❧THE TRAGEDIE OF GORBODVC, whereof three Actes were wrytten by Thomas Nortone, and the two laste by Thomas Sackuyle. ¶Sett forthe as the same was shewed before the QVENES most excellent Maiestie, in her highnes Court of VVhitehall, the .xviij. day of Ianuary, Anno Domini. 1561. By the Gentlemen of Thynner Temple in London.
❧IMPRYNTED AT LONDON in Fletestrete, at the Signe of the Faucon by William Griffith: And are to be sold at his Shop in Saincte Dunstones Churchyarde in the VVest of London. Anno. 1565. Septemb. 22.
¶Thargument of the Tragedie.
GORBODVC, king of Brittaine, deuided his Realme in his lyfe time to his Sōnes, Ferrex and Porrex. The Sonnes fell to dyuision and discention. The yonger kylled the elder. The Mother that more dearely loued thelder, for reuenge kylled the yonger. The people moued with the Crueltie of the facte, rose in Rebellion and slewe both father and mother. The Nobilitie assembled and most terribly destroyed the Rebelles. And afterwardes for want of Issue of the Prince wherby the Succession of the Crowne became vncertayne. They fell to Ciuill warre in whiche both they and many of their Issues were slayne, and the Lande for a longe tyme almoste desolate and myserablye wasted.
W G
¶The names of the Speakers.
- Gorboduc, kynge of great Brittayne.
- Videna, Queene and wife to kynge Gorboduc.
- Ferrex, Elder Sonne to kynge Gorboduc.
- Porrex, Yonger Sonne to kynge Gorboduc.
- Clotyn, Duke of Cornewall.
- Fergus, Duke of Albanye.
- Mandud, Duke of Leagre.
- Gwenard, Duke of Cumperlande.
- Eubulus, Secretarie to the kynge Gorboduc.
- Arostus, A Counsellour of kynge Gorboduc.
- Dordan, A Counsellour assigned by the kynge to his Eldest Sonne Fcrrex.
- Philander, A Counsellour assigned by the kynge to his yonger Sonne Porrex. (Both beynge of the olde (kynges Counsell before.
- Hermon, A Parasyte remaynyng with Ferrex.
- Tyndar, A Parasyte remaynyng with Porrex.
- Nuntius, A Messenger of thelder Brothers deth
- Nuntius, A Messenger of Duke Fergus rysynge in Armes.
- Marcella, A Ladye of the Queenes priuie Chamber.
- Chorus, Foure auncient and Sage men of Brittayne.
¶The Order of the dōme shewe before the firste Acte, and the Signification therof.
¶Firste the Musicke of Violenze began to playe, durynge whiche came in vppon the Stage sixe wilde men clothed in leaues. Of whom the first bare in his necke a Fagot of smal stickes, whiche thei all both seuerallie and togither assaied with all their strengthes to breake, but it could not be broken by them. At the length one of them plucked out one of the stickes and brake it: And the rest pluckinge oute all the other stickes one after an other did easelie breake, the same beynge seuered: which beyng conioyned they had before attempted in vayne. After they had this done, they departed the Stage, and the Musicke ceased Hereby was signified, that a state knit in vnytie doth continue stronge against all force. But beynge deuyded, is easely destroied. As befell vpon Duke Gorboduc deuidinge his Lande to his two sonnes which he before held in Monarchie. And vpon the discention of the Brethrene to whome it was deuided.
Of Gorboduc. Actus primus. Scena prima.
Viden. Ferrex.
Viden.
THE silent night that bringes the
quiet pawse,
From painefull trauailes of the
wearie Daie:
Prolonges my carefull thoughtes
and makes me blame
The slowe Aurore that so for loue or shame
Doth longe delaye to shewe her blusshing face,
And nowe the Daie renewes my griefull plainte.
Ferrex.
My gracious Lady and mother deare,
Pardon my griefe, for your so grieued minde
To aske what cause tormenteth so your harte.
Viden.
So great a wronge and so vniust despite,
Without all cause against all course of kinde.
Ferrex.
Suche causeles wronge and so vniust despite,
Maye haue redresse, or at the least reuenge.
Viden.
Neither my Sonne, suche is the frowarde will,
The person suche, suche my mishap and thyne.
Fer [...]ex.
Myne know I none, but griefe for your distresse:
Viden.
Yes: myne for thyne my sonne: A father? no:
[Page] In kynde a Father, but not in kyndlynes.
Ferrex.
My Father: whie? I knowe nothynge at all,
Wherin I haue misdone vnto his Grace.
Viden.
Therfore, the more vnkinde to thee and mee.
For knowynge well (my sonne) the tendre loue▪
That I haue euer borne and beare to thee,
He greued therat, is not content alone,
To spoyle thee of my sight my chiefest Ioye,
But thee, of the birth, right and Heritage
Causeles, vnkindly and in wrongfull wise,
Against all Lawe and right he will bereaue,
Halfe of his kyngdome he will geue awaye.
Ferrex.
To whome?
Viden.
Euen to Porrex his younger sonne
Whose growinge Pride I do so sore suspecte,
That beynge raysed to equall Rule with thee,
Mee thinkes I see his enuious harte to swell
Fyllde with Disdaine and with ambicious Pride
The ende the Goddes do know, whose Aulters I
Full oft haue made in vaine of Cattell slayne,
To sende the sacred smoke to Heauens Throne,
For thee my sonne if thinges so succede,
As nowe my Ielious minde misdemeth sore.
Ferrex.
Madame leaue care and carefull plaint for me.
Iust hath my Father ben to euery wight,
His firste vniustice he will not extende
[Page] To me I truste, that geue no cause therof.
My brothers pride shall hurt him selfe, not mee.
Viden.
So graunt the Goddes: But yet thy father so
Hath firmely fixed his vnmoued mynde
That plaints & praiers can no whit auaile,
For those haue I assaied, but euen this daie,
He wyll endeuour to procure assent
Of all his Counsell to his fonde deuise.
Ferrex.
Their Auncestours from race to race haue borne
True fayth to my forefathers and their seede,
I truste thei eke wyll beare the lyke to me.
Viden.
There resteth all, but if they fayle therof,
And if the ende bringe forth an euyll successe
On them and theirs the mischiefe shall befall,
And so I praie the Goddes requite it them,
And so they will, for so is wont to bee
When Lordes and trusted Rulers vnder kynges
To please the present fancie of the Prince,
With wrong transpose the course of gouernaunce
Murders, mischiefe, or ciuyll sworde at length,
Or mutuall treason, or a iust reuenge,
When right succedinge Line returnes againe
By Ioues iust Iudgement and deserued wrathe
Bringes them to ciuill and reprochefull death,
And rootes their names & kindredes frō the earth.
Ferrex.
Mother content you, you shall see the ende.
Viden.
[Page]The ende? thie ende I feare, Ioue ende me first.
Actus primus. Scena secunda.
Gorboduc. Arostus. Philander. Eubulus.
Gorboduc.
MY Lordes whose graue aduise & faithfull aide
Haue long vpheld my Honour & my Realme
And brought me from this age from tender yeres.
Guidynge so great estate with great renowme:
Nowe more importeth mee the erst to vse
Your faith and wisdome wherby yet I reigne,
That when by death my liefe and rule shall cease,
The kingdome yet maye with vnbroken course,
Haue certayne Prince, by whose vndoubted right,
Your wealth and peace, may stand in quiet staie,
And eke that thei whome Nature hath preparde,
In time to take my place in Princelie Seate,
While in their Fathers tyme their pliant youth
Yeldes to the frame of skilfull gouernaunce
Maye so be taught and trayned in noble Artes,
As what their fathers whiche haue reigned before
Haue with great fame deriued downe to them
With honour they maye leaue vnto their seede:
And not be taught for their vnworthie life,
And for their Laweles swaruynge out of kinde,
Worthie to lose what Lawe aud kind them gaue
But that they may preserue the cōmon peace,
The cause that first began and still mainteines
[Page] The Lyneall course of kinges inheritaunce,
For me, for myne, for you, and for the state
Wherof both I and you haue charge and care.
Thus do I meane to vse your wonted fayth
To me and myne, and to your natyue Lande,
My Lordes be playne without all wrie respect
Or poysonous crafte to speake in pleasyng wise,
Lest as the blame of yll succedynge thinges
Shall light on you, so light the harmes also.
Arostus.
Your good acceptaunce so (most noble kinge)
Of suche your faithfulnes as heretofore
We haue employed in dueties to your Grace,
And to this Realme whose worthie head you are,
Well proues that neyther you mistruste at all,
Nor we shall nede no boasting wise to shewe,
Our trueth to you, nor yet our wakefull care
For you, for yours, and for our natiue Lande,
Wherfore (O kynge) I speake for one as all,
Sithe all as one do beare you egall faith:
Doubt not to vse their Counselles and their aides
Whose honours, goods & lyues are whole auowed
To serue, to ayde, and to defende your Grace.
Gorboduc.
My Lordes I thanke you all. This is the case
Ye know, the Gods, who haue the soueraigne care
For kings, for kingdomes, and for cōmen weales,
Gaue me two sonnes in my more lustie Age,
Who nowe in my deceyuynge yeres are growen
Well towardes ryper state of minde and strength,
To take in hande some greater Princely charge,
[Page] As yet they lyue and spende their hopefull daies,
With me and with their Mother here in Courts
Their age nowe asketh other place and trade,
And myne also doth aske an other chaunge,
Theirs to more trauaile, myne to greater ease:
Whan fatall death shall ende my mortall lyfe,
My purpose is to leaue vnto them twaine
The Realme deuided into two sandrie partes:
The one Ferrex myne elder sonne shall haue,
The other shall the other Porrex rule
That both my purpose may more framelie stande,
And eke that they may better rule their charge,
I meane forthwith to place them in the same:
That in my life they maye both learne to rule,
And I may Ioye to see their rulynge well.
This is in sōme, what I woulde haue ye wey:
Firste whether ye allowe my whole deuise,
And thinke it good for me, for them, for you,
And for our Countrey, mother of vs all:
And if ye lyke it and allowe it well,
Than for their guydinge and their gouernaunce,
Shewe sorthe suche meanes of circumstaunce,
As ye thinke meete to be both knowne and kept:
Lot, this is all, nowe tell me your aduise.
Arostus.
And this is muche, and asketh great aduise,
But for my parte my Soueraigne Lord and kyng
This do I thinke your Maiestie doth knowe,
Howe vnder you in Iustice and in peace,
Great wealth and Honour, long we haue enioyed
So as we can not seeme with gredie mindes
[Page] To wisshe for chaunge of Prince or gouernaunce,
But if ye lyke your purpose and deuise,
Our lykynge must be deemed to procede,
Of rightfull reason, and of heedefull care,
Not for our selues, but for our cōmen state:
Sithe our owne state doth nede no better chaunge
I thinke in all as erst your Grace hath saide:
Firste when you shall vnlode your aged mynde,
Of heuye care and troubles manyfolde,
And laye the same vpon my Lordes your sonnes
Whose growing yeres may bere the burden long
And longe I praye the Goddes to graunt it so:
And in your lyfe while you shall so beholde
Their rule, their vertues and their noble deedes,
Suche as their kinde behighteth to vs all,
Great be the profites that shall growe therof,
Your age in quiet shall the longer last,
Your lastynge age shalbe their longer staie,
For cares of kynges, that rule as you haue rulde
For publique wealth and not for priuate ioye,
Do wast mannes lyfe and hasten crooked age,
With furrowed face and with enfeebled lymmes,
To drawe on creepynge Death a swifter pace.
