Chapter XI: Act V: is an epilogue. The Nurse reports the death of Portia,

and engages in responsive lyrics with the chorus of soldiers.

Not really five acts, then, but three frame a piece without dramatic action. Though it is focused on a brief period, it does not thereby realize dramatic sequence. Consisting of oratory and lyric, it is conceived as a poem, not as a play.

The style, careful in the balances of the dialogue, has effective oratorical iteration: “C’est trop, c’est trop duré, c’est trop acquis.”

Jupiter, qui _voit tout, voit_ bien qu’il ne te reste
Pour avoir _tout_ ce _rond_ que la _rondeur_ céleste.
_Il ha peur_ pour soymesme, _il hi peur_ que tes bras.... (I. 21).

The more pervasive suggestion of internal rhyme is combined with this again in the fifth act.

_Or’_ il est t_em_ps d’_ou_vrir la p_or_te;
Il est t_em_ps de m_ou_rir, l_an_g_ou_reuse vieillesse,
Vieillesse lang_ou_reuse, hélas! qu’att_en_s-tu plus? (V. 82).

Of the same type are the two tragedies of 1574, _Hippolyte_ and _Cornélie_.