Act 3 — Scene V.[2731]
Reading edition
Scene V.[2731]
[To Pietro] Enter Malevole, with cross-bow and pistol.
Pietro. Ah, so, so, sing. I am heavy: walk off; I shall talk in my sleep: walk off. Exeunt Pages. Mal. Brief, brief: who? The Duke! Good heaven, that fools Should stumble upon greatness!—Do not sleep, duke;4 Give ye good-morrow. I[2732] must be brief, duke; I am fee’d to murder thee:—start not:—Mendoza, Mendoza hir’d me; here ’s his gold, his pistol, Cross-bow, [and] sword: ’t is all as firm as earth. O fool, fool, choked with the common maze Of easy idiots, credulity!10 Make him thine heir! What, thy sworn murderer! Pietro. O, can it be? Mal. Can! Pietro. Discover’d he not Ferneze? Mal. Yes, but why? but why? For love to thee?15 Much, much! To be reveng’d upon his rival, Who had thrust his jaws awry; Who being slain, suppos’d by thine own hands, Defended by his sword, made thee most loathsome, Him most gracious with thy loose princess:20 Thou, closely[2733] yielding egress and regress to her, Madest him heir; whose hot unquiet lust Straight tous’d thy sheets, and now would seize thy state. Politician! Wise man! Death! to be Led to the stake like a bull by the horns;25 To make even kindness cut a gentle throat! Life, why art thou numb’d? Thou foggy dulness, speak: Lives not more faith in a home-thrusting tongue Than in those fencing tip-tap courtiers?
Enter Celso, with a hermit’s gown and beard.
[Pietro.][2734] Lord Malevole, if this be true—
Mal. If! Come, shade thee with this disguise.31 If! Thou shalt handle it; he shall thank thee for killing thyself. Come, follow my directions, and thou shalt see strange sleights.
Pietro. World, whither wilt thou?35
Mal. Why, to the devil. Come, the morn grows late: A steady quickness is the soul of state. Exeunt.