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"Let dangers go, they war shall be with me, But such a war as breaks no bond of peace. Speak thou fair words, I'll cross them with fair words; Send thou sweet looks, I'll meet them with sweet looks; Write loving lines, I'll answer loving lines; Give me a kiss, I'll countercheck thy kiss: Be this our warring peace, or peaceful war."

The speaker is Bel-Imperia (II.ii.32–38), and she speaks to Horatio, telling him of how she intends to love him On a formal level, this passage displays Kyd's love of antithesis (the contrasting of opposing ideas), parallelism, balance, and oxymoron. An oxymoron is a paradox created by placing two words next to each other whose meanings then seems contradictory, but upon further reflection make some sort of sense. Thus "warring peace" is an oxymoron, because war and peace are usually thought of as polar opposites; but love can be thought of as uniting the two, by combining the interchange and back and forth movement and war with the bliss and harmony of peace. The speech shows a different, more sympathetic side to Bel-Imperia. Previously, she was obsessed with thoughts of revenge; but now her mind seems light, quick, and playful.

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