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 yeld My life my death to iudgement of your grace Gord. Oh cruell wight should any cause preuaile To make thee staine thy hands with brothers bloud But what of thee we will resolue to doe Shall yet remaine vnknowen Thou in the meane Shalt from our royall presence banisht be Untill our princely pleasure furder shall To thee be shewed Depart therefore our sight Accursed childe What cruell desrenie What froward fate hath sorted vs this chaunce That euen in those where we should comfort find Where our delight now in our aged dayes Sould rest and be euen there our onely griefe And depest sorrowes to abridge our life Most pyning cares and deadly thoughts do grow Aros Your grace should now in these graue yeres of yours Haue found ere this y price of mortall ioyes How short they be how fading here in earth How full of chaunge how brittle our estate Of nothing sure saue onely of the death To whom both man and all the world doth owe Their end at last neither should natures power In other sort against your hart preuaile Than as the naked hand whose stroke assayes The armed brest where force doth light in vaine Gorbod Many can yelde right sage and graue aduise Of pacient sprite to others wrapped in woe And can in speche both rule and conquere kinde Who if by proofe they might feele natures force Would shew them selues men as they 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 ruth or where is pitie now Whether is gentle hart and mercy fled Are they exiled out of our stony brestes Neuer to make returne is all the world Drowned in bloud and soncke in crueltie If not in women mercy may be found If not alas within the mothers brest To her owne childe to her owne fleshe and bloud If ruthe be banished thence if pitie there May haue no place if there no gentle hart Do liue and dwell where should we seeke it then Gorb. Madame alas what meanes your woful tale Marcella O fillie woman I why to this houre Haue kinde and fortune thus deferred my breath That I should liue to see this dolefull day Will euer wight beleue that such hard hart Could rest within the cruell mothers brest With her owne hand to slay her onely sonne But out alas these eyes behelde the same They saw the driery sight and are becomeÌ„ Most ruthfull recordes of the bloudy fact Porrex alas is by his mother slaine And with her hand a wofull thing to tell While slumbring on his carefull bed he restes His hart stabde in with knife is rest of life Gorboduc O Eubulus oh draw this sword of ours And pearce this hart with speed O hatefull light O lothsome life O sweete and welcome death Deare Eubulus worke this we thee besech Eubulus Pacient your grace perhappes he liueth yet With wound receaued but not of certaine death Gorboduc O let vs then repayre vnto the place And see if Porrex liue or thus be slaine Marcella Alas he liueth not it is to true That with these eyes of him a perelesse prince Sonne to a king and in the flower of youth Euen with a twinke a senselesse stocke I saw Arostus O damned deede Marcella But heare hys ruthefull end The noble prince pearst with the sodeine wound Out of his wretched slumber hastely start Whose strength now fayling straight he ouerthrew When in the fall his eyes euen new vnclosed Behelde the Queene and cryed to her for helpe We then alas the ladies which that time Did there attend seing that heynous deede And hearing him oft call the wretched name Of mother and to crye to her for aide Whose direfull hand gaue him the mortall wound Pitying alas for nought els could we do His ruthefull end ranne to the wofull bedde Dispoyled straight his brest and all we might Wiped in vaine with napkins next at hand The sodeine streames of bloud that flushed fast Out of the gaping wound O what a looke O what a ruthefull stedfast eye me thought He fixt vpon my face which to my death Will neuer part fro me when with a braide A deepe fet sigh he gaue and therewithall Clasping his handes to heauen he cast his sight And straight pale death pressing within his face The flying ghost his mortall corpes forsooke Arostus Neuer did age bring forth so vile a fact Marcella O hard and cruell happe that thus assigned Unto so worthy a wight so wretched end But most hard cruell hart that could consent To lend the hatefull destenies that hand By which alas so heynous crime was wrought O Queene of adamant O marble brest If not the fauour of his comely face If not his princely chere and countenance His valiant actiue armes his manly brest If not his faire and seemely personage His noble limnies in such proportion cast As would haue wrapt a sillie womans thought If this mought not haue moued thy bloudy hart And that most cruell hand the wretched weapon Euen to let fall and kiste him in the face With teares for ruthe to reaue such one by death Should nature yet consent to slay her sonne O mother thou to murder thus thy childe Euen Ioue with iustice must with lightning flames FroÌ„ heauen send downe some strange reuenge on thee Ah noble prince how oft haue I behelde Thee mounted on thy fierce and traumpling stede Shining in armour bright before the tilt And with thy mistresse sleue tied on thy helme And charge thy staffe to please thy ladies eye That