HANNIBAL AND SCIPIO.  
AN HISTORICAL TRAGEDY.  
Acted in the year 1635. by the queen's Majesties Servants, at their Private house in Drury Lane.  
The Author Thomas Nabbes.  
Arma virosque cano.  
LONDON, Printed by Richard Oulton for Charles Green, and are to be sold at the white Lion in Paul's Churchyard. 1637.   

To the Ghosts of HANNIBAL and SCIPIO.  
where'er your thin remains, and shadows dwell;  
In the Elysian bliss, or pains of Hell;  
ay, that with writing of your story new  
Am almost worn into a ghost like you,  
Present you with yourselves: such as you were  
When you breathed air, and had your beings here.  
Let not hell's Judges damn it to the fire;  
It passed men's sentence: there's besides some hire  
Yet undischarged; and where the debt was due  
Being denied, I have sent the bill to you,  
Say not for money, how shall we come by it?  
Borrow of Pluto: he will not deny it  
Upon your bond. Stay: here's a great mistaking;  
His state and riches were of Poets making:  
And they I fear so apt are to belie him,  
I cannot think he hath one penny by him.  
howe'er your patronage shall do me right,  
'Bove the prefixt name of a Lord or Knight:  
Or other outside men: such as inherit  
Of honour but the title, not the merit.  
Who think that if the least state action rest  
On their dispatch; or to a Christmas feast  
They yearly call the neighbourhood; or be  
Put in commission, or the Shrievalty  
(The Countries' highest grace) they may dispense  
With what belongs more to their difference,  
Bounty unto desert. But you are free;  
And if you might would rather come to me,  
Then put me to a charge: the journey's great,  
And ere I could return, I might want meat:  
Unless some kind poor cobbler, (you know well  
Mending of soles is no rich trade in Hell.)  
Lend me a shilling. Loath I am 'tis true  
At any rate of hopes to come to you.  
The honourer of your memories, THOMAS NABBIS.   

The Ghosts of Hannibal and Scipio to the Author.  
WHat charm commands us hither to repair?  
And once again salute the upper air?  
Would Lucsan vex our shadows? make us tell  
Which of us holds priority in Hell?  
What art, that dost with thy Poetic fire  
A soul into each Histrio inspire  
Like ours? and make them move with active rage  
As we did, when the World became our Stage?  
We know thee now: thy thin cheek, hollow eye,  
And ghostlike colour speak the mystery  
Thou wouldst, but canst not live by: for the more  
Thou dost enrich thy works, they make thee poor.  
Who will by fancy and invention thrive,  
Must practise how to flatter men alive.  
We would have left thee provinces, hadst thou  
Done this whilst we had being here: but now  
Pluto restrains our bounties; else we'd be  
Not airy patrons to thy work and thee,  
But give thee crowns of Mettle, whilst thy brows  
Others did deck with cheap Phoebean boughs.  
The singer of the Punic war had bays  
Making our acts his subject; and thy praise  
Should be no less. But we are empty things,  
Though once we awed states, and commanded Kings.  
Hannibal. Scipio.   

THE PROLOGUE.  
ANother Tragedy? What will become  
Of the soft Muse? she'll shortly have no room  
On this transformed stage. Lady's shall not blush,  
Nor smile under their fans: nor he in plush,  
That from the poet's labours in the pit  
Informs himself for th' exercise of wit  
At Taverns, gather notes. Stay, I should be  
A Prologue, not a Satire. You shall see  
A piece from a rich subject drawn; but how  
The workmanship will please, and you allow  
Th' imperfect colours and the weak design,  
Let your own judgements tell you, and not mine.  
The Author warrants us the story's clear;  
Unless to fit the Stage he doth transfer  
Some actions that were ones to other men:  
The places sometimes changed too for the Scene.  
Which is translated as the music plays  
Betwixt the acts: wherein he likewise prays  
You will conceive his battles done, and then  
The method shall appear, in which his pen  
Hath smoothly dressed the argument. 'Tis free  
As ever Play was from scurrility.  
Nor need you Ladies fear the horrid sight:  
And the more horrid noise of target sight  
By the blue-coat Stage-keepers: our spheres  
Have better music to delight your ears,  
And not a strain that's old, though some would task  
His borrowing from a former play. We ask  
Your patience but two hours, by which time he  
Shall either die or live to Poesy.   

The speaking persons.  
maharbal. By William Shurlock. Himulco. By john Sumner. Soldier. By George Stutfield. A Lady.  Hannibal. By William Allen. 2. other Ladies.  Nuntius. By Hugh Clerks. Bomilcar. By Robert Axen. Syphax By Hugh Clerks. Piston. By Anthony Turner. Crates.  Messenger.  Scipio. By Michael Bowyer. Lelius By john Page. Sophonisba. By Ezekiel Fenn. Massanissa. By Theophilus Bird. Hanno. By Richard Perkins. Gisgon. By Robert Axen. Bostar. By George Stutfield. Lucius.  A young Lady.  Prusias. By William Shurlock.  Mutes. Ladies. soldiers. Attendants. Senators.  
I desire thee Reader to take notice that some escapes have passed the Press; As Tuning for Tunny; dimacing for dunning: mean for mere; stand for share, &c. which notwithstanding are corrected in divers of the copies: where they are not, let thine own judgement rectify them, before thy rashness condemn me.  
Farewell.   

Hannibal AND SCIPIO.  

The Argument of the first Act.  Hannibal reproving his Soldiers for their lasciviousness at Capua, is himself taken with the love of a Lady of Salapia. News is brought him of Scipio, that he hath recovered Spain: and a command from the Senate that he return to Carthage: which with much unwillingness he assents to. The Scene Capua. 

Scene the first.  maharbal and Himulco. Mah. 
HEre's the right use of victory, to tame  
Our furies with soft case and wantonness,  
After so many travels. Had our Hannibal  
Possessed himself of Rome without a Capua,  
The conquest had been poor.  Himul. 
These spoils of beauty,  
And free ones too, that uncompelled will run  
To embrace a Soldier; rock him in her arms;  
Sing him asleep, and with her icy fingers  
combing the knotted curls of his black hair  
So long neglected, make herself the ravisher:  
Oh! 'tis Elysium.  Mahar. 
Nay, to have such change  
Of pleasure court us; as if their inventions  
Were, busy to make our delights  
The object of their care. Here we are feasted  
With Chalcedonian Tuning; Rhodian guilt heads,  
And more than Samian gluttony. We drink  
No wine, but of Campania's Mascicus,  
Or grape crowned Aulon. boys more fair than he  
That bears jove's Cup, rapt on the dusky wings  
Of's sky-born Eagle, serve the banquet up  
In golden dishes, or Corinthian plate,  
Luxuries chiefest.  Him. 
To crown the entertainment,  
Here sits a Lady, Hebe never blushed  
A colour like her check: and in her eye  
A thousand Cupids move in wanton frisks,  
To catch the gazers. There's another decked  
In the Sea's riches, which the Negro dives for:  
Her pearls reflection dimacing the dark tapers,  
As if all light were borrowed from those Suns  
Their orient roundness mocks us with. A third  
Betrays through a transparent lawn the beauty  
Of a complexion, white and red did never  
Mix a more perfect; and a shape exact  
As Nature's first Pandora's. The possession  
After desire hath made a preparation  
In every sense to entertain these joys,  
Can earth afford a Heaven, and this not be  
The best hope ever feigned?  Mahar. 
Then to be clothed  
In silks of Tyrian die; to sleep on down,  
And waking clasp a Goddess in ones arms,  
Lovely as Cytharea; revel sometimes,  
And dance to th'mermaid's music, till the night  
Is made one artificial day, inverting  
The course of time and's actions: oh delights,  
Beyond weak comprehension! we begin  
To taste them without sense, did not diversity  
Whet appetite anew?  Him. 
Yet so much change  
Should make invention barren: but 'tis fruitful,  
Pregnant, and teems as fast as 'tis delivered.  
Delicious Capua!  Mah. 
pleasure's only storehouse!  
Were I an Hannibal? and conquest quiet me  
As fair as daylight spreads his crystal wings.  
One Capua should ransom all.   

Scene the Second.  To them a common Soldier, with a fair Lady courting him. Him. 
What's here?  
she courts him with as earnest zeal, as Cynthia  
Would her Endymion, or the gray-eyed Morn  
Her early Cephalus.  Mah. 
Now by my Sword.  Him. 
Is that a soldier's oath in Capua?  
By the bright tresses of my Mistress hair,  
Fine as Arachne's web, or gossimer:  
Whose curls when garnished with their dressing, show  
Like that spun vapour when 'tis pearled with dew.  
Or by the Sunshine of her crystal eyes,  
Wherein the God of Love his wet wings dries  
After his bathing in sad Lovers tears.  
These are the only oaths a Soldier swears.  
What should we do with swords?  Mah. 
Indeed 'tis true  
Their bloody use hath been so long neglected,  
And for my part I am so cloyed with women,  
Mine must be filled to powder, and prepared  
To be their Physic: the green-sickness else  
Will not be cured by me.  Him. 
Mine shall be drawn  
To wear for pins: and that which oft hath reigned  
The blood of Romans on my hilts and hand,  
Wearied almost with slaughter, shall be touched  
With trembling fingers, white as Othris snow;  
Whilst the soft handler starts, if by mischance  
The point but prick her skin, and must consult  
With some learned unguentary to prevent  
Th'invisible scar. Why here we cannot quarrel  
Amongst ourselves for wenches. There's a Lady,  
As mean a beauty heretofore hath been  
The ground of a sad war, or in a Camp  
Served up a mutiny: we cannot envy it,  
That he, a common Soldier, valour's cipher,  
One only pressed to make the number up,  
enjoys her wholly, and perhaps hath change.  Mah. 
Nay, stands upon nice terms for his reward;  
And must be hired to pleasure, such as some  
Would even through any danger to embrace.  
Prithee observe..  Lady. 
Why should I be denied?  
Am I not fair enough? My beauty fresh  
As the new springs, when wanton Phoebus mounts  
His burnished chariot early to salute her,  
And kiss dew from her cheeks.  Soul. 
There are as fair  
And free. A pension Lady must be thought of;  
I cannot else be sportive.  Lad. 
Is tha all?  
I'll full thy burgonet with Iberian gold  
Stamped into medals; Sell my wanton treasury,  
Rings, jewels, Carcanets, ere thou shalt want,  
But what thy wish can covet.  Soldier 
This old buff  
Would be translated.  Lad. 
Into Persian mantles,  
Richly embroidered; no rough pelt of thrumbs  
To fight with weather. Shalt be clothed in silks,  
Such as may vie for touch with their softness  
When it is calmest, and no violent gust  
Doth wave it into wrinkles.  Soul. 
I must eat too.  Lad. 
Nothing but choicest caudies, and drink wine  
That shall have pearls dissolved in't. Come let's hasten  
To our delights. I have prepared a bed  
Of artificial Roses mixed with down;  
Wherein our dalliance we will emulate,  
The Cyprian Queen and her loved warrior,  
When in her Ivory arms she did embrace  
His Iron sides.  Soul. 
Soft Lady, there are yet  
Stricter conditions. 'I is not come to that.  
I must not be confined to times or place;  
Nor to your single number. I must change  
As I see cause.  Lad. 
Shalt be thine own disposer.  
He minister, and like a handmaid wait  
When thou wilt grace another; nor repine,  
But with a patient longing.  Soul. 
On these terms  
I feel a provocation. Come. Exeunt.  Mah. 
Did ease  
Ever before produce such acts of shame?  Him 
No matter. 'Tis a better life than war  
Affords her sons. A hard cold bed of earth:  
Sleeps broken with a thousand apprehensions  
Of danger; diet course, and seldom seasonable;  
Hunger and thirst; and death each hour presented.  
Let us translate our Carthage unto Capua;  
We shall not need to toil in blood and sweat  
For more enlargement.   

