Read The Complete Plays Online
Authors: Christopher Marlowe
         Â
Exit
.
GUISE
Now, Guise, begin those
deep-engendered thoughts
To burst abroad those never-dying flames
Which cannot be extinguished but by blood.
Oft have I
levelled
, and at last have learned
That
peril
is the chiefest way to happiness,
And resolution honour's fairest aim.
40 Â Â Â Â What glory is there in a common good
That
hangs
for every peasant to achieve?
That like I best that flies beyond my reach.
Set me to scale the high
pyramides
,
And thereon set the diadem of France;
I'll either rend it with my nails to naught,
Or mount the top with my aspiring wings,
Although my downfall be the deepest hell.
For this I wake, when others think I sleep,
For this I wait, that scorns
attendance
else,
For this, my quenchless thirst whereon I build,
50 Â Â Â Â Hath often pleaded kindred to the king.
For this, this head, this heart, this hand and sword,
Contrives, imagines, and fully executes
Matters of import aimed at by many,
Yet understood by none.
For this, hath heaven engendered me of earth,
For this, this earth sustains my body's weight,
And with this weight I'll counterpoise a crown,
Or with seditions weary all the world.
For this, from Spain the stately Catholics
60 Â Â Â Â Sends Indian gold to coin me French
écues
;
For this, have I a largess from the Pope,
A pension and a
dispensation
too;
And by
that privilege to work upon,
My policy hath framed religion.
Religion:
O
Diabole
!
Fie, I am ashamed, how ever that I seem,
To think a word of such a simple sound,
Of so great matter should be made the ground.
The gentle king, whose pleasure uncontrolled
70 Â Â Â Â Weak'neth his body and will waste his realm,
If I repair not what he ruinates â
Him, as a child, I daily win with words,
So that
for proof he barely bears the name;
I execute, and he sustains the blame.
The mother queen works wonders for my sake,
And in my love entombs the hope of France,
Rifling the bowels of her treasury
To supply my wants and necessity.
80 Â Â Â Â Paris hath full five hundred colleges â
As
monasteries, priories, abbeys, and halls â
Wherein are thirty thousand able men,
Besides a thousand sturdy student Catholics;
And more â
of my knowledge
, in one cloister keeps
Five hundred fat Franciscan friars and priests.
All this, and more, if more may be
comprised
,
To bring the will of our desires to end.
Then, Guise, since thou hast all the cards within thy hands
To shuffle or cut, take this as surest thing:
90 Â Â Â Â That, right or wrong, thou deal thyself a king.
Ay, but Navarre, Navarre, 'tis but a nook of France,
Sufficient yet for such a petty king,
That, with a rabblement of his heretics,
Blinds Europe's eyes and troubleth our estate.
Him will we â
Pointing to his sword
.
But first let's follow those in France
That hinder our possession to the crown.
As Caesar
to his soldiers, so say I:
Those that hate me will I learn to loathe.
100 Â Â Â Â Give me a look that, when I bend the brows,
Pale death may walk in furrows of my face,
A hand that with a grasp may gripe the world,
An ear to hear what my detractors say,
A royal seat, a sceptre, and a crown;
That those which do behold, they may become
As men that stand and gaze
against
the sun.
The plot is laid, and things shall come to pass
Where resolution strives for victory.
       Â
Exit.
Enter the
KING OF NAVARRE
and
QUEEN
[
MARGARET
],
and his
MOTHER QUEEN
[
the
OLD QUEEN
],
the
PRINCE
OF CONDÃ
,
the
ADMIRAL
,
and the
APOTHECARY
with the
gloves, and he gives them to the
OLD QUEEN
.
APOTHECARY
Madam, I beseech your grace to accept this simple gift.
OLD QUEEN
Thanks, my good friend. Hold, take thou this reward.
APOTHECARY
I humbly thank your majesty.
Exit
APOTHECARY
.
OLD QUEEN
Methinks the gloves have a very strong perfume,
The scent whereof doth make my head to ache.
NAVARRE
Doth not your grace know the man that gave them you?
OLD QUEEN
Not well, but do remember such a man.
ADMIRAL
10 Â Â Â Â Your grace was ill-advised to take them, then,
Considering of these dangerous times.
OLD QUEEN
Help, son Navarre, I am poisoned!
MARGARET
The heavens forbid your highness such mishap!
NAVARRE
The
late suspicion of
the duke of Guise
Might well have moved your highness to beware
How you did meddle with such dangerous gifts.
MARGARET
Too late it is, my lord, if that be true,
To blame her highness, but I hope it be
Only some natural
passion
makes her sick.
OLD QUEEN
20 Â Â Â Â O, no, sweet Margaret, the fatal poison
Works within my head; my brain-pan breaks,
My heart doth faint, I die!
She dies
.
NAVARRE
My mother poisoned here before my face!
O gracious God, what times are these?
O grant, sweet God, my days may end with hers,
That I with her may die and live again!
MARGARET
Let not this heavy chance, my dearest lord,
For whose effects my soul is massacred,
Infect thy gracious breast with
fresh supply
30 Â Â Â Â To aggravate our sudden misery.
ADMIRAL
Come, my lords, let us bear her body hence,
And see it honoured with just solemnity.
