SCENE I.-The Audience Chamber in the
Palace.

Flourish. Enter KING ASTORAX, CALIS, CLEANTHE, LUCIPPE, Courtiers, and Gentlewomen, at one door: at the other, EUMENES.

Eum. Health to my sovereign!
King. Eumenes, welcome!
Welcome to Paphos, soldier! to our love!

And that fair health you wish us, through the camp
May it disperse itself, and make all happy!
How does the general, the valiant Memnon?
And how his wars, Eumenes?

Eum. The gods have given you, royal sir, a soldier,

Better ne'er sought a danger; more approved
In way of war, more master of his fortunes,

Expert in leading 'em ; in doing valiant,

In following all his deeds to victories,
And holding fortune certain there.

King. Oh, soldier,

Thou speak'st a man indeed; a general general; A soul conceived a soldier.

Eum. Ten set battles,

Against the strong usurper Diocles,
(Whom long experience had begot a leader,
Ambition raised too mighty) hath your Memnon
Won, and won gloriously, distress'd and shook him,
Even from the head of all his hopes, to nothing.
In three, he beat the thunder-bolt his brother,
Forced him to wall himself up: There not safe,
Shook him with warlike engines like an earthquake,
Till, like a snail, he left his shell, and crawl'd
By night and hideous darkness to destruction,
Disarm'd for ever rising more: Twelve castles,
Some thought impregnable; towns twice as many;
Countries, that. like the wind, knew no command
But savage wildness, hath this general,

With loss of blood and youth, through storms and
Call'd to your fair obedience.
[tempests,

King. Oh, my soldier,

That thou wert now within my arms! [Drums

within.] What drums

Are those that beat, Eumenes? Eum. His, my sovereign;

Himself i' th' head of conquest drawing home,
An old man now, to offer up his glories,
And endless conquest at your shrine.
King. Go all,

And entertain him with all ceremony;
We'll keep him now a courtier.

Eum. Sir, a strange one;

'Pray God his language bear it. By my life, sir, He knows no compliment, nor curious casting Of words into fit places ere he speak 'em : He can say, 66 Fight well, fellow, and I'll thank thee:

He that must eat, must fight; bring up the rear there!"

Or "charge that wing of horse home!" [Flourish.

King. Go to, go to!

Valiant and wise are twins, sir.

Enter MEMNON, CHILAX, POLYBIUS, PELIUS, with a train of Courtiers and Soldiers.

Welcome, welcome!

Welcome, my fortunate and famous general!
High in thy prince's favour, as in fame,
Welcome to peace, and Paphos !

Mem. Thank your grace!

And 'would to God my dull tongue had that sweet-
To thank you as I should; but pardon me, [ness
My sword and I speak roughly, sir: Your battles,
I dare well say, I have fought well; for I bring you
That lazy end you wish for, peace, so fully,
That no more name of war is: Who now thinks
Sooner or safer these might have been ended,
Begin 'em if he dare again; I'll thank him.
Soldier and soldier's mate these twenty-five years,
At length your general, (as one whose merit
Durst look upon no less) I have waded through
Dangers would damp these soft souls but to hear of.
The maidenheads of thousand lives hang here, sir.
[Pointing to his sword.

Since which time, prince, I know no court but mar-
No oily language, but the shock of arms, [tial,
No dalliance but with death; no lofty measures,
But weary and sad marches, cold and hunger,
'Larums at midnight Valour's self would shake at;
Yet I ne'er shrunk: Balls of consuming wildfire,
That lick'd men up like lightning, have I laugh'd
And toss'd'em back again like children's trifles. [at,
Upon the edges of my enemies' swords

I have marched like whirlwinds; Fury at this hand waiting,

Death at my right, Fortune my forlorn hope:
When I have grappled with Destruction,
And tugg'd with pale-faced Ruin, night and mis-

chief,

Could be set off in nothing but a noise.
Sure he has a drum in's mouth.

Calis. I wonder, wenches,
How he would speak to us.

Cle. Nothing but 'larum,

Tell us whose throat he cut, shew us his sword, And bless it for sure biting.

Lucip. An't like your grace,

I do not think he knows us, what we are,
Or to what end; for I have heard his followers
Affirm he never saw a woman that exceeded
A sutler's wife yet, or, in execution,

Old bed-rid beldames, without teeth or tongues, That would not fly his fury. How he looks! Cle. This way devoutly.

Calis. Sure his lordship's viewing Our fortifications.

Lucip. If he mount at me,

I may chance choak his battery,
Calis. Still his eye

Keeps quarter this way: Venus grant his valour
Be not in love!

Cle. If he be, presently

Expect a herald and a trumpet with you,
To bid you render; we two perdues pay for't else.
King. I'll leave you to my sister and these ladies,
To make your welcome fuller. My good soldier,
We must now turn your sternness into courtship.
When you have done there, to your fair repose, sir!
I know you need it, Memnon.-Welcome, gentle-
men!
[Exit. A flourish.

