University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

Another Apartment. Enter Orontes and Zopyrus.
Zop.
Compose yourself, my lord.

Oro.
Zopyrus, never—
Was it for this I deem'd his absence near,
And now behold him with Orontes join'd
In glory's list—nay more, by partial fortune
Declar'd Bithynia's champion! Should he fall,
He leaves a name in arms to cope with mine!—
But should he conquer! Hell is in that thought?
Who knows, Zopyrus!—whither may the king's
Too partial views incline?—The kingdom freed
From such a foe—Polemon's death reveng'd—
He may, perhaps, forget—The crown, Zopyrus,
That mistress of my soul, to which ambition
Points every aim, may grace a stranger's brow!

Zop.
What says Orontes?

Oro.
This right arm might reach
His life—but policy forbids my hatred
To blaze abroad—The many blindly dote
On him they scarcely know—Zopyrus, speak,
Art thou my friend?

Zop.
Hold—let me think—Orontes
Bears not the coward's scruples—there is yet
Perhaps a way—

Oro.
Pause not, but speak—

Zop.
'Tis here—
Arsetes must not live—Give but the word,
He dies, and dies ere he can meet Pharnaces!

Oro.
But how?

Zop.
Thou know'st that I command the guard
To escort Arsetes from the fane of Mars
To meet Pharnaces; from a desperate band,
The power of gold, and vast reward, shall single
A chosen few, that at a signal given
Shall rid your soul of every fear in him:
And more, to blind suspicion's eye, their arms,
Their vests shall seem of Pontus' troops: the deed
Effected once, the ensuing fight shall see
These tools of our great enterprize expos'd
Full in the front of slaughter, that in heat
Of onset they may fall, and in their fall
Mock all discovery.

Oro.
Come to my breast!
By Heaven it ripens well—Then, when he's dead,
We lead the troops to well-feign'd vengeance!—Say,
Where lies the force of Pontus?

Zop.
Station'd near
Bithynia's bounds, that thrice an arrow's flight
May reach their outmost guard.

Oro.
Now, hated rival!
Now triumph for a moment—My revenge
Prepares such greeting, never more thy deeds
Shall shine to vulgar eyes—on proud Arsetes
Death soon shall close his everlasting gate,
While life to me displays the glorious path
That leads the daring mind to fame and empire.

[Exeunt.