University of Virginia Library

SCENE V.

Procles, Medon, Leonidas, Attendants.
Procles.
Hail glorious day! auspicious fortune hail!
From this triumphant hour my future life
Runs fair and smiling on, no cloud of ill
To shade its brightness. Medon, was it not
A wonderous chance?

Medon.
Beyond our hope, my Lord.
Yet tho' the danger's o'er, with awe and trembling
I still look back to the dread precipice
Where late you stood!

Procles.
'Tis true, he had well nigh
Surpriz'd me unprovided: but th'attempt
Is perish'd with its author. From on high
Heaven arm'd his winds and seas to fight for me:
And victory is mine without my care,
Almost without my knowledge. Yes the Gods,
The Gods themselves espouse my happy cause!
For this, let flowery garlands wreathe their shrines;
Let hecatombs before their altars bleed,
And triumph reign thro' Corinth.
[Attendants withdraw.
Is the Queen
Inform'd of all, Leonidas?

Leonidas.
She is.

Procles.
And she receiv'd the news—

Leonidas.
With sad surprise,
And many tears, my Lord.

Procles.
Just the fond sex.
Such their vain grief; a moment's passing storm,
Then all is calm. Be it thy farther care,
As the receding flood forsakes the shore,
To make strict search thro' all this coast around
For Periander's Corpse. I would methinks
A while indulge my eyes; a while peruse
The features of a rival once so fam'd,
So terrible in arms; whose partial fortune
Soar'd high above, and ever thwarted mine
In all the dearer aims that swell my thought,
Love and ambition.

Leonidas.
Mark this, righteous heaven!