University of Virginia Library

SCENE V.

Egysthus and Arsinoe.
EGYSTHUS.
Where is the queen? I thought she had been here.

ARSINOE.
She was, but has retir'd. She seem'd distrest.

EGYSTHUS.
Said she not when she would again return?

ARSINOE.
You then expected to have met her here?
Her mind, indeed, seem'd sore and ill at ease.
You have, Egysthus, ill requited her.
For me, whom Agamemnon has so oft,
While yet a tender infant, milk'd and nuzzled,
With greedy playfulness upon my breast,
'Twas fit that I should roughly treat her lapse.
But you, who have her love and bosom shared,
To slight her so, is base ingratitude.

EGYSTHUS.
Has she again had confidence in you?

ARSINOE.
Confidence! how! What greater confidence
Could she entrust, than her own life and yours?

EGYSTHUS.
But did she tell you when she would return?

ARSINOE.
O you have something then to say to her?

EGYSTHUS.
You are inquisitive, Arsinoe.

ARSINOE.
Not I, Egysthus; but you look perplext.

EGYSTHUS.
To-morrow, nurse, I have resolv'd to go.

ARSINOE.
That we had settled. Have you alter'd since?
What dream of safety can entice your stay?

EGYSTHUS.
The king has shown me kindness.—Have you heard?
He is a noble and a gracious master;
My heart is yearning to become his slave.
Would that I could, be any slave but this.—