DEMETRIUS.The loudest cries of nature urge us forward;Despotick rage pursues the life of Cali;His groaning country claims Leontius' aid;And yet another voice, forgive me, Greece,The pow'rful voice of love, inflames Demetrius;Each ling'ring hour alarms me for Aspasia.
CALI.What passions reign among thy crew, Leontius?Does cheerless diffidence oppress their hearts?Or sprightly hope exalt their kindling spirits?Do they, with pain, repress the struggling shout,And listen eager to the rising wind?
LEONTIUS.All there is hope, and gaiety, and courage,No cloudy doubts, or languishing delays;Ere I could range them on the crowded deck,At once a hundred voices thunder'd round me,And ev'ry voice was liberty and Greece.
DEMETRIUS.Swift let us rush upon the careless tyrant,Nor give him leisure for another crime.
LEONTIUS.Then let us now resolve, nor idly wasteAnother hour in dull deliberation.
CALI.But see, where destin'd to protract our counsels,Comes Mustapha.—Your Turkish robes conceal you.Retire with speed, while I prepare to meet himWith artificial smiles, and seeming friendship.
CALI.I see the gloom, that low'rs upon thy brow;These days of love and pleasure charm not thee;Too slow these gentle constellations roll;Thou long'st for stars, that frown on human kind,And scatter discord from their baleful beams.
MUSTAPHA.How blest art thou, still jocund and serene,Beneath the load of business, and of years!
CALI.Sure, by some wond'rous sympathy of souls,My heart still beats responsive to the sultan's;I share, by secret instinct, all his joys,And feel no sorrow, while my sov'reign smiles.
MUSTAPHA.The sultan comes, impatient for his love;Conduct her hither; let no rude intrusionMolest these private walks, or care invadeThese hours, assign'd to pleasure and Irene.
MAHOMET.Now, Mustapha, pursue thy tale of horrour.Has treason's dire infection reach'd my palace?Can Cali dare the stroke of heav'nly justice,In the dark precincts of the gaping grave,And load with perjuries his parting soul?Was it for this, that, sick'ning in Epirus,My father call'd me to his couch of death,Join'd Cali's hand to mine, and falt'ring cried,Restrain the fervour of impetuous youthWith venerable Cali's faithful counsels?Are these the counsels, this the faith of Cali?Were all our favours lavish'd on a villain?Confest?—
MUSTAPHA.Confest by dying Menodorus.In his last agonies, the gasping coward,Amidst the tortures of the burning steel,Still fond of life, groan'd out the dreadful secret,Held forth this fatal scroll, then sunk to nothing.
MAHOMET.examining the paper.His correspondence with our foes of Greece!His hand! his seal! The secrets of my soul,Conceal'd from all but him! All, all conspireTo banish doubt, and brand him for a villain!Our schemes for ever cross'd, our mines discover'd,Betray'd some traitor lurking near my bosom.Oft have I rag'd, when their wide-wasting cannonLay pointed at our batt'ries yet unform'd,And broke the meditated lines of war.Detested Cali, too, with artful wonder,Would shake his wily head, and closely whisper,Beware of Mustapha, beware of treason.
MUSTAPHA.The faith of Mustapha disdains suspicion;But yet, great emperour, beware of treason;Th' insidious bassa, fir'd by disappointment—
MAHOMET.Shall feel the vengeance of an injur'd king.Go, seize him, load him with reproachful chains;Before th' assembled troops, proclaim his crimes;Then leave him, stretch'd upon the ling'ring rack,Amidst the camp to howl his life away.
MUSTAPHA.Should we, before the troops, proclaim his crimes,I dread his arts of seeming innocence,His bland address, and sorcery of tongue;And, should he fall, unheard, by sudden justice,Th' adoring soldiers would revenge their idol.
MAHOMET.Cali, this day, with hypocritick zeal,Implor'd my leave to visit Mecca's temple;Struck with the wonder of a statesman's goodness,I rais'd his thoughts to more sublime devotion.Now let him go, pursu'd by silent wrath,Meet unexpected daggers in his way,And, in some distant land, obscurely die.
MUSTAPHA.There will his boundless wealth, the spoil of Asia,Heap'd by your father's ill-plac'd bounties on him,Disperse rebellion through the eastern world;Bribe to his cause, and list beneath his banners,Arabia's roving troops, the sons of swiftness,And arm the Persian heretick against thee;There shall he waste thy frontiers, check thy conquests,And, though at length subdued, elude thy vengeance.
MAHOMET.Elude my vengeance! No—My troops shall rangeTh' eternal snows that freeze beyond Maeotis,And Africk's torrid sands, in search of Cali.Should the fierce north, upon his frozen wings,Bear him aloft, above the wond'ring clouds,And seat him in the pleiads' golden chariots,Thence shall my fury drag him down to tortures;Wherever guilt can fly, revenge can follow.
MUSTAPHA.Wilt thou dismiss the savage from the toils,Only to hunt him round the ravag'd world?
MAHOMET.Suspend his sentence—Empire and IreneClaim my divided soul. This wretch, unworthyTo mix with nobler cares, I'll throw asideFor idle hours, and crush him at my leisure.
MUSTAPHA.Let not th' unbounded greatness of his mindBetray my king to negligence of danger.Perhaps, the clouds of dark conspiracyNow roll, full fraught with thunder, o'er your head.Twice, since the morning rose, I saw the bassa,Like a fell adder swelling in a brake,Beneath the covert of this verdant arch,In private conference; beside him stoodTwo men unknown, the partners of his bosom;I mark'd them well, and trac'd in either faceThe gloomy resolution, horrid greatness,And stern composure, of despairing heroes;And, to confirm my thoughts, at sight of me,As blasted by my presence, they withdrew,With all the speed of terrour and of guilt.
MAHOMET.The strong emotions of my troubled soulAllow no pause for art or for contrivance;And dark perplexity distracts my counsels.Do thou resolve: for, see, Irene comes!At her approach each ruder gust of thoughtSinks, like the sighing of a tempest spent,And gales of softer passion fan my bosom.[Calienters withIrene,and exit [Transcriber's note: sic] withMustapha.
MAHOMET.Wilt thou descend, fair daughter of perfection,To hear my vows, and give mankind a queen?Ah! cease, Irene, cease those flowing sorrows,That melt a heart impregnable till now,And turn thy thoughts, henceforth, to love and empire.How will the matchless beauties of Irene,Thus bright in tears, thus amiable in ruin,With all the graceful pride of greatness heighten'd,Amidst the blaze of jewels and of gold,Adorn a throne, and dignify dominion!
