I stand As if a mine beneath my feet were ready To be blown up.
CARIOLA. 'Tis Bosola.
DUCHESS. Away! O misery! methinks unjust actions Should wear these masks and curtains, and not we. You must instantly part hence: I have fashion'd it already. Exit ANTONIO.
Enter BOSOLA
BOSOLA. The duke your brother is ta'en up in a whirlwind; Hath took horse, and 's rid post to Rome.
DUCHESS. So late?
BOSOLA. He told me, as he mounted into the saddle, You were undone.
DUCHESS. Indeed, I am very near it.
BOSOLA. What 's the matter?
DUCHESS. Antonio, the master of our household, Hath dealt so falsely with me in 's accounts. My brother stood engag'd with me for money Ta'en up of certain Neapolitan Jews, And Antonio lets the bonds be forfeit.
BOSOLA. Strange!--[Aside.] This is cunning.
DUCHESS. And hereupon My brother's bills at Naples are protested Against.--Call up our officers.
BOSOLA. I shall. Exit.
[Re-enter ANTONIO]
DUCHESS. The place that you must fly to is Ancona: Hire a house there; I 'll send after you My treasure and my jewels. Our weak safety Runs upon enginous wheels:<82> short syllables Must stand for periods. I must now accuse you Of such a feigned crime as Tasso calls Magnanima menzogna, a noble lie, 'Cause it must shield our honours.--Hark! they are coming.
[Re-enter BOSOLA and Officers]
ANTONIO. Will your grace hear me?
DUCHESS. I have got well by you; you have yielded me A million of loss: I am like to inherit The people's curses for your stewardship. You had the trick in audit-time to be sick, Till I had sign'd your quietus;<83> and that cur'd you Without help of a doctor.--Gentlemen, I would have this man be an example to you all; So shall you hold my favour; I pray, let him; For h'as done that, alas, you would not think of, And, because I intend to be rid of him, I mean not to publish.--Use your fortune elsewhere.
ANTONIO. I am strongly arm'd to brook my overthrow, As commonly men bear with a hard year. I will not blame the cause on 't; but do think The necessity of my malevolent star Procures this, not her humour. O, the inconstant And rotten ground of service! You may see, 'Tis even like him, that in a winter night, Takes a long slumber o'er a dying fire, A-loth to part from 't; yet parts thence as cold As when he first sat down.
DUCHESS. We do confiscate, Towards the satisfying of your accounts, All that you have.
ANTONIO. I am all yours; and 'tis very fit All mine should be so.
DUCHESS. So, sir, you have your pass.
ANTONIO. You may see, gentlemen, what 'tis to serve A prince with body and soul. Exit.
BOSOLA. Here 's an example for extortion: what moisture is drawn out of the sea, when foul weather comes, pours down, and runs into the sea again.
DUCHESS. I would know what are your opinions Of this Antonio.
SECOND OFFICER. He could not abide to see a pig's head gaping: I thought your grace would find him a Jew.
THIRD OFFICER. I would you had been his officer, for your own sake.
FOURTH OFFICER. You would have had more money.
FIRST OFFICER. He stopped his ears with black wool, and to those came to him for money said he was thick of hearing.
SECOND OFFICER. Some said he was an hermaphrodite, for he could not abide a woman.
FOURTH OFFICER. How scurvy proud he would look when the treasury was full! Well, let him go.
FIRST OFFICER. Yes, and the chippings of the buttery fly after him, to scour his gold chain.<84>
DUCHESS. Leave us. Exeunt [Officers.] What do you think of these?
BOSOLA. That these are rogues that in 's prosperity, But to have waited on his fortune, could have wish'd His dirty stirrup riveted through their noses, And follow'd after 's mule, like a bear in a ring; Would have prostituted their daughters to his lust; Made their first-born intelligencers;<85> thought none happy But such as were born under his blest planet, And wore his livery: and do these lice drop off now? Well, never look to have the like again: He hath left a sort<86> of flattering rogues behind him; Their doom must follow.