disgraced cause would let The language of my hart be vnderstood Is all which I haue euer sought to get And which o leaue mee now and take my bloud Let not your enuy go beyond the bound Of what you seeke my life stands in your way That is your ayme take it and do not wounde My reputation with that wrong I pray If I must needes be made the sacrifice Of enuy and that no oblation will The wrath of Kings but onely bloud suffize Yet let me haue something left that is not ill Is there no way to get vnto our liues But first to haue our honour ouerthrowne Alas though grace of Kings all greatnesse giues It cannot giue vs vertue that 's our owne Though all be theirs our harts and hands can do Yet that by which we doo is onely ours The trophies that our blood erects vnto Their memory to glorifie their powres Let them inioy yet onely to haue done Worthy of grace let not that be vndone Let that high swelling riuer of their fame Leaue humble streames that feed them yet their name O my deare father didst thou bring that spirit Those hands of vallour that so much haue done In this great worke of Asia this to merit By dooing worthily to be vndone And hast thou made this purchase of thy sword To get so great an Empire for thy Lord And so disgrac'd a graue for thee and thine T' extinguish by thy seruice all thy line One of thy sonnes by being to valourous But fiue daies since yet ô well lost his breath Thy deare Nicanor th' halfe arch of thy house And here now the other at the barr of death Stands ouerchardgd with wrath in far worse case And is to be confounded with disgrace Thy selfe must giue th' acquitance of thy blood For others debts to whom thou hast done good Which if they would a little time afford Death would haue taken it without a sword Such the rewards of great imployments are Hate kills in peace whom fortune spares in war And this is that high grace of Kings we seeke Whose fauour and whose wrath consumes a like Eph. Lo here the misery of kings whose cause How euer iust it be how euer strong Yet in respect they may their greatnesse drawes The world to thinke they euer do the wrong But this foule fact of yours you stand vpon Philotas shall beside th' apparancy Which all the world sees plaine ere we haue done By your owne mouth be made to satisfie The most stiffe partialist that will not see Phi. My mouth will neuer proue so false I trust Vnto my hart to shew it selfe vniust And what I here do speake I know my lords I speake with mine owne mouth but other where What may be said I say may be the words Not of my breath but fame that oft doth erre Let th' oracle of Ammon be inquired About this fact who if it shall be true Will neuer suffer those who haue conspird Against Ioues sonne t' escape without their due But will reueale the truth or if this shall Not seeme conuenient why then lay on all The tortures that may force a tongue to tell The secret'st thought that could imagin ill Bel. What need we sēd to know more then we know That were to giue you time t' acquaint your friends With your estate till some combustion grow Within the camp to hasten on your ends And that the gold and all the treasury Committed to your fathers custody In Media now might arme his desp'rat troupes To come vpon vs and to cut our throtes What shall we aske of Ioue that which he hath Reueald already but let 's send to giue Thanks that by him the king hath skapt the wrath Of thee disloyall traitor and doth liue Guar. Le ts teare the wretch in peeces let vs rend With our owne hands the traitrous paracide Alex. Peace Belon silence louing souldiers You see my lords out of your iudgments graue That all excuses sickly colours haue And he that hath thus false and faithles bene Must finde out other gods and other men Whom to forsweare and whom he may deceiue No words of his can make vs more belieue His impudence and therefore seeing t is late We till the morning do dismisse the court ACTVS 5. Chorus Grecian and Persian Per. WEll then I see there is small difference Betwixt your state and ours you ciuill Greeks You great contriuers of free gouerments Whose skill the world from out all countries seekes Those whom you call your kings are but the same As are our soueraigne tirants of the East I see they onely differ but in name Th' effects they shew agree or neere at least Your great men here as our great Satrapaes I see laid prostrate are with basest shame Vpon the least suspect or iealousies Your King t' conceive or others enuyes frame Onely herein they differ that your Prince Proceeds by forme of law t' effect his end Our Persian Monarch makes his frowne conuince The strongest truth his sword the proces ends With present death and maks no more adoo He neuer stands to giue a glosse vnto His violence to make it to appeare In other hew then that it ought to beare Wherein plaine dealing best his course commends For more h' offends who by the law offends What