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Por. Refused it!-like a miser, midst his store, Who grasps and grasps, till he can hold no more; And when his strength is wanting to his mind, Looks back, and sighs on what he left behind. Val. No, I resume that heart thou didst possess ; My father shall my injuries redress :

With me thou losest his imperial crown,

And speedy death attends upon his frown.

Por. You may revenge your wrongs a nobler

way;

Command my death, and I will soon obey.

Val. No, live! for, on thy life my cure depends: In debtors' deaths all obligation ends:

Twill be some ease ungrateful thee to call;
And, bankrupt-like, say, trusting him lost all.
Por. Upbraided thus, what generous man would
live!

But fortune will revenge what you forgive.
When I refuse, (as in few hours I must)
This offered grace, your father will be just.
Val. Be just say rather he will cruel
To kill that only person I can love.
Yet so it is!

Your interest in the army is so high,

prove,

That he must make you his, or you must die.
It is resolved! whoe er my rival be,

[Aside, after a pause. I'll show that I deserve him more than she; And if, at last, he does ungrateful prove,

My constancy itself rewards my love.

[Exit.

Por. She's gone, and, gazing round about, I see Nothing but death, or glorious misery; Here empire stands, if I could love displace; There, hopeless love, with more imperial grace; Thus, as a sinking hero, compassed round, Beckons his bravest foe for his last wound,

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And him into his part of fame does call,
I'll turn my face to love, and there I'll fall.

To him BERENICE, and EROTION.

Ber. I come, Porphyrius, to congratulate This happy change of your exalted fate: You to the empire are, I hear, designed; And fair Valeria must the alliance bind.

Por. Would heaven had my succession so decreed,
That I in all might Maximin succeed!
He offers me the imperial crown, 'tis true:
I would succeed him, but it is in you.

Ber. In me! I never did accept your love:
But you, I see, would handsomely remove;
And I can give you leave, without a frown:
I always thought you merited a crown.

Por. I never sought that crown but on your brow;

But you with such indifference would allow My change, that you have killed me with that breath;

I feel your scorn cold as the hand of death.

Ber. You'll come to life in your Valeria's arms. 'Tis true, I cannot boast of equal charms;

Or, if I could, I never did admit

Your love to me, but only suffered it.

I am a wife, and can make no return;

And 'twere but vain in hopeless fires to burn.
Por. Unkind! can you, whom only I adore,

Set open to your slave the prison-door?
You use my heart just as you would afford
A fatal freedom to some harmless bird,

Whom, breeding, you ne'er taught to seek its food;
And now let fly to perish in the wood.

Ber. Then, if you

you will love on, and disobey, And lose an empire for my sake, you may.

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Will a kind look from me pay all this score,
For you well know you must expect no more?
Por. All I deserve it will, not all I wish: .
But I will brave the tyrant's rage for this.
If I refuse, my death must needs ensue;
But you shall see that I dare die for you,
Ber. Would you, for me,

A beauty, and an empire too deny?

I love you now so well-that you shall die.、
Die mine! 'tis all I can, with honour, give:
Nor should you die, if after, I would live.
But when your marriage and your death I view,
That makes you false, but this will keep you true.
Por. Unbind thy brows, and look abroad to see,
O mighty love, thy mightiest victory!

Ber. And yet is there no other way to try? 'Tis hard to say I love, and let you die.

Por. Yes, there remains some help which you might give,

If you, as I would die for love, would live.,

Ber. If death for love be sweet, sure life is more: Teach me the means your safety to restore.

Por. Your tyrant the Egyptian princess loves; And to that height his swelling passion moves, That, fearing in your death the soldiers' force, He from your bed does study a divorce..

Ber. The Egyptian princess I disputing heard, And as a miracle her mind regard.

But yet I wish that this divorce be true. [Gives her hand.

Por. "Tis, madam, but it must be sought by you.

By this he will all mutinies prevent;:{
And this as well secures your own content..
Ber. I hate this tyrant, and his bed I loath;
But, once submitting, I am tied to both;
Tied to that honour, which all women owe,
Though not their husband's person, yet their vow.

Something so sacred in that bond there is,

That none should think there could be aught amiss: And if there be, we should in silence hide

Those faults, which blame our choice, when they are spied.

Por. But, since to all the world his crimes are known,

And by himself the civil war's begun,

Would you the advantage of the fight delay,
If, striking first, you were to win the day?

Ber. I would, like Jews upon their sabbath, fall;
And, rather than strike first, not strike at all.
Por. Against yourself you sadly prophecy :
You either this divorce must seek, or die.

Ber. Then death from all my griefs shall set me free.

Por. And would you rather chuse your death, than me?

Ber. My earthly part

Which is my tyrant's right, death will remove;
I'll come all soul and spirit to your love.
With silent steps I'll follow you all day,
Or else before you, in the sun-beams, play:
I'll lead you thence to melancholy groves,
And there repeat the scenes of our past loves :
At night, I will within your curtains peep;
With empty arms embrace you while you sleep:
In gentle dreams I often will be by,
And sweep along before your closing eye:
All dangers from your bed I will remove;
But guard it most from any future love:
And when, at last, in pity, you will die,
I'll watch your birth of immortality:
Then, turtle-like, I'll to my mate repair,
And teach you your first flight in open air.
[Exit BERENICE and ERATION.

Por. She has but done what honour did require;
Nor can I blame that love, which I admire.
But then her death!

I'll stand betwixt, it first shall pierce my heart:
We will be stuck together on his dart.

But yet the danger not so high does grow:
I'll charge death first, perhaps repulse him too.
But if, o'erpowered, I must be overcome,
Forced back, I'll fight each inch into my tomb.

[Exit.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.-An Indian cave.

Enter PLACIDIUS and NIGRINUS. NIGRINUS, with two drawn swords, held upward in his hands. Plac. All other means have failed to move her heart;

Our last resource is, therefore, to your art.

Nig. Of wars, and bloodshed, and of dire events,
Of fates, and fighting kings, their instruments,
I could with greater certainty foretell ;
Love only does in doubts and darkness dwell.
For, like a wind, it in no quarter stays,
But points and veers each hour a thousand ways.
On women love depends, and they on will;
Chance turns their orb, while destiny sits still.
Plac. Leave nothing unattempted in your power
Remember you oblige an emperor.

Nig. An earthy fiend by compact me obeys;
But him to light intents I must not raise.
Some astral forms I must invoke by prayer,
Framed all of purest atoms of the air;
Not in their natures simply good or ill;
But most subservient to bad spirits' will.

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