IRENE.Why all this glare of splendid eloquence,To paint the pageantries of guilty state?Must I, for these, renounce the hope of heav'n,Immortal crowns, and fulness of enjoyment?
MAHOMET.Vain raptures all—For your inferiour natures,Form'd to delight, and happy by delighting,Heav'n has reserv'd no future paradise,But bids you rove the paths of bliss, secureOf total death, and careless of hereafter;While heaven's high minister, whose awful volumeRecords each act, each thought of sov'reign man,Surveys your plays with inattentive glance,And leaves the lovely trifler unregarded.
IRENE.Why then has nature's vain munificenceProfusely pour'd her bounties upon woman?Whence, then, those charms thy tongue has deign'd to flatter,That air resistless, and enchanting blush,Unless the beauteous fabrick was design'dA habitation for a fairer soul?
MAHOMET.Too high, bright maid, thou rat'st exteriour grace:Not always do the fairest flow'rs diffuseThe richest odours, nor the speckled shellsConceal the gem; let female arroganceObserve the feather'd wand'rers of the sky;With purple varied, and bedrop'd with gold,They prune the wing, and spread the glossy plumes,Ordain'd, like you, to flutter and to shine,And cheer the weary passenger with musick.
IRENE.Mean as we are, this tyrant of the worldImplores our smiles, and trembles at our feet.Whence flow the hopes and fears, despair and rapture,Whence all the bliss and agonies of love?
MAHOMET.Why, when the balm of sleep descends on man,Do gay delusions, wand'ring o'er the brain,Sooth the delighted soul with empty bliss?To want, give affluence? and to slav'ry, freedom?Such are love's joys, the lenitives of life,A fancy'd treasure, and a waking dream.
IRENE.Then let me once, in honour of our sex,Assume the boastful arrogance of man.Th' attractive softness, and th' endearing smile,And pow'rful glance, 'tis granted, are our own;Nor has impartial nature's frugal handExhausted all her nobler gifts on you.Do not we share the comprehensive thought,Th' enlivening wit, the penetrating reason?Beats not the female breast with gen'rous passions,The thirst of empire, and the love of glory?
MAHOMET.Illustrious maid, new wonders fix me thine;Thy soul completes the triumphs of thy face.I thought (forgive, my fair,) the noblest aim,The strongest effort of a female soul,Was but to choose the graces of the day;To tune the tongue, to teach the eyes to roll,Dispose the colours of the flowing robe,And add new roses to the faded cheek.Will it not charm a mind, like thine, exalted,To shine, the goddess of applauding nations;To scatter happiness and plenty round thee,To bid the prostrate captive rise and live,To see new cities tow'r, at thy command,And blasted kingdoms flourish, at thy smile?
IRENE.Charm'd with the thought of blessing human kind,Too calm I listen to the flatt'ring sounds.
MAHOMET.O! seize the power to bless—Irene's nodShall break the fetters of the groaning Christian;Greece, in her lovely patroness secure,Shall mourn no more her plunder'd palaces.
IRENE.Forbear—O! do not urge me to my ruin!
MAHOMET.To state and pow'r I court thee, not to ruin:Smile on my wishes, and command the globe.Security shall spread her shield before thee,And love infold thee with his downy wings.If greatness please thee, mount th' imperial seat;If pleasure charm thee, view this soft retreat;Here ev'ry warbler of the sky shall sing;Here ev'ry fragrance breathe of ev'ry spring:To deck these bow'rs each region shall combine,And e'en our prophet's gardens envy thine:Empire and love shall share the blissful day,And varied life steal, unperceiv'd, away.
[Exeunt.
[CALIenters, with a discontented air; to him entersABDALLA.]
CALI.Is this the fierce conspirator, Abdalla?Is this the restless diligence of treason?Where hast thou linger'd, while th' incumber'd hoursFly, lab'ring with the fate of future nations,And hungry slaughter scents imperial blood?
ABDALLA.Important cares detain'd me from your counsels.
CALI.Some petty passion! some domestick trifle!Some vain amusement of a vacant soul!A weeping wife, perhaps, or dying friend,Hung on your neck, and hinder'd your departure.Is this a time for softness or for sorrow?Unprofitable, peaceful, female virtues!When eager vengeance shows a naked foe,And kind ambition points the way to greatness.
ABDALLA.Must then ambition's votaries infringeThe laws of kindness, break the bonds of nature,And quit the names of brother, friend, and father?
CALI.This sov'reign passion, scornful of restraint,E'en from the birth, affects supreme command,Swells in the breast, and, with resistless force,O'erbears each gentler motion of the mind:As, when a deluge overspreads the plains,The wand'ring rivulet, and silver lake,Mix undistinguish'd with the gen'ral roar.
ABDALLA.Yet can ambition, in Abdalla's breast,Claim but the second place: there mighty loveHas fix'd his hopes, inquietudes, and fears,His glowing wishes, and his jealous pangs.
CALI.Love is, indeed, the privilege of youth;Yet, on a day like this, when expectationPants for the dread event—But let us reason—
ABDALLA.Hast thou grown old, amidst the crowd of courts,And turn'd th' instructive page of human life,To cant, at last, of reason to a lover?Such ill-tim'd gravity, such serious folly,Might well befit the solitary student,Th' unpractis'd dervis, or sequester'd faquir.Know'st thou not yet, when love invades the soul,That all her faculties receive his chains?That reason gives her sceptre to his hand,Or only struggles to be more enslav'd?Aspasia, who can look upon thy beauties?Who hear thee speak, and not abandon reason?Reason! the hoary dotard's dull directress,That loses all, because she hazards nothing!Reason! the tim'rous pilot, that, to shunThe rocks of life, for ever flies the port!
CALI.But why this sudden warmth?
ABDALLA.Because I love:Because my slighted passion burns in vain!Why roars the lioness, distress'd by hunger?Why foam the swelling waves, when tempests rise?Why shakes the ground, when subterraneous firesFierce through the bursting caverns rend their way?
CALI.Not till this day, thou saw'st this fatal fair;Did ever passion make so swift a progress?Once more reflect; suppress this infant folly.
ABDALLA.Gross fires, enkindled by a mortal hand,Spread, by degrees, and dread th' oppressing stream;The subtler flames, emitted from the sky,Flash out at once, with strength above resistance.
CALI.How did Aspasia welcome your address?Did you proclaim this unexpected conquest?Or pay, with speaking eyes, a lover's homage?
