Bajazet Yes, I have promised, and my word is pledged Ne'er to forget all that to you I owe: Have I not sworn that constant care and kindness Shall duly pay my debt of gratitude? If on these terms your favor I may claim, I go to wait the harvest of your bounty. [Exit. Roxana Heavens! What amazement strikes me at this moment! Atalide- Atalide Is it a dream? and have mine eyes deceived me? What mean these frigid words, this sombre greeting, I banished my resentment, and restored him To favor? He, methought, swore that his heart To me? He loves you always. He seemed to me the same as when he entered. That on the eve of such important issues He should be troubled, and some signs escape him Of anxious thoughts that on his mind intrude? Roxana - Such plausible excuses do you credit Atalide Roxana For skill that pleads on his behalf more fairly What other cause Enough! I read your motive, madam, better Alone a little while. I too am troubled, Wherefore this change, those words, that quick departure? Were they not both struck with embarrassment? But yet, too ready to torment myself, He could have feigned at least a moment longer. Be dreaded as my rival? What has he To thank her for? To which of us to-day But too well I know Love is a tyrant; and if other charms But some one comes to speak with me. What can she want? Enter Fatima Forgive me this intrusion: Roxana - But there is come a courier from the army; And though the seaward gate was shut, the guards, On bended knees, without delay unlocked it To orders from the Sultan, to yourself Addressed, and strange to say, 'tis Orcan brings them. Yes, he; of all the Sultan's slaves Roxana I thought it best to give you timely notice, I must resolve this fatal doubt, nor let The precious moments pass. Love, when most cautious, I will watch Bajazet and Atalide: Then crown the lover, or destroy the traitor. Translation of R. B. Boswell. THE APPEAL OF ANDROMACHE From Andromaque Scene: The palace of Pyrrhus, at Buthrotum in Epirus. Present: Andromache, Hermione, Cleone, Cephissa. NDROMACHE [to Hermione] A Why fly you, madam? Is it not a sight XXI-753 To please you, Hector's widow at your knees, I come, nor do I envy you the heart Hermione Andromache To succor her. O'er Pyrrhus you have power As I had then o'er Hector. Can they dread The infant he has left? In some far distant isle. Him let me hide And they may trust I feel for you, but duty holds How scornfully did she refuse my prayer! Cephissa- Accept her counsel. See him, as she says; One look of yours may Greece and her confoundBut look, he seeks you of his own accord. Pyrrhus [to Phoenix] Enter Pyrrhus and Phoenix Where is the princess? Said you not that she Andromache [throwing herself at his feet] – Pyrrhus- Pyrrhus Andromache Pyrrhus Andromache Stop, sire. What will you do? Phoenix knows my word is pledged. No dangers were too great for you to brave Blind then, I now can see. Full well you understood, my lord, No, in your secret soul You would have loved him less, had he been saved Cephissa Madam I will go where Hector's gone. What further can I say to him? The author of my woes, he knows them all. [To Pyrrhus]— See to what state you have reduced me, sire! I've seen my father slain, our walls enwrapt In flames, and all our family cut off, My husband's bloody corpse dragged through the dust, For his sake I endure to live a slave. Yea, more, this thought has sometimes brought relief,— |