SCENE V.—Another Apartment in the same.

Enter Cardinal, with a book.

Card. I am puzzled in a question about hell: He says, in hell there's one material fire, And yet it shall not burn all men alike. Lay him by. How tedious is a guilty conscience! When I look into the fish-ponds in my garden, Methinks I see a thing armed with a rake, That seems to strike at me.

Enter Bosola, and Servant bearing Antonio's body.

Now, art thou come? Thou look'st ghastly: There sits in thy face some great determination Mixed with some fear. Bos. Thus it lightens into action: I am come to kill thee. Card. Ha!—Help! our guard! Bos. Thou art deceived; They are out of thy howling. Card. Hold; and I will faithfully divide Revenues with thee. Bos. Thy prayers and proffers Are both unseasonable. Card. Raise the watch! we are betrayed! Bos. I have confined your flight: I'll suffer your retreat to Julia's chamber, But no further. Card. Help! we are betrayed!

Enter, above, Pescara, Malatesti, Roderigo, and Grisolan.

Mal. Listen. Card. My dukedom for rescue! Rod. Fie upon his counterfeiting! Mal. Why, 'tis not the cardinal. Rod. Yes, yes, 'tis he: But I'll see him hanged ere I'll go down to him. Card. Here's a plot upon me; I am assaulted! I am lost, Unless some rescue. Gris. He doth this pretty well; But it will not serve to laugh me out of mine honour. Card. The sword's at my throat! Rod. You would not bawl so loud then. Mal. Come, come, let's go To bed: he told us thus much aforehand. Pes. He wished you should not come at him; but, believe't, The accent of the voice sounds not in jest: I'll down to him, howsoever, and with engines Force ope the doors. [Exit above. Rod. Let's follow him aloof, And note how the cardinal will laugh at him. [Exeunt, above, Malatesti, Roderigo, and Grisolan. Bos. There's for you first, 'Cause you shall not unbarricade the door To let in rescue. [Kills the Servant. Card. What cause hast thou to pursue my life? Bos. Look there. Card. Antonio! Bos. Slain by my hand unwittingly. Pray, and be sudden: when thou killed'st thy sister, Thou took'st from Justice her most equal balance, And left her naught but her sword. Card. O, mercy! Bos. Now it seems thy greatness was only outward; For thou fall'st faster of thyself than calamity Can drive thee. I'll not waste longer time; there! [Stabs him. Card. Thou hast hurt me. Bos. Again! [Stabs him again. Card. Shall I die like a leveret, Without any resistance?—Help, help, help! I am slain!

Enter Ferdinand.

Ferd. The alarum! give me a fresh horse; Rally the vaunt-guard, or the day is lost. Yield, yield! I give you the honour of arms, Shake my sword over you; will you yield? Card. Help me; I am your brother! Ferd. The devil! My brother fight upon the adverse party! [He wounds the Cardinal, and, in the scuffle, gives Bosola his death-wound. There flies your ransom. Card. O justice! I suffer now for what hath former bin: Sorrow is held the eldest child of sin.

Ferd. Now you're brave fellows. Cæsar's fortune was harder than Pompey's; Cæsar died in the arms of prosperity, Pompey at the feet of disgrace. You both died in the field. The pain's nothing: pain many times is taken away with the apprehension of greater, as the toothache with the sight of the barber that comes to pull it out: there's philosophy for you.

Bos. Now my revenge is perfect.—Sink, thou main cause [Kills Ferdinand. Of my undoing!—The last part of my life Hath done me best service. Ferd. Give me some wet hay; I am broken-winded I do account this world but a dog kennel: I will vault credit and affect high pleasures Beyond death. Bos. He seems to come to himself, Now he's so near the bottom. Ferd. My sister, O my sister! there's the cause on't. Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, Like diamonds we are cut with our own dust. [Dies. Card. Thou hast thy payment too. Bos. Yes, I hold my weary soul in my teeth; 'Tis ready to part from me. I do glory That thou, which stood'st like a huge pyramid Begun upon a large and ample base, Shalt end in a little point, a kind of nothing.

Enter below, Pescara, Malatesti, Roderigo, and Grisolan.

Pes. How now, my lord!

Mal. O sad disaster!

Rod. How comes this?

Bos. Revenge for the Duchess of Malfi murdered By the Arragonian brethren; for Antonio Slain by this hand; for lustful Julia Poisoned by this man; and lastly for myself, That was an actor in the main of all Much 'gainst mine own good nature, yet i' the end Neglected. Pes. How now, my lord! Card. Look to my brother: He gave us these large wounds, as we were struggling Here i' the rushes.[143] And now, I pray, let me Be laid by and never thought of. [Dies. Pes. How fatally, it seems, he did withstand His own rescue! Mal. Thou wretched thing of blood How came Antonio by his death? Bos. In a mist; I know not how: Such a mistake as I have often seen In a play. O, I am gone! We are only like dead walls or vaulted graves, That, ruined, yield no echo. Fare you well. It may be pain, but no harm, to me to die In so good a quarrel. O, this gloomy world! In what a shadow, or deep pit of darkness, Doth womanish and fearful mankind live! Let worthy minds ne'er stagger in distrust To suffer death or shame for what is just: Mine is another voyage. [Dies. Pes. The noble Delio, as I came to the palace, Told me of Antonio's being here, and showed me A pretty gentleman, his son and heir.

Enter Delio and Antonio's Son.

Mal. O sir, you come too late! Delio. I heard so, and Was armed for't, ere I came. Let us make noble use Of this great ruin; and join all our force To establish this young hopeful gentleman In's mother's right. These wretched eminent things Leave no more fame behind 'em, than should one Fall in a frost, and leave his print in snow; As soon as the sun shines, it ever melts, Both form and matter. I have ever thought Nature doth nothing so great for great men As when she's pleased to make them lords of truth: Integrity of life is fame's best friend, Which nobly, beyond death, shall crown the end. [Exeunt.