The Indian Queen

Act II

Enter INCA and ORAZIA, as pursued in a battle.

Oraz. O fly, sir, fly; like torrents your swift foes

Come rolling on

Inca. The gods can but destroy.

The noblest way to fly is that death shows;

I'll court her now, since victory's grown coy.

Oraz. Death's winged to your pursuit, and yet you wait

To meet her

Inca. Poor Orazia, time and fate

Must once o'ertake me, though I now should fly.

Oraz. Do not meet death; but when it comes, then die.

Enter three Soldiers.

3 Sold. Stand, sir, and yield yourself, and that fair prey.

Inca. You speak to one, unpractised to obey.

Enter MONTEZUMA.

Mont. Hold, villains, hold, or your rude lives shall be

Lost in the midst of your own victory:

These have I hunted for;nay, do not stare;

Be gone, and in the common plunder share.

[Exeunt Soldiers.

How different is my fate, from theirs, whose fame

From conquest grows! from conquest grows my shame.

Inca. Why dost thou pause? thou canst not give me back,

With fruitless grief, what I enjoyed before;

No more than seas, repenting of a wreck,

Can with a calm our buried wealth restore.

Mont. 'Twere vain to own repentance, since I know

Thy scorn, which did my passions once despise,

Once more would make my swelling anger flow,

Which now ebbs lower than your miseries:

The gods, that in my fortunes were unkind,

Gave me not sceptres, nor such gilded things;

But, whilst I wanted crowns, enlarged my mind

To despise sceptres, and dispose of kings.

Inca. Thou art but grown a rebel by success,

And I, that scorned Orazia should be tied

To thee my slave, must now esteem thee less:

Rebellion is a greater guilt than pride.

Mont. Princes see others' faults, but not their own;

'Twas you that broke that bond, and set me free:

Yet I attempted not to climb your throne,

And raise myself; but level you to me.

Oraz. O, Montezuma, could thy love engage

Thy soul so little, or make banks so low

About thy heart, that thy revenge and rage,

Like sudden floods, so soon should overflow?

Ye gods, how much I was mistaken here!

I thought you gentle as the gall-less dove;

But you as humoursome as winds appear,

And subject to more passions than your love.

Mont. How have I been betrayed by guilty rage,

Which, like a flame, rose to so vast a height,

That nothing could resist, nor yet assuage,

Till it wrapt all things in one cruel fate.

But I'll redeem myself, and act such things,

That you shall blush Orazia was denied;

And yet make conquest, though with wearied wings,

Take a new flight to your own fainting side.

Inca. Vain man, what foolish thoughts fill thy swelled mind!

It is too late our ruin to recall;

Those, that have once great buildings undermined,

Will prove too weak to prop them in their fall.

Enter TRAXALLA, with the former soldiers.

1 Sold. See, mighty sir, where the bold stranger stands,

Who snatched these glorious prisoners from our hands.

Trax. 'Tis the great Inca; seize him as my prey,

To crown the triumphs of this glorious day.

Mont. Stay your bold hands from reaching at what's mine,

If any title springs from victory;

You safer may attempt to rob a shrine,

And hope forgiveness from the deity.

Enter ACACIS.

Trax. O, my dear prince, my joys to see you live

Are more than all that victory can give.

Aca. How are my best endeavours crost by fate!

Else you had ne'er been lost, or found so late.

Hurried by the wild fury of the fight,

Far from your presence, and Orazia's sight,

I could not all that care and duty show,

Which, as your captive, mighty prince, I owe.

Inca. You often have preserved our lives this day,

And one small debt with many bounties pay.

But human actions hang on springs, that be

Too small, or too remote, for us to see.

My glories freely I to yours resign,

And am your prisoner now, that once were mine.

Mont. These prisoners, sir, are mine by right of war;

And I'll maintain that right, if any dare.

Trax. Yes, I would snatch them from thy weak defence;

But that due reverence, which I owe my prince,

Permits me not to quarrel in his sight;

To him I shall refer his general's right.

Mont. I knew too well what justice I should find

From an armed plaintiff, and a judge so kind.

Aca. Unkindly urged, that I should use thee so;

Thy virtue is my rival, not my foe;

The prisoners fortune gave thee shall be thine.

Trax. Would you so great a prize to him resign?

Aca. Should he, who boldly for his prey designed

To dive the deepest under swelling tides,

Have the less title if he chance to find

The richest jewel that the ocean hides?

They are his due

But in his virtue I repose that trust,

That he will be as kind as I am just:

Dispute not my commands, but go with haste,

Rally our men, they may pursue too fast,

And the disorders of the inviting prey

May turn again the fortune of the day.

[Exit TRAX.

Mont. How gentle all this prince's actions be!

Virtue is calm in him, but rough in me.

Aca. Can Montezuma place me in his breast?

Mont. My heart's not large enough for such a guest.

Aca. See, Montezuma, see, Orazia weeps.

[ORAZ. weeps.

Mont. Acacis! is he deaf, or, waking, sleeps?

He does not hear me, sees me not, nor moves;

How firm his eyes are on Orazia fixt!

Gods, that take care of men, let not our loves

Become divided by their being mixt.

Aca. Weep not, fair princess, nor believe you are

A prisoner, subject to the chance of war;

Why should you waste the stock of those fair eyes,

That from mankind can take their liberties?