Scene the third  To them Hannibal. music. Hushed. Our General. Mah. 
How doth he like this softness? it agrees not  
With his rough nature.  Hanm. 
Music every place  
Surfeits with this lasciviousness.  A Song as from some window. 
March on my merry mates  
To Venus' wars:  
You need not fear your pates,  
You shall receive no wounds nor scars,  
You may come naked to the fight:  
we'll have no other vessel but night.  
Only you must not see  
The blushes of your enemy.  Chorus. 
The loving battle's set,  
And we began  
To counter-meet  
With active striving who shall win.  
I saint and yet methinks you yield,  
Both lose, and yet both win the field.  
Recover strength, and then  
we'll to these pleasant wars again.  A light. 
Bravely maintained and well come off on both sides.  
Curse on this case. Y'are well met noble Captains,  
How doth your courage brook this silken slavery?  
Is't not an easy bondage to be tied  
In bracelets of a wanton Lady's hair?  
And chain your daring spirits to the awe  
Of every glance her eye shoots? Tell me truly  
How do the pleasures of this Capua  
Relish upon your senses? are they not  
Even what desire can shape?  Mah. 
They are my Lord  
Most absolute.  Han. 
And you are pleased with them?  Him. 
They cannot be refused, being offered us  
So apay after labour, as the fruits  
And harvest of our pains. What stupid earth  
Can be so void of apprehension,  
As not to think them blessings?  Han. 
That can Hannibal;  
Who through the swarthy vizard age and cares  
Have tanned his face with, blusheth at the change  
Of Soldiers into women. Why in stead  
Of Plume-crowned crests wear you not tires? and deck  
Your necks with gems, in stead of arming them  
With Corslets? Lay by all command, save only  
To set your distaff-servants tasks, and study  
Lascivious dressings, not wars discipline?  
Better employ invention how to court  
A Mistress in the fashionable garb,  
Than to contrive a useful stratagem  
Where force prevails not.  Mah. 
Whom have we to fight with?  
Lead us again to action, we'll express  
A courage doubled by this little rest:  
And from the hopes of such another conquest  
We will act wonders, to make victory  
Dote on our valours.  Han. 
You like Carthaginians  
Speak from the sonleses of men. Muster your Soldiers:  
We will again to Rome, and with the terror  
Of our approach make earthquakes in the hearts  
Of her gowned Senators; burn the proud trophies,  
Adorn her Capitol, or make them scarecrows:  
Bury her high-ascending Towers in heaps  
Of their own ruins; and till Tyber's died  
With blood of his own children, not an arm  
Shall cease from slaughter. Have we cut our way  
Thorough Mountains, and thawed rocks of Ice for passage  
To reach the head of Rome, and shall we not  
Triumph in her rich spoils? Yes; we will triumph.  
Or by the Genius of my native Carthage,  
And the religious oath I made my Father,  
When yet my youth had seen the progress but  
Of nine suns through the twelve celestial mansions,  
I'll level all the rugged Apennines;  
And mount the humblest valleys, till their heads  
Be wrapped in clouds; whence thunder shall not force me,  
Till I survey the plains of Italy,  
Like earth manured chalked with the bones of Romans,  
After their flesh is buried in the gorges  
Of Kites and Vultures.  Him. 
Speak like Hannibal.   

Scene the fourth.  To them two Ladies. Han. 
What Lady's that?  Mah. 
she's of Salapia.  Han. 
She's lovely. What unusual passions  
Soften me on a sudden? I methinks  
Could play with air, and wanton with the breath  
Of such a Mistress: court her amorously,  
And not mistake a phrase, nor fright her tenderness  
With any repetitions of wars horrors.  
Cease your rebellion thoughts. I must be man,  
And keep my freedom.  Him. 
Dost observe his eye  
How it is fixed?  Han. 
What did creation mean  
A woman for, but pleasure? Should not I  
Pursue it then since 'tis the end of all  
We either do or wish? 'tis action's soul  
That makes it live. I must enjoy it this way.  
Desire's a law set down by nature's Counsel,  
And not to be disputed.  Mah. 
So my Lord!  
Example shall direct us: we may well,  
If Anniball turn Courtier.  1 Lady, 
One at once.  
Sweet gentlemen. Though I should covet change  
At once I'd not admit plurality.  Han. 
To you (fair storehouse of your sex's excellence)  
I would direct the language of my heart.  2. Lady. 
'Tis sure a noble dialect, my Lord,  
That must express it.  Han. 
Lady it can speak.  
Nothing but passion. You have wounded it.  
And from the self same eye that shot the dart  
I must have balm to cure it.  2. Lady. 
Y'are my Lord  
A conqueror; and may command the wills  
Of all beneath you.  Han. 
But I am your captive.  
And in that pleasant bondage would abide,  
Though I might force my ransom.  2. Lad. 
Violence  
Would it become those virtues same proclaim's  
To have possessed you: and I dare be confident  
Nothing could tempt you to turn ravisher,  
Though I should boast virginity.  Han. 
Suspect  
Of such an ill, wrong's your own innocence.  
My love is zealous, and the passive flame  
Fed with a pure desire. I would enjoy you  
To mix our souls, not merely to delight  
The wanton senses.  2. Lad. 
How can you, a man  
Whom custom hath habituate in th'extremes  
Of cruelty, change nature? and perhaps  
Your first, innate, and not a second, only  
Borne out of use. methinks it is not possible  
Your thoughts should be possessed of other objects,  
Then what wars horror paints with bloody colours.  
Love and a Lady are for such as case  
Hath softened into women: Hannibal  
Hath nothing in him, but what's masculine:  
So hardened too, that those weak sire's can never  
Alter his temper.  Han. 
Yes; your eyes have done it.  
Although my skin be horny, and my flesh  
Almost insensible through daily weight  
Of heavy arms, the substance of my heart  
Is flexible, and takes impressions  
Of love from your perfections. It not derogates  
From the best difference in man's composition  
To love: for that best speaks him man, and argues  
He hath a spirit capable of things  
Worthy his being. Come then perfect me  
With your addition: make my captivity  
A conquest, and I'll fix.  2. Lad. 
That were enough  
To brand you with a lasting infamy.  
You have designs for action. Should you stop  
The prosecution of a war begun  
With such success, and only for a woman,  
T' would make you be the scorn of men; the subject  
Of jester's libels. I could court your valour  
As you are Hannibal: but as a lover  
The thought of that cools all affection.  
Had I at Cannas been, or Thrasimenus,  
Girt in an Amazonian male, my head  
Wrapped in an Iron tiara, and my hand  
Armed with a sword, I would have kept the side  
Of Hannibal, to dote upon those wonders  
His conquering arm then acted.  Han. 
As from water  
Cast on bitumen, so from these sharp checks  
My flame increaseth. You express a soul  
Makes others valours but derivative  
From yours; as if the spring of all flowed thence;  
And we but drank our small proportions  
From your abundance. Our embraces would  
People the wasted world with Warriors.   

Scene the fifth.  To them Nuntius. Mah. 
Whence speaks your haste? and what?  Nun. 
I come from Spain,  
And bring important news; but sad.  Him. 
Shall we  
By change ride through the Zodiac of your pleasures,  
And feast ourselves in every house?  1. Lad. 
You still  
Mistake the sign.  Mah. 
'Tis not in Virgo sure.  1. Lad. 
Nor yet in Taurus, though I have a husband.  
You two are Gemini: a pair of— Captains.  Him. 
she flouts us sure.  Nun. 
What should this courtship mean?  
maharbal and Himulco that were charactered  
For valiant Captains, turned sinock-souldiers?  
And Hannibal?  1. Lad. 
The air of Capua  
Hath not so changed us, but we can preserve  
Our modesties.  Mah. 
Oh miracle! that Capua  
Hath honest women in't.  Nun. 
Will Hannibal  
Attend my message?  Han. 
Hast thou brought her pearls  
Ravished from necks of richest Roman dames?  
I'll pave the path we tread to Hymen's joy  
With spoils of all the cities I have conquered.  Nunt. 
Not of new Carthage; Sagunt; Locris; Tarracon.  
All these are re-o'ercome by Scipio;  
In Spain he only triumphs.  2. Lad. 
Doth not Hannibal?  
Mind the sad news? Revenge if nothing else  
Should wing him to new conquest.  Hann. 
I perceive  
Errors in my behaviour. Court a woman,  
When I should threaten vengeance! But she's fair.  
Hang beauty: that and ease are th' only engines  
To ruin virtue. Ladies pray withdraw:  
Th' affairs of men are handling.  2. Lad. 
May they prove  
Your honours more in valour than in love. Exeunt.  Han. 
I am prepared: and if there were an accident  
That did exceed in horror, praise or wonder,  
Discourse it lively, that it may impress  
Something within to beget an act  
Shall parallel it.  Nunt. 
That must be new Carthage  
Her siege and taking. When the Roman general  
Approached the walls, a cold fear shook her Genius:  
The earth groaning with weight of such a multitude.  
His Navy likewise at that instant made  
A cloud upon the Sea. So round about  
The city was begirt. Our resolution  
Mixed with despair soon armed us; and th'assault  
Being sudden, we did do before consider:  
Yet what we did thus with the walls height proving  
Successful, we had respite to advice.  
The Sea we thought sufficient to defend  
That pait it washeth, and directed all  
Our force to th'Isthmus: where we sallied forth.  
The enemy retires; but out of policy  
To draw us farther on. And now the Sun  
Surveyed us from his height; when suddenly  
A violent Northwind joining with the ebb  
Swept all the channel dry. Of which the Romans  
Being informed by certain Fishermen  
Seize th' opportunity, and freely pass  
To th' unmanned walls; entering without resistance.  
What more they, being fully conquerors, did,  
needs no relation: custom shows it Hannibal.  
Th' example made some other cities yield;  
Some policy won; some force; some treachery  
Delivered up: all are possessed by Scipio.  Han. 
Then Rome shall ransom them. Revenge is able  
Out of a flinty cowardice to strike  
The fire of valour, with that new supply  
I do expect from Carthage we'll to Rome,  
And emulate this victory; nor let it  
Be your affliction that blind chance hath robbed  
Your former labours of their due reward;  
Rome will repair all.   

Scene the sixth.  To him Bomilcar. See Bomilcar's come. 
cousin what answer send's the Carthage Senate  
To my demands? Thy looks speak discontent;  
As if the business of thy errand choked  
Th' unwilling passage. Utter it; my breast  
Is proof 'gainst all misfortune.  Bom. 
I must then  
Deliver a relation of ingratitude  
Beyond example. Those whom you have made  
Masters of wealth and honour, and released  
Their palsied age from many a coward fear,  
Not minding the rich benefits you have done them,  
Deny your need relief. If you want aid,  
They say your conquest's but a lying rumour:  
Nor will they credit doubtful, testimonies  
Of any presents. They not stick to call  
The ground of this your war in Italy  
Your own ambition, not their safety: malice  
Of Hanno's faction having framed pretences  
To cloud the glory of your actions.  
Which to confirm the more, see their command  
That you should instantly withdraw your forces,  
And to return to Carthage.  Han. 
Not till now?  
When in my talons I had almost seized  
Rome's Eagle, and prepared my sharpened beak  
To prey upon her hair?  Bom. 
'tis likewise feared  
That Massanissa hath forsaken Carthage.  
So that unless some policy can win  
Syphax unto us, we must never more  
Expect Numidian aid. His Counsellors  
Seem to desire it; for they wish your presence:  
And that you'll put th'instructions here contained  
Into a sudden act.  Han. 
Must I then leave  
Rome unsubverted? So a man that strives  
To make himself eternal by erecting  
Of some stupendious monument, is forced  
To his last quiet ere the work be perfect.  
Leaving it but a lame and half design  
Of his ambition.  Him. 
Hath not Hannibal  
His forces here? Let's forward with that strength  
Which yet is left us; nor regard the ties  
Their doting policies would chain us with.  
Valour consists in hearts more than in number.  
Let's on to Rome.  Han. 
No: passion shall submit  
Unto my best part. Conquest of myself  
Shall speak me more in this, then if my power  
Had leveled her seven hills. I leave her only  
To grow more worthy of my victory.  
I will obey, though each unwilling step  
Wounds me beyond the cure of common patience.  
Commands of power must not be withstood.  
Great actions make men great; good actions good.  Exeunt.   

The argument of the second Act.  Hannibal and Scipio meet accidentally at the Court of Syphax: who favouring the Romans, and being a young man, is wrought upon by Hannibal, to dote upon Sophonisba: who after much unwillingness expressed, and reflection on some former love she bore Massanissa (who had been the Carthaginians friend, but now become the Romans) is given to Syphax for his Wife. The Scene, the Court of Syphax in Cyrtha. 

