_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; [_Aside._
For something I observed creates a doubt. [_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?
Now in your greatest, last extremity,
When I would aid you most, and most desire it,
I bring but sighs, the succours of a slave.
_Alm.
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