And stand with my drawn sword before my heart. Yes, you shall be obeyed, though I am loth;— Go, and while I can bid you, bind them both; Go, bind them ere my fit of love return; Fire shall quench fire, and anger love shall burn. Thus I prevent those follies I should do; And 'tis the nobler fever of the two.
Fel. Torn piece by piece! alas, what horrid pains!
S. Cath. Heaven is all mercy, who that death ordains; And that, which heaven thinks best, is surely so: But bare, and naked, shame to undergo, 'Tis somewhat more than death! Exposed to lawless eyes I dare not be; My modesty is sacred, heaven, to thee! Let not my body be the tyrant's spoil; Nor hands nor eyes thy purity defile.
[Ameriel descends swiftly with a flaming sword, and strikes at the Wheel, which breaks in pieces; then he ascends again.
Max. Is this the effect of all your boasted skill? These brittle toys to execute my will? A puppet-shew of death I only find, Where I a strong and sinewy pain designed. By what weak infant was this engine wrought?
Val. From Bilbilis the tempered steel was brought; Metal more tough the anvil ne'er did beat, Nor, from the forge, did hissing waters heat.
Plac. I saw a youth descend all heavenly fair, Who in his hand a flaming sword did bear, And, whirlwind-like, around him drove the air. At his raised arm the rigid iron shook, And, bending backwards, fled before the stroke.
Max. What! miracles, the tricks of heaven to me? I'll try if she be wholly iron free. If not by sword, then she shall die by fire; And one by one her miracles I'll tire. If proof against all kind of death she be; My love's immortal, and she's fit for me.
S. Cath. No, heaven has shewn its power, and now thinks fit Thee to thy former fury to remit. Had providence my longer life decreed, Thou from thy passion hadst not yet been freed. But heaven, which suffered that, my faith to prove, Now to itself does vindicate my love. A power controuls thee, which thou dost not see; And that's a miracle it works in thee.
Max. The truth of this new miracle we'll try; To prove it, you must take the pains to die. Bring me their heads.