Scene the first.  Syphax, Piston, Crates, Attendants. Pist. 
'T will prove I fear lame policy to haut  
Betwixt these factions, awed by two such spirits,  
As ne'er were stilled from envy or revenge.  Syph. 
Brave Hannibal; brave Scipio; great Carthage;  
But greater Rome: whose Eagle eyes have gazed  
Against the Sun of many a glorious triumph!  
When the bright beams reflected from their riches  
Have blinded daylight, as if heavens great eye,  
Borrowed his only from them.  Crat. 
Carthage is  
Oar ancient friend, and friendship long continued  
Should not be easily lost.  Syph. 
A useful tenet  
Where the condition's private; but in Kings  
It doth not hold. war's chance is variable:  
And he that now is victor may be conquered  
Before his peace be settled. From example  
We must consult our safety, more than from  
A moral precept. Hath not Scipio  
Got Spain from Hannibal, and joined unto him  
Massilia's King? Are not their armies flushed  
With the rich spoils of Sagunt? and who knows  
But they'll transport then forces, and begird  
Carthage itself. 'Tis better that we yield  
Freely to amity, than be compelled,  
Than Scipio must be welcome.  Pist. 
But if fortune  
Prosper my counterplot, he will be greeted  
With an affront shall cloud his entertainment;  
And dim the painted glory of that pomp  
Your compliment intends. Our youthful King  
Must not direct our counsels; nor affairs  
Of state be ordered by th'affection  
Of one so weak in policy, indulgent  
To his own passions. Carthage is set down  
By our experience for Numidia's love,  
And shall possess it.  Syph. 
We may then consider,  
The Carthaginian General is a man  
Worn with employment into more decay  
Of strength and years, than can give any hopes  
Of a continuance. Rome's green Champion  
Is full of growing sap to make him spread.  
Whilst the other like an aged Oak that long  
Hath fought with tempests, and withstood the rage  
Of burning air, now yields to every gust.  
A bough or arm, till one more violent  
Shatters the dried limbs, or quite roots it up.  
'tis better to provide for lasting state,  
Then merely to prevent a present fate.  
Then Scipio must be welcome.  Crat. 
But if Syphax  
Would hear our reasons.  Syph. 
Crates you have been  
Our worthy counsellor, and by your wisdom  
Steered government in a right course whilst yet  
Our youth did want it: but we are now grown  
Riper in judgement, and we can distinguish To them Messenger.  
The different grounds of any politic act.  
Nor do we find it safe in rules of state  
If Scipio be not welcome. What's your haste?  Mes. 
The Roman General is arrived, and entering.  Syph. 
And no feigned thunder to inform us of it  
From the loud voice of flocking multitudes,  
Should throng to bid him welcome?  Mes. 
he's scarce known  
To any but myself. His train is private,  
Without due state: only some needful servants  
To wait upon his person.  Syph. 
Were they his army,  
I would exhaust my treasury to feast them:  
And every common soldier should drink healths  
In his Corinthian Goblet, which should be  
His largesse likewise. Let our ministers  
Fill the shrill throats of wars loud instruments.  
And Dodonean brass be beaten deaf  
Whilst it proclaims his welcome. Let the Sea  
Echo the sounds to Sagant, and return  
Their shoots again. Flourish.   

Scene the second.  To them Scipio, Lelius. Welcome great Scipio. 
Never did Syphax joyful arms embrace  
A guest of so rich value, in whose mind  
Worlds of heroic virtues are congested  
To make him up a worthy.  Scip. 
I'll not answer  
Your kindness Syphax with a compliment.  
My tongue's not oiled with flattery. I have stolen  
A little time from action, to inform  
Numidia's King, how Rome, by my advice,  
Hath chosen him a favourer of her cause  
That suffers by false Carthage. The success  
Of my recovering Spain, hath given new hopes  
Unto her fainting spirits, that were near  
Their last expiring by the massacres  
The Carthaginian made. six Consuls have  
Already fallen: my Father, and mine Uncle;  
Sempronius; Terentius and Flaminius;  
And last Marcellus, who received his death  
Even in the sight of Rome. Yet there's a Scipio  
survives to conquer him, or die in th'enterprise.  Syph. 
And that brave Scipio shall not want what aid  
My person, or my Kingdom can afford him.  Scip. 
Rome shall make great esteem of Syphax friendship  
And when she shall be wrapped in silken wings  
Of victory and peace, his statue crowned  
Shall grace the triumph.  Pist. 
I should rather joy  
To see him chained a captive, though myself  
And family were sold to be his ransom,  
In Carthage quarrel.   

Scene the third.  To them Hannibal, Himulco, maharbal. Han. 
This cold entertainment  
Doth make me jealous.  Crat. 
See: how soon their eyes  
Have found each other?  Scip. 
Sure 'tis Hannibal.  
His name and nature's stamped upon his brow;  
I in those wrinkles read it: valour mixed  
With cruelty; to which ambition only  
As the first wheel in engines moves the rest.  
That eye he lost passing the fens of Arnus;  
And such a look his counterfeit is drawn with.  
If there be treachery.  Syph. 
What would Hannibal?  Scip. 
Is't Hannibal? We are betrayed by Syphax.  Han. 
What art?  Scip. 
Rome's General, and thy enemy.  Han. 
Ha! Scipio! Then the character report  
Give's of him's false. He scorns ignoble ways  
Of honour; to o'ercome by treachery.  Scip. 
I thought the same of Hannibal.  Han. 
And findst it.  
'tis only thy conspiracy with Syphax;  
Who makes his Court a privilege for that  
Fame will proclaim with blushes.  Syph. 
Why this uproar?  Han. 
Syphax thouart treacherous.  Scip. 
To Rome and Scipio.  Han. 
To Hannibal and Carthage.  Pist. 
Now observe  
How he will calm the tempest.  Syph. 
What to answer  
From sudden doubts you both possess me with,  
I cannot easily resolve. A jealousy  
Is sometimes strengthened by th'excuse should kill it.  
Yet if your confidence will give credit to  
A king's religious oath, by all that makes  
The sacred difference in me I am free  
From thought of ill to either. Your arrivals  
Were unexpected; and if either's danger  
Be smothered in intent, you brought it with you:  
Which I'll prevent, if all Numidia's strength  
Can do it. Think not me perfidious,  
For then I'll doubt you: since self evils are  
Most commonly the parents of suspicion.  
But for your own mistrusts, y'are safer here  
Than in your own camps, guarded with a maze  
Of your best soldiers.  Han. 
'Tis a satisfaction.  
I bless th' occasion makes us meet: my longings  
Were violent to see thee Scipio.  Scip. 
Mine more to see thee Hannibal; but rather  
Armed in the field, prepared for an encounter,  
Then here to parley.  Han. 
Doubt not such a greeting  
When next we meet.  Syph. 
I needs must interpose,  
And moderate this contention. Pray my Lords  
Let me be powerful to dispose your tempers  
For other mild impressions, that my Court  
For entertaining two such enemies  
At once, be made discourse for after-ages.  
A banquet waits ye: music usher it. Music.  
Thus peace bids Soldiers welcome.  Scip. 
Syphax no.  
Think of Rome's cause, and let your feast be seasoned  
With saith to that. If thou prove treacherous,  
Expect a vengeance, justice never yet  
Gave severe execution to a greater.  
I must be gone; th'affairs of war attend me  
When I have settled Rome's peace, we'll comply  
In the effects: action till then must live  
By blood and labour. Hannibal farewell:  
Next greeting will be rougher.  Han. 
Not to be calmed  
With words. Grow strong; be still a conqueror,  
Till I shall conquer thee.  Scip. 
Thou art but flattered  
By an ambition vainer than thy dreams.  
Ten Carthages and Hannibals will not weigh  
Equal with the achievement.  Han. 
One Hannibal  
And Carthage poised but in an equal scale  
With twenty Rome's, and twenty Scipios,  
Shall weigh like lead 'gainst feathers.  Scip. 
Proud insister  
Upon his own slight merits! Remember Syphax  
Thy vow hath made thee Rome's.  Syph. 
Which I'll preserve  
As sacredly inviolate, as if  
Eternal seals had ratified it. Usher  
The Roman General forth. Flourish. Exeunt.  Him. 
Have words such power  
Upon our General to deject him thus?  Han. 
My brain is labouring.  Him. 
I'll help to deliver it.  Han. 
As giddy fancies when they do present  
Delightful shadows, seem to please the sense  
When it is quiet, and not capable  
Of any object, till the dreamers joy  
Suddenly wakes him, and the false impressions  
Vanish to their first nothing, so have I  
Flattered my hopes.  Him. 
I prophesy success  
Despite of Scipio. Syphax Counsellors  
(Whose secret correspondency with us  
Taught the great means by which their Masters love  
Must be regained) a long experience  
Confirms our friends: then prosecute it throughly.   

Scene the fourth.  To them Piston, Crates, and a little after Syphax. They are returned. Pist. 
My Lord 'till now the accidents  
Caused by the Romans presence did prevent us  
From giving satisfaction to your doubts,  
Which were but justly grounded. Our young King  
Is full of's youthful passions, and so violant  
Ith' prosecution of them counsel rather  
Doth set a keener edge upon his appetite.  
We therefore give him way. But if we cannot  
Reduce his actions to a rule of judgement,  
we'll openly oppose him, or conspire  
As 'gainst a tyrant that makes will his law.  
See he's returned: be confident.  Syph. 
How! whispering!  
I do suspect.  Han. 
If Syphax dare be private.  Syph. 
Dare Hannibal! Hadst thou intents more black  
Than ever night gave execution to,  
Even in Carthage Senate house as well  
As in mine own Court, I dare stand th'encounter  
Of single Hannibal. Withdraw.  Han. 
They must not.  
The wrongs thou hast done Carthage must be witnessed:  
That when fame speaks them loudest, partial men  
Make not their incredulity an excuse  
For what no satisfaction can restore,  
Thy honour lost in infamy.  Syph. 
Thou temptest me  
With these dark prefaces. Yet thy upbraidings  
Do seem so frivolous, my patience rather  
Laughs at their vainness. Clear my understanding  
Without more circumstance, for yet my innocence  
knows not t' accuse myself, unless foregiving  
Thy saucy taunts a privilege.  Han. 
What error  
But to defend itself will strive (though vainly)  
To mock truth out of truth? Well Syphax knows  
The expectation of a state deluded  
Cannot but trouble it. A King is more  
Than a mean person, bounded with dimensions  
Of the bare man. His actions are his peoples;  
And what he doth or suffers they must stand.  
Consider then when Carthage shall call up  
Revenge, and with all force pursue the injury  
To satisfaction; when her soldiers  
(Whom custom hath made pitiless) shall plough  
The wombs of teeming Mothers with their falchions,  
To prevent the issue that might vindicate  
A father slain; make your Numidian Virgins  
The ruins of their pleasure, and not leave  
An altar to your gods, nor private Lar  
That may defend a household from their violence:  
When these (whose very repetition carries  
Horror enough to fright men into peace)  
Shall happen—  Syph. 
When they shall! it rather seems  
A positive threat. Tell Carthage were her power  
Of an extent that limits could not bound  
With any circumscription, I'd not fear it.  
To die for Rome were above victory.  
Furnished ten thousand choice Numidian Horsemen  
To wait on Scipio. Why are our commands  
No more respected? I'll have execution  
Forerun my Edicts that concern the good  
Of Rome and Scipio. Stand ye like dull statues  
Fixed to their first foundations; when your diligence  
Should borrow speed from winds, as if ye rid  
On the contracted air to hasten it?  Han. 
Full well their age wise with experience knows  
To disobey a king's unjust commands  
Law and religion warrants. Syphax youth  
Were fitter to court beauty, than to sit  
At a state's helm, and steer the various course  
It's subject to, by his green violent passions.  
With which his bed ere this had been enriched,  
Had Carthage found him kind: Fair Sophonisba.  Crat. 
That name hath startled him.  Han. 
She from whose eyes  
The amorous sun, resigning first his own;  
Might be ambitious to derive new fires.  
Yet she to be reserved for his embraces,  
Who slights that honour all the neighbouring Kings  
Have been competitors for, and would lay down  
Their Crowns to purchase; sell their very beings  
To be translated into a possession  
Of Sophonisba.  Pist. 
It begins to work.  Syph. 
Whence did th'intent of this great honour to me  
Derive itself?  Han. 
From a desire of friendship  
And league with Syphax: which his passionate love  
To Rome and Scipio (that admits no reason)  
Denying, I must publish the dishonour  
Done to a Lady, at whose least command  
A Nation shall be armed, led by such Captains  
As in their emulation will declare  
What mortals owe to her divine perfections;  
That warrant her revenge as just a quarrel,  
As ever stirred up valour in a conscience  
Scruples had cowarded. Here my commission  
Takes end, and I must go.  Syph. 
Stay Hannibal.  
Strange passions war against my resolution;  
And love begins to circle me in flames  
ere my eye takes the fire. What's Rome or Scipio  
To Sophonisba? in whose richer beauty  
Mor's comprehended, than the Macedonian  
Could from his many conquests, and subversion  
Of Monarchies boast himself owner of.  
What's a King's promise but a politic  
(And that's allowed) evasion to gain time  
For counsel with his will? I'll be for Carthage  
To enjoy Sophonisba. I'm inflamed  
From the report, and if my senses find  
Truth answering fame, great Hannibal shall lead  
numidia's power 'gainst Rome, or any place  
He hath designed for conquest.  Han. 
But if Syphax  
Should again suffer Scipio's menacies  
To fright his weakness out of this resolve I  Syph. 
My weakness! tempt me not with a suspect.  
Let me have Sophonisba, or I'll make  
A rape upon your Carthage, not on her,  
For what delight's in violence? inquire  
The cause of that loud shout. Shout within. Messenger.  Messen. 
I come t'inform you.  
A stately ship from her rich laden womb,  
Hath on our shore delivered such a train  
Of glorious Virgins that attend on one,  
Who leads the rest—  Han. 
No more; 'tis Sophonisba.  Syph. 
Receive her with religious ceremony.  
Perfume the air with incense richer than  
The Phoenix funeral pile. Let harmony Music.  
Breath out her soul at every artists touch.  
Cover the pavement which her steps must hallow  
With Persian Tapestry. How I am ravished  
With th'expectation? and like some light matter  
Catched in a whirlwind, all my faculties  
Are hurried forward.   

