Act 3 — [Scene II.][3224]

Are. I marvel my boy comes not back again: But that I know my love will question him Over and over,—how I slept, wak’d, talk’d, How I rememb’red him when his dear name Was last spoke, and how when I sigh’d, wept, sung,5 And ten thousand such,—I should be angry at his stay.

King. What, at your meditations! Who attends you? Are. None but my single self. I need no guard; I do no wrong, nor fear none. King. Tell me, have you not a boy? Are. Yes, sir.10 King. What kind of boy? Are. A page, a waiting-boy. King. A handsome boy? Are. I think he be not ugly: Well qualified and dutiful I know him; I took him not for beauty. King. He speaks and sings and plays? Are. Yes, sir.15 King. About eighteen? Are. I never ask’d his age. King. Is he full of service? Are. By your pardon, why do you ask? King. Put him away. Are. Sir! King. Put him away, I say. H’as done you that good service shames me to speak of.20 Are. Good sir, let me understand you. King. If you fear me, Show it in duty; put away that boy. Are. Let me have reason for it, sir, and then Your will is my command. King. Do not you blush to ask it? Cast him off,25 Or I shall do the same to you. You’re one Shame with me, and so near unto myself, That, by my life, I dare not tell myself What you, myself, have done. Are. What have I done, my lord?30 King. ’T is a new language, that all love to learn: The common people speak it well already; They need no grammar. Understand me well; There be foul whispers stirring. Cast him off, And suddenly. Do it! Farewell. Exit.35 Are. Where may a maiden live securely free, Keeping her honour fair? Not with the living. They feed upon opinions, errors, dreams, And make ’em truths; they draw a nourishment Out of defamings, grow upon disgraces,40 And, when they see a virtue fortified Strongly above the batt’ry of their tongues, Oh, how they cast[3225] to sink it! and, defeated, (Soul-sick with poison) strike the monuments44 Where noble names lie sleeping, till they sweat, And the cold marble melt.

Phi. Peace to your fairest thoughts, dearest mistress! Are. Oh, my dearest servant,[3226] I have a war within me! Phi. He must be more than man that makes these crystals Run into rivers. Sweetest fair, the cause?50 And, as I am your slave, tied to your goodness, Your creature, made again from what I was And newly-spirited, I’ll right your honour. Are. Oh, my best love, that boy? Phi. What boy? Are. The pretty boy you gave me—— Phi. What of him?55 Are. Must be no more mine. Phi. Why? Are. They are jealous of him. Phi. Jealous! Who? Are. The King. Phi. [Aside.] Oh, my misfortune! Then ’tis no idle jealousy.—Let him go. Are. Oh, cruel! Are you hard-hearted too? Who shall now tell you60 How much I lov’d you? Who shall swear it to you, And weep the tears I send? Who shall now bring you Letters, rings, bracelets? Lose his health in service? Wake tedious nights in stories of your praise? Who shall now sing your crying elegies,65 And strike a sad soul into senseless pictures, And make them mourn? Who shall take up his lute, And touch it till he crown a silent sleep Upon my eye-lids, making me dream, and cry, “Oh, my dear, dear Philaster!” Phi. [Aside.] Oh, my heart!70 Would he had broken thee, that made me know This lady was not loyal!—Mistress, Forget the boy; I’ll get thee a far better. Are. Oh, never, never such a boy again As my Bellario! Phi. ’Tis but your fond affection.75 Are. With thee, my boy, farewell for ever All secrecy in servants! Farewell, faith, And all desire to do well for itself! Let all that shall succeed thee for thy wrongs Sell and betray chaste love!80 Phi. And all this passion for a boy? Are. He was your boy, and you put him to me, And the loss of such must have a mourning for. Phi. Oh, thou forgetful woman! Are. How, my lord? Phi. False Arethusa!85 Hast thou a medicine to restore my wits, When I have lost ’em? If not, leave to talk, And do thus. Are. Do what, sir? Would you sleep? Phi. For ever, Arethusa. Oh, you gods Give me a worthy patience! Have I stood,90 Naked, alone, the shock of many fortunes? Have I seen mischiefs numberless and mighty Grow like a sea upon me? Have I taken Danger as stern as death into my bosom, And laught upon it, made it but a mirth,95 And flung it by? Do I live now like him, Under this tyrant King, that languishing Hears his sad bell and sees his mourners? Do I Bear all this bravely, and must sink at length Under a woman’s falsehood? Oh, that boy,100 That cursed boy! None but a villain boy To ease your lust? Are. Nay, then, I am betrayed: I feel the plot cast for my overthrow. Oh, I am wretched! Phi. Now you may take that little right I have105 To this poor kingdom. Give it to your joy; For I have no joy in it. Some far place, Where never womankind durst set her foot For[3227] bursting with her poisons, must I seek, And live to curse you;110 There dig a cave, and preach to birds and beasts What woman is, and help to save them from you; How heaven is in your eyes, but in your hearts More hell than hell has; how your tongues, like scorpions, Both heal and poison;[3228] how your thoughts are woven115 With thousand changes in one subtle web, And worn so by you; how that foolish man, That reads the story of a woman’s face And dies believing it, is lost for ever; How all the good you have is but a shadow,120 I’ the morning with you, and at night behind you. Past and forgotten; how your vows are frosts, Fast for a night, and with the next sun gone; How you are, being taken all together, A mere confusion, and so dead a chaos,125 That love cannot distinguish. These sad texts, Till my last hour, I am bound to utter of you. So, farewell all my woe, all my delight! Exit. Are. Be merciful, ye gods, and strike me dead! What way have I deserv’d this? Make my breast130 Transparent as pure crystall, that the world, Jealous of me, may see the foulest thought My heart holds. Where shall a woman turn her eyes, To find out constancy? Enter Bellario. Save me, how black And guiltily, methinks, that boy looks now!135 Oh, thou dissembler, that, before thou spak’st, Wert in thy cradle false, sent to make lies And betray innocents! Thy lord and thou May glory in the ashes of a maid Fool’d by her passion; but the conquest is140 Nothing so great as wicked. Fly away! Let my command force thee to that which shame Would do without it. If thou understood’st The loathed office thou hast undergone, Why, thou wouldst hide thee under heaps of hills,145 Lest men should dig and find thee. Bel. Oh, what god, Angry with men, hath sent this strange disease Into the noblest minds! Madam, this grief You add unto me is no more than drops149 To seas, for which they are not seen to swell. My lord hath struck his anger through my heart, And let out all the hope of future joys. You need not bid me fly; I came to part, To take my latest leave. Farewell for ever! I durst not run away in honesty155 From such a lady, like a boy that stole Or made some grievous fault. The power of gods Assist you in your sufferings! Hasty time Reveal the truth to your abused lord And mine, that he may know your worth; whilst I160 Go seek out some forgotten place to die! Exit. Are. Peace guide thee! Thou hast overthrown me once; Yet, if I had another Troy to lose, Thou, or another villain with thy looks,164 Might talk me out of it, and send me naked, My hair dishevell’d, through the fiery streets.

Lady. Madam, the King would hunt, and calls for you With earnestness. Are. I am in tune to hunt! Diana, if thou canst rage with a maid As with a man,[3229] let me discover thee170 Bathing, and turn me to a fearful hind, That I may die pursued by cruel hounds, And have my story written in my wounds! Exeunt.