HIERO. See, see, oh, see thy shame, Hieronimo!
See heere a louing father to his sonne:
Beholde the sorrowes and the sad laments
That he deliuereth for his sonnes dicease.
If loues effects so striues in lesser things,
If loue enforce such moodes in meaner wits,
If loue expresse such power in poor estates,
Hieronimo, as when a raging sea,
Tost with the winde and tide, ore-turneth then
The vpper-billowes, course of waues to keep,
Whilest lesser waters labour in the deepe,
Then shamest thou not, Hieronimo, to neglect
The [swift] reuenge of thy Horatio?
Though on this earth iustice will not be found,
Ile downe to hell and in this passion
Knock at the dismall gates of Plutos court,
Getting by force, as once Alcides did,
A troupe of furies and tormenting hagges,
To torture Don Lorenzo and the rest.
Yet, least the triple-headed porter should
Denye my passage to the slimy strond,
The Thracian poet thou shalt counterfeite;
Come on, old father, be my Orpheus;
And, if thou canst no notes vpon the harpe,
Then sound the burden of thy sore harts greefe
Till we do gaine that Proserpine may graunt
Reuenge on them that murd[er]red my sonne.
Then will I rent and teare them thus and thus,
Shiuering their limmes in peeces with my teeth!
Teare the papers.
I CIT. Oh, sir, my declaration!
Exit HIERONIMO and they after.
II CIT. Saue my bond!
Enter HIERONIMO.
II CIT. Saue my bond!
III CIT. Alas my lease, it cost me
Ten pound, and you, my lord, haue torne the same!
HIERO. That can not be, I gaue it neuer a wound;
Shew me one drop of bloud fall from the same!
How is it possible I should slay it then?
Tush, no! Run after, catch me if you can!
Exeunt all but the OLDE MAN [DON
BAZULTO].
BAZULTO remaines till HIERONIMO enters
againe, who, staring him the face, speakes:
And art thou come, Horatio, from the depth,
To aske for iustice in this vpper earth?
T[o] tell thy father thou art vnreuenged?
To wring more teares from Isabellas eies,
Whose lights are dimd with ouer-long laments?
Goe back, my sonne, complaine to Eacus;
For heeres no iustice. Gentle boy, begone;
For iustice is exiled from the earth.
H[i]eronimo will beare thee company.
Thy mother cries on righteous Radamant
For iust reuenge against the murderers.
[BAZULTO]. Alas, my l[ord], whence springs this troubled speech?
HIERO. But let me looke on my Horatio:
Sweet boy, how art thou chang'd in deaths black shade!
Had Proserpine no pittie on thy youth,
But suffered thy fair crimson-colourd spring
With withered winter to be blasted thus?
Horatio, thou are older then thy father:
Ah, ruthless father, that fauour thus transformess.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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