Scene the fifth.  To them Sophonisba, Ladies all in white, and veiled: who to the music of the song, place themselves in a figure for a dance. Veiled! 'tis sure some mockery. The Song. 
Beauty no more the subject be  
Of want on art to flatter thee:  
Or in dull figures call thee spring;  
lily or Rose, or other thing:  
All which beneath thee are, and grow  
Into contempt when thou dost show  
The unmatched glory of thy brow.  Chorus. 
Behold a sphere of Virgins move,  
None 'mongst them less than Queen of Love.  
And yet their Queen so far excels  
Beauty and she are only parallels.  A dance too! I'll expect th'event. In the dance they discover themselves in order, Sophonisba last. A fair one: 
But 'tis not Sophonisba. Fairer yet.  
Unhappy Syphax from whose eyes such wonders  
Have been to long concealed. Which is the goddess?  
Which Sophonisba?  Sopho. 
Can thy sense distinguish?  
See Syphax, thus I deign to show thee that  
Kings have been proud to worship.  Syph. 
ere I embrace  
Let me admire. In each eye sits a Cupid;  
Who as he skips about to shoot his darts.  
Is himself fettered in the golden curls  
That deck her brow. Elysium's but a fable.  
And that eternity the Poets dream of  
serves but to figure this.  Sopho. 
Although my difference  
Might challenge more, I'm not ambitious  
Of shallow praise. My spirit must fly high  
To catch at fame, not flattery.  Syph. 
Came you not  
To love me then?  Sopho. 
I did: but not to think  
All your expressions (though they were extended  
Beyond my wish) can merit it.  Syph. 
I am  
A King; and you methinks should court the fortune  
With a glad readiness, to share my honours,  
And to be made my equal.  Sopho. 
Were you more,  
I am above addition in myself:  
And should be lessened if I did confine  
A thought to any person, and the act  
Included nothing but bare satisfaction  
Of a desire. I will not let a smile  
Fall loosely from me, but shall be attended  
By actions worth their history; which read  
Shall with the apprehension of my greatness  
Amaze posterity.  Syph. 
Can Sophonisba  
Be covetous of more than the earth's honours?  
When she shall sit encompassed in a ring  
Of noble Matrons that shall deify  
Her beauty with their praises? When she shall  
Be crowned with sparkling wreaths to blind the gazers,  
As if a Constellation had been robbed  
To make her shine. When in a king's arms sleeping  
All pleasures shall be ministered, that Nature  
And art in their contention strive to own,  
And take their glory from.  Sopho. 
I hire pretty baits  
To catch an easy wanton, whose dull earth  
A little varnished o'er doth know itself  
No farther than the superficial tincture  
Discovered in her glass. I have a soul  
Greater than Syphax Kingdom: and to bound it  
Would take from what I am. 'Twill be your honour  
'Bove all that your ambition can direct you  
To hope for (next eternity) If I  
Vouchsafe to add unto your petty royalty  
My greater self; and the addition be  
Greater than you can purchase by your conquests.  
'Tis but her due when Sophonisba craves  
Worlds for her Kingdoms, their Kings for her slaves.  
Should Syphax make a resignation  
Of all he own's for me; 'twere but as if  
He pared a molehill from the earth, to place  
An Atlas in its stead.  Han. 
Come Sophonisba  
You must consent: there's fame in't that will give you  
An everlasting being in the memory  
Of benefits your Country will derive from't.  
Children shall first be taught to speak your name;  
And from their aged grandsires learn your story.  
Whose often repetition shall take from  
The tediousness of age, and make them seem  
As if they danced for joy, when palsies shake them.  Syph. 
Am I enslamed, and shall I not enjoy?  
Mock me not Lady into a despair.  
You show me heaven, and shut the gates against me.  
Make not a King, that deigns to be your servant,  
A slave unto your cruelty.  Han. 
To give  
Syphax a satisfaction, your competitor  
False Massanissa, he that shares your Kingdom.  
And would engross it all, hath long solicited  
For Sophonisba's love.  Sopho. 
Oh Massanissa.  Han. 
He having now forsaken Carthage, she  
Out of her piety to do her Country  
A good, prefers you: and that her revenge  
May be pursued with greater violence,  
allows her elf your right; though she's a treasure  
Might be disposed of to a more advantage  
Of Carthage strength.  Syph. 
Will Sophonisba love then  
If I fight Carthage's quarrel?  Sopho. 
Yes; your fortune  
Whilst 'tis at height: but the least declination  
Waving it to an ebb, I from that fall  
Must mount to higher honours, if a gale  
Meet it to raise me.  Syph. 
massanissa's person  
It seems could limit your desires.  Sopho. 
He was  
A man made up of fire; no gross earth clogged  
His spirit when 'twould mount to honour's top,  
And load same with his acts. Had he not fallen  
From Carthage, Sophonisba had but been  
The price of his desert. And yet I love him.  
Dear Massanissa!  Syph. 
She hath overcome me.  
I will be great; every day's action  
Shall raise me a step higher, and I'll take  
You with me Lady: no; you shall lead me  
The tribute I will pay for every kiss  
Shall be a victory o'er your enemies.  
Proud Rome shall find Syphax can be a Soldier,  
When Sophonisba bids him put on steel.  Han. 
The not to be resisted power of beauty.  
Carthage I will salute thee now with joy.  
Nor shall the thought of thy ingratitude  
Make me less willing to pursue thy good  
Through a deep sea of vanquished. Roman's blood.  Syph. 
we'll feast, than fight. Who led by such bright eaves  
Would not match on to any enterprise? Exennt.    

The argument of the third Act.  Syphax warring against the Romans, at length is taken prisoner by Massanissa; who finding Sophonisba in the City of Cirtha, marries her, with a vow not to deliver her up to the Romans. For which marriage being reproved by Scipio, he gives her poison? which she takes to prevent the Romans triumph over her. The Scene Utica. 

Scene the first.  Scipio, Soldiers: a little after Lelius. Scip. 
Syphax so soon revolted I what weak man  
Would mock away his safety? Children thus  
Playing with fire to please their foolish sense  
Are often burnt and make their sport the instrument  
Of their own danger. Massanissa yet  
Is constant, and by this time hath subdued him.  
Success must follow those attempts that rise  
From a just cause, and crown the enterprise.  
Lelius what news?  Lelius. 
I labour with th'event;  
joy hinders a delivery. Massanissa  
Girt in a conquest, greater never made  
A triumph glorious, is returning back  
To present Scipio with numidia's spoils,  
And Syphax captived.  Scip. 
'Tis a joyful errant.  
Just Nemesis, thy Griffins have been swift,  
And borne thee well to see the execution  
Of a revenge upon perfidious Syphax.  
Hadst thou failed in't, we justly might disclaim  
Thy deity, and without fear of punishment  
Profane thy altars: on whose marbles now  
we'll pay a sacrifice of richest flame  
Mixed with the blood of Kings, Discourse the progress  
To this event.  Leli. 
When your successful policy  
Had destroyed both the Campes of Asdrubal  
And Syphax with devouring fire, whose flames  
seemed to the distant gazers on't a prodigy  
That threatened dissolution, and begot  
Their greater fear, then when th' Artillery  
Of heaven speaks loudest through the burning air  
To tell the world jove's angry: When you retired  
To Utica to prevent an invasion  
Intended by the Carthaginian Navy,  
Which darked the Sea (much like a cloud of vultures  
That are convented after some great fight  
To glut their ravenous gorges with the gore,  
Thousands of soulless men lie reeking in)  
The mad Numidian King, in whom despair  
Had kindled a new valour, gathers head.  
And with a fresh supply of unmanned men  
(For had they been such as experience  
Had taught the useful order of a war  
Th'end had again been doubtful) gives us battle.  
Their first assault made us retire; yet still  
We kept the sudden form hast put us in  
For best advantage: till their heedless courage  
Hurried them on, where our foot Legions  
Observing their disorder (for they fought  
In throngs so thick, that many times one striking  
Wounded his fellow) gives them new resistance.  
At which they stop, mated with apprehension  
Of their own danger: whom th'incensed King  
Mixing his threats with promises of honour  
Labour's to bring one till his horse being killed  
We took him prisoner, with two thousand more.  
The rest not flame are fled.  Scip. 
Brave victory  
Worthy th'achievers, to whose memories  
Eternal statues shall be raised, and trophies  
Rich as Rome's Capitol is glorious with.  
But where is Massanissa?  Leli. 
He pretended  
To visit Cirtha, Syphax chiefest City:  
Which is delivered up.  Scip. 
I have new fears Flourish.  
That woman will again bewitch him. Know  
The cause.   

Scene the Second.  To them Massanissa, Soldiers bringing in Syphax bound. Leli. 
'Tis Massanissa.  Scip. 
Th'only wealth  
I'd be possessed of. I embrace in thee  
A boundless treasure.  Massa. 
Let not Scipio  
Flatter me into pride for what is rather  
Fortunes than mine.  Scip. 
The actions of thy virtue.  
fortune's an under power that is herself  
Commanded by desert. 'Tis a mere vainness  
Of our credulity to give her more  
Than her due attribute; which is but servant  
To an heroic spirit.  Massa, 
This example  
Might instance proofs for her divinity.  
All's but endeavour until perfected  
By the success, and that is fortunes only;  
Desert shares little in'r.  Scip. 
Let not thy modesty  
Maintain such errors. To refuse just praise  
Is an extreme worse than man's overweening  
Opinion of himself. Great Massanissa  
Shall have all honours due unto his conquest;  
And wear triumphant Garlands; that false King  
Chained to his Chariot from the gazer's eyes  
Inviting scorn, not pity.  Syph. 
'Tis not manly  
To insult over misery, to which  
thyself's as subject, and perhaps may'st feel,  
Chance makes prosperity when 'tis at highest  
But pastime to delight her giddy humour:  
And will deject the most seem possessor,  
When she commands a restitution  
Of her lent favours, that she may confer them  
Upon another. This consideration  
Might invite mercy.  Scip. 
When superior justice  
makes us her instrument, should we be partial  
I th'execution, 'twere to mock the power,  
And call down vengeance. Yet I grieve for Syphax  
That he deserves the punishment; whose weakness!  
Suffered a piece of painted earth to tempt him  
From his religion, and neglect the gods,  
Whom he invoked for witness to that vow  
A woman made him violate.  Syph. 
'Tis my hope  
She may deceive thee too, and with her charms  
Bewitch the boasting Conqueror that's her slave  
From's faith to Rome.  Massa. 
His madness will betray me  
To a reproach  Syph. 
It takes from mine own suffering  
To see mine enemy in the same danger:  
When he by his adulterous embraces  
Receives the like infection int' his soul  
That made me sick of virtue, and of all  
But my disease.  Scip. 
Do you enjoy the Lady?  Massa. 
Yes: she's my wife.  Scip. 
Yoar act was somewhat rash;  
Before her husband's death! Doth the religion  
You pay Numidia's gods warrant it law full?  Massa. 
Syphax is dead in his captivity.  
His life was mine; which I but lent him only  
For Rome's great triumph.  Scip. 
we'll consult a little,  
And then dispose you Syphax.  Syph. 
As your will  
Adviseth you. It is the curse of greatness  
To be its own destruction. So we see  
That mountain Cedars have the least defence  
'gainst storms, when shrubs confront their violence. Exeunt.   

