PHIL. I'm pleas'd;[210] let us proceed. CYP. Rivals in crowns and beds of kings must bleed. Can that fair house contain so foul a guest As lust, or cloak inordinate base desires,[211] Under so fair a coverture? O yes, Women can blind our sense when we see best, And set fair landskips on inconstancy, Making us blind with seeing. The dance ends: Your sins are blackest, breach of love and friends. EPIRE. Now to the king; blow, rage, till it flame hate; A politician thrives the best in state. [_Exit_ EPIRE, _and enters to the_ KING _again_. QUEEN. Come, sweet Prince Philocles, Devise some new delights to shorten time; This dulness hath no relish in my sense, It hath no pith; and sloth in my conceit Is but a type of pride in best constructions.[212] MAR. Madam, I'll stand, that a fair woman Must be proud, or else a fool. PHIL. I would fain hear that, i' faith. QUEEN. Thy reason, wench, I pray thee: come, disburse. MAR. A woman fair is like a full-blown rose. QUEEN. Which holds the fair no longer than it grows. MAR. A woman fair is like the finest gold. PHIL. Which kept from use is good, though ne'er so old. MAR. Nay, good lord, leave a little: She that is fair is wise, and ought to know it, For to that end did nature first bestow it. Now of this knowledge if we be not proud, We wrong the author, and we are allow'd To rank with senseless beasts, sith careless we For want of pride detract our dignity. Now knowing it, we know truth in the same, Not to be proud of truth asks folly's name. This lesson still is read in beauty's school: She that is fair and humble is a fool. For neither knows she how to hold her good, Or to keep safe the treasure of her blood. QUEEN. A notable declamation. MAR. Nay, madam, by your leave, Pride gives a lustre to a woman's fair,[213] Things that are highest priz'd are ever dear. Why is the diamond the sapphire's king, But for esteem and rareness? both which spring From the stone's pride, which is so chaste and hard, Nothing can pierce it, itself is itself's guard. Now what is pride? self-love, our own esteem, A strength to make us of ourselves well deem: From whence this maxim I collect 'mongst other, Who hates herself can never love another. And, to conclude, man's appetite grows dull To what it may have: empty hope's a fool.[214] So[215] all our sex on earth, maid, widow, wife, and bride, They happy live, when they live with chaste pride. CYP. [_Aside._] My queen will speak as much for lust, as she For pride, if the toy take her. MECH. Your ladyship sows dangerous seed abroad. MAR. But I hope, my lord, all grounds are not fruitful. QUEEN. Well, wench, shalt be the proud woman's champion.