A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 12Dodsley, Robert
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 12
Dodsley, Robert
English drama
CASSIBELANUS, COMIUS, LANTONUS.
CAS. Fate, and no fault of mine, makes me appear
To yield, as far as honour gives me leave.
CÆS. Hail, valorous prince! disdain not this ingrafting
Into Rome's empire, whose command encloses
The whole Levant, and whose large shadow hides
The triple-bounded earth and bellowing seas.
CAS. We shall observe your will, so you impose
A league--no yoke. [_They shake hands._
CÆS. Thus we determine: that crown still shall stand:
Reign as the total monarch of this isle,
Till death unkings you. 'Twere, Androgeus, best
You in our train kept honourable place;
And let Tenantius wear the royal wreath.
You must forgive the towns which did revolt,
Nor seek revenge on Trinobants, but let
Young Mandubrace possess his father's princedom.
CAS. Be all wrongs drench'd in Lethe.
AND. Pardon my rash attempts.
MAN. Count me your loyal friend.
[CASSIBELANUS _embraces_ ANDROGEUS _and_
MANDUBRATIUS.
CÆS. In sign of league you shall us pledges give,
And yearly pay three thousand pound of silver
Unto our treasury. So let these decrees
Be straight proclaim'd through Troynovant, whose tower[345]
Shall be more fairly built at my charge, as
A lasting monument of our arrival.
CAS. All shall be done, renowned prince, whose worth,
Unparallel'd both as a friend and foe,
We do admire.
Accept this surcoat, starrified with pearls
And diamonds, such as our own shores breed.
CÆS. And you receive this massy cup of gold,
Love's earnest and memorial of this day.
By this suppose our senate calls you friend.
[_They sit together._
LAN. Now time, best oracle of oracles,
Father of truth, the true sense doth suggest
Of Dian's answer.
The lion and the eagle do design
The Briton and the Roman states, whose arms
Were painted with those animals; both fierce,
Weary at last, conclude: the semicircles,
First letters of the leaders' names (we see)
Are join'd in true love's endless figure.
Both come of Trojan race, both nobly bold,
Both matchless captains on one throne behold.
CÆS. Now the Tarpeian rock o'erlooks the world,
Her empire bounded only by the ocean;
And boundless fame beats on the starry pole.
So Danow, crawling from a mountain's side,
Wider and deeper grows, and like a serpent
Or pyramid revers'd, improves his bigness
As well as length; till, viewing countries large,
And fed with sixty rivers, his wide mouth
On th' Euxine sea-nymph gapes, and fear doth stir,
Whether he will disgorge or swallow her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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