Scene the third.  Scipio, Massanissa remaining. Scip. 
When first you freely did commit yourself  
Unto my charge, and promised with a vow  
My liking only should dispose your actions,  
Either you loved them, or your flattery  
Pretended admiration of some virtues  
You thought possessed me. One I must confess  
I glory to be master of, that's continence.  
I have conversed with beauties rich as Nature  
Did ever make art proud to counterfeit;  
Might have commanded some that conquest gave me:  
Yet have I still kept out desire, but you  
Have yielded to that passion doth betray  
A weakness in you, will obscure the glory  
Of all your other goodness. Think how dangerous  
'Tis to a young man (on whose expectation  
Opinions eye is fix't) to mix his actions  
With wanton pleasures, when his thoughts transfer  
The wicked objects of his humorous sense  
Unto his soul, that poison all her faculties,  
And make them useless. Noble Massanissa,  
Your good deeds sung by fame are music to me:  
Your errors I had rather you yourself  
Would silently consider, and reform,  
Before with any show of least unkindness  
You force me to reprove them.  Massa. 
Let not Scipio  
Deny those errors an excuse. If nature  
Had a like clothed men's dispositions,  
And all did wear one habit of the mind,  
You need not urge th'example of your own  
T'instruct another's continence: for all  
From a necessited and innate temperance  
Would be as you are. Though I do not boast  
Command o'er pleasures, I pursue them not  
With an intemperate appetite, but make  
Reason my guide, that tell's me to provide  
For a succession, doth become the judgement  
Of a wise King. Posterity may well  
Be called th'eternity of life: he never  
dies that hath issue; for which I have married  
Her mine own conquest gave me.  Scip. 
Your own conquest!  
Pray do not arrogate too much: you must not  
Dispose Rome's prisoners whilst you fight her quarrel.  
The war's not yours, though yours the victory.  
She must attend her sentence from our Senate;  
Which hardly will be partial to her beauty,  
Though 'twere adulterated with more art,  
Then e'er lasciviousness was mistress of,  
And rack 't invention for. Let Sophonisba  
Be then delivered up.  Massa. 
Perhaps yourself  
After your boasted continence would have her  
To be your own.  Scip. 
Is that your jealousy?  
Weak passionate man, that through thy blinded reason  
Foresee'st not thine own danger by th'example  
Of others misery, and yet art ripe,  
To maintain grossest errors of thy will,  
And seem discretions master. Had not Syphax  
(Bewitch by magic of her wanton eye  
Into a dotage) broke his faith with Rome,  
He might have flourished in his height of glory;  
And still commanded over his Division.  
Which Rome will add to massanissa's Kingdom  
Yielding up Sophonisba.  Massa. 
You would seem  
To give me mines, upon condition  
I should restore the gold, reserving only  
The earth to trample on. In Sophonisba  
I have a treasure mine own life shall ransom,  
If she be forced away; and to consent  
She should be yielded up to any Roman  
Were worse than sacrilege, though I should scare  
The hallowed statues of nunsidia's gods  
Down from their altars, and convert their Temples  
Into the loathsom'st uses of necessity.  
king's oaths are equal with decrees of Fate,  
Those I have made I cannot violate.  Scip. 
Then I disclaim thee. there's not so much danger  
In a known foe, as a suspected friend.  
To prevent an incendium it is best;  
To quench a brand before it fire the rest. Exit.  Massa. 
He's angry, and I must not let it grow  
To ripeness of his hate. I am resolved  
To be th'example of a constancy  
Fame shall proclaim for wonder.   

Scene the fourth.  To him Sophonisba. She's already 
Come ere my wish could summon her. Her sight  
Begins to shake the weak foundation  
Of my resolves. Like stones shot from an engine  
She ruins with the battery of her eye  
What my intents had built.  Soph. 
Why is my Lord  
Thus cloudy? I expected entertainment  
Of other difference; such as cheerful love  
presents desire with from the interchange  
Of smiles and amorous glances.  Massa 
Sophonisba!  
I was new entered into meditations  
Of death, and other wretchedness, depends  
Upon mortality.  Soph. 
Is that the argument  
Of your dejectedness? it shows too much  
Of woman's weakness. Man should have a spirit  
Above the fear any consideration  
Can work within him. Death is but an entrance  
To our eternity: and if our life  
Merit a blessedness hereafter, we  
Should run with joy to meet it.  Massa. 
But if one  
Possessed of happiness beyond the hope  
Of any greater; that denies another  
Can be in expectation (more than what  
His soul enjoys already) apprehended  
A separation from it by the malice  
Of death, or other accident, 'twould force him  
Weep silently within, though shame restrained  
His outward tears.  Sopho. 
This circumstance would seem  
To prepare something that should have relation  
Unto yourself or me. Perhaps the Consul  
Hath urged that I should be delivered up  
To Rome's disposing. massanissa's vow  
Made with religious ceremony cannot  
If he respect the gods consent to it.  
And rather than their tyranny should make me  
Wretched anew, to my first earth return me,  
The worst remains of Sophonisba.  Massa. 
Dare she  
die then to quit her fears?  Sopho. 
And meet the instrument  
With greater cheerfulness, than fondest parents  
Can show at the return of their decree child  
From long captivity. This tender frame  
Lodgeth a masculine and heroic spirit.  
And if thy passionate love denies thyself  
To be the Actor in this benefit,  
Give me thy sword; my own right hand shall guide  
The point unto my heart: I'll without trembling  
Open a passage for the crimson drops;  
And smile to see them diaper the pavement,  
As if't were some conceited workmanship  
Made by the looker's fancy.  Massa. 
ere mine eyes  
Should suffer such an object to offend  
Their hitherto pleased sense, I would dissolve them  
In their own humour. No Sophonisba;  
This breath shall first waste into empty air,  
And leave my naked bones i'th' hallowed pile  
ere I prove false to thee. Give me some wine:  
I'll drink a bridal health to Sophonisba,  
And mix it with Nepenthe. Here's the juice  
Will cause forgetfulness, and mock th'extremity  
Of any adverse fortune. Messenger with wine.  Sopho. 
Sure 'tis poison.  
Will Massanissa leave me then unguarded  
To Scipio's violence? I have here no father  
Nor uncle to defend me; not so much  
As a poor tear by weeping to stir up  
A Romans pity: I shall only dart  
An anger from my burning eye, to show  
The Carthaginian spirit I was borne with,  
Which not with standing will not quit this part  
From a captivity: this Scipio's rage  
Will hurry in his triumph to be gazed at,  
And scorned by the course rabble. Do not then  
By such a keeping of it break thy vow;  
For 'tis no less to me. I must still want  
The benefice of such a constancy.  
For though himself live not to yield me up  
I am exposed to't, and without least power  
To make resistance. Let me then partake  
That means of best security  Massa. 
Not to have  
A Monument of lasting Adamant  
Raised to my memory. No Sophonisba  
This is no potion to preserve a beauty  
In it's first green; or ripe it to a Summer;  
Or prevent th' Autumn; or return the Winter  
Into a new Spring. This will pale the die  
Which thy cheek blusheth when it would clothe modesty  
In a rich scarlet: make that Ivory breast  
(Now Loves soft bed whereon he play's the wanton,  
And ambusheth himself to catch the flames  
He shoots at others from thy eyes) as cold  
As Scythian sands, bleaked with continual freezing  
Into a seeming crystal. Scipio dares not  
Insult o'er thee: thy face would check his malice  
Into a silent admiration of it.  
Or if he sin so much as to deject thee  
With the least fear of ill, the gods themselves  
Will leave their immortality to be  
Each others rivals in thy love, and strive  
Which should revenge thee best. This must not weaken  
What is so powerful.  Sopho. 
If my Lord be then  
Resolved to leave me widowed, being yet  
Scarce warm in his embraces, let me mix  
A tear with his last drink, that he may carry  
Something of Sophonisba with him.  Massa 
That  
Hath in't sufficient virtue to convert  
All the Thessalian, Pontic, Phasian aconites  
Into preservatives, and turn this draught  
Into an antidote: which yet is powerful,  
'Bove all that Art and Nature in conspiracy  
Of mischief e'er invented. We that are  
Great, and yet subject to th'incertainty  
Of Fortune, have this custom to prevent it.  
We affect glory: and conclude no slate  
That end's not in itself, is fortunate.  
So— Offers to drink.  Soph. 
Let my Lord first give me leave to breathe  
An errant o'er it; that when he is entered  
Elysium, throngs of Carthaginian Heroes  
May bid him welcome, and inform themselves  
From him of Sophonisba.  Massa. 
Do't then quickly.  
I'll bear it, and command the King of night  
Resign his ravished Queen to be thy handmaid.  
Hell, I shall now be armed to meet thy horrors  
With greater power than thine.  Soph. 
If there be Fate,  
Why is't concealed? The revelation of 't  
Would make us strive to mock eternal providence,  
Th'ingenious Artist that did form this cup  
Foresaw not such a use of't. Had he known  
It should have ministered death to a King,  
His trembling hands could ne'er have finished it  
With such exactness. What so e'er decree  
Is written in the Adamantine Tables  
Of Destiny, we must subscribe to. Time  
Though he keep on his swift and silent pace,  
Death's sure at first or last to win the race.  
Pray keep out Scipio: I have almost ended.  
So— Drink's.  Massa. 
Ha! 'what hath Sophonisba's madness done'?  
Oh Aesculapius if thy deity  
Be not a feigned one, then administer,  
And show it powerful in restoring back  
My Sophonisba to her former safety.  
Numidia shall pay worship to none other  
But thee and Phoebus. Altars shall be raised  
Made of Iberian gold, and flame with incense  
Until Arabia's richest earth grows barren  
Of gums and spices.  Sopho. 
Why doth Massanissa  
Invoke vain aid? The gods are merciful  
In their denying it: and 'tis but justice  
That I should die; m'adulterous easiness  
Deserved it, that without the least resistance  
Left my yet living husband to embrace  
His enemy. But it had warrant from  
The end, my country's good, and the first love  
I bore thee Massanissa. Now let Scipio  
Boast of his conquest; Sophonisba is  
Her own subverter. It begins to work  
With a full strength: my blood would serve to heat  
A Salamander, and convert his ice  
Into a flame. Aetna's but painted fire  
To that which burns my marrow. Yet my looks  
Are cheerful and erected. Victory  
Was never met more joyfully, than I  
Embrace that death prevents my misery.  
My weak earth totters underneath a weight  
That sinks it downwards: my still living spirit  
rides upon clouds to reach jove's highest sky.  
Who fear not death, but in the worst part die. Dy's.  Mass. 
She's dead. Sink ye supporters of this fabric  
Into your deep foundations; make them graves  
For your own ruins, since there is not left  
A weight worthy your bearing. she's not dead:  
Only she hath translated her divinity  
To its own blessed abodes, and calls on me  
To pay a mortals duty. shalt have sacrifice,  
And rich too. Kings out of devotion shall  
Offer themselves in flames, and from their ashes  
Rise glorious stars; whence learned curiosity  
Deriving a new art, shall teach Astrologers  
The virtues of an influence shall include  
Secrets to make credulity astonished  
At their presages. I will be their precedent;  
And make this earth, already consecrated  
With Sophonisba's precious feet, an altar.  
Open thy crannies to receive my blood,  
And from its mixture spring a grove of Balsam.  
Led by whose ravishing odour the new issue  
Of every Phoenix shall neglect Panehaia,  
To bring her mother's spicy death bed hither,  
That's likewise her own cradle. But this action  
Should have more state, and ceremony. No.  
A King's the Priest; a King's the Sacrifice;  
His own sword whilst 'tis yet warm with his victory  
Shall serve forth 'axe, and so— Shall I but die then?  
I'll live to pay her more than th'expiration  
Of a short breath, and die to all delights,  
But what I can derive from her fair memory:  
Which shall be treasured here; and by its virtue  
Revive to kill me; every life it gives  
Causing another death.   

