_Mat._ Guard the king sure: it is the Earl of Kent. _K. Edw._ O gentle brother, help to rescue me! _Mat._ Keep them asunder; thrust in the king. _Kent._ Soldiers, let me but talk to him one word. _Gur._ Lay hands upon the earl for his assault. _Kent._ Lay down your weapons, traitors! yield the king! _Mat._ Edmund, yield thou thyself, or thou shalt die. _Kent._ Base villains, wherefore do you gripe me thus? _Gur._ Bind him, and so convey him to the court. _Kent._ Where is the court but here? here is the king And I will visit him: why stay you me? _Mat._ The court is where Lord Mortimer remains: Thither shall your honour go; and so, farewell. [_Exeunt Matrevis and Gurney with King Edward._ _Kent._ O, miserable is that common-weal, Where lords keep courts, and kings are lock'd in prison! _First Sold._ Wherefore stay we? on, sirs, to the court! _Kent._ Ay, lead me whither you will, even to my death, Seeing that my brother cannot be releas'd. [_Exeunt._ _Enter the younger_ MORTIMER. _Y. Mor._ The king must die, or Mortimer goes down; The commons now begin to pity him: Yet he that is the cause of Edward's death, Is sure to pay for it when his son's of age; And therefore will I do it cunningly. This letter, written by a friend of ours, Contains his death, yet bids then save his life; [_Reads._ _Edwardum occidere nolite timere, bonum est, Fear not to kill the king, 'tis good he die:_ But read it thus, and that's another sense; _Edwardum occidere nolite, timere bonum est, Kill not the king, 'tis good to fear the worst._ Unpointed as it is, thus shall it go. That, being dead, if it chance to be found, Matrevis and the rest may bear the blame, And we be quit that caus'd it to be done. Within this room is lock'd the messenger That shall convey it, and perform the rest; And, by a secret token that he bears, Shall he be murder'd when the deed is done.-- Lightborn, come forth! _Enter_ LIGHTBORN.