Classic Poem

A CTIVS . V. C HORVS : Graecian and Persian.

Persian.

Well, then I see there is small difference
Betwixt your state and ours, you ciuill Greeks,
You great contriuers of free gouernments;
Whose skill the world from out all countries seeks.
Those whom you call your Kings, are but the same
As are our Souereigne tyrants of the East;
I see they only differ but in name,
The effects they shew, agree, or neere at least.
Your great men here, as our great Satrapaes,
I see layd prostrate are with basest shame,
Vpon the least suspect or iealousies
Your Kings conceiue, or others enuies frame;
Only herein they differ, That your prince
Proceeds by forme of law t'effect his end;
Our Persian Monarch makes his frowne conuince
The strongest truth: his sword the processe ends
With present death, and makes no more ado:
He neuer stands to giue a glosse vnto
His violence, to make it to appeare
In other hew than that it ought to beare,
Wherein plaine dealing best his course commends:
For more h'offends who by the law offends.
What need hath Alexander so to striue
By all these shewes of forme, to find this man
Guilty of treason, when he doth contriue
To haue him so adiudg'd? Do what he can,
He must not be acquit, though he be cleere,
Th'offender, not th'offence, is punisht heere,
And what auailes the fore-condemn'd to speake?
How euer strong his cause, his state is weake.
Grae. Ah, but it satisfies the world, and we
Thinke that well done which done by law we see.
Per. And yet your law serues but your priuate ends ,
And to the compasse of your pow'r extends:
But is it for the maiesty of Kings,
To sit in iudgement thus themselues, with you?
Grae. To do men iustince, is the thing that brings
The greatest maiesty on earth to Kings.
Per. That, by their subalternate ministers
May be perform'd as well, and with more grace:
For, to command it to be done, infers
More glory than to do. It doth imbase
Th'opinion of a pow'r t'invulgar so
That sacred presence, which should neuer go,
Neuer be seene, but euen as gods, below,
Like to our Persian King in glorious show;
And who, as starres affixed to their spheare,
May not descend to be from what they are
Grae. Where Kings are so like gods, there subiects are not men .
Per. Your king begins this course, and what will you be then?
Grae. Indeed since prosperous fortune gaue the raine
To head-strong pow'r and lust, I must confesse,
We Graecians haue lost deeply by our gaine,
And this our greatnesse makes vs much the lesse:
For by th'accession of these mighty States,
Which Alexander wonderously hath got ,
He hath forgot himselfe and vs, and rates
His state aboue mankind, and ours at nought.
This hath thy pompe (O feeble Asia ) wrought;
Thy base adorings hath transform'd the King
Into that shape of pride, as he is brought
Out of his wits, out of acknowledging
From whence the glory of his greatnesse springs,
And that it was our swords that wrought these things.
How well were we within the narrow bounds
Of our sufficient yeelding Macedon,
Before our Kings inlarg'd them with our wounds,
And made these sallies of ambition!
Before they came to giue the regall law
To those free States which kept their crownes in aw!
They by these large dominions are made more,
But we become far weaker than before.
What get we now by winning, but wide minds
And weary bodies, with th'expence of blood?
What should ill do, since happy fortune findes
But misery, and is not good though good?
Action begets still action, and retaines
Our hopes beyond our wishes, drawing on
A neuer ending circle of our paines,
That makes vs not haue done, when we haue done.
What can giue bounds to Alexanders ends ,
Who counts the world but small, that call's him great?
And his desires beyond his pray distends,
Like beasts, that murder more than they can eat!
When shall we looke his trauels will be done,
That 'tends beyond the Ocean and the Sunne?
What discontentments will there still arise
In such a Campe of Kings, to inter-shocke
Each others greatnesse, and what mutinies
Will put him from his comforts, and will mocke
His hopes, and neuer suffer him to haue
That which he hath of all which Fortune gaue?
And from Philotas blood (O worthy man)
Whose body now rent on the torture lies,
Will flow that vaine of fresh conspiracies,
As ouerflow him will, do what he can;
For cruelty doth not imbetter men,
But them more wary makes than they haue been.
Per. Are not your great men free from tortures then?
Must they be likewise rackt as other men?
Grae. Treason affoords a priuiledge to none ;
Who like offends hath punishment all one.

Scena II. Polidamas, Sostratus .

Polidamas.

