Arch. With her consent, not otherwise. You may urge

Your title in the court; if it prove good,
Possess her freely: Guard him safely off too.
Timag. You'll hear me, sir?
Arch. If you have aught to say,
Deliver it in public; all shall find
A just judge of Timoleon.
Diph. You must

Of force now use your patience.

[Exeunt ARCH. DIPH. and Guards.

Timag. Vengeance rather!

Whirlwinds of rage possess me: you are wronged Beyond a stoic's sufferance; yet you stand

As

you were rooted.

Leost. I feel something here,

That boldly tells me, all the love and service

I pay Cleora is another's due,

And therefore cannot prosper.
Timag. Melancholy;

Which now you must not yield to.

Leost. Tis apparent:

In fact your sister 's innocent, however

Changed by her violent will.

Timag. If you believe so,

Follow the chace still; and in open court

He shall have favour. Bring him in unbound:
[Exeunt Officers.
And, though Leósthenes may challenge from me,
For his late worthy service, credit to
All things he can alledge in his own cause,
Marullo (so I think you call his name)
Shall find I do reserve one ear for him,

Enter CLEON, ASOTUS, DIPHILUS, OLYMPIA, and CORISCA.

To let in mercy. Sit, and take your places:
The right of this fair virgin first determined,
Your bondmen shall be censured.
Cleon. With all rigour

We do expect

Cor. Tempered, I say, with mercy.

Enter at one door LEOSTHENES and TIMAGORAS; at the other, Officers with PISANDER and TIMANDRA.

Timol. Your hand, Leosthenes: I cannot

doubt,

You, that have been victorious in the war,

Should, in a combat fought with words, come off But with assured triumph.

Leost. My deserts, sir,

judge

Our friend, I fear not.

Leost. Something I shall say,

But what

The reach of my belief, a slave should be
The owner of a temperance, which this age
Can hardly parallel in free-born lords,
Or kings, proud of their purple.
Arch. 'Tis most true;

And, though at first it did appear a fable,
All circumstances meet to give it credit;
Which works so on me, that I am compelled
To be a suitor, not to be denied,
He may have equal hearing.

Cleora. Sir, you graced me

With the title of your mistress; but my fortune Is so far distant from command, that I

Lay by the power you gave me, and plead hum

bly

For the preserver of my fame and honour.
And pray you, sir, in charity believe,
That, since I had ability of speech,

My tongue hath been so much inured to truth,
I know not how to lie.

Timol. I'll rather doubt

The oracles of the gods, than question what
Your innocence delivers; and, as far
As justice and mine honour can give way,

Arm me from doubt and fear.
Timol. 'Tis nobly spoken.—

Nor be thou daunted (howsoe'er thy fortune
Has marked thee out a slave) to speak thy me-

rits:

For virtue, though in rags, may challenge more
Than vice, set off with all the trim of greatness.
Pis. I'd rather fall under so just a judge,
Than be acquitted by a man corrupt,
And partial in his censure.

Arch. Note his language;

It relishes of better breeding than
His present state dares promise.

Timol. I observe it.

Place the fair lady in the midst, that both,
Looking with covetous eyes upon the prize
They are to plead for, may, from the fair object,
Teach Hermes eloquence.

Leost. Am I fallen so low?

My birth, my honour, and, what 's dearest to me,
My love, and witness of my love, my service,
So undervalued, that I must contend
With one, where my excess of glory must
Make his o'erthrow a conquest? Shall my fulness
Supply defects in such a thing, that never
Knew any thing but want and emptiness,
Give him a name, and keep it such, from this
Unequal competition? If my pride,

Or any bold assurance of my worth,
Has pluck'd this mountain of disgrace upon me,
I'm justly punish'd, and submit; but if
I have been modest, and esteemed myself
More injured in the tribute of the praise,
Which no desert of mine, prized by self-love,
Ever exacted, may this cause and minute
For ever be forgotten. I dwell long
Upon mine anger, and now turn to you,

Ungrateful fair one; and, since you are such,
'Tis lawful for me to proclaim myself,
And what I have deserved.