neede hath Alexander so to striue By all these shewes of forme to find this man Guilty of treason when he doth contriue To haue him so adiudgd do what he can He must not be acquit though he be clere Th' offendor not th' offence is punisht here And what availes the fore-condemnd to speake How euer strong his cause his state is weake Gre. Ah but it satisfies the world and wee Think that well don which done by law we see Per. And yet your law serues but your priuate ends And to the compasse of your powre extends But is it for the maiesty of Kings To sit in iudgments thus themselues with you Gre. To do men iustice is the thing that bringes The greatest maiesty on earth to Kings Per. That by their subalternate ministers May be performed as well and with more grate For to command it to be don infers More glory then to doo It doth imbase Th' opinion of a powre t' inuulgar so That sacred presence which should neuer go Neuer be seene but even as Gods below Like to our Persian Kings in glorious show And who as starres affixed to their Sphere May not descend to be from what they are Gre. Where kings are so like gods there subiects are not men Per. Your king begins this course what wil you be thē Gre. Indeed since prosperous fortune gaue the raine To head-strong powre and lust I must confesse We Grecians haue lost deepely by our gayne And this our greatnesse makes vs much the lesse For by th' accession of these mighty states Which Alexander wonderously hath got He hath forgot himselfe and vs and rates His state aboue mankind and ours at noughs This hath
to the safetie of the state in the case of so great an aspirer who no doubt had he not beene preuented hosoeuer popularly in the Armie it might be otherwise deemed he had turnd the course of gouernment ment vpon his Father and himselfe or else by his imbroylments made it a monster of many heads as it afterwards proued vpon the death of Alexander The Chorus consisting of three Graecians as of three estates of a Kingdome and one Persian representing the multitude and body of a people who vulgarlie according to their affections carryed rather with compassion on great mens misfortunes then with the consideration of the cause frame their imaginations by that square and censure what is done The names of the Actors Philotas Cebalinus Chalisthenes Polidamas Alexander Nichomachus Ephestion Metron Craterus Thais a Curtizan Antigone sometimes one of the concubines of Darius Attarras Clitus Sostratus Perdiccas Chorus 3. Graecians and a Persian THE TRAGEDIE of PHILOTAS ACTVS I. Philotas Chalisthenes Philotas reading his Fathers letter MAke thy selfe lesse Philotas then thou art What meanes my father thus to write to me Lesse then I am in what how can that bee Must I be then set vnderneath my hart Shall I let go the holde I haue of grace Gaynd with so hard aduentures of my bloud And suffer others mount into my place And from below looke vp to where I stood Shall I degrade th' opinion of my worth By putting off imployment as vndone In spirit or grace whilst other men set forth To get that start of action I haue wonne As if such men as I had any place To stay betwixt their ruine and their grace Can any go beyond me but they will Goe ouer me and trample on my state And make their fortune good vpon my ill Whilst feare hath powre to wound me worse thē hate Ch. Philotas you deceiue your selfe in this Your father meanes not you should yeeld in place But in your popular dependences Your entertainments guifes and publique grace That doth in iealous Kings distaste the Peeres And makes you not the greater but in feares Phi. Alas what popular dependences Do I retaine can I shake off the zeale Of such as do out of their kindnesses Follow my fortunes in the common-weale Cha. Indeed Philotas therein you say true They follow do your fortunes and not you Phi. Yea but I find their loue to me sincere Cha. Euen such as to the Wolfe the Fox doth beare That visits him but to pertake his pray And seeing his hopes deceiu'd turnes to betray Phi. I know they would if I in danger stood Runne vnto me with hazard of their bloud Cha. Yea like as men to burning houses run Not to lend ayde but to be lookers on Phi. But I with bountie and with guifts haue tyde Their harts so sure I know they will not slide Cha. Bounty guifts loose more then they do find Where many looke for good few haue their mind Each thinkes he merits more then than he hath And so guifts laid for loue do catch men wrath Phi. But many meerely out of loue attend Cha. Yea those that loue and haue no other end Thinke you that men can loue you when they know You haue them not for friendship but for show And as you are ingag'd in your affaires And haue your ends thinke likewise they haue theirs Phi. But I do truly from my hart affect Vertue and worth where I do finde it set Besides my foes do force me in effect To make my partie of opinion great And