[An altar set forth for the masque.]
Enter Guardiano [with a caltrop] and Ward
GUARDIANO
Speak, hast thou any sense of thy abuse?
Dost thou know what wrong’s done thee?
WARD
I were an ass else.
I cannot wash my face but I am feeling on’t.
GUARDIANO
Here, take this caltrop, then convey it secretly
Into the place I showed you. Look you, sir,
This is the trapdoor to’t.
WARD
I know that of old, uncle, since the last triumph.
Here rose up a devil with one eye, I remember, with a company of fireworks at’s tail.
GUARDIANO
Prithee leave squibbing now. Mark me, and fail not;
But when thou hear’st me give a stamp, down with’t;
The villain’s caught then.
WARD
If I miss you, hang me.
I love to catch a villain, and your stamp shall go current, I warrant you. But how shall I rise up and let him down too, all at one hole? That will be a horrible puzzle. You know I have a part in’t; I play Slander.
GUARDIANO
True, but never make you ready for’t.
WARD
No? My clothes are bought and all, and a foul fiend’s head with a long contumelious tongue i’th’ chaps on’t, a very fit shape for Slander i’th’ out-parishes.
GUARDIANO
It shall not come so far; thou understand’st it not.
WARD
O, O!
GUARDIANO
He shall lie deep enough ere that time,
And stick first upon those.
WARD
Now I conceive you, guardianer.
GUARDIANO
Away; list to the privy stamp, that’s all thy part.
WARD
Stamp my horns in a mortar if I miss you, and give the powder in white wine to sick cuckolds, a very present remedy for the headache.
Exit [through the trapdoor, with the caltrop]
GUARDIANO
If this should any way miscarry now,
As, if the fool be nimble enough, ’tis certain,
The pages that present the swift-winged Cupids
Are taught to hit him with their shafts of love —
Fitting his part — which I have cunningly poisoned.
He cannot scape my fury; and those ills
Will be laid all on fortune, not our wills,
That’s all the sport on’t. For who will imagine
That at the celebration of this night
Any mischance that haps can flow from spite?
Exit
Flourish. Enter, above, Duke, Bianca, Lord Cardinal, Fabritio, and other cardinals, lords, and ladies, in state
DUKE
Now our fair duchess, your delight shall witness
How you’re beloved and honoured. All the glories
Bestowed upon the gladness of this night
Are done for your bright sake.
BIANCA
I am the more
In debt, my lord, to loves and courtesies
That offer up themselves so bounteously
To do me honoured grace without my merit.
DUKE
A goodness set in greatness, how it sparkles
Afar off like pure diamonds set in gold!
[To Bianca and Lord Cardinal]
How perfect my desires were might I witness
But a fair noble peace ‘twixt your two spirits!
The reconcilement would be more sweet to me
Than longer life to him that fears to die.
Good sir!
LORD CARDINAL
I profess peace, and am content.
DUKE
I’ll see the seal upon’t, and then ’tis firm.
LORD CARDINAL
You shall have all your wish.
[He kisses Bianca]
DUKE
I have all indeed now.
BIANCA
[aside]
But I have made surer work. This shall not blind me.
He that begins so early to reprove,
Quickly rid him, or look for little love.
Beware a brother’s envy; he’s next heir too.
Cardinal, you die this night; the plot’s laid surely.
In time of sports death may steal in securely.
Then ’tis least thought on.
For he that’s most religious, holy friend,
Does not at all hours think upon his end.
He has his times of frailty, and his thoughts
Their transportations too through flesh and blood,
For all his zeal, his learning, and his light,
As well as we, poor souls, that sin by night.
[Fabritio gives Duke a paper]
DUKE
What’s this, Fabritio?
FABRITIO
Marry, my lord, the model
Of what’s presented.
DUKE
O, we thank their loves. —
Sweet duchess, take your seat; list to the argument.
[They sit, and he] reads
‘There is a nymph that haunts the woods and springs,
In love with two at once, and they with her.
Equal it runs; but, to decide these things,
The cause to mighty Juno they refer,
She being the marriage goddess. The two lovers,
They offer sighs, the nymph a sacrifice,
All to please Juno, who by signs discovers
How the event shall be. So that strife dies.
Then springs a second, for the man refused
Grows discontent and, out of love abused,
He raises Slander up, like a black fiend,
To disgrace th’other, which pays him i’th’ end.’
BIANCA
In troth, my lord, a pretty, pleasing argument,
And fits th’occasion well. Envy and Slander
Are things soon raised against two faithful lovers;
But comfort is, they are not long unrewarded.
Music
DUKE
This music shows they’re upon entrance now.
BIANCA
[aside]
Then enter all my wishes.
Enter [below] Hymen in yellow, Ganymede in a blue robe powdered with stars, and Hebe in a white robe with golden stars, with covered cups in their hands. They dance a short dance, then, bowing to the Duke, etc., Hymen speaks
HYMEN
[giving Bianca a cup]
To thee, fair bride, Hymen offers up
Of nuptial joys this the celestial cup.
