University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

Opens and discovers the Spaniards chained to the Floor.
Odm.
Ha, Spaniards, ye lie low indeed!

Vasq.
I think,
The imperial prince of Mexico?

Odm.
Yes, Vasquez—
I come, the messenger of instant fate,
For death or liberty!

Vasq.
Unfold your purpose.

Odm.
You are the foes of Mexico; but Mexico
Is not the friend of Odmar.

Vasq.
Can it be?

Odm.
Yes—my brother, the redoubted Guyomar,
The boy, whose nightly treason caught ye all,
As in one covey—he is, now, the sole
Renown'd of Mexico, the one ordain'd
To love and empire?—Odmar is an outcast!—
And, hark!—for you, the victims of his glory,
Even now the bloody priesthood whet their knives,
And deck their morning altars.
[The Spaniards break out in deep lamentations.
Shame on your dastard groans!—What would ye do
For him, who should strike off your groveling chains,
Snatch ye from sudden death, and give ye up
To light and life, to worlds of endless gold,
And everlasting glory?

Vasq.
Speak, command—
We execute!—

Odm.
I claim no harsh conditions.
First, for the imperial crowns of Mexico
And of Traxalla, they are mine by right
Of heritage and conquest—these ye swear
To confirm to me.

All.
We swear.

Odm.
Lastly, to save my aged father's life,
And my young sister's honour.

All.
We swear!

Odm.
These terms, upon your parts observed, I gage
To freight, and fill your copious vessels up,
With Indian gold and pearl, and gems of price,
Till ye cry, Hold, they sink!

Vasq.
O, bounteous prince!—
All hail to royal Odmar, mighty emperor
Of the new world!

Span.
Mighty emperor of the new world,
All hail!

Odm.
Thanks, valiant friends!—I loose ye now,
To war, to conquest—to the waste of nations,
To the rich spoil of Mexico.—Away!

[As he unbinds some, they help to unbind the rest.
[Exeunt.