ABDALLA.Confounded, aw'd, and lost in admiration,I gaz'd, I trembled; but I could not speak;When e'en, as love was breaking off from wonder,And tender accents quiver'd on my lips,She mark'd my sparkling eyes, and heaving breast,And smiling, conscious of her charms, withdrew.
[EnterDemetriusandLeontius.
CALI.Now be, some moments, master of thyself;Nor let Demetrius know thee for a rival.Hence! or be calm—To disagree is ruin.
DEMETRIUS.When will occasion smile upon our wishes,And give the tortures of suspense a period?Still must we linger in uncertain hope?Still languish in our chains, and dream of freedom,Like thirsty sailors gazing on the clouds,Till burning death shoots through their wither'd limbs?
CALI.Deliverance is at hand; for Turkey's tyrant,Sunk in his pleasures, confident and gay,With all the hero's dull security,Trusts to my care his mistress and his life,And laughs, and wantons in the jaws of death.
LEONTIUS.So weak is man, when destin'd to destruction!—The watchful slumber, and the crafty trust.
CALI.At my command, yon iron gates unfold;At my command, the sentinels retire;With all the license of authority,Through bowing slaves, I range the private rooms,And of to-morrow's action fix the scene.
DEMETRIUS.To-morrow's action! Can that hoary wisdom,Borne down with years, still dote upon to-morrow?That fatal mistress of the young, the lazy,The coward, and the fool, condemn'd to loseAn useless life, in waiting for to-morrow,To gaze with longing eyes upon to-morrow,Till interposing death destroys the prospect!Strange! that this gen'ral fraud, from day to day,Should fill the world with wretches undetected.The soldier, lab'ring through a winter's march,Still sees to-morrow drest in robes of triumph;Still to the lover's long-expecting armsTo-morrow brings the visionary bride.But thou, too old to bear another cheat,Learn, that the present hour alone is man's.
LEONTIUS.The present hour, with open arms, invites;Seize the kind fair, and press her to thy bosom.
DEMETRIUS.Who knows, ere this important morrow rise,But fear or mutiny may taint the Greeks?Who knows, if Mahomet's awaking angerMay spare the fatal bowstring till to-morrow?
ABDALLA.Had our first Asian foes but known this ardour,We still had wander'd on Tartarian hills.Rouse, Cali; shall the sons of conquer'd GreeceLead us to danger, and abash their victors?This night, with all her conscious stars, be witness,Who merits most, Demetrius or Abdalla.
DEMETRIUS.Who merits most!—I knew not, we were rivals.
CALI.Young man, forbear—the heat of youth, no more—Well,—'tis decreed—This night shall fix our fate.Soon as the veil of ev'ning clouds the sky,With cautious secrecy, Leontius, steerTh' appointed vessel to yon shaded bay,Form'd by this garden jutting on the deep;There, with your soldiers arm'd, and sails expanded,Await our coming, equally prepar'dFor speedy flight, or obstinate defence. [Exit Leont.
DEMETRIUS.Now pause, great bassa, from the thoughts of blood,And kindly grant an ear to gentler sounds.If e'er thy youth has known the pangs of absence,Or felt th' impatience of obstructed love,Give me, before th' approaching hour of fate,Once to behold the charms of bright Aspasia,And draw new virtue from her heav'nly tongue.
CALI.Let prudence, ere the suit be farther urg'd,Impartial weigh the pleasure with the danger.A little longer, and she's thine for ever.
DEMETRIUS.Prudence and love conspire in this request,Lest, unacquainted with our bold attempt,Surprise o'erwhelm her, and retard our flight.
CALI.What I can grant, you cannot ask in vain—
DEMETRIUS.I go to wait thy call; this kind consentCompletes the gift of freedom and of life. [ExitDem.
ABDALLA.And this is my reward—to burn, to languish,To rave, unheeded; while the happy Greek,The refuse of our swords, the dross of conquest,Throws his fond arms about Aspasia's neck,Dwells on her lips, and sighs upon her breast.Is't not enough, he lives by our indulgence,But he must live to make his masters wretched?
CALI.What claim hast thou to plead?
ABDALLA.The claim of pow'r,Th' unquestion'd claim of conquerors and kings!
CALI.Yet, in the use of pow'r, remember justice.
ABDALLA.Can then th' assassin lift his treach'rous handAgainst his king, and cry, remember justice?Justice demands the forfeit life of Cali;Justice demands, that I reveal your crimes;Justice demands—but see th' approaching sultan!Oppose my wishes, and—remember justice.
CALI.Disorder sits upon thy face—retire.
[ExitAbdalla; enter Mahomet.
CALI.Long be the sultan bless'd with happy love!My zeal marks gladness dawning on thy cheek,With raptures, such as fire the pagan crowds,When, pale and anxious for their years to come,They see the sun surmount the dark eclipse,And hail, unanimous, their conqu'ring god.
MAHOMET.My vows, 'tis true, she hears with less aversion;She sighs, she blushes, but she still denies.
CALI.With warmer courtship press the yielding fair:Call to your aid, with boundless promises,Each rebel wish, each traitor inclination,That raises tumults in the female breast,The love of pow'r, of pleasure, and of show.
MAHOMET.These arts I try'd, and, to inflame her more,By hateful business hurried from her sight,I bade a hundred virgins wait around her,Sooth her with all the pleasures of command,Applaud her charms, and court her to be great.
[ExitMahomet.
CALI,solus.
He's gone—Here rest, my soul, thy fainting wing;Here recollect thy dissipated pow'rs.—Our distant int'rests, and our diff'rent passions.Now haste to mingle in one common centre.And fate lies crowded in a narrow space.Yet, in that narrow space what dangers rise!—Far more I dread Abdalla's fiery folly,Than all the wisdom of the grave divan.Reason with reason fights on equal terms;The raging madman's unconnected schemesWe cannot obviate, for we cannot guess.Deep in my breast be treasur'd this resolve,When Cali mounts the throne, Abdalla dies,Too fierce, too faithless, for neglect or trust.
[EnterIrenewith attendants.
CALI, IRENE, ASPASIA, &c.
CALI.Amidst the splendour of encircling beauty,Superiour majesty proclaims thee queen,And nature justifies our monarch's choice.
IRENE.Reserve this homage for some other fair;Urge me not on to glitt'ring guilt, nor pourIn my weak ear th' intoxicating sounds.
CALI.Make haste, bright maid, to rule the willing world;Aw'd by the rigour of the sultan's justice,We court thy gentleness.