Cleora. Neglect and scorn
From me, for this proud vaunt.
Leost. You nourish, lady,

Your own dishonour in this harsh reply,
And almost prove, what some hold of your sex,
You're all made up of passion: For, if reason
Or judgment could find entertainment with you,
Or that you would distinguish of the objects
You look on in a true glass, not seduced
By the false light of your too violent will,
I should not need to plead for that which you
With joy should offer. Is my high birth a ble-
mish?

Or does my wealth, which all the vain expence
Of women cannot waste, breed loathing in you?
The honours, I can call mine own, thought scan-
dals?

Am I deformed, or, for my father's sins,
Mulcted by Nature? If you interpret these
As crimes, 'tis fit I should yield up myself
Most miserably guilty. But, perhaps,
(Which yet I would not credit) you have seen
This gallant pitch the bar, or bear a burden
Would crack the shoulders of a weaker bond-

man;

Or any other boisterous exercise,
Assuring a strong back, to satisfy

Your loose desires, insatiate as the grave.
Cleora: You are foul-mouthed.
Arch. Ill-mannered too.
Leost. I speak

In the way of supposition, and entreat you,
With all the fervour of a constant lover,

That you would free yourself from these aspersions,

Or any imputation black-tongued slander
Could throw on your unspotted virgin whiteness;
To which there is no easier way, than by
Vouchsafing him your favour; him, to whom,
Next to the general, and the gods, and fautors,
The country owes her safety.

Timag. Are you stupid?

'Slight, leap into his arms, and there ask pardon-
Oh! you expect your slave's reply; no doubt
We shall have a fine oration: I will teach
My spaniel to howl in sweeter language,
And keep a better method.

Arch. You forget
The dignity of the place.
Diph. Silence!

Timol. Speak boldly.

Pis. 'Tis your authority gives me a tongue, I should be dumb else; and I am secure, I cannot clothe my thoughts, and just defence, In such an abject phrase, but 'twill appear Equal, if not above, my low condition. I need no bombast language, stolen from such As make nobility from prodigious terms The hearers understand not; I bring with me No wealth to boast of, neither can I number Uncertain fortune's favours with my merits;

I dare not force affection, or presume

To censure her discretion, that looks on me
As a weak man, and not her fancy's idol.
How I have loved, and how much I have suf-
fered,

And with what pleasure undergone the burthen
Of my ambitious hopes (in aiming at
The glad possession of a happiness,
The abstract of all goodness in mankind
Can at no part deserve,) with my confession
Of mine own wants, is all that can plead for me.
But if that pure desires, not blended with
Foul thoughts, that like a river keeps his course,
Retaining still the clearness of the spring
From whence it took beginning, may be thought
Worthy acceptance; then I dare rise up,
And tell this gay man to his teeth, I never
Durst doubt her constancy, that, like a rock,
Beats off temptations, as that mocks the fury
Of the proud waves; nor from my jealous fears
Question that goodness, to which, as an altar
Of all perfection, he, that truly loved,
Should rather bring a sacrifice of service,
Than raze it with the engines of suspicion;
Of which, when he can wash an Æthiop white,
Leosthenes may hope to free himself;
But, till then, never.

Timag. Bold, presumptuous villain !

Pis. I will go farther, and make good upon him,

In the pride of all his honours, birth and fortunes,

He's more unworthy than myself.

Leost. Thou liest.

Timag. Confute him with a whip, and, the doubt decided,

Punish him with a halter.

Pis. O the gods!

My ribs, though made of brass, cannot contain My heart, swoln big with rage-The lie! A whip! [Plucks off his disguise. Let fury then disperse these clouds, in which I long have marched, disguised; that, when they know

Whom they have injured, they may faint with horror

Of my revenge, which, wretched men! expect, As sure as fate, to suffer!