They two yet yonge shall beare the partie reigne
With greater ease, than one nowe olde alone
Can welde the whole, for whom muche harder is
with lessened strength the double weight to beare
Your eye, your Counsell, and the graue regarde
Of Fathers, yea of suche a fathers name,
Nowe at beginning of their sondred reigne,
When it is hazarde of their whole successe,
[Page] Shall bridle so their force of youthfull heates,
And so restreine the rage of insolence,
Whiche most assailes the yonge and noble minds,
And so shall guide and traine in tempred staie
Their yet greene bending wittes wt reuerent awe
And now inured with vertues at the first.
Custome (O king) shall bringe delightfulnes
By vse of Vertue, Vice shall growe in hate,
But if you so dispose it, that the daye,
Which endes your life, shal first begin their reign
Great is the perill, what will be the ende,
When suche beginning of suche liberties
Voide of suche states as in your liefe do lye,
Shall leaue them to free randon of their will
An open praie to traiterous flatterie,
The greatest pestilence of noble youthe:
Whiche perill shalbe past, if in your life,
Their tempred youthe with aged fathers awe
Be brought in vre of skilfull staidnes
And in your life, their liues disposed so,
Shall length your noble liefe in ioyfulnes.
Thus thinke I yt your grace hath wiselie thought
And that your tender care of cōmen weale,
Hath bred this thought, so to deuide your Lande
And plant your sonnes to beare the present rule
While you yet liue to see their rulynge well,
That you may longer lyue by ioye therein.
What furder meanes behouefull are and meete
At great leisure maye your Grace deuise,
When all haue saide, and when we be agreed
If this be best to parte the Realme in twaine,
[Page] And place your sonnes in present gouernement
Whereof as I haue plamely saide my mynde,
So woulde I here the rest of all my Lordes.
Philander.
In parte I thinke as haue ben saide before,
In parte againe my minde is otherwise
As for deuiding of this Realme in twaine
And lotting out the same in egall partes,
To either of my Lordes your Graces sonnes,
That thinke I best for this your Realmes behosf,
For profite and aduauncement of your sonnes,
And for your comforte and your honour eke:
But so to place them while your life do last,
To yelde to them your Royall gouernaunce,
To be aboue them onely in the name
Of father, not in kingly state also,
I thinke not good for you, for them, nor vs,
This kingdome since the bloodie ciuill fielde
Where Morgan slaine did yeld his conquered parte
Vnto his Cosyns sworde in Camberlande
Conteineth all that whilome did suffice,
Three noble sonnes of your forefather Brute,
So your two sonnes, it maye also suffice,
The moe the stronger, if thei gree in one:
The smaller compasse that the Realme doth holde
The easier is the swey therof to welde,
The nearer Iustice to the wronged poore,
The smaller charge, and yet ynoughe for one.
And whan the Region is deuided so
That Brethrene be the Lordes of either parte,
Such strength doth nature knit betwene the both.
[Page] In sondrie bodies by conioyned loue
That not as two, but one of doubled force,
Eche is to other as a sure defence,
The Noblenes and glorie of the one
Doth sharpe the courage of the others mynde
With vertuous enuie to contende for praise,
And suche an egalnes hath nature made,
Betwene the Brethren of one Fathers seede,
As an vnkindlie wronge it seemes to bee,
To throwe the other Subiect vnder feete
Of him, whose Peere he is by course of kinde,
And nature that did make this egalnes,
Ofte so repineth at so great a wronge,
That ofte she rayseth vp a grudgynge griefe,
In yonger Brethren at the elders state:
Wherby both townes & kingdomes haue be rased
And famous stockes of Royall blood distroied:
The Brother that should be the Brothers aide
And haue a wakefull care for his defence,
Gapes for his death, & blames the lyngering yeres
That brings not forth his ende with faster course
And oft impacient of so longe delayes,
With hatefull slaughter he presentes the fates
And keepes a iust rewarde for Brothers bloode,
With endles vengeaunce on his stocke for aye:
Suche mischiefes here are wisely mette withall:
If egall state maye nourishe egall loue,
Where none hath cause to grudge at others good,
But nowe the head to stoupe beneth them bothe,
Ne kinde, ne reason, ne good ordre beares,
And oft it hath ben seene, that where Nature
[Page] Hath ben preuerted in disordered wise,
When Fathers cease to know that thei shuld rule
And Children cease to knowe they should obey,
And often our vnkindly tendrenes,
As Mother of vnkindly Stubbornes:
I speake not this in enuie or reproche,
As if I grudged the glorie of your sonnes,
Whose honour I beseche the Goddes to encrease:
Nor yet as if I thought there did remaine,
So filthie Cankers in their noble brestes,
Whome I esteme (whiche is their greatest praise,
Vndoubted children of so good a kynge.
Onelie I meane to shewe my certeine Rules,
Whiche kinde hath graft within the mind of man
That Nature hath her ordre and her course,
Whiche (being broken) doth corrupt the state
Of myndes and thinges euen in the best of all
My Lordes your sonnes may learne to rule of you
Your owne example in your noble Courte
Is fittest Guyder of their youthfull yeares,
If you desire to seeke some present Ioye
By sight of their well rulynge in your lyfe,
See them obey, so shall you see them rule,
Who so obeyeth not with humblenes
Will rule without rage and with insolence
Longe maye they rule I do beseche the Goddes,
But longe may they learne ere they begyn to rule
If kinde and fates woulde suffre I would wisshe
Them aged Princes and immortall kinges:
Wherfore most noble kynge I well assent,
Betwene your sonnes y• you deuide your Realme.
[Page] And as in kinde, so matche them in degree
But while the Goddes prolongue your Royal life
Prolongue your reigne, for therto lyue you here,
And therfore haue the Goddes so longe forborne
To ioyne you to them selues, that still you might
Be Prince and father of our cōmon weale:
They when they se your children ripe to rule
Will make them roume, & will remoue you hence,
That yours in right ensuynge of your life
Maye rightlie honour your mortall name.
Eubulus.
Your wonted true regarde of faithfull hartes,
Makes me (O kinge) the bolder to presume
To speake what I conceiue within my brest,
Althoughe the same do not agree at all
With that whiche other here my Lords haue said
Nor whiche your selfe haue seemed best to lyke,
Pardon I craue and that my wordes be deemde
To flowe from hartie zeale vnto your Grace,
And to the safetie of your cōmon weale:
To parte your Realme vnto my Lords your sōnes
I thinke not good for you, ne yet for them,
But worste of all, for this our Natiue Lande:
For with one Lande, one single rule is best:
Deuided Reignes do make deuided hartes.
But Peace preserues the Countrey & the Prince.
Suche is in man the gredie minde to reigne,
So great is his desire to climbe alofte,
In worldly Stage the stateliest partes to beare,
That faith and Iustice and all kindly loue,
Do yelde vnto desire of Soueraigntie:
[Page] Where egall state doth raise an egall hope
To winne the thing that either wold attaine
Your grace remembreth howe in passed yeres
The mightie Brute, first Prince of all this Lande
Possessed the same and ruled it well in one,
He thinking that the compasse did suffice
For his three sonnes, three kingdoms eke to make
Cut it in three, as you would nowe in twaine:
But how much Brutish blod hath sithence bē spilt
To ioyne againe the sondred vnitie?
What Princes slaine before their timely honour?
What wast of townes and people in the Lande?
What Treasons heaped on murders & on spoiles?
Whose iust reuenge euen yet is scarcely ceased,
Ruthefull remembraunce is yet had in minde:
The Gods forbyd the like to chaunce againe
And you (O king) geue not the cause therof:
My Lorde Ferrex your elder sonne, perhappes
Whome kinde and custome geues a rightfull hope
To be your Heire and to succede your Reigne,
Shall thinke that he doth suffre greater wronge
Than he perchaunce will beare, if power serue
Porrex the younger so vnpaised in state,
Perhappes in courage will be raised also,
If Flatterie then whiche sayles not to assaile▪
The tendre mindes of yet vnskilfull Youthe,
In one shall kindle and encrease disdaine:
And Enuie in the others harte enflame,
This fire shall waste their loue, their liues, their land,
And rutheful ruine shal destroy them both,
A wisshe not this (O kyng) so to befall
[Page] But feare the thing, that I do most abhorre
Geue no beginning to so dreadfull ende,
Kepe them in order and obedience:
And let them both by nowe obeyinge you,
Learne suche behauiour as beseemes their state.
The Older, myldenes in his gouernaunce,
The younger, a yeldyng contentednes:
And kepe them neare vnto your presence still,
That they restreined by the awe of you,
Maye liue in compasse of well tempred staie,
And passe the perilles of their youthfull yeares,
Your aged life drawes on to febler tyme,
Wherin you shall lesse able be to beare
The trauailes that in youth you haue susteined
Both in your persons and your Realmes defence
If planting nowe your sonnes in furder partes,
You sende them furder from your present reache
Lesse shal you know how they thē selues demaund
Traiterous corrupters of their pliant youthe,
Shall haue vnspied a muche more free accesse,
And of ambition and inflamed disdaine
Shall arme the one, the other, or them bothe
To ryuill warre, or to vsurpinge pride.
Late shall you rue, that you ne recked before:
Good is I graunt of all to hope the best,
But not to liue still dreadles of the worst,
So truste the one, that the other be forsene,
Arme not vnskilfulnes with princely power
But you that longe haue wisely ruled the reignes
Of royaltie within your noble Realme
So holde them, while the Gods for our auayles
[Page] Shall stretche the threde of your prolonged dales
To soone he clāme, into the flamyng Carte
Whose want of skyll did set the earth on fire,
Time and example of your noble Grace,
Shall teache your sonnes both to obey and rule▪
Whan time hath taught thē, time shall make thē pace
The place that nowe is full: and so I praie
Longe it remaine, to comforte of vs all.
Gorboduc.
I take your faithfull hartes in thankfull parte
But sithe I see no cause to drawe my minde,
To feare the nature of my louyng sonnes,
Or to misdeme that Enuie or disdaine,
Can there worke hate, where nature planteth loue
In one selfe purpose do I still abide,
My loue extendeth egally to bothe,
My Lande suffiseth for them bothe also:
Humber shall parte the Marches of their Realmes:
The Sotherne parte the elder shall possesse,
The Northerne shall Porrex the yonger rule,
In quiet I will passe mine aged daies,
Free from the trauaile and the painefull cares
That hasten age vpon the worthiest kinges.
