Scene + 

IV + 

Rome. An apartment in the palace of the Cardinal. + 

Enter Cardinal and Julia. + 

Cardinal + 

Sit: thou art my best of wishes. Prithee, tell me + 

What trick didst thou invent to come to Rome + 

Without thy husband? + 

Julia + 

Why, my lord, I told him + 

I came to visit an old anchorite + 

Here for devotion. + 

Cardinal + 

Thou art a witty false one⁠— + 

I mean, to him. + 

Julia + 

You have prevail’d with me + 

Beyond my strongest thoughts; I would not now + 

Find you inconstant. + 

Cardinal + 

Do not put thyself + 

To such a voluntary torture, which proceeds + 

Out of your own guilt. + 

Julia + 

How, my lord! + 

Cardinal + 

You fear + 

My constancy, because you have approv’d + 

Those giddy and wild turnings in yourself. + 

Julia + 

Did you e’er find them? + 

Cardinal + 

Sooth, generally for women, + 

A man might strive to make glass malleable, + 

Ere he should make them fixed. + 

Julia + 

So, my lord. + 

Cardinal + 

We had need go borrow that fantastic glass + 

Invented by Galileo the Florentine + 

To view another spacious world i’ th’ moon, + 

And look to find a constant woman there. + 

Julia + 

This is very well, my lord. + 

Cardinal + 

Why do you weep? + 

Are tears your justification? The selfsame tears + 

Will fall into your husband’s bosom, lady, + 

With a loud protestation that you love him + 

Above the world. Come, I’ll love you wisely, + 

That’s jealously; since I am very certain + 

You cannot make me cuckold. + 

Julia + 

I’ll go home + 

To my husband. + 

Cardinal + 

You may thank me, lady, + 

I have taken you off your melancholy perch, + 

Bore you upon my fist, and show’d you game, + 

And let you fly at it.⁠—I pray thee, kiss me.⁠— + 

When thou wast with thy husband, thou wast watch’d + 

Like a tame elephant:⁠—still you are to thank me:⁠— + 

Thou hadst only kisses from him and high feeding; + 

But what delight was that? ’Twas just like one + 

That hath a little fing’ring on the lute, + 

Yet cannot tune it:⁠—still you are to thank me. + 

Julia + 

You told me of a piteous wound i’ th’ heart, + 

And a sick liver, when you woo’d me first, + 

And spake like one in physic. + 

Cardinal + 

Who’s that?⁠— + 

Enter Servant. + 

Rest firm, for my affection to thee, + 

Lightning moves slow to’t. + 

Servant + 

Madam, a gentleman, + 

That’s come post from Malfi, desires to see you. + 

Cardinal + 

Let him enter: I’ll withdraw. + 

Exit. + 

Servant + 

He says + 

Your husband, old Castruccio, is come to Rome, + 

Most pitifully tir’d with riding post. + 

Exit. + 

Enter Delio. + 

Julia + 

Aside. Signior Delio! ’tis one of my old suitors. + 

Delio + 

I was bold to come and see you. + 

Julia + 

Sir, you are welcome. + 

Delio + 

Do you lie here? + 

Julia + 

Sure, your own experience + 

Will satisfy you no: our Roman prelates + 

Do not keep lodging for ladies. + 

Delio + 

Very well: + 

I have brought you no commendations from your husband, + 

For I know none by him. + 

Julia + 

I hear he’s come to Rome. + 

Delio + 

I never knew man and beast, of a horse and a knight, + 

So weary of each other. If he had had a good back, + 

He would have undertook to have borne his horse, + 

His breech was so pitifully sore. + 

Julia + 

Your laughter + 

Is my pity. + 

Delio + 

Lady, I know not whether + 

You want money, but I have brought you some. + 

Julia + 

From my husband? + 

Delio + 

No, from mine own allowance. + 

Julia + 

I must hear the condition, ere I be bound to take it. + 

Delio + 

Look on’t, ’tis gold; hath it not a fine colour? + 

Julia + 

I have a bird more beautiful. + 

Delio + 

Try the sound on’t. + 

Julia + 

A lute-string far exceeds it. + 

It hath no smell, like cassia or civet; + 

Nor is it physical, though some fond doctors + 

Persuade us seethe’t in cullises. I’ll tell you, + 

This is a creature bred by⁠— + 

Reenter Servant. + 

Servant + 

Your husband’s come, + 

Hath deliver’d a letter to the Duke of Calabria + 

That, to my thinking, hath put him out of his wits. + 

Exit. + 

Julia + 

Sir, you hear: + 

Pray, let me know your business and your suit + 

As briefly as can be. + 

Delio + 

With good speed: I would wish you, + 

At such time as you are nonresident + 

With your husband, my mistress. + 

Julia + 

Sir, I’ll go ask my husband if I shall, + 

And straight return your answer. + 

Exit. + 

Delio + 

Very fine! + 

Is this her wit, or honesty, that speaks thus? + 

I heard one say the duke was highly mov’d + 

With a letter sent from Malfi. I do fear + 

Antonio is betray’d. How fearfully + 

Shows his ambition now! Unfortunate fortune! + 

They pass through whirlpools, and deep woes do shun, + 

Who the event weigh ere the action’s done. + 

Exit. + 