 | Irene |  |
SCENE I.
Cali, Abdalla.Cali enters with a discontented Air; to him enters Abdalla.
Cali.
Is this the fierce Conspirator Abdalla?
Is this the restless Diligence of Treason?
Where hast thou linger'd while th' encumber'd Hours
Fly lab'ring with the Fate of future Nations,
And hungry Slaughter scents Imperial Blood?
Abdalla.
Important Cares detain'd me from your Counsels.
Cali.
Some petty Passion! some domestick Trifle!
Some vain Amusement of a vacant Soul!
A weeping Wife perhaps, or dying Friend,
Hung on your Neck, and hinder'd your Departure.
Is this a Time for Softness or for Sorrow?
Unprofitable, peaceful, female Virtues!
When eager Vengeance shows a naked Foe,
And kind Ambition points the Way to Greatness.
Abdalla.
Must then Ambition's Votaries infringe
The Laws of Kindness, break the Bonds of Nature?
And quit the Names of Brother, Friend, and Father?
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This sov'reign Passion, scornful of Restraint,
Ev'n from the Birth affects supreme Command,
Swells in the Breast, and with resistless Force,
O'erbears each gentler Motion of the Mind.
As when a Deluge overspreads the Plains,
The wand'ring Rivulet, and silver Lake,
Mix undistinguish'd with the gen'ral Roar.
Abdalla.
Yet can Ambition in Abdalla's Breast
Claim but the second Place: there mighty Love
Has fix'd his Hopes, Inquietudes, and Fears,
His glowing Wishes, and his jealous Pangs.
Cali.
Love is indeed the Privilege of Youth;
Yet, on a Day like this, when Expectation
Pants for the dread Event—But let us reason—
Abdalla.
Hast thou grown old amidst the Croud of Courts,
And turn'd th' instructive Page of Human Life,
To cant, at last, of Reason to a Lover?
Such ill-tim'd Gravity, such serious Folly,
Might well befit the solitary Student,
Th' unpractis'd Dervise, or sequester'd Faquir.
Know'st thou not yet, when Love invades the Soul,
That all her Faculties receive his Chains?
That Reason gives her Scepter to his Hand,
Or only struggles to be more enslav'd?
Aspasia! who can look upon thy Beauties?
Who hear thee speak, and not abandon Reason?
Reason! the hoary Dotard's dull Directress,
That loses all because she hazards nothing:
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The Rocks of Life, for ever flies the Port.
Cali.
But why this sudden Warmth?
Abdalla.
Because I love:
Because my slighted Passion burns in vain!
Why roars the Lioness distress'd by Hunger?
Why foam the swelling Waves when Tempests rise?
Why shakes the Ground, when subterraneous Fires
Fierce through the bursting Caverns rend their Way?
Cali.
Not till this Day thou saw'st this fatal Fair;
Did ever Passion make so swift a Progress?
Once more reflect, suppress this infant Folly.
Abdalla.
Gross Fires, enkindled by a Mortal Hand,
Spread by Degrees, and dread th' oppressing Stream;
The subtler Flames emitted from the Sky,
Flash out at once, with Strength above Resistance.
Cali.
How did Aspasia welcome your Address?
Did you proclaim this unexpected Conquest?
Or pay with speaking Eyes a Lover's Homage?
Abdalla.
Confounded, aw'd, and lost in Admiration,
I gaz'd, I trembled; but I could not speak:
When ev'n as Love was breaking off from Wonder,
And tender Accents quiver'd on my Lips,
She mark'd my sparkling Eyes, and heaving Breast,
And smiling, conscious of her Charms, withdrew.
Enter Demetrius and Leontius.
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Now be some Moments Master of thyself,
Nor let Demetrius know thee for a Rival.
Hence! or be calm—To disagree is Ruin.
| Irene | |