--He died in fight;
Fought next my person; as in concert fought;
Kept pace for pace, and blow for every blow;
Save when he heaved his shield in my defence,
And on his naked side received my wound.
Then, when he could no more, he fell at once;
But rolled his falling body cross their way,
And made a bulwark of it for his prince.
_Dor._ I never can forgive him such a death!
_Seb._ I prophesied thy proud soul could not bear it.--
Now, judge thyself, who best deserved my love?
I knew you both; and (durst I say) as heaven
Foreknew, among the shining angel host,
Who would stand firm, who fall.
_Dor._ Had he been tempted so, so had he fallen;
And so had I been favoured, had I stood.
_Seb._ What had been, is unknown; what is, appears.
Confess, he justly was preferred to thee.
_Dor._ Had I been born with his indulgent stars,
My fortune had been his, and his been mine.--
O worse than hell! what glory have I lost,
And what has he acquired, by such a death!
I should have fallen by Sebastian's side,
My corps had been the bulwark of my king.
His glorious end was a patched work of fate,
Ill sorted with a soft effeminate life;
It suited better with my life than his,
So to have died: Mine had been of a piece,
Spent in your service, dying at your feet.
_Seb._ The more effeminate and soft his life,
The more his fame, to struggle to the field,
And meet his glorious fate.
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