 | Demophoon |  |
SCENE VI.
Timanthesalone.
Vast is the sacrifice I make to love:
To fly to poverty, to sink myself
Even to the humble state of private life:
To lose the crown and my paternal wealth:
But dearer are my wife and son than all.
Each other good has no intrinsic worth,
Opinion makes it great. The tender feelings
Of father, husband, have their sacred spring
In nature's self: these are not bred by custom,
Or early thoughts instill'd from infant years:
The seeds are in ourselves, are with us born.
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Perchance the king—behold the guards approach!
O no!—and yet I see the holy priests,
And with them one in snowy vesture clad.
But, ha! what do I see!—Almighty powers!
It is my wife!
| Demophoon | |