bowed the head peece of thy frendly foe How oft in armes on horse to bend the mace How oft in armes on foote to breake the sworde Which neuer now these eyes may see againe Arostus Madame alas in vaine these plaints are shed Rather with me depart and helpe to swage The thoughtfull griefes that in the aged king Must needes by nature growe by death of this His onely sonne whom he did holde so deare Marcella What wight is that which saw y I did see And could refraine to waile with plaint and teares Not I alas that hart is not in me But let vs goe for I am greued anew To call to minde the wretched fathers woe Chorus Whan greedy lust in royall seate to reigne Hath reâ—t all care of Goddes and eke of men And cruell hart wrath treason and disoaine Within ambicious brest are lodged then Beholde how mischiefe wide her selfe displayes And with the brothers hand the brother slayes When bloud thus shed doth staine the heauens face Crying to Ioue for vengeance of the deede The mightic God euen moueth from his place With wrath to wreke then sendes he forth with spede The dreadfull furies daughters of the night With Serpentes girt carying the whip of ire With heare of stinging
for my sonne No traitour no I thee refuse for mine Murderer I thee renounce thou art not mine Neuer O wretch this wombe conceiued thee Nor neuer bode I painfull throwes for thee Changeling to me thou art and not my childe Nor to no wight that sparke of pitie knew Ruthelesse vnkinde monster of natures worke Thou neuer suckt the milke of womans brest But from thy birth the cruell Tigers teates Haue nursed thee nor yet of fleshe and bloud Formde is thy hart but of hard iron wrought And wilde and desert woods bredde thee to life But canst thou hope to scape my iust reuenge Or that these handes will not be wrooke on thee Doest thou not know that Ferrex mother liues That loued him more dearly than her selfe And doth she liue and is not venged on thee Actus quartus Scena secunda Gorboduc Arostus Eubulus Porrex Marcella GOrb. We maruell much wherto this lingring stay Falles out so long Porrex vnto our court By order of our letters is returned â–ª And Eubulus receaued from vs by hest At his arriuall here to geue him charge Before our presence straight to make repaire And yet we haue no worde whereof he stayes Arostus Lo where he commes Eubulus with him Eubulus According to your highnesse hest to me Here haue I Porrex brought euen in such sort As from his weried horse he did alight For that your grace did will such hast therein Gorboduc We like and praise this spedy will in you To worke the thing that to your charge we gaue Porrex if we so farre should swarue from kinde And from those boundes which lawe of nature sets As thou hast done by vile and wretched deede In cruell murder of thy brothers life Our present hand could stay no longer time But straight should bathe this blade in bloud of thee As iust reuenge of thy detested crime No we should not offend the lawe of kinde If now this sworde of ours did slay thee here For thou hast murdered him whose heinous death Euen natures force doth moue vs to reuenge By bloud againe and iustice forceth vs To measure death for death thy due desert Yet sithens thou art our childe and sith as yet In this hard case what worde thou canst alledge For thy defence by vs hath not bene heard We are content to staye our will for that Which iustice biddes vs presently to worke And geue thee leaue to vse thy speche at full If ought thou haue to lay for thine excuse Porrex Neither O king I can or will denie But that this hand from Ferrex life hath reft Which fact how much my dolefull hart doth waile Oh would it mought as full appeare to sight As inward griefe doth poure it forth to me So yet perhappes if euer ruthefull hart Melting in teares within a manly brest Through depe repentance of his bloudy fact If euer griefe if euer wofull man Might moue regreite with sorrowe of his fault I thinke the torment of my mournefull case Knowen to your grace as I do feele the same Would force euen wrath her selfe to pitie me But as the water troubled with the mudde Shewes not the face which els the eye should see Euen so your irefull minde with stirred thought Can not so perfectly discerne my cause But this vnhappe amongest so many heapes I must content me with most wretched man That to my selfe I must reserue my woe In pining thoughtes of mine accursed fact Since I may not shewe here my smallest griefe Such as it is and as my brest endures Which I esteeme the greatest miserie Of all misschappes that fortune now can send Not that I rest in hope with plaint and teares To purchase life for to the Goddes I clepe For true recorde of this my faithfull speche Neuer this hart shall haue the thoughtfull dread To die the death that by your graces dome By iust desert shall be pronounced to me Nor neuer shall this tongue once spend the speche Pardon to craue or seeke by sute to liue I meane not this as though I were not touchde With care of dreadfull death or that I helde Life in contempt but that I know the minde Stoupes to no dread although the fleshe be fraile And for my gilt I yelde the same so great As in my selfe I finde a feare to sue For graunt of life Gorbodue In vaine O wretch thou shewest