CARDINAL. I 'll have thee hew'd in pieces.
BOSOLA. Make not yourself such a promise of that life Which is not yours to dispose of.
CARDINAL. Who plac'd thee here?
BOSOLA. Her lust, as she intended.
CARDINAL. Very well: Now you know me for your fellow-murderer.
BOSOLA. And wherefore should you lay fair marble colours Upon your rotten purposes to me? Unless you imitate some that do plot great treasons, And when they have done, go hide themselves i' th' grave Of those were actors in 't?
CARDINAL. No more; there is A fortune attends thee.
BOSOLA. Shall I go sue to Fortune any longer? 'Tis the fool's pilgrimage.
CARDINAL. I have honours in store for thee.
BOSOLA. There are a many ways that conduct to seeming Honour, and some of them very dirty ones.
CARDINAL. Throw to the devil Thy melancholy. The fire burns well; What need we keep a stirring of 't, and make A greater smother?<132> Thou wilt kill Antonio?
BOSOLA. Yes.
CARDINAL. Take up that body.
BOSOLA. I think I shall Shortly grow the common bier for church-yards.
CARDINAL. I will allow thee some dozen of attendants To aid thee in the murder.
BOSOLA. O, by no means. Physicians that apply horse-leeches to any rank swelling use to cut off their tails, that the blood may run through them the faster: let me have no train when I go to shed blood, less it make me have a greater when I ride to the gallows.
CARDINAL. Come to me after midnight, to help to remove That body to her own lodging. I 'll give out She died o' th' plague; 'twill breed the less inquiry After her death.
BOSOLA. Where 's Castruccio her husband?
CARDINAL. He 's rode to Naples, to take possession Of Antonio's citadel.
BOSOLA. Believe me, you have done a very happy turn.
CARDINAL. Fail not to come. There is the master-key Of our lodgings; and by that you may conceive What trust I plant in you.
BOSOLA. You shall find me ready. Exit CARDINAL. O poor Antonio, though nothing be so needful To thy estate as pity, yet I find Nothing so dangerous! I must look to my footing: In such slippery ice-pavements men had need To be frost-nail'd well, they may break their necks else; The precedent 's here afore me. How this man Bears up in blood! seems fearless! Why, 'tis well; Security some men call the suburbs of hell, Only a dead wall between. Well, good Antonio, I 'll seek thee out; and all my care shall be To put thee into safety from the reach Of these most cruel biters that have got Some of thy blood already. It may be, I 'll join with thee in a most just revenge. The weakest arm is strong enough that strikes With the sword of justice. Still methinks the duchess Haunts me: there, there!--'Tis nothing but my melancholy. O Penitence, let me truly taste thy cup, That throws men down only to raise them up! Exit.
Scene III<133>
[Enter] ANTONIO and DELIO. Echo (from the DUCHESS'S Grave)
DELIO. Yond 's the cardinal's window. This fortification Grew from the ruins of an ancient abbey; And to yond side o' th' river lies a wall, Piece of a cloister, which in my opinion Gives the best echo that you ever heard, So hollow and so dismal, and withal So plain in the distinction of our words, That many have suppos'd it is a spirit That answers.
ANTONIO. I do love these ancient ruins. We never tread upon them but we set Our foot upon some reverend history; And, questionless, here in this open court, Which now lies naked to the injuries Of stormy weather, some men lie interr'd Lov'd the church so well, and gave so largely to 't, They thought it should have canopied their bones Till dooms-day. But all things have their end; Churches and cities, which have diseases like to men, Must have like death that we have.
ECHO. Like death that we have.
DELIO. Now the echo hath caught you.
ANTONIO. It groan'd methought, and gave A very deadly accent.