ASPASIA.Can Cali's voiceConcur to press a hapless captive's ruin?
CALI.Long would my zeal for Mahomet and theeDetain me here. But nations call upon me,And duty bids me choose a distant walk,Nor taint with care the privacies of love.
IRENE, ASPASIA,attendants.
ASPASIA.If yet this shining pomp, these sudden honours,Swell not thy soul, beyond advice or friendship,Nor yet inspire the follies of a queen,Or tune thine ear to soothing adulation,Suspend awhile the privilege of pow'r,To hear the voice of truth; dismiss thy train,Shake off th' incumbrances of state, a moment,And lay the tow'ring sultaness aside,
Irenesigns to her attendants to retire.
While I foretell thy fate: that office done,—No more I boast th' ambitious name of friend,But sink among thy slaves, without a murmur.
IRENE.Did regal diadems invest my brow,Yet should my soul, still faithful to her choice,Esteem Aspasia's breast the noblest kingdom.
ASPASIA.The soul, once tainted with so foul a crime,No more shall glow with friendship's hallow'd ardour:Those holy beings, whose superiour careGuides erring mortals to the paths of virtue,Affrighted at impiety, like thine,Resign their charge to baseness and to ruin[a].
[a] In the original copy of this tragedy, given to Mr. Langton, theabove speech is as follows; and, in Mr. Boswell's judgment, isfiner than in the present editions:
"Nor think to say, here will I stop;Here will I fix the limits of transgression,Nor farther tempt the avenging rage of heaven.When guilt, like this, once harbours in the breast,Those holy beings, whose unseen directionGuides, through the maze of life, the steps of man.Fly the detested mansions of impiety,And quit their charge to horrour and to ruin."
See Boswell, i. for other compared extracts from the first sketch.—ED.
IRENE.Upbraid me not with fancied wickedness;I am not yet a queen, or an apostate.But should I sin beyond the hope of mercy,If, when religion prompts me to refuse,The dread of instant death restrains my tongue?
ASPASIA.Reflect, that life and death, affecting sounds!Are only varied modes of endless being;Reflect, that life, like ev'ry other blessing,Derives its value from its use alone;Not for itself, but for a nobler end,Th' Eternal gave it, and that end is virtue.When inconsistent with a greater good,Reason commands to cast the less away:Thus life, with loss of wealth, is well preserv'd,And virtue cheaply say'd, with loss of life.
IRENE.If built on settled thought, this constancyNot idly flutters on a boastful tongue,Why, when destruction rag'd around our walls,Why fled this haughty heroine from the battle?Why, then, did not this warlike amazonMix in the war, and shine among the heroes?
ASPASIA.Heav'n, when its hand pour'd softness on our limbs,Unfit for toil, and polish'd into weakness,Made passive fortitude the praise of woman:Our only arms are innocence and meekness.Not then with raving cries I fill'd the city;But, while Demetrius, dear, lamented name!Pour'd storms of fire upon our fierce invaders,Implor'd th' eternal pow'r to shield my country,With silent sorrows, and with calm devotion.
IRENE.O! did Irene shine the queen of Turkey,No more should Greece lament those pray'rs rejected;Again, should golden splendour grace her cities,Again, her prostrate palaces should rise,Again, her temples sound with holy musick:No more should danger fright, or want distressThe smiling widows, and protected orphans.
ASPASIA.Be virtuous ends pursued by virtuous means,Nor think th' intention sanctifies the deed:That maxim, publish'd in an impious age,Would loose the wild enthusiast to destroy,And fix the fierce usurper's bloody title;Then bigotry might send her slaves to war,And bid success become the test of truth:Unpitying massacre might waste the world,And persecution boast the call of heaven.
IRENE.Shall I not wish to cheer afflicted kings,And plan the happiness of mourning millions?
ASPASIA.Dream not of pow'r, thou never canst attain:When social laws first harmoniz'd the world,Superiour man possess'd the charge of rule,The scale of justice, and the sword of power,Nor left us aught, but flattery and state.
IRENE.To me my lover's fondness will restoreWhate'er man's pride has ravish'd from our sex.
ASPASIA.When soft security shall prompt the sultan,Freed from the tumults of unsettled conquest,To fix his court, and regulate his pleasures,Soon shall the dire seraglio's horrid gatesClose, like th' eternal bars of death, upon thee.Immur'd, and buried in perpetual sloth,That gloomy slumber of the stagnant soul,There shalt thou view, from far, the quiet cottage,And sigh for cheerful poverty in vain;There wear the tedious hours of life away,Beneath each curse of unrelenting heav'n,Despair and slav'ry, solitude and guilt.
IRENE.There shall we find the yet untasted blissOf grandeur and tranquillity combin'd.
ASPASIA.Tranquillity and guilt, disjoin'd by heaven,Still stretch in vain their longing arms afar;Nor dare to pass th' insuperable bound.Ah! let me rather seek the convent's cell;There, when my thoughts, at interval of prayer,Descend to range these mansions of misfortune,Oft shall I dwell on our disastrous friendship,And shed the pitying tear for lost Irene.
IRENE.Go, languish on in dull obscurity;Thy dazzled soul, with all its boasted greatness,Shrinks at th' o'erpow'ring gleams of regal state,Stoops from the blaze, like a degen'rate eagle,And flies for shelter to the shades of life.
ASPASIA.On me should providence, without a crime,The weighty charge of royalty confer;Call me to civilize the Russian wilds,Or bid soft science polish Britain's heroes;Soon should'st thou see, how false thy weak reproach,My bosom feels, enkindled from the sky,The lambent flames of mild benevolence,Untouch'd by fierce ambition's raging fires.
IRENE.Ambition is the stamp, impress'd by heav'nTo mark the noblest minds; with active heatInform'd, they mount the precipice of pow'r,Grasp at command, and tow'r in quest of empire;While vulgar souls compassionate their cares,Gaze at their height, and tremble at their danger:Thus meaner spirits, with amazement, markThe varying seasons, and revolving skies,And ask, what guilty pow'r's rebellious handRolls with eternal toil the pond'rous orbs;While some archangel, nearer to perfection,In easy state, presides o'er all their motions,Directs the planets, with a careless nod,Conducts the sun, and regulates the spheres.
ASPASIA.Well may'st thou hide in labyrinths of soundThe cause that shrinks from reason's pow'rful voice.Stoop from thy flight, trace back th' entangled thought,And set the glitt'ring fallacy to view.Not pow'r I blame, but pow'r obtain'd by crime;Angelick greatness is angelick virtue.Amidst the glare of courts, the shout of armies,Will not th' apostate feel the pangs of guilt,And wish, too late, for innocence and peace,Curst, as the tyrant of th' infernal realms,With gloomy state and agonizing pomp?