A wofull hart Ferrex now lies in graue Slaine by thy hand Porrex Yet this O father heare And then I end Your maiestie well knowes That when my brother Ferrex and my selfe By your owne hest were ioyned in gouernance Of this your graces realme of Brittaine land I neuer sought nor trauailled for the same Nor by my selfe nor by no frend I wrought But from your highnesse will alone it sprong Of your most gracious goodnesse bent to me But how my brothers hart euen then repined With swollen disdaine against mine egall rule Seing that realme which by discent should grow Wholly to him allotted halfe to me Euen in your highnesse court he now remaines And with my brother then in nearest place Who can recorde what proofe thereof was shewde And how my brothers enuious hart appearde Yet I that iudged it my part to seeke His fauour and good will and loth to make Your highnesse know the thing which should haue brought Brief to your grace your offence to him Hoping my earnest sute should soone haue wonne A louing hart within a brothers brest Wrought in that sort that for a pledge of loue And faithfull hart he gaue to me his hand This made me thinke that he had banisht quite All rancour from his thought and bare to me Such hartie loue as I did owe to him But after once we left your graces court And from your highnesse presence liued apart This egall rule still still did grudge him so That now those enumous sparkes which erst lay raked In liuing cinders of dissembling brest Kindled so farre within his hart disdaine That longer could he not refraine from proofe Of secrete practise to depriue me life By poysons force and had berest me so If mine owne seruant hired to this fact And moued by trouth with hate to worke the same In time had not bewrayed it vnto me Whan thus I sawe the knot of loue vnknitte All honest league and faithfull promise broke The law of kinde and trouth thus rent in twaine His hart on mischiefe set and in his brest Blacke treason hid then then did I despeire That euer time could winne him frend to me Then saw I how he smiled with slaying knife Wrapped vnder cloke then saw I depe deceite Lurke in his face and death prepared for me Euen nature moued me than to holde my life More deare to me than his and had this hand Since by his life my death must nedes ensue And by his death my life to be preserued To shed his bloud and seeke my safetie so And wisedome willed me without protract In
yonge and noble minds And so shall guide and traine in tempred stay Their yet greene bending wittes with reuerent awe As now inured with vertues at the first Custome O King shall bring delightfulnesse By vse of vertue vice shall growe in hate But if you so dispose it that the daye Which endes your life shall first begin their reigne Great is the perill what will be the ende When such beginning of such liberties Uoide of suche stayes as in your life do lye Shall leaue them free to randon of their will An open praie to traiterous flatterie The greatest pestilence of noble youthe Whiche perill shal be past if in your life Their tempred youthe with aged fathers awe Be brought in vre of skilfull stayednesse And in your life their liues disposed so Shall length your noble life in ioyfulnesse Thus thinke I that your grace hath wisely thought And that your tender care of common weale Hath bred this thought so to diuide your lande And plant your sonnes to beare the present rule While you yet liue to see their rulinge well That you may longer lyue by ioye therein What furder meanes behouefull are and meetâ— At greater leisure may your grace deuise When all haue said and when we be agreed If this be best to part the realme in twaine And place your sonnes in present gouernement Whereof as I haue plainely said my mynde So woulde I here the rest of all my Lordes Philand In part I thinke as hath bene said before In parte agayne my minde is otherwise As for diuiding of this realme in twaine And lotting out the same in egall partes To either of my lordes your graces sounes That thinke I best for this your realmes behofe 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 bloudie ciuill fielde Where Morgan slaine did yeld his conquered parte Unto his cosins sworde in Camberland Conteineth all that whilome did suffice Three noble sonnes of your forefather Brute So your two sonnes it maye suffice also The moe the stronger if they gree in one The smaller compasse that the realme doth holde The easier is the swey thereof to welde The nearer Iustice to the wronged poore The smaller charge and yet ynoughe for one And whan the region is diuided so That brethren be the lordes of either parte Such strength doth nature knit betwene them both In sondrie bodies by conioyned loue That not as two but one of doubled force Eche is to other as a sure defence The noblenesse and glory of the one Doth sharpe the courage of the others mynde With vertuous enuie to contende for praise And suche an egaluesse hath nature made Betwene the brethren of one fathers seede As an vnkindly wrong it seemes to bee To throwe the brother subiect vnder fecte Of him whose peere he is by course of kinde And nature that did make this egalnesse Ofte so repineth at so great a wrong That ofte she rayseth vp a grudginge griefe