A King, and No King. Beaumont Francis
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n'ere saw such suddain extremities.
[Exeunt.
Enter Tigranes and Spaconia.
Tigr.
Why? wilt thou have me die Spaconia.
What should I do?
Spa.
Nay let me stay alone,
And when you see Armenia again,
You shall behold a Tomb more worth than I;
Some friend that ever lov'd me or my cause,
Will build me something to distinguish me
From other women, many a weeping verse
He will lay on, and much lament those maids,
That plac'd their loves unfortunately high,
As I have done, where they can never reach;
But why should you go to Iberia?
Tigr.
Alas, that thou wilt ask me, ask the man
That rages in a Fever why he lies
Distempered there, when all the other youths
Are coursing o're the Meadows with their Loves?
Can I resist it? am I not a slave
To him that conquer'd me?
Spa.
That conquer'd thee Tigranes! he has won
But half of thee, thy body, but thy mind
May be as free as his, his will did never
Combate thine, and take it prisoner.
Tigr.
But if he by force convey my body hence,
What helps it me or thee to be unwilling?
Spa.
O Tigranes, I know you are to see a Lady there,
To see, and like I fear: perhaps the hope
Of her make[s] you forget me, ere we part,
Be happier than you know to wish; farewel.
Tigr.
Spaconia, stay and hear me what I say:
In short, destruction meet me that I may
See it, and not avoid it, when I leave
To be thy faithful lover: part with me
Thou shalt not, there are none that know our love,
And I have given gold unto a Captain
That goes unto Iberia from the King,
That he will place a Lady of our Land
With the Kings Sister that is offered me;
Thither shall you, and being once got in
Perswade her by what subtil means you can
To be as backward in her love as I.
Spa.
Can you imagine that a longing maid
When she beholds you, can be pull'd away
With words from loving you?
Tigr.
Dispraise my health, my honesty, and tell her I am jealous.
Spa.
Why, I had rather lose you: can my heart
Consent to let my tongue throw out such words,
And I that ever yet spoke what I thought,
Shall find it such a thing at first to lie?
Tigr.
Yet do thy best.
Enter Bessus.
Bes.
What, is your Majesty ready?
Tigr.
There is the Lady, Captain.
Bes.
Sweet Lady, by your leave, I co[u]ld wish my self more full of Courtship for your fair sake.
Spa.
Sir I shall feel no want of that.
Bes.
Lady, you must hast, I have received new letters from the King that require more hast than I expected, he will follow me suddenly himself, and begins to call for your Majesty already.
Tigr.
He shall not do so long.
Bes.
Sweet Lady, shall I call you my Charge hereafter?
Spa.
I will not take upon me to govern your tongue Sir, you shall call me what you please.
Actus Secundus
Enter Gobrias, Bacurius, Arane, Panthe, and Mandane, Waiting-women with Attendants.
Gob.
My Lord Bacurius, you must have regard unto the Queen, she is your prisoner, 'tis at your peril if she make escape.
Bac.
My Lord, I know't, she is my prisoner from you committed; yet she is a woman, and so I keep her safe, you will not urge me to keep her close, I shall not shame to say I sorrow for her.
Gob.
So do I my Lord; I sorrow for her, that so little grace doth govern her: that she should stretch her arm against her King, so little womanhood and natural goodness, as to think the death of her own Son.
Ara.
Thou knowst the reason why, dissembling as thou art, and wilt not speak.
Gob.
There is a Lady takes not after you,
Her Father is within her, that good man
Whose tears weigh'd down his sins, mark how she weeps,
How well it does become her, and if you
Can find no disposition in your self
To sorrow, yet by gracefulness in her
Find out the way, and by your reason weep:
All this she does for you, and more she needs
When for your self you will not lose a tear,
Think how this want of grief discredits you,
And you will weep, because you cannot weep.
Ara.
You talk to me as having got a time fit for your purpose; but you should be urg'd know I know you speak not what you think.
Pan.
I would my heart were Stone, before my softness
Against my mother, a more troubled thought
No Virgin bears about; should I excuse
My Mothers fault, I should set light a life
In losing which, a brother and a King
Were taken from me, if I seek to save
That life so lov'd, I lose another life
That gave me being, I shall lose a Mother,
A word of such a sound in a childs ears
That it strikes reverence through it; may the will
Of heaven be done, and if one needs must fall,
Take a poor Virgins life to answer all.
Ara.
But