English drama -- 17th century; English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600
_Ferd._ Let me see her face
Again. Why didst not thou pity her? what
An excellent honest man mightst thou have been,
If thou hadst born her to some sanctuary!
Or, bold in a good cause, opposed thyself,
With thy advancèd sword above thy head,
Between her innocence and my revenge!
I bade thee, when I was distracted of my wits,
Go kill my dearest friend, and thou hast done't.
For let me but examine well the cause:
What was the meanness of her match to me?
Only I must confess I had a hope,
Had she continued widow, to have gained
An infinite mass of treasure by her death:
And what was the main cause? her marriage,
That drew a stream of gall quite through my heart.
For thee, as we observe in tragedies
That a good actor many times is cursed
For playing a villain's part, I hate thee for't,
And, for my sake, say, thou hast done much ill well.
_Bos._ Let me quicken your memory, for I perceive
You are falling into ingratitude: I challenge
The reward due to my service.
_Ferd._ I'll tell thee
What I'll give thee.
_Bos._ Do.
_Ferd._ I'll give thee a pardon
For this murder.
_Bos._ Ha!
_Ferd._ Yes, and 'tis
The largest bounty I can study to do thee.
By what authority didst thou execute
This bloody sentence?
_Bos._ By yours.
_Ferd._ Mine! was I her judge?
Did any ceremonial form of law
Doom her to not-being? did a còmplete jury
Deliver her conviction up i' the court?
Where shalt thou find this judgment registered,
Unless in hell? See, like a bloody fool,
Thou'st forfeited thy life, and thou shalt die for't.
_Bos._ The office of justice is perverted quite
When one thief hangs another. Who shall dare
To reveal this?
_Ferd._ O, I'll tell thee;
The wolf shall find her grave, and scrape it up,
Not to devour the corpse, but to discover
The horrid murder.[138]
_Bos._ You, not I, shall quake for't.
_Ferd._ Leave me.
_Bos._ I will first receive my pension.
_Ferd._ You are a villain.
_Bos._ When your ingratitude
Is judge, I am so.
_Ferd._ O horror,
That not the fear of him which binds the devils
Can prescribe man obedience!--
Never look upon me more.
_Bos._ Why, fare thee well.
Your brother and yourself are worthy men:
You have a pair of hearts are hollow graves,
Rotten, and rotting others; and your vengeance,
Like two chained bullets, still goes arm in arm:
You may be brothers; for treason, like the plague,
Doth take much in a blood. I stand like one
That long hath ta'en a sweet and golden dream:
I am angry with myself, now that I wake.
_Ferd._ Get thee into some unknown part o' the world,
That I may never see thee.
_Bos._ Let me know
Wherefore I should be thus neglected. Sir,
I served your tyranny, and rather strove
To satisfy yourself than all the world:
And though I loathed the evil, yet I loved
You that did counsel it; and rather sought
To appear a true servant than an honest man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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