Another part of the forest
Enter Lapyrus disguised.
LAPYRUS
Villain and fugitive, where wilt thou hide
Th’ abhorred burthen of thy wretched flesh?
In what disguise canst thou be safe and free,
Having betray’d thy [country]? Base Lapyrus!
Earth, stretch thy throat, take down this bitter pill,
Loathing the hateful taste of his own will!
Enter the [Old] Queen and two Soldiers pursuing her.
[OLD] QUEEN
Oh, help! Good heaven, save a poor wretch from slaughter!
[FIRST SOLIDER]
Stop her mouth first; soldiers must have their sport.
’Tis dearly earn’d: they venture their blood for’t.
LAPYRUS
[Aside] A mother so enforc’d by pitiless slaves?
Let me redeem my honour in her rescue,
And in this deed my former baseness die.
[SECOND SOLDIER]
Come, come!
[OLD] QUEEN
If ever woman bore you —
LAPYRUS
[Drawing his sword] Whoe’er bore them, monsters begot them! Merciless, damn’d villains!
BOTH [SOLDIERS]
Hold, hold, sir! We are soldiers, but do not love to fight.
Exeunt [Soldiers].
[OLD] QUEEN
Let me dissuade you from all hope of recompense
Save thanks and prayers, which are the beggar’s gifts.
LAPYRUS
You cannot give me that I have more need of
Than prayers, for my soul hath a poor stock;
There’s a fair house within, but ’tis ill-furnish’d:
There wants true tears for hangings, penitent falls,
For without prayers, soldiers are but bare walls.
Whence are you that with such a careful charge
Dare pass this dangerous forest?
[OLD] QUEEN
Generous sir,
I was of Lydia once, as happy then
As now unfortunate, till one Lapyrus,
That traitorous villain nephew to the king,
Sought the confusion of his state and him,
And with a secret army girt his land
When peace was plighted by his enemy’s hand,
Little expecting such unnatural treason
From forth a kinsman’s bosom; all admir’d
But I his miserable queen.
LAPYRUS aside
Oh, sink into perdition! — Let me hear no further.
[OLD] QUEEN
I’ll tell you all, for your so late attempt
Confirms you honest, and my thoughts so keep you:
I, frighted at new wars and his false breath,
Chose rather with these babes this lingering death.
LAPYRUS
[Aside] Oh, in her words I endure a thousand deaths!
[OLD] QUEEN
The truth of this sad story hath been yours;
Now, courteous sir, may I request your name,
That in my prayers I may place the fame.
LAPYRUS
[Aside] I’ll put my death into her woeful hands.
[OLD] QUEEN
I hear you not, sir; I desire [your] name.
LAPYRUS
To add some small content to your distress,
Know that Lapyrus, whom your miseries
May rightly curse, and be revenged justly,
Lurks in this forest equally distress’d.
[OLD] QUEEN
In this forest lurks that abhorred villain?
LAPYRUS
These eyes did see him, and, faith, lady, say
If you should meet that worst of villains here,
That treacher, monster, what would you attempt?
[OLD] QUEEN
His speedy death; I should forget all mercy,
Had I but means fully to express my vengeance.
LAPYRUS
You would not, queen.
[OLD] QUEEN
No? By these infants’ tears
That weep for hunger, I would throughly do’t.
LAPYRUS
See, yonder he comes.
[OLD] QUEEN
Oh, where?
LAPYRUS
Here, take my sword.
Are you yet constant? Shame your sex and be so.
Will you do’t?
[OLD] QUEEN
I see him not.
LAPYRUS
Strike him through his guilt and treachery
And let him see the horrors of his perjur’d soul.
Are you ready?
[OLD] QUEEN
Pray, let me see him first.
[Lapyrus] pulls off his false beard and kneels.
LAPYRUS
You see him now: now do’t.
[OLD] QUEEN
Lapyrus!
Oh, fortunate revenge! Now all thy villainies
Shall be at once requited: thy country’s ruin,
The king thy uncle’s sorrows, my own miseries,
Shall at this minute all one vengeance meet.
[Aside] Alas, he doth submit, prays, and relents.
Who could wish more? None made from woman can;
Small glory ‘twere to kill a kneeling man,
When he in penitent sighs his soul commends:
Thou send’st him to the gods, thyself to th’ fiends.
But hearken to thy piteous infants’ cries,
And th’are for vengeance. Peace, then: now he dies.
Ingrateful woman, he delivered thee
From ravishment: canst thou his murtheress be?
What’s riches to thy honour? That rare treasure
Which worlds redeem not, yet ’tis lost at pleasure.
Kill him that preserv’d that? And in thy rescue
His noble rage so manfully behav’d. —
Rise, rise; he that repents is ever sav’d.
LAPYRUS
Will misery yet a longer life afford,
To see a queen so poor, not worth her word?
[OLD] QUEEN
I am better than my word; my word was death.
LAPYRUS
Man’s ne’er past grief till he be past his breath.
[OLD] QUEEN
I pardon all, Lapyrus.
LAPYRUS
Do not do’t.
[OLD] QUEEN
And only to one penance I enjoin thee
For all thy faults past: while we here remain
Within this forest, this thy task shall be,
To procure succour to my babes and me.
LAPYRUS
And if I fail, may the earth swallow me.
[OLD] QUEEN
Th’art now grown good; here could I ever dwell,
Were the old king my husband safe and well.
Exeunt.