+Ant.+ Good sir, could not you have invented a less studied way of torture to take away my life? +Duke.+ I hope 'twill not work so deeply with you. +Ant.+ Nay, and 'twould stop there, 'twere well; but 'tis a punishment will follow me after death, and afflict me worse than a fury. +Leo.+ I much pity the gentleman's case. +Ant.+ Think what 'tis to lose a son when you have brought him up, or, after a seven years' voyage, to see your ship sink in the harbour! +Duke.+ 'Twere a woeful spectacle, indeed! +Ant.+ They are but tickling to this: I have been all my life a-gathering what I must now lose in a moment. The sacking of a city is nothing to be compared with it. +Leo.+ And that's lamentable. +Ant.+ 'Twill but only give you a light to conceive of my misery. +Lio.+ Pray, sir, be not importunate to take them this time; but try rather, if by any means you can revoke the decree. +Duke.+ 'Twill be somewhat dangerous; but, for your sake, I'll try. +Ant.+ Shall I hope any comfort? Then, upon my credit, gentlemen, I'll appoint you all mine heirs, so soon as I am dead. +Duke.+ You speak nobly. +Ant.+ Nay, and because you shall not long gape after it, I'll die within a month, and set you down all joint executors. +Lio.+ But when you are freed from the terror of his imposition, will you not recant? +Ant.+ Nay, and you doubt me, walk along, and I'll confirm't upon you instantly. [_Exeunt._ FOOTNOTES: [323] [Old copy, _meant_.] [324] Thus Armado, in "Love's Labour's Lost," edit. 1778, vol. ii. p. 394: "I do excel Samson in my rapier as much as he did me in carrying gates."--_Steevens._ [325] [Edits., _Have you ... drawn_; but the speaker evidently does not intend to ask the boy whether _he_ has drawn the register.] [326] The Romans bestowed an oaken wreath on him who had preserved the life of a citizen. The mother of Coriolanus, in Shakespeare, boasts that he "returned, his brows bound with oak."--_Steevens._ [327] A coin of the least value of any current in Venice; it was worth no more than half a sol, that is, near a farthing. See Coriat's "Crudities," 1611, p. 286. [328] This expression puts one in mind of Bacon's description of Revenge, when he says that it is "wild justice." A _Bravo_ is a revenger of injuries, and may therefore very fitly be called a _lawless justicer_.--_Collier._ [329] See note to "The Parson's Wedding," _post_. [330] The romance by Sir Philip Sydney. [331] _i.e._, Had a taste of, _Delibo_, Lat. So Claudian. _B. Get._ 351, "Contentus _delibasse_ cibos."--_Steevens._ [332] [A French romance by Honorè d'Urfè, which had been translated into English in 1620. It was formerly very popular. Another translation was made in 1657-8, 3 vols. folio.] [333] [Hippocrene.] So Persius: "Fonte labra prolui _Caballino_."--_Steevens._