Third Citizen Third Citizen Ay! marry, that is true, My little son died yesternight from hunger; He was but six years old; I am so poor, I cannot bury him. Duke Duke If you are poor, Are you not blessed in that? Why, poverty Is one of the Christian virtues, [Turns to the Cardinal.] Cardinal Is it not? I know, Lord Cardinal, you have great revenues, Rich abbey-lands, and tithes, and large estates For preaching voluntary poverty. Duchess Duchess Nay but, my lord the Duke, be generous; While we sit here within a noble house [With shaded porticoes against the sun, And walls and roofs to keep the winter out], There are many citizens of Padua Who in vile tenements live so full of holes, That the chill rain, the snow, and the rude blast, Are tenants also with them; others sleep Under the arches of the public bridges All through the autumn nights, till the wet mist Stiffens their limbs, and fevers come, and so— Duke Duke And so they go to Abraham’s bosom, Madam. They should thank me for sending them to Heaven, If they are wretched here. [To the Cardinal.] Is it not said Somewhere in Holy Writ, that every man Should be contented with that state of life God calls him to? Why should I change their state, Or meddle with an all-wise providence, Which has apportioned that some men should starve, And others surfeit? I did not make the world. Cardinal First Citizen First Citizen He hath a hard heart.
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