HIERO. Justice! O justice! O my son! my son!

My son, whom naught can ransom or redeem!

LOR. Hieronimo, you are not well advis'd.

HIERO. Away, Lorenzo! hinder me no more, For thou hast made me bankrupt of my bliss!

Give me my son! You shall not ransom him!

Away! I'll rip the bowels of the earth,

He diggeth with his dagger.

And ferry over th' Elysian plains And bring my son to show his deadly wounds.

Stand from about me! I'll make a pickaxe of my poniard, And here surrender up my marshallship; For I'll go marshall up the fiends in h.e.l.l, To be avenged on you all for this.

KING. What means this outrage?

Will none of you restrain his fury?

HIERO. Nay, soft and fair; you shall not need to strive!

Needs must he go that the devils drive.

Exit.

KING. What accident hath happ'd to Hieronimo?

I have not seen him to demean him so.

LOR. My gracious lord, he is with extreme pride Conceiv'd of young Horatio, his son, And covetous of having himself The ransom of the young prince, Balthazar, Distract, and in a manner lunatic.

KING. Believe me, nephew, we are sorry for 't; This is the love that fathers bear their sons.

But, gentle brother, go give to him this gold, The prince's ransom; let him have his due; For what he hath, Horatio shall not want.

Haply Hieronimo hath need thereof.

LOR. But if he be thus helplessly distract, 'Tis requisite his office be resign'd And giv'n to one of more discretion.

KING. We shall increase his melancholy so.

'Tis best that we see further in it first; Till when, ourself will hold exempt the place.

And, brother, now bring in the amba.s.sador, That he may be a witness of the match 'Twixt Balthazar and Bel-imperia, And that we may prefix a certain time Wherein the marriage shall be solemniz'd, That we may have thy lord the viceroy here.

AMBa.s.s. Therein your Highness highly shall content His majesty, that longs to hear from hence.

KING. On then, and hear you, lord amba.s.sador.

Exeunt.

[ACT III. SCENE 13.]

[HIERONIMO's house.]

Enter HIERONIMO with a book in his hand.

[HIERO.] Vindicta mihi.

Aye, heav'n will be reveng'd of every ill, Nor will they suffer murder unrepaid!

Then stay, Hieronimo, attend their will; For mortal men may not appoint their time.

Per scelus semper tutum est sceleribus iter: Strike, and strike home, where wrong is offer'd thee; For evils unto ills conductors be, And death's the worst of resolution.

For he that thinks with patience to contend To quiet life, his life shall easily end.

Fata si miseros juvant, habes salutem; Fata si vitam negant, habes sepulchrum: If destiny thy miseries do ease, Then hast thou health, and happy shalt thou be; If destiny deny thee life, Hieronimo, Yet shalt thou be a.s.sured of a tomb; If neither, yet let this thy comfort be: Heav'n covereth him that hath no burial.

And, to conclude, I will revenge his death!

But how? Not as the vulgar wits of men, With open, but inevitable ills; As by a secret, yet a certain mean, Which under kindship will be cloaked best.

Wise men will take their opportunity, Closely and safely fitting things to time; But in extremes advantage hath no time; And therefore all times fit not for revenge.

Thus, therefore, will I rest me in unrest, Dissembling quiet in unquietness, Not seeming that I know their villainies, That my simplicity may make them think That ignorantly I will let all slip; For ignorance, I wot, and well they know, Remedium malorum iners est.

Nor aught avails it me to menace them.

Who, as a wintry storm upon a plain, Will bear me down with their n.o.bility.

No, no, Hieronimo, thou must enjoin Thine eyes to observation, and thy tongue To milder speeches than thy spirit affords, Thy heart to patience, and thy hands to rest, Thy cap to courtesy, and thy knee to bow, Till to revenge thou know when, where and how.

How now? what noise, what coil is that you keep?

A noise within.

Enter a SERVANT.

SER. Here are a sort of poor pet.i.tioners That are importunate, and it shall please you, sir, That you should plead their cases to the king.

HIERO. That I should plead their several actions?

Why, let them enter, and let me see them.

Enter three CITIZENS and an OLD MAN [DON BAZULTO].

I CIT. So I tell you this: for learning and for law There is not any advocate in Spain That can prevail or will take half the pain That he will in pursuit of equity.

HIERO. Come near, you men, that thus importune me!

[Aside] Now must I bear a face of gravity, For thus I us'd, before my marshallship, To plead in causes as corrigedor.-- Come on, sirs, what's the matter?

II CIT. Sir, an action.

HIERO. Of battery?

I CIT. Mine of debt.

HIERO. Give place.

II CIT. No, sir, mine is an action of the case.

III CIT. Mine an ejectionae firmae by a lease.

HIERO. Content you, sirs; are you determined That I should plead your several actions?

I CIT. Aye, sir; and here's my declaration.

II CIT. And here is my bond.