Act 2 — ACT II. SCENE I.
Reading edition
A Room in the Palace.
Enter Vortiger and Castiza.
Cast. My lord, I am resolv’d; tempt me no farther;
’Tis all to fruitless purpose.
Vort. Are you well?
Cast. Never so perfect in the truth of health
As at this instant.
Vort. Then I doubt my own,
Or that I am not waking.
Cast. Would you were then!
You’d[403] praise my resolution.
Vort. This is wondrous!
Are you not mine by contract?
Cast. ’Tis most true, my lord,
And I am better bless’d in’t than I look’d for,
In that I am confin’d in faith so strictly:
143I’m[404] bound, my lord, to marry none but you,—
You’ll grant me that,—and you I’ll never marry.
Vort. It draws me into violence and hazard:
I saw you kiss the king.
Cast. I grant you so, sir;
Where could I take my leave of the world better?
I wrong’d not you in that; you will acknowledge
A king is the best part of’t.[405]
Vort. O, my passion!
Cast. I see you something yielding to infirmity, sir;
I take my leave.
Vort. Why, ’tis not possible!
Cast. The fault is in your faith; time I were gone
To give it better strengthening.
Vort. Hark you, lady.——
Cast. Send your intent to the next monastery;
There you shall find my answer ever after;
And so with my last duty to your lordship,
For whose prosperity I will pray as heartily
As for my own. [Exit.
Vort. How am I serv’d in this?
I offer a vexation to the king;
He sends it home into my blood with ’vantage.
I’ll put off time no longer: I have brought him
Into most men’s neglects, calling his zeal
A deep pride hallow’d over, love of ease
More than devotion or the public benefit;
Which catcheth many men’s beliefs. I’m strong[406] too
In people’s wishes; their affections point at me.
I lose much time and glory; that redeem’d,
She that now flies returns with joy and wonder:
Greatness and woman’s wish ne’er keep asunder.
[Exit.
144Dumb Show.
[Enter two villains; to them Vortiger, who seems to solicit them with gold, then swears them, and exit. Enter Constantius meditating; they rudely strike down his book, and draw their swords; he kneels and spreads his arms; they kill him, and hurry off the body. Enter Vortiger, Devonshire, and Stafford, in conference; to them the two villains presenting the head of Constantius; Vortiger seems sorrowful, and in rage stabs them both. Then the lords crown Vortiger, and fetch in Castiza, who comes unwillingly; Vortiger hales her, and they crown her: Aurelius and Uther, brothers of Constantius, seeing him crowned, draw their swords and fly.
Enter Raynulph.
Ray. When nothing could prevail to tire
The good king’s patience, they did hire
Two wicked rogues to take his life;
In whom a while there fell a strife
Of pity and fury; but the gold
Made pity faint, and fury bold.
Then to Vortiger they bring
The head of that religious king;
Who feigning grief, to clear his guilt,
Makes the slaughterers’ blood be spilt.
Then crown they him, and force the maid,
That vow’d a virgin-life, to wed;
Such a strength great power extends,
It conquers fathers, kindred, friends;
And since fate’s pleas’d to change her life,
She proves as holy in a wife.
145More to tell, were to betray
What deeds in their own tongues must say:
Only this, the good king dead,
The brothers poor in safety fled. [Exit.