University of Virginia Library

SCENE IV.

Ximenes, and Alonzo.
Ximenes.
Alonzo, go to Audley, and Randolfo,
The Florentine, and Briton, and acquaint them,
That, for awhile, I wish to have their converse.

Alonzo.
With expedition I'll obey the order.
[Exit. Alonzo.

Ximenes,
alone.
No task more grateful to a generous mind
Than to suppress, and mortify the pride
That flows not from a consciousness of merit,
But from a sense of accidental power
O'er others, and an ardour to pervert it
To our own use; our mean, and selfish nature
Is not deformed with a worse lineament.
To hold a proper language to those rebels,
My poor remains of strength almost exhausted.
I feel that my good acts must now be crouded:
Time presses; and my tide of life is ebbing
Extremely fast; then, let it, like the Nile,
Leave fruitful tracts behind it.

[Alonzo introduces Audley, and Randolfo, and retires.