Leost. Ha! Pisander?

Timag. 'Tis the bold Theban !

Asot. There's no hope for me then!

I thought I should have put in for a share, And borne Cleora from them both: But now, This stranger looks so terrible, that I dare not So much as look on her.

Pis. Now, as myself,
Thy equal at thy best, Leosthenes.-
For you, Timagoras, praise heaven you were
born

Cleora's brother, 'tis your safest armour.
But I lose time.-The base lie cast upon me,
I thus return: Thou art a perjured man,
False and perfidious, and hast made a tender
Of love and service to this lady, when

Thy soul (if thou hast any) can bear witness,
That thou were not thine own. For proof of this,
Look better on this virgin, and consider,
This Persian shape laid by, and she appearing
In a Greekish dress, such as when first you saw her,
If she resemble not Pisander's sister,
One called Statilia?

Leost. 'Tis the same! my guilt
So chokes my spirits, I cannot deny
My falsehood, nor excuse it.

Pis. This is she,

To whom thou wert contracted: This the lady, That, when thou wert my prisoner, fairly taken In the Spartan war, that begged thy liberty, And with it gave herself to thee, ungrateful!

Statil. No more, sir, I entreat you: I perceive True sorrow in his looks, and a consent To make me reparation in mine honour; And then I am most happy.

Pis. The wrong done her

Drew me from Thebes with a full intent to kill thee:

But this fair object met me in my fury,
And quite disarmed me. Being denied to have her
By you, my lord Archidamus, and not able
To live far from her, love (the mistress of
All quaint devices) prompted me to treat
With a friend of mine, who, as a pirate, sold mê
For a slave to you, my lord, and gave my sister
As a present to Cleora.

Timol. Strange meanders!

Pis. There how I bare myself needs no relation.
But, if so far descending from the height
Of my then flourishing fortunes, to the lowest
Condition of a man, to have means only
To feed my eye with the sight of what I honoured;
The dangers too I underwent, the sufferings;
The clearness of my interest, may deserve
A noble recompence in your lawful favour;
Now 'tis apparent that Leosthenes

Can claim no interest in you, you may please
To think upon my service.

Cleora. Sir, my want

Of power to satisfy so great a debt,

Makes me accuse my fortune; but if that,
Out of the bounty of your mind, you think
A free surrender of myself full payment,
I gladly tender it.

Arch. With my consent too,

All injuries forgotten.

Timag. I will study,

In my future service, to deserve your favour
And good opinion.

Least. Thus I gladly fee

This advocate to plead for me. [Kissing STATILIA. Pis. You will find me

An easy judge. When I have yielded reasons Of your bondmen's falling off from their obedi

Grac. Give me leave;

I'll speak for all.

Timol. What canst thou say, to hinder The course of justice?

Grac. Nothing. You may see

We are prepared for hanging, and confess
We have deserved it. Our most humble suit is,
We may not twice be executed.

Timol. Twice! How mean'st thou ?

Grac. At the gallows first, and after in a ballad, Sung to some villainous tune. There are tengroat rhymers

About the town grown fat on these occasions.
Let but a chapel fall, or a street be fired,
A foolish lover hang himself for pure love,
Or any such like accident, and before
They are cold in their graves, some damned dit-
ty's made,

Which makes their ghosts walk.-Let the state take order

For the redress of this abuse, recording
'Twas done by my advice, and, for my part,
I'll cut as clean a caper from the ladder
As ever merry Greek did.

Timol. Yet I think

Though he kicked me for exercise; and the like I promise for all the rest.

Timol. Rise then, you have it.

All Slaves. Timoleon! Timoleon!
Timol. Cease these clamours.

And now, the war being ended to our wishes,
And such as went the pilgrimage of love,
Happy in full fruition of their hopes,
'Tis lawful, thanks paid to the powers divine,
To drown our cares in honest mirth and wine,

[Exeunt.

