reason ledde the king â–ª My Father thus without all my desert To reue me halfe the kingdome which by course Of law and nature should remayne to me Hermon If you with stubborne and vntamed pryde Had stood against him in rebelling wise Or if with grudging minde you had enuied So slow a slidyng of his aged yeres Or sought before your time to haste the course Of fatall death vpon his royall head Or stained your stocke with murder of your kyn Some face of reason might perhaps haue seemed To yelde some likely cause to spoyle ye thus Ferrox The wrekeful Gods powre on my cursed head Eternall plagues and neuer dying woes The hellish prince adiudge my dampned ghost To Tantales thirste or proude Ixions wheele Or cruell gripe to gnaw my growing harte To during tormentes and vnquenched flames If euer I conceyued so foule a thought To wisshe his ende of life or yet of reigne Dordan Ne yet your father O most noble Prince Did euer thinke so fowle a thing of you For he with more than fathers tendre loue While yet the fates do lende him life to rule Who long might lyue to see your ruling well To you my Lorde and to his other sonne Lo he resignes his realme and royaltie Which neuer would so wise a Prince haue done If he had once misdemed that in your harte There euer lodged so vnkinde a thought But tendre loue my Lorde and setled truste Of your good nature and your noble minde Made him to place you thus in royall throne And now to geue you half his realme to guide Yea and that halfe which in abounding store Of things that serue to make a welthy realme In stately cities and in frutefull soyle In temperate breathing of the milder heauen In thinges of nedefull vse which frendly sea Transportes by traffike from the forreine partes In flowing wealth in honour and in force Doth passe the double value of the parte That Porrex hath allotted to his reigne Such is your case such is your fathers loue Ferrex Ah loue my frendes loue wrongs not whoÌ„ he loues Dordan Ne yet he wrongeth you that geueth you So large a reigne ere that the course of time Bring you to kingdome by discended right Which time perhaps might end your time before Ferrex Is this no wrong say you to reaue from me My natiue right of halfe so great a realme And thus to matche his yonger sonne with me In egall power and in as great degree Yea and what sonne the sonne whose swelling pride Woulde neuer yelde one poinct of reuerence Whan I the elder and apparaunt heire Stoode in the likelihode to possesse the whole Yea and that sonne which from his childish age Enuieth myne honour and doth hate my life What will he now do when his pride his rage The mindefull malice of his grudging harte Is armed with force with wealth and kingly state Hermon Was this not wrong yea yll aduised wrong To giue so mad a man so sharpe a sworde To so great perill of so great missehappe Wide open thus to set so large a waye Dordan Alas my Lord what griefull thing is this That of your brother you can thinke so ill I neuer saw him vtter likelie signe Whereby a man might see or once misdeme Such hate of you ne such vnyelding pride Ill is their counsell shamefull be their ende That raysing such mistrustfull feare in you Sowing the seede of such vnkindly hate Trauaile by treason to destroy you both Wise is your brother and of noble hope Worthie to welde a large and mightie realme So much a stronger frende haue you therby Whose strength is your strength if you gree in one Hermon If nature and the Goddes had pinched so Their flowing bountie and their noble giftes Of princelie qualities from you my Lorde And powrde them all at ones in wastfull wise Upon your fathers yonger sonne alone Perhappes there be that in your preiudice Would say that birth should yeld to worthinesse But sithe in eche good gift and princelie arte Ye are his matche and in the chiefe of all In mildenesse and in sobre gouernaunce Ye farre surmount And sith there is in you Sufficing skill and hopefull towardnesse To weld the whole and match your elders prayse I see no cause why ye should loose the halfe Ne would I wisshe you yelde to such a losse Lest your milde sufferaunce of so great a wronge Be deemed cowardishe and simple dreade Which shall geue courage to the fierie head Of your yonge brother to inuade the whole While yet therfore stickes in the peoples minde The lothed wrong of your disheritaunce And ere your brother haue by settled power By guile full cloke of an alluring showe Got him some force and fauour in the realme And while the noble Queene your mother lyues To worke and practise all for your auaile Attempt redresse by armes and wreake your self Upon his life that gayneth by your losse Who nowe to shame of you and griefe of vs In your owne kingdome triumphes ouer you Shew now your courage meete for kingly state That they which haue auowed to spend theyr goods Their landes their liues and honours in your cause â–ª May be the bolder to mainteyne your parte When they do see that cowarde feare in you Shall not betray ne faile their faithfull hartes If once the death of Porrex ende the strife And pay the price of his vsurped reigne Your mother shall perswade the angry kyng The Lords your frends eke shall appease his rage For they be wise and well they can forsee That ere longe time your aged fathers death Will bryng a time when you shall well requite Their frendlie fauour or their hatefull spite Yea or their slackenesse to auaunce your cause Wise men do not so hang on passing staâ—â— Of present Princes chiefely in their age But they will further cast their reaching eye To viewe and weye the times and reignes to come Ne is it likely though the kyng be wrothe That he yet will or that the realme will beare Extreme reuenge vpon his onely sonne Or if he woulde what one is he that dare Be minister to such an enterprise And here you be now placed in your owne Amyd your Frendes your vassalles and your strength We shall defende and kepe your person safe Till either counsell turne his tender minde Or age or sorrow end his werie dayes But if the feare of Goddes and secrete grudge Of natures law repining at the fact Withholde your courage from so great attempt Know ye that lust of kingdomes hath no law The Goddes do beare and well allow in kinges The thinges they abhorre in rascall routes When kinges on slender quarrells runne to warres And then in cruell and vnkindely wise Commaund theftes rapes murders of innocentes The spoile of townes ruines of mighty realmes Thinke you such princes do suppose them selues Subiect to lawes of kinde and feare of Gods Murders and violent theftes in priuate men Are hainous crimes
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
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
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