And you, great sir, think not a generous mind

To virtuous princes dares appear unkind,

Because those princes are unfortunate,

Since over all men hangs a doubtful fate:

One gains by what another is bereft;

The frugal deities have only left

A common bank of happiness below,

Maintained, like nature, by an ebb and flow.

[Exeunt.

ZEMPOALLA appears seated upon a throne, frowning upon her attendants; then comes down and speaks.

Zemp. No more, you, that above your prince's dare proclaim,

With your rebellious breath, a stranger's name.

1 Peru. Dread empress

Zemp. Slaves, perhaps you grieve to see

Your young prince glorious, 'cause he sprang from me;

Had he been one of base Amexia's brood,

Your tongues, though silent now, had then been loud.

Enter TRAXALLA.

Traxalla, welcome; welcomer to me

Than what thou bring'st, a crown and victory.

Trax. All I have done is nothing; fluttering fame

Now tells no news, but of the stranger's name,

And his great deeds; 'tis he, they cry, by whom

Not men, but war itself is overcome;

Who, bold with his success, dares think to have

A prince to wear his chains, and be his slave.

Zemp. What prince?

Trax. The great Peruvian Inca, that of late

In three set battles was so fortunate,

Till this strange man had power to turn the tide,

And carry conquest into any side.

Zemp. Would you permit a private man to have

The great Peruvian Inca for his slave?

Shame to all princes! was it not just now

I made a sacred, and a solemn vow,

To offer up (if blest with victory)

The prisoners that were took? and they shall die.

Trax. I soon had snatched from this proud stranger's hand

That too great object for his bold demand;

Had not the prince, your son, to whom I owe

A kind obedience, judged it should be so.

Zemp. I'll hear no more; go quickly take my guards,

And from that man force those usurped rewards;

That prince, upon whose ruins I must rise,

Shall be the gods', but more my sacrifice:

They, with my slaves, in triumph shall be tied,

While my devotion justifies my pride:

Those deities, in whom I place my trust,

Shall see, when they are kind, that I am just. [Exit.

Trax. How gladly I obey!

There's something shoots from my enlivened frame,

Like a new soul, but yet without a name,

Nor can I tell what the bold guest will prove;

It must be envy, or it must be love:

Let it be either, 'tis the greatest bliss

For man to grant himself, all he dares wish;

For he, that to himself himself denies,

Proves meanly wretched, to be counted wise.

[Exit TRAXALLA.

Enter MONTEZUMA and ACACIS.

Aca. You wrong, me, my best friend, not to believe

Your kindness gives me joy; and when I grieve,

Unwillingly my sorrows I obey:

Showers sometimes fall upon a shining day.

Mont.. Let me, then, share your griefs, that in your fate

Would have took part.

Aca. Why should you ask me that?

Those must be mine, though I have such excess;

Divided griefs increase, and not grow less.

Mont. It does not lessen fate, nor satisfy

The grave, 'tis true, when friends together die;

And yet they are unwilling to divide.

Aca. To such a friend nothing can be denied.

You, when you hear my story, will forgive

My grief, and rather wonder that I live;

Unhappy in my title to a throne,

Since blood made way for my succession:

Blood of an uncle too, a prince so free

From being cruel, it taught cruelty.

His queen Amexia then was big with child;

Nor was he gentler than his queen was mild;

Th'impatient people longed for what should come

From such a father, bred in such a womb;

When false Traxalla, weary to obey,

Took with his life their joys and hopes away.

Amexia, by the assistance of the night,

When this dark deed was acted, took her flight;

Only with true Garucca for her aid:

Since when, for all the searches that were made,

The queen was never heard of more: Yet still

This traitor lives, and prospers by the ill:

Nor does my mother seem to reign alone,

But with this monster shares the guilt and throne.

Horror choaks up my words: now you'll believe,

'Tis just I should do nothing else but grieve.

Mont. Excellent prince!

How great a proof of virtue have you shown,

To be concerned for griefs, though not your own!

Aca. Pray, say no more.

Enter a Messenger hastily.

Mont. How now, whither so fast?

Mess. O sir, I come too slow with all my haste!

The fair Orazia

Mont. Ha, what dost thou say?

Mess. Orazia with the Inca's forced away

Out of your tent; Traxalla, in the head

Of the rude soldiers, forced the door, and led,

Those glorious captives, who on thrones once shined,

To grace the triumph, that is now designed. [Exit.

Mont. Orazia forced away!what tempests roll

About my thoughts, and toss my troubled soul!

Can there be gods to see, and suffer this?

Or does mankind make his own fate or bliss;

While every good and bad happens by chance,

Not from their orders, but their ignorance?

I will pull a ruin on them all,

And turn their triumph to a funeral.

Aca. Be temperate, friend.

Mont. You may as well advise

That I should have less love, as grow more wise.

Aca. Yet stayI did not think to have revealed

A secret, which my heart has still concealed;

But, in this cause since I must share with you,

'Tis fit you knowI love Orazia too:

Delay not then, nor waste the time in words,

Orazia's cause calls only for our swords.

Mont. That ties my hand, and turns from thee that rage

Another way, thy blood should else assuage:

The storm on our proud foes shall higher rise,

And, changing, gather blackness as it flies:

So, when winds turn, the wandering waves obey,

And all the tempest rolls another way.

Aca. Draw then a rival's sword, as I draw mine.

And, like friends suddenly to part, let's join

In this one act, to seek one destiny;

Rivals with honour may together die. [Exeunt.