Taste it, and thou shalt ever find
Love in thy bed, peace in thy mind.
BIANCA
We’ll taste you sure; ‘twere pity to disgrace
So pretty a beginning.
[She drinks]
DUKE
’Twas spoke nobly.
GANYMEDE
Two cups of nectar have we begged from love.
Hebe, give that to innocence, I this to love.
[He gives Duke a cup, and Hebe gives Lord Cardinal a cup]
Take heed of stumbling more; look to your way;
Remember still the Via Lactea.
[The Duke and Lord Cardinal drink]
HEBE
Well, Ganymede, you have more faults, though not so known.
I spilt one cup, but you have filched many a one.
HYMEN
No more; forbear. For Hymen’s heart
In love we met, and so let’s part. Exeunt masquers
DUKE
But soft: here’s no such persons in the argument
As these three, Hymen, Hebe, Ganymede.
The actors that this model here discovers
Are only four, Juno, a nymph, two lovers.
BIANCA
This is some antemasque, belike, my lord,
To entertain time. Now my peace is perfect,
Let sports come on apace. Now is their time, my lord.
Music
Hark you, you hear from ‘em!
Enter [below] two dressed like nymphs, bearing two tapers lighted; then Isabella, dressed with flowers and garlands, bearing a censer with fire in it.
DUKE
The nymph indeed.
They set the censer and tapers on Juno’s altar, with much reverence, this ditty being sung in parts:
[ISABELLA and the NYMPHS]
Juno, nuptial goddess,
Thou that rul’st o’er coupled bodies,
Ti’st man to woman never to forsake her,
Thou only powerful marriage-maker,
Pity this amazed affection.
I love both, and both love me;
Nor know I where to give rejection,
My heart likes so equally,
Till thou set’st right my peace of life
And with thy power conclude this strife.
ISABELLA
Now with my thanks depart you to the springs,
I to these wells of love. [Exeunt nymphs]
Thou sacred goddess
And queen of nuptials, daughter to great Saturn,
Sister and wife to Jove, imperial Juno,
Pity this passionate conflict in my breast,
This tedious war ‘twixt two affections.
Crown one with victory, and my heart’s at peace.
Enter [below] Hippolito and Guardiano, like shepherds
HIPPOLITO
Make me that happy man, thou mighty goddess.
GUARDIANO
But I live most in hope if truest love
Merit the greatest comfort.
ISABELLA
I love both
With such an even and fair affection,
I know not which to speak for, which to wish for,
Till thou, great arbitress ‘twixt lovers’ hearts,
By thy auspicious grace design the man;
Which pity I implore.
HIPPOLITO and GUARDIANO
We all implore it.
Livia descends, like Juno [with her pages like two winged Cupids holding bows and arrows]
ISABELLA
And after sighs, contrition’s truest odours,
I offer to thy powerful deity
This precious incense. May it ascend peacefully.
[Incense ascends from the censer]
[Aside] And if it keep true touch, my good aunt Juno,
‘Twill try your immortality er’t be long, I fear you’ll never get so nigh heaven again
When you’re once down.
LIVIA
Though you and your affection
Seem all as dark to our illustrious brightness
As night’s inheritance, hell, we pity you,
And your requests are granted. You ask signs;
They shall be given you. We’ll be gracious to you.
He of those twain which we determine for you
Love’s arrows shall wound twice. The later wound
Betokens love in age; for so are all
Whose love continues firmly all their lifetime
Twice wounded at their marriage, else affection
Dies when youth ends. [Aside] This savour overcomes me. —
Now, for a sign of wealth and golden days,
Bright-eyed prosperity which all couples love,
Ay, and makes love, take that.
[She throws flaming gold upon Isabella’s lap]
Our brother Jove
Never denies us of his burning treasure,
T’express bounty.
Isabella falls and dies
DUKE
She falls down upon’t.
What’s the conceit of that?
FABRITIO
As overjoyed, belike.
Too much prosperity overjoys us all,
And she has her lapful, it seems, my lord.
DUKE
This swerves a little from the argument though.
Look you, my lords.
GUARDIANO
[aside]
All’s fast. Now comes my part to toll him hither;
Then with a stamp given he’s dispatched as cunningly.
HIPPOLITO
Stark dead. O, treachery! Cruelly made away!
[He strikes the floor in grief. The trapdoor opens, and Guardiano falls through]
How’s that?
FABRITIO
Look, there’s one of the lovers dropped away too.
DUKE
Why, sure this plot’s drawn false; here’s no such thing.
LIVIA
O, I am sick to th’ death. Let me down quickly.
This fume is deadly. O, ‘t has poisoned me!
[She is let down to the stage, with the Cupids]
My subtlety is sped: her art has quitted me;
My own ambition pulls me down to ruin. [She dies]
HIPPOLITO
[to Isabella]
Nay, then I kiss thy cold lips, and applaud
This thy revenge in death.
Cupids shoot [at Hippolito]
FABRITIO
Look, Juno’s down too.
