Timag. Which never shall deceive you.

Enter MARULLO.

Mar. Sir, the general,
Timoleon, by his trumpets hath given warning
For a remove.

Timay. 'Tis well; provide my horse.
Mar. I shall, sir.

[Exit. Leost. This slave has a strange aspect. Timag. Fit for his fortune; ’tis a strong-limb’d

knave: My father bought him for my sister's litter. O pride of women! Coaches are too commonThey surfeit in the happiness of peace, And ladies think they keep not state enough, If, for their pomp and ease, they are not born In triumph on men's shoulders.

Leost. Who commands The Carthaginian fleet?

Timag. Gisco's their admiral, And 'tis our happiness; a raw young fellow, One never train'd in arms, but rather fashion'd To tilt with ladies' lips, than crack a lance; Ravish a feather from a mistress' fan, And wear it as a favour. A steel helmet, Made horrid with a glorious plume, will crack His woman's neck.

66

on

* If, for their pomp and ease, &c.] Mr. Gilchrist thinks (and I believe, rightly) that Massinger, who evidently regarded the duke of Buckingham with no favourable eye, here reflects on the use of sedan-chairs, which he first introduced, from Spain, about this period. They were carried, as Massinger says, mens' shoulders," and the novelty provoked no small displea. sure against the favourite, who in thus employing his servants, was charged, by the writers of those times, with a degrading Englishmen into slaves and beasts of burden, to gratify his inordinate vanity."

Leost. No more of him.--The motives,
That Corinth gives us aid?

Timag. The common danger;
For Sicily being afire, she is not safe :
It being apparent that ambitious Carthage,
That, to enlarge her empire, strives to fasten
An unjust gripe on us that live free lords
Of Syracusa, will not end, till Greece
Acknowledge her their sovereign.

Leost. I am satisfied.
What think you of our general ?
Timag. He's a man

[Trumpets within.
Of strange and reserved parts; but a great soldier."
His trumpets call us, I'll forbear his character:
To morrow, in the senate-house, at large
He will express himself.
Leost. I'll follow you.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Syracuse. A Room in Cleon's House.

Enter CLEON, CORISCA, and GRACCU LO.

Coris. Nay, good chuck.

Cleon. I've said it; stay at home : I cannot brook your gadding; you're a fair one, Beauty invites temptations, and short heels Are soon tripp'd up.

Coris. Deny me! by my honour,

5 Timag. He's a man

Of strange and reserved purts, but a great soldier.] Strange signifies here distant. M. Mason.

I do not pretend to know the meaning of distant parts, unless it be remote, or foreign parts. Massinger, however, is clear enough: strange and reserved, in his language, means, strangely (i. e. singularly) reserved.

a

You take no pity on me. I shall swoon
As soon as you are absent; ask my man else,
You know he dares not tell a lie.

Grac. Indeed,
You are no sooner out of sight, but she
Does feel strange qualms; then sends for her

young doctor, Who ministers physic to her on her back, Her ladyship lying as she were entranced : (I've peep'd in at the keyhole, and observed

them :)
And sure his potions never fail to work,
For she's so pleasant in the taking them,
She tickles again.

Coris. And all's to make you merry,
When you come home.

Cleon. You flatter me; I am old, And wisdom cries, Beware!

Coris. Old ! duck. To me You are a young Adonis.

, Grac. Well said, Venus ! I am sure she Vulcans him.

[Aside. Coris. I will not change thee For twenty boisterous young things without

beards. These bristles give the gentlest titillations, And such a sweet dew flows on them, it cures My lips without pomatum. Here's a round belly! 'Tis a down pillow to my back; I sleep So quietly by it: and this tunable nose, , Faith, when you hear it not, affords such music, That I curse all night-fiddlers.

Grae. This is gross. Not finds she flouts him !

[Aside. Coris. As I live, I am jealous. Cleon. Jealous of me, wife ?

Coris. Yes; and I have reason;
Knowing how lusty and active a man you are.

Cleon. Hum, hum!
Grac. This is no cunning quean ! 'slight, she

will make him To think that, like a stag, he has cast his horns, And is grown young again.

[Aside. Coris. You have forgot What you did in your sleep, and, when you waked, Call'd for a caudle.

Grac. It was in his sleep; For, waking, I durst trust my mother with him.

[Aside. Coris. I long to see the man of war: Cleora, Archidamus' daughter, goes, and rich Olympia; I will not miss the show.

Cleon. There's no contending: For this time I am pleased, but I'll no more on't,

[Exeunt.

a

6 Grac. This is no cunning quean!] In our author's time, as

] , is justly observed by Warburton, “ the negative, in common speech, was used ironically to express the excess of a thing.” Thus, in the Roman Actor :

66 This is no flattery!" And again, in the City Madam:

“ Here's no gross flattery! Will she swallow this?” and in a thousand other places.

SCENE III.

The Same. The Senate-house.

Enter ARCHIDAMUS, CLEON, DIPHILUS, OLYMPIA, CORISCA, CLEORA, and ZANTHIA.

Archid. So careless we have been, my noble
lords,

In the disposing of our own affairs,
And ignorant in the art of government,
That now we need a stranger to instruct us.
Yet we are happy that our neighbour Corinth,
Pitying the unjust gripe Carthage would lay
On Syracusa, hath vouchsafed to lend us
Her man of men, Timoleon, to defend
Our country and our liberties.

Diph. 'Tis a favour

We are unworthy of, and we may blush
Necessity compels us to receive it.

Archid. O shame! that we, that are a populous

nation,

Engaged to liberal nature, for all blessings
An island can bring forth; we, that have limbs,
And able bodies; shipping, arms, and treasure,
The sinews of the war, now we are call'd
To stand upon our guard, cannot produce
One fit to be our general.

Cleon. I am old and fat;
I could say something, else.

Archid. We must obey

The time and our occasions; ruinous buildings, Whose bases and foundations are infirm,

Must use supporters: we are circled round