frown to see me fare;
Ye do not force my fickle fate, ye do not weigh my care.
Unrighteous and unequal gods, unjust and eke unsure,
Woe worth the time ye made me live to see this hapless hour!
Did Iphis hang himself for love of lady not so fair?
Or else did Jove the cloudy mists bend down from lightsome air?
Or as the poets mention make of Inach’s daughter meek,
For love did he, too, make a cow, whom Inach long did seek?
Is love so great to cause the quick to enter into hell,
As stout Orpheus did attempt, as histories do tell?
Then what is it that love cannot? why, love did pierce the skies:
Why, Pheb and famous Mercury with love had blinded eyes.
But I, a judge, of grounded years, shall reap to me such name,
As shall resound dishonour great with trump of careless fame.
O, that my years were youthful yet, or that I were unwedded!
_Here entereth_ HAPHAZARD.
Why, cease, Sir Knight, for why perhaps of you she shall be bedded:
For follow my counsel, so may you me please,
That of careful resurging your heart shall have ease.
APPIUS. O thundering gods, that threaten ire
And plague for each offence,
Yourselves, I deem, would counsel crave
In this so fit pretence:
And eke your nimble stretched arms
With great rewards would fly,
To purchase fair Virginia,
So dear a wight, to me.
And, friend, I swear by Jupiter,
And eke by Juno’s seat,
And eke by all the mysteries,
Whereon thou canst entreat,
Thou shalt possess and have,
I will thee grant and give,
The greatest part of all my realm,
For aye thee to relieve.
HAPHAZARD. Well then, this is my counsel, thus standeth the case;
Perhaps such a fetch as may please your grace:
There is no more ways,[177] but hap or hap not,
Either hap or else hapless, to knit up the knot:
And if you will hazard to venter what falls,
Perhaps that Haphazard will end all your thralls.
APPIUS. I mean so, I will so, if thou do persuade me,
To hap or to hazard what thing shall invade me?
I King and I Kaiser, I rule and overwhelm;
I do what it please me within this my realm.
Wherefore in thy judgment see that thou do enter:
Hap life or hap death, I surely will venter.
HAPHAZARD. Then this and in this sort standeth the matter:
What need many words, unless I should flatter?
Full many there be will hazard their life,
Happ’ly to ease your grace of all your strife.
Of this kind of conspiracy now let us common.[178]
Some man Virginius before you must summon,
And say that Virginia is none of his daughter,
But that Virginius by night away caught her:
Then charge you the father his daughter to bring;
Then do you detain her, till proved be the thing:
Which well you may win her, she present in house.
It is but haphazard, a man or a mouse.
APPIUS. I find it, I mind it, I swear that I will,
Though shame or defame do happen, no skill.[179]
But out, I am wounded: how am
I divided! [Sidebar: Here let him make as
Two states of my life from me though he went out, and let
are now glided; Conscience and Justice come out
For Conscience he pricketh me after[180] him, and let
contemned, Conscience hold in his hand a
And Justice saith, judgment lamp burning, and let Justice have
would have me condemned: a sword, and hold it before
Conscience saith, cruelty sure Appius’ breast.]
will detest me;
And Justice saith, death in th’ end will molest me:
And both in one sudden me-thinks they do cry,
That fire eternal my soul shall destroy.
HAPHAZARD. Why, these are but thoughts, man: why, fie for shame,
fie!
For Conscience was careless and sailing by seas,
Was drowned in a basket and had a disease,
Sore moved for pity, when he would grant none,
For being hard-hearted was turned to a stone:
And sailing by Sandwich he sank for his sin.
Then care not for conscience the worth of a pin.
And judgment judge[d] Justice to have a reward
For judging still justly, but all now is marr’d;
For gifts they are given where judgment is none.
Thus judgment and justice a wrong way hath gone.
Then care not for Conscience the worth of a fable;
Justice is no man, nor nought to do able.
APPIUS. And sayest thou so, my ’sured friend? then hap as hap shall
it:
Let Conscience grope and judgment crave, I will not shrink one whit.
I will persever in my thought: I will deflower her youth;
I will not sure reverted be, my heart shall have no ruth.
