Act 3, Scene 1

Florence. A room in the DUKE's palace.

[Flourish. Enter the DUKE OF FLORENCE, attended; two French Lords, and Soldiers.]
Duke of Florence
1243 So that, from point to point, now have you heard
1244 The fundamental reasons of this war;
1245 Whose great decision hath much blood let forth,
1246 And more thirsts after.
First Lord (Dumaine)
1247 Holy seems the quarrel
1248 Upon your grace's part; black and fearful
1249 On the opposer.
Duke of Florence
1250 Therefore we marvel much our cousin France
1251 Would, in so just a business, shut his bosom
1252 Against our borrowing prayers.
Second Lord (Dumaine)
1253 Good my lord,
1254 The reasons of our state I cannot yield,
1255 But like a common and an outward man
1256 That the great figure of a council frames
1257 By self-unable motion; therefore dare not
1258 Say what I think of it, since I have found
1259 Myself in my incertain grounds to fail
1260 As often as I guess'd.
Duke of Florence
1261 Be it his pleasure.
First Lord (Dumaine)
1262 But I am sure the younger of our nature,
1263 That surfeit on their ease, will day by day
1264 Come here for physic.
Duke of Florence
1265 Welcome shall they be;
1266 And all the honours that can fly from us
1267 Shall on them settle. You know your places well;
1268 When better fall, for your avails they fell:
1269 To-morrow to th' field.
[Flourish. Exeunt.]

Reading mode

Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 1250historical topical
“our cousin France / Would, in so just a business, shut his bosom”
'Cousin' here is a diplomatic courtesy title, not a claim of blood kinship — European monarchs routinely addressed one another as 'cousin' in formal correspondence. The Duke is baffled that France, in so righteous a cause, would 'shut his bosom' (refuse to open himself, i.e., deny the request) against his 'borrowing prayers' — his appeals for military aid or alliance.
TLN 1255syntax grammar
“like a common and an outward man / That the great figure of a council frames / By self-unable motion”
The Second Lord is saying he can only guess at the council's reasoning as an outsider would: a 'common and outward man' is someone who stands outside the deliberating body, and 'the great figure of a council frames by self-unable motion' means the outsider tries to reconstruct the council's conclusions through his own limited, incompetent ('self-unable') reasoning. He is frankly admitting he has no inside knowledge of why France refused to help Florence.
TLN 1262historical topical
“the younger of our nature, / That surfeit on their ease, will day by day / Come here for physic”
'Physic' means medicine or medical treatment. The First Lord predicts that young French gentlemen who have grown dangerously soft ('surfeit on their ease') will flock to Florence to cure themselves with war — military service was the accepted remedy for the dangerous idleness of well-born youth. This is the same motive driving Bertram: he fled a forced marriage in France to find glory on the battlefield.