I must arme me thus against their scornes Men must be shodd that go among the thornes Cha. Ah good Philotas you your selfe be guile T is not the way to quench the fire with oyle The meeke and humble Lambe with small adoo Sucks his owne dam we see and others too In Courtes men longest liue and keepe their rankes By taking iniuries and giuing thankes Phi. And is it so then neuer are these haires Like to attaine that sober hew of gray I cannot plaster and disguise m' affaires In other coulours then my hart doth lay Nor can I patiently indure this fond And strange proceeding of authoritie That hath ingrost vp all into their hand By idoliuing feeble maiestie And impiously do labour all they can To make the King forget he is a man Whilst they deuide the spoyles and pray of powre And none at all respect the publique good Those hands that guard and get vs what is our The Solderie ingag'd to vent their bloud In worse case seeme then Pallas old-growne Moyle Th' Athenians fostred at their publique cost For these poore soules consum'd with tedious toile Remayne neglected hauing done their most And nothing shall bring home of all these wars But emptie age and bodies chardgd with skarres Ch. Philotas all this publique care I feare Is but some priuat touch of your dislike Who seeing your owne designes not stand to square With your desires no others courses like The griefe you take things are not ordred well Is that you feele your selfe I feare not well But when your fortunes shall stand parallel With those you enuy now all will be well For you great men I see are neuer more Your ends attain'd the same you were before You with a finger can point out the staynes Of others errors now and now condem The traine of state whilst your desire remaines without But once got in you iumpe with them And interleague ye with iniquity And with a like neglect do temporize And onely serue your owne commodity Your fortune then viewes things with other eyes For either greatnesse doth transforme the hart Int' other shapes of thoughts or certaynly This vulgar honesty doth dwell apart From powre and is some priuate quallity Or rather those faire parts which we esteeme In such as you are not the same they seeme You double with your selues or els with vs And therefore now Philotas euen as good T imbrace the times as swell and do no good Ph. Alas Chalisthenes you haue not layde True leuell to my nature but are wide From what I ame within all you haue sayde Shall neuer make me of another side Then that I am and I do skorne to clyme By shaking hands with this vnworthy time Ch. The time Philotas then will break thy neck Ph. They dare nor freind my faith wil keep my neck My seruice to the state hath causioned So surely for myne honor as it shall Make good the place my deedes haue purchased With daunger in the loue and harts of all Ch. Those seruices will serue as waights to charge And presle you vnto death if your foot faile neuer so little vnderneath your charge And will be deem'd donne for your owne auayle And who haue spirits to do the greatest good May do most hurt if they remaine not good Ph. Tush They cannot want my seruice in the state Ch These times want not men to supply the state Ph. I feare not whilst Parmenios
THE TRAGEDIE OF PHILOTAS By SAM DANIEL AT LONDON Printed by G.E. for Simon Waterson and Edward Blount 1605 To the Prince TO you most hopefull Prince not as you are But as you may be do I giue these lines That whē your iudgmēt shal ariue so far As t' ouerlooke th' intricate designes Of vncontented man you may behold With what incounters greatest fortunes cloze What dangers what attempts what manifold Incumbrances ambition vndergoes How hardly men digest felicity How to th' intemperat to the prodigall To wantonesse and vnto luxury Many things want but to ambition all And you shall find the greatest enemy That man can haue is his prosperity Here shall you see how men disguise their ends And playte bad courses vnder pleasing shews How well presumption broken wayes defends Which cleere-eyed iudgment gráuely doth disclose Here shall you see how th' easie multitude Transported take the party of distresse And onely out of passion do conclude Not out of iudgment of mens practises How powres are thought to wrong that wrongs debar And kings not held in danger though they are These ancient representments of times past Tell vs that men haue doo and alwayes runne The selfe same line of action and do cast Their course alike and nothing can be donne Whilst they their ends and nature are the same But will be wrought vpon the selfe-same frame This benefit most noble Prince doth yeeld The sure recordes of Bookes in which we finde The tenure of our state how it was held By all our ancestors and in what kinde We hold the same and likewise how in the end This fraile possession of felicitie Shall to our late posteritie discend By the same pattent of like