In yonger brethren at the elders state Wherby both townes and kingdomes haue ben rased And famous stockes of royall bloud destroied The brother that shoulde be the brothers aide And haue a wakefull care for his defence Gapes for his death and blames the lyngering yeres That draw not forth his ende with faster course And oft impacient of so longe delayes With hatefull slaughter he preuentes the fates And heapes a iust rewarde for brothers bloode With endlesse 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 where natures course Hath ben peruerted in disordered wise When fathers cease to know that they should rule The children cease to know they should obey And often ouerkindly tendernesse Is mother of vnkindly stubbornenesse I speake not this in enuie or reproche As if I grudged the glorie of your sonnes Whose honour I besech the Goddes encrease Nor yet as if I thought there did remaine So filthie cankers in their noble brestes Whom I esteeme which is their greatest praise Undoubted children of so good a kyng Onelie I meane to shewe by certeine rules Whiche kinde hath graft within the mind of man That nature hath her ordre and her course Which 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 see 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 humblenesse Will rule with outrage 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 that you diuide your realme And as in kinde so match them in degree But while the Goddes prolong your royall life Prolong your reigne for therto lyue you here And therfore haue the Goddes so long forborne To ioyne you to them selues that still you might Be prince and father of our common weale They when they see your children ripe to rule Will make them roume and will remoue you hence That yours in right ensuynge of your life Maye rightly honour your immortall name Eub. Your wonted true regarde of faithfull hartes Makes me O kinge the bolder to presume To speake what I conceiue within my brest Although the same do not agree at all With that which other here my lordes haue said Nor which your selfe haue seemed best to lyke Pardon I craue and that my wordes be deâ—â—ed To flowe from hartie zeale vnto your grace And to the safetie of your common weale To parte your realme vnto my lordes your sounes I thinke not good for you ne yet for them But worste of all for this our natiue lande Within one land one single rule is best Diuided reignes do make diuided hartes But peace preserues the countrey and the prince Suche is in man the gredy 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 soueraignitie Where egall state doth raise an egall hope To winne the thing that either wold attaine Your grace remembreth how in passed yeres The mightie Brute first prince of all this lande Possessed the same and ruled it well in
and full of foule reproch Yet none offence but deckt with glorious name Of noble conquestes in the handes of kinges But if you like not yet so hoâ—e deuise Ne list to take such vauntage of the time But though with perill of your owne estate You will not be the first that shall inuade Assemble yet your force for your defence And for your safetie stand vpon your garde Dordan O heauen was there euer heard or knowen So wicked counsell to a noble prince Let me my Lorde disclose vnto your grace This hainous tale what mischiefe it containes Your fathers death your brothers and your owne Your present murder and eternall shame Heare me O King and suffer not to sinke So high a treason in your princely brest Ferrex The mightie Goddes forbid that euer I Should once conceaue such mischiefe in my hart Although my brother hath bereft my realme And beare perhappes to me an hatefull minde Shall I reuenge it with his death therefore Or shall I so destroy my fathers life That gaue me life the Gods forbid I say Cease you to speake so any more to me Ne you my frend with answere once repeate So foule a tale In silence let it die What lord or subiect shall haue hope at all That vnder me they safely shall enioye Their goods their honours landes and liberties With whom neither one onely brother deare Ne father dearer could emoye their liues But sith I feare my yonger brothers rage And sith perhappes some other man may geue Some like aduise to moue his grudging head At mine estate which counsell may perchaunce Take greater force with him than this with me I will in secrete so prepare my selfe As if his malice or his lust to reigne Breake forth in armes or sodeine violence I may withstand his rage and keepe mine owne Dordan I feare the fatall time now draweth on When ciuil hate shall end the noble line Of famous Brute and of his royall seede Great Ioue defend the mischiefes now at hand O that the Secretaries wise aduise Had erst bene heard when he besought the king Not to diuide his land nor send his sonnes To further partes from presence of his court Ne yet to yelde to them his gouernaunce Lo such are they now in the royall throne As was rashe Phaeton in Phebus carre Ne then the fiery stedes did draw the flame With wilder randoâ— through the kindled skies Than traitorous counseâ—â— now will whirle abouâ— The youthfull heades of these vnskilfull kinges But I here of their father will enforme The reuerence of him perhappes