The Plays of Philip Massinger, Vol. IMassinger, Philip
General
The Plays of Philip Massinger, Vol. I
Massinger, Philip
English drama -- 17th century
_Pier._ I'll to my charge. [_Exit._
_Gonz._ And we
To ours: I'll bring you on.
_Jac._ If we come off,
It's not amiss; if not, my state is settled.
[_Exeunt. Alarum within._
FOOTNOTE:
[155] _Estridge_,] i. e. _ostrich_.
SCENE IV.
_The same. The Citadel of Sienna._
_Enter_ FERDINAND, DRUSO, _and_ LIVIO, _on the Walls_.
_Fer._ No aids from Sicily! Hath hope forsook us;
And that vain comfort to affliction, pity,
By our vow'd friend denied us? we can nor live
Nor die with honour: like beasts in a toil,
We wait the leisure of the bloody hunter,
Who is not so far reconciled unto us,
As in one death to give a period
To our calamities; but in delaying
The fate we cannot fly from, starved with wants,
We die this night, to live again to-morrow,
And suffer greater torments.
_Dru._ There is not
Three days' provision for every soldier,
At an ounce of bread a day, left in the city.
_Liv._ To die the beggar's death, with hunger made
Anatomies while we live, cannot but crack
Our heart-strings with vexation.
_Fer._ Would they would break,
Break altogether! How willingly, like Cato,
Could I tear out my bowels, rather than
Look on the conqueror's insulting face;
But that religion, and the horrid dream
To be suffer'd in the other world, denies it!
_Enter a Soldier._
What news with thee?
_Sold._ From the turret of the fort,
By the rising clouds of dust, through which, like lightning,
The splendour of bright arms sometimes brake through,
I did descry some forces making towards us;
And, from the camp, as emulous of their glory,
The general, (for I know him by his horse,)
And bravely seconded, encounter'd them.
Their greetings were too rough for friends; their swords,
And not their tongues, exchanging courtesies.
By this the main battalias are join'd;
And, if you please to be spectators of
The horrid issue, I will bring you where,
As in a theatre, you may see their fates
In purple gore presented.
_Fer._ Heaven, if yet thou art
Appeased for my wrong done to Aurelia,
Take pity of my miseries! Lead the way, friend.
[_Exeunt._
SCENE V.
_The same. A Plain near the Camp._
_A long Charge; after which, a Flourish for Victory: then enter_
GONZAGA, JACOMO, _and_ RODERIGO, _wounded_; BERTOLDO, GASPARO, _and_
ANTONIO, _Prisoners. Officers and Soldiers_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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