destinie In them we finde that nothing can accrew To man and his condition that is new And though you haue a Swannet of your owne Which on the bankes of Douen meditates Sweete notes for you and vnto your renowne The glory of his Musique dedicates And in a loftie tune is set to sound The deepe reportes of Sullein tragedies Yet may this last of me be likewise found Amongst the vowes that others sacrifize Vnto the hope of you that you one day May grace this now neglected harmonie Which set vnto your glorious actions may Record the same to all posteritie Though I the remnant of another time Am neuer like to see that happinesse Yet for the zeale that I haue borne to rime And to the Muses wish that good successe To others trauaile that in better place And better comfort they may be incheerd Who shall deserue and who shall haue the grace To haue a Muse held worthy to be heard And know sweete Prince when you shall come to know That t is not in the powre of Kings to raise A spirit for verse that is not borne thereto Nor are they borne in euery Princes dayes For late Elizas raigne gaue birth to more Then all the kings of England did before And it may be the Genius of that time Would leaue to her the glorie in that kind And that the vtmost powers of English Ryme Should be within her peacefull raigne confinde For since that time our songues could neuer thriue But laine as if for though in the prime Of this new rising season we did striue To bring the best we could vnto the time And I although among the latter traine And least of those that sung vnto this land Haue borne my part though in an humble straine And pleasd the gentler that did vnderstand And neuer had my harmlesse Pen at all Distaind with any loose immodestie Nor euer noted to be toucht with gall To aggrauate the worst mans infamy But still haue donne the fairest offices To virtue and the time yet nought preuailes And all our labors are without successe For either fauour or our virtue failes And therefore since I haue out liud the date Of former grace acceptance and delight I would my lines late-borne beyond the fate Of her spent line had neuer come to light So had I not bene tax'd for wishing well Nor now mistaken by the censuring stage Nor in my fame and reputation fell Which I esteeme more then what all the age Or th' earth can giue But yeares hath don this wrong To make me write too much and liue too long And yet I grieue for that vnfinisht frame Which thou deare Muse didst vow to sacrifize Vnto the Bed of peace and in the same Designe our happinesse to memorize Must as it is remaine though as it is It shall to after times relate my zeale To kings and vnto right to quietnesse And to the vnion of the common-weale But this may now seeme a superfluous vow We haue this peace and thou hast sung ynow And more then wil be heard and then as good As not to write as not be vnderstood Sam Dan THE ARGVMENT PHilotas the sonne of Parmenio was a man of great estimation among the Macedonians and next vnto Alexander held to be the most valiant of the Greekes patient of trauaile exceeding bountifull and one that loued his men and friends better then any Noble-man of the Campe but otherwise noted of vaine-glorie and prodigallitie in so much as his father hauing notice of his carriage warned him to make himselfe lesse then he was to auoide the enuie of the Campe and the dislike of the King who grew suspicious of him in respect of the greatnesse of his Father and his owne popularitie and by hauing intelligence of certaine vaunts of his vsed to Antigona a fayre Curtizan borne in the cittie of Pidna with whome being in loue he let fall many braue wordes and bostes of a Soldier to aduance his owne actions and his fathers terming Alexander at euery worde the young man Which speeches Antigona reuealing to a companion of hers were at length brought to Craterus who with the woman carryed them to Alexander whereby Philotas lay open to all the aduantages that might worke his ouerthrow And in the end concealing a conspiracie which was reueald vnto him intended against the King was thereby suspected to haue beene a partie in the plotte but brought before Alexander hee so defended himselfe that hee obtayned his pardon for that time suppd with the King that night and yet the next day notwithstanding was arraignd for the same fact which he stoutlie denying was afterward put to torture and then confest his treason And indeed Alexanders drawing a pedegree from heauen with assuming the Persian magnificence was the cause that withdrew many the hearts of the nobilitie and people from him and by the confession of Philotas was that which gaue a purpose to him and his father to haue subuerted the King assoone as he had established Asia and freed them from other feares which being by Ephestion and Craterus two the most especiall Councellors of Alexander grauely and prouidently discerned was prosecuted in that manner as became their neerenesse and dearenesse with their Lord and maister fitting
