_Ant._ Truth speak for me; I will remain the constant sanctuary Of your good name. _Duch._ I thank you, gentle love: And 'cause you shall not come to me in debt, Being now my steward, here upon your lips I sign your _Quietus est_. This you should have begged now: I have seen children oft eat sweetmeats thus, As fearful to devour them too soon. _Ant._ But for your brothers? _Duch._ Do not think of them: All discord without this circumference Is only to be pitied, and not feared: Yet, should they know it, time will easily Scatter the tempest. _Ant._ These words should be mine, And all the parts you have spoke, if some part of it Would not have savoured flattery. _Duch._ Kneel. [CARIOLA _comes from behind the arras._ _Ant._ Ha! _Duch._ Be not amazed; this woman's of my counsel: I have heard lawyers say, a contract in a chamber _Per verba presenti_ is absolute marriage. [_She and_ ANTONIO _kneel._ Bless, Heaven, this sacred gordian, which let violence Never untwine! _Ant._ And may our sweet affections, like the spheres, Be still in motion! _Duch._ Quickening, and make The like soft music! _Ant._ That we may imitate the loving palms, Best emblem of a peaceful marriage, That never bore fruit, divided! _Duch._ What can the church force more? _Ant._ That fortune may not know an accident, Either of joy or sorrow, to divide Our fixèd wishes! _Duch._ How can the church build faster? We now are man and wife, and 'tis the church That must but echo this.--Maid, stand apart: I now am blind. _Ant._ What's your conceit in this? _Duch._ I would have you lead your fortune by the hand. Unto your marriage bed: (You speak in me this, for we now are one:) We'll only lie, and talk together, and plot To appease my humorous kindred; and if you please, Like the old tale in Alexander and Lodowick,[112] Lay a naked sword between us, keep us chaste. O, let me shrowd my blushes in your bosom, Since 'tis the treasury of all my secrets! [_Exeunt_ DUCHESS _and_ ANTONIO. _Cari._ Whether the spirit of greatness or of woman Reign most in her, I know not; but it shows A fearful madness: I owe her much of pity. [_Exit._ ACT THE SECOND. SCENE I.--_An Apartment in the Palace of the_ DUCHESS. _Enter_ BOSOLA _and_ CASTRUCCIO. _Bos._ You say you would fain be taken for an eminent courtier? _Cast._ 'Tis the very main of my ambition.