How we cite our quotes: Act.Scene
Quote #1
Lodo. I am ever bound to you.
This is the world's alms; pray make use of it.
Great men sell sheep, thus to be cut in pieces,
When first they have shorn them bare, and sold their fleeces. (1.1.)
"Great men" here (and elsewhere in the play) are way different from good men. A "great man" is just a powerful man, in Webster's world—someone who won't hesitate to betray and destroy his underlings for profit.
Quote #2
Fran. Do not fear it:
I 'll answer you in your own hawking phrase.
Some eagles that should gaze upon the sun
Seldom soar high, but take their lustful ease,
Since they from dunghill birds their prey can seize. (2.1)
Francisco means that he's the eagle and Brachiano's the dunghill bird. Although he has better things to do, he might come down to Brachiano's level, if only to defeat and punish him for his adultery.
Quote #3
Conj. Sir, I thank you.
Both flowers and weeds spring, when the sun is warm,
And great men do great good, or else great harm. (2.2)
The Conjurer seems a little hesitant about what he's doing. He's using his magic to let Brachiano see the pair of murders he ordered—but he seems a little skeptical about Brachiano, who is definitely one of those "great men" doing "great harm" as opposed to "great good."
Quote #4
Vit. O poor Charity!
Thou art seldom found in scarlet. (3.2)
Vittoria attacks the hierarchy of the church—she claims that you would expect to find mercy in a cardinal like Monticelso (since cardinals dress in scarlet), but you seldom do.
Quote #5
Flam. Your comfortable words are like honey: they relish well in your mouth that 's whole, but in mine that 's wounded, they go down as if the sting of the bee were in them. Oh, they have wrought their purpose cunningly, as if they would not seem to do it of malice! In this a politician imitates the devil, as the devil imitates a canon; wheresoever he comes to do mischief, he comes with his backside towards you. (3.3)
Flamineo says this to the Savoy Ambassador—who only says one line in the whole play—after he tries to comfort him. Flamineo is claiming that his words were politically motivated and not particularly sincere.
Quote #6
Fran. Shall I defy him, and impose a war,
Most burthensome on my poor subjects' necks,
Which at my will I have not power to end?
You know, for all the murders, rapes, and thefts,
Committed in the horrid lust of war,
He that unjustly caus'd it first proceed,
Shall find it in his grave, and in his seed. (4.1)
Francisco denounces war because, in this case, it would cause people to be killed for the sake of a quarrel between him and Brachiano. Hence, even though he doesn't fully prevent the war, he short-circuits it by sneaking behind enemy lines and getting revenge on Brachiano, with help from Lodovico and Gasparo.
Quote #7
Fran… See the corrupted use some make of books:
Divinity, wrested by some factious blood,
Draws swords, swells battles, and o'erthrows all good. (4.1)
Even though Monticelso is Francisco's ally, Francisco distrusts him. He thinks it's repugnant that Monticelso, while supposedly a religious man, is really just interested in political factions and intrigue. Religion, in his view, should be above dirty, political and personal squabbles.
Quote #8
Flam. …Glories, like glow-worms, afar off shine bright,
But look'd to near, have neither heat nor light. (5.1)
Flamineo notices that great men (meaning powerful men) seem glorious when viewed from a distance—but when you get up-close and personal, you start to notice that they're just messed-up people like everyone else.
Quote #9
Fran. That 's the misery of peace: only outsides are then respected. As ships seem very great upon the river, which show very little upon the seas, so some men i' th' court seem Colossuses in a chamber, who, if they came into the field, would appear pitiful pigmies. (5.1)
In Francisco's eyes, weak people thrive during peace. War is the only situation where the truth about people really comes out—you get to see whether they're actually courageous and great, or not.
Quote #10
Flam. Give me a fair room yet hung with arras, and some great cardinal to lug me by th' ears, as his endeared minion.
Fran. And thou mayest do the devil knows what villainy.
Flam. And safely.
Fran. Right: you shall see in the country, in harvest-time, pigeons, though they destroy never so much corn, the farmer dare not present the fowling-piece to them: why? because they belong to the lord of the manor; whilst your poor sparrows, that belong to the Lord of Heaven, they go to the pot for 't. (5.1)
Flamineo explains that loyalty, for him, is just a way of receiving protection for his villainies. Francisco, in disguise, agrees that this isn't a bad strategy. It even manages to keep Flamineo somewhat secure after he murders his brother a little later in the play (though he has to renew his pardon every day).
Quote #11
Flam. He was a kind of statesman, that would sooner have reckoned how many cannon-bullets he had discharged against a town, to count his expense that way, than think how many of his valiant and deserving subjects he lost before it.
Fran. Oh, speak well of the duke!
Flam. I have done. (5.3)
Flamineo thinks he has spoken well of the Duke because he believes that caring about the lives of your citizens is for sentimental fools. The Duke was a "great man" because he was only out for his own worldly glory—and attained it (before being murdered, albeit).