Here, and but shew himself, and to some one
Or two make his request: There is a minute,
When a man's presence speaks in his own cause,
More than the tongues of twenty advocates.
Rom. I have urged that.

Enter ROCHFORT and DU CROY.
Charmi. Their lordships here are coming,
I must go get me a place. You'll find me in court,
And at your service.
[Exit CHARMI.

Rom. Now, put on your spirits!
Du Croy. The ease that you prepare yourself,
my lord,

In giving up the place you hold in court,
Will prove, I fear, a trouble in the state,
And that no slight one.

Roch. Pray you, sir, no more.

Rom. Now, sir, lose not this offered means:
Their looks,

Fixed on you with a pitying earnestness,
Invite you to demand their furtherance
To your good purpose. This is such a dulness,
So foolish and untimely, as-

Du Croy. You know him?

Roch. I do; and much lament the sudden fall Of his brave house. It is young Charalois, Son to the marshal, from whom he inherits His fame and virtues only.

Rom. Ha! they name you.

Du Croy. His father died in prison two days

since.

Roch. Yes, to the shame of this ungrateful state;

That such a master in the art of war,
So noble, and so highly meriting
From this forgetful country, should, for want
Of means to satisfy his creditors

The sums he took up for the general good,
Meet with an end so infamous.

Rom. Dare you ever hope for like opportunity?
Du Croy. My good lord!

Roch. My wish bring comfort to you!
Du Croy. The time calls us.
Roch. Good morrow, colonel !

[Exeunt ROCHFORT and DU CROY. Rom. This obstinate spleen,

You think becomes your sorrow, and sorts well With your black suits: But, grant me wit or judgment,

And, by the freedom of an honest man,

And a true friend to boot, I swear, 'tis shame

What can persuasion, though made eloquent With grief, work upon such as have changed na

ture

With the most savage beast? Blest, blest be ever
The memory of that happy age, when justice
Had no guards to keep off wronged innocence
From flying to her succours, and, in that,
Assurance of redress! Where now, Romont,
The damned with more ease may ascend from hell,
Than we arrive at her. One Cerberus there
Forbids the passage; in our courts a thousand,
As loud and fertile-headed; and the client,
That wants the sops to fill their ravenous throats,
Must hope for no access. Why should I, then,
Attempt impossibilities, you, friend, being
Too well acquainted with my dearth of means
To make my entrance that way?

Rom. Would I were not!

But, sir, you have a cause, a cause so just,
Of such necessity, not to be deferred,

As would compel a maid, whose foot was never
Set o'er her father's threshold, nor, within
The house where she was born, ever spake word
Which was not usher'd with pure virgin blushes,
To drown the tempest of a pleader's tongue,
And force corruption to give back the hire
It took against her. Let examples move you.
You see men great in birth, esteem, and fortune,
Rather than lose a scruple of their right,
Fawn basely upon such, whose gowns put off,
They would disdain for servants.

Char. And to these can I become a suitor?
Rom. Without loss:

Would you consider, that, to gain their favours,
Our chastest dames put off their modesties,
Soldiers forget their honours, usurers
Make sacrifice of gold, poets of wit,

And men religious part with fame and goodness.
Be therefore won to use the means that may
Advance your pious ends.

Char. You shall overcome. Rom. And you receive the glory. Pray you now practise. 'Tis well.

Enter NoVALL senior, LILADAM, Advocates, and three Creditors.

Char. [Tenders his petition.] Not look on me!

Rom. You must have patience

-Offer it

Will please to do your knowledge, we offer first Our thankful hearts here, as a bounteous earnest To what we will add.

Nov. sen. One word more of this,

I am your enemy. Am I a man,
Your bribes can work on? Ha!

Lilad. Friends, you mistake

The way to win my lord; he must not hear this,
But I, as one in favour in his sight,
May hearken to you for my profit. Sir!
Pray hear them.