Elvira A Tragedy |
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| 4. | SCENE IV. |
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 | Elvira |  |
47
SCENE IV.
ALONZO, DON PEDRO.ALONZO.
The council, Prince,
Is now assembling. Your own breast must tell you
Th'inevitable sentence it will pass:
And when your fury plung'd you into guilt,
You on yourself pronounc'd it. Yet there is,
There still remains one door of mercy open:
Take warning then in time. Your prompt obedience,
To me a son, to you restores a father.
Fulfill the treaty, wed that virtuous Princess:
You live on these conditions. These refus'd—
I may be wretched—but your doom is past!
DON PEDRO.
Then—know your Son, with all his failings on him.
My Soul, like yours, thus guilty as I am,
Beholds, unmov'd, the nearest face of danger:
And you would blush, would deeply blush for both,
If fear or force debas'd me to submission.
What love and reverence, to a parent due,
Could not persuade, no tortures can obtain.
ALONZO.
Thou Cruel! why, deserving all my hate,
Preserve this greatness, that but more embitters
The grief I feel already? Shew me rather
A mortal enemy, a Son ingrate
Prepar'd to strike his parricidal knife
Deep thro my heart. Reduc'd to wish thy death,
Let me behold it too—without despair!
DON PEDRO.
I have deserv'd to die.
ALONZO.
My pity still
Would bid thee live.
DON PEDRO.
What must I do?
48
Obey!
DON PEDRO.
Then all is o'er. It cannot be.
ALONZO.
Retire—
A tear would follow—but I blot it out.
| Elvira | |