with these powres Who out of all proportion must b' aboue And haue vs theirs but they will not be ours And Thais although thou be a Grecian And I a Persian do not envie mee That I imbrace the only gallant man Persia or Greece or all the world can see Thou who art intertain'd and grac'd by all The flowre of honour els do not dispise That vnto mee poore captiue should befall So great a grace in such a worthies eyes Tha, Antigona I enuie not thy loue But thinks thee blest t' inioy him in that sort But tell me truly didst thou euer proue Whether he lou'd in earnest or in sporte Ant. Thais let m' a little glory in my grace Out of the passion of the ioy I feele And tell the' a secret but in any case As y' are a woman do not it reueile One day as I was fitting all alone In comes Philotas from a victory All bloud and dust yet iolly hauing wenne The glory of the day most gallantly And warm'd with honor of his good Successe Relates to mee the daungers he was in Whereat I wondring blam'd his forwardnes Faith wench saies he thus must we fight toyle win To make that yong-man proud thus is he borne Vpon the winges of our disartes our bloud Setts him aboue himselfe and makes him skorne His owne his country and the Authors of his good My father was the first that out from Greece Shewd him the way of Asia set him on And by his proiect raisd the greatest peece Of this proud worke which now he treads vpon Parmenio without Alexander much hath wrought Without Parmenio Alexander hath done nought But let him vse his fortune whilst he may Times haue their chaunge we must not still be lead And sweet Antigona thou mayst one day Yet blesse the howre t' haue knowne Philotas bed Wherewith he sweetly kist me and now deeme If that so great so wise so rare a man Would if he held me not in deare esteeme Haue vttred this t' a captiue Persian But Thais I may no longer stay for feare My lord returne and finde me not within Whose eyes yet neuer saw me any where But in his chamber where I should haue bene And therefore Thais farewell Th. Fare well Antigona Now haue I that which I desired long Layd in my lap by this fond woman here And meanes t' auenge me of a secret wrong That doth concerne my reputation nere This gallant man whom this foole in this wise Vaunts to be hers I must confesse t' haue lou'd And vs'd all th' ingins of these conquering eyes Affections in his hy-built hart t' haue mou'd Yet neuer could for what my labour seekes I see is lost vppon vaine ignorance Whilst he that is the glory of the Greekes Virtues vpholder honours countenance Out of this garnish of his worthy parts Is falne vpon this foolish Persian To whom his secretes grauely he imparts Which she as wisely keepe and gouerne can T is strange to see the humour of these men These great aspiring spirits that should be wise We women shall know all for now and then Out of the humour of their iollities The smoake of their ambition must haue vent And out it comes what rackes should not reuaile For this her humour hath so much of wind That it will burst it selfe if too close pent And none more fit then vs their wisedomes find Who will for loue or want of wit conceale For being the nature of great spirits to loue To be where they may be most eminent And rating of themselues so far aboue Vs in conceipt with whom they do frequent Imagin how we wonder and esteeme AIl that they doo or say which makes them striue To make our admiration more extreame Which they suppose they cannot lesse they giue Notice of their extreame and highest thoughts And then th' opinion that we loue them too Begers a confidence of secrecie Whereby what euer they intend to doo We shall be sure to know it presently But faith I scorne that such a one as shee A silly witted wench should haue this grace To be preferr'd and honor'd before me Hauing but onely beautie and a face I that was euer courted by the Great And gallanist Peeres and Princes of the East Whom Alexander in the greatest state The earth did euer see him made his guest There where this tongue obtained for her merit Eternitie of fame there where these hands Did write in fire the glorie of my spirit And set a trophey that for euer stands Thaeïs Action with the Grecian acts shal be Inregistred alike Thaeis she that fir'd The stateliest Pallace th' earth did euer see Darius house that to the clouds aspir'd She is put back behind Antigona But soone Philotas shall his error see Who thinkes that beautie best mens passions fits For that they vse our bodies not our wittes And vnto Craterus will I presently And him acquaint with all this whose discourse Who I am sure will take it well of vs For these great minions who with enuious eye Looke on each others greatnesse will be glad In such a case of this importancie To haue th' aduantage that may here be had CHORVS