F R iend Sostratus , come, haue you euer know'n
Such a distracted face of Court, as now?
Such a distrustfull eye, as men are grow'n
To feare themselues, and all; and do not know
Where is the side that shakes not; who lookes best
In this foule day, th'oppressor or th'opprest?
What posting, what dispatches, what aduice!
What search, what running, what discoueries!
What rumors, what suggestions, what deuice
To cleere the King, please people, hold the wise,
Re[s]t[r]aine the rude, crush the suspected sort
At vnawares, ere they discerne th'are hurt!
So much the fall of such a weighty Peere
Doth shake the State, and with him tumble downe
All whom his beames of fauours did vpbeare,
All who to rest vpon his base were knowne:
And none, that did but touch vpon his loue,
Are free from feare to perish with his loue.
My self (whom all the world haue know'n t'imbrace
Parmenio in th'intirenesse of my heart,
And euer in all battels, euery chace
Of danger, fought still next him on that part)
Was seazed on this last night, late in my bed
And brought vnto the presence of the King,
To pay (I thought) the tribute of my head:
But O 'twas for a more abhorred thing!
I must redeeme my danger with the blood
Of this deare friend, this deare Parmenio's blood;
His life must pay for mine, these hands must gore
That worthy heart for whom they fought before.
Soft . What, hath the King commanded such a deed,
To make the hearts of all his subiects bleed?
Must that old worthy man Parmenio die?
Pol. O Sostratus , he hath his doome to die,
And we must yeeld vnto necestity.
For comming to the King, and there receiu'd
With vnexpected grace, he thus began:
Polidamas , we both haue beene deceiu'd,
In holding friendship with that faithlesse man
Parmenio , who, for all his glozing mine,
Thou seest hath sought to cut my throat and thine;
And thou must worke reuenge for thee and me:
And therefore hast to Media speedily,
Take these two letters here, the one from me
Vnto my sure and trusty seruants there,
The other signed with Philotas seale,
As if the same t'his father written were:
Carry them both, effect what I haue sayd;
The one will giue th'accesse, the other ayd.
I tooke the letters, vow'd t'effect the same:
And here I go the instrument of shame.
Sost. But will you charge your honor with this shame?
Pol. I must, or be vndone, with all my name:
For I haue left all th'adamantine ties
Of blood and nature, that can hold a heart
Chain'd to the wor[l]d; my brethren and allies,
The hostages to caution for my part:
And for their liues must I dishonour mine;
Els should the King rather haue turn'd this sword
Vpon my heart, than forst it impiously,
(Hauing done all faire seruice to his Lord,
Now to be imploy'd in this foule villany).
Thus must we do who are inthrall'd to Kings,
Whether they will iust or vnlawfull things.
But now Parmenio ; O, me thinkes I see
Thee walking in th'artificiall groue
Of pleasant Susis , when I come to thee,
And thou remembring all our ancient loue,
Hastes to imbrace me, saying, O my friend,
My deare Polidamas , welcome my friend:
Well art thou come, that we may sit and chat
Of all the old aduentures we haue run.
Tis long Polidamas since we two met;
How doth my souereigne Lord, how doth my son?
When I vile wretch, whil'st m'answere he attends
With this hand giue the letter; this hand ends
His speaking ioy, and stabb's him to the heart.
And thus Parmenio thou rewarded art
For all thy seruice: thou that didst agree
For Alexander to kill Attalus ,
For Alexander I must now kill thee
Such are the iudgements of the heauenly pow'rs:
We others ruines worke, and others ours.
Cho. P. Why this is right, now Alexander takes
The course of pow'r; this is a Persian tricke.
This is our way, here publike triall makes
No doubtfull noise, but buries clamor quicke.
Grae. Indeed now Persia hath no cause to rue,
For you haue vs vndone, who vndid you.

NVNCIVS.