MAID.A Turkish stranger, of majestick mien,Asks at the gate admission to Aspasia,Commission'd, as he says, by Cali bassa.
IRENE.Whoe'er thou art, or whatsoe'er thy message, [Aside.Thanks for this kind relief—With speed admit him.
ASPASIA.He comes, perhaps, to separate us for ever;When I am gone, remember, O! remember,That none are great, or happy, but the virtuous.
[ExitIrene;enterDemetrius.
DEMETRIUS.'Tis she—my hope, my happiness, my love!Aspasia! do I, once again, behold thee?Still, still the same—unclouded by misfortune!Let my blest eyes for ever gaze—
ASPASIA.Demetrius!
DEMETRIUS.Why does the blood forsake thy lovely cheek?Why shoots this chilness through thy shaking nerves?Why does thy soul retire into herself?Recline upon my breast thy sinking beauties:Revive—Revive to freedom and to love.
ASPASIA.What well-known voice pronounc'd the grateful sounds,Freedom and love? Alas! I'm all confusion;A sudden mist o'ercasts my darken'd soul;The present, past, and future swim before me,Lost in a wild perplexity of joy.
DEMETRIUS.Such ecstasy of love, such pure affection,What worth can merit? or what faith reward?
ASPASIA.A thousand thoughts, imperfect and distracted,Demand a voice, and struggle into birth;A thousand questions press upon my tongue,But all give way to rapture and Demetrius.
DEMETRIUS.O say, bright being, in this age of absence,What fears, what griefs, what dangers, hast thou known?Say, how the tyrant threaten'd, flatter'd, sigh'd!Say, how he threaten'd, flatter'd, sigh'd in vain!Say, how the hand of violence was rais'd!Say, how thou call'dst in tears upon Demetrius!
ASPASIA.Inform me rather, how thy happy courageStemm'd in the breach the deluge of destruction,And pass'd, uninjur'd, through the walks of death.Did savage anger and licentious conquestBehold the hero with Aspasia's eyes?And, thus protected in the gen'ral ruin,O! say, what guardian pow'r convey'd thee hither.
DEMETRIUS.Such strange events, such unexpected chances,Beyond my warmest hope, or wildest wishes,Concurr'd to give me to Aspasia's arms,I stand amaz'd, and ask, if yet I clasp thee.
ASPASIA.Sure heav'n, (for wonders are not wrought in vain!)That joins us thus, will never part us more.
ABDALLA.It parts you now—The hasty sultan sign'dThe laws unread, and flies to his Irene.
DEMETRIUS.Fix'd and intent on his Irene's charms,He envies none the converse of Aspasia.
ABDALLA.Aspasia's absence will inflame suspicion;She cannot, must not, shall not, linger here;Prudence and friendship bid me force her from you.
DEMETRIUS.Force her! profane her with a touch, and die!
ABDALLA.'Tis Greece, 'tis freedom, calls Aspasia hence;Your careless love betrays your country's cause.
DEMETRIUS.If we must part—
ASPASIA.No! let us die together.
DEMETRIUS.If we must part—
ABDALLA.Despatch; th' increasing dangerWill not admit a lover's long farewell,The long-drawn intercourse of sighs and kisses.
DEMETRIUS.Then—O! my fair, I cannot bid thee go.Receive her, and protect her, gracious heav'n!Yet let me watch her dear departing steps;If fate pursues me, let it find me here.Reproach not, Greece, a lover's fond delays,Nor think thy cause neglected, while I gaze;New force, new courage, from each glance I gain,And find our passions not infus'd in vain. [Exeunt.
DEMETRIUS, ASPASIA,enter as talking.
ASPASIA.Enough—resistless reason calms my soul—Approving justice smiles upon your cause,And nature's rights entreat th' asserting sword.Yet, when your hand is lifted to destroy,Think, but excuse a woman's needless caution,—Purge well thy mind from ev'ry private passion,Drive int'rest, love, and vengeance, from thy thoughts;Fill all thy ardent breast with Greece and virtue;Then strike secure, and heav'n assist the blow!
DEMETRIUS.Thou kind assistant of my better angel,Propitious guide of my bewilder'd soul,Calm of my cares, and guardian of my virtue!
ASPASIA.My soul, first kindled by thy bright example,To noble thought and gen'rous emulation,Now but reflects those beams that flow'd from thee.
DEMETRIUS.With native lustre and unborrow'd greatness,Thou shin'st, bright maid, superiour to distress;Unlike the trifling race of vulgar beauties,Those glitt'ring dewdrops of a vernal morn,That spread their colours to the genial beam,And, sparkling, quiver to the breath of May;But, when the tempest, with sonorous wing,Sweeps o'er the grove, forsake the lab'ring bough,Dispers'd in air, or mingled with the dust.
ASPASIA.Forbear this triumph—still new conflicts wait us,Foes unforeseen, and dangers unsuspected.Oft, when the fierce besiegers' eager hostBeholds the fainting garrison retire,And rushes joyful to the naked wall,Destruction flashes from th' insidious mine,And sweeps th' exulting conqueror away.Perhaps, in vain the sultan's anger spar'd me,To find a meaner fate from treach'rous friendship—Abdalla!—
DEMETRIUS.Can Abdalla then dissemble!That fiery chief, renown'd for gen'rous freedom,For zeal unguarded, undissembled hate,For daring truth, and turbulence of honour!
ASPASIA.This open friend, this undesigning hero,With noisy falsehoods, forc'd me from your arms,To shock my virtue with a tale of love.
DEMETRIUS.Did not the cause of Greece restrain my sword,Aspasia should not fear a second insult.
ASPASIA.His pride and love, by turns, inspir'd his tongue,And intermix'd my praises with his own;His wealth, his rank, his honours, he recounted,Till, in the midst of arrogance and fondness,Th' approaching sultan forc'd me from the palace;Then, while he gaz'd upon his yielding mistress,I stole, unheeded, from their ravish'd eyes,And sought this happy grove in quest of thee.
DEMETRIUS.Soon may the final stroke decide our fate,Lest baleful discord crush our infant scheme,And strangled freedom perish in the birth!
ASPASIA.My bosom, harass'd with alternate passions,Now hopes, now fears—
DEMETRIUS.Th' anxieties of love.
