TAC.  Peace, peace, faith, peace; come hither, hark thee, Good [Auditus], now.

AUD.  I cannot hold, I must needs tell.

TAC.  O, do not, do not, do not; come hither. 
Will you be a fool?

VIS.  Had he not wings upon his feet and shoulders?

MEN.  Yes, yes, and a fine wand in his hand,
Curiously wrapped with a pair of snakes.

TAC.  Will half content you? pish, ’twill ne’er be known.

GUS.  My life, ’twas Mercury.

MEN.  I do not know his name;
But this I’m sure, his hat had wings upon’t.

VIS.  Doubtless ’twas he; but say, my boy, what did he?

MEN.  First I beheld him hovering in the air,
And then down stooping with an hundred gyres:[196]
His feet he fixed on Mount Cephalon;[197]
From whence he flew and lighted on that plain,
And with disdainful steps soon glided thither: 
Whither arrived, he suddenly unfolds
A gorgeous robe and glittering ornament,
And lays them all upon that hillock: 
This done, he wafts his wand, took wing again,
And in a moment vanish’d out of sight. 
With that mine eyes ’gan stare, and heart grew cold,
And all my quiv’ring joints with sweat bedew’d: 
My heels (methought) had wings as well as his,
And so away I ran; but by the way
I met a man, as I thought, coming thither.

GUS.  What marks had he?

MEN.  He had a great—­what! this is he, this is he.

VIS.  What, Tactus?

GUS.  This was the plague vex’d him so: 
Tactus, your grave gapes for you; are you ready?

VIS.  Since you must needs die, do as others do,
Leave all your goods behind you; bequeath
The crown and robe to your executors.

TAC.  No such matter; I, like the Egyptian kings,[198]
For the more state will be buried in them.

VIS.  Come, come, deliver.
    [VISUS snatcheth the crown, and sees letters graven in it.

TAC.  What, will you take my purse from me?

VIS.  No, but a crown, that’s just more than your own. 
Ha, what’s this? ’tis a very small hand,
What inscription is this?

    He of the five that proves himself the best,
    Shall have his temples with this coronet blest.

This crown is mine, and mine this garment is;
For I have always been accounted best—­

TAC.  Next after me—­high[199] as yourself at any time: 
Besides, I found it first, therefore ’tis mine.

GUS.  Neither of yours, but mine as much as both.

AUD.  And mine the most of any of you all.

VIS.  Give me it, or else—­

TAC.  I’ll make you late repent it—­

GUS.  Presumptuous as you are—­

AUD.  Spite of your teeth—­