 | Gustavus Vasa, The Deliverer of his Country |  |
SCENE V.
Arvida entering speaks to a Soldier.Arv.
He's here—bear back my Orders to your Fellows
That not a Man, on Peril of his Life,
Advance in Sight 'till call'd.
Sold.
My Lord, I will—
Arv.
Have I not vow'd it, faithless as he is,
Have I not vow'd his Fall? Yet, good Heav'n!
Why start these sudden Tears? On, on I must,
For I am half way down the dizzy Steep,
Where my Brain turns—A Draught of Lethe now—
O that the World wou'd sleep—to wake no more!
Or that the Name of Friendship bore no Charm
To make my Nerve unsteady, and this Steel
Flee backward from its Task!—It shall be done.—
41
Start back with Horror of the direful Stroke,
It shall be done. Calm, calm the Hell within,
Thy Looks may else turn Traitors—Ha, he comes!
How steadily he looks, as Heav'n's own Book,
The Leaf of Truth, were open'd on his Aspect.
Up, up, dark Minister—his Fate call out
[Puts up the Dagger.
To nobler Execution; for he comes
In Opposition, singly, Man to Man,
As tho' he brav'd my Wish.
| Gustavus Vasa, The Deliverer of his Country | |