THE
TRAGEDY OF GORBODUC;
Whereof three Acts were written by
Thomas Nortone[1], and the two
last by
Thomas
Sackuyle[2].
Set
forth as the same was shown before the
Queen's most excellent
Majesty, in her highness'
Court of Whitehall, the
xviii day of January,
Anno Domini[3].
1561. By the Gentlemen
Of Thynner[4] Temple in London.
Imprinted at London
in
Fletestreet[5],
at the sign of the
Falcon by William
Griffith: And are
to be sold at his Shop
in Saint
Dunstones Churchyard
The West of London.
Anno[6],
1565. Septemb. 22. Q 3
The Argument of the
Tragedy.
Gorboduc, king of Britain,
divided his Realm in his lifetime to his Sons, Ferrex and Porrex. The
Sons fell to division and dissention. The younger killed the elder. The
Mother that more dearly loved the elder, for revenge killed the
younger. The people moved with the Cruelty of the fact, rose in
Rebellion and slew both father and mother. The Nobility assembled and
most terribly destroyed the Rebels. And afterwards for want of Issue of
the Prince whereby the Succession of the Crown became uncertain. They
fell to Civil war in which both they and many of their Issues were
slain, and the Land for a long time almost desolate and miserably
wasted.
The
names of the Speakers.
Gorboduc,
king of great Britain.
Videna, Queen and wife to king Gorboduc.
Ferrex, Elder son to king Gorboduc.
Porrex, Younger son to king Gorboduc.
Clotyn, Duke of Cornwall.
Fergus, Duke of Albany.
Mandud, Duke of Leagre.
Gwenard, Duke of Cumperland.
Eubulus, Secretary to the king Gorboduc.
Arostus, A Councilor to king Gorboduc.
Dordan, A Councilor assigned by the king to his Eldest Son Ferrex.
Philander, A Councilor assigned by the king to his younger Son Porrex.
(Both being of the old king's Counsel before.)
Hermon, A Parasite remaining with Ferrex.
Tyndar, A Parasite remaining with Porrex.
Nuntius, A Messenger of the elder Brother's death.
Nuntius, A Messenger of Duke Fergus rising in Arms.
Marcella, A Lady of the Queen's privy Chamber.
Chorus, Four ancient and Sage men of Britain.
The
Order of the dumb show[7]
before the
first Act, and the Signification thereof.
First the Music of Violins began to play,
during which came in upon the Stage six wild men
clothed in leaves. Of whom the first bore
in his neck a fagot[8]
of small sticks, which they all both severally and together assayed[9] with all their strengths to break, but it
could not be broken by them. At the length
one of them
plucked out one of the sticks and broke it: And the rest plucking out
all the other sticks one after another did easily break, the same being
severed: which being conjoined they had before attempted in vain. After
they had this done, they departed the Stage, and the Music ceased
Hereby was signified, that a state knit in unity doth continue strong
against all force. But being divided, is easily destroyed. As befell
upon Duke Gorboduc dividing his Land to his two sons which he before
held in Monarchy. And upon the dissention of the Brethren to whom it
was divided.
Viden[11],
Ferrex.
Viden
1
The silent night that brings the quiet pause,
From painful travails[12] of the weary Day:
Prolongs my careful thoughts and makes me
blame
The slow Aurore[13] that so for love or shame
5
Doth long delay to show
her blushing face,
And now the Day renews my griefull[14] plaint[15]
Ferrex
My gracious Lady and mother
dear,
Pardon my grief, for your so grieved mind
To ask what cause so tormenteth your heart.
Viden
10
So great a wrong and so unjust
despite,
Without all cause against all course of kind.
Ferrex
Such causeless wrong and so
unjust despite,
May have redress, or at the least revenge.
Viden
Neither my Son, such is the
froward[16]
will,
15
The person such, such my mishap and
thine.
Ferrex
Mine know I none, but grief for your distresses.
Viden
Yes: mine for thine my son: A father? no:
In kind a father, but not in kindliness.
