Aben. Since blind opinion does their reason sway,
You must submit to cure them their own way.
You to their fancies physic must apply;
Give them that chief on whom they most rely.
Under Almanzor prosperously they fought;
Almanzor, therefore, must with prayers be brought.
Enter a second Messenger.
2 Mess. Haste all you can their fury to assuage:
You are not safe from their rebellious rage.
Enter a third Messenger.
3 Mess. This minute, if you grant not their desire,
They'll seize your person, and your palace fire.
Abdelm. Your danger, sir, admits of no delay.
Boab. In tumults people reign, and kings obey.—
Go and appease them with the vow I make,
That they shall have their loved Almanzor back. [Exit Abdel.
Almanzor has the ascendant o'er my fate;
I'm forced to stoop to one I fear and hate:
Disgraced, distressed, in exile, and alone,
He's greater than a monarch on his throne:
Without a realm, a royalty he gains;
Kings are the subjects over whom he reigns. [A shout of acclamations within.
Aben. These shouts proclaim the people satisfied.
Boab. We for another tempest must provide.
To promise his return as I was loth,
So I want power now to perform my oath.
Ere this, for Afric he is sailed from Spain.
Aben. The adverse winds his passage yet detain;
I heard, last night, his equipage did stay
At a small village, short of Malaga.