Come on, proceed, and wait on me, I will, hap woe or wealth:
Hap blunt, hap sharp, hap life, hap death: th[r]ough Haphazard be
of health.
HAPHAZARD. At hand (quoth pick-purse) here ready am I.
See well to the cut-purse: be ruled by me.
[_Exeunt._
_Enter_ CONSCIENCE.
CONSCIENCE. O clear unspotted gifts of Jove,
How haps thou art refused?
O Conscience clear, what cruel mind
Thy truth hath thus misused?
I spotted am by wilful will,
By lawless love and lust,
By dreadful danger of the life,
By faith that is unjust,
JUSTICE. Ah gift of Jove, Ah Fortune’s face,
Ah state of steady life!
I Justice am, and prince of peers,
The end of laws and strife:
A guider of the common weal,
A guardian[181] to the poor;
And yet hath filthy lust suppress’d
My virtues in one hour.
Well, well, this is the most to trust,
In end we shall aspire
To see the end of these our foes
With sword and eke with fire.
CONSCIENCE. O help, ye gods, we members require.
[_Exeunt._
_Enter_ HAPHAZARD.
When gain is no grandsire,[182]
And gauds nought set by;
Nor puddings nor pie-meat
Poor knaves will come nigh,
Then hap and Haphazard
Shall have a new coat.
And so it may happen
To cut covetousness’ throat.
Yea, then shall Judge Appius
Virginia obtain,
And geese shall crack mussels
Perhaps in the rain:
Larks shall be leverets,
And skip to and fro;
And churls shall be cods-heads,
Perhaps and also.
But peace, for man’s body!
Haphazard be mum!
Fie, prattling noddy,
Judge Appius is come.
_Here entereth_ JUDGE APPIUS _and_ CLAUDIUS.
The furies fell of Limbo lake
My princely days do short:
All drown’d in deadly ways I live,
That once did joy in sport.
I live and languish in my life,
As doth the wounded deer.
I thirst, I crave, I call and cry.
And yet am nought the near:[183]
And yet I have that me so match
Within the realm of mine:
But (Tantalus amids my care)
I hunger--starve, and pine.
As Sisyphus, I roll the stone
In vain to top of hill,
That ever more uncertainly
Revolving slideth still.
O, if to her ’twere as to me,[184]
What labours would I fly,
What raging seas would I not plough
To her commodity?
But out alas, I doubt it sore,
Lest drowsy Morpheus[185]
His slumb’ry kingdoms planted hath
With dews unbeauteous.[186]
O gods above that rule the skies:
Ye babes that brag in bliss:
Ye goddesses, ye Graces, you,
What burning brunt is this?
Bend down your ire, destroy me quick.
Or else to grant me grace,
No more, but that my burning breast
Virginia may embrace.[187]
If case your ears be dead and deaf,
The fiend and spirits below,
You careless carls of Limbo lake,
Your forced mights do show.
Thou caitif king of darksome dens,
Thou Pluto, plagued knave,
Send forth thy sacred vengeance straight,
Consume them to the grave,
That will not aid my case--
CLAUDIUS. Content, and if it like your grace,
I will attempt the deed:
I summon will Virginius
Before your seat with speed.
HAPHAZARD.Do so, my lord: be you not afraid,
And so you may happen to hazard the maid:
It is but in hazard and may come by hap:
Win her or lose her, try you the trap.
APPIUS. By the gods, I consent to thee, Claudius, now;
Prepare thee in haste Virginius unto.
Charge him, command him, upon his allegiance,
With all kind of speed to yield his obeisance,
Before my seat in my consistory,
_Subpœnâ_ of land, life and treasury.
No let, no stay, nor ought perturbance
Shall cause me to omit the furtherance
Of this my weighty charge.
[_Here let_ CLAUDIUS _go out with_ HAPHAZARD.
APPIUS. Well, now I range at large my will for to express;
For look, how Tarquin Lucrece fair by force did once oppress,
Even so will I Virginia use.
[_Here let_ CONSCIENCE _speak within_.
Judge Appius, prince, O stay, refuse;
Be ruled by thy friend!
What bloody death with open shame
Did Tarquin gain in end?