But lest the fraude that ye do seeme to feare
Of flatteryng tongues, corrupt their tender youth
And wrieth them to the waies of youthfull lust,
To climyng pride, or to reuengyng hate
Or to neglecting of their carefull charge
Lewdely to lyue in wanton recklenesse,
Or to oppressinge of the rightfull cause
[Page] Or not to wreke the wronges done to the poore
To treade downe trueth, or fauour false deceite
I meane to ioyne to eyther of my sonnes
Some one of those whose longe approued faith
And wisdome tryed may well assure my harte:
That mynyng fraude shall finde no way to crepee
Into their fensed eares with graue aduise:
This is the ende, and so I praye you all
To beare my sonnes the loue and loyaltie
That I haue founde within your faithful breasts.
Arostus.
You, nor your sonnes, our soueraigne Lord shall want
Our faith & seruice while our liues do last.
Chorus.
When settled staie doth holde the royall throne,
In stedfast place by knowen and doubtles right:
And chiefely whan discent on one alone
Make single and vnparted reigne to light.
Eche chaunge of course vnioynts the whole estate
And yeldes it thrall to r [...]yne by debate.
The strength that knit by laste accorde in one
Against all forrein power of mightie foes,
Could of it selfe defende it selfe alone,
Disioyned once, the former force doth lose
The stickes, that sondred brake so soone in twaine
In faggot bounde attempted were in vaine.
Oft tender minde that leades the perciall eye
Of erringe parentes in their childrens loue,
Destroies the wrongfull loued childe therby:
[Page] This doth the proude sonne of Appollo proue,
Who rasshely set in Chariot of his sire:
Inflamed the perched earth with heauens fire.
And this great king, that doth deuide his land,
And chaunged the course of his discending crowne
And yeldes the reigne into his childrens hande
From blisfull state of ioye and great renowne,
A Myrrour shall become to Princes all
To learne to shunne the cause of suche a fall.
¶The order and signification of the dōme shewe before the second Acte.
¶First the Musicke of Cornettes began to playe, during whiche came in vpon the Stage a kinge accompanied with a nombre of his Nobylytie & Gentlemen. And after he had placed him selfe in a Chaire of estate prepared for him: there came and kneled before him a graue and aged Gentilman and offred vp a Cuppe vnto hym of Wyne in a glasse, whiche the kynge refused. After him cōmes, a braue and lustie yong Gentleman and presentes the king with a Cup of Golde filled wt poison, which the king accepted, & drinkinge the same, immediatly fell down dead vpon ye stage, & so was carried thence awaye by his Lordes and Gentlemen, & then the Musicke ceased. Hereby was signified, that as Glasse by nature holdeth no payson, but is clere and maye easely be seene throughe, ne boweth by any Arte: So a faithfull [Page] Counsellour holdeth no treason, but is playne & open, ne yeldeth to any vndiscrete affection, but geueth holsome Counsell, whiche the yll aduised Prince refuseth. The delightfull golde filled wt poyson betokeneth Flattery, whiche vnder faire seeming of pleasaunt words beareth deadly poyson, which destroieth the Prince yt receiueth it. As befell in the two brethrene Ferrex and Porrex who refusing the holsome aduise of graue Counsellours, credited these yonge Paracites, & brought to them selues death and destruction therby.
Actus secundus. Scena prima.
Ferrex. Hermon. Dordan.
Ferrex.
I Meruaile muche what reason leade the kynge
My father thus without all my desarte
To reue me halfe y• kingdome which by course
Of lawe and nature shuld remayne to me.
Hermon.
If you with stubborne and vntamed pryde
Had stood against him in rebellious wise,
Or if with grudging minde you had enuied
So slowe a slidynge of his aged yeres,
Or sought before your time to haste the course
Of fatall death vpon his Royall head,
Or stained your Stocke with murder of your kyn:
Some face of reason might perhaps haue seemed
To yelde some likely cause to spoile ye thus.
Ferrex.
[Page]The wrekefull Gods powre on my cursed head,
Eternall plagues and neuer dyinge woes,
The Hellish Prince, adiudge my dampned ghoste
To Tantalus thirste, or proude Ixims wheele
Or cruell Gripe to gnawe my growing harte
To durynge tormentes and vnquenched flames
If euer I conceiued so foule a thought,
To wisshe his ende of life, or yet of reigne.
Dordan.
Ne yet your father (O most noble Prince)
Did euer thinke so fowle a thing of you
For he with more than fathers tendre loue
While yet the fates do lende him life to rule,
(Who long might lyue to so your rulynge well)
To you my Lorde, and to his other sonne
Lo he resignes his Realme and Royaltie
Whiche neuer would so wise a Prince haue done
If he had ones misdemed that in your harte
There euer lodged so vnkinde a thought.
But tendre loue (my Lorde) and setled truste
Of your good nature, and your nable minde
Made him to place you thus in Royall throne
And now to geue you half his realme to guide
Yea and that halfe within abounding store
Of things that serue to make a welthie Realme
In statelie Cities and in frutefull soyle,
In temperate breathing of the milder heauen,
In thinges of nedefull vse, whiche frendlie Sea
Transportes by traffike from the forreine Portes,
In flowing wealth, in honour and in force,
[Page] Doth passe the double value of the parte
That Porrex hath alloted to his reigne,
Suche is your ease, suche is your fathers loue.
Ferrex.
Ah loue, my frendes, loue wrongs not whom he loues.
Dordan.
Ne yet he wrongeth you that geueth you
So large a reigne ere that the course of tyme
Bringe you to kingdome by discended right,
Which time perhaps might end your time before.
Ferrex.
Is this no wrong, saie you, to reaue from me
My natiue right to halfe so great a realme,
And thus to matche his yonger sonne with me
In egall power, and in as great degree:
Yea & what sonne? ye sonne whose swellyng pryde
Woulde neuer yelde one poinct of reuerence,
Whan I the Elder and apparaunt heire
Stoode in the likelyhode to possesse the whole
Yea and that sonne whiche from his childishe age
Enuieth myne honour, and doth hate my life,
What will he nowe do? when his pride, his rage,
The mindefull malice of his grudging harte
Is armed with force, with wealth and kingly state
Hermon.
Was this not wrong? yea yll aduised wrong
To giue so mad a man so sharpe a sworde,
To so great perill of so great mishappe,
Wide open thus to set so large a waye.
Dordan.
Alas my Lorde, what griefull thing is this?
[Page] That of your brother you can thinke so ill
I neuer sawe him vtter likelie signe
Whereby a man might see or once misdeme
Suche hate of you, ne suche vnyeldinge pride
Ill is their counsell, shamefull be their ende,
That raising suche mistrustfull feare in you,
Sowing the seede of suche vnkindly hate,
Trauaile by reason to destroy you both:)
Wise is your brother and of noble hope,
Worthie to welde a large and mightie Realme
So muche a stronger frende haue you therby,
Whose strēgth is your strēgth, if you gree in one.
Hermon.
If nature and the Goddes had pinched so
Their flowing bountie and their noble giftes
Of Princelie qualyties from you my Lorde
And powrde them all at ones in wastfull wise
Vpon your fathers younger sonne alone:
Perhappes there be that in your preiudice
Would saie that birth shuld yeld to worthines:
But sithe in eche good gift and Princelie Acte
Ye are his matche, and in the chiefe of all
In mildenes and in sobre gouernauce
Ye farre surmount: And sithe there is in you
Sufficing skill and hopefull towardnes
To weld the whole, and match you Elders praise
I see no cause whie ye should loose the halfe,
Ne wold I wisshe you yelde to suche a losse:
Lest your milde sufferaunce of so great a wronge
Be deemed cowardishe and simple dreade:
Whiche shall geue courage to the fierie head
[Page] Of your yonge Brother to inuade the whole,
Whiles yet therfore stickes in the peoples mynde
The lothed wronge of your disheritaunce,
And ere your Brother haue by settled power,
By guyle full cloke of an allurynge showe,
Got him some force and fauour in this Realme
And while the noble Queene your mother lyues,
To worke and practice all for your auaile
Attempt redresse by Armes, and wreake your selfe
Vpon his life, that gaineth by your losse,
Who nowe to shame of you, and griefe of vs
In your owne kingdome triumphes ouer you:
Shew now your courage meete for kingly estate
That thei which haue auowed to spēd their goods
Their landes, their liues & honours in your cause,
Maye be the bolder to mainteine your parte
Iohan thei do see that cowarde feare in you,
Shall not betraye ne saile their faithfull hartes.
If ones the death of Porrex ende the strife,
And paie the price of his vsurped Reigne,
Your Mother shall perswade the angry kynge,
The Lords your frends eke shall appease his rage
For thei be wise, and well thei can forsee,
That ere longe time your aged fathers death
will brynge a time when you shall well requite
Their frendlie fauour, or their hatefull spite.
Yea, or their slackenes to auaunce your cause
Wise men do not so hange on passyng state
Of present Princes, chiefely in their age.
But they will further cast their reachinge eye
To viewe and weigh the times & reignes to come
[Page] Ne is it lykely thoughe the kinge be wrothe
That he yet will, or that the Realme will beare
Extreme reuenge vpon his onelye sonne:
Or if he woulde, what one is he that dare
Be ministre to suche an enterprise.
And here you be nowe placed in your owne
Amyd your frendes, your vassalles & your strength
We shall defende and kepe your person safe
Tyll either counsell turne his tender minde
Or age, or sorowe ende his werie daies
But if the feare of Goddes and secrete grudge
Of Natures Lawe, repynynge at the facte,
Withholde your courage from so great attempt:
Knowe ye that lust of kingdomes hath no Lawe
The Goddes do beare and well allowe in kinges
The thinges they abhorre in rascall routes.
When kinges on sclender quarrels ron to warres
And than in cruell and vnkindely wise,
Cōmaunde theftes, rapes, murder of Innocentes
To spoile of townes, & reignes of mighty realmes
Thinke you such Princes do suppresse them selues
Subiect to Lawes of kinde and feare of Gods,
Yet none offence, but decked with glorious name
Of noble Conquestes in the handes of kinges,
Murders and violent theftes in priuate men
Are heynous crymes and full of foule reproche:
But if you like not yet so hote deuise,
Ne list to take suche vauntage of the time.
But thoughe with great perill of your state
You wil not be the first that shall inuade,
Assemble yet your force for your defence,
[Page] And for your safetie stande vpon your garde.
Dordan.
O heauen was there euer harde or knowen,
So wicked Counsell to a noble Prince?
Let me (my Lorde) disclose vnto your grace
This heynous tale, what mischiefe it conteynes:
Your fathers death, your brothers and your owns
your present murder and eternall shame:
Heare me (O king) and suffre not to sinke
So highe a treason in your Princelie brest.
Ferrex.
The mightie Goddes forbyd that euer I
Shuld once conceiue suche mischiefe in my harte
Althoughe my Brother hath bereft my Realme
And beare perhappes to me and hatefull minde.
Shall I reuenge it, with his death therfore?
