To sway his empire with unequal skill, And mount a throne which none but he can fill.

ARIMANT. Oh, had he still that character maintained,

80

Of valor which, in blooming youth, he gained! He promised in his east a glorious race; Now, sunk from his meridian, sets apace. But as the sun when he from noon declines, And, with abated heat, less fiercely shines, Seems to grow milder as he goes away, Pleasing himself with the remains of day; 85 So he who, in his youth, for glory strove, Would recompense his age with ease and love. ASAPH. The name of father hateful to him grows,

Which, for one son, produces him three foes.

FAZEL. Darah, the eldest, bears a generous mind,

But to implacable revenge inclined

90

Too openly does love and hatred show;
A bounteous master, but a deadly foe.
SOLYMAN. From Sujah's valor I should
much expect,

95

But he's a bigot of the Persian sect;
And by a foreign interest seeks to reign,
Hopeless by love the sceptre to obtain.
ASAPH. Morat's too insolent, too much a
brave;

His courage to his envy is a slave.
What he attempts, if his endeavors fail 100
T'effect, he is resolved no other shall.

ARIMANT. But Aureng-Zebe, by no strong passion swayed

Except his love, more temperate is and weighed.

This Atlas must our sinking state uphold;
In council cool, but in performance bold. 105
He sums their virtues in himself alone,
And adds the greatest, of a loyal son:
His father's cause upon his sword he wears,
And with his arms, we hope, his fortune
bears.

SOLYMAN. To vast rewards may well his

Nor call rebellion what was prudent care
To guard himself by necessary war.
While he believed you living, he obeyed;
His governments but as your viceroy swayed;
But when he thought you gone
145

ARIMANT. Whom with your power and

fortune, sir, you trust,

Now to suspect is vain, as 'tis unjust.

215

He comes not with a train to move your fear,

But trusts himself to be a pris'ner here. You knew him brave, you know him faithful

now:

Thou shouldst have pulled the secret from my breast,

Torn out the bearded1 steel, to give me rest;
At least, thou shouldst have guessed-
Yet thou art honest, thou couldst ne'er have
guessed.

250 Hast thou been never base? did love ne'er bend

220

Flatter me, make thy court, and say, "It did."

Kings in a crowd would have their vices hid.

We would be kept in count'nance, saved from shame,

255

In the calm harbor of whose gentle breast,
My tempest-beaten soul may safely rest.
O my heart's joy! whate'er my sorrows be,
They cease and vanish in beholding thee!
Care shuns thy walks; as at the cheerful
light,

The groaning ghosts and birds obscene take flight.

360 By this one view, all my past pains are paid, And all I have to come, more easy made. INDAMORA. Such sullen planets at my birth did shine,

They threaten every fortune mixed with mine.

Fly the pursuit of my disastrous love, 365 And from unhappy neighborhood remove!

AURENG-ZEBE. Bid the laborious hind, Whose hardened hands did long in tillage toil,

Neglect the promised harvest of the soil.
Should I, who cultivated love with blood,
Refuse possession of approaching good? 371
INDAMORA. Love is an airy good, opinion
makes;

Which he who only thinks he has, partakes:
Seen by a strong imagination's beam,
That tricks and dresses up the gaudy dream:
Presented so, with rapture 'tis enjoyed; 376
Raised by high fancy, and by low destroyed.
AURENG-ZEBE. If love be vision, mine has
all the fire

Which, in first dreams, young prophets does inspire.

But you have still your happiness in doubt;
Or else 'tis past, and you have dreamt it out.
INDAMORA. Perhaps not so.
AURENG-ZEBE. Can Indamora prove

So altered? Is it but perhaps you love? 385
Then farewell all! I thought in you to find,
A balm to cure my much distempered mind.
I came to grieve a father's heart estranged,
But little thought to find a mistress changed.
Nature herself is changed to punish me; 390
Virtue turned vice, and faith, inconstancy.

INDAMORA. You heard me not inconstancy confess;

'Twas but a friend's advice to love me less. Who knows what adverse fortune may be

Your silence argues you ask time to feign. Once more, farewell!-The snare in sight is laid; 416

'Tis my own fault if I am now betrayed. (Going again)