WE as the Chorus of the vulgar stand Spectators here to see these great men play Their parts both of obedience and command And censure all they doo and all they say For though we be esteemd but ignorant Yet are we capable of truth and know Where they do well and where their actions want The grace that makes them proue the best in show And though we know not what they do within Where they attire their misteries of state Yet know we by th' euents what plottes haue beene And how they all without do personate We see who well a meaner part became Faile in a greater and disgrace the same We see some worthy of aduancement deem'd Saue when they haue it some againe haue got Good reputation and beene well esteem'd In place of greatnesse which before were not We see affliction act a better scene Then prosperous fortune which hath marr'd it cleane We see that all which we haue praisd in some Haue onely beene their fortune not desart Some warre haue grac'd whom peace doth ill become And lustfull ease hath blemisht all their part Wee see Philotas acts his goodnesse ill And makes his passions to report of him Worse then he is and we doo feare he will Bring his free nature to b' intrapt by them For sure there is some ingin closely laide Against his grace and greatnesse with the King And that vnlesse his humors proue more staide We soone shall see his vtter ruining And his affliction our compassion drawes Which still lookes on mens fortunes not the cause ACTVS 2. SCENA 1. Alexander Ephestion Craterus Alexander EPhestion thou doost Alexander loue Craterus thou the King yet both you meete In one selfe point of loyaltie and loue And both I finde like carefull like discreet Therefore my faithfulst Councellours to you I
thou base traitor impious parracide Who mak'st me loath the bloud that match'd with thine And if I might but haue my will I vow Thou shouldst not die by other hand then mine Alex. Fie Caenus what a barbarous course is this He first must to his accusation pleade And haue his triall formall to our lawes And let him make the best of his bad cause Philotas here the Macedonians are To iudge your fact what language wilt thou vse Phi. The Persian language if it please your grace For that beside the Macedonians here Are many that will better vnderstand If I shall vse the speach your grace hath vs'd Which was I hold vnto no other end But that the most men here might vnderstand Al. See how his natiue language he disdaines But let him speake at large as he desires So long as you remember he doth hate Besides the speech our glory and the state Exit Phi. Black are the coulours laid vpon the crime Wherewith my faith stands chargd my worthy lordes That as behind in fortune so in time I come too late to cleere the same with words My condemnation is gone out before My innocency and my iust defence And takes vp all your harts and leaues no dore For mine excuse to haue an enterance That destitute of all compassion now Betwixt an vpright conscience of desart And an vniust disgrace I know not how To satisfie the time and mine owne hart Authority lookes with so sterne an eye Vpon this wofull Bar and must haue still Such an aduantage ouer misery As that it will make good all that it will He who should onely iudge my cause is gone And why he would not stay I do not see Since when my cause were heard his powre alone As well might then condemne as set me free Nor can I by his absence now be clear'd Whose presence hath condemn'd me thus vnheard And though the greeuance of a prisoners tongue May both superfluous and disgracefull seeme Which doth not sue but shewes the iudge his wrong Yet pardon mee I must not disesteme My rightfull cause for being dispisd nor must Forsake my selfe though I am leaft of all Feare cannot make my innocence vniust Vnto it selfe to giue my truth the fall And I had rather seeing how my fortune drawes My words should be deformed then my cause I know that nothing is more delicate Then is the sence and feeling of a state The clappe the bruit the feare but of a hurt In kings behalfes thrusts with that violence The subiects will to prosecute report As they condemne ere they discerne th' offence Eph. Philotas you deceiue your self in this That thinke to win compassion and beliefe B' impugning iustice and to make men gesse We doo you wrong out of our heat of griefe Or that our place or passions did lay more On your misfortunes then your owne deseart Or haue not well discernd your fact before Or would without due proofes your state subuert These are the vsuall theames of traytors tongues Who practise mischiefs and complaine of wrongs Your treasons are too manifestly knowne To maske in other liuery then their owne Cra. Thinke not that we are set to charge you here With bare suspicions but with open fact And with a treason that appeares as cleare As is the sunne and knowne to be your act Ph. What is this treason who accuses