SCENE V.[2731

[_To Pietro_] _Enter_ MALEVOLE, _with cross-bow and pistol_.

_Pietro._ Ah, so, so, sing. I am heavy: walk off; I shall talk in my sleep: walk off. _Exeunt_ PAGES.

_Mal._ Brief, brief: who? The Duke! Good heaven, that fools Should stumble upon greatness!—Do not sleep, duke; 4 Give ye good-morrow. I[2732] must be brief, duke; I am fee’d to murder thee:—start not:—Mendoza, Mendoza hir’d me; here ’s his gold, his pistol, Cross-bow, [and] sword: ’t is all as firm as earth. O fool, fool, choked with the common maze Of easy idiots, credulity! 10 Make him thine heir! What, thy sworn murderer!

_Pietro._ O, can it be?

_Mal._ Can!

_Pietro._ Discover’d he not Ferneze?

_Mal._ Yes, but why? but why? For love to thee? 15 Much, much! To be reveng’d upon his rival, Who had thrust his jaws awry; Who being slain, suppos’d by thine own hands, Defended by his sword, made thee most loathsome, Him most gracious with thy loose princess: 20 Thou, closely[2733] yielding egress and regress to her, Madest him heir; whose hot unquiet lust Straight tous’d thy sheets, and now would seize thy state. Politician! Wise man! Death! to be Led to the stake like a bull by the horns; 25 To make even kindness cut a gentle throat! Life, why art thou numb’d? Thou foggy dulness, speak: Lives not more faith in a home-thrusting tongue Than in those fencing tip-tap courtiers?

_Enter_ CELSO, _with a hermit’s gown and beard._

[_Pietro._][2734] Lord Malevole, if this be true—

_Mal._ If! Come, shade thee with this disguise. (31) If! Thou shalt handle it; he shall thank thee for killing thyself. Come, follow my directions, and thou shalt see strange sleights.

_Pietro._ World, whither wilt thou? 35

_Mal._ Why, to the devil. Come, the morn grows late: A steady quickness is the soul of state. _Exeunt._