What makes she there? Her pride should keep aloft.
She was wont to scorn the earth in other shows.
Methinks her peacock feathers are much pulled.
HIPPOLITO
O, death runs through my blood, in a wild flame too.
Plague of those Cupids! Some lay hold on ‘em.
Let ‘em not scape; they have spoiled me. The shaft’s deadly.
DUKE
I have lost myself in this quite.
HIPPOLITO
My great lords, we are all confounded.
DUKE
How?
HIPPOLITO
Dead; and I worse.
FABRITIO
Dead? My girl dead? I hope
My sister Juno has not served me so.
HIPPOLITO
Lust and forgetfulness has been amongst us,
And we are brought to nothing. Some blest charity
Lend me the speeding pity of his sword
To quench this lire in blood. Leantio’s death
Has brought all this upon us — now I taste it —
And made us lay plots to confound each other.
The event so proves it; and man’s understanding
Is riper at his fall than all his lifetime.
[Pointing to Livia] She, in a madness for her lover’s death,
Revealed a fearful lust in our near bloods,
For which I am punished dreadfully and unlooked for;
Proved her own ruin too. Vengeance met vengeance
Like a set match, as if the plagues of sin
Had been agreed to meet here all together.
But how her fawning partner fell I reach not,
Unless caught by some springe of his own setting;
For, on my pain, he never dreamed of dying.
The plot was all his own, and he had cunning
Enough to save himself; but ’tis the property
Of guilty deeds to draw your wise men downward;
Therefore the wonder ceases. — O, this torment!
DUKE
Our guard below there!
Enter a Lord [below] with a guard [bearing halberds]
LORD
[to Hippolito] My lord.
HIPPOLITO
[aside] Run and meet death then,
And cut off time and pain.
[He runs upon a halberd, and dies]
LORD
[to the Duke] Behold, my lord.
He’s run his breast upon a weapon’s point.
DUKE
Upon the first night of our nuptial honours,
Destruction play her triumph, and great mischiefs
Masque in expected pleasures. ’Tis prodigious;
They’re things most fearfully ominous; I like ‘em not.
Remove these ruined bodies from our eyes.
[The Lord and guard exeunt with the bodies]
BIANCA
[aside, looking on Lord Cardinal]
Not yet? No change? When falls he to the earth?
[Enter a Lord, above]
LORD
[giving Duke a paper]
Please but your excellence to peruse that paper,
Which is a brief confession from the heart
Of him that fell first, ere his soul departed;
And there the darkness of these deeds speaks plainly.
’Tis the full scope, the manner, and intent.
His ward, that ignorantly let him down,
Fear put to present flight at the voice of him.
BIANCA
[aside] Nor yet?
DUKE
[to Lord Cardinal]
Read, read; for I am lost in sight and strength.
LORD CARDINAL
My noble brother!
BIANCA
O, the curse of wretchedness!
My deadly hand is fall’n upon my lord.
Destruction take me to thee! — Give me way.
The pains and plagues of a lost soul upon him
That hinders me a moment.
DUKE
My heart swells bigger yet. Help here; break’t ope.
My breast flies open next. [He dies]
BIANCA
O, with the poison
That was prepared for thee, thee, Cardinal.
’Twas meant for thee.
LORD CARDINAL Poor prince!
BIANCA
Accursed error!
[To Duke] Give me thy last breath, thou infected bosom,
And wrap two spirits in one poisoned vapour.
[She kisses him]
Thus, thus reward thy murderer, and turn death
Into a parting kiss. My soul stands ready at my lips,
E’en vexed to stay one minute after thee.
LORD CARDINAL
The greatest sorrow and astonishment
That ever struck the general peace of Florence
Dwells in this hour.
BIANCA
So my desires are satisfied:
I feel death’s power within me.
Thou hast prevailed in something, cursed poison,
Though thy chief force was spent in my lord’s bosom.
But my deformity in spirit’s more foul;
A blemished face best fits a leprous soul.
What make I here? These are all strangers to me,
Not known but by their malice now thou’rt gone;
Nor do I seek their pities.
[She drinks from the poisoned cup]
LORD CARDINAL
O, restrain
Her ignorant wilful hand!
BIANCA
Now do; ’tis done.
Leantio, now I feel the breach of marriage
At my heart-breaking. O, the deadly snares
That women set for women, without pity
Either to soul or honour! Learn by me
To know your foes. In this belief I die:
Like our own sex we have no enemy, no enemy.
LORD
[to Lord Cardinal] See, my lord,
What shift she’s made to be her own destruction.
BIANCA
Pride, greatness, honours, beauty, youth, ambition,
You must all down together, there’s no help for’t.
Yet this my gladness is, that I remove
Tasting the same death in a cup of love. [She dies]
LORD CARDINAL
Sin, what thou art these ruins show too piteously.
Two kings on one throne cannot sit together,
But one must needs down, for his title’s wrong;
So where lust reigns, that prince cannot reign long.
Exeunt [with the bodies]
Finis