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To stop their maws with disobedient slaves.
Seb. If I had conquered,

They could not have with more observance waited:
Their eyes, hands, feet,

Are all so quick, they seem to have but one motion, To catch my flying words. Only the alcayde Shuns me; and, with a grim civility,

Bows, and declines

my walks.

Emp. A renegade:

I know not more of him, but that he's brave,
And hates your Christian sect. If you can frame
A farther wish, give wing to your desires,
And name the thing you want.

Seb. My liberty;

For were even paradise itself my prison,
Still I should long to leap the crystal walls.
Emp. Sure our two souls have somewhere been
acquainted

In former beings; or, struck out together,
One spark to Afric flew, and one to Portugal.
Expect a quick deliverance: Here's a third,

[Turning to ALMEYDA.
Of kindred soul to both: pity our stars
Have made us foes! I should not wish her death.
Alm. I ask no pity; if I thought my soul
Of kin to thine, soon would I rend my heart-strings,
And tear out that alliance; but thou, viper,
Hast cancelled kindred, made a rent in nature,
And through her holy bowels gnawed thy way,
Through thy own blood, to empire.

Emp. This again!

And yet she lives, and only lives to upbraid me!

Seb. What honour is there in a woman's death! Wronged, as she says, but helpless to revenge; Strong in her passion, impotent of reason, Too weak to hurt, too fair to be destroyed, Mark her majestic fabric; she's a temple

Sacred by birth, and built by hands divine;
Her soul's the deity that lodges there;

Nor is the pile unworthy of the god.

Emp. She's all that thou canst say, or I can think; But the perverseness of her clamourous tongue Strikes pity deaf.

Seb. Then only hear her eyes!

Though they are mute, they plead; nay, more, command;

For beauteous eyes have arbitrary power.
All females have prerogative of sex;

The she's even of the savage herd are safe;

And when they snarl or bite, have no return
But courtship from the male.

Emp. Were she not she, and I not Muley-Moluch, She's mistress of inevitable charms,

For all but me; nor am I so exempt,

But that I know not what I was to say

But I am too obnoxious to my friends,

And swayed by your advice.

Seb. Sir, I advised not;

By heaven, I never counselled love, but pity. Emp. By heaven thou didst; deny it not, thou didst :

For what was all that prodigality

Of praise, but to inflame me?

Seb. Sir

Emp. No more ;

Thou hast convinced me that she's worth my love. Seb. Was ever man so ruined by himself? [Aside. Alm. Thy love! That odious mouth was never framed

To speak a word so soft:

Name death again, for that thou canst pronounce
With horrid grace, becoming of a tyrant.
Love is for human hearts, and not for thine,
Where the brute beast extinguishes the man.

Emp. Such if I were, yet rugged lions love, And grapple, and compel their savage dames.Mark, my Sebastian, how that sullen frown, [She frowns. Like flashing lightning, opens angry heaven, And, while it kills, delights!---But yet, insult not Too soon, proud beauty! I confess no love.

Seb. No, sir; I said so, and I witness for you, Not love, but noble pity, moved your mind: Interest might urge you too to save her life; For those, who wish her party lost, might murmur At shedding royal blood.

Emp. Right, thou instruct'st me;

Interest of state requires not death, but marriage, To unite the jarring titles of our line.

Seb. Let me be dumb for ever; all I plead,

[Aside. Like wildfire thrown against the winds, returns With double force to burn me.

Emp. Could I but bend, to make my beauteous foe The partner of my throne, and of my bed

Alm. Still thou dissemblest; but, I read thy heart, And know the power of my own charms; thou lov'st, And I am pleased, for my revenge, thou dost. Emp. And thou hast cause.

Alm. I have, for I have power to make thee wretched.

Be sure I will, and yet despair of freedom.
Emp. Well then, I love;

And 'tis below my greatness to disown it;
Love thee implacably, yet hate thee too;
Would hunt thee barefoot, in the mid-day sun,
Through the parched desarts and the scorching sands,
To enjoy thy love, and, once enjoyed, to kill thee.
Alm. Tis a false courage, when thou threaten'st

me;

Thou canst not stir a hand to touch my life:

Do not I see thee tremble, while thou speak'st?
Lay by the lion's hide, vain conqueror,

And take the distaff; for thy soul's my slave.
Emp. Confusion! How thou view'st my very

heart!

I could as soon

Stop a spring-tide, blown in, with my bare hand, As this impetuous love:-Yes, I will wed thee; In spite of thee, and of myself, I will.

Alm. For what? to people Africa with monsters,
Which that unnatural mixture must produce?
No, were we joined, even though it were in death,
Our bodies burning in one funeral pile,
The prodigy of Thebes would be renewed,
And my divided flame should break from thine.
Emp. Serpent, I will engender poison with thee;
Join hate with hate, add venom to the birth:
Our offspring, like the seed of dragons' teeth,
Shall issue armed, and fight themselves to death..
Alm. I'm calm again; thou canst not marry me.
Emp. As gleams of sunshine soften storms to
showers,

So, if you smile, the loudness of my rage
In gentle whispers shall return but this-
That nothing can divert my love but death.

Alm. See how thou art deceived; I am a Christian:

'Tis true, unpractised in my new belief,
Wrongs I resent, nor pardon yet with ease;
Those fruits come late, and are of slow increase
In haughty hearts, like mine: Now, tell thyself
If this one word destroy not thy designs:
Thy law permits thee not to marry me.

Emp. "Tis but a specious tale, to blast my hopes,
And baffle my pretensions.-Speak, Sebastian,
And, as a king, speak true.

Seb. Then, thus adjured,

On a king's word 'tis truth, but truth ill-timed;
For her dear life is now exposed anew,
Unless you wholly can put on divinity,
And graciously forgive.

Alm. Now learn, by this,

The little value I have left for life,
And trouble me no more.

Emp. I thank thee, woman;

Thou hast restored me to my native rage,
And I will seize my happiness by force.

Seb. Know, Muley Moluch, when thou darest attempt

Emp. Beware! I would not be provoked to use A conqueror's right, and therefore charge thy silence. If thou wouldst merit to be thought my friend, I leave thee to persuade her to compliance: If not, there's a new gust in ravishment, Which I have never tried.

Bend. They must be watched;

For something I observed creates a doubt.

[Aside.

[Exeunt Emp. and BEND. Seb. I've been too tame, have basely borne my

wrongs,

And not exerted all the king within me:

I heard him, O sweet heavens! he threatened rape;
Nay, insolently urged me to persuade thee,
Even thee, thou idol of my soul and eyes,
For whom I suffer life, and drag this being.
Alm. You turn my prison to a paradise;
But I have turned your empire to a prison:
In all your wars good fortune flew before you;
Sublime you sat in triumph on her wheel,
Till in my fatal cause your sword was drawn;
The weight of my misfortunes dragged you down.
Seb. 'And is't not strange, that heaven should bless
my arms

In common causes, and desert the best?

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