Zul. Love's mighty power has led me captive too;
I am in it unfortunate as you.
Abdal. Our loves and fortunes shall together go;
Thou shalt be happy, when I first am so.
Zul. The Zegrys at old Selin's house are met,
Where, in close council, for revenge they sit:
There we our common interest will unite;
You their revenge shall own, and they your right.
One thing I had forgot, which may import:
I met Almanzor coming back from court,
But with a discomposed and speedy pace,
A fiery colour kindling all his face:
The king his prisoner's freedom has denied,
And that refusal has provoked his pride.
Abdal. 'Would he were ours!—
I'll try to gild the injustice of his cause,
And court his valour with a vast applause.
Zul. The bold are but the instruments o'the wise;
They undertake the dangers we advise:
And, while our fabric with their pains we raise,
We take the profit, and pay them with praise. [Exeunt.
ACT III. SCENE I.
Enter Almanzor and Abdalla.
Almanz. That he should dare to do me this disgrace!—
Is fool, or coward, writ upon my face?
Refuse my prisoner!—I such means will use,
He shall not have a prisoner to refuse.
Abdal. He said, you were not by your promise tied;
That he absolved your word, when he denied.
Almanz. He break my promise, and absolve my vow!
'Tis more than Mahomet himself can do!—
The word, which I have given, shall stand like fate;
Not like the king's, that weather-cock of state.
He stands so high, with so unfixed a mind,
Two factions turn him with each blast of wind:
But now, he shall not veer! my word is past;
I'll take his heart by the roots, and hold it fast.