Of all that's wretched, so to haste my end,
Would seem to most rather a willingness
To quit the burden of a hopeless life
Than scorn of death or duty to the dead.[126]
As an example of a high-spirited passage, a speech may be given from The Bondman. Cleora, the heroine, comes forward in a meeting of the Senate to urge patriotic effort on her fellow-countrymen. Timoleon, the general, is in the chair, and she addresses him first:
Cleora. If a virgin,
Whose speech was ever yet ushered with fear;
One knowing modesty and humble silence
To be the choicest ornaments of our sex
In the presence of so many reverend men,