mee Cra. The processe of the whole conspiracy Ph. But wher 's the man that names me to be one Cra. Here this dead traitor shews you to be one Ph. How can he dead accuse me of the same Whom liuing he nor did nor yet could name Cra. But we can other testimonie show From those who were your chiefest complices Ph. I am not to b' adiudgd in law you know By testimony but by witnesses Let them be here produc'd vnto my face That can auouch m' a party in this case My Lords and fellowe soldiers if of those Whom Dymnus nominated any one Out of his tortures will a word disclose To shew I was a party I haue done Thinke not so great a number euer will Endure their torments and themselues accuse And leaue me out Since men in such case still Will rather slander others then excuse Calamity malignant is and he That suffers iustly for his guiltinesse Eases his owne affliction but to see Others tormented in the same distresse And yet I feare not whatsoeuer they By rackes and tortures can be forest to say Had I bene one would Dymnus haue conceald My name being held to be the principall would he not for his glory haue reueald The best to him to whom he must tell all Nay if he falsly then had nam'd me one To grace himselfe must I of force be one Alas if Ceballinus had not come to me And giuen me note of this conspiracy I had not stood here now but bin as free From question as I am from treachery That is the only cloud that thundereth On my disgrace Which had I deemed true Or could but haue deuind of Dymnus death Philotas had my Lords sat therewith you My fault was to haue bene too credulous Wherein I shewd my weaknesse I confesse Cra. Philotas what a monarch and confesse Your imperfections and your weaknes Phi. O Craterus do not insult vpon calamity It is a barberous grossnes to lay on The weight of skorne where heauy misery To much already waies mens fortunes downe For if the cause be ill I vndergo The law and not reproch must make it so Caen. Ther 's no reproch can euer be too much To lay on traitors whose desearts are such Ph. Men vse the most reproches where they feare The cause will better proue then their desire Caen. But sir a traitors cause that is so cleere As this of yours will neuer need that feare Phi. I ame no traitor but suspected one For not beleiuing a conspiracie And mere suspect by law condemneth none They are approued facts for which men die Cra. The law in treasons doth the will correct With like seuerenes as it doth th' effect Th' affection is the essence of th' offence The execution onely but th' accidence To haue but will'd it is t' haue done the same Phi. I did not erre in will but in beliefe And if that be a traitor then am I the cheefe Cra. Yea but your will made your beliefe consent To hide th' practise till th' accomplishment Phi. Beliefe turnes not by motions of our will And it was but the euent that made that ill Some facts men may excuse though not defend Where will fortune haue a diuers end Th' example of my father made me feare To be too forward to relate things heard Who writing to the king wisht him forbeare The potion his phisition had prepard For that he heard Darius tempted had His faith with many talents to b' vntrue And yet his druggs in th' end not prouing bad Did make my fathers care seeme more then due For oft by an
vntimely dilligence A busy faith may giue a prince offence So that what shall wee doo if wee reueale Wee are dispis'd suspected if conceale And as for this where euer now thou bee O Alexander thou hast pardon'd me Thou hast alreadie giuen me thy hand The earnest of thy reconciled hart And therefore now ô let thy goodnes stand Vnto thy word and be thou as thou wert Yf thou beleuidst me then I am absolud Yf pardon'd me these fetters are dissolu'd What haue I els deseru'd since yester night When at thy table I such grace did finde What hainous crime hath since beene brought to light To wrong my faith and to diuert thy mind That from a restfull quiet most profound Sleeping in my misfortunes made secure Both by thy hand and by a conscience sound I must be wak't for Gyues for robes impure For all disgrace that on me wrath could lay And see the worst of shame ere I saw day When I least thought that others crueltie Should haue wrought more thē thine owne clemency Cra. Philotas whatsoeuer glosse you lay Vpon your rotten cause it is in vaine Your pride your cariage euer did bewray Your discontent your malice and disdaine You cannot palliat mischiefe but it will Th'row all the fairest couerings of deceipt Be alwaies seene we know those streames of ill Flow'd from that head that feed them with conceipt You foster malcontents you intertaine All humors you all factions must imbrace Yow vaunt your owne exploites and you disdaine The kings proceedings and his stile disgrace You promise mountaines and you draw men on With hopes of greater good then hath bene seene You braggd of late that