Emp. No more;
Thou hast convinced me that she's worth my love.
Seb. Was ever man so ruined by himself?[Aside.
Alm. Thy love! That odious mouth was never framed
To speak a word so soft:
Name death again, for that thou canst pronounce
With horrid grace, becoming of a tyrant.
Love is for human hearts, and not for thine,
Where the brute beast extinguishes the man.
342 Emp. Such if I were, yet rugged lions love,
And grapple, and compel their savage dames.—
Mark my Sebastian, how that sullen frown,[She frowns.
Like flashing lightning, opens angry heaven,
And, while it kills, delights!—But yet, insult not
Too soon, proud beauty! I confess no love.
Seb. No, sir; I said so, and I witness for you,
Not love, but noble pity, moved your mind:
Interest might urge you too to save her life;
For those, who wish her party lost, might murmur
At shedding royal blood.
Emp. Right, thou instruct'st me;
Interest of state requires not death, but marriage,
To unite the jarring titles of our line.
Seb. Let me be dumb for ever; all I plead,[Aside.
Like wildfire thrown against the winds, returns
With double force to burn me.
Emp. Could I but bend, to make my beauteous foe
The partner of my throne, and of my bed—
Alm. Still thou dissemblest; but, I read thy heart,
And know the power of my own charms; thou lov'st,
And I am pleased, for my revenge, thou dost.
Emp. And thou hast cause.