The Siege of Sinope A Tragedy |
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| 3. | SCENE III. |
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 | The Siege of Sinope |  |
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SCENE III.
THAMYRIS, ARTABANES, ORONTES, Priests and Virgins.ARTABANES.
Break off, break off, your inauspicious rites!
With heav'n the impious Athridates wars:
The Romans, foes profest of human kind,
Abet his perfidy. The king awhile
Retards his progress, but I fear in vain:
Sinope streams with blood. With festive songs,
Unarm'd, and crown'd with wreaths of peaceful olive,
Our unsuspecting warriors met his steps,
And rush'd on death: nor helpless infancy,
Nor trembling age escapes: on to the palace,
The murderer hews his way.
THAMYRIS.
Ha! to the palace!
Is my child safe! quick, answer—spare, oh spare
A parent's anguish.
ARTABANES.
By the king's command,
The valiant Gordias, with a chosen band,
Protects his innocence.
ORONTES.
Illustrious mourner!
Leave to the gods thy righteous cause; their power
Can strike the faulchion from th' uplifted arm,
And wither every nerve.
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O! didst thou know
A mother's fears—her agonizing terrors,
E'en when no danger threats! Alarm'd she hears
The rushing whirlwind in the zephyr's breath,
If absent from her offspring; let me fly
And clasp him to my bosom; there alone
My fears will think him safe.
| The Siege of Sinope | |