Or shall we give the signal to our rage And stalk in blood to our possession?First Citizen In brief,we are the king of England's subjects:
For him,and in his right,we hold this town.KING JOHN Acknowledge then the king,and let me in.First Citizen That can we not;but he that proves the king,To him will we prove loyal:till that time Have we ramm'd up our gates against the world.KING JOHN Doth not the crown of England prove the king?
And if not that,I bring you witnesses,Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed,--BASTARD Bastards,and else.KING JOHN To verify our title with their lives.KING PHILIP As many and as well-born bloods as those,--BASTARD Some bastards too.KING PHILIP Stand in his face to contradict his claim.First Citizen Till you compound whose right is worthiest,We for the worthiest hold the right from both.KING JOHN Then God forgive the sin of all those souls That to their everlasting residence,Before the dew of evening fall,shall fleet,In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king!KING PHILIP Amen,amen!Mount,chevaliers!to arms!BASTARD Saint George,that swinged the dragon,and e'er since Sits on his horseback at mine hostess'door,Teach us some fence!
To AUSTRIA
Sirrah,were I at home,At your den,sirrah,with your lioness I would set an ox-head to your lion's hide,And make a monster of you.AUSTRIA Peace!no more.BASTARD O tremble,for you hear the lion roar.KING JOHN Up higher to the plain;where we'll set forth In best appointment all our regiments.BASTARD Speed then,to take advantage of the field.KING PHILIP It shall be so;and at the other hill Command the rest to stand.God and our right!
Exeunt Here after excursions,enter the Herald of France,with trumpets,to the gates French Herald You men of Angiers,open wide your gates,And let young Arthur,Duke of Bretagne,in,Who by the hand of France this day hath made Much work for tears in many an English mother,Whose sons lie scattered on the bleeding ground;Many a widow's husband grovelling lies,Coldly embracing the discolour'd earth;And victory,with little loss,doth play Upon the dancing banners of the French,Who are at hand,triumphantly display'd,To enter conquerors and to proclaim Arthur of Bretagne England's king and yours.
Enter English Herald,with trumpet English Herald Rejoice,you men of Angiers,ring your bells:
King John,your king and England's doth approach,Commander of this hot malicious day:
Their armours,that march'd hence so silver-bright,Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood;There stuck no plume in any English crest That is removed by a staff of France;Our colours do return in those same hands That did display them when we first march'd forth;And,like a troop of jolly huntsmen,come Our lusty English,all with purpled hands,Dyed in the dying slaughter of their foes:
Open your gates and gives the victors way.First Citizen Heralds,from off our towers we might behold,From first to last,the onset and retire Of both your armies;whose equality By our best eyes cannot be censured:
Blood hath bought blood and blows have answered blows;Strength match'd with strength,and power confronted power:
Both are alike;and both alike we like.
One must prove greatest:while they weigh so even,We hold our town for neither,yet for both.
Re-enter KING JOHN and KING PHILIP,with their powers,severally KING JOHN France,hast thou yet more blood to cast away?
Say,shall the current of our right run on?
Whose passage,vex'd with thy impediment,Shall leave his native channel and o'erswell With course disturb'd even thy confining shores,Unless thou let his silver water keep A peaceful progress to the ocean.KING PHILIP England,thou hast not saved one drop of blood,In this hot trial,more than we of France;Rather,lost more.And by this hand I swear,That sways the earth this climate overlooks,Before we will lay down our just-borne arms,We'll put thee down,'gainst whom these arms we bear,Or add a royal number to the dead,Gracing the scroll that tells of this war's loss With slaughter coupled to the name of kings.BASTARD Ha,majesty!how high thy glory towers,When the rich blood of kings is set on fire!
O,now doth Death line his dead chaps with steel;The swords of soldiers are his teeth,his fangs;And now he feasts,mousing the flesh of men,In undetermined differences of kings.
Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus?
Cry,'havoc!'kings;back to the stained field,You equal potents,fiery kindled spirits!
Then let confusion of one part confirm The other's peace:till then,blows,blood and death!KING JOHN Whose party do the townsmen yet admit?KING PHILIP Speak,citizens,for England;who's your king?First Citizen The king of England;when we know the king.KING PHILIP Know him in us,that here hold up his right.KING JOHN In us,that are our own great deputy And bear possession of our person here,Lord of our presence,Angiers,and of you.First Citizen A greater power then we denies all this;And till it be undoubted,we do lock Our former scruple in our strong-barr'd gates;King'd of our fears,until our fears,resolved,Be by some certain king purged and deposed.BASTARD By heaven,these scroyles of Angiers flout you,kings,And stand securely on their battlements,As in a theatre,whence they gape and point At your industrious scenes and acts of death.
Your royal presences be ruled by me:
Do like the mutines of Jerusalem,Be friends awhile and both conjointly bend Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town:
By east and west let France and England mount Their battering cannon charged to the mouths,Till their soul-fearing clamours have brawl'd down The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city:
I'ld play incessantly upon these jades,Even till unfenced desolation Leave them as naked as the vulgar air.
That done,dissever your united strengths,And part your mingled colours once again;Turn face to face and bloody point to point;
Then,in a moment,Fortune shall cull forth Out of one side her happy minion,To whom in favour she shall give the day,And kiss him with a glorious victory.