A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14
English drama
AND. So badgers dig the holes, and foxes live in them.
Of all factors, state-factors are the worst,
And get least to themselves of all their labour.
This Libacer
Is wading to the throat in blood to do me
Service. Tame fool! can he imagine I
Remove a husband and a son, to suffer him
To live still and upbraid my ills?
_Enter_ LIBACER.
LIB. It is resolv'd.
But here she is, I must speak fairly for awhile.
AND. How doth it succeed now, my darling?
Shall we be great? [be] great alone?
LIB. As great as pride and fulness of revenge
Can swell us. Hark in your ear, madam,
I'll tell you all our plot; but softly, for
Perhaps the jealous walls may echo back
The treason.
[_They whisper._
SCENE V.
_Enter_ PLANGUS _with his sword drawn_.
PLAN. I bore whil[e]st I could; but now 'tis grown
Too great to be contain'd in human breast,
And it shall out, though hoop'd with walls of brass.
Are they at it? I stood once listening
At their entreaty; this time at my own
I'll stand and hearken.
[_Steps aside._
AND. 'Tis impossible.
LIB. I tell you, no. I'll aggravate the injuries,
And tell him how basely poor it was for
A father to betray his son so.
AND. His piety shall never----
LIB. But his fury shall.
I'll stab the king himself, and bring
Those witnesses shall swear 'twas Plangus.
PLAN. Nay, then, 'tis time to strike--
There, carry thy intents to hell.
[_He stabs_ LIBACER.
AND. Help! murder, murder! a rape, a rape!
_Enter_ EPHORBAS.
EPH. What dismal note was that?
AND. Sir, there
You see your martyr, whose force being
Too weak to save my honour, his fidelity
Was greater, and [has] died a royal sacrifice,
Offer'd by th' impious hand of that vile man.
EPH. O heav'n! doth not the earth yet gape and swallow thee?
Thy life shall be my crime no longer; I gave it thee,
And thus resume it with a thousand curses.
[_He stabs_ PLANGUS.
PLAN. Sir, I at length am happy to the height
Of all my wishes. I'm a-going suddenly
[_Faints._
From all my troubles, all your fears; but I
Will tell my story first--
How you have wrong'd, and been wronged yourself.
This woman, to be short, hath twin'd
Like ivy with my naked limbs, before
She married you, and would--O,
In spite of death
I will go on--have tempted me
To bed her since. Upon refusal, she
Turned her love to hate, and plots my ruin,
And next your death--I can no more--I kill'd
The instrument--farewell, forgive me.
[_Dies._
EPH. Can this be true, Andromana?
AND. Do you believe it?
EPH. I wish I had not cause----
AND. Sir, every syllable was true he told you;
Whose words I thus confirm.
[_She takes_ PLANGUS'S _dagger, flings it at_ EPHORBAS, _and
kills him_.
EPH. I'm slain! mercy, Heaven!
_Enter_ INOPHILUS.
AND. You should have come a little sooner.
INO. Do I see well? or is the prince here slain?
AND. He is, and 'cause you love him,
Carry that token of my love to him.
[_Stabs_ INOPHILUS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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