Agamemnon: Why then didst thou a kingly life despoil?

Pyrrhus: But mercy oft doth offer death for life.

Agamemnon: Doth mercy now demand a maiden's blood?330

Pyrrhus: Canst thou proclaim such sacrifice a sin?

Agamemnon: A king must love his country more than child.

Pyrrhus: No law the wretched captive's life doth spare.

Agamemnon: What law forbids not, this let shame forbid.

Pyrrhus: 'Tis victor's right to do whate'er he will.335

Agamemnon: Then should he will the least who most can do.

Pyrrhus: Dost thou boast thus, from whose tyrannic reign