ere morning.

_Caes._ You will find,
So please your Highness, no less for yourself.

_Bourb._ And if I do, there will not be a labourer
More forward, Hunchback!

_Caes._ You may well say so,
For _you_ have seen that back--as general,
Placed in the rear in action--but your foes
Have never seen it.

_Bourb._ That's a fair retort,
For I provoked it:--but the Bourbon's breast
Has been, and ever shall be, far advanced 230
In danger's face as yours, were you the _devil_.

_Caes._ And if I were, I might have saved myself
The toil of coming here.

_Phil._ Why so?

_Caes._ One half
Of your brave bands of their own bold accord
Will go to him, the other half be sent,
More swiftly, not less surely.

_Bourb._ Arnold, your
Slight crooked _friend's_ as snake-like in his words
As his deeds.

_Caes._ Your Highness much mistakes me.
The first snake was a flatterer--I am none;
And for my deeds, I only sting when stung. 240

_Bourb._ You are brave, and _that's_ enough for me; and quick
In speech as sharp in action--and that's more.
I am not alone the soldier, but the soldiers'
Comrade.

_Caes._ They are but bad company, your Highness;
And worse even for their friends than foes, as being
More permanent acquaintance.

_Phil._ How now, fellow!
Thou waxest insolent, beyond the privilege
Of a buffoon.

_Caes._ You mean I speak the truth.
I'll lie--it is as easy: then you'll praise me
For calling you a hero.

_Bourb._ Philibert! 250
Let him alone; he's brave, and ever has
Been first, with that swart face and mountain shoulder,
In field or storm, and patient in starvation;
And for his tongue, the camp is full of licence,
And the sharp stinging of a lively rogue
Is, to my mind, far preferable to
The gross, dull, heavy, gloomy execration
Of a mere famished sullen grumbling slave,[dl]
Whom nothing can convince save a full meal,
And wine, and sleep, and a few Maravedis, 260
With which he deems him rich.

_Caes._ It would be well
I