 | Demophoon |  |
SCENE XIV.
Enter Mathusius in haste.Mat.
Dirce, fly,
Let us be gone.
Timan.
Dirce must not depart.
Mat.
And who forbids it?
Timan.
That shall I.
Mat.
Indeed!
Dir.
O Heaven!
Mat.
This sword shall guard a father's right.
[draws.
102
And this shall vindicate the rights I claim.
[draws.
Dir.
Ah! prince! what would'st thou do?—O hold, my father!
Mat.
Impious! to oppose me when I seek to save
A guiltless maid from cruel sacrifice.
Dir.
O Gods!
Timan.
But thus—
Dir.
O peace: I was deceiv'd;
All yet is secret—
[aside to Timanthes.
Mat.
Canst thou then desire
To see her perish?
Dir.
My unguarded terror
Had near betray'd me.
[aside.
Timan.
Pardon, sir, this rashness;
Appearance has misled me; I beheld
Thy angry gestures, saw her streaming tears,
I had no time for thought, but deem'd it piety
To save her from thy rage.
Mat.
Obstruct not therefore
Our purpos'd flight: if longer Dirce stays,
She must be made the victim.
Dir.
Heavenly powers!
Timan.
Has then her name been drawn?
Mat.
No, but thy father
Has most unjustly doom'd her guiltless life,
103
Timan.
Why should his anger kindle thus against thee?
Mat.
To punish me because I durst attempt
To exclude my daughter from the lots of death:
Because I durst produce his own example;
Because the struggles of a father's fears
Made me forget the subject.
Dir.
Mighty powers!
All has conspir'd to hasten my destruction.
Timan.
Doubt not, Mathusius: nor believe the king
Can prove so cruel; though his rage at first
Bears all before it, cooler reason soon
Succeeds and softens all.
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