Ferrex
My father: why? I know nothing at all;
20
Wherein I have misdone[17] unto his Grace.
Viden
Therefore, the more unkind to thee and me.
For knowing well (my son) the tender love
That I have ever born and bear to thee,
He grieved thereat[18],
is not content alone,
25
To spoil thee of my sight my chiefest
Joys,
But thee, of thy birth, right and Heritage
Causeless, unkindly and in wrongful wise[19],
Against all Law and right he will bereave,
Half of his kingdom he will give away.
Ferrex.
30 To whom?
Viden.
Even to Porrex his
younger son
Whose growing pride I do so sore suspect,
That being raised to equal Rule with thee,
Me thinks I see his envious heart to swell
Filled with Disdain and with ambitious Pride
35
The end the Gods do know, whose
Alters I
Full oft have made in vain of Cattle slain,
To send the sacred smoke to Heaven’s Throne[20],
For thee my son if things so succeed,
As now my Jealous mind misdeemeth[21] sore.
Ferrex
40
Madam leave care and careful plaint
for me;
Just hath my Father been to every wight[22],
His first injustice he will not extend
To me I trust, that give no cause thereof,
My brother’s pride shall hurt himself, not me.
Viden
45
So grant the Gods: but yet thy father
so
Hath firmly fixed his unmoved mind
That plaints and prayers can no whit[23] avail,
For those have I assayed, but even this day,
He will endeavor to procure assent
50
Of all his Council to his fond
device.
Ferrex
Their Ancestors from race to race have borne
True faith to my forefathers and their seed,
I trust they eke[24]
will bear the like to me.
Viden
There resteth all, but if they fail thereof,
55
And if the end bring forth an evil
success
On them and theirs the mischief shall befall,
And so I pray the Gods requite[25] it them,
And so they will, for so is wont[26] to be
When Lords and trusted Rulers under kings
60
To please the present fancy of the
Prince,
With wrong transpose the course of governance
Murders, mischief, or civil sword at length,
Or mutual treason, or a just revenge,
When right succeeding Line returns again
65
By Jove’s[27] just Judgment and deserved
wrath
Brings them to civil and reproachful death,
And roots[28]
their names and kindred’s from the earth.
Ferrex
Mother content you, you shall see the end.
Viden
The end? thy end I fear, Jove end me first.
Actus
primus. Scena Secunda.[29]
Gorboduc,
Arostus, Philander, Eubulus.
Gorboduc
1
My lords whose grave
advice and faithful aid
Have long upheld my honour and my Realm
And brought me from this age from tender years,
Guiding so great estate with great renown;
5
Now more importeth[30] me the erst[31] to use
Your faith and wisdom whereby yet I reign,
That when by death my life and rule shall cease,
The kingdom yet may with unbroken course,
Have certain Prince, by whose undoubted right,
10
Your wealth and peace, may stand in
quiet stay[32],
And eke that they whom nature hath prepared,
In time to take my place in Princely Seat,
While in their Father’s time their pliant youth
Yields to the frame of skilful governance
15
May so be taught and trained in noble
Arts,
As what their father’s which have reigned before
Have with great fame derived down to them
With honour they may leave unto[33] their seed:
And not be taught for their unworthy life,
20
And for their Lawless swarving[34] out of
kind,
Worthy to lose what law and kind them gave
But that they may preserve the common peace,
The cause that first began and still maintains
The Lineal course of King’s inheritance,
25
For me, for mine, for you, and for
the state
Whereof both I and you have charge and care.
Thus do I mean to use your wonted faith
To me and mine, and to your native Land,
My Lords be plain without all wry[35] respect
30
Or poisonous craft to speak in
pleasing wise,
Lest as the blame of ill succeeding things
Shall light on you, so light the harms also.