Or shall I so destroy my fathers lyfe
That gaue me life? the Gods forbyd I saye,
Cease you to speake so any more to me
Ne you my friende with Aunswere once repeate
So foule a tale, in scilence let in die:
What Lorde or Subiect shall haue hope at all
That vnder me they safely shall enioye
Their goods, their honours, landes and liberties,
With whome, neither one onely brother deare
Ne father dearer, coulde enioye their lyues?
But sithe, I feare my younger brothers rage,
And sithe perhappes some other man may gyue
Some like aduise, to moue his grudging head
At mine estate: whiche counsell may perchaunce
Take greater force with him, than this with me,
[Page] I will in secrete so prepare my selfe,
As if his malice or his lust to reigne
Breake forth with Armes or sodeine violence
I may withstande his rage and kepe myns owne.
Dordan.
I feare the fatall time now draweth on
When ciuyll hate shall ende the noble lyne
Of famouse Brute and of his Royall seede
Great Ioue defende the mischiefes nowe at hande
O that the Secretaries wise aduise
Had erst ben harde whan he besought the kynge
Not to deuide his lande, nor sende his sonnes
To further partes from presence of his Courte
Ne yet to yelde to them his gouernaunce
Lo suche are they nowe in the Royall throne
As was rashe Phaeton in Phebus Carre
Ne then the fiery stedes did drawe the flame
With wilder randon through the kindled skies
Then traiterous councell now will wherle about
The youthfull heads of these vnskilfull kinges,
But I hereof their father will enforeme
The reuerence of him perhappes shall staye
The growing mischiefes, while thei yet are grene
If this helpe not, then wo vnto them selues,
The Prince, the people, the deuided lande.
Actus secundus, Scena secunda.
Porrex. Tyndar. Philander.
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
Porrex
[Page]ANd is it thus? And doth he so prepare
Against his Brother as his mortall foe?
And nowe whyle yet his aged father lyues:
Neither regardes be him? nor feares he me?
Warre would he haue? and he shall haue it so.
Tyndar.
I sawe my selfe the great prepared store
Of Horse, of Armours and of weapons there,
Ne brynge I to my Lorde reported tales
Without the ground of seene and serched trouthe
Loe secrete quarrelles ronne about his Courte
To bringe the name of you my Lorde in hate
Eche man almost can nowe debate the cause
And aske a reason of so great a wronge,
While he so noble and so wise a Prince,
Is as vnworthie rest his Heritage.
And whie the kinge mislead by craftie meanes
Deuided thus his lande from course of right.
The wiser sorte holde downe their griefull heades
Eche man withdrawes from talke and companie,
Of those that haue ben knowen to fauour you,
To hide the mischiefe of their meaninge there.
Rumours are spred of your preparynge here.
The Rascall nombres of the vnskilfull sorts
Are filled with monsterous tales of you and yours
In secrete I was counsailed by my friendes
To hast me thence, and brought you as you know
Letters from those, that both can truely tell
And would not write vnlesse they knewe it well.
Philander.
[Page]My Lorde, yet ere you nowe vnkindely warre,
Sende to your Brother to demaunde the cause.
Perhappes some trayterous tales haue filled his eares
wt false reports against your noble grace:
Which once disclosed shal ende the growing strife
That els not staied with wise foresight in time
Shall hazarde both your kingdomes & your lyues:
Sende to your father eke, he shall appeale
Your kindled mindes, and rid you of this feare.
Porrex.
Ridde me of feare? I feare him not at all:
Ne will to him, ne to my father sende
If daunger were for one to tarye there
Thinke ye it safely to retourne againe.
In mischiefes suche as Ferrex nowe intendes
The wanted courteous Lawes to Messengeres
Are not obserued, whiche in iust warre they vse,
Shall I so hazarde any one of myne?
Shall I betraie my trustie friende to hym?
That hath disclosed his treason vnto me?
Let him entreate that feares, I feare him not:
Or shall I to the kinge my father sende?
Yea and sende nowe while suche a mother lyues
That loues my Brother and that hateth mee?
Shall I geue leasure by my fonde delayes
To Forrex to oppresse me at vnware?
I will not, but I will inuade his Realme
And seeke the Traitour Prince within his Court
Mischiefe for mischiefe is a due rewarde.
His wretched head shall paie the worthie pryce
[Page] Of this his Treason and his hate to me
Shall I abide, entreate and sende and praie?
And holde my yelden throate to Traitours knife?
While I with valiaunt minde & conquering force
Might rid my selfe of foes: and winne a Realme,
Yet rather when I haue the wretches head,
Than to the king my father will I sende,
The booteles case may yet appease his wrath:
If not I will defend me as I maye.
Philander.
Loe here the ende of these two youthfull kings
The fathers deth, the reigne of their two realmes
O most vnhappy state of Counsellours
That light on so vnhappy Lordes and times
That neither can their good aduise be harde,
Yet must thei beare the blames of yll successe
But I will to the king their father haste
Ere this mischiefe come to that likely ende,
That if the mindefull wrath of wrekefull Gods
Since mightie Ilions fall not yet appeased
With these poore remnant of the Troians name
Haue not determinedlie vnmoued fate
Out of this Realme to rase the Brutish Line
By good aduise, by awe of fathers name
By force of wiser Lordes, this kindled hate
Maye yet be quentched, ere it consume vs all.
Chorus.
Whan youth not bridled with a guyding staie fraie,
Is left to randon of their owne delight
And welds whole Realmes, by force of soueraigne
[Page] Great is the daunger of vnmaistred might
Lest skilles rage throwe downe with headlong fal
Their lands, their states, their liues, them selues & all.
When growing pride doth fil the swelling brest
And gredy lust doth raise the clymbynge minde
Oh hardlie maye the perill be represt,
Ne feare of angrie Goddes, ne Lawes kinde,
Ne Countrie care can fiered hartes restrayne
Whan force hath armed Enuie and disdaine.
VVhan kinges of foreset wyll neglecte the rede,
Of best aduise, and yelde to pleasinge tales
That do their fansies noysome humour feede
He reason, nor regarde of right auailes
Succedinge heapes of plagues shall teache to late
To learne the mischiefes of misguydinge state.
Fowle fall the Traitour false that vndermines
The loue of Brethrene to destroye them bothe
Wo to the Prince, that pliant eare enclynes,
And yeldes his minde to poysonous tale, yt floweth
From flatterynge mouth, & wo to wretched lande
That wasts it selfe with ciuyll sworde in hande.
Loe, thus it is poyson in golde to take,
And holsome drinke in homely Cuppe forsake.
¶The order and signification of the dōme shewe before the thirde Act.
¶Firste the Musicke of Fluites began to plare, [Page] during which came in vpon the Stage a companye of Mourners all clad in blacke betokeninge Death and sorowe to ensue vpon the yll aduised misgouernement and discention of Bretherne, as befel vpon the Murder of Ferrex by his yonger Brother. After the Mourners had passed thryse about the stage, thei departed, and than the Musicke ceased.
Actus tertius. Scena prima.
Gorboduc. Eubulus. Arostus. Philander. Nuntius.
Gorboduc.
O Cruell fates, O mindfull wrath of Goddes▪
whose vēgeaūice neither Simois streined streames.
Flowing wt blood of Troian Princes slaine
Nor Phrygian fieldes made rancke wt Corpses dead
Of Asian kynges and Lordes can yet appease,
He slaughter of vnhappie Pryams race
Nor Ilions fall made leuell with the soile,
Can yet suffice: but still continued rage,
Pursue our lyues, and from the farthest Seas
Doth chast the issues of distroyed Troye:
Oh no man happie, tyll his ende be seene,
If any flowyng wealth and seemynge Ioye
In present yeresmight make a happy wight,
Happie was Hecuba the wofullest wretche
That euer lyued to make a Myrrour of
And happie Pryam with his noble sonnes,
And happie I till nowe, Alas, I see
[Page] And feele my most vnhappie wretchednes:
Beholde my Lordes, reade ye this Letter here
Loe it conteines the ruyne of our Realme
If timelie speede prouide not hastle helpe
Yet (O ye Goddes) if euer wofull kynge
Might moue you kings of kinges, wreke it on me
And on my Sonnes, not on this gilties Realme.
Sende down your wasting flames from wrathful skies
To reue me & my sōnes the hateful breath
Reade, reade my Lordes: this is the matter whie
I called ye nowe to haue your good aduyse.
¶The Letter from Dordan the Counsellour of the elder Prince.
Eubulus readeth the Letter.
MY Soueraigne Lord, what I am loth to write
But lothest am to see, that I am forced
By Letters nowe to make you vnderstande
My Lord Ferrex your eldest sonne mislead
By Traitours framde of yong vntempred wittes
Assembleth force against your yonger sonne,
Ne can my Counsell yet withdrawe the heate
And furyous panges of his enflamed head:
Disoaine (saieth he) of his inheritaunce
Armes him to wreke the great pretended wronge
With ciuyll sword vpon his Brothers life,
If present helpe do not restraine this rage
This flame will wast your sōnes, your land & you.
Your Maiesties faithfull and most humble Subiecte Dordan.
Arestus.
[Page]O King, appease your griefe & staie your plaint
Great is the matter and a wofull case
But timely knowledge maye bringe timely help
Sende for thē both vnto your presence here
The reuerence of your honour age and state
Your graue aduise, the awe of fathers name
Shall quickelie knit againe this broken peece:
And if in either of my Lordes your sonnes
Be suche vntamed and vnyelding pride
As will not bende vnto your noble Hestes.
If Ferrex the elder sonne can beare no peere.
Or Porrex not content, aspires to more
Then you him gaue, aboue his Natiue right:
Ioyne with the iuster side, so shall you force
Them to agree: and bolde the Lande in state.
Eubulus.
What meaneth this? Loe yonder cōmes in hast
Philander from my Lord your younger sonne.
Gorboduc.
The Goddes sende ioyfull newes.
Philander.
The mightie Ioue
Preserue your Maiestie, O noble kinge.
Gorboduc.
Philander, welcome: But how doth my sonne?
Philander.
Your sonne, sir, lyues and healthie I him left:
But yet (O kinge) this want of lustfull health
Could not be half so griefefull to your Grace,
As these most wretched tidynges that I brynge.
Gorboduc.
[Page]O heauens yet more? no ende of woes to [...]?
Philander.
Tyndar, O kyng, came lately from the Courte
Of Ferrex, to my Lorde your yonger sonne,
And made reporte of great prepared store
Of warre, and saith that it is whollic ment
Against Porrex for highe disdaine that he
Lyues nowe a kynge and egall in degree
With him, that claimeth to succede the whole.
As by due title of discedinge right
Porrex is nowe so set on flamynge fire,
Partely with kindled rage of cruell wrathe,
Partely with hope to gaine a Realme therby,
That he in haste prepareth to inuade
His Brothers Lande, and with vnkindely warre
Threatens the murder of your elder sonne,
Ne coulde I him perswade that first he should
Sende to his Brother to demaunde the cause,
Nor yet to you to staie his hatefull strife.
Wherfore sithe there no more I can be harde.
