[_Exeunt_ OMNES. SCENE II. _Enter_ KING, _with his rapier drawn in one hand, leading_ MARIA, _seeming affrighted, in the other_. MARIA. O, kill me, ere you stain my chastity. KING. My hand holds death; but love sits in mine eye. Exclaim not, dear Maria; do but hear me. Though thus in dead of night, as I do now, The lustful Tarquin stole to the chaste bed Of Collatine's fair wife, yet shall thou be No Lucrece, nor thy king a Roman slave, To make rude villany thine honour's grave. MARIA. Why from my bed have you thus frighted me? KING. To let thee view a bloody horrid tragedy. MARIA. Begin it, then; I'll gladly lose my life, Rather than be an emperor's concubine. KING. By my high birth, I swear thou shalt be none; The tragedy I'll write with my own hand; A king shall act it, and a king shall die, Except sweet mercy's beam shine from thine eye. If this affright thee, it shall sleep for ever. If still thou hate me, thus this noble blade This royal purple temple shall invade. MARIA. My husband is from hence: for his sake spare me. KING. Thy husband is no Spaniard: thou art one: So is Fernando; then for country's sake, Let me not spare thee: on thy husband's face Eternal night in gloomy shades doth dwell; But I'll look on thee like the gilded sun, When to the west his fiery horses run. MARIA. True, here you look on me with sunset eyes, For by beholding you my glory dies. KING. Call me thy morning then; for, like the morn, In pride Maria shall through Spain be borne. [_Music plays within._ This music was prepar'd to please thine ears:[60] Love me, and thou shalt hear no other sounds. [_A banquet brought in._ Lo, here's a banquet set with mine own hands; Love me, and thus I'll feast thee like a queen. I might command thee, being thy sovereign; But love me, and I'll kneel and sue to thee, And circle this white forehead with the crown Of Castile, Portugal, and Arragon, And all those petty kingdoms which do bow Their tributary knees to Philip's heir. MARIA. I cannot love you whilst my husband lives. KING. I'll send him to the wars, and in the front Of some main army shall he nobly die. MARIA. I cannot love you if you murder him. KING. For thy sake then I'll call a parliament, And banish by a law all Moors from Spain. MARIA. I'll wander with him into banishment. KING. It shall be death for any negro's hand To touch the beauty of a Spanish dame. Come, come, what needs such cavils with a king? Night blinds all jealous eyes, and we may play. Carouse that bowl to me: I'll pledge all this; Being down, we'll make it more sweet with a kiss. Begin, I'll lock all doors: begin, Spain's queen: [_Locks the doors._ Love's banquet is most sweet when 'tis least seen. MARIA. O thou conserver of my honour's life: Instead of poisoning him, drown him in sleep. Because I'll quench the flames of wild desire, I'll drink this off--let fire conquer love's fire. [_Aside._