Page:Works of Sir John Suckling.djvu/122

102 To shun all creatures are allied unto him;

For then she should shun all: since death and life

Doubly allies all them that live by breath.

The air that does impart to all life's brood

Refreshment, is so near to itself, and to us all,

That all in all is individual.

But how am I sure one and the same desire

Warms Ariaspes?

For art can keep alive a bedrid love.

Ari. Alone, madam, and overcast with thought!

Uncloud, uncloud; for, if we may believe

The smiles of fortune, love shall no longer pine

In prison thus, nor undelivered travail

With throes of fear and of desire about it.

The prince, like to a valiant beast in nets,

Striving to force a freedom suddenly,

Has made himself at length the surer prey:

The king stands only now betwixt, and is

Just like a single tree, that hinders all

The prospect: 'tis but the cutting down of him,

And we

Orb. Why wouldst thou thus embark into strange seas,

And trouble Fate for what we have already?

Thou art to me, what thou now seek'st, a kingdom;

And, were thy love as great as thy ambition,

I should be so to thee.

Ari. Think you you are not, madam?

As well and justly may you doubt the truths

Tortur'd or dying men do leave behind them.

But then my fortune turns my misery,

When my addition shall but make you less:

Shall I endure that head, that wore a crown,

For my sake should wear none? First, let me lose

Th' exchequer of my wealth—your love; nay, may

All that rich treasury you have about you

Be rifled by the man I hated, and I look on!

Though youth be full of sin, and heaven be just,

So sad a doom I hope they keep not for me.

Remember what a quick apostasy he made,

When all his vows were up to heav'n and you.

How, ere the bridal torches were burnt out,

His flames grew weak and sicklier: think on that: