Fran. I shall persuade them to stay, my lord.
Brach. Set on there to the presence. [Exeunt Brachiano, Flamineo, and Hortensio.
Lodo. Noble my lord, most fortunately welcome; [The conspirators here embrace. You have our vows, seal'd with the sacrament, To second your attempts.
Gas. And all things ready; He could not have invented his own ruin (Had he despair'd) with more propriety.
Lodo. T' have poison'd his prayer-book, or a pair of beads, The pummel of his saddle, his looking-glass, Or th' handle of his racket,--O, that, that! That while he had been bandying at tennis, He might have sworn himself to hell, and strook His soul into the hazard! Oh, my lord, I would have our plot be ingenious, And have it hereafter recorded for example, Rather than borrow example.
Fran. There 's no way More speeding that this thought on.
Fran. And yet methinks that this revenge is poor, Because it steals upon him like a thief: To have ta'en him by the casque in a pitch'd field, Led him to Florence----
Lodo. It had been rare: and there Have crown'd him with a wreath of stinking garlic, T' have shown the sharpness of his government, And rankness of his lust. Flamineo comes. [Exeunt Lodovico, Antonelli, and Gasparo.
Marc. Why doth this devil haunt you, say?
Flam. I know not: For by this light, I do not conjure for her. 'Tis not so great a cunning as men think, To raise the devil; for here 's one up already; The greatest cunning were to lay him down.
Flam. I pray thee pardon her. In faith, you see, women are like to burs, Where their affection throws them, there they 'll stick.
Zan. That is my countryman, a goodly person; When he 's at leisure, I 'll discourse with him In our own language.
Flam. I beseech you do. [Exit Zanche. How is 't, brave soldier? Oh, that I had seen Some of your iron days! I pray relate Some of your service to us.
Fran. 'Tis a ridiculous thing for a man to be his own chronicle: I did never wash my mouth with mine own praise, for fear of getting a stinking breath.
Marc. You 're too stoical. The duke will expect other discourse from you.
Fran. I shall never flatter him: I have studied man too much to do that. What difference is between the duke and I? no more than between two bricks, all made of one clay: only 't may be one is placed in top of a turret, the other in the bottom of a well, by mere chance. If I were placed as high as the duke, I should stick as fast, make as fair a show, and bear out weather equally.