Er. Alas, what will you do?
Alcip. Preserve thy Soul, if thou hast any sense Of future Joys, after this vile damn’d Action.
Er. Ah, what have I done?
Alcip. That which if I should let thee live, Erminia,
Would never suffer thee to look abroad again.
—Thou’st made thy self and me—
Oh, I dare not name the Monsters.—
But I’ll destroy them while the Gods look down,
And smile upon my Justice.
[He strangles her with a Garter, which he snatches from his Leg, or smothers her with a pillow.
Er. Hold, hold, and hear my Vows of Innocence.
Alcip. Let me be damn’d as thou art, if I do;
[Throws her on a Bed, he sits down in a Chair.
—So now, my Heart, I have redeem’d thee nobly,
Sit down and pause a while—
But why so still and tame, is one poor Murder
Enough to satisfy thy storm of Passion?
If it were just, it ought not here to end;
—If not—I’ve done too much—
[One knocks, he rises after a little pause, and opens the door; enter Page.
Page. My Lord, Pisaro—
Alcip. Pisaro,—Oh, that Name has wakened me, A Name till now had never Terror in’t! —I will not speak with him.