_ SEBASTIAN _here stands
amazed without motion, his eyes fixed upward._
_Seb._ Look to the queen, my wife; for I am past
All power of aid to her, or to myself.
_Alv._ His wife! said he, his wife! O fatal sound!
For, had I known it, this unwelcome news
Had never reached their ears:
So they had still been blest in ignorance,
And I alone unhappy.
_Dor._ I knew it, but too late, and durst not speak.
_Seb._ [_Starting out of his amazement._]
I will not live, no not a moment more;
I will not add one moment more to incest;
I'll cut it off, and end a wretched being:
For, should I live, my soul's so little mine,
And so much hers, that I should still enjoy.--
Ye cruel powers,
Take me, as you have made me, miserable;
You cannot make me guilty; 'twas my fate,
And you made that, not I. [_Draws his Sword._ ANTONIO _and_ ALVAREZ
_lay hold on him, and_ DORAX _wrests the
Sword out of his hand._
_Ant._ For heaven's sake hold, and recollect your mind!
_Alv._ Consider whom you punish, and for what;
Yourself unjustly; you have charged the fault
On heaven, that best may bear it.
Though incest is indeed a deadly crime,
You are not guilty, since unknown 'twas done,
And, known, had been abhorred.
_Seb._ By heaven, you're traitors all, that hold my hands.
If death be but cessation of our thought,
Then let me die, for I would think no more.
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