Lucip. Now he begins to march. Madam, the van's yours;

Keep your ground sure; 'tis for your spurs.
Mem. Oh, Venus!

[He kneels amazed and silently before CALIS. Calis. How he stares on me!

Cle. Knight him, madam, knight him; He'll grow to the ground else.

Eum. Speak, sir; 'tis the princess.

Polyb. You shame yourself; speak to her.
Calis. Rise and speak, sir.

You are welcome to the court, to me, to all, sir!
Lucip. Is he not deaf?

Calis. The gentleman's not well.

Eum. Fy, noble general!

Lucip. Give him fresh air; his colour goes.-
How do you?

The princess will be glad, sir-
Mem. Peace, and hear me.
Cle. Command a silence there.
Mem. I love thee, lady.

Calis. I thank your lordship heartily: Proceed,

Mem. The princess,

Give me the princess.

Eum. Give you counsel rather

To use her like a princess. Fy, my lord!
How have you borne yourself, how nakedly
Laid your soul open, and your ignorance,
To be a sport to all! Report and honour
Drew her to do you favours, and you bluntly,
Without consideration what, or who she was,
Neither collecting reason, nor distinction—

Mem. Why, what did I, my masters?
Eum. All that shews

A man unhandsome, undigested dough.
Mem. Did not I kneel unto her?

Eum. Dumb and senseless,

As though you had been cut out for your father's tomb,

Or stuck a land-mark. When she spoke unto you,
Being the excellence of all our island,

You stared upon her as you had seen a monster.
Mem. Was I so foolish? I confess, Eumenes,
I never saw before so brave an outside.
But did I kneel so long?

Eum. 'Till they laugh'd at you.

And, when you spoke, I am ashamed to tell you
What 'twas, my lord; how far from order.
Bless me! Is't possible the wild noise of war,
And what she only teaches, should possess you?
Knowledge to treat with her, and full discretion,
Being at flood still in you: And in peace,
And manly conversation, smooth and civil,
Where gracefulness and glory twin together,
Thrust yourself out an exile? Do you know, sir,
What state she carries? what great obedience
Waits at her beck continually?

Mem. She ne'er commanded

An hundred thousand men, as I have done,
Nor ne'er won battle. Say I would have kiss'd her.
Eum. There was a dainty offer too, a rare one!
Mem. Why, she's a woman, is she not?
Eum. She is so.

Mem. Why, very well; what was she made for then?

Is she not young and handsome, bred to breed?
Do not men kiss fair women? if they do,
If lips be not unlawful ware, why, a princess
Is got the same way that we get a beggar,
Or I am cozen'd; and the self-same way
She must be handled ere she get another.
That's rudeness, is it not?

Pel. To her 'tis held so,

And rudeness in that high degree————
Mem. 'Tis reason;

But I will be more punctual. Pray what thought

she?

Eum. Her thoughts were merciful, but she

laugh'd at you,

Pitying the poorness of your compliment,
And so she left you. Good sir, shape yourself
To understand the place and noble persons
You live with now.

Polyb. Let not those great deserts

The king hath laid up of you, and the people, Be blasted with ill-bearing!

Eum. The whole name

Of soldier then will suffer.

Mem. She's a sweet one.

And, good sirs, leave your exhortations;
They come untimely to me; I have brains
That beat above your reaches: She's a princess,
That's all; I have kill'd a king, that's greater.
Come, let's to dinner; if the wine be good,
You shall perceive strange wisdom in my blood.
[Exeunt all but CHILAX.
Chi. Well, would thou wert i' th' wars again,
old Memnon !

There thou would'st talk to th' purpose, and the

proudest

Of all these court camelions would be glad
To find it sense too. Plague of this dead peace,
This bastard-breeding, lousy, lazy idleness!
Now we must learn to pipe, and pick our livings
Out of old rotten ends. These twenty-five years
I have served my country, lost my youth and blood,

Your young trim wives, your high-day wives, your marchpanes;

For, if the soldiers find not recompence,
(As yet there's none a hatching, I believe,)
You men of wares, the men of wars will nick ye;
For starve nor beg they must not. My small means
Are gone in fumo; here to raise a better-
Unless it be with lying, or dog-flattering,

At which our nation's excellent, observing dogdays,

When this good lady broils and would be basted
By that good lord, or such like moral learnings—
Is here impossible: Well, I'll rub among 'em ;
If any thing for honesty be gotten,

Though't be but bread and cheese, I can be satis-
If otherwise the wind blow, stiff as I am [fied:
Yet I shall learn to shuffle. There's an old lass
That shall be nameless, yet alive, my last hope,
Has often got me my pocket full of crowns.
If all fail-

Fool. Yes, and a learned question, if you mark Consider, and say on.

Chi. Fooling, as thou dost ; That's the best trade, I take it. Fool. Take it straight then,

[it.

For fear your fellows be before you: hark ye, lieutenant,

Fooling's the thing, the thing worth all your When all's done, you must fool, sir. [fightings; Chi. Well, I must then.

Fool. But do you know what fooling is? true fooling?

