Enveloped with a vestment of strange form, Sal. Whom? Atten. Thy royal brother! Sal. Bring him instantly. [Exit Attendant.] Now, with his specious, smooth, persuasive tongue, Fraught with some wily subterfuge, he thinks To dissipate my anger. He shall die! [Enter Attendant and Malek Adhel.] Leave us together. [Exit Attendant.] [Aside.] I should know that form. Now summon all thy fortitude, my soul, Nor, though thy blood cry for him, spare the guilty! Malek Adhel. Behold it, then! Sal. I see a traitor's visage. Mal. Ad. A brother's! Sal. No! Saladin owns no kindred with a villain. Mal. Ad. O, patience, Heaven! Had any tongue but thine Uttered that word, it ne'er should speak another. Sal. And why not now? Can this heart be more pierced O, thou hast made a desert of this bosom! His brother has betrayed him! Mal. Ad. Thou art softened; I am thy brother, then; but late thou saidst Thou hast betrayed me in my fondest hopes! But on this breaking heart the name is stamped, Thinkest thou I'm softened? By Mohammed! these hands Fall from them at thy fate! O, monster, monster! The brute that tears the infant from its nurse The impulse of his nature may be read; Mal. Ad. Go on! go on ! "T is but a little while to hear thee, Saladin; And, bursting at thy feet, this heart will prove Its penitence, at least. Sal. That were an end Too noble for a traitor! The bowstring is A more appropriate finish! Thou shalt die! Mal. Ad. And death were welcome at another's mandate! What, what have I to live for? Be it so, If that, in all thy armies, can be found An executing hand. Sal. O, doubt it not! They 're eager for the office. Perfidy, So black as thine, effaces from their minds All memory of thy former excellence. Mal. Ad. Defer not, then, their wishes. Saladin, If e'er this form was joyful to thy sight, This voice seemed grateful to thine ear, accede To my last prayer: - O, lengthen not this scene, Sal. This very hour! [Aside.] For, O! the more I look upon that face, Such vile ingratitude, it calls for vengeance; And vengeance it shall have! What, ho! who waits there? [Enter Attendant.] Atten. Did your highness call? My forces in the court. Tell them they come To view the death of yonder bosom-traitor. Silent obedience, from his followers. [Exit Attendant.] Mal. Ad Now, Saladin, The word is given, I have nothing more Without thy love, thy honor, thy esteem, Thinkest thou, thy slumbers render quieter, Thy harshness made him carry to the grave? Sal. Speak, then; but ask thyself if thou hast reason To look for much indulgence here. Mal. Ad. I have not! Yet will I ask for it. We part forever ; O, torturing recollection! - one kind word From the loved tongue which once breathed naught but kindness. Still silent? Brother! friend! beloved companion "Of all my youthful sports! are they forgotten? Strike me with deafness, make me blind, Ŏ Heaven! Let me not see this unforgiving man Smile at my agonies! nor hear that voice Pronounce my doom, which would not say one word Look on my face, thou canst not spurn me then; Look on the once-loved face of Malek Adhel For the last time, and call him Sal. [seizing his hand]. Brother! brother! Mal. Ad. [breaking away]. Now call thy followers. Death has not now A single pang in store. Proceed! I'm ready. Mal. Ad. O, stay thee, Saladin ! Cries loudly for the blood of Malek Adhel. Pleased by my fate to add one other leaf Sal. Thou shalt not. [Enter Attendant.] Atten. My lord, the troops assembled by your order Tumultuous throng the courts. The prince's death Not one of them but vows he will not suffer. The mutes have fled; the very guards rebel. Nor think I, in this city's spacious round, Can e'er be found a hand to do the office. Mal. Ad. O, faithful friends! [To Atten.] Thine shalt Atten. Mine? Never! The other first shall lop it from the body. Sal. They teach the Emperor his duty well. Tell them he thanks them for it. Tell them, too, That ere their opposition reached our ears, Atten. O joyful news! I haste to gladden many a gallant heart, Sal. These men, the meanest in society, these, who claim No kindred with thee,- who have never heard The accents of affection from thy lips,· O, these can cast aside their vowed allegiance, Call back one danger which thou hast not shared, Which thy resistless kindness hath not soothed, When death seemed certain, only uttered -"Brother!" Dauntless exposed to many a furious blow That 't was to thee I owed the very breath Mal. Ad. By these tears, I can! O, brother! from this very hour, a new, My heart, my soul, my sword, are thine forever! 44. DAMON TO THE SYRACUSANS. —John Banim. ARE all content? A nation's rights betrayed, and all content? To be a garrison for common cut-throats! With blinded eyes, and weak and broken speech, That have been grandsires; women with their children, And those old men should lift their shivering voices |