ASPASIA.Think, how the sov'reign arbiter of kingdomsDetests thy false associates' black designs,And frowns on perjury, revenge, and murder.Embark'd with treason on the seas of fate,When heaven shall bid the swelling billows rage,And point vindictive lightnings at rebellion,Will not the patriot share the traitor's danger?Oh! could thy hand, unaided, free thy country,Nor mingled guilt pollute the sacred cause!
DEMETRIUS.Permitted oft, though not inspir'd, by heaven,Successful treasons punish impious kings.
ASPASIA.Nor end my terrours with the sultan's death;Far as futurity's untravell'd wasteLies open to conjecture's dubious ken,On ev'ry side confusion, rage, and death,Perhaps, the phantoms of a woman's fear,Beset the treach'rous way with fatal ambush;Each Turkish bosom burns for thy destruction,Ambitious Cali dreads the statesman's arts,And hot Abdalla hates the happy lover.
DEMETRIUS.Capricious man! to good and ill inconstant,Too much to fear or trust is equal weakness.Sometimes the wretch, unaw'd by heav'n or hell,With mad devotion idolizes honour.The bassa, reeking with his master's murder,Perhaps, may start at violated friendship.
ASPASIA.How soon, alas! will int'rest, fear, or envy,O'erthrow such weak, such accidental virtue,Nor built on faith, nor fortified by conscience!
DEMETRIUS.When desp'rate ills demand a speedy cure,Distrust is cowardice, and prudence folly.
ASPASIA.Yet, think a moment, ere you court destruction,What hand, when death has snatch'd away Demetrius,Shall guard Aspasia from triumphant lust.
DEMETRIUS.Dismiss these needless fears—a troop of Greeks,Well known, long try'd, expect us on the shore.Borne on the surface of the smiling deep,Soon shalt thou scorn, in safety's arms repos'd,Abdalla's rage and Cali's stratagems.
ASPASIA.Still, still, distrust sits heavy on my heart.Will e'er a happier hour revisit Greece?
DEMETRIUS.Should heav'n, yet unappeas'd, refuse its aid,Disperse our hopes, and frustrate our designs,Yet shall the conscience of the great attemptDiffuse a brightness on our future days;Nor will his country's groans reproach Demetrius.But how canst thou support the woes of exile?Canst thou forget hereditary splendours,To live obscure upon a foreign coast,Content with science, innocence, and love?
ASPASIA.Nor wealth, nor titles, make Aspasia's bliss.O'erwhelm'd and lost amidst the publick ruins,Unmov'd, I saw the glitt'ring trifles perish,And thought the petty dross beneath a sigh.Cheerful I follow to the rural cell;Love be my wealth, and my distinction virtue.
DEMETRIUS.Submissive, and prepar'd for each event,Now let us wait the last award of heav'n,Secure of happiness from flight or conquest;Nor fear the fair and learn'd can want protection.The mighty Tuscan courts the banish'd artsTo kind Italia's hospitable shades;There shall soft leisure wing th' excursive soul,And peace, propitious, smile on fond desire;There shall despotick eloquence resumeHer ancient empire o'er the yielding heart;There poetry shall tune her sacred voice,And wake from ignorance the western world.
CALI.At length th' unwilling sun resigns the worldTo silence and to rest. The hours of darkness,Propitious hours to stratagem and death,Pursue the last remains of ling'ring light.
DEMETRIUS.Count not these hours, as parts of vulgar time;Think them a sacred treasure lent by heaven,Which, squander'd by neglect, or fear, or folly,No prayer recalls, no diligence redeems.To-morrow's dawn shall see the Turkish kingStretch'd in the dust, or tow'ring on his throne;To-morrow's dawn shall see the mighty CaliThe sport of tyranny, or lord of nations.
CALI.Then waste no longer these important momentsIn soft endearments, and in gentle murmurs;Nor lose, in love, the patriot and the hero.
DEMETRIUS.'Tis love, combin'd with guilt alone, that meltsThe soften'd soul to cowardice and sloth;But virtuous passion prompts the great resolve,And fans the slumbering spark of heavenly fire.Retire, my fair; that pow'r that smiles on goodness,Guide all thy steps, calm ev'ry stormy thought,And still thy bosom with the voice of peace!
ASPASIA.Soon may we meet again, secure and free,To feel no more the pangs of separation! [Exit.
DEMETRIUS.This night alone is ours—Our mighty foe,No longer lost in am'rous solitude,Will now remount the slighted seat of empire,And show Irene to the shouting people:Aspasia left her, sighing in his arms,And list'ning to the pleasing tale of pow'r;With soften'd voice she dropp'd the faint refusal,Smiling consent she sat, and blushing love.
CALI.Now, tyrant, with satiety of beautyNow feast thine eyes; thine eyes, that ne'er hereafterShall dart their am'rous glances at the fair,Or glare on Cali with malignant beams.
LEONTIUS.Our bark, unseen, has reach'd th' appointed bay,And, where yon trees wave o'er the foaming surge,Reclines against the shore: our Grecian troopExtends its lines along the sandy beach,Elate with hope, and panting for a foe.
ABDALLA.The fav'ring winds assist the great design,Sport in our sails, and murmur o'er the deep.
CALI.'Tis well—A single blow completes our wishes;Return with speed, Leontius, to your charge;The Greeks, disorder'd by their leader's absence,May droop dismay'd, or kindle into madness.
LEONTIUS.Suspected still!—What villain's pois'nous tongueDares join Leontius' name with fear or falsehood?Have I for this preserv'd my guiltless bosom,Pure as the thoughts of infant innocence?Have I for this defy'd the chiefs of Turkey,Intrepid in the flaming front of war?
CALI.Hast thou not search'd my soul's profoundest thoughts?Is not the fate of Greece and Cali thine?
LEONTIUS.Why has thy choice then pointed out Leontius,Unfit to share this night's illustrious toils?To wait, remote from action, and from honour,An idle list'ner to the distant criesOf slaughter'd infidels, and clash of swords?Tell me the cause, that while thy name, Demetrius,Shall soar, triumphant on the wings of glory,Despis'd and curs'd, Leontius must descendThrough hissing ages, a proverbial coward,The tale of women, and the scorn of fools?
DEMETRIUS.Can brave Leontius be the slave of glory?Glory, the casual gift of thoughtless crowds!Glory, the bribe of avaricious virtue!Be but my country free, be thine the praise;I ask no witness, but attesting conscience,No records, but the records of the sky.
LEONTIUS.Wilt thou then head the troop upon the shore,While I destroy th' oppressor of mankind?
