Jul. In vain I sue, Unless my vows may be conveyed by you.
Gons. Conveyed by me! My ill success in love
Shews me, too sure, I have few friends above.
How can you fear your just desires to want?
When the gods pray, they both request and grant.
Jul. Heaven has resigned my fortune to your hand, If you, like heaven, the afflicted understand.
Gons. The language of the afflicted is not new; Too well I learned it, when I first saw you.
Jul. In spite of me, you now command my fate;
And yet the vanquished seeks the victor's hate;
Even in this low submission, I declare,
That, had I power, I would renew the war.
I'm forced to stoop, and 'twere too great a blow
To bend my pride, and to deny me too.
Gons. You have my heart; dispose it to your will; If not, you know the way to use it ill.
Jul. Cruel to me, though kind to your desert,
My brother gives my person, not my heart;
And I have left no other means to sue,
But to you only, to be freed from you.
Gons. From such a suit how can you hope success, Which, given, destroys the giver's happiness?
Jul. You think it equal you should not resign
That power you have, yet will not leave me mine;
Yet on my will I have the power alone,
And, since you cannot move it, move your own.
Your worth and virtue my esteem may win,
But women's passions from themselves begin;
Merit may be, but force still is, in vain.
Gons. I would but love you, not your love constrain; And though your brother left me to command, He placed his thunder in a gentle hand.