Enter ZULEMA.
ZUL. Of five tall tow'rs which fortify this town,
All but th' Alhambra your dominion own.
| Now, therefore, boldly I confess a flame, | 460 |
In her possession I have my reward.
ALMANZ. She your reward! why, she's a gift so
great,
| That I myself have not deserved her yet; | 465 |
ZUL. What you deserve --
I'll not dispute because I do not know;
| This only I will say, she shall not go. | 470 |
ALMANZ. Thou, single, art not worth my answer- ing:
But take what friends, what armies thou canst
bring;
What worlds; and, when you are united all,
Then I will thunder in your ears: 'She shall!'
| ZUL. I'll not one tittle of my right resign. | 475 |
You swore our fortunes should together go.
ABDAL. The merits of the cause I'll not decide,
| But, like my love, I would my gift divide. | 480 |
ALMANZ. I have receded to the utmost line,
When, by my free consent, she is not mine:
Then let him equally recede with me, 485
And both of us will join to set her free.
ZUL. If you will free your part of her, you may;
But, sir, I love not your romantic way.
Dream on, enjoy her soul, and set that free;
| I'm pleased her person should be left for me. | 490 |
ALMANZ. Thou shalt not wish her thine; thou
shalt not dare
To be so impudent as to despair.
ZUL. The Zegrys, sir, are all concerned to see
How much their merit you neglect in me.
HAMET. Your slighting Zulema this very
| hour | 495 |
ALMANZ. What are ten thousand subjects such
as they?
If I am scorned -- I'll take myself away.
ABDAL. Since both cannot possess what both
pursue,
I grieve, my friend, the chance should fall on
you. 500
But when you hear what reasons I can urge -----
ALMANZ. None, none that your ingratitude can
purge.
Reason's a trick, when it no grant affords;
It stamps the face of majesty on words.
| ABDAL. Your boldness to your services I give: | 505 |
ALMANZ. To live!
If from thy hands alone my death can be,
I am immortal, and a god, to thee.
| If I would kill thee now, thy fate's so low, | 510 |
That all thy men,
Piled on thy back, can never pull it down.
| But at my ease thy destiny I send, | 515 |
And, not concurring to thy life, I kill.
Thou canst no title to my duty bring:
| I'm not thy subject, and my soul's thy king. | 520 |
I'll whistle thy tame fortune after me;
And whirl fate with me wheresoe'er I fly,
| As winds drive storms before 'em in the sky. | 525 |
Exit.
ZUL. Let not this insolent unpunished go;
Give your commands; your justice is too slow.
(ZULEMA, HAMET, and others are going after
him.)
ABDAL. Stay! and what part he pleases let him
take;
I know my throne's too strong for him to shake.
| But my fair mistress I too long forget: | 530 |
Empire a curse, and life itself a pain.
Exeunt.
BOABDELIN, ABENAMAR, Guards.
BOAB. Advise, or aid, but do not pity me;
No monarch born can fall to that degree.
Pity descends from kings to all below;
But can, no more than fountains, upward flow.
| Witness, just heav'n, my greatest grief has been, | 5 |
ABEN. I have too long th' effects of fortune
known,
Either to trust her smiles, or fear her frown.
Since in their first attempt you were not slain,
| Your safety bodes you yet a second reign. | 10 |
But, unopposed, they either lose their force,____________________
-24-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: British Dramatists from Dryden to Sheridan.
Contributors: George Henry Nettleton - Editor, Arthur Eillicot Case - Editor.
Publisher: Boston ; Houghton Mifflin company,..
Place of publication: Boston; New York.
Publication year: 1939.
Page number: 24.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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