[As she speaks, ALMERIA overpowers her, thrusts her in, and shuts.
Cort. Sure I both heard her voice and saw her face:
She's like a vision vanished from the place.
Too late I find my absence was too long;
My hopes grow sickly, and my fears grow strong.
[He knocks a little, then MONTEZUMA, CYDARIA, and ALMERIA, appear above.
Alm. Look up, look up, and see if you can know Those, whom in vain you think to find below.
Cyd. Look up, and see Cydaria's lost estate.
Mont. And cast one look on Montezuma's fate.
Cort. Speak not such dismal words as wound my ear;
Nor name death to me, when Cydaria's there.
Despair not, sir; who knows but conquering Spain
May part of what you lost restore again?
Mont. No, Spaniard; know, he who, to empire born,
Lives to be less, deserves the victor's scorn:
Kings and their crowns have but one destiny:
Power is their life; when that expires, they die.
Cyd. What dreadful words are these!
Mont. Name life no more;
'Tis now a torture worse than all I bore;
I'll not be bribed to suffer life, but die,
In spite of your mistaken clemency.
I was your slave, and I was used like one;
The shame continues when the pain is gone:
But I'm a king while this is in my hand—[His sword.
He wants no subjects, who can death command:
You should have tied him up, t'have conquered me;
But he's still mine, and thus he sets me free.
[Stabs himself.