ay by
his lords and gentlemen, and then the music ceased. Hereby was
signified, that as glass by nature holdeth no poison, but is clear
and may easily be seen through, ne boweth by any art; so a faithful
counsellor holdeth no treason, but is plain and open, ne yieldeth
to any indiscreet affection, but giveth wholesome counsel, which
the ill advised prince refuseth. The delightful gold filled with
poison betokeneth flattery, which under fair seeming of pleasant
words beareth deadly poison, which destroyeth the prince that
receiveth it. As befel in the two brethren, Ferrex and Porrex, who,
refusing the wholesome advice of grave counsellors, credited these
young parasites, and brought to themselves death and destruction
thereby.

But it is time to set forth the plot in more detail. The importance of
_Gorboduc_ as an example of English 'classical' tragedy prompts us to
follow it through, scene by scene.

_Act I, Scene 1._--Queen Videna discovers to her favourite and elder
son, Ferrex, the king's intention, grievous in her eyes, of dividing his
kingdom equally between his two sons. _Scene 2._--King Gorboduc submits
his plan to the consideration of his three counsellors, whose wise and
lengthy reasonings he listens to but elects to disregard.

_Act II, Scene 1._--The division having been carried out, Ferrex, in his
part of the kingdom, is prompted by evil counsel to suspect aggressive
rivalry from his brother, and decides to collect forces for his own
defence. _Scene 2._--Ferrex's misguided precautions having been
maliciously represented to Porrex as directed against his power, that
prince resolves upon an immediate invasion of his brother's realm.

_Act III._--The news of these counter-moves and of the imminent
probability of bloodshed is reported to the king. To restore the courage
of the despairing Gorboduc is now the labour of his counsellors, but the
later announcement of the death of Ferrex casts him lower than before.
At this point the Chorus, recalling the murder of a cousin in an earlier
generation of the royal race, points, in true Aeschylean fashion, to the
hatred of an unsated revenge behind this latest blow:

Thus fatal plagues pursue the guilty race,
Whose murderous hand, imbru'd with guiltless blood,
Asks vengeance still before the heaven's face,
With endless mischiefs on the cursed brood.

_Act IV, Scene 1._--Videna alone, i