idame.
I have deserved thy anger, I alone
Should feel thy vengeance: thou hast slain my king,
And now my husband and my child must fall
By thy destructive hand: inhuman tyrant,
When will thy wrath be satisfied?
genghis.
Away:
Follow thy guilty husband: darest thou plead
For mercy, thou reproach me?
idame.
Then all hope
Is lost.
genghis.
If ever I think of clemency,
It must not be till ample reparation
Is made for all my wrongs: you understand me.
SCENE IV.
genghis, octar.
genghis.
What means this fluttering heart, and wherefore thus
Steals from my breast the involuntary sigh?
Some power divine protects her: O my Octar,
What secret charms have innocence and beauty,
That proud authority should thus submit
To own their influence? I have lost myself
And want a friend; O lend me thy kind counsel.
octar.
Since I must speak, I’ll speak with freedom; know then
This dangerous branch of a detested race
Must be cut off, or we are not secure
In our new conquest; victory’s best guard
Is rigor; by severity alone
Your power can be established. Time, my lord,
Will bring back order and tranquillity;
The people by degrees forget their wrongs,
Or pardon them: you then may reign in peace.
genghis.
And can it be Idame, that proud beauty,
Given to another, to my mortal foe!
octar.
She merits not your pity, but your hate;
I cannot, must not think you ever loved her;
’Twas but a short and momentary flame,
That sparkled and expired; her cruel scorn,
Her proud refusal, and the hand of time,
Have quite extinguished it; she is no more
To Genghis now than the ignoble wife,
Of an abandoned traitor.
genghis.
He shall die;
A slave! a rival!
octar.
Wherefore lives he yet?
Strike, and revenge thyself.
genghis.
I know not why,
But my fond heart still trembles at the thought
Of injuring her: subdued by beauty’s tears
I dare not hurt a rival and a slave;
Even in the husband I respect the wife:
Is love indeed so great a conqueror,
And must I grace his triumphs?
octar.
All I know,
And all I wish for, is to follow thee,
The rattling chariot, and the sounding bow,
The fiery coursers, and the din of arms:
These are my passions, these the joys of Octar:
I am a stranger to the sighs of love,
And think them far beneath the royal soul
Of Genghis; they debase a character
So great as thine.
genghis.
I know my power, I know
That I could make her mine: but what avails
The fairest form without the conquered heart?
Where is the joy to press within our arms
A trembling slave? to see her beauteous eyes
Forever bathed in tears, and her full heart
Oppressed with sorrow? ’tis a barbarous triumph:
The savage herd, that through the forest roam,
Enjoy more peace, and boast a purer love:
The fair Idame has some secret power
That charms me more than victory and empire:
I thought I could have driven her from my heart,
But she returns, and triumphs.
SCENE V.
genghis, octar, osman.
genghis.
Well: what says she?
osman.
That she will perish with her husband rather
Than tell the place where, hid from every eye,
The orphan lies concealed; the tender husband
Supports her in his arms; with added courage
Inspires her soul, and teaches her to die.
They wish to be united in the grave;
The people throng around, and every eye
Is wet with tears, lamenting their sad fate.
genghis.
And does Idame talk of death from me?
Fly, Osman, fly, tell her I hold her life
As sacred as my own: away.
SCENE VI.
genghis, octar.
octar.
This infant,
Concerning him, my lord—what’s to be done?
genghis.
Nothing.
octar.
You gave commands he should be torn
Even from Idame’s bosom.
genghis.
We must think
Of that hereafter.
octar.
What if they should hide—
genghis.
He cannot escape us.
octar.
Still they may deceive you.
genghis.