Scene the fifth.  To him Scipio, Lelius, Soldiers. Scip. 
The Lady dead!  Massa. 
To Scipio's malice.  Scip. 
Could not Massanissa  
Acquit himself of one, but by committing  
A greater folly! But I must not chide.  
Most worthy Massanissa!  Massa. 
Keep your flattery.  
I have no Sophonisba. Touch her not:  
None but myself shall bear her to the pile.  
The sacrilegious hand beside attempts it  
I will cut off. Your triumph shall not twice  
Kill Sophonisba. Exit with the body.  Scip. 
With best care attend him  
Unto our Tent; lest that his passion grow  
Into a desperate frenzy, I must cure it  
By counsel mixed with gifts. In that weak woman  
Half Carthage strength is gone.  Leli. 
Our Spies inform  
That th'other half (which I conceive is Hannibal)  
intends upon th'event of one great battle  
To hazard all. His Camp's already pitched  
Near Zama: whence a messenger is sent  
That shows the Carthaginian much desires  
To have some conference with you.  Scip. 
we'll dispose  
Our Army thitherward. methinks I see  
Victory crowned already clap her wings  
Over our heads. What a strange circulation  
Is in times accidents? From victory  
Peace is derived; from peace security;  
Thence lust; ambition: two main grounds of jars:  
We fight for peace, and peace again breeds wars. Exeunt.    

The argument of the fourth Act.  Hannibal being wholly overcome by Scipio at the battle of Zama, returns to Carthage: where being ill entertained by the Senate, he behaves himself roughly in the Senate house; and their intention of delivering him up to Scipio being discovered, by the aid of his Faction, he escapes and flies. The Carthaginians submitting themselves are reproved by Scipio; who likewise imposeth upon them the strictest conditions, and by an example of his own, reclaims Massanissa from his passion. The Scene Carthage. 

Scene the first.  Hanno, Gisgon, Bostar, a full Senate. Being sat, To them Nuntius. Hanno. 
Pray take no notice that we know th'event  
Of the late battle. I already have  
Employed my Faction 'bout a peace, and Scipio  
Is not far off. It shall not be the act  
Of Hannibal to boast of. When we have  
Betrayed him to the Romans, the conditions  
Besides are easy.  Gisg. 
Mind the public Bostar:  
D'you think it not concerns you?  Bost. 
I was my riches  
Made me a Senator: my wisdom never  
Deserved the purple. Be you politic;  
Let me preserve my state.  Gisg. 
Your wealth! 'tis granted  
Raised you to this high place. Necessity  
May corrupt justice in a Magistrate:  
Which to prevent, at least our jealousies,  
Our Carthaginian custom in election  
Of Senators, sometimes prefers the rich  
Before the best men. Take your seat.  Bost. 
To fill it:  
Fear will not let me sleep.  Hanno. 
Attend the Message:  
It seems from Hannibal.  Bost. 
A worthy man.  
He sent us home three bushels full of rings,  
Of which I shared the most.  Nunt. 
Before I speak,  
methinks the air about me as the sound  
Of my sad words doth pass through it, should thicken  
Into a cloud; then melt at every period  
Into a weeping rain, till none be left  
To give us breathe for sighs. Our Hannibal  
Is vanquished by the Romans.  Bost. 
We shall then  
Have no more wealth brought home, nor safely keep  
What we possess already. Curse on chance  
That mocks us thus. I'll never make her statue  
Of gold hereafter, and by consequent  
ne'er worship her: I have but cold devotion  
Towards a wooden goddess.  Hanno. 
'Tis not fit  
Evils remediless should be lamented.  
From a misfortune something may arise  
To prevent greater, if it be applied  
With an exact consideration  
O'all occurrents that may make it useful.  
Relate it then.  Nun. 
Before the battle joined  
The world's two Captains (for besides them none  
Merit's the name in equal competition)  
Met to have conference: where for a space  
They stood astonished at each other's presence:  
And like two Comets tilting in the air  
'Gainst one another, shot prodigious flames  
From either's eyes; and with a counterchange  
Of fierce and angry looks seemed to begin  
An eager fight: till Hannibal broke silence,  
And moved a peace: Which Scipio (or suspecting it  
To be but wonted policy, or confident  
Both of his own strength and success) refused.  
Then like two clouds swollen big with a might's tempest,  
And hurried forward by contrary winds,  
justling each other, till their ribs being broken  
The sulphurous issue flies through the black air;  
An inundation following that would fright  
Nature's Archaeus from his quiet centre;  
To seek an Aetna or Vesaevus out  
Where he might dry himself: so met the Armies.  
And with a shout, that outnoised thunder, charged  
Each other bravely; at their first encounter  
Mixing their bloods in streams, that every way  
Flowed like a tide. As yet the peaceful goddess  
Inclined to neither part, till Massanissa  
Brought up his right wing of Numidian horsemen,  
And broke th'array; enforcing our first battle  
Back to our second; when we were compelled  
To fight against our own, lest their retiring  
Might put us out of order; till betwixt us  
Dead bodies made a Bulwark; so that neither  
We nor the Romans but by trampling on  
Our fellows carcases could strike a blow  
Of any use. The Roman Legions now  
o'erpress us with their number, and both wings  
Of horsemen wheeled about t'assault our rear.  
We then were compassed; yet like angry lions  
Whom the toil hampers, laboured for our freedom;  
But few escaped: five hundred only live  
Of forty thousand, which to Adrumentum  
Are fled with Hannibal: whence he intends  
To visit Carthage suddenly.  Hanno. 
His welcome  
If he foreknew't would give him small encouragement.  
Th'incertainty of war! Did Hannibal  
Solicit peace? I'll seem t'oppose it then,  
Though it intend a good. The inborn malice  
Betwixt our families will not permit me  
Allow his acts or counsel. By his greatness  
Mine is eclipsed: and though this overthrow  
May make him less in popular opinion,  
His Faction yet is strong.  Gisg. 
What mean you Bostar!  Bost. 
I'm dead; that horrible relation killed me  
I ne'er shall see addition to my heap,  
Now Hannibal is conquered.  Hanno. 
You have stored  
Enough wealth to maintain another Army  
That may bring home increase. Pray let us use  
Your state, we'll spare your wisdom.  Bost. 
How's that Hanno!  
My state, and spare my wisdom. I'm a Senator,  
And wear my gown as formally as you:  
Can nod and spit at th'end of every sentence,  
And number with my own Arithmetic  
More sums of coin then thy whole family.  
Part with my wealth! I'll rather die, and purchase  
Hell with't, if Pluto would but sell his Kingdom.  
Yet sure it cannot be so rich as I am.  
The judges there are just; bribes cannot buy  
A partial sentence,   

Scene the Second.  To them Hannibal, some Soldiers. Han. 
Ha! methinks they should  
Salute me, though I bring not victory.  
When I presented them with wealth, their flatteries  
Were greater than became them. Am I less  
In merit now, then when success attended  
My actions! glued unto their seats, and Hannibal  
Entered. Grave fathers.  Hanno. 
On sir: we are patient  
To hear you speak.  Han. 
But patient! he that stands  
Accused may challenge that, or justly tax ye  
Of more than tyranny.  Hanno. 
Are you so confident  
You dare affront your judges?  Han. 
Ha! my judges.  
What envy though 'twere stilled from the black galls  
Of lean Erinys Adders, can so blemish  
My life or same, that from the least suspect  
I might incur a sentence! Wa''t for this  
I have through blood and sweat made Carthage great  
As Rome herself; and had not politic dotage  
Infected with your private avarice  
(That would not spare me what myself bestowed  
Upon your case) prevented it by calling  
Me and my Army home, I had ere this  
Made Rome your tributary; and am I  
Returned now to be judge, because I have  
After so many victories lost one battle!  
The monstrous birth of your ingratitude  
Were able to fright manhood from posterity,  
And check all undertakings.  Hanno. 
Whence did you  
Receive commission to move peace with Scipio?  Han. 
From mine own judgement that foresaw the danger  
My power could not prevent.  Hanno. 
It seems you were  
Declaimed to coward.  Han. 
there's no privilege Pulls him down.  
Under your gown for that. Learn to know man;  
Then be his judge.  Bost. 
Pray heaven he hurt not me.  
Most valiant Hannibal.  Han. 
I hate your flattery,  
'tis mixed with scorn; and I will rather trample  
Upon your purple.  Nunt. 
Good my Lord forbear  
Your violence. Consider but their persons  
And dignities.  Han. 
Should Jove himself provoke me  
With a disgrace like this, I'd challenge him  
To meet upon a cloud rammed full of thunder:  
And dart it at him, till with flames I had  
Consumed the brass supporters of his heaven;  
Tumbling him down with all his petty gods  
Unto their first mortality.  Nunt. 
The custom  
Of Carthage government commands respect  
Unto their difference.  Han. 
Let the respect  
Be likewise taught them that belongs to me.  
And if my labour hath maintained their ease.  
In which they have both studied and established  
Civil formalities, my rugged life  
Did never practise, it may well excuse  
A greater error. Who is my accuser?  Hanno. 
yourself.  Han. 
myself! myself will be my judge then:  
And make th'abused seat honoured for a justice,  
Which your corrupted souls would never suffer  
Your power to execute. Look Carthaginians;  
And if your reasons eyes can see the errors  
Your blinded envy led it to, with blushes  
Guide them to reformation. I that took  
An oath at nine years old before the Altar,  
When it was smoking with the horrid sacrifice  
Of immolated men, to be Rome's enemy,  
And perfect what my Father had begun;  
I that transferred the wealth of Spain to Carthage,  
And thorough the frozen Alps melted my way  
Into the fertile plains of Italy;  
That waded with my army thorough the fens  
Of gloomy Arnus, in whose fogs I lost  
One of my bodies comfortable lights;  
I that o'erthrew six Consuls, and at Cannas  
In one sight killed a hundred Roman Senators,  
And thence presented Carthage with a prey  
That might outvie an Indian treasury  
crammed with the choicest wealth; I that abroad  
Whilst here you bathed in pleasures made my body  
Propose 'gainst a tempest, and endured the rage  
Of more prodigious storms then ever frighted  
Mortals into religion.  Hanno. 
Yet at Capua  
The fair Salapian Omphale could teach  
Our Carthaginian Hercules to spin,  
And mind his distaff; else she would not smile  
Upon him for his work.  Han. 
Thy malice Hanno  
Like to the broken some a rock beats back  
Upon the angry main, fowl's thine own bosom.  
I am above it; and in spite of thee  
Or all the battery of thy calumnies,  
Will stand like a Colossus to be gazed at  
By all beneath me, when the scorn of men  
Shall lash thy envy with the whips of satyrs:  
Who vainly dost attempt to ruin that  
Is built for fame.  Hanno. 
Nay you may keep your seat,  
It well becomes you.  Han. 
It becomes you better,  
When your grave nod and formal hem strikes terror  
Through the affrighted malefactor's heart;  
Who for some slight offence expects his judgement,  
No less than banishment, or confiscation  
Of all his substance; which is shared amongst you,  
The public use neglected. But in vain  
I tax your vices, when your souls are sullied  
With an ingratitude to me, that makes  
All others white as innocence compared  
With that black monster. Carthage I disclaim thee,  
And rather than employ my power again  
To raise thy head 'bove others, in thy ruins  
I'll hide mine own. And but for reverence  
I bear the ashes of mine ancestors,  
I would myself plough furrows in thy womb,  
And sow my faction only for th'increase  
Of mine own greatness.  Hanno. 
Pray observe it Fathers.  
He doth affect the Monarchy; he would  
Alter our government.  Han. 
You are deceived.  
Y'are weak enough already; there's no need  
Of a sedition to subvert your state.  
Can ye resist the Romans, and make peace  
Upon your own conditions?   

