Excerpt from The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher, Vol. 2 of 2 Like the more courtier, curious compliment, Yet have a care. 0 Drus. You know all my affection, And all my heart-desires, are set on Diocles But, aunt, how coldly he requites this courtesy, liow dull and heavily he looks upon me Although I woo him sometimes beyond modesty, Beyond a virgin's care, how still he slights me And puts me still off with your prophecy, And the performance of your late prediction, That when he is emperor, then he will marry me! Alas, what hope of that Delp. Peace, and be patient; For though he be now a man most miserable, Of no rank, nor no badge of honour on him, Bred low and poor, no eye of favour shining; And though my sure prediction of his rising, Which can no more fail than the day or night does, Nay, let him be asleep, will overtake him, Have found some rubs and stops, yet (hear me, niece, And hear me with a faith, ) it shall come to him. I'll tell thee the occasion. Drus. Do, good aunt For yet I am ignorant. Delp. Chiding him one day, For being too near and Sparing for a soldier, Too griping, and too greedy, he made answer, When I am Caesar, then I will be liberal I presently, inspired with holy fire, And my prophetic spirit burning in me, Gave answer from the gods and this it was Imperator eris Rome, cum Apram grandem in terfeceris Thou shalt be emperor, oh Diocles, When thou hast kill'd a mighty boar. Time, As giving credit to my words, he has employ'd Much of his life in hunting: Many boars, Hideous and fierce, with his own hands he has But yet not lighted on the fatal one, [kili'd too, Should raise him to the empire. Be not sad, niece Ere long he shall. Come let's go entertain him For by this time, I guess, he comes from hunting And, by my art, I find this very instant Some great design's a foot. Drus. The gods give good, aunt! About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.