The Duchess of Malfi

Upon my friend; 'tis a gratification
Only due to a strumpet, for it is injustice.
Shall I sprinkle the pure blood of innocents
To make those followers I call my friends
Look ruddier upon me?  I am glad
This land, ta'en from the owner by such wrong,
Returns again unto so foul an use
As salary for his lust.  Learn, good Delio,
To ask noble things of me, and you shall find
I 'll be a noble giver.
DELIO.                   You instruct me well.
ANTONIO.  Why, here 's a man now would fright impudence
]From sauciest beggars.
PESCARA.                Prince Ferdinand 's come to Milan,
Sick, as they give out, of an apoplexy;
But some say 'tis a frenzy:  I am going
To visit him.

Exit.

ANTONIO.       'Tis a noble old fellow.
DELIO.  What course do you mean to take, Antonio?
ANTONIO.  This night I mean to venture all my fortune,
Which is no more than a poor ling'ring life,
To the cardinal's worst of malice.  I have got
Private access to his chamber; and intend
To visit him about the mid of night,
As once his brother did our noble duchess.
It may be that the sudden apprehension
Of danger, – for I 'll go in mine own shape, —
When he shall see it fraight[123 - Fraught.] with love and duty,
May draw the poison out of him, and work
A friendly reconcilement.  If it fail,
Yet it shall rid me of this infamous calling;
For better fall once than be ever falling.
DELIO.  I 'll second you in all danger; and howe'er,
My life keeps rank with yours.
ANTONIO.  You are still my lov'd and best friend.

Exeunt.

Scene II[124 - A gallery in the residence of the Cardinal and Ferdinand.]

[Enter] PESCARA and DOCTOR

PESCARA.  Now, doctor, may I visit your patient?
DOCTOR.  If 't please your lordship; but he 's instantly
To take the air here in the gallery
By my direction.
PESCARA.          Pray thee, what 's his disease?
DOCTOR.  A very pestilent disease, my lord,
They call lycanthropia.
PESCARA.                 What 's that?
I need a dictionary to 't.
DOCTOR.                     I 'll tell you.
In those that are possess'd with 't there o'erflows
Such melancholy humour they imagine
Themselves to be transformed into wolves;
Steal forth to church-yards in the dead of night,
And dig dead bodies up:  as two nights since
One met the duke 'bout midnight in a lane
Behind Saint Mark's church, with the leg of a man
Upon his shoulder; and he howl'd fearfully;
Said he was a wolf, only the difference
Was, a wolf's skin was hairy on the outside,
His on the inside; bade them take their swords,
Rip up his flesh, and try.  Straight I was sent for,
And, having minister'd to him, found his grace
Very well recover'd.
PESCARA.  I am glad on 't.
DOCTOR.                     Yet not without some fear
Of a relapse.  If he grow to his fit again,
I 'll go a nearer way to work with him
Than ever Paracelsus dream'd of; if
They 'll give me leave, I 'll buffet his madness out of him.
Stand aside; he comes.

[Enter FERDINAND, CARDINAL, MALATESTI, and BOSOLA]

FERDINAND.  Leave me.
MALATESTI.  Why doth your lordship love this solitariness?
FERDINAND.  Eagles commonly fly alone:  they are crows, daws,
and starlings that flock together.  Look, what 's that follows me?
MALATESTI.  Nothing, my lord.
FERDINAND.  Yes.
MALATESTI.  'Tis your shadow.
FERDINAND.  Stay it; let it not haunt me.
MALATESTI.  Impossible, if you move, and the sun shine.
FERDINAND.  I will throttle it.
[Throws himself down on his shadow.]
MALATESTI.  O, my lord, you are angry with nothing.
FERDINAND.  You are a fool:  how is 't possible I should catch
my shadow, unless I fall upon 't?  When I go to hell, I mean
to carry a bribe; for, look you, good gifts evermore make way
for the worst persons.
PESCARA.  Rise, good my lord.
FERDINAND.  I am studying the art of patience.
PESCARA.  'Tis a noble virtue.
FERDINAND. To drive six snails before me from this town to Moscow;
neither use goad nor whip to them, but let them take their own time;