Scene the third.  To them Himulco hastily. What's the meaning? Him. 
You are betrayed my Lord; your safety needs  
A sudden resolution. Scipio's entered  
The Gates of Carthage.  Han. 
Oh inhuman treachery!  
But for preventing justice that will fall  
Heavy upon you by some other instrument,  
'Twere piety to wash corruption  
From this abused place with your bloods; whose stains  
Would yet infect the pavement, and remain  
Like blushes in the marble to betray  
The guilt ye died for. When the Romans practise  
Their tyranny upon you, wish in vain  
Ye had an Hannibal.  Him. 
Your danger will not  
Allow your passion vent. Pray 'fly my Lord.  Han. 
Into some desert to converse with beasts;  
Th'have grateful souls. Carthage methinks an earthquake  
Should palsy thy old joints, & shrink thy head  
Into thy shoulders: or thy Genius wrap thee  
In a perpetual cloud to hide the shame  
Of this base act. Revenge, I'll court thee through  
The ruin of mine own. Carthage shall see  
Not mine from her, her greatness grew from me.  
All those that love me follow. Exeunt, Senators remaining.  Hanno. 
Would we had  
Ensnared him better: but his faction wanting  
A head, 'tis strengthless. Let a crier publish  
The sentence of his banishment, that Scipio  
May take it for our act. We must comply  
With all occasions that may make our peace  
A useful good, no voluntary bondage.  
We must receive the Romans with a show  
Of less fear, than the straits of our necessity  
Might excuse manhood for.   

Scene the fourth.  To them Scipio, Massanissa, Lelius, some Soldiers. Scip. 
Now Carthaginians,  
Although I am a conqueror, success  
Swells me no higher to prefer myself  
Above what judgement warrants. I have strove  
With all opposing reasons to forget  
Your often breach of faith: which you are taxed with  
By all men for a vice that th'air you breathe  
Infects you with, as if the places nature  
Enforced it from necessity. But custom  
Must be concluded, is the most efficient  
To cause that barbarous neglect of piety,  
Which should be man's sole object. I am strengthened  
Sufficiently 'gainst fear; since I can easily  
Compel you to subjection. But preferring  
A mild command before imperious rigour,  
Declare yourselves, and you shall find that we  
Practise no cruelty.  Hanno. 
Most worthy Roman  
We might excuse the general, and confer  
The guilt upon some private few, who led  
By an ambition made this war without  
Consent from us. Some we have justly punished;  
And him, by whom (as by the first great mover)  
The rest were hurried forward, we have banished,  
To take from Rome all cause of after-jealousy.  
His faction did prevent it, else we had  
Yielded him up to Scipio. Peace is now  
The thing we crave, and the conditions  
No stricter than the Carthaginians  
Would have proposed, had they been conquerors,  
And Scipio sued to them.  Scip. 
Can there be faith  
In those that would betray their own! and such a one  
As made the end of all his actions  
Your greatness first, and when that failed your safety?  
A man that more than figured Mars, and merited  
A deifying by your gratitude.  
Blush at it fame, and with thy hundred tongues  
Till all are hoarse proclaim it. The conditions  
Proposed shall stand, if but to punish this,  
This monstrous act. Nature methinks should throw ye  
From her warm bosom with an angry motion  
Of all th'earth's sinews, and not suffer ye  
To suck her milk; but dry her fruitful womb  
Into a barrenness, before such monsters  
Should be again produced. As you perform  
The strictest clause, and what afflicts ye most,  
Call it not satisfaction for our injuries,  
But punishment for your ingratitude  
To Hannibal.  Hanno. 
That will take from my suffering.  
When those we hate in misery bear a part,  
Envy grows fat by eating her own heart. Exeunt.  Scip. 
Lelius attend the Carthaginian Senators;  
Survey the City, and see execution Exit.  
Of all the league includes. Doth Scipio triumph,  
And Massanissa hang the head! One article  
Is that they shall restore to Massanissa  
All that they have deprived him of.  Massa. 
They cannot  
Restore my Sophonisba.  Scip. 
Still that passion!  
I thought her memory had been washed away  
With the large streams of blood so lately flowed  
From his victorious sword. Come Massanissa  
You shall enjoy a Roman Lady; one  
That shall outvie the glory of a sun  
Throned in his clearest sky, and make his light  
Appear but as a shadow to her beauty,  
One that shall comprehend within herself  
All that was ever feigned of other women,  
And make their fables probable.  Massa. 
Rome hath not  
Another Sophonisba.  Scip. 
That the wealth  
Of Rome's best province might but ransom home  
His lost command o'er passions.   

Scene the fift.  To them Lelius, Lucius, a young Lady. Who's this Lady? Leli. 
A Spanish captive.  Scip. 
Did ever innocence  
Look sweeter as if she were joyed to make  
This little frame her mansion. Why d''ee weep?  
They shall not hurt you pretty one.  Lad. 
They say  
They'll carry me to Rome.  Scip. 
Suppose they do;  
Romans are full of gentleness, and mildly  
Will entertain you; where you shall be taught  
Civility of manners. Education  
Clothing your mind in ornaments of virtue  
Fitting your expectation, and your beauty  
Ripped with mature age, Roman Knights shall court it.  
Perhaps myself would take you to my bed.  Lad. 
Indeed you should not. You are a rough soldier;  
Your looks would fright me.  Scip. 
Can you then deny  
To cherish such a hope? You should enjoy  
Delights above your wish. Your house should be  
A court of pleasure. Spring should always dwell  
Within your gardens, as it Tempe were  
Translated thither. virgin's should attend you  
Fair as the morning, when she ushers in  
The day with blushes. Your baths should be the dew  
Gathered from Roses, and your garments soft  
As the curled air, by mild Etesian winds  
Made temperate, when the Sun rides on his Lion  
To hunt heaven's Dog up. You should sleep on down  
Driven from swan's white necks; be visited  
By Matrons; ushered to solemnities;  
And at the public shows outshine the glory  
Of daylight with the lustre of those gems  
You should be decked in and a conqueror when  
His head's wrapped in triumphant Laurel, couch it  
Upon your lap.  Massa. 
He's taken. Man's weak judgement,  
That calls it vice in others, which himself  
Is equally inclined to.  Lad. 
I ne'er heard  
Of such fine things before.  Scip. 
The barren soil  
That bred you is in fault. I must confess  
Nature hath in your yet imperfect beauty  
Showed wonders to the world: you are  
Of her most curious labours; and if fortune  
Should in so fair a book blur any lest  
Exact drawn line, her deity were cruel.  
Your owns a barbarous country, where civility  
Hath scarce a name. You cannot there expect  
A value of yourself, above the worship  
Their eyes will give you, when they rudely gaze  
Upon your form, and by the sense distinguish  
The outward workmanship. We teach our souls  
A glorious conversation with those virtues  
That deck the inside of a beauteous frame,  
And vary pleasures, honours, earth's delights  
To th'imitation of that infinite  
And never dying part.  Lad. 
You Lucius  
Did never court me thus. You'd only tell me  
That I should be a Queen, when your old Father  
Went to the lower Kingdom.  Scip. 
What is Lucius?  Luci. 
A Prince amongst the Celtiberians.  
This Lady Nobly borne to me betrothed,  
If Scipio will be merciful, I'd ransom.  Scip. 
You love her then?  Luci. 
Above myself: without her  
My being is not perfect.  Scip. 
Blessed occasion.  
Now Massanissa if example may  
Rectify errors in thee, make my act  
An imitable precedent. Young Prince  
Receive her from my hands; withal the sum  
Intended for her ransom as a dowry.  
Love Rome and Scipio.  Luci. 
Nobleness above  
The reach of praise. How shall I show my gratitude?  Lad. 
When he hath made me Queen, He bid you welcome  
To Lucius' Court.  Luci. 
And Lucius when grown man  
Will bring you Soldiers.  Massa. 
Seemed he not to love her?  
And yet without least pause he gave her back  
Being possessed. I am o'ercome; I see  
Passion's the noble soul's worst enemy  
I'm all for action. Music.  Scip. 
Massanissa is  
Become himself again. Wherefore this music?  Lels. 
To gratulate your victory, and the peace  
That gives them rest, the Soldiers have prepared  
A slight solemnity: The Carthaginians  
Mix with the Romans, though their heavy hearts  
To part with so much treasure scarce admits it.  Scip. 
'Tis seasonable: there is cause to joy,  
Since Massanissa's new wed to my bosom,  
And this young lady's nuptials.  The Soldiers led in by their Captains, distinguished severally by their Arms and Ensigns, to the Music of the following, put themselves into a figure like a batalia. The Song. 
On bravely, on; the foe is met;  
The Soldiers ranked, the battle set.  
Make the earth tremble, and the skies  
Redouble echoes from your cries.  
Blood puts a scarlet mantle on  
The late green plain: they'll sty anon.  Chorus. 
Then follow; but your orders keep;  
Take prisoners; set their ransoms deep.  
Retreat. For fame and the delight  
That peace brings only soldier's fight.  The dance expressing a fight. Thanks to all. 
So you proportion pleasures, we give way to't.  
Is Lelius yet informed of Hannibal?  Leli. 
That he is fled unto Antiochus,  
Or else to Prusias of Bythinia.  
His ends are doubtful.  Scip. 
If his discontent  
Should anew whet his envy to attempt  
Their aids, 'twould much disturb the Asian provinces.  
we'll follow to prevent it. Lelius you  
Shall carry our success unto the Senate,  
And with it Syphax, and the Carthage pledges.  
Come my soul's half, we'll hunt this Afrique Lion  
Into a stronger toil. Fame shall wait on us  
Till we have loaded her, and that she see  
Our triumph finished in his tragedy. Exeunt.    

The argument of the last Act.  Hannibal being fled to Prusias King of Bythinia, receives his promise for his safety. The Roman Legates being arrived, and Hannibal perceiving Scipio and Flaminius (the Son of Flaminius whom he had formerly slain) to be amongst them, and understanding the house to be encompassed by armed men, suspecting himself to be betrayed, takes poison, (which he always carried about him in his ring) Of which he dies; and Scipio to prevent the like ingratitude from his Romans, and out of a natural addiction he always had to learning (it being said of him, that Paediam Cyri de manu non ponebat; and nonnunquam incepto praelio cum philosophis disputabat) retires himself to his Country Villa; taking upon him as it were a voluntary banishment. The Scene Bythinia. 

