Deem’d[291] Isabella, Cupid’s treasurer,
Whose soul contains the richest gifts of love:
Her beauty from my heart fear doth expel:
They relish pleasure best that dread not hell! 20
Who’s there?
Enter Count Massino.[292]
Mass. A friend to thee, if thy intents
Be just and honourable.
Sago. Count Massino,[292] speak, I am the watch.
Mass. My name is Massino:[292] dost thou know me?
Sago. Yes, slanderous villain, nurse of obloquy,
Whose poison’d breath has speckled clear-faced[293] virtue,
And made a leper of Isabella’s fame,
That is as spotless as the eye of heaven!
Thy vital thread’s a-cutting; start not, slave;
He’s sure of sudden death, Heaven cannot save! 30
Mass. Art not Gniaca turn’d apostata?[294]
Has pleasure once again turned thee again
A devil? art not Gniaca—hah?
Sago. O that I were, then would I stab myself,
For he is mark’d for death as well as thee!
I am Don Sago, thy mortal enemy,
Whose hand love makes thy executioner!
Mass. I know thee, valiant Spaniard, and to thee
Murder’s more hateful than is sacrilege.
Thy actions ever have been honourable. 40
Sago. And this the crown of all my actions,
To purge the earth of such a man turn’d monster!