in The Conspiracy (Pallantus and Eudora) — Killigrew, Henry
Metadata
Play
The Conspiracy (Pallantus and Eudora)
Author
Killigrew, Henry
Year (catalogued)
1638
First performance
1635
Decade
1630s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
Private; Adult Professional
Company
King's Men
Speech prefix(es)
Trage. | Tragedia,
Words
262
Characters
1434
Typicality
0.53 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A04824
BritDrama no.
2459
Cluster
Cluster 24 — Gods, cupids & celestial agents
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Me, great goddess. How much Divinest Juno speaks below Her self, in preferring what she must scorn To name. Can she desire to do something In honour of this assembly? something, As when the gods are pleased, and wish to see it In so low a Strain? entertain Princes? And in Comedies poor vain? would she have And Epithalamion in these Lovers praise. And hear it chanted in rude roundelays? As all profane. Let these be far away Unworthy in this night to bear a partly, What a mockery would such be of their Noble Love, to have its pure name smothered By so gross a fire? their brave actions Parralel'd with such country Jigs, of Cupid, Ridiculously imitating with Their long passion? No, if Juno do Desire to crown these hours above the rest, And make they welcome, yet before the best These do enjoy, through peace, and innocence Let her perform something that's godlike, they Which are happy needs no shows of mirth. Their State is Comedy enough, sports do not fit This night but glory. If't be haeroicke, Then it's opposite, which makes me offer Thus my service, as most endue to me, to Show the will, that speaks the language of the Gods, and as I am thus taxed with blood, and Crewelty, it's not my lines that wounds them But their faults represent. And though they are with vice, and fate oppressed Yet those which see a Tragedy, are blessed. If Juno smile, here I shall favour find These Like the gods accept the will, and mind.
Plot summary
Plot — The Conspiracy (Pallantus and Eudora)
Two foreign princes arrive on Crete after a storm. One is Clearchus, who is finding an excuse to land with a shipful of troops which he intends to use to rescue the Princess Hianthe from a forced marriage to the usurping King’s son, Timeus. The other is Pallantus, whose ship has been wrecked. Afterwards he discovers that this was a lucky escape: Timeus suborned the sailors to kill him. He disguises himself as a soldier and both he and Clearchus fall in with a group of courtiers who are conspiring to restore the rightful King, Cleander, to the throne. (Cleander disappeared in infancy when the present King seized power sixteen years ago, and was wrongly presumed murdered.) Timeus learns of the plot, but open rebellion breaks out before he can do anything about it: Clearchus’ troops storm the city, Hianthe is rescued, and Pallantus kills the usurping King. In the ensuing sack, Pallantus encounters the Princess Eudora, the King’s daughter, and falls in love with her. He later returns to her in his own person, and counters her objections to him as her father’s killer by producing the evidence that Timeus attempted to have him murdered. Meanwhile, Timeus and his associates take refuge in the fort. Pallantus is sent to parley with them, and succeeds in persuading him to abandon villainy and accept Cleander’s mercy. Timeus and Eudora are reunited, and Timeus shows remorse for the attempted murder of Pallantus. Eudora agrees to marry Pallantus, and the dead King is cremated.