University of Virginia Library

SCENE VII.

Ximenes, and Alonzo.
Ximenes.
Well; have you seen the worthy Garcilasso?
Much have I longed to hear again, Alonzo,
How Spain demeans herself in our new world.

Alonzo.
My Lord, in justice, first, to Garcilasso,
I am the messenger of his regret,
That illness, an effect of his long voyage,
On age oppressive, hath prevented him
From offering you, in person, his respects,
With all the early zeal of good allegiance,
And a full history of the modern Indies:
I grieve, my Lord, to bring you it's idea.

Ximenes.
What! does the cross, emblem of heavenly mercy,
Still march through blood?

Alonzo.
Their conduct is not milder:
Nay, it would seem, our soldiers, and their leaders,
By habit, grow more savage: well you know
The sad catastrophe of Montezuma;
The bloody laurels of the ruffian Cortez;
Soon you will learn the more inhuman fate
Of Atabalipa; indignant, learn
The more destructive carnage of Pizarro,
In fraud, and in barbarity, unrivalled.
To copy monstrous deeds, from their superiours,
Why need I add the aptness of the rabble;
Who torture, for their sport, the harmless Indians!

Ximenes.
Surely thou must remember, my Alonzo,
The annals, and the fate of brave Columbus;
And he was equally humane, and brave.
From Spanish cruelty, beyond the Atlantick,
And from his ill-requited services
(For Ferdinand was selfish, and capricious)
Severely he repented his discovery;
Of courts deceitful; of ungrateful man,
Took his last leave; and at Valladolid,
He pined, and sunk, to an untimely grave!
Surely the good man grieved, that he had opened
An avenue to rapine, and to murder.
As much I suffer, to have patronized
His great adventure. Vain, unhappy mortals!
Blind to the future; yet, for ever, eager,
When fancy plumes a specious enterprize,
With all her orient, but delusive colours!
How ardent was Columbus, and myself,
To find another hemisphere! If thus
The best ambition is on earth rewarded,
The worst must feel unutterable pain!

Alonzo.
Ill suits it me, to hint to Ximenes
A particle of wisdom; but, my Lord,
The consequences of a noble conduct
Are not in the performer's power; yet, surely,
The motives are his own; and to himself,
They fail not to condemn, or praise him.

Ximenes.
True;
But when I think on the calamities
Which I have partly caused to the poor Indians,
Who, even their foes acknowledge, are innoxious,
Calamities, for which, the warrant vouched,
Is our religion; the corrosive thought
Is second poison to my tottering age;
It tears my nerves; and presses down my heart!
—Ye rapid heroes! ye unwearied statesmen!
Ardent, and strenuous, to extend your empire,
And multiply your subjects! what results
Ensue? You, only, to a painful stretch,
Extend your mind, and multiply your cares!
But I lose time, with unavailing sorrow.
We'll go immediately to Garcilasso,
And plan some remedy to these distresses.
When publick misery calls on Ximenes;
To my last breath, I will forget my own.