SCENE V.

CASSIBELANUS, BELINUS; COMIUS _following. Attendants._

COM. Health and good fortune on Cassibelane 'tend: My love to you and Britain waft me hither To make atonement, ere the Roman leader Bring fire and spoil, and ruin on your heads. No herb can ever grow where once he treads: Nothing withstands his force. Be not too hardy, But buy a friend with kindness, lest you buy His anger dearly.

CAS. Comius, speak no more: he knows our mind.

COM. O, let not rage so blind your judgment, but Prevent with ease the hazard of a war, Of war, a word compos'd of thousand ills. O, be not cruel to yourselves! I'll undertake Without discredit to appease his wrath, If you'll cashier your soldiers, and receive Him like a guest, not like an enemy.

CAS. False-hearted Gaul, dar'st thou persuade e'en me For to betray my people to the sword? Now know I thou art sent for to solicit Our princes to rebel, to learn our strength. Lay hands on him! a spy!

ALL. A spy! a spy! a traitor and a spy!

[_They chain him._

COM. Is this the guerdon[290] of my loving care? You break the laws of nature, nations, friends. But look for due revenge at Cæsar's hand.

CAS. Expect in prison thy revenge. Away with him!

[_Exit_ COMIUS.

Belinus, have you muster'd up our forces?

BEL. Yes, if it please your highness.

CAS. And what are the particulars?

BEL. First Cridous leads from the Albanian realm, Where Grampius' ridge divides the smiling dales, Five thousand horse and twenty thousand foot, Three thousand chariots mann'd. The Brigants come, Deck'd with blue-painted shields, twelve thousand strong; Under the conduct of Demetia's prince March twice three thousand, armed with pelts[291] and glaves;[292] Whom the Silures flank, eight thousand stout, Greedy of fight, born soldiers the first day, Whose grey-goose winged shafts ne'er flew in vain. Then Guerthed, mounted on a shag-hair steed, Full fifteen thousand brings, both horse and foot, Of desperate Ordovicians, whose use is To rush half-naked on their foes, enrag'd With a rude noise of pipes. Your province, bounded with that boiling stream[293] Where Sabrine (lovely damsel) lost her breath, And with curl'd-pated Humber, Neptune's heir, Affords eight thousand cars, with hooks and scythes, And fifty thousand expert men of war; All brave Loëgrians, arm'd with pike and spear; Each nation, being distinguish'd into troops, With gaudy pennons flickering[294] in the air.

Besides these, Kent is up in arms to blunt The edge of their first furious shock.

CAS. We'll now invite them to a martial feast, Carving with falchions, and carousing healths In their lives' moisture.

_Enter_ ANDROGEUS.

Well-returned, Androgeus: Have you obtain'd, or is your suit denied?

AND. Our message told unto the Scots; their king With willing sympathy levies a band, Ten thousand footmen, whose strange appetites Murder and then devour; and dare gnaw and suck Their enemies' bones. Conducted thence, we saw The Pictish court, and friendly entertain'd, Receive eight thousand, whose most ugly shapes, Painted like bears and wolves, and brinded tigers, May kill and stonify without all weapons. More aid they promise, if more need. These forces, Led by Cadallan, hither march with speed.

CAS. 'Tis well, our kings consent for common good. When all are join'd, we shall o'erspread the hills, And soldiers, thicker than the sand on shore, Hide all the landing coasts. Ere next daybreak, The rocks shall answer what the drum doth speak. [_Exeunt._