The Duchess of Malfi

Now you shall never utter it; thy curiosity
Hath undone thee; thou 'rt poison'd with that book.
Because I knew thou couldst not keep my counsel,
I have bound thee to 't by death.

[Re-enter BOSOLA]

BOSOLA.  For pity-sake, hold!
CARDINAL.                      Ha, Bosola!
JULIA.                                      I forgive you
This equal piece of justice you have done;
For I betray'd your counsel to that fellow.
He over-heard it; that was the cause I said
It lay not in me to conceal it.
BOSOLA.  O foolish woman,
Couldst not thou have poison'd him?
JULIA.                               'Tis weakness,
Too much to think what should have been done.  I go,
I know not whither.
[Dies.]
CARDINAL.            Wherefore com'st thou hither?
BOSOLA.  That I might find a great man like yourself,
Not out of his wits, as the Lord Ferdinand,
To remember my service.
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 - Smoke.] 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 - A fortification.]

[Enter] ANTONIO and DELIO. Echo (from the DUCHESS'S Grave)

DELIO.  Yond 's the cardinal's window.  This fortification