I come my selfe nowe to enforme your Grace:
And to beseche you, as you loue the liefe
And safetie of your Children and your Realme.
Nowe to emploie your wisdome and your force
To staie this mischiefe ere it be to late.
Gorboduc.
Are thei in Armes? would he not sende for me▪
Is this the honour of a Fathers name?
In vaine we trauaile to asswage their mindes
As if their hartes whome neither Brothers loue
[Page] Nor Fathers awe, nor kingdomes care can moue
Our Coūsels could withdrawe from ragyng heat
Ioue slaye them both, and ende the cursed Lyne
For though perhappes feare of such mightie force
As I my Lords, ioyned with your noble Aides
Maye yet raise, shall represse their present heate,
The secrete grudge and malyce will remayne
The fire not quentched, but kept in close restraint
Fead stil within, breakes forth with double flame
Their death and mine must peaze the angrie gods
Philander.
Yelde not, O king, so muche to weake dispaier
Your sonnes yet lyue, and long I trust, they shall:
Yf fates had taken you from earthly life
Before begynning of this ciuyll strife:
Perhaps your sonnes in their vnmaistered youth,
Lose from regarde of any lyuyng wight,
Wolde ronne on headlonge, with vnbridled Race
To their owne death and ruine of this Realme.
But sith the God that haue the care for kinges,
Of thinges and times dispose the order so
That in your life this kindled flame breakes forth
While yet your lyfe, your wisdome & your power,
Maye staie the growing mischiefe, and represse
The fierie blaze of their inkindled heate
It seemes, and so ye ought to deeme therof,
That louyng Ioue hath tempred so the time
Of this debate to happen in your daies
That you yet lyuynge maye the same appeaze.
And adde it to the glorie of your latter age
And they your sonnes maye learne to liue in peace
[Page] Beware (O kynge) the greatest harme of all,
Lest by your wayleful plaints your hastened death
Yelde larger roume vnto their growyng rage:
Preserue your lyfe, the onely hope of staie:
And if your highnes herein list to vse
Wisdome or force, Counsell or knightly aide:
Loe we our persons, powers and lyues are yours.
Vse vs tyll Death, O king, we are your owne.
Eubulus.
Loe here the perill that was erst forsene
When you, (O king) did first deuide your Lande
And yelde your present raigne vnto your sonnes.
But nowe (O noble Prince) nowe is no time
To wayle and plaine, and wast your wofull lyfe,
Nowe is the time for present good aduise,
Sorowe doth darke the Iudgement of the wytte
The Hart vnbroken and the courage free
From feble faintnes of booteles dispaier
Doth either ryse to safetie or renowme
By noble valure of vnuanquisshed minde
Or yet doth perishe in more happie sorte
Your Grace maye sende to either of your sonnes
Some one both wise and noble personage,
Which with good counsel & with weightie name
Of father shall present before their eyes
Your hest, your liefe, your safetie and their owne
The present mischiefe of their deadlie strife
And in the while, assemble you the force
Whiche your Cōmaundement and the spedie hast
Of all my Lordes here present can prepare:
The terrour of your mightie power shall steye
[Page] The rage of bothe, or yet one at lest.
Nuntius.
O King the greatest griefe that euer Prince dyd here
The euer wofull Messenger did tell,
That euer wretched Lande hath sene before
I brynge to you. Porrex your yonger sonne
With soden force, inuaded hath the lande
That you to Ferrex did allotte to rule:
And with his owne most bloudie hande he hath
His Brother slaine, and doth possesse his Realme.
Gorboduc.
O Heauēs send down the flames of your reuenge,
Destroie I saie wt flasshe of wrekefull fier
The Traitour sonne, and than the wretched sire:
But let vs go, that yet perhappes I maye
Die with reuenge, and peaze the hatefull gods.
Chorus.
The lust of kingdomes knowes no sacred faithe
No rule of Reason, no regarde of right
No kindlie loue, no feare of heauens wrathe:
But with contempt of Goddes, and mans despite,
Through blodie slaughter doth prepare the waies
To fatall Scepter and accursed reigne.
The sonne so lothes the fathers lingerynge daies.
Ne dreades his hand in Brothers blode to staine
O wretched Prince, ne doest thou yet recorde
The yet fresshe Murthers done within the Lande
Of thie forefathers, when the cruell sworde
Bereft Morgan his liefe with Cosyns hande?
Thus fatall plagues pursue the giltie race
Whose murderous hand imbrued wt giltles blood
[Page] Askes venge aunce before the heauens face,
With endles mischiefes on the cursed broode.
The wicked childe this bringes to wofull Sier
The mournefull plaintes to wast his wery life:
Thus do the cruell flames of Ciuyll fier
Destroye the parted reigne with hatefull strife
And hence doth spring the well frō which doth slo:
The dead black streames of mournings, plaints & woe.
¶The order and signification of the dōme shewe before the fourth Acte.
¶First the Musick of Howeboies began to plaie. duringe whiche there came forth from vnder the Stage, as thoughe out of Hell three Furies. Alecto, Megera & Ctesiphone clad in blacke garments sprinkled with bloud & flames, their bodies girt with snakes, their heds spread with Serpents in steade of heare, the one bearinge in her hande a Snake, the other a whip, & the thirde a burning Firebrande: eche driuynge before them a kynge and a Queene, whiche moued by Furies vnnaturallye bad slaine their owne Children. The names of the kinges & Queenes were these. Tantalus, Medea, Athamas, Ino, Cambises, Althea, after that the Furies and these had passed aboute the Stage thrise, they departed & than the Musicke ceased: hereby was signified the vnnaturall Murders to followe, that is to saie. Porrex slaine by his owne Mother. And of king Gorboduc and Queene Viden. killed by their owne Subiectes.
Actus quartus. Scena prima.
Vidensola.
Viden.
VVhy sould I lyue and lynger forth my tune
In longer liefe to double my distresse?
O me most wofull wight whome no mishap
Long ere this daie could haue bereued hence.
Mought not these handes by fortune or by fate,
Haue perst this brest and life with Iron reft,
Or in this Pallaice here where I so longe
Haue spent my daies, could not that happie houre▪
Ones, ones haue hapt I which these hugie frames
With death by fall might haue oppressed me
Or should not this most hard and cruell soile,
So eft where I haue prest my wretched steps
Somtyme had ruthe of myne accursed liefe,
To rende in twaine and swallowe me therin,
So had my bones possessed nowe in peace
Their happie graue within the closed grounde
And greadie wormes had gnawen this pyned hart
Without my feelyinge paine: So shulde not nowe
This lyuynge brest remayne the ruthefull tombe
Wherin my hart yelden to death is graued:
Nor driery thoughts with panges of pining griefe
My dolefull minde had not afflicted thus,
O my beloued sonne: O my swete childe,
My teare Ferrex, my Ioye, my lyues delyght.
Is my welbeloued sonne, is my sweete childe,
My deare Perrex, my Ioye, my lyues delight
[Page] Murdered with cruell death? O hatefull wretche,
O heynous Traytour bothe to heauen and earth,
Thou Porrex, thou this damned dede hast wrought
Thou Porrex, thou shalt dearely abye the same,
Traitour to kinne and kinde, to Sire and me,
To thyne owne flesshe, and Traitour to thy selfe
The Gods on the in hell shall wreke their wrath,
And here in earth this hand shall take reuenge
On the Porrex, thou false and caytife wighte,
If after blode, so eigre were thy thirst
And Murderous minde had so possessed thee,
If suche hard hart of Rocke and stonie Flint
Lyued in thy brest, that nothing elles could like
Thy cruell Tyrantes thought but death & bloode
Wild sauage beasts mought not y• slaughter serue
To fede thy gredie will, and in the myddest
Of their entrailes to staine thy deadlie handes
With blode deserued, and drinke therof thy fyll:
Or if nought els but death and bloud of man
Mought please thy lust, could none in Bryttain land
Whose hart be torne out of his louyng brest
With thine owne hand, or work what death thou woldest
Suffice to make a Sacrifice to appeaze woldest
That deadlie minde & murderous thought in the?
But he who in the self same wombe was wrapped
Where thou in dismall hower receiuedst life?
Or if nedes, nedes thi [...] hand must slaughter make
Moughist thou not haue reached a mortall wound
And wt thy sworde haue persed this cursed womb?
That the accursed Porrex brought to lyght?
And geuen me a iust rewarde therfore.
[Page] So Ferrex, if swete life mought haue enioyed
And to his aged father comfort brought,
wt some yong sonne in whom thei both might liue
But wherevnto wast I this ruthefull speche?
To the that hast thy brothers bloud thus shed
Shall I stil think yt from this womb thou sprong?
That I thee bare? or take thee for my sonne?
No Traytour, no: I the refuse for mine,
Murderer I thee renounce, thou art not mine:
Neuer, O wretche, this wombe conceued thee,
Nor neuer bode I painefull throwes for thee:
Changeling to me thou art, and not my childe
Nor to no wight, that sparke of pytie knewe,
Rutheles, vnkind, Monster of Natures worke.
Thou neuer suckte the milke of womans breaste
But from thy birth the cruell Tigres teates
Haue nursed, nor yet of flesshe and bloud
Formed is thy hart, but of hard Iron wrought.
And wilde and desert woods breade thee to lyfe:
But canst thou hope to scape my iust reuenge?
Or that these handes will not be wrooke on thee?
Doest thou not knowe that Ferrex mother lyues
That loued him more dearelie then her selfe?
And doth she lyue, and is not venged on thee?
Actus quartus. Scena secunda.
Gorboduc. Arostus Eubulus. Porrex. Marccilla.
Gorboduc.
WE marueyle muche wherto this lingeryng staie
[Page] Falles out so longe: Porrex vnto our Courte
By order of our Letters is retourned
And Eubulus receyued from vs by hest
At his arriuale here to geue him charge
Before our presence streight to make repaire
And yet we haue no worde wherof he staies.
Arostus
Loe where he cōmes and Eubulus with hym.
Eubulus.
Accordynge to your highnes hest to me
Here haue I Porrex brought euen in suche sort
As from his weried Horse he did alighte,
For that your Grace did will suche haste therein.
Gorboduc.
We like and praise this spedie wyll in you
To worke the thing that to your charge we gaue
Porrex, if we so farre shulde swarue from kinde,
And frō these bounds which lawes of Nature sets
As thou hast done by vile and wretched deede
In cruell murder of thy Brothers life,
Our present hande coulde staie no lenger tyme,
But streight should bathe this blade in bloud of the
As iust reuenge of thy detested cryme.
No. we shuld not offende the lawe of kinde,
If nowe this sworde of ours did slaie thee here:
For thou hast murdered him whose heinous death
Euen Natures force doth moue vs to reuenge
By bloud againe: But Iustice forceth vs
To measure Death for Death, thy due deserte,
Yet sithens thou art our childe, and sithe as yet
In this harde case what worde thou canst alledge
[Page] For thy defence, by vs hath not ben harde
We are content to staie our wyll for that
Whiche Iustice biddes vs presently to worke:
And geue the leaue to vse thie speache at full
If ought thou haue to laye for thine excuse.
