 | Themistocles |  |
90
SCENE VIII.
Enter Xerxes and Sebastes with a numerous attendance.Xer.
Go, call before us
The ambassador from Greece; he shall be heard.
[a guard goes out.
Sebastes, tell me, does Themistocles
Still hide him from my vengeance? Have I then
In vain held forth such hope of high reward?
Seb.
He cannot long be hid: too many snares
Are laid for him to escape them.
Xer.
While he lives
I cannot rest,—say, has he not beheld
The flight of Xerxes? Midst the unnumber'd ships,
With which oppress'd th' Ægean billows groan'd,
He knows, that chac'd by him, (O! shame to think!)
My life was trusted to a single bark,
Poor and defenceless; that, by thirst constrain'd,
I drank the scanty water, foul and putrid;
And prais'd with eager lips, the savoury draught:
And shall he live, who lives to boast of this?
O! no!—it ne'er shall be, and in my heart
The thought alone is madness.
[ascends the throne.
91
[aside to Them.]
Hear you this?
Them.
I do!
Neoc.
Then let us fly.
Them.
Peace, Neocles.
| Themistocles | |