University of Virginia Library

SCENE X.

Enter Ulysses.
Ach.
[meeting Ulys.]
And who art thou
That rashly hast presum'd to invade these seats
Of sacred privacy? What wouldst thou? Speak.
Speak, or this insolence—

Deid.
Pyrrha! forbear.

Ulys.
[aside.]
What stern demeanour in a female form!

Deid.
[aside to Ach.]
Didst thou not promise—

Ach.
[to her.]
True, my Deidamia:
I stand reprov'd.

Ulys.
Say, are not these the apartments
Of royal Lycomedes?

Deid.
Lycomedes
Resides not here.

Ulys.
If I, a stranger, err'd,
Forgive the intrusion.

[going.
Deid.
Yet vouchsafe a word:
What seek'st thou with the king?

Ulys.
From him the Greeks
Request a warlike aid of ships and men,
All Greece assembling with confederate arms
To avenge the general wrong.

Ach.
[aside.]
How happy those
Who quit the dwellings of enfeebling sloth
To join this host of heroes!

Deid.
[aside.]
See! already
His placid features change.

Ulys.
Behold a path
Is open'd now to every daring mind
That pants for valiant deeds: the vilest breast
Must catch the kindling sparks.

Ach.
[aside.]
And yet Achilles
Still loiters here!

Deid.
[aside.]
Such converse must not be:
I tremble at the danger— [to Ulys.]
Yonder way
Will lead thy steps to Lycomedes' presence.
Stranger, farewell—Come, Pyrrha, let us hence.

[going.
Ach.
[returning.]
Say, friend, what port receives the Grecian fleet
United for this glorious enterprize?

Deid.
[to Ach.]
Why, Pyrrha, this delay?

Ach.
Behold I follow—
O! tyrant, tyrant love!

[Exit with Deid.