Has been to lovers' joys an ireful foe,

And tugs me from these arms to arms of steel,
Envving our soft embraces.'

'Phi. I see all earth-bred joys are born and dead In a short moment.' I fare now like her Was turned from paradise ere she had tasted bliss, 'Or like a king killed at his coronation.'

M. Tull. Weep not, love! Oh, spare those orient pearls,

Whose worth out-values all the world beside!
For every drop those crystal spheres let fall,
A crimson flood from their black breast shall run
That thus divorce us. Pr'ythee dry thy tears,
Or I shall traitor prove to honoured arms,
Discovering a wet eye-lid.'

'Phi. You shall command what kings want power to do,

My passions.'-Your pardon, noble sir,

[To MARIUS.

This sudden cause of sorrow has bereft
My better faculties of all respect
Fitting so worthy a guest.

Mar. I want power

In all things but the will to render thanks
For my rich welcome; you have feasted me
With what I have most longed for, your fair sight:
Your cates I come not for: your lord and I
Must not look now to feed deliciously.'

I am his servant, lady, in this war,

And will in life and death take part with him. Lel. [Apart.] I am now lost for ever. Wretched Lelia,

What planet reigned at thy nativity

That thus prolongs still thy desired bliss?
Marius to wars? No danger shall detain me,
But step by step I'll still attend on him,
And dally with destruction.

'Phi. To part thus !

The all-seeing sun, that makes chaste virgins blush, But three short nights hath hid his peeping eyes Since that uniting Hymen tied our hearts'

In a connubial band, yet ne'er allowed

So much true freedom to our infant sports
To make us practic lovers.

M. Tull. There's no help, we must part; though with less grief

I could attend my father's funeral hearse,'
Than leave thee, in whose each part reigns a world
Of strange attractive pleasure.

Phi. Shall not these breasts for this night be your pillow?

M. Tull. 'Tis my wish, and if with my safety it may be,

Which for thy sake I only strive to keep.

Enter RUFINUS.

Ruf. Hail to the general!

M. Tull. 'Like, my lord, to you.

Arm. [Aside.] What makes this screech-owl here?

I never see him, but methinks his face

Is more prodigious 3 than a fiery comet.

Ruf. The king by me, sir, greets you, and com

mands

You instantly make to the enemy

Before his forces join, and make the way
To victory more difficult. I have done, sir. [Exit.

3 Prodigious.] That is, portentous, the original sense of the word. So in A Midsummer-Night's Dream:

"Never mole, hare-lip or scar,

Nor mark prodigious, such as are
Despised in nativity,

Shall upon their children be."

Mar. A strict injunction, more severely uttered. M. Tull. My Philadelpha sees then there's no stay;

Only a kiss and part: that, though the foe
Were entered Rome, and ready to give fire
To her proud buildings, and my presence solely
Could save the ruin, I would stay to take.-
My love transports me. Pardon, my Armanus,
Pardon my madness: nothing else, thou know'st,
Could make me let thee stand so long neglected.
Farewell, my dearest friend!

Arm. Farewell to whom?

You wrong me, friend, to think my love so faint To leave you now; no, though your way were through

Hell's pitchy cave, without a Sybil's clue,
I'd follow you.

Sands shall be numbered first, the heavens stand still,

Earth fly her centre, before death or

M. Tull. Forbear,

Thou best of men, a true and faithful friend;
Urge not what cannot be: I know thy love
And valour both exceed comparison,

Yet now thou must not go.

Arm. Not go?

M. Tull. No, my prophetic soul

Tells me my absence gives too free a scope
To them that hate me, to supplant my honours:
Besides my own observance I've received

The knowledge of black hatred lodged i' th' breasts
Of our most greatest peers;

Then, lest my danger here at home should prove
More than abroad, stay thou to curb their actions.
Next, here's a virgin in a moment cast

From highest joy to sorrow's lowest valley:
Be thou her comfort, and believe me, friend,

The least of these more, much more, I esteem, Than if thy manly breast should stand a shield 'Twixt me and thousand perils.

Arm. I am won, sir,

And yield at first charge; may your foes do so! And Heaven guard me but as I strive to keep Your honours clear and spotless.

M. Tull. I should sin

In making question of it. Now I'm happy,
But I fear I am over bold with time.-

Dearest, farewell, and think our parting now,
When we meet next, will seal our pleasures high,
And add a new step to felicity. [Exeunt severally.

ACT II. SCENE I.

An Apartment in the Palace.

Enter RUFINUS.

Ruf. A general! Oh, ye gods,
Why so disgrace ye a great soldier's name
To cast it on a creature so unworthy?

'I that these twenty years have tugged with danger Where'er it durst appear, and oft have done Those deeds would make this novice quake to hear;

I that have stood more breaches for my country*
Than e'er he numbered years, while this right hand
From Mars' alluring favourites have forced
Unwilling victory for all are now

By the ungrateful king slighted, neglected;
While this young puny thing is set a' cock-horse.
Well, king, not fear but wisdom makes me hold
My fury thus long from thee: but, my general,
Ward yourself well, or my revengeful ire,
'Like a resistless storm, sent from the north,
Shall blast your springing glory in the bud.
The deadly shirt dipt in the centaur's gore,
Thou fool, thou might'st have put on with less
danger

Than clothe thee thus in these unfitting honours
Which fate ordained for me: I hate thee firmly,
And hate deep-rooted in a soldier's breast

Can hardly be digged out.'-Oh, his grace comes,
And I must clear my brow; for anger seen
Loses his force, kept secret strengthens spleen."

Enter LEARCHUS, LEONTIUS, MARCELLANUS, and another Senator; then TITUS MARTIUS, talking to ARMANUS.

Titus. Armanus, we have sent thy friend to danger,

But Honour leads him on. We ever saw

• I that have stood more breaches for my country.] This is sense, as it may mean, stood in, held out, or defended breaches; but I much suspect we should read stormed.

5 Speene.] So the MS. Spleen in this place signifies angry huSo in The Taming of the Shrew :

mour.

"I must forsooth be forced

To give my hand, opposed unto my heart,
Unto a mad-brain rudesby full of spleen.”