 | The Olympiad |  |
103
SCENE X.
Megacles.alone.
Ye gracious powers! What tidings have I heard?
What unexpected stroke is fallen upon me!
Shall she I love become another's right,
And I resign her to my rival's arms?
But, O! that rival is my dearest friend!
How strangely for my torment fate unites
Two names so opposite! Yet sure the laws
Of friendship never can exact so much;
Forgive me, prince, I am a lover too.
To ask me to resign my Aristea,
Is but to ask my life—And does not then
This life belong to Lycidas who sav'd it?
Do I not breathe through him? and canst thou doubt,
Ungrateful Megacles! Should Aristea
E'er know thee thus forgetful of thy friendship,
Even she might justly hate thee. Never, never
Shall she be witness to this change—the laws
Of faith and amity alone I'll hear,
Of gratitude and honour. All I dread
Is to behold her; let me shun th' encounter;
How shall I meet her sight! To think of it,
My heart beats quick, cold sweats bedew my face,
I tremble,—I am lost!—I cannot bear it.
| The Olympiad | |