DEMETRIUS.What canst thou boast superiour to Demetrius?Ask, to whose sword the Greeks will trust their cause,My name shall echo through the shouting field:Demand, whose force yon Turkish heroes dread,The shudd'ring camp shall murmur out Demetrius.
CALIMust Greece, still wretched by her children's folly,For ever mourn their avarice or factions?Demetrius justly pleads a double title;The lover's int'rest aids the patriot's claim.
LEONTIUS.My pride shall ne'er protract my country's woes;Succeed, my friend, unenvied by Leontius.
DEMETRIUS.I feel new spirit shoot along my nerves;My soul expands to meet approaching freedom.Now hover o'er us, with propitious wings,Ye sacred shades of patriots and of martyrs!All ye, whose blood tyrannick rage effus'd,Or persecution drank, attend our call;I And from the mansions of perpetual peaceDescend, to sweeten labours, once your own!
CALI.Go then, and with united eloquenceConfirm your troops; and, when the moon's fair beamPlays on the quiv'ring waves, to guide our flight,Return, Demetrius, and be free for ever.[ExeuntDem.andLeon.
ABDALLA.How the new monarch, swell'd with airy rule,Looks down, contemptuous, from his fancy'd height,And utters fate, unmindful of Abdalla!
CALI.Far be such black ingratitude from Cali!When Asia's nations own me for their lord,Wealth, and command, and grandeur shall be thine!
ABDALLA.Is this the recompense reserv'd for me?Dar'st thou thus dally with Abdalla's passion?Henceforward, hope no more my slighted friendship;Wake from thy dream of power to death and tortures,And bid thy visionary throne farewell.
CALI.Name, and enjoy thy wish—
ABDALLA.I need not name it;Aspasia's lovers know but one desire,Nor hope, nor wish, nor live, but for Aspasia.
CALI.That fatal beauty, plighted to Demetrius,Heaven makes not mine to give.
ABDALLA.Nor to deny.
CALI.Obtain her, and possess; thou know'st thy rival.
ABDALLA.Too well I know him, since, on Thracia's plains,I felt the force of his tempestuous arm,And saw my scatter'd squadrons fly before him.Nor will I trust th' uncertain chance of combat;The rights of princes let the sword decide,The petty claims of empire and of honour:Revenge and subtle jealousy shall teachA surer passage to his hated heart.
CALI.Oh! spare the gallant Greek, in him we loseThe politician's arts, and hero's flame.
ABDALLA.When next we meet, before we storm the palace,The bowl shall circle to confirm our league;Then shall these juices taint Demetrius' draught,[Showing a phial.And stream, destructive, through his freezing veins:Thus shall he live to strike th' important blow,And perish, ere he taste the joys of conquest.
MAHOMET.Henceforth, for ever happy be this day,Sacred to love, to pleasure, and Irene!The matchless fair has bless'd me with compliance;Let every tongue resound Irene's praise,And spread the gen'ral transport through mankind.
CALI.Blest prince, for whom indulgent heav'n ordains,At once, the joys of paradise and empire,Now join thy people's and thy Cali's prayers;Suspend thy passage to the seats of bliss,Nor wish for houries in Irene's arms.
MAHOMET.Forbear—I know the long-try'd faith of Cali.
CALI.Oh! could the eyes of kings, like those of heav'n,Search to the dark recesses of the soul,Oft would they find ingratitude and treason,By smiles, and oaths, and praises, ill disguis'd.How rarely would they meet, in crowded courts,Fidelity so firm, so pure, as mine.
MUSTAPHA.Yet, ere we give our loosen'd thoughts to rapture,Let prudence obviate an impending danger:Tainted by sloth, the parent of sedition,The hungry janizary burns for plunder,And growls, in private, o'er his idle sabre.
MAHOMET.To still their murmurs, ere the twentieth sunShall shed his beams upon the bridal bed,I rouse to war, and conquer for Irene.Then shall the Rhodian mourn his sinking tow'rs,And Buda fall, and proud Vienna tremble;Then shall Venetia feel the Turkish pow'r,And subject seas roar round their queen in vain.
ABDALLA.Then seize fair Italy's delightful coast,To fix your standard in imperial Rome.
MAHOMET.Her sons malicious clemency shall spare,To form new legends, sanctify new crimes;To canonize the slaves of superstition,And fill the world with follies and impostures,Till angry heav'n shall mark them out for ruin,And war o'erwhelm them in their dream of vice.O! could her fabled saints and boasted prayersCall forth her ancient heroes to the field,How should I joy, midst the fierce shock of nations,To cross the tow'rings of an equal soul,And bid the master-genius rule the world!Abdalla, Cali, go—proclaim my purpose.[ExeuntCaliandAbdalla.
MAHOMET.Still Cali lives: and must he live to-morrow?That fawning villain's forc'd congratulationsWill cloud my triumphs, and pollute the day.
MUSTAPHA.With cautious vigilance, at my command,Two faithful captains, Hasan and Caraza,Pursue him through his labyrinths of treason,And wait your summons to report his conduct.
MAHOMET.Call them—but let them not prolong their tale,Nor press, too much, upon a lover's patience.[ExitMustapha.
Mahomet,Solus.
Whome'er the hope, still blasted, still renew'd,Of happiness lures on from toil to toil,Remember Mahomet, and cease thy labour.Behold him here, in love, in war, successful;Behold him, wretched in his double triumph!His fav'rite faithless, and his mistress base.Ambition only gave her to my arms,By reason not convinc'd, nor won by love.Ambition was her crime; but meaner follyDooms me to loathe, at once, and dote on falsehood,And idolize th' apostate I contemn.If thou art more than the gay dream of fancy,More than a pleasing sound, without a meaning,O happiness! sure thou art all Aspasia's.
MAHOMET.Caraza, speak—have ye remark'd the bassa?
CARAZA.Close, as we might unseen, we watch'd his steps:His hair disorder'd, and his gait unequal,Betray'd the wild emotions of his mind.Sudden he stops, and inward turns his eyes,Absorb'd in thought; then, starting from his trance,Constrains a sullen smile, and shoots away.With him Abdalla we beheld—
MUSTAPHA.Abdalla!
MAHOMET.He wears, of late, resentment on his brow,Deny'd the government of Servia's province.
CARAZA.We mark'd him storming in excess of fury,And heard, within the thicket that conceal'd us,An undistinguish'd sound of threat'ning rage.