Porrex.
Neither O kyng, I can or wyll denie
But that this hande from Ferrex lyfe hath reft:
Which fact how much my doleful hart doth waile
Oh would it mought as full appeare to sight
As inwarde griefe doth powre it forth to me,
So yet perhappes if euer ruthefull hart
Melting in teares within a manlie breast
Throughe depe repentaunce of his bloudie facte
If euer griefe, if euer wofull man
Might moue regreite with sorowe of his fault,
I thinke the torment of my mournefull case
Knowen to your grace, as I do feele the same,
Woulde force euen wrath her selfe to pytie mee.
But as the water troubled with the mudde
Shewes not the face whiche els the eye shulde see,
Euen so your Irefull minde with stirred thought,
Can not so perfectly discerne my cause.
But this vnhappe, emongst so many heapes
I must content me with, most wretched man,
That to my selfe I must referre my woe
In pynynge thoughts of myne accursed facte:
Sithens I may not shewe here my smallest griefe
Suche as it is, and as my breast endures,
Whiche I esteme the greatest myserie
Of all mishappes that Fortune nowe can sende.
[Page] Not that I rest in hope with plaints and teares
Should purchase life: for to the Goddes I clepe
For true recorde of this my faithfull speache,
Neuer this harte shall haue the thoughtfull dreade
To die the death that by your Graces dome
By iust desarte, shalbe pronounced to mee:
Nor neuer shal this tongue ones spend this speche
Pardon to craue, or seeke by sute to lyue:
I meane not this as though I were not touchde
With care of dreadfull death, or that I helde
Lyfe in contempt: but that I knowe, the mynde
Stoupes to no dreade, although the flesh be fraile,
And for my gilt, I yelde the same so great
As in my selfe I finde a feare to sue
For graunte of lyfe.
Gorboduc.
In vayne, O wretche thou shewe [...]
A wofull harte, Ferrex nowe lyes in graue,
Slaine by thy hande.
Porrex.
Yet this, O father, heare;
And than I ende: Your Maiestie well knowes,
That whan my Brother Ferrex and my selfe
By your owne hest were ioyned in gouernaunce
Of this your Graces Realme of Brittayne Lande
I neuer sought nor trauaylled for the same,
Nor by my selfe, or by no scende I wrought▪
But from your highnes will alone it spronge,
Of your most gracious goodnes bent to me,
But howe my Brothers hart euen than re [...]med
With swollen disdaine against mine egali rule
[Page] Seing that Realme, which by discent shuld grow
Whollie to him, allotted halfe to me?
Euen in your highnes Court he nowe remaynes,
And with my Brother than in nearest place
Who can recorde, what proofe therof was shewde
And how my brothers enuious hart appearde
Yet I that iudged it my parte to seeke
His fauour and good will, and lothe to make
Your highnes knowe, the thing which shuld haue brought
Grief to your grace, & your offēce to him
Hopyng by earnest suite shuld soone haue wonne
A louynge hart within a Brothers brest
Wrought in that sorte that for a pleadge of loue
And faithfull hart, he gaue to me his hande.
This made me thinke, that he had banisshed quite
All rancour from his thought and bare to me
Suche hartie loue, as I did owe to him:
But after once we left your Graces Court
And from your highnes presence liued aparte
This egall rule still, still did grudge him so
That nowe those Enuious sparkes which erst lay raked
In lyuing cinders of dissemblynge brest,
Kindled so farre within his hates disdaine
That longer could he not refraine from proofe
Of secrete practise to depriue me life
By Poysons force, and had bereft me so.
If myne owne Seruaunt hired to this fact
And moued by trouthe wt hate to worke the same,
In time had not bewraied it vnto mee:
Whan thus I sawe the knot of loue vnknitte
All honest League and faithfull promise broke
[Page] The Lawe of kind and trothe thus rent in twaine
His hart on mischiefe set, and in his brest
Blacke treason hid then, then did I dispaier
That euer tyme coulde wynne him frende to me
Than sawe I howe he smyled with slaying knife
Wrapped vnder cloke, then sawe I depe deceite
Lurke in his face and death prepared for mee:
Euen nature moued me than to holde my lyfe
More deare to me than his, and bad this hande
Since by his lyfe my death must nedes ensue,
And by his death my lyfe to be preserued:
To shed his bloud, and seeke my safetie so.
And wisdome willed me without protracte
In spedie wise to put the same in vre.
Thus haue I tolde the cause that moued me
To worke my Brothers death and so I yelde
My lyfe, my death to iudgement of your grace.
Gorboduc.
Oh cruell wight, shulde any cause preuaile
To make the staine thy hands with brothers blod
But what of thee we will resolue to doe
Shal yet remaine vnknowen: Thou in the meane
Shalt from our royall presence banyshed be
Vntill our Princely pleasure furder shall
To the be shewed, departe therfore our sight
Accursed childe. What cruell destenie
What frowarde fate hath sorted vs this chaunce
That euen in those, where we shuld comfort find
Where our delight nowe in our aged daies
Shulde rest and be, euen there our onelie griefe
And depest sorrowes to abridge our liefe,
[Page] Most pynyng cares and deadlie thoughts do graue yours
Arostus.
Your Grace shuld now in these graue yeres of
Haue founde ere this the price of mortall Ioyes,
Howe shorte they be, howe fadyng heare in earth
Howe full of chaunge, howe Brittle our estate,
Of nothynge sure, saue onely of the Death,
To whome both man and all the worlde doth owe
Their ende at last, neither shall natures power
In other sorte against your harte preuayle,
Than as the naked hande whose stroke assayes
The Armed breast where force doth light in vaine
Gorboduc.
Many can yelde right graue and sage aduise
Of pacient sprite to others wrapped in woe,
And can in speache both rule and conquere kinde,
Who if by proofe, they might feele natures force,
Wold shewe them selues men as thei are in dede,
which now wil nedes be gods: but what doth meane
The sory chere of her that here doth come?
Marcella.
Oh where is ruthe? or where is pytie nowe?
Whether is gentle harte and mercie fled?
Are they exiled out of our stony breasts
Neuer to make retourne? is all the worlde
Drowned in bloode, and soncke in crueltie?
If not in women mercie maye be founde
If not (alas) within the mothers brest
To her owne childe, to her owne flesshe and blood
If ruthe be banisshed thence, if pytie there
Maye haue no place, if there no gentle harte
[Page] Do lyue and dwell, where shuld we seeke it than?
Gorboduc.
Madame (alas) what meanes your woful tale?
Marcella.
O sillie woman I, why to this howre,
Haue kinde and fortune thus deferred my breathe
That I shuld lyue to see this dolefull daye
Will euer wight beleue that suche harde harte
Coulde rest within the cruell mothers breaste,
With her owne hande to slaye her onely sonne?
But out (alas) these eyes behelde the same,
They sawe the driery sight, and are become
Most ruthfull recordes of the bloodie facte.
Porrex, (alas) is by his mother slayne,
And with her hand a wofull thynge to tell,
While slomberinge on his carefull bed he restes
His hart stalde in with kniefe is reft of life.
Gorboduc.
O Eubulus, oh drawe this sworde of ours,
And perce this hart with speede, O hatefull light,
O lothsome liefe, O sweete and welcome Death,
Dere Eubulus worke this we thee beseche.
Eubulus.
Patient your Grace, perhappes he liueth yet.
With wounde receued, but not of certayne death.
Gorboduc.
O let vs than repaier, vnto the place,
And see if that Porrex, or thus be slame.
Marcella.
Alas he liueth not, it is to true,
That with these eies of him a pereles Prince,
[Page] Sonne to a King, and in the flower of youth,
Euen with a twinke a censeles stocke I sawe.
Arostus
O dampned deed.
Marcella.
But heare this ruthefull ende.
The noble Prince perst with the sodeine wounde
Out of his wretched slombre hastelie starte
Whole strēgth now failyng streight he ouerthrew
When in the fall his eyes euen newe vnclosed
Behelde the Quene and cryed to her for helpe
We then, alas, the Ladies whiche that tyme
Did there attende, seynge that heynous deede
And hearing him oft call the wretched name
Of mother, and to crie to her for Aide
Whose direfull hand gaue him the mortal wound
Pitieng, (alas, for nought els could we do)
His ruthefull ende, ranne to the wofull bedde
Dispoyled streight his brest, and all we might
wyped in vaine with napkyns next at hande,
The sodeine streames of blood that flusshed fast
Out of the gaping wounde: O what a looke,
O what a ruthefull stedfast eye me thought
He fixed vpon my face, whiche to my deathe
Will neuer parte fro me, when with a braide
Adeepe set signe he gaue and therewith all
Claspinge his handes, to heauen he cast his sight▪
And streight pale death pressyng within his face
The flyinge ghoste his mortall corps forsooke.
Arostus.
Neuer did age bring forth so vile a facte.
Marcella.
[Page]O harde and cruell happe, that thus assigned
Vnto so worthie a wighte so wretched ende
But most harde cruell harte, that coulde consent
To lende the hatefnll destenies that hande
By whiche, alas, so heynous cryme was wrought,
O Queene of Adamante, O Marble breaste
If not the fauour of his comelie face,
If not his Princelie chere and counten [...]unce,
His valiant Actiue Armes, his manlie breaste.
If not his faier and semelie personage
His noble Lymmes in suche preparacion caste
As would haue wrapped a sillie womans thought
If this mought not haue moued the bloodie harte
And that most cruell hande the wretched weapon
Euen to let fall, and kiste him in the face,
With teares for ruthe to reaue suche one by death
Should nature yet consent to slaye her sonne
O mother, thou to murder thus thie childe
Euen Ioue with Iustice must wt lightening flames
From heauen send down some strange reuenge on thee.
Ah noble Prince, how oft haue I beheld
Thee mounted on thy fierce and traumpling stede
Shyning in Armour bright before the Tylte
And with thy Mistresse Sleaue tied on thy Helme
And charge thy staffe to please thy Ladies eie
That howed the head peece of thy frendly foe,
Howe oft in Armes on horse to bende the Mace
Howe oft in Armes on foote to breake the sworde,
Whiche neuer nowe these eyes men [...] againe.
Arostus.
[Page]Madame, alas, in vaine these plaints are shed.
Rather with me departe and helpe to asswage,
The thoughtfull griefes that in the aged kings
Must nedes by nature growe by death of this
His onelie sonne, whome he did holde so deare.
Marcella.
What wight is that whiche sawe that I did see
And could refraine to waile with plainte & teares
Not I, alas, that harte is not in me,
But let vs goe, for I am greued anewe,
To call to minde the wretched fathers woe.
Chorus.
Whan gredie lust in Royall seate to reigne
Hath reft all care of goddes and eke of men,
And cruell hart, wrathe, Treason and disdaine
Within the ambicious breast are lodged then
Beholde howe mischiefe wide her selfe displaies
And with the brothers hande the brother slaies.
