Chapter: [Spain: near the DUKE's castle.]

                Enter HIERONIMO.

  HIERO.  Oh eyes!  no eyes but fountains fraught with tears;
    Oh life! no life, but lively form of death;
    Oh world! no world, but mass of public wrongs,
    Confus'd and fill'd with murder and misdeeds;
    Oh sacred heav'ns, if this unhallow'd deed,
    If this inhuman and barbarous attempt,
    If this incomparable murder thus
    Of mine, but now no more my son shall pass,
    Unreveal'd and unrevenged pass,
    How should we term your dealings to be just,
    If you unjustly deal with those that in your justice trust?
    The night, sad secretary to my moans,
    With direful visions wake my vexed soul,
    And with the wounds of my distressful son
    Solicit me for notice of his death;
    The ugly fiends do sally forth of hell,
    And frame my heart with fierce inflamed thoughts;
    The cloudy day my discontents records,
    Early begins to register my dreams
    And drive me forth to seek the murderer.
    Eyes, life, world, heav'ns, hell, night and day,
    See, search, show, send, some man, some mean, that may--

                A letter falleth.

    What's here? a letter?  Tush, it is not so!
    A letter for Hieronimo.
    [Reads]  "For want of ink receive this bloody writ.
    Me hath my hapless brother hid from thee.
    Revenge thyself on Balthazar and him,
    For these were they that murdered thy son.
    Hieronimo, revenge Horatio's death,
    And better fare then Bel-imperia doth!"--
    What means this unexpected miracle?
    My son slain by Lorenzo and the prince?
    What cause had they Horatio to malign?
    Or what might move thee, Bel-imperia,
    To accuse thy brother, had he been the mean?
    Hieronimo, beware!  thou art betray'd,
    And to entrap thy life this train is laid.
    Advise thee therefore, be not credulous:
    This is devised to endanger thee,
    That thou, by this, Lorenzo should'st accuse.
    And he, for thy dishonour done, should draw
    Thy life in question and thy name in hate.
    Dear was the life of my beloved son,
    And of his death behooves me be aveng'd:
    Then hazard not thine own, Hieronimo,
    But live t'effect thy resolution!
    I therefore will by circumstances try
    What I can gather to confirm this writ,
    And, harken near the Duke of Castile's house,
    Close if I can with Bel-imperia,
    To listen more, but nothing to bewray.

                Enter PEDRINGANO.

    Now, Pedringano!

  PED.                  Now, Hieronimo!

  HIERO.  Where's thy lady?

  PED.                  I know not; here's my lord.

                Enter LORENZO.

  LOR.  How now, who's this?  Hieronimo?

  HIERO.                My lord.

  PED.  He asketh for my lady Bel-imperia.

  LOR.  What to do, Hieronimo?  Use me.

  HIERO.  Oh, no, my lord, I dare not, it must not be;
    I humbly thank your lordship.

  LOR.                          Why then, farewell!

  HIERO.  My grief no heart, my thoughts no tongue can tell.

                Exit.

  LOR.  Come hither, Pedringano; see'st thou this?

  PED.  My lord, I see it, and suspect it too.

  LOR.  This is that damned villain Serberine,
    That hath, I fear, reveal'd Horatio's death.

  PED.  My lord, he could not; 'twas so lately done,
    And since he hath not left my company.

  LOR.  Admit he have not; his conditions such
    As fear or flattering words may make him false.
    I know his humour, and therewith repent
    That e'er I us'd him in this enterprise.
    But, Pedringano, to prevent the worst,
    And 'cause I know thee secret as my soul,
    Here, for thy further satisfaction, take thou this!

                Gives him more gold.

    And hearken to me;  thus it is devis'd:
    This night thou must--and prithee so resolve--
    Meet Serberine at St. Luigi's Park,--
    Thou knowest 'tis here hard by behind the house;
    There take thy stand, and see thou strike him sure,
    For die he must, if we do mean to live.

  PED.  But how shall Serberine be there, my lord?

  LOR.  Let me alone, I'll send him to meet
    The prince and me where thou must do this deed.

  PED.  It shall be done, my lord; it shall be done;
    And I'll go arm myself to meet him there.

  LOR.  When things shall alter, as I hope they will,
    Then shalt thou mount for this, thou knowest my mind.

                Exit PEDRINGANO.

    Che le Ieron!

                Enter PAGE.

  PAGE.         My lord.

  LOR.                  Go, sirrah,
    To Serberine, and bid him forthwith meet
    The prince and me at S. Luigi's Park,
    Behind the house, this evening, boy.

  PAGE.                         I go, my lord.

  LOR.  But, sirrah, let the hour be eight o'clock.
    Bid him not fail.

  PAGE.         I fly, my lord.

                Exit.

  LOR.  Now to confirm the complot thou hast cast
    Of all these practices, I'll spread the watch,
    Upon precise commandment from the king
    Strongly to guard the place where Pedringano
    This night shall murder hapless Serberine.
    Thus must we work that will avoid distrust,
    Thus must we practice to prevent mishap,
    And thus one ill another must expulse.
    This sly enquiry of Hieronimo
    For Bel-imperia breeds suspicion;
    And this suspicion bodes a further ill.
    As for myself, I know my secret fault,
    And so do they, but I have dealt for them.
    They that for coin their souls endangered
    To save my life, for coin shall venture theirs;
    And better 'tis that base companions die
    Than by their life to hazard our good haps.
    Nor shall they live for me to fear their faith;
    I'll trust myself, myself shall be my friend;
    For die they shall,--
    Slaves are ordain'd to no other end.

                Exit.

 Hieronimo enters the scene, still bemoaning his son's death in a series of apostrophes. He cries to the heavens for justice in form of revenge and continues his monologue until a letter suddenly falls from the sky. The letter is from Bellimperia - written in blood for want of ink - and informs Hieronimo that Balthazar and Lorenzo conspired together the kill his son. Hieronimo suspects a trap, and thus warily sets out to confirm Bellimperia's accusations. Pedringano enters, followed by Lorenzo. The prince explains that Bellimperia has been confined by the Duke for "some disgrace. He offers to hear Hieronimo's request in place of Bellimperia, but Hieronimo declines and leaves the scene. Suspecting Serberine of revealing the truth about Horatio's murder, Lorenzo gives Pedringano gold and sends him to kill Serberine the very same night. Lorenzo then reveals his dual manipulation: he will send guards on patrol to capture Pedringano in the act of murdering Serberine, thus ridding himself of future risks. As he puts it: "better it's that base companions die, / Than by their life to hazard our good haps