MUSTAPHA.How guilt, once harbour'd in the conscious breast,Intimidates the brave, degrades the great;See Cali, dread of kings, and pride of armies,By treason levell'd with the dregs of men!Ere guilty fear depress'd the hoary chief,An angry murmur, a rebellious frown,Had stretch'd the fiery boaster in the grave.
MAHOMET.Shall monarchs fear to draw the sword of justice,Aw'd by the crowd, and by their slaves restrain'd?Seize him this night, and, through the private passage,Convey him to the prison's inmost depths,Reserv'd to all the pangs of tedious death.[ExeuntMahometandMustapha.
HASAN.Shall then the Greeks, unpunish'd and conceal'd,Contrive, perhaps, the ruin of our empire;League with our chiefs, and propagate sedition?
CARAZA.Whate'er their scheme, the bassa's death defeats it,And gratitude's strong ties restrain my tongue.
HASAN.What ties to slaves? what gratitude to foes?
CARAZA.In that black day, when slaughter'd thousands fellAround these fatal walls, the tide of warBore me victorious onward, where DemetriusTore, unresisted, from the giant handOf stern Sebalias, the triumphant crescent,And dash'd the might of Asam from the ramparts.There I became, nor blush to make it known,The captive of his sword. The coward Greeks,Enrag'd by wrongs, exulting with success,Doom'd me to die with all the Turkish captains;But brave Demetrius scorn'd the mean revenge,And gave me life.—
HASAN.Do thou repay the gift,Lest unrewarded mercy lose its charms.Profuse of wealth, or bounteous of success,When heav'n bestows the privilege to bless,Let no weak doubt the gen'rous hand restrain;For when was pow'r beneficent in vain? [Exeunt.
ASPASIA,sola.
In these dark moments of suspended fate,While yet the future fortune of my countryLies in the womb of providence conceal'd,And anxious angels wait the mighty birth;O! grant thy sacred influence, pow'rful virtue!Attentive rise, survey the fair creation,Till, conscious of th' encircling deity,Beyond the mists of care thy pinion tow'rs.This calm, these joys, dear innocence! are thine:Joys ill exchang'd for gold, and pride, and empire.
[EnterIreneand attendants.
ASPASIA, IRENEand attendants.
IRENE.See how the moon, through all th' unclouded sky,Spreads her mild radiance, and descending dewsRevive the languid flow'rs; thus nature shoneNew from the maker's hand, and fair array'dIn the bright colours of primeval spring;When purity, while fraud was yet unknown,Play'd fearless in th' inviolated shades.This elemental joy, this gen'ral calm,Is, sure, the smile of unoffended heav'n.Yet! why—
MAID.Behold, within th' embow'ring groveAspasia stands—
IRENE.With melancholy mien,Pensive, and envious of Irene's greatness.Steal, unperceiv'd, upon her meditationsBut see, the lofty maid, at our approach,Resumes th' imperious air of haughty virtue.Are these th' unceasing joys, th' unmingled pleasures,[ToAspasia.For which Aspasia scorn'd the Turkish crown?Is this th' unshaken confidence in heav'n?Is this the boasted bliss of conscious virtue?When did content sigh out her cares in secret?When did felicity repine in deserts?
ASPASIA.Ill suits with guilt the gaieties of triumph;When daring vice insults eternal justice,The ministers of wrath forget compassion,And snatch the flaming bolt with hasty hand.
IRENE.Forbear thy threats, proud prophetess of ill,Vers'd in the secret counsels of the sky.
ASPASIA.Forbear!—But thou art sunk beneath reproach;In vain affected raptures flush the cheek,And songs of pleasure warble from the tongue,When fear and anguish labour in the breast,And all within is darkness and confusion.Thus, on deceitful Etna's flow'ry side,Unfading verdure glads the roving eye;While secret flames, with unextinguish'd rage,Insatiate on her wasted entrails prey,And melt her treach'rous beauties into ruin.[EnterDemetrius.
DEMETRIUS.Fly, fly, my love! destruction rushes on us,The rack expects us, and the sword pursues.
ASPASIA.Is Greece deliver'd? is the tyrant fall'n?
DEMETRIUS.Greece is no more; the prosp'rous tyrant lives,Reserv'd for other lands, the scourge of heav'n.
ASPASIA.Say, by what fraud, what force, were you defeated?Betray'd by falsehood, or by crowds o'erborne?
DEMETRIUS.The pressing exigence forbids relation.Abdalla—
ASPASIA.Hated name! his jealous rageBroke out in perfidy—Oh! curs'd Aspasia,Born to complete the ruin of her country!Hide me, oh hide me from upbraiding Greece;Oh, hide me from myself!
DEMETRIUS.Be fruitless griefThe doom of guilt alone, nor dare to seizeThe breast, where virtue guards the throne of peace.Devolve, dear maid, thy sorrows on the wretch,Whose fear, or rage, or treachery, betray'd us!
IRENE.aside.A private station may discover more;Then let me rid them of Irene's presence;Proceed, and give a loose to love and treason.[Withdraws
ASPASIA.Yet tell.
DEMETRIUS.To tell or hear were waste of life.
ASPASIA.The life, which only this design supported,Were now well lost in hearing how you fail'd.
DEMETRIUS.Or meanly fraudulent or madly gay,Abdalla, while we waited near the palace,With ill tim'd mirth propos'd the bowl of love.Just as it reach'd my lips, a sudden cryUrg'd me to dash it to the ground, untouch'd,And seize my sword with disencumber'd hand.
ASPASIA.What cry? The stratagem? Did then Abdalla—
DEMETRIUS.At once a thousand passions fir'd his cheek!Then all is past, he cry'd—and darted from us;Nor, at the call of Cali, deign'd to turn.
ASPASIA.Why did you stay, deserted and betray'd?What more could force attempt, or art contrive?
DEMETRIUS.Amazement seiz'd us, and the hoary bassaStood, torpid in suspense; but soon AbdallaReturn'd with force that made resistance vain,And bade his new confed'rates seize the traitors.Cali, disarm'd, was borne away to death;Myself escap'd, or favour'd, or neglected.
ASPASIA.Oh Greece! renown'd for science and for wealth,Behold thy boasted honours snatch'd away.
DEMETRIUS.Though disappointment blast our general scheme,Yet much remains to hope. I shall not callThe day disastrous, that secures our flight;Nor think that effort lost, which rescues thee.[EnterAbdalla.
ABDALLA.At length, the prize is mine—The haughty maid,That bears the fate of empires in her air,Henceforth shall live for me; for me aloneShall plume her charms, and, with attentive watch,Steal from Abdalla's eye the sign to smile.