As they are going, the
SOLDIER
dischargeth his musket at the
LORD ADMIRAL
.
CONDÃ
What, are you hurt, my Lord High Admiral?
ADMIRAL
Ay, my good lord, shot through the arm.
NAVARRE
We are betrayed! Come, my lords, and let us go tell the king of this.
ADMIRAL
These are the cursed Guisians that do seek our death.
O, fatal was this marriage to us all.
They bear away the
[
OLD
]
QUEEN
and go out
.
Enter the
KING
[
CHARLES
], [
CATHERINE
the
]
QUEEN-
MOTHER
,
the
DUKE OF GUISE
,
DUKE ANJOU
,
DUKE
DUMAINE
[,
COSSIN
and
ATTENDANTS
].
CATHERINE
My noble son, and princely duke of Guise,
Now have we got the
fatal
straggling deer
Within the compass of a deadly toil,
And as we late decreed we may perform.
CHARLES
Madam, it will be noted through the world
An action bloody and tyrannical â
Chiefly since
under safety
of our word
They justly challenge their protection.
Besides, my heart relents that noble men,
10 Â Â Â Â Only corrupted in religion,
Ladies of honour, knights, and gentlemen,
Should for their conscience taste such ruthless ends.
ANJOU
Though gentle minds should pity others' pains,
Yet will the wisest note their proper griefs,
And rather seek to scourge their enemies
Than be themselves base subjects to the whip.
GUISE
Methinks, my lord, Anjou hath well advised
Your highness to consider of the thing,
And rather choose to seek your country's good
20Â Â Â Â Â Than pity or relieve these upstart heretics.
CATHERINE
I hope these reasons may serve my princely son
To have some care for fear of enemies.
CHARLES
Well, madam, I refer it to your majesty,
And to my
nephew
here, the duke of Guise:
What you determine, I will ratify.
CATHERINE
Thanks to my princely son. Then tell me, Guise,
What order will you set down for the massacre?
GUISE
Thus, madam:
They that shall be actors in this massacre
30 Â Â Â Â Shall wear white crosses on their burgonets,
And tie white linen scarfs about their arms;
He that wants these and is suspect of heresy,
Shall die, be he king or emperor. Then I'll have
A peal of
ordinance
shot from the tower,
At which they all shall issue out and
set
the streets;
And then, the
watchword
being given, a bell shall ring,
Which when they hear, they shall begin to kill,
And never cease until that bell shall cease;
Then breathe a while.
Enter
the
ADMIRAL'S MAN
.
CHARLES
40 Â Â Â Â How now, fellow, what news?
MAN
An it please your grace, the Lord High Admiral,
Riding the streets, was traitorously shot,
And most humble entreats your majesty
To visit him sick in his bed.
CHARLES
Messenger, tell him I will see him straight.
Exit
[
ADMIRAL'S MAN
].
What shall we do now with the Admiral?
CATHERINE
Your majesty were best go visit him,
And make a show as if all were well.
CHARLES
Content, I will go visit the Admiral.
GUISE
[
aside
]
50 Â Â Â Â And I will go take order for his death.
Exit
.
Enter the
ADMIRAL
in his bed
.
CHARLES
How fares it with my Lord High Admiral?
Hath he been hurt with villains in the street?
I vow and swear, as I am King of France,
To find and to repay the man with death,
With death delayed and torments never used,
That durst presume, for hope of any gain,
To hurt the noble man their sovereign loves.
ADMIRAL
Ah, my good lord, these are the Guisians
That seek to massacre our guiltless lives.
CHARLES
60Â Â Â Â Assure yourself, my good Lord Admiral,
I deeply sorrow for your treacherous wrong,
And that I am not more secure myself
Than I am careful you should be preserved.
Cossin
, take twenty of our strongest guard,
And under your direction see they keep
All treacherous violence from our noble friend,
Repaying all attempts with present death
Upon the cursèd breakers of our peace.
And so be patient, good Lord Admiral,
70 Â Â Â Â And every hour I will visit you.
ADMIRAL
I humbly thank your royal majesty.
Exeunt
.
Enter
GUISE, ANJOU, DUMAINE, GONZAGO, RETES,
MOUNTSORRELL
,
and
SOLDIERS
to the massacre
.
GUISE
Anjou, Dumaine, Gonzago, Retes, swear
By the argent crosses in your burgonets
To kill all that you suspect of heresy.
DUMAINE
I swear by this to be unmerciful.
ANJOU
I am disguised and none knows who I am,
And therefore mean to murder all I meet.
GONZAGO
And so will I.
RETES
           And I.
GUISE
Away, then, break into the Admiral's house.
RETES
Ay, let the Admiral be first dispatched.
GUISE
10 Â Â Â Â The Admiral,
Chief standard-bearer to the Lutherans,
Shall in the
entrance
of this massacre
Be murdered in his bed.
Gonzago, conduct them thither, and then
Beset his house, that not a man may live.
ANJOU
That charge is mine. Switzers, keep you the streets;
And at each corner shall the king's guard stand.
GONZAGO
Come, sirs, follow me.
Exit
GONZAGO
and others with him
.
ANJOU