shall stay The growing mischiefes while they yet are greene If this helpe not then woe vnto them selues The prince the people the diuided land Actus secundus Scena secunda Porrex Tyndar Philander POrrex And is it thus And doth he so prepare Against his brother as his mortall foe And now while yet his aged father liues Neither regardes he him nor feares he me Warre would he haue and he shall haue it so Tyndar I saw my selfe the great prepared store Of horse of armour and of weapon there Ne bring I to my lorde reported tales Without the ground of seen and fearched trouth Loe secrete quarrels runne about his court To bring the name of you my lorde in hate Ech man almost can now debate the cause And aske a reason of so great a wrong Why he so noble and so wise a prince Is as vnworthy rest his heritage And why the king misseledde by craftie meanes Diuided thus his land from course of right The wiser sort holde downe their griefull heades Eche man withdrawes from talke and company Of those that haue bene knowne to fauour you To hide the mischiefe of their meaning there Rumours are spread of your preparing here The rascall numbers of vnskilfull sort Are filled with monstrous tales of you and yours In secrete I was counselled by my frendes To hast me thence and brought you as you know Letters from those that both can truely tell And would not write vnlesse they knew it well Philand My lord yet ere you moue vnkindly warre Send to your brother to demaund the cause Perhappes some traitorous tales haue filled his eares With false reportes against your noble grace Which once disclosed shall end the growing strife That els not stayed with wise foresight in time Shall hazarde both your kingdomes and your liues Send to your father eke he shall appease 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 send If danger were for one to tary there Thinke ye it safetie to returne againe In mischiefes such as Ferrex now intendes The wonted courteous lawes to messengers Are not obserued which in iust warre they vse Shall I so hazard any one of mine Shall I betray my trusty frendes to him That haue disclosed his treason vnto me Let him entreate that feares I feare him not Or shall I to the king my father send Yea and send now while such a mother liues That loues my brother and that hateth me Shall I geue leasure by my fonde delayes To Ferrex to oppresse me all vnware I will not but I will inuade his realme And seeke the traitour prince within his court Mischiefe for mischiefe is a due reward His wretched head shall pay the worthy price Of this his treason and his hate to me Shall I abide and treate and send and pray And holde my yelden throate to traitours knife While I with valiant minde and conquering force Might rid my selfe of foes and winne a realme Yet rather when I haue the wretches head Then to the king my father will I send The bootelesse case may yet appease his wrath If not I will defend me as I may Philand Lo here the end of these two youthful kings The fathers death the ruine of their realmes O most vnhappy state of counsellers That light on so vnhappy lordes and times That neither can their good aduise be heard Yet must they beare the blames of ill successe But I will to the king their father haste Ere this mischiefe come to the likely end That if the mindfull wrath of wrekefull Gods Since mightie Ilions fall not yet appeased With these poore remnantes of the Troian name Haue not determined by vnmoued fate Out of this realme to rase the Brittishe line By good aduise by awe of fathers name By force of wiser lordes this kindled hate May yet be quentched ere it consume vs all Chorus When youth not bridled with a guiding stay Is left to randon of their owne delight And welds whole realmes by force of soueraign sway Great is the daunger of vnmaistred might Lest skillesse rage throwe downe with headlong fallâ— Their lands their states their liues them selues alâ— When growing pride doth fill the swelling brest And gredy lust doth rayse the climbing minde Oh hardlie maye the perill be represt Ne feare of angrie Goddes ne lawes
kinde Ne countries care can fiered hartes restrayne Whan force hath armed enuie and disdaine When kinges of foreâ—ette will neglect the rede Of best aduise and yelde to pleasing tales That do their fansies noysome humour feede Ne reason nor regarde of right auailes Succeding heapes of plagues shall teach to late To learne the mischiefes of misguided state Fowie fall the traitour false that vndermines The loue of brethren to destroye them both Wo to the prince that pliant care â—nclynes And yeldes his mind to poysonous tale that floweth From flattering mouth And woe to wretched land That wastes it selfe with ciuil sworde in hand Loe thus it is poyson in golde to take And holsome drinke in homely cuppe forsake ¶ The order and signification of the domme shewe before the thirde act ¶ Firste the musicke of flutes began to playe during which came in vpon the stage a company of mourners all clad in blacke betokening death and sorowe to ensue vpon the ill aduised misgouernement and discention of bretherne as befell vpon the murderer of Ferrex by his yonger brother After the mourners had passed thryse about the stage they departed and than the