_A picture Done by the Painter of his own Dishonour, In blood. I am Don Juan Roca. Such revenge As each would have of me now let him take As far as our life holds—Don Pedro, who Gave me that lovely creature for a bride, And I return him a bloody corpse; Don Luis, who beholds his bosom's son Slain by his bosom friend; and you, my lord, Who, for your favours, might expect a piece In some far other style than this. Deal with me as you list; 'twill be a mercy To swell this complement of death with mine; For all I had to do is done, and life Is worse than nothing now._ Prince. _Get you to horse And leave the wind behind you._ Luis. _Nay, my lord; Whom should he fly from? Not from me at least, Who lov'd his honour as my own, and would Myself have help'd him in a just revenge Ev'n on an only son._ Pedro. _I cannot speak, But I bow down these miserable grey hairs To other arbitrament than the sword, Ev'n to your Highness' justice._ Prince. _Be it so. Meanwhile—_ Juan. _Meanwhile, my lord, let me depart; Free, if you will, or not. But let me go, Nor wound these fathers with the sight of me, Who has cut off the blossom of their age— Yea, and his own, more miserable than them all. They know me: that I am a gentleman, Not cruel, nor without what seem'd due cause Put on this bloody business of my honour; Which having done, I will be answerable Here and elsewhere, to all for all._ Prince. _Depart In peace._ Juan. _In peace! Come, Leonelo._" Similar motives are used by Lope de Vega and Tirso de Molina, both priests and grey-beards; but the effect is more emphatic in Calderón, and so early as 1683 his "immorality" was severely censured on the occasion of Manuel de Guerra y Ribera's eulogistic _aprobación_. In this matter, as in most others, he is satisfied to follow and to exaggerate an existing convention. His heroes are untouched by Othello's sublime jealousy: they kill their victims in cold blood as something due to the self-respect of gentlemen placed in an absurd position. He rehandles the theme in _Á Secreto Agravio Secreta Venganza_ and in _El Médico de su Honra_; but the right emotion is rarely felt by the reader, since Calderón himself is seldom fired by real passion, and writes his scene as a splendid exercise in literature.