T H is worke is done, the sad Catastrophe
Of this great act of blood is finisht now,
Philotas ended hath the Tragedy
Cho. Now my good friend, I pray thee tell vs how .
Nun. As willing to relate, as you to heare :
A full-charg'd heart is glad to find an eare.
The Councell being dismiss'd from hence, and gone,
Still Craterus plies the King, still in his eare .
Still whispering to him priuatly alone,
Vrging (it seem'd) a quicke dispatch of feare:
For they who speake but priuatly to Kings,
Do seldome speake the best and fittest things.
Some would haue had him forthwith ston'd to death,
According to the Macedonian course,
But yet that would not satisfie the breath
Of busie rumour, but would argue force:
There must be some confessions made within,
That must abroad more satisfaction win;
Craterus, with Caenus and Ephestion
Do mainly urge to haue him tortured;
Whereto the King consents; and thereupon
They three are sent to see't accomplished.
Racks, irons, fires, the grisely torturers
Are hideously prepar'd before his face:
Philotas all vnmou'd, vnchang'd appeares ,
As if he would deaths ougliest brow out-face,
And scorn'd the worst of force, and askt them, Why
They stai'd to torture the Kings enemy?
Cho. That part was acted well, God grant we heare
No worse a Scene than this, and all goes cleare:
So should worth act, and they who dare to fight
Against corrupted times, should die vpright;
Such hearts Kings may dissolue, but not defeat.
A great man where he falles he should lie great;
Whose ruine, like the sacred carcases
Of scattred Temples which still reuerent lie,
And the religious honour them no lesse
Than if they stood with all their gallantry:
But on with thy report.
Nun. Straight were hot irons appli'd to sere his flesh ;
Then wresting racks his comly body straine;
Then iron whips, and then the racke afresh;
Then fire againe, and then the whips againe;
Which he endures with so resolu'd a looke,
As if his mind were of another side
Than of his body, and his sense forsooke
The part of nature, to be wholy tide
To honour, that he would not once consent
So much as with a sigh t'his punishment.
Cho. Yet doth he like himselfe, yet all is well ,
This argument no tyrant can refell,
This plea of resolution winnes his cause
More right than all, more admiration drawes:
For we loue nothing more, than to renowne
Men stoutly miserable, highly downe.
Nun. But now?
Cho. We feare that But. O, if he ought descend ,
Leaue here, and let the Tragedy here end.
Let not the least act now of his, at last,
Marre all his act of life, and glory past.
Nun. I must tell all, and therefore giue me leaue :
Swoll'n with raw tumors, vlcered with the ierks
Of iron whips, that flesh from bone had raz'd,
And no part free from wounds; it erks
His soule to see the house so foule defast,
Wherein his life had dwelt so long time cleane,
And therefore craues he, they would now dismisse
His grieuous tortures, and he would begin
To open all wherein h'had done amisse.
Streight were his tortures ceast: and after they
Had let him to recouer sense, he sayd,
Now Craterus, Say what you will haue me say ;
Wherewith, as if deluded or delaid,
Craterus in wrath calles presently againe
To haue the tortures to be reapplied:
When, whatsoever secret of his heart
Which had beene fore-conceiu'd but in a thought,
What friend soeuer had but tooke his part
In common loue h'accus'd; and so forgot
Himselfe, that now he was more forward to
Confesse, than they to vrge him thereunto;
Whether affliction had his spirits vndone,
Or seeing, to hide or vtter, all was one;
Both wayes lay death: and therefore he would vie
Now to be sure to say enough to die;
And then began his fortunes to deplore,
Humbly besought them whom he scorn'd before;
That Alexander (where he stood, behind
A Trauers, out of sight) was heard to speake:
I neuer thought, a man that had a mind
T'attempt so much, had had a heart so weake!
There he confest, that one Hegelochus,
When first the King proclaim'd himselfe Ioues sonne ,
Incens'd his fathers heart against him thus,
By telling him, That now we were vndone,
If we endur'd, that he, which did disdaine
To haue beene Philips sonne, should liue and raigne .
He that aboue the state of man will straine
His stile, and will not be that which we are,
Not only vs contemnes, but doth disdaine
The gods themselues, with whom he would compare.
We haue lost Alexander, lost (said he)
The King, and fall'n on pride and vanity;
And we haue made a god of our owne blood,
That glorifies himselfe, neglects our good.
Intolerable is this impious deed
To gods, whom he would match, to men he would exceed.
Thus hauing ouer night Hegelochus,
Discours'd, my father sends next day
For me to heare the same: and there to vs
All he had sayd to him he made him resay,
Supposing, out of wine, the night before,
He might but idly raue. When he againe,
Far more inrag'd, in heat and passion more,
Vrg'd vs to cleere the State of such a staine;
Coniur'd vs to redeeme the Common-weale,
And do like men, or els as men conceale.
Parmenio thought, whil'st yet Darius stood ,
This course was out of season, and thereby
Th'extinguishing of Alexanders blood
Would not profit vs, but th'others pow'rs
Might make all th'Orient and all Asia ours .
That course we lik't, to that our counsell stands,
Thereto we tide our oaths and gaue our hands.
And as for this, he said, for Dymnus plot ,
Though he were cleere, yet now he cleer'd him not.
And yet the force of racks at last could do
So much with him, as he confest that too,
And sayd, that fearing Bactra would detaine
The King too long, he hast'ned on his ends,
Lest that his father, Lord of such a traine
And such a wealth, on whom the whole depends,
Should, being aged, by his death preuent
These his designes, and frustrate his intent.
Cho. O would we had not heard his latter iarre :
This all his former straines of worth doth marre.
Before this last, his spirits [stout] commends,
But now he is vnpitied of his friends.
Nun. Then was Demetrius likewise brought in place ,
And put to torture, who denies the deed.
Philotas he auerres it to his face ;
Demetrius still denies. Then he espide
A youth, one Calin, that was standing by :
Calin, sayd he, how long wilt thou abide
Demetrius vainly to auouch a lie?
The youth, that neuer had beene nam'd before
In all his tortures gaue them cause to gesse
Philotas car'd not now to vtter more
Than had beene priuy to his practises.
And seeing they had as much as they desir'd,
They with Demetrius ston'd him vnto death :
And all whom Dymnus nam'd to haue conspir'd ,
With grieuous tortures now must lose their breath:
And all that were alli'd, which could not flie,
Are in the hands of iustice now to die.
Cho. What, must the punishment arriue beyond
Th'offence? not with th'offender make an end?
Nun. They all must die who may be fear'd in time
To be the heires vnto their kindreds crime.
All other punishments end with our breath,
But treason is pursu'd beyond our death.
Cho. The wrath of Kings doth seldome measure keepe ;
Seeking to cure bad parts they lance too deepe.
When punishment, like lightning should appeare,
To few mens hurt but vnto all mens feare.
Great elephants and lions murder least;
Th'ignoble beast is the most cruell beast.
But all is well, if by the mighty fall
Of this great man, the King be safely freed:
But if this Hydra of ambition shall
Haue other heads to spring vp in his steed,
Then hath he made but way for them to rise,
Who will assault him with fresh treacheries.
The which may teach vs to obserue this straine,
To admire high hill's, but liue within the plaine.