APPIUS. Whence does this pinching sound descend?
CONSCIENCE. From contrite Conscience, pricked on
By member of thy life,
Inforced for to cry and call,
And all to end our strife.
APPIUS. Who art thou then? declare; be brief!
CONSCIENCE. Not flesh nor filthy lust I am,
But secret Conscience I,
Compell’d to cry with trembling soul,
At point near-hand to die.
APPIUS. Why, no disease hath me approach’d, no grief doth make me
grudge,
But want of fair Virginia, whose beauty is my judge:
By her I live, by her I die, for her I joy or woe,
For her my soul doth sink or swim, for her I swear I go.
CONSCIENCE. Ah gods, what wits doth reign! and yet to you unknowen,
I die the death, and soul doth sink this filthy flesh hath sowen.
APPIUS. I force it not; I will attempt: I stay for Claudius here;
Yet will I go to meet with him, to know what news and cheer.
_Here entereth_ HAPHAZARD.
Haste for a hangman in hazard of hemp:
Run for a ridduck, there is no such imp.
Claudius is knocking with hammer and stone
At Virginius’ gate, as hard as he can lay on.
By the gods, my masters, Haphazard is hardy,
For he will run rashly, be they never so many:
Yea, he will sing sow’s snout, and snap with the best.
But peace! who comes yonder, that jolly good guest?
_Here enter with a song._[188]
_When men will seem misdoubtfully
Without an why to call and cry,
And fearing with temerity its jeopardy of liberty,
We wish him to take to cheer his heart Haphazard,
Bold [as] blind bayard.
A fig for his uncourtesy
That seeks to shun good company._
MANSIPULUS. _What if case that cruelty should bustle me and jostle me,_
_And Holywand should tickle me for keeping of good company,
I’ll follow, by my honesty, hap Haphazard, bold [as] blind bayard.
A fig for his uncourtesy that seeks to shun good company._
_All sing this._
_When men will seem misdoubtfully
Without an why to call and cry, &c._
MANSIPULA. _Never was that mistress so furious nor curious,
Nor yet her blows so boisterous, nor roisterous, nor dolorous,
But sure I would venture,[189] hap Haphazard, bold [as] blind bayard.
A fig for his uncourtesy that seeks to shun good company._
_All sing this._
_When men will seem misdoubtfully
Without an why to call and cry, &c._
HAPHAZARD. _Then wend ye on and follow me, Mansipula, Mansipula,
Let croping cares be cast away, come follow me, come follow me.
Subservus is a jolly lout, brace Haphazard, bold [as] blind bayard.
A fig for his uncourtesy that seeks to shun good company._
_All sing this._
_When men will seem misdoubtfully
Without an why to call and cry, &c._
[_The end of the song._
_Here_ HAPHAZARD _speaketh_.
Ay, by the gods, my masters, I told you plain,
Who companies with me will desire me again.
But how did ye speed, I pray ye show me?
Was all well agreed? did nobody blow ye?
MANSIPULUS. Mass, sir, hap did so happen, that my lord and master
Stayed in beholding and viewing the pasture,
Which when I perceived, what excuse did I make?
I came in the crossway on the nearside the Forlake,
Hard by Hodge’s half acre, at Gaffer Miller’s stile,
The next way round about, by the space of a mile.
And at Simkin’s side-ridge my lord stood talking,
And angerly to me quoth he, Where hast thou been walking?
Without any staggering, I had ready my lie:
Out at bridge-meadow and at Benol’s lease (quoth I).
Your fatlings are feeding well, sir, the gods be praised,
A goodly loume of beef on them is already raised.
Then out steps Francis Fabulator, that was never my friend:
How pass’d you Carter’s hay-rick at Long Meadow end?
There might one (quoth he) within this few days
With a cast-net had given four knaves great essays,
Under the hedge with a pair of new cards both rip and fledge.
Is it true? quoth my Lord: will this gear never be left?
This causes swearing and staring, prowling and theft.
Well (quoth my lord) take heed, lest I find it,
And so pass’d his way, and did no more mind it.
HAPHAZARD. By the gods, that was sport, yea, and sport alone.