musicke ceased Actus tertius Scena prima Gorboduc Eubulus Arostus Philander Nuntius GOrb. O cruel fates O mindful wrath of Goddes Whose vengeance neither Simois stayned streames Flowing with bloud of Troian princes slaine Nor Phrygian fieldes made ranck with corpses dead Of Asian kynges and lordes can yet appease Ne slaughter of vnhappie Pryams race Nor Ilions fall made leuell with the soile Can yet suffice but still continued rage Pursues our lynes and from the farthest seas Doth chase the issues of destroyed Troye Oh no man happie till his ende be seene If any flowing wealth and seemyng ioye In present yeres might make a happy wight Happie was Hecuba the wofullest wretch That euer lyued to make a myrrour of And happie Pryam with his noble sonnes And happie I till nowe alas I see And feele my most vnhappye wretchednesse Beholde my lordes read ye this letter here Loe it conteins the ruine of our realme If timelie speede prouide not hastie helpe Yet O ye Goddes if euer wofull kyng Might moue ye kings of kinges wreke it on me And on my sonnes not on this giltlesse realme Send down your wasting flames froÌ„ wrathful skies To reue me and my sonnes the hatefull breath Read read my lordes this is the matter why I called ye nowe to haue your good aduyse ¶ The letter from Dordan the Counsellour of the elder prince Eubulus readeth the letter MY soneraigne 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 misledde By traitorous fraude of yong vntempred wittes Assembleth force agaynst your yonger sonne Ne can my counsell yet withdrawe the heate And furyous panges of hys enflamed head Disdaine sayth he of his disheritance Armes him to wreke the great pretended wrong With ciuyll sword vpon his brothers life If present helpe do not restraine this rage This flame will wast your sonnes your land you Your maiesties faithfull and most humble subiect Dordan ARostus O king appease your griefe and stay your plaint Great is the matter and a wofull case But timely knowledge may bring timely helpe Sende for them both vnto your presence here The reuerence of your honourage and state Your graue aduice the awe of fathers name Shall quicklie knit agayne this broken peace 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 Than you him gaue aboue his natiue right Ioyne with the iuster side so shall you force Them to agree and holde the lande in stay Eub. What meaneth this Loe yonder comes in hast Philander from my lord your yonger sonne Gorb. The Goddes sende ioyfull newes Phil. The mightie Ioue Preserue your maiestie O noble king Gorb. Philander welcome but how doth my sonne Phil. Your sonne sir lyues and healthie I him left But yet O king the want of lustfull health Could not be halfe so griefefull to your grace As these most wretched tidynges that I bryng Gorb. O heauens yet more not ende of woes to me Phil. Tyndar O king came lately from the court Of Ferrex to my lord your yonger sonne And made reporte of great prepared store For warre and sayth that it is wholly ment Agaynst Porrex for high disdayne that he Lyues now a king and egall in degree With him that claimeth to succede the whole As by due title of discending right Porrex is nowe so set on flaming fire Partely with kindled rage of cruell wrath Partely with hope to gaine a realme thereby That he in hast prepareth to inuade His brothers land and with vnkindely warre Threatens the murder of your elder sonne Ne could I him perswade that first he should Send to his brother to demaunde the cause Nor yet to you to staie this hatefull strife Wherfore sithe there no more I can be hearde I come my selfe now to enforme your grace And to beseche you as you loue the life And safetie of your children and your realme Now to employ your wisdome and your force To stay this mischiefe ere it be to late Gorb. Are they in armes would he not sende to 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 Nor fathers awe nor kingdomes cares can moue Our counsels could withdraw from raging heat Ioue slay them both and end the cursed line For though perhappes feare of such mightie force As I my lordes ioyned with your noble aides Maye yet raise shall represse their present heate The secret grudge and malice will remayne The fire not quenched but kept in close restraint Fedde still within breakes forth with double flame Their death and myne must peaze the angrie Gods Phil. Yelde not O king so much to weake dispeire Your sonnes yet lyue and long I trust they shall If fates had taken you from earthly life Before beginning of this ciuyll strife Perhaps your sounes in their vnmaistered youth Loose from regarde of any lyuing wight Would runne on headlong with vnbridled race To their owne death and ruine of this realme But sith the Gods that haue the care for kinges â–ª Of thinges and times dispose the order so That in your life this kindled flame breakes forth While yet your lyfe your wisdome and your power May stay the growing mischiefe and represse The fierie blaze of their inkindled heate It seemes and so ye ought to deeme thereof That louyng Ioue hath tempred so the time Of this debate to happen in your dayes That you yet lyuing may the same appeaze And adde it to the glory of your latter age And they our sonnes may learne to liue in