When blood thus shed, doth staine this heauens face
Crying to Ioue for vengeaunce of the deede,
The mightie God euen moueth from his place
With wrathe to wreke, then sendes he forth with spede
The dreadful furies, daughters of ye night
With Serpents girt, carying the whip of Ire,
With heare of stinging snakes and shining bright
With flames and blood, and with a brande of fire:
These for reuenge of wretched Murder done
Do make the Mother kill her onelie sonne.
Blood asketh blood, & death must death requite
Ioue by his iust and euerlasting dome
Iustly hath euer so requited it
These times before recorde, and tymes to come,
Shall finde it true, and so doth present proofe,
Present before our eies for our behoofe.
O happie wight that suffres not the snare
Of murderous minde to tangle him in bloode▪
And happie he that can in time beware
By others harmes and tourne it to his goode
But wo to him that fearing not to offende
Doth serue his lust, and will not see the ende.
¶The order and signification of the dōme shewe before the fifthe Acte.
¶Firste the Drommes and Fluites, beganne to sounde, durynge whiche there came foorth vpon the Stage a companie of Hargabusiers and of Armed men all in order of Battaile. These after their Peeces discharged, and that the Armed men had three tymes marched aboute the Stage, departed, and then the Drommes and Fluits did cease. Hereby was signified tumults, rebellions, Armes and ciuyll warres to folowe▪ as fel in the Realme of great Brittayne, which by the space of fiftie yeares and more continued in ciuyll warre betwene the Nobylytie after the death of king Gorboduc, & of his Issues, for wante
[Page] of certayne lymitacion in the Succession of the
Crowne, till the time of Dunwalle Molmutius,
who reduced the Lande to Monarche.
Actus quintus. Scena prima.
Clotyn. Mandud. Gwenard. Fergus. Eubulus.
Clotyn.
DId euer age bring forth such Tirants hartes
The Brother hath bereft the Brothers lyfe,
The Mother she hath died her cruell handes
In bloud of her owne sonne, and nowe at last
The people loe forgettyng trouthe and loue,
Contemnynge quite both Lawe and loyall harte
Euen they haue slayne their soueraigne Lord and Quene.
Mandud.
Shall this their trayterous crime vnpunished rest
Euen yet they cease not, caryed out with rage,
In their rebellious routes, to threaten stil
A newe bloode shedde vnto the Princes kinne
To slaie them all, and to vproote the race
Both of the kyng and Queene, so are they moued
With Porrex deathe, wherin they falsely charge
The giltles kinge without desarte at all
And traiterouslie haue murdered him therfore,
And eke the Queene.
Gwenard.
Shall Subiectes dare with force
To worke reuenge vpon their Princes facte?
Admyt the worst that maye: as sure in this
[Page] The dede was fowle, the Quene to slaie her sonne
Shall yet the Subiecte seeke to take the sworde?
Arise agaynst his Lorde, and slaie his kynge?
O wretched state, where those rebellious hartes
Are not rent out euen from their lyuynge breasts
And with the bodie throwen vnto the Fowles
As Carrion foode, for terrour of the rest.
Fergus.
There can no punisshement be thought to greate
For this so greuous cryme: let spede therfore
Be vsed therin for it behoueth so.
Eubulus.
Ye all my Lordes I see consent in one
And I as one consent with ye in all:
I holde it more than nede with the sharpest Lawe
To punisshe the tumultuous bloodie rage
For nothynge more maye shake the cōmen state
Than sufferaunce of Vproares without redresse
Wherby how some kingdomes of mightie power
After great Conquestes made, and floorishing
In fame and wealth haue ben to ruyne brought
I praie to Ioue that we may rather wayle
Suche happe in them than witnes in our selues
Eke fullie with the Duke my minde agrees
That no cause serues, wherby the Subiect maye
Call to accompt the doynges of his Prince.
Muche lesse in bloode by sworde to worke reuenge
No more then maye the hande cut of the heade,
In Acte nor speache, no: not in secrete thoughte
The Subiect maye rebell against his Lorde
Or Iudge of him that sittes in Ceasars Seate.
[Page] With grudging mind do damne those Hemislikes
Though kinges forget to gouerne as they ought,
Yet Subiectes must obey as they are bounde:
But nowe my Lordes before ye farder wade
Or spend your speach, what sharp reuenge shal fal
By iustice plague on these rebellious wights
Me thinkes ye rather should first searche the waye
By whiche in time the rage of this vproare
Mought be repressed, & these great tumults ceased
Euen yet the life of Brittayne Lande doth hange.
In Traitours Balaunce of vnegall weight
Thinke not my Lords the death of Gorboduc
Nor yet Videnaes bloode will cease their rage:
Euen our owne lyues, our wiues and children,
Our Countrey dearest of all in daunger standes,
Nowe to be spoiled, nowe, nowe made desolate,
And by our selues a conquest too ensue:
For geue ones sweye vnto the peoples lusts,
To russhe forth on, and staye them not in time,
And as the streame that rowleth downe the hyll,
So wil thei headlong ronne wt raging thoughtes
From bloode to bloode, from mischiefe vnto moe,
To ruyne of the Realme, them selues and all
So giddle are the cōmon peoples mindes,
So glad of chaunge, more waueryng than the Sea
Ye see (my Lordes) what strength these Rebelles haue,
What hugie nombre is assembled still,
For though the traiterous fact, for which their rose
Be wrought and done, yet lodge thei still in fielde
So that howe farre their furies yet wyll stretche
Great cause we haue to dreade, that we may seeke
By present Battaile to represse their power.
[Page] Speede must we vse to leuie force therfore,
For either they forthwith will mischiefe worke
Or their rebellious roares forthwith will cease:
These violent thinges may haue no lasting loude
Let vs therfore vse this for present helpe
Perswade by gentle speache, and offre grace
With gifte of pardon saue vnto the chiefe,
And that vpon condicion that forthewith
They yelde the Captaines of their enterpryse
To beare suche querdon of their traiterous facte
As may be both due vengeaunce to them selues,
And holsome terrour to posteritie.
This shall I thinke: flatter the greatest parte
That nowe are holden with desire of home,
Weried in fielde with could of Winters nightes,
And some (no doubt) striken with dread of Lawe
Whan this is ones proclaymed, it shall make
The Captaines to mistruste the multitude
Whose safetie biddes them to betraye their heads
And so muche more bycause the rascall routes,
In thinges of great and perillous attemptes,
Are neuer trustie to the noble race.
And while we treate & scande on termes of grace,
We shal both staie their furies rage the while,
And eke gaine time, whose onely helpe sufficeth
Withouten warre to vanquisshe Rebelles power
In the meane while, make you in redynes
Suche bande of Horsemen as ye maye prepare:
Horsemen (you know) are not the Comons strēgth
But are the force and store of noble men
Wherby the vnchosen and vnarmed sorte
[Page] Of sk [...]she Rebelles, whome none other power
But nombre makes to be of dreadfull force
With sodeyne brunt maye quickely be oppreste
And if this gentle meane of proffered grace
With stubborne hartes cannot so farre auayle
As to asswage their desperate courages.
Than do I wisshe suche slaughter to be made,
As present age and eke posteritie
Maye be adrad with horrour of reuenge,
That iustly than shall on these rebelles fall:
This is my Lordes the sōme of mine aduise.
Clotyn.
Neyther this case admittes debate at large,
And though it did: this speache that hath ben saide
Hath wel abridged the tale I would haue tolde:
Fullie with Eubulus do I consente
In all that he hath saide: and if the same
To you my Lordes, may seeme for best aduise,
I wisshe that it shoulde streight be put in vre.
Mandud.
My Lordes than let vs presentlie departe
And folowe this that lyketh vs so well.
Fergus.
If euer time to gaine a kingdome here
Were offred man, nowe it is offred mee:
The Realme is reft bothe of their kyng & Quene
The ofspringe of the Prince is slaine and dead
No issue nowe remaines, the Heire vnknowen,
The people are in Armes and mutynies
The Nobles thei are busied howe to cease
These great rebellious tumultes and vproars
[Page] And Brittayne Lande nowe deserte left alone
Amyd these broyles vncertaine where to rest
Offers her selfe vnto that noble harte
That wyll or dare pursue to beare her Crowne:
Shall I that am the Duke of Albanye
Discended from that Lyne of noble bloode.
Whiche hath so longe floorisshed in worthie fame
Of valiaunt hartes, suche as in noble Breasts
Of right shulde rest aboue the baser sorte,
Refuse to aduenture liefe to winne a Crowne,
Whome shall I finde enemies that will wtstande
My facte herein, if I attempte by Armes
To seeke the Fame nowe in these times of broyle
These Dukes power can hardlie well appease
The people that alredie are in Armes.
But if perhappes my force be ones in fielde
Is not my strength in power aboue the best
Of all these Lordes nowe left in Brittaine Lande.
And though they shuld match me wt power of men
Yet doubtfull is the chaunce of Battailles ioyned
If Victors of the fielde we may departe,
Ours is the Scepter than of great Brittayne,
If slayne amid the playne this body be
Mine enemies yet shall not deny me this,
But that I died gyuynge the noble charge
To hazarde life for conquest of a Crowne.
Forthwith therfore will I in poste depart
To Albanye and raise in Armour there
All power I can: and here my secrete friendes,
By secrete practise shall sollicite still,
To seeke to wynne to me the peoples hartes.
Actus quintus. Scena secunda.
Eubulus. Clotyn. Mandud. Gwenard. Arostus Nuntius.
Eubulus.
O Ioue, Howe are these peoples hartes abusde
what blind Furie, thus headlong caries thē?
That though so many bokes, so many rolles
Of Auncient time recorde what greuous plagues,
Light on these Rebelles aye and thoughe so ofte
Their eares haue hard their aged fathers tell
What iust rewarde these Traitours still receyue.
Yea though them selues haue sene depe death and blod
By strangling cord & slaughter of the sword
To suche assigned, yet can they not beware:
Yet can they not staie their rebellious handes,
But suffring to fowle treason to distaine
Their wretched myndes, forget their loyall harte,
Reiecte all trueth and rise against their Prince,
A ruthefull case that those, whome duties bounde
Whome grafted Lawe by nature trueth and faith
Bounde to preserue their Coūtrey and their king
Borne to defende their Cōmon wealth & Prince,
Euen they shulde geue consent thus to subuerte
The Brittaine Land, & from the wombeshuld bring
(O natyue soile) those, that will nedes destroye
And ruyne thee and eke them selues in fine:
For lo, when ones the Duke had offred Grace
Of pardon sweete (the multitude mislead
By traiterous fraude of their vngracious heades)
One sorte that sawe the daungerous successe
[Page] Of stubborne standynge in rebellious warre
And knewe the difference of Princes power
From headles nombre of tumultuous routes,
Whom cōmen Countreies care and priuate feare
Taught to repent the terrour of their rage
Laide handes vpon the Capatines of their bande,
And brought them bound vnto the mightie Dukes
An other sorte not trusting yet so well
The trueth of Pardon or mistrusting more
Their owne offence than that thei could conceiue
Suche hope of pardon for so foule misdede:
Or for that they their Captaines could not yeld
Who fearinge to be yelded, flead before,
Stale home by scilence of the secrete night,
The thirde vnhappie and vnraged sorte
Of desperate harts, who stained in Princes blood
From trayterous furour could not be withdrawen
By loue, by lawe, by grace, ne yet by feare,
By proffered lyfe, ne yet by threatened Death,
With mindes hopeles of liefe, dreadles of Deathe,
Careles of Countrey, and aweles of God:
Stoode bente to fighte as Furies did them moue
With violent death to close their traiterous lyfe:
These all by power of Horsemen were opprest
And with reuenging sworde slayne in the fielde,
Or with the strangling Cord hanged on the trees
Where yet the carryen Carcases do proche
The fruites that Rebelles reape of their vproars,
And of the murder of their sacred Prince,
But loe, where do approche the noble Dukes,
By whom these tumults haue ben thus appeasde.
