Locrine / Mucedorus | Page 4

lieth not in us to disannul,
And he that would
annihilate his mind,
Soaring with Icarus too near the sun,
May
catch a fall with young Bellerophon.
For when the fatal sisters have
decreed
To separate us from this earthly mould,
No mortal force
can countermand their minds:
Then, worthy Lord, since there's no
way but one,
Cease your laments, and leave your grievous moan.
CORINEIUS.
Your highness knows how many victories,
How
many trophies I erected have
Triumphantly in every place we came.

The Grecian Monarch, warlike Pandrassus,
And all the crew of the
Molossians;
Goffarius, the arm strong King of Gauls,
And all the
borders of great Aquitaine,
Have felt the force of our victorious arms,

And to their cost beheld our chivalry.
Where ere Aurora, handmaid
of the Sun,
Where ere the Sun, bright guardiant of the day,
Where
ere the joyful day with cheerful light,
Where ere the light illuminates
the world,
The Trojan's glory flies with golden wings,
Wings that
do soar beyond fell ennui's flight.
The fame of Brutus and his
followers
Pierceth the skies, and with the skies the throne
Of
mighty Jove, Commander of the world.
Then worthy Brutus, leave
these sad laments;
Comfort your self with this your great renown,

And fear not death though he seem terrible.
BRUTUS.
Nay, Corineius, you mistake my mind
In construing
wrong the cause of my complaints.

I feared to yield my self to fatal
death!
God knows it was the least of all my thoughts;
A greater care
torments my very bones,
And makes me tremble at the thought of it,

And in you, Lordings, doth the substance lie.

THRASI.
Most noble Lord, if ought your loyal peers
Accomplish
may, to ease your lingering grief,
I, in the name of all, protest to you,

That we will boldly enterprise the same,
Were it to enter to black
Tartarus,
Where triple Cerberus with his venomous throat,
Scarreth
the ghosts with high resounding noise.
We'll either rent the bowels of
the earth,
Searching the entrails of the brutish earth,
Or, with his
Ixion's overdaring son,
Be bound in chains of everduring steel.
BRUTUS.
Then harken to your sovereign's latest words,
In which I
will unto you all unfold
Our royal mind and resolute intent:--
When
golden Hebe, daughter to great Jove,
Covered my manly cheeks with
youthful down,
Th' unhappy slaughter of my luckless sire,
Drove
me and old Assarachus, mine eame,
As exiles from the bounds of
Italy:
So that perforce we were constrained to fly
To Graecia's
Monarch noble Pandrassus.
There I alone did undertake your cause,

There I restored your antique liberty,
Though Graecia frowned, and
all Mollossia stormed,
Though brave Antigonus, with martial band,

In pitched field encountered me and mine,
Though Pandrassus and
his contributories,
With all the route of their confederates,
Sought
to deface our glorious memory
And wipe the name of Trojans from
the earth,
Him did I captivate with this mine arm,
And by
compulsion forced him to agree
To certain articles which there we
did propound.
From Graecia through the boisterous Hellespont,
We
came unto the fields of Lestrigon,
Whereas our brother Corineius was,

Since when we passed the Cicillian gulf,
And so transfretting the
Illirian sea,
Arrived on the coasts of Aquitaine,
Where with an army
of his barbarous Gauls
Goffarius and his brother Gathelus

Encountering with our host, sustained the foil.
And for your sakes my
Turnus there I lost,
Turnus that slew six hundred men at arms
All in
an hour, with his sharp battle-axe.
From thence upon the strons of
Albion
To Corus haven happily we came,
And quelled the giants,
come of Albion's race,
With Gogmagog son to Samotheus,
The
cursed Captain of that damned crew.
And in that Isle at length I

placed you.
Now let me see if my laborious toils,
If all my care, if
all my grievous wounds,
If all my diligence were well employed.
CORINEIUS.
When first I followed thee & thine, brave king,
I
hazarded my life and dearest blood,
To purchase favour at your
princely hands,
And for the same in dangerous attempts
In sundry
conflicts and in diverse broils,
I showed the courage of my manly
mind.
For this I combated with Gathelus,
The brother to Goffarius
of Gaul;
For this I fought with furious Gogmagog,
A savage captain
of a savage crew;
And for these deeds brave Cornwall I received,
A
grateful gift given by a gracious King:
And for this gift, this life and
dearest blood,
Will Corineius spend for Brutus good.
DEB.
And what my friend, brave prince, hath vowed to you,
The
same will Debon do unto his end.
BRUTUS.
Then, loyal peers, since you are all agreed,
And resolute
to follow Brutus hosts,
Favor my sons, favor these Orphans, Lords,

And shield them from the dangers of their foes.
Locrine, the column
of my family,
And only pillar of my weakened age,
Locrine, draw
near, draw near unto thy sire,
And take thy latest blessings at his
hands:
And for thou art the eldest of my sons,
Be thou a captain to
thy brethren,
And imitate thy aged father's steps,
Which will
conduct thee to true honor's gate;
For if thou follow sacred virtue's
lore,
Thou shalt be crowned with a laurel branch,
And wear a
wreath of sempiternal fame,
Sorted amongst the glorious happy ones.
LOCRINE.
If Locrine do not follow your advise,
And bear himself
in all things like a prince
That seeks to amplify the great renown

Left unto him for an inheritage
By those