Bright Bethsabe gives earth to my desires;
Verdure to earth; and to that verdure flowers;
To flowers sweet odours; and to odours wings,
That carry pleasures to the hearts of kings.
[Cusay to Bethsabe, she starting as something
affright.
Cu. Fair Bethsabe, the king of Israel
From forth his princely tower hath seen thee bathe; And thy sweet graces have found grace with him: Come then, and kneel unto him where he stands; The king is gracious, and hath liberal hands.
BETH. Ah! what is Bethsabe to please the king? Or what is David, that he should desire
For fickle beauty's sake his servant's wife?
Cu. David, thou know'st, fair dame, is wise and just,
Elected to the heart of Israel's God;
Then do not thou expostulate with him
For any action that contents his soul.
BETH. My lord the king, elect to God's own heart, Should not his gracious jealousy incense,
Whose thoughts are chaste; I hate incontinence. Cu. Woman, thou wrong'st the king, and doubt'st his honour,
Whose truth maintains the crown of Israel,
Making him stay that bade me bring thee straight. BETH. The king's poor handmaid will obey my
Cu. Then come, and do thy duty to his grace; And do what seemeth favour in his sight. [Exeunt.
DAV. Now comes my lover tripping like the roe, And brings my longings tangled in her hair.
To joy her love I'll build a kingly bower,
Seated in hearing of a hundred streams,
That, for their homage to her sovereign joys,
Shall, as the serpents fold into their nests
In oblique turnings, wind the nimble waves
About the circles of her curious walks;
And with their murmur summon easeful sleep,
To lay his golden sceptre on her brows.
Open the doors, and entertain my love;
Open, I say, and, as you open, sing,
Welcome fair Bethsabe, king David's darling.
Enter CUSAY, with BETHSABE.
Welcome, fair Bethsabe, king David's darling;
Thy bones' fair covering, erst discover'd fair,
And all mine eyes with all thy beauties pierc'd :
As heaven's bright eye burns most, when most he
climbs
The crooked zodiac with his fiery sphere,
And shineth furthest from this earthly globe;
So, since thy beauty scorch'd my conquer'd soul,
I call'd thee nearer for my nearer cure.
BETH. Too near, my lord, was your unarmed heart,
When furthest off my hapless beauty pierc'd;
And, would this dreary day had turn'd to night,
Or that some pitchy cloud had clok'd the sun,
Before their lights had caus'd my lord to see
His name disparag'd, and my chastity!
DAV. My love, if want of love have left thy soul A sharper sense of honour than thy king,
(For love leads princes sometimes from their seats,) As erst my heart was hurt, displeasing thee,
So come and taste thy ease with easing me.
BETH. One medicine cannot heal our different
But rather make both rankle at the bone:
Then let the king be cunning in his cure,
Lest flattering both, both perish in his hand,
DAV. Leave it to me, my dearest Bethsabe,
Whose skill is conversant in deeper cures :
And, Cusay, haste thou to my servant Joab,
Commanding him to send Urias home
With all the speed can possibly be us'd.
Cu. Cusay will fly about the king's desire.
[Exeunt. Enter JOAB, ABISAI, URIAS, and others, with drum and ensign.
JOAB. Courage, ye mighty men of Israel,
And charge your fatal instruments of war
Upon the bosoms of proud Ammon's sons,
That have disguis'd your king's ambassadors,
Cut half their beards, and half their garments off,
In spite of Israel, and his daughters' sons;
Ye fight the holy battles of Jehovah,
King David's God, and ours, and Jacob's God,
That guides your weapons to their conquering strokes,
Orders your footsteps, and directs your thoughts
To stratagems that harbour victory :
He casts his sacred eyesight from on high,
And sees your foes run seeking for their deaths,
Laughing their labours, and their hopes, to scorn;
Whilst 'twixt your bodies, and their blunted swords,
He puts on armour of his honour's proof,
And makes their weapons wound the senseless winds.
ABIS. Before this city Rabbah we will lie,
And shoot forth shafts as thick and dangerous
As was the hail that Moises mix'd with fire,
And threw with fury round about the fields,
Devouring Pharaoh's friends, and Egypt's fruits.
UR. First, mighty captains, Joab and Abisai, Let us assault, and scale this kingly tower, Where all their conduits and their fountains are; Then we may easily take the city too.
JOAB. Well hath Urias counsell'd our attempts; And as he spake us, so assault the tower: the king of Ammon's son, Repulse our conquering passage if he dare.
HANON, with King MACHAAS and others, upon the walls.
HA. What would the shepherd's dogs of Israel
Snatch from the mighty issue of king Ammon,
The valiant Ammonites, and haughty Syrians?
"Tis not your late successive victories
Can make us yield, or quail our courages;
But if ye dare assay to scale this tower,
Our
angry swords shall smite ye to the ground,
And venge our losses on your hateful lives.
JOAB. Hanon, thy father Nahas gave relief
To holy David in his hapless exile,
Lived his fixed date, and died in peace;
But thou, instead of reaping his reward,
Hast trod it under foot, and scorn'd our king:
Therefore thy days shall end with violence,
And to our swords thy vital blood shall cleave.
MACH. Hence, thou that bear'st poor Israel's shep-
herd's hook,
The proud lieutenant of that base-born king,
And keep within the compass of his fold;
For, if ye seek to feed on Ammon's fruits,
And stray into the Syrians' fruitful meads,
The mastives of our land shall worry* ye,
And pull the weesels + from your greedy throats.
ABIS. Who can endure these Pagans' blasphemies?
UR. My soul repines at this disparagement.
JOAB. Assault, ye valiant men of David's host,
And beat these railing dastards from their doors.
Assault, and they win the tower, and JOAв speaks
above.
Thus have we won the tower, which we will keep,
Maugre the sons of Ammon and of Syria.
Enter CUSAY, beneath.
Cu. Where is lord Joab, leader of the host?
JOAB. Here is lord Joab, leader of the host.
Cusay, come up, for we have won the hold. [He comes.
† weesels] i. e. weasands: this word is spelt by some of our old writers "wesils."
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