Muza. Did he prefer her so?
Abd. Could he prefer
To Egilona—
Egil. Her! the child Covilla?
Eternal hider of a foolish face—
Incapable of any thing but shame—
To me? old man! to me? O Abdalazis!
No: he but followed with slow pace my hate.
And cannot pride check these unseemly tears!
[To herself. Goes.
Muza. The most offended, an offended woman,
A wife, a queen, is silent on the deed.
Abd. Thou disingenuous and ignoble man,
Spreading these rumours! sending into exile
All those their blighting influence injured most:
And whom? thy daughter and adopted son,
The chieftains of thy laws and of thy faith.
Call any witnesses, proclaim the truth,
And set, at last, thy heart, thy fame, at rest.
Jul. Not, if I purposed or desired to live,
My own dishonour would I e’er proclaim
Amid vindictive and reviling foes.
Muza. Calling us foes, avows he not his guilt?
Condemns he not the action we condemn,
Owning it his, and owning it dishonour?
’Tis well my cares prest forward, and struck home.
Jul. Why smilest thou? I never saw that smile
But it portended an atrocious deed.
Muza. After our manifold and stern assaults,
With every tower and battlement destroyed,
The walls of Ceuta still were strong enough—