MANSIPULA. Yea; but I was in a worse case, by Saint John.
My lady in church was set full devout,
And hearing my coming she turned about;
But as soon as I heard her snappishly sound,
In this sort I crouched me down to the ground,
And mannerly made,[190] as though I were sad.[191]
As soon as the pew then strawed I had,
She gave me a wink and frowardly frown,
Whereby I do judge she would cudgel my gown.
Then I did devise a pretty fine prank,
A mean whereby to pick me a thank,
Of Margery Mildon, the maid of the milk-house,
And Stainer the stutter,[192] the guid[193] of the storehouse.
Then was my lady’s anger well gone,
And will be so still, and the truth be not known.
HAPHAZARD. By ’r Lady barefoot, this bakes trimly.
SUBSERVUS. Nay, but I escaped more finely;
For I under this hedge one while did stay.
Then in this bush, then in that way:
Then slip I behind them among all the rest,
And seemed to commune, too, of things with the best:
But so it did happen, that all things were well,
But hazard it is, lest time will truth tell.
HAPHAZARD. Tut, tut, that was but by hap, and if it be so:
Well, sith it was in hazard, then let it go.
SUBSERVUS. Content, by my honesty: then farewell all woe.
MANSIPULUS. Come out, dog, ye speak happily, of truth, if it be so.
ALL SPEAK. Now, Master Haphazard, fare you well for a season.
HAPHAZARD. Let my counsel at no time with you lie geason.[194]
ALL SPEAKETH. No, by the gods, he sure not so.
HAPHAZARD. Well, sith here is no company, have with ye to Jericho.
[_Exit_.
_Enter_ VIRGINIUS.
What! so the gods they have decreed to work and do by me?
I marvel why Judge Appius he such greetings lets me see:
I served have his seat and state, I have maintained his weal,
I have suppress’d the rebels stout, I bear to him such zeal;
And now he sends to me such charge upon my life and lands
Without demur or further pause, or ere ought thing[195] be scann’d,
That I in haste with posting speed to court I do repair,
To answer that alleged is before his judgment-chair.
Some histories they do express, when such mishaps do fall,
They should have taken many a one; I have not one but all.
My jewels sometime precious do fade and bear no hue,
My senses they do shun their course, my lights do burn as blue;
My willing wits[196] are waxed slow, that once were swift in speed;
My heart it throbs in wonderous sort, my nose doth often bleed:
My dreadful dreams do draw my woe, and hateful hazard hale.[197]
These tokens of evil hap, this is the old wive’s tale.
But yet, O thou Virginius, whose hoary hairs are old,
Did’st treason never yet commit, of this thou may’st be bold.
In Mars his games, in martial feats thou wast his only aid.
The huge Charibd his hazards[198] thou for him hast[199] oft
assail’d:
Was Scylla’s force by thee oft shunn’d, or yet Lady Circe’s[200]
land,
Pasiphae’s[201] child, the[202] Minotaur, did cause thee ever stand?
To pleasure him, to serve thy liege,[203] to keep all things
upright,
Thou God above, then what is it that yieldeth me this spite?
Sith nothing needs misdoubted be, where grounded cause is none,
I enter will Judge Appius’ gate, rejecting care and moan.
But stay, Virginius: lo, thy prince doth enter into place,
O sovereign lord and rightful judge, the gods do save thy grace.
_Here entereth_ JUDGE APPIUS _and_ CLAUDIUS.
With tender heart, Virginius, thou welcome art to me.
I sorry am to utter out the things I hear of thee;
For Claudius, a subject here, a man of mickle fame,
Appealeth thee before my court in deed of open shame.
And though indeed I love thee so as thy deserts desire,
Yet not so but I must judgment give, as justice doth require.
VIRGINIUS. My lord, and reason good it is: your servant doth request
No partial hand to aid his cause, no partial mind or breast.
If ought I have offended you, your court or eke your crown,
From lofty top of turret high precipitate me down.
If treason none by me be done, or any fault committed.
Let my accusers bear the blame, and let me be remitted.
APPIUS. Good reason, too, Virginius. Come, Claudius, show thy mind:
Let justice hear, if judgment may Virginius guilty find.