Arostus
Your good acceptance so (most noble king)
Of such your faithfulness as heretofore[36]
35
We have employed in duties to your
Grace,
And to this Realm whole worthy head you are,
Well proves that neither you mistrust at all,
Nor we shall need no boasting to wise to show,
Our truth to you, nor yet our wakeful[37] care
40
For you, for yours, and for our
native Land,
Wherefore[38]
(O King) I speak for one as all,
Sith[39] all
as one do bare you equal faith:
Doubt not to use their Councils and their aids
Whose honours, goods and lives are whole avowed
45
To serve, to aid, and to defend your
Grace.
Gorboduc
My lords I thank you all. This is the case
Ye know, the Gods, who have the sovereign care
For kings, for kingdoms, and for common weals[40],
Gave me two sons in my more lusty[41] Age,
50
Who now in my deceiving years are
grown
Well towards riper state of mind and strength,
To take in hand some greater Princely charge,
As yet they live and spend their hopeful days,
With me and with their Mother here in Court
55
Their age now asketh other place and
trade,
And mine also doth ask another change,
Theirs to more travail, mine to greater ease:
When fatal death shall end my mortal life,
My purpose is to leave unto them twaine[42]
60
The Realm divided into two sundry[43] parts;
The one Ferrex mine elder son shall have,
The other shall the other Porrex rule
That both my purpose may more firmly stand,
And eke that they may better rule their charge,
65
I mean forthwith to place them in the
same:
That in my life they may both learn to rule,
And I may Joy to see their ruling well.
This is
in the sum, what I would have ye weigh[44]:
First
whether you allow my whole device,
70 And think it
good for me, for them, for you,
And for
our Country, mother of us all:
And if
ye like it and allow it well,
Then for
their guiding and their governance?
Show
forth such means of circumstance,
75 As ye think
meet to be both known and kept:
Lo, this
is all, now tell me your advice.
Arostus
And this
is much, and asketh great advice,
But for
my part my Sovereign Lord and king
This do
I think your Majesty doth know,
80 How under
your Justice and in peace,
Great
wealth and Honour, long we have enjoyed
So as we
cannot seem with greedy minds
To wish
for change of Prince and governance,
But if
ye like your purpose and device,
85 Our liking
must be deemed to proceed,
Of
rightful reason, and of heedful care,
Not for
ourselves, but for our common state:
Sith our
own state doth need no better change
I think
in all as erst your Grace has said:
90 First when
you shall unload your aged mind,
Of heavy
care and troubles manifold[45],
And lay
the same upon my Lords your sons
Whose
growing years may bear the burden long
And long
I pray the Gods grant it so:
95 And in your
life while you shall so behold
Their
rule, their virtues and their noble deeds,
Such as
their kind behighteth[46] to us all,
Great be
the profits that shall grow thereof,
Your age
in quiet shall the longer last
100 Your lasting age
shall be their longer stay,
For
cares of kings, that rule as you have ruled
For
public wealth and not for private joy,
Do waste
man’s life and hasten crooked age,
With
furrowed face and with enfeebled limbs,
105 To draw on creeping
Death a swifter pace.
They two
yet young shall bear the party reign
With
greater ease, than one now old alone
Can
wield the whole, for whom much harder is
With
lessened strength and double weight to bear
110 Your eye, your
Council, and the grave regard
Of
Fathers, yea of such as father’s name,
Now at
beginning of their sundered reign,
When it
is hazard of their whole success
Shall
bridle so their force of youthful heats,
115 And so restrain the
rage of insolence[47],
Which
most assails the young and noble minds,
And so
shall guide and train in tempered stay
Their
yet green bending wits with reverent awe.
As now
inured[48]
with virtues at the first.
120 Custom, O king,
shall bring delightfulness
By use
of Virtue, Vice shall grow in hate,
But if
you so dispose it, that the day
Which
ends your life shall first begin their reign,
Great is
the peril, what will be the end,
125 When such beginning
of such liberties
Void of
such stays as in your life do lie,
Shall
leave them free to randon of their will[49].
