Cel. So long as there be ladies there, you need Not doubt me. [Exit CELADON.
Phil. Some of them will, I hope, make you a convert.
Lys. My lord Philocles, I'm glad we are alone; There is a business, that concerns me nearly, In which I beg your love.
Phil. Command my service.
Lys. I know your interest with the queen is great;
(I speak not this as envying your fortune,
For, frankly, I confess you have deserved it;
Besides, my birth, my courage, and my honour,
Are all above so base a vice,)—
Phil. I know, my lord, you are first prince o'the blood;
Your country's second hope:
And that the public vote, when the queen weds,
Designs you for her choice.
Lys. I am not worthy,
Except love makes desert;
For doubtless she's the glory of her time:
Of faultless beauty, blooming as the spring
In our Sicilian groves; matchless in virtue,
And largely souled where'er her bounty gives,
As, with each breath, she could create new Indies.
Phil. But jealous of her glory,—
Lys. You are a courtier; and, in other terms,
Would you say, she is averse from marriage,
Lest it might lessen her authority.
But whensoe'er she does, I know the people
Will scarcely suffer her to match
With any neighbouring prince, whose power might bend
Our free Sicilians to a foreign yoke.
Phil. I love too well my country to desire it.