The circumstances that belong unto it?
For every idle knave that shews his teeth,
Wants and would live, can juggle, tumble, fiddle,
Make a dog-face, or can abuse his fellow,

Is not a fool at first dash; you shall find, sir,
Strange turnings in this trade; to fool is nothing,
As fooling has been; but to fool the fair way,
The new way, as the best men fool their friends;
For all men get by fooling, merely fooling,
Desert does nothing; valiant, wise, virtuous,
Are things that walk by without bread or breeches.
Chi. I partly credit that.

Fool. Fine wits, fine wits, sir!

There's the young boy, he does well in his way too,
He could not live else in his master's absence;
He ties a lady's garters so, so prettily!
Say his hand slip, but say so.

Chi. Why, let it slip then.

Fool. 'Tis ten to one the body shall come after, And he that works deserves his wages.

Chi. That's true.

Fool. He riddles finely to a waiting-gentle

woman,

Expounds dreams like a prophet, dreams himself
And wishes all dreams true; they cry amen, [too,
And there's a memorandum: He can sing too,
Bawdy enough to please old ladies: He lies rarely,
Pawns ye a suit of clothes at all points fully;
Can pick a pocket if you please, or casket;
Lisps when he lists to catch a chamber-maid,
And calls his hostess mother; these are things now,
If a man mean to live; [not] to fight and swagger,
Beaten about the ears with bawling sheepskins,
Cut to the soul for summer: Here an arm lost,
And there a leg; his honourable head
Seal'd up in salves and cerecloths, like a packet,
And so sent over to an hospital :

Stand there, charge there, swear there, whore there, dead there;

And all this sport for cheese and chines of dog

SCENE II.-Another Apartment in the same.

Enter MEMNON, EUMENES, POLYBIUS, and Pelius, Mem. Why were there not such women in the Prepared to make me know 'em? [camp then,

Eum. 'Twas no place, sir.

Polyb. Why should they live in tumults? they [are creatures

Soft, and of sober natures.

Mem. Could not your wives,

Your mothers, or your sisters, have been sent for To exercise upon?

Eum. We thank your lordship.

Pel. But do you mean

Mem. I do mean

Pel. What, sir?

Mem. To see her,

And see thee hang'd too, an thou anger'st me,
And thousands of your throats cut. Get ye from

me!

Ye keep a-prating of your points of manners,
And fill my head with lousy circumstances,
(Better have ballads in't) your courtly worships,
How to put off my hat; you, how to turn me;
And you, forsooth, to blow my nose discretely.
Let me alone; for I will love her, see her,
Talk to her, and mine own way.

Eum. She's the princess.

Men. Why, let her be the devil! I have spoke When thunder durst not check me. I must love; I know she was a thing kept for me.

Eum. And I know, sir,

Mem. Nay then-
Pel. We are gone, sir.

[Exeunt EUMENES, POLYBIUS, and PELIUS.

Enter CALIS, LUCIPPE, and Cleanthe.

Calis. How came he hither? See, for Heaven's sake, wenches,

What faces, and what postures, he puts on.
I do not think he's perfect.

[MEMNON walks aside, full of strange gestures. Cle. If your love

Have not betray'd his little wits, he's well enough; As well as he will be.

Calis. Mark how he muses.

Lucip. He has a battalia now in's brains. He Have at ye, harpers! [draws out; now

Cle. See, see, there the fire falls.

Lucip. Look what an alphabet of faces he runs

through.

Cle. Oh, love, love, how amorously thou look'st In an old rusty armour.

Calis. I'll away,

For by my troth I fear him.

Lucip. Fear the gods, madam,

And never care what man can do: This fellow,
With all his frights about him, and his furies,
His 'larums, and his launces, swords, and targets,
Nay, case him up in armour cap-a-pie,
Yet, durst I undertake, within two hours,
If he durst charge, to give him such a shake,
Should shake his valour off, and make his shanks
Cle. For shame! no more.
Calis. He muses still.

Cle. The devil-

[to ach.

Why should this old dried timber, chopt with

thunder

Calis. Old wood burns quickest.

Lucip. Out, you would say, madam ;

Give me a green stick that may hold me heat,

And smoke me soundly too. He turns, and sees

The more I look upon you

Cle. The more you may, sir.

Calis. Let him alone.

Mem. I would desire your patience. The more, I say, I look, the more

Lucip. My fortune.

'Tis very apt, sir.

Mem. Women, let my fortune

[Stays her.

[Stays her.

And me alone, I wish you.-Pray come this way; And stand you still there, lady.

Calis. Leave the words, sir,
And leap into the meaning.
Mem. Then again

I tell you, I do love you.
Calis. Why?

Mem. No questions;

Pray, no more questions. I do love you infinitely. Why do you smile? Am I ridiculous?

Calis. [Aside.] am monstrous fearful.-No,

I joy you love me.

Mem. Joy on then, and be proud on't; I do love you.

Stand still; do not trouble me, you women !— He loves you, lady, at whose feet have kneel'd Princes to beg their freedoms; he whose valour Has over-run whole kingdoms.