An open
prey to traitorous flattery,
The
greatest pestilence of noble youth:
130 Which peril shall
be past, if in your life,
Their
tempered youth with aged father’s awe
Be
brought in ure[50]
of skillful staidness.
And in
your life, their lives disposed so,
Shall
lengthen your noble life in joyfulness.
135 Thus think I
ý[51]
your grace hath wisely thought
And that
your tender care of common weal,
Hath
bred this thought, so to divide your Land
And
plant your sons to bear the present rule
While
you yet live to see their ruling well,
140 That you may longer
live by joy therein.
What
further means behooveful[52] are and meet
At
greater leisure may your Grace devise
When see
have said, and when we be agreed
If this
be best, to part the realm in twain,
145 And place your sons
in present government;
Whereof,
as I have plainly said my mind,
So would
I hear the rest of all my Lords.
Philander
In part
I think as hath been said before,
In part
again my mind is otherwise.
150 As for dividing of
this Realm in twain
And
lotting out the same in egal[53] parts,
To
either of my Lords, your Grace’s sons,
That
think I best for this your Realm’s behoof[54],
For
profit and advancement of your sons,
155 And for your
comfort and your honour eke:
But so
to place them while your life do last,
To yield
to them your Royal governance,
To be
above them only in the name
Of
father, not in kingly state also,
160 I think not good
for you, for them, nor us.
This
kingdom since the bloody civil field
Where
Morgan[55]
slain did yield his conquered part
Unto his
Cousin’s sword in Camberland
Containeth
all that whilom[56]
did suffice,
165 Three noble sons of
your forefather Brute;[57]
So your
two sons, it may also suffice,
The moe[58] the
stronger, if they agree in one:
The
smaller compass that the realm doth hold
The
easier is the sway thereof to weld,
170 The nearer Justice
to the wronged poor,
The
smaller charge, and yet enough for one.
And when
the Region is divided so
That
Brethren be the Lords of either part,
Such
strength doth nature knit between the both,
175 In sundry bodies by
conjoined love
That not
as two, but one of doubled force,
Each is
to other as a sure defense,
The
Nobleness and glory of the one
Doth
sharp the courage of the other’s mind
180 With virtuous envy
to contend for praise,
And such
an egalness[59]
hath nature made,
Between
the Brethren of one Father’s seed,
As an
unkind wrong it seems to be,
To throw
the other Subject under feet
185 Of him, whose Peer
he is by course of kind,
And
nature that did make this egalness,
Oft so
repineth at so great a wrong,
That oft
she raiseth by a grudging grief,
In
younger Brethren at the elder’s state:
190 Whereby both towns
and kingdoms have been razed
And
famous stocks of Royal blood destroyed:
The
Brother that should be the Brother’s aid
And have
a wakeful care for his defense,
Gapes
for his death, and blames the lingering years
195 That brings not
forth his end with faster course
And oft
impatient of so long delays,
With
hateful slaughter he prevents[60] the fates
And
heaps a just reward for Brother’s blood,
With
endless vengeance on his stock for aye:
200 Such mischiefs here
are wisely met withall:
If egal
state may nourish egal love,
Where
none has cause to grudge the other’s good,
But now
the head to stoop beneath them both,
Ne[61] kind, ne
reason, ne good order bears.
205 And oft it hath
been seen, that where Nature
Hath
been perverted in disordered wise
When
Fathers cease to know that they should rule
And
Children cease to know they should obey,
And
often our unkindly[62]
tenderness,
210 Is Mother of
unkindly Stubbornness:
I speak
not this in envy or reproach,
As if I
grudged the glory of your sons,
Whose
honour I beseech the Gods to increase:
Nor yet
as if I thought there did remain,
215 So filthy Cankers
in their noble breasts,
Whom I
esteem (which is their greatest praise)
Undoubted
children of so good a king.
Only I
mean to show my certain Rules,
Which
kind hath graft within the mind of man
220 That Nature hath
her order and her course,
Which
(being broken) both corrupt the state
Of minds
and things even in the best of all.
