Queen. Hence, screech-owl!—Call my guards quickly there!—
Put them apart in several prisons!—
Alas! I had forgot, I have no guards,
But those which are my jailors.
Never 'till now unhappy queen!
The use of power, till lost, is seldom known;
Now, I should strike, I find my thunder gone.
[Exeunt Queen and FLAV.
PHILOCLES enters, and meets ASTERIA going out.
Phil. Asteria, where's the queen?
Ast. Ah, my lord! what have you done? I came to seek you.
Phil. Is it from her you come?
Ast. No; but on her behalf:—Her heart's too great, In this low ebb of fortune, to entreat.
Phil. Tis but a short eclipse, Which past, a glorious day will soon ensue.— But I would ask a favour too from you.
Ast. When conquerors petition, they command: Those, that can captive queens, who can withstand?
Phil. She, with her happiness, might mine create;
Yet seems indulgent to her own ill fate:
But she in secret hates me, sure; for why,
If not, should she Candiope deny?
Ast. If you dare trust my knowledge of her mind, She has no thoughts of you that are unkind.