My sword ne'er stay'd thus long to find an entrance.55
Zir. To guilty men all that appears is devil;
Come, trifler, come.[Fight again. Ariaspes falls
Ari. Whither, whither,
Thou fleeting coward life? Bubble of time,
Nature's shame, stay a little, stay, till I60
Have look'd myself into revenge, and star'd
This traitor to a carcass first!
It will not be[Falls
The crown,
The crown, too,65
Now is lost, for ever lost.
O! ambition's but an ignis fatuus,
I see, misleading fond mortality,
That hurries us about, and sets us down
Just—where—we—first—begun[Dies70
Zir. What a great spreading mighty thing this was,
And what a nothing now! how soon poor man
Vanishes into his noontide shadow!
But hopes o'erfed have seldom better done.[Halloes
Re-enter Pasithas
Take up this lump of vanity and honour,75
And carry it the back way to my lodging;
There may be use of statesmen when they're dead:
So. For the Citadel now; for in such times
As these, when the unruly multitude
Is up in swarms, and no man knows which way80
They'll take, 'tis good to have retreat.[Exeunt
Enter Thersames
Ther. The dog-star's got up high: it should be late;
And sure by this time every waking ear
And watchful eye is charm'd; and yet methought
A noise of weapons struck my ear just now!85
'Twas but my fancy, sure; and, were it more,
I would not tread one step that did not lead
To my Aglaura, stood all his guard betwixt,
With lightning in their hands.
Danger! thou dwarf dress'd up in giant's clothes,90
That shew'st far off still greater than thou art,
Go, terrify the simple and the guilty, such
As with false optics still do look upon thee.
But fright not lovers: we dare look on thee