My
Lords, your sons, may learn to rule of you
Your own
example in your noble Court
225 Is fittest guider
of their youthful years,
If you
desire to seek some present Joy
By sight
of their well ruling in your life,
See them
obey, so shall you see them rule,
Who so
obeyeth not with humbleness
230 Will rule with
outrage and insolence
Long may
they rule I do beseech the Gods,
But long
may they learn ere[63]
they begin to rule.
If kind
and fates would suffer, I would wish
Them
aged Princes and immortal kings:
235 Wherefore, most
noble king, I well assent,
Between
your sons ý you divide your Realm.
And as
in kind, so match them in degree
But
while the Gods prolong your Royal life
Prolong
your reign, for thereto live you here,
240 And therefore have
the Gods so long forborne
To join
you to themselves, that still you might
Be
Prince and father of our common weal:
They,
when they see your children ripe to rule,
Will
make them room, and will remove you hence,
245 That yours in right
ensuing of your life
May
rightly honour your mortal[64] name.
Eubulus
Your
wonted true regard of faithful hearts,
Makes me
(O king) the bolder to presume
To speak
what I conceive within my breast,
250 Although the same
do not agree at all
With
that which other here my Lords have said
Nor
which yourself have seemed best to like,
Pardon I
crave and that my words be deemed
To flow
from hearty zeal unto your Grace,
255 And to the safety
of your common weal:
To part
your Realm unto my Lords your sons
I think
not good for you, ne yet for them,
But
worst of all, for this our Native Land:
For with[65] one Land,
one single rule is best:
260 Divided Reigns do
make divided hearts,
But
Peace preserves the Country and the Prince.
Such is
in man the greedy mind to reign,
So great
is his desire to climb aloft,
In
worldly Stage the stateliest parts to bear,
265 That faith and
Justice and all kindly love,
Do yield
unto desire of Sovereignty:
Where
egal state doth raise an egal hope
To win
the thing that either would attain
Your
grace remembreth how in past years
270 The mighty Brute,
first prince of all this Land
Possessed
the same and ruled it well in one,
He
thinking that the compass[66] did suffice
For his
three sons, three kingdoms eke to make
Cut it
in three, as you would now in twain:
275 But how much
British blood hath sithence[67] been spilt
To join
again the sundered[68]
unity?
What
Princes slain before their timely hour?
What
waste of towns and people in the Land?
What
Treasons heaped on murders and spoils?
280 Whose just revenge
even yet is scarcely ceased,
Ruthful[69] remembrance
is yet had in mind:
The Gods
forbid the like to chance again
And you
(O king) give not the cause thereof:
My Lord
Ferrex your elder son, perhaps,
285 Whom kind and
custom gives a rightful hope
To be
your Heir and to succeed your Reign,
Shall
think that he doth suffer greater wrong
Than he
perchance will bear, if power serve.
Porrex
the younger so upraised in state,
290 Perhaps in courage
will be raised also,
If
Flattery then which fails not to assail
The
tender minds of yet unskillful youth,
In one
shall kindle and increase distain[70]:
And Envy
in the other’s heart enflame,
295 This fire shall
waste their love, their lives, their land,
And
ruthful ruin shall destroy them both,
I wish
not this (O King) so to befall,
But fear
the thing, that I do most abhor
Give no
beginning to so dreadful end,
300 Keep them in order
and obedience:
And let them both by now obeying you
Learn
such behavior as beseems[71] their state.
The
Older, mildness in his governance,
The
younger, a yielding contentedness:
305 And keep them near
unto your presence still,
That
they, restrained by the awe of you,
May live
in compass of well-tempered stay,
And pass
the perils of their youthful years.
Your
aged life draws on to feebler time,
310 Wherein you shall
less able be to bear
The
travails that in youth you have sustained
Both in
your person’s and your Realm’s defense
If
planting now your sons in further parts,
You send
them further from your present reach
315 Less shall you know
how they themselves demean.