something would be donne Whereby your Concubine should be a Queene And now we see the thing that should be donne But God be praisd we see you first vndonne Ph. Ah do not make my nature if it had So pliable a sterne of disposition To turne to euery kindnes to be bad For doing good to men of all condition Make not you charitie t' interprete all Is donne for fauor to be donne for show And that we in our bounties prodigall Vpon our ends not on mens needes bestow Let not my one daies error make you tell That all my life-time I did neuer well And that because this falles out to be ill That what I did did tend vnto this ill It is vniust to ioine t' a present fact More of time past then it hath euer had Before to doo with-all as if it lackt Sufficient matter to make it bad I doo confesse indeed I wrote somthing Against this title of the sonne of Ioue And that not of the king but to the king I freely vs'd these words out of my loue And thereby hath that dangerous liberty Of speaking truth with trust on former grace Betraid my meaning vnto emnity And drawne an argument of my disgrace So that I see though I spake what I ought It was not in that maner as I ought And God forbid that euer soldiers words Should be made lyable vnto misdeedes When fainting in their march tyrd in the fight Sick in their tent stopping their wounds that bleedes Or haut and iolly after conquest gote They shall out of their heate vse words vnkind Their deeds deserue to haue them rather thought The passion of the season then their minde For souldiers ioy or wrath is measurelesse Rapt with an instant motion and we blame We hate we prayse we pitty in excesse According as our present passions flame Sometimes to passe the Ocean we would faine Sometimes to other worlds and sometimes slack And idle with our conquests intertaine A sullen humor of returning back All which conceipts one trumpets sound doth end And each man running to his rankes doth lose What in our tents dislike vs and we spend All that conceiued wrath vpon our foes And words if they proceed of leuity Are to be skornd of madnesse pittied If out of malice or of iniury To be remiss'd or vnacknowledged For of themselues they vanish by disdaine But if pursude they will be thought not vaine Cra. But wordes according to the person way If his designes are hainous so are they They are the tinder of sedition still Wherewith you kindle fiers inflame mens will Phi. Craterus you haue th' aduantage of the day The law is yours to say what you will say And yet doth all your Glosse but beare the sence Onely of my misfortune not offence Had I pretended mischief to the king Could not I haue effected it without Dimnus did not my free accesse bring Continuall meanes t' haue brought the same about Was not I since I heard the thing discride Alone and arm'd in priuate with his grace What hindred me that then I had not tride T' haue done that mischiefe hauing time and place Cra. Philotas euen the prouidence aboue Protectresse of the sacred state of kings That neuer suffers trecherie to haue Good councell neuer in this case but bringes Confusion to the actors did vndo Your harts in what you went about to do Phi. But yet dispayre we see doth thrust men on Se'ing no way els t' vndoo er be vndon Cra. That same dispaire doth likewise let men fall In that amaze they can do nought at all Phi. Well well my Lords my seruice hath made knowne The faith I owe my Soueraigne and the state Philotas forwardnesse hath euer showne Vnto all nations at how high a rate I prizd my king and at how low my bloud To do him honor and my countrie good Eph. We blame not what y'haue bene but what you are We accuse not here your valour but your fact Not to haue bene a leader in the warre But an ill subiect in a wicked act Although we know thrust rather with the loue Of your owne glory then with duty lead You haue done much yet all your courses proue You tide still your atchievements to the head Of your owne honor when it had bin meete You had them layd downe at your soueraignes feete God giues to kings the honor to commaund To subiects all their glory to obay Who ought in time of war as rampiers stand In peace as th' ornaments of state aray The king hath recompensd your seruices With better loue then you shew thankfulnesse By grace he made you greater then you were By nature you receiu'd that which he was not tide To giue to you his guift was far more deere Then all you did in making you imployd But say your seruice hath deseru'd at all This one offence hath made it odious all And therefore here in vaine you vse that meane To plead for life which you haue canceald cleane Phi. My lord you far mistake mee if you deeme I plead for life that poore weake blast of breath From which so oft I ran with light esteeme And so well haue acquainted mee with death No no my Lords it is not that I feare It is mine honor that I seeke to cleare And which if my