Speeches (Lines) for SECOND QUEEN in "The Two Noble Kinsmen"

FIRST QUEEN.
[Enter three Queens in black, with veils stained, with imperial crowns. The first Queen falls down at the foot of Theseus; the second falls down at the foot of Hippolyta; the third before Emilia.]

[to Theseus]
For pity's sake and true gentility's,
Hear and respect me.

SECOND QUEEN. [to Hippolyta]
For your mother's sake,
And as you wish your womb may thrive with fair ones,
Hear and respect me.

THESEUS. O, no knees, none, widow!
Unto the helmeted Bellona use them
And pray for me, your soldier. [The First Queen rises.]
Troubled I am. [Turns away.]

SECOND QUEEN. Honored Hippolyta,
Most dreaded Amazonian, that hast slain
The scythe-tusked boar; that with thy arm, as strong
As it is white, wast near to make the male
To thy sex captive, but that this thy lord,
Born to uphold creation in that honor
First nature styled it in, shrunk thee into
The bound thou wast o'erflowing, at once subduing
Thy force and thy affection; soldieress
That equally canst poise sternness with pity,
Whom now I know hast much more power on him
Than ever he had on thee, who ow'st his strength
And his love too, who is a servant for
The tenor of thy speech, dear glass of ladies,
Bid him that we, whom flaming war doth scorch,
Under the shadow of his sword may cool us;
Require him he advance it o'er our heads;
Speak 't in a woman's key, like such a woman
As any of us three; weep ere you fail.
Lend us a knee;
But touch the ground for us no longer time
Than a dove's motion when the head's plucked off.
Tell him if he i' th' blood-sized field lay swoll'n,
Showing the sun his teeth, grinning at the moon,
What you would do.

FIRST QUEEN. O, this celebration
Will longer last and be more costly than
Your suppliants' war. Remember that your fame
Knolls in the ear o' th' world; what you do quickly
Is not done rashly; your first thought is more
Than others' labored meditance, your premeditating
More than their actions. But, O Jove, your actions,
Soon as they move, as ospreys do the fish,
Subdue before they touch. Think, dear duke, think
What beds our slain kings have!

SECOND QUEEN. What griefs our beds,
That our dear lords have none!

FIRST QUEEN. And that work presents itself to th' doing.
Now 'twill take form; the heats are gone tomorrow.
Then, bootless toil must recompense itself
With its own sweat. Now he's secure,
Not dreams we stand before your puissance,
Rinsing our holy begging in our eyes
To make petition clear.

SECOND QUEEN. Now you may take him,
Drunk with his victory.

Three QUEENS. Farewell.

SECOND QUEEN. We come unseasonably; but when could grief
Cull forth, as unpanged judgment can, fitt'st time
For best solicitation?

FIRST QUEEN. Thus dost thou still make good the tongue o' th' world.

SECOND QUEEN. And earn'st a deity equal with Mars.

FIRST QUEEN. [Cornets. A battle struck within; then a retreat.
Flourish. Then enter, through one door, Theseus,
victor, accompanied by Lords and Soldiers.
Entering through another door, the three Queens
meet him, and fall on their faces before him.]

To thee no star be dark!

SECOND QUEEN. Both heaven and Earth
Friend thee forever.

THIRD QUEEN. [to Second Queen]
This funeral path brings to your household's grave.
Joy seize on you again; peace sleep with him.

SECOND QUEEN. [to First Queen]
And this to yours.