Scene the first.  Prusias, Hannibal, Himulco, Attendants.] Prus. 
Y'are welcome, though your fortune's ebbed. The memory  
Of what you have been should command respect  
From good men to you. Virtue is not lessened  
By want of a success; that's but a gloss  
Fortune sets on her: Misery doth make  
Her inside glorious sometimes, when desertless,  
And bastard actions as the heirs of chance  
Shine in their superficies: but being searched  
Are found like bladders, swollen with an enforcement  
Of wind into them: which the least necessity  
Or adverse fortune pricking, they dilate  
Th'included air, and shrink into their first  
Narrow dimensions: When true virtue bears  
Her owner's head above afflictions waves,  
And steers him into harbour.  Han. 
You are noble,  
And like a King with judgement value me.  
My mind was ne'er subjected: I have known  
So much of both, that neither of the pastimes  
Fortune delights herself with, can incline me  
To height above a moderate, nor decline me  
Below myself. Prosperity, adversity;  
Both make one even scale, and weight being added  
To either, shows the difference. he's not man  
Will be dejected or exalted. Every one  
Should temper the condition of his state,  
Such as the present makes it, with the fear  
Or hope of after change: and when he labours  
In the extremity of one, or flows  
I'th' swelling height of th'other, still his mind  
Should be the same. Chance varies every way;  
But virtue's course is constant.  Prus. 
You express  
A noble resolution, and your soul  
Shows rich and glorious even through the clouds  
Of your misfortune. There's a readiness,  
And a propense desire in me to aid you.  
But circumstance must make it probable  
Whether the cause's justness may command  
Th'attendance of success. For an attempt  
That's warranted by justice, cannot want  
A prosperous end.  Han. 
If to descend my Country.  
Or to compel encroaching enemies  
To satisfaction, such as would deprive us  
Of th'earth that nature in her legacy  
Made our proportion be a justice, I  
Did never injury; for these were only  
The motives to my actions. Fame I know  
Could not be silent, but she must inform  
Even the remotest dwellers, how proud Rome  
(Whose infant greatness by ambition nursed  
Is now in growing, and will spread itself  
If a prevention stay it not, beyond  
All limits of the yet known world) insults  
Over her neighbouring Provinces. From Carthage  
She hath enforced Sicilia (the world's granary)  
And other Hands: and her General  
Swollen with his fortune, hath attempted farther  
To overflow all Afrique. You may likewise  
Expect he will encroach upon your Asia;  
Antiochus being already vanquished,  
And fled to Ephesus. If nothing else,  
Your safety should invite you to take arms,  
Though but defensive. States that never knew  
A change but in their growth, which a long peace  
Hath brought unto perfection, are like steel;  
Which being neglected will consume itself  
With its own rust. So doth security  
Eat through he hearts of states whilst they are sleeping  
And lulled in her false quiet. Prusias therefore  
Should dwell no longer in so great a danger.  
If he'll not be a Soldier, let him arm  
His people; Hannibal will be their Captain,  
And lead them unto actions that shall take  
Fam. with the wonder, till I have made Rome  
(Who like th'earth's issue heaps up hills on hills,  
To raise her proud head) nothing. My right hand  
Jove-like is armed with thunder, which shall fly  
Winged with prodigious flames of just revenge  
To punish her impiety.  Prus. 
I could gladly  
Cherish your resolutions, being grounded  
On justice: but t'engage myself or people  
In an uncertain war, before provoked  
By enemies, were rashness that excuse  
Could no way gloss to make it show an act  
Worthy a man, much less a King.  Han. 
You value  
Those scruples more than a full weight of honour.  
Heaven gave the difference to you but to be  
The figure of that power, that will exact  
A just account of a king's greater actions,  
Than what inferiors owe to their creation.  
Th'essential part of your eternity  
Depends upon that point: and can you more  
Express yourself heavens minister, then when  
You do the things agree with't?  Prus. 
Rome complies  
With us for peace. The violation  
Of a religious oath, superior justice  
Cannot but punish: else we might be bold  
To call the worship of the gods no more  
Than th'issue of credulity, produced  
To fright us with a name that had no power  
But what our fears allowed it. Rome is yet  
Our friend; and till she fall from honour, we  
Must hold her dear.  Han. 
In that consists your danger.  
she's masked in policy, and like a Statesman  
Without religion, steers her course by shows  
And mere appearance to whatever ends  
Amoition points her. Be not then too rash.  
Make not the greatness which is yet your own  
Derivative from her. 'T will leave your name  
A stain in times records, and blot the tables  
That should preserve it.  Prus. 
Noble Hannibal  
Be safe with us and confident. I expect  
The Roman Legates; and if mediation  
Or any practice which I can with honour  
Assay to reconcile ye, may be useful.  Han. 
To reconcile us! Time shall first run back  
To his beginning, and the world return  
To its first Chaos ere I will admit  
Of such a word. Let those that fawn upon  
The smiles of peace and softness to delight  
Their wanton appetites, practise their low  
Effeminate souls in fears and passions.  
Each thought of mine shall be a numerous Army  
To lead 'gainst Rome: in my imagination  
I will fight with her still, though I want Soldiers.  Prus. 
Nobly resolved.   

Scene the Second.  To them Scipio, Massanissa, Flaminius, other Roman Legates. Han. 
Ha! Scipio and Flaminius  
Amongst the Roman Legates! there's some treachery.  
Inform thyself Himulco. His pursuing Exit.  
My course, imports no good, and my sad soul  
Labours with a prophetic apprehension  
Of something he intends. Be ready thou,  
Thou my last refuge.  Prus. 
Sudden clouds methinks  
Creep o'er your eyes. Though you be enemies,  
Peace warrants gentle greeting. she is emblemed  
In Doves that have no gall. Y'are here my guests,  
And shall partake a courtly entertainment  
Worthy such persons.  Scip. 
Hannibal I know  
Hath put of the rough habit which his mind  
Was lately wrapped in: and since chance hath made him  
The subject of my conquest, in the peace  
Rome hath allowed his Country (the conditions  
Being strictly kept) all past contentions  
Must lose their memory, and after strites  
Be stifled in their first birth by prevention.  
I must acknowledge my ambition  
Bore my thoughts higher than my country's good,  
Or her enlargement only. Had my fortune  
Captived the person of great Hannibal.  
My triumph should outvie all the rich pomps  
That ever made Rome shine.  Han. 
That person yet  
Is free, and capable of new designs,  
To make himself full owner of a glory  
'Bove Scipio's conquest. 'tis not thy success  
Declines me the least step towards subjection  
Of my still high built hopes: which being strongly  
Propped with my resolutions, shall in time  
Raise monuments of fame unto my actions.  
Let not one chance exalt thee. Hannibal,  
Though Carthage owns him not, commands a world  
Greater than her, or Rome.  Scip. 
But the dimensions  
Are bounded with that strict necessity  
They cannot be extended. Flatter not  
Those hopes with expectation of a change  
To any better than the now condition  
Of thy subverted greatness: which being ruined  
Beyond all reparation, thy attempts  
To build it new, wanting materials,  
Are vainer far than the Sicilian Dogs  
Barking against the Moon.  Han. 
Be not deceived  
With too much confidence. The more theyare pressed,  
The more palms flourish. That that would make Scipio  
Look downwards, lifts me up.  Scip. 
How thou art mocked  
With self-opinion! Know I have a soul  
So full instructed, it hath power to temper  
The difference of my fortune with that mean,  
That even the highest glory to myself  
Is but adversity, and an abject state  
No less than is my present greatness. Man  
From outward accidents should not derive  
The knowledge of himself: for so he's made  
The creature of beginnings over which  
His virtue may command: Fortune and chance.  
When he by speculation hath informed  
His divine part he's perfect; and till then  
But a rough matter, only capable  
Of better form. It oft begets my wonder  
That thou a rude Barbarian, ignorant  
Of all art, but of wars, which custom only  
Hath (being joined to thy first nature) taught thee,  
Shouldst know so much of man.  Han. 
I study man  
Better from practice, than thou canst from books.  
Thy learning's but opinion, mine known truth;  
Subject to no gross errors, such as cannot  
Be reconciled, but by production  
Of new and greater. Did thy learned Masters  
Of Arts, with whom even armed thou hast conversed  
Before a battle joined (if fame speak truth)  
By their instructions show thee surer ways  
To victory, than Fortune joined to valour,  
And a full strength of men?  Scip. 
That which consists  
In action only, and th'event, depends  
Upon no certain rule demonstrative,  
Is fates, not reasons.  Prus. 
Fie, this strife sounds harshly,  
Come Massanissa, you have shared your part  
Of virtue and of fortune.  Han. 
Least of virtue,  
That left a just cause to support a wrong one;  
Such was his fall from Carthage.  Massa. 
You being judge  
In your own cause: but who will else subscribe  
To such a partial sentence?  Prus. 
Pray no more.  
My Court looks like a Parliament of Soldiers;  
Where war methinks should be discoursed on; how  
A battle should be ordered, or what form  
Hath most advantage. What men have you known,  
Or History doth mention, that exceeded  
In the degrees of merit?  Han. 
Alexander  
The first best Captain.  Scip. 
Who the second?  Han. 
Pyrrhus.  Prus. 
And who the third?  Han. 
Doubtless myself.  Scip. 
What then  
Am I that conquered Hannibal?  Han. 
If I  
Had conquered Scipio, I had then been first.  Scip. 
Did ever pride so swell th'infected parts  
Of a rich soul! Were not his mind corrupted  
With that disease of virtue, I should covet  
To join mine with't in an eternal fellowship;  
And only here in outward enmity  
Divide our bodies.   

Scene the last.  To them Himulco. Han. 
How art satisfied?  
Am I yet safe?  Him. 
My observation  
Hath been I fear too curious: for your danger  
If any be intended wants all means  
Of opposition. But my fear perhaps  
Interprets worse than a consideration  
Will from the circumstance; which yet hath show  
Of probability.  Han. 
Why what hast seen?  Him. 
Armed troops guard all the passages by which  
The house is entered.  Han. 
I am then betrayed.  
Can Kings be treacherous? have they mortal parts  
Subject to that corruption stains with leprosy  
The glorious brow of honour! Can creation  
Be in her different works so negligent  
As not to perfect them? she's idle when  
She makes Kings, should be like gods, less than men.  
Prusias and Scipio, thus I mock your plots.  
Be treacherous now; you shall have nothing but  
Hannibal's earth to work on. Takes the poison.  Scip. 
What's the meaning  
Of this?  Massa 
'tis poison surely that he takes.  Scip. 
Restrain him.  Han. 
'Tis too late.  Prus. 
Call our Physicians.  Han. 
All help is vain as your conspiracy.  
It was no juggling sop to wrap the senses  
In slumbers like death, Colches never yielded  
A juice more baneful. I went still prepared  
Thus to o'ercome your malice; which discovered,  
My death bears me above it.  Scip. 
Why should Hannibal  
From the weak warrant of a bare suspicion  
Be guilty of such barbarousness! By all  
The hopes I have of good men's loves, or memory  
'Mongst their true valuing of desert, I ever  
Restrained m'uncertaine thoughts their liberty  
From being busy 'bout betraying Hannibal  
By any practice honour might not father,  
And gladly call his own.  Han. 
Persuade thy flatterers  
To credit it: Those that would deify  
The virtues in thy book, not of thy mind.  
Practice hath taught me how to read men's souls.  
Do not I know then thy hypocrisy  
Plasters the wounded credit of thy act!  
But if thou healst it, there will be a scar  
To show posterity that what thou didst  
Was full of base corruption.  Scip. 
Thou didst much  
Lessen thyself in thy first fear; and now  
By the ill-grounded jealousy of my virtue  
Wilt make thy own taxed. From this Paedia  
I have been truly moral; th'institutions  
Have been my guides in every action  
Which I did either as a man, or Prince.  
Cyrus himself, to whom they were directed,  
Pursued them not so strictly as I have.  
Breath not thy soul forth then till thou art satisfied  
Of my true innocence: for if thou diest  
In thy suspicion, be assured it will  
Disturb thy peace hereafter, and thy ashes,  
As the pile hallows them, will fright thy ghost  
With shapes of the dishonour thou unjustly  
Would lay on Scipio.  Han. 
Tell thy Philosophers  
The earth hath not a centre; that the day  
Is not illumined by the Sun; that fire  
Is colder than the ever-frozen rocks  
That bear the North-end of th'earth's Axletree:  
When they allow these paradoxes, I  
Will credit Scipio. Work on thou brave minister  
Of my last victory over myself.  
Quench thy unnatural flames with my scorched bowels.  
Now thou hast met a heat, which joined to thine  
Makes all the frame like the bright forge, whence Jove  
Hath his artillery. My heart, my heart;  
Quench it Eridanus: but it would dry  
Thy waters up. I'm wrapped in greater fires  
Than the rash boy thou chok'st. Would this were Oeta;  
That like the furious Theban I might build  
Mine own pile, and the flame as it ascends  
Transform itself into a constellation;  
Or fix i'th' upper region of the air  
Like a perpetual comet to fright Rome  
With his prodigious light. methinks an earthquake  
Totters the aged fabric that so long  
Hath borne me on't, and the divided poles  
Embrace to kiss each other. An inversion  
Of nature's order shall attend the fate  
Of dying Hannibal. So Okes eradicated  
By a prodigious whirlwind, tear the earth  
Through which their large roots spread themselves.  
No less than the whole world to be my grave.  Scip. 
He's dead: with him my glory. Scipio's acts (I'll have Dy's.  
Have not another object worthy them,  
Or his attempts.  Him. 
Fame break thy trumpet now;  
Deaf thy wide ears, and silence all thy tongues  
Since he's dead, who with his actions wont  
To imp new feathers to thy broken wings,  
And make thee fly a pitch above the reach  
Of common eyes.  Prus. 
Lest that my honour suffer  
In the suspicion of betraying him,  
I will provide a lasting monument,  
And fix his statue on't.  Scip. 
You Massanissa  
I'll see established in your Kingdom. Carthage  
Thy base ingratitude to him, whose merit  
But justly challenged all that thou couldst own  
Shall teach me a prevention. Solitude  
Is the soul's best companion. At Linturnum  
My Country Villa I will terminate  
My after life free from men's flatteries,  
And fear of their lean envy. He that suffers  
Prosperity to swell him 'bove a mean,  
Like those impressions in the air, that rise  
From dunghill vapours, scattered by the wind,  
Leaves nothing but an empty fame behind.   

The Epilogue by Scipio.  
Our strife is ended: yet in ones I spy  
Peace smile, and war frown in another's eye.  
Being victorious I must not submit  
To a dislike. Rather to him that writ  
Our story, gratefully I would allow  
One leaf of Laurel torn from mine own brow.  
And with their fair opinion of it these  
May make it a full Garland if they please.    
FINIS.