Clotyn.
[Page]I thinke the worlde wyll now at length beware▪
And feare to put on armes agaynst their Prince.
Mandud.
If not: those trayterous hartes that dare rebell
Let them beholde the wide and hugie fieldes
With bloode & bodie spread with rebelles slayne,
The lustie trees clothed with corpses dead
That strangled with the corde do hange therin.
Arostus.
A iust rewarde suche as all tymes before
Haue euer lotted to those wretched folkes.
Gwenard.
But what meanes he that cōmeth here so fast.
Nuntius.
My Lords, as duetie and my trouth doth moue
And of my Countrey worke and care in mee
That if the spendynge of my breath auaile
To do the Seruice that my harte desires,
I would not shunne to imbrace a present death,
So haue I nowe in that wherein I thought
My trauayle mought perfourme some good effect [...]
Ventred my liefe to bringe these tydinges here.
Fergus the mightie Duke of Albanye
Is nowe in Armes and lodgeth in the fielde
With twentie thousand men, hether he bendes
His spedie marcke, & minds to inuade the Crowne
Dayly he gathereth strength and spreads abrode
That to this Realme no certeine Heire remaines,
That Brittayne Lande is left without a guyde,
That he the Scepter seekes, for nothing els
[Page] But to preserue the people and the Lande
Whiche now remaine as ship without a Sterne
Loe this is that whiche I haue hereto saide.
Clotyn.
Is this his fayth? and shall he falsely thus
Abuse the vauntage of vnhappie times?
O wretched Lande, if his outragious pride,
His cruell and vntempred wilfulnes
His deepe dissemblinge shewes of false pretence
Should once attaine the Crowne of Brittayn lande
Let vs my Lords, with tymely force resist
The newe attempt of this our cōmon foe
As we would quenche the flames of cōmen fire.
Mandud.
Though we remaine without a certayn Prince
To weld the Realme or guide the wandring rule
Yet nowe the cōmen Mother of vs all,
Our Natiue Lande, our Countrey that conteines
Our wiues, children, kyndred, our selues and all
That euer is or maye be deare to man
Cries vnto vs to helpe our selues and her:
Let vs aduaunce our powers to represse
This growynge foe of all our liberties.
Gwenard.
Yea let vs so my Lordes with hastie spede,
And ye (O Goddes) sende vs the welcome death,
To shed our bloode in fielde and leaue vs not,
In lothe some life to lenger out our lyues
To see the hugie heapes of these vnhappes,
That nowe roll downe vpon the wretched Lande
Where emptie place of Princelie gouernaunce
[Page] No certayne staie nowe left of doubtles heire,
Thus leaue this guidelesse Realme an open pray,
To endlesse stormes and wast of ciuyll warre.
Arostus.
That ye (my Lordes) do so agree in one
To saue your Countrey from the violent reigne
And wrongfullie vsurped Tirrannie
O [...] him that threatens conquest of you all
To saue your realme, & in this realme your selues
From forreyne thraldome of so proude a Prince,
Muche do I praise, and I beseche the Goddes,
With happie honour to requite it you.
But (O my Lords) sithe now the Heauens wrath
Hath reft this Lande the issue of their Prince:
Sithe of the body of our late Soueraine Lorde
Remaines no mo, since the yong kinges be slaine
And of the Title of the discended Crowne,
Vncerteynly the diuerse mindes do thinke
Euen of the Learned sorte, and more vncertainlye
Will perciall fancie and affection deeme:
But most vncertenlye wyll clymbynge pride
And hope of Reigne withdrawe frō sondrie partes
The doubtfull right and hopefull lust to reigne.
When ones this noble seruice is atchieued
For Brittayne Lande the Mother of ye all,
When ones ye haue with armed force represt,
The proude attemptes of this Albanyan Prince,
That threatens thraldome to your Natiue Lande,
When ye shall vanquishers retourne from fielde
And finde the Princely state an open praye.
To gredie lust and to vsurping power,
[Page] Then, then (my Lordes) if euer kindely care
Of auncient Honour of your auncestoures,
Of present wealth and noblesse of your stockes:
Yea of the lyues and safetie yet to come
Of your deare wyues, your children & your selues,
Might moue your noble hactes with gentle ruthe,
Then, then haue pytie on the torne estate,
Then helpe to salue the well neare hopeles sore
Whiche ye shall do, if ye your selues with holde
The sleayng knife from your own mothers throte
Her shall you saue, and you, and yours in her
If ye shall all with one assent forbeare
Ones to laye hande or take vnto your selues
The Crowne by colour of [...]tended right,
Or by what other meanes so euer it be
Tyll first by cōmen counsell of you all
In Parliament the Regall Diademe
Be set in certayne place of gouernaunce,
In whiche your Parliament and in your choise,
Preserve the right (my Lordes,) without respecte
Of strenght of frendes, or what so euer cause
That maye set forwarde any others parte,
For right will last, and wrong can not endure,
Right meane I his or hers, vpon whose name
The people rest by meane of Native lyne,
Or by the vertue of some former Lawe,
Alreadie made their title to aduaunce:
Suche one (my Lordes) let be your chosen kynge
Suche one so borne within your Natyue Lande
Suche one preferre, and in no wise adinitte.
The heauie yoke of forreine gouernaunce,
[Page] Let forreine Titles yelde to Publike wealthe,
And with that hart wherewith ye nowe prepare
Thus to withstande the proude inuadynge foe,
With that same harte (my Lordes) kepe out also
Vnnaturall thraldome of straungers reigne,
Ne suffre you against the rules of kinde
Your Mother Lande to serue a Forreine Prince.
Eubulus.
¶Loe here the ende of Brutus royall Lyne,
And loe the entrie to the wofull wracke
And vtter ruyne of this noble Realme.
The royall kinge, and eke his sonnes are slaine,
No Ruler restes within the Regall Seate:
The Heire, to whō the Scepter longs, vnknowen
That to eche force of Forreine Princes power
Whome vauntage of your wretched state
By sodaine Armes to gaine so riche a Realme
And to the proude and gredie minde at home
Whom blinded lust to reigne leades to aspire.
Loe Brittaiue Realme is left an open praye,
A present spoile by Conquest to ensue,
Who seeth not nowe howe many risyng mindes
Do feede their thoughts, wt hope to reach a Realm
And who will not by force attempt to winne
So great a gaine that hope perswades to haue:
A simple colour shall for title serue.
Who winnes the Royal crown wil want no right
Nor suche as shall displaye by longe discent
A lyneall race to proue him selfe a kynge,
In the meane while these ciuyll armes shall rage,
And thus a thousande mischiefes shall vnfolde
[Page] And farre & neare spread thee (O Brittayne Lande)
All right and Lawe shall cease, and he that had
Nothyng to daye, to morowe shall enioye
Great heapes of good, & he that flowed in wealth,
Leo he shall be reft of lyfe and all,
And happiest he that than possesseth least.
The wyues shall suffre rape, the maydes defloured
And children fatherles shall weepe and wayle:
With fire & sworde thy Natiue folke shal perisshe.
One kinsman shall bereaue an other life,
The father shall vnwittynge slaye the sonne,
The sonne shall slea the sire and knowe it not:
Women and maides the cruell Souldiours sword
Shall perse to death, and sillie children loe
That playinge in the strea [...]es & fieldes are founde
By violent hande shall close their latter daye.
Whome shall the ferce and bloudie Souldiour
Reserue to liefe, whome shall he space from death
Euen thou (O wretched mother) half alyue
Thou shalt beholde thy deare and onely childe
Slaine wt the sworde while he yet suckes thy brest:
Loe, giltles bloode shall thus eche where be shed:
Thus shall the wasted soile yelde forth no fruite
But derth and famyne shal possesse the Lande.
The Townes shal be consumed & brent with fire,
The peopled Cities shall ware desolate,
And thou (O Brittaine Land) whilom in renowme
Whilome in wealth and fame shalt thus be torne,
Dismembred thus, and thus be rent in twayne,
Thus wasted and defaced, spoiled and destroied:
These be the fruits your ciuill warres wil bring.
[Page] Heretost cōmes when kinges will not consent,
To graue aduise, but folow wilfull wyll:
This is the ende, when in yonge Princes hartes
Flattery preuayles, and sage rede hath no place:
These are the plages, when murder is the meane
To make newe Heires vnto the Royall Crowne.
Thus wreke the Gods, whē ye the mothers wrath
Nought but y• blood of her owne child may swage.
These mischiefes springs whē Rebelles wil arise,
To worke reuenge and iudge their Princes facte:
This, this ensues when noble men do faile
In loyall trouthe, and subiectes will be kinges.
And this doth growe when loe vnto the Prince,
Whome death or sodene happe of liefe bereaues,
No certayne Heire remaines, suche certentie
As not all onely is the rightfull Heire,
But to the Realme is so made vnknowen to be
And trouth therby vested in Subiectes hartes,
To owe faith there, where right is knowen to rest
Alas, in Parliament what hope can bee,
When is of Parliament no hope at all,
Whiche thoughe it be assembled by consent,
Yet is it not likely with consent to ende:
While eche one for him selfe, or for his frende
Against his foe, shall trauaile what he maye,
While nowe the state left open to the man,
That shall with greatest force inuade the same,
Shall fill ambicious minds with gapynge hope:
When will they ones with yelding harts agree?
Or in the while, howe shall the Realme he vsed?
No, no: then Parliament should haue ben holden
[Page] And certaine Heires appoynted to the Crowne
To staie their title of establisshed righte:
And plant the people in obedience
While yet the Prince did liue, whose name and power
By lawfull Sōmons and auctorytie
Might make a Parliament to be of force,
And might haue set the state in quiet staye:
But nowe (O happie man) whome spedie death
Depriues of lyfe, ne is enforced to see
These hugie mischiefes and these miseries,
These ciuyll wars, these murders & these wrongs
Of Iustice, yet must Ioue in fyne restore
This noble Crowne vnto the lawfull Heire:
For right will alwayes liue, and rise at lengthe,
But wronge can neuer take deepe roote to last.
¶The ende of the Tagedie of Kynge Gorboduc.