 | Almida |  |
SCENE I.
Almida alone.ALMIDA.
Whither uncertain did I bend my steps?
Whence is this shivering? can it be remorse?
Remorse for what? 'tis only guilt should know it.
Sophia speak, am I in all obey'd?
[to Sophia, who enters.
SOPHIA.
The slave is gone, and with him bears your letter.
ALMIDA.
The secret of my life is in his hands;
I know his zeal, and ever found him trusty:
“Thus chance will have it so, we sometimes owe
“Our all to those, whom fate has placed the lowest.
This faithful slave, tho' born in Syracuse,
Springs from a race of Saracens; and knows
The laws and languages of either nation,
And every various path of Etna's mountains.
Grant him kind Gods with steps unmark'd to pass
Yon hostile camp. To him I owe the notice
Of Tancred's private voyage to Sicilia.
As yet, by some cross accident prevented,
Oft has he tried in vain to reach his presence.
What varied sorrows! Fate at last is weary;
Thus to pursue, to keep us thus asunder.
My note, in secret trusted to the Moor,
Shall reach Messina ere to-morrow dawn.
SOPHIA.
The step is perilous. But Tancred's name
Is not once mention'd in your cautious letter;
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You wisely ne'er indulg'd it to your pen;
Thus should your letter by the Saracens
Be stopt or read, 'twou'd be of no importance;
Never was love with prudence more united,
Or bolder without rashness; yet my breast,
I know not why, is full of apprehension.
ALMIDA.
Heaven sends me Tancred, wouldst thou have me fear?
SOPHIA.
Yet I could wish that its protecting goodness
Had in some happier spot decreed your meeting.
Brave as he is, can Tancred singly stem
Oppression's tide? Ah! what will here support him
Against the rage of foes combin'd?
ALMIDA.
His glory!
SOPHIA.
His rival's pow'r is great.
ALMIDA.
Dismiss thy fears,
Lest they infect me too. Hast thou forgot
My mother dying, join'd our willing hands?
Tancred is mine, nor is there ought on earth,
Has pow'r or right my sentiments to change.
How oft did we regret this fatal island!
In Cæsar's court, beneath the smile of love
To these sad shores, which now my soul abhors,
With vain desire we turn'd our longing eyes!
Ah! little did I think my cruel fate
Had doom'd me wife to Tancred's deadliest foe.
'Tis right at least, that he should know this outrage,
And learn from me, his loss, and my curst fate.
O that my power was equal to my wish!
I love my father, and respect his age;
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Against this Orbassan, who thus enslaves us:
“Envious and base, dares he pretend my hand?
“And must I tamely bear it, meanly yield?
Where, Syracusa, is thy vaunted freedom,
Thy pompous boast of hating tyranny?
Can there be tyrants, more accurst, more odious,
Than those who lord it o'er the free-born mind,
And bid us hate, and love, at their command!
SOHPIA.
This very day I hear a dreadful edict
Is by the senate issued against Tancred;
And death attends whoever dares infringe it.
ALMIDA.
At first, Sophia, I with trembling heard it,
But generous love inspires the manly purpose,
The firm design. My soul adores in Tancred,
A hero's worth, and emulates his virtues.
SOPHIA.
This law severe seems meant to awe the people.
Its horrid purpose points not sure at you.
ALMIDA.
It points at Tancred. Barbarous and unjust,
This jealous law is worthy of our masters.
It was not thus that his brave ancestors
Reign'd in the hearts of those their valour conquer'd.
They won by force, then triumph'd by their mercy.
How different now! a stern suspicious senate,
Where black distrust, and timid councils reign!
Weak, proud, and stormy, by the people hated,
Would fright us to submission. Ah! Sophia,
Perhaps I err; for love with all its train,
Of mingled fears and wishes, rules my bosom;
My soul is full of Tancred; far from him
Joyless I live, and tread an empty world.
| Almida | |