Page:Richard II (1921) Yale.djvu/65

King Richard the Second, III. ii

Prove armed soldiers, ere her native king

Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.

Car. Fear not, my lord: that power that made you king

Hath power to keep you king in spite of all.

The means that heaven yields must be embrac'd,

And not neglected; else, if heaven would,

And we will not, heaven's offer we refuse,

The proffer'd means of succour and redress.

Aum. He means, my lord, that we are too remiss;

Whilst Bolingbroke, through our security,

Grows strong and great in substance and in friends.

K. Rich. Discomfortable cousin! know'st thou not

That when the searching eye of heaven is hid

Behind the globe, and lights the lower world,

Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen,

In murders and in outrage bloody here;

But when, from under this terrestrial ball

He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines

And darts his light through every guilty hole,

Then murders, treasons, and detested sins,

The cloak of night being pluck'd from off their backs,

Stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves?

So when this thief, this traitor, Bolingbroke,

Who all this while hath revell'd in the night

Whilst we were wandering with the antipodes,

Shall see us rising in our throne, the east,

His treasons will sit blushing in his face,

Not able to endure the sight of day,

But self-affrighted tremble at his sin.

Not all the water in the rough rude sea

 29–32 Cf. n.

34 security: false confidence

36 Discomfortable: discouraging

49 antipodes: the inhabitants of the other hemisphere

