Are lodg'd within your call: th' appointed fignal,
If danger threatens, brings them to your rescue.
In the hall beneath your chamber :
Memnon alone is wanting; he's providing
For your escape before the morning dawn:
The rest in visors, fearing to be known,
Have ventur'd thro' the streets for your protection.
MANDANE.
Aufpicious turn! then I again am happy.
Aufpicious turn indeed! and what compleats
The happiness, the base man that betray'd us
This arm laid low: I watch'd him from the king
I took him warm, while he, with lifted brow,
Confefs'd high thought, and triumph'd in his mien :
I thank'd him with my dagger in his heart.
'Tis late; refresh yourself with sleep, Mandane.
[Exit Mandane.
So, 'tis refolv'd, if Myron dares attempt
So black a crime, it justifies the blow:
He dies; and my poor brother's ghost shall smile.
This way he bends his steps: I hate his fight;
And fhall till death has made it lovely to me. [Exit.
O how this paffion, like a whirlpool, drives me,
With giddy, rapid motion, round and round,
I know not where, and draws in all my foul!
1 reafon much; but reason about her;
And where she is, all reason dies before her;
And arguments but tell me I am conquer'd.
So black the night, as if no star e'er shone
In all the wide expanse; the light'ning's flash
But shews the darkness; and the bursting clouds
With peals of thunder feem to rock the land:
Not beafts of prey dare now from shelter roam,
But howl in dens, and make the foreft groan.
What then am I? A monfter, yet more fell,
Than haunts the wilds ?-I am, and threaten more:
My breast is darker than this dreadful night,
And feels a fiercer tempeft rage within.-
I must-I will-This leads me to her chamber-
Did not the raven croak?
By heav'n, methinks earth trembles under me.-
Awake, ye furies, you are wanting to me;
O finish me in ill; Ọ take me whole;
Or gods confirm me good, without allay,
Nor leave me thus at variance with myself;
Let me not thus be dafh'd from fide to fide-
The old man wept at parting, kneel'd before me,
Confided in me, gave her to my care,
Nor long fince fav'd my life-And doubt I ftill?
I'm guilty of the fact; here let me lie,
And rather groan for ever in the duft,
And float the marble pavement with my tears,
Than rife into a monster..
MANDANE, paffing at a distance, speaks to a fervant.
To feal our vows; the holy priest is with him:
Watch to receive them at the western gate,
And privately conduct them to my chamber.
MYRON. [Starting up.]
O torment! racks! and flames! then she expects him
With open arms! Am I caft out for ever;
For ever must despair, unless I fnatch
The prefent moment? She is all prepar'd;
Her wishes waking, and her heart on fire!
That pow'rful thought sweeps heav'n and hell before it,
And lays all open to the prince of Egypt;
Born to enjoy whatever he defires,
And fling fear, anguish, and remorfe, behind him,
I fee her midnight dress, her flowing hair,
Her flaçken'd bofom, her relenting mien,
All the forbidding forms of day flung off
For yielding softness-O I'm all confufion!
I fhiver in each joint! Ah! fhe was made
To justify the blackest crimes, and gild
Ruin and death with her deftructive charms.
AULETES.
Thou villain but to think it.
No; I'll folicit her with all my pow'r;
Conqueft and crowns shall sparkle in her fight:
If she confent, thy prince is blefs'd indeed,
Takes wings, and tow'rs above mortality;
If the refift, I put an end to pain,
And lay my breathless body at her feet.
MANDANE, paffing at a distance to her chamber, MYRON
Is this well done, my lord?
Before you hear me: Let this posture tell you,
I'm not fo guilty as perhaps your fears,
Your commendable, modest fears, suspect:
Nay, do not go; you know not what you
I wou'd receive a favour, not constrain it;
Return, or good Nicanor, beft of fathers,
Shall charge you with the murder of his friend.
And yet perfift! Were you his mortal foe,
What could your malice more?
I know my fault; I know your virtue too;
But fuch the violence of my disorder,
That I dare tempt e'en you: Methinks that guilt
Has fomething lovely which proclaims your pow'r-
But touch me with your hand, I die with blifs.
Why fwells your eye? By heav'n, I'd rather fee
All nature mourn, than you let fall a tear.
I own I'm mad; but I am mad of love:
You can't condemn me more, than I myself;
In that we are agreed; Agree in all.
Condemn, but pity me; refent, but yield;
For, O, I burn, I rave, I die, with love!
Nay, do not weep fo; it will kill me :
This moment, while I speak, my eyes are darken'd ;
I cannot fee thee; and my trembling limbs
Refuse to bear their weight; all left of life
Is that I love: If love was in our pow'r,
The fault were mine; fince not, you must comply.
How godlike to bestow more heav'nly joys
Than you can think, and I support, and live!
MANDANE.
O, how can you abufe your facred reafon,
That particle of heav'n, that foul of Jove,
To varnish o'er, and paint, fo black a crime!
O prince!
What fays Mandane?
MANDANE.
My bursting fighs, and ever-ftreaming tears,
Your noble nature has with pity feen
But would they not work deeper in your foul,
Were you convinc'd my forrows flow for you?
For you, my lord, they flow; for I am fafe
(I know you are furpriz'd): They flow for you;
Myron, my father's friend, my prince, my guest-
Myron, my guardian god, attempts my peace,
And need I further reafon for these tears?
Nature affords no object of concern
So great, as to behold a gen'rous mind
Driv'n by a fudden gust, and dash'd on guilt-
'Tis bafe; you ought not: 'Tis impracticable;
You cannot-Make neceffity your choice;
Nor let one moment of defeated guilt,
Of fruitless baseness, overthrow the glory
Your whole illuftrious life has dearly bought,
In toilfome marches, and in fields of blood,
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