_Ars._ My Brother seiz'd on
By the _Roman_, as thought guilty of the tumult,
And forc'd to bear him company, as mark'd out
For his protection or revenge.
_Eros_. They have broke
Into my Cabinet; my Trunks are ransack'd.
_Ars._ I have lost my jewels too: but that's the least:
The barbarous Rascals, against all humanity,
Or sense of pity, have kill'd my little Dog,
And broke my Monkeys Chain.
_Eros_. They rifled me:
But that I could endure, would they proceed no further.
_Ars._ O my Sister!
_Eros_. My Queen, my Mistress!
_Ars._ Can you stand unmov'd
When the Earth-quake of Rebellion shakes the City,
And the Court trembles?
_Cleo._ Yes, _Arsino_,
And with a Masculine Constancy deride
Fortunes worst malice, as a Servant to
My Vertues, not a Mistress; then we forsake
The strong Fort of our selves, when we once yield,
Or shrink at her assaults; I am still my self,
And though disrob'd of Soveraignty, and ravish'd
Of ceremonious duty, that attends it,
Nay, grant they had slav'd my Body, my free mind
Like to the Palm-tree walling fruitful _Nile_,
Shall grow up straighter and enlarge it self
'Spight of the envious weight that loads it with:
Think of thy Birth (_Arsino_) common burdens
Fit common Shoulders; teach the multitude
By suffering nobly what they fear to touch at;
The greatness of thy mind does soar a pitch,
Their dim eyes (darkened by their narrow souls)
Cannot arrive at.
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