Traitorous corrupters of their pliant youth
Shall
have, unspied, a much more free access,
And if
ambition and inflamed distain
Shall
arm the one, the other, or them both
320 To civil war, or to
usurping pride.
Late
shall you rue that you ne recked[72] before:
Good is,
I grant, of all to hope the best,
But not
to live still dreadless of the worst,
So trust
the one, that the other be forseen,
325 Arm not
unskilfulness with princely power
But you
that long have wisely ruled the reins
Of
royalty within your noble Realm
So hold
them, while the Gods for our avails
Shall
stretch the thread of your prolonged days.
330 Too soon he climbed
into the flaming Cart,
Whose
want of skill did set the earth on fire.[73]
Time and
example of your noble Grace,
Shall
teach your sons both to obey and rule:
When
time hath taught them, time shall make them
335 The place that now
is full: and so I pray
Long it
remain, to comfort of us all.
Gorboduc
I take
your faithful hearts in thankful part
But sith
I see no cause to draw[74] my mind,
To fear
the nature of my loving sons,
340 Or to misdeem that
Envy or distain,
Can
there work hate, where nature planteth love
In one
self[75]
purpose do I still abide,
My love
extendeth egally to both,
My Land
sufficeth for them both also:
345 Humber[76] shall part the
Marches[77] of
their Realms:
The
Southern part the elder shall possess,
The
Northern shall Porrex the younger rule,
In quiet
I will pass mine aged days.
Free
from the travail and the painful cares
350 That hasten age
upon the worthiest kings.
But lest
the fraud that ye do seem to fear
Of
flattering tongues, corrupt their tender youth
And
writhe[78]
them to the ways of youthful lust[79],
To
climbing pride, or to revenging hate
355 Or to neglecting of
their careful charge
Lewdly[80] to live in
wanton recklessness
Or to
oppressing of the rightful cause
Or not
to wreak[81]
the wrongs done to the poor
To tread
down truth, or favor false deceit
360 I mean to join
either of my sons
Some one
of those whose long approved faith
And
wisdom tried may well assure my heart:
That
mining[82]
fraud shall find no way to creep
Into
their fenced ears with grave advise[83]:
365 This is the end,
and so I pray you all
To bear
my sons the love and loyalty
That I
have found within your faithful breasts.
Arostus
You, nor
your sons, our sovereign Lord, shall want
Our
faith and service while our lives do last.
Chorus
370 When settled stay
doth hold the royal throne
In
steadfast place by known and doubtless right:
And
chiefly when descent on one alone
Make
single and unparted reign to light.
Each
change of course unjoints the whole estate
375 And yields it
thrall to ruin by debate.
The
strength that knit by fast accord in one
Against
all foreign power of mighty foes,
Could of
itself defend itself alone,
Disjoined
once, the former force doth lose
380 The sticks, that
sundered brake so soon in twain
In fagot
bound attempted were in vain.[84]
Oft
tender mind that leads the partial eye
Of
erring parents in their children’s love
Destroys
the wrongly loved child thereby:
385 This doth the proud
son of Apollo prove
Who,
rashly set in the chariot of his sire,
Inflamed
the parched earth with heaven’s fire.[85]
And this
great king, that doth divide his land
And
change the course of his descending crown
390 And yields the
reign into his children’s hand,
From
blissful state of joy and great renown,
A Mirror[86] shall
become to Princes all
To learn
to shun the cause of such a fall.
The
Order and signification of
the dumb show before the second Act.
First,
the Music of Cornets began to play, during which came in upon
the Stage a king accompanied with a number of his Nobility and
Gentlemen. And after he had placed himself in a Chair of estate
prepared for him: there came and kneeled before him a grave and aged
Gentleman and offered up a Cup unto him of Wine in a glass, which the
king refused. After him comes a brave and lusty young Gentleman and
presents the king with a Cup of Gold[87] filled with potion[88], which the king
accepted, and drinking the same, immediately fell down dead upon
ý stage, and so was carried thence away by his Lords and
Gentlemen, and then the Musick ceased. Hereby was signified, that as Glass by nature holdeth no poison, but is clear
and may easily be seen through, ne boweth[89] by any Art: So a faithful
Counsellor holdeth no treason, but is plain and open, ne yieldeth to
any undiscreet[90]
affection, but giveth wholesome Counsel, which the ill-advised Prince
refuseth. The delightful gold filled with poison betokeneth Flattery,
which under fair seeming of pleasant words beareth deadly poison, which
destroyeth the prince ý receiveth it. As befell in the two
brethren Ferrex and Porrex who, refusing the wholesome advise of grave
Court fellows, credited these young Parasites and brought to themselves
death and destruction thereby.
Actus
secundus. Scena prima.[91]
Ferrex,
Hermon, Dordan.
Ferrex
1
I Marvel
much what reason led the king
My father thus without all
desert,
To reave me[92]
half ý
kingdom which by course
Of law and nature should
remain to me.
Hermon
5
If you
with stubborn and untamed pride
Had stood against him in
rebelling wise,
Or if with grudging mind you
had envied
So slow a sliding of his
aging years,
Or fought before your time
to haste the course
10
Of fatal death upon his
Royal head,
Or stained your Stock with
murder of your kin:
Some face of reason might
perhaps have seemed
To yield some likely cause
to spoil ye thus.
Ferrex
The wreakful[93]
Gods pour on my
cursed head,
15
Eternal plagues and
never dying woes,
The Hellish Prince[94],
adjudge my damned
ghost
To Tantalus’ thirst[95]
or proud
Ixion’s wheel[96]
Or cruel Gripe to gnaw my
growing heart[97]
To during torments and
unquenched flames
20
If ever I concerned
so foul a thought,
To wish his end of life, or
yet of reign.
Dordan
Ne yet your father (O most
noble Prince)
Did ever think so foul a
thing of you
For he with more than
father’s tender love
25
While yet the fates
do lend him life to rule,
(Who long might live to see
your ruling well)
To you my Lord, and to his
other son
Lo he resigns his Realm and
Royalty
Which never would so wise a
Prince have done
30
If he had once
misdeemed that in your heart
There ever lodged so unkind
a thought.
But tender love (my Lord)
and settled trust
Of your good nature, and
your noble mind
Made him to place you thus
in Royal throne
35
And now to give you
half his realm to guide
Yea and that half within
abounding store
Of things that serve to make
a wealthy Realm
In stately Cities and in
fruitful soil,
In temperate breathing of
the milder heaven,
40
In things of needful
use, which friendly Sea
Transports by traffic from
the foreign Ports.
In flowing wealth, in honour
and in force,
Doth pass the double value
of part
That Porrex hath allotted to
his reign,
45
Such is your case,
such is your father’s love.
Ferrex
Ah love, my friends, love
wrongs not whom he loves.
Dordan
Ne yet wrongeth you, that
giveth you
So large a reign ere that
the course of time
Bring you to kingdom by
descended right,
50
Which time perhaps
might end your time before.
Ferrex
Is this no wrong, say you,
to reave from me
My native right of half so
great a realm,
And thus to match his
younger son with me
In equal power, and in as
great a degree?
55
Yea[98] and what son? The
son whose swelling pride
Would never yield one point
of reverence,
When I the Elder and
apparent heir
Stood in the likelihood to
possess the whole
Yea and that son which from
his childish age
60
Envieth my honour,
and doth hate my life,
What will he now do? When
his pride, his rage,
The mindful malice of his
grudging heart
Is armed with force, with
wealth and kingly state?
Hermon
Was this not wrong? Yea ill
advised wrong
65
To give so mad a man
so sharp a sword,
To so great peril of so great mishap,
Wide open thus to set so large a way.
Dordan
Alas my lord, what grieful thing is this?
That of your brother you can think so ill
70
I never saw him
utter likely sign
Whereby a man might see or once misdeem
Such hate of you, ne such unyielding pride
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