13A mighty Lion, ruler of the woods,

14Of wondrous strength and great proportion,

15With hideous noise scaring the trembling

16 trees,

17With yelling clamours shaking all the earth,

18Traverst the groves, and chac't the wandring beasts:

19Long did he range among the shadie trees,

20And drave the silly beasts before his face;

21When suddenly from out a-thorny bush

22A dreadfull Archer with his bow ybent,

23Wounded the Lion with a dismal shaft,

24So he him strook, that it drew forth the bloud,

25And fill'd his furious heart with fretting ire;

26But all in vain he threatneth teeth and pawes,

27And sparkleth fire from forth his flaming eyes,

28For the sharp shaft gave him a mortal wound:

29So valiant Brute, the terrour of the world,

30Whose only looks did scare his enemies,

31The Archer Death brought to his latest end.

32Oh what may long abide above this ground,

38Brutus. Most loyal Lords, and faithfull followers,

39That have with me, unworthy General,

40Passed the greedy gulf of th'Ocean,

41Leaving the confines of fair Italie,

42Behold, your Brutus draweth nigh his end,

43And I must leave you, though against my will;

44My sinews shrunk, my numbred senses fail,

45A chilling cold possesseth all my bones,

46Black ugly death with visage pale and wan,

47Presents himself before my dazeled eyes,

48And with his dart prepared is to strike:

49These armes, my Lords, these never daunted armes,

50That oft have quell'd the courage of my foes,

51And eke dismay'd my neighbour's arrogance,

52Now yield to death, o'relaid with crooked age,

53Devoid of strength and of their proper force;

54Even as the lusty Cedar worn with yeares,

55That far abroad her dainty odour throws,

56'Mongst all the daughters of proud Lebanon,

57This heart, my Lords, this ne're appalled heart,

58That was a terror to the bordring lands,

59A dolefull scourge unto my neighbour Kings,

60Now by the weapons of unpartial death,

61Is clove asunder and bereft of life;

62 As when the sacred oak with thunderbolts,

63Sent from the fierie circuit of the heavens,

64Sliding along the aires celestial vaults,

65Is rent and cloven to the very roots.

66In vain therefore I struggle with this foe,

67Then welcome death, since God will have it so.

68Assar. Alas my Lord, we sorrow at your case,

69And grieve to see your person vexed thus;

70But whatsoe're the fates determin'd have,

71It lieth not in us to disanull,

72And he that would annihilate his mind,

73Soaring with Icarus too near the Sun,

74May catch a fall with young Bellerophon:

75For when the fatal sisters have decreed

76To separate us from this earthly mould,

77No mortal force can countermand their minds:

78Then, worthy Lord, since there's no way but one,

79Cease your laments, and leave your grievous moan.

80Corin. Your Highness knows how many victories,

81How many Trophees I erected have

82Triumphantly in every place we came;

83The Grecian Monarch, warlike Pandrassus,

84And all the crew of the Molossians:

85Goffarius the arme-strong King of Gaules,

86Have felt the force of our victorious armes,

87 And to their cost beheld our Chivalrie,

88